by admin | Nov 10, 2011 | Amish, Books, Christmas, Romance
MY REVIEW:
After having her heart broken by Gideon, the man she loved, Mattie has become a cake decorator with a successful business in a different town. She has a comfortable relationship with Sol, a good man she hopes to spend her life with. An unexpected catastrophe takes her back home where she cannot avoid spending time with Gideon. Old feelings are reawakened but Mattie is determined to ignore them. Gideon realizes he has never stopped loving Mattie but believes that a life with Sol is best for her. Old lies surface that change everything Mattie believed. Will she be able to settle for a safe life with Sol or can she take a chance on true love with Gideon?
“The Christmas Singing” is a short but sweet Christmas novella set among the Amish. I loved Woodsmall’s characterization of Mattie in all her ditziness. I also enjoyed reading about Beth and Jonah from “The Sound of Sleigh Bells” as they prepared for their wedding. Major theme of this book is forgiveness with an emphasis on how sometimes what is done with the intention of protecting someone may actually hurt them more.
“The Christmas Singing” is another good book from Cindy Woodsmall and is perfect for the holiday season.
This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Blogging for Books Program.
About The Book:
After Gideon coldly broke her heart, can the warmth of the season revive Mattie’s hopes?
Three years ago, at Christmastime, Mattie Eash’s life was everything she could hope for. That is, until her childhood sweetheart, Gideon, betrayed her.
Heartbroken, Mattie retreated to her brother’s home in Ohio and poured her life into the dream of running her own cake shop. There, she found someone unlike Gideon. Someone safe.
But a devastating situation forces her back home…and right into the path of Gideon Beiler.
Will learning the truth behind his rejection restore her Christmas joy—or open the door to even deeper heartbreak?
This holiday season, Mattie’s best gift might just be the harmony of unexpected truth and reconciliation.
Spend Christmas with the Amish in this story of love, romance, heartache, and restoration in The Christmas Singing.
Click here to download chapter one of The Christmas Singing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times best-selling author whose connection with the Amish community has been featured on ABC Nightline and on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. She is the author of six novels, two novellas and Plain Wisdom, a work of non-fiction co-authored with her dearest Old Order Amish friend. Cindy lives in Georgia with her family.
by admin | Nov 9, 2011 | Books, Christmas, Contemporary Fiction, Novella
MY REVIEW:
Much like Carlson’s previous Christmas novellas, “The Christmas Shoppe” is the perfect book to curl up with by the fire to get a renewed Christmas spirit. At this point, the Christmas season would just not be the same if I didn’t have a new Melody Carlson Christmas novella to read.
In the tiny village of Parrish Springs, life goes on in its usual humdrum manner. Many of its residents are just marking time, not even aware of how unhappy they are. When Matilda Honeycutt moves to town and prepares to open what appears to be a thrift store, the townspeople become outraged and chaos and controversy reign. But something unusual happens each time someone visits Matilda’s Christmas Shoppe and the visitor leaves a changed person.
Melody Carlson has managed to illustrate a broad range of human behavior and emotions within a few pages. An emphasis on the power of forgiveness to heal the heart is well conveyed through the story. A bit of romance adds extra interest without overshadowing the plot. Once again, Carlson has written a Christmas story that shines with the magic and mystery that is Christmas while giving the reader something to ponder.
This book was provided for review by
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Can a Christmas Store and a Stranger Bring Change to Small Town?
Much-Anticipated Christmas Novella From Award-Winning Author Melody Carlson
In sleepy little Parrish Springs, everyone seems to know everyone else’s business practically before they do. The empty Barton Building has finally sold– but not to the right person, according to Councilman Snider. He is successful in stirring up the townspeople and turning them against the new owner, Matilda Honeycutt. This older woman with scraggly gray hair and a different fashion sense doesn’t fit into the Parrish Springs tradition. The town is curious and yet afraid of her at the same time. But nothing convinces Matilda to give up her plans for The Christmas Shoppe (ISBN: 978-0-8007-1926-5, $15.99, 176 pages, September 2011) by best-selling author Melody Carlson.
The neighboring shop owners respond in horror when The Christmas Shoppe doesn’t look and feel like all the other charming stores on the town’s quaint main street. After all Christmas is approaching, and the last thing the town needs is a junky shop run by someone who looks and acts like a gypsy. But as townsfolk venture into the strange store, they discover that old memories can bring new life, healing, and love.
