Sea Rose Lane: A Hope Harbor Novel

This is Irene Hannon's newest release.  It is the second Hope Harbor novel that she has written. Ms. Hannon is an award winning author of over fifty books.  She is a three time RITA award winner among many other awards and distinctions for her contemporary romantic suspense and women's fiction/romance novels.  Sea Rose Lane is the second book by Ms. Hannon that I have reviewed.
Sea Rose Lane is set in the seaside town of Hope Harbor, Oregon.  There we find BJ Stevens who is the resident architect/construction supervisor.  She left the hectic pace of a large firm and city life to start a business where there is a calm to each day, even in the midst of designing and building businesses and homes.  She is involved in a volunteer program to help senior citizens have access to basic housekeeping needs, a need which is dear to her heart.  She has secrets and regrets.  Enter, Eric Nash who has been handed a disastrous layoff from a large law firm where he was on the "partner track."  He has come to Hope Harbor to spend time with his father and regroup for the job hunt.  His father is remodeling his home into a B&B and BJ is his architect.  They meet, sparks fly; and not good ones!  I will leave the rest to you to read about in this excellent romantic novel.
Sea Rose Lane is not just a boy meets girl novel.  Each character brings their own issues, life experience and perspective to this beautiful sea coast town.  They all have problems that need solutions and emotional scars that need to heal.  Ms. Hannon has written each character with flaws and heartaches that we can relate to. This is what gives a book it's depth and pulls the reader in to find out what will happen and, indeed, if there will be a happy ending for anyone!

The author has done an excellent job of bringing us a very readable, believable story of two people who want to start over.  The secondary characters have their own set of personality quirks and emotional scars as well, adding to the fullness of the story.  An added perk for me is the attention she gave to grammar and sentence structure.  Those are two of my sticking points with every book I read and Ms. Hannon's sentences were well written.  I enjoyed every page of this book and all the details.  Irene states that she likes to do three things with her writing;  entertain, enrich and uplift.  She does all three very well in Sea Rose Lane.

Find out more about Irene's writing and her books at Irene Hannon. 
Last year, I reviewed Irene Hannon's new release entitled, Buried Secrets.  I did not give it a glowing report.  It just did not strike my fancy and I had a hard time finishing it, but I did (of a sorts) finish it.  Ms. Hannon was very gracious in accepting my three star review and suggested that I try another of her books, Thin Ice, which came out in January of this year as well as suggesting that I may also like Against All Odds, Book I of her Heroes of Quantico series which was published in 2009.   I have not read Thin Ice yet, but I did recently read Against All Odds and I could not put it down!  I know that every book cannot be a hit with every reader and the Men Of Valor series may not be my cup of tea, but I have changed my mind about the writing of Ms. Hannon and I think she has lots more books that I am going to put on my TBR list!  First thing I will do is read Books II and III of Heroes of Quantico.  And now, I am going to have to read the first Hope Harbor book! I know, reviewing can be a subjective thing, try as I might to be objective!
I give Sea Rose Lane five stars and recommend you get a copy and read it, as well as Book I of the Hope Harbor series!  I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing in exchange for an honest review.  These words are my opinion.  Read more at Baker Publishing Group

Thanks so much for being here!
Jeri~

Summer/Beach Reads 2016

As I write this, I am sitting in my dining room, looking at my next new release book to get started reading.  I think it will be on this list of summer reading that I am giving you, but you will have to wait until I read it, then I will let you know!  There is one book ahead of it and that book will most likely make the list also.  I know, why all the cloak and dagger?!?  I just don’t want to get ahead of myself and toss out names of upcoming reviews until they are closer to being posted.   So, with that out of the way let me get to my summer reading recommendations. 

Of course, as always, this is an excellent time to re-read one or two of your favorite classics.  Maybe you like Wuthering Heights.  Maybe you are an Agatha Christie fan.  It is possible you have a hankering for newer classics, such as Hemingway’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Old Man and The Sea.  These are all good summer reading, anytime reading, actually.

