Love at Any Cost

Back Cover

 

He’s looking to take care of his family.  She’s looking to take care of her heart. 
Trouble is…love’s looking to take care of them both.

 

Cassidy McClare is a spunky Texas oil heiress without a fortune who would just as soon hogtie a man as look at him.  Jilted by a fortune hunter, Cassidy travels west hoping a summer visit with her wealthy cousins in San Francisco will help her forget her heartache.  But no sooner is she settled in beautiful California than Jamie McKenna, a handsome pauper looking to marry well, captures her heart.  Can love prevail when Jamie discovers that Cassidy is poorer than he is?  And can Cassidy ever learn to fully trust her heart to a man?

 

Review

 

My sister has been bugging me for a long time now to read a Julie Lessman book, praising Lessman’s writing to the ninth degree, as if her words were absolutely golden.  She owns Julie’s first series, “Daughters of Boston”.  The little minx even “stole” this book from me and devoured it before I had a chance to read one word.  I just haven’t had the opportunity until now to read one of Ms. Lessman’s creations, and now, I wish I hadn’t waited so long.

 

I really don’t have anything bad to say about this novel!  It had all the right elements: passionate (but CLEAN) romance, fantastic dialogue with a wonderful story, and chock full of interesting characters.  It was one of those hard-to-put-down-just-one-more-chapter kind of book.  If you’ve never read a Julie Lessman book, you’re definitely missing out.  Needless to say, I think I will be “borrowing” some particular books from my sister’s collection in the near future...

 

 

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Taylor's Gift

 

Back Cover

 

It was the last run of their first day on the slopes, the beginning of another great family vacation for Todd and Tara Storch and their three children.  But when thirteen-year-old Taylor`s life was tragically cut short in a skiing accident, the Storches were overcome by the devastating loss of their daughter.  Still in shock, they were asked a question no parents ever think they will hear: “Would you  be willing to donate Taylor’s organs?”

 

Their answer would change their family’s lives forever and provide comfort during their darkest moments.  It would also save the lives of five desperate people anxiously waiting for a heart, a liver, a cornea, a pancreas, and a kidney.

 

Review

 

Taylor’s Gift is a heart-rending, and at times difficult, book to read.  It is a true story of a family grappling with the terrible loss of their daughter, sister, at the young age of 13 years old.  They say one of the greatest losses is that of a child, and no parent should ever have to bury their child.  But the Storches had to do the unthinkable. 

 

It is hard to believe that there could be any good that comes from the death of a thirteen year old girl, brimming with life and happiness, and who brought joy to every life she touched.  But as God promises “all things will work together for good to those that love God and those who are the called according to His purpose”, through the Storches’ loss, heartbreak, and emptiness, emerges a story of hope, healing, and even life.  One of Taylor’s dreams was to help people, and through her passing, she was able to help five different individuals with different health concerns – some of them would have been terminal without the gifts Taylor gave them. 

 

Taylor never knew how big of an impact she would leave.  Through her, lives were changed.  It was this that gave the Storches strength and healing through this horrific tragedy.  Knowing that their daughter’s passing saved lives and made lives better helped them.  It also sprung a new organ donation foundation that in and of itself has been saving even more lives. 

 

Full of raw emotion, Taylor’s Gift will undoubtedly leave an impression on every heart who reads this story.  It was encouraging to see a family pull together to lean on God first, and then each other, and then change an awful tragedy around to work good from it.  The Storches have my highest respect and I can only pray that God will continue to bless the work they are doing, and more awareness is raised for organ donation.  Please be sure to look into organ donation – you could save a life.

 

 

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Unrivaled

Back Cover

 

Falling in love

could be a recipe for disaster...

 

Lucy Kendall returns from a tour of the Continent, her luggage filled with the latest fashions and a mind fired by inspiration.  After tasting Europe’s best confections, she’s sure she’ll come up with a recipe that will save her father’s struggling candy business and reverse their fortunes.  But she soon discovers that their biggest competitor, the cheat who swindled her father out of his prize recipe, has now hired a promotions manager—a cocky, handsome out-of-towner who gets under Lucy’s skin.

 

Charlie Clarke’s new role at Standard Manufacturing is the chance of a lifetime.  He can put some rough times behind him and reconnect with the father he’s never known.  The one thing he never counted on, however, was tenacious Lucy Kendall.  She’s making his work life miserable…and making herself impossible for him to forget.

