With Autumn’s Return by Amanda Cabot

With Autumn’s Return by Amanda Cabot

What it’s about: Dr. Elizabeth Harding has no problem with her calling in life to be a doctor, but she doesn’t anticipate the people of Cheyenne, Wyoming to be as resistant to a female doctor as those she encountered back east while studying to be a doctor. Attorney Jason Nordling has vowed to never marry a woman who cannot devote all of her time to her children. He thinks being a doctor certainly takes too much time away from a family and wouldn’t even consider courting a woman doctor…. until he finds himself pretending to court Elizabeth to save her from some rumors. A solid friendship is formed and they find themselves tangled up in a murder where both Dr. Harding’s healing expertise and Attorney Mr. Nordling’s law expertise are need to save a patient, when they find they are also tangled in stronger feelings than either realized.

What I loved: I was so excited when I started this book and was immediately drawn into the flow of the writing and wanting to see what happened next.  I love reading about women in historical settings taking up a non-traditional role, so I loved Elizabeth! I also adored a side character, Kevin, with a much smaller role in the book. (To find out about him, you will just have to read it!) 😉 Amanda Cabot developed his character where I just fell in love with the man! I would very much like to read more about his story! I also loved how there were many main characters throughout the book and I enjoyed following all of their stories. Sometimes books are frustrating when there is a side story that just isn’t interesting and distracts from the book, but these side stories enhanced the book.

What I didn’t like as much: The storyline did seem to jump around a few times where I got a little disoriented where I was in the story.  It was not enough to be a major distraction, it just took me off guard and confused me until I got my bearings again. This also seemed to stop after a little past mid-way through the book and it flowed much better then.

I rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars!

I received this book free from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, in exchange for my honest review.

Amanda Cabot

Amanda Cabot is the bestselling author of the Texas Dreams series, Christmas Roses, Summer of Promise, and Waiting for Spring. Her books have been finalists for the ACFW Carol Awards and the Booksellers Best. She lives in Wyoming. Find out more at http://www.amandacabot.com.

You can purchase this book at Baker Retail, Amazon, Barns and Noble, Christianbook and other find retailers.

Dare to Love Again by Julie Lessman

 What it’s about: Rich Allison (Alli) McClare has a heart of gold and uses her time to teach unfortunate, underprivileged children. She teaches in an unsafe part of the city, but that does not deter her from wanting to be an independent woman, not under the rule of any man after having her heart broken by a careless man. Detective Nick Barone works hard at keeping the streets as safe as he can, but still feels they are no place for a rich, young, attractive female on her own. He has burned by a rich woman in his past and has no patience for Alli’s carelessness and ideas, but sparks sure fly any time they are near each other! Will they learn to trust each other and Dare to Love Again?

What I loved: I loved the humor in this book! It made me laugh out loud many times!  The characters senses of humor were just downright fun! I liked the “realness” of the characters and their unsavory thoughts and actions rather than a book filled with “perfect Christians”. Julie Lessman has a flair for rich details that capture your imagination and surprises when I didn’t expect anything out of the ordinary to happen next to keep the plot intriguing.

What I didn’t like: In the beginning of the book, Alli got on my nerves. Her flair for being over-dramatic is a type of personality that clashes with mine…. but yet that also says how well Alli’s character was developed. 🙂 Her naïveté was annoying and frustrating at times but I also know people can be raised like that in real life, so it didn’t make for an unrealistic personality characteristic.

I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

I received this book free from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, in exchange for my honest review.

No One To Trust by Lynette Eason

What it’s about: Summer startles awake one morning to find out that the one person she trusts most and promised not to lie to her has been living a lie. Woken up at gun-point by strange men she has never met, Summer discovers her husband is missing and they want her husband and something he stole from them. She doesn’t even know who her husband really is and why they are running for their lives once she finds him, and the questions keep piling up and it seems like there is No One To Trust, except God, to get her through this.

My thoughts: I requested to review this book with a few reservations about trying a new author but I have enjoyed other books in this genre, so I figured I would give it a try and I am so glad I did! It has been years since I have been this excited about a book and new-to-me author! Within the first 40 pages I was really impressed and wondering if I would stay hooked through the whole book…. I did!

What I loved: I loved how the entire book had action and issues were resolved throughout the entire book! One of my pet peeves with suspense books is when the story drags on and then the last 20 pages or so are a rushed race to spill all the mystery details and wrap up the ending. Of course the main details didn’t come out until the end, but there were several pieces of the puzzle solved along the way.  I also loved Lynette Eason’s way of building characters. I thought the character development was very strong and well done with realistic characters. I could relate to many characters and I didn’t find any to be over the top goody-goody as some Christian authors tend to do.  I loved Summer’s serious personality with a strong relationship with God, but yet was real enough in her frustrations with David where she isn’t sure she won’t hurt him if the bad guys don’t!

What I would of liked better: There was nothing I did not care for in this book! I had a blast the whole way through! It’s only January, but I think this book will make the top of my list for books for the year. I am so excited for the rest of this series to come out and now read all of the previously published books written by Lynette Eason!

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it!

I received this book free from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing in exchange for my honest review.