A chance for change in the Daughter of Highland

Change is not as easy to achieve as some of some would like to believe, but Katherine Ramsay is determined to change the course of her life. But which path is right for her; a life of wealth and security, or a life full of love leading into the unknown?

"You can make many plans, but the Lord;s purpose will prevail" Proverbs 19:21

1912 was an interesting year for Katherine, and a most challenging one at that. Back when women could not receive an inheritance, only a dowry for when they wed. If Katherine wanted what she was use to before the events of Governess of Highland Hall then she would have to find a suitor, a wealthy one at that. Or according to her aunt many suitors. But will these masquerades cost Katherine in the end?

Carrie Turansky provided plenty of historical accuracy when she wrote this book, from why young women were presented to the royal family, to the many reasons they fretted over every small detail of their dress and why she must make a good impression when she finally makes her debut into society. I have been curious about such things before and it was fun to find these facts blended into a wonderful story

"Many will say they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly reliable?" Proverbs 20:6

It's sometimes hard to tell in this broken world what is fake and what is real. We rely on what people say, and how they act in the good times, but what about the bad times? Are you shunned, left in the cold? Or do they stay and pray for you? Carrie Turansky put Katherin's suitors to this test, and it kind of reminded me of the song Princes and Frogs by Superchick. Especially the one part of the song.

"Look into his eyes. Are you a princess or a fly?" 

An interesting comparison I know.

I should probably stop here before I reveal any spoilers, which would be just as bad as shouting from the mountain tops what happens in the future episodes of Downton Abby!

I can't wait for the next book in the edwardian brides series; A Refuge in Highland Hall

Coming out October 20th 2015

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange of an honest review, which I have given.

A Princess Spy review

A new suitor and a shocking discovery is what we find in Melanie Dickerson's retelling of the Princess and the Frog

"In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the gift of prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly" Romans 12:6-8

Finding our place in life, let alone the partner God has chosen for is, is a harder task then most would think. Margaretha has a talent for speaking in a different languages, for being kind, compassionate, and rising to any challenges thrown her way. But like all of us she has her insecurities. In her mind the one fatal flaw is that she talks too much, and she can't seem to live it down.

When a handsome young man is brought to Hagenheim Castle on the brink of death, and only Margaretha can understand his ranting about an evil Lord Claybrook, she must step into the role of a spy.

"Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say "I will take revenge; I will pay them back," Says the Lord" Romans 12:19

Collin struggles with finding the line between justice and revenge in this book when his sister's best friend is murdered, and he chases after the man he believes to have committed the crime, leaving all sense to the wind. While in pursuit of this killer his best friend is murdered. Who wouldn't want revenge on such a wicked man? How can we define the difference between wanting to stop an evil man and seeking our own kind of vengeance?

I like how Melanie focus' a little more on what God wants of us, and even in our flawed shells that we are beautiful to Him. In some of her previous books I feel it is put to the back burner. She also makes her characters relatable to the modern day crowd while keeping in tune with the time era these books take placed in.

Now to fully understand the book and all its characters you will have to read at least two or three of the books before it, and in a certain order.



Start from:

Merchant's daughter

Healer's Apprentice

Fairest Beauty

Captive Maiden


You don't HAVE to read Merchant's Daughter or Healer's apprentice, but it does make the little hints of the past throughout the books more enjoyable.

So in the end I look forward to reading more of Melanie's work and hope that a new book comes out soon!




I received this book for free from BookLook in exchange for an honest review, which I have given.

Miracles in the dry season, and how they can change you

Forgiveness is something we all crave. Sometimes it is offered freely, while other times people withhold it from us causing further harm. In this book we see the all healing power of Christ's forgiveness in and awe inspiring tale of a man, a woman, and a small town waiting for a miracle in a dry season.

It's 1954 and Perla Long's arrival in the sleepy town of Wise, West Virginia, was supposed to go unnoticed. She just wants a quiet, safe place for her and her daughter, Sadie, where the mistakes of her past can stay hidden. But then drought comes to Wise, and Perla is pulled into the turmoil of a town desperately in need of a miracle. But with a little girl in tow and no husband at her side rumors spread faster then wildfire and it makes things that much harder for Perla to pick up the pieces of her life.

In so many cases people judge a person only by one big mistake, and that person feels forever tainted by it. Back in the 1900's having a child out of wedlock is a much bigger deal then it is today, and few people ever let it go. This is what makes Christ's forgiveness so important in our lives.

