Book Review of His Mistletoe Family by Ruth Logan Herne

Book Review: His Mistletoe Family (Love Inspired)

Author: Ruth Logan Herne

 

I won this book in a contest and was lucky enough to receive an autographed copy. Thank you, Ruthy. As with your other books, I truly enjoyed this story.

I must admit the length of this books surprised me. Slightly longer than a novella, it left me wishing for more. It’s a sweet story about a woman that becomes guardian of her two orphaned nephews and has no idea how to be a parent. She meets Brett Stanton, a significantly older man, when she takes the boys to a free Thanksgiving dinner at a church. Brett is a former soldier doing his best to forget what his influence did to his only son and his younger brother. When Haley Jennings walks into his life he finds himself wanting to live again instead of hide from life as he has been. The age difference between this couple was written in such a way that I found myself forgetting about it until those moments when it cropped up in the story. Times like when Brett tells Haley he was in the army for twenty five years…and I remember that she’s twenty eight. This was a good, clean book that kept me entertained to the end.

Book Rating: Good

Young Reader Rating: 13 and up

There were no adult scenes in this book. The few kisses were short and sweet and mostly blended into the moment so that only a couple seemed to hold great significance. The hero did father a child out of wedlock and was an absentee dad. And the heroine spends more time at work than with her new family. Although neither of these situations is a problem or treated in any way that comes across as such, I can see where it could influence younger readers.

Book Review of Meant To Be Mine by Becky Wade

Book Review: Meant to Be Mine

Author: Becky Wade

 

This book starts out five years in the past. Celia Park has been in love with Ty Porter since she was fourteen. A reunion with him in Las Vegas lands her in a wedding chapel in the middle of the night, after a whirlwind four day relationship. The next morning Ty informs her he made a mistake; that he was drunk and he’s in love with, and planning to marry, someone else.

Five years later, Celia hasn’t seen or heard from Ty since she walked out of that Vegas hotel room, her heart broken, her dreams shattered. She’s given up her plans for her life to make a secure home for her daughter. When Ty reappears in her life, he gets more than he bargained for when he meets the little girl that has his name and discovers she’s his daughter. Still married, he faces Celia’s anger and hate while he tries to get to know his daughter. The couple struggle through this new situation they find themselves in while dealing with the pull that’s still between them. This book made my keep-it list and has had me rereading favorite scenes.

Rating: Loved it

Young Reader Rating: Very Adult

Adult scenes crop up in this book at the very beginning of chapter two. From there suggestions, comments, and situations keep coming. While the hero and heroine are married, divorce is mentioned multiple times in the book. The hero ends his relationship, and therefore his marriage, with Celia because he wants to be married to someone else. When they meet back up he tells Celia he’s planning to “make my move” on another woman, despite the fact that they’re still married. In another scene, he tells the other woman he’s going to put a ring on her finger and minutes after she leaves his house, he’s on the phone with Celia making suggestive statements to her. In another scene he asks two women (three, if you count his sister-in-law) to run away with him while his wife is in the next room. The hero borders on an addiction to pain pills, admits he was drunk in the first scene, and goes to a bar and gets drunk in another.

Book Reveiw of Loving the Lawman by Ruth Logan Herne

Book Review: Loving the Lawman (Love Inspired)

Author: Ruth Logan Hearne

 

I won this book in a contest and held off on reading it for a while. I found myself surprised at the length of this book. For someone that generally reads historical books in the 80,000-100,000 word range, this book was small and had me zipping through it in a day. But the story was good, covered a subject lot of women face today, but many consider controversial. Pregnant widow, Gianna Costanza, moves to a small town in New York, looking for a new start. And a place to raise her babies. Deputy Sheriff Seth Campbell’s new tenant catches his attention from the moment she walks through his door. Trouble is, she has less than no interest in another lawman and she doesn’t seem concerned with the fact that she’s depriving the father of her children the right to be a part of their lives. Circumstances and unwanted attraction keep throwing this pair together. Despite their best intentions they find themselves drawn to each other. This is a quick moving, sweet story that hit me in a way most don’t.

