Review: Building Faith An Amish Home Novella by Kathleen Fuller

Title: Building Faith An Amish Home Novella
Author: Kathleen Fuller
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
Edition: ebook (100 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Amish Fiction
• Christian Fiction

Series: Amish Home

Building Faith by Kathleen Fuller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Faith Miller is happy when her cousin, Martha, asks her to build and install the kitchen cabinets for her new home. Only problem is, Faith will have to work with her ex-fiance, Silas.

This story is about two strong-willed people who have a difficult time letting someone else take the lead. As with the other books in this series, I liked the characters very much because I could relate to both of them.

Review: A Flicker of Hope: An Amish Home Novella by Ruth Reid

Title: A Flicker of Hope: An Amish Home Novella
Author: Ruth Reid
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: February 7th 2017
Edition: ebook (100 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Amish Fiction
• Christian Fiction

Series: Amish Home

A Flicker of Hope by Ruth Reid

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Thomas and Noreen King have been married for fifteen years. Their marriage, begun happily, has crumbled to the point of near nonexistence. Trials and hardship have torn them apart. And, now their home has been destroyed. What will happen to them as a couple and as people? Can their love for one another be rekindled?

This story is told in alternating past and present sequence. These characters are weighed down by the hardships life can sometimes throw at us, yet they are strong people. I think I liked them more because neither is perfect.

Review: Home Sweet Home: An Amish Home Novella by Amy Clipston

Title: Home Sweet Home: An Amish Home Novella
Author: Amy Clipston
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: February 17, 2017
Edition: ebook (100 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Amish Fiction
• Christian Fiction

Series: Amish Home

Home Sweet Home by Amy Clipston

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Mia and Chace O’Conner and their five-month-old daughter, Kaitlyn, are suddenly nearly homeless until Chace's boss lets them rent a tiny cabin on his land. Nothing at all like what Mia is used to--no electricity and no central heating. It doesn't feel like home. But it's all they have. The kindness of strangers is contrasted with the uncaring nature of Mia's family. Which will she choose when it comes to a life choice?

This is a great story. I loved these characters so much. It was great to see Mia and Chace grow as people and in their faith.

Review: A Cup Half Full: An Amish Home Novella by Beth Wiseman

Title: A Cup Half Full: An Amish Home Novella
Author: Beth Wiseman
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
Edition: Kindle
Genres:

• Fiction
• Christian Fiction

Series: Amish Home

A Cup Half Full: An Amish Home Novella by Beth Wiseman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Sarah was perfectly happy--a perfect husband and perfect home--until an accident changed her life. Suddenly, she had to get used to using a wheelchair and adapting to life that had changed for her and her husband, Abram. It is not an easy road for Sarah.

This novella is all about acceptance. The interesting thing to me is how, sometimes it is the person who suddenly acquires a disability who has a difficult time accepting the changes, and sometimes, it is the family that has the most difficulty. And, sometimes, both the person and family members feel overwhelmed. Though this story has Sarah as the main character, it is Abram who shines for me. Sarah is the one who has to catch up with Abram's thinking.

Review: Baby Doll by Hollie Overton

Title: Baby Doll
Author: Hollie Overton
Publisher: Redhook
Publication Date: July 12, 2016
Edition: ebook (288 pages)
Genres:

• Fiction
• Adult
• Mystery
• Thriller

Baby Doll by Hollie Overton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Lily was abducted and kept in a dark basement for eight years. Finally, her captor made a mistake and she escaped. Her daughter, Sky, had been born in that basement and had never seen the light of day or any part of the outside world. But Lily and Sky's escape is just the beginning of what they experience, individually and as a family.

Parts of this book were difficult to read because of the depravity and betrayal of trust, but BABY DOLL is a great story with strong and well developed characters. It is definitely fast-paced and you never know where the next page will lead.

