the start of a good life

Hello friends! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the transition back to work hasn’t been too painful. That was always sooo hard for me, going back to work the Monday after a holiday (working in a daycare/preschool, we always had weekends off). I always made sure to wear cute but comfy clothes, have a hot drink in my hand and had a lazy day planned – dance parties or play doh were hits. There are certainly days where I miss working with kids but not today! I got to walk my two dogs, worked in the backyard and watched some Christmas cartoons. All that with the thought that I really needed to finish this post, ha!

Thank goodness I was on top of it last week, while on vacation ironically, and wrote the reviews already! So here you go, fellow book-addicts, some great reads for you!

Highland Crossing – Pamela Griffin – Join four women as they cross from Scotland to North Carolina, where a brooch unites them in their search for love and a new life.

• Seona hides on board the ship bound for N.C. with one goal – to stay away from the cargo master. To get caught by him will mean getting sent back to Scotland – which will lead to her death. The brooch is a family heirloom, will she be able to find the one it’s meant for?
• Fiona travels to retrieve the brooch, but ends up on the whipping block. Can she trust the man who rescues her?
• Seren sells the brooch in order to achieve her dream – to open a confectionery. But will it be worth it? Or will she have sold the heirloom for nothing?
• Brynna finally has the brooch in her possession, but then it’s stolen. Will she be able to reclaim it, or will she lose something far more valuable?

-These were short, fun reads that, as with most short stories, I would have loved if they were longer! I enjoyed the fact that it was one family through the generations – with the brooch often being the item that changed their goals/focus/whatever you want to call it.

Spindle’s End – Robin Mckinley – On her name-day, Princess Briar-Rose is cursed by Pernicia to one day prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a never-ending sleep. But Katriona, a young fairy, kidnaps her in order to save her from her fate. She takes the princess to her small village and there, her aunt and her raise Briar-Rose where no one knows her true identity. But Pernicia won’t easily give up the chance to exact revenge for a defeat over four hundred years old.

-Mckinley once again delivers an enchanting re-telling of a fairy-tale. I picked this up at Powell’s Bookstore when my OH and I went last month and the risk paid off! I have heard that some of her re-tellings aren’t as good as Beauty (if you haven’t read that one, you simply must.) but I enjoyed this one! What I didn’t like about it was the loong detailed intro about the world they live in – and how the magic affects it and how they deal with it. It was a bit too much for me, I had to keep myself from skimming to get to the actual story. But once that was done, I loved every bit of it.

Hidden Places – Lynn Austin – Eliza has wanted a home all her life. After 10 years of having one, she isn’t about to let it go now. Wyatt Orchards is hers and her kids’. But keeping it up is more than she can handle. Help comes in the unexpected form of a hobo, who shares similarities to her late husbands’ lost brother. The pain and heartbreak in the farmhouse is overflowing, will it take a hold of Eliza as well?

– This is a novel that pulls at your heartstrings! I did a partial review last month but by the time I finished it I decided it’ll for sure be on the re-read list! Austin takes you through several of the characters backstories in detail which were like short stories all on their own! I loved that. The way she tied them all together was fantastic. Be prepared to not want to do anything but READ this book!

God-Fearers – Gentiles and the God of Israel – Toby Janicki – How do non-Jews participate in the modern revival of the Messianic Jewish? This book  brings together what is known on late Second-Temple Era Judaism and early Christianity to answer this question, and to introduce  those first non-Jewish believers, called God-Fearers.

-I set a goal of reading five Jewish focused- books this year. Sadly this is only my second! But, it is really good so far and written so that I can understand it! I don’t know about you, but I’ve found a lot of theology books to be hard to understand/follow. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting an intro of how Messianic Judaism and non-Jews can blend and worship together.

Silk –  Heart of India series #1 – Linda Chaikin – In the late 1700’s in India, Coral Kendall is heiress to Kingscote Silk Plantation. Breaking all caste rules, she adopts an orphaned Indian boy. Their love becomes that of mother and son but when he is abducted and then a body is found in the river, Coral’s heart is broken.

But could there be a reason to believe that the boy’s identity was not what she believed? Could he still be alive?  In order to find out the truth, Coral will have to trust one man – a man with more mysteries in his past than she can imagine.

-ACK! (that was an exclamation of excitement just so you know.) I have read these since I was a teenager and love them every. single. time. As I’ve grown I’ve picked up different aspects of the story. This is a trilogy, so don’t expect it to conclude quickly. I actually can’t remember where this novel ends!

(I will be doing a series review once I’ve read all of them but I wanted to share this one now)!

Happy December and Happy Reading!

~Laura

~If you purchase a book from Amazon by following a link here on SGL, I will get a percentage of the sale =) ~

Tags: book review, books, christian book reviews, christian romance, God Fearers, toby janicki