Hope Harbor by Irene Hannon

Series: Hope Harbor # 1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Revell
Released: June 30, 2015
354 pages

About the Book:

 

Tracy Campbell never wanted to leave Hope Harbor, Oregon, or the idyllic three-generation cranberry farm where she grew up. But life--and love--altered her plans. When tragedy strikes and changes her plans yet again, she finds herself back in her hometown with a floundering farm to run and a heartbreaking secret. Romance is not on her agenda. Nor is it on Michael Hunter's. The visitor from Chicago has daunting secrets of his own. But when Tracy recruits him to help save a struggling charitable organization, the winds of change begin to sweep through Hope Harbor, bringing healing, hope, and love to countless lives--including their own.

 

My Rating & Thoughts:    🌟 🌟 🌟  (3 stars)

“Sticking your head in the sand to escape problems

only worked if you were a sand crab.”

 

Michael has come to Hope Harbor looking for a place to escape to deal with his troubled heart. His trip doesn’t start out as planned but with God’s intervention he finds much more than he was expecting. Tracey is completely focused on saving her family’s Cranberry Farm and has closed herself off to any potential relationships after dealing with the loss of her husband. Then there is Anna the self-imposed hermit whose life completely changes after one little act. All three characters have found hope by the end of the story, but I found that at times the story progressed slowly without much happening. There were so many widow and widower characters, even a widowed seagull. I struggled to connect with either Tracey or Michael, and this made it hard for me to cheer for them. There were times I really liked Tracey but there were also times when she annoyed me, such as when she was rude to Michael for no good reason. My favourite characters were two secondary characters, Anna and Uncle Bud. I loved how Uncle Bud teased Tracey but also voiced his true opinions to her which got her to evaluate her true feelings. I became invested in Anna’s story wanting to know what caused her to shut the world out and how her life would be changed, I was pleased with the ending she was given. There were some good lines and lessons learned throughout the story. The descriptions of Hope Harbor were so wonderfully done that I could easily picture the setting and will be reading the next in the series as Irene Hannon is one of my favourite authors and just because one book doesn’t have me falling for the main characters it won’t stop me from reading the series further.

 

“It was always much easier to clean up messes when they were fresh.”

 

“We’ve both made mistakes we’re not proud of. That doesn’t mean we’re bad people; it means we’re human. And humans are flawed.”

 

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed in this

review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

 

First Line Friday - Week 1

I am excited to be joining some blogging friends in their weekly First Line Friday feature. The first line of a book can set the tone, get you into the setting or put you inside a characters head.

 

Today's book is: Sea Rose Lane by Irene Hannon

"He was going to hit that pickup truck. As the vehicle in front of him screeched to a halt, Eric Nash flung his cell toward the passenger seat, clenched the wheel, and jammed the BMW's brake to the floor."

(okay so that's two lines ... my first week and I've already stretched the rules, but you'll forgive me right?)

This line gets you inside Eric's head and sets the tone that things are not going well for him. I am currently halfway through this book and enjoying it so far look for my review to come shortly.
 

Now it's your turn! Grab the book nearest to you and leave a comment with the first line. Then join in more First Line fun by visiting these blogs:
 

A Baker's Perspective // All the Book Blog Names Are Taken // Bibliophile Reviews // Bookworm Mama // Encouraging Words from the Tea Queen // Faithfully Bookish // Fiction Aficionado // Joy of Reading // Kathleen Denly // Lauraine's Notes //
Radiant Light // Reading is my SuperPower // Robin's Nest
// Singing Librarian // With a Joyful Noise

Trusting Grace by Maggie Brendan

Series: Virtues & Vices of the Old West # 3
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Revell
Released: May 2, 2017
337 Pages

About the Book:

 

All of her life, Grace Bidwell has longed for a loving husband and children, but now the chances of her dreams coming true are looking slim. Widowed and caring for her elderly father, she struggles to maintain her late husband's ranch, until she places an ad for a hired hand.

 

Robert Frasier arrives in town with three pitiful, bedraggled children who have nothing but the tattered clothes on their backs and a load of hurt, pride, and anger. Believing this is divine intervention in her life, Grace welcomes them with open arms. As feelings grow between her and Robert, Grace will have to convince him that she is a woman who can be trusted with his heart.

 

Readers will be swept away into 1860s Montana's lush Gallatin Valley, nestled among towering mountains and proud pines, in this emotional conclusion to the Virtues and Vices of the Old West series.

My Rating & Thoughts:    🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟  (4 stars)

“You let the Lord lead and you’ll see that things always work out for the best.”

The relationships between the characters is what really makes this story. Grace is a strong hard-working woman, dedicated to running the farm and taking care of her ailing father. Robert has just lost his wife and farm, and now is the guardian of 3 kids he didn’t know she had. He has come to town looking for a job and finds an opening at Grace’s farm. Can Robert learn to trust another woman? You have a sense of how this book will end very early on, but wondering how they get there is what kept me invested and I was invested the rest of the way through. There are twists and turns throughout that make you wonder if Grace will endure heartbreak again and what will happen to the kids.

I loved the father-daughter interactions, Grace shared everything with her dad, (I couldn’t imagine ever telling my dad about a kiss), and Owen challenged Grace about her feelings. The love between the two shone throughout the story. Ginny, Grace’s best friend was entertaining, she gently pushed Grace out of her comfort zone (rut) trying to help enrich her life, not all goes smoothly with this though. I really enjoyed the interactions between Grace and the kids, she treated them sweetly right from the first meeting when she didn’t know who they were. As she spent more time with them she treated them as if they were her own. Each child had their own personality shine through. Grace’s life might not turn out the exact way that she planned, but is God’s plan better? Yes! There are definitely some swoon-worthy moments included.

