The Amish Widower

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Amish, clean reads, clean romance, creativity, finding purpose in life, forgiveness, grief, healing, historical romance, Lancaster County, Leah, loss, Love, potter, pottery, Seth, Seth Hostetler, The Amish Widower, Virginia Smith

Book Review: The Amish Widower, by Virginia Smith

Amish farmer Seth Hostetler was devastated when his first wife died. When he finally remarries, his second wife and unborn child are killed in a carriage accident. Now he believes that he is doomed and will never love again.  His life is empty, and he wonders how he can keep going. Then Seth meets an Amish potter, who offers to teach him the craft. Seth learns quickly, and he finds solace and a renewed sense of fulfillment in the creation of both useful and decorative pottery. As time goes on, he is drawn to Leah, who works for her father, but she has renounced her Amish lifestyle and has become Englisch.  Her heart has been wounded as well, and she is not about to be drawn into a relationship, especially with an Amish man.

I loved this book. The characters were real, with deep emotions and struggles that are finally overcome through love and faith. The story explores themes of grief, guilt, and forgiveness.  It also portrays how a creative outlet like pottery can bring fulfillment and healing to one’s soul. Set in the Amish community of Lancaster County, the love story of Seth and Leah is sweet and deeply felt, and it resonates with anyone who has suffered loss and found hope and healing again. Virginia Smith has done meticulous research (including hands-on pottery making) in order to give us another beautiful and uplifting story.

Five Stars

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The Rose of Winslow Street

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art, artist, book review, clean romance, Colden Massachusetts, Elizabeth Camden, healing, historical romance, kindness, Love, perfume, romance, Romania, roses, sense of smell, Talents, The Rose of Winslow Street

Book Review: The Rose of Winslow Street – by Elizabeth Camden
Libby Sawyer and her father return from their summer home and discover that strangers have moved into their house. Widower Mikhail Dobrescu and his family have fled Romania and have come to Colden, Massachusetts to claim the house and property that belonged to his grandfather. Both parties fight fiercely for legal possession, but neither could have anticipated that Libby and Michael would fall in love.
I loved this book! Nothing is as it seems on the surface. Is Mikhail (or Michael, as he is now called) really the son of a Duke? Why is Lady Mirela so full of fear? Where have the missing drawings gone? Why is the Dobrescu family really here? As the story unfolds, the discovery of the truth is so enjoyable. The characters are complex and rich. You see Michael acting like a brute and chopping down the Sawyer’s prize rose bushes as if he were mad, but when you find out the reason, your heart melts. Libby hides a disability and lives with her father’s contempt for her. Yet she has a prodigious memory and is so gifted in art that her drawings detail her father’s inventions. She is brave and kind-hearted. While the rest of the town ostracizes the Dobrescu family, she brings baskets of food to them, watches Michael play with his sons, and learns of his love for plants and his keen sense of smell. Libby’s father is an inventor who is blind to the treasure he has for a daughter and is sometimes cruel, but he ends up having some redeeming qualities. Michael is driven to protect and help those he loves, yet he is fascinated by and attracted to this beautiful woman who wears pants at times, climbs up ladders, speaks her mind, paints incredibly lifelike pictures of plants, and is so kind to them. The slow unfolding of Michael and Libby’s romance is like a beautiful dance.
Thank you, Elizabeth Camden, for this beautiful historical romance. Five stars.