 

Review

 

Sassy Lucy Kendall has met her match in the unflappable Charlie Clarke.  Both representing rival candy companies, they each try to out-do the other to make their respective businesses prosper.  Charlie has a head for advertising, and pulls out all the stops to make sure Standard Manufacturing’s name is on every child and adult’s lips.  Lucy is determined to come up with the next delicious candy and works furiously at developing the perfect concoction.  However, Lucy surprises herself at the steps she is willing to go to fight back at Standard Manufacturing.   It doesn’t take too long before Lucy is in over her head, and Charlie has absolutely no idea how to handle Lucy.

 

This was a wonderfully witty novel.  The passionate, strong spark between Lucy and Charlie, combined with dialogue full of sass and humour, and a good plot to hold everything together made the story as irresistible as the candy Lucy and Charlie make.  I had the most difficult time putting this book down and will be looking forward to Siri Mitchell’s next delicious creation!

 

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Scent of Lilacs

Back Cover

 

After the summer of 1964,
life for Jocie Brooke will
never be the same.

 

 

Life-changing events rarely happen in quiet Hollyhill, Kentucky, and when they do, they are few and far between.  But for young Jocie Brooke and her family, they happen all at once during the humid summer of 1964.  Though on the surface things are just fine, it seems like everyone in Jocie’s life has something they’re not saying, something they’re hiding from her—and from themselves.  As Jocie digs into her family’s past, she stirs up a whirlwind of discoveries.  Will she find the answers everyone so desperately needs?  Or will her questions lead to truths better left hidden?

 

Combining unforgettable characters, true-to-life struggles, and the perfect dose of humor and nostalgia, this riveting story from bestselling author Ann Gabhart explores the very essence of new life and love.

Review

 

This was an incredibly moving story centered around the “coming of age” of young Jocie Brooke.  Jocie, young and a bit naïve, having lived a fairly sheltered life, is in for a roller-coaster of a summer as one family secret after the other comes to the surface.  It was amazing: just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be another dramatic twist, Ann Gabhart throws out another humdinger. 

 

But the beauty of this story is that it displays the true meaning of family: people pulling together through the ups and downs, encouraging one another, loving one another, and quick to forgive.  I was heartened by the depth of the bond between Jocie and her father.  She looked up to him, he was her hero, and he in return treated her like a princess (but NOT in the spoiled way).  In a world where parents are often torn apart in books and movies, ridiculed, and portrayed as fools and the children are written as spoiled and rebellious, it was lovely to see a strong and good relationship between a parent and child. 

 

And last, but not least, it was encouraging to see the characters leaning on God for the source of their strength, comfort, healing, and peace.  Scent of Lilacs was a beautiful story sure to touch many, many hearts.

 

 

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Les Miserables

 

Back Cover

 

Les Miserables is one of the world’s masterpieces.  It enthralled audiences worldwide as a great novel…as a major motion picture…and as a blockbuster musical play.  Now, this mighty drama has been adapted as an epic production starring some of Britain’s finest actors.  True to Victor Hugo’s original novel, this grand production follows the tale of Jean Valjean as he encounters first the savage injustice of the law, and then the gentleness and grace of God.

 

Review

 

When I was kid, I was obsessed with the Adventures in Odyssey cassettes (yes, cassettes; not CDs, but cassette tapes!).  My siblings and I would listen to them over and over again, in the car, while doing chores, or at night before bed.  They were audio-dramas akin to watching a movie, except you had to paint the images in your own mind.  The stories were always exciting, and you really became attached to all the characters. 

 

Les Miserables brought back all those sweet memories of Adventures in Odyssey.  Focus on the Family did a fabulous job in producing this story into radio drama - I absolutely loved it!  All the actors’ voices were brilliant, and the sound effects effortlessly brought the scenes to life.  And of course, the story itself is AMAZING.  It’s a beautiful story of mercy, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love.  If you haven’t listened to radio theatre before, this would be the perfect one to start with!

 

 

Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this audio-drama in return for an honest review.
 

Firefly Island

 

Back Cover

 

SOMETIMES LOVE TAKES YOU ON AN
AVENTURE COMPLETELY OFF THE MAP

 

Mallory Hale’s life quickly veers off course when she falls hopelessly in love.  After a whirlwind romance, Mallory finds herself leaving the bustle and action of Capitol Hill for the remote town of Moses Lake, Texas—with husband, stepson, and a U-Haul in tow.

