Friday Fun - February 23, 2024

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 am reading Fake Engagment at the Rusted K by Cali Black as a member of the launch team. The book released today!

I am also reading Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower 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 C arrie for First Line Friday.)

Here are my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selections:

  Fake Engagment at the Rusted K by Cali Black:

"Thirty minutes from Jackson Hole on the straightest, most deserted and beautiful road in the country, Ren Connor pushed the pedal to the floorboard and watched the speedometer needle circle right."

Why in the world is Ren going so fast? Is she in a rush because she's late? Just being reckless? Out for a joyride? Is there going to be a cop around?

Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower:

"'I still can't believe you left!' Cassandra Calbera shouted into my ear."

Okay, why is Cassandra shouting? What's the big deal?

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:

Fake Engagement at the Rusted K by Cali Black:
 

"She slid under the covers, the feathered trim tickling her ankles. She hugged the shirt to her chest and breathed out a prayer. A somewhat desperate prayer that Cash wouldn't hurt her. A pleading prayer for Ellie's safety. And a doubtful prayer that she would one day find the love she longed for."

Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower:

"She stepped back and her eyes narrowed. In an instant, all the goodwill I had won by complimenting her pretzels was lost. 'Pardon me?'"

Reviews:

Last week I shared two books in my Friday Fun post. If you would like to read my reviews, I invite you to click on the links below.

The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep

Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin

Also, I never shared the link to my review of  Reverence in the Wilderness by Andrea Byrd. Here is my review.

The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep Review

 

Wow, I really enjoyed The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep. It takes place in colonial America in the late 1700's, near the time of the American Revolution, though we are introduced to Eleanor Morgan in the first chapter where she is working as a governess in England. To avoid a scandal she is sent away to the colonies in America. Though what happened was not her fault, she would not have been able to find employment in England and her employer gave her a reference to work for a family in Charles Town. Due to unforeseen circumstances she ends up being married to a single father, Samuel Heath, a man who appears to be quite the brute. Now this proper English governess is forced to learn to live in the wilderness with a man who is brusque and wild and uncommunitive at times.

Samuel is mostly concerned about having a mother for his daughter, someone to bring her up right and allow him to be free to trap and guide.

There are secrets that can't be found out and dangers that come their way, along with feelings of not being enough and jealousy. They need to remember to trust in the Lord and lean on Him through all their trials. Eleanor had her little prayer that the story began with and she recites at difficult times throughout the book.

I really enjoyed this story and the relationship that developed between Eleanor and Samuel. 

Reverence in the Wilderness by Andrea Byrd Review

 

Reverence in the Wilderness by Andrea Byrd is the third book in her Frontier Hearts series.

When her father dies during a tornado, Keturah is left alone on their farmstead in the wilderness of Kentucky. She decides she needs to find a husband right away to help her and keep her safe, so she heads out to Skagg’s station where she finds Daniel who has been left alone there after being abandoned by the people he’d been traveling west with. As someone who grew up in a city, will he have what it takes to help her on her farm, or will marrying him be a big mistake?

Keturah wonders this for quite a while after their marriage of convenience. And Daniel worries he will never be what Keturah needs, as he never amounted to anything prior to this in his life. Everything he does seems to be wrong. But he is determined to try to gain his lovely new wife’s respect.

I was drawn right into this story and loved watching Keturah and Daniel’s relationship evolve as they struggled through hardships while learning to trust God and each other. I also enjoyed getting to see Margaret and Iain from the previous book, Redemption in the Wilderness, where we first met Keturah and her father. I really enjoyed this book, I just wish the story had been longer.

I received an ARC of this book as a member of the launch team and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.

Friday Fun - February 16, 2024

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 am reading The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep for one of my reading challenges. 

I am also reading Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin. 

        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 C arrie for First Line Friday.)

Here are my Book Beginnings/First Line Friday selections:

  The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep:

"My precious Lord;
My only hope;
My Saviour, how I need you now.
Eleanor Morgan repeated the words, over and over, scrubbing her fingernails more vigorously with each repetition."

What happened to Eleanor, or what did Eleanor do, that she need to clean her fingernails vigorously and repeat the prayerful words. This gripped me right away and I needed to know what was going on.

Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin:

"As soon as she escaped to England, Aleida van der Zee Martens would cut her hair and have her son photographed for the first time."

Why does she need to escape? Who is she escaping from? Is she cutting her hair to hide? And if so, why is she getting a picture of her son, and why has he never been photographed before? So many questions from that first sentence.

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:

The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep:
 

"Repentance never came easy, but he'd learned that when it did come calling, to open the door wide with a hearty welcome. He never should have treated this woman so harshly in town this morning. The rude awakening. The heartless marriage vows. His silence on the drive home. All because he was too consumed with ignoring his own pain to be mindful of her feelings. He hung his head. Oh God, forgive me. Again."

Embers in the London Sky by Sarah Sundin:

"But today Louisa had been called away for a story. She'd tried to disuade Aleida from going herself, but she couldn't let a Friday slip past. Every week, every day, her son drifted further from her."

Reviews:

Last week I shared three books in my Friday Fun post. If you would like to read my reviews, I invite you to click on the links below. I didn't finish The Christmas Dog by Melody Carlson yet, so I will have to share that review next week.

