Blog Tour: Your Heart's Desire

Your Heart's Desire

About the Book:

It's almost New Year's 1946, a perfect time for Caroline Marshall to start a new chapter in her life. Widowed three years ago when she lost her husband in the war, she has decided to move with her nine-year-old son to join her sister's family in sunny California. Her sister's new house has a basement apartment for Caroline to rent, and though jobs for women are scarce with so many veterans returning from the war, it seems the local chocolate factory is hiring. The apartment turns out to be rather dingy, and the job may be working the assembly line--a step down from Caroline's office job as a secretary back in Minnesota. But Caroline is determined to make a great new life for herself and her son. As she goes about making that happen, she keeps running into a handsome stranger--at the diner, at church, and he even works for M.G. Chocolates. With a New Year, a new home, and a new job, is Caroline ready to find new love? 

My Comments:

If you are looking for a Valentine's read that is as sweet a chocolate candy, this may be just the book for you.  Firmly set in the post-WWII era with the returning soldiers, the women moving out of the factory and back to the home, and the moms having babies every year or two, this is the story of a war widow who moves across the country to start a new life. Everything pretty much goes her way and in the end, it is happily ever after.  At times there were hints that life for everyone, particularly her sister, was not just a box of chocolate, but those hints were never developed.  In short, the book is exactly what you expect when you look at the cover--and to use a chocolate analogy, who likes biting into a chocolate from a box and finding out that it isn't what you had hoped, but rather the one you didn't like?

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy.  Grade:  B.  

Review: Love Gently Falling

Love Gently Falling

About the Book:

Rita Jansen is living her dream as a hairstylist in Hollywood when her father calls with news that her mother has suffered a stroke. When she gets home to Chicago, Rita finds her mother is healing but facing a long recovery. Worse, without being able to run their family-owned salon, her mother could lose the business. Rita decides to help, but she only has until Valentine's Day to come up with a plan. 

As Rita takes her mother's place at work, the nearby skating rink she loved as a child brings back fond memories. Rita also finds herself renewing friendships with her childhood best friend, Marley, as well as her classmate Johnny. Although they