Hannah G
Oh, wow, did this book ever freak me out!! The MCs get kidnapped from the heroine's South Carolina home and taken to an island off the Florida coast to be hunted like wildlife!!
I kept being sure something horrid was going to happen to them, as they passed booby traps and pits of spears and ran past arrows being shot...at first this novel is strict thriller. Even when we get to more procedural stuff, you know something terrible is waiting to pounce on them...well, I couldn't put it down. I had my suspects and I stuck to them from the moment I met them, and in the end one of them was the right guy. But it was SSSOOOO creepy that I had to finish it past bedtime, and then left a nightlight on to keep from dreaming about it!
One of Eason's best books.
I was in the mood for something light and innocent, so picked up this story by Margaret Widdemer, a favorite author of mine. I was so surprised and pleased to find that it includes my favorites from "Rose-Garden Husband", Allan and Phyllis Harrington, as major characters. It has delightful nods to fairy-tale lore along the way to young Joy Havenith coming into her true womanhood.
It is difficult to review this without giving away much of the story, but I do love the hero, and you will be sure to root for Joy's success at freedom the whole story.
If you've enjoyed L. M. Montgomery's "The Blue Castle" or Ruth Sawyer's "Seven Miles to Arden", you will probably enjoy this tale and its companion story.
A delightful little gem of a story! Laine is the main POV character, but we get tantalizing snippets of Claudia's as well. Dorothea is a delightful child, the sort you'd want to spend time getting to know. The majority of the story takes place just before Christmas, so it's a fun little tale for getting in the spirit of gift-giving.
Public domain; available free online.
This book is an absolute delight! Strong Rose Mary Alloway, a prop and a cheer to all those around her...she could have let her thirty lonely years sit heavily on her shoulders, but instead she reached out to the good farm folk around her, and they took her into their midst and loved her and let her love them. I want to be like Rose Mary!! :)
This one was just so sweet. It’s definitely one of my favorites of Grace Livingston Hill’s works! Dale is a young woman during the Depression years who is orphaned and making her way in the big city. (Other than the difficulty finding work, the Depression figures very little.) She is facing winter in a cold city when her boss dies and the office is closed up. Since she was boarding in his house, she has to find a new place to live at the same time as her new job. Much of the book goes into her attempts to find permanent work and her life as a single boarder, and the baby mentioned in the book blurb doesn’t appear until about halfway.
I enjoyed Dale as a character and I also enjoyed the clear portrayal of the Gospel (occurring naturally instead of preached in forcibly) in the story. Definitely belongs in the “Christian fiction” section.
Ah, this one gobbled me up and didn't let me go until the end! It is headed straight for my favorites shelf. If the Williamsons hadn't been favorite authors before this book, they certainly would be now. I stayed up until midnight to finish, and I hadn't the heart to resent the 6am alarm this morning because I enjoyed it so much.
Barrie is a young girl of eighteen whose grandmother has kept her extremely sheltered, even from most neighbors. At last she gains entrance to the locked garret and finds all sorts of odd things, resulting in her finding out that her mother is still alive and working as an actress. She quietly resolves to leave the house and go to her mother, and does so that very night. She is attempting to gain a ticket to go to London when she gains the attention of a passing gentleman, Ian Somerled, a painter who has made his own fortune.
Somerled takes her under his wing and into his motor-car, bringing her to a lady friend of his to stay in safety until they find out where her mother actually is. Turns out the lady is about to begin a play in Ediburgh, but is on holiday at the moment; so there is a week that Barrie must wait to go to her mother. It is spent in a motor-car touring through southern Scotland, especially the Border country so famous in literature. Even so, this section of the book is shorter than many of the other Williamson travelogue fiction I've enjoyed in the past.
There are many references to history and to literature in the things they see. There are descriptions of fabled castles, identification of the real that inspired the fictitious scenes, and thoughts about the authors that wrote of them. Authors mentioned include Burns, Carlyle, Scott, and S.R. Crockett—the latter a pleasant surprise, for he is mostly forgotten today, but is one of my favorite authors. Indeed, I'd actually pulled out my copy of "The Raiders" the night before I began reading this book, so it was fascinating to read the story of its scenery in a book that was just ahead of it in my immediate To-Read stack! Of course I am reading it next.
