The story of Highland Hall comes to a close

The Final book has come, I am happy and sad at the same time to see this book series ending. The Governess at Highland Hall was my second review book ever! It’s hard to believe I have been following the author all this time. I look forward to drinking in any novel Carrie Turansky will come up with next.

World War 1 has come knocking at the doors of our beloved family of characters, and while the men go to war the women are encouraged to stay within the safety of highland hall. It’s hard to imagine what all these women must have gone through, their loved ones fighting a battle, reports of death and bombings, I don’t think I could have withstood the mental torture of it all. But in this novel amid the war this family leans on God for understanding, something we need to do more often in our own time.

And even with all the worry there is still hope for love. The final daughter Penny is our focus in this book, and I will say no more! This book is too good to spoil much more then what I am giving you right now. If you are waiting to get the last book, or just looking for a good book series, then hurry to the nearest bookstore or Library and get the Edwardian Brides series!

Laughter, tears, romances and God’s unfailing love and sovereignty all in a Downton Abby setting are ready to show themselves to you in these three amazing books.

And even though all the Edwardian brides books are a splendor to read Governess at Highland Hall will always be my favorite. I will probably be reading it again some time soon.

I cannot praise these books enough, but I will stop my ramblings so y’all can get to reading them yourselves!

Until next times folks, I hope you have a blessed day!

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

5 minutes of Precious Moments

Precious Moments has been fading from the modern world. What a sad state of affairs we’re in to not see these beloved little characters more in our present time. Finding anything Precious Moments related I cannot resist, and this book is no exception!

  

This book will surely become a beloved classic within any family home. With beautiful illustrations done in familiar Precious Moments art style kids will be looking forward to bedtime (Or anytime you choose to read this book) It uses the Kids NKJV of the bible, and has stories from Adam and Eve, to Christ miracles. I won’t spoil all the bible stories it contains, but let’s just say I enjoyed it, and I don’t have kids yet.

It also has a place to put down your child’s handprint, their name, birthday, and even a family tree! If you miss these adorable little boys and girls, and the lessons they teach, then I highly suggest picking up a copy of this book as soon as possible!

Until next time folks, I hope you have a blessed day!

I received this book from the publisher an exchange for an honest review, which I have given

Courage to Dream

In this series we find it's hard to follow one's heart when family expectations gets in the middle. Would you have the courage to dream or would you follow the road paved for you?

The story of Irish Meadows focuses on two sisters Brianna and Colleen O'Leary. It's hard being in a place where you feel so loved, but then you don't fit in (Trust me I know) and that appears to be the case with these girls. Each sister has their own secret longing to hide from their father, and with his strict code of conduct for how ladies should behave makes things only harder on them.

I have to wonder how many times we put our hopes, our dreams, and our future happiness onto other people? It is a scary thing to think about in a ways. Imagine all that pressure on one, or even two, set of shoulder! Trying to carry all of that around on their own when their heart cries out for rest.

I am thankful for the many bible verses that say we can give it all to God and rest in His embrace, like this one.

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." 1 Peter 5:7 NLT 

I am sorry this won't be a longer review, but I don't want to spoil much for you folks this time. I suggest taking a look at the book to see if it can help you in ways it helped me.

That's all for now. I hope y'all have a blessed day and a Marry Christmas!

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

A girl with a Golden Braid

Melanie Dickerson once again brings us a novel that will bring you back to a time knights, dukes, and the true love God has for all His children.

The story of Repunzel has grown in popularity in the last few years (Such as Disney's retelling Tangled, and Alex Flinn's retelling Towering) I think this is because in some way everyone feels trapped in their lives, weather is is emotionally or physically. 

In this story though Repunzel is the outcast due to the efforts of her mother, Gothel. She has tried to instill into Repunzel that all men are cruel and only interested her beauty, then they would leave her as used goods. It was saddening in a way to see Gothel in this light, with a pain so obvious it was in almost her every move. I wonder where Melanie gets these ideas for her characters, and how she is able to give her latest villain a depth of pain that can be felt across the pages.

Another thing I loved was how each character was relatable in some way. Sir Gerek's plans were to marry into wealth, finding a girl with land and a suitable dowery. Repunzel did not fit his criteria. How often do God's plans do not aline with our own? We like to think we know what is best, but every time God has something even better planned. It makes me think of this verse.

"There are many plans in a man’s heart,

Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand." Proverbs 19:21 NKJV

Having Repunzel be an outsider among the places she lived gave me a bond to her, and I think to many others. I always felt like I was on the outside looking in, and to remove the ache from my heart I wanted to learn all that I could. And this is what Repunzel did. At the time her greatest wish was to learn to read. Back in this day and age the only women to really learn to read were the children of the wealthy, so finding a teacher that is not a man would not be easy. Aaahh the humorous turns these story takes, for none other then the grumpy Sir Gerek (who saved Repunzel, who then later down the road saved him) would be her reluctant teacher.

