For The Love Of Books

Wow, wow, wow! I flew this book and read all 360 pages in less than 24 hours!! This is my third book by Susan Anne Mason and I think my favorite one so far. After being so enthralled with the story line and completely being able to relate to Hannah and her emotions, I started talking aloud to the book in the restaurant during the climax. I love the author’s explanation at the end of how this story is tied to her real life.

I am 34 years old and had never read an Agatha Christie book before! I don’t know why I waited so long. It only took me 2 chapters to get used to Agatha Christie’s writing style, and before I knew what was happening, I was hooked! This book is Extremely well written. Her books are not very long, but they pack a mighty punch! I felt as if I had been vacationing right along with the characters of the books.

If you are looking for a book that is very well thought out and planned, this is it! Noah Bolinder amazes me with his first book, The Promise, and has continued amazing me in his book Love Quest. Noah does not simply throw a book together. You can tell throughout the pages that a lot of thought and planning has gone into each word to make all of the puzzle pieces come together in one glorious picture.

This book transported me to a time period I had never really thought on before. I love historical fiction because a lot of times it gets me digging deeper into history. In school, you barely touch on facts throughout history and I don’t even remember going over this period of orphan trains. Jody Hedlund is now a new favorite! I am trying to read a lot of new to me authors this year, and With You Always was my first written by Jody.  I loved the story line, the way she put together the unfolding story, and the way that not everything is resolved, so now I want to read the others!

The final book in Colleen Coble’s Mercy a Falls Series Did Not Disappoint! Once again, Colleen does a great blend of history, romance, and suspense. Some things I wanted to shout at the characters about as I was figuring them out, but as before, I was still shocked with the last few chapters!

Because of Colleen Coble I have learned that I really enjoy a good suspense novel! The Lightkeeper’s Bride has just the right mix of  suspense, romance, and history. Once again I could figure out part of the mystery, but was shocked when some of the endings were revealed! A wonderful book that keeps you on your toes!

This was a few more firsts for me! The first in this series AND the first by this great author! I did shed a few tears, but that’s one thing that helps make a great book. I really enjoyed getting more familiar with the start of our country through this fictional work. While the main characters were fictional, Kimberly Woodhouse still touched on many true stories that had been recorded with the original settlers. I am amazed by how many gaps I had in my knowledge and plan to search into this period even more (another thing a great historical fiction book can do for you.)!

I follow Susannah on social media, so I was thrilled to know she had put out a non fiction book (I also discovered she has fiction and I need to read those now also 😉). I listened to the audiobook on this one and I love that she is the narrator - especially since it deals with real life, raw emotions. This book took my heart through the wringer in a good way. I especially loved the section dealing with our children. I’m excited to see if she will release another.

I love being transported back in time to the early 1900s! This is the second book I have read by Kristy Cambron, and I was fascinated by it. It doesn’t rank up there quite as high as The Ringmaster’s Wife in my eyes, but it is still a fantastically spun tale. The last 50 or so pages - wow!!! I did not see most of that coming!!!! I love that I wasn’t able to guess! 

This was another first for me, and I’m loving the new to me authors I’m finding this year!! I don’t recall a WW2 Fiction I have read in the past, ao it was also a new sub-genre. I’ve had a whole new world open up for me to experience, and I’m thrilled with it! Sarah Sundin captured me up in her thoroughly researched story line. I already have the next in the series in. ❤️

First, I am really enjoying this series by Melanie Dickerson! I love fairy tale re-tellings (I was a huge fan of ABC’s Once!!) ❤️  This one had me trying to figure out stuff all throughout it! My initial huge guess was correct,  but a few of the smaller details got me good! I love books where you are kept on your toes and it takes a while to figure out the details. Great YA Christian fiction book!

I’m going to be ambitious this month! July has 31 days, so why not? The bottom row is all new to me authors - Kimberly Woodhouse with The Mayflower Bride (The Daughters of the Mayflower Series), Jody Hedlund with With You Always (Orphan Train Series), Agatha Christie’s A Caribbean Mystery (::gasp:: I’ve never actually read one by her!!), and Sarah Sundin’s The Sea Before Us (Sunrise at Normandy Series). The middle row is a mixture: The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron (this will be my second by here), A Most Noble Heir by Susan Anne Mason, The Hawaiian Quily by Wanda E Brunstetter (I got the second book of the series from a sale, so had to check out the first!), and Love Quest, the second book by Noah Bolinder. The top row is my trying to finish series row 🥰 Princess Ever After and How to Carch a Prince from Rachel Hauk’s the Royal Wedding Series, The Lightkeeper’s Bride and The Lightkeeper’s Daughter from Colleen Coble’s Mercy Falls Series, and The Golden Braid from Me...

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too sure about this one because I wasn’t sure about the Frog Prince theme. I liked the movie from the 80s/90s, but I wasn’t sure how Melanie Dickerson would be able to make this into a Hagenheim story. I was thrilled with the result!  Melanie started the tale off and flung us straight into the action. The entire time I was reading the book, I was trying to figure things out and there were a few plot twists I didn’t expect. It’s wonderful to continue the story from the other characters in this series from a distance as well! (Rose is all grown up now 😢). I’m looking forward to The Golden Braid next!