AN OLD-FASHIONED ROMANCE by Marcia Lynn McClure

There are some books that as soon as you start to read them you know you are just going to have to keep reading until you finish; this was one of those books for me. It was a delightful story, just like the title says, "an old-fashioned romance". I loved it!! I liked all the characters in the story and found myself smiling and laughing whenever the "girlfriends" got together, and goosebumps on the arms when Reese and Breck get together. There was very little suspense, no danger or intrigue, just a wonderfully written lighthearted and fun romance.

Breck McCall finds herself trying to be content working in the city, and one of the ways that is helping her is working for her boss, Reese Thatcher. He is a "dream come true" in her eyes, a handsome man who is a gentleman in the true sense of the word. She also has her girlfriends who she hangs out with and boy do they have fun when they get together. So her girlfriends throw her a birthday party and get Breck's boss to help out. From then on the situation between Breck and Reese get unbelieveable good. You have to appreciate Reese and his way of embarrassing Breck at times; and his family that lives "down on the farm" is a special group of folks too. I found myself picturing the scenes at Thanksgiving and Christmas and realized that it was a description that hopefully can be written by alot of people as it was very real to life. I also liked the fact that though there was an obvious affection for each other and alot of kissing at times, the author keeps it all above board and decent. Thank you Marcia McClure for that! I have read several other books by this author and have enjoyed them all, but this was one of my favorites!

CRIMSON ROSES by Grace Livingston Hill

There is just something about Grace Livingston Hill's stories that I find refreshing to read. Maybe it is the obvious good versus evil theme in her books. This story was about Marion Warren, a lonely but brave young woman who has lost her father and the inheritance and is living on her own. She has a secret admirer and is becoming friends with a handsome young man, but there are always those who want to put you down and make you feel unworthy. But God is faithful and loving and kind and takes care of Marion in ways only He can. There is good in the world and Marion tries to see it in every aspect of her life and it was good to see how she reaches out to everyone, and tries to befriend them. I came away from reading this story uplifted and wanting to be more like the character Marion!

FAITH'S REWARD by Tammy Barley

This was a good ending to this series and brought together the hidden plot of who was after Jessica (Hale) Bennett throughout this series. I enjoyed the love Jess and Jake have had for each other throughout the book and series. They had a love that wasn't without hardships, misunderstandings and sorrows, but it was strong and enduring and they both kept their faith in God real to them both. It was a love you knew would withstand the tests of time. I also enjoyed the loyalty you see in their ranch hands and folks. They were a family. Although Jessica's "premonitions" were a little hard to accept, they did keep you wondering how and when they were going to happen.

Jess and Jake are still trying to keep the horse ranch going amidst all the trials that keep coming their way. They find themselves having to part company for awhile to find out who has taken Jess's rightful inheritance and who is targeting Southerners even though the war is over. Both are in dangerous situations. I am not sure I felt the timing was right for these activities. It seemed to me that Jess and Jake might have waited, as I have a hard time with her taking the chances she took being so far along in a pregnancy they both have wanted for awhile. The ending though was good and a little surprising and this is a series I highly recommend reading.

THE COUNTRY HOUSE COURTSHIP by Linore Rose Burkard

Although you could read this story as a stand alone, I recommend you read it as it was written; 3rd in this Regency series. It will help you understand the background of the characters so much more if you read them in the order they were written. My favorite of the 3 stories was the second book.

This is the story of Ariana's sister, Beatrice Forsythe and is set in England in 1818. Beatrice has seen her sister marry Mr. Phillip Mornay and step into the "high society" with a country estate and a town house in London, and Beatrice now dreams of finding a man she can marry that can give her all those "things". She finds herself drawn though to the new curate (the clergyman) in the area, Mr. O'Brien (which you will have met in the previous story), and she also finds herself falling for Mr. Barton who had just moved into the estate next to her sister. Beatrice must decide what she really wants and values in a husband and real character is revealed when her sister falls deathly ill.

This was a pleasant book to read, but not a "can't put down page turner" for me. It helped me understand the customs and way of things in this time period and had some drama and suspense in it. I liked how it kept the other characters from the previous stories as central characters in this book also. It was not a "fast-paced" book, but I felt life in England at that time was not a "fast-paced" lifestyle. It was a nice conclusion to this trilogy.

Because He Loves Me by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

I am so glad I read this book, and feel I should go back and read it again. A sign of a good devotional book for me is all the highlighting and underlining I do when I read it, and this has alot of that in it when I finished. It is a book written "believing that a heartfult desire to live a godly life flows from recognizing how you've been loved and transformed through Christ. Fitzpatrick seeks to help you embrace and apply God's love in every area of your everday life." (a quote on the inside jacket of this book).

Sometimes as believers we get focused on our outward behaviors and appearances and forget that it is Christ ALONE who defines everything we are and ever will be; he is our life and our identity as it is so beautifully written about in this book. Elyse writes, "In our desire to live the Christian life, most of us have simply left Jesus behind". We need to go back to the cross and the gospel and see God's love and make sure "he is the suprememly honored center of our being"; do I see Him as the person who my life orbits around? I was reminded of so much of what I have in Christ and it was a blessing for me to read this book and be reminded of how God's love can, does and will transform my life if I just stay focused on Him. I hope everyone will want to get this book and read it!

