Top Ten Words/Topics That Instantly Make Me Buy/Pick Up A Book

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

It's been a while since I've participated in TTT. This topic was suggested by Karin at My Life In Books.

Top Ten Words/Topics That Instantly Make Me Buy/Pick Up A Book

1. First, almost anything I read is always Christian Fiction

2. Retellings of classic fairy tales

  

(Fairest Beauty, The Wide-Awake Princess, The Merchant's Daughter, Princess of Glass)

3. Historical Fiction

(El Rey: A Novel of Renaissance Iberia, Maire)

4. Especially set in 1800s America

(particularly western America - the whole homesteading, Oregon Trail idea, but I also like the Eastern Seaboard and everything in between...)

(Sixty Acres and a Bride, Prize of My Heart)

5. Or Colonial America around and during the Revolutionary War

(The Messenger)

6. Marriage of Convenience/Necessity

(Short-Straw Bride, Montana Rose)

 7. Fantasy with adventure 

 (Tales of Goldstone Wood Series, LOTR, The Orphan King, Ranger's Apprentice Series, Dealing with Dragons)

8. Missionary Kids 

(Bamboo & Lace, It's a Jungle Out There)

9. Regency/Victorian England

(The Heiress of Winterwood, The Tutor's Daughter)

10. What words/topics instantly trigger the thought, 'Ooooh, that looks good!'?

Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade

Undeniably Yours by Becky Wade. Bethany House, 2013. 384p. (9780764209758) Series: A Porter Family, #1

Last summer Becky Wade’s debut novel, My Stubborn Heart¸ was published and I absolutely loved it. So I was quite excited to hear that her next book was coming out this spring. Undeniably Yours is a fast paced Christian romance complete with cowboys and a psychopath. (Never thought I’d put those last six words together!)

Goodreads Summary:

When Meg Cole’s father dies unexpectedly, she becomes the majority shareholder of his oil company and the single inheritor of his fortune. Though Meg is soft-spoken and tenderhearted–more interested in art than in oil–she’s forced to return home to Texas and to Whispering Creek Ranch to take up the reins of her father’s empire.

The last thing she has the patience or the sanity to deal with? Her father’s thoroughbred racehorse farm. She gives its manager, Bo Porter, six months to close the place down.

Bo’s determined to resent the woman who’s decided to rob him of his dream. But instead of anger, Meg evokes within him a profound desire to protect. The more time he spends with her, the more he longs to overcome every obstacle that separates them–her wealth, his unworthiness, her family’s outrage–and earn the right to love her.

But just when Meg begins to realize that Bo might be the one thing on the ranch worth keeping, their fragile bond is viciously broken by a force from Meg’s past. Can their love–and their belief that God can work through every circumstance–survive?

From Becky Wade's
pinterest board
for the book

My Review:

I enjoyed the way Meg was committed to doing what she thought was the right thing even when she really didn’t enjoy it – her job with the oil company. Not sure I could be that dedicated.

Bo was a fabulous hero: strong, caring, had self-control, can defend his lady’s honor in a fight (yep! it’s a great scene). But he is also very down to earth and sensible.

From Goodreads I learned that this is the beginning of a series, A Porter Family. We didn’t really get to know any Porters other than Meg and her uncle a bit in this book, I’m quite curious who the next books will be about. My guess was that it’d be about the single mom Meg took in but she’s not exactly a Porter. So I don’t know.
[Update: I just reread what I wrote a year later after reading the next book in the series. Silly me! Porter is Bo's last name, not Meg's! Oops.]

The chemistry between Meg and Bo was very tangent. Meg’s stress level faded away when she was in Bo’s company. They do kiss and hug quite a bit, but that’s as far as it goes. While reading about these sorts of couples it makes me wonder if such chemistry, electricity really can exist between a man and a woman. Or if it’s just a secret pact all novelists sign. Maybe I should read more biographies and/or autobiographies.

All in all, this was an enjoyable, contemporary Christian romance that kept me turning the pages, especially towards the end. But My Stubborn Heart is my favorite of the two books the author has written.

Win a copy from Goodreads (ends May 1, 2013): http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/49541-undeniably-yours

Go read it! Find it at a library near you; Buy it from Amazon; Buy it from ChristianBooks.com

Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission. 

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

The Heiress of Winterwood by Sarah E. Ladd

The Heiress of Winterwood by Sarah E. Ladd. Thomas Nelson, 2013. 320p. (9781401688356) Series: Whispers on the Moors #1

Quite the adventure! I’d forgotten any details from the summary when I started reading this and was not expecting all the turmoil and danger that ensued.

Goodreads Summary:

Pride goes before the fall . . . but what comes after?

Darbury, England, 1814

Amelia Barrett, heiress to an ancestral estate nestled in the English moors, defies family expectations and promises to raise her dying friend’s infant baby. She'll risk everything to keep her word—even to the point of proposing to the child’s father, Graham, a sea captain she’s never met.

Tragedy strikes when the child vanishes with little more than a sketchy ransom note hinting to her whereabouts. Fear for the child’s safety drives Amelia and Graham to test the boundaries of their love for this infant.

Amelia’s detailed plans would normally see her through any trial, but now, desperate and shaken, she examines her soul and must face her one weakness: pride.

Graham’s strength and self-control have served him well and earned him much respect, but chasing perfection has kept him a prisoner of his own discipline.

Both must learn to accept God’s sovereignty and relinquish control so they can grasp the future He has for planned for them.

