Book Review - Between the Wild Branches

Connilyn Cossette has earned her place on my list of most inspired authors by proving book after book that her historical fiction gives context and helps the reader understand truths from our biblical history. That means my expectations were high for her latest release, Between the Wild Branches, book 2 of The Covenant House series. If you have not yet read my review of To Dwell Among Cedars, book 1 of The Covenant House, you can find it here. Then, sit back and let me tell you why you need to get your sweet mitts on this book right away.

Lukio was just a young boy when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to the Hebrews by the kings of Philistia, but he noticed that the young king of Ashdod stood alone in his desire to destroy the cursed box instead of giving it back to their enemies. Now he is the champion of Ashdod, Demon Eyes, invincible and betrothed to the king’s favored daughter, but holding on to his childhood love for the woman who is now the slave of his future wife. When Lukio learns what has happened to Shoshana in the decade since he left her, he knows he must use his position and resources to secret her from the palace and return her to safety in Kiryat-Yearim. Little does he know that her rescue and his decision to give his life for hers will expose the vanity of the life he has carefully crafted and the reality that he can truly find his place grafted among the family who never quit praying that Yahweh would protect their Natan and return him to them.

Cossette’s illustration of grafting us into the family of the One True God is tended as well as the gardens Lukio’s sister nurtures in To Dwell Among Cedars and is an exquisite example of the way we can be transformed from our sin sick Philistine selves into Yahweh’s beloved children. We are treasured and longed for by Him the way Elazar and Yoela do Lukio, even when we are foolish and don’t recognize that His grace and mercy are freely extended to us. With the character of Lukio, Cossette held a mirror before me and revealed that God sees me as a beloved branch, fit for nurturing, pruning, and developing desirable fruit.

Between the Wild Branches, book 2 of The Covenant House series, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and the publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Weight of Memory

Nobody writes speculative fiction like Shawn Smucker, and his new release, The Weight of Memory is positive proof that he’s at the top of his game. In his golden years, Paul finds himself as the sole caregiver for his granddaughter, Pearl. After a terminal diagnosis, Paul must find his way home to provide for Pearl beyond his days on earth. But Nysa isn’t the same place Paul remembers, and the murmurs he hears sound suspiciously like the stories Pearl tells of the silver-haired woman only she can see. It seems that Nysa is the only way forward, but getting there is going to take several steps back.

Returning to the lake where his wife drowned within days of their son’s birth, Paul must also face his old friend Tom, who struggles under the burdens of his own memories of their youthful days. Paul doesn’t know how to tell his friend about the diagnosis or about Pearl’s fanciful tales of the silver-haired woman. But Pearl’s exuberance begins to pull Tom from the depths of his own struggles. Together, Paul and Tom try to unravel the mystery of this woman before it is too late and Pearl is lost to them the way they’ve already lost their loved ones. In their grief, they find a path toward life.

The Weight of Memory by Shawn Smucker is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online.

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - On The Cliffs of Foxglove Manor

Adria Banished to Foxglove Manor with the charge to find what had been stolen from her pirate father, Adria arrives to find Foxglove Manor as tempestuous as Lake Superior, which it overlooks. Nobody wants to talk about the man who is not in the turret; nobody wants to talk about the little girl who died, but sometimes shows herself. Nobody is going to give Adria any hints about where to find the treasure she must return to her father so that he will do her the great favor of disowning her.

Kailey Twenty years ago, Kailey's family vacationed at Foxglove Manor. Twenty years ago, Kailey was kidnapped, questioned, and returned home the very same afternoon. Twenty years ago, Kailey's parents died. Now Kailey and her brother, Jude, return to Foxglove Manor. On the surface, it is an ideal situation where she can be caretaker in a small retirement home that will also accommodate her autistic brother. However, Kailey is also seeking understanding and closure for what happened when she was five years old.

"He had ruined death for her, and the hope of it." Sadness settled in my bones from the opening line and stayed there for the duration of this gothic tale, buoyed only periodically by Axel's determination to keep Kailey's heart and head sighted on the One who is greater than our fears and our disappointments. A delicate balance between the gloom and the Light is accurately reflected as the characters wrestle in earnest with abandonment, disappointment, fear, and hopelessness to find hope, "By God's grace."

On The Cliffs of Foxglove Manor by Jaime Jo Wright is currently available from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to my husband, who encourages me to "buy the book" when I don't have a review copy. All opinions stated here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - A Lady in Attendance

Rachel Fordham's latest release, A Lady in Attendance, follows main character Hazel through her time in a reformatory as a willful, but wrongly accused, young woman and also through her struggle to clear her name and be restored to her family. There is no small amount of personal growth involved in this process, which we walk through with Hazel, her dear friends, and the family who felt it necessary to distance themselves from her scandal.