BEYOND EVER AFTER by Carie Lawson

Okay, I just finished this story and words cannot fully express the emotions I felt reading this story!! This is the 3rd story in this series and Carie Lawson just seems to get better and better (which is hard to believe because her 1st two books in this series were great!).

This story is about Haven (McCord) Castlin and her husband Brody. They are two people that have loved each other for a long time, but have a hard time showing their love and expressing it well to each other. Brody has grown up around the McCord family and fell in love with them all. He thinks he could never be deserving of dating, much less marrying Haven. So when their "courtship" gets out of hand and the wedding takes place there are already issues they need to discuss and share, but neither one of them seem very good at this. When Haven decides to go on a mission trip to Africa, Brody must go with her to protect her. There, away from family and old wounds, they discover one another again. But it is shortlived when Brody sends Haven home without him.

This was just a open honest look at a couple who wanted to love each other, but couldn't open up and be honest with each other. Honest communication without anger and hostility was hard to come by for these two. My heart went out to them so many times. I loved them both and saw each of their flaws and each of the strengths. I could not stop thinking of the story even when I wasn't reading it. It was a page turner and a book I could hardly put down until I finished. I can't imagine anyone not falling in love with these characters and cheering them on to the end!

HOPE'S PROMISE by Tammy Barley

This was another good story in the Sierra Chronicles and I highly recommend you read book one first as you get to know the people and the background of the characters in book 2. Jake Bennett is married to Jessica Hale now and the love they share is unconditional. Jessica tries to hold back her disappointment in not being able to bear children from Jake and Jake holds back his worry that life is too hard on the drought striken ranch for Jessica to want to stay and love the place as much as he does. They both are trying to protect each other from the dangers they keep encountering and protect their Paiute Indian friends, and their horse herd. Someone is out to harm Jessica and you really aren't sure who till the very end. This was a story of love. It wasn't a story of who will end up with who, but of how much two people care for each other and how much they want to be there for each other through thick and thin. I enjoyed the message behind the story.

FORBIDDEN by Wilma Wall

This was a very good story of how difficult life must have been for the Japanese-American people after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the war that followed. It read almost like a true story and at the end I even went back to the acknowledgments at the beginning to make sure it was fiction. Very well written.

Annie Penner and Donald Nakamura have met in college and both feel an attachment to each other. Annie is a Mennonite and they don't believe in war and you marry "your own kind". So when Donald, a Japanese-American, is sent away to the internment camps she looses touch with him finally, but never forgets him. When the war is over Donald returns to his town as an American war hero, but folks only see him as a "jap". Annie and Donald find themselves in love with each other, but they struggle with prejudices, two different cultures and unjust laws. Their faith in a God who can work all things out though doesn't waver and they see God change hearts. A beautiful story of taking what was forbidden and seeing God prove Himself faithful. I feel I learned alot about the cultures of both families and the hard times it was for everyone during and after the war.

NO SAFE HAVEN by Kimberley and Kayla R. Woodhouse

First off I want to thank LibraryThing Early Reviewers for sending me this book to review and secondly I want to give a BIG 2 thumbs up to the Woodhouse mother/daughter team for writing such a good, exciting and Christ-centered book!!! I will look forward to reading your next book when it comes out, so keep up your excellent work!

Janna and Andie TIkaani-Gray are trying to make a fresh start after losing their husband/dad in a terrible car accident. But things start to go terribly wrong when on a small plane flying home to Alaska their loyal pilot seeks to sabotage their small plane. If not for the passenger riding along next to the pilot, no one would probably have lived. But because of Cole Maddox, the last-minute passenger, they are alive and stranded on the top of a remote mountain with a winter storm headed their way and possibly more men out to kill the two ladies. Cole seems to know what is going on, but can they really trust him with their lives? And why are there people who are after Jenna and Andie??

I liked so many things about this story. I liked the way it kept the time and place and the thoughts of each character in short segments throughout the story. I liked the "spunk" that little Andie had and her trusting nature, her love for people and concern for their eternal abode. She was a young girl who had alot she could have complained about and been angry about, but she had a beautiful way of trusting God and being happy with who she was. I also liked the way this family had an impact on Cole and the struggles he had and how you could understand where these people were coming from and went through their struggles with them.

There was alot of action, adventure, suspense and I liked the way Colleen Coble summarized this book, it is "a nail-biting delight of a romantic suspense novel. I think that really sums up what you will find when you read this story. It was hard for me to put this book down, so block out some time to enjoy!

ASSIGNMENT:BODYGUARD by Lenora Worth

This is another good story in the CHAIM series. Although you could easily read this story as a stand-alone book, there are references to characters and situations from other stories in the series. I was a a predictable story line, but what girl doesn't like reading about being protected by a handsome English CHAIM agent.

Kit Atkins needs protection since she has lost her husband and is getting threats on her life. Shane is the man for the job. But Kit has a hard time doing what she is told and Shane has a hard time only seeing her as an assignment. Somehow her enemies keep finding them (even at Shane's remote ranch in Texas), and although Shane has an idea who the "bad guy" is, Kit would never believe him because this person is to Kit a true friend. There is intrigue, suspense, danger with alot of romance mingled in and since it is a short read it is a nice book to pick up in an evening and instead of watching a movie, read this book!