The Mountain Midwife - Laurie Alice Eakes

The Mountain Midwife – Laurie Alice Eakes

            The Mountain Midwife was a fun book with several twists and turns.  My parents were both from Southeastern Kentucky so I know the topography of this story well.  I understand the twists and turns, meeting cars on narrow roads, and the ‘hillbilly’ accent.

            Following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, Ashley is a midwife.  She sees being only a midwife as somewhat of a shortcoming.  She has put off medical school before, and plans to attend as soon as she can find someone to take over her practice.

            Hunter is a ‘northerner’ from upstate Virginia.  He has had the best of everything in his life from prep school to expensive SUVs.  He learns something about his life and heads to the mountains to see if it is true.

            Obviously, he enlists Ashley’s help and together they go about trying to solve this problem.  I think you will be somewhat surprised on the road it takes to solve the problem.  There are twists and turns just like the mountain roads.

            I hope there is a second book because I would really like to know what happens with Heather.

            I enjoyed reading this book.

**I received this book in exchange for an honest review.**

The Painter's Daughter - Julie Klassen

The Painter’s Daughter – Julie Klassen

Hmmmm….where do I begin?  This is a story full of secrets, and I loved it!  Sophie is the painter’s daughter, an under appreciated painter’s daughter.  Her step-mother is horrible!  I love how Stephen stands up for Sophie to her!  She is left by one brother, Wesley, but is she rescued by the other brother, Stephen? 

Stephen takes Sophie to live with his family, who are not all welcoming of her.  I’m not giving any more details.  Trust me that this story is full of well-developed characters.  There are plot twists and turns.  I admit, I had to flip to the back of the book and “browse” because I just had to find out what might happen.  (Not the last page, but the last part.)  There are some great spiritual references and values in these pages.  Anger.  Jealousy.  Forgiveness.  These are some of the themes I see in The Painter’s Daughter.   I like many books, but I truly LOVED this book!  I had a hard time putting it down.  I stayed up too late reading the next chapter…and then the next!  I put off chores that needed to be done!

**Thank you Bethany House!  I received this book in exchange for an honest review!**

A Season to Wed - Rachel Hauck, Cindy Kirk, and Cheryl Wyatt

A Season to Wed – Rachel Hauck, Cindy Kirk and Cheryl Wyatt

            WHAT A FUN READ!  All three stories are just so fun!  All three novellas, Love at Mistletoe Inn, A Brush with Love, and Serving Up a Sweetheart have women who have some sort of lies they believe about themselves that stem back from high school.  Isn’t it the truth?  Those lies will stick in your head – they will form who you believe you are!  All three of the men in the novellas were just acting like high school boys when they flubbed up years ago.  All three are stories of redemption, letting go of the past, and moving forward in the truth!

            What I loved:

            Love at Mistletoe Inn – I loved the meddling aunt!

            A Brush with Love – I loved this one so much I didn’t love that it ended!  I wanted this to be a full book, not a novella. 

            Serving Up a Sweetheart – This was a novella I read back in the spring.  It was super cute.  I loved how she, Meadow, learned to trust! 

            All in all, three fun novellas!  I highly recommend.  They are like little Hallmark movies!

**I received this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Rising Darkness - Nancy Mehl

Rising Darkness – Nancy Mehl

            Rising Darkness is book number 3 in the Finding Sanctuary series by Nancy Mehl.  Sophie was raised Mennonite in a strict and destructive home.  She has left that home, and is following her dream of becoming an investigative reporter.  She has stepped out of her comfort zone in hopes to become all she wants to be. 

            Sophie follows a lead to solve a cold case….this lead takes her into a different Mennonite town.  Will she solve this cold case?  What will happen to her in the meantime?

            I have never read a book by Nancy Mehl before, and I think starting with book number 3 wasn’t the brightest thing I have ever done.  I liked this book, but I didn’t love it.  I didn’t feel connected with the characters.  I did love the cover art, which is why I chose this book!  Next time, I won’t start with the last book in hopes to connect better with the series!

            Thank you Bethany House for providing this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

Vendetta - Lisa Harris

Vendetta – Lisa Harris

Normally I don’t read books that are suspenseful.  I am of the mind that life is too unpredictable, why would I choose to read something that causes me stress!?!  I am so glad I received this copy to review.  (In exchange for an honest review – Thanks, Revell!)  This is the first book in The Nikki Boyd Files series.  Nikki Boyd’s day off doesn’t end up looking like what she expected!  She should be having fun spending the day with her friend Tyler.  However, she gets called in to work and it changes the course of her week.

Vendetta was full of suspense.  I really didn’t figure out who the ‘bad guy’ was until Nikki did!  The one thing that kind of confused me was the male names: Kyle, Ryan and Tyler.  I don’t know why this bothered me, but it could be that the names are super similar.  I tend to be a little ADD so I found this distracting.

One of the quotes I loved from this book is: “…. sometimes there truly is nothing you can do to change your circumstances.  Sometimes all you can do it hold on for dear life and pray that God will help you find a way through the storm.  Sometimes he shows you a way to escape, and sometimes he walks through the fire with you.  (Here is my favorite part…) But I’m starting to realize that as much as I’ve battled with God, nothing that happens here on this earth changes who God is.”   This quote is just truth – pure truth!

I really did enjoy this book.  Now, I will have to read the next book in the series because a few relationship things weren’t all wrapped up neat and tidy.  I will look FORWARD to the summer of 2016 because that is when the next book comes out.