Heart of the Glen by Jennifer Deibel Review

 

Heart of the Glen by Jennifer Deibel is a wonderful historical romance set in the early 1900s in Ireland. It is told from the points of view of both Saoirse Fagan and Owen McCready.

We first meet Saoirse (pronounced Seer-sha) when she arrives in Ballybofey, County Donegal at a castle where she was supposed to be employed. However, she discovers that her employer has recently died and she is stranded with no where to go and no one to return to. We also know from the first line that she has “blood on her hands.” This leaves the reader wondering exactly what happened and why she is so alone.

We then meet sheep farmer and weaver Owen McCready, who has just been attacked by bandits on his farm in Dunlewey, County Donegal. His sister Aileen had discovered the wandering, abandoned Saorirse and offered to help her. Saoirse sees herself as a curse because of what appears to be bad luck that is following her; however, the MrCready’s see her as an answer to prayer as she came along at just the right time to help them in their time of need.

There is so much I loved about this book.

I loved the relationship between Saoirse and Owen and how it evolved while Owen taught her to weave in her effort to help them. And through this part of the storyline, I was able to learn more about weaving which was really cool. And I also loved how the author wove the object lesson of the tapestry into the story. I also loved the friendship that developed between Saoirse and Aileen. And then their was Stout, the McCready’s loyal dog. I loved reading about the way he watched over the sheep and helped herd them. And seeing the relationship he had with Owen and the one he developed with Saoirse.

I appreciated the relationships in their close-knit community and seeing them come together in times of need. And also the importance of faith in the Lord. I love the way Owen’s friend led him to see a parallel to the challenges in Owen’s life and that of a story from the Bible.

One of my favorite quotes is from one of their discussions:
“’I just wish I knew my story would turn out as well as his,’ Owen added.

The corner of John’s mouth made a clicking sound, and he nodded. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I reckon that’s why it’s called faith.’”

I truly fell in love with these characters and despaired with them when hardships came, but was strengthened in my faith with the biblical reminders that were given to Owen and Saoirse.

This is only my second book by this author, but she is becoming one of my favorite authors, one who’s books I can’t wait to read more of.

I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.

Friday Fun - February 7, 2025

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with three different book parties that post on Fridays: Book Beginnings on Fridays, the Friday 56, and First Line Friday.

This week I have one book to share with you.

I'm reading The Sweet Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher for one of my reading challenges. 

        Book Beginnings on Friday     

(Please join Gilion Dumas for Book Beginnings every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.)

and

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here is my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selection:

  The Sweet Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher:

"Dawn parked in front of her childhood home in Needham but couldn't make herself get out of the car."

Was there a specific reason she was at her childhood home? What was wrong that she didn't want to leave the car?

Now for:

The Friday 56

The Friday 56 is normally hosted over at Freda's Voice. But Anne from My Head is Full of Books is taking over for a while. 

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Here is my Friday 56 selection:

The Sweet Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher:

 

"Marnie bristled at being lumped in that 'at our age, sweetheart' category-- fifty-eight was not old, people!--but she didn't disagree about grabbing every moment of happiness. Still, it did worry her that Bonnie might get to Alaska and regret it."

Reviews:

Last week I shared two books in my Friday Fun post. Here are the links to my reviews. 

A Defense of Honor by Kristi Ann Hunter

Kiera by Kate Willis

Kiera by Kate Willis Review

 

Spoiler warning. If you don't want spoilers, you will want to avoid my review. I tried to be vague about some things, but I wasn't sure how to write the review without mentioning some details. 

Okay, so, I really wanted to love Kiera by Kate Willis. I learned about it when I was looking at books for the Sanctitiy of Human Life month. So, it being pro-life and talking about rallies and embryo adoption was a huge plus. I loved that homeschooling and headcovering were also included in the book. Usually I don't read about women wearing a covering unless the book is Amish or Mennonite. And the book was introduced as being dystopian, which is a favorite genre of mine. 

The problem is, I couldn't even really tell WHY the world was supposed to be dystopian. There was talk of war and a draft and radiation. But none of this is really explained. Yes, the draft is important enough in that Kiera avoiding it is what leads to her marriage of convenience; however, it is never really explained WHY she wants to avoid the draft. Is it religious beliefs like the Mennonites being conscientious objectors or is it just fear of dying? 