Fordham writes with conviction on the topics of shame, justice, and restoration to give A Lady in Attendance value beyond the beginnings of a romance between Hazel and Gilbert, the dentist who has hired her as his attending lady. Gilbert and Hazel's friend Ina are able to encourage away her determination to wear her shame as a protective cloak and give one more effort to clear her name so she can reunite with her family. I appreciate the way Fordham balanced Hazel's personal growth with that of those who surround her.

A Lady in Attendance is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online.

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine. 

Book Review - No Journey Too Far

How far would you go to find the ones you love? In No Ocean Too Wide, Carrie Turansky gave us the story of a family torn apart by the child welfare system and spread across the ocean. The younger McAlister children were taken into care as their mother fought for her life in a London hospital, but instead of being restored to their family when she recovered, Garth, Katie and Grace were sent to Canada as orphans. In No Journey Too Far, Turansky tells us just how far the McAlister family will go to restore their loved ones to the family.

Garth has fulfilled the terms of his indenture and been discharged from his military service at the end of the Great War. Now it is time to return to Canada, claim Emma as his bride, and find little sister Grace. But life has been exceedingly difficult for Emma in Garth's absence, and she's beginning to wonder if he will indeed return for her. Since he hasn't replied to her letters in months, she isn't even sure if he will be able to find her, and a murder charge is just one more roadblock to happiness for this orphan. Grace, on the other hand, remembers that she has a loving family out there somewhere. She also knows that her adoptive parents have always tried to conceal the fact that was not born to them. On the cusp of adulthood and her entry into the marriage market, Grace's greatest challenge is understanding her identity. For all they have endured, there are still more hurdles to clear before they can see the Lord's plan for their lives.

With the McAlister Family series, Carrie Turansky has shown us just some of the benefits and great costs of the British child emigration system. She has created a family for whom we can cry in the pits of their despair and rejoice in their triumphs. There is certainly no journey too far for this family, and through them we can see there is no journey too far for our loving Father to restore His loved ones to His family.

No Journey Too Far by Carrie Turansky is currently available from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Along a Storied Trail

In the mountains of Kentucky, families work together to make sure there's food on the table. Especially during the Great Depression. For Tansy Calhoun it means taking a job she loves as a packhorse librarian, but it also means her daddy has left home to try to find work. For neighbor Caleb Barton it means working for the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee for a spell. For dapper New York writer Damien Felding it means highlighting places like Booneville, Kentucky, for the Federal Writers' Project. What nobody is looking for is a love triangle around Tansy, who doesn't have time or need for a man until Damien breezes into town with an air of adventure swirling around him and Caleb returns home to find the girl he always loved never did marry up and move away.

In Along a Storied Trail, Ann H. Gabhart brings us into the lives of these hardworking mountain families who teach us what family really means. Tansy's family relies on her income and waits with hope, and no small amount of trepidation, for word of her daddy's welfare. Caleb's family is reeling from the accidental death of his brother and looking to Caleb for solutions he can't provide while he tries his best to care for his kin. Aunt Perdie doesn't need anybody and is resolved to sit in her cold cabin and drift away to glory when her last few potatoes have been eaten. And Coralee, with a babe on the way, has had to seek refuge with Aunt Perdie. With these complex and lovable characters, Gabhart eloquently shows us that sometimes family is born to you and sometimes family is born of need.

Along a Storied Trail by Ann H. Gabhart is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Come Back to Me

"Come back to me, Marian. Come back." I had no idea when I picked up Jody Hedlund's first Waters of Time book, Come Back to Me, that the title would stir me the way it does since I read those words within the text. Even after finishing the book, they squeeze my heart with the sheer desperation penned into them by an author so very skilled at both storytelling and creating characters who get into the reader's heart and stay long after the story is told.

Marian Creighton humored her father’s research into healing waters influenced by the seeds from the biblical Tree of Life, even as he focused on it more than his relationships with his daughters. After all, he was utterly devastated by his wife’s death from the disease than now ravages the body of Marian’s sister, Ellen. Marian would give anything to heal her sister, even if it means following clues her father has left behind to lead Marian to holy water with supposed healing properties. There are just a few complications involved: someone is after her to get their hands on his research, there are still so many unknowns, and time travel. When Marian finds herself in the year 1381, with no other option but to participate in a marriage of convenience in order to stay alive long enough to locate the healing waters, she doesn't realize how it will change her life in both timelines.

With Come Back to Me, Jody Hedlund opens the Waters of Time with a tome filled with a love to last two lifetimes. The modern intrigue may hook the reader, but what comes to pass between Marian and Will is an achingly beautiful portrait of determination, affection, and undying devotion that spans centuries.

Come Back to Me by Jody Hedlund is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.