Silent Night by Colleen Coble

Merry Christmas fellow readers!  I hope you have had a wonderful holiday with your families.  I felt that this time of year a book set around Christmas would be appropriate.  When I looked at the BookSneeze site, Colleen Coble’s book called Silent Night was available. 

It is a short novella but a great read! In the past I have found it difficult to find a good Christian book that still has some element of intrigue, suspense, and drama.  This book had all of the above and a positive Christian overtone.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I hope you do too. A synopsis of the book is below! Happy Reading!

As Christmas day nears, Bree and her faithful search-and-rescue dog Samson follow the trail of a troubling mystery into the snowy forests of Rock Harbor.

 

Bree Matthews is preparing for Christmas guests, but her heart is reeling from the recent and tender loss of her unborn child. Her sister-in-law, Lauri, suddenly turns up on the doorstep of the lighthouse home Bree shares with her husband, Kade, in Rock Harbor. Secretive and withdrawn, Lauri seems curiously intent on discovering what happened to a parachuter who disappeared in the North Woods along Lake Superior's icy shore.

As Bree and Samson, her search-and-rescue dog, plunge into the search, Bree wonders if Lauri may know more than she’s admitted about the parachuter. And then the clues lead them to the trail of a young woman whose family fears the worst about her disappearance.

Will the search on this snowy, silent night lead Bree and Samson to more than clues about the missing girl? And will Bree’s prayer for a baby ever be answered?

You can find out more here. Happy New Year!!

Every Perfect Gift by Dorothy Love

Sophie Caldwell has returned to Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, after years away. She grew up in the local orphanage; sad, lonely, and rejected. Despite the heartaches of her childhood, Sophie is now determined to make a home, and a name, for herself in the growing town. A gifted writer, she plans to resurrect the local newspaper that so enchanted her as a girl.

Ethan Heyward’s idyllic childhood was shattered by a tragedy he has spent years trying to forget. An accomplished businessman and architect, he has built a majestic resort in the mountains above Hickory Ridge, drawing wealthy tourists from all over the country.

When Sophie interviews Ethan for the paper, he is impressed with her intelligence and astounded by her beauty. She’s equally intrigued but fears he will reject her if he learns about her shadowed past. Just as she summons the courage to tell him, Ethan’s own past unexpectedly and violently catches up with him, threatening not only his life but also their budding romance.

Ethan and Sophie long to share a future together. But the secrets they’re not sharing could tear them apart.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. It had drama, romance, and mystery.  It also has the prevailing theme of forgiveness throughout. You have to forgive people that have hurt you and face it if you ever want to succeed and get anywhere in life. 

The Trouble With Cowboys by Denise Hunter

Only one pair of boots—and the cowboy wearing them—can get Annie out of the mess she’s in.

Annie Wilkerson is Moose Creek’s premiere horse trainer and equine columnist for Montana Living. Money is tight as she tries to put her kid-sister through college and provide for her young nephew. When Annie’s column is cancelled, she’s given first shot at a new lovelorn column—and she can’t afford to turn it down. Only problem is . . . Annie’s never been in love.

Always resourceful, she reluctantly strikes a deal with the town’s smooth-talking ladies’ man Dylan Taylor: She’ll work with his ailing horse, Braveheart, if he’ll help her answer the reader letters.

Working closely with Dylan is harder than Annie imagined, and she quickly realizes she may have misjudged him. But her unwavering conviction that cowboys are nothing but trouble has kept her heart safe for years. And she can’t risk getting hurt now.

The more Annie tries to control things, the more they fall apart. Her feelings are spinning out of control, and her sister’s antics are making life increasingly more difficult. Annie knows she needs to turn the reins over to God, but surrender has never come easily.

When Dylan reveals his feelings for her, Annie doesn’t know what to trust—her head or her heart. The trouble with this cowboy is that he might just be exactly what she needs.

The Trouble with Cowboys by Denise Hunter is a really good read! I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way through. We all battle judging others by what we see them do and their actions but in this book the author is trying to show that sometimes the way things look are not always the way things are. Another main theme I noticed throughout this book is the importance of releasing your problems and worries to God because he can take care of them and protect you.   Aside from the good things that can be learned in this book, it was also a fun, Christian, western romance book. I highly recommend! 

You can find out more here.

His Love Endures Forever by Beth Wiseman

An unplanned pregnancy. An absent father. Can love really endure all things?

Danielle Kent is anything but Amish. But as destiny would have it, she has fallen in love with an Amish man.

