Review - A Hidden Truth

A Hidden Truth
By Judith Miller
Publisher: Bethany House 
Pub. Date: September 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0764210006
ASIN: B008B9HGI6
Pages: 352

Review: 

Over the years, I have become a fan of historical fiction, many involving the Amish, the Mennonites, and the Shakers, but I have never read a book about the Amana Colonies. A Hidden Truth by Judith Miller is about the Amana Colonies and is one of the reasons why I wanted to review it, courtesy of Bethany House in exchange of my honest review.

A Hidden Truth takes place in East Amana, Iowa in 1892 and centers on two women, Karlina Richter and Dovie Cates. The colonies are very strict, with no access to the outside world or the "outsiders". Karlina has lived all her life in Amana, but has always been curious of what life was like outside the colonies.

Just as her father wants to move from Ohio to Texas, Dovie Cates gets permission to visit the Amana Colonies, where her birth mother grew up. She wants to learn more about her mother's past. She stays with the Richter family.

Review - Every Perfect Gift

Every Perfect Gift
A Hickory Ridge Romance
By: Dorothy Love
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pub. Date: December 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-1595549020
ASIN: B008GVYWC2
Pages: 320

Review:

I missed out reading the first book in A Hickory Ridge Romance series, but I did read the second book, Beauty for Ashes, which wasn't my kind of read. Why did I agree to review Every Perfect Gift courtesy of Thomas Nelson in exchange for my honest review? Actually, I didn't realize that the book was part of the series. I've been in a Christmas mood and the beautiful cover reminded me of the holidays. That being said, I eagerly signed up to review it.

Set in 1886, Sophie Caldwell returns to Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, where she grew up in an orphanage. She never knew who her parents were and her slightly dark complication made her an easy target of bullying from other children at the orphanage. Luckily, she was adopted by a loving couple, Wyatt and Ada Caldwell, and moved to Texas, but she has returned to Hickory Ridge to start a new life and maybe find some resolution to her past.

Review - A Home in Drayton Valley

A Home in Drayton Valley
By Kim Vogel Sawyer
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: October 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0764207884
ASIN: B008B9HLV8
Pages: 352

Review:

I have the majority of Kim Vogel Sawyer's novels, so naturally I was eager to sign up to review her newest book courtesy of Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review. I'm also a fan of historical novels, so I adored the beautiful cover with the young woman sitting in the grass with the steamboat floating down the river in the background.

Twelve years ago, Tarsie Raines arrived in New York from overseas to start a better life. It is now 1880; the only family she has is her best friend Mary Brubacher and her children. And then there is Mary's good for nothing husband Joss, an alcoholic and gambler. Mary's health is failing and Tarsie helps take care of her and the kids, when she isn't too busy dreaming of moving to Drayton Valley that she read about in James Redpath's Handbook of Kansas.

Joss's gambling debts leads to trouble for them; therefore they must flee the city, along with Tarsie. They travel by wagon, heading to the state of Kansas. Mary's health turns for the worst. Before Mary dies, Tarsie promises to care for her children and help Joss find faith in the Lord.

Review - Whispers in the Wind

Whispers in the Wind
Wild West Wind book 2
By Lauraine Snelling
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub. Date: August 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0764204166
ASIN: B0073UPPAK
Pages: 352

Review:

Cassie Lockwood returns in book two of the Wild West Wind series from author Lauraine Snelling. Cassie had traveled in the Wild West show that her father co-owned. With her shooting and riding skills, she became a major attraction for the show. After her father died, ticket sales declined and the show was cancelled. Before the bank investors could repossess her wagon and horse, she discovered a land deed belonging to her father. It seems he owned some land in North Dakota. Cassie packs her belongings and heads to the land of her father's dreams.

Whispers in the Wind continues Cassie's journey to North Dakota, where she finally arrives at the hidden valley, only to discover that someone else has already built a ranch on the land. The family includes Mavis Engstrom and her three children, who may now lose their home because Cassie is the rightful land owner.
Cassie learns a startling discovery that Mavis’s husband had co-owned the land with her father. Now she must try and share the land with these strangers.

