Books You Can Feel Good About

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Little Dove (Wingbound Series) by Heather Trim

Novella that is a prequel to the Wingbound Series. It tells the story of Paloma/Huyana, where she came from and how the people in the stories got started and why. As a very young girl she is rejected by her family and sent away, she learns how to survive under less than ideal circumstances. She's got pluck though, and fights her way back to where her mother once left her. She meets wonderful people in a small village, forging new relationships and eventually learning more about her own family and what happened to them. She grows and heals, finding a way for herself, and for her people. Of course, it's an excellent read and keeps you hooked. Love this series! Make the great escape and pick up this book.

I received this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
#LittleDove #WingboundSeries #HeatherTrim #Escape #CleanRead

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Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Behind Love's Wall by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Christian Historical. A timeslip novel where uncovering a buried past helps to heal the characters, past and present. Set on Michigan's Mackinac Island, it weaves people through and together who are related through generations. Emotional healing is difficult until the reasons behind the trouble are uncovered, and there are stigmas around it in both the past and present. Warm characters you get attached to, and you want to see them resolve their mysteries. Intricate.

I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#BehindLovesWall #NetGalley

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As Dawn Breaks by Kate Breslin

Her daring bid for freedom could be her greatest undoing.

Murder, mystery, sabotage. Set towards the end of WW1, England to Scotland. Rose is being forced to marry an abusive man, by her abusive Uncle. She's allowed to work at the munitions factory, and with the help of her friend she is given a chance to live life differently, after her friend is killed in the explosion where she works. She goes to Scotland near where she grew up before she lost her parents, getting a job at another munitions factory. Pretending to be someone else isn't always easy for her, and little by little she realizes that there was a lot about her friend that she never knew. She becomes close to the family she's staying with, so the lies get more difficult. And she's always looking over her shoulder that she won't be found out.

Alex is sent to secretly search out and prevent another explosion at the munitions plant near his family home. He's following the intelligence they have learned, some of the facts hidden and twisted. There are many twists and turns to this story. Tugs on the heartstrings for the characters and the tension that builds make it a real page turner. It's hard to put down! It's interesting to learn more about the munitions factories and what the women workers went through. The explosion and other events are based on real life.

I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. #AsDawnBreaks #NetGalley.

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Saturday, October 9, 2021

A Deep Divide by Kimberley Woodhouse

Set in the early 1900s. Emma Grace is the daughter of an extremely wealthy man, whose ambition for more money took him over. When she was still 17 she ran away from him and being his pawn. She became a Harvey girl, strove to be her best, and was able to transfer to the new restaurant at the Grand Canyon. She was tired of disguises and hiding, hoping she had run far enough away for them to find her. She had learned that her father had been murdered after she left, and she was afraid.

Ray was the son of another extremely wealthy man who was obsessed with getting more. He wasn't like his father, and little by little Emma Grace began to see him as he really was, a man of God and faith, who wanted to help others, and not like other men of their social status.
Kimberly Woodhouse is so good at creating fully real, lovable characters with great depth. Excellent story that I didn't want to put down. Beautiful Christian lessons that give a strong foundation throughout. Interesting information about the Grand Canyon and Hopi Indians from the area. Looking forward to the next in the series!
I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
#ADeepDivide #NetGalley

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Thursday, October 7, 2021

Yours Is the Night by Amanda Dykes

A story set in the last days of WW1, in France near and in the Argonne Forest. Bringing together a few people, quite different from one another, yet whose lives become entwined. A girl has been living in the forest, raised by her Father and Grandfather, who were escapees from another previous conflict. Found by a few soldiers, all vastly different men, now coming together, each with their own strengths and weaknesses to help her get to Paris and her family's great home. What a journey and learning of people, growing in strength and love, much because of their bond with one another.

"We’d scorned one another and needed one another and had left that battle-gouged land with battle-gouged hearts."

Deep, heartfelt lessons of life and faith, building of personal strength from shared experience and support.
I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
#YoursIstheNight #NetGalley

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Friday, October 1, 2021

The Librarian's Journey by Patty Smith Hall; Cynthia Hickey; Marilyn Turk; Kathleen Y'Barbo

Excellent romance collection about saddlebag librarians. Very diverse stories even though they share a common profession. These were new jobs that opened up in a time when jobs and money were scarce. Many men had to leave home to search for jobs. People who lived in the mountains didn't have access to a library, some didn't have schools. These librarians brought books to them, often in perilous conditions. Many of the people were reclusive and untrusting, at least at first. The books gave them many benefits, including education. Entertaining read, nothing boring here! Christian historical.

I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#TheLibrariansJourney #NetGalley

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A Picture of Hope by Liz Tolsma

Riveting. Heart wrenching. Nellie is a photographer/reporter from America, anxious to make a difference and get the message to Americans about what was happening in the war Hitler had brought. The story starts as D-Day takes place. They didn't give permission to women to go into France, so she blended in and got herself there. The things she found once there were unthinkable, including a village where the Germans forced the women and children into a church and set them on fire. But she also found a little girl hiding, a girl with Down Syndrome. One that the Germans considered imperfect and needed extermination. She was able to get a perfect photo of her in front of the burned out church after the village was deserted again.

There she ran into Jean Paul, a member of the French resistance fresh out of prison. His father was a German officer who was angered that he stayed with his French mother and fought against him. Together they get to a convent where they housed a few other children with Down Syndrome and they all worked to get the small group out of France and across the border into Switzerland. Not an uneventful process. Constant danger and tension.

Both Nellie and Jean Paul are also fighting an internal battle from things in their own lives that motivate them to make a difference and not accept the way things were, not just stand by even though they risked their lives.

Excellent read of love and sacrifice with a Christian message throughout. Showing true beauty where others rejected, hope and love, innocence shining through. Often I didn't like Nellie because of stupid, headstrong choices that she made, but Jean Paul liked her (wink), and the end results turned out well.

I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
#APictureofHope #NetGalley

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