Book Review: Sweet Caroline

Caroline Sweeney is a “Pollyanna”. She is constantly doing good for family and friends. When Jones (a friend of the family) lives her his run down cafe; Caroline is at a loss. She doesn’t know what to do! She has just been offered an awesome job in Barcelona, but feels a yearning to stay and once again, take care of unfinished business for someone that she cares about…
This is a great CHristian Southern Fiction book by Rachel Hauck.
This book had alot of great components. It made me laugh out loud. It also made me sad at times. I really enjoyed all of the characters and am glad to see that there will be a sequel.
You will really want to see what happens to Caroline and how she handles the circumstances that she is dealt. This had a lot of good lessons about coming to Christ as well. There was a great romance throughout the story.
I would have to say that my favorite part of the book was the ending…made me yearn for more. A good and a bad thing I suppose since the next is not due out until summer.
The book definitley kept me reading however, and I was very drawn into all of the characters. You begin to care for all of them deeply as Caroline does. She just had such a big heart. It definitely paid off in the end.
I would have to say however that I felt that there was some inappropriate material in the book however, I put into consideration that some of the circumstances were when Caroline was finding out what being a Christian was and that all of the circumstances ended in a positive light.
Check it out!

On Sparrow Hill by Maureen Lang

Wow.

On Sparrow Hill, the sequel to The Oak Leaves left me quite speechless. I felt that God had me read this book at this time in my life for a certain reason. The main message that I recieved from this book was having the heart of a servant; like Jesus. This was a most important reminder to me right now as I struggle with sleepless nights with a teething baby! It reminded me of all that God has done for me and I will think of having a heart as a servant more in my life as a parent.

On to the book…

On Sparrow Hill was a great followup to The Oak Leaves. It continues the saga of the Fragile X SYndrome that plagues families…I was excited to read this story to find out more about Berrie.

It was really interesting to read more about how disabilities were handled so long ago. I also thought that the romance in this book was great. It held a greater part of the story.

The story goes back and forth between Berrie Hamilton and Rebecca SEabrooke.

Berrie lives in a manor where she deals with “feebleminded” children and allows them to live in the manor and teach them tp be functional in the world. This would have been a very liberal way of thinking during this time; when children with disabilities were thought of as “idiots”.

Rebecca is managing Quentin’s family estate, which serves as a place of tours to allow further education of history. Rebecca uncovers letters Berrie has written to Cosima. She begins reading them and Quentin at this time recieves an email from Dana (from Oak Leaves) who plans to visit the estate to learn more about the journal that she has from Cosima. Dana and Quentin are cousins; both descendants of Cosima. It was uncovered in family journals in The Oak Leaves that the family members are carriers of Fragile X Syndrome. So when Dana finds out that she is pregnant, she becomes very nervous. Unsure how she will handle a child with disabilities.
The stress and nervousness of giving birth to a child with disabilities are unleashed in this novel in a way I have never seen presented. It is done in a realistic unjudgemental way.

It was interesting how the struggles that Rebecca and Berrie were facing were so simliar even though they lived in worlds 150 years apart.

I really enjoyed this story and the depth that was involved. There was a ton going on in the story and I don’t know where to go with this review because there is so much that could be said. There was mystery, love, emotion…just so much to offer in all of the characters. I really enjoyed this book a great deal and would definitley recommend it as well as the prequel The Oak Leaves.

This book taught me a valueable lesson. I just cannot believe how awesome the timing was for me to be reminded to have the heart of a servant.

I just finished a great historical fiction book. Across the Wide River. This story began in the 1820’s. It tells the story of Lowry Rankin, son of an abolitionist minister.
It was interesting to read about pre Civil War and the Underground Railroad. I had never sat down and thought how long slavery issues were struggled with. It was interesting to see the tension of slavery in Ohio because of Kentucky (a slave state) being on the other side of the river. The book was filled with numerous historical facts. A lot of research obviously went into this book..