My Review:

What seemed to start out as a potential marriage-of-convenience story turned into a tale of two people learning to let go and accept God’s plan, guidance and forgiveness. I really enjoyed the spiritual development of both Amelia and Graham.  

Amelia Barrett has lost many loved ones and is determined to do everything in her power not to lose little Lucy. At times it was hard to reconcile her independence and even defiance of her uncle and fiancé with my general impression of women of that era and also with Amelia herself. I really enjoyed her but at times things seemed a bit off.

Captain Graham Sterling was a great hero, full of flaws, wanting to do right. The spark between him and Amelia was fun to read. I wish we could have learned more about his childhood, I think that would have helped explain his brother’s behavior and the tension between the two men.

I also wish Helena, Amelia’s cousin, had been further developed. She didn’t seem to be the same person at the beginning and the end (and that’s not due to any character development, she just suddenly seemed to be someone else). For all that it still is an enjoyable read.

This is a debut novel that came about after the author won the Historical Romance category of the Genesis contest in 2011. The Genesis contest held by ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) is for unpublished Christian fiction authors. Quite glad she won and it appears as though this is the beginning of a series.

(Not sure if it's worth a re-read, but it's an enjoyable story with some good lessons)

Go read it! Find it at a library near you; Buy it from Amazon; Buy it from ChristianBooks.com

Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission. 

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Love in the Balance by Regina Jennings

Love in the Balance by Regina Jennings. Bethany House, 2013. 360p. (9780764209918)

Last spring I read Sixty Acres and a Bride and absolutely loved it so I was eager to read the author’s second book. Both draw on Bible stories for inspiration but it took a while for me to figure out that Love in the Balance is based on the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Goodreads Summary:

Molly Lovelace dreams of a life without cares in Lockhart, Texas. She also dreams of handsome wrangler Bailey Garner, her ardent but inconsistent beau. The problem is, with Bailey's poor prospects, she just can't fit the two dreams together.

Then mysterious stranger Edward Pierrepont sweeps into town--and her life--and for the first time Molly wonders if she's met the man who can give her everything. But he won't be in Lockhart long and while he talks about their glorious future together, she can't quite get Bailey out of her mind.

What's a girl to do with all these decisions when love is in the balance?

My Review:

Since Sixty Acres is the story of Ruth I wondered if the author would continue the story and let us read her ideas of what happened to Ruth and Boaz, aka Rosa and Weston. That wasn’t the case. Instead the author drew from a different biblical story and gave the reader Molly Lovelace’s story.  

Molly wasn’t always a very enjoyable heroine to read about, but her flaws are very human flaws and her mistakes are understandable. Somewhat. The reader is told more than shown the pressure her parents exert on her to marry well.

While there are several kisses, a honeymoon, and passionate thoughts, all those scenes are handled nicely and nothing is described in too much detail.

The way the characters matured and the struggles they faced were well written. I really liked getting to know some of the minor characters a bit better. I just read an interview with Regina Jennings on another blog and learned that the third book in the series will be about Anne Tillerton. Can’t wait!

Go read it! Find it at a library near you; Buy it from Amazon; Buy it from ChristianBooks.com

Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission. 

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Her Good Name by Ruth Axtell

Her Good Name by Ruth Axtell. Moody, 2012. 288p. (9780802406279)

It’s not often that books are set in Maine and while this story could have taken place almost anywhere in 1890s America but it was fun to read somewhat familiar city names. Skip over the summary if you don’t want to know too much of the story.

Goodreads Summary:

In the 1890 thriving coastal town of Holliston, Maine, the leading lumber baron's son, Warren Brentwood, III, returns from his years away at college and traveling to take up his position as heir apparent to his father's business empire.

Esperanza Estrada, daughter of a Portuguese immigrant fisherman and a local woman, Espy lives on the wrong side of the tracks, surrounded by a brood of brothers and sisters and a careworn mother. She is unable to pretend she is anything but "one of those Estradas." When she overhears of a position to clean house at a local high school teacher's home on Elm Street, she jumps at the opportunity-to be able to run into Warren Brentwood now and again, but also to imbibe of the culture and intellectual atmosphere of the Stocktons.

When rumors about Espy and a respected, married gentleman of the community begin to circulate, the entire church congregation and then the community pronounce judgment on her behavior. The man Espy is in love with, Warren, believes the lie and his loss of faith in her causes Espy to give up without a fight. She leaves her family and hometown for the nearest city with little money and no acquaintances and is forced to spend the night on the street. A man who heads a mission for the homeless finds Espy and offers her shelter. Espy finds the true love of God while working at the mission. Will she be able to forgive the townspeople and return home?

My Review:

That summary sure told a lot of the story! Sorry about that. Anyways…

Her Good Name was an enjoyable read but also dealt with a serious issue. Espy is accused of inappropriate behavior when it really wasn’t her fault and she was actually the victim. Why is it that the women so often get all the blame and must live with the consequences while the men get off seemingly scot free?

The characters and their development over the course of the story were all believable and it was easy to imagine the scenes and attitudes of Warren, Epsy, Christina and the others. The settings and historical aspects weren’t described very much, but for me that was alright.

I liked how the author handled Epsy and Warren slowly realizing and fully grasping the full extent of God’s love and faithfulness. So often Christians go through the motions of “Christianity” – attending church, praying, reading a bit of Scripture, yet they are missing out on a personal relationship with our Almighty Savior and failing to fully trust and rely on Him.

(Well, maybe not the re-read, but definitely worth the read)

Go read it! Find it at a library near you; Buy it from Amazon; Buy it from ChristianBooks.com

Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission.

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.