Missy's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 16 Apr 2025 10:49:58 -0700 60 Missy's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[A Thousand Shall Fall (Shenandoah Valley Saga #1)]]> 25795864
Her childhood friend Confederate Major Joshua Blevins has warned her against these Yankees: they're all devils, ready to inflict evil on unsuspecting young women. When Colonel Peyton Collier arrests her for her impersonation of an officer, it seems to confirm all her fears.

Soon, though, she finds herself drawn to the handsome, gallant colonel. He rescued her, protected her, and has been every inch the gentleman. Carrie Ann discovers that her foe has become her ally--and more than that, someone she could love. But the arrival of Joshua in the Union camp as a spy will test her loyalties. Will she protect someone who has been like family or be loyal to this stranger to whom she wants to offer her heart? When her world is being torn apart around her, whom should she trust?

Set against the backdrop of the American Civil War, A Thousand Shall Fall is framed around compelling characters and a very romantic setting in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Andrea Boeshaar's extensive research guarantees historical accuracy and romance genre enthusiasts and Civil War buffs alike will enjoy the Christian perspectives on actual historical events.]]> 288 Andrea Boeshaar 0825443814 Missy 4 4.15 2015 A Thousand Shall Fall (Shenandoah Valley Saga #1)
author: Andrea Boeshaar
name: Missy
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read, civil-war
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Woman in Suite 11 (Lo Blacklock, #2)]]> 220161029 In this follow-up to #1 New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware’s multi-million copy mega-hit The Women in Cabin 10, Lo Blacklock returns to attend the opening of a luxury hotel, only to find herself in a white-knuckled race across Europe.

When the invitation to attend the press opening of a luxury Swiss hotel—owned by reclusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann—arrives, it’s like the answer to a prayer. Three years after the birth of her youngest child, Lo Blacklock is ready to reestablish her journalism career, but post-pandemic travel journalism is a very different landscape from the one she left ten years ago.

The chateau on the shores of Lake Geneva is everything Lo’s ever dreamed of, and she hopes she can snag an interview with Marcus. Unfortunately, he proves to be even more difficult to pin down than his reputation suggests. When Lo gets a late-night call asking her to come to Marcus’s hotel room, she agrees despite her own misgivings. She’s greeted, however, by a woman claiming to be Marcus’s mistress, and in life-or-death jeopardy.

What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse pursuit across Europe, forcing Lo to ask herself just how much she’s willing to sacrifice to save this woman…and if she can even trust her?]]> 400 Ruth Ware 1668032325 Missy 0 to-read 4.00 2025 The Woman in Suite 11 (Lo Blacklock, #2)
author: Ruth Ware
name: Missy
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Hope's Enduring Echo 215361947 A charming historical romance about two young people whose discovery of fossilized bones leads to a love that echoes through the ages—from the bestselling author of The Songbird of Hope Hill

Geology student Leo Day has been waiting for a big find to prove his career path is worthy to his father. While riding the train along the Arkansas River in Canon City, Colorado, Leo spots a young woman waving at the passing cars holding something that looks like a piece of fossilized bone. He catches up to the girl after leaping from the slow train and his pulse gallops when he recognizes it as a rib bone from a smaller dinosaur species, most likely a Allosaurus. She confides she’s found several similar bones, and he asks her to show him where.

Whether it was loneliness or boredom that led Jennie Ward to leave the water line and escort this stranger to the place where her daddy’s border collie had unearthed several bones, she couldn’t say, but she enjoys visiting with him. Could he become the friend she’s been praying for? As he leaves, he promises to return soon and asks if she’ll be his guide. She has little time for socializing, given her responsibility to the water works due to her father’s injury and aftermath, but the opportunity to gain a friend is too hard to resist. She agrees.

As the weeks pass, Leo, a man longing for a father’s approval, and Jennie, a girl trapped by her loyalty to a despondent father, become friends and confidantes. And God’s plan for both Leo’s and Jennie’s futures will unfold like an excavation of dinosaur bones.]]> 352 Kim Vogel Sawyer 0593600835 Missy 0 to-read 4.30 Hope's Enduring Echo
author: Kim Vogel Sawyer
name: Missy
average rating: 4.30
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
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]]> Britt-Marie Was Here 30753704
But hidden inside the socially awkward, fussy busybody is a woman who has more imagination, bigger dreams, and a warmer heart that anyone around her realizes.

When Britt-Marie walks out on her cheating husband and has to fend for herself in the miserable backwater town of Borg—of which the kindest thing one can say is that it has a road going through it—she finds work as the caretaker of a soon-to-be demolished recreation center. The fastidious Britt-Marie soon finds herself being drawn into the daily doings of her fellow citizens, an odd assortment of miscreants, drunkards, layabouts. Most alarming of all, she’s given the impossible task of leading the supremely untalented children’s soccer team to victory. In this small town of misfits, can Britt-Marie find a place where she truly belongs?

Funny and moving, sweet and inspiring, Britt-Marie Was Here celebrates the importance of community and connection in a world that can feel isolating.

The New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry “returns with this heartwarming story about a woman rediscovering herself after a personal crisis� fans of Backman will find another winner in these pages.”]]> 324 Fredrik Backman 1501142542 Missy 0 to-read 4.12 2014 Britt-Marie Was Here
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Missy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook]]> 191746386
On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution . Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island of Hawaii, Cook was killed in a conflict with native Hawaiians. How did Cook, who was unique among captains for his respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures, come to that fatal moment?

Hampton Sides� bravura account of Cook’s last journey both wrestles with Cook’s legacy and provides a thrilling narrative of the titanic efforts and continual danger that characterized exploration in the 1700s. Cook was renowned for his peerless seamanship, his humane leadership, and his dedication to science-–the famed naturalist Joseph Banks accompanied him on his first voyage, and Cook has been called one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was also deeply interested in the native people he encountered. In fact, his stated mission was to return a Tahitian man, Mai, who had become the toast of London, to his home islands. On previous expeditions, Cook mapped huge swaths of the Pacific, including the east coast of Australia, and initiated first European contact with numerous peoples. He treated his crew well, and endeavored to learn about the societies he encountered with curiosity and without judgment.

Yet something was different on this last voyage. Cook became mercurial, resorting to the lash to enforce discipline, and led his two vessels into danger time and again. Uncharacteristically, he ordered violent retaliation for perceived theft on the part of native peoples. This may have had something to do with his secret orders, which were to chart and claim lands before Britain’s imperial rivals could, and to discover the fabled Northwest Passage. Whatever Cook’s intentions, his scientific efforts were the sharp edge of the colonial sword, and the ultimate effects of first contact were catastrophic for Indigenous people around the world. The tensions between Cook’s overt and covert missions came to a head on the shores of Hawaii. His first landing there was harmonious, but when Cook returned after mapping the coast of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, his exploitative treatment of the Hawaiians led to the fatal encounter.

At once a ferociously-paced story of adventure on the high seas and a searching examination of the complexities and consequences of the Age of Exploration, THE WIDE WIDE SEA is a major work from one of our finest narrative nonfiction writers.]]> 408 Hampton Sides 0385544766 Missy 0 to-read 4.47 2024 The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
author: Hampton Sides
name: Missy
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read
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]]> Wrapped in Rain 241386
On a sprawling Southern estate, Tucker and his younger brother, Mutt, were raised by their housekeeper, Miss Ella Rain, who loved the motherless boys like her own. Hiring her to take care of Waverly Hall and the boys was the only good thing their father ever did.

When his brother escapes from a mental hospital and an old girlfriend appears with her son and a black eye, Tucker is forced to return home and face the agony of his own tragic past.

Though Miss Ella has been gone for many years, Tuck can still hear her voice—and her prayers. But finding peace and starting anew will take a measure of grace that Tucker scarcely believes in.]]> 374 Charles Martin 1595541861 Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.27 2005 Wrapped in Rain
author: Charles Martin
name: Missy
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Remember the Lilies (Women of Courage #3)]]> 22440548
Irene has grown up in the jungle as a missionary with her Aunt Anita, but now she and countless others are imprisoned by Japanese soldiers at the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in the Philippines. Irene and her aunt are safe there, and she keeps busy with her duty of delivering censored messages to the camp’s prisoners, but like everyone else, she prays for the war to end and for her freedom. Rand is a wealthy, womanizing American, whose attempted escape from the internment camp has put himself and others in danger. When Rand and Irene’s Aunt Anita meet one another in the hospital, Irene learns more of his story and her heart is determined to save his family. But the danger outside the walls of the hospital worsens every day, and life in this exotic place is anything but luxurious. Can Irene find Rand’s family before they disappear forever? And can a humble missionary woman and an arrogant man find common ground in the face of their biggest fears?]]> 384 Liz Tolsma 1401689140 Missy 0 3.87 2015 Remember the Lilies (Women of Courage #3)
author: Liz Tolsma
name: Missy
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, christian-fiction-tbr, hidden-gems
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Daisies Are Forever (Women of Courage #2)]]> 18764196
Gisela Cramer is an American living in eastern Germany with her cousin Ella Reinhardt. When the Red Army invades, they must leave their home to escape to safety in Berlin.

However, Ella is a nurse and refuses to leave, sending her young daughters with Gisela. During their journey, Gisela meets Mitch Edwards, an escaped British POW. She pretends she is his wife in order to preserve his safety among other Germans, especially one wounded German soldier, Kurt, who has suspicions about Mitch's identity. Kurt also has feelings for Gisela and tries to uncover the truth about her "marriage."

Their journey to Gisela's mother in Berlin is riddled with tragedy and hardship, but they strive to keep Ella's daughters safe so they can reunite with their mother. During the journey Gisela and Mitch begin to develop feelings for one another beyond friendship. They reach Berlin, but their struggles are far from over. Gisela and Mitch must learn to live for the day and find hope in the darkest of circumstances.

In this moving, historically accurate portrayal of WWII Germany, the characters learn that, even with destruction all around them, some things last forever.]]> 352 Liz Tolsma 1401689124 Missy 0 3.79 2014 Daisies Are Forever (Women of Courage #2)
author: Liz Tolsma
name: Missy
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, christian-fiction-tbr, hidden-gems
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Snow on the Tulips (Women of Courage #1)]]> 16122787
In the twilight of the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands, the Germans have taken everything Cornelia had to give, even what was most precious to her. Now Gerrit Laninga—a man who puts God and country above all else—arrives at her house, needing help. She is terrified for herself and terrified for her family, but most of all, terrified of the pain she might feel again if she allows herself to love Gerrit. Her hope is to be free from her paralyzing fear.

Gerrit is a known and hunted Dutch Resistance member. When he comes to Cornelia’s home for shelter, he’s drawn to her strength and kindness. When he asks her to contact the local Resistance on his behalf, she refuses. Gerrit is determined to find a way to continue his underground work without putting Cornelia or her family in harm’s way.

When things start to unravel and Gerrit’s life depends on her actions, she must summon her courage and learn to depend on the perfect love that drives out all fear. But will her new love be snatched away before it has a chance to bloom?]]> 336 Liz Tolsma 1401689108 Missy 0 3.85 2013 Snow on the Tulips (Women of Courage #1)
author: Liz Tolsma
name: Missy
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, christian-fiction-tbr, wwii, hidden-gems
review:

]]> Loyally, Luke (Skymar, #3) 195277997 373 Pepper Basham 0840716729 Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.33 Loyally, Luke (Skymar, #3)
author: Pepper Basham
name: Missy
average rating: 4.33
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, hidden-gems
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]]> <![CDATA[To Win Her Favor (Belle Meade Plantation, #2)]]> 22522910
An Irish-born son far from home, Cullen McGrath left a once prosperous life in England because of a horse racing scandal that nearly ruined him. He’s come to Nashville for a fresh start, hoping to buy land and start a farm, all while determined to stay as far away from thoroughbred racing as possible. But starting over proves harder than he’d wagered, especially when Maggie Linden’s father makes him an offer he shouldn’t accept yet cannot possibly refuse.

Maggie is certain that her mare, Bourbon Belle, can take the top purse in the annual Drayton Stakes at Nashville’s racetrack––the richest race run in America. Maggie only needs the chance to prove it. To give her that chance, and to save Linden Downs from being sold to the highest bidder, Maggie’s father––aging, yet wily as ever––makes a barter. His agreement includes one tiny, troublesome detail––Maggie must marry a man she’s never met. A man she never would have chosen for herself.

Cullen and Maggie need each other in order to achieve their dreams. But their stubborn, wounded hearts––and the escalating violence from a "secret society" responsible for lynchings and midnight raids––may prove too much for even two determined souls.]]> 352 Tamera Alexander 0310291070 Missy 0 4.25 2015 To Win Her Favor (Belle Meade Plantation, #2)
author: Tamera Alexander
name: Missy
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, christian-fiction-tbr, civil-war, hidden-gems
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Juliet Code (Freddie & Grace Mystery #3)]]> 123009792 Newlyweds Lord and Lady Astley Finally Reach Their Honeymoon Destination Only to Encounter a New Mystery in Need of Solving
Ěý
Frederick and Grace Percy finally make it to Italy to enjoy a delayed honeymoon and explore the beauties of the historic city of Venice. To their surprise, their friend, Detective Jack Miracle, is also in the city, investigating a series of art heists starting at the house of eccentric millionaire, Laraby Covington. Drawn into a world of boat races, mysterious houses, and parties of the rich and unusual in Venice, Frederick and Grace learn of the existence of the Juliet paintings, (Renaissance paintings feature Shakespeare’s tragic heroine) rumored to hold a secret code to an underground vault of similarly treasured artwork assumed lost over the centuries. As Freddie and Grace are pulled deeper into the mystery and their beloved Detective Jack disappears, can they use their wits and work as a team to find the thieves and Jack before it’s too late.Ěý
Ěý
The Juliet Code is a Freddie and Grace Mystery, sequel to The Mistletoe Countess and The Cairo Curse.
Ěý]]> 315 Pepper Basham 1636096948 Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.47 2023 The Juliet Code (Freddie & Grace Mystery #3)
author: Pepper Basham
name: Missy
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, hidden-gems
review:

]]> The Last Exchange: A Novel 201335528 “Here’s the catch—even if I make it out of here alive, I need a reason to breathe again.�

When MacThomas Pockets finished his last tour as part of the Scottish Special Forces, he was hired to consult for a film director to finesse some scenes that weren’t working. In a twist he never saw coming, he ended up moving to L.A. to work as the bodyguard for movie star Maybe Joe Sue.

