For Every Season by Cindy Woodsmall Review....

  

 

I received a free copy of this from the publisher Waterbrook Multnomah for my honest review. This is the third book in a series of 4, the last one will be published next year. I have previously read the two books in the series and was really looking forward to this book. Rhoda is trying to determine which brother she wants or doesn't want, however she also feels a sense of responsibility, guilt, etc. The reader continues to learn more about the past of Rhoda's boyfriend Jacob. Which does nothing to endear me to him, and makes me even more suspicious of his past relationship with Sandra (although, it doesn't appear any of the Amish have too much of an issue with it). At one point neither of the three main characters are getting along Rhoda, Jacob, or Samuel.  There are still challenges at the new orchard, that add to everyone's stress level.We find out more about Camilla and Bob, the English neighbors of the new Amish community. This book adds more characters, and it will be interesting to see how those new members play out in the next book. In the end, Rhoda's choice was made for her, but I do think it was the right one.

 

I rank this book 3 out of 5:

 

The one thing that shows in this book, is how someone can be blind to their own faults, but always call someone else on the same ones. I thought that same character who had those issues, will perhaps wake up in the next book and realize who they have really loved the whole time. I felt the book ended to abruptly even though there will be another one. I felt Rhoda really needed to make the choice on her own, as that was a problem she had throughout the book, not having it decided for her. In some ways I have more questions than answers still, and really hope some of them will be addressed in the next book.
 

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Be Still My Soul Book Review..

This is the second book I will be reviewing for blogging for books through Waterbrook Multnomah publishing. I received a free e-book for my review and am not obligated to give a positive one.

 

The book I chose to read was Be Still My Soul by Joanne Biscof, which is a Christian fiction romance book. I have never read anything by her and this book is the first one in a series. The main character is Lonnie who lives in the Blue Ridge mountains in the 1800's with her family. I loved the setting in the book, it reminded me sometimes, although not all of the time, of being in the rural Midwest.  The good and the bad that go with it, that is not to say that there are only issues with rural areas, as I don't think any certain place is perfect, whether it be a major city or very small rural area.

  

She has hopes for her future but they are changed, and instead she finds herself having to marry Gideon. They barely know each other at all, even though Lonnie did find Gideon handsome, which Gideon was well aware that most females found him so. He seemed to take advantage of this. I found Gideon wasn't very likeable to say the least; highly selfish, immature, and only cared about getting girls or more moonshine.

 

Lonnie and Gideon end up moving to another area outside of their community, this was done more so at the urging of Gideon. They eventually meet a nice couple, and face heartache and sorrow along the way.

 

I never thought I would end up liking Gideon's character, but by the end I had warmed up too him. They both did not have the best of families to show them love, so perhaps in some cases they went about showing it the wrong way (although Gideon at the beginning of the book didn't care about anyone else). It makes you think about how we should express our love, but that not everyone knows how or does it the same way.

 

Besides making you think about love, the book throughout brought up more subjects that still make me reflect on a few things. If someone has changed how do we know to trust them? Even if they make some changes and fall along the way, does that mean we no longer are they for them or forgive them? Even in our own lives it is hard to come to these answers, and I felt the book did a good job in describing all of the different type of emotions that will come up in trying to figure those answers out.

 

There was a few things that I didn't care for or at least wanted more of. At the beginning of the book I kept on having to remind myself that Lonnie was a girl, because of the name, I have only known men to have it.  Even though we learn Lonnie gets a few letters from her family after she leaves, we are never informed of how they are doing or what she writes to them. I thought this was disappointing, especially since she was so close to her aunt. Gideon did seem to change somewhat fast I thought in maturing and finding faith, but perhaps that was all due to the recent things he can been facing.

 

Rate: 4 out of 5

The sequel to this book will be out in a few days, and I can't wait to read it.

Christmas In Apple Ridge Review...

This is a three in one book by called Christmas In Apple Ridge by Cindy Woodsmall. I will do a review of the three stories individually and then as a whole. I believe the first two books have previously been released, but the third is brand new by the author. I was given a e-book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers for an honest review, I am not obligated to give a positive one. The first book is called The Sound of Sleigh Bells, that introduces us to Beth who is hiding a few secrets and is in mourning. She mets Jonah who is knows a few things about suffering and pain. Overall I thought this book was good, and it also shows us that we maybe hiding things even from ourselves in order to deal with life. My few complaints was that there wasn't enough of a sense of community. However, this maybe also due to the book being short, which happens with three books in one. The ending did seem rushed. The next book is The Christmas Singing which introduces Mattie and Gideon, who used to be together years ago, after their breaking up Mattie leaves the area. They run into each other later, and they still have things to settle. I really enjoyed this story and could see Gideon's side, and wasn't pleased all the time with Mattie's character after she found out more information about Gideon. The last book was The Dawn of Christmas and tells the story of Sadie and Levi. Their story is a meeting by chance and more about past loves with the affect they have on us and those around us. This book also includes previous characters from the other stories from the author. I thought this was really good to see as I really enjoy sequels, and always think just one novel tends to be rushed. I do hope that another sequel with all of the characters from the three books will be made later.

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