The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs

From Goodreads: “Stitched together with love, this is a story just waiting for your favorite reading chair. With her signature style and skill, Susan Wiggs delivers an intricate patchwork of old wounds and new beginnings, romance and the healing power of friendship, wrapped in a lovely little community that’s hiding a few secrets of its own.”
— Lisa Wingate, *New York Times* Bestselling author of *Before We Were Yours*The #1 *New York Times* bestselling author brings us her most ambitious and provocative work yet—a searing and timely novel that explores the most volatile issue of our time—domestic violence.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book by Susan Wiggs. I haven’t read many by her, but will definitely looking for more. This story starts out in the big city of New York in the midst of high fashion, designers, and glamorous models. Tragedy then turns the tides, and our main character, Caroline Shelby returns to her hometown of Oysterville, Washington to learn how to become a mom, a woman’s advocate, and a best friend and wife to her long time crush from years past. Come follow her journey of ups and downs and enjoy getting to know all of her family and friends as this tale keeps you turning the pages! Happy Reading everyone!

About this author: Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs’s life is all about family, friends…and fiction. She lives at the water’s edge on an island in Puget Sound, and she commutes to her writers’ group in a 17-foot motorboat. She serves as author liaison for Field’s End, a literary community on Bainbridge Island, Washington, bringing inspiration and instruction from the world’s top authors to her seaside community. (See www.fieldsend.org) She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” and is a popular speaker locally and nationally.

According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with “refreshingly honest emotion,” and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is “one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book.” Booklist characterizes her books as “real and true and unforgettable.” She is the recipient of three RITA (sm) awards and four starred reviews from Publishers Weekly for her books. The Winter Lodge and Passing Through Paradise have appeared on PW’s annual “Best Of” lists. Several of her books have been listed as top Booksense picks and optioned as feature films. Her novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages and have made national bestseller lists, including the USA Today, Washington Post and New York Times lists.

The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book. Readers can learn more on the web at www.susanwiggs.com and on her lively blog at www.susanwiggs.wordpress.com.

Missing Your Smile (Fields of Home, Book #1) by Jerry Eicher

When Susan Hostetler has a falling out with her boyfriend, she leaves her Amish community and moves to Asbury Park to experiment in English life. There she learns to drive a car, takes her GED test, and falls in love with young and handsome Duane Bower. Just as Susan is enjoying her new life, her plans are interrupted.

My Thoughts: This was the first Amish book by Jerry Eicher that I have read and I have to say that was very enjoyable. He brought his characters to life with everyday emotions and very relatable situations. From becoming disheartened by her beau in her Amish community, follow Susan Hostetler as she tries to find her way in the English world. Will she find a man to fulfill her dreams and become totally worldly or will she follow her heart and return to the home that is still in very much on her mind? Come read and see where Susan’s faith and caring heart leads her. I know I am looking forward to the next book, Follow Your Heart, to see what comes next! Happy Reading Everyone!

My Rating: 5 Stars

About the Author:

Jerry Eicher’s bestselling Amish fiction (more than 210,000 in combined sales) includes The Adams County Trilogy, the Hannah’s Heart books, and the Little Valley Series. After a traditional Amish childhood, Jerry taught for two terms in Amish and Mennonite schools in Ohio and Illinois. Since then he’s been involved in church renewal, preaching, and teaching Bible studies. Jerry lives with his wife, Tina Eicher, and their four children in Virginia.

The Tinderbox by Beverly Lewis

Goodreads synopsis: With her Amish parents’ twentieth anniversary approaching, eighteen-year-old Sylvia Miller stumbles across a surprise–the old brass tinderbox her clockmaker father keeps in his Lancaster County shop has been left unlocked. Against her better judgment, Sylvia opens the cherished heirloom, not realizing that what she is about to discover will splinter apart her happy life.

Sylvia’s bewilderment grows when her father confronts her about snooping in the box. To her amazement, the respected convert to the Old Order reacts as if he has something to hide.

Burdened by the weight of his deception, Earnest Miller decides he must reveal the details about his past to his beloved wife, Rhoda. The long-kept secret alters everything for the close-knit family, jeopardizing Earnest and Rhoda’s relationship, as well as threatening Sylvia’s recent engagement to the preacher’s grandson.

Can the Millers find a way forward through the turmoil to a place of forgiveness and acceptance?

My thoughts: Another wonderful story by Beverly Lewis. I always enjoy getting to know her characters and see how they handle different life situations with lots of love and faith. Follow Earnest Miller’s story as mementos from his Englisch days come to light and he must deal with the consequences of keeping them to himself for so long. Will his past come between him and his family and community or will their hearts be kind, loving, and full of forgiveness? Come find out and be sure to look for the next part of the story coming out in September, The Timepiece! Happy reading everyone!!

About the author: Beverly Lewis

Beverly Lewis, raised in Pennsylvania Amish country and both a schoolteacher and an accomplished musician, has been an award-winning author for over a dozen years. Her acclaimed novel, The Preacher’s Daughter, was a 2006 Quill Book Award finalist in the romance category. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists, including USA Today and The New York Times. She and her husband, David, live in Colorado.”

Happy Wednesday everyone! What is everyone reading today? Please comment below and share what you are really enjoying or will be digging into shortly! I’d love to hear from you!!

This is what I am currently enjoying:

With her Amish parents’ twentieth anniversary approaching, eighteen-year-old Sylvia Miller stumbles across a surprise–the old brass tinderbox her clockmaker father keeps in his Lancaster County shop has been left unlocked. Against her better judgment, Sylvia opens the cherished heirloom, not realizing that what she is about to discover will splinter apart her happy life.