It didn’t take long for Pockets to realize there were two Joe Sues: The Joe Sue the public saw with her perfect life and her Hollywood husband. And the private Joe Sue: the one with the traumatic youth that no amount of pills could cover up, who desperately wanted a child of her own.

Even after their paths diverged, he continued to track Joe Sue’s life. Only a few would notice when the bottom fell out. But he did. And that’s when he stepped in.

The latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin travels from Hollywood to rural Montana as one man answers the question: How far would you go—really—to save someone you love?]]> 384 Charles Martin 0785256016 Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.09 The Last Exchange: A Novel
author: Charles Martin
name: Missy
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Lady of Disguise (The Dericott Tales, #6)]]> 180351992 England, 1388

All her life, Louisa has dreamed of finding the rumored “Giant’s Treasure,� a collection of ancient, lost riches said to be hidden on a mountaintop in Scotland, guarded by a fierce monster. It’s a story her father used to tell her, and when he dies and she and her younger sister have to go live with their shiftless, greedy uncle, Louisa is determined to find that treasure. It’s the hope that has kept her defying her uncle’s efforts to marry her off to the highest bidder.

After her uncle starts to parade Louisa’s twelve-year-old sister Margaret in front of potential husbands, Louisa realizes she has no time to waste. She disguises herself as a boy and takes off for Scotland. But the road is a harsher place than she’d imagined, and she is relieved to find a friend in the knight, Sir Charles, who goes along with her on her journey.

Charles is intrigued by this young woman who claims her name is “Jack� and is set on going to Scotland. He goes along, pretending to believe she is a boy, in order to make sure nothing bad happens to her. As they meet new friends along the road, and as Louisa comes clean about her identity, the pair find themselves falling in love. But what will happen when they reach Scotland? Will they find their independence and the freedom to marry in the form of a buried treasure, or will the monster from Louisa’s own past keep the young couple apart?

A delightfully charming reimagining of "Jack and the Beanstalk" from New York Times bestselling author Melanie Dickerson.]]> 294 Melanie Dickerson 084070867X Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 3.83 2024 Lady of Disguise (The Dericott Tales, #6)
author: Melanie Dickerson
name: Missy
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> <![CDATA[What I Promise You (Echoes of the Past, 2)]]> 144680443
Hannah Elfenbein, a young, pregnant Jewish woman, is arrested in 1942 and sent to the Camp de Rivesaltes transit camp in Southwest France. Drawn to helping other young women escape, she seeks refuge for herself and others at a maternity hospital. But nothing is simple in occupied France, and she finds herself doing the unimaginable to save one precious life.

Eighty years later, Caitlyn Laurant takes a break from training to be a missionary nurse in Spain to visit nearby France, hoping to find her grandfather’s birthplace. But what she uncovers are secrets long buried by WWII atrocities.

Don't miss the Echoes of the Past Series
Book 1 - What I Would Tell You]]> 320 Liz Tolsma 1636097774 Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.57 2024 What I Promise You (Echoes of the Past, 2)
author: Liz Tolsma
name: Missy
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, hidden-gems
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]]> <![CDATA[What I Left for You (Echoes of the Past, #3)]]> 210136774 A Family’s Ties Were Broken in Poland of 1939
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1939
Helena Kostyszak is an oddity—an educated female ethnic minority lecturing at a university in Krakow at the outbreak of WWII. When the Germans close the university and force Jews into the ghetto, she spirits out a friend’s infant daughter and flees to her small village in the southern hills. Helena does everything in her power to protect her family, but it may not be enough. It will take all of her strength and God’s intervention for both of them to survive the war and the ethnic cleansing to come.
Ěý
2023
Recently unengaged social worker McKenna Muir is dealt an awful blow when a two-year-old she’s been working with is murdered. It’s all too much to take, so her friend suggests she dive into her family’s past like she’s always wanted. Putting distance between herself and her problems might help her heal, so she and her friend head on Sabbatical to Poland. But what McKenna discovers about her family shocks everyone, including one long-lost family member.

Also in the Echoes of the Past
What I Would Tell You
What I Promise You]]> 322 Liz Tolsma Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.67 2024 What I Left for You (Echoes of the Past, #3)
author: Liz Tolsma
name: Missy
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> The British Booksellers 180351949
A tenant farmer’s son had no business daring to dream of a future with an earl’s daughter, but that couldn’t keep Amos Darby from his secret friendship with Charlotte Terrington . . . until the reality of the Great War sobered youthful dreams. Now decades later, he bears the brutal scars of battles fought in the trenches and their futures that were stolen away. His return home doesn’t come with tender reunions, but with the hollow fulfillment of opening a bookshop on his own and retreating as a recluse within its walls.

When the future Earl of Harcourt chose Charlotte to be his wife, she knew she was destined for a loveless match. Though her heart had chosen another long ago, she pledges her future even as her husband goes to war. Twenty-five years later, Charlotte remains a war widow who divides her days between her late husband’s declining estate and operating a quaint Coventry bookshop—Eden Books, lovingly named after her grown daughter. And Amos is nothing more than the rival bookseller across the lane.

As war with Hitler looms, Eden is determined to preserve her father’s legacy. So when an American solicitor arrives threatening a lawsuit that could destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to preserve, mother and daughter prepare to fight back. But with devastation wrought by the Luftwaffe’s local blitz terrorizing the skies, battling bookshops—and lost loves, Amos and Charlotte—must put aside their differences and fight together to help Coventry survive.

From deep in the trenches of the Great War to the storied English countryside and the devastating Coventry Blitz of WWII, The British Booksellers explores the unbreakable bonds that unite us through love, loss, and the enduring solace that can be found between the pages of a book.]]> 364 Kristy Cambron 0785232249 Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.06 2024 The British Booksellers
author: Kristy Cambron
name: Missy
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, hidden-gems
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]]> <![CDATA[When the Avalanche Roared (A Day to Remember, #5)]]> 210128695 The Day Hope Seemed Swept Away
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Enjoy a series of 6 exciting novels featuring historic disasters that transformed landscapes and multiple lives. Whether by nature or by man, these disasters changed history and were a day to be remembered.
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Lillian Hartwick has been in the small railroad town of Wellington, Washington, caring for her cousin and assisting the postmaster when February snows bring all train traffic to a halt. Slow-witted but kind Griffin Jones, who works odd jobs for the railway while enduring taunts from other workers, has tried his best to gain Lillian’s interest, but she is engaged and waiting her fiancé’s arrival from California. Predawn thunderstorms on Tuesday, March 1, 1910, trigger a devastating avalanche, sweeping two trains down Stevens Pass. Lillian and Griffin work together to help survivors, including Griffin’s tormentors. In the midst of the catastrophe their feelings for each other grow. But is it enough when Lillian’s fiancé finally arrives in the spring, ready to claim her as his own?
Ěý
Also available in the A Day to Remember
When the Waters Came by Candice Sue Patterson
When the Flames Ravaged by Rhonda Dragomir
When Hope Sank by Denise Weimer
When the Mountain Crumbled by Angela K. Couch
Ěý]]> 256 Lauralee Bliss Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.42 When the Avalanche Roared (A Day to Remember, #5)
author: Lauralee Bliss
name: Missy
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> The Dreams We Knew 219360696
--Rebekah Millet, award-winning author of Julia Monroe Begins Again


Can two opposites come together to solve the murder of a rising star?


In the glitz and glam of New York City's elite circles, Delvina Salvastano Kline walks a delicate line between her privileged upbringing and her murky past. Adopted into wealth and opulence, she contends with the legacy of her birth father, a notorious crime boss. In an act of defiance, Delvina sheds the smothering label of "society's misfit" by carving her own path as a private investigator.


When a promising young fashion model is found dead, Delvina is hired to unmask the killer lurking behind the city's shimmering facade. She reluctantly teams up with detective Kent Brisbane, the man she once loved, who knows a secret that could shatter her carefully crafted persona. As they plunge deep into the shadows of New York's underbelly, they discover the stakes are higher than they'd thought. Amidst glittering parties and whispered secrets, the duo races against time to uncover the truth.


Rachel Scott McDaniel delivers a riveting blend of mystery and second-chance romance with gentle undertones of faith in this Roaring Twenties novel.


"Rachel Scott McDaniel's exquisite storytelling in The Dreams We Knew delivers a story brimming with mystery, romance, and captivating characters, all wrapped in a quick-paced adventure you can't put down." --Natalie Walters, award-winning author of Better Watch Out and the SNAP Agency series]]> 320 Rachel Scott McDaniel 082544814X Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.55 2024 The Dreams We Knew
author: Rachel Scott McDaniel
name: Missy
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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]]> <![CDATA[When the Sky Burned: October 8, 1871 (Day to Remember)]]> 214481413 A Tornado of Fire and Embezzlement Sweep through a Community Ěý
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Enjoy a series of 6 exciting novels featuring historic disasters that transformed landscapes and multiple lives. Whether by nature or by man, these disasters changed history and were a day to be remembered.
Ěý
Promising painter Mariah Randolph longs to have her canvases displayed in the world’s best museums, and Hollis Stanford, the heir of a railroad tycoon, is her ticket to success. The railroad’s bookkeeper, Jay Franklin, discovers discrepancies and is convinced that Hollis is stealing from the company. But any proof of his dirty dealings go up in smoke when fire utterly destroys the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, October 8, 1871.
Ěý
The fire leaves Mariah blind, but Jay befriends her and even helps her to start painting again. But a trip to Chicago to return Hollis’s daughter to him could put both Mariah and Jay in more danger than even the fire that devastated the town and their lives.
Ěý
Also available in the A Day to Remember
When the Waters Came by Candice Sue Patterson
When the Flames Ravaged by Rhonda Dragomir
When Hope Sank by Denise Weimer
When the Mountain Crumbled by Angela K. Couch
When the Avalanche Roared by Lauralee Bliss
Ěý]]> 256 Liz Tolsma Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.33 2025 When the Sky Burned: October 8, 1871 (Day to Remember)
author: Liz Tolsma
name: Missy
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: to-read, hidden-gems
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]]> <![CDATA[The Divine Proverb of Streusel]]> 182093716
Among her late grandmother's belongings, Nikki finds an old notebook filled with handwritten German recipes and wise sayings pulled from the book of Proverbs. With each recipe she makes, she invites locals to the family table to hear their stories about the town's history, her ancestors, and her estranged father.

What started as a cathartic way to connect to her heritage soon becomes the means through which she learns how the women before her endured—with the help of their cooking prowess and a healthy dollop of faith.]]> 324 Sara Brunsvold 0800742990 Missy 5 4.22 2024 The Divine Proverb of Streusel
author: Sara Brunsvold
name: Missy
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read, favorites
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The World's Fair Quilt (Elm Creek Quilts #23)]]> 216269097 A timely celebration of quilting, family, community, and history in this latest novel in the perennially popular Elm Creek Quilts series from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini.

As fall paints the Pennsylvania countryside in flaming colors, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson is contemplating the future of her beloved Elm Creek Quilts. The Elm Creek Quilt Camp remains the most popular quilter’s retreat in the country, but unexpected financial difficulties have beset them and the Bergstrom family’s stately nineteenth-century manor. Now in her eighth decade, Sylvia is determined to maintain her family’s legacy, but she needs new resources—financial and emotional.

Summer Sullivan—a founding Elm Creek Quilter—arrives to discuss an antique quilt that she wants to display at the Waterford Historical Society’s quilt exhibit. When Sylvia and her sister Claudia were teenagers, they had entered a quilt in the Sears National Quilt Contest for the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition, also known as the Chicago World’s Fair. The Bergstrom sisters� quilt would be perfect for the Historical Society’s exhibit, Summer explains.

Sylvia is reluctant to lend out the quilt, which has been stored in the attic for decades, nearly forgotten. In keeping with the contest’s “Century of Progress� theme, the girls illustrated progress of values—scenes of the Emancipation Proclamation, woman’s suffrage, and labor unions. But although it won ribbons, the quilt also drove a wedge between the sisters.

As Sylvia reluctantly retraces her quilt’s story for Summer, she makes an unexpected discovery—one that restores some of her faith in this unique work of art, and helps shine some light on a way forward for the Elm Creek Quilts community.]]> 304 Jennifer Chiaverini 0063381753 Missy 0 to-read 4.00 The World's Fair Quilt (Elm Creek Quilts #23)
author: Jennifer Chiaverini
name: Missy
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Through Each Tomorrow (Timeless, #6)]]> 228133918
In 1563, Lady Cecily Pembrooke serves Queen Elizabeth while clinging to the hope that her stepbrother Charles will remain with her in this path. As the true Earl of Norfolk, Charles is deeply entangled in the deadly politics of the court. When he brings Drew, a physician in training, to Windsor Castle to help save the ailing monarch, old feelings for Drew rekindle in Cecily's heart, but her love faces impossible odds under the strict rules of the crown. As their futures hang by a thread, will Charles and Cecily's web of secrets unravel and ensnare them in an inescapable destiny?

Gabrielle Meyer delivers an enthralling tale of love, sacrifice, and the relentless pull of time in her newest Timeless series installment.]]> 384 Gabrielle Meyer 0764243020 Missy 0 to-read 0.0 Through Each Tomorrow (Timeless, #6)
author: Gabrielle Meyer
name: Missy
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Where Grace Abides: A Split-Time Novel]]> 230863740
Two hundred and fifty years earlier, Major Ezra James, an officer in the British Army, marches into Philadelphia, ready to occupy the rebel capital. He resides in the home of the beautiful and talented cook, Verity Kent, a staunch patriot and sister of one of Washington’s men. Although both are fighting on opposite sides of the same war, love grows between them. That is until grave secrets, danger, and betrayal threaten to undo the bond that they have forged.

As Andon's, Emma's, Verity's, and Ezra’s stories intersect, all are forced to confront grief and guilt and discover the grace buried within it all.]]> 277 Kelsey Lasher Missy 0 to-read 0.0 Where Grace Abides: A Split-Time Novel
author: Kelsey Lasher
name: Missy
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> When Twilight Breaks 53911691
Peter Lang is an American graduate student working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party—to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can't get off his mind.

