A Miracle of Hope By: Ruth Reid

What happens when you feel you have gone too far to find mercy? Is a marriage of convenience an answer to prayer? God can use any circumstance to teach us about love, hope, and trust. Lindie Wyse has to leave her Amish community. Her brother arranges a marriage with a friend of his whose wife has died. Will the new Amish community shun her like the one she is running from? What is the secret Lindie is hiding from her new husband Josiah Plank? Will Josiah learn to love again after the death of his first wife? Will he judge Lindie because of her past, or can love teach them both, that she’s not marred by her past and Josiah can have a marriage filled with love again? I loved this part of the book: “This was her childhood dream. She was married, pregnant, and had a husband who worried about what was good for the baby. She massaged her forehead. If only things were different.” Trying to live up to others’ standards will never make everybody happy. Lindie did what she thought she had to in order to please others. The man she loved and her best friend still rejected her. She must find that place where you are the person you should be and be happy. It is not dependent on others around you; it is what is inside you. Will she find this with Josiah, or will he reject her as well when he finds out the truth? I loved the cover of this book with the Amish woman and the deer in the background. As you read the story, you will realize the significance of the deer. It is a great added feature of the cover. A Miracle of Hope is a great Amish romance that I will read again, and I’ll read more books by Ruth Reid. Once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for an honest review. Enter Today | 1/22 - 2/11!

Worth the Wait By: Laura Jackson

I loved this book by Laura Jackson. Ellie and Dylan grew up together and their whole life had been planned by their parents from birth. He was the perfect boy, she the perfect girl. But what happens when they grow up and they realize they aren’t living their own life? Can Ellie be content just being Dylan’s wife? What about her hopes and dreams? Laura Jackson does an excellent job of weaving real life and fiction together into a great story. Ellie can’t decide if something is going on with Dylan or not. Is he keeping something from her? Should she stay with him anyway since she’s spent the last several years with him? Her friends at the Christian school she attends are like kids at any school. Some of the kids say things to try and break Dylan and Ellie up. She can’t figure out who to believe. Dylan is trying to rush things between them, but Ellie wants to wait until they are married. Should she give in since they are going to get married one day anyway? This is their senior year of high school. It’s supposed to be fun and carefree. But then Ellie’s mom gets sick and Dylan starts acting funny. When will things get back to normal? I love Ellie’s dad. He tells Ellie to wait for the guy who treats her like a princess, one who puts her first. She has a friend who is just like her dad, loves Jesus, but he doesn’t like her and even left her standing on the stage when they performed Romeo and Juliet. Or, does he like her? How can she know? I can’t wait to read more by this author. These characters are real and you get pulled into their lives and problems because they are true to real life. Every girl needs to know she is special and she is worth waiting for! I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.

Sisterchicks Do the Hula By: Robin Jones Gunn

What a fun story! Two women, Hope and Laurie, decide to take a trip to Hawaii. They had planned to go when they were in college, but didn’t do it. Years passed and they lost touch with each other. Now, they have reconnected and when they are about to turn 40, they decide to take their trip. Hope has just found out she’s pregnant and Laurie has a career decision to make. Their funny antics while they are on vacation will have you wishing for time with your best friend! Between the beautiful location, the scriptures Hope and Laurie read, and the people they come in contact with, Gunn’s descriptions make you feel the sand, hear the ocean, and connect with the people. Together they learn what life’s all about and how to progress from here. Laurie learns to surf, Hope learns you can continue to have new experiences no matter how old you are, and both of them feel God like never before while they are discovering God’s beauty in Hawaii. The back of the book includes pictures and a few stories behind Sisterchicks Do the Hula. I received this book free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

A Promise Kept By: Robin Lee Hatcher

I loved A Promise Kept by Robin Hatcher. This book captured my interest from the first page. What happens when you think you hear a word from God, but then it doesn’t come to pass as you think it should? Does that mean that you heard God wrong? That you misunderstood what He promised to you? A Promise Kept is the story of Allison Kavanagh and her husband Tony. He is an alcoholic. Allison offers him an ultimatum. She heard God promise to heal her marriage, so she thought if she forced him to change or lose her, Tony would change. Was she surprised when he walked out the door and they ended up divorced! To heal from her loss, Allison goes to live in the mountains in a cabin she inherited from her great aunt Emma. When Allison finds journals that her great aunt had written years ago, she finds a much different woman than the one she thought she knew. And when she finds out Emma went through some of the same stuff she’s going through now, she hopes to find peace with her decision and understanding about what God has allowed to happen. I enjoyed the back then-recent times interchange as I read the book. Emma lived during the 1920s-1930s. It wasn’t intrusive or confusing. It was like a story within a story. Both were very interesting and I kept reading to see what would happen next to Emma and to Allison. Along the way, I laughed and cried with the characters as they lived their lives and dealt with their hardships. “How often had she failed to trust God when things were at their bleakest, as if He hadn’t been right there with her?” Allison is reflecting on something she read in Emma’s journal. Realizing that you’re not alone is a big step in dealing with a situation. No matter what is going on around you, there is someone else who is dealing with or has dealt with a similar situation. This sentence spoke to my heart, “Pray without ceasing. We are often ignorant of the work God is doing in the unseen realms. Miracles happen when we least expect them.” Hold on to what you are praying for. You never know when God will answer. The time you decide to give up, could be the exact time God is planning to move. The cover on this book is priceless. I love the wedding dress and old photograph. This is the perfect Christian romance story. For a wonderful read, pick this book up today! I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for an honest review. Robin Lee Hatcher’s A PROMISE KEPT Kindle HDX Giveaway and Facebook Party! Don't miss Robin Lee Hatcher's stunning new novel, A Promise Kept. Robin is celebrating with a fun giveaway and an encouraging Facebook Author Chat Party.

