The Ladies of Ivy Cottage Book Review

Title: The Ladies of Ivy Cottage

Author: Julie Klassen

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance, Sequel

Plot: Since the scandal of losing all the family money and then her father's sudden death, Rachel Ashford has felt adrift in her social circle, unsure of where her place is meant to be now that so many things have changed. She's currently living with her friend Mercy Grove and Mercy's aunt, helping out with the girls' school as best she can but it's not enough to support herself. So she takes the advice of the local businesswomen and opens a subscription library with her father's vast collection of books and several donations. With the flood of attention at Ivy Cottage, Mercy finds herself the center of attention from two different men and must make a painful choice that will destroy her future as she knows it.

Meanwhile, James Drake learns some secrets of his own that cause a bit of an uproar in several local lives and Jane Bell finally has her coaching inn under control. She's made peace with her broken heart and thinks she's ready for love again but she suffered more than just the loss of her husband. Will the other losses keep her heart broken and cause her to reject the promise and hope of new love?

Likes/Dislikes: It took  me awhile to get started on this book, partly because my kids kept taking the iPad away and partly because it was a sequel and I couldn't remember who all everyone was. Once I got them straight in my head and the story started picking up pace, it was an easy read. I didn't like Rachel though; in the first book she had a lot of mystery about her but in this one she just came across as very whiny and pity me, I'm poor Rachel. It was annoying after awhile. I kinda want Jane to stay single and in control cause if she marries either James or Gabriel they'll just disrupt her life now that she's found her groove. And I'm rooting for a happy ending for Mercy cause the poor thing really needs it. I related to her the most. All in all, an excellent book. I'm just bummed I can't get the next one already.

Rating: PG-12 and up, mainly for content {romance, past miscarriages, etc. nothing graphic}

Date Review Written: December 30th, 2017

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

God Bless My Family Book Review

Title: God Bless My Family

Author: Hannah C. Hall

Genre: Children's, Christian, Family, Animals, Board Book

Plot: From mom and dad to brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, family shapes us, surrounds us and fills our lives. Together we cuddle by warm fires, climb trees, play dress-up, go on walks and adventures, listen to stories and have memorable get-togethers. We learn, laugh, cry and love our families, prompting many of us to say, "God bless my family."

With adorable dog families prancing across each page, children will laugh and point our their favorite relatives in dog form as they read this book together.

Likes/Dislikes: My three year old and seventeen month old both love this series and the newest installment is a new favorite with them, particularly the three year old since she loves dogs. Her favorite page is baking with auntie because she loves to bake and loves her auntie. The baby just liked all the pretty colors. All in all, a hit and highly recommended.

Rating: G-all ages.

Date Review Written: December 2nd, 2017

I received a copy of this book courtesy of BookLook Bloggers and wasn't required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in the above review are my own.

Lady Jayne Disappears Book Review

Title: Lady Jayne Disappears

Author: Joanna Davidson Politano

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance, Mystery,

Plot: Aurelie Harcourt grew up in debtor's prison with her father who beguiled away the days with stories of her mother, Lady Jayne. But he died before he could reach the end and finally tell her what actually happened to her mother. Released from the only home she's ever known, Aurelie is forced to stay with her father's stony cold relatives who do everything in their power to keep her from digging too deeply into the past and unearthing their dirty secrets. Meanwhile, she has a job to do. Her father wrote and published the stories he told her under the name of Nathaniel Droll and now, with a deadline approaching, it's up to Aurelie to take up the pen and finish the story. But how does it end?


Likes/Dislikes: The summary of this book intrigued me when it was up for review so I requested it and was sorely disappointed to find it was not what I'd hoped it would be. The writing is so weird. The descriptions come in jabs and broken fragments at badly placed moments {like the ridiculous wet skirt in the opening pages} and I couldn't relate to Aurelie as a writer at all. She kept getting stuck and picking the wrong moments to mentally drift off. It just jarred with me. I actually skipped ahead to see what happened next and it still didn't sit too well. There seemed nothing graphic or overly bad in it, just the writing style. Maybe I'll try again at a future date and see if time fixes our first impression.

Rating: PG-12 and up, mainly for reading level.

Date Review Written: November 18th, 2017

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

A Name Unknown Book Review

Title: A Name Unknown

Author: Roseanna M. White

Genre: Christian, Historical Fiction, Romance, World War 1, Writing, Drama

Plot: Rosemary Gresham is a talented thief whose family is a band of orphans and also more talented thieves. Ever since her parents died of fever when she was a child, Rosemary has been on her own and kept her back to a seemingly heartless God. With rumors flying and trouble from Germany brewing, Rosemary accepts a job that could pay off big time and finally allow her family a chance at food on the table every day and new shoes. But the cost of the job could be very high.

