Book Review: Flight of Fancy by Laurie Alice Eakes

Cassandra Bainbridge is not your average English lady. She would happily spend her day reading Greek or designing hot air ballons over balls, parties, and other normal pursuits for young ladies in her position. Despite that, Geoffrey Giles, Earl of Whittaker still loves her madly. In fact maybe even a little too much. As their wedding date nears, Cassandra and Geoffrey have a hard time keep their feelings, and their hands, to themselves.

After a tragic accident, Cassandra thinks that God may be giving her a wake up call to better obedience, and so she breaks her engagement to the man who caused her to stray, persuaded that she will now stay to the straight and narrow path, concentrating only on her ballooning to keep her amused. But that is not so easy when there is danger, intrigue and embers of love to deal with as she tries to recover.

This is the second story in the Daughters of Bainbridge series, and while it does allude to the first book, it gives enough of the details to not need to have read the first story (though I would like to read the story of the first sister now). While I did enjoy the story, I didn't feel that pull to be rushing through to read what happens next, even though there are twists and mystery involved. It was a good story, and I appreciate that even though it dealt with physical temptation as a topic, it was not overly graphic. I thought it had a good balance in that area where many books are lacking.

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Book Review: A Promise to Love, by Serena B. Miller

Ingrid Miller, has finally realized her dream of coming to a new world. She left her home in Sweden behind and now all that is left is to meet her brother and begin their new lives together. But when her brother never shows up at their meeting place, Irena is left wondering what happened to him, and what she is going to do to survive until she finds him.

After leaving a horrible working situation, Irena finds herself proposing to a young widow she hardly knows. She needs a way to survive, and he desperately needs help with his young family. Serena now must face the challenges of building a loving home for this broken family, and finding her brother for whom she fears the worst!

I cannot tell you how much I LOVED this story!!! This will definitely be on my re-read list! I especially loved when I got to the end and read the author's notes, finding out how much of this story is based on actual events! It just made the story even better. There are enough twists and turns, happiness and sadness, to keep me turning pages well into the night! I highly recommend this one.

A BIG thank you to Revell publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Book Review: Twice Promised by Maggie Brendan

Jess Gifford is a hard worker who is content in his life as a bachelor, even if things are a little unorganized in his life. So when not one, but two mail order brides show up on his doorstep, he is at a loss for what to do with them. He certainly did not order them!

Greta Olsen and Cora Johnson are two beautiful women, each believing they are arriving in Colorado to meet a man whom they have become friends with through the mail. They find it hard to swallow that not only is Jess Gifford not expecting them, but they are not the only bride to show up for him to marry!

This was such a cute story of "surprises, misunderstandings, and tender romance" as the back of the book describes it.  It did not take me long to finish the story as I quickly turned the pages to find out what was going to happen next :-) It is the second book in the Blue Willow Brides series and I found that it read well as a stand alone book as I have never read the first book. After reading this story though, I may just look for the first one as I enjoyed this one so much!

Thanks to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

Book Review: When a Heart Stops by Lynette Eason

Serena Hopkins in a medical examiner who is used to looking at death objectively. But when she starts recognizing victims, things get a lot more personal, especially when she could be the next body! Working along side her childhood crush, Dominic Allen, is just as unnerving. When it seems that someone is very intent on getting to Serena, she must decide if the secret she has been keeping is worth risking her life, or if she should share it with Dominic before she runs out of time.

I have been looking forward to this book coming out since I read the first book in the Deadly Reunions Series.  Generally when you read suspense books, even in a series, things tend to resolve within that book and the next focuses on a new character and story line. What I really enjoy about these stories is that while each book does focus on a different character, the stories are connected. I like that when I finish this book, I still don't know the ending and I am already looking forward to the last book in the series - I can't wait to see this mystery unravel.

Thank you so much to Revell Publishing for a free copy of this book to review.

Available October 2012  at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group

A Love Surrendered

Annie Kennedy is ready to grow up. Just about to turn eighteen, Annie gives herself a new name and a new beginning. But her new friends at Ocean Pier may be a little more than she is ready for. During a time of prohibition, they play to fast and free for Annie's conscience. It doesn't help that she is quickly falling for Steven O'Conner who is insistant on protecting her innocence, yet runs with the same mischievous crowd.  To top it all off, if Steven ever finds out the truth about who she really is, it could break her heart, and his!

I can't really decide what I think about this book. While it's theme about staying pure and obeying God in physical relationships is admirable, it is pretty graphic in describing the struggles the characters go through. I'm not sure I would want my daughter to read it before she was married. I also have such a hard time with the relationship between a barely turned eighteen year old and an older man, even though that was totally normal back then. Still, I like the O' Conner family and their human-ness. I especially loved seeing how things turned out for some of the characters from the other books in the series.

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.

Available October 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Book Review: Life with Lilly by Mary Ann Kinsinger and Suzanne Woods Fisher

I have really enjoyed reading books by Suzanne Woods Fisher in the past, so I was pretty happy to see that she had written a book for children. These ladies have done a lovely job of explaining how Amish children grow up in a sweet story about Lilly Lapp.

The book begins when Lilly is only age 5 which I will admit I thought was a little young for a main character since the book is aimed at children who are a little older. I did find though that the book covers a few years of Lilly's life though, so it does eventually catch up to it's readers. While it does deal with some tough subjects like serious illnesses in a family, I still feel it was a very simple book, and not sure it would hold the attention of a 12 year old. The conflicts were mainly small and dealt with it a couple of chapters.  It's been a while since I was that age though so I may be wrong :-) I think that it would be a great story to read to your child as it would be a great way to open conversations on those hard topics.

I am certainly going to read this with my Molly as soon as she is old enough - I think it will make a lovely bed time story to read together.

Thank you so much to Revell Publishers for a copy of this book to review.

Available October 2012  at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Being Little

While Aidan usually enjoys the status of big brother and growing up, yesterday he managed to use the small card for getting out of work - I just wanted to record the funniness of his little self :-)

We have a pre-school workbook that we pull out whenever he is in the mood. I'm not pushing it with him because he is a kid and he'll have enough of all the stuff when he gets to school, but I'm all for learning letters and numbers when he is up to it. Anyway, he was supposed to draw a line from one letter to another, but instead he just wanted to color them. I said we should try to follow the instructions and he says "I'm just a kid, mom. I think I should just color it."

Later that day, I told him it was time to clean up the toys he was playing with. He'd made quite a mess so it was a daunting task. He looks a me and says, "you know I'm only three - I think you should probably do it." Fat chance little man :-)

I love his funny little personality develop (even though it doesn't get him out of cleaning up his toys!)

1 Month of School!

We have completed a whole month of school and so far Eóin is still loving it! I guess I didn't have to be worried about it being such a long day - he is still not tired when he gets hom and has lots of energy left over to wrestle with Aidan :-)
He will still say that his favorite part of the day is lunch time, but he does really enjoy PE, Maths, and Performing Arts.  He is loving counting to 100 by 1's, 5's and 10's. He is also doing really well with sight words and reading too! We have been reading sentences for a few weeks now! The "scholars" learn a lot of spelling and facts through song which is so much fun! His teacher is so enthusiastic about learning - I can tell by the great phrases he brings home like "WA-HOO" :-)
They have been going to the Kansas City Public Library once a week which is an AWESOME building and tomorrow they get to go to the Folley Theatre to watch the American Dance Theater group. I'm so glad he gets to be a part of so much downtown!
Well that's it - just a quick update on our little scholar :-)