Now she’s 18, pregnant, and hopeful that the child’s Amish father—Matthew Lapp—will do the right thing and marry her. She knows Matthew plans to leave his Colorado settlement for a life in the English world. But that plan never included a baby.

When Matthew walks away from her and their unborn child, she has nowhere to turn. Her unlikely friendship with Levi offers some comfort—yet they have so little in common. This wasn’t the plan she had for her life, and she has never felt so alone. She doesn’t want to be pregnant. Doesn’t want to be Amish. Doesn’t want to trust God.

And yet God has plans beyond what her mind can imagine . . . loving plans to show a lost young woman that His love never fails but endures forever.

What you just read was the synopsis of a book I recently read called, His Love Endures Forever by Beth Wiseman.  When I saw this book on Book Sneeze, I was drawn to it. As you know I am a big fan of the Amish fiction and I had heard that Beth Wiseman was an excellent author.  It was all that I expected.  I was drawn in at the very beginning and could not put it down until I had finished the last sentence on the final page.  This is a story of believing in yourself as well as believing in God.  The prevailing question that Danielle keeps asking herself is does God still love and accept you when you have had rough breaks all your life and then make a big mistake that threatens the future of all those around you?  The answer to this question is yes and throughout the pages of this book Danielle slowly comes to this realization.  This is a book that is worth reading. Its a great fiction book with an excellent message.

You can find out more here. 

The Reason By William Sirls

What is the reason of life?  Why do bad things happen to good people? As a medical professional, how do you deal with a situation that is essentially out of your hands? As a parent, how do you cope with a child diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening cancer?  What can you do when you are facing a situation the devil has placed in your path and it feels like you are staring into the face of Hell itself.  Nothing seems to go right and everything seems to go wrong.

What if in the midst of your darkest hour, God came down to earth and took on the appearance of a man?  What if you looked into his eyes and instantly knew that he knew everything about you, all your thoughts, feelings, and prayers?  But at the same time an overwhelming sense of peace reaches down to your very core.  He looks at you with kind eyes, smiles, and only asks one thing of you.  His request in the midst of all that is wrong is to ONLY BELIEVE.

In this book, The Reason, by William Sirls, a storm in brewing.  At a small church in Michigan a bolt of lightning hits the cross in the front yard shattering it in half.  But that is only the beginning. For most of the people in this congregation, their lives will never be the same.  

James Lindy, the blind pastor, wonders if they can repair the cross and keep their faith through it all. 

Brooke is a single mother of a 5-year-old little boy named Alex who is fixing to enter a fight for his life when he is diagnosed with leukemia.  She would do anything to have her son healthy and whole. 

Macey, the oncologist that is treating Alex, struggles with her faith as she treats this sick child. 

And in the middle of it all, a mysterious stranger appears. A carpenter by profession but seemingly able to work miracles. He enters the lives of all the characters at just the right time but his only advice is to ONLY BELIEVE.  

This is an excellent book that I could not put down. I was reading with tears in my eyes and the message touched my heart. I recommend this book to anyone that has ever asked any of the questions stated above.  You can find out more here. 

The Wonderful World of Forensics

A dream of mine has always been to work in the field of forensics. I have always loved how science can be used to both free the innocent and prosecute the guilty.  I have followed everything in that field for a long time.  I have read up on the FBI, CIA, and all the other law enforcement acronyms. I am a big fan of TV shows including CSI, Major Crimes, and Quincy M.E. I know they aren’t like real life but they are fun to watch and you can occasionally learn something. I am looking into opportunities to continue my education in this field as well.

Recently I had the rare opportunity to attend a mystery writer’s conference in Nashville, Tennessee that had a forensics track.  I was able to hear FBI and TBI agents, private detectives, lawyers, and forensic scientists talk about real cases they have encountered and what was done to solve them.  But I have to say the highlight of the weekend was getting to hear a seminar by Dr. Bill Bass, the founder of the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee.  The Body Farm is located on three acres of hillside in Knoxville where people have donated their bodies to be studied by scientists to determine the effects of decomposition on the body due to various elements. To top it off afterwards I got to meet Dr. Bass and he signed a copy of a book that I bought which is written by he and Jon Jefferson under the pen name of Jefferson Bass. 

Also while I was there I bought a book called Beyond the Body Farm by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson.  This is one of the few nonfiction books the duo has written that centers around the cases that Dr. Bass has come across in his many years of working as a Forensic anthropologist.  This book is full of strange cases that only science could solve.  If you are a fan of forensics you will love reading this book! 

You can find out more about this book or buy it here.