The Force By: Alexandra and Joyce Swann

I loved The Force! From the first page I was hooked and couldn’t stop reading. Power, intrigue, mystery, suspense, thriller, and God’s grace and forgiveness permeate throughout this story. If you like a book filled with twists and suspense, this is the book for you. Read this latest Christian medical thriller from the Swanns! Alexander Sinclair taught his twin sons, Joshua and Jarrod, that there is a difference between force and power. The Devil has force; God has power—power to create, power to protect, and power to help us in every situation. Fred Kowalski retired from the New York City Police Department and then comes across the greatest case of his career. He will need God’s power as he comes against the force of Josef Helmick. Hollywood sex symbol clones are turning up dead. Even their DNA matches the dead movie stars, like Marilynn Monroe, Sophie Lauren, and Audrey Hepburn. Where are they coming from? Helmick supplies them to wealthy men to use them as sex slaves, or to torture and murder. The Sinclairs consult for GenCEN—the Genetic Crimes Enforcement Network, which is an international police force that ensures all genetic research and innovation meet carefully-established international guidelines. They agree to consult on the case, and when they realize it can only involve Josef Helmick, they are ready to prove him guilty. Believing Helmick lured their parents to his father’s home and killed them, they hire Fred to track him down and get the proof to put him away. Along the way, Jarrod and Joshua must come to terms with their parents’ deaths and with Helmick’s involvement. Helmick is using hypnosis to control everyone. He is in possession of a means to control the thoughts of billions of people to transform the world. Can Fred and the Sinclairs stop him? Why is he cloning these movie stars, and what is his ulterior motive in controlling the thoughts of billions of people? You’ll have to pick up this book to see! The Force is the sequel to The Fourth Kingdom, but you don’t have to read it first to follow what is going on. For the best Christian medical thriller, check out the Swanns’ The Force!

A Home for My Heart By Anne Mateer

I loved this book by Anne Mateer! If you like a book that will tug at your heartstring this book is for you. Sadie Sillsby is a wonderful character. She’s assistant to the matron at the Raystown Home for Orphan & Friendless Children. She loves these children as her own. She understands them as no one else could; she grew up there as well. All she remembers as a child is being brought there when she was four years old from her mother’s jail cell. Blaine Wellsmith and his younger brother Carter came to the home as well. He has since moved out, but he and Sadie are going to get married as soon as he buys land. Carter keeps getting into trouble, one little girl needs glasses, the Home is struggling financially, and the matron has decided to marry and turn over the position to Sadie. That should be a happy time, right? Unfortunately, the matron cannot be married. Sadie can’t turn her back on these kids. Who will take care of them? But Blaine doesn’t want to wait. He now has the farm and it’s time to get married. Can Sadie overcome her past to be the matron she needs to be? Can she turn the Home around so it doesn’t have to shut its door? Will Blaine wait for her? Pick up this book today to find out! The plot keeps twisting and the characters will touch your heart. You’ll wish you could take a boy or girl home with you by the time you finish this book! I look forward to reading more by this author.

A Bride for Keeps By: Melissa Jagears

I have found another favorite author! From the first novella, Love by the Letter, I was hooked. A Bride for Keeps, Jagears debut full-length novel, grabs you from the first page. I read this book in two days. Julia Lockwood thinks she has to do more and more work on the homestead to make her worthy in Everett’s eyes. As with God’s love, it is not works alone that saves you, but faith. Julia must learn to love Everett Cline and accept his love for her. Can she do that with her past clouding her vision of what her life should be like? She has been abused by men in the past and can’t comprehend that Everett might love her for herself. Everett has sought three mail-order brides before Julia. One died before she arrived and two others married someone else once they got to town. Can he release his heart to Julia even though he’s afraid she will up and leave also? Everett must learn to trust, God and Julia. As I was reading this, a line spoke to me. “But you just told me you loved me, and those words have already wiped away the hardship. I would have gone through anything to have you say that to me.” As a mother, we say this when we have kids. Even though it involves pain to have a child we go through it. God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. Even before we were saved, He loved us and died for us. Just to hear us say we love Him, makes it all worth it. May I never forget to tell Him I love Him. I did not want this book to end. I love the characters, the messages, the romance. Cannot wait to read the next book by Melissa Jagears!