Meanwhile Peter Holstein flees London for his quiet country house to finish his story and try to dig into his family's past, hoping to unearth solid proof that he is in fact English and not a German spy. But given the state of his library, he's certain the needed information won't be found in time, possibly not even for years. That is, until a lovely lady librarian from London arrives on his doorstep.

With both harboring secrets of their own, will Peter and Rosemary be able to find the missing papers before its too late?

Likes/Dislikes: The premise of this book intrigued me and it had promise. Who doesn't want a capable girl thief running around pre-war? But it quickly lost its appeal; we only see Rosemary's thief family for the first couple chapters and then the last chapter {I skipped ahead} though she talks about them consistently. Peter stutters horribly and it was very badly written. Some characters who stutter are written so well that you hardly noticed but this was too obvious and his "fault" was repeated too many times. I can't stand a stuttering hero. I liked how his mental process went through working on his story; that was a familiar writing high. Rosemary's sense of organization for the library really bothered me, mainly because I would've done it differently. And it's four hundred pages of them whining stuttering, worrying and going off on tangents inside of actually doing something. At a different season in my life this would've made a great story but right now it just didn't gel with me. Maybe I'll try it again in a few years.

Rating: PG-12 and up, mainly for reading level. Very clean book.

Date Review Written: November 16th, 2017

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

The Daily Question Book Review

Title: The Daily Question

Author: Waterbrook

Genre: Journal, Self-Help, Five Year Record, Spiritual

Plot: As the cover proudly states, "365 Questions, 5 Years, 1,825 Answers," this journal promises to last you quite a long time on your spiritual journey as you grow and mature. It's even thoughtful enough to keep a record of your growth for you to look back over as time lengthens. Each page has thought-provoking question such as "What are your New Years resolutions for this year?" "What has caused you to feel the nearness of God?" "What have you been studying in the Bible lately?" And plenty of other queries.

Each page is beautifully lined with the month and day marked clearly, and each month has its very own lovely cover page which makes it very easy to tell the months apart and rather exciting to start a new one. And the cover is gorgeous blue design that you could just sink into. There's one golden ribbon marker to help you keep your place. A pen is not included but with such a treat as this journal, I'm sure finding your own pen shouldn't be too much of a worry.

Likes/Dislikes: I love this journal! I have the 365 Q&A edition and have found that the spaces for writing your answers are sometimes too small but that's mainly because I like to ramble when journaling. It's a good size to carry around and fill in the day's entry while on the go and my sister and I had a lot of fun looking up birthdays and anniversaries to see what the question was for that day. Highly recommended.

Rating: G-all ages, though more geared toward 14 and up.

Date Review Written: November 9th, 2017.

I received a copy of this book for review courtesy of Blogging for Books and wasn't required to write a positive review. The opinions in the above review are my own.

The Low Pressure Guide to Parenting Your Preschooler Book Review

Title: The Low-Pressure Guide to Parenting Your Preschooler

Author: Tim Sanford

Genre: Christian, Parenting, Self-Help, Encouraging, Toddlers,

Plot: In this day and age, more so than any other, parenting is hard. People everywhere you go throw ideas, thoughts, comments, encouragement, discouragement, criticism and so much more. Everyone thinks they can do a much better job at parenting your children than you, especially after they change just that one or two things you're probably doing wrong. Everyone, that is, except for Tim Sanford. He thinks you're doing such a good job that he wrote you a whole book to help you de-stress and reduce the pressure on you to parent perfectly.

Filled with Scripture, encouragement, stories and even more encouragement, this book is exactly what you need if you're feeling the pressure of trying to perfectly parent your precious preschooler.

Likes/Dislikes: After much procrastinating, I finally picked up this book to read. I have a preschooler who gets into way too trouble for someone her size {on top of other issues} and have had my fill of people trying to parent her better than me, so I figured this book would be a nice boost of encouragement. I loved the opening sections on how dads validate and moms nurture their kids, respectively. But after that it got boring so fast. There were six long double-sided pages on why you should stop using the word shouldn't. I understood the general idea behind it but I didn't need six pages to drive it home. I might poke at this book more but I'm leaning toward the did-not-finish pile.

Rating: PG-13 and up, it's a parenting book.

Date Review Written: October 14th, 2017

I received a copy of this book via Tyndale for my honest opinion and I wasn't required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed in the above review are my own.