From back cover:  After her brother dies in a trauma room, nurse Claire Avery can no longer face the ER.  She’s determined to make a fresh start–new hospital, new career in nursing education–move forward, no turning back.  But her plans fall apart when she’s called to offer stress counseling for medical staff after a heartbreaking day care center explosion.  Worse, she’s forced back to the ER, where she clashes with Logan Caldwell, a doctor who believes touchy-feely counseling is a wast of time.  He demands his staff be as tough as he is.  Yet he finds himself drawn to this nurse educator…who just might teach him the true meaning of healing.

My Review:  I enjoyed this book and the hospital setting.  It is a Christian romance novel and followed along the familiar Christian romance pattern.  It was also based on the Grey’s Anatomy model, with characters such as McSnarley, and McMuffin.  If you enjoy that television program but long to see something cleaner, you will love this book.  Hope is offered in difficult situations.  Our female main character is beautiful, but doesn’t realize it.  She has fears that need to be conquered due to her tremendous nursing skills.  Our male main character recognizes those skills immediately, and although he understands the reasons behind those fears, still wants Avery for his nurse.  Christianity plays a huge role in the healing of our characters in a believable way.   This book is written by an ER nurse with personal experience in this type of setting.  I look forward to more books by her in the future.

Product Description
It’s 1876, and 20-year-old Mattie Flynn is determined to make a fresh start after fleeing from her sinister boss in the gambling house where she was employed as a singer. Mattie travels to Deadwood, South Dakota, in search of her younger brother, who went ahead of her in hopes of making a fortune in the gold mines.All Mattie wants is a safe and respectable life for the two of them, but that doesn’t seem to be her destiny as she faces more heartache and trials. Will the suspicious bottles of gold dust from her brother’s claim be the key to her future…or does the handsome street preacher, who is always turning the other cheek, truly hold the answers to her deepest longings?

My Review:  

I found this book slow to begin with but by the time I finished the first chapter I was totally engaged.  I became interested initially because I love the cover, and for some reason, the author looks familiar to me.  The main character travels to be with her brother and only living relative in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  She was also escaping nightmarish treatment from her boss in Abilene, where the family originated.  Mattie is a very likeable character.  She pitches in to help and wants to make her own way.  She makes a lot of new friends in Deadwood.  Some of these new friends have a real faith in Jesus, which Mattie did not share.  This is classic historical Christian fiction with romance and adventure.  I learned a little about history as well – seeing the time period from the view of the main character.   I have never read this author before, but will now check out more books by her!

Product Description

From the Back Cover
The young girl with the Bohemian style was on the floor where she’d fallen, between Parker’s computer case and her file cabinet. She wore a long, flowing skirt—lavender, the color of calm—and camel-colored Uggs. She lay on her back, her long, wavy blonde hair matted with blood.

For struggling singer/songwriter Parker James, the music business has just turned deadly. Her desk in the reception area of a busy recording studio has become a crime scene, and Parker finds herself drawn into a mystery where nothing is as it seems. 

Unraveling the truth puts her own life at risk when she uncovers high-level industry corruption and is terrorized by a menacing stalker. As the danger escalates, Parker begins to question her dreams, her future, and even her faith. 

Double Minds is a double treat—combining a compelling suspense novel with an inside look at the world of the Christian music industry in Nashville. Terri Blackstock grabs readers at page one and keeps them riveted until the final plot twist is untangled.

My Review:  I hope this book does not portray the complete Christian music scene, although I’m sure there is some of this going on. Double Minds is an engaging story.  I cared about the characters and found myself wanting the best for them.  The ending has an interesting and unexpected twist.  Terri Blackstock is an excellent writer.  I personally just don’t care for books about Christian celebrities – whether true or untrue.  With all that said, I still recommend this book as an interesting and engaging read.  I like how the main character’s family, although broken, displays some healing aspects and tough love is lived out with possible encouraging results.  This book offers hope for difficult situations.  It also shows what happens when people don’t live as God intended and desires for us to live.  Real consequences happen for the characters in this story.   There is little to no sugar coating, which is popular in Christian fiction.  I find this refreshing.

Ivy Schneider is wife to a husband that travels 10 months of the year, mother to 3 children, daughter to an ailing mother whose husband ran out on the family years ago, and sister to two siblings who don’t hesitate to let the full responsibility of caring for mom rest on her shoulders.  Can you relate?  Anyone feeling the pressure of caring for young children and aging parents at the same time?  If so, this book is for you says Lisa.