Casewell never imagined getting involved with a woman like Perla, or her daughter capturing his heart. Perla tells him the truth about what happened at a surprisingly early in the book, which took me off guard. Few let out the secrets of their character's past early in the book, but I think Sarah Tomas was trying not to put so much focus on figuring out the past and more on the redemption of the people in the small town of Wise, and how a special gift from God helped them in a horrible drought.

I can't give you much that will put into words how wonderful a book this is, but I will give you all a verse that fits this book.

"though we are overwhelmed by sin, You forgive them all" Psalm 63:3 NLT

I received this book in exchange for an honest review, which I have given

A marriage of the most inconvenient kind

Abigail Stuart thought she was Jeremiah Calhaun's widow, but Jeremiah is still very handsome, very much alive, and very perplexed. A most inconvenient thing indeed!

It wasn't until a reached the end the end of this book that I noticed just who the author was and that I had actually reviewed her book Caught in the Middle. Now after reading two of her books I am a loyal fan, looking forward what will come next from her pen.

A tale woven with this much love and humor, with a good dash of chaos thrown in between, is a story worth high praise.

We can all imagine the civil war a brutal battle of our nation's past, but what about when it was over? what about all the men and women trying to deal with the aftermath? Were all hostilities put aside? No. Abigail had to work past the hard feelings felt towards her, all because she was born in the north. Jeremiah was also guilty of this a time or two.

We all feel protectiveness for the people we love. Our families most time reach the top of this list of people we feel we must protect at all costs, be they related by the blood of Christ or the blood of man. They are the most important people in our lives, but I have learned for myself that even family can have the ability to hurt you, even if they are only trying to protect you from harm. Regina Jennings displayed this kind of hurt and the after effects of it with Abigail and her family, and between Jeremiah and his younger sister Rachel.

I enjoyed all the little sayings Regina put in the book. Being a girl from the south myself I know and use many of them myself, it was such a pleasure to see something from my roots to be put into ink and paper.

I can't think of more to say about this book without giving too much of it away for any future readers, and this book is too good to leave spoilers in this review! So pick up a copy at your library or bookstore and enjoy!

I received this book free in exchange for an honest review which I have given

A bride in store...not as good as seen on cover

It's been far too long since I last posted a review and I hope I have not kept y'all waiting!

A Bride in Store sounded like a great book from what I read in the preview and on the back of the cover. Stories of mail-order brides have always fascinated me, reminding me a little ways of the old fairytales of princess having a husband chose for them, and fighting to not be wed only to find out he is the prince of your dreams, or sometimes he's not.

The story begins with Eliza Cantrell coming to her new hometown by train. Coming earlier then her future husband had planned, and sadly her train is robbed and she loses all of the dowery she received from her brother. Not a good way to start the day

Now further on from here we meet a lot large variety of characters, some from Melissa Jagears' previous book A Bride for Keeps. These two books do connect so if you plan to read this one get A Bride for Keeps before you even touch the first pages of this one. The story in this book is a good one, a story of beauty, sacrifice, and love. Yet I found writing style of the book monotone. It went on and on and on in the same manor for an uncounted amount of pages, making me feel like I was reading the same scene over again for  and never getting to the point of the story.

As I said before the story itself is good, it's execution is another story, but maybe it's just not my cup of tea. Try it for yourself and form your own opinion of the book, then return here and tell me what you thought of it.

I received this book for free from Bethany house in exchange for an honest review, which I have given

A time for somethin Greater

what do you do when you feel like you have put all your faith in nothing? I had hoped this blog would reach more people and help more grow in their faith, but I barely get four hundred views a month, and even that is a big "IF"

Now I know this is a book review, but what I wrote up there will make sense in just a moment.

As some of you may know I  have ead and reviewed Steven Furtick's book Crash the Chatterbox (click on my Reviews page and follow the link to see it) I thought that was the greatest book I had ever read. But when I requested this book,because I have become a fan of Steven Furtick, I found something Greater.

You wouldn't believe how many times  I cried while reading this book. Not because it's sad (though some parts are) or because it made me feel like a horrible Christian, but  because it's like reading a sermon God had your pastor write just for you. It touches every part of your life, firmly grounded in scripture

.

And the way Steven wrote the book it feels as if he is standing right beside you while he talks to you about his stories, all real life events, and tries to help you make sense of this broken world we liv in. Now he doesn't have all the answers, and he makes sure you know that, but he does his best to hep you out. I also love how he puts little sub chapters in all of his books, perfect for all us late night readers or if you just need to stop for a moment.