As the world marches relentlessly toward war, Evelyn and Peter are on a collision course with destiny.]]> 365 Sarah Sundin 0800736362 Missy 5 4.30 2021 When Twilight Breaks
author: Sarah Sundin
name: Missy
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: wwii, books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Tender Vine (The Diamond of the Rockies #3)]]> 419138 382 Kristen Heitzmann 0764224174 Missy 0 4.24 The Tender Vine (The Diamond of the Rockies #3)
author: Kristen Heitzmann
name: Missy
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read, christian-fiction-tbr
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Seaside Summer (Timeless Regency Collection, #17)]]> 61221176
Summer on the seaside...a perfect place for romance.

Join us for three novellas in one collection:

'The New Countess' by Josi S. Kilpack

Diane knows why the earl asked her to marry him; he needed a mother for his daughter, an heir for his title, and a hostess to assist with his position in Parliament. With two sons of her own, and no security to speak of, she never thought twice about accepting his proposal. Summering at his holiday cottage at the sea was meant to be reward for a busy first year as the new countess, and a time for her to rest before their baby is born. She is expecting lazy days on the beach with the children, simple meals, and keeping her own schedule. When the earl surprises her with a visit, she does her best not to resent the intrusion. When she learns that he came for the sole purpose of being with her and getting to know her better, she realizes that perhaps this marriage can be more than she expected. Is she ready for him to know her and love her and explore this new possibility together? She wants to be, but it is not an easy thing to let go of expectations and open up to an entirely new way of life.

'Mishaps and Memories' by Martha Keyes

Judith Jardine’s one chance at a brilliant match is doomed from the start when she is ignored and then mocked by the ton’s most sought-after gentleman. Under a gloomy cloud of failure, Judith is exiled to a seaside cottage to spend the summer helping her sister—and living a life far below the one she experienced for her week in Brighton. When she discovers the man responsible for her misfortune unconscious on the beach, she heeds her better impulses and has him brought to the cottage to be seen to. But James Carlisle has no recollection of who he is, what happened to him, or how he has wronged her, and Judith sees the opportunity to teach him a valuable lesson—unless the deception and her feelings get the best of her first.

'Moonlight Summer' by Heather B. Moore

Oscar Rosewell’s life is not lacking in many things even though he lives on the fringes of society due to his father’s ruined reputation. He’s sworn off having any personal relationships with ton members—his only interest lies in keeping his business thriving. He’s content with his day-to-day anonymity, and business keeps his heart from getting exposed. It’s safer that way. Until Oscar meets Miss Dorothea Atkinson. A woman capturing his interest is a rare thing, but Miss Atkinson is nearly engaged to a man of her parents� choosing. Would it be wrong to wish for something to go terribly wrong between the couple? Soon, Oscar learns that wishing can become a reality, but often, the price is an even heavier thing to pay.

From the publisher of the USA TODAY best-selling and number-one Amazon best-selling Timeless Romance Anthology series in Regency Romance: 'A Seaside Summer' is a Timeless Romance Anthology book

Timeless Romance Anthology is a registered trademark of Mirror Press, LLC.

©2021 Mirror Press (P)2021 Mirror Press]]> 8 Josi S. Kilpack Missy 4 3.67 2021 A Seaside Summer (Timeless Regency Collection, #17)
author: Josi S. Kilpack
name: Missy
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Diary of Mary Magdalene]]> 208703299 250 Johnny Teague PhD 1592114504 Missy 0 to-read, hidden-gems 4.75 The Lost Diary of Mary Magdalene
author: Johnny Teague PhD
name: Missy
average rating: 4.75
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: to-read, hidden-gems
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cairo Curse (A Freddie and Grace Mystery, #2)]]> 74854938 Ěý
Newlyweds Lord and Lady Astley have already experienced their fair-share of suspense, but when a honeymoon trip takes a detour to the mystical land of Egypt, not even Grace with her fiction-loving mind is prepared for the dangers in store. From an assortment of untrustworthy adventure-seekers to a newly discovered tomb with a murderous secret, Frederick and Grace must lean on each other to navigate their dangerous surroundings. As the suspects mount in an antiquities� heist of ancient proportions, will Frederick and Grace’s attempts to solve the mystery lead to another death among the sands?
Ěý
The Cairo’s Curse is a delightful sequel to The Mistletoe Countess Ěýby Pepper Basham in the Freddie and Grace Mystery series.
Ěý]]> 322 Pepper Basham 1636094732 Missy 5 4.19 2023 The Cairo Curse (A Freddie and Grace Mystery, #2)
author: Pepper Basham
name: Missy
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> Under the Same Stars 201103108
In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too—but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.

In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.

In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are slogging through the last few months of senior year when an unexpected package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak eighty years ago.

Age Range: 12-18]]> 470 Libba Bray 0374388954 Missy 0 to-read 4.17 2025 Under the Same Stars
author: Libba Bray
name: Missy
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Nantucket Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant, #1)]]> 220481303
Three sisters. An inherited Nantucket restaurant. One year before they can sell.

Mandy, Emma and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one that stayed.

Jill lives a glamorous life in Manhattan as a co-owner of a successful executive search firm. Never married, she is in her mid-thirties and lives in a stunning, corner condo with breathtaking views of the city and Hudson river. Everyone thinks there's something going on with her partner, Nick, because as a workaholic, she spends more time with him than anyone else. But there's never been anything but friendship between them and Nick loves being a bachelor in NYC.

Emma lives in Arizona and is an elementary school teacher and aspiring photographer. She met her college professor husband, Peter, in grad school and they've been married for over fifteen years. In recent years, she's noticed that Peter has grown distant. But when he shares a surprising secret, she doesn't see it coming and her world is turned upside down.

Mandy followed her high school boyfriend, Cory to Boston College, and after graduation, they married and Cory joined a successful hedge fund in Boston, while Mandy stayed home and had two children, Blake and Brooke. They moved home to Nantucket when Cory opened a competing hedge fund. Now that the children are older, Mandy is eager to do more than coordinate local charity events. But Cory doesn't want her to work. He thinks it doesn't reflect well on him and appearances are everything to Cory. Though when Mandy finds a second cell phone in his gym bag, she begins to question what is really going on.

When their beloved grandmother, Ethel Ferguson passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday, she leaves them quite a surprise. In addition to her Nantucket home, they learn that she was the silent owner of Mimi's Place, one of Nantucket's most popular year-round restaurants.

There is of course, a catch--she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma, and Jill--and also to Paul, the restaurant chef for the past fifteen years.

And before they can sell, all three girls must work at the restaurant for one year--or their shares of the restaurant will go to Paul.

The same Paul that broke one of their hearts many years ago.]]> 352 Pamela M. Kelley 146424619X Missy 0 to-read 4.43 2020 The Nantucket Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant, #1)
author: Pamela M. Kelley
name: Missy
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Pixels and Paint (Trinket Sisters #1)]]> 159085817 362 Kristi Ann Hunter 1959589075 Missy 4
When Emma gets the chance to do a museum tour proposal for the local art museum, it is the last thing she wants to do, but then in walks Carter. She thinks she can do this, but as she finds out there is a lot to learn about museums, Carter, art, and herself.

I enjoyed this story very much. I am anxious to read the next in the Trinkets series. Thank you to Netgalley and Oholiab Creations for an advanced reader copy.]]> 4.29 2023 Pixels and Paint (Trinket Sisters #1)
author: Kristi Ann Hunter
name: Missy
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read
review:
This was a cute story abut Emma, the one in the family whose life does not revolve around fashion, but does revolve around computers and video games. When she meets Carter, she is not aware that he is an artist. Her family drags her to artsy galas, shows, and such, which she detests. She does not get art in any form, but Carter is different. Carter takes Emma as she is, her quirky outfits, Crocs, and lets her be her. While her family sees her as they see her, not as Emma.

When Emma gets the chance to do a museum tour proposal for the local art museum, it is the last thing she wants to do, but then in walks Carter. She thinks she can do this, but as she finds out there is a lot to learn about museums, Carter, art, and herself.

I enjoyed this story very much. I am anxious to read the next in the Trinkets series. Thank you to Netgalley and Oholiab Creations for an advanced reader copy.
]]> <![CDATA[Daughter of the King (Defying the Crown, #1)]]> 59018762
She fights off an attack by a nobleman, and the only way to save herself is to flee to the colony of Canada as a Daughter of the King. She can have money, protection, and a new life - if she adopts the religion she's spent a lifetime fighting. She must leave her homeland and the promises of her past. In the wild land of Canada, Isabelle finds that her search for love and faith has just begun.

Based on the incredible true story of the French orphans who settled Canada, Daughter of the King is a sweeping tale of one young woman's fight for true freedom. Kerry Chaput brings the past to life, expertly weaving a gripping saga with vivid historical details. Jump back in time on a thrilling adventure with an unforgettable heroine.]]> 245 Kerry Chaput Missy 0 to-read 4.27 2021 Daughter of the King (Defying the Crown, #1)
author: Kerry Chaput
name: Missy
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> In Five Years 54304141
Where do you see yourself in five years?

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.

But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.

After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.

Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.]]> 288 Rebecca Serle 1982137452 Missy 0 to-read 3.83 2020 In Five Years
author: Rebecca Serle
name: Missy
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The House We Grew Up In 39095097
Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. Soon it seems as though they've never been a family at all. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in -- and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Told in gorgeous, insightful prose that delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the captivating story of one family's desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home.]]> 416 Lisa Jewell 1476776865 Missy 0 to-read 3.84 2013 The House We Grew Up In
author: Lisa Jewell
name: Missy
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Promise to Arlette 220160224 With the scope of a saga and the heart of a thriller, this is an evocative historical novel following a married couple whose idyllic 1950s suburban life is threatened by the promises they made during World War II.

Sidney and Ida Whipple are living the suburban 1950s American dream, complete with two children and a white picket fence, which didn’t seem possible when they first met at the height of WWII in France. Reveling in the present, they can almost convince themselves that their past is behind them. But when their neighbors show off a newly purchased Man Ray photograph, Ida comes face-to-face with the person she loved and lost in the Arlette.

Only Ida knows the truth about the photograph, and why it can’t possibly be authentic. In an attempt to right past wrongs, she travels to California vowing to confront Man Ray. Sidney wakes to find his wife is missing, the photograph in question stolen, and all the secrets they’ve tried to bury come rushing back. With his daughters in tow, he travels after Ida, hoping to forge a new path together. Instead, their sojourn leads to a shocking discovery that could pull their family apart in this sweeping, unforgettable story about love and friendship, trust and betrayal, and how promises made, broken, and ultimately renewed, can determine our fate.]]> 320 Serena Burdick 1668070308 Missy 0 to-read 4.11 A Promise to Arlette
author: Serena Burdick
name: Missy
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Summer of You and Me 216052965 Maggie Reynolds is finally ready for love again--until the past shows up in the form of someone who may or may not be the late husband she thought she'd lost.

Five years after her husband's death, Maggie is finally ready to let go of him and the dreams she had for their future. A summer at Seabrook, where she and Ethan first became childhood sweethearts, seems the perfect time and place to find closure. Plus, she gets to spend time with his family, the Reynoldses, whom she loves like her own.

Unbeknownst to Maggie, her brother-in-law, Josh Reynolds, has been in love with her since they first met all those years ago. But his brother ultimately won Maggie's heart, and Josh's unrequited love has ruined all of his relationships. If Maggie is ready to move on, then Josh is ready to lay it all on the line and come clean about his true feelings for her.

But his plans soon get put on hold when, shortly after Maggie returns to Seabrook, she runs into a man who could pass for Ethan's twin. But he disappears into the amusement-park crowd before she can confront him.

The event rattles Maggie, stirs up impossible questions, and sends Josh and her on a quest to discover the man's true identity. But their search ends up raising more questions than answers--and soon Maggie isn't sure she wants those answers at all.]]> 352 Denise Hunter 1400348552 Missy 0 to-read 4.06 2025 The Summer of You and Me
author: Denise Hunter
name: Missy
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Fur Trader's Lady (Ladies of the Wilderness, #1)]]> 223120575
Reid McCoy has worked hard for fifteen years to become a shareholder in the North West Company and is on the brink of realizing that goal. Taking Charlotte into the interior will not only put her life at risk, but it could also jeopardize his dreams. Honor bound to repay his debt, his only option is to have Charlotte dress as a man and enter as his assistant clerk.

With Charlotte’s guardian close on their trail and a personal rival willing to do anything to keep Reid from becoming a shareholder, they will embark on an epic journey that will test not only their strength and endurance, but their hearts, as well.

Christy Award winner and bestselling author Gabrielle Meyer presents a new and thrilling historical adventure series set in the heart of the North American wilderness.]]> 392 Gabrielle Meyer Missy 0 to-read 4.48 2025 The Fur Trader's Lady (Ladies of the Wilderness, #1)
author: Gabrielle Meyer
name: Missy
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Girl Called Samson 58769584 From New York Times bestselling author Amy Harmon comes the saga of a young woman who dares to chart her own destiny in life and love during the American Revolutionary War.

In 1760, Deborah Samson is born to Puritan parents in Plympton, Massachusetts. When her father abandons the family and her mother is unable to support them, Deborah is bound out as an indentured servant. From that moment on, she yearns for a life of liberation and adventure.

Twenty years later, as the American colonies begin to buckle in their battle for independence, Deborah, impassioned by the cause, disguises herself as a soldier and enlists in the Continental Army. Her impressive height and lanky build make her transformation a convincing one, and it isn’t long before she finds herself confronting the horrors of war head-on.

But as Deborah fights for her country’s freedom, she must contend with the secret of who she is—and, ultimately, a surprising love she can’t deny.]]> 405 Amy Harmon 1542039738 Missy 5 books-read-2025
The book deviated from her life slightly with the romance of General John Paterson, but that did not happen in real life. I enjoyed the story as it was very much, Deborah (or Robert Shurtliff as she was in a majority of the story) was a character you liked, learned to love, and then just hoped everything was the way she wanted it to be in the end. I think from the description, she did.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this book. ]]> 4.48 2023 A Girl Called Samson
author: Amy Harmon
name: Missy
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: books-read-2025
review:
This is the story of Deborah Samson who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, dressed as a man. She was an indentured servant her whole life up until about age 20 when she decided to join the fight for independence. She was tall and could pass for a man, was a good horse rider, a good shot, and she was dependable. She became an aid to John Paterson, the husband of her good friend Elizabeth, who she corresponded with since she was age 10. Though he did not know she was a woman in the beginning. She would do anything to keep people happy, and maybe that was because of how she had to grow up as an indentured servant.