I loved, loved, loved this book.  But to be honest with you, I have loved all of Lisa’s books and when I open a new one, I am already mentally prepared to love it!  Why do I enjoy her books so much?  Well, I think because with any of her characters I can always find some aspect that I relate to.  I love that her characters are not perfect and sometimes have quite unusual flaws.  Many times I can relate to one or more of the struggles the main character is having.  It’s like Lisa gets what women are going through.  And I think all this talk of characters is what it boils down to.  Her books have a story, but they are very character oriented.  The main thing is how the character in the book changes and develops through the grace of God.  And I want that for my own life, too.  I don’t want to wallow through my struggles forever without having learned and grown from them.

Plus I like her writing style.  And she’s funny.  So if you haven’t read a Lisa Samson book yet – well, what are you waiting for?  I recommend starting with Tiger Lillie or Songbird, my personal favorites.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Product Description
Although she still prays for Caleb, Nellie Mae Fisher has broken up with her beau. Now, her heart’s greatest longing is for more knowledge of the Lord.Caleb yearns for freedom, as his plans to leave Honeybrook have been thwarted. He must stay on as caretaker for his father, who was crippled in a wintertime accident. He also longs for Nellie Mae, still hoping that she will return to the Old Order…and to him. Christian Yoder, a young Mennonite man, longs to get to know Nellie Mae better…and to share with her the secrets of her sister Suzy’s final days. Rhoda, Nellie’s older sister, longs for more of what the world has to offer–from fancy clothes, to her own car, to a new English boyfriend.

Meanwhile, father Reuben Fisher longs for unity–among his family and all the brethren.

Whose longing will be satisfied, and whose will not?

My Review: I read this book in two sittings (during the 24 hour Read-a-thon) and truly enjoyed it.  This was the third book in a trilogy on Nellie Fisher’s courtship and it wrapped up very nicely.  I found this story a about the New Order Amish in Pennsylvania quite fascinating and informative.  Although fiction, I loved the way it portrayed God’s work in the lives of those who believe in him as well as how he can dramatically change a life.  Although the people in the story were not real, what God can do in a person’s life IS, and as a Christian I found this book encouraging.  I love the characters in this story.  Lewis presents them in a very believable way.  As always, I highly recommend this and any book by Beverly Lewis.

A word of advice:  Don’t read this book if you are at home alone.  I tried it, and it scared me silly.  My husband could not come home fast enough!

Isolation is a story about a missionary family home from New Guinea feeling exhausted and full of questions and doubts about their time overseas.  James, the husband/father of the family, decides a move to rural North Carolina will be just the thing to refresh their spirits.  It will give them time to bond together as a family once again and it will give him time to do some writing he has been wanting to do.  So the family of four moves to a massive abandoned home built by a wealthy man and now used for missionaries in need of a break.  The home is beautiful, but secrets lie within. . .

This is a great story to read if you are in the mood to get spooked.  It really is scary, almost too much so if you believe in a spiritual world.  Thrasher does a great job building up suspense and dropping just the right amount of clues to keep you guessing.  I also liked how he dealt with some tough questions that we as Christians like to avoid, but have to answer.

I think this book was well-written.  However, I’m not really sure what I think about the genre – Christian horror would you call it?  I guess I feel a bit strange about it, because had it been a movie I probably would not have watched it as I tend to avoid movies with demonic themes.  He did portray the supremacy of God, so no problem there.  Anyone out there read a book similar to this?  Any thoughts?

Product Description
Bree Nichols gets the shock of her life when her husband-presumed dead-reappears.

Bree Nichols and her search and rescue dog Samson discover a crying infant in the densely forested woods outside of Rock Harbor, Michigan. Against objections from her husband, Kade, who knows she’ll become attached, Bree takes the baby in. Quickly she begins a search for the mother-presumably the woman reported missing just days earlier.

While teams scour the forests, Bree ferrets out clues about the missing woman. But she soon discovers something more shocking: Bree’s former husband-long presumed dead in a plane crash-resurfaces. Is he really who he says he is? And should she trust him again after all these years?

An engaging, romantic suspense novel from critically-acclaimed author Colleen Coble.

My Review:  All I can say is that I am glad this is a three-day weekend because I devoured this book in a day and a half.  I love books about dogs and families.  Throw in a little suspense and romance and I’m hooked.  I have read all of the books in this series.  This book has been added to the Rock Harbor series after quite a break in time, but it picks up where the others left off.  The setting of fictional small town Rock Harbor in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan just adds to the suspense – cold, snowy, icy weather.  This setting brings back great memories of living in northern Iowa and COLD winter weather.  Samson the rescue dog is just plain lovable and a real hero!  The main character Bree Matthews is very easy to relate to and has a lot of impossibly difficult decisions to make.  A few surprises are thrown in as well.  If you enjoy mystery, suspense, romance, small town living, and main characters oozing of integrity, you will enjoy this book.