Lynn's List (April 28, 2017)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Rundown by Rick Bletcha
• The Secrets You Keep: A Novel by Kate White
• Facing the Fire by Gail Barrett
• Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood by Claire Hoffman
• Ordinary Jews: Choice and Survival during the Holocaust by Evgeny Finkel
• The Quiet Man by John H. Sununu
• Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power by Douglas L. Kriner and Eric Schickler
• "Keep the Damned Women Out": The Struggle for Coeducation by Nancy Weiss Malkiel
• Making It by Terry Teachout and Norman Podhoretz
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
• The Blue Edge of Midnight by Jonathon King
• The Color Purple Collection by Alice Walker
• The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally
• Denim and Diamonds by Debbie Macomber
• The Sheriff Takes a Wife by Debbie Macomber
• The Never List by Koethi Zan
• Mother Angelica by Raymond Arroyo
• Mother Angelica Her Grand Silence: The Last Years and Living Legacy by Raymond Arroyo
• Northern Lights by Nora Roberts
• Nora Roberts Dream Trilogy by Nora Roberts
• Nora Roberts's In the Garden Trilogy by Nora Roberts
• Everybody’s Son by Thrity Umrigar
• Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings: A Novel by Stephen O’Connor
• The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler
• Robert Redford: The Biography by Michael Feeney Callan
• Unfinished Murder by James Neff
• Murrow: His Life and Times by A. M. Sperber
• The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo
• Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie by Andrew Carnegie
• Shoot Like a Girl: One Woman's Dramatic Fight in Afghanistan and on the Home Front by Mary Jennings Hegar
• A Chain of Evidence by Carolyn Wells
• No Lesser Plea by Robert K. Tanenbaum
• Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley
• Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness by Joshua Wolf Shenk
• The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White
• Never Come Back by David Bell
• Foreign Agent: A Thriller by Brad Thor
• The Moment She Was Gone by Evan Hunter
• Baby Doll by Hollie Overton
• The March Against Fear: The Last Great Walk of the Civil Rights Movement and the Emergence of Black Power by Ann Bausum

Review: Frasier Island (Frasier Island Series #1) by Susan Page Davis

Title: Frasier Island (Frasier Island Series #1)
Author: Susan Page Davis
Publisher: Susan Page Davis
Publication Date: January 7, 2011
Edition: Kindle (336 pages)
Categories:

• Fiction
• Christian Fiction
• Military Fiction/Suspense
• Romance

Frasier Island by Susan Page Davis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Ensign Rachel Whitney has always wanted a career in the Navy. She is thrilled when she learns she is being posted to Frasier Island, a tiny and remote Naval installation in the Pacific. She finds it a challenge to earn the trust of her commanding officer, Lieutenant George Hudson. But they ultimately have to rely on one another to protect US military secrets and for their very lives.

This book is a reread for me. All three books in the Frasier Island Series are favorites of mine. The stories and characters are great, and the human relationships between the characters grow with each book.

Review: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Title: The Hate U Give
Author:Angie Thomas
Publisher: Balzer & Bray/Harperteen
Publication Date: February 28, 2017
Edition: Hardcover (444 pages)
Categories:

• Fiction
• Contemporary
• Young Adult

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Starr Carter is a sixteen-year-old caught between two worlds--the neighborhood she lives in and the world of the prep school she attends. These worlds are miles apart in distance and socioeconomic climates. While attending a party in her neighborhood, gang violence erupts, and she leaves the party with her childhood playmate and friend whom she has not seen much of in recent years. As they are driving to Starr's home, they are pulled over by a police officer and Starr's friend is shot and killed. And this is not the first death Starr has witnessed. She has to cope with the trauma and the truth of what she has seen as well as a justice system she regards as questionable. As a teenager who is African American, she is well aware of racism and what the color of her skin means to many people, and the different standards often applied, as a result.

The subject matter and the circumstances brought to life in this book are agonizingly real. But I love this book because it goes behind the headlines to get at the heart of the matter of culture, racism, injustice and poverty in a way that gives the reader an understanding of how and why this has come about.

