Short Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer

Great book!! This book is a wonderful story about courage, honor, sacrifice, reputation and love. When Meredith leaves her home one morning to help four brothers, who she feels indebted to, she never imagined that her life would change so much in the days following. There is tragedy, wedding bells, frustration, kidnapping and redemption! I highly recommend this book. This book was free from the publisher.

Travelers Rest by Ann Tatlock

This book made me laugh and made me cry. The characters are described so well, that you feel like you are reading a true story and they are people you could one day meet in Ashville, North Carolina. I was drawn to reading this book because I knew it was about an injured soldier coming back from war and as a military wife and patriot, my heart is tender for them. I was not disappointed with this book. Seth, the war hero, is very injured and does not want to hold, Jane, his fiancé, to her commitment. She, on the other hand, has loved him forever and still wants to marry him. She meets many interesting people in the veterans hospital Seth is staying at and with their stories and Jane’s, she learns new things about herself while she is helping them. This book was free from the publisher. Thank you!

The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis

Let me first say, I am a huge Beverly Lewis fan! I love her style of writing and her story lines. She does not disappoint with this book. Amelia is an accomplished violinist who loves playing the violin but feels like her life is missing something. Michael is an Amishman who is struggling with his decision to take the vow of baptism or become an Englisher. A crazy rain storm forces their paths to cross and they feel immediately at ease with each other. Both of them are not sure what to do with their feelings, with Amelia having a boyfriend and a demanding lifestyle and Michael being Amish and having family who are anxiously waiting for him to join the church. Will they realize God's hand in their meeting and follow their hearts and the life they feel led to live or will they follow the life path they are expected to do? This book was a free copy from the publisher.

All About Learning Press!!

Okay, I know that I only post about books I have read, but today I am posting about a curriculum that I totally love! My #2 daughter was struggling with spelling so I found All About Spelling, liked the learning approach, and decided to give it a try. She loves it and has improved a ton!! So, I decided to give All About Reading a try with my pre-K son and guess what?? He loves it! Especially Ziggy!! A pre-K boy can be difficult to encourage to sit down and do school, but he never complaines when Ziggy is in the picture. We are looking forward to purchasing All About Reading level 1 and All About Spelling level 4 and 5. Super excited!!

A Captive Heart by Dale Cramer

I read the first book in this series so I was excited to be able to read this book as a reviewer. I loved it just as much as I loved the first book. The series is about Caleb Bender’s daughters and the life they are making living in Mexico as an Amish family. This book is mainly about his daughter Miriam and her personal feelings for a Mexican man named Domingo. She thinks he has feelings for her and she for him, but Amish rules do allow marriage outside of the faith. Miriam struggles with her feelings throughout the book and must find a way to live with them. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to future writings by the author. The Captive Heart does a great job of telling Miriam’s story and telling the story of the difficulties of the Amish families as they try to make a life for themselves in Mexico.

Thank you to Bethany House for this book to read and review.

Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist

This was a great book! I had a hard time putting it down! Georgie Gail is a single woman, living alone as a switchboard operator in the rural town of Brenham. She is well respected by the women of the town and she is an avid bird watcher. Luke Palmer is a Texas Ranger who is well known in Texas for capturing criminals except for the one who keeps getting away, Frank Comer. Comer and his gang are much like Robin Hood and take from the "rich" and give to the "poor," so most of the people in Texas care very little about his criminal activity and find it more interesting that Palmer can't catch him. Luke is assigned to go undercover and work with Georgie at the telephone company. Georgie is not happy about this and is quite perturbed that a man is taking over some of her responsibilities and is bossing her around. They argue and do not get along. And then . . . something changes and as soon as Palmer starts getting closer to figuring out who is in Comer's gang and capturing Comer, they start having feelings for each other. Luke soon realizes that him being undercover is putting Georgie in danger. Now, he has to decide how he is going to proceed and if he can continue to care for Georgie and do his job at the same time. This book has many twist and turns and I love Georgie and Luke's relationship. It made me laugh out loud many times! Hold on tight to the end of this book, because it has a great ending.

Thank you to the publisher for this free book.

The Mercy by Beverly Lewis

This is the third book in The Rose Trilogy. The story continues with Hen and her husband, who is temporarily blind from an accident, still trying to figure out how they are going to live their lives since Hen wants to continue living in her Amish roots and her husband does not. He wants a divorce and to take their daughter with him back to the "English" world. Hen loves her husband very much and wants to have her family together but is not sure how to combine his world and her new desire to stay Amish. As the story unfolds, Hen and her husband learn more about each other and how to move on with the changes in their lives. Hens sister Rose is looking for the path in her life after she broke off her engagement to Silas. She knows that most of the boys her age are already married or spoken for so she sets her mind to accepting her new lot in life. Then, along comes Issac and she starts courting. Things are going well, but Issac has ideas as to how he wants to live his life and Rose is not sure she wants to follow him. Then one day, an old friend comes back into the community. This brings confusion to Rose's life and to the community. She is desperately looking for that happy ending. Will she find it with the man she loves? This book was wonderful and Beverly Lewis did a great job of ending her trilogy. All three books are highly recommended!

Thank you to the publisher for this free book.