The story was based upon a real person and real events, but some of the names were changed.

Lowry was born in Tennessee but his family moved because his father wanted to live in an anti slave state however felt called to minister in Kentucky. After witnessing the beating of Lowry’s best friend; (a slave) who was beaten by a bystander for learning to read and write with Lowry, Lowry’s family uproots and move across the river to Ohio. His family then begins to help fugitive slaves get to Canada. Their home is a stop along the way of the Undergroud Railroad.

It was amazing to see the amount of time that it truly does take to be a part of such a noble cause. I have even more respect for those who serve on the Railroad. This was a lifestyle and way of living that they took on. SO many sacrifices and dangerous that could have and did befall many who helped slaves escape at this time.

This was a wonderfully written historical fiction book. I would definitely recommmend it. It was catergorized as teen fiction on the back, however, I definitely think that an adult could find interest in the story. It was short however, but I am definitely looking forward to reading the sequel, due out sometime this month. I cannot wait to hear the rest of Lowry’s life!

I really enjoyed The Secret Refuge series…I really enjoy Lauraine Snelling as an author in general. It was a great series about three sisters and two brothers during the Civil War. Their father dies and his last dying wish to his daughter is to take their horses away so that they will not be taken by COnfederate soldiers for use in the war. So begins her journey with her little brother and a few of their now freed slaves…meanwhile her other brother is off fighting the war and two sisters were sent to live with the aunt.
THis series showed many different views of this time period. Conditions in hospitals in the confederacy, life on the trail heading south as well as heading west to find free land, life as a COnfederate soldier, etc. However, as I ended the story my question is why did the author leave Zachary so bitter? Was this easier for the sisters to walk away from their childhood home and make new lives with their husband because a bitter, acoholic, war torn brother occupied the property? I just wasn’t sure how I liked the outcome of this character. HOwever, I do understand the reality of soldiers becoming depressed after war…
Overall, a great series, highly recommended.

Because a summary has already been provided by another reader, I wont include that, but here are some of my additional, personal thoughts….
Upon starting this book I was a little frusturated. I felt like their were too many characters introduced at once, and so many dramatic things happening, I just couldn’t keep up with it all, and then the author through in an additional book in the book; it just really through me off. I had not remembered a ton about the previous book, and maybe this made matters worse. However, when I was about one hundred pages into the book I started to get engrossed in the story; and had a better understanding of where the story was going. From page one hundred on, I didnt stop till I reached the end, so now I am very tired this morning!
However, I really loved the romance in the story, of lost loves that have been found again and of young love. It was just a really good book that really kept me in the story. There was a lot of suspense in the story.
Near the end of the book, it talks about the people who try to stay on the bulls and the people who have to take the bull back out of the arena afterwards and Kat sees how these people do not get the attention as the ones on the bucking bull. However their role is just as important. Maybe because I am a stay at home mom who’s role isn’t always the first noticed, I don’t know…but this part of the story truly touched me.
I would highly recommend this story. But start it earlier in the evening than me!

