Whispers in the Reading Room Book Review

 

Chicago World's Fair Mystery Series

Book Three

SUMMARY:  Lydia's job at the library is her world - until a mysterious patron catches her eye . . . and perhaps her heart.

     Just months after the closure of the Chicago World's Fair, librarian Lydia Bancroft finds herself fascinated by a mysterious dark-haired and dark-eyes patron.  He has never given her his name; he actually never speaks to a single person.  All she knows about him is that he loves books as much as she does.

     Only when he rescues her in the lobby of the Hartman Hotel does she discover that his name is Sebastian Marks.  She also discovers that he lives at the top of the prestigious hotel and that most everyone in Chicago is intrigued by him.

    Lydia and Sebastian form a fragile friendship, but when she discovers that Mr. Marks isn't merely a very wealthy gentleman, but also the proprietor of an infamous saloon and gambling club, she is shocked.

     Lydia insists on visiting the club one fateful night and suddenly is a suspect to a murder.  She must determine who she can trust, who is innocent, and if Sebastian Marks - the man so many people fear - is actually everything her heart believes him to be.

REVIEW:  Everything is not always what it seems or looks like.  Appearances and actions can be deceiving.  Lydia is believed to be a wealthy debutante, but in reality her father's death left her and her mother penniless and destitute.  Sebastian looks to be the finest of gentlemen, well educated and refined but he was raised on the wrong side of the tracks and learned everything he knows from reading anything and everything he can.  

     I like how Lydia doesn't accept society's "norms" and kinda does what she wants. She wears her glasses all the time, when society thought such practice was very unacceptable and frowned upon.  When she realizes her fiance Jason has a very bad temper and he hurts her in public, Lydia does not sit back and take it but refuses to marry him.  She is willing to do what it takes to make sure her mother is taken care of and feels secure.  

     Sebastian struggles with getting close to anyone, even Vincent and Bridget, who work closest to him constantly.  I like how they stick by him and support him when it looks like Sebastian is being arrested.  Bridget risks her life to help Sebastian when he is followed into a bad part of town by a disreputable and dangerous man.  

     This was an engrossing book, capturing my attention at the beginning and keeping it until the very end.  Even though it is the third book in this series, I did not feel like I was missing anything since I had not read the first two.  The story flowed seamlessly.  It is one I would highly recommend.

This book was provided by The Fiction Guild for review without compensation.

Shelley Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers' prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner.  She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town's bike trail. She also spends a lot of time online.  Please visit her website at www.shelleyshepardgray.com.  Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/ShelleyShepardGray.

The Tears of Dark Water Book Review

SUMMARY:  Daniel and Vanessa Parker are an American success story.  He is a Washington, DC, power broker, and she is a physician with a thriving practice. But behind the gilded facade, their marriage is a shambles, and their teenage son, Quentin, is self-destructing.  In desperation, Daniel dusts off a long-delayed dream - a sailing trip around the world.  Little does he know, the voyage he hopes will save them may destroy them instead.
     Half a world away on the lawless coast of Somalia, Ismail Adan Ibrahim is living a life of crime in violation of everything he was raised to believe - except for the love and loyalty driving him to hijack ships for ransom and plot the rescue of his sister, Yasmin, from the man who murdered their father.  There is nothing he will not do to save her, even if it means taking innocent lives.
     Paul Derrick is the FBI's top hostage negotiator.  His twin sister, Megan, is a celebrated defense attorney.  They have reached the summit of their careers by savvy, grit, and a secret determination to escape the memory of the day their family died.  When Paul is dispatched to handle a hostage crisis at sea, he has no idea how far it will take him and Megan into the past - or the chance it will give them to redeem the future.
     Across continents and oceans, through storms and civil wars, the paths of these individuals converge in a single, explosive moment.  It is a moment that will test them and break them, but it will also leave behind an unexpected glimmer of hope - that out of the ashes of tragedy and misfortune, the seeds of justice and reconciliation can grow.

REVIEW:  When this book first arrived, I was very hesitant to read it.  While the description sounded interesting, I wasn't sure I wanted to read a book about hostages, pirates and families falling apart.  But, after opening its pages and reading the first chapter or two, my interest was cautiously peaked.  The author does a marvelous job keeping all the characters and stories engaging.  The depth of the characters and the story lines still reverberate through my mind, weeks after the book was finished.  Hope and restoration are the recurring themes throughout the book.  Each character is holding on to hope that their families can be restored and that the situation will resolve itself.  They also believe restoration will occur, even very slowly in most predicaments, in their families and their own lives.
     Now, I do need to state that this is not a Christian faith-based novel.  A couple of characters pray at different times but it seems to be a last minute "Oh, I should pray" but not looking to God for direction or peace.  Ismail and his family are devout Muslims.  Their practice of Islam is prominent and at times central to their story.  There are a couple of curse words and, towards the end of the novel, a character mentions sleeping with another without the benefit of marriage.
     This novel is gripping and very intriguing, one that I recommend cautiously but without hesitation.

