Hannah G
This was my first Agnes and Egerton Castle book, and it made me an instant lover of their writing. Though it was years before I was able to find another of their works, I looked high and low because I loved this one so much.
There's plenty to love. A mysterious fiddler, a young nobleman on a lark, a maiden of unknown heritage, and lots of intrigue at court. Nothing is as it seems in this delightful classic adventure.
This is a pleasant tale of a veteran coming home to find his place after years of recon have left his buddies dead and his body scarred. He doesn't know who he is anymore, but one thing he can do is help his aunt with her renovations, so he heads to Harland to help her out.
The small town feel really seemed authentic in this story. I liked reading about everyone coming into the diner, about Gus, and about the family and even the family pets, and about Lisa's ultra-protective brothers.
The one thing that bugged me was a certain oak tree being planted... Tagged “three years” (in what region do they tag plants by age? In the south it's by pot size.), but “oh, how smart it isn't a sapling” and “a trunk sturdy enough to hold up to strong winds.”— maybe a little more research is in order. Oaks fresh from the acorn grow a whopping two to four leaves in their first season. In the second they double that. By the third year they may put out their first branch. Thereafter they grow six to twelve inches per year, depending on variety and water availability, until maturity, when they may grow slightly faster. (My 60 year old red oaks grow about 18 inches per year.) So the tree described is probably 15-20 years old if it is sturdy of trunk and tall enough to anticipate shade in the next few years.
Sorry for the compulsive botany lesson. ;)
What a delight of a book! After the last one I read, I needed something light and sweet, and this perfectly filled the bill. A country doctor can't help but meddle in the affairs of those around him, and the results grow continually worse as he promises not to meddle again, yet does...just one more time. I love the stories of country doctors of long-ago days anyway (Deland's Dr. Lavendar and Richmond's Red Pepper Burns, for example), but to have this quaint aging Scotsman set out to matchmaking was hilarious and dear and sweet.
After about halfway, reading this became an effort for me. I couldn't put a finger on why I stopped burning through the pages; it's a good book and written well, so it might just be mood.
I liked all the descriptions of ranch life and loved the characters—Nick, Elsa, Cheyenne, Dakota, along with recurring Angelina and Colt from book one—but really disliked all the scenes with Whitney.
Content: drunkenness (not condoned), kissing.
4.5 stars
I love this funny, endearing Dr. Burns! Of course, since I read book 4 first, I knew he'd find love and with who, but it was an enjoyable story to read. If you love old-fashioned country stories, with a doctor who pays house calls, and tales of friendship and grit...this one has very little romance, though the conclusion hangs on the resolution of it.
This was a fun adventure story set in France. It's an unusual story line, thus has several unexpected twists and turns. I enjoyed it!
4.5 stars for the title story, 3 stars for the bonus story.
What does the young preacher Mr. Brown do when he finds himself depending more on personal comfort than the word of God? He gives up his fancy church and goes to live among the poor, of course! This was an interesting and enjoyable short book.
While this is an excellent book, it isn't my favorite by Lori Benton. I think mainly what I'm missing is some of the deep spiritual lessons we got in her last few publications; I didn't cry over characters and I didn't feel like my heart was being ripped out alive.
Alex is a colorful character and I really enjoyed the scenes of getting to know him. It's not a common plot angle to have someone who's transported to the Colonies for treason, and the fate of the Jacobites has always fascinated me. Now when he finally comes to the place of repentance, it's a good scene but I didn't feel the tugging power of it to the extent that I know Benton can write.
Joanna is the sort of woman everyone would want to have for their friend, loyal and with a beautiful determination to do the right thing even in the face of danger or personal heartache.
I also had some issues with spoken phrases that pulled me out of the story a few times (such as the use of “throw a wrench in,” an 1800s term, and similar). Otherwise the research done was fabulous and showed a great picture of daily life in the 1740s in the Colonies.
Overall the story is beautiful and engaging. It's very different from normal Lori Benton fare but still had her trademark lush description and colorful characters. I personally would have preferred another 100 pages or so to show the many characters better, but I know most folks like novels to be of manageable length. This is a very good book, just not the best she's written.
Thanks to the publisher for a free reading copy. A positive review was not required.
4.5 stars
An excellent ending to a good series! I particularly loved the characters...I've been wanting Lance to have a HEA ever since his personal tragedy in book 1. I also like the realism; these are small-town police going up against international criminals. Yes, they get outsmarted. Yes, the bad guys get the upper hand more than once.
Really good series...but I want more than four books. :)
8/30/2020: This is just as much fun on reread. Marty's dry humor practically makes the pages crackle sometimes (“The roses didn't want me to leave, judging by how they held onto me” and so on) and his dysfunctional family is pathetically hilarious. Nothing like a feud to keep folks on their toes...
5/27/2018: This book was so much fun to read! I absolutely loved the humorous voice of the narrator, whose comparisons are flat brilliant and had me chuckling on just about every page. Chance and Meredith's story does not go the way you would expect it to in the least, and Marty the narrator hardly expects that to be his fault—but it is. Highly recommended.