I will confine my list to newer books.  I find that in the summer I am often looking for something not extremely profound, but deep enough to hold my attention.  I also like to explore new authors or new-to-me writers. 

Let me start with a couple of my favorites.  I love Hawaii by James Michener.  It is a most excellent narrative of the beginning of the islands, clear down to the natives of Bora Bora setting out in their double-hulled canoes to find a new home.  I want to read his Caribbean novel too.  I don’t know what it is, but I have a love of tropical settings.  I like to read about them and be in them!

The Weekenders by Mary Kay Andrews.  She writes with a believable humor that warms up your heart.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter.  I have not read any of her writing but this looks intriguing so I include it.

The Patmos Deception by Davis Bunn.  Set in the Greek Isles with intrigue, old secrets and past loves that intertwine.  I may read it again.  Also, all three books of his Mark Royce Series are good too.

The English Spy by Daniel Silva.  This is the sequel to The English Girl which I also reviewed here, if you want an idea of what this is about, check out my review of that.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly.  This is a debut novel and it is an excellent read, based on a true story from WWII.  You can also read my review of this one here.

The Quieting by Suzanne Woods Fisher.  This is Book II of The Bishop’s Family series.  Good reading on a warm summer day.

Of course, the list would not be complete without a couple books set near the ocean or on a beach.  I would recommend these;

The Beach House Series by Sally John and Trish Perry.   They are The Beach House, Castles in the Sand and Sunset Beach.  These are good clean fiction with some depth to the story line.  They mainly focus on issues/relationships being resolved on vacation at the beach.   They are good reads if you just want something a little bit lighter.

Under A Maui Moon by Robin Jones Gunn.  This is Book I in the Hideaway Series.  Books II and III are Canary Island Song and Cottage By the Sea.  Good stuff.  God is in there when the characters face temptation and He continues to show His presence.

There are so many good books out there and summer is just a natural season for focusing on reading, with the warm long days and slower pace that encourages.  Translation; burying your head in a good book!! 

I hope I have given you some ideas for your summer reading.  Any of these are good additions to your TBR stack any time of the year.  Hey, you could have a Summer TBR stack and a Winter TBR stack!  Nothing like being organized.

Thanks so much for being here.  I’ll be back soon with another new release for you to take a look at!

Jeri~

Murder Comes by Mail

A new murder mystery by A.H. Gabhart is on the shelf at your local bookstore (or online, whichever you prefer.)  This is Book 2 of the Hidden Springs Mystery series.  These books can be read separately and out of sequence because they are more of a continuation of the same characters and locale with another murder being done.  Deputy Michael Keane continues to solve the whodunnit with the same intelligence and savvy that he used in the first book entitled Murder at the Courthouse.  If you are not familiar, Deputy Keane came home to Hidden Springs after serving as a big city cop for some years.  He felt the desire to return to small town law enforcement and embrace the lifestyle and values that he found there while growing up.  As usual, the grass is not always greener!
The author, Ann Gabhart, writes a strong character in Michael Keane and expertly merges his big city experience with his heart for the small town he loves.  Sheriff Keane sees beyond the obvious and has an uncanny sense (gut feeling?) for seeing hidden details in the unsolved crime.  This makes for excellent crime solving and exciting reading; as in, hard to put down this book!  Book 1 in this series was a good read, and if anything, this second book is even better.  The author writes a villain that is the epitome of a psychopath.  As murders continue to be done, the perpetrator makes it obvious to Michael that this spree has a personal connection.
 Murder Comes by Mail takes us back to Hidden Springs while reacquainting us with the townspeople that we met in Murder at the Courthouse.  Michael's Aunt Lindy is back, as well as the crew at the Sheriff's office, Betty Jean.  Also Hank Leland, editor of the local paper, Hidden Springs Gazette.  In this book,  Deputy Michael saves a man from jumping off the Eagle River bridge.  He utters something to Michael that puzzles him and then pictures of dead girls begin to arrive at the Sheriff's office.  Michael begins to believe the man he saved from jumping over the Eagle River bridge is doing the murders.  To make it worse, if possible, Michael has a connection to each girl that is murdered.  It becomes obvious that the killer has it out for the Deputy.  I can't tell you more without spoiling it for you, so I will stop here!
A.H. Gabheart has a knack for expertly crafting personalities and  relationships between characters and bringing out the details of daily life.  Her writing is believable and easy to read, at the same time absorbing.  I honestly could not put this down about 2/3 of the way through the book.  It simply becomes spooky and macabre.  I finished this one night when I should have been sleeping, rain pouring down and before I finished I was hearing every bump in the night and some that weren't there!
This is an excellent read and needs to be added to your summer reading list.  In fact, I will be back soon to give you my recommended list and this will be on it!
I give Murder Comes by Mail five stars and recommend you get your copy asap and read it up!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in exchange for an honest review.  These words are my opinion.
You can find out more about this book and others at Baker Publishing Group.  Read more about this author and her books at Ann H. Gabhart.