This book was provided by Fiction Guild for review without compensation.

Corban Addison is the author of two international bestselling novels, A Walk Across the Sun and The Garden of Burning Sand, which address some of today's most pressing human rights issues.  An attorney, activist, and world traveler, Addison is a supporter of numerous humanitarian causes, including the abolition of modern slavery, gender-based violence, and HIV/AIDS.  He lives with his wife and children in Virginia.  He can be found online at corbanaddison.com, Facebook: Corban Addison and on Twitter: @CorbanAddison.

At Love's Bidding Book Review

SUMMARY:  She sells priceless antiques. He sells livestock by the pound.  Is he really the man to made a bid for her heart?
     After helping her grandfather at their Boston auction house, Miranda Wimplegate discovers she's accidentally sold a powerful family's prized portrait to an anonymous bidder.  Desperate to appeases the people who could ruin them forever, they track it to the Missouri Ozarks and make an outlandish offer to buy the local auction house and all its holdings before the painting can move again.
     Upon crossing the country, however, Miranda and her grandfather discover their new auction house doesn't deal in fine antiques, but in livestock.  And its frustratingly handsome manager, Wyatt Ballentine, is annoyed to discover his fussy new bosses don't know a thing about the business he's single-handedly kept afloat.  Faced with more heads of cattle than they can count - but no mysterious painting - Miranda and Wyatt form an unlikely but charged partnership to try and prevent a bad situation from getting worse.

REVIEW:  This book has it's ups and downs.  I love how Miranda stays by her grandfather's side, looks after him and defends him when his memory takes a turn for the worse and he starts to alienate the people in Pine Gap.  Her concern and care for him is always in the forefront.  Even though Wyatt is not happy that the new auction house owners haven't the first clue on how to conduct livestock auctions, he tries to help them the best he can.  He does a good job trying to balance their big-city ideas with the reality of small town living.  I like how Wyatt doesn't give up easily.  His determination to work hard without taking advantage of people plays out in his favor at the end of the book.
     Sometimes it was hard to figure out who the "bad" guy was.  There were four different people looking for this portrait.  At times, it was difficult to follow who was trying to help the LeBlanc family (the owners of the portrait) and who was trying to steal it away to hurt the Auction House.  Throw in the possibility of a missing heir and it took some effort to keep things straight.
     The ending was delightful.  I loved how things worked out for Wyatt, Miranda, and the auction houses.  All in all, it was a pleasant read.

This book was provided by Litfuse Publicity Group and Bethany House

for review without compensation.

Regina Jennings is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University with a degree in English.  She is the author of Sixty Acres and a Bride, Love in the Balance, Caught in the Middle, A Most Inconvenient Marriage, and she contributed a novella to A Match Made in Texas.  She and her family make their home in Oklahoma City.  Regina can be found online at www.reginajennings.com.

The Wedding Chapel Book Review

SUMMARY:  A lonely wedding chapel.  Build as a tribute to lost love just might hold the long-awaited secret to hope and reconciliation.
     For sixty years, the wedding chapel has stood silent and empty.  Retired football hall-of-famer Jimmy "Coach" Westbrook built the chapel by hand, stone by stone, for his beautiful and beloved Collette Greer, whom he lost so many years ago.  The chapel is a sanctuary for his memories, a monument to true love, and a testament to his survival of the deepest pain and loss.
     Photographer Taylor Branson left her hometown of Heart's Bend, Tennessee, to make a new life for herself in New York.  She had lots to run away from, not least of all a family history of broken promises and broken dreams.  Love catches Taylor off guard when she falls for Jack Forester, a successful advertising executive, and their whirlwind romance leads to an elopement - then to second guesses.  Jack, in spite of his very real love for Taylor, is battling his own demons and struggles to show her his true self and the depths of his love for her.
     Taking a photography assignment in Heart's Bend, Taylor is thrown back into a past of family secrets buried deep beneath the sands of time.  When Taylor and Coach's journeys collide, they each rediscover the heartbeat of their own dreams as they learn that the love they long to hold is well worth the wait.

REVIEW:  Rachel Hauck's latest novel is phenomenal!!  There are four main characters whose stories flow seamlessly together.  The novel moves from current day to the late 40s/early 50s without causing confusion or without any lag.  My heart grieved when the characters went through their trials and separation.  It cried when the characters faced the hurts and secrets of the past and rejoiced when they found acceptance and love.  It is a story of loss, hurt, and secrets but also of forgiveness, redemption and reconciliation.  Excellent and incredible story!!  This is will be one I recommend to everyone!! 

This book was provided by Litfuse Publicity Group, Zondervan, and Fiction Guild 

for review without compensation.

