Review: A Spectacle of Glory by:Joni Eareckson Tada

 
About the Book:
God does not choose to display His glory through burning bushes; He chooses you! This inspiring, year-long devotional by Joni Eareckson Tada, focuses on your Heavenly Father, how He cares for you every day, and how His love enables you to live as a spectacle of His glory.

My Review: 
 Devotionals are a nice break from daily Bible reading and in depth study. I don't think they are to take the place of daily Bible reading and intense study but I like to read them sometimes just to have a nice change for a minute. 

 Most people know the author's story. I don't plan to go into it in this post. But if you aren't familiar with her, it's worth looking in to. For the author to find the peace that she has is definitely a miraculous move on God's part. She meets her obstacle with much grace probably much more than I ever could. She is a great inspiration and mentor on God's grace and benevolence. 

 A Spectacle of Glory is a great devotional that is just really simple. It is not overdone or boring it gives you just enough refreshment to keep you longing for more daily bread from the Lord. 

This is a year long devotional. It has a scripture and a short devotion type lesson to further explain the scripture. The devotions are heartfelt and raw and very short and sweet. A great one!

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the author. All opinions are my own.
 

Deborah Raney’s ‘Home at Last’ Facebook Party and Blog Tour

Conclude Deborah Raney's Chicory Inn novels with the final book, Home at Last, a story of acceptance, trying to overcome differences, and love. Everything changes for bachelor Link Whitman one icy morning when a child runs into the street and he nearly hits her with his pickup—and then the girl's aunt Shayla enters Link's life. Can Shayla and Link overcome society’s view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?

Join Deborah on Thursday, March 23, for a live author chat party in her Facebook group with fun prizes to be won! Click the graphic below for more details and to RSVP. Hope to see you there—bring a friend or two who loves to read!

Litfuse Review: Her Secret by:Shelley Shepard Gray

 
About the Book:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray begins a new series—The Amish of Hart County—with this suspenseful tale of a young Amish woman who is forced to move to a new town to escape a threatening stalker.

After a stalker went too far, Hannah Hilty and her family had no choice but to leave the bustling Amish community where she grew up. Now she’s getting a fresh start in Hart County, Kentucky…if only she wasn’t too scared to take it. Hannah has become afraid to trust anyone—even Isaac, the friendly Amish man who lives next door. She wonders if she'll ever return to the trusting, easy-going woman she once was.

For Isaac Troyer, the beautiful girl he teasingly called “The Recluse” confuses him like no other. When he learns of her past, he knows he's misjudged her. However, he also understands the importance of being grateful for God’s gifts, and wonders if they will ever have anything in common. But as Hannah and Isaac slowly grow closer, they realize that there’s always more to someone than meets the eye.

Just as Hannah is finally settling into her new life, and perhaps finding a new love, more secrets are revealed and tragedy strikes. Now Hannah must decide if she should run again or dare to fight for the future she has found in Hart County.

My Review:
 The love of a new series goes without saying especially if the author is Shelley Shepard Gray. She is phenomenal and she has many excellent books as well as fans that will back me up on that statement. The reason I think that she writes so well is that she leaves no stone unturned. You can see this in her latest, Her Secret. Her Secret is a little different. I can say now that the cover did not appeal to me but it did make me think for a split second that I was reading non fiction.

 This story of Hannah Hilty and her family will scare the daylights out of you. Poor Hannah is now a petrified young girl afraid to turn a corner much less anything else. She has a stalker that is unwilling to give up so her family do what they can to make their little girl safe. Hannah has a lot going on with her as the reader learns more about her and the Troyer family will play a roll in their lives but how?

 Great writing and it will leave you spellbound!

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the author. All opinions are my own.
 

Litfuse Review: Unchained by:Moal Jesse Heikkinen

 
About the Book:
 Often when people follow Jesus, they feel more guilty instead of more free. A powerful book for the spiritually restless, Unchained shows readers how to have a robust faith that celebrates their freedom in Christ without compromising their holiness as God’s followers.

Unchained turns to the person and work of Jesus Christ as the source of freedom—not just his work 2,000 years ago but also what he is doing today. As readers dig into the meaning of the freedom that Jesus offers, they will understand, perhaps for the first time, what true freedom in Christ means.

My Review:
 Ya know, Christ takes us by the hand and He can walk us through some really ugly painful stuff. I know that He is usually in the mist of my ugly especially when I get you should really apologize to her. Luckily, He gives me the option to do it in a letter mainly because I'm a big chicken and I would cry more than talk if I were to actually have a conversation with a person that has harmed me in some way. Thank God, my Father knows this about me and He gives me that little bit to hang on to. That little bit of personal safety. He allows me space to do what He asks. I'm so incredibly blessed that He does this for me.

 But what I have learned after being a Christian for over 20 years is that sometimes those hurts that He has forgiven us of we kind of hold on to them. Maybe it was because the pain has become part of us or that we can't get past it, but being in bondage is something that as a Christian you will learn is the devil's playground not God's. God has most definitely come to give us a much needed freedom that we will not find anywhere else. It's hard to accept that freedom after being brow beat by the devil for so long but God offers it to us freely with no strings attached.

 In Noel Heikkinen's book, Unchained we learn what it's like to truly be free from our burdens and to never pick them up again. We learn that God does not offer us freedom that is superficial but a freedom that is long lasting and will stand the test of time. God our redeemer will redeem us as well as our failures.

 This book is a really good one to remind us of who we are in Christ!

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the author. All opinions are my own.

