Love Comes Home

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World War II is finally over and the people of Rosey Corner are joyfully welcoming the boys home.  The Merritt sisters in particular are looking forward to the future.  Kate is eager to start a family and live out her dream of happily ever after with Jay.  Evangeline craves a beautiful house and encourages Mike to pastor a big-town church.  Victoria wants what can never be.  And Lorena is growing up and wondering more and more about her birth family.

Each sister must learn to hold her plans with a loose hand, trusting that God will guide and strengthen them as they share the joys and sorrows of life in their little corner of the world.

Review

Ann H. Gabhart has penned another beautiful novel about the town of Rosey Corner.  The town and its people are coming out of the throes of World War II, and as Kate, Jay, Evangeline, Mike, Victoria, Lorena have grown older and experienced the joys and trials of life, the maturity and depth of their characters also increases.  Ann Gabhart’s character portrayal blows me away every time.  These individuals in the novel are like your closest friends, whereby one can easily sympathize and cheer the character on. 

Love Comes Home is a story that is equally encouraging and inspirational, as regardless of the circumstance, the characters learn to ultimately lean on God to pull them through, ever resting in His secure hand.  And that is a great reminder to us all.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

With Every Breath

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In the shadow of the nation’s capital, Kate Livingston’s respectable life as a government worker is disrupted by an encounter with the insufferable Trevor McDonough, the one man she’d hoped never to see again.  A Harvard-trained physician, Trevor never showed the tiniest flicker of interest in Kate, and business is the only reason he has sought her out now.

Despite her misgivings, Kate agrees to Trevor’s risky proposal to join him in his work to find a cure for tuberculosis.  As Kate begins to unlock the mysteries of Trevor’s past, his hidden depths fascinate her.  However, a shadowy enemy lies in wait, and Trevor’s closely guarded secrets are darker than she suspected.

As revelations from the past threaten to destroy their careers, their dreams, and even their lives, Trevor and Kate find themselves in a painfully impossible situation.  With everything to lose, they must find the strength to trust that hope and love can prevail over all.

Review

I enjoyed every page of With Every Breath.  Elizabeth Camden has crafted a wonderfully fresh historical novel that not only included a mystery, romance, but also a background history on tuberculosis.  I never knew how deadly the disease is, and how greatly it affected the people during the 1800s.  It certainly makes one appreciate the lengths that doctors and researchers went to find a cure.  As Elizabeth Camden put it, medical professionals are akin to warriors, trying to find ways to ease a patient’s suffering, and prevent it from happening again.

The interesting medical history aside, the rest of the story was equally good.  The intense competitiveness between Trevor and Kate brought many a smile to my face, and the ongoing mystery added just the right amount of suspense to the story. 

This one is a keeper!

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.   Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

A Place in His Heart

A Place in His Heart, by Rebecca DeMarino

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Anglican Mary Langton longs to marry for love.  Left at the altar and disgraced in her small hamlet, she is being pressured to marry the eligible son of the London milliner.  Puritan Barnabas Horton still grieves the loss of his beloved wife, but he knows his two young sons need a mother.

With tender hearts, Mary and Barnabas take a leap of faith and wed.  But when Barnabas’s secret plans to move his family to the New World to escape persecution come to light, Mary’s wold is upended.  How could she possibly leave her papa and her dear sister?

And will she ever reach the secret places of her husband’s broken heart?

Review

Marriages of convenience would be difficult any way you look at it.  To bind yourself to a near stranger for the rest of your life, whether it be for your family’s, country’s or your own sake, takes a strong amount of courage!  Throughout history, marriages were often used to unite families, land - even countries - or for the sake of survival.  Some classic Biblical examples would be Ruth and Queen Esther.  

In Mary and Barnabas’ case, Mary wanted to escape an arranged marriage, and Barnabas needed a housewife and mother for his sons.  And if trying to bond with Barnabas and the two boys wasn’t difficult enough, Mary also had to compete with the memory of Barnabas’ previous wife, Ann.

Wonderfully written and full of historic detail, A Place in His Heart will capture you from the first page, encouraging you to continue reading until the concluding chapter.  The fact that the tale is based on the author’s own ancestors made it even more intriguing, and brings the story to life.  This is a great start to a new series; I am already looking forward to the next instalment!

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

 

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead, by Karen Witemeyer

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Nicole Renard returns home to Galveston, Texas, to find her father deathly ill.  Though she loves him, Nicole’s father has always focused on what she’s not.  Not male.  Not married.  Not able to run Renard Shipping.

Vowing to find a suitable husband to give her father the heir he desires before it’s too late, Nicole sets out with the Renard family’s greatest treasure as her dowry:  the highly coveted Lafitte Dagger.  But her father’s rivals come after the dagger, forcing a change in Nicole’s plans.

After a boiler explosion aboard the Louisiana nearly took his life, Darius Thornton has been a man obsessed.  He will do anything to stop even one more steamship disaster.  Even if it means letting a female secretary into his secluded world.

Nicole is determined not to let her odd employer scare her off with his explosive experiments, yet when respect and mutual attraction grow between them, a new fear arises.  How can she acquire an heir for her father when her heart belongs to another?  And when her father’s rivals discover her hiding place, will she have to choose between that love and her family’s legacy?

Review

Karen Witemeyer never seems to disappoint.  I’ve loved and devoured each and every one of her books!  Each novel is witty, enjoyable, exciting, and completely different from the other.  The characters are always extremely likeable, and the plots decidedly original. 

From the first chapter to the last page of Full Steam Ahead, I was hooked – wanting Nicole to save her father’s business, hoping that Darius finds a way to prevent further steamship explosions, and in the end, finding a way that both Darius and Nicole can be together.

Guaranteed to be an enjoyable read for anyone who enjoys a good historical romance, Full Steam Ahead will make many new fans for Karen Witemeyer, and endear her current readers ever more dearly to her books.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.  Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.