Mavis's oldest son, Ransom, doesn't trust Cassie. Her daughter, Gretchen, is more accepting of Cassie as she has always wanted an older sister. The youngest son, Lucas, more than accepts Cassie, as he has fallen madly in love with her.

Review - No Safe Harbor

No Safe Harbor
by Elizabeth Ludwig
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN: 978-0764210396
Pub. Date: October 1, 2012
Pages: 336
Buy Links: http://ow.ly/eh4Xf
Blog Tour Link: http://litfusegroup.com/author/ELudwig

Review:

Set in the year 1897, Cara Hamilton thought that her twin brother, Eoghan, was deceased until she gets an unexpected letter from him, in which he urges her to come find him and warns her to trust no one. She boards the ship called the Servia and travels across the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland to America.

When Cara arrives in New York, she meets a stranger named Rourke Walsh. She takes refuge at a boardinghouse where she befriends most of the women whom are living there, all except Deirdre. Why would a woman that hardly knew her, hate her so much? There has to be here than meets the eye about this woman. Cara is determined to learn more about Deirdre, especially when she catches Deirdre prying in her room.

ARC Review - Crossing on the Paris

Crossing on the Paris
By Dana Gynther
Publisher: Gallery Books
Pub.Date: November 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-1451678239
ASIN: B007EDOL9M
Pages: 314

Review: 

I received an advanced copy of Crossing on the Paris a few months ago courtesy of Gallery Books in exchange for an honest review. Normally I don't read many books that are set during the early twentieth century, but I was intrigued by the cover art and thought that I would at least give it a try.

In the debut novel from author Dana Gynther, set sail aboard the ocean liner the Paris on its maiden voyage from Le Havre, France to New York during the year 1921. The plot centers around three women from different backgrounds.

Julie Vernet has suffered many losses during her lifetime. She lost her brothers during WWI and is still grieving. She is spent all of her life in poverty in France and when she got a chance to work in the steerage class (3rd class) as a maid, she eagerly took it. Her expectations for the life aboard a liner were high, but she was in for a shock as to how the 3rd class lived. Just when she is at her lowest, she begins a romance with a handsome engineer.

Review - Queen of the Waves

Queen of the Waves
By Janice Thompson
Publisher: Summerside
ISBN: 978-1609366865
Pub. Date: October 1, 2012
Pages: 336
Blog Tour Links: http://litfusegroup.com/campaigns/american-tapestries-thompson
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/e0YHw

Review: 

I've always been interested in the RMS Titanic every since I watched the Robert Ballad special in the 1980s. My parents bought me every book that came out on the ship. I lost interest in it when the bloated and overrated 1997 Titanic came out to theaters. This year marked the 100th anniversary since the Titanic sunk and many books have been released about the famous ship. I bought a few of the fiction books that came out earlier this year, but I haven't had time read them yet. When I saw that Queen of the Waves was available to review through Litfuse Publicity Group, I eagerly signed up for it.

Queen of Waves is part of the An American Tapestry series and involves a spoiled rich young woman, Jacqueline Abingdon, who is in love with her family's gardener, Peter Bowen, but her father wants her to marry the wealthy Roland Palmer. Jacqueline makes plans to runaway and to marry Peter. She is supposed to be on the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, but she gives her ticket to a poor English girl, Tessa Bowen. Tessa will take her identity on the ship while Peter and she can exchange their vows and start their life together without her father ever knowing.

Review - Where the Trails Ends

Where the Trail Ends
By Melanie Dobson
Publisher: Summerside Press
ISBN: 978-1609366858
Pub. Date: October 1, 2012
Pages: 336
Blog Tour Link: http://litfusegroup.com/campaigns/american-tapestries-dobson
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/e0YC2

Review:

The year is 1842 and the Waldron family is on the Oregon Trail trying to reach Willamette Valley before winter arrives. Mr. Waldron tells his family that the Willamette Valley is the Land of Milk and honey, and that he would build them a home of their dreams. They barely escaped the fall's deadly thunderstorms and the wrath of the wild animals, but they might die of hunger and thirst before arriving at their destination.