 One winner will receive:

• A Kindle Fire HDX
• A Promise Kept by Robin Lee Hatcher

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on February 6th. Winner will be announced at the "A Promise Kept" Facebook Author Chat Party on the 6th. Connect with Robin and friends for an evening of encouraging book chat, prizes, and an exclusive look at Robin's next book!

So grab your copy of A Promise Kept and join Robin on the evening of February 6th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today by clicking JOIN at the event page. Spread the word—tell your friends about the giveaway and party via FACEBOOK or TWITTER. Hope to see you on 2/6!

Confident Faith Building a Firm Foundation for Your Beliefs By: Mark Mittelberg

I loved this book by Mark Mittelberg. It was like he was here in the room talking to me as I read his book. He states in the beginning of his book that it’s worth spending some significant time reflecting on your faith. Otherwise, as soon as someone comes along who questions what you believe and why you believe that way, you won’t know how to respond. When you’ve spent the time researching, discussing, and seeking wisdom on what you believe about God, you’ll be confident in your faith and your answers will reflect that. One part of the book uses a Faith Path Questionnaire to identify how you have arrived to your conclusions. Mittelberg then explains in separate chapters each of these paths and gives advice and encouragement to teach you how to become increasingly confident in what you believe. The evidential faith path’s “key elements, logic and sensory experience, are the God-given tools that we use to gain the vast majority of our information, and they are our best resources for examining truth claims and for ultimately deciding what to believe.” Once you’ve proven to yourself, using this method, that the Bible is God’s Word, you can then use it to test all other claims, and be confident in your faith to share it with others. The last part of the book gives you twenty arrows of truth, reasons you can be confident the Christian faith is true. Then there is a chapter on ten barriers that can block your faith and how to overcome them. This is one book I will keep on my shelf. It is filled with helpful advice and a candid look at God’s Word and how to have your own confident faith.

Falling For the Farmer By: Narelle Atkins

Jack Bradley helps Kate Lawson escape from the church, while her wedding is in progress, leaving everyone to stare and wonder where she’s running off to. Kate realized, almost too late, that she didn’t love her fiancé Rodney. So she left him standing at the alter. Jack drives the getaway car and was in a perfect position to help her escape. But, where will she go? What will her mother and father say? How can she tell Rodney he’s not the man for her? Sometimes it’s hard to trust people. Jack figures this out when Kate comes to work for him at his orchards. How could any man trust a woman that would leave her man standing there at the church? She shouldn’t have waited until the last minute to change her mind. But did she have a reason for doing it? Or was she being selfish and only thinking about herself? I loved Falling For the Farmer! Jack and Kate are wonderful, well-developed characters that I hated saying goodbye to on the last page. Kate decides she needs to face her responsibilities and stand on her own. Where does that leave Jack? If she stands on her own will she need him in her life? She’s a city girl; can she survive leaving the city behind and spending her life in the country instead of in a mall shopping? Pick up this book by Narelle Atkins and enjoy this sweet country romance!

The Headmistress of Rosemere By: Sarah E Ladd

A book about hope. Hope to move on from the past; hope to do right in the present; hope for a bright future. I loved this story by Sarah E Ladd. Regardless of your actions and thoughts, with God, you can have a future to look forward to. With His help, you can move on from your past and embrace your future. William Sterling had to learn how to trust God with his past mistakes in order to have a future with Patience Creighton. But would she accept him knowing the things he had done in the past? William Sterling had a past. He was in trouble now. There was nothing to look forward to. Then he meets Patience. Can he correct the mistakes of his past to have a future with her? “For he was a wealthy landowner, used to fine things, fast horses, and fancy women. She was a mere spinster headmistress of a modest girls’ school.” This is the love story of what could have happened for Jane Eyre; if Mr. Rochester had been different and he hadn’t had a locked up wife upstairs. Patience is the headmistress of Rosemere after her father dies. Her brother runs off and her mother can’t cope with her husband’s death. Then, Patience’s brother comes back, with her ex-fiancé. Does she still love him, or has William Sterling stolen her heart? You’ll have to read the book to find out! I cannot wait to read more by Sarah Ladd who has captured my heart with her writing style. I received this book free from Thomas Nelson in exchange for a review.