Category: Book Reviews

The back of the book says:

“Powerful Encounters With the Heart of Our Savior For Every Day

Do you long for more of God’s presence? Do you ache to see Him at work in your life? Do you desire His peace and rest? Renowned worship leader Darlene Zschech invites you to gather with her around the Word of God. Born out of her own yearnings that she poured onto the pages of journals, these meditations and Scriptures reveal Jesus and speak of His finished work–how He tenderly cares for you and wants you to know Him.

Honest, raw, and beautifully written, these devotions will inspire your journey and encourage you in every season. Come, sit at the feet of our Lord, be strengthened in your weakness, embrace His love for you, and breathe in His peace.”

I love this devotional! It makes you think about the love of God everyday in a different way. I love listening to Darlene Zschech’s music so when I seen this was available to review I jumped on it! To do a sufficient review I made sure to read at least 30 days of this devotional so that I could get a good grasp on the material. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I will continue reading this devotional throughout the years even though she believes somewhat different than me.

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion from Bethany House Publishing.

The summary of the book is as follows:

“Young Emma Wagner chafes at the constraints of Bethel colony, an 1850s religious community in Missouri that is determined to remain untainted by the concerns of the world. A passionate and independent thinker, she resents the limitations placed on women, who are expected to serve in quiet submission. In a community where dissent of any form is discouraged, Emma finds it difficult to rein in her tongue–and often doesn’t even try to do so, fueling the animosity between her and the colony’s charismatic and increasingly autocratic leader, Wilhelm Keil.

Eventually Emma and her husband, Christian, are sent along with eight other men to scout out a new location in the northwest where the Bethelites can prepare to await “the last days.” Christian believes they’ve found the ideal situation in Washington territory, but when Keil arrives with the rest of the community, he rejects Christian’s choice in favor of moving to Oregon.

Emma pushes her husband to take this opportunity to break away from the group, but her longed-for influence brings unexpected consequences. As she seeks a refuge for her wounded faith, she learns that her passionate nature can be her greatest strength–if she can harness it effectively.”

My review:

One thing that I have to say is that I did not like this book at all! It looked good when I first received it but it just wasn’t really that thrilling and I had to force myself to keep reading it! I just didn’t want to pick the book up at all. Continue reading ““A Clearing in the Wild” by Jane Kirkpatrick” →

The description of the book is as follows:

“Amelia Barrett gave her word. Keeping it could cost her everything.

Darbury, England, 1814

Amelia Barrett, heiress to an estate nestled in the English moors, defies family expectations and promises to raise her dying friend’s baby. She’ll risk everything to keep her word—even to the point of proposing to the child’s father—a sea captain she’s never met.

When the child vanishes with little more than an ominous ransom note hinting to her whereabouts, Amelia and Graham are driven to test the boundaries of their love for this little one.

Amelia’s detailed plans would normally see her through any trial, but now, desperate and shaken, she’s forced to examine her soul and face her one weakness: pride.

Graham’s strength and self-control have served him well and earned him much respect, but chasing perfection has kept him a prisoner of his own discipline. And away from the family he has sworn to love and protect.

Both must learn to accept God’s sovereignty and relinquish control so they can grasp the future He has for planned for them.”

This book took me a while to review. Not because I didn’t want to, but because it was under my stack of other books to review. I was really looking forward to reviewing this as I have always been fascinated with books set in other countries and that have to deal with royalty. This book was one of my favorites. I have been lucky to only receive a few books that I did not like, but this one has to be in my top 5. Once I started reading it, I could not put it down! I read this book in less than 5 days. I loved how this book kept you on your toes. It had mystery, romance, and suspense. The characters were developed well and interacted very well. In my opinion, I give this book a 5 out of 5!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Booksneeze.

It took me a little longer to read this book just because the first few chapters were pretty slow. After reading about 4 or 5 chapters it finally started to pick up and from then on I read it pretty quick. I love romances and this book was definitely a predictable one. I do not mind predictable books, but sometimes it would be nice not to read one. This storyline could have made for a good unpredictable romance.

This book was about a girl named Sophie who grew up in an orphanage and wanted to run a newspaper of her own. She moved to Texas with Wyatt and Ada Caldwell and lived there for 15 years. She came back to the town where she lived in an orphanage to bring back and run a paper that she loved when she lived in the orphanage. She meets a man named Ethan who is running the resort Blue Smoke that is up the mountain. They both have mutual feelings, but Sophie is worried that Ethan does not feel the same way. This book has many ups and downs, but I thought that it should have had a little bit more depth to it. I haven’t read the previous 2 books in this series which could have helped the depth problem, but it didn’t seem to me like it was a continuation. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book.