I knew, when I read the description of THE HATE YOU GIVE, I would cry my way through this book. And I did. It spoke to my heart on so many levels. If only everyone would read it, perhaps we could find more love and compassion for one another, and stop responding to those who are not exactly like us in ways that seek common ground to unite and not divide us. I truly hope this book earns some awards. In my opinion it is a great contemporary work, and I will never be the same after reading it.

Review: His Way: An Unauthorized Biography Of Frank Sinatra by Kitty Kelley

Title: His Way: An Unauthorized Biography Of Frank Sinatra
Author: Kitty Kelley
Publisher: Bantam Books
Publication Date: 2015 (first published 1983)
Edition: Kindle (674 pages)

Categories:

• Nonfiction
• Biography
• Memoir
• Music

Literary Awards:

• ASJA Outstanding Book Award (1987)

His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra by Kitty Kelley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Journalist, Kitty Kelley, spent three years researching/writing this book. It was written without the acquiescence of Frank Sinatra or the Sinatra family. It details his early life, from childhood, and his career, (both as a musician and movie star).

It is certainly well-written and interesting, but I found it quite negative in presentation. It seemed that Ms. Kelley tended to include more of the negative aspects of Frank Sinatra's character rather than positives. I have read one other book about him, one written by his daughter, Tina, and I found it a much more pleasant reading experience.

Lynn's List (April 21, 2017)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• No Greater Love by Mother Teresa
• My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl's Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize by Jody Williams and Eve Ensler
• The Story of the Shakers (Revised Edition) by Flo Morse
• Law’s Detour by Peter Margulies
• The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Rees
• Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
• The Stars Are Fire: A novel by Anita Shreve
• Suddenly One Summer by Julie James
• Blue on Blue: An Insider's Story of Good Cops Catching Bad Cops by Charles Campisi and Gordon Dillow
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• Anchored In Love by John Carter Cash
• Twelve Ordinary Men by John Macarthur
• Fireproof by Eric Wilson, Stephen Kendrick and Alex Kendrick
• Day by Day with Charles Swindoll by Charles R. Swindoll
• Together by Tom Sullivan
• Alive Day by Tom Sullivan
• The Faith of Barack Obama by Stephen Mansfield
• The Dead Don't Dance: A Novel of Awakening by Charles Martin
• The Key to the Door: Experiences of Early African American Students at the University of Virginia by Shelli M. Poe and Maurice Apprey
• Inside My Heart by Robin Mcgraw
• From the Hood to the Hill by Barry Black
• Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock
• Fasting by Scot Mcknight
• Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl
• The Ice Diaries: The True Story of One of Mankind’s Greatest Adventures by William Anderson and Don Keith
• Sweetwater Gap by Denise Hunter

Review:The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill: The Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family’s Fight for Civil Rights by Helen Shores Lee, Denise George, and Barbara Sylvia Shores

Title:The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill: The Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family’s Fight for Civil Rights
Authors:Helen Shores Lee, Denise George, and Barbara Sylvia Shores
Publisher: Zondervan
Publication Date: August 22, 2012
Edition: Hardcover (287 pages)

Categories:

• Nonfiction
• Biography
• Civil Rights
• History (United States)

The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill: The Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family’s Fight for Civil Rights by Helen Shores Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book chronicles the lives of Helen and Barbara Shores as they grew up in the 1940-1960s segregated south as the daughters of Arthur Shores, the pioneer civil rights attorney. The book also provides much description about Arthur Shores' childhood, his unflagging belief and faith in God, and his unwavering desire and commitment to achieve equality for all people.

The civil rights movement and its pioneers has always interested me. This book, especially, provides a first hand account of what it was like to grow up in a divisive era. The Shores' home was bombed, more than once, and they were the target of threats by the KKK and others. I am so glad these experiences and memories have been preserved and shared with readers now and for generations yet to come.