The book focuses mostly on the daughter Samantha Waldron, who is extremely close to her little brother, Micah. When the family tries to cross the Columbia River, a violent storm erupts above them causing the river to become out of control. Samantha and Micah are saved by Lord Alexander Clarke and brings them to Fort Vancouver. Micah is just fine and plays with the other children living at the Fort, but Samantha takes several days to recover. The only thing Samantha has left is her little brother Micah.

Alexander helps Samantha by giving her a job as the school teacher. There are many single soldiers stationed there and Alexander makes sure none of the men make an uncalled advanced toward Samantha, whose heart now belongs to him anyway. Just as the two start to become close, a ship from England arrives to take Alexander back home.

Suddenly, Micah goes missing. Who will help Samantha find her little brother?

Review - Michal's Window

Michal's Window
By Rachelle Ayala
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 
ISBN: 978-1475081480
Pub. Date: April 12, 2012
Pages: 458
Buy Link: Amazon.com

Review: 

This stunning biblical tale centers on Princess Michal, the daughter of King Saul, as she first meets the shepherd boy/harpist named David, who is arrives at the kingdom to help mend her father who is tormented by evil spirits. The Princess falls in love with David and before long the two are wedded.

Situations occur that causes King Saul to order the death of his son-in-law. Fearing for David's life, Michal helps her husband escape the wrath of her father.

Michal is later reunited with the now King David, but he has changed from the man that she had known. David has several wives and other lovers, but Michal still loves him and is determined to win his heart at all costs.

ARC Review - The Malice of Fortune

The Malice of Fortune
By Michael Ennis
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 978-0385536318
Pub. Date: September 11, 2012
Pages: 416
Buy Link: Amazon

Juan, Duke of Gandia, was murdered while on his way to visit his love, Damiata, causing Pope Alexander VI to become emotionally drained as Juan was his favorite son. In another twist, Damiata also went missing the night of Juan's murder, having witnessed her lover's death.

Five years go by and the Pope Alexander VI sends Rodrigo Borgia to find Damiata and bring her to him. The Pope believes that she is responsible for his son's death, but gives her a chance to prove her innocence by finding the real killer. Thinking that she will just run off and hide again, he takes her son Giovanni as leverage.

Damiata heads to Imola, where she finds out there have been a string of similar murders. The bodies have been buried throughout the city and the bodies' parts were specifically arranged to resemble a geometric design. Soon she meets a Florentine diplomat named Niccolo Machiavelli who assists her efforts in finding the killer or killers. Now here is another twist, the one and only Leonardo DaVinci, the famous Renaissance painter, is also investigating the murders and DaVinci eventually teams up with them.

Review - The Bucktail Brothers of the Fighting 149th

The Bucktail Brothers of the Fighting 149th
By: William P. Robertson & David Rimer
Publisher: Infinity Publishing
ISBN: 978-0741467300
Pub. Date: August 5, 2011
Pages: 212

Times were hard on families during the Civil War years. In The Bucktail Brothers of the Fighting 149th, the Cole family’s barn burns down to the ground. Money is tight and they don't know where they are going to get the money to rebuild the barn, until their sons Henry and Willie Cole decide to join the 149th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry lead by Lieutenant Colonel Walton Dwight. Their mother is distraught at the thought of her two teenage sons going off to war. Their father felt that way at first but the $100 cash for the boys joining would help raise a new barn and keep the farm going for awhile.

Henry and Willie say goodbye to their parents and head off with their infantry. They quickly learn the ways of being a solider, even though Henry is a little cocky at times and Willie is stubborn. The two brothers become part of the Pennsylvania Bucktails that fought on the fields of Gettysburg. Their fellow soldiers fell dead and others are wounded, but with great courage the boys fought forward.

