The Secret of Pempbrooke Park by Julie Klassen

When I received this book in the mail, I was a little worried about the length of it. My first thought was, "This better be good!" Well, it was. I was reading this book every moment I had and late into the night. There is nothing better than great characters, a beautiful setting, love stories, and mystery. Abigail Foster is a dutiful older daughter and loving sister. When the family runs into money problems, she takes the lead and secures the family an estate to rent which belongs to a distant relative. From the moment she arrives, there is much mystery in the condition of the house, the secrets and the hush, hush and warnings of the neighboring community. All of these things intrigue Abigail and her curiosity can not be squelched. Along with figuring out the mystery of the estate, Abigail is also dealing with her personal life. Desperately trying to come to the realization that she is well over traditional marrying age and watching in the shadow of her younger sister as she has no problem catching the eye of every eligible young man. I love how Klassen intertwines old love interests with new love interests and the powerful friendship of women. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thank you to the publisher for the free copy.

To Everything a Season by Lauraine Snelling

I was excited to get a chance to review this book because I have read all of Snelling's books about the town of Blessing and the Bjorkand family. Overall I enjoyed the book, but what I found somewhat disappointing and strange was that the write up about the book and the summary on the cover was only what the last quarter of the book was about. It really was mostly about familiarizing the reader with the characters of Blessing, crime moving into the town and about the matron of the Bjorkland family and her trials during this chapter of her life. Trygve and Miriam's story entails a small portion of the book with a cliff hanger at the end which leads me to believe that her next book will be about their story. I do enjoy Snelling's writing so I will be anxiously awaiting the next book in the series. Thank you the Bethany House for the pleasure of reviewing this book.

The River by Beverly Lewis

I am big fan of Beverly Lewis. I'm pretty sure I have read every one of her books. I enjoy them because I love the Amish and her books are delightful stories. This book is a wonderful story about a family dealing with tragedy and forgiveness. When tragedy happens in a family, it can be very destructive to a family, and sisters Tilly and Ruth are no strangers to a broken and hurting family. These two Amish raised sisters both decide to leave the Amish and live in the English world. They each had different reasons for leaving, but their heartache is the same. After many years, they return home for a celebration and find themselves dragged back into the troubled past. I found this book by Lewis to have a slow start. I had some difficulty enjoying the story line and it took a while for me to be interested in the lives of the characters. In the end, I enjoyed the message the book relayed and the happy ending. Thank you to the publisher for this book to review.

Full Steam Ahead by Karen Witemeyer

I enjoyed this book. It did take a few chapters for the story to get going, but once it did, it was a good read. I liked the main character, Nicole Renard. She is smart, beautiful, compassionate, committed and very feisty. She is a young woman who loves her father very much, so she sets out to find an heir for his successful shipping company; a husband for herself. She runs into trouble along the way because she is protecting something which is very important to her father and finds herself short on funds so she becomes desperate for a job. Nicole attains a secretary job with a peculiar scientist who is fascinated with boilers. Their relationship blooms, but Nicole knows that she has a responsibility to her father and his company and she must find the right man for the job as her husband and heir and protect her father's valuable possession. This was a cute, but somewhat predictable story. Thank you to the publisher for the free copy.

Love Comes Calling by Siri Mitchell

Something about this book did not work for me. I had a hard time reading it and had to force myself to finish it. I just felt I should. The characters were boring and the plot was predictable. I didn't feel as if there was any climax. No excitement or great ending. Sorry, Siri, I usually enjoy your books. I was really disappointed. This book was a free copy given to me from the publisher.

A Beauty So Rare by Tamera Alexander

I love reading Tamera Alexander. She does an amazing job of creating such a beautiful scenes that you want to go and visit the places she is writing about. A Beauty So Rare is about a young woman named Eleanor Braddock who has never married and has decided that she never will. Her father is ill so she has to make permanent living arrangements for him and temporarily live with her rich aunt, Adelicia Acklen. Eleanor has plans for what she would like to do for her future but her aunt's plans are much different and her aunt is not a force to be reckoned with. Eleanor hires a poor widow to help her with a project and decides to use her love of cooking to feed the poor widow and her child. What starts out as a simple meal being shared becomes much more and Eleanor begins to see her future changing rapidly. The other main character in the book is Marcus Gottfried. He is from Austria and has come to America to hide from his past and his future, but must return shortly. He has great aspirations to build something amazing while in Nashville and to use his love and knowledge of plants to create the perfect colored flower for Mrs. Acklen. Eleanor and Marcus meet while he is working on the flower for Mrs. Acklen and their relationship grows into something more, but their families plans for them doesn't allow the relationship to go further than just friendship. As time inches closer to Marcus's return to Austria, Eleanor realizes her feels for him are strong but has resigned to that fact that her future does not include a happy married life. She knows he has to leave soon and that he has a surprise for her, but what could it be? Will it be something to help her remember him when he is gone? Thank you to the publisher for the free copy of this book. It was a wonderful read.

Where Courage Calls by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan

I have been a Janette Oke fan for many years. Her books never disappoint. This story is about a young lady who comes from a wealthy family whose mother would prefer for her to become a part of society but Beth Thatcher wants to do more with her life so she sets out for a small mining town to fill a request for a teacher for one year. She has some challenges along the way traveling far from home for the first time and once she gets there, she struggles starting up her one room school house in an inconvenient place with children who come with their own personal challenges. The small mining town has it's own share of problems and Beth struggles to help the people of this town without hurting their pride and without upsetting the rules of the town. A book written by Janette Oke wouldn't be complete without a love story and this book doesn't disappoint. On Beth's train trip she was greeted by a family friend, Edward, who is a Canadian Mountie heading to his new post. She is not too happy about him being there and struggles with their relationship whenever he comes around the mining town. There are also a couple of other male characters in the story who cross Beth's path. I really enjoyed how Oke weaved romance in the story as a side story to the main. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. This book was given to me by the publisher.

The Dancing Master by Julie Klassen

Julie Klassen is one of my favorite authors, so I have read all of her books. The Dancing Master was not as good of a read as Klassen's other books. Usually you are drawn in right away to her stories and have a hard time putting down the book. I wasn't completely hooked on the story line until more than half way into the book. It just seemed to take a long time to "set the stage" and once that was done, then I wanted to see how the story would unravel and if there would be a happy ending. I will say that the last quarter of the book was interesting and filled with an unraveling story plot. The book was just okay for me, but I would recommend her other books. Thank you to the publisher for the free book to review.