The book deviated from her life slightly with the romance of General John Paterson, but that did not happen in real life. I enjoyed the story as it was very much, Deborah (or Robert Shurtliff as she was in a majority of the story) was a character you liked, learned to love, and then just hoped everything was the way she wanted it to be in the end. I think from the description, she did.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this book.
]]> Between Earth and Sky 215363302
The bright, courageous boy Alma knew could never have murdered anyone. But she barely recognizes the man Asku has become, cold and embittered at being an outcast in the white world and a ghost in his own. Her lawyer husband, Stewart, reluctantly agrees to help defend Asku for Alma’s sake. To do so, Alma must revisit the painful secrets she has kept hidden from everyone—especially Stewart.

Told in compelling narratives that alternate between Alma’s childhood and her present life, Between Earth and Sky is a haunting and complex story of love and loss, as a quest for justice becomes a journey toward understanding and, ultimately, atonement.]]> 353 Amanda Skenandore 149675526X Missy 0 to-read 4.36 2018 Between Earth and Sky
author: Amanda Skenandore
name: Missy
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Farmer Boy (Little House, #2) 8252 384 Laura Ingalls Wilder 0060885386 Missy 0 currently-reading 4.08 1933 Farmer Boy (Little House, #2)
author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
name: Missy
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1933
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Keeper (Murphy Shepherd, #4)]]> 216052959 Combine James Patterson and Colleen Hoover and you'll start to understand why readers are riveted by the Murphy Shepherd gripping action, heart-wrenching emotion, and deep questions that deserve to be considered.

In this fourth book in the Murphy Shepherd series, Murphy knows Bones didn't hesitate to give his life to stop the evil perpetuated by his brother, but there's still work to be done. Though Frank is gone, his organization is not, and almost even before Bones's funeral in Arlington is complete, Murph receives a call that the three daughters of presidential hopeful Aaron Ashley have been taken and there are no leads.

The girls' lives on the line and time is of the essence. But Murphy has never done this without Bones. How can he grieve his friend and mentor, figure out who he is without Bones, and navigate a new role for himself with team . . . all while putting total focus into finding these daughters?

When his daughters are finally rescued, Ashley steps back from the presidential race. But Murph knows something about the timing is a little too convenient for the senator who steps in to take his place. The far-reaching tendrils of Frank's organization are entangled even here, and Murph and his team will stop at nothing to root them out.]]> 432 Charles Martin 0840722478 Missy 0 to-read 4.49 The Keeper (Murphy Shepherd, #4)
author: Charles Martin
name: Missy
average rating: 4.49
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> This Stays Between Us 219542907 You can never escape a summer abroad�

Ten years ago, six college students meet in an Australian summer study abroad, ready to enjoy the break from their studies and travel the country. Their program is meant to introduce them to the beauty of Australia and immerse them in an unforgettable cultural experience. In reality, it's a thrill-fueled summer of outdoor excursions, adrenaline rushes, alcohol, lust, and friendship turned wrong. When Phoebe, a troubled girl with jealousies and fractures spreading like wildfire between them all, suddenly disappears, presumed to have run away in a small outback town, the group decides to pack up and leave the past behind. All their secrets hidden for good. Or at least, that's what they tell themselves�

Ten years later, they each receive a call. They've found Phoebe's body. And now it's time to return.

Each of the friends is summoned back to Australia, confronted with their past selves and the brutal heat and sting of that summer. The police have questions, and the secrets they've been keeping buried deep in the outback start to slowly unearth. It soon becomes clear that everyone knows something about Phoebe's murder, and once again one of them might not make it out alive.


]]> 416 Sara Ochs 1728279593 Missy 0 to-read 3.84 2025 This Stays Between Us
author: Sara Ochs
name: Missy
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Across the Ages (Timeless, #4)]]> 209357000 376 Gabrielle Meyer 1493448234 Missy 5 4.65 2024 Across the Ages (Timeless, #4)
author: Gabrielle Meyer
name: Missy
average rating: 4.65
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/15
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> The Pearl Thief 39800738
It is only when some dramatic Byzantine pearls are loaned to the Museum that Severine’s poise is dashed and the tightly controlled life she’s built around herself is shattered. Her shocking revelation of their provenance sets off a frenzied hunt for Nazi Ruda Mayek.

Mossad’s interest is triggered and one of its most skilled agents comes out of retirement to join the hunt, while the one person who can help her � the solicitor handling the Pearls � is bound by client confidentiality. As Severine follows Mayek’s trail, there is still one lifelong secret for her to reveal � and one for her to discover.

From the snowy woodlands outside Prague to the Tuilieries of Paris and the heather-covered moors of Yorkshire comes a confronting and heart-stopping novel that explores whether love and hope can ever overpower atrocity in a time of war and hate.]]> 500 Fiona McIntosh 0143785095 Missy 0 to-read 4.13 2018 The Pearl Thief
author: Fiona McIntosh
name: Missy
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Quiet Librarian 214229712 After the murder of her best friend, a librarian’s search for answers leads back to her own dark secrets in this sweeping novel about a woman transformed by war, family, vengeance, and love, from award-winning writer Allen Eskens.

Hana Babic is a quiet, middle-aged librarian in Minnesota whoĚýwants nothing more than to be left alone. But when a detective arrives with the news that her best friend has been murdered, Hana knows that something evil has come for her, a dark remnant of the past she and her friend had shared.

Thirty years before, Hana was someone Nura Divjak, a teenager growing up in the mountains of war-torn Bosnia—until Serbian soldiers arrived to slaughter her entire family before her eyes. The events of that day thrust Nura into the war, leading her to join a band of militia fighters, where she became not only a fierce warrior but a legend—the deadly Night Mora. But a shattering final act forced Nura to flee to the United States with a bounty on her head.

Now, someone is hunting Hana, and her friend has paid the price, leaving her eight-year-old grandson in Hana’s care. To protect the child without revealing her secret, Hana must again become the Night Mora—and hope she can find the killer before the past comes for them, too.]]> 311 Allen Eskens 0316566330 Missy 0 to-read 4.48 2025 The Quiet Librarian
author: Allen Eskens
name: Missy
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Broken Hearts Bakery (Haven Ridge #1)]]> 66725549
When Gemma left her hometown of Haven Ridge, Colorado, years ago in a cloud of controversy, she swore she would never return. And she’s kept that promise, instead building her reputation as one of LA’s preeminent family law attorneys. But when her lifelong best friend begs her to come stay with her teen stepdaughter, Taylor, while she’s on a business trip, Gemma doesn’t have the heart to refuse. She’ll simply keep a low profile, do her honorary aunt duties, and be gone before anyone knows the difference.

But Haven Ridge seems to have a mind of its own, dragging Gemma unwillingly back into the community she’s tried so hard to leave behind and she soon finds herself caught up with new friends and old rivalries. When Taylor is the object of an ugly bit of teen bullying, Gemma does the only thing she knows how to ply her honorary niece with baked goods and words of affirmation. Soon, her temporary digs are ground zero for teenage girls seeking sugar and consolation for shockingly adult problems—which the girls soon dub The Broken Hearts Bakery.

Complicating matters is an unexpected reunion with Gemma’s high school sweetheart, Stephen, who is determined to change her mind about him, the town, and the nature of love itself. Because as it turns out, her niece isn’t the only one nursing a broken heart…]]> 343 Carla Laureano 173279409X Missy 4 books-read-2025 4.00 2023 The Broken Hearts Bakery (Haven Ridge #1)
author: Carla Laureano
name: Missy
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: books-read-2025
review:

]]> The Resistance Painter 214151604
Warsaw 1939. Irena Marianowska’s dreams of attending art school in Paris are crushed when the Nazis invade Poland. Instead, she joins the Home Army and, together with her resistance cell, risks her life guiding people to safety through the sewers of Warsaw. In 1942, after a harrowing mission, she returns home to learn that her sister, Lotka, has been abducted by the Gestapo. In her search for Lotka, Irena encounters a host of characters who lead her into greater danger.

Toronto 2010. Jo Blum lives in Toronto with her beloved grandmother, a lauded painter of WWII and a decorated war hero. Jo has a budding career creating sculptures for grave sites based on the life stories of her dying clients. Her recorded interviews with Stefan, her new Polish client, unveil an heroic wartime past eerily similar to her grandmother’s. But Jo’s quest to uncover the truth about Stefan and her grandmother opens an explosive Pandora’s box whose shockwaves threaten everything she’s known about her family.

The Resistance Painter will resonate with fans of The Berlin Apartment, The Secret History of Audrey James, Woman with the Blue Star, The Book of Lost Names, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The German Girl, and The Dutch Wife, confronting questions about the stories we tell about our lives and whether buried secrets should stay buried.

“The story of the Hitler’s invasion of Poland has been neglected by historical novelists. Kath Johnson has leapt into the breach with great success. The Resistance Painter is an inspiring tale of suffering, courage, fortitude, and sisterly love.� -Roberta Rich, bestselling author of The Jazz Club Spy

“An elegant, riveting, dual-timeline novel about betrayals that haunt generations, and the redemptive power of art.� -Genevieve Graham, #1 bestselling author of The Secret Keeper

“This dramatic story pays tribute to the youthful resistance fighters who risked their lives hundreds of times in the underground sewers of Warsaw, saving their fellow citizens from certain death. At times I had to lay down the book, unable to read for my tears of rage and sorrow. The Resistance Painter illuminates a forgotten chapter of Polish history, one that deserves to be floodlit for all eternity.�
-Elinor Florence, bestselling author Finding Flora]]> 448 Kath Jonathan 1668013614 Missy 0 to-read 4.28 The Resistance Painter
author: Kath Jonathan
name: Missy
average rating: 4.28
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Typewriter Beach 219838797 A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 2025 HOT SUMMER READ: "Irresistible.�

Set in Hollywood and Carmel-by-the-Sea, an unforgettable story of the unlikely friendship between an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and a young actress hoping to be Alfred Hitchcock's new star � from the internationally bestselling author of The Postmistress of Paris and The Last Train to London,

1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard seven-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer� in a tiny Carmel cottage.

Léon Chazan, next door, is annoyed as hell when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won’t be able to sell, because he’s been blacklisted. But soon, they’re in his roadster, speeding down the fog-shrouded Big Sur coast.

2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage, finds a hidden safe full of secrets—raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was, and whether she can live up to his name.

In graceful prose and with an intimate understanding of human nature, Meg Waite Clayton captures the joys and frustrations of being a writer, being a woman, being a star, and being in love. Typewriter Beach is the story of two women separated by generations—a tale of ideas and ideals, passion and persistence, creativity, politics, and family.]]> 320 Meg Waite Clayton 006342214X Missy 0 to-read 4.47 Typewriter Beach
author: Meg Waite Clayton
name: Missy
average rating: 4.47
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Woman in the Wallpaper 193184349 Paris, 1788.

After the death of their beloved father, Sofi and Lara accept work at the Oberst company, renowned for producing beautifully intricate wallpaper. But they soon notice a peculiar pattern in the the same woman featured over and over again, the late wife of the owner, who died in mysterious circumstances and whose tragically short life is memorialised in the paper.

As Sofi's political fervour grows, Lara attracts the interest of the factory owner's son Josef. But there is something uncannily familiar about their interactions. Is Lara paranoid, or is her life at the factory mirroring the scenes illustrated on the wallpaper that lines her bedchamber?

Meanwhile Josef's new wife, Hortense, hates her life in Paris. Young, spoiled and aristocratic, she feels herself above the world of the factory. But she too becomes obsessed with the woman whose life is illustrated on the walls of her new home. With the mobs growing ever more violent, is she in danger of meeting the same untimely fate as the last Mrs Oberst?

Soon the lives of Sofi, Lara and Hortense collide in ways they couldn't have imagined. And as the fire of Revolution burns across France, can these three women escape a destiny that seems pre-ordained?]]> 530 Lora Jones 1408731401 Missy 0 to-read 3.92 2025 The Woman in the Wallpaper
author: Lora Jones
name: Missy
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Scarlet Ribbon 221581024
When the British seize control of the nearby fort, she gives little thought to the officers who frequent the boarding house. Men are men regardless of the color of their uniform…or so she believes. But then a young man—a Patriot spy named Benjamin Renshaw—stumbles upon her in the darkness, and she saves him from a group of pursuing Redcoats.

With an attack on the fort brewing in the background and the father of her child returned to serve with the British, Rebekah is torn between old dreams and new hope, struggling all the while to find peace and forgiveness in a place of rising conflict.
]]> 333 Naomi Stephens Missy 0 to-read 4.39 The Scarlet Ribbon
author: Naomi Stephens
name: Missy
average rating: 4.39
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spark of the Revolution (Harbor of Spies #1)]]> 220805481 A spark ignites a flame that could burn down everything they hold dear.

Contrary to her name, Patience Abbott has long felt unsettled and anxious to leave behind her painful memories in England for a fresh start in America. But her new life isn’t quite what she expected, and as tension grows in her new home of Boston, so does the distance between Patience and her estranged father. So when Josiah Wagner walks into her life, it finally feels like she’s not alone. If only his patriotic leanings didn’t put him at odds with her father’s loyalties.

Josiah Wagner has spent his life yearning for a true home and family, something he works toward each day, forging tools as a blacksmith, and each night, forging plans with the Sons of Liberty. But when the destruction of tea in Boston Harbor lights the spark of the Revolution, Josiah finds himself drawn into its tumultuous wake, pulling the woman he loves along with him.

As tensions mount, will their search for belonging lead to each other, or will the obstacles between them be too great to overcome? In a land on the brink of war, can they find the home they seek in the One who calls them His own?]]> 359 Megan Soja Missy 0 to-read 4.65 Spark of the Revolution (Harbor of Spies #1)
author: Megan Soja
name: Missy
average rating: 4.65
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Heart of the Glen 214974526
When Saoirse Fagan arrives at Drumboe Castle to start her new job as housemaid, she is dismayed to learn that the lord of the house passed away a week prior. Already running from the tragedy that claimed the lives of her family members, Saoirse wanders the road through the darkening glen with nowhere to go until Aileen McCready offers her a lift and a place to stay for the night.

Aileen's brother, sheep farmer and weaver Owen McCready, is known for his intricate and impeccably woven tweed. But when he's injured, his entire livelihood is endangered. A new--and distracting--mouth to feed adds fuel to the fire, and Owen struggles to keep his family afloat. Though Saoirse is eager to help, even offering to learn the weaving craft, Owen is hesitant to accept aid from this strange young woman, no matter how inexplicably magnetic he finds her.

