Years ago when our youngest

was in Mission Friends [preschool missions group at church] he learned about the needs of the people of Appalachia in Kentucky. We took a quick spring break trip up that way a few months later and his heart was still stirred by the needs he'd learned as he kept repeating phrases like, "the people in Kentucky have no food..."

It's good to know that God has put His people in place to fulfill their purpose to meet the needs of others through the years... While Cora is the real hero in this book, I did enjoy the back story of Lucy as she navigated the hills of Kentucky...

While reading The Moonlight School by Susanne Woods Fisher, I saw Lucy grow into a young women with maturity and  principles... realizing that the world is not the same for everyone... Despite the personal tragedy that haunts her [or maybe because it is always, always at the back of her mind] she begins to see that she can step up and be fierce and make a difference in the world. Love that she finds a strong woman role model in her cousin Cora... love that she finds a spiritual mentor who leads her to a deeper relationship with God... and love that she finds love in the end...

As I said before,  Cora is the REAL hero with all that she accomplished through the Moonlight Schools and I wanted just a little more about this... maybe there's another book or two where we learn what Finn makes of his life... or about the difference the schools made in one or two of the many, many adults whose lives were changed by them...or maybe how Lucy and Angie's realtionship grows... I know I would enjoy having this story continue... 

I think you'll enjoy it too - especially if you like historical fiction based on FACTS... and this is based on a true story! Go ahead and get your copy here today!

Side Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher [Revell / Baker]  for review purposes...ALL opinions are my own.

Side Note 2: While the author gives the reader a bit of a glossary at the beginning of the book, I found that many of the words aren't 'new' to me as I've heard them used all of my life... I'm a southerner y'all...

Here's a quick run-down

of the books I've read this month -
All summaries are from Amazon - 

 

The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen 

In an idyllic small-town neighborhood, a near tragedy triggers a series of dark revelations. From the outside, Sycamore Glen, North Carolina, might look like the perfect all-American neighborhood. But behind the white picket fences lies a web of secrets that reach from house to house.

Up and down the streets, neighbors quietly bear the weight of their own pasts—until an accident at the community pool upsets the delicate equilibrium. And when tragic circumstances compel a woman to return to Sycamore Glen after years of self-imposed banishment, the tangle of the neighbors’ intertwined lives begins to unravel.
During the course of a sweltering summer, long-buried secrets are revealed, and the neighbors learn that it’s impossible to really know those closest to us. But is it impossible to love and forgive them? 

My take: It was a little bit slow going to get to the plot of this book, but once there, I couldn't put it down! These neighbors reminded me of Wisteria Lane. Yep. That complex, and good.

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult  

For over a decade, Jenna Metcalf obsesses on her vanished mom Alice. Jenna searches online, rereads journals of the scientist who studied grief among elephants. Two unlikely allies are Serenity Jones, psychic for missing people who doubts her gift, and Virgil Stanhope, jaded PI who originally investigated cases of Alice and her colleague. Hard questions and answers.

My take: If yo don't want to read things with psychic then this is not for you, but I loved the twists and turns [and surprises] of this book! Plus elephants! And the sanctuary in Tennessee. I kind of want to read it again...

The Lullaby Sky by Carolyn Brown

After seven years of misery and abuse, it’s all over—Hannah O’Malley is officially divorced. Hallelujah. It’s like every Christmas in her life all rolled up into one glorious day. Not only does Hannah get to keep her grandmother’s spacious old house, but she has full custody of her sparky five-year-old daughter. All Hannah has to do now is put the past behind her.

And now that she’s free, she wants to make a difference. With the help of her warm, close-knit circle of friends—including her high school crush, Travis Wilson—Hannah begins turning her home into a safe house for other women who’ve endured the pain she’s known. But even as life and laughter return to Hannah’s home, she’s haunted by the memory of her dangerously unstable ex. With a second chance at love on the horizon, Hannah must face down her past in order to let the sunshine back into her life.
 My take: Fun read that brings attention to the abuse many women face.

One Pink Line by Dina Silver 

Can the love of a lifetime be forever changed by one pink line? Dina Silver's tender, absorbing novel, One Pink Line, is a warmhearted, wry story of love, loss and family, as seen through the prism of one singular, spirited young couple who find themselves in a predicament that changes the course of their lives, and those closest to them.

Spanning generations and every imaginable emotion, One Pink Line reveals how two points of view can be dramatically at odds, and perhaps ultimately reconciled. Simultaneously deeply felt and lighthearted, One Pink Line deftly mines how the choices we make are able to alter so many lives, and how doing the right thing and living honestly can bring unexpected, hard-won happiness. It's a must-read for anyone who craves a great love story, absorbing characters, and plenty of laughs along the way.

  My take: A good little beach read, easy to read, with good characters who showed what love truly can be... Although forgiveness is not specifically explored, it's underlying throughout the story... a little language in parts - but not on every page...

