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A Promise of Love

Posted by html404 on November 5, 2012
in Books, Reviews

I love children (obviously) but I don’t think my love for them would make me want to jump to their aid and marry a man I did not know and who also happened to be their father. Marriage is a life long commitment. But Ingrid did just that in A Promise to Love by Serena B. Miller. It is a heart-warming story of how a kind, loving young girl offers to marry a man named Joshua Hunter, whom she only met once. She does it for the sake of his children, and her initial attraction to him after he saved her from a difficult situation.

Ingrid and her family lived and worked on a farm, so of course I loved the farming aspect of the book because of my own interest.

I bawled like a baby at Ingrid’s child-like ways, like at the dance on page 219 and when she received her gifts. In many ways she’s unassuming, yet she was definitely working hard to capture Joshua’s attention and love. It was very easy to feel Ingrid’s emotions of pain, rejection and anger as Joshua sorted through his own issues. It was heart-wrenching at times to read the beginning account of their marriage.

I loved this story and the grit Ingrid showed and the intertwining of I Corinthians 13. This story is based on the author’s grandmother’s life, which makes is that much more compelling knowing the details are based on real events.

It was interesting how Serena interwove how prevalent abortion was in the 1800’s. So often life for wives and mothers during that time period is painted at “rosey” and hunky-dory. Women were very hard working and the struggles they faced were anything but rosey. A Promise of Love shows the struggle of one woman who had dealt with many losses in her family, which led to emotional disconnect with other people in her life. And it showed the character and strength of yet a completely different woman. It was a striking contrast to how women are usually portrayed in that time period.

A Promise of Love was a refreshing read for me and gets two thumbs up, as it is probably going to be read again and again.

“Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Twice Promised

Posted by html404 on November 4, 2012
in Books, Reviews

The old west has always intrigued me with the pioneers traveling in wagons, leaving comfortable lives for the unknown, the mining towns and even mail-order brides. I don’t think I could have ever been a mail-order bride but I do like to read about them.

Twice Promised is a novel written by Maggie Brendan. It is about two mail order brides who travel to Central City, Colorado to meet their future husbands. They realize upon arriving they are there to meet the same man, Jess Gifford. Unbeknownst to Jess, his dear brother, Zach, corresponded with the two lovely ladies to give him a choice of wives.

The story line kept my attention only because I was interested in finding out who was going to end up with who. Other than that I’ve read far too many novels like this and quite frankly the only new thing was the chaotic unraveling of which mail order bride was going to marry Jess. I hate sounding like a broken record but the information was the same old same old.

I’ve said before that I am a bit of a prude so when the story featured the brides kissing another man other than their intended behind their intended’s backs I couldn’t help but wonder if that would really happen in the old west. I know it can happen, and even to Christians, but I think it’s rare not the norm.

I also think Maggie made the men seem weak, but that’s just my opinion.

What I loved About Twice Promised

I loved the character Granny but her meddlesome ways created some huge problems!

I loved the bear and outhouse scene. 😉

I loved Greta and Cora’s characters, strong, god-fearing women.

Overall, I liked Twice Promise but it’s not likely to be a book I pick up and read again.

“Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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A Farmer’s Daughter

Posted by html404 on October 28, 2012
in Books, Reviews

I love to bake and cook even though I don’t do much of it anymore now that I work nearly full-time – that’s what happens when you have a large family and teen girls. And in our family the boys are even learning to cook. I just put them on lunch duty for the winter. They are doing well….we just have to work on clean up! I have lots of recipe books but tend to use a recipe book my mom used and one that a dear friend wrote out for me as a shower gift. My girls love trying new recipes so I thought they would appreciate a new cookbook A Farmer’s Daughter by Dawn Stoltzfus is a book of yummy recipes from a Mennonite Kitchen.

Peanut and I chose to try French Puff Cinnamon Muffins for the purpose of this review.

They have been our breakfast for the past couple of mornings and are a yummy, albeit sugary treat. Peanut says this recipe doubles well. That’s always a requirement for a good recipe in our house as most normal recipes are too small for our family and we have to double it, sometimes tripling if we want leftovers.

French Puff Cinnamon Muffins

These melt in your mouth. They’re like donuts – without being fried. And so simple to make! Yeah!

1/2 cup white or raw sugar
1/4 cup salted butter, softened
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup flour

Cinnamon mixture:

1/4 cup salted butter
1/2 cup white or raw sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 24 mini muffins cups. Mix sugar, butter, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in milk, and then mix in baking powder and flour until combined. Do not overmix. Fill prepared mini muffin cups about half full and bake until lightly golden, 18-20 minutes.

While muffins are baking, prepare the cinnamon mixture by melting butter. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. When muffins are done, let cool slightly and remove from their cups, then dip each muffin completely in melted butter and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Yields 18-20 mini muffins. Serve warm!