But Saoirse is not one to give up easily. She's determined to convince the McCreadys that they need her--perhaps as much as she needs them.

"Jennifer Deibel is an amazing writer and storyteller. She weaves a tale of love and forgiveness that's as beautiful as the cloth she describes."--Tracie Peterson, bestselling, award winning author of over 140 books, including The Heart of Cheyenne and the Pictures of the Heart series]]> 352 Jennifer Deibel 0800744861 Missy 0 to-read 4.17 2025 Heart of the Glen
author: Jennifer Deibel
name: Missy
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[To Love a Beast (Once Upon a Time in Texas, #1)]]> 224187637 Beauty & the Beast in 1800's Texas.
Ěý
Once known among New York's elite as the American Adonis, Everett Griffin now lives as a recluse in the wilds of Texas. The treachery of a former admirer left his face and his spirit riddled with scars, so he hides himself away, his only companions a trio of trusted servants and an oversized dog. Locals whisper of the beastly man who lives in the gloomy manor outside of town and his tendency to attack anyone who dares approach. Everett relishes his fearsome reputation and uses it as a shield to guard his privacy. Until a young woman as stubborn as she is beautiful infiltrates his sanctum and lays siege to his defenses.
Ěý
When an injury to her father jeopardizes the family's book binding business, Callista Rosenfeld determines to fulfill the contract herself, and no insufferable client or woman-eating dog will deter her. Finding unlikely allies among Mr. Griffin's staff, Callista secures her position and sets to work transforming the manor's remarkable library. Her employer transforms as well, his ill-tempered growls subsiding to reveal a considerate, intellectual nature. Affection blooms as Callista and Everett discover hidden depths in each other, but the evil schemes of a vengeful hunter threaten to leave their love and their lives in tatters.]]> 229 Karen Witemeyer Missy 0 to-read 4.64 2025 To Love a Beast (Once Upon a Time in Texas, #1)
author: Karen Witemeyer
name: Missy
average rating: 4.64
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[It is Finished: A 40-Day Pilgrimage Back to the Cross]]> 180352076 Tetelestai, "It is finished."

Jesus' final words on the Cross have impacted us for eternity. With His death and resurrection, He finished the work of our salvation. But our transformation continues. In his vibrant, storytelling tone, Charles Martin takes us on a journey to the Cross to examine how the Holy Spirit is now at work in us as we are continually being made "perfectly perfect."

As we gaze upon the Cross, it becomes a mirror that reflects our true selves and a magnifier that enlarges our view of who we are. Though we may be tempted to look away as we come face-to-face with shame, anger, lust, or pride. When we truly examine ourselves through the Cross, we see the sin that Christ died to redeem.

"The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." (1 Corinthians 1:25)

But we have been given the Holy Spirit, which is His power in us, and has removed the offense of the Cross. As we look to the Cross, we no longer see condemnation but hope as He transforms us to be more like Him.]]> 337 Charles Martin 1400338832 Missy 0 to-read 4.71 2024 It is Finished: A 40-Day Pilgrimage Back to the Cross
author: Charles Martin
name: Missy
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Jilted (Discovered by Love #1)]]> 28582102 Exclusive e-book, free to Carla's newsletter subscribers!
More details on author's web site.

Three days. Two jaded hearts. One unexpected love.

Bethany Hall is hiding out on a remote private island off the coast of Belize, creating romantic meals for the rich and the privileged. But when her client Derek Moretti’s bride jilts him at the altar, he’s left with a bitter view on love, a $30,000 a week bungalow, and for the first time in his life, nowhere else to be.

After Derek overhears his beautiful personal chef talking about how he dodged a bullet when his bridezilla left him, he begins to think that maybe she’s right. He convinces Bethany to act as his personal tour guide for the remainder of his trip, but neither expect that their purely platonic arrangement could shake their preconceptions about love.

Could Derek have been in the right place at the right time…just with the wrong woman?

]]> 120 Carla Laureano Missy 4 books-read-2025
Would not classify this as a Christian book, but it was a clean romance.

]]> 4.09 2016 Jilted (Discovered by Love #1)
author: Carla Laureano
name: Missy
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: books-read-2025
review:
Cute story on being left at the alter, and finding someone to love again. It was a quick romance novella, so it all happens in 3 days. But the story was good on how some don't see their whole potential, some think they are not the person others see, and in the end they discover they are perfect for each other.

Would not classify this as a Christian book, but it was a clean romance.


]]> This Stays Between Us 202969484 A group of university friends are studying abroad in Australia, having the time of their lives. Sun-kissed skin, whirlwind romances, all-night parties � they think it will never end, that nothing bad could ever happen to them.

When the exclusive Outback Experience begins, they can't wait to travel the country, swim with sharks, hike in the national park and see the outback. But then one of the group turns up dead and their trip of a lifetime becomes a nightmare.

Now:
New evidence has been found and the group have returned to Australia to be interviewed by the police. One of them knows what happened all those years ago, but they will do anything to keep the truth buried.]]> 432 Sara Ochs 1787636933 Missy 0 to-read 4.18 2025 This Stays Between Us
author: Sara Ochs
name: Missy
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The American Daughters 221473199
The American Daughters follows Ady, a curious, sharp-witted girl who is enslaved alongside her mother, Sanite toĚýa businessman in the French Quarter of New Orleans.ĚýSanite and her mother Ady are an inseparable duo—taking walks along the river,Ěýworking together in the fields and spending nights looking up at the stars, dreaming. Ady’s favorite pastime is listening to Sanite's stories of her families' origins, their fierce and rebellious nature, and the everlasting love that strengthens their bond.

When mother and daughter are separated, Ady is left hopeless and unmoored, until she stumbles into the Mockingbird Inn and meets Lenore, a free Black woman with whom she becomes fast friends. Lenore invites Ady to join a clandestine society of spies called The Daughters. With the courage instilled in her by Sanite—andĚýhelp from these strong women—Ady learns how to choose herself. So begins her journey toward liberation and imagining a new future.ĚýThe American Daughters is a novel of hope and triumph that reminds us what is possible when a community bands together to fight for their right to live free.]]> 304 Maurice Carlos Ruffin 0593729412 Missy 0 to-read 3.36 2024 The American Daughters
author: Maurice Carlos Ruffin
name: Missy
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Daughter of Rome 214974573
When Emperor Nero begins constructing his opulent Golden House, the people of Rome grow resentful, suspecting him of setting the fire in order to clear the land for his immense palace. Needing a scapegoat, Nero points at those who follow the Jewish Messiah, forcing Calandra to make an impossible choice between right and wrong, friends and family, love and death.

New York Times bestselling author Angela Hunt brings her series to an exhilarating close with a gripping tale of faith and sacrifice set against the rich tapestry of ancient Rome.]]> 384 Angela Elwell Hunt 0764241583 Missy 0 to-read 4.67 2025 The Daughter of Rome
author: Angela Elwell Hunt
name: Missy
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Wandering Season 216052887 Unraveling the tangled roots of her family takes her places she never expected.

Veronica Stratton, a specialty food broker with a business riding close to the margins, visits her parents in idyllic Estes Park for Christmas. With the holiday comes a DNA test from her younger sister and an engagement ring from her longtime boyfriend. The test confirms her secret she's adopted. The ring rattles her even more, and she realizes that she might not be as ready to commit as she'd thought.

With so much that she'd counted on suddenly falling apart, Veronica is looking for an escape. Inspired by her best friend, she plans to go to Europe to see four of the places listed on her DNA ancestry report. She treks to County Mayo in Ireland; the Dordogne region of France; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Tuscany in Italy. She hopes to learn a bit about where her family lived and to make more connections for her struggling business, but she finds that each stop brings her visions of her ancestors that raise more questions than they answer. And among those pressing questions is how brooding Irish restauranteur Niall Callaghan will fit into her visions for the future.]]> 368 Aimie K. Runyan 1400237289 Missy 0 to-read 4.00 The Wandering Season
author: Aimie K. Runyan
name: Missy
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Constant Love (The Hope of Cheyenne, #1)]]> 214974506
Charlotte has loved Micah her entire life and is determined not to lose him as well. With her mother's help, she begins coaxing Micah to live again. Despite their enduring heartache, the affection between them deepens, but just as Charlotte thinks her dreams may come true, a scorned suitor threatens everything she holds dear. Micah and Charlotte will have to embark on a journey of healing and restoration if they want to forge a future built on love, faith, and hope.

In this heartwarming series opener, Tracie Peterson delivers a moving historical romance of healing and spiritual depth set during the early years of the city of Cheyenne.]]> 304 Tracie Peterson 0764241109 Missy 0 to-read 4.36 A Constant Love (The Hope of Cheyenne, #1)
author: Tracie Peterson
name: Missy
average rating: 4.36
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Weaving of Life (New Directions #1)]]> 61272229 The first in a new series about an independent Amish woman and her struggles in career and romance.

Susan Lapp is a hardworking Amish woman in her early twenties. She enjoys the financial independence that working two jobs—as a housecleaner and at the local deli in Lancaster—affords her. And based on her sisters' tumultuous experiences with their husbands, she has no interest in dating or marriage. She's perfectly content with her life as it is, thank you very much.

When Susan's best friend Beth begins to date Susan's brother Mark, the couple is determined to play matchmaker for Susan. Susan begrudgingly agrees to humor them and soon finds herself caught between an undeniable attraction for one of Mark's coworkers and her unflinching commitment to staying single. Soon, her complicated feelings take her in directions she once couldn't have imagined. She experiences hardship like she never has before—homesickness, miserable weather in a place that feels so foreign, and an incredibly challenging job. And despite her attempts to escape romantic entanglements, she finds herself longing for the stability and familiarity of a committed relationship back home. Still, she wrestles with fear and uncertainty. How is she to know God's will for her life?

Ěý]]> 338 Linda Byler 1680998757 Missy 3
Susan takes the job, knowing she has feelings started for Levi. Levi told her he would wait for her, to make up her mind on whether marriage is for her or not. But the area she is going to, the school she will be teaching is not what she was expecting.

But one family, in the beginning makes her wonder just how they function, becomes the very reason she did not want to teach. But in the end teaches her exactly what she wants.

I enjoyed this story, to an extent. I like the premise of the story, but what I didn't like was the endless moaning and groaning of how bad marriage was, how her brothers-in-law were losers, and how terrible it must be. I am hoping the rest of the series is not so down and Susan changes her attitude to enjoy life, and quit looking at the downfalls of men, marriage, and a happy life.

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing. ]]> 3.76 The Weaving of Life (New Directions #1)
author: Linda Byler
name: Missy
average rating: 3.76
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/03
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read
review:
This is the story of Susan, a 23-year-old Amish woman, who has not married yet. She does not have the best of role models from her sisters on marriage, and so Susan has decided it isn't worth it. Until she meets Levi, who gives her the space she needs to learn whether marriage is for her or not. After working at the local deli and cleaning houses, Susan gets an offer to teach - in Wyoming.

Susan takes the job, knowing she has feelings started for Levi. Levi told her he would wait for her, to make up her mind on whether marriage is for her or not. But the area she is going to, the school she will be teaching is not what she was expecting.

But one family, in the beginning makes her wonder just how they function, becomes the very reason she did not want to teach. But in the end teaches her exactly what she wants.

I enjoyed this story, to an extent. I like the premise of the story, but what I didn't like was the endless moaning and groaning of how bad marriage was, how her brothers-in-law were losers, and how terrible it must be. I am hoping the rest of the series is not so down and Susan changes her attitude to enjoy life, and quit looking at the downfalls of men, marriage, and a happy life.

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing.
]]> <![CDATA[Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed]]> 201626940 FromĚýNew York TimesĚýbestseller Maureen Callahan, a fierce, character-driven exposĂ© of the real Kennedy Curse—the family’s generations-long legacy of misogyny, murder, and mayhem—and the women who have paid the price for our obsession with Camelot

The Kennedy name has long been synonymous with wealth, power, glamor, and—above all else—integrity. But this carefully constructed veneer hides a dark truth: the pattern of Kennedy men physically and psychologically abusing women and girls, leaving a trail of ruin and death in each generation’s wake. Through decades of scandal after scandal—from sexual assaults to reputational slander, suicides to manslaughter—the family and their defenders have kept the Kennedy brand intact.

Now, in Ask Not, bestselling author and journalist Maureen Callahan reveals the Kennedys� hidden history of violence and exploitation, laying bare their unrepentant sexism and rampant depravity while also restoring these women and girls to their rightful place at the center of the dynasty’s story: from Jacqueline Onassis and Marilyn Monroe to Carolyn Bessette, Martha Moxley, Mary Jo Kopechne, Rosemary Kennedy, and many others whose names aren’t nearly as well known but should be.

Drawing on years of explosive reportage and written in electric prose, Ask Not is a long-overdue reckoning with this fabled family and a consequential part of American history that is still very much with us. At long last Callahan redirects the spotlight to the women in the Kennedys� orbit, paying homage to those who freed themselves and giving voice to those who, through no fault of their own, could not.]]> 400 Maureen Callahan 0316276170 Missy 0 to-read 4.04 2024 Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed
author: Maureen Callahan
name: Missy
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Answer Is No 219876684 In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.]]> 68 Fredrik Backman 1662526520 Missy 5 books-read-2025
I enjoyed this quick little read, reminiscent of Anxious People in some ways. Loved the interaction of strangers and how a simple problem becomes everyone's problem for a couple of days.

Thank you to Netgalley, Amazon Original Stories, and of course Mr. Backman for another read that made me giggle.]]> 3.94 2024 The Answer Is No
author: Fredrik Backman
name: Missy
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: books-read-2025
review:
I am always game for a good book by Fredrick Backman. This was no exception. A short novella about a man who just likes to be by himself. But then the Committee comes, and being by himself become a thing of the past for a few days. But it also shows him that some interaction with people is not always bad. After a mysterious frying pan shows up "outside the garbage bin" it is the Committee that puts Lucas in charge of finding out whose it is, because he has good ideas. But then he meets the Lady in the Purple Dress and the Lady in the Green Shirt. They show him a whole new world and how it works. In the end his ideas do work, and maybe the Lade in the Purple Dress had more of a motive than she initially intended. But it all comes back to being yourself.