Review - With Every Letter

With Every Letter
By Sarah Sundin
Publisher: Revell
ISBN: 978-0800720810
Pub. Date: September 1, 2012
Pages: 425
Buy Links: http://ow.ly/dyzz0
Blog Tour Link: http://litfusegroup.com/campaigns/with-every-letter-by-sarah-sundin-kindlenook-giveaway-facebook-party-and-blog-tour

Set during World War II, Lt. Mellie Blake is training to become a flight nurse, in which she will soon be deployed to North Africa. A supervisor informs her that there is a new way women can help the men fighting overseas - an anonymous letter-writing campaign, aka pen pals.

At first Mellie is a distraught about writing to a complete stranger, but after awhile she starts to like the idea as she has the freedom to be herself in the letters. Lt. Tom McGilliver Jr. is the solider that replies to her letters. He is currently stationed in North Africa and welcomes the idea of the anonymous letter-writing campaign as it is a way for him to forget his troubled past.

Review - Over the Edge

Over the Edge
The Kincaid Brides Book 3
By: Marry Connealy
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN: 978-0764209130
Pub Date: August 1, 2012
Pages: 336
Blog Tour Links: http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/13525530/overtheedge
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/cPxuv




The third book in The Kincaid Brides series focuses on the mysterious Seth Kincaid. He had survived the Civil War and also survived a fire in a cave, which had put him on an edge so to speak. He witnessed many terrible things during the years he spent away from Rawhide and some of those things he has blocked out of his mind, including marring Callie.

After not hearing from her husband, Callie traveled by stagecoach to Rawhide in search of what happened to him. Seth is surprised to learn that he has a wife and he is even more surprised to learn that he has an eight-month-old son. Seth wants to live up to his vow (even though he doesn't remember taking a vow) to provide for his new wife and child. To make their marriage work, they must deal with their differences and Seth must finally deal with his past.

Review: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

North and South
By: Elizabeth Gaskell
Publisher: Dover Publications
ISBN: 9780486479521
Pub Date: June 13, 2012
Pages: 464
Buy Link: Barnes & Nobles

If you are looking for a good read and you enjoy the novels of Jane Austen, then look no further than Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. Written around the same time as Austen’s works, this novel delves deeper into class conflicts, the unions, the hard work of laborers, and even the hero’s inner psyche. The supporting characters are stronger than most of Austen’s and you really grow to care about their struggles.

The main idea of the novel is that a pastor’s daughter, Margaret Hale, is transported along with her ailing mother and now jobless father from her quiet and comfortable home in the south of England to the crowded, dirty, and chaotic north. She must find her spot in this new society, and befriends a mill worker and his dying daughter. Her father starts tutoring a mill master, a man named Thornton, how quickly becomes smitten with the beautiful and headstrong Margaret. She rejects him, however, because she has seen the ordeal that the mill workers are put through.

Review - The Messenger

The Messenger
By: Siri Mitchell
Publisher: Bethany House
Pub Date: March 1st, 2012
ISBN: 978-0764207969
Pages: 384

    In this Christian historical novel, set during the Revolutionary War, Hannah Sunderland is devoted to her Quaker faith, in which she is not to get involved in political affairs, the war, or her twin brother, who joined the Colonial effort, but is now in a prison cell. She wants to stay loyal to her faith, but she so desperately wants to help him.

    Jeremiah Jones served as a soldier during the French and Indian War, in which he was severely injured. Medical supplies were limited due to the British involvement, resulting in Jeremiah losing his arm. He now spends his day’s bartending at a Pub, where he happens to come across Hannah, who wants him to help her break her brother and the other Colonial prisoners out of the jail.

Review - Home Fires

HOME FIRES
Written by: JANA RICHARDS
Published by:  The Wild Rose Press, Inc
ISBN: 978-1-61217-240-8
Pages: 100
Pub Date: 2012

    A young British woman, Anne Wakefield, who served as a nurse during WWII, arrives in Emerald, Saskatchewan, a tiny village on the Canadian prairies to meet up with her fiancé, Anders Gustafson, a soldier whom she met during the war. To her surprise Anders doesn’t pick her up at the train station, but instead his older brother Erik, was also a solider and has a bad limp to prove it, does. He basically keeps quiet and takes her to the family farm where she meets his mother, Astrid, and his sister, Ingrid. But there is no sign of her dear Anders, all except for a letter that would change her life.

