The 13th Gift A True Story of a Christmas Miracle

The 13th Gift: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I first picked up this book, a friend was currently reading it. I didn't realize until we talked that it was based on the author's true loss of her husband several months before Christmas. The Smith family was falling apart and becoming disconnected from grief, when an anonymous donor dropped the first gift of Christmas, a poinsettia, on their front stoop. At first the author is irritated with the gift, thinking it as an intrusion, but then the next day a second gift arrives and the mystery of the gift giver is questioned - Joanne and her children begin to look forward to each day and what it brings.

A book of anguish and grief that takes a 180 turn for hope...

View all my reviews

I'll Be Seeing You

I'll Be Seeing You by Suzanne Hayes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rita Vincenzo and Glory Whitehall have become pen pals..their men are off fighting in World War II. As different as night is to day, Rita and Glory, manage to connect, share, learn, and support each other as only women can do, especially faced with the uncertainties of war..

This wonderful story is told from the correspondence between the two women as the United States enters the war. If you love books set in this particular era, this is a must read. I am looking forward to the two author's new writings...

View all my reviews

A Matter of Heart (Lone Star Brides, #3)

A Matter of Heart by Tracie Peterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jessica Atherton, born into a life of privilege and wealth, has not had to work hard like her mother and father did when they first set up ranching. Spoiled Jess somehow comes round to understanding how self-centered she really was for she has lost all her friends. Trying to break free of her old ways, Jess finds that it's not that easy.



Predictable...

View all my reviews

An Island Christmas

An Island Christmas by Nancy Thayer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jilly can't wait for her daughter, Felicia, to be back for her Nantucket wedding. Nevermind that Jilly doesn't care for Felicia's betrothed, Archie, or the house must be merrily and perfectly decorated for the reception or the cat that she and her husband just adopted will climb the tree. Lots of humor pours forth as Jilly has to lay down her ideas of the dream wedding that she had in mind.

Wonderful reminders to lay down our own "perceptions of a perfect Christmas"...

View all my reviews

All's Fair in Love

All's Fair in Love and Cupcakes by Betsy St. Amant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Kat Varland is more than just chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry! Think more along the lines of gourmet raspberry lemonade torte! But, at Sweetie Pies Bakery, owned by her Aunt Maggie' gourmet is considered weird...and Kat is feeling stifled...by her Aunt and her parents. When her best friend Lucas, signs them for a reality TV cupcake bake-off contest, Kat is ready to reach for her dream!

Humorous and inspirational, without being preachy, All's Fair in Love is a delightful confection...

View all my reviews

All is Bright

Thomas Kinkade's Cape Light: All is Bright by Katherine Spencer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At number 15, the Cape Light series is still going strong. In this book, Reverend Ben is doing some reminiscing of days gone by...when he first started preaching at his new church and his daughter Rachel was just a baby. Rachel, now 36 and widowed at 34, is still putting one foot in front of the other, trying to protect her two children from the effects of losing their father. Will she be able to remove the walls she built around them when possible love and hope are peeking in?

These sweet novels remind us of home, faith in humanity and God, and that there is always hope....

View all my reviews

Somewhere in France

Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lady Elizabeth wants more than the stuffy boredom of being an Earl's daughter. Not content to languish doing needlepoint until married off, Elizabeth, on the sly, learns to drive...unheard of for most women in that period..moves out of her family's wealthy home and becomes a clippie. When she finds out from her brother that the War Office is creating new women's corps to ferry officers and supplies, "Lilly" signs up to be an ambulance driver near the Western Front in France. There she confronts the War and the days become a nightmarish blur.

Being born in 1960, when women were fighting for equal pay, it still surprises me how women were kept in the dark about so many things..as if their brains could not fathom the truth...perhaps it was only the wealthy for the poor had too much realism in their face everyday...

Excellent reading guides included..

View all my reviews

A Quilt for Christmas

A Quilt for Christmas by Sandra Dallas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Eliza Spooner is running the farm alone with her two children. It's 1864 and her husband, Will, has left with many of the men of the area to join up with the Kansas Volunteers, eager to fight for the Union. While he's away, Eliza works on a very special quilt for Will and also quilts with the other war wives left behind. When Eliza is ask to risk her family's safety for the sake of another, Eliza's faith and morals are put to the test.

View all my reviews

A Light in the Wilderness

A Light in the Wilderness by Jane Kirkpatrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Letitia is a freed slave with papers that she keeps keeps hidden for proof. For companion sake and safety, "Tish" sets up housekeeping with Irish Davey Carson. Davey, who loves her in his own way, gets the itch to set out for the Oregon Trail, where he believes Tish will be safer. The two with their good friends and families strike out with death and danger along the way.

Tish's character is fully fleshed out and my heart breaks for her and her several female friends during the long, hard journey. Each woman seems to be at the mercy of their husbands and the time period they lived in.

From Tish: *“Maybe that was what freedom meant, being in a place where one didn’t fear.”

Note: The book is based on the real-life woman Letitia Carson!

View all my reviews

A Moment in Time (Lone Star Brides #2)

A Moment in Time by Tracie Peterson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second book of the series, Lone Star Brides, picks ups with Marty Wythe and Alice Chesterfield becoming closer as economic troubles force them to lose their beautiful home and move into the local orphanage to help. Alice takes a job in a local diner to earn a small income but is threatened once again by Mr. Smith. As things worsen, against Marty's wishes, she and Alice move back to Texas to reunite with Jake, who had left to work as a ranch-hand. Marty fears for Jake's life as her late husband had died from his injuries on the ranch she had sold to her brother and her faith is stretched to the breaking point when he is injured. Alice learns to love the beauty of Texas and starts to have feeling for a new character, neighboring rancher, Robert.

