Magnolia Market by Judy Christie

Avery Broussard is ready to sign on the dotted line for the boutique she has been working at.  She has saved it from financial ruin and has been promised she could buy it from her deceased husbands mother.  It is the first anniversary of her husband’s death and she is ready to sign on the dotted line.  In comes her mother-in-law with the new owners of the boutique.  Not only is the boutique sold out from under her, she is evicted from the house owned by her in-laws, and her bank account emptied.  During a snow storm and due to her agitated condition she runs into the store front of Magnolia Market.  Avery starts working in the Magnolia Market cleaning up the mess she made.  The owner’s wife suffers a stroke which makes Avery feel even guiltier.  So Avery along with Kathleen, the lady who she also ran into, start working in the market to keep it open while the owners are at the hospital.

Unbeknownst to Avery, T. J. Aillet hears everything Mrs. Broussard says to her in the boutique.  He is a carpenter who has been hired to do some repairs at the boutique.  T. J. is not a stranger to the Samford society.  In fact, his mother and Mrs. Broussard are best friends.  Mrs. Aillet is having a fit that T. J. is working as a lowly carpenter.  T. J. is also working at Magnolia Market repairing the damage done by Avery’s car.  As you can guess, T. J. is the love interest in the story.

This is a cute read. It is a clean Christian novel. It will make you happy.  But then make you mad at the way Avery is treated by her ex in-laws.  Avery and T. J. have to work through their feelings for each other as Avery didn’t have a good marriage and T. J. led a rebellious life before returning to Samford.  This is the second novel in the Trumpet and Vine series and the first novel I have read by this author.  I have already got the first book “Sweet Olive” and plan to read it soon.  It is not necessary to read the first book though. 

I was given this book by the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in anyway

Nowhwere to Turn by Lynetter Eason

Danielle Harding has decided she has had enough of her abusive husband.  She decides to take her 11 year old son, Simon, and run for it when Kurt is out of town.  She plots and plans.  Last time she tried to leave Kurt caught her and threatened to kill Simon if she tried it again.  She finally has a chance to leave.  She is on her way out of the house when Stuart, Kurt’s brother, shows up.  She makes a run for it only to have Stuart try to follow.  Having nowhere to turn, she turns to Adam Buchanan of Operation Refuge.  In the mean time Kurt is killed and she is left a widow.  Unfortunately it seems her troubles are just starting with Kurt’s death.  Now someone is trying to kill her.  Adam and his team keep moving her to safe houses only to be found every time. 

Stuart is obsessed with Dani and won’t leave her alone.  But it doesn’t appear that he is the one trying to kill her.  They can’t go to the police because Stuart is an FBI agent and so was Kurt.  They don’t know who they can trust. 

This book has many twists and turns.  When I thought I had it all figured out I was thrown for a curve and had to rethink my conclusions.  Even when I thought the book was winding down to the end and everything was solved I was thrown another curve.    I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery.  I love all of Lynette Eason books and this one did not disappoint me. 

I was given this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way. 

Tried & True by Mary Commealy

Kylie Wilde is the youngest sister of the Wilde family.  She has had it with dressing as a boy, wearing britches, short hair, and posing as a man.  She has started wearing dresses and has let her hair grow.   It is a risk as she and her sisters, also posing as men, are homesteading using their exemption they earned for serving in the Civil War as men.  The problem with that is that women were not allowed to serve in the Civil War.  So if they were found out they would lose their exemption.  Kylie plans on working only as long as she has to on her homestead to have ownership.  Then she plans to sell the property and return to the luxuries of life back East.

Aaron Masterson is the local land agent.  He is fascinated with Kylie from the moment he rescues her from her roof while she was trying to nail a wood shingle on during a rain storm.  Now that he knows she isn’t a man he can’t in good conscious allow the Civil War exemption to stand.  Kylie is furious that she will have to work additional time before heading back East.  Not only does she have to work her homestead longer, someone is trying to force her off her homestead. Aaron wonders if he will have any luck convincing her to marry him to protect her.  His future plans include settling further into the frontier and he knows that Kylie wants to go back East.

Mary Connealy has done it again.  This is a great light hearted read with some mystery and romance combined.  I would highly recommend this book to all ages.  I am anxious for Shannon’s story in the next book in the series.

I was given this book by the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.