Sylvia’s bewilderment grows when her father confronts her about snooping in the box. To her amazement, the respected convert to the Old Order reacts as if he has something to hide.

Burdened by the weight of his deception, Earnest Miller decides he must reveal the details about his past to his beloved wife, Rhoda. The long-kept secret alters everything for the close-knit family, jeopardizing Earnest and Rhoda’s relationship, as well as threatening Sylvia’s recent engagement to the preacher’s grandson.

Can the Millers find a way forward through the turmoil to a place of forgiveness and acceptance?

If you enjoy Amish fiction, this is a really good read!! My review will be coming shortly! Happy Reading everyone!! 🙂

New Release Day

Two Weeks by Karen Kingsbury

Cole Blake, son of Landon and Ashley Baxter Blake, is months away from going off to college and taking the first steps towards his dream—a career in medicine. But as he starts his final semester of high school he meets Elise, a mysterious new girl who captures his attention—and heart—from day one.

Elise has her heart set on mending her wild ways and rediscovering the good girl she used to be. But not long after the semester starts, she discovers she’s pregnant. Eighteen and alone, she shares her secret with Cole. Undaunted by the news, and in love for the first time in his life, Cole is determined to support Elise—even if it means skipping college, marrying her, and raising another man’s baby.

When Elise decides to place her baby up for adoption, she is matched with Aaron and Lucy Williams, who moved to Bloomington, Indiana to escape seven painful years of infertility.

But as Elise’s due date draws near, she becomes focused on one truth: she has two weeks to change her mind about the adoption. With Cole keeping vigil and Lucy and Aaron waiting to welcome their new baby, Elise makes an unexpected decision—one that changes everyone’s plans.

Tender and deeply moving, *Two Weeks* is a story about love, faith, and what it really means to be a family.

Amazing Gracie by Sherryl Woods

Goodreads synopsis: Laid off from her job and utterly disenchanted with men, Gracie MacDougal pours all her attention into turning an old Victorian house into a bed and breakfast, with the help of its owner, an indolent but charming Southern lawyer. Original

My Thoughts: Old-fashioned romance at it’s finest. That is what I thought of this sweet tale by Sherryl Woods. From a luxurious hotel chain in Europe to a modest Victorian bed and breakfast in Virginia, follow Gracie Macdougal as she finds her passion in her business and in her lovelife. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys lots of characters who all end up with happy endings!! Happy Reading everyone!!

About the author: Sherryl Woods

With two other careers to her credit before becoming a novelist and four states in which she’s lived for extended periods of time, Sherryl Woods has collected friends and memories, along with way too much unnecessary junk.

“The friends are the only things I’ve brought with me through the years that really matter,” she says. “I could probably live without one more chintz teacup, another tin-litho sandpail or another snowglobe, but I need those friends.”

The theme of enduring friendships and families is always central to Sherryl’s books, including her latest Chesapeake Shores series — THE INN AT EAGLE POINT, FLOWERS ON MAIN and HARBOR LIGHTS.

Author of more than 100 romance and mystery novels, Sherryl Woods grew up in Virginia. Over the years she had lived in Ohio and Florida, as well as California. Currently she divides her time between Key Biscayne, Florida and Colonial Beach, Virginia, the small, river-front town where she spent her childhood summers.

A graduate of Ohio State University School of Journalism, Sherryl spent more than ten years as a journalist, most of them as a television critic for newspapers in Ohio and Florida. For several years she also coordinated a motivational program for the more than 8,000 employees at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Medical Center.

The Love Letters by Beverly Lewis

Goodreads synopsis: When her sister falls gravely ill, twenty-year-old Marlena Wenger takes on the responsibility of caring for her infant niece, Angel Rose. Worried that this turn of events portends a more complicated future than he is prepared for, her beau ends their relationship. Marlena is devastated, but is determined to give Angel Rose the best care possible.

Though from the Beachy Amish herself, Marlena meets Ellie Bitner, an Old Order Amish mother who offers quilting and needlepoint classes. They soon form a bond, and Marlena is drawn into the circle of Ellie’s family. Ellie’s handsome cousin seems rather taken with Marlena, but after her recent breakup, she is cautious where her feelings are concerned.

But things begin to change when Ellie’s young son Jacob discovers an older homeless man camped out in the nearby abandoned mill. Suffering from some cognitive disorder, the man has few prospects and fewer possessions–among them a small clutch of letters apparently from his own courting days. Could these letters be the key to the old man’s identity? And can they bring healing and hope to Marlena and Ellie as well?

My thoughts : Beverly Lewis never disappoints me in her wonderful Amish stories. In this one, choosing how to care and explore your faith are huge elements for these wonderful characters. Marlena Wenger has chosen to stay with her grandmother after the loss of her grandfather for the summer. While there, she also loses her sister and ends up caring for her baby daughter, Angela Rose, much to her beau’s dismay. Choosing with her heart, Marlena must make serious decisions on how she wants to live her life. Also, the neighbors of Marlena’s grandmother, the Bitners, are struggling with their Old Order beliefs and how to become a strong and loving family once again. Follow how a stranger with dementia shows them how to connect and be together for one another. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any who enjoys the different facets of the Amish faith. Happy Reading everyone!

About the author: Beverly Lewis

April New Releases

Hello everyone and happy new month to you! Here are some of the new releases coming out this month. Some of them sound really good. Looks like I will be adding to my TBR pile! 🙂 If any of them sound good to you, please comment and let me know. I would really like to know what you think!! Here we are: