Victory Over the Darkness - Neil T. Anderson

For this nonfiction reader, I'm somewhat proud of myself for branching out this year a bit and reading more than one title on purpose.  This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I checked it out from my church library.

This book takes you on the journey of embracing who you are in Christ.  The writing style is easy to understand, and the book is composed in a way that makes it easy to read.  I would read a section just about every day, not necessarily a chapter, but I got through it.

There are some really good truths in this book from beginning to end.  My favorites were the lists - I love lists!  The first one was in chapter 1: Who I Am in Christ.  It's over a page long, each truth listed with a Scripture.  There are other lists in there: What Is True of Christ Is True of You & Who Am I? were in chapter 2, more great truths.

This is one of those books  I plan on getting a physical copy of.  I don't write in books, but I want to get a copy so I'll have these lists at my fingertips.  This would also be a good book to read more than once.  Even though I've been trying to get more of my favorite books in digital form, there are just some that it's good to have a physical copy of.

Other chapters deal with things like how to free yourself from past hurts, winning the battle for your mind, and discovering the power of realizing who you are.  One of the quotes that I really liked was, "We have very little control over our emotions, but we do have control over our thoughts."

I would never have picked this title up on my own, but I'm really glad that I did.  I also wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.  Good Book!

Tomorrow's Garden (Texas Dreams #3) - Amanda Cabot

This is the third book in the Texas Dreams trilogy.  The first book is called Paper Dreams, and the second is Scattered Petals.

Harriet has come to Landreville with her siblings to start over as the town's new teacher. She's escaped the town of Fortune and the painful reminders it holds.  After a failed courtship and watching her brother get into trouble, she's hoping for a new start.

Lawrence is the mayor and sheriff of Landreville.  He has a lot on his plate, but doesn't plan on staying beyond his six-month contract.  The town only holds embarrassing reminders for him, but when he starts spending time with Harriet, his head tells him he doesn't want a ready-made family, but his heart wants to be with her.

As time passes, Harriet has to deal with more suitors, past and present.  She's also seeing a change in some of her siblings - one for the better in her sister, and one for the worse with her brother.  When her brother gets in some serious trouble, Lawrence has to uphold the law while Harriet worries about what the town will think.

This is a pretty good book - one you can read as a stand alone or out of order in relation to the others in the series.  You'll get updates on the characters from the other two books, but if you haven't read them you won't feel lost.  Good Book!

It Had to Be You (Christiansen Family #2) - Susan May Warren

This is the second book in a six book series.  It follows the six Christiansen siblings as they find love: Darek, Eden, Grace, Casper, Amelia and Owen.  The titles of the books, in order, are: Take a Chance on Me, It Had to Be You, When I Fall in Love, Always on My Mind, The Wonder of You & You're the One That I Want.

In this book, Eden is trying to keep her hockey-star brother, Owen, in line.  He's gone a little off the rails lately, and she's looking for someone to blame.  She takes most of the responsibility, but she also throws out a little of the blame on the team captain, Jace "J-Hammer" Jacobsen, who has a terrible reputation.

When Owen is injured in an accident one night, Jace and Eden come together and start to form a friendship.  They find a coma patient tucked away in the hospital, a John Doe, and decide to work together to find the young man's family.  In the meantime, Eden is coming to think that her job writing obituaries isn't fulfilling, and Jace is fighting an injury that could end his career.  They have some major misunderstandings in there, but truth eventually heals their hearts.

Also, we have a side story of Sam and Maddy.  Maddy is nine years old and needs a heart transplant.  Sam doesn't understand how God could have abandoned him and allow his little girl to suffer.  This part of the story is a real tear-jerker, and I wish there had been a bit more of a wrap-up for this part of the story.

I haven't read any of the other books in the series, but I was able to read this one without feeling lost.  You get glimpses of the personalities of the other siblings, but I don't think it's enough to spoil it if you read them out of order or as a stand alone.  This was a good book that I enjoyed reading.  I did notice that this book wrapped up, and my Kindle was showing 78%.  The rest was an excerpt from the first book.  Good Book!

All Things Hidden - Tracie Peterson & Kimberley Woodhouse

Gwyn lives with her father in a remote valley in Alaska.  Her small world is about to get a lot larger with the addition of numerous families, and Gwyn isn't looking forward to the change.  She hates change.

