"Secrets Over Sweet Tea" by Denise Hildreth Jones

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Secrets can be funny things. We think they keep us safe, but more often than not, they spill out when we least expect and make a mess out of everything. It’s a truth Scarlett Jo Newberry knows all too well—a truth Grace Shepherd and Zach Craig are about to learn the hard way. As the lives of this boisterous pastor’s wife, polished news anchor, and beleaguered divorce attorney intersect in the tree-lined streets of Franklin, Tennessee, scandal threatens to topple their carefully constructed worlds. Grasping at survival, they embark on a journey of friendship and courage, desperate to find a way back to laughter, love, and life.

I was so excited to see this book up for review. I live in Tennessee where sweet tea is a part of life, and the characters from the blurb sounded great. Unfortunately, it did not live up to expectations. Scarlett Jo, the pastor's wife, is more of a caricature than a character. Now, I do not subscribe to the notion that a pastor's wife has to be perfect. Having been a pastor's wife I know full well that we are human beings with all our own faults and failures. However, she is just over the top loud, boisterous, crude and unsubmissive (more than once her pastor/husband tells her not to do something or to wait before she does it and she immediately goes and does is anyway). She bites back a cuss word at one point. Her husband "asked her to stop cussing since Jack was a baby, and she did okay most days." They even allow their younger boys to each say a cuss word at one point because they want to, saying that Jesus looks on the heart and that, basically, if there's no evil intent in the heart it's not sin. It is justified that even though we're clearly taught in the Bible not to take the Lord's name in vain, it's actually a worse sin to be mean to people. Are you kidding?!? There are no degrees to sin in God's eyes. Sin is sin!

I loved Grace's character. Her pain in her situation and the choices she has to make are so clear. You really root for things to turn out for her. Zach is unlikable in the beginning, but he really grows and develops leaving you rooting for him as well in the end. Unfortunately, in my opinion, they were not enough to save this book, though they did bump it up to two stars.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale Publishing for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Captive Trail" by Susan Page Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Taabe Waipu has run away from her Comanche village and is fleeing south in Texas on a horse she stole from a dowry left outside her family's teepee. The horse has an accident and she is left on foot, injured and exhausted. She staggers onto a road near Fort Chadbourne and collapses.

On one of the first runs through Texas, Butterfield Overland Mail Company driver Ned Bright carries two Ursuline nuns returning to their mission station. They come across Taabe who is nearly dead from exposure and dehydration and take her to the mission.

With some detective work, Ned discovers Taabe Waipu's identity. He plans to unite her with her family, but the Comanche have other ideas. Through Taabe and Ned we learn the true meaning of healing and restoration amid seemingly powerless situations.

After reading the first book in the Morgan Family Series, I couldn't wait to read Billie's story. I was not disappointed. Though many captives were assimilated into the tribe and didn't want to return to their families, Billie was not one of them. Through twelve long years, she never felt completely a part of the tribe and longed to return to her family. Twelve years is a long time when you're captured at such a young age, and when Billie finally escapes, she can no longer remember much of her early years or even how to speak English. This is a sweet book that tells of her struggle to escape, her work to re-learn English and remember her former life and the battle to keep her freedom. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next installment of the Morgan Family Series. The only issue I had is the predominence of Catholicism which just a mention of "Protestants and Catholics worship differently" though Billie was raised Christian. No mention of salvation was made at all.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Whispers of a New Dawn" by Murray Pura

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The year is 1941 and Jude and Lyyndy, with their adult daughter, Rebecca, are summoned to far-off, exotic Honolulu where Rebecca, a flyer like her father, meets a likeable young pilot. The two enjoy a friendship that seems to be turning into something more serious.....until Sunday, December 7, 1941 dawns on the Hawaiian Islands.

This book can't make up its mind what it wants to be. One minute it seems pro-Amish, the next anti-Amish. It goes back and forth through the whole book like that with little bit of everything thrown in. I have seen the trend this book seems to take more and more in Christian fiction lately--we all serve the same God (or Jesus), just in different ways. That may sound good, but it's totally against what the Bible teaches. It also leads to confusion (of which there's a LOT of in this book when it comes to anything to do with God), and God is not the author of confusion.

I had a hard time liking Becky, the heroine. She's very impulsive, immature and highly selfish a good portion of the time. Unfortunately, I can't really give examples or I'll spoil the book.

Overall, even though this book is listed as "Christian Fiction" and God and the bible are mentioned fairly often, it doesn't feel very christian. Couples are making out all the time, staying out til 4 in the morning at times (this is in the 30's and very early 40's and yet the parents--supposedly christian parents--are totally fine with it?!?), worldly music, dancing boogie woogie, having the boyfriend carry you into the water to get wet and cool so you have an "excuse" for him to hold and cuddle you at night alone on the beach til all hours, rotten attitude to anyone who doesn't agree with you.....the list goes on and on. I was highly disappointed in this book and would not be able to recommend it to anyone.

I was given a free digital copy to read and review by Harvest House Publishers through NetGalley.com. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"The Moses Quilt" by Kathi Macias

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Moses Quilt is a contemporary novel that bridges racial and generational divides. With a realistic and compassionate look into a twenty-first-century dilemma, multiple award-winning author Kathi Macias introduces readers to a confused and apprehensive young woman, Mazie Hartford. Facing major decisions about the love of her life and her future, she must also wrestle with a nagging question about her family's past. She finds the answer to her questions in a most unexpected way—her great-grandmother's Moses quilt. As her great-grandmother begins to explain how each patch represents a story of courage and freedom, Mazie must decide if she has the courage and freedom to overcome her own personal fears and prejudices.

