"Inspired by a true story, A Christmas Gift for Rose is a heartwarming novella of sacrifice and deep love.




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"Worlds lie between the marketplaces of India and the halls of a magnificent country estate like Highland Hall. Will Julia be able to find her place when a governess is neither upstairs family nor downstairs help?

Missionary Julia Foster loves working alongside her parents, ministering and caring for young girls in India. But when the family must return to England due to illness, she readily accepts the burden for her parents’ financial support. Taking on a job at Highland Hall as governess, she quickly finds that teaching her four privileged, ill-mannered charges at a grand estate is more challenging than expected, and she isn’t sure what to make of the estate’s preoccupied master, Sir William Ramsey.

Widowed and left to care for his two young children and his deceased cousin Randolph’s two teenage girls, William is consumed with saving the estate from the financial ruin. The last thing he needs is any distraction coming from the kindhearted-yet-determined governess who seems to be quietly transforming his household with her persuasive personality, vibrant prayer life, and strong faith.

While both are tending past wounds and guarding fragile secrets, Julia and William are determined to do what it takes to save their families—common ground that proves fertile for unexpected feelings. But will William choose Julia’s steadfast heart and faith over the wealth and power he needs to secure Highland Hall’s future?"

Where to begin? I feel as if I'm falling in love with books all over again. I loved this book. As someone who enjoys studying people, it was fascinating to watch as Julia tried to find her place in a household where servants lived one life and the family lived another and she was somewhere in between. Add in the fact that the master of the household forbid relationships within his house, especially between the classes and this was one for any people watcher. Julia's faith, Sarah's fragility, Katherine's spunk and William's struggles add up to one enjoyable read.



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"Every year, young Amish men descend on the cozy little town of West Kootenai, Montana, arriving in the spring to live there for six months and receive “resident” status for the hunting season in the fall. They arrive as bachelors, but go home with brides!


As someone who is seeking a life of simplicity, I seem to be drawn to books about the Amish. It amazes how much they do without things that we all take for granted. This book was no exception to that draw. I fell in love with the character of Lydia. She was someone who I could relate to without any effort at all. The more I read, the more I felt like I was right there watching Lydia and Gideon's struggles and triumphs. I truly felt as if I were a part of the story. Discovering that this is one in a series has me eager to read about what happens with the other six bachelors and their loves.



I received this book through the Booksneeze blogging program. All thoughts, comments and opinions are my own.
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Adela Arthur and the Creator's Clock

To Who Ever This May Concern; I wish I could tell you the contents of this book were purely fictional. That I, Adela Arthur, was just a normal sixteen year old from Portland and that dragons, giants, elves and mermaids were just myths. I wish these were legends shared from crazy old grandparents to crazy old grandparents around campfires. After all, that is what I used to believe.I never would have thought they lived on the other side of our mirrors in a world called Cielieu. But they do…I never would have thought there were humans, better known as Volsin that lived among them with the ability to create light from a single thought. But there are…I never would have thought I was one of them… But I am… I am the last Arthur and I was brought to the human world after a Volsin, filled with greed, began to strip the light from our kind.The human world was supposed to be a safe haven… but he’s found us and the only way to stop him is to go back to Cielieu and begin training as a student in the Elpida Castle of Light.Like I said I wish the contents of this book were purely fictional and not my life…

Adela Arthur is now on amazon on Paperback | Kindle

About the Author:

JUDYANN MCCOLE was a senior in high school when she started working on Adela Arthur and the Creator’s Clock during her history class. It started off as short story for a group of young kids she babysat for and grew into an adventure she herself wanted to go on. She is currently attending college in Virginia. Where she hopes to finish the next adventure in Adela Arthur’s life. She begin writing when she was in middle school most of it was just simple poetry but she was inspired by Maya Angelou and even a little of Dr. Seuss.

Follow Judyann:

Website | Blog | Author FaceBook | FaceBook | Twitter | Goodreads

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“I remember the borders of our land, though I have been gone from them nearly half the moons of my life. But who there will remember me? What I have seen, what I have done, it has changed me.