Thanks so much for being here!  I will be back soon with my Summer Reading List, so please come back and check it out!
See you soon,
Jeri~

The Elements of Pizza

Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home      

This isn't just pizza; it's gourmet that you truly can make at home.  Ken Forkish has written the master book on homemade pizza. He is the owner of Ken's Artisan Pizza in Portland Oregon and is the James Beard award winning author of Flour Salt Water Yeast.  He visited Italy, spending much time in the area around the Bay of Naples, where he says "great pizza as we know it has been happening for about 150 years..."  
The beginning chapters of the book are informative reading as he takes you through the Soul of Pizza, Pizza Styles, Great Crust, Methods.  It gave me an understanding of pizza I did not have before.  Don't skip that part.  This is not about a bread dough recipe used for pizza.  He achieves perfect crust with a scant minimum of yeast and longer rise time.  It is delicious.  The recipes are easy to use and have conversions from grams to teaspoons and cups.  He recommends you buy a kitchen scale that measures in grams if you don't already own one.  I used his conversions and my pies were delicious.  Most scales have both.
I made several of these pizzas and they were all good.  It is the best crust I have eaten.  And I like pizza a lot.  He separates the book into dough recipes and pizza recipes. He even has a gluten free crust if you prefer it. The book has sections featuring Italian Inspired in which he includes Margherita Pizza, including the history of that name, Carbonara Pizza, Pizza Bianca.  The New York Inspired chapter includes New York Cheese Pizza, Pepperoni, Mushroom and Onion Pizza (I made that one) and Meatball Pizza.  He also gives us Artisan, Flatbread and Vegetable Pizza recipes.  I made Adam Kuban's Love Supreme Bar Pizza as well as the Hawaiian Pizza.  It was all good.  The pizza recipes have suggestions for which dough recipes best suit the pizza recipe you are making.  This book has everything you need to make world-class pies at home, just like it says.  Check out his site at Ken's Artisan.
I give The Elements of Pizza five stars!  If you like to make your pizza at home, this is the book you need to do that.  Complete, easy and delicious!  I received a complimentary copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.  These words are my opinion.
Thanks for being here, see you soon!

