What You Said to Me (Tree of Life #4) by Olivia Newport

 

I previously read book 3 in this series and met Jillian Duffy, whose business is to do genealogical research for others, including estate lawyers.  Her father Nolan, is an attorney and amateur chef who is quite the celebrity in their little mountain town in Colorado.  In this story Nolan is working to help Tisha Crowder, a troubled teen facing community service for a shoplifting charge.  Nolan is to keep an eye on the process and he asks Jillian to let Tisha work for her doing filing etc.  Jillian is researching a situation where in the early 1900s many babies were stolen from their families and adopted out.  Even though most of the parents were now deceased, families were wanting to find their missing family members still and some of those children that were kidnapped are still alive and searching for their family history. Jillian is working with others to try to find as many of these histories as she can.  The problem is the girl doesn’t want to be here and doesn’t do a good job of sorting and filing, causing Jillian a lot of checking and redoing at night.   Meanwhile, this story goes back and forth with the story of a merchant from their town in the late 1800s whose silver mines were closed because of the price dropping out on silver.  The story of this family becomes part of some research Jillian is doing and is very interesting. 

 The previous book I read started out a little confusing, but this time I fully understood what was happening and was immediately drawn into the characters and the subject.  This one was a page turner.  I recommend it to anyone who is interested in genealogy, Colorado history, or just a good read. 

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

 

The Shepherd’s Wife (Jerusalem Road #2) by Angela Hunt

 

The first book in the Jerusalem Road series was about Jesus’ brother Jude and the twin sister of Jesus’ disciple Thomas.  Both want their brothers to return home so they set out together to persuade them.  This book concerns Jesus’ two sisters, Damaris who lives in Nazareth with her husband who is the son of a wealthy merchant and aspires to become a Pharisee.  Pheodora is married to a lowly Shepherd and lives in Bethlehem but comes to Nazareth to stay with her brothers when her husband is thrown in prison by an unscrupulous tax collector.  This story runs concurrent with the first story and tells the story of Jesus’ family during this time.  Rumor is that the next story may be about Mary, the mother of Jesus, but we will have to wait and see.  There are 3 other brothers as well.

I love all of Angela Hunt’s stories but this series is so wonderful because it gives you a feel of what was going on during Jesus’ ministry and before and after the crucifixion.  She does a lot of research and really fleshes out the Bible account and helps give a feel for the way of life at that time, Jewish traditions, cultural mores and the lay of the land. 

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion. 

Backlash (Capital Intrigue #2) by Rachel Dylan

 

Layla Karam, CIA field agent just got back from a black op in South America, dealing with a drug cartel. She and her team accomplished the mission but the Kingpin’s younger brother was killed in the operation.  Someone is now stalking everyone on the team including Layla and in addition, someone on the inside is trying to destroy her career.  Much to her dismay, the only one who can help her is her ex-boyfriend, Hunter, who is now a private investigator and works with the agencies in D.C. doing undercover work.  As the situation gets more involved and frightening, Layla gets very dependent on Hunter’s help and support and begins to forgive him a little for the past.  When she finds out what happened in the past was not what it seemed at the time, she wonders if they can repair their relationship.

This is another one of those books that I had to stay up till I finished.  I love this author’s books and always get excited when there is a new one out for review.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

 

Her Secret Song (Brides of Hope Mountain #3) by Mary Connealy

 

Ursula Nordegren  has been snowed in all winter in her mountain retreat where she isolated herself from the rest of her family.  She is now going stir crazy and decides to try to make her way down the mountain.  On the way down, she finds the injured Wax Mosby trying to claw his way up the mountain and takes pity on him and somehow manages to get him back to her hideaway and nurse him back to health.  Wax is a hired gun who wants a different life but Ursula doesn’t know any of that.  Ursula sings all the time and Wax is quite taken with her.  We learned about Ursula and her sisters in the first two books of this series.  They were raised on the mountain with their grandparents and then fended for themselves after they died.  The girls had never been off the mountain or had any contact with other people until the cattle rancher from the bottom of the mountain showed up one day with a herd of cattle to range up there. 

I have enjoyed this series so much.  I have read all of Mary Connealy’s books as they came out and loved them all.  She writes some funny lines like this one from this story: “The two sisters rushed forward and threw their arms around each other.  After enough squealing to humble a herd of hogs, they drew apart.”  Where else could you get such delicious dialogue?

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

 

An Amish Cookie Club Courtship by Sarah Price

 

Edna Esh and her friends have a Cookie Club where they bake cookies to sell to fund the Amish Aid Society.  Edna also runs a business on her farm where she prepares an Amish meal for tourists brought out by a tour company a couple of times a week.  This is her busy season and she reluctantly hires one of her friends’ twin daughters to help her.  These two Rachel and Ella Mae are very outspoken and having grown up together find nothing wrong with arguing with each other all day long.  Their mother is despairing of every finding husbands for them as they have a reputation for their attitudes.  Edna happens to have two eligible sons, Jeremiah and Jonas.  She doesn’t think either of them will be interested.  However, they each take a shine to one of the twins.  Just as soon as she starts trying to help the process along she finds out that the situation has changed and the boys are not interested in the same twin they first showed an interest in and have switched interest.  Everyone is in suspense as to who is really interested in who till almost the end.  There are many interesting mishaps and misunderstandings throughout and it is really quite comical.  I will look forward to more stories from this author about the busy ladies of the Cookie Club.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

 

Two Reasons to Run (Pelican Harbor #2) by Colleen Coble

 

Jane Hardy is the Police Chief of Pelican Harbor, a position she acquired when her father retired. She just recently located her son Will (story in Pelican Harbor #1) and his birth father Reid Bechtol, who does documentaries.  They are all trying to form bonds that were interrupted when Will was born and Jane’s father told her the baby had died and gave Will to his teenaged father. 