I enjoyed this quick little read, reminiscent of Anxious People in some ways. Loved the interaction of strangers and how a simple problem becomes everyone's problem for a couple of days.

Thank you to Netgalley, Amazon Original Stories, and of course Mr. Backman for another read that made me giggle.
]]> Loving 864779 Alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Bettina Daniels lived a fairytale existence of glamour, endless parties, and luxury among America's top celebrities--simply because she was the beautiful daughter of famous American author Justin Daniels. Then, in one moment of tragedy, her father was dead, and Bettina discovered the truth--he had spent every dime he'd ever earned and run up millions in debt. At eighteen, penniless and alone, she had lost everything except her father's dearest friend, Ivo Stewart. A wealthy, handsome publisher of sixty-two, he offered Bettina a way out: marriage. But only for a time. What lay ahead for Bettina was a life filled with shocks and surprises--and eventually a chance to become a playwright, and a writer like her father. Having learned her lessons dearly, Bettina blossoms into her own person at last.]]> 384 Danielle Steel 0440146577 Missy 3 3.67 Loving
author: Danielle Steel
name: Missy
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 3
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date added: 2025/01/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Along the Rio Grande (Love on the Santa Fe, #1)]]> 58302654
Recently widowed Susanna Jenkins has decided to follow her family to the booming town of San Marcial, New Mexico, for a fresh start and to aid in her family's sudden change in fortune. They are tasked with managing her uncle's new Grand Hotel, and it takes all her patience to try to help her parents see the good of their circumstances and relinquish their sense of entitlement.

She's hopeful when her brother becomes determined to get a job and make his own way, and she feels drawn to his kind boss, Owen Turner, who works as a boilermaker for the Santa Fe's train shops in town. But the hard work only seems to fuel her brother's anger, and his rough new friends give her pause.

When misguided choices put Susanna's family in an even more precarious situation, she worries her help has only made things worse. Leaving her family to fend for themselves seems like the best option, but how can she walk away from the true friendships--and love--that she's found?]]> 384 Tracie Peterson 0764237292 Missy 4 3.95 2022 Along the Rio Grande (Love on the Santa Fe, #1)
author: Tracie Peterson
name: Missy
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/24
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> Come Fly with Me 214336229 It’s 1962, the dawn of the jet-set era. Hope takes flight for two Pan Am stewardesses navigating an adventurous new life in a novel about love, friendship, and escape by the bestselling author of The Memory of Us and Until We Meet.

Welcome to a glamorous gateway to the jet age.

Judy Goodman and Beverly Caldwell have different reasons for putting continents and oceans between themselves and their disparate pasts, but they have the same desire—to earn a coveted position on an elite team of stewardesses for Pan American Airlines. For Judy, running away from an oppressive marriage in small-town Pennsylvania is a risk she must take. And for Beverly, leaving behind the gilded cage of New York society will allow her to pursue a future of her own making.

Embracing the culture, etiquette, and strict rules of a thrilling and unpredictable new world above the clouds, Judy and Beverly are bound for faraway destinations and opportunities that other women dare only to dream about. But as they build a deep friendship, encounter love and danger, and discover what’s truly important, Judy and Beverly must also confront the secrets that could change their lives all over again—and forever.]]> 347 Camille Di Maio 1662523947 Missy 0 to-read 4.16 2025 Come Fly with Me
author: Camille Di Maio
name: Missy
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/20
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]]> The French Kitchen 221132606 As Paris rebuilds in the aftermath of World War II, one ex-pat uses the skills she learned in French kitchens during the war to bring long-held secrets to light.

Paris, 1952 -- An ex-pat wife living in Paris signs up for a cookery class taught by an American chef with an indomitable wit and decidedly French airs--an instructor by name of Julia Child. Amongst classes of the L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, with pots and pans and prim Paris wives learning to sauté in the French way, Kat Fontaine learns much more than she bargained for.

Still haunted by the years she spent serving in the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII, Kat soon finds a simple cookery class unearths the tangle of gut-wrenching memories of war and questions about the high-ranking society husband whose past is as murky as her own. But when the puzzle pieces start to come together--and her carefully crafted Paris world begins to fall apart--Kat must confront her own secrets against the mounting suspicions of the husband she thought she knew . . .

Rue, 1943 -- Deep in the heart of Nazi-controlled northern France, Manon Altier shifts between working for the enemy by day--as a French chef at the famous Château du Broutel, where names like Himmler, Rommel, and Goebbels frequent the guest list--and running with underground networks against the Vichy regime at night. Working undercover to filter information to agents within the burgeoning OSS, Manon digs deep into the glitz and glamour of a Nazi stronghold that has her teetering on the edge of being discovered at any turn. But when an intriguing stranger appears at the chateau claiming to work with the French Resistance, Manon must lean on her instincts to judge whether to run and hide or stand firm--even as a terrifying discovery tests her resolve to continue the fight.

From the heights of culinary cuisine in 1950s Paris society to the underbelly of a WWII spy network embedded deep within Nazi-controlled Vichy France--and the spy backstory of the world's most famous would-be French chef, Julia Child--The French Kitchen turns up the heat on the pasts of women whose worlds collide, and forces each to question what she thought she'd planned for a perfect future.]]> 384 Kristy Cambron 140034526X Missy 0 to-read 4.51 The French Kitchen
author: Kristy Cambron
name: Missy
average rating: 4.51
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rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The Highland Heist (A Freddie and Grace Mystery #4)]]> 220201480 Lord Astley surprises his wife with a trip to America to see her family before they end their honeymoon adventures. But just as they arrive, they find Grace's sister, Lillias, is the prime suspect in her husband's murder. To add to the confusion a solicitor arrives to tell the sister's they are needed in Scotland immediately to claim their mother's inheritance.

The clock is ticking to clear Lillias of suspicion, but someone is determined to keep the sisters from reaching the Scottish Highlands. When Lillias disappears, Freddie and Grace race to Scotland, sure the answers will be found in a long-forgotten castle.

With a ghost from Frederick's past leaving threatening clues along the way, the mysterious Mr. Kane waiting in the wings to grab the inheritance for himself, and an apparition haunting the infamous castle, Lord and Lady Astley must capture the castle, save Lillias, and not die in the process.

The Highland Heist is a Freddie and Grace Mystery, sequel to The Mistletoe Countess, The Cairo Curse, and The Juliet Code.]]> 320 Pepper Basham Missy 0 to-read 4.78 The Highland Heist (A Freddie and Grace Mystery #4)
author: Pepper Basham
name: Missy
average rating: 4.78
book published:
rating: 0
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]]> The Lies They Told 220999703
When Lena Conti—a young, unwed mother—sees immigrant families being forcibly separated on Ellis Island, she vows not to let the officers take her two-year old daughter. But the inspection process is more rigorous than she imagined, and she is separated from her mother and teenage brother, who are labeled burdens to society, denied entry, and deported back to Germany. Now, alone but determined to give her daughter a better life after years of living in poverty and near starvation, she finds herself facing a future unlike anything she had envisioned.

Silas Wolfe, a widowed family relative, reluctantly brings Lena and her daughter to his weathered cabin in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains to care for his home and children. Though the hills around Wolfe Hollow remind Lena of her homeland, she struggles to adjust. Worse, she is stunned to learn the children in her care have been taught to hide when the sheriff comes around. As Lena meets their neighbors, she realizes the community is vibrant and tight knit, but also senses growing unease. The State of Virginia is scheming to paint them as ignorant, immoral, and backwards so they can evict them from their land, seize children from parents, and deal with those possessing “inferior genes.�

After a social worker from the Eugenics Office accuses Lena of promiscuity and feeblemindedness, her own worst fears come true. Sent to the Virginia State Colony for the Feebleminded and Epileptics, Lena face impossible choices in hopes of reuniting with her daughter—and protecting the people, and the land, she has grown to love.]]> 416 Ellen Marie Wiseman 1496741501 Missy 0 to-read 4.56 The Lies They Told
author: Ellen Marie Wiseman
name: Missy
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/17
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]]> <![CDATA[The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau]]> 220160204 Kristin Harmel, the New York Times bestselling author who “is the best there is at sweeping historical drama� (Kelly Harms, author of The Seven Day Switch), returns with an electrifying new novel about two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder.

Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance.

But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine—but the bracelet was nowhere to be found.

Seventy years later, Colette—who has “redistributed� $30 million in jewels over the decades to fund many worthy organizations—has done her best to put her tragic past behind her, but her life begins to unravel when the long-missing bracelet suddenly turns up in a museum exhibit in Boston. If Colette can discover where it has been all this time—and who owns it now—she may finally learn the truth about what happened to her sister. But she isn’t the only one for whom the bracelet holds answers, and when someone from her childhood lays claim to the diamonds, she’s forced to confront the ghosts of her past as never before. Against all odds, there may still be a chance to bring a murderer to justice—but first, Colette will have to summon the courage to open her own battered heart.]]> 384 Kristin Harmel 1982191732 Missy 0 to-read 4.51 The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Missy
average rating: 4.51
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]]> <![CDATA[The Shepherd's Wife (Jerusalem Road, #2)]]> 51267919
In the eighteen months between the kids' birth and the opportunity to sell them and redeem her husband from prison, Pheodora must call on her wits, her family, and her God in order to provide for her daughters and survive. But when every prayer and ritual she knows is about God's care for Israel, how can she trust that God will hear and help a lowly shepherd's wife?]]> 384 Angela Elwell Hunt 0764233858 Missy 4 4.40 2020 The Shepherd's Wife (Jerusalem Road, #2)
author: Angela Elwell Hunt
name: Missy
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: books-read-2025, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Rebel Empresses: Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France, Power and Glamour in the Struggle for Europe]]> 214175199 From the acclaimed author of In the Shadow of the Empress comes the thrilling chronicle of two of the most influential and glamorous women in nineteenth-century Europe—Elisabeth, empress of Austria, and Eugénie, empress of France—and their efforts to rule amid the scandal, intrigue, tragedy, and violence of their era.

When they married Emperors Franz Joseph and Napoleon III, respectively, Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France became two of the most famous women on the planet. Not only were they both young and beautiful—becoming cultural and fashion icons of their time—but they played a pivotal role in ruling their realms during a tempestuous era characterized by unprecedented political and technological change.
Ěý
Fearless, adventurous, and independent, Elisabeth and Eugénie represented a new kind of empress—one who rebelled against tradition and anticipated and embraced modern values. Yet both women endured hardship in their private and public lives. Elisabeth was plagued by a mother-in-law who snatched her infant children away and undermined her authority at court. Eugénie’s husband was an infamous philanderer who could not match the military prowess of his namesake. Between them, Elisabeth and Eugénie were personally involved in every major international confrontation in their turbulent century, which witnessed thrilling technological advances, as well as revolutions, assassinations, and wars.

With her characteristic in-depth research and jump-off-the-page writing, Nancy Goldstone brings to life these two remarkable women, as Europe goes through the convulsions that led up to the international landscape we recognize today.]]> 640 Nancy Goldstone 0316419427 Missy 0 to-read 4.50 2025 The Rebel Empresses: Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France, Power and Glamour in the Struggle for Europe
author: Nancy Goldstone
name: Missy
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/15
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]]> <![CDATA[The Surviving Trace (Surviving Time, #1)]]> 22289995 Our love is timeless.

Will is my fiancé. The shy man I met years ago in college. The person I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with.

This is the life I’ve always wanted until finding a picture of four men changes everything�

Etienne says he’s my husband and the year is 1912. He can’t stand the sight of me, but I don’t know why.

Oh, and he’s one of the men from the picture.

I’ve done the impossible and have become trapped in time and I know Etienne is my key to going home.

The more time I spend with Etienne, the further I fall for him, until I’m questioning which time I belong in and if the life I left behind is the one I truly desire.

All I know for certain is I need to survive time.

I need to survive love.

And I need to make it out on the other side alive.

Contemporary Romance/Time Travel]]> 463 Calia Read Missy 0 to-read 4.17 2018 The Surviving Trace (Surviving Time, #1)
author: Calia Read
name: Missy
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
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]]> The Outlaw Takes a Bride 22749581 314 Susan Page Davis 163058259X Missy 0 to-read 3.74 The Outlaw Takes a Bride
author: Susan Page Davis
name: Missy
average rating: 3.74
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date added: 2025/01/10
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]]> <![CDATA[The Christmas Tree Bride (The 12 Brides of Christmas #8)]]> 23370706 48 Susan Page Davis Missy 0 4.15 The Christmas Tree Bride (The 12 Brides of Christmas #8)
author: Susan Page Davis
name: Missy
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/10
shelves: to-read, christian-fiction-tbr
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]]> <![CDATA[Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America's Heartland]]> 1050983
Patricia Bryan and Thomas Wolf examine the harsh realities of farm life at the turn of the century and look at the plight of women—legally, socially, and politically—during that period. What also emerges is the story of early feminist Susan Glaspell, who covered the Hossack case as a young reporter and later used it as the basis for her acclaimed work A Jury of Her Peers.

Midnight Assassin expertly renders the American character and experience: our obsession with crime, how justice is achieved, and the powerful influence of the media.]]> 278 Patricia L. Bryan 1565123069 Missy 0 to-read 3.46 2005 Midnight Assassin: A Murder in America's Heartland
author: Patricia L. Bryan
name: Missy
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/10
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]]> The Umbrella Maker's Son 213555988 For fans of Heather Morris and Lisa Barr, a powerful and unforgettable novel of survival against all odds and the remarkable power of love, in which a Jewish teenager in World War II Poland fights to save his life and find the young woman who holds his heart.

Born to a secure, middle-class Polish Jewish family, seventeen-year-old Reuven works alongside his father, an artisan businessman whose shop creates the finest handmade umbrellas in Poland. But the family’s peaceful life shatters when the Nazis invade their homeland, igniting World War II. With terrifying brutality, the Nazis confiscate their business, evict them from their home, and strip away their rights, threatening the lives of the city’s Jewish population, including Reuven and Zelda, the girl he loves.

Shortly after the Nazi occupation, Zelda and her family disappear, and Reuven and his father are forced into backbreaking physical labor that nearly kills them. For the young man and his family, the only chance to survive is escape—and some of them will die trying.