Lynn's List (April 14, 2017)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• The Truth by Erin Mccauley
• Fighting for Peace: Your Role in a Culture Too Comfortable with Violence by Carol Howard Merritt and Barna Group
• Final Touch by Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins
• "Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice by David M. Oshinsky
• 42 Faith: The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story by Ed Henry
• It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going! by Chelsea Clinton
• Protestants: The Faith That Made the Modern World by Alec Ryrie
• Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice by Dr. Willie Parker
• American War: A novel by Omar El Akkad
• Obama: The Historic Presidency of Barack Obama – 2,920 Days by Mark Greenberg
• The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me by Paul Joseph Fronczak and Alex Tresniowski
• Don't Tell by Elizabeth Chandler
• Martha Stewart (A) by Lynn Sharp Paine and Christopher M. Bruner
• 23 Days of Terror by Angie Cannon
• The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer by Robert Keppel
• The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron
• The War Between the Tates by Alison Lurie
• Warning Hill by John P. Marquand
• Point of No Return by John P. Marquand
• O Shepherd, Speak! by Upton Sinclair
• Final Verdict by Jessica R. Patch
• False Security by Elizabeth Goddard
• Her Secret Amish Child by Cheryl Williford
• Bryan Gruley's Starvation Lake Mystery Series 2-Book Boxed Set by Bryan Gruley
• Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton
• Thing of Beauty by Stephen Fried
• Beneath the Abbey Wall by A. D. Scott
• The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement by Taylor Branch
• My Country, 'Tis of Thee by Keith Ellison
• Elizabeth Taylor by Kitty Kelley
• Heaven's Fury by Stephen Frey
• Breach of Trust by Bonnie Macdougal
• God Has Ninety-Nine Names by Judith Miller
• The Warriors of God by William Christie
• Mercy Mission by William Christie
• Death on the Ice by Robert Ryan
• Dying Day by Robert Ryan
• After Midnight by Robert Ryan
• Night Crossing by Robert Ryan
• Worth the Fall by Claudia Connor
• The Boston Stranglers by Susan Kelly
• Alex and Eliza: A Love Story by Melissa de la Cruz
• The Widow by Fiona Barton
• Voyage of the Damned: A Shocking True Story of Hope, Betrayal, and Nazi Terror by Max Morgan-Witts and Gordon Thomas
• Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire by Julia Baird
• The Underground Railroad (National Book Award Winner) (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel by Colson Whitehead
• The Cutaway: A Thriller by Christina Kovac
• All By Myself, Alone: A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark
• Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life by Sally Bedell Smith
• The Rizzoli & Isles Series 9-Book Bundle by Tess Gerritsen
• Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her by Rowland White
• The Director: A Novel by David Ignatius
• Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War by Kayla Williams
• Execution by Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust by Miron Dolot
• Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich by Walter Kempowski and Shaun Whiteside
• Mess: One Man's Struggle to Clean Up His House and His Act by Barry Yourgrau
• Capital Offenses: Business Crime and Punishment in America's Corporate Age by Samuel W. Buell
• Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. Lash
• Eleanor: The Years Alone by Joseph P. Lash
• Alone on the Wall by David Roberts and Alex Honnold
• The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World's Fair by Margaret Creighton
• Love on Trial: An American Scandal in Black and White by Earl Lewis and Heidi Ardizzone

Amazon Kindle (US)

• Frasier Island (Frasier Island Series Book 1) by Susan Page Davis
• Finding Marie (Frasier Island series Book 2) by Susan Page Davis
• Inside Story (Frasier Island Series Book 3) by Susan Page Davis
• His Way: An Unauthorized Biography Of Frank Sinatra by Kitty Kelley
• David and the Psalms by Michael J. Ruszala
• Hidden Deep: Book 1 of The Hidden Saga (The HiddenSaga) by Amy Patrick
• All My Love, Detrick: A Historical Novel Of Love And Survival During The Holocaust (All My Love Detrick Book 1) by Roberta Kagan
• Faith: Amish Romance (The Amish Buggy Horse Book 1) by Ruth Hartzler
• Soar Like Eagles (Promise for Tomorrow Book 3) by Terri Wangard
• Either Side of Midnight (The Midnight Saga Book 1) by Tori de Clare
• Remembering Dresden (Jack Turner Suspense Series Book 2) by Dan Walsh
• Deadly Lies by Chris Patchell
• The Chosen One by T. B. Markinson
• Material Witness (Heroes of Providence Book 1) by Lisa Mondello
• Safe With Me by K.L. Slater
• Finding Peace (Love's Compass Book 1) by Melanie D. Snitker

Lynn's List (April 7, 2017)

Each Friday I publish a list of titles I have come across, during the past week, that I find interesting. Happy reading!

