A Beauty Refined Book Review

Title: A Beauty Refined

Author: Tracie Peterson

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Drama, Romance,

Plot: Phoebe Von Bergen is finally seeing more of the world when she accompanies her father on his sapphire hunting trip to America. They see all the major East Coast cities before making their way to a secluded resort in Montana near the sapphire mines. Little does she know, however, that her life is about to drastically change. First she meets handsome Ian Harper, a lapidary very skillful in refining raw sapphires into dazzling gems, and the cheerfully adorable Kenny. These new friends help while away the hours for Phoebe while her father is off at the mines. And then, with a twist of fate, she discovers the truth of her mother's death years ago. A moment in time that left Phoebe heartbroken.

On the road to healing, trouble waits around the corner. Ian knows her secret and thinks he knows how to save her from her life circumstances but it will take skills, trust and faith in God to see his plan to the end. But is the risk worth it?

Likes/Dislikes: This was a beautiful story. It wasn't overly ambitious, was just the right length with a lovely setting, detailed characters and an easy to follow plot that held my interest. I loved it, especially the bits about sapphires and how smoothly the faith element was blended into the story. That's hard for Christian authors to do sometimes. I liked Phoebe and I usually don't like the main female leads. Ian was a little odd at first but he's the kind of character that grows on you.

Rating: PG-15 and up, mainly for content {past accounts of abuse and miscarriages, a main character is viciously beaten, bad guys are shot, etc. nothing overly graphic}.

Date Review Written: July 23rd, 2016

I received this book free from the publishers in exchange for my honest opinion. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

Little Men Book Review

Title: Little Men

Author: Louisa May Alcott

Genre: Classic, Fiction, Boys, Adventure, Family, Sequel, Christian

Plot: Jo March, the reckless headstrong writer from Little Women returns as a married woman with two babies of her own and a whole school full of boys to take care of. She and her professor husband take in boarders {some rich to pay the bills, some orphaned and in need of care, love and a safe environment to grow up in}. In addition to their charges and their own children, the couple also has the professor's teenage nephews and Meg's adorable twins, Daisy and Demi. The new kid on the block, Nat, discovers the workings of the school {whose nice, whose not, etc.} and makes a friend in Tommy and Daisy whom he rather develops a crush on. But soon he's not the only newbie; a wild girl named Nan and an even wilder boy named Dan soon arrive to help turn the school topsy-turvy in this delightful classic story.

Likes/Dislikes: I loved having a sequel featuring the March girls all grown up with husbands and babies and households to manage. The boys were a rambunctious lot, Nat and Dan being my favorites. Daisy was such a sweet little girl. I read this book out loud to my siblings {one of the few we actually finished} and their favorite scene was when Nan and little Teddy are lost in the woods and panic when Nan thinks a harmless cow is a big scary bear. For some reason, my brothers loved that.

Rating: G- all ages. Highly recommended.

Date Review Written: November 9th, 2015.

The Woman Who Would Be King Book Review

Title: The Woman Who Would Be King

Author: Kara Cooney

Genre: Biography, Historical, Egypt,

Plot: Hatshepsut has intrigued people for decades and probably will for decades more as researchers work to uncover the veiled mysteries of the past. This great woman of the ancient times rose to power and ruled the greatest kingdom on earth, wielding the might of an empire for years and defying the ancient world's views on women with one great swoop. But she wasn't the first Egyptian daughter to do this and so much of her story will never come to light, lost to the shadows of time and speculation. Such a shame. If time travel existed, the wonders of the past would be available to dazzle us with just how spectacular and horrifying they really were.

Till such a time as time travel comes into existence, we have talented authors and brilliant researchers who attempt to step into the void of the past and peel back, inch by inch, the layers shielding this great historical figures and reveal them more fully to us. And while we may never know what their daily lives were truly like, we can at least know more about the moments that made them great.

Likes/Dislikes: Hatshepsut is one of those Egyptian figures that hovers at the edges of my personal scope of interest, ranking above Cleopatra {whom I have very little interest in studying at all} and below Nefertiti {whom I'm always interested in studying}. The fact that a woman rose to rule Egypt will always intrigue every woman in the modern times, but what I really want to know is lost to the vastness of time. What was she really like? What did she think of all the events that put her on the throne? What was her education like? What made her strong enough to take the reins of an empire? And more importantly, who was the ruling queen before her who dared to ascend the throne? We know for a historical fact that Hatshepsut wasn’t the first or the last woman to rule Egypt, just the most famous. So who was the first and what was her story? And while this book attempts to paint more of Hatshepsut's picture, it does nothing for the former queen to set the trend and little for the daily life of the heroine. Still, an excellent attempt and wonderfully written, which is hard to do with a biography of an ancient person.

Rating: PG-15 and up, mainly for reading level and some frank talk about intimate historical situations. Anyone who's studied Egypt knows just how open they were about everything.

Date Review Written: June 21st, 2016.

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. I wasn’t required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

A Worthy Heart Book Review

Title: A Worthy Heart

Author: Susan Anne Mason

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance, Sequel,

Plot: Coming to America has been a dream of Maggie Montgomery's for so long and now it's finally happening. She and her brother have just landed in New York, intent on visiting their older brother Rylan and his lovely wife. Seeing more of the world than just her little corner of Ireland gives Maggie a burst of fresh air and being away from the increasingly unwanted attentions of her suitor back home is an added bonus. But what neither brother knows is that Maggie intends to stay in America permanently.

Meanwhile, Rylan's no good brother in law Adam O'Leary has just been released from prison. Shrunken and dirt poor, Adam slinks back to his old family home to swallow his pride and ask for a job, knowing that his family will never see him the same way again. But keeping his head down proves to be a challenge when he meets the curious Maggie. Warned to stay away from Adam, Maggie finds herself intrigued by the mysterious man and wants to know more about him.

Despite the family's efforts, a bond is formed between the two that now must stand the test of the past and the pull of the future.

Likes/Dislikes: The description of this novel sounded so intriguing and exciting that I was eager to delve into the pages of what was sure to be an epic story. And while Maggie and Adam's individual story lines are intriguing and exciting, I didn't realize this was a sequel. Everyone else's stories are mysteries to me and therefore rather boring in the overall scope of the book for me. Because of this and the flipping between the main characters and these established secondary character's viewpoints, it's a bit hard to pick up the book and resume reading after a week or so. Toddlers can make reading for pleasure so hard sometimes. I haven't yet finished this book but I intend to because I want to find out more about Maggie and Adam's relationship and how it all comes into play. It'll just take me awhile to get there.

Rating: N/A, though clean so far with hints of a bad past.

Date Review Written: June 21st, 2016

I received a free copy of this book courtesy of the publishers in exchange for an honest review. I wasn't required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed in the above review are my own.