This is very slow-moving book. It starts with Mazie unable to give her boyfriend, Edward, an answer to his proposal. This was frustrating for me as on the second page it says, "Still, how could she give him an answer when she was sure about how the unknowns of her past might impact their future?" There is one big problem with that statement. At that point, according to everything I read in the book, there should have been no "unknowns" that she could know about that would give her pause in answering him. I went into this book "cold" (I was offered 3 books to review with nothing but titles and author's names), so I didn't know it was about inter-racial relationships before I started it. That made it frustrating because the author is lauded for taking on possibly controversial topics, but won't just come out and say that they are an inter-racial couple. You have to deduce that for yourself. I guessed fairly early on, but it was later in the book before it was finally confirmed. Mazie's mom and grandmother, Mimi, both love Edward and want them to get together, and HIS family is for it, too. It ended up leaving me irritated with Mazie. She obviously didn't have too much of an issue with his race or she wouldn't have been dating him in the first place. I just wanted to shake her and snap her out of whatever her problem was! Edward spends the book trying to love her and woo her, and trying not to admit that Mazie could have some prejudices down deep keeping her from accepting him, but at the end, he ends up having to over come HIS issues before they can move forward.

Mimi was the saving grace of this book. She was a jewel and I fell in love with her immediately! I grew up in the south and around quilting, so the portions of the book with Mimi, the quilt and Harriet Tubman's story I loved. The rest was just slow, sometimes boring and the rest of the time just frustrating! Mimi and the history of the quilt makes this book 3 stars.

I was given a free copy of this book by New Hope Publishers to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Sisters of Mercy Flats" by Lori Copeland

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

"Over the top." I think that is about the bestway to describe this book. Unfortunately, I do not mean that in a good way. The author employs my least favorite technique to try to keep your interest, and that is having constant, ridiculous, usually over-done experiences.

The three wily and beautiful McDougal sisters can swindle a man faster than it takes to lasso a calf. But their luck is running out, and they're about to be hauled off to jail. When the wagon carrying them falls under attack, each sister is picked up by a different man. Unfortunately for Abigail, she's grabbed by a twit of a shoe salesman, Mr. Hershall Digman. She steals his horse and rides off to the nearest town, not giving him another thought...until she discovers those secret papers in his saddlebags. Could Mr. Digman be a Confederate spy?

As if to prove it, the man who comes storming after her is no shoe salesman, but a handsome captain who wants his papers back...at any cost. And Abigail wants a ride back home. Together they embark on his mission, determined not to trust each other...or the God who won't seem to let them go.

Unfortunately, Abigail is unlikeable for the first half of the book, and only tolerable at best the rest of the book. Mr. Digman isn't much better. Most of the characters feel flat and/or forced. It's sad, but I found myself not caring about Abigail and Mr. Digman. I kept having to stop myself from just skimming the last half of the book or skipping it all together. I was more interested in what happened to her two sisters than the rest of the story. I just felt the story was poorly done overall.

I received a digital copy of this book from Harvest House through NetGalley.com to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Echoes" by Robin Jones Gunn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Crazy things always seem to happen to Lauren Phillips, but even she wasn't expecting her fiance to break their engagement. Hoping to lift her spirits, her brother Brad gives her a new computer--along with a few suggestions for how she can improve her social life online. Soon Lauren connects with a mysterious man who identifies himself as a fellow God-lover...someone she only knows as K.C.

As she takes tentative steps into a new life, Lauren increasingly enjoys her new online friendship with K.C. But she can't bring herself to hope for something more and risk relinquishing the safety that distance provides her bruise heart.

After a year of corresponding, Lauren finally has an opportunity to meet K.C. Is she willing to risk everything, including more heartache?

I've known people like Lauren. They are the embodiment of Murphy's Law--If something can go wrong, it will. I had fun reading about her many mishaps. The rest of the book, not so much. The little side bits with Justin and especially Garry were a mess. I felt they detracted from the story overall.  Most of the characters in the book felt pretty two dimensional, and Lauren seemed pretty immature throughout the whole book.  The last half of the book I could guess what was coming a mile away, and it just didn't really keep my interest at that point. Not a terrible book, but not a great one, either.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

http://www.robingunn.com/
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/workid.php?work=72900

Missing in Action

I realize this blogger must seem to be MIA.   I haven't posted since last week, and it will be Thursday afternoon at the earliest before my next review gets posted.  I had the opportunity to travel out of state for a visit with my parents and my sister and her new husband who are on deputation to go to Botswana, Africa as missionaries.  Shocking as it may seem, I didn't bring books with me, and I'm not posting reviews while I'm here! :-P  I finished a book right before I left, so I'll be posting a review of it when I get home.  Until then....

Happy Reading!!

Noah Webster: Father of the Dictionary" by Isabel Proudfit

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a gem of a book!! This is a great book on the life of Noah Webster, writer of the famous "blue book" speller, the Noah Webster Dictionary and many, many other books. This book seems to be focused on the age level of older children, but very enjoyable, even for adults. I had never read a biography on Noah Webster, and was amazed at the sheer volume of books, essays, articles, etc that he wrote during his lifetime. He had a stick-to-itiveness that is sorely lacking in our generation today. He had a burning desire to learn, and then to help teach others, and didn't let anything stop him from doing the work he believed he needed to do. Our lives are so much richer due to the work he completed in his lifetime. I heartily recommend this book to all.

A copy of this book was sent to me to read and review by Bradford Press through BookCrash.com. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

"Past Darkness" by Laurel Woiwode

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I was soooo incredibly disappointed in this book!! It's listed as "christian fiction", but there is swearing and crude language. Maybe not lots of it--to be honest, I didn't finish the book as the language was a turn-off--but one swear word is one too many in a "christian fiction" book! This story had so much potential, and the language was not even necessary!! Very disappointing!