Fleeing a Nazi ambush through the surrounding forest, shot and wounded, Reuven is found by a local farmer who has never met a Jew—and agrees to help because he needs the boy to work the farm with him. The farmer’s wife, however, is not as kind. Her betrayal forces a desperate Reuven to escape. He embarks on a perilous journey through the Polish countryside, determined to reach the Kraków ghetto where he hopes to reunite with Zelda, whose life has also been forever changed by the horrors of occupation and war.

A love story and a story of family,ĚýThe Umbrella Maker’s SonĚýis a riveting, heartfelt, and beautiful tale of survival and unexpected hope in the face of terror and violence. A chronicle of triumph, it joins the ranks ofĚýThe Tattooist of AuschwitzĚýand other memorable works ofĚýmodern Holocaust literature.

Ěý]]> 400 Tod Lending 0063413841 Missy 0 to-read 4.18 The Umbrella Maker's Son
author: Tod Lending
name: Missy
average rating: 4.18
book published:
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> <![CDATA[The Secret History of Audrey James]]> 213870081 An astonishing historical novel of one woman’s dangerous journey through World War II Germany and her life-changing friendship with a young woman decades later—from the #1 international bestselling author of Looking for Jane

Northern England, 2010. After a tragic accident upends her life, Kate Mercer leaves London to work at an old guest house near the Scottish border, where she hopes to find a fresh start and heal from her loss. When she arrives, she begins to unravel the truth about her past, but discovers that the mysterious elderly proprietor is harboring secrets of her own.

Berlin, 1938. Audrey James is weeks away from graduating from a prestigious music school in Berlin, where she’s been living with her best friend, Ilse Kaplan. As war looms, Ilse’s family disappears and high-ranking Nazi officers confiscate the house. In desperation, Audrey becomes their housekeeper while Ilse is forced into hiding in the attic. When a shocking turn of events embroils Audrey in the anti-Hitler movement, she must decide what matters most: protecting those she loves, or sacrificing everything for the greater good.

Inspired by true stories of courageous women and the German resistance during World War II, The Secret History of Audrey James is a captivating novel about the unbreakable bonds of friendship, the sacrifices we make for those we love, and the healing that comes from human connection.]]> 464 Heather Marshall 0593975480 Missy 0 to-read 4.35 2024 The Secret History of Audrey James
author: Heather Marshall
name: Missy
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> <![CDATA[Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster: The Untold Story of the Abolitionist Southern Belle Who Helped Win the Civil War]]> 199793620 A thrilling, cinematic saga of a Southern belle whose espionage for Abraham Lincoln and the Union helped win the Civil War.

Wealthy Southern belle Elizabeth Van Lew had it all. Money, charm, wit—the biggest mansion in Richmond. So why risk everything to become the Civil War’s most productive Union spy?

The answer was freedom. In this gripping history of a secret espionage genius, Gerri Willis reveals how Elizabeth built a flourishing spy network in the heart of the Confederate Capitol. Flouting society’s expectations for women, Elizabeth infiltrated prisons, defied public opinion, and recruited an underground movement of freed slaves, secret Unionists, and brave captives.

Putting her straitlaced Victorian past behind her, Elizabeth encountered vivid characters—assassins, socialites, escape artists, andĚýcross-dressing spies. From grave robbery to a bold voyage across enemy lines, her escapades grew more and more daring. It paid off. Her agents were so well-placed that she had spies gathering information in both the Confederate War Department and the Richmond White House, and couriers providing General Ulysses S. Grant with crucial, daily intelligence for the war’s final assault.

Deeply researched and rich with detail, Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster is a remarkable true story of courage, ingenuity, and resistance. Gerri Willis pulls back the curtain on one of the most fearless heroes of the Civil War, restoring her to her rightful place as an American icon.


]]> 288 Gerri Willis 0063333651 Missy 0 to-read 5.00 Lincoln’s Lady Spymaster: The Untold Story of the Abolitionist Southern Belle Who Helped Win the Civil War
author: Gerri Willis
name: Missy
average rating: 5.00
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date added: 2025/01/09
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]]> The Girl with the Red Ribbon 216033299 1939, Poland. An extraordinary young woman vows revenge on the Nazis after her family are murdered� Ania hears the explosion of gunshots before she sees the Nazi soldiers approach her beloved home. Her family don’t have time to run, but she does. Hiding nearby, she watches and listens to her sister’s screams. But, stroking the red ribbon she keeps tied around her wrist, she begins to plot her revenge�

Taunted her whole life for being smarter than anyone else in the village, now living in war-torn Poland, being governed by Nazis who think Poles are subhuman and women only good for one thing� Ania knows only has her wits to rely on for survival.

But then she comes across a group of misfits all rejected by the resistance movement for bringing too much risk with them � a scarred Jewish man, a madwoman, a gypsy, and a quiet, handsome Russian soldier. And Ania realizes she alone has the power to unite them. Together, they will destroy each and every one of the people who took everything from her.

The Nazis have no idea what � or who � they are up against. And they’re about to discover that no one should cross a woman who has nothing to lose�

Inspired by an incredible true story from the author’s own family, comes a absolutely gripping story about courage and sacrifice in the darkest days of war.]]> 314 Carly Schabowski 1836035004 Missy 0 to-read 4.12 The Girl with the Red Ribbon
author: Carly Schabowski
name: Missy
average rating: 4.12
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date added: 2025/01/08
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]]> Becoming Madam Secretary 221754311 She took on titans, battled generals, and changed the world as we know it�

New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray returns with a captivating and dramatic new novel about an American heroine Frances Perkins.

Raised on tales of her revolutionary ancestors, Frances Perkins arrives in New York City at the turn of the century, armed with her trusty parasol and an unyielding determination to make a difference.

When she’s not working with children in the crowded tenements in Hell’s Kitchen, Frances throws herself into the social scene in Greenwich Village, befriending an eclectic group of politicians, artists, and activists, including the millionaire socialite Mary Harriman Rumsey, the flirtatious budding author Sinclair Lewis, and the brilliant but troubled reformer Paul Wilson, with whom she falls deeply in love.

But when Frances meets a young lawyer named Franklin Delano Roosevelt at a tea dance, sparks fly in all the wrong directions. She thinks he’s a rich, arrogant dilettante who gets by on a handsome face and a famous name. He thinks she’s a priggish bluestocking and insufferable do-gooder. Neither knows it yet, but over the next twenty years, they will form a historic partnership that will carry them both to the White House.

Frances is destined to rise in a political world dominated by men, facing down the Great Depression as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant—even as she struggles to balance the demands of a public career with marriage and motherhood. And when vicious political attacks mount and personal tragedies threaten to derail her ambitions, she must decide what she’s willing to do—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to save a nation.]]> 544 Stephanie Dray 0593437071 Missy 0 to-read 4.42 2024 Becoming Madam Secretary
author: Stephanie Dray
name: Missy
average rating: 4.42
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History]]> 239186
Using Cline's own telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.]]> 323 Erik Larson 0375708278 Missy 0 to-read 4.04 1999 Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
author: Erik Larson
name: Missy
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Keeper (Murphy Shepherd, #4)]]> 216101362 Combine James Patterson and Colleen Hoover and you'll start to understand why readers are riveted by the Murphy Shepherd gripping action, heart-wrenching emotion, and deep questions that deserve to be considered.

In this fourth book in the Murphy Shepherd series, Murphy knows Bones didn't hesitate to give his life to stop the evil perpetuated by his brother, but there's still work to be done. Though Frank is gone, his organization is not, and almost even before Bones's funeral in Arlington is complete, Murph receives a call that the three daughters of presidential hopeful Aaron Ashley have been taken and there are no leads.

The girls' lives on the line and time is of the essence. But Murphy has never done this without Bones. How can he grieve his friend and mentor, figure out who he is without Bones, and navigate a new role for himself with team . . . all while putting total focus into finding these daughters?

When his daughters are finally rescued, Ashley steps back from the presidential race. But Murph knows something about the timing is a little too convenient for the senator who steps in to take his place. The far-reaching tendrils of Frank's organization are entangled even here, and Murph and his team will stop at nothing to root them out.]]> 430 Charles Martin 0840722486 Missy 0 to-read 4.67 The Keeper (Murphy Shepherd, #4)
author: Charles Martin
name: Missy
average rating: 4.67
book published:
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date added: 2025/01/03
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]]> The Rebel Daughters 217570346
“It was the season of the beliye nochi when the sun never set and days slipped effortlessly into pearlescent nights. Tiny stars appeared, clusters of yellow in a paper sky. When you looked again, they were gone…�

Young Anna Brianski has led a charmed life between St Petersburg and the peace of the Russian countryside, until one terrible day in December 1825. It’s a day that starts with winter sun and ends with blood on the ice. Until now, the only thing Anna has risked has been her naïve heart. But one day � the Decemberist Revolt � changes everything. Her family, her freedom and her friends are all at in grave danger, as she sees the caprice and cruelty of the Tsar at first hand.

Sweeping from high society to the frozen gulag, from the embrace of a lover to the tears of friends separated friends, The Rebel Daughters tells the story not just of the brave women who defied everyone by following the revolutionaries into the wilds of Siberia, but also how courage comes in many forms, the price we pay for defiance and how love can be greatest rebellion of all.]]> 320 Cecil Cameron 000854090X Missy 0 to-read 4.86 The Rebel Daughters
author: Cecil Cameron
name: Missy
average rating: 4.86
book published:
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]]> <![CDATA[The Counterfeit Wife (Revolutionary War Mysteries #2)]]> 62671117
Months have passed since young widow Becca Parcell and former printer Daniel Alloway foiled a plot that threatened the new nation. But independence is still a distant dream, and General Washington can’t afford more unrest, not with food prices rising daily and the value of money falling just as fast.

At the General’s request, Becca and Daniel travel to Philadelphia to track down traitors who are flooding the city with counterfeit money. Searching for clues, Becca befriends the wealthiest women in town, the members of the Ladies Association of Philadelphia, while Daniel seeks information from the city’s printers.

But their straightforward mission quickly grows personal and deadly as a half-remembered woman from Becca’s childhood is arrested for murdering one of the suspected counterfeiters.

With time running out—and their faux marriage breaking apart—Becca and Daniel find themselves searching for a hate-driven villain who’s ready to kill again.]]> 313 Mally Becker Missy 0 to-read 4.18 The Counterfeit Wife (Revolutionary War Mysteries #2)
author: Mally Becker
name: Missy
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Paris Mistress (Revolutionary War Mysteries #3)]]> 204269111
Becca is eager to reach Paris to marry Daniel, who’s gone ahead to take up a new post there. But their idyllic prenuptial life unravels when they accept an invitation to reside with Dr. Benjamin Franklin, America’s brilliant, enigmatic ambassador to France.

It’s bad enough that someone is stealing Dr. Franklin’s correspondence and sending it to London. But then he receives a mysterious letter offering him a bribe to help England. And when a murdered man is found on the roof of Dr. Franklin’s home outside of Paris, and he calls upon Becca and Daniel his two new houseguests–former spies for George Washington–to investigate. The duo find themselves searching for the murderer through the labyrinth of 18th century Paris, a city brimming with danger, secrets, and the ever-present whispers of revolution.

With time running out, Becca and Daniel must determine whether the killer is a member of Dr. Franklin’s inner circle or a cunning outsider. And as the couple race from the cobblestone streets of Paris to the gilded halls of Versailles, they discover that their own lives are in grave danger and that the stakes for Dr. Franklin and America are even higher than they could have imagined.

Will Becca and Daniel find the killer before the murderer strikes again, and will they ever manage to marry?]]> 312 Mally Becker Missy 0 to-read 4.45 The Paris Mistress (Revolutionary War Mysteries #3)
author: Mally Becker
name: Missy
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Across the Winding River 52755401
Beth Cohen wants to make the most of the months she has left with her elderly father, Max. His only request of his daughter is to go through the long-forgotten box of memorabilia from his days as a medic on the western front. Then, among his wartime souvenirs, Beth finds a photograph of her father with an adoring and beautiful stranger—a photograph worth a thousand questions.

It was 1944 when Max was drawn into the underground resistance by the fearless German wife of a Nazi officer. Together, she and Max were willing to risk everything for what they believed was right. Ahead of them lay a dangerous romance, a dream of escape, and a destiny over which neither had control.

But Max isn’t alone in his haunting remembrances of war. In a nearby private care home is a fragile German-born woman with her own past to share. Only when the two women meet does Beth realize how much more to her father there is to know, all the ways in which his heart still breaks, and the closure he needs to heal it.]]> 0 Aimie K. Runyan 179974776X Missy 5 wwii, books-read-2025
It is also the story of Beth, a professor, and her father, Max. Max was in the Army along the French/German border. While there he met a beautiful woman. But what Beth later finds out, as her father is ailing and wants to get his affairs in order, is that there is also a half-sibling.

With the help of a librarian at the college, and a feisty woman at the home where her father lives, Beth is able to hear Max's story, and find her long-lost sibling.

I enjoyed this book. A different take on the WWII that I normally read, and enjoyed that it was such. I enjoy Ms. Runyan's books and look forward to the next.


This was an ARC from Netgalley, Lake Union Publishing, and opinions are my own.]]> 3.86 2020 Across the Winding River
author: Aimie K. Runyan
name: Missy
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: wwii, books-read-2025
review:
This is the story of Johanna, an engineer and pilot for the Luftwaffe. Her sister Mette is part of the young German girls and is set to marry a high ranking SS.

It is also the story of Beth, a professor, and her father, Max. Max was in the Army along the French/German border. While there he met a beautiful woman. But what Beth later finds out, as her father is ailing and wants to get his affairs in order, is that there is also a half-sibling.

With the help of a librarian at the college, and a feisty woman at the home where her father lives, Beth is able to hear Max's story, and find her long-lost sibling.

I enjoyed this book. A different take on the WWII that I normally read, and enjoyed that it was such. I enjoy Ms. Runyan's books and look forward to the next.


This was an ARC from Netgalley, Lake Union Publishing, and opinions are my own.
]]> Smitten 12695910 0 Colleen Coble 1609813669 Missy 4 4.00 2011 Smitten
author: Colleen Coble
name: Missy
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/05
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: books-read-2024, christian-fiction-read
review:
Cute story of four friends who finally find love in the unlikely of places, right before their eyes.
]]> <![CDATA[Positively, Penelope (Skymar, #2)]]> 63354447 Told mostly through letters, texts, and email, this contemporary romance will charm its way into hearts as Penelope rescues a theater and discovers her true self in the process.