Rating: Loved it

Young Reader Rating: 13 and up

This book has some areas that could be seen as inappropriate for younger readers. The heroine is expecting twins conceived using the help of modern medical technology. She is a single mother that made the choice to have a baby after her husband died. The hero is divorced, his former wife is a drug addict that abandons her child on his doorstep. The young girl has had a hard life and there are hints that she may have been through traumas at the hands of her mother’s boyfriends.

Book Review- The Accidental Bride by Denise Hunter

 Book Review: The Accidental Bride

Author: Denise Hunter

What can I say? I fell in love with this book almost from the start. I say almost because the first chapter kind of eased into the story, only slightly catching my attention, but chapter two brings the hero and heroine together. Reunites them after fourteen years apart. Her in a wedding dress just as she had been the last time they saw each other. Only this time she’s not wearing it for him. From that moment on, sparks fly between them. Shay can’t stand Travis, or so she tries to convince herself. Travis loves her. He wants another chance, will take her back under any terms, at any cost. When a reenactment wedding where they play the happy couple lands them in a real marriage, Travis grabs his chance, offering Shay the only hope she has to save her ranch. All she has to do is give their marriage a shot.

When I pick up a book to read it must meet two requirements. 1) It must be Christian and 2) it must be romance. I have a third requirement that holds true for 99 out of 100 books. It must be set in the mid to late 1800’s. This book met two out of three of those requirements. The plot line sucked me in and made me buy it even though it’s modern. It set on my to-read-someday stack for months, until that stack got down to slim pickin’s.

I only wish I’d read it as soon as I bought it.

I finished this book in less than a day and have already reread my favorite scenes several times. This is a book I will be reading again and again.

And again.

 

Book Rating: Loved it

A high honor from me for any book, more so for this one because it’s modern.

Young Reader Rating: Very adult

Has adult themes and situations woven throughout most of the book.

Book Review of The Proper Wife by Winnie Griggs

Book Review: The Proper Wife (Love Inspired Historical)

Author: Winnie Griggs

This was a slow moving story that left me frustrated with the hero most of the way through the book. Eli Reynolds and Sadie Lassiter find themselves forced into marriage after they are stuck in an abandoned cabin during a storm. Sadie reluctantly agrees to the marriage and finds herself with a husband that doesn’t seem to approve of her in any way. Eli is willing, almost eager, to marry Sadie, planning all the while to train and cultivate her into the perfect society wife. As the couple learns to be a family they discover their love for each other.

Rating: Good

Young Reader Rating: Adult

I rated this book as adult level for several conversations that discuss adult relationships and for both the hero’s and heroine’s thoughts on marital life.

Book Review of The Rancher's Courtship by Laurie Kingery

Book Review: The Rancher’s Courtship (Love Inspired Historical)

Author: Laurie Kingery

This was an enjoyable read about a woman mourning the death of her fiancé when her almost brother in law, a cattle rancher, comes to town. Caroline has given up on the idea of marriage and family; dedicating her life to the children she teaches but finds herself drawn to her former fiancé’s brother, Jack Collier. When he decides to leave his twin daughters in her care while he waits out the winter on an abandoned ranch outside town, Caroline finds herself falling in love.

My rating: Good

Young Reader Rating: 14

I hesitantly rated this book at age 14 even though I wanted to rate it at 13. Although there are no adult situations in the book, and only a few brief mentions of kissing, the heroine has three men vying for her attentions and she allows the preachers son to court her even though she is in love with another man. The rest of the story would be fine for younger readers but that situation made me hesitate to recommend it for readers 14+. I would still caution parents if their teens are impressionable.

 

Book Review of Wildflower Bride by Mary Connealy

Book Review: Wildflower Bride (Montana Marriages book 3)

Author: Mary Connealy

I have a hard time reviewing this book because like all of Mary’s books it is full of charm, humor, old west, cowboys, and men that are…men. But this book, although very good, created a problem for me. Maybe if I had bought each book in this series (Montana Marriages) separately I would have liked it better, but reading them one after the other, this one came too close to Montana Rose for me to be able to truly enjoy it. Wade Sawyer may be a good hero, but Mary turned him into a bad guy in Montana Rose, a situation I couldn’t forgive him for. It took me a lot longer to read this book then it normally takes me and I never did like the characters. I wanted very much to like this book, but although a good story and full of Mary’s customary charm, I just couldn’t like it.