Now there is something going on at the oil platform in the harbor again.  Someone has died and it looks like murder.  As they investigate the murder, it becomes dangerous for all of them as people try to cover up the crime. 

This is a great suspense / law enforcement tale and I have enjoyed both books in the series so far.  I hope there’s another one on the way.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion. 

Everywhere to Hide by Siri Mitchell

 

Whitney Garrison is a law student who is studying for the bar exam, coaching kids for their SAT / ACT test and working in a coffee shop to survive and pay her college debt until she passes the exam and secures a job with a prestigious law firm.  To make matters worse she is trying to avoid her ex-boyfriend, a congressman’s son and rich elite who she has a restraining order against.  Someone is murdered in the alley by the coffeeshop right as she is clocking out to go to her tutoring gig.  The problem is Whitney is face blind.  Her mind doesn’t map the faces of individuals so she doesn’t recognize anyone by their face only by their other features and manner of dress and their hair.  She is therefore unable to describe the shooter or recognize the victim.  Detective Leo Baroni is on the case and once he finds out about her face blindness he is determined to look out for her and keep her safe.  There is a killer on the loose and a stalking ex-boyfriend and she is definitely in danger.

I loved how this played out and I learned a lot about the issue of face blindness.  This is full of Chinese espionage, corrupt government officials and partner abuse.  All of it is intermingled and makes for a very good story that keeps you guessing.  I definitely had to stay up till I finished it in the wee hours.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion. 

Sisters of War by Lana Kortchik

 

Sister’s Natasha and Lisa and their family are in the Ukraine in Kiev where they have lived all their lives in 1941 when Hitler’s troops marched in to occupy the city.   The Red Army was pushed back and suddenly the enemy was in charge of the city.  The family endured much suffering and hardship over the next couple of years and some losses.  By the time the Red Army pushed back the Germans and came back to Kiev, much of the city had been burned and what was left had been stripped bare.  Food was almost non-existent.  People were starved and traumatized and very happy to see their soldiers returning.  The things Natasha and Lisa and their family had endured had changed their lives forever.

 

Lots of history here and this is a WWII story from a different perspective than most other stories we read.  The people in Kiev were part of the Soviet Union and part of the communist party.  Stalin was the leader of the USSR and Hitler was the leader of Germany.  There are no Americans or British people as part of this story.  I really enjoyed this although there were a lot of sad events I can reecommend this book to all history lovers. 

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion. 

The Last Piece by Imogen Clark

 

This is an interesting story about Cecily, who suddenly drops everything and goes to Greece for a week.  Her three daughters are incredulous that she would do something so unlike her and without telling them first.  Their father is not ruffled about it, nor will he share any information with his daughters.  Cecily is looking for someone from her past in Greece and she’s not ready to share any information with her daughters.  This is a look at the dynamics of a family, the individual angst of its members.  I’m not sure I agree with the conclusion but this is, after all, the author’s story to tell.

 

I think anyone would find this story interesting.

 

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley.  All views expressed are only my honest opinion.  

The Heart of the Midwife by Darlene Franklin, Patty Smith Hall, Cynthia Hickey, Marilyn Turk

This book contained 4 short stories about midwives. They took place in different settings and were all historical. It was fun to see the midwives in the different locations and pretty much the same time period (1868 – 1890) basically having the same issues with their work and different issues with their personal lives. All were interesting and enthralling. I enjoyed every segment. The first was in the Ozarks of Missouri serving the mountain folk. She was a big city girl and had to learn the ways of the folks in the backwoods region she chose to serve in. The following one was in Colorado where the brothel owners didn’t want interference in their working girls’ lives and wanted abortions performed against the beliefs of the midwife.. The next one was in New York City where doctors and housing among other things were hard to obtain in the section of the city where the midwife was working and she had to battle the slumlord of her neighborhood.. The final one was in New Orleans where they were up against the voodoo practices commonly used. All the midwives were strong Christians who were paving the way with their values and principles. 

 I recommend this book. It was hard to put down. I was disappointed at the end when I ran out of stories. 

 I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.

The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman

This book is set at the ending of WWI and the beginning of the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918.


Pia Lange is a German Immigrant girl whose father is deployed to Europe for WWI and she lives in Philadelphia where the flu breaks out big time after a parade. She is responsible for her twin baby brothers and she needs to find food for them. While she is looking for it she collapses with the flu. Her baby brothers are no longer there when she gets out of the hospital and goes to look. She is transported to an orphan asylum where she cannot leave. She is determined to find her baby brothers. It becomes a long quest with many clues but no solution until the end. I loved this story because of all of the elements (prejudice and pandemics) that remind us of this year (2020) and the historical part which gives more insight into the problems them were facing during this flu outbreak.


I read this story in one day because I couldn’t bear to put it down. My to do list is still to be done. I highly recommend this to all historical fiction lovers.


I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from NetGalley. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.