I am the place where two rivers meet, silted with upheaval and loss.

Yet memory of our land is a clear stream. I shall know it as a mother knows the faces of her children. It may be I will find me there.“
  
Abducted by Mohawk Indians at fourteen and renamed Burning Sky, Willa Obenchain is driven to return to her family’s New York frontier homestead after many years building a life with the People. At the boundary of her father’s property, Willa discovers a wounded Scotsman lying in her path. Feeling obliged to nurse his injuries, the two quickly find much has changed during her twelve-year absence—her childhood home is in disrepair, her missing parents are rumored to be Tories, and the young Richard Waring she once admired is now grown into a man twisted by the horrors of war and claiming ownership of the Obenchain land.

When her Mohawk brother arrives and questions her place in the white world, the cultural divide blurs Willa’s vision. Can she follow Tames-His-Horse back to the People now that she is no longer Burning Sky? And what about Neil MacGregor, the kind and loyal botanist who does not fit into in her plan for a solitary life, yet is now helping her revive her farm? In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, strong feelings against “savages” abound in the nearby village of Shiloh, leaving Willa’s safety unsure.

Willa is a woman caught between two worlds. As tensions rise, challenging her shielded heart, the woman called Burning Sky must find a new courage--the courage to again risk embracing the blessings the Almighty wants to bestow. Is she brave enough to love again?

~~~~~~~~~
For a first time author, Lori Benton knocked it out of the park. She did her research and intertwined historical details with a story that will draw you in.  The characters are each so unique and yet come together in a story that I had a hard time putting down. My recommendation? Check out Lori Benton and this book. I don't think this is the last we're going to hear from her.




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"Lilly Corbett Still has grown to love her life as the small-town doctor of Skip Rock, a tiny coal community in the Kentucky mountains. Though her husband, Tern, is away for a few months at a mining job, Lilly has her hands full with her patients and her younger sister visiting for the summer.

Lilly turns to her good friend and neighbor, Armina, to help keep things in order--until a mysterious chain of events leaves Armina bedridden and an abandoned baby on her doorstep. Lilly works to uncover the truth, unaware of what a mess she's found herself in until a break-in at her clinic puts her on high alert. As she struggles between what is right and what is safe, Lilly must discover the strength of her resilient country neighbors, her God, and herself."

While this book had a slow start, it wasn't long before it pulled me in.  This is actually the 7th book in a series by Jan Watson, but luckily for me, it works just as well as a stand alone as one in a long series. The author does a beautiful job of introducing the characters and giving you a chance to really get to know them so that you understand their actions and reactions throughout the book. It's clear that she's done her research as the book truly takes you back in time to a period where baby's with Down Syndrome or women with equal rights were little more than a foreign concept. Certainly a book worth finding and reading.



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Summer, fall, winter, spring—Smitten, Vermont, is the place for love . . . and mystery!

There’s a secret in Grandma Rose’s attic—a forgotten set of dog tags belonging to her first love. But David Hutchins was killed in action and never returned to Smitten. How did the dog tags end up in the attic?

The mystery intrigues Rose’s three granddaughters—Tess, Clare, and Zoe—and they decide to investigate, though their mother, Anna, warns against meddling. But as the seasons turn and the mystery unravels, the three young women and their mother encounter some intriguing mystery men of their own. Has a sixty-year-old puzzle sparked something new for this close-knit family of women?

Join popular romance novelists—and real-life BFFs—Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Diann Hunt, and Denise Hunter for four delightful intertwined tales of mystery and sweet intrigue.

I don't get the chance to do a whole lot of reading these days so imagine my delight at being asked to review this anthology! It's a nice thick book, but with four different authors, it gives me a great chance to read it in chunks. That being said, I flew through this book. Each story stands alone and yet the way they tied together was wonderful. I will confess that the story of the dog tags didn't have a super "hyped up" ending, but still the stories of the women was really what drew me in. Well worth a read if you like romance, anthologies or just a story to make you smile.




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