This book also coincides with the events of The Princess Spy, and continues onward after those events. So if you want to read this one I suggest reading the previous one, though you don't have to. Also an interesting note is that it seems Melanie Dickerson has moved over to Tomas Nelson publishings instead of Zondervan, anyone have any thoughts on this?

Anyways, back to the book review. Secrets and wicked plots abound in this book, finding ways to make a more interesting plot and helping our beloved characters to trust in God's sovereign hand. There was a time in the book I feared the worst, but I won't tell you what happened, good or bad. This is too good of a book to spoil. If you haven't picked up any of Melanie Dickerson's books I suggest doing so now! If you want to know where to start in this book series you can check out my review for The Princess Spy on my blog.

Well folks that is all I have for today, I hope you have a blessed day and tune in for my next review.

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

Legs on Fire

 For today’s post I bring you My Legs are on Fire by Samuel Faulk.

This isn’t my normal Christian fiction reviews, nor is this book from a review program; this is a normal fiction/memoir/poetry (covers a broad area of subjects for just 17 pages, doesn’t it?). This book does have some language in it; so if you are not over the age of 18, talk to your parents before reading this book.

We’ll start with the fiction part first. It is focused on a high school girl with cerebral palsy, a physical impairment that affects the muscles in her arms and legs. Adding on the struggles and strife modern high schools put on to teenagers, especially ones with a handicap. What makes this story special is our main character, Phoebe Razek, and her goal to be apart of the track team.

I was inspired by this young woman's aspirations. She wanted to do something the entire world said was impossible for her to achieve. The story flowed smoothly, and I feel would relate to teenagers on the same level as 13 Reasons Why, by Jay Asher.

The next part to review is the memoir. As you can guess this section goes over some events in the life of Samuel Faulk, and the struggles he survived throughout his life. I have only read one other memoir besides this one, and that was back in 2012, but this one had the same impact on me. 

Seeing someone on the outside as you walk by, you can never know his or her full story. What trials have they faced? What kind of jokes and humor do they share with friends and family? And how do they get through the day? Reading this short memoir was like being able to look into the eyes of that person and to see important moments of their lives, ones that are not easily described. 

And here comes the poetry! One of my favorite things about this book. This author has a talent for poetry, for I have been honored to read some of his other works besides these two poems. These two are very clear, and flow well in their parts. 

There is no need for extensive poetry study before you read these. Not to say they are dumb or silly, just that when you read them you will have no trouble hearing the  written words in your mind flow together into symphony.

The last section is this book is a bonus called "The Confessions of a Pyromaniac". This one was a little oddball, but it does help bring the title "My legs are Fire" into full circle. No he did not set himself on fire, but the author expresses his passions for fire, and fireworks. An interesting piece, but I might put a warning label with it that says, "Do not try attempt any of this". But it was still a good read.

All in all I did enjoy the book, minus the language. If this sounds like a book for you then follow the link below

My Legs are on Fire

Well, that's all for today folks. Kaitlyn W. signing off, I hope you have a blessed day

who said Chivalry is dead?

Taking place shortly after the events of Dina  L. Sleiman’s previous book Dauntless we meet young Gwendolyn a woman setting her heart out on being a knight, and proving she is more then just another helpless female.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from Chivalrous since I have not read Dauntless, and in truth I thought it might be another somewhat unrealistic book where a girl becomes a knight and all her dreams come true. I won’t spoil things for you, but Chivalrous is so much better then that.

Gwendolyn has to battle more then just the constant reminder that for her time skills such as fighting and horseback riding are deemed unladylike and would bring shame to a family if that girl is ever caught. Her father, a cruel and unjust man, would see her married to a man who could break her very spirit.

I found that Gwendolyn is a very relatable character for any girl. In this day and age marriage is almost always looked on unfavorable and isn’t really encouraged anymore, to the point that girls get the wrong impression about marriage. Instead of seeing it for the beautiful commitment to one another under the power of God they see it as a ball and chain, or sometimes a prison depending on the examples of marriage that have been shown to them. This was the view Gwendolyn had of marriage and vowed never to go into marriage, no matter the costs.

Gwendolyn also had another relatable thing to just about anyone; the desire to be loved for who you are, not for what people want you to be. I struggle with this too, and seeing a character have to deal with the same things I have to in a setting where myth and knights was even more amazing.

This book is not only about Gwendolyn though, there are so many supporting characters I have come to know and love, to watch them grow and make their choices was amazing. Another amazing thing to watch was the change in Gwendolyn. Some think the changes made by God are wrong, that it makes you someone too different then who you want to be, but this book showed that the changes that God makes to make you a new person are not so drastic, and that He is making you the person you were always meant to be, the better person you could not be with sin controlling your life.

I would recommend this book to EVERYONE, and I want to read Dauntless even more now. I hope that Dina will make more books, if she continues with this series or not I will look forward to any work by her.

Well until next time folks, Kaitlyn W. signing out. I hope you have a blessed day.

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