Civil War Reminiscences From the journal of Harmon Camburn, Union Soldier Edited by: P C Zick

I really enjoyed this diary from Harmon Camburn. He was a Union soldier in the 2nd Michigan Infantry, 1861-1864. This book is the journal that Harmon Camburn wrote following the details of his life as a Union soldier. What you read is what he saw, smelled, touched, heard, and felt during his service through the Civil War. As stated in the introduction, you get Camburn’s account of what affected him, but not the bigger picture of the war. If you are looking for a personalized view of what soldiers dealt with, this is the book for you. Inserted throughout the book, in bold, are short blurbs about the greater war that corresponds to specific dates listed in the journal. I enjoy reading about history, but to get a personal account of an event is wonderful. The personal perspective gives a greater understanding of what happened. One entry that I still think about was, “At daylight, the rain ceased, and the clouds rolled away. The sun, bright and beautiful, sent its piercing beams through the trees glittering with raindrops. The sight was a joy to the soldiers’ hearts, but the thought of the dead and wounded lying out there in the slashing was a gloomy background to all present pleasures. The early morning scene among the trees was weird and supernatural.” I feel like I’m there and am experiencing it as they are. Some things Camburn didn’t understand why they were doing what they were doing; he just did as he was told. Having a personal perspective of the war, and it being tied together with the bolded blurbs, gives a greater perspective and brings the Civil War to life in a new way.

Love by the Letter By: Melissa Jagears

I loved this novella by Melissa Jagears! It’s an Inspirational western comedic drama-filled romance. Dex Stanton has two girls vying for his attention; only he doesn’t know it. He sent a letter for a mail-order bride. She shows up unexpectedly about the time he has decided to take a chance on a lady in his hometown, Rachel Oliver. But he’d already decided he couldn’t have Rachel. She was too smart for him. She wanted to go off to college and he couldn’t write or spell very well. So, instead of letting her decide what she’d want, he took the decision out of her hands. Does he throw away his one chance at true love? You’ll have to read this novella to find out. Dex must learn to wait and trust in God. You have to ask to receive. Rachel is learning knock and the door shall be opened. Should she go to college or stay and marry Dex? What does God want her to do? What about the mail-ordered stranger that shows up? This is one novella you don’t want to miss. And then you can read more with A Bride For Keeps, Melissa Jagears debut full-length novel. I can’t wait to read it next!

Gunpowder Tea By: Margaret Brownley

I thoroughly enjoyed this story by Margaret Brownley! What happens when you pair a Pinkerton detective and a Wells Fargo detective trying to catch the Phantom? Mystery and mayhem on a cattle ranch! Miranda Hunt’s father had been killed three years ago. Eleanor Walker owns a ranch where the Phantom is thought to be hiding. She has posted an ad for an heiress to inherit her ranch, but the stipulation is she can’t marry or she forfeits the ranch. Miranda answers the ad so she can hunt for the Phantom while she’s there. Only, she causes more trouble than she bargained for. Throw into the mix a handsome Wells Fargo detective, Miranda’s competition, and you end up with a funny, heart-touching romance on the range. Can Miranda figure out who the Phantom is before it’s too late? Is it the Wells Fargo detective? For Miranda, it would be good if it was. Then she could control her feelings toward him. Is it someone on the ranch? Pick up this story today to enjoy the search for the Phantom as Miranda tries to figure out who it is.

Unlimited By Davis Bunn

I loved this book by Davis Bunn. This is the second book I’ve read of his and I will buy a book just because he wrote it. I am hooked! Unlimited is filled with action, mystery, suspense, and God’s love and forgiveness. Simon Orwell is trying to get to Mexico to apologize to his former professor Dr Vasquez for his actions. He doesn’t fully understand what this means, but he is going to give it a try. He needs to make restitution for what he has done; he put his professor in danger and now he needs to make it right. However, by the time he arrives to help Dr Vasquez in his time of need, he has been killed. They were working together on converting raw wasted energy into useable power. Harold Finch is the Mexican orphanage proprietor. Enrique Morales is the mayor of Ojinaga. Pedro Martin is the assistant town manager. Dr Clara leads the city council meeting. Who can Simon trust while he researches how to put the apparatus back together and studies how to make it work without causing a black-out? Who is trying to kill him so he won’t complete his mission? Why was Dr Vasquez killed? People aren’t who they seem. Just when you think you have someone figured out, something happens to change your mind. Who can Simon trust? With vivid descriptions and intricate characterizations, I was drawn into this story and didn’t want to put the book down. I can’t wait to read more by this author!

Orphan Train Bride By: Teresa Ives Lilly

This story by Teresa Lilly is captivating! Tommy is Holly’s brother and they live in New York in an orphanage. He leaves on the Orphan Train with the other orphans. Holly is sick when he leaves so she can’t go with him. The next year, at 18, she is too old to go, but the orphanage lets her stay on at the orphanage as a seamstress. Jake Carson adopts Tommy and he works with him in his mercantile shop in Golden, Colorado. Tommy and Jake talk about sending for Holly, but Jake doesn’t have enough money for her fare. Holly worries about Tommy; she’s received two letters from him, but she wants to see him and make sure he is ok. She wonders what a Colorado Christmas would be like. She is soon to find out! God works it out where she can get a ride on the Orphan Train and find a place to stay in Golden, Colorado. But can she find a way to see Tommy? Will Jake let her take Tommy when she finds a home of her own? Pick up this great Christmas story that will have you smiling and cheering to the end. Holly and Jake will steal your heart as you read their story. I can’t wait to read more stories by Teresa Lilly!