Jeri~

The Quieting

Suzanne Woods Fisher's newest book, just released May 3rd, is Book 2 of The Bishop's Family series.  The Quieting is a continuation of developments that begin in The Imposter, Book 1, as well as adding in some new developments in the lives of Stony Ridge residents.  I am just beginning my foray into this author's books and I must say, if what I have read so far is any indication, I will be reading everything she has published.  I told her that, when I met her a week or so ago at her book signing for The Quieting.  More about that later.
This book has grandmother, Tillie Yoder Stoltzfus, (Mammi) sweeping in to correct, organize and tie up with a bow, her families' lives.  Her son David is widowed and has children that are nearly grown and beginning to think about what they want to do with their lives and who they want to spend them with.  His family also includes several children approaching their teen years.  Mammi arrives from Ohio with her granddaughter Abigail for a long stay while she works on "fixing up" the Stony Ridge Stoltzfuses affairs.  Oh, and she wants to choose a husband for Abigail.  That is why she brought her along for the ride!  The resulting complications are a mix of serious, soul-searching and some humorous revelations while always bringing home a life lesson for the Stolzfus family members.  Add to this the local church which is faced with unrepented sin and a power struggle.  It is obvious that God is very much a part of daily life and his wisdom is sought by the residents of Stony Ridge.
Suzanne has a talent for developing realistic Amish characters with many of the same problems that we all have.  This brings an authenticity  to her writing that makes it absorbing and easy to read.  I am finding out that the Plain folk share many of the same struggles that we, as Christians, are faced with daily.  There are spiritual nuggets dropped in the story at just the right time for what was taking place and  they added wisdom to my own spiritual understanding as well. Suzanne brings her characters alive with real life situations and complex plots that leave the reader anxious to turn the page to see how it all ends up.  She has a background in the Amish community which gives insight to her writing that you may not find elsewhere.
I was able to meet Suzanne at a book signing for The Quieting and I was honored to be able to share a few moments with her.  She was gracious and it was obvious to me that she loves writing and finds joy in her readers enjoying her stories.  She takes pleasure in interacting with her readers and you can find her on social media frequently.  Reach her at Suzanne Woods Fisher. She is also on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
Her stories are realistically written which results in a "plain good" book that you will want to read.  I give The Quieting five stars and highly recommend that you get your copy asap.  This is one you will want to have a cup of coffee with or an iced tea on the patio.  Prepare to give yourself over to the book!
Below is a picture of Suzanne and me at one of her signings at the Gospel Book Store, Berlin, Ohio.  I so enjoyed meeting her and she signed both books for me, The Imposter and The Quieting!  I received a complimentary copy of The Quieting from the publisher, Revell, in exchange for an honest review.  These words are my opinion.

Thanks for being here!
Jeri~

I feel like a made a new friend!

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

 From the back cover of Go Set a Watchman, "Every man's island, Jean Louise, every man's watchman, is his conscience."  Ms. Lee takes the basis for this quote from the Bible, the book of Isaiah. Harper Lee also wrote To Kill a Mockingbird which was published in 1960 and won her the Pulitzer Prize.  
Written in the mid-1950's, it is a testament to the struggle of our country to move into a new era.  Go Set a Watchman did not see print until 2015.  I want to tell you about the book, then I will tell you about the controversy and then you can make up your mind;  which you can always do anyway.  I feel having both angles will give you more to think about before you decide to read it.  I would not have paid much attention, let alone read the book, if I had not seen news stories about the controversy and then noticed a copy of it laying on an end table in the home of a friend.  She offered to have me borrow it and I accepted.  I thought it would make a great post for my book review blog.  So here it is.
Go Set A Watchman takes place in Maycomb, Alabama in the 1950's when the battle for equality facing black Americans was gaining momentum.  Jean Louise "Scout" Finch was born and raised in Maycomb and is returning home from New York City, at the ripe old age of 26.  Her father, Atticus, is getting older and she has come for a visit.  Her childhood friend, Hank, is nowadays practicing law with Scout's father as his mentor.  Not much else is the same as she remembers it.  The Finches long time black cook, Calpurnia, who helped raise Scout and her brother Jem after her mother passed away, has retired.  Atticus has arthritis and his sister Alexandra lives with him and has taken over the duties that Calpurnia used to perform. Now, there are other family relations and skeletons which do not need to be drug out here. It looks, from the outside, that Maycomb is still the same but, as she will find out, things are changing.  The book moves along in a fairly easy to read way until about halfway through.  That is when Jean Louise happens upon a paper lying amongst the Sunday papers on an end table in the living room entitled "The Black Plague."  She reads it and is utterly devastated, incensed, shocked and heartbroken.  She immediately runs to the county courthouse where she slips into the "blacks only" balcony to observe her father at the Citizens Council meeting at a table with other citizens whom she thought cared for the black community.  The next day, she has a grotesquely elaborated, emotional confrontation with her father, in which she comes to the realization that she has been "color blind' all her life.  After "listening" to her harangue Atticus for 25 pages, which I could hardly read through for the livid emotional diatribe that it was, I was over this book.  How can you be that old, living in the 50's, raised in the South, and not know that there are conflicting attitudes about black people and their "place"?  I suppose there were people like that who were sheltered, or sheltered themselves from that reality.  I finished the book just to see if she would come to terms with life as we know it before the last page, and she did.  There are mental exercises and concessions and awareness of reality that take place in her head which bring her to a state of realistic acceptance.  It was exhausting.
Various news reports from a bevy of sources say that this book was a grab for money on the part of Ms. Harper's lawyer Tonja Carter.  The book was written before To Kill a Mockingbird and it is said that it is actually a rough draft of that book.  It disappeared and she thought it was lost when Tonja found it attached to back of an old manuscript of To Kill a Mockingbird.  She was thrilled that it was found and would be published. Her last days were spent in a nursing home where she passed away February of this year, just after the book was published, at the age of 89. It is said by HarperCollins that it serves as an "essential companion to To Kill a Mockingbird, adding depth, context, and new meaning to an American classic."  You could say that, but if you have read To Kill a Mockingbird, you know that it is about the plight of blacks in the South and a good lawyer defending a good black man, despite the color of his skin.  You don't need Go Set a Watchman to add that to your understanding.
You can read more about the  controversy at The Guardian/Harper Lee new novel
I give Go Set a Watchman two and a half stars.