I received this book courtesy of Booksneeze in exchange for my honest opinion.

I recently just finished reading a book called “Brush of Angels Wings” by Ruth Reid. This book was definitely different than I expected. It was a romance about an Amish girl and a boy whose mother was Amish, but had been shunned from the community. Jordan and Rachel meet when Jordan starts working for her father and Jordan and Rachel begin to have feelings for each other. Rachel doesn’t want to because Jordan is not sure he wants to join the church and Rachel does not want to leave the community. There are angels in the boom that guide them to where they need to be.

This book was good, but I didn’t expect the way the book was written. At first I didn’t know what the passages that were about the angels but then I realized they were angels that were helping Jordan and Rachel. I think it would have been better if that was incorporated and explained better in the story. I really liked this book and was glad to read it!

Book received courtesy of Booksneeze in exchange for my review.

This was one of the best books I have read in a while. I read it in 3 days and with going to school, cleaning my house, working my FB page and watching my little sister that is something. It means that this book is good if I can read it that fast while still doing other things. This book is about an Amish girl who gets hurt by her boyfriend Mark King. She has scars that remind her every day what he did to her and her family. He stole money from her family and when she demands to get it back then he takes matters in his own hands. Mark King is doing what he does best by hurting people in order to get what he wants. Laura leaves her family because she feels responsible for what Mark King did to them. Sawyer is a young man who is adopted by an Amish family when he is in a foster home. Sawyer and Laura meet when Laura is staying with a family that is friends with Sawyer’s adoptive family. Laura starts working at Sawyer’s dad’s shop and then an older lady demands to see her grandson Sawyer. Sawyer doesn’t want to see her and he definitely doesn’t want to go back with her to New York. This story is one that tells of a blossoming romance between Laura and Sawyer despite her scars and his past of an English life. I really enjoyed this book!

This book was provided courtesy of Booksneeze as long as I did a review. 🙂

This post I am about to do is associated with a website that I am affiliated with because I have a blog. It is called BookSneeze. This website gives out free books in exchange for a book review on your blog and one other website.

The book that I am reviewing is a book that I actually read about 6 months ago. I just haven’t had the time to actually take the time and sit down and write the review. The book I read is called “By Faith, Not by Sight” by Scott MacIntyre. I literally cried throughout this whole book. It is about a guy who has had problems throughout his whole from being blind and only seeing through a pin hole to having kidney failure. He writes about his journey of learning how to play the piano, going through his struggles, and then being on American Idol later on. This book was greatly written and when I first seen it on BookSneeze, I thought that I just had to get that book. I remember him when he was on American Idol and I thought that it was amazing that even though he was blind he could still play the piano. I have a hard time playing the piano with full eyesight, let alone being blind. I read this book in less than two days and with going to Bible college and working a nanny job that is saying something. I loved it so much and would recommend it to anybody who likes reading inspirational books.

I just finished reading a book called Healing Hearts by Beth Wiseman. This is a book that is a collection of three novellas about Amish romances. The first novella is titled “A Choice to Forgive.” This novella is about a woman named Lydia who fell in love with a boy named Daniel when she was a teenager. He left the Amish life because of certain things that happened in his life and certain things that he did. When he left, Lydia went on with her life and married Daniel’s brother Elam. They had a happy long marriage and three children until Elam died. Daniel shows back up and is going to be baptized back into the Amish church. Lydia has to choose whether or not she can forgive Daniel of breaking her heart and leaving. The second novella is titled “A Change of Heart.” This novella is about a girl named Leah who just cannot get anything right. She doesn’t want to get married and instead wants to become a writer. Her older sister wants her and a boy named Aaron to court, but Leah just does not want to get married. Leah ends up having to rethink her decision about not getting married. The third novella is titled “Healing Hearts.” This novella is about a husband and wife who fell out of love because of her husband leaving to visit his cousins in Ohio. He was gone longer than she expected and her and his kids are not very happy with him. Levina and Naaman must try to work things out and fall in love again.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. I have always loved reading Amish romances, but this one was so good. I couldn’t read it as fast as I wanted to with going to bible college, but I finally finished it and I have to give it a thumbs up!

~Mz Jen~