• Fatal Crossroads by Danny Parker
• 1968 by Joe Haldeman
• Remembering Survival: Inside a Nazi Slave-Labor Camp by Christopher R. Browning
• Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court by Jeff Shesol
• The Rapture Exposed by Barbara R. Rossing
• The Last Man on the Mountain: The Death of an American Adventurer on K2 by Jennifer Jordan
• Men of Color to Arms!: Black Soldiers, Indian Wars, and the Quest for Equality by Elizabeth D. Leonard
• The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story by Frances Kiernan
• The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics by James Oakes
• Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution by Howard Rheingold
• Execution by Hunger: The Hidden Holocaust by Miron Dolot
• Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil by David Goodstein
• Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America by Douglas R Egerton
• The Lost Garden: A Novel by Helen Humphreys
• Fastnet, Force 10: The Deadliest Storm in the History of Modern Sailing (New Edition) by John Rousmaniere

Kindle Titles

• David and the Psalms by Michael J. Ruszala
• Hidden Deep: Book 1 of The Hidden Saga (The HiddenSaga) by Amy Patrick
• All My Love, Detrick: A Historical Novel Of Love And Survival During The Holocaust (All My Love Detrick Book 1) by Roberta Kagan
• Faith: Amish Romance (The Amish Buggy Horse Book 1) by Ruth Hartzler
• Soar Like Eagles (Promise for Tomorrow Book 3) by Terri Wangard
• Either Side of Midnight (The Midnight Saga Book 1) by Tori de Clare
• Remembering Dresden (Jack Turner Suspense Series Book 2) by Dan Walsh
• Deadly Lies by Chris Patchell
• The Chosen One by T. B. Markinson
• Material Witness (Heroes of Providence Book 1) by Lisa Mondello
• Safe With Me by K.L. Slater
• Finding Peace (Love's Compass Book 1) by Melanie D. Snitker
• Bitch on Wheels: The True Story of Black Widow Killer Sharon Nelson by Gregg Olsen
• Over the Edge by Brandilyn Collins
• Marlena: A Novel by Julie Buntin

Review: The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea

Title: The Girl Who Was Taken
Author: Charlie Donlea
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: April 25, 2017
Edition: Hardcover (320 pages)

Categories:

• Fiction
• Crime Fiction
• Mystery
• Suspense

The Girl Who Was Taken by Charlie Donlea

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Two girls, both high school seniors, disappear from a party in a small North Carolina town. Two weeks pass while a major hunt for them is underway. Megan McDonald returns home. Nicole Cutty does not. Questions remain about what happened to Nicole, and prompt her sister, Livia, a fellow in forensic pathology, to want to learn everything possible so that, one day, she may be able to use those skills to piece together what happened to her sister. A chance encounter puts Livia on that path and brings her into contact with Megan, and the two begin a journey of exploration with many twists and turns that kept me reading every word, wondering where it would take them. The suspense never ebbed. The plot is well thought out and complex. The subject matter of abduction is deep and dark in this book, as it is in real life.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

Review: Lake News (Blake Sisters #1) by Barbara Delinsky

Title: Lake News
Author: Barbara Delinsky
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: July 1, 2003
Edition: Paperback (544 pages)
Categories:

• Fiction
• Romance
• Women's Fiction

Lake News by Barbara Delinsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Lake News is the first Barbara Delinsky book I read, years ago. I loved it from the first page, and the same with An Accidental Woman, the second book in the series.

Excellent character development, and wonderful expression of family relationships, plus interaction all around.

If you want to read a great story, this book is for you.