Book Review: The Bridesmaid (Beverly Lewis)

When updating my “Book Reviews” tab, I realized that somehow (don’t ask me how!) my review of The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis never got published! I loved this book so how the review never got shared is beyond me….let me remedy that now!

The Bridesmaid is the second book in Beverly Lewis's Home to Hickory Hollow series. This book is special in that we met the main character, Joanna, in the first book in the series, The Fiddler. While the series takes place in a location familiar to readers of other Lewis novels, and while each book can stand alone with its own story, it was really nice to hear Joanna's story, having gotten to know her in the first book.

Joanna Kurtz is the classic story of "always a bridesmaid, never a bride." While she has stood up with many of her friends at the altar, she has never had the opportunity to stand up as a bride.

Joanna meets Eben Troyer, and falls in love. The only problem is Eben lives in Indiana....and his plan to marry Joanna depends on his brother. See, his brother has gone off to the English world, and unless he returns, Eben can't leave his family in Indiana. 

There is also a side story in the book, also focusing on Joanna, on the fact that she is a writer. She writes stories. And that is certainly not encouraged in the Amish community! In fact it is frowned upon.....will it backfire on her? And will Joanna become a bride, finally? You'll have to read to find out.

As usual, I enjoyed this book. Another winning series from Beverly Lewis!

I received this book from Bethany House publishers. The opinions in my review are entirely my own.

Book Review: Courting Cate (Leslie Gould)

I believe that Courting Cate is the first book I've read by Leslie Gould, and I heartily enjoyed it. An Courting Cate tells the story of Cate and her sister Betsy, who live with their father, a widower, on his farm. Betsy is outgoing. Cate, on the other hand? She somewhat resembles her namesake from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
easy read,

The problem is that their father will not let Betsy marry until Cate, the older sister, has married. This would be fine except that, while Betsy has no trouble finding a potential suitor, Cate has lots of trouble. She is not the most agreeable person in the world, and has driven away every possible suitor, for one reason or another.

Then Pete Treger arrives on the scene. Pete is, of course, attracted to Betsy (as is every other bachelor in the area) but once he realizes he is not the only one knocking on Betsy's door, he goes after Cate. Cate, meanwhile, has decided she needs to start finding a man so that poor Betsy can finally get married, too.

Will Cate find love? I'll let you read the book to find that out.

I enjoyed this book. As mentioned previously, it was an easy read....perfect reading material for a rainy day, or a summer day under a nice shade tree. I enjoyed the subtle references to The Taming of the Shrew. I'm eager to try reading some more of Leslie Gould's books.

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House publishers. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Book Review: The Guardian (Beverly Lewis)

Janette Oke is the author who hooked me on Christian Fiction, and Beverly Lewis is the author who hooked me on Amish Fiction. Whenever Beverly Lewis comes out with a new book, I am eager to dig in. The Guardian is the third book in the Home to Hickory Hollow series. While some characters may seem familiar from previous series', the stories and protagonists are brand new. I've enjoyed the entire series, but this post is not to talk about the series as a whole, but rather about The Guardian.

In the book, we meet Maryanna, a young Amish widow, who dotes on her youngest daughter, Sarah. Sarah is a quiet, sweet little girl, spoiled, in many ways. One night while the family is returning home from a function, Sarah falls out of the buggy and it is not until the family returns home that they realize what has happened. The Amish search for her, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, we meet Jodi...a 20-something teacher, who is housesitting for her cousins in Pennsylvania. One day while out on a run, Jodi stumbles upon little Sarah. She returns Sarah to her home, and makes some new friends.

I won't spoil the storyline with more details. I will just say that, as with every other Beverly Lewis book I've ready, I loved this one. The storyline drew me in, and I was transported to Lancaster County. I recommend this book if you are a Beverly Lewis fan, a Christian/Amish Fiction fan, or just want an easy book to read. You don't need to have read the previous two books in the series - each one can easily stand on its own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers (thank you!!!!). The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

January 9, 2013

What better use of paper than as the pages of a book?

#fmsphotoaday #paper #january9 #ilovetoread 

#lovefindsyouseries #startedatworkfinishedbeforebed #secondbookthisyear

Book Review: The Gaither Homecoming Bible

This was supposed to just be a book review. Plain and simple. But I guess it turned into a post with a few memories. I seem to be doing that a lot recently. I'm not sure why. Weird things trigger a waterfall of childhood memories. 

Three short Bible verses as the topic of Sunday's sermon. On comes a wave of memories of memorizing those verses in Awana, followed by memories of adventures with some of my first friends. Pictures in my head of painting nails, playing with dolls, building forts. Remembering how life used to seem frustrating.  So hard to my 8-year-old mind. But yet realizing, looking back, how perfect things really were. Wishing, really wishing, I could go back.

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A discussion of games friends used to play with their siblings. Suddenly I'm transported back to our backyard in California. Running around like a hooligan with my brother. Playing with our new puppy. Turning our garage into a clubhouse. Forgotten times of grand imagination adventures in our yard.

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There are more memories. And someday I'll take the time to tell you some fun stories of my childhood. You may laugh. You may roll your eyes. But for now, here's a few memories, leading up to a book review. I promise this background info really does lead into something. 

This short set of memories. Triggered by a Bible.