Jeremiah has left Chicago in disgrace.  His medical career seemingly over and his engagement broken, he heads to Alaska and the only man who's ever really believed in him.  The problem is that the man is also the father of his former fiance.

Gwyn's mother and sister live in Chicago in luxury.  When they learned of Jeremiah's troubles, they immediately broke all ties.  Pretty much the same thing they'd done to Gwyn and her father.  Jeremiah doesn't want to see the look of disappointment on his mentor's face, so he hides the circumstances that led him to Alaska.  He comes to care for Gwyn, but fears that if she found out he'd been engaged to her sister, she'd despise him.

While the new colony experiences growing pains, a criminal has chosen the spot to hide out in and is causing trouble here and there.  On top of the illnesses, worries about having enough food and trying to get the houses built in time, Jeremiah finds many excuses to delay revealing the truth.

This is a well written book that has many good aspects to it.  I warn you to have some hankies ready toward the end, there's some tear jerking moments in there.  Other than that, I really liked it and recommend it.  Good Book!

Driftwood Lane (Nantucket Love Story #4) - Denise Hunter

I'm somewhat embarrassed that this has been on my Kindle as long as it has, but I had been watching the first three in the series hoping to read them in order.  I finally gave up and decided to go ahead and read it.  I'm not normally drawn to contemporary love stories, but this one seemed interesting.

This is the fourth book in the Nantucket Love Story series.  The first three are called Surrender Bay, The Convenient Groom, and Seaside Letters.

Meridith has learned that her father has died, leaving her guardianship of three children she's never seen.  Her father left when she was young, and she plans on taking care of the kids until their uncle shows up.  She comes to Nantucket and starts running the B&B business, which appears to be in shambles.

Jake has been on the road for weeks without checking in with his sister.  When he finally checks his email, he finds frantic messages from his niece, begging him to come home. He gets the impression that Meridith is making life hard for his niece and nephews, and is possibly also mentally unstable.  He goes undercover working on the B&B, enlisting the help of the kids, to find evidence that will get guardianship transferred to him.

As time goes by, Jake doesn't see any evidence of mental illness, and he starts to see Meridith has a real desire to protect the children.  She wonders what kind of guardian this "uncle" could be if he still hasn't shown up, so you know that reveal isn't going to go well. She also becomes attached to her younger siblings and vows to take care of them, even though her fiance isn't on board with the whole idea of raising someone else's kids.

This one was a real page turner for me.  I couldn't wait to see what would happen between Jake and Meridith.  The closer I got to the end, the more concerned I became. The truth comes out, as it always does, and bridges need to be mended - and fast!  This was a great read I heartily recommend.  I don't see any obvious connections to the other books in the series, making this a stand alone title.  Good Book!

Dying to Read (The Cate Kincaid Files #1) - Lorena McCourtney

This one popped up for free (and is currently still free), so I picked it up.  It's one of my new authors for the year.  This is the first in the series, with two additional titles: Dolled Up to Die and Death Takes a Ride.

Cate is dipping her toe into private investigating.  She's living with her uncle, who is a private investigator, and he sends her on her first case: Find a woman named Willow for her great uncle.  Checking an address, she finds a gaggle of women on a porch.  They're part of a book club and are there for their meeting.  Going inside, Cate doesn't find Willow, but she does find a dead body.

The authorities think it's an accident, but Cate can't shake the feeling that there's more to the story.  Add to that, everyone she talks to seems to think the truth is flexible, and she's got a mystery on her hands.  She meets a knight in shining armor, Mitch, and comes to count on him, even though he disapproves of her diving into the case where a killer might be involved.

This book was better than I expected.  The author has a nice, conversational writing style that makes the book easy to read.  I liked all the little twists and turns in the story.  I might go ahead and track the other two books, even though I normally don't read these kinds of mysteries.  Good Book!

The Lass from Glenwellan - Celia Jolley

This was my Kindle Unlimited title for the month.  It's 171 pages, and this is a new author for me.

When Susannah is called away from school to take care of her father, she ends up working in his bookshop.  It is soon discovered that the bookkeeper has been taking advantage, and Susannah's father is sent to debtor's prison.  With few options, Susannah flees to her mother's country home in Glenwellan, only to discover her inheritance has been sold.  The current occupants think she's an answer to prayer, and she becomes the governess to Lord Ashford's daughters.