Penelope Edgewood is practically positive in every way, so when, fresh out of college, she is awarded a paid internship to help save a century-old theater on the island of Skymar, she jumps at the chance. After all, a crumbling theater needs the special touch of someone who reveres all things vintage and adores the stage.

Unfortunately, not everything is as it seems at Darling House Theatre. Finances are in shambles, the local theater group is disenchanted, and the two brothers, Matt and Alec Gray, can’t seem to see eye-to-eye about how to run their theatrical business. So, of course, it’s the perfect place for Penelope to shine her own personal brand of sunshine.

With a little help from GK, the person emailing her encouragement along the way, she puts all her heart into helping the Grays save Darling House. But between Matt’s ever-present skepticism, Alec’s tendency to treat Penelope a little too much like the “princess� she thinks she wants to be (until someone actually started treating her that way), a grandfather who is stuck in his grief, and a mysterious person stealing Penelope’s marketing ideas, she’s not sure her optimism is enough to make a happily-ever-after of her own story, let alone The Darling House’s.

Between an adorable little girl, a matchmaker, a sea monster or two, and a copious amount of musical references, can Penelope draw enough confidence from her faith, her family, and her adoration of all things Julie Andrews, to find the thief and save the theater . . . without getting her heart broken in the process?


Charming contemporary romance
Perfect for fans of Dear Mr. Knightley and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Includes discussion questions for book clubs]]> 396 Pepper Basham 084071520X Missy 4 4.18 2023 Positively, Penelope (Skymar, #2)
author: Pepper Basham
name: Missy
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/09
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: books-read-2024, christian-fiction-read
review:
So glad to be back in Skymar with Penelope, Izzy, and Luke. Their friendly banter always makes me smile.
]]> <![CDATA[The Healer's Apprentice (Hagenheim, #1)]]> 7826101 Two Hearts. One Hope.

Rose has been appointed as a healer's apprentice at Hagenheim Castle, a rare opportunity for a woodcutter's daughter like her. While she often feels uneasy at the sight of blood, Rose is determined to prove herself capable. Failure will mean returning home to marry the aging bachelor her mother has chosen for her—a bloated, disgusting merchant who makes Rose feel ill.

When Lord Hamlin, the future duke, is injured, it is Rose who must tend to him. As she works to heal his wound, she begins to understand emotions she's never felt before and wonders if he feels the same. But falling in love is forbidden, as Lord Hamlin is betrothed to a mysterious young woman in hiding. As Rose's life spins toward confusion, she must take the first steps on a journey to discover her own destiny.]]> 272 Melanie Dickerson 0310721431 Missy 4
Rose is a healer's apprentice, determined to take over so she doesn't have to marry. That is until the day that Lord Hamlin and his brother, Lord Rupert, come into town. Both men are drawn to Rose's beauty, but Lord Rupert is the one to act on it. But in the side Lord Hamlin cannot get Rose out of his mind. But as always in the background lurks the horrible villian who knows who Rose really is.

I enjoyed this read and look forward to reading the rest in the series.]]> 3.84 2010 The Healer's Apprentice (Hagenheim, #1)
author: Melanie Dickerson
name: Missy
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/26
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: books-read-2024, christian-fiction-read
review:
This is a loose retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I don't read a lot of books like this, so it was kind of refreshing to read something "new".

Rose is a healer's apprentice, determined to take over so she doesn't have to marry. That is until the day that Lord Hamlin and his brother, Lord Rupert, come into town. Both men are drawn to Rose's beauty, but Lord Rupert is the one to act on it. But in the side Lord Hamlin cannot get Rose out of his mind. But as always in the background lurks the horrible villian who knows who Rose really is.

I enjoyed this read and look forward to reading the rest in the series.
]]> <![CDATA[The Promise of Breeze Hill (Natchez Trace, #1)]]> 33107254 Natchez, MS; 1791

Anxious for his brothers to join him on the rugged frontier along the Mississippi River, Connor O'Shea has no choice but to indenture himself as a carpenter in exchange for their passage from Ireland. But when he's sold to Isabella Bartholomew of Breeze Hill Plantation, Connor fears he'll repeat past mistakes and vows not to be tempted by the lovely lady.

The responsibilities of running Breeze Hill have fallen on Isabella's shoulders after her brother was found dead in the swamps along the Natchez Trace and a suspicious fire devastated their crops, almost destroyed their home, and left her father seriously injured. Even with Connor's help, Isabella fears she'll lose her family's plantation. Despite her growing feelings for the handsome Irish carpenter, she seriously considers accepting her wealthy and influential neighbor's proposal of marriage.

Soon, though, Connor realizes someone is out to eliminate the Bartholomew family. Can he set aside his own feelings to keep Isabella safe?]]> 416 Pam Hillman 1496415922 Missy 4 4.11 2017 The Promise of Breeze Hill (Natchez Trace, #1)
author: Pam Hillman
name: Missy
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/24
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: books-read-2024, civil-war, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Pact (The Blood Sisters, #1)]]> 211640278
Austria 1929
When three little girls—Anna, Bernie, and Elica—make a pact to be blood sisters for life, they believe nothing can come between them.

Anna is from an affluent Jewish family, while Bernie and Elica are from poor Austrian families who barely make ends meet. As they get older, their social differences become all too real.

With infectious Jew-hate-laden rhetoric from Nazi Germany spreading into Austria, it is only a matter of time before their bond of friendship gets severely tested.

How strong is a bond sealed in blood? ]]> Roberta Kagan Missy 3 books-read-2024, wwii 3.70 The Pact (The Blood Sisters, #1)
author: Roberta Kagan
name: Missy
average rating: 3.70
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/25
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: books-read-2024, wwii
review:

]]> The Air Raid Book Club 63017306
In Germany, Hitler is on the rise, and Jewish families are making the heart-wrenching decision to send their children away from the growing turmoil. After a nudge from her dear friend Charles, Gertie decides to take in one of these refugees, a headstrong teenage girl named Hedy. Willful and fearless, Hedy reminds Gertie of herself at the same age, and shows her that she can’t give up just yet. With the terrible threat of war on the horizon, the world needs people like Gertie Bingham and her bookshop.

When the Blitz begins and bombs whistle overhead, Gertie and Hedy come up with the idea to start an air raid book club. Together with neighbors and bookstore customers, they hold lively discussions of everything fromĚý Winnie the Pooh ĚýtoĚý Wuthering Heights.Ěý After all, a good book can do wonders to bolster people’s spirits, even in the most trying times. But even the best book can only provide a temporary escape, and as the tragic reality of the war hits home, the book club faces unimaginable losses. They will need all the strength of their stories and the bonds they’ve formed to see them through to brighter days.]]> 336 Annie Lyons 0063296195 Missy 4 books-read-2024, wwii 4.01 2023 The Air Raid Book Club
author: Annie Lyons
name: Missy
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/05
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: books-read-2024, wwii
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Midnight at the Blackbird Café]]> 41556079 Heather Webber's Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.

As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 336 Heather Webber 1250198607 Missy 4 books-read-2024
It is blackbird watching season and the blackbirds have ascended upon Wicklow, Alabama, and the Blackbird Cafe. What the big deal is, no one in town understands, but it brings in birdwatchers from all over. Anna Kate meets Doc, the town doctor, but also her grandfather. After her father is killed in a car accident, in which her mother was driving the car, Anna Kate's mother left town. But Doc's wife blames Anna Kate's mother for his death. Natalie is Doc's daughter, and needs a job, so she starts working at the Blackbird Cafe. Her husband has died, she is raising her young daughter, Ollie, and living with Doc and her mother. But things are not as smooth between Natalie and her mother, especially after her brother's death. But things have a funny way of working out in Wicklow, especially at the Blackbird Cafe.

I wasn't sure about this book, but it was actually different than I thought. I loved all the characters, some were a little more subtle than the main characters, but I enjoyed them all. Mr. Ledderby was like any old man that hangs out at the cafes - if you worked in a cafe you know the one sitting in the corner watching everyone come in, grumpy, and letting you know when his coffee cup is empty. I read this for a book club I am in. Highly recommend to readers who like the small town feeling, a little mystery, a little romance, a little down on your luck, and of course blackberry pie.]]> 4.01 2019 Midnight at the Blackbird Café
author: Heather Webber
name: Missy
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/01
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: books-read-2024
review:
This is a story of Anna Kate, the granddaughter of Z who owns the Blackbird Cafe. After Z dies, Anna Kate must run the cafe for two months before she sells it. But coming back to her mother's hometown, which has some bad feelings held against her.

It is blackbird watching season and the blackbirds have ascended upon Wicklow, Alabama, and the Blackbird Cafe. What the big deal is, no one in town understands, but it brings in birdwatchers from all over. Anna Kate meets Doc, the town doctor, but also her grandfather. After her father is killed in a car accident, in which her mother was driving the car, Anna Kate's mother left town. But Doc's wife blames Anna Kate's mother for his death. Natalie is Doc's daughter, and needs a job, so she starts working at the Blackbird Cafe. Her husband has died, she is raising her young daughter, Ollie, and living with Doc and her mother. But things are not as smooth between Natalie and her mother, especially after her brother's death. But things have a funny way of working out in Wicklow, especially at the Blackbird Cafe.

I wasn't sure about this book, but it was actually different than I thought. I loved all the characters, some were a little more subtle than the main characters, but I enjoyed them all. Mr. Ledderby was like any old man that hangs out at the cafes - if you worked in a cafe you know the one sitting in the corner watching everyone come in, grumpy, and letting you know when his coffee cup is empty. I read this for a book club I am in. Highly recommend to readers who like the small town feeling, a little mystery, a little romance, a little down on your luck, and of course blackberry pie.
]]> <![CDATA[Daughter of Cana (Jerusalem Road #1)]]> 46272636
When Thomas impulsively decides to follow the teacher from Nazareth, he and Tasmin argue--since the twins have been together since the womb, Tasmin can't accept losing her brother to some magician-prophet. Aided by Jude, younger brother to Jesus of Nazareth, she decides to follow the Nazarene's group and do whatever she must to mend the fractured relationship and bring her brother home.]]> 384 Angela Elwell Hunt 076423384X Missy 5
This was a good story, though not much is known about women of the Bible, about what it could have been like. I liked how it was from both Tasmin and Jude's perspective on being nonbelievers to believing and later spreading the word.

I will recommend to my friends, and will look forward to reading the rest of the series.]]> 4.12 2020 Daughter of Cana (Jerusalem Road #1)
author: Angela Elwell Hunt
name: Missy
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/03
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: christian-fiction-read, books-read-2024
review:
I enjoyed this book about Thomas, one of Jesus' deciples, and his twin sister Tasmin. After Thomas meets Yeshua at the wedding his family is catering, he leaves Tasmin and his father behind to follow and learn Yeshua's teachings in the 3 years before his crucifixion. Tasmin has a difficult time being away from Thomas as they have never been separated before. At the wedding Tasmin met Jesus's brother, Jude. They travel together to find Thomas and Yeshua, and along the way they meet a woman who wants to be a servant to Yeshua, a mad woman who tries to attack Jude, and a little boy with a deformed tongue and teeth. But along the way they find each other.

This was a good story, though not much is known about women of the Bible, about what it could have been like. I liked how it was from both Tasmin and Jude's perspective on being nonbelievers to believing and later spreading the word.

I will recommend to my friends, and will look forward to reading the rest of the series.
]]> High as the Heavens 34351582 Page-Turning Intrigue and Romance from an Up-and-Coming Historical Romance Talent

In 1917, Evelyn Marche is just one of many women who has been widowed by the war. A British nurse trapped in German-occupied Brussels, she spends her days working at a hospital and her nights as a waitress in her aunt and uncle's café. Eve also has a carefully guarded secret keeping her in constant danger: She's a spy working for a Belgian resistance group in league with the British Secret Service.

When a British plane crashes in Brussels Park, Eve is the first to reach the downed plane and is shocked to discover she recognizes the badly injured pilot. British RFC Captain Simon Forrester is now a prisoner of war, and Eve knows he could be shot as a spy at any time. She risks her own life to hide him from the Germans, but as the danger mounts and the secrets between them grow, their chance of survival looks grim. And even if they do make it out alive, the truth of what lies between them may be more than any love can overcome.]]> 401 Kate Breslin 1441231226 Missy 4 4.46 2017 High as the Heavens
author: Kate Breslin
name: Missy
average rating: 4.46
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/14
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves: world-war-i, books-read-2024, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Royal Christmas: A Christmas Novella]]> 209496798
Although the pieces of this surprising family puzzle seem too good to be true, curiosity gets the best of her. At the king's invitation, Adelaide embarks on a Christmas break trip that is chock-full of surprises, including a charming village, an opulent palace, family mysteries, royal jealousies, a handsome young member of Parliament--and the chance at a real fairy tale romance with a happily-ever-after ending.]]> 0 Melody Carlson Missy 4 3.40 2023 A Royal Christmas: A Christmas Novella
author: Melody Carlson
name: Missy
average rating: 3.40
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:

]]> A Soldier's Ruse 43909627
An exclusive Revolutionary short story for my newsletter subscribers based on the wartime experiences of Deborah Sampson.]]> 50 Heidi Chiavaroli Missy 4 4.04 A Soldier's Ruse
author: Heidi Chiavaroli
name: Missy
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/27
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves: books-read-2024, christian-fiction-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War]]> 195608683 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Splendid and the Vile brings to life the pivotal five months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the start of the Civil War—a slow-burning crisis that finally tore a deeply divided nation in two.

On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston: Fort Sumter.
Ěý
Master storyteller Erik Larson offers a gripping account of the chaotic months between Lincoln’s election and the Confederacy’s shelling of Sumter—a period marked by tragic errors and miscommunications, enflamed egos and craven ambitions, personal tragedies and betrayals. Lincoln himself wrote that the trials of these five months were “so great that, could I have anticipated them, I would not have believed it possible to survive them.�
Ěý
At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between both. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous Secretary of State, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans.
Ěý
Drawing on diaries, secret communiques, slave ledgers, and plantation records, Larson gives us a political horror story that captures the forces that led America to the brink—a dark reminder that we often don’t see a cataclysm coming until it’s too late.]]> 565 Erik Larson 0385348746 Missy 4 books-read-2024, civil-war 4.13 2024 The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
author: Erik Larson
name: Missy
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/24
date added: 2024/12/24
shelves: books-read-2024, civil-war
review:

]]>