 

 

Review: Murder on the Moor by:Julianna Deering

 
About the Book:
Mystery Awaits on the Mysterious Yorkshire Moors At the urgent request of an old school friend, Drew and Madeline Farthering come to Bloodworth Park Lodge in the midst of the Yorkshire moors, a place as moody and mysterious as a BrontE hero. There have been several worrisome incidents out on the moor--property destroyed, fires started, sheep and cattle scattered--and worst of all, the vicar has been found dead on the steps of the church.
Drew's friend is obviously smitten with his bride of eight months, though it's hard to imagine what she sees in the awkward man. Drew can't help wondering if her affections lie more with the man's money and estate, while her romantic interests focus on their fiery Welsh gamekeeper. As the danger grows ever closer, it's up to Drew to look past his own prejudices, determine what is really going on, and find the killer before it's too late.

My Review:
  First of all, absolutely love a good mystery and if you can read one that is well rounded and completely drawing me in than please sign me up. Julianna Deering is the type of author that can do that with mystery writing. She captivated me with Drew and Madeline. I enjoyed their dynamic so much so that maybe I should suggest to my husband that we should be something similar. I envy them because they get to work so closely together and go on some really great adventures as a husband and wife team.

 This mystery finds the husband and wife mystery solving duo on the Yorkshire Moors. Where it seems that disaster along with dark and dreary are the name of the game. But there isn't anything stopping these two whether its dark of night, fires or a murder. Whatever evil lurks has to offer them, they are most definitely up for it. In this addition to the series, Drew has a lot of "junk" to get past because if he doesn't he will not be able to find the culprit behind all of this in time.

 A great mystery to curl up by the fire with. Loved Murder on the Moor! A big hit!

A giveaway!
**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the author.

Review: Close to Home by:Deborah Raney

 
About the Book:
Bree Cordel Whitman is a Whitman by marriage, but sometimes she forgets she wasn't born into Grant and Audrey's family. Her late husband, Timothy Whitman, gave his life for his country on a windblown hill in Afghanistan. Bree has let the love of Tim's family keep her ties to him strong--in the same way she keeps Tim's memory alive for them. But it's been almost five years, and she can't hang onto the past forever. 

Fighting the guilt she feels for wanting to love again, she can't help her dreams about a tall, dark, and handsome man--a man who is not her Tim. How can she accept the flirtations from Drew Brooks without throwing the Whitman family back into grieving? And how can Drew compete with the ghost of a hero and the hero's very alive family who seem to hold some spell over the woman who shares their name . . . a woman he might just love?

My Review:
 In the Chicory Inn series we have grown to love the Whitman family. Just like in any other family there is joy, there is pain, and there is a lot of neat or weird things going on depending on how you look at it.  I like Bree's story because even though she wasn't born into the family and your late husband has now passed, the Whitman's still regard her as such. I love that dynamic and I am so glad the author chose to go that way with the story line.

 Bree is struggling with the fact that she wants to be loved again. She still loves her Timothy but feels it is time to move on but she doesn't want to cause the Whitman's anymore pain. She is definitely at a crossroads right now.

 Drew really likes Bree and would love to take it further but he is afraid to because he is worried he will have to compete with a ghost. He feels strongly that the Whitman's keep this hold on Bree and he isn't sure what to do because he thinks he has very strong feelings for her.

 The author has created a very exciting story line. I love the dynamic between Bree and Drew. It was a real page turner and I can't wait to see how this series will end.

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the author. All opinions are my own.

Litfuse Review: Home At Last by:Deborah Raney

 
About the Book:
Why did their differences matter so much?

Link Whitman has settled into the role of bachelor without ever intending to. Now he's stuck in a dead-end job and, as the next Whitman wedding fast approaches, he is the last one standing. The pressure from his sisters' efforts to play matchmaker is getting hard to bear as Link pulls extra shifts at work, and helps his parents at the Chicory Inn.

All her life, Shayla Michaels has felt as if she straddled two worlds. Her mother's white family labeled her African American father with names Shayla didn't repeat in polite--well, in any company. Her father's family disapproved as well, though they eventually embraced Shayla as their own. After the death of her mother, and her brother Jerry's incarceration, life has left Shayla's father bitter, her niece, Portia, an orphan, and Shayla responsible for them all. She knows God loves them all, but why couldn't people accept each other for what was on the inside? For their hearts?

Everything changes one icy morning when a child runs into the street and Link nearly hits her with his pickup. Soon he is falling in love with the little girl's aunt, Shayla, the beautiful woman who runs Coffee's On, the bakery in Langhorne. Can Shayla and Link overcome society's view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?

My Review:
They say that love finds you when you aren't looking for it. I guess you can say that is what happened to Link Whitman ans Shayla Michaels.  Link is all about concentrating on his work at the Chicory Inn that his parents own. He is a dedicated life long bachelor and he is okay with that or so it seems. That is until he meets Shayla.

 Shayla has led a life full of rejection. When you are a mixed kid in a racial type society, I imagine it can get even worse for you since you are neither write nor black. So Shayla has a lot of pain and anger that goes along with all that rejection. It is hard for her to open up and love anyone when she struggles with loving herself, just the way God has made her.

 The two of them have to come to grips with society's judgement of their relationship and get past it so that they can love without reservation. They must forgive others and their comments towards the love they feel so that they can grow in their love towards one another.

 Deborah Raney writes a humdinger of a final episode to this series. Great writing! Thorough research along with a fascinating story line make this a fantastic series. I loved it!

**Disclosure** This book was sent to me free of charge for my honest review from the author. All opinions are my own.