Just for the Summer by Melody Carlson

I loved the plot of this book! Unique and fun, it had so much potential! The writing style is good and so easy to read. But, I am at a point in my life that I absolutely do not want to read about a controlling, manipulative, vapid, narcissistic character. I do not enjoy reading books with nasty characters. This book has 2 sets of main characters and while the one set was entertaining and fun, the other one was awful and it really drained the enjoyment of the book for me. Now, I give the author props for writing so I had strong feelings about some of the characters. I would have given this book 3 stars if the ending hadn’t been so abrupt. There was some change then, but nothing is genuine in the last 15 pages of a book, in my opinion. I don’t want my rating to discourage others; the Fishing Lodge parts of the book were delightful and fun at times, but that wasn’t enough for me to love the book when I had such strong feelings about the one main female character. I want to love the characters that I read about. I didn’t love any of them though. I liked a few. But many were pretty one dimensional too and it made it hard to want to stay engaged with the book. I have loved a lot of this authors books so I hope more come in the future!

Thank you Revell, for a copy of the book! All opinions are my own.

Letters from My Sister by Valerie Fraser Luesse

I did start out slightly confused when reading a letters from My Sister, but I quickly fell into its rhythm and throughly enjoyed the characters! The characters were all distinct and interesting. The relationship dynamics tugged at my heart and their dialogue had me laughing with their dry sense of humor. This cast of characters were so much fun to get to know. I recommend this book to historical fiction readers who want more than just a romance between two people. The family and sister relationships made this book so relatable. I was given a copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

With Every Memory by Janine Rosche

I was so excited for this book and I love the beautiful cover! I had a hard time connecting with most of the main characters though. It started out good and I was laughing every few pages. It wasn’t too far into the book that it seemed to split into so many directions with so many characters that I got where I wasn’t invested into the characters or the story. Revell has usually published really strong faith-based stories, but this is now 2nd from them that I have read that has been more obscure in a religious or faith based story. I received a copy of this book, all thoughts are my own.

The Sound of Light by Sarah Sundin

I was so excited to read and review a book by this author, as the history is always so fascinating. I did enjoy the history but I did struggle through reading this with all of the foreign names and towns, etc. If I can’t say something easily in my head while reading, I mumble it, and it does take away from how I enjoy the story. I also struggled a little with the main character, I felt she came off as thinking she was so much smarter than others, and while it was explained in a positive way, it did rub me wrong a bit. But the research and history is very well researched and always woven into the storyline so well. I received an ecopy of this book, all thoughts are my own.

Among the Innocent by Mary Alford

I was really excited to read Among the Innocent, I like reading Amish books and contemporary suspense and this was a unique blend of them. The cover is very eye-catching and so gorgeous. I liked the main characters, but I didn’t really connect with them on an emotional level, like I like to, to make me feel what they are feeling. I didn’t feel very aggravated during the suspenseful parts since I didn’t connect with the characters. I did struggle with the story when it said it was a small town and community, yet has a CSI division close and I also struggled with the idea that they knew what the perpetrator looked like, but never saw him in a small community. I am interested to what happens next and it does like there could be another story, but I haven’t seen any information on a next hook. I would be interested in reading another installment.

I received an ecopy from Netgalley and the publisher, all thoughts are my own.

All That Fills Us by Autumn Lytle

Let’s start with the positives. I liked the writing. I did struggle through some parts where it seemed to slow down a lot, but for the most part, this book kept me engaged and I wanted to keep reading. The kindness of strangers was wonderful and so touching, it brought tears to my eyes. I was really excited about the back cover blurb information.

I did struggle to connect to the main character and most of the minor ones. This makes it hard for me to really love a book. And then there were quite a few research type things that really bothered me in this book. The characyer said it usually took several tries to stand up, but she went on a cross country treck?

The scene with a stranger that didn’t name her baby that was 4 months old, was really weird as it’s illegal in that state to not have a legal name on file with the state within 5 days of the baby’s birth and must include the babies first, middle and last names.