8 Down by Kimberley Woodhouse

The Irish Matchmaker by Jennifer Deibel

Reverence in the Wilderness by Andrea Byrd

Also, I finished The Christmas Dog by Melody Carlson. Here is my review.

The Irish Matchmaker by Jennifer Deibel Review

 

The Irish Matchmaker by Jennifer Deibel is a wonderful historical romance. As the reader we are transported to Ireland in the early 1900s during the time of a matchmaking festival. I had heard of matchmakers before, but I never knew there were such things as matchmaking festivals, so that was really cool to get to experience one through the eyes of both a matchmaker and a festival goer.

The story is told from three points of view. That of Catriona Daly, a matchmaker and daughter of a renowned matchmaker. That of Donal Bunratty who is a widower who is trying to take care of his farm while also taking care of his young daughter. And we occasionally see the story through his daughter Sara’s eyes.

Catriona is wonderful at making matches, following in the shoes of her father; however, she herself has been unable to find love for herself. But during this year’s festival, she is determined to change her status, and hopefully get out of this small, rural community. Why not try to catch the eye of one of her well-to-do clients, Andrew Osborne. Though is he really the type of person she wants to spend the rest of her life with?

Donal is trying his best to take care of his farm and his young daughter Sara. But they have come upon hard times. He wants to be able give her more and she wants to see him happily married, plus, she really wants a mother. So, reluctantly he agrees to take part in the matchmaking festival, for her. But um, was he supposed to start having feelings for his matchmaker? And would she ever be interested in him? After all, she wants out of this community, she wants a better life. Not to be shackled to a life of hardship.

I loved watching the feelings between them grow, which others can see and they seem to be denying. The story is full of faith and learning about God’s provision, quite inspirational. And, I have to add, I’ll never be able to think of the Sermon on the Mount in the same way again. I also loved the relationship between Sara and her dad and Sara and Catriona. Caty’s best friend Maeve and her father were wonderful side characters. The author really brought this story and Ireland to life for me. And yes, there was even a villain and near tragedy, and we see the importance of community and not being prideful.

This was my first book by this author, but it sure won’t be my last. I loved this book, and highly recommend it.

I received an ARC of this book as a member of the launch team and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.

8 Down by Kimberley Woodhouse Review

 

Oh wow, I loved this one more than the first one! I could not put the book down, or I wished I hadn't had to put the book down. It grabbed me from the first scene and would NOT let go.

First of all, if you haven't read 26 Below by Kimberley Woodhouse, make sure you do before you read 8 Down. Also, you may not want to read this review until you do.

Like 26 Below, 8 Down takes place in Alaska, this time the focus is in Anchorage as opposed to Fairbanks. As the reader, we can see how the crimes in this story connect to the previous book, seeing as 26 Below ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. The protagonists and the world think they have captured the mastermind, however, we know better.

This second book in the Alaskan Cyber Hunters series has two new protagonists whose point of view we see the story through, Carrie Kintz from the ABI and Scott Patteson who is Jason’s friend in Anchorage that we hear about in 26 Below. And we are again seeing part of the story through the villain’s eyes.

In this story the villain looks a lot like a serial killer to our protagonists as he has an M.O. of giving hints about his kills in crossword puzzles, all in the 8 Down position. These deaths take place due to hacking taking place. And let me tell you, it is so diabolical how this villain just doesn’t care about anyone, and the amount of everyday devices that can be hacked to end a life. This psychopath appears to be going off the deep end with all his killing, and not caring about who he (or is it a she?) kills in his plan. And of course our heroes don’t really know what the villains plans are at first, and aren’t even aware of all the deaths that are connected to him/her. They just know he keeps contacting them, and is definitely after some sort of notoriety.

There is suspense, and there are twists, and there is a love story as well, along with spiritual truths.

If you are a fan of suspense and trying to figure out clues, you will want to get your hands on this book, or actually, this series.
I can’t wait til the next book comes out. 8 Down is definitely a book I recommend.

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

The Christmas Dog by Melody Carlson Review

 

For one of my challenges I had to read a book with a dog on the cover. I chose to read The Christmas Dog by Melody Carlson. This was my first Christmas book of the year (I want to try to read at least one each month or 12 as sometimes I don't get them read one per month). This book was technically for January, but I just finished it this morning.

The Christmas Dog was a sweet story about an elderly woman named Betty who just isn't feeling the Christmas spirit this year. Christmas is approaching and she is dealing with a frustrating next door neighbor named Jack who she is struggling with showing the love of Christ to. Just who is this man that is now living in her old friends' house? Because of his strange and annoying habits rumors have begun traveling around the neighborhood and Betty keeps jumping to conclusions about it and worrying. And to top it off, her granddaughter who is estranged from her parents and has been "missing" shows up on her doorstep. And of course, we can't forget the dog who plays a major roll in this story. Does this mangy mutt have a home? Does he belong to her annoying neighbor Jack and is he not being taken care of? Will the doggie be able to worm his way into her heart, or is Betty too closed off to love?

I thought this book did a great job reminding us to show Christ's love to others and not jump to conclusions and listen to rumors. This little doggie came into these neighbors' lives and brought some changes for the better. There was a bit that was a little predictable but I loved the way it all turned out.