The book builds to a nail-biting climax for Barrie, and just saves itself for a good ending at the absolute last moment. You won't be able to put it down!
Well, there's nothing like being on a ship nearly sunken by sabotage, and having it stranded in a bay with South American cannibals prowling around!
The brave young Captain Courtenay manages by dint of quick thinking and a girl's sincere prayers to help his ship drift past certain wreckage and into a harbor with a semblance of safety...and yet the natives are cannibals all too ready to attack the steamer and carry off its passengers to their dinner pots. Elsie finds herself becoming more and more drawn to this captain's bravery and pluck, even in the face of certain doom. Then there is the spunky dog Joey, who takes a hand in fights more than once to save his master's life at risk of his own.
Underneath it all is the mystery of who sabotaged the ship and why...
I must say, my favorite part was Elsie's adventure with Joey at the very end!
A beautiful story of a writer finding her true calling and of a country professor deciding his career. It’s got a quaint small-town flavor and plenty of heartfelt real-life situations. It’s set just after WW1 as the country gets back on its feet and warriors return to civilian life. Mark hadn’t gone off to war, but Mary had as a war correspondent.
Mary’s journey as a writer is one I honestly think should be recommend reading to just about any writer, especially one considering how Christian faith, morality, and art intersect. Excellent story.
An interesting story about Twiddie, a waif who becomes the life of a farmhouse, and the crippled son of the house, Hugh—evidently his back was broken in a logging accident, and he lies on a bed, helpless, at the age of twenty-three. He journals; she grows up, bringing him to awareness of life beyond his bed. The book is an interesting combination of her life, Hugh's journal, and Twiddie's letters when she is away.
The style of writing is lyrical and heartfelt. A true gem from the past.
4.5 stars
A very enjoyable short read. When Michaela begins to think about moving on after the loss of her husband and daughter in a fire, two men are quite ready to fall in love with her themselves. Trouble is, both are excellent men, and she has a very difficult time deciding between Philip and Eric.
The story is well-written, and one of the few I've ever read that has the dread "love-triangle" done both believably and non-frustrating.
Book two is Rebecca's Heart, about Eric's eldest daughter.
Book three is Adam's Bride, about Eric's eldest son.
A well-paced and plotted book with an intense race against time to catch bank robbers turned murderers. I definitely recommend reading this series in order because there are story elements started in the first book that aren't concluded there and this book doesn't have as much character growth as the first one did (since we already know who they are and what motivates them). This allows us to dive headfirst into the race to find the bad guys and to already be comfortable with our lead Marshals.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story as well as the very slight and guarded bits of romance the two are beginning to show for each other.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.
This delightful book is not only a joy to read, but clean and edifying too. The children of the story all have a lesson to learn as they come together to look for Captie's lost money belt.
This book would be highly recommended for children and families and will be a delight to adults as well. It has the old-fashioned country flavor of a Kate Douglas Wiggin book with the endearing children of an Amy le Feuvre work. Be sure the characters will swiftly creep into your heart and remain.
Very interesting and enjoyable story.
The author did show his personal philosophy a great deal in this story, which is basically a socialistic-moralistic blend, but not so overly preachy that I could not overlook it. Instead of being a strict mystery as many of his works were, it was more of a society story with some romance and a little intrigue.
For this one I need twenty stars! It is so deep, so heartfelt. It left me breathing deeply in the end, wondering how normal life could go on around me after this story.
What would you do if you were given only a few months to a year to live? Just at the cusp of a promising career, in the prime of early manhood?
Frank Erskine is diagnosed with a fatal internal ailment in 1914 and given one year to live by the greatest doctor in England. He leaves his practice of law and goes to Cornwall to find peace before death. He would like to believe in God, for he hates to think of simply ceasing to exist after death; he loves life and wants more of it. However, he is horrified at the apathy he sees in the two local churches—one a Church of England cathedral, the other a Free Methodist chapel. The locals assure him that their beliefs used to be visible, but he's not seeing any of it.
He hears plenty of tales about the man who built the cottage on the cliff where he is spending his last days, a hermit named Father Abraham whose disappeared one day, leaving a bloody wreck in the cottage, so that the locals are quite sure he was robbed by a tramp and his body thrown over the cliff into the sea.