The war was never explained. Like who was fighting who? Also, why was there radiation? But also, why did it only seem to be an issue occasionally and what other precautions were being taken besides moving the garden under a tarp (or whatever it was) and staying inside, but not always? 

It appeared that the setting is in the future with such inventions as self-driving cars, yet so many things seemed like they take place in current times. And I don't know why exactly it bothered me, but the author called the electonic devices the characters had "devices." Every time, it was the "device." Yet it seemed to be no different that my cell phone. 

And there were just some things that were never really explained and some things seemed to me to contradict other things. 

And it really bothered me that Kiera's brother Thorne, who was the pastor of their congregation, has some awful things happen to him because of his stands, his beliefs. Yet these things seem to come out of nowhere and things are mentioned that just bring up more questions instead of answers. 

I'm not saying the book was all bad, please don't get me wrong. It's just those things I mentioned above just really got to me. 

I loved that faith was a huge part of the main characters lives, and that they were living out their lives for Christ. Even though there were people in the congregation who thought that wasn't needed. This was a time when in America the government had become more like that of other totalitariam governments and seemed to be monitoring religion and what was allowed to be said. So, I definitely appreciated that in the face of adversity these people were standing firm in Christ. 

I loved the relationship between Kiera and Jade, the adorable, toddler daughter of Brennan, the man she married to avoid the draft. She had babysat Jade and they were good friends, so their relationship was able to develop, though it did seem a bit weird that she just started calling herself "mommy" when talking to Jade. And it was never really said how Brennan felt about that. Yet their marriage relationship was hardly developed. Even though they were friends prior to getting married. I understand they probably felt awkward. However, instead of trying to work on the relationship that would be for life, they seemed to keep themselves apart, saying things didn't have to change between them. 

So, yeah, if you choose to read this because you are looking for a dystopian book, this is really different that any dystopian I have ever read. If you are looking for a book where the characters have a strong faith and live out that faith, a book where characters stand strong in Christ in the face of adverstity, a clean book that focuses on the relationships of family, then you will probably enjoy this book. 

I would like to know if a sequel had been planned, because there is still so much about the war and the fate of the true church in America, and the story of these people living through this that remained unresolved.

A Defense of Honor by Kristi Ann Hunter Review

A Defense of Honor is my first book by Kristi Ann Hunter and I just loved it. 

We begin the story from Lord Wharton's (or Graham's) point of view, being told a bit about him, and learning that he was bored. He is suddenly intrigued when he notices a mysterious woman sneaking around during the ball. This was our introduction to Kit, the other main character whose POV we get to share throughout the story. 

Because we get to see her POV as well, we get to find out what she is up to a lot faster than Graham does. However, the author doesn't share all the details at once, we get to learn all the secrets slowly as we read the story. I think the author did a wonderful job revealing a bit at a time, leaving the reader to try to figure out all the specifics while giving us just enough to keep us intrigued. 

It is a look into the aristocrisy in England in the 1800s, and the way illegitamate children were swept under the rug so those of importance wouldn't lose their reputations. A look at the unfairness of how a woman was the one who could lose everything while the man just got away with it. A look at how people felt about those of illegitabate birth . 

I loved how Kit and Daphne and Jess were trying to give better lives to some of those children who had no say in how they were conceived. Though we also see that two wrongs don't make a right, and we see the importance on truly trusting in God and not in one's self or in others. 

And I enjoyed all the children and the experiences they shared, and the way Graham ended up in their lives. I had to wonder how exactly Kit and Graham would end up together with the obstacles they had to overcome. 

A great first book in this series which I hope to have a chance to finish soon.

 

Friday Fun - January 31, 2025

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with three different book parties that post on Fridays: Book Beginnings on Fridays, the Friday 56, and First Line Friday.

This week I have two books to share with you.

I'm reading A Defense of Honor by Kristi Ann Hunter for one of my reading challenges. 

I just started Kiera by Kate Willis. 

        Book Beginnings on Friday     

(Please join Gilion Dumas for Book Beginnings every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.)

and

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here are my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selections:

  A Defense of Honor by Kristi Ann Hunter:

"Graham, the Viscount Wharton, heir to the earldom of Grableton, pride of the Cambridge fencing team, coveted party guest, and generally well-liked member of both Brooke's and White's was bored."