Kisses in the Rain

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abuse, book review, car accident, Christian fiction, clean romance, communication, cook, cooking, family, friends, Georgia Tate, healing, Jace Lowe, Kisses in the Rain, Krista Lynne Jensen, LDS fiction, Love, loyalty, memories, memory loss, recipes, remembering, restaurant, romance, seafood, Seattle, true love, trust, women's fiction, YA

Book Review: Kisses in the Rain, by Krista Lynne Jensen:

After a car accident claims her fiancé and her most recent memories, Georgie Tate moves in with her aunts, who live on a small island outside Seattle. She begins to reshape her life as she struggles with the knowledge that something bad happened, and she can’t trust a man ever again. When she finds work at a local seafood restaurant, she meets the grumpy cook, Jace Lowe, who has just been dumped by his girlfriend. Both of them are wounded, angry, and confused. But they can’t deny the attraction between them either, and they gradually form a friendship as they work on a project together. Georgie must remember what happened with her abusive fiancé and work through her issues, and Jace must resolve his pain and family issues before they can find the courage to love again.
I loved this book! The imagery is so vivid and stunning that it made me want to visit the island and walk on the shore, and eat the foods they cooked. I love the way their lives and hearts are gradually revealed — two people who are real and down to earth, who struggle with their problems, yet find positive ways to overcome them. They are both good people of faith, but their religion is part of their background, and the book doesn’t preach. Georgie is dealing with the effects of abuse, and her healing is insightful and helpful to the reader. The romance between Jace and Georgie is sweet and clean. I closed this book with a smile, and then I went back and read the whole thing again. Thanks, Krista, for a beautiful story!

Painting Kisses

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art, artist, beauty in nature, cafe, canvas, chick lit, clean romance, Contemporary Romance, creative process, diner, family, genius, healing, honesty, inspiration, Love, marriage, Melanie Jacobson, motivation, NA, nature, painting, Painting Kisses, paints, pitfalls of wealth and fame, romance, waitressing, wealth, women's fiction, YA

Book Review – Painting Kisses, by Melanie Jacobson

After her divorce, famous artist Lia Carswell throws away her brushes, paints, and canvases, and she flees from New York to the mountains of Utah. There she invents a simpler life by changing her name, waitressing in a small diner, and helping to care for her sweet little niece. Her heart is broken, and she swears off men and painting forever.
But when her sister can’t afford to get her daughter into a good preschool, Lia decides to do one more painting for a mysterious, fabulously rich buyer. As she begins to paint, something happens that she didn’t expect: she reawakens to the beauty around her and the need to paint, and her frozen heart begins to thaw. To her dismay, two men vie for her attention: the handsome, smooth-talking Aidan (who she assumes is a construction worker), who orders everything on the breakfast menu just for a chance to talk to her, and her shy neighbor, Griff, who plays guitar and is gentle and sweet to her niece. Will she dare to risk her heart again?
I have enjoyed all of Melanie Jacobson’s books, but I have to say I loved this one the best. Full of her usual witty dialogue, fabulous non-verbal communication, fully developed characters, and a gorgeous setting, this story was more serious than her earlier works, with a beautifully unfolding romance between people with wounds and issues that need resolving before they can truly love again. I was even more impressed with how Melanie shows how deeply an artist needs to create, and the creative process involved. As an artist, I could relate completely. I especially loved the scene where Aiden is with Lia on the mountain. By showing her a different way to see the scenery, he helps her to break through and be able to access the genius within her. I’ve now read this sweet romance three times. Thank you, Melanie.

Whispers of Hope

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adoption, angst, Chile, Christian, conscience, death, Dennie, families, fiction, forgiveness, grief, healing, honesty, LDS, Love, lying, Marcie Anne Jenson, peer pressure, teenagers, Thes, truth, Whispers of Hope, YA fiction

Book Review — Whispers of Hope, by Marcie Anne Jenson
Dennie and Thes, orphans from Chile, are adopted by an American LDS couple, and for many years all seems well. But Thes is haunted by his painful past, and when he dies mysteriously, his family is devastated. Dennie’s conscience is burning a hole in her that makes it increasingly difficult to live with the many lies she and her friends have told to keep the truth from coming out. Something has to give, because Dennie can’t stand herself anymore. This was a touching story. I cried for Dennie’s pain, and I cheered as she slowly began to reach out and trust someone enough to tell the truth about her brother, and find healing at last.