Review: The Good Girl by Christy Barritt

I don't typically care for first person point-of-view novels, but something about The Good Girl by Christy Barritt just kept me engaged and wanting to read more.

This book had a great story line, but what sticks out most is the spiritual theme Ms. Barritt was able to weave into it. Christianity is not about rules and regulations, or dos and don'ts. It's about having a relationship with a loving God, and sharing that love with your neighbor.

Back cover:

Tara Lancaster can sing Amazing Grace in three harmonies, two languages, and interpret it for the hearing impaired. She can list the Bible canon backward, forward, and alphabetized. And the only time she ever missed church was at seventeen because she had pneumonia and her mom made her stay home. 

But when her life shatters around her and her reputation is left in ruins, Tara decides escape is the only option. She flees halfway across the country to dog-sit, but the quiet anonymity she needs isn t waiting in her sister s house. Instead she finds a knife with a threatening message, a fame-hungry friend, a too-hunky neighbor, and evidence of...a ghost? 

Following all the rules has gotten her nowhere. And nothing she learned in Sunday School can tell her where to go from there.

Rating: 4 roses


Blessings,
Ginger

Review: Dandelions on the Wind by Mona Hodgson

Well-written. Good story. Believable characters. Dandelions on the Wind by Mona Hodgson had all these things, and I yearned for more. I don't mean it didn't have a satisfying ending. It did. I enjoyed Ms. Hodgson's writing and Maren and Wooly's story grabbed me from page one and I wanted to read more.

Back cover:

Tattered relationships and broken hearts, like a quilt, can be pieced together by God’s love.

When Maren Jensen took a job on Elsa Brantenberg’s St. Charles, Missouri farm, she never expected to call the place her home. As she grows to love Mrs. Brantenberg and her granddaughter, Gabi, Maren is transformed from a lonely mail-order bride-without-a-groom to a beloved member of the Brantenberg household. 

But when Gabi’s father, Rutherford “Wooly” Wainwright, returns to the farm unexpectedly, everything changes for Maren. Despite the failing eyesight that caused her suitor to reject her, she can see that Wooly desperately needs to reconnect with the family he abandoned when his grief sent him running toward the army—and into the Civil War. She also senses there could be something more between the widower and herself, if either can move beyond their past hurts.    

Comforted and counseled by the wisdom of the women in her beloved quilting circle, Maren begins to discover the cost such decisions demand of her heart. Are her choices in obedience to God, or is she running from His plan? Is it too late for love to be stitched into the fabric of her life?

Rating: 4 roses

Blessings,
Ginger

Review: Josiah's Treasure by Nancy Herriman

Josiah's Treasure by Nancy Herriman is packed full of good writing, like-able characters, and an easy to follow plot, but for some reason I couldn't get involved in the story. If there were a point system with the stars, I'd give it 3.9, simply because I didn't fall in love with Sarah and Daniel's tale.

Back cover:

In 1882, Sarah Whittier dreams of opening an art studio run by immigrant women. She plans to use the house left to her by family friend Josiah Cady as collateral for her studio. But will all be lost when the inheritance is challenged by an angry man claiming to be Josiah's son and legal heir? Rumor of gold nuggets hidden in the house, place Sarah's life in danger. Her future uncertain and her safety threatened, Sarah has nowhere to turn. That is, unless she can soften a vengeful man's heart-and they both learn that love is finer than any gold.

Rating: 3 Roses (hey, if others can change the stars to something else, so can I. LOL)

Blessings,
Ginger