The Christmas Shoppe, by best-selling author Melody Carlson, offers a touch of Christmas with a mixture of nostalgia, joy, and hope.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of over two hundred books with sales of more than five million. She is the author of several Christmas books from Revell, including the bestselling The Christmas Bus, The Christmas Dog, and Christmas at Harrington’s, which is being considered for a TV movie. She is also the author of many teen books, including Just Another Girl, Anything but Normal, Double Take, and the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. Melody was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her books in 2010 and 2011. She and her husband live in central Oregon. For more information about Melody visit her website at www.melodycarlson.com.
by admin | Nov 9, 2011 | Books, Contemporary Fiction
This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingProof of HeavenWilliam Morrow Paperbacks (November 1, 2011)byMary Curran HackettABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mary Curran Hackett is the mother of two children, Brigid Claire and Colm Francis, and is married to Greg Hackett. She received an MA in English Literature from the University of Nebraska and a BA from the University Honors Program at Catholic University in Washington, DC. Born and raised in Danbury, CT, she has traveled extensively and lived in various places throughout the U.S., but her favorite place in the world is home with her kids, husband, and her stacks of books. Like her character Colm Magee, Mary suffers various heart and brain ailments, but thanks in part to her brother, a physician, as well as her own doctors, she now has a pacemaker and a heart that beats on its own at least most of the time. This is her first novel.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A mother’s faith, a child’s courage, a doctor’s dedication—a moving and thought-provoking tale of hope, love, and family.
He might be young, but Colm already recognizes the truth: that he’s sick and not getting better. His mother, Cathleen, fiercely believes her faith will protect her ailing son, but Colm is not so sure. With a wisdom far beyond his years, Colm has come to terms with his probable fate, but he does have one special wish. He wants to meet his father who abandoned his beloved mother before Colm was born.
But the quest to find the dying boy’s missing parent soon becomes a powerful journey of emotional discovery—a test of belief and an anxious search for proof of heaven.
A magnificent debut novel, Mary Curran Hackett’s Proof of Heaven is a beautiful and unforgettable exploration of the power of love and the monumental questions of life, death, and the afterlife.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Proof of Heaven, go HERE.
Learn more about Mary on her Website.
by admin | Nov 9, 2011 | Books, Historical, Western
This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducingValley of DreamsBethany House (November 1, 2011)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Award-winning and best selling author Lauraine Snelling began living her dream to be a writer with her first published book for young adult readers, Tragedy on the Toutle, in 1982. She has since continued writing more horse books for young girls, adding historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers to her repertoire. All told, she has up to sixty books published.
Shown in her contemporary romances and women’s fiction, a hallmark of Lauraine’s style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Her work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German, and she has won the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter.
As a most sought after speaker, Lauraine encourages others to find their gifts and live their lives with humor and joy. Her readers clamor for more books more often, and Lauraine would like to comply … if only her paintbrushes and easel didn’t call quite so loudly.
Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a cockatiel named Bidley, and a watchdog Basset named Winston. They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress”.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Addy Lockwood’s mother died when she was little, so Addy traveled with her father’s Wild West Show and became an amazingly skillful trick rider, likened by some to the famous Annie Oakley. When her father died, she continued to work with the show, having nowhere else to go.
Now Addy has discovered that “Uncle” Jason, the show’s manager, has driven the show into debt, and he’s absconded with what little money was left. Devastated, Addy decides to try to find the hidden valley where here father had dreamed of putting down roots. She has only one clue. She needs to find three huge stones that look like fingers raised in a giant hand. With Chief, a Sioux Indian who’s been with the show for twenty years, and Micah, the head wrangler, she leaves both the show and a bundle of heartache behind and begins a wild and daring adventure.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Valley of Dreams, go HERE.
Learn more about Lauraine and her books on her Website.
MY REVIEW:
Not enough time to write a lengthy review but just let me say “No fair!” I totally enjoyed every minute of the adventures of Addy and friends as they searched for her father’s hidden valley. I also enjoyed the parallel story about Ransom Engstrom and his family. That is until I reached the end and I was left hanging. Now I have to wait for the next book of this series to find out what happens next. That is what is not fair!
So if you have believe that I liked Valley of Dreams enough to want to read the rest of the series, you are correct. Most of the characters were fairly unique and I would like to learn more about each of them. The story background was fascinating and held my interest. In fact, the only thing I didn’t like about the story was that it ended before I was ready.
One piece of advice – if you are very impatient, you might want to wait until the series is complete to begin this book. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.