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When I was a kid, we had cable TV. We didn't watch a lot of TV. To be perfectly honest with you, the thing I remember watching most as a kid were the tapes where my parents recorded ALF back when it was on TV in the '80s. We watched those episodes over. and over. and over again. But we didn't watch much on TV (or if we did I certainly don't remember it!). Sure, there was Mr. Roger's Neighborhood at lunchtime, followed by Reading Rainbow, and if we were really lucky there would be an episode of Little House on the Prairie in the afternoon. But other than those "childhood staples," the only things I really remember watching on cable TV is The Grand Ole Opry, The Statler Brothers and The Gaither Homecoming Hour on Saturday nights. 

In addition to the shows on TV, my family also had several Gaither Homecoming videos, and we attended multiple Southern Gospel concerts when they were close to our Southern California home. In fact, my family was introduced to Southern Gospel music, and, soon thereafter,, the Gaithers, when a local Southern Gospel group came and sang at our church while on tour when I was probably about 7 years old. We bought one of their tapes, and shortly thereafter we went on a trip back south, and took our tape with us. Whenever I think of that trip I think of that CD and whenever I hear some of the songs off that CD I am instantly transported to our family adventure driving through Tennessee and North Carolina in the fall.

I essentially grew up with Vestal Goodman, Jake Hess and JD Sumner – and the rest of the Homecoming gang. And I thought it was so cool when we went to a concert at a local church where The Nelons were performing, because we watched them perform on one of our Gaither videos – and how cool to get to see some of those same people in person and hear them talking about other members of the Homecoming family! I’m also pretty sure that the first CD I ever bought was a Southern Gospel album (although I couldn’t tell you which one it was).

Of course, as I’ve grown my music selection has also grown and while I don’t listen to much from our Southern Gospel CD collection anymore, and I no longer check to see if any of the Homecoming friends just might be heading our way on tour, I jumped at the opportunity to review The Gaither Homecoming Bible.

The Gaither Homecoming Bible (NKJV) is a beautiful bible. With colorful illustrations on many of its pages, not to mention beautiful pages throughout with stories behind some of your favorite hymns and Gaither songs, it is a true treasure.

Many Homecoming favorites have shared thoughts that are sprinkled all throughout the Bible. The every-encouraging Gloria Gaither has also taken the time to put together some poems and devotions which are interspersed throughout the pages.

I think my favorite "extra" in the Bible are the stories of well-loved hymns, and favorite Gaither songs. You yourself will be inspired as you read about what brought about some classic songs. The songs and their stories are strategically placed throughout the Bible.

The Bible is a beautiful hardbound book with an absolutely beautiful dust jacket. Many of the pages are decorated with beautiful artwork. I was blown away with how beautifully the pages are decorated! There are also inspirational quotes sprinkled amongst the pages of the Bible, and for this girl who loves quotes, this is a great addition!

I will admit that as much as I like this Bible I am going to stick with my ESV MacArthur Study Bible as my primary Bible. However, I think The Gaither Homecoming Bible will be a great addition to my library and I will enjoy pouring through its pages looking at the beautiful pages and being encouraged by all the little "extras" tucked away in the pages of this Bible.

I would recommend this Bible to any Gaither Homecoming fans as well as anyone looking for a beautiful Bible that will become a treasure.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson's BookSneeze program for the opportunity to review this book. I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Books Read in March 2012

Somehow, and I'm not quite sure how, the month of March segued into the month of April without me even realizing it. I mean, I knew that we were writing "4" for the month when writing the date, but for some reason the fact that we did, indeed, change months somehow slipped past me. And that is why I am a whole week late sharing with you my list of books from March. What I hate to admit, however, is that I only read one book in the month of March. I'm not sure why, it just happened that way.

1. Longing (Karen Kingsbury) - 319 p.

Which is a whopping 319 pages during the month of March. And 4947 pages in 2012. I can assure you that April will have a better total, as we are already 8 days in and I've finished two books. *whew*

It Snowed...So I Read...

It snowed today.

Not, like, "sticking to the ground and making it miserable to get around town in" snow, but snow flurries none-the-less. And I admit that I can't say I was excited by the prospect of snow. But those snow flurries convinced me that my errands could wait until tomorrow (when I am hoping it won't be snowing) and today would be better spent reading.

You see, I had the day off today. Perfect!

So that is exactly what I did. I curled up on the couch with a book, stopping a couple times to help my mom make hot cross buns for the Easter breakfast at church, but I curled up and I read pretty much an entire book this afternoon. And it was nice.

I love to read.

Some of you (most of you??) already knew this. . .but in case you didn't, there's the truth. I've been reading lots and lots of books lately. Mostly Christian fiction, and occasionally a sappy book (but a clean sappy book, I assure you), and I love escaping into the world of the fictional characters. I find it relaxing.

Lately I have been escaping to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania through books. I have been reading books by Beverly Lewis and her books center around Amish characters. I am particularly enjoying them because they aren't just your typical fiction book centered in the here-and-now. . .rather, they are centered in a completely different culture than what I am used to, and I have always been fascinated by the Amish, so I find the books interesting. So, today I traveled (in my mind, of course!) to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, into the world of Nellie Fisher in a book called "The Parting." It is the first in a  series, so tomorrow my errands will probably include a stop at the library to pick up Books 2 and 3 so I can see what will happen next.

And if it decides to snow for the rest of the weekend, I just might content myself with curling up on the couch with hot apple cider and a good book, and reading the day away once again.