Rating: Good- but I’m giving it a low good. Maybe someday I will try rereading it without having first read the other two in this series. It is well worth reading and I still want to like it but…Wade is not a character I could like.

Young Reader Rating: Very adult

Book Review of The Husband Tree by Mary Connealy

Book Review: The Husband Tree (Montana Marriages book 2)

Author: Mary Connealy

The second book in the series, Montana Marriages, this one is my favorite. And one of my all time favorites out of all the books I’ve read. What does a woman in the mountains of Montana do in the 1800’s where women are scarce and she finds herself being fought over by every man within a hundred miles. She marries. Then marries again. And again… Well, you get the idea. Belle Tanner doesn’t like men. They’re no good, lying, lazy, and necessary. Or so she believed until her third husband turns up dead, then she vows never to marry again. But she never counted on having to push a herd of longhorns over steep mountain passes in late fall, nor did she count on a cowboy, running from a shotgun wedding, stealing her heart. And proving that all men aren’t lazy. I loved this book and have found myself setting aside new books to reread this one. Time and again.

Rating- Loved it

Young Reader Rating: Very adult

This book speaks of adult relationships and doesn’t always portray them in a good light.

Book Review of Montana Rose by Mary Connealy

Book Review: Montana Rose (Montana Marriages book 1)

            Author: Mary Connealy

This book is a gentle yet moving story of an abused woman forced to marry again on the day she buries her husband. Cassie has always done what is expected of her and wants only to please her new husband. Red is not a bossy man given to telling women what to do. As they face the challenges of like they come to appreciate and love each other. I very much enjoyed reading this book. I bought it in a three in one trilogy book called Montana Marriages that has all three books in this series in one volume. I must admit I am a bit biased as Mary Connealy is one of my favorite authors. For Mary, this book is a bit on the tame side, but it has all the things her fans expect. Namely, the wild west, cowboys, and humor.

Rating: Very Good

Young Reader Rating: Very adult

This book openly speaks of adult relationships

Book Review of Blessing by Deborah Bedford

Book Review: Blessing (Love Inspired Historical)

Author: Deborah Bedford

 

This story is intriguing for the way the heroine spends all but the very last of the book disguised as a boy in a mining camp. When she single handedly takes down a man intending to kill the town sheriff she becomes something of a hero, and accidently reveals her identity to the murderer. Aaron Brown uses his knowledge of Uley Kirkland’s identity to blackmail her into helping him. As Aaron’s trial keeps getting postponed the two find themselves thrown together through a variety of circumstances. Falling in love is the easy part for this couple. The hard part is keeping their feelings secret, and facing Aaron’s sentence to hang will test their newfound feelings.

Rating: Good

Young Reader Rating: Adult

I gave this book a rating of adult because of graphic kissing.

Book Review- Blowing on Dandelions by Miralee Ferrell

I finished reading Miralee Ferrell’s Blowing on Dandelions last night. As with most of the books I read this sweet story takes place in the American west during the 1800’s. This is a moving tale about a widow and widower that are first brought together during their search for their teenage children, who just happen to be a boy and a girl, and are together without their parent’s permission. As the book progresses the couple are thrown together despite their lack of interest in remarriage. The heroine’s mother moves in with her and stresses life for everyone in the story. I found myself frustrated with the heroine’s mother for her snippy attitude and with the heroine for her lack of gumption to tackle the problem in the way most people would have. I also found myself yearning for longer scenes and more interaction between the hero and heroine. In the end everything worked out and the couple found their happily ever after.

 

            My personal rating for this book: Good but not likely to make my reread list

            Young reader approval: age 14

I rated this book at age 14 because it alludes to adult relationships- although in a very informative and gentle way- and because the 13 year old daughter thinks of running away several times.