    It seems when Anders returned home, he married a local girl, Signe, and took a job in another city. Anne is embarrassed, but not as much as the Gustafson’s family, whom are left to cleanup Anders's mess.

Review - Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter
AUTHOR: Seth Grahame-Smith
PUBLISHED BY: Hachette Book Group
ISBN: 978-0-446-56308-6
RELEASED DATE: 2010
PAGES: 340

    After his mother’s death, an eleven-year-old Abraham Lincoln is told the truth about vampires from his father. His grandfather, who was also called Abraham Lincoln, was killed by a vampire. To make matters worse, he learns that because his father could not pay a debt, his mother was given a high dose of vampire blood, resulting in her death. From that day forward Abraham vowed to kill every last bloodsucker that came into his path.

    At the age of seventeen, he befriends a vampire Henry Sturges, who informs him that there are good vampires and then there are evil ones. Henry sees potential in the young Abe and spends the summer training him to become a vampire hunter, especially on how to use an axe.

    For the next several years they worked as a team, with Henry providing Abe with vampire names and addresses, and Abe killed them one by one. Abe learns that vampires own slaves and  they use them not as workers, but as meals. He is horrified of this and realizes that there is only one way to get rid of vampires - starve them by ending slavery.

Review - Skip Rock Shallows

Skip Rock Shallows
AUTHOR: Jan Watson
PUBLISHED BY: Tyndale Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-4143-3914-6
RELEASED DATE: May 18 2012
PAGES: 400

 Fresh out of medical school Lilly Gray Corbett takes an internship in the coal camp of Skip Rock, Kentucky, but not long after she arrives, the town’s doctor dies leaving her as the town’s only physician. The men in the town aren’t ready for a woman doctor and are never respectable to her, treating her as second-class. Skip Rock is a coal town so accidents and injures occur constantly, challenging Lilly everyday.

    Her finance Paul is also a doctor, but is in Boston, where she had planned to meet him after her internship is over and begin her life as a doctor’s wife. As she becomes closer to the people of Skip Rock, she debates whether or not she should leave or stay. To make matters worse is that she starts to have feelings for a coal miner named Tern Still.

Review - In Too Deep

In Too Deep
AUTHOR: Mary Connealy
PUBLISHED BY: Bethany House
ISBN: 978-0-7642-0912-3
RELEASED DATE: 2012
PAGES: 331

    Book two of The Kincaid Brides series pickups where the last left off. Rafe and Julia are now married and Julie’s stepmother Audra doesn’t want to be a bother to them anymore. She plans on heading back east to care of her father. Rafe will not hear any of it and proposes a simple solution - Audra will marry his younger brother Ethan, whom is going to take over the Kincaid Ranch.

    After a little work, Ethan and Audra are forced into marriage, where she is planning on being the maid of the household, which includes Ethan’s other brother, the troublemaker, Seth. Ethan doesn’t know how to be a husband or a step-father to Audra’s daughter Maggie, but with God’s help, the newlyweds may make the marriage work.

Review - The Midwife of Venice

Midwife of Venice

AUTHOR: Roberta Rich

PUBLISHED BY: Gallery Books

ISBN: 978-1-44516-5747-0

RELEASED DATE: February 2012

PAGES: 344

    Hanna Levi, a Jewish midwife, is known through Venice for helping mothers give birth by using the ‘birthing spoons’ that she designs herself. A Papal forbids any Jews to give medical treatments to Christians, which the rule has never been a problem for Hanna, until a Christian nobleman asks for her help. His wife has been in labor for days and he wants Hanna to help with his son’s birth. In exchange, he’ll pay for husband Isaac’s ransom. Isaac has been captured and forced into slavery in Malta. Hanna must go against her religion to help save her husband.