 

A sweet, mishap-filled journey into marriage, motherhood, and ranch living ensues, and Mallory is filled with both the wonderment of love and the insecurities of change.  But what she can’t shake is the unease she feels around her husband’s new boss, Jack West.  Jack’s presence—and his mysterious past—set her on edge, and when hints of a scandal emerge, Mallory finds herself seeking answers…and comes to realize that the middle-of-nowhere home she wasn’t sure she wanted is the very place she’ll risk everything to save.

 

Review

 

It only took a few sentences to have me hooked on this book.  Lisa Wingate has a way of grabbing you, and pulling you into her novel, making you a part of the scenes and lives of the characters.  Her writing is impeccable and nearly poetic, as every word could be set to a beat, or a rhythm.  It is something I can’t fully describe, and is completely unlike what I have read before. 

 

Her descriptions are extremely vivid, so you can imagine them in your mind to the smallest detail.  An example is below (found at page 97):

 

“Welcome to Moses Lake!  If you’re lucky enough to be at the lake, you’re lucky enough, the sign at the edge of town read.  Ancient-looking rock pillars supported the weathered wooden timbers, casting a shadow over the words and sheltering a spray of purple wildflowers.  Considering that it had been a fairly mild night, it was hot today.  Downhill from the sign, the waters of Moses Lake glittered in cheery patches between the trees.  Boats crisscrossed the twinkling surface, leaving foamy white trails.  Near the shore, docks of various vintages floated with brightly colored canoes, faded paddle-boats, and pontoon craft tugging at their leashes, eager to be released to the water.”

 

Her characters were rich, and very real.  There were real-life struggles and dramas portrayed throughout the novel, along with the small, sweet success that can be achieved when a family pulls together.  There is also a thread of intrigue woven through the pages, always niggling right below the surface, and never resolved until the final few pages.

 

This was such a beautiful, well-written novel, and I was greatly sorry to see it end.  Without a doubt I will be looking up Lisa Wingate’s other novels, particularly the preceding two novels in the series about Moses Lake, Larkspur Cove and Blue Moon Bay.  I HIGHLY recommend this read!

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Vanished

Back Cover

 

A tenacious reporter.
A skeptical PI.
And a secret that will SHATTER LIVES.

 

Reporter Moira Harrison is lost.  In the dark.  In a thunderstorm.  When a lone figure suddenly appears in the beam of her headlights, Moira slams on her brakes—but it’s too late.  She feels the solid thump against the side of her car before crashing into a tree on the far side of the road.

 

A man opens her door, tells her he saw everything, and promises to call 911.  Then the world fades to black.  When she comes to, she is alone.  No man.  No 911.  No injured person.  But she can’t forget the look of terror she saw on that face in the instant before her headlights swung away.  And she can’t get anyone to believe her story—except maybe the handsome ex-homicide detective turned private eye, who reluctantly agrees to take on the case.

 

As clues begin to surface, it becomes obvious that someone doesn’t want this mystery solved—and will stop at nothing to protect a shocking secret.

 

Review

As the back cover reads, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter, Moira Harrison, is heading back to her hotel on a dark stormy night when she shockingly runs into a woman on the road.  After a witness to the accident assures her he will call for an ambulance and check on the pedestrian Moira struck, Moira falls unconscious.  She wakes up alone, and more confused than ever.  When the police finally arrive, they are skeptical to her story as there is no body or witness(es).  Determined to find out where the woman and man came from (and where they went!), Moira turns to Private Investigator, Cal Burke, for help.

 

The mystery slowly unravels as Moira and Cal run down one lead after the other.  And through their searches, Moira and Cal find themselves drawn to each other in a way they never imagined.  But as the danger level is amped up, it leaves readers wondering:  are Moira and Cal being drawn together only to be drastically separated in their quest for the truth?

Irene Hannon does it again!  She has started off her new series, “Private Justice” with a novel drenched in mystery, suspense and threaded with romance.  The story only shells out one clue at a time to keep you guessing until the end.  The unique and multi-faceted characters flesh out the novel, and are just as interesting as the plot.  I love this new series and will be counting down the days to when the next book is released!

 

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.