Frank begins to see interesting, inexplicable phenomenons along the shoreline. He finds no solid evidence, no footsteps left behind where he is sure he saw people. The community believes that stretch of shoreline haunted; but what if it's actually German spies? But what could they possibly want on this remote Cornish shore?
I especially loved Simpson and Hugh Lethbridge and Squire Treherne and Josiah Lethbridge and Isabella ... I was upset about something that happened with Hugh, with him being a top favorite character, but Hocking is so talented that I became resigned by the end. I was, honestly, so absorbed by the tale that the author could have gone pretty far and still left me content. It's impossible not to keep flipping the pages as Frank searches for the meaning of life and learns to face death. Highly recommended!
*No swears, no sex, very little violence
*An afterlife/visionary scene near the end of the book
Free ebook on Project Gutenburg
4.5 stars
Overall, a really well plotted story that kept me guessing about which of the suspects was actually responsible for the kidnapping and why they were going after Ivy. It was very intense to dive right into a torture scenario... I would have liked to have some sort of preparation for what I was going to start reading about, but at the same time I appreciated that details were kept matter-of-fact and not graphically described.
Gil was a great leading man and an enjoyable character to spend time with. I liked how he interacted both with Ivy and with his circle of friends, because it’s really nice to see healthy relationships between adults in books. He’s clearly a strong man, especially in character.
I’m looking forward to the next book in the series!
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.
Found this sweet little tale while on my Christmas book splurge. Marigold McCorkle is an interesting heroine, trying to learn to not be so selfish, and Gordon Chambers a hero who's got to learn to stop being a loner. The two little girls, Ruby and Beryl, seem quite real...alternately charming and troublesome. The younger, Ruby, especially struggles with her parents' recent, sudden deaths in shipwreck.
Ah, such a satisfying story! Excellent job for a debut novel. I loved the first-person narration, and how Amaryllis is an honest and pleasant character to get to know. She has to face the past, of the summer she was fourteen and her life fell apart, and we see it unfolding as she faces the events all over again, bit by bit. She obviously won't be able to move on with her life until she looks at it frankly and learns how to deal with the truth, instead of shying away from the horror of what she'd felt.
I enjoyed every minute, could hardly put it down...and the HERO! Way to write a good guy, one who might get frustrated at times, but who still is determined to overcome the obstacles and gain his goal. :)
It's a good thing books two and three are in the mail, because I don't want to wait longer than necessary to get them!
4.5 stars
This story fully absorbed my attention and kept me flipping the pages all day long. It wasn’t hard to stay involved in the story even though it kept flipping back in each chapter to a section from Jessica’s great-grandfather in the Great Depression. The transitions were smooth and easy to follow, which is a big plus in a dual timeline story.
Ridley and Jessica are a fun couple, and it was a huge plus to me that they began as friends and neighbors before they got romantically interested in each other. This book also features one of the best treatments of infidelity that I’ve run across recently. Robin Lee Hatcher is quickly becoming a favorite contemporary-fiction author of mine because of her colorful characters, relevant spiritual truths, and solid storytelling. I can’t wait for the second book in this series, which will feature Jessica’s cousin and continue more of Andrew’s story from the 1930s.
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for a free ecopy. A favorable review was not required.
Absolutely lovely story about a single mom looking for her adult purpose by exploring filmmaking, and a missions pastor seeking to make sense of watching the church and job he loves crumble around him.
Both characters engaged me easily and deeply, but while I identified more with Val personally, I identified fully with Miles’s job woes, because I work in a church that’s had more than its fair share of change in the past two years. The words from the wise counselors in the story, especially Rev, Trisha, and Nurse Charlotte, are reminders we should all have about the importance of even the “smallest” bits of ministry.
Recommended for everyone, and maybe especially for stuffy church employees who read little more than weighty theology tomes. :)
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.
Olivia needs a little peace in her life, so she decides to escape the scandal her father sparked in the newspapers before his death by going to spend some time sorting through things in his secret beach house. Except…someone most definitely wants her to keep her nose out of the beach house! And the good-looking firefighter who shows up claiming to have rented the house is either a slick deceiver or her only hope to solve the crimes and stay alive.
Kinda has elements of a locked-room mystery as a tropical storm has the island bridge closed and no one can come or go from the mainland for a few days. They’re trapped in a small town as the bodies pile up…