And this one is an opinion, but it really makes me think the author did no research on Minnesota at all when she said it was not scenic and only had corn fields. Mn has over 14k lakes and is gorgeous.

I usually love letters in books, but the letters to Alex made me very uncomfortable.  The whole love story part of the book made me uncomfortable with how unhealthy it all seemed.

Mel met nice people in every city where people usually ignore others, yet found a creeper out in the middle of Minnesota? Im not saying there isn’t any, but the likelihood of that is so outrageous, the scene that should have been comedic releief was just so wrong. And then called a county fair, a carnival. I face palmed when I got to that. And then the ticket prices and amount of tickets was maybe close that back in the 1980s, but not anytime within the last 20 years.

And thick mist on the eastern border ND in late June or early July? What?

I also had a tough time with calling this book Christian fiction. This is the first time a Revell published book has had me questioning.  Usually the content is great. This one was either not there or sketchy until the very end and I just don’t think there was a big enough impact then.  It seemed much more legalistic than showing the grace of God, to me.

All thoughts are my own, thank you Revell for the copy of this book to review.

Looking for Leroy by Melody Carlson

Let’s start with what I really enjoyed about this book. I really did like Brynna and was invested in how it would go with her. She was juvenile and immature, especially for her age, but I did like her. I loved the scenery and the beautiful descriptions. It was an easy read.

Now for why this didn’t get a higher rating from me… first if all, the book blurb was really misleading I feel in that you think you are going on a summer camping adventure and I was disappointed to not be doing that. Another issue I have is how God was portrayed more as someone you just pray to when things get rough, rather than a personal relationship. And my last biggest issue was Leroy’s explosive temper and lack of communication that made for a lot of juvenile issues.

I received a copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

Under the Bayou Moon by Valerie Fraser Luesse

The gorgeous cover intrigued me to request and crack open Under the Bayou Moon. My heart melted reading the prologue and I was hooked from the start. I have never been to Louisiana, but I felt like I was there with the vivid setting descriptions. It was beautiful and I did not want to leave. I felt like I got to know the characters slow and steady until they were my book friends that I could not help but love and care for and they kept it fun with their sense of humor. This was the first book I have read by this author, but it will not be the last. I found the history so interesting, and heartbreaking at times, but the people made for such a fascinating read.

I received copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

5 out of 5 stars!

Facing the Dawn by Cynthia Ruchti

I love Cynthia Ruchti as an author and her other books! This one is a good book, but it’s not for everyone or not for everyone during certain seasons of their life. I won’t go into details so that I do not ruin the plot for others, I was absolutely shocked at the plot twist towards the beginning of this book. I love it when the back of the book doesn’t just contain the condensed version of the book, so as hard as the twist was, it makes for good reading. I had to read this book really slow and take breaks and read lighter books in-between. I got massive headaches from how depressing and hard the content was in this book. Some people can read and stay detached and some people take in all the emotions and I take them in so it made for very difficult reading. The overall messages were positive and wonderful but it did take until the last 15 pages or so for it to get not so heavy for me. I think many will benefit from this book and I still recommend it, but with caution for those who are sensitive and some of the topics will be very difficult for many readers.

I received a copy of this book, all thoughts are my own.

Until I Met You by Tari Faris

It has been a thing now to read a Tari Faris book over Labor Day weekend. What a treat it has been the last 2 years! Humor, heart, realistic flawed characters; this book has it all! The worst part for me was when I was expecting 27 more minutes with these characters and I fi book! I was so sad! My Kindle app totally fooled me! It all wrapped up satisfyingly, so it was nothing like that. I was just watching the remaining minutes and was so looking forward to that so I was so sad it was the end. It was so fun to read about Otis again too! I feel like this author’s style is her own, but comparable to a mix of Melissa Tagg and Becky Wade. I received an ecopy to read, all thoughts are my own.