Wishing on Willows by Katie Ganshert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Robin Price loves Willow Tree Cafe. She poured her heart and soul into creating it after her husband died, and now a developer is trying to make her sell so it can be torn down to make room for new condos. Robin's life is wrapped up in her son, her music and her cafe. She is devastated that not only does this developer want to tear down the block of buildings that includes her cafe, it also means losing a ministry that is close to her heart, and a good portion of the town seems for it. Even her sister-in-law seems to be betraying her, befriending the cute developer. It doesn't help that she seems to be falling for him in spite of herself. Ian has been given the job of developing the new condos in Peaks, Iowa, and he doesn't want to disappoint his dad. However, things get harder and harder as Robin weaves her way into his heart. Neither are interested in giving--both want to win.

I'll be honest, I wanted to read this book because Robin was pretty much the only character I liked from the first book. I really wanted to read the rest of Robin's story. I, once again, really liked Robin's character. At first, Ian was somewhat of a puzzle to me, but the more his story unfolded, the more I liked him. He and Robin really were a perfect match. Bethany is still not my favorite character, and I found myself really disliking Amanda.

Over all, this is a pretty good book. It is a definite improvement over the first book, and I would tentatively recommend it.

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

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/blog/2...

http://katieganshert.com/

That Summer by Jo Huddleston

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jim has had all he can take of his father's abuse and poverty on the farm, so he runs away to get a job in town and live his own life. He "forgets" his mother's advice, and strays from the Godly teaching he was brought up with. He falls for two very different girls, and things get complicated from there.

The story begins well, showing the abuse and lack of love Jim's father shows not only him (though he bears the brunt of the physical violence), but to his entire family. His flight away from the farm and new life in town begins a new story. The majority of his decisions are wrong from the start. He lies about his age to get a job (he's only 17 and the mandatory age is 18), quits church immediately, treats friends badly.....the list goes on. Louisa is the godly young girl Jim loses his heart to, but then there's Caroline who he loses his willpower with.

About three quarters into the book, things go downhill. 20 years is skipped with barely a mention. The "twist" in the book can be seen coming a mile away. The boy's reaction to the twist about ruined the whole book for me. I even took it to my husband to see if maybe I was looking at it through a woman's eyes and it was just a "guy thing". Nope. He thought it was pretty weird, as well. It seemed as though the last little bit of the book was rushed and more concerned with setting up the next book than finishing the first. New story lines are just barely started and left hanging, and current story lines feel rushed. This book had great possibilities, but failed to fully carry them through. I still gave it three stars as I did like most of it, and maybe the second book will improve.

I received this book from The CWA Review Crew and author Jo Huddleston for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rescued by Brian Brown

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pilot and firefighter Brian Brown, his wife and younger daughter head out in his plane for a weekend with the older daughter. Unexpected, severe weather sends the plane into the side of the mountain. Injured, cold and with little provisions in a remote area, they question if they will make it off the mountain. Then God intervenes.

This is an amazing story. A plane like this flown into a mountain just doesn’t equal survivors, but the plane hits in the only way it could hit and not kill everyone. There is a weak, intermittent cell phone signal where none should exist. Over and over you can see the hand of God intervening and bringing about the survival and rescue of this family.

The book is written from multiple viewpoints, which is good and bad. The story, of course, begins from with Brian narrating up until they unexpectedly realize they have a signal for their cell phone. At that point the 911 dispatcher takes up the story and it goes from person to person throughout the rescue effort and then returns to Brian for the end of the story. This is great in that you get the "whole story", so to speak. The downside is that you start a chapter in one person's point of view and it will take you to say where Heather, the daughter, is being lifted into the chopper. It then cuts to the next person in the story and you get their background (how they ended up in the position their in--firefighter, pilot, etc--and possibly even some rescue story in their past before picking up in THIS story and you may just get another perspective of the same section of the story or it may be further along in the story. This made the narrative somewhat disjointed at times. The other possible negative (depending on how it strikes you personally) is the complete transcripts of some of the radio conversations. Personally, I feel the story would have flowed smoother had the basics of the conversation been written and not every single word spoken.

I received a digital copy of this book through NetGalley.com. I hope that before it is released officially, the Kindle edition will have been much improved. Many times I would have to scroll through multiple empty pages (not counting the ones with place holders for pictures that weren't there) before finding a page with writing. Conversely, many of the first pages of the chapters were repeated as many as 15-20 times before the second page of the chapter showed up. That got annoying pretty quick. As I said, hopefully this will be fixed before its release.

All-in-all, this is a great book that I highly recommend.

I received a digital copy of this book through NetGalley.com for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sorry I've been absent so long!

I just realized when I posted the review below how long it has been since I've been on here!  Wow!!  Sorry about that!  We've had multiple health issues, restarting homeschool and a myriad of other things that have kept me so busy I've slacked off lately on my reading.  I apologize and hope to get right back into it.  I have a small stack of books (it's been so crazy I haven't even been requesting books lately!) that I need to dive right back into, so hopefully I'll have more reviews soon.

Happy Reading!

Dreaming of a Father's Love by Sharon A. Lavy

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to fall in love with this book. I've met some German Baptists and know a little of their history, so I was excited to read this book. However, it didn't turn out like I expected. I could NOT read this book. The characters didn't interest me, and the story line seemed to drag along. I actually tried several times to read this book thinking maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it that day, but each time it just could not keep my attention. I know this book has some really great reviews, so don't let it turn you off that it didn't work for me. You may truly fall in love with the story and characters. I really hope you do.

I received a copy of this book from BookCrash for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Good Quality Christian eBooks!

Checkout Quality Christian eBooks for some great free downloads! www.qualitychristianebooks.com - Grab 12 free ebooks here: http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/?p=6417