Motherhood was a miracle it might take me a whole lifetime to understand…

So ends the first chapter of Roxanne Henke’s newest title, Learning to Fly. This was an awesome book about the up and downs of being a mom. I absolutely loved this book! I was laughing and crying along with Susan and Lily throughout the entire novel. I would definitely recommend this book to all mothers and all daughters.
The book starts with an evening in the life of Susan Schaffer. She is listening to her empty house now that her daughter has gone off to college. Then the books forwards to the night of Lily’s birth. It then continues in quick snips at each year of Lily’s life.
During the first year of Lily’s life, Susan runs into an old acquitance from high school, Joann Nash; now calling herself JoJo. She has a little girl, Tiffany the same age as Lily. Susan and JoJo are night and day. However because of their bond as mother, they become friends. However Susan and JoJo raise their daughters differently and so you see two different parenting styles and the struggles that come with each.
JoJo is well off, her husband owner of a building company that has built half of the town. Therefore Tiffany can have whatever she wants, her parents can afford it. Because JoJo went from rags to riches, she feels that giving her daughter everything that she wants, will make her life better. Through the course of the book, she realizes that this is not the case at all. I was terribly annoyed with the way that JoJo reared her child. One would definitely call Tiffany a brat. But this is definitely the way that many children grow up today.
Susan, on the other hand, raises Lily with love and not material things. She continually refers to Proverbs 22:6 “Teach a child to choose the right path, and whne he is older, he will remain upon it.” She also tries to “Put yourself in her place”, advice from her hospital roomie Darla who pops up throughout the book.
Lily must struggle through later years in junior high and high school because of her strict parents. However, you see the definite rewards that Lily recieves by growing up in a loving Christian home.
This was a great story with an emotional storyline that kept you reading. I would definitely recommend this book. Even if you are not a mother, you will find many characters throughout the story that you can relate to. I could go on and on about this story, but I will stop here with a quote from the book and just hope that you will read it yourself to find out more.

Here is a quote from the first chapter of the book.
“It’s like parenthood. Yeah, it’s like that. You dance and dance, around and aroundn with your child, thinking, most days, Will the music never end? And then in eighteen years that pass like a blink, it does. And you’re left standing on the dance floor, arms raised to go on. The music has stopped, your chid is gone, and you realize the dance is over. And you’re standing alone.”
When I finished the book, I went back and read this first opening chapter and cried my eyes out. How true it is. This book really teaches mothers to enjoy every moment that they can with their child. And makes you realize how time so quickly passes us by.

Judith Pella’s newest book Sister’s Choice was a great novel! I loved it.
I absolutely fell in love with Maggie. I had enjoyed her from the previous book, Bachelor’s Puzzle and was glad to see her as the main character in the newest installment. The love story in the book was just so adorable. It was filled a great many ackward moments, but you really felt for the characters. Some of the settings were so idyllic, reading about the picnics in the woods on a nice quilt, getting caught in the rain, taking walks, picking berries in the fields, while being couped up with it snowing outside made these even better. I enjoyed Evan going out on a limb to fight for Tommy basically because Maggie wanted him to. Maggie seemed to be Evan’s courage throughout the book.
I know I have already said this but the romance in this book was just so great. I laughed, cried, and got “pink cheeked” along with Maggie throughout the story. I just really fell in love with this character. She was just such a compassionate person and a reckless love struck girl all at once.
I hope that Judith continues this series and am interested to see where Ellie’s relationship with Zach goes and experience Maggie’s married life. I am also curious who will be the main character to fall in love in the third book. I plan to write the author to find out if she has an additional title planned. If not I will be disappointed because I feel that many things were left unfinished.
The only thing negative I could say was that I felt that the trial did drag, although I usually do not find trials all that exciting in stories. But I also felt this part of the story was neccessary.
It is always interesting to see how the name of the quilt/title of the book intertwine with the story. Sister’s Choice was definitely a great title for this story.
I highly recommend this book and its companion Bachelor’s Puzzle. I have honestly found myself falling in love with the characters and setting and can’t wait to find out more about their lives. Way to go Judith!

This was an okay follow up to Chocolate Beach. The reason why I did not give this book a very high rating is because there were just way too many horrible things that happened to Gaby and her friends in this story. I understand that the intent was for Gaby to find strength in God no matter how many bad things came her way, but I mean come on! There was just one after another negative thing!
I feel that God puts the bad as well as the good into our lives in order to keep us with him. If everything is going our way, sometimes we may fall from God, as though we do not need him. However, the negative things that happened in this book just became to much for me.
There was some humor throughout the book, however, in the midst of all the downfalls which helped. I also really enjoyed the romance in the story. It was not run of the mill, chick ends up with first guy that she is interested to; which was good. I also was happy with some surprises that came about at the end. So therefore I gave this book a four rating because I really did enjoy the ending. I would also easily consume a followup about the realtor friend.