Oh, this is pure delight! It's a lighthearted little romance, very clean, very fun...others have described the story, so I will only add how much I enjoyed it! In three hours I found a new favorite and reread the ending three times...
A truly delightful story of a young man of the South and how he learns to live and work in a man's world. He must choose between the girl he loves and the beautiful woman who fascinates him, between the old South and the North, and learn where his path should go.
Ah, the sort of story one can get wrapped up in and lost among the characters. The heroine, Georgiana, has got to be one of my favorite heroines ever, with her plucky determination to make the best of her situation and her devotion to her book-loving, invalid father. I found so much to identify with her over. It's just so perfect! I can see I'll be rereading it many, many times. Just another reason to keep Grace Richmond firmly on the favorite-author shelf!
Such a delightful, innocent, lighthearted story! It was so much fun to listen to the reading of it while working. Molly's letters to lonely, rheumatic Carl are so sprightly and ingenious that it's almost as good as getting them yourself.
The narrator is pleasant to hear, and most words are well pronounced. A few were incorrect, but it's actually one of the better readings I've heard.
While I loved the whole story revolving around the peculiar will left by old Lady Zabuloe and the mystery surrounding the back field that the neighbor wants so badly, the spiritual section fell rather flat for me. I can appreciate a message about the dangers of blind denominationalism, but it was vague in key areas and the hero's conversion was underplayed. Having seen how Hocking was capable of writing such scenes made me feel that perhaps the ending was a rush job. I'd probably have enjoyed the story more if it had stuck to the mystery at the manor and the slow awakening of Pater to faith in God—and leave out some of the denominational quibbles or define the author's stance much more for less confusion.
Overall a good read.
This is a book that makes you think. Yes, you can see a lot of the plot coming, but there are surprises also. The characters are well drawn; it is the tale of Robert Angus, the serious banker's son, and the two times he had to face losing a wife, under the absolute worst of circumstances. It is also the tale of flighty, self-centered Amy and of truehearted, Godly, loving Joan. The family relationships were well drawn and interesting.
The plot reminded me of Mrs. Wood's “East Lynne.”
This is the first Marion Crawford I read, and it resulted in me going out and buying a half-dozen of his works just because I enjoyed the writing so much! The hero dares fall in love with a Spanish lady of rank, and many are the hair's-breadth escapes that ensue.
A tale of old Spain.
My enjoyment of the tale itself was more of a 4.5. However, I had two big objections on content.
1. Language–lots and lots of D—-s. Numerous n—s.
2. Racism: Evidently a product of its time; I'll wager the author would have agreed with eugenics. Black characters, even while saving the day for the hero, are portrayed as dumb and needing direction. What really got me mad was “when a n* goes to seed, there's no worse menace on the face of the earth.” What?? Why any worse than a white, Russian, and islander, an Asian??
So let me set this straight: ANY human is equally capable of excellence or of perfidy. His skin color has no bearing on his ability.
Otherwise, a fun treasure-hunt story.
A deeply emotional read which had me listening so closely that I would stop what I was doing in suspense. The story is a dual timeline with a pregnant widow in the contemporary US seeking answers and a young woman in WW2 Europe trying to save the lives of children in her care. There was plenty of mystery going on in both threads but the WW2 one was the most intense.
For readers of Cathy Gohlke and lovers of intense fiction and dual timelines.
4.5 stars
An episodic tale of a young man's life during the French Revolution. In the country, there isn't as much sympathy for the Revolutionaries of Paris, and the people grieve for their lost king. His aging father was a daring, brave man during the days of the Huguenot persecution, a generation before. The father's story illustrates and illuminates the son's, in a unique fashion. A tale of bravery, forgiveness, and faith.
A short little tale of reminiscence.
It holds a bit of the philosophy of the day—”we won't be stupid enough to have war again”—which was so rudely disproven by WW1. Also, the theology is a bit shaky in one place. The ending is sweet, though.
An old-fashioned romance, with a charm of olden days and a beauty of character in the heroine. The path of love is not easy for Aspatria Anneys or her brothers. She proves herself a woman worthy of being won, however; she does not sell herself cheaply in any way.
I love this author!
Note: two characters in this story had their romance told in [b:Headline: Murder 24452070 Headline Murder Maggie K. Black https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1427161010s/24452070.jpg 44043625], which is not technically part of this series.Having a suspense set in Canada is unusual for me and interesting. Samantha's weapons knowledge as an investigative reporter was a new angle for me; usually weapons knowledge seems to be given to military people alone, in these types of books. It did make me more edgy that they had to use vehicles and hand-to-hand combat for weapons, while their enemies had guns, because of Canada's laws on guns...definitely no move to Canada in my immediate future!
4.5 stars
I very much enjoyed the characters, Donna and Brent, and the missing persons case they had to solve. It was fun to read about how the dog Radar played a part, too...