Now onto the reason for my rather oddball opening, I think the part that helped me the most from this book was chapter seven: Wasted Faith. In this chapter Seven addresses so many problems I, and probably many others, are struggling with.on a daily bases. For me it's feeling like all my efforts are worth nothing, and no many how much I pray it's never going to get better. But this book heped me look at God's promises and to realize no matter what I feel or what happens my faith is NEVER wasted.

So please next time you go to the bookstore or the library pick up this book and find more then you could have expected.

I received this book for free from the blogging for books program in exchange for an honest review which I have given

A Christian Fantasy that will take the world by Storm

If you are looking for an epic fantasy and christian series that can grip you and your children then look no further then Mary Weber's Storm Siren series

The story takes place in the kingdom of Faelen. In this medieval setting we find our main character, Nym, in a slave market being given up for sale by her latest cruel owner. And whomever buys here this time will become Nym's fourteenth owner. Fourteenth!!! and each slave is given a mark by their new owner, a small circle on the ir arm which is burned into their skin, then filled with a special berry juice to make it permanent.

I could hardly believe my eyes, how could this girl still be sane? well Nym had her ways to deal with not only the constant shift of owners, but also the guilt that would not leave her be.Sadly most of her owners were evil, and her latest one was no different, and Nym's kind, elementals, are suppose to be males only. So Nym shouldn't even have these powers, but she does. What's worse is elementals are suppose to be killed at birth, but Nym has managed to avoid that.

When under pressure we all do things we shouldn't have. Nym couldn't control what happened with her powers, and it ended in a lot of deaths.How can anyone stand that much guilt? Well Mary Weber brought some salutations many modern girls use today. What I found interesting about the book is how Mary infused parts of the Bible into Storm Siren. I won't tell you what parts in hopes you will see them for yourselves. Maybe you will see them right away, or after reading the book like I did!

Another reason why I loved this book so much is Mary Weber that when in war the line between right and wrong blur so heavily that they are nearly impossible to see, and most times people will be hurt, but you can choose not to kill, you can make the right choices even in a war. Nym thought of the foot soldiers who, like her, were just following orders and fighting for their kingdom. It was heart warming at times, heart wrenching other times.

I guess I will leave you with thoughts of this book as a storm pelts my roof with raindrops. May we meet again soon for another review

I received this book free for an honest review which I have given

A review for a witty and charming book

hello everyone, its time for another review, and this one if for a Match of wits by Jen Turano!

now when I requested this book I wasnt sure what to expect. The overview did little justice for this treasure of a book.

The story starts out in a rather humorous....with a pig ready to charge at our main character, Agatha. And this takes place in a hotel, mind you.

This scene had to be the best throughout the book, I didn't see it coming, and I actually thought the book was going to be boring, I was sooo wrong! I guess I should remember this verse next time

"look beneath the surface, so you can judge correctly" John 7:24

Now for our male lead, Zayne (I love that name) he had a pretty bumpy start in this story, nor did he make the greatest impression upon seeing Agatha for first time in years, but the man had a lot still left on his shoulder, and he had given up on his faith in God, feeling he had been abandonded by Him. The book had the right balance of humor, love, and all wrapped up in some rather odd situations.

There are quite a few characters I would love to see made into books, such as Mary and her sisters and Mr. Blackheart and Drusilla. I would be so happy to see more books to this series, but sadly I believe this was the last book. Oh well, I plan to read the others as soon as I can get my hands on them

Giveaway Winner!

Hi everyone, I'm here to say a winner has been chosen for the Through the Deep Waters Giveaway I had the honor of doing last month. The book should already be on its way to the winner, Iliana, and I hope she enjoys the book as much as I did. I am sad to say that there wasn't very many entries in my giveaway so I am unsure if Blogging for Books will ask me to do another one. If they do then great, if not then I had the blessing of helping pass on a wonderful book to some lucky person!

Good night and have a Blessed evening!

Computer blues :(

Hello everyone! I am coming to you live from my moblie blogger app. Sad to say that my computer is having a problem with plugging in and getting a charge. So until that is fixed I will be writing all posts and reviews from my Android smartphone. Hopefully I will be posting my next review, and perhaps pictures of my latest Crochet creations!
Thank you any and all viewers for waiting this long, and have a blessed evening.