Booking It - 2013

Jessica Fisher @ Life As Mom hosts "Booking It" every month. I'm linking up with her, for more great suggestions for reading check out her reads, and the other link ups.

This month I got a lot read, and most were book reviews for books that had been piling up on my nightstand.
The one that wasn't from my review list was the first book in the Lineage of Grace series by Francine Rivers.  Unveiled is the story of Tamar. Rivers takes the biblical information that we know about Tamar, wife of Er (who is struck down by God), given in marriage to his brother (also struck down by God), eventual mother of twin boys, and fleshes out the story for us. What people may have thought or done. What it may have been like to live at this time with these people. The story is a good one and it does make me wonder about all that probably did go on with this family. I started the next book in that series and am enjoying it as well.
I also read The Northern Lights trilogy. You can read my review here.   If you like historical fiction (specifically North American exploration and settlement)  you will probably enjoy this trio.  It has some descriptive passages that were too much for me, but overall I liked it.
The book that took me the longest to get through this time was Randy Alcorn's Deadline. The book was a lot of information. Sometimes I could fly through it. Other times the story dragged. Over all the story was good. Here is the detailed review.
I got a chance to read a new one in Tracie Peterson and Judith Millers new series. The book was To Honor and Trust. Check out the in depth detail here

More historical fiction!

Northern Lights Trilogy by Lisa Tawn Bergren

The Captain's Bride- 

It's the late 1800s and Elsa is marrying her love and moving to America.  To do so she'll have to leave almost everything she's ever known, but in return she gets to be with her love.  Can they survive the perils of the sea, a troubled sister, and a first mate with a crush?  

Deep Harbor - After the original group from Norway settled in America they went a lot of different directions, in Deep Harbor you will catch up with them all.  The Captain's Bride, the troubled sister, the first mate, and the scorned wife.  Each storyline will put you in a different part of the country and let you into the frontier life?  Will life be good again for these Norweigan transplants who are now completely American?  Can they each follow God and allow his love to seep through to them?  Can he change them?

Midnight Sun- The resolution to this series and a great look at the wild Alaskan frontier. They have survived immigration, cross country trips, and an adventure to Alaska.  Will what they find in Alaska change them?

I enjoyed these books, but if you read them, I would recommend the trilogy, because the loose strands at the end of each book would have driven me nuts.  The discovery of America in the late 1800s was fun and the characters were like able (or not, as they were meant to be).  

My only dislikes for the book are basic, and don't necessarily mean that you may not still love it.  I have a hard time reading anything that involves adultery, I prefer a more uplifting story line. Now, the subject was handled pretty well (although I would have liked even less detail in some parts so that I had no mental picture) and the consequences of the actions were well within the realm of reality.  This is really my only qualm with the books (and it wouldn't have been the same books without this particular story line). 

Thanks to Waterbrook Multanomah for providing me with a review copy.  My opinions are my own.  

You can get the trilogy here and read more about the author here

Deadline - Thought Provoking Fiction

Jake Woods is a journalists with a list of problems a mile long, not the least of which is that he was in an accident with two of his best friends, where they were both killed.  As Jake investigates the accident he finds that he has to do a lot of soul searching, things he thought he had decided long ago were now being questioned in his own mind. Where will all of this lead him?

I did like this book, but at times I just couldn't read any farther.  There is a lot to think about on a lot of different topics as you read.  At time it reads as slowly as a nonfiction book because of all the topics covered. For me it was a very slow read, but one I enjoyed. Parts of the book picture heaven, and I must confess to skimming those parts, I enjoyed the "earthly" parts of the book.  I would not recommend this book for young teens. The material is weighty, and sin is shown and shown quite clearly. It is handled in such a manner that you know it is sin, but it would be a very difficult read for an early teen.  You can check Deadline out here.

Thanks to Multnomah for providing me with a review copy. My opinions are my own. 

Menu Plan!

Here is the new menu plan for the week :)

Monday - Pork Sandwich
Tuesday - Dinner with friends
Wednesday - Church
Thursday - Hamburger, green beans, salad
Friday - Spaghetti
Saturday - Chicken Bruschetta

YUM!

Great Read - More Historic Fiction

I got another book from Bethany house this week and devoured it in two days.  This was a combined effort from Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller.  I love Tracie Peterson - I should give her a special link on the blog - I read a lot of her books, and love them.  This book did not disappoint.

This is set in the early 1900's in a resort setting where the wealthy go to spend the winter.  Callie DeBoyer is working for one of the families and is contemplating what to do with the rest of her life.  Does she join her missionary parents in Africa? Continue on as tutor for the family she's with now? Or does she take a job as a teacher in a school?  She has a lot to think about on her winter away, and Wesley Townsend definitly puts a kink in her plans.  Will he help her broken heart heal and move on, or will he break it up even more? 
Wesley has his own decisions to make while at Bridal Veil Island.  As a trained physician who has walked away from his field he has to decide if he is ready to go back, wants to switch to research, or if he will bend to family pressure and join the family business. 
Not only do you have the romance but you have a mystery to solve in this book...there are also robberies from many of the families on the island.  Can you figure out who is behind the thefts??

I love this book and you will too.  Check it out. To Honor and Trust

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for providing me with this book.  My opinions are my own.