As Susannah settles into her new position, she becomes close to her employer and attached to the children.  When her father becomes ill again, she returns to London and finds her employer's friend at her father's side.  Her father begins to recover, but now he's hesitant to allow Susannah to return to Glenwellan.

The first thing that struck me about this book was that it needs an editor - bad.  On a technical level, there are fluctuating spaces between lines, missing or inappropriate punctuation and other things.  I worked hard to look past these things, because I wanted to give the story itself a chance.  Unfortunately, I never saw a lot of depth in the characters. I feel that the plot had potential, but I just don't feel it was executed well.

This isn't the first Kindle Unlimited title I've been disappointed with lately, but I won't give up easily.  I believe there are good books out there by authors that don't have the big time publishing contract.  I'll keep searching.  This one in particular was a miss, and I'm sorry for it.

Sadie's Secret (The Secret Lives of Will Tucker #3) - Kathleen Y'Barbo

This is the third and final book in this series.  It starts out with a short story, Miss Merriweather's Marriage and continues into the first two novels in the series: Flora's Wish and  Millie's Treasure.

In this book, we find out that Will Tucker has a twin brother, another William Tucker.  Since they have the same first names, they separate themselves by using their middle names. John is the criminal, and Jefferson is the law-abiding twin who comes to visit his brother in prison, only to end up taking his place for close to a year.

Sadie is instrumental in releasing Jefferson but is encouraged to stay on the case.  They still need to find John after all.  Sadie is more interested in moving on to another case, one involving art forgeries instead of basically babysitting Jefferson.  But when the two cases overlap, they decide to work together to solve the mystery and hopefully get Jefferson's life back.

As they dive deeper into the mystery, the dangers increase, and things get more complicated.  Sadie and Jefferson come to care for each other but are determined to remain professional until the case is complete.

I liked this book, but the ending had a bittersweet element to it.  Also, the explanations at the very end seemed rushed and could be a bit confusing if you're not paying close attention.  I felt that some of the "catching of the criminals" that happened by brief explanation was somewhat disappointing.  Overall, while it wasn't my favorite of the series, it was still a good read.  You can read this one alone, but if you want to understand more of Will "John" Tucker's crimes, you'd be better off reading them in order. Good Book!

Throwback Thursday! - Nancy Drew

Never fear, my throwback isn't a picture of me with large poofy hair and clothes from the 80s!

Since my eye has been acting strange, I have been avoiding reading on my Kindle for the past few days.  A few months ago, I was able to get a couple of books from my Grandma's house as it is getting ready to be sold.  One of those was an old Nancy Drew, called The Password to Larkspur Lane

This Nancy Drew made me smile.  With her "quaint blue frock" and her willingness to rush headfirst into danger, it was a blast from the past for me.  In this story, lots of strange, seemingly unconnected things are clues that connect to the disappearance of an older woman.  Bess and George get a mention, but they aren't participating in this adventure.  I was a little disappointed about that, but her friend, Helen, filled in nicely as her sidekick.

This particular story had more danger than I remember, but I haven't read a Nancy Drew in quite a few years.  As a mom, I had to wonder what in the world her dad was thinking. This teenager specifically avoids the police and inserts herself into situations that would cause me a heart attack as a parent.  Her father tells her to be careful, but doesn't really discourage her from following down the path to danger.  The last thing I would do is buy the girl a new car!  It would just encourage her to get into more trouble.

I believe this is a first edition, 1933 is listed inside the cover.  The Password to Larkspur Lane is the 10th title in the series.  I found it amusing that the previous titles are listed in the first part of the story as a kind of summary of "what's happened so far" and then the next title gets a mention at the end.  Curiosity got the best of me, and I looked up how many titles were written in the original series.  To my surprise, I found out that Carolyn Keene is a pen name and Nancy Drew books were written by many different authors. Some titles had as many as 5 people contributing!  The series was also revised beginning in 1959.

I had a great time reading through this.  Maybe it's the nostalgia factor, but this book just made me smile.  It made me wonder what books my kids will look back on fondly and reread with a smile on their face.  Heartily gets a Good Book! review!