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Showing posts from May, 2012

The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker

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Synopsis : Mary Beth and her younger sister Leeann are trying to support themselves in their small Southern hometown. To make ends meet, alongside her job at the diner Mary Beth works by practicing her own unique talent : song reading. By making sense of the song lyrics people have stuck in their heads, Mary Beth can help them make sense of their lives. In no time, Mary Beth’s reading have the entire town singing her praises, including scientist Ben, who falls hard for Mary Beth and her unearthly intuition. When her gift leads to a secret truth about a prominent neighbour the pain of the past threatens to overwhelm the sisters’ future. And without Mary Beth’s music, the town’s silence is louder than ever. Could it be that the lyrics to all those foolish love songs really aren’t so foolish after all? I have mixed response reading this. It’s a rather bittersweet story about growing up and the joy and pain that come with it. Leeann is the narrator of the story and it’s through th

The Best Way You Know How by Christine Pountney

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Synopsis : At the age of 25, Hannah Crowe moves from Canada to London, intend to cure herself of a puritan upbringing and to find a husband. A few months later, she is married to Daniel and living in Camberwell, south London. Together they attempt to pursue their shared desire for a creatively rich, emotionally intense and sexually passionate domestic life, but it soon becomes apparent that this kind of relationship requires more from them than their individual ambitions will allow. Funny, spirited and heartbreaking, Hannah and Daniel are pulled between kindness and infidelity, freedom and and responsibility.  Their story is one of misplaced passion, of yearning and the refusal to compromise. This is not really of chic lite gene. It’s more intense. It’s also not really of romance gene either. It’s less romantic. I have mixed feelings reading this book. Part of me enjoyed it a bit. Part of me felt it’s a waste of time. Basically the takeaway lesson here is that one should not

The Key on the Quilt by Stephanie Grace Whitson

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Synopsis : God’s Plan Revealed. . .Stitch by Stitch   From a distance, the building may resemble a castle, but it’s the last place Jane Prescott, Mamie Dawson, and Ellen Sullivan thought they’d be, and the last place they expected to see love grow.   Broken in spirit and wondering if God has abandoned her, Jane is serving a ten-year sentence at the Nebraska State Penitentiary, even as she hides a startling secret. How will one caring physician help unravel the hidden meaning behind Jane’s courthouse steps quilt?   Mamie told God she’d go anywhere, never dreaming He’d send her to nurture women the world had forgotten. But while helping those around her, will she stubbornly keep the attentions of a kind guard at arm’s length?   Ellen was never going to leave Kentucky, but then marriage made her a Nebraska warden’s wife. Can she reach past uncertainty and fear to find God’s purpose in it all?   Together, these three women form an

A Sister's Forgiveness by Anna Schmidt

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Synopsis : Teenage cousins Sadie and Tessa are best friends, just like their mothers, sisters Emma and Jeannie. Their families are close and the girls themselves are inseparable. And then the unthinkable happens. A single instant of Sadie’s inattention causes a tragic accident—and Tessa is dead. Everything changes in that moment: Jeannie’s lost her only child, Emma’s daughter is facing legal consequences, and both families are reeling from grief and loss. Soon sorrow becomes bitterness as Jeannie’s marriage disintegrates and Emma’s two children are mired in guilt and depression. But through faith, can each sister find a way from heartbreak to forgiveness? This is both a tear jerker and a page turner.  I can’t stop bawling my eyes out as I read along and neither can I stop reading.  The story is not uncommon.  Someone you love with all that you can die and the person responsible is another person whom you love as well.  How do you cope? How do you react?  Is it a case o

Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich

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 Synopsis : For bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, life is rosy and she's spending her days chasing down the usual cast of losers and weirdos.  Until, that is, the tables are turned and suddenly, someone's after her.  Her mysterious stalker, a crazed woman dressed in black, carries a Glock and has a secret connection to the dark and dangerous Ranger. The action turns deadly serious and Stephanie goes from hunting kips to hunting a murderer.  Ranger needs Stephanie and the two must work together to find the killer, rescue a missing child and stop a rapidly rising body count.  But they're getting too close for comfort - what will cop Joe Morelli, Stephanie's on-again, off-again boyfriend have to say? For some reason that I'm not sure of, I seems to average this series once a month or so.  This time round it is book twelve of Stephanie Plum's wacky adventure.  Review for book ten ( Ten Big Ones ) is here . All I can say after a couple of Stephanie's boo

Need You Now by Beth Wiseman

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Synopsis : When big-city life threatens the safety of one of their children, Brad and Darlene Henderson move with their three teenagers from Houston to the tiny town of Round Top, Texas. Adjusting to small-town life is difficult for the kids especially for fifteen year old Grace who is coping in a dangerous way. Married life hasn't always been bliss, but their strong faith has carried them through the difficult times.  when Darlene takes a job outside the home for the first time in their marriage, the domestic tension rises. While working with special needs children at her new job, the widowed father of one of Darlene's students starts paying more attention to her than is appropriate.  Problem is, she feels like someone is listening to her for the first time in a long time. If Darlene ever needed God...it's now. I don't think I read Beth Wiseman before.  I can't wait for my 'Index' page to be completely updated so that I can see immediately if