A couple minor things bothered me about the story, one being I couldn’t figure out the ages of the girls, Becky & Sarah. The second being how Robert was able to find Grace so quickly after she disappeared, that seemed unrealistic.

This is book 3 in the series but I have not read the previous two and did not feel lost. The characters set a wonderful example of friendship, love and family.

 

(I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley; opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Threads of Suspicion by Dee Henderson

Series: An Evie Blackwell Cold Case # 2
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Bethany House
Released: May 2, 2017
432 pages

About the Book:

 

Evie Blackwell's reputation as a top investigator for the Illinois State Police has landed her an appointment to the governor's new Missing Persons Task Force. This elite investigative team is launched with plenty of public fanfare. The governor has made this initiative a high priority, so they will have to produce results--and quickly.

 

Evie and her new partner, David Marshal, are assigned to a pair of unrelated cases in suburban Chicago, and while both involve persons now missing for several years, the cases couldn't be more different. While Evie opens old wounds in a close-knit neighborhood to find a missing college student, David searches for a private investigator working for a high-powered client.

 

With a deep conviction that "justice for all" truly matters, Evie and David are unrelenting in their search for the truth. But Evie must also find answers to the questions that lie just beneath the surface in her personal life.

 

My Rating & Thoughts:    🌟 🌟 🌟  (3 stars)

“Sometimes love comes easily, and sometimes it’s the most challenging decision a person ever makes.”

I have mixed feelings on this story. I found it moved slowly and was bogged down with lots of details and theories for the cases but I also couldn’t put it down. Expect it wasn’t the cases that kept me in the story it was the characters personal lives that I cared the most about. We finally get to meet Evie’s Rob and experience the two together, it’s clear that Rob loves her for who she is but Evie is still unsure about marriage. The other major player in the story is David, a detective working with Evie on the task force. He is also in a relationship that’s not moving forward due to a difference in beliefs between himself and his fiancée, Maggie. I really liked David and his willingness to give Maggie the time she needs to figure out her feelings about God. However at the end there is no change in either couple’s relationships. I was hoping for some sort of resolution.

“If they were right, if it was true, she was standing on the sidelines of one of the greatest unfolding miracles in human history, and she was missing out.”

In respect to the mystery itself, David and Evie are working on two separate missing person cases that seem to not only intersect with each other but then take a personal turn for David. There were so many details and people that trying to keep everything straight was a bit overwhelming at times. David’s case gets solved which enables them to really focus on Evie’s case and the personal thread. After following many threads they eventually have a strong lead to follow, but can they catch him before someone else gets hurt? The ending seemed unsatisfying to me as once again there is really no justice served, just answers to what happened. Also the changing of scenes irritated me; it would just all of sudden change with no indication making it hard to follow.

I would have given this book a higher rating if I had felt more satisfaction with the ending, but the personal relationships ended in pretty much the same state as when the book opened and there was no justice served for the cases. Also there was no clear answer given of what motivated the villain. However I am now invested in Evie’s life enough that I will be waiting for the next book in hopes to get some closure to these personal relationships.

 

(I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley; opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

 

True to You by Becky Wade

Series: A Bradford Sisters Romance # 1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Bethany House
Released: May 2, 2017
384 pages

About the Book:

 

After a devastating heartbreak three years ago, genealogist and historical village owner Nora Bradford has decided that burying her nose in her work and her books is far safer than romance in the here and now.

 

Unlike Nora, former Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient John Lawson is a modern-day man, usually 100 percent focused on the present. But when he's diagnosed with an inherited condition, he's forced to dig into the secrets of his past and his adoption as an infant, enlisting Nora to help him uncover the identity of his birth mother.

 

The more time they spend together, the more this pair of opposites suspects they just might be a perfect match. However, John's already dating someone and Nora's not sure she's ready to trade her crushes on fictional heroes for the risks of a real relationship. Finding the answers they're seeking will test the limits of their identity, their faith, and their devotion to one another.

 

My Rating & Thoughts:    🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟  (5 stars)

“It couldn’t be Christ’s will plus her will. It had to be Christ alone. Either He was at the helm, steering the ship’s wheel of her life, or she was.”

So enjoyable! Some hard subjects were addressed, but there were also fun entertaining moments. Nora meets John while volunteering at a hostage training exercise. Once he finds out she is a genealogist, he hires her to help him find his birth mother so he can find out his medical history. Over the course of the search to the two become friends, but the journey has some surprises in store for them. How will they deal with what’s to come? They learn about trusting God, the importance of communication, how to forgive and finding their identity.

“The past might be challenging and the future might be unsure. And that’s okay. The present is all we’re given, anyway. When we get to the future, God will be there.”

I found it easy to relate to Nora. First off what avid reader can’t relate to a character who says “Who had time to watch football when there were so many fantastic books in the work yet unread?” (I loved this line and couldn’t resist including it in the review.) Nora is the middle sister and feels she doesn’t compare to her sisters. She was heart-broken when her engagement was called off and feels like she has now become content with her life, however when John comes along she begins to realize that she may have be protecting herself rather than letting God take control of her life.

Some of my favourite moments were when the sisters were together. You could tell they were close, really cared about one another and tried to help Nora see things inside of her that she was unable to see in herself. The grandmother was entertaining. She can find negativity in everything, which could be very annoying for those dealing with it directly, but as a reader I was entertained at the comments she came up with.

Sneak peeks of Willow and Britt’s relationships are given and I look forward to seeing what happens for them. I can’t wait for book 2 to come and spend more time with this family.

 

(I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley; opinions expressed in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)