Thanks so much for being here!!
Jeri~

Picture of Harper Lee when the book was released and when she wrote To Kill a Mockingbird

The 30-Day Faith Detox

Renew Your Mind, Cleanse Your Body, Heal Your Spirit

Laura Harris Smith, Certified Nutritional Counselor, has written a thoroughly cleansing read, no pun intended. This book combines a safe, not radical dietary detox combined with spiritual insight.   The author lays out a 30 day plan which includes specific scriptures and prayers for each day as well as a meal plan.

Ms. Smith speaks from her own experience in writing this book.  She was raised eating homegrown vegetables and fruits.  She did not grow up on processed foods.  Her father always told her to "eat the rainbow" of vegetables and fruits.  She tells her story of having children and in her busy life, she more and more chose processed foods.  The foods that are in "boxes, bags or cans that sit in the middle of your grocery store."  "Dead food" as opposed living foods which line the walls of the store.  She advises that if we would eat more of these foods, mainly produce, meats and dairy, we would be  healthier.
She found herself in the habit of not getting enough sleep, eating poorly, not exercising and not being well.  She accumulated a sleep deficit that landed her on the brink of adrenal failure.  She was dabbling at good health, not making it a priority.  This describes many of us;  we keep going with lack of sleep, fast food, less exercise than we should and being basically not well as our "new normal."
The author has outlined a way for us to change all of that with a change to the way we look at food and our health in general.  In this book she outlines a 30-day plan to detox safely and sanely which will put us on the right path to physical and spiritual health.  Have you ever thought you really need to get some exercise, make wiser choices for dinner, and read your Bible more?  This plan will start new habits for you that will last a lifetime.
The plan is radical, I don't deny that.  But it is so worth the 30-day focus on your mental, spiritual and physical health that I urge you to give this an honest effort.  I feel certain you will not be sorry.
The book is divided into sections titles like Health-Related Toxins, Relationship Toxins, Financial Toxins.  Each day is detailed with spiritual toxins, corresponding emotional toxins and a correlating physical detox.  Specific internal organs are cleansed with each day's food.  She lists what to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner with a mid-morning juice or smoothie and an afternoon snack, ending the day with a nightcap (a healthy one!)  Laura also advises that if you have activities and obligations coming up such as weddings, reunions, etc. that you wait for a month when you don't have a lot of obligations.  She does however tell you how you can keep those commitments while on the plan, if need be.  Simply put, this is a great book.  The caveat is this;  be ready to change your life if you read this book.
I give The 30-Day Faith Detox five stars!  If you would like to know more, check it out at

30-Day Faith Detox  or TAKE THE 30-DAY DETOX

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Chosen Books for the purposes of an honest review.  These words are my opinion.
Thanks so much for reading!
Jeri~