Rachel Hauck is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author.  She is a RITA and Christy Award finalist.  Her book The Wedding Dress was named Inspirational Novel of the Year by Romantic Times.  Rachel lives in central Florida with her husband and two pets and writes from her ivory tower.

When Love Returns Book Review

The Zimmerman Restoration Trilogy

Book Three

SUMMARY:  Riddled with doubt and lingering regrets, will Suzanne and Paul find strength in God to explore a second chance at love?

     It wasn't easy to move back to the Old Order Mennonite community from which quiet, responsible Suzanne Zimmerman was shamefully sent away as a pregnant teen.  Since returning twenty years later to take care of her mother, Suzanne and Alexa - the daughter she raised as her own - have spent months rebuilding relationships with her family.

     Now with the upcoming wedding of their biological daughter, Suzanne and Paul find themselves drawn to one another once again - but with new challenges to face.  They have been single parents with painful pasts.  Can Paul and Suzanne find the strength to rebuild the loving relationship that was torn apart by their teen pregnancy so long ago?

     Suzanne must also let go of Alexa as she heads back to Indianapolis to visit friends, and with hopes of finding her birth parents.  Leaving the bed-and-breakfast in Suzanne's apprehensive hands, Alexa embarks on a journey that will certainly change her life completely.  Can mother and daughter trust God to restore all things in His timing?

REVIEW:  This book is about reconciliation and restoration.  Even though most of Suzanne's family has reconciled with her and her return, there are a few relationships that still need to be mended.  Through love, patience and prayer, those tears are mended completely.  Even though Alexa wants to meet her birth family, she struggles with anger over the circumstances surrounding her abandonment and directs it towards her birth mother.  I love how even though all parties in this book do what they can to facilitate and manipulate events, God's perfect timing prevails.  

     This was a wonderful book and a sweet ending to this trilogy.

This book was provided by Waterbrook Multnomah and Blogging for Books 

for review without compensation.

 

 Kim Vogel Sawyer is a best-selling, award-winning author highly acclaimed for her gentle stories of hope.  More than one million copies of her books are currently in print.  She lives in central Kansas where she and her retired military husband, Don, enjoy spoiling their granddarlings.

The Golden Braid Book Review

SUMMARY:  The one who needs rescuing isn't always the one in the tower.
     Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man.  She paints beautiful flowering vines on the walls of her plaster houses.  She sings so sweetly she can coax even a beast to sleep.  But there are two things she is afraid other mother might never allow her to do:  learn to read and marry.
     Fiercely devoted to Rapunzel, her mother is suspicious of every man who so much looks at her daughter and warns her that no man can be trusted.  After a young village farmer asks for Rapunzel's hand in marriage, Mother decides to move them once again - this time, to the large city of Hegenheim.
     The journey proves treacherous, and after being rescued by a knight - Sir Gerek - Rapunzel in turn rescues him farther down the road.  As a result, Sir Gerek agrees to repay his debt to Rapunzel by teaching her to read.  Could there be more to this knight than his arrogance and desire to marry for riches and position?
     As Rapunzel acclimates to life in a new city, she uncovers a mystery that will forever change her life.  In this Rapunzel story unlike any other, a world of secrets and treachery is about to be revealed after seventeen years of lies.  How will Rapunzel finally take control of her own destiny?  And who will prove faithful to a lowly peasant girl no one to turn to?

REVIEW:  Having grown up on the fairy tale and watching the movie Tangled with my kids, I am familiar with the basic story of the girl with the long golden braided hair.  This story is a faithful retelling with some additional twists and fresh changes to make it new and refreshing. The author grabbed this reader's attention from the beginning and held it until the sweet ending.  I love how Rapunzel tries to be as independent as she can by learning all kinds of trades and self defense, while trying to honor her mother.  She uses this desire to learn to talk Sir Gerek into teaching her to read, not just in German but also Latin so she can read both the New and Old Testaments of the bible.  Rapunzel is charming without being pretentious, and even though she fights against the strong hold her mother has, she still loves her.  The way the truth of Rapunzel's past is revealed slowly, but not so slow as to aggravate the reader.  I love how everything comes to light to both her and her real family.
     This is a delightful book that readers of all ages will enjoy.

This book was provided by Litfuse Publicity Group and Thomas Nelson Publishers

for review without compensation.

Melanie Dickerson is the author of The Healer's Apprentice, a Christy Award finalist and winner of the National Reader's Choice Award for Best First Book.  Melanie earned a bachelor's degree in special education from the University of Alabama and has been a teacher and missionary.  She lives with her husband and two daughters in Alabama.  Visit her online at melaniedickerson.com, Facebook: MelanieDickersonBooks or Twitter: @melanieauthor.

