The Lady of Bolton Hill
When Clara Endicott and
Daniel Tremain's worlds collide after twelve years apart, the spark that
was once between them immediately reignites into a romance neither of
them thought possible.
But time has changed them both.
Daniel
is an industrial titan with powerful enemies. Clara is an idealistic
journalist determined to defend underprivileged workers.
Can they withstand the cost of their convictions while their hearts--and lives--hang in the balance?
My Review: 1/10
The cover was beautiful,
that's about all I can say. In fact, this seems to be an increasingly frequent occurance; I'm beginning to suspect that a beautiful cover is overcompensating for something, and I think I'm going to need to make an effort to seek out plain, nondescript covers and stear clear of these ones.
Anyway, I read the first 10 or so chapters and as
soon as the villain makes his appearance, I thought, you have to be
kidding me. So cheesy. And the relationship between Clara and Daniel is
completely unbelieveable. They immediately pick up where they left off
and clear all the misunderstandings between them in ONE conversation. It
didn't give me anything to invest in. So I skimmed the rest of the way
through, reading paragraphs or pages at a time, and finished thinking, I
am so glad I did not waste my time reading every word. Kind of
ridiculous.
Deep in the Heart of Trouble
Texas bloomer girl Essie Spreckelmeyer (Courting Trouble)
is still just trying to maintain her balance. The president of the
local velocipede club has had her fair share of pratfalls, but her
present situation is unusually perilous. Running her father's oil
company in this male-dominated boomtown was difficult enough before
arrival of handsome, headstrong Tony Morgan. A robust Christian romance
My Review: 4.5/10
I like Essie SO much more in
this book, and the change seemed natural. I do like that Essie was
going to be given a family even though she had embraced not receiving
one. But the subplot of the lynchings was too much. And though I liked
some of the ways that Tony was different and flawed, I felt like he
changed unnaturally. I don't know, I didn't completely buy into the
relationship. And the way that all the loose ends tied up, with his
sister's marriage and the deputy being shot and implicated, and the
killer having left and obvious trail, not to mention his older brother's
demise to begin with, it was all just too easy. Too simply, too neatly
wrapped up.
Redeeming Love
California's gold country,
1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold
their bodies for a place to sleep.
Angel expects nothing from
men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child she survives by
keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use
her, leaving her empty and dead inside.
Then she meets Michael
Hosea. A man who seeks his Father's heart in everything, Michael obeys
God's call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day
by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation, until despite her
resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.
But with her
unexpected softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and
fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband's
pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final
healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does
... the One who will never let her go.
My Review: 10/10
nothing at all like i was expecting. Painful to read, but also one of, if not THE most powerful book I've ever read.
I don't understand why more Christian books aren't written like this. It's kind of driving me crazy. It seems that people think that for it to be a Christian romance there has to be an element of self-denial (which supples the sexual tension that the whole book feeds off of until the very end when they marry). I hardly ever come across one that goes into life after marriage, unless it's part of a series, and even then the focus is off the first couple; they're married now, so their story is over.
This attitude is not only boring, it's damaging. Being a Christian does not mean that you're perfect and chaste. I generally appreciate less scandal and vulgarity, but these books take it to the extreme.
And why are all the heroines progress, feisty women? Is there not more than one persona that was appealing several hundred years ago? It seems they are all (poorly) modeled after Jane Austin's Eliza Bennet. But even Jane Austin only did it that one time. Her other characters, and even other lovable characters in Pride and Prejudice, were vastly different. Some were arrogant and self centered, some were meek and shy, some had a servant attitude, some were immature. All of them vastly different. Why are all the women in these historical fiction novels so one dimensional?
How wonderful it would be if more love stories were modeled after ones in the Bible. We could really learn a thing or two about how real love really works, about patience, kindness, too. About how love and healing can find any person, no matter how deep they're standing in sin, and how God can make anyone clean.
Redeeming Love was the most beautiful love story I've ever read. While I'm so thankful that I got to experience it, I'm also a little sad because I don't think I'll come across anything quite like it again. Read this and savor every moment of it.
Courting Trouble
Tired of Waiting for a Match-Made-in-Heaven,
She'll Settle for One Made in Texas
Whether
it's riding bikes, catching snakes, or sliding down banisters, Essie
Spreckelmeyer just can't quite make herself into the ideal woman her
hometown--and her mother--expect her to be. It's going to take an
extraordinary man to appreciate her joy and spontaneity--or so says her
doting oil-man father.
Unfortunately such a man doesn't appear to reside in Corsicana, Texas.
It's
1894, the year of Essie's thirtieth birthday, and she decides the Lord
has more important things to do than provide her a husband. If she wants
one, she needs to catch him herself. So, she writes down the names of
all the eligible bachelors in her small Texas town, makes a list of
their attributes and drawbacks, closes her eyes, twirls her finger, and
... picks one.
But convincing the lucky "husband-to-be" is going to a bit more of a problem.
Join
Deeanne Gist for another unforgettable tale and find out whether
Essie's plan to catch a husband succeeds or if she's just Courting
Trouble.
My Review: 4/10
I
did kind of enjoy this book at times. Essie was cringeworthy most of
the time, but I think that was intentional. I had to skip reading from
the moment when Adam almost walks away but she calls after to him, to
the moment they are discovered. I knew what was going to happen and I
couldn't stomach reading the build up. I was surprised and delighted by
how things ended.