I didn't enjoy book #2 as I did the first in the series. Certain aspects was dragged out too long to make it not work well. I do look forward to book #3 to see if it is an improvement.

View all my reviews

A New York Christmas

A New York Christmas by Anne Perry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Independent, young Jemima Pitt, daughter of London Special Branch policeman Thomas Pitt, is crossing the ocean in 1904 as a companion to "Phinny" Cardew..soon to be married into the wealthy Albright family of New York City. Upon arrival Jemima is told that Phinny's mother, who abandoned her when she was a small child, could possible appear and make a scandal at the high society wedding of the year. Could Jemima help find the woman and steer her clear of the event? Little does Jemima realize that she's being setup and will soon find herself behind bars...


I love these little Christmas morsels and eagerly eat them up way too quickly! Set against the bleak, cold, snowy backdrop of New York City, love and the humanity of man is found again...

View all my reviews

The Mistletoe Promise

The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The holiday season is soon approaching but Elise Dutton carries no excitement for what lies ahead. Guilt-ridden, Elise's past has jaded her to the beauty of Christmas. When a rather handsome stranger from her place of work approaches her with a proposition for the weeks ahead, Elise stiffly agrees with a sense of foreboding. However, the platonic relationship turns out to be fun until someone from her past appears..

*I believe the main goal of Evan's small Christmas novella is for people to stop judging others mistakes...that in reality a person carries so much crippling guilt and self-loathing from serious mistakes in the past...let us who is without sin cast the first stone...

View all my reviews

To Everything a Season

To Everything a Season by Lauraine Snelling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

To everything a season...the little town of Blessing, North Dakota is growing as is the hospital. The hard work Ingeborg, her husband, Norwegian farmer, Haakan Bjorklund and their family have put into the community is showing. The small town is thriving, new shelters must be built for the arriving workers and the new hospital will soon have nurses riding the train in from Chicago. But, with growing towns - new issues also turn up such as crime and differences in faith and worship. Will Blessing be fractured or can the differences be resolved?

One of my very favorite series....

View all my reviews

Different Tides

Different Tides by Janet Woods
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Clementine is an 20 year old orphan who has a heart for little ones so when she is ask to be a governess to two lonely, orphaned children, she jumps at the chance. One of the children is a 5 year old Earl and the other, his 4 year old sister, both fresh from Australia. Both have experienced too much tragedy for being so young and carry the scars of fear. Can Clementine ensure they have a happy childhood...one that she, herself, did not enjoy?

View all my reviews

Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family, and Fowl

Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family, and Fowl by Jase Robertson


Jase Robertson comes across TV as the dry, witty brother of the Robertson's Duck Dynasty clan. If you like the show or are curious about the Robertson family, this is another must read. Younger brother of Alan, but older brother of Willie and Jep, Jase seen his father at his worst, Phil, and forgave him. Throughout the book, his story is told and scripture is quoted. His personal faith and love of family, the land and hunting shine through every chapter.

View all my reviews

Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family, and Fowl

Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family, and Fowl by Jase Robertson


Jase Robertson comes across TV as the dry, witty brother of the Robertson's Duck Dynasty clan. If you like the show or are curious about the Robertson family, this is another must read. Younger brother of Alan, but older brother of Willie and Jep, Jase seen his father at his worst, Phil, and forgave him. Throughout the book, his story is told and scripture is quoted. His personal faith and love of family, the land and hunting shine through every chapter.

View all my reviews

An Invisible Thread

An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny by Laura Schroff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A wonderful, inspirational novel of how one person can make such a difference in a child's life and break the cycle of drugs and poverty. But, to make things even better - the child also saves the adult. A must read...

View all my reviews

The Christmas Light

The Christmas Light by Donna VanLiere
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I look forward to reading Donna VanLiere's Christmas novella each year as we ready ourselves for the holiday/holy days soon approaching. This year's writing focuses on several hurting families in the town of Grandon, who are trying to get back on track and somehow enjoy Christmas. Jennifer De Luca is struggling to uncover the darkness for her six-year-old daughter Avery. Ryan Mazyck and his young daughter, Sophia, are moving for work reasons and are thinking of settling near his Aunt Gloria in Grandon. Sixteen-year-old Kaylee wants to believe that everything will be ok, but right now she can't see it beyond her expanding tummy. Stephen and Lily love their little church, Grandon Community, and are helping prepare for the Christmas Nativity. Each family is brought together by the power of love and faith.

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

View all my reviews

Christmas at Rose Hill Farm

Christmas at Rose Hill Farm: An Amish Love Story by Suzanne Woods Fisher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bess, raised Plain, has never forgotten her first love at fifteen, Billy Lapp. Even years later, as she plans to wed gentle, patient Amos, she finds her mind drifting back to the day he had a terrible argument with his father and brothers and left the farm for good. When a rose rustler is needed to name the lost rose found in the family's greenhouse on Rose Hill Farm, Bess is shocked when Billy arrives from Penn State. Billy keeps up a hard veneer but over time Bess can see it begin to crack and the old Billy begins to appear. Will Amos still be able to claim Bess as his bride by Christmas?

View all my reviews

The Pecan Man

The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Looking back Ora, now in her 80s, decides to set the record straight on what happened back in the summer of 1976...

In 1976, widowed and childless Floridian Ora Lee Beckworth hires a homeless black man, named Eddie, to mow her grass and tinker in her garden - which causes an upheaval both in the community and with her friend and maid, Blanche. Eddie, nicknamed the Pecan Man, lives in a wooded area off of downtown and is not trusted by the white Floridian ladies in her small town. But Ora sees something in Eddie and still does, even when he's charged with killing the police chief's son. Ora also finds out a lot about her own character...

View all my reviews