Many recipes include a little note at the bottom from Dawn, like this one:

And Another Thing…And Another Thing…The key is to put these in a mini muffin pan. They are such a fun food and when you bake them in a mini muffin pan you can eat more without feeling guilty.

A Farmer’s Daughter Review

We really liked this recipe. It was super easy to make. We didn’t make them in a mini muffin pan but they still turned out yummy. I like how Dawn includes a note at the bottom of many recipes like the one above.

We are looking forward to trying more recipes from A Farmer’s Daughter, many of which seem like spin offs of the ones we already make, like the hot cocoa recipe, even the French Cinnamon Puff recipe is very similar to a plain muffin we make with strudel topping.

All the recipes seem very straight forward requiring regular ingredients that most American families would have on hand at any given time.

One thing missing from this recipe book is photos, though I realize that many cookbooks do not include photos, I think it is nice when they do.

Two thumbs up from us!

“Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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When a Heart Stops by Lynette Eason

Posted by html404 on October 13, 2012
in Books, Reviews

When a Heart Stops by Lynette Eason is the second book in the Deadly Reunions series. I read the first book too, you can read the review here. As the series title indicates this is a murder mystery novel.

The main character is Serena, a medical examiner (ME). She generously helped a friend and it seemingly comes back to haunt her…by getting her involved in a serial murder mystery. With the help of detectives and a FBI agent, who also happened to be her teen crush, Serena tries to solve the mystery. I anxiously read chapter after chapter trying to figure out who the murderer was….gradually towards the end I had a couple of ideas as to who it was, especially once Lynette revealed a clue.

I really liked the twists and turns of the story and how it kept me guessing. It was really hard to pick out the killer from among all the characters and I found myself trying to recall what the first book was all about to see if there was a connection between characters that would give me the key to cracking the serial murder case.

As the series title indicates, this is a murder mystery novel. The descriptions of the murder victims is dealt with discreetly, yet Ms. Eason definitely does not skirt around other details. There are not gory details. So if you like a nice clean mystery definitely check out this series.

When a Heart Stops gets two thumbs up from me.

“Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Life with Lily By Suzanne Woods Fisher

Posted by html404 on October 6, 2012
in Books, Reviews

I have stated it before but it’s worth stating again, I love books by Suzanne Woods Fisher. She recently came out with a children’s book for ages 8-12 (recommended) but my 13 year old read it. I have it started and will finish it this week. It’s titled, Life with Lily, and is about a little Amish girl and her family.

What I like about it so far is that it kind of reminds me of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s series, Little House on the Prairie, but it’s about an Amish girl. It’s all about family life on the farm….imagine us liking a book like that? 😉

Life with Lily Review by My Daughter

Lily is a really sweet girl.

I loved the grandmother’s lesson on choosing the right friends and the influences they have on you.

I loved her friendship with Trisha. I liked the fact they were kind to Mr. Young even if he wasn’t kind to them. He was a grumpy man.

I thought Lily’s descriptions were very cute, especially the one about her new brother.

I felt very sorry for Levis’ character (he was her cousin) and what the new teacher did to him. I thought the way the parents dealt with it was very smart.

I didn’t really learn anything new because much of what was in the book is what my parents are teaching me or have already told me.

Sounds like Peanut enjoyed Life with Lily by Suzanne Woods Fisher, so it gets a two thumbs up from us!

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Dying To Read

Posted by html404 on August 25, 2012
in Books, Reviews

Are you Dying To Read? Gotta love that book title, eh? Lorena McCourtney has started a new series called The Cate Kinkaid Files and Dying to Read is the first book. After reading it I am already looking forward to the others to come.

Dying to Read is a Christian mystery. The main character, Cate, is at a crossroads in her life after some of life’s most disappointing moments.

I found this book to be entertaining. Lorena definitely kept me guessing and eager to keep reading in order to solve the mystery surrounding Cate’s first assignment as her uncle’s Private Investigator Assistant. I never did solve the mystery and had an ah-ha moment when it was finally revealed.

Though Cate’s character didn’t seem to think very highly of herself. I found her to be strong, not easily swayed and possessed a very good work ethic.

I liked that this book only had a hint of romance. It wasn’t a gory mystery, not that I mind that kind of mystery, but just so you all know. It was mostly about Cate and how she went about trying to solve the mystery and the scrapes she encountered along the way. I can’t say there was anything I didn’t like about it, only that it ended too soon and I want the second book….now!

This was the first book I have read by Lorena McCourtney and Dying to Read made me want to read her other books. It was quite refreshing.