A Prelude for a Lord by Camille Elliot

This book takes place in England in the year 1810.  Alethea Sutherton is a twenty-eight years old and considered an old maid.  Her father is dead and her brother has just died.  They were both terrible to her.  Her cousin comes in as the new Lord and instantly sends her to Bath to live with her aunt to get her out of the way.

Alethea has one passion and that is music.  She loves to play the violin but it is considered very improper for a woman to play the violin. Aletha’s late brother went so far as to break two of her fingers so she couldn’t play the violin.  A very dear friend gave her a violin on her death.  It has a very sweet sound and is very special to her.  She has rebuffed offers to buy the violin and now there have been attempts to steal it.

Lord Dommick is back from the war a mentally scarred man.  Today we would call it PTDS.  He and several of friends formed a quartet and are quite popular with English society and is quite knowledgeable about violins.  His help is ask to determine the origin of Alethea’s violin and why someone wants to steal it.

There are too many characters to mention in this review.  But they all play an important part of the story and I had no trouble sorting them out. 

This isn’t your typical romance novel. The two main characters don’t fall in love with each other immediately.  Lord Dommick also believes it is not proper for a lady to play the violin and years ago made his opinion known to Alethea.  She does not want his help but has no one else to turn to.  There is the mystery of the violin.  I didn’t guess who the bad guy is until it was revealed at the end of the book.  I liked how to characters relied on God.  It wasn’t thrown in your face type of religion. More of just everyday living your life with God’s help.

I highly recommend this book and will be looking for other books by this author. 

I was given this book by the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in anyway.

Evergreen by Susan May Warren

Evergreen is the story of John and Ingrid Christiansen.  They are the parents to six children who have all recently left the nest.  Christmas is approaching and John is about to surprise Ingrid with a trip to Europe for Christmas. What could be more romantic that Christmas in Paris?  At a church function Ingrid volunteers to spearhead the live Nativity for Christmas Eve.   When John tells Ingrid about his surprise trip she is flabbergasted that he would even think of leaving at Christmas time. 

Then their dog, Butterscotch, gets sick and needs an emergency operation. John doesn’t want Butterscotch to have the operation because of the expense.  Ingrid is just as determined the dog will have the operation.  John reluctantly agrees to the operation and it just about drains his vacation fund. The discord brings to the surface the unrest that has been hovering over their marriage for awhile.

Ingrid’s nephew arrives on the scene to live with them just ahead of Christmas.  John is resentful of all the interruptions to his vacation plans.  He can’t understand why Ingrid doesn’t see what all this is doing to his trip plans.

I would recommend this book to anyone. It can be read in one setting. I’m not sure what genre I would call this book.  It’s not what I would call a romance, but maybe just a cozy read. References are made to other books in the series but it isn’t necessary to read those books.  This book addresses the issue of how we can drift from depending on God and how not being open with our spouses can have a lasting effect on a marriage. 

I was given this book by the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in anyway.

With Every Breath by Elizabeth Camden

This book is set in the late 1800’s. Kate Livingston is working for the government for an insufferable boss who doesn’t think women have a brain in their heads when Kate gets a letter to interview for a job at a prestigious hospital as a statistician.  Kate goes to the interview only to discover who new boss would be none other than Dr. Trevor McDonough. Her rival in school that beat her out of a college scholarship.  In school they competed for the best grades in everything.  With some trepidation she takes the job in the tuberculosis floor of the hospital. 

Dr. Trevor McDonough, who while in college changed his last name to Kendall, is researching a cure for tuberculosis.  When he opens the hospital floor for his patients and research he immediately tries to find Kate because he knows she would be an excellent assistant.  Even while Kate is interviewing for the job the barbs begin to fly between them just like in school.  Only this time there is an undercurrent between them.

As the story continues, someone is trying to destroy Dr. Kendall’s reputation and they are even using Kate to do it. 

Kate has a fear of losing her loved ones as she has lost two brothers to diphtheria and a husband to a construction fall.  She has to learn to put her trust in God and release her fears.  Trevor is a very closed person.  He has to learn to open up and let others help him fight to keep the tuberculosis floor open. 

I would highly recommend this story.  It deals with tuberculosis before there was a cure and how deadly it was.  I had trouble putting it down. I have read other books by Elizabeth Camden and would recommend them all.

I was given this book by the publisher for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way.