 

The Strawberry Hearts Diner by Carolyn Brown

Being broke, unemployed, and stranded back in the tiny town of Pick, Texas, was not part of Jancy Wilson’s plan.When Jancy spies a Help Wanted sign hanging in the window of the quaint Strawberry Hearts Diner, the memories of the two years she spent there as a teenager—and the lure of the diner’s beloved strawberry tarts—are enough to draw her in and plant her feet…but only temporarily.

Raised by parents who refused to settle anywhere for long, Jancy has never known what it is to have roots. Now that Jancy’s swept up by the warmth and character of this quirky little community—
  My take: A good book where I could easily predict the outcome; still, it was fun to get to know the characters along the way.

Enjoy reading!

Y'all know

I love Courtney Walsh!

She's such a great writer and never disappoints me when I read her books - 

She develops characters in a way that always leaves me wanting to know them more!

In this latest book, Just Look Up, she continues to effortlessly weaves her faith into the lives of the community she creates where people face so many of the same things we all deal with at some time in our lives - 

By the time I was finished, I felt like I'd known Lane and Ryan 

and their families their whole lives, 

And while I may not relate so much to Lane's insecurities and need to 'prove' herself,

Just Look Up helped me realize that there is so much more to life than achievements and the social media that tugs at us all the time to be 'perfect' in every way. We need to look up from our phones [and comparisons], 

but also look up to our God who leads us where He wants us to be -

I hope that Courtney will develop the other characters in the book so I can read theri stories and see what life events led them to be the people I got to know in Just Look Up!

So good! You need to grab a copy today - 

Available o Amazon and other retailers!

Books I've Read since January 30th

This post is not a commentary or review – just a simple list of those I’ve read. Let me know if you’ve read them too! Some are books in a series, some are not fiction, but most are just good love stories or mysteries with a Christian component.
Here’s the list of books I’ve read recently [in no particular order] –

Nicole Bart – After the Fall

Jerry B. Jenkins – Riven

Sherry Kyle – Delivered with Love

Mike Mikalatos – Imaginary Jesus

Richard Mabry – Medical Error

Siri Mitchell – She Walks in Beauty

Debby Mayne – Sweet Bakklava

Francene Rivers – Leota’s Garden

Virginia Smith – Age Before Beauty; Third Times a Charm; Just as I Am

Eileen Smith – Michal: A Novel [A wife of David]

Lysa Tyrkeurst – Craving God; When Women Say Yes to God

Susan May Warren – Happily Ever After

Lisa Wingate – Talk of the Town

Nicole Young – Love Me if You Must

Books I've Read

First let me say – I **LOVE** the kindle app on my new phone! And I love free Christian fiction books from Amazon! Yippee!
[I’ll admit I’ve bought a few books for it too -]

I’ve read more books in the past month than I’ve read in a year!

This post is not a commentary or review – just a simple list of those I’ve read. Let me know if you’ve read them too! Some are books in a series and I can’t wait to finish the others in the series as well. Some are not fiction. So here’s the list of books I’ve read recently [in no particular order] –

Beatitude – Matthew Paul Turner *

Always the Baker, Never the Bride – Sandra Bricker

Choosing to See – Mary Beth Chapman [Stephen Curtis Chapman's wife]

Hide in Plain Site – Martha Perry

Stuck in the Middle – Virginia Smith

Daughter of Joy – Kathleen Morgan

Against All Odds – Irene Hammon

When the Devil Whistles – Rick Acker

Living an Inspired Life and Living it to Inspire Others - Sherwood Seit

Fools Rush In - - Janice Thompson

* - this was a real book – not kindle; sometimes I just like to highlight and keep a book, ya know? TEN - wow.

The next list will be posted in May - [in case you're eagerly anticipating it - ha]

A Favorite Gift

Do I have the world's greatest husband or what? I think so! For several years I've been collecting [off & on] the books from the Judy Bolton Mysteries series. They were printed from 1932 through 1967 and at the risk of revealing a little too much on the web - I am Judy Bolton, or was before I got married anyway. These books are very similar to the Nancy Drew / Hardy Boys series and were printed in different editions [book club, personal, library, etc] and my sweet hubby has spent the last few months cruising the web to gather them together for me. I now have 1-34 and 37 - 38 of the 38 books in the series! [Those last two are going for a pretty penny so it may be a while before they are added to our collection.] I'm thrilled! And since I'll be working out of town these next few weeks I plan to start reading them from the beginning once again! Yippee! A true gift from the heart -

A little reading ...

I just wanted to share this little book that I know without a doubt the Lord led me to in the bookstore about a week ago - right at THE MOMENT that I needed to slow down and take some time to re-evaluate all that's going on in my life ... Tasra does an outstanding job using the designs principles of scrap booking to show how the Lord is the great designer of our lives. It's been a blessing to me to read throughout the week - and I think I'll read it again this week! If you're interested, you can get more info about Tasra and her scrap philosophy here.