Even though Graham was "well-liked" I wasn't sure how I felt about him as I almost felt he was a bit full of himself. 

Kiera by Kate Willis

 "The earth felt cool against her skin as she ran her fingers through the rich, black soil and pulled up a hardy weed that blocked the sunlight from her plants."

Sounds relazing.

Now for:

The Friday 56

The Friday 56 is normally hosted over at Freda's Voice. But Anne from My Head is Full of Books is taking over for a while. 

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Here are my Friday 56 selections:

A Defense of Honor by Kristi Ann Hunter:

 

"She bit her lip and looked warily at the door leading down to the kitchen. Leading down to Jess. Who had certainly not forgotten she had suspicions still to voice. It wouldn't hurt to start lessons early today. After all, there wasn't really anything useful Kit could do in a mere half an hour."

Kiera by Kate Willis

"Her face grew wistful as she ran her fingers along the edge of the nest. The wind picked up and she shivered, hunching herself into her coat and plunging her free hand into her pocket. A curl of paper met her fingers, and she crunched it, relishing the feel of the corners against her palm."

Reviews:

Last week I shared one book in my Friday Fun post. Here is the link to my review. 

Cross Check Crush by Dulcie Dameron

Cross Check Crush by Dulcie Dameron Review

 

Last year I read both of Latisha Sexton's books in the Dating a Denver Dragon series because I was on the launch teams. I really enjoyed those books and have been meaning to read the remainder of this multi-author series, but I was having a hard time fitting them in due to ARCs I was reading, plus reading challenges that I wasn't able to fit these books into. Thankfully one of my reading challenges this month, was to read a book that featured a winter sport. I knew just which book I wanted to read. Cross Check Crush by Dulcie Dameron, the second book in the series.

I loved being able to read Bridger and Freya's story, even though fake relationships/engagements aren't exactly my favorite trope because of the lying involved. 

We read the story from the POVs of both Bridger and Freya, so we are aware of the way their feelings for the other evolve through the story. The relationship starts out as one where Freya is Bridger's #1 fan and has even started a website dedicated to him. They have been in contact through this site, but he has no clue who she really is. He also is unaware of the fact that she has a major crush on him. 

Bridger is living his dream, playing for a hockey team in the minor leagues. However, he also deals with social anxiety which affects his relationships with others, including women. Which is why he ends up asking Freya to enter into a fake engagement with him over the Thanksgiving holiday with his family.

I really enjoyed Bridger and Freya's relationship. Each of them had things in their life they needed to overcome, and they were there for each other. There was a lot of swooniness but nothing inappropriate. I have to say, I wasn't a huge fan of Bridger's father or his brother and sort of hoped a bit more would rectified in those relationships. 

I can't wait to read the remainder of this series, and I definitely want to read more books by Dulcie Dameron. 

Friday Fun - January 24, 2025

Welcome to my Friday Fun post. This is where I share with three different book parties that post on Fridays: Book Beginnings on Fridays, the Friday 56, and First Line Friday.

This week I have one book to share with you.

I just started Cross Check Crush by Dulcie Dameron for a couple of my reading challenges. This book is part of the multi-author Dating a Denver Dragon series.

        Book Beginnings on Friday     

(Please join Gilion Dumas for Book Beginnings every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name.)

and

First Line Friday

(Please join Carrie for First Line Friday.)

Here is my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selection:

  Cross Check Crush by Dulcie Dameron:

"Getting sent to the sin bin for cross-checking is nothing new for me."

Typical hockey player? 

Now for:

The Friday 56

The Friday 56 is normally hosted over at Freda's Voice. But Anne from My Head is Full of Books is taking over for a while. 

Rules:

*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader
(If you have to improvise, that's ok.)
 *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you.
*Post it.
*Add your (url) post below in Linky. Add the post url, not your blog url. It's that simple.

Here is my Friday 56 selection:

Cross Check Crush by Dulcie Dameron:

 

"Too eager? Probably. But look-I'm kicking my feet under the covers, trying with all my might not to let my idolization for Bridger run away from me. He could be about to ask me out, but he could also be about to ask me something really mundane and boring. Like, can you stop posting shirtless pics of me?"

Reviews:

Last week I shared three books in my Friday Fun post. Here is the link to one review. I am still reading the other two books.

Across the Ages by Gabrielle Meyer