An Amish Christmas Gift Book Review

Three Amish Novellas

SUMMARY:                                Naomi's Gift by Amy Clipston

     Naomi has begun to believe that she isn't meant to find love, but she might receive more than she has ever hoped for this Christmas.

     Twenty-four-year-old Naomi King has all but given up on marriage and children.  As Christmas approaches, Naomi is certain that her life will be spent as an old maid, helping with the family's quilting business and taking care of her eight siblings.  Then she meets Caleb, a young widower with a 7-year-old daughter, and her world is once again turned upside-down.

An Unexpected Joy by Ruth Reid

     Abigail has driven other suitors away, but can Micah find a way to show her he cares?

     Being a caregiver for Micah Zook's grandmother is the answer to Abigail's prayers. In fact, the elderly lady keeps finding ways to set Abigail up with her grandson.  Despite Abigail's constant chatter, Micah realizes he's beginning to care for her - until he makes a decision that leaves her feeling betrayed.  With Christmas in their midst, can Micah find a way to reconcile with Abigail and to reveal the true feelings of his heart?

A Christmas Visitor by Kelly Irvin 

      Frannie Mast returns to Bee County for Christmas, but her heart stays back in Missouri with an Englisch farm boy.

     Frannie knows her parents have the best of intentions when they send her back to Bee County, Texas, to live with her aunt and her aunt's new husband, Mordecai.  After all, Frannie knows nothing can come of a relationship with Rocky, the handsome Englisch farm boy back in Missouri.  But all bets are off when Rocky follows Frannie to Texas to plead his case.  Could he be the Christmas gift to end all gifts?

REVIEW:  These Christmas novellas focus on finding the one person who God has for you, even if they do not fit everyone's mold of the "perfect" person.  In Naomi's Gift, Naomi's mom thinks Naomi is too bold and doesn't need to show interest in any man.  Caleb's sister has the perfect girl in mind for widower Caleb and tries to discourage his interest in Naomi.  I like how they did not let those around them decide their fate but let God guide them.
    An Unexpected Joy is probably my favorite one.  I LOVE how Abigail gives from her heart and how she puts everyone in front of her own wants and needs, giving up the one thing she wanted most of all to help a family member then adds to a gift she made for herself and gives it to a homeless man she had met one other time.  I like how Micah, at first turned off by Abigail's constant chatter, later finds it appealing and comforting.  He is also attracted to Abigail's huge heart and her very giving nature.
     When I first started reading A Christmas Visitor, I wasn't sure I would like it.  Rocky struck me as a stalker, when he leaves everything behind and follows Frannie from Missouri to Texas.  He faces all sorts of difficulties on the road and again when he finds the Amish community.  I kept expecting him to unleash anger onto Frannie but it never came to fruition.  I did like how Frannie was determined to stay within the Amish community and how Rocky sought help and direction from the leaders of this private society.  The timeline of their romance was also positive.  Most books have their main characters fall in love within a few weeks.  Frannie and Rocky met in Missouri and even though they never dated, they did spend a lot of time together.  She moved to Texas in August/September, with Rocky following about three weeks later. They aren't even allowed to date and their time together is severely limited until Christmas.  I like the Christmas surprise Rockey and Frannie's family had as Frannie's Christmas present.
    These three novellas are fun Christmas reads.  Check them out for yourself.

This book was provided by Fiction Guild for review without compensation.

 Amy Clipston is the award-winning and bestselling author of the Kauffman Amish Bakery series.  Her novels have hit multiple bestseller lists including CBD, CBA, and ECPA.  Amy holds a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and works full-time for the City of Charlotte, NC.  Amy lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, and four spoiled-rotten cats.  Visit her online at www.amyclipston.com, on Facebook: AmyClipstonBooks or Twitter: @AmyClipston.

 Ruth Reid is a CBA and ECPA bestselling author of the Heaven and Earth series.  She's a full-time pharmacist who lives in Florida with her husband and three children.  When attending Farris State University School of Pharmacy in Big Rapids, Michigan, she lived on the outskirts of an Amish community and had several occasions to visit the Amish farms.  Her interest grew into love as she saw the beauty in living a simple life.

Kelly Irvin is the author of the Amish of Bee County series, the Bliss Creek Amish series, and the New Hope Amish series.  She has also penned two romantic suspense novels, A Deadly Wilderness and No Child of Mine.  The Kansas native is a graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism.  She has been writing nonfiction professionally for thirty years, including ten years as a newspaper reporter, mostly in Texas-Mexico border towns.  She has worked in public relations for the City of San Antonio for twenty years.  Kelly has been married to photographer Tim Irvin for twenty-seven years.  They have two young adult children, two cats, and a tank full of fish.  In her spare time, she likes to write short stories and read books by her favorite authors.  Follow her on Twitter: @Kelly_S_Irvin or on Facebook: Kelly.Irvin.Author.