“Available August 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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The Haven by Suzanne Woods Fisher

Posted by html404 on August 21, 2012
in Books, Reviews

It was great to catch up with one of my favorite author’s new release, in The Haven by Suzanne Woods Fisher. It is the second book in The Stoney Ridge Seasons. You may read my review of the first book here.

The family dynamics of the Lapp family is at the heart of what makes this book series so enjoyable. There was one part that I literally laughed out loud (LOL for those not familiar with internet lingo ;)).

Sadie Lapp really grew up in this book and I enjoyed seeing her blossom with strength of character. Like in real life, life’s experiences have a way of making us grow in ways we never thought possible, if we let them.

There are a few things I took away from The Haven:

~ Gossip. It can tear family, friendships and even communities apart if gossips are allowed to spread their rumors and lies. Esther, Gideon, Edith and so many more of the Lapp’s neighbors chose to believe the gossip rather than find out the if the rumors were true or not.

~ Expectations. Sometimes as parents, we have very high expectations and it can cause undue stress on our child and our relationship with them, as was the case with Will and his dad.

~ Love. Gotta have love. Relationships without love are not relationships. If the Knapp family wasn’t fictitious, I would say it was the family love to model after.

~ Forgiveness. This is such a powerful one. Forgiveness can be hard to give out. I appreciated the reminder that our health is affected by not only physical symptoms, but our emotional and mental well-being as well. This was revealed in Esther and Amos.

~ Choices. All choices have consequences. It’s whether or not we move on from the bad ones that will make or break us.

As I said in my review of the first book, I love the Lapp family dynamics. I have always enjoyed learning more about the Amish ever since our family visited Amish Country in Indiana over 10 years ago. I think there is much to learn from them.

The Haven by Suzanne Woods Fisher gets a two thumbs up from me!

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Lethal Legacy

Posted by html404 on August 11, 2012
in Books

I took a break from doing book reviews for a couple months due to not having enough time to read them, but then some interesting titles came through that I had to read! Ever get that bug? I love to read and even though I can use the excuse that reading is my “work” I still suffer from feeling guilty. Ever felt that way? But the pleasure of curling up with a good book usually wins out, eventually.

Anyhoo…on to the book…

Leathal Legacy Review

I have really come to enjoy mystery, crime or suspense fiction. I really like trying to figure out how the plot is going to play out. Irene Hannon has written a series called the Guardians of Justice. I believe I have read one or both of the first two in the series so of course I wanted to read the third and last book, Lethal Legacy.

I loved the main character, Kelly Warren’s, determination. She refused to believe her father committed suicide and displayed persistence in trying to convince the police detectives there was more to her father’s death. I cannot even fathom being able to do that in the midst of grieving, even six months later. Her character definitely lived out the motto, “Never Give Up.”

The detective on the case seemed to have lost his way when he felt God had not answered his prayer the way he wanted Him to. It was a quick reminder to me that God doesn’t always answer my prayers in the way or timing I think He should. His ways and timing are not mine.

One last thought stood out in the book – Relationships are hard work, but in the end it’s always better to mend them before it’s too late and not have to live with regret in the end.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read, which is the kind I reach for when I want to relax. No heavy thoughts for me when I just want to zone out for a little while. For the most part the story kept me guessing. I was kind of surprised when the “mystery” was revealed. The romance part was predictable, but sweet nonetheless. 🙂

Two thumbs up from me!

“This book is available August 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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2 Day Freebie!

Posted by html404 on May 17, 2012
in Books, Deals, Downloads, Ebooks

Get The Keeper FREE!

2 Day FREEBIE!

KINDLE NOOK

TWO DAYS ONLY!

On May 17th and 18th, Revell Books is giving away FREE copies of my new release, The Keeper for Kindle, Nook and other eBook formats!

Pass it on!

And grab a copy for yourself!

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The Discovery Review

Posted by html404 on April 14, 2012
in Books, Reviews

If you are looking to read an intriguing book, The Dicovery by Dan Walsh is one to read. This is a sentimental love story, fictional of course, but sweet with a hint of espionage and the lies that often come with being a spy.

I have to admit that I read all the portions written by the main character’s grandson first before I delved into “the discovery”. Not something I usually do, but for me it set the tone for the whole book.

Most of these books that I have been reviewing are not overtly preachy by any means. The Discovery is another novel that brings the main character back to God through life’s hardships. Most hardships people can relate to, however, the details of “Ben’s” story are hardly normal by any means.

I liked the sacrificial love Ben showed, as well as the lasting love and devotion of a couple in their eighties. I also liked the fact that when the grandfather knew he was dying he spoke to each member of his family about the terms of the will and what to expect; thus eliminating any money wars you often read about or see in the movies!

While the story was a bit surreal at times, it had all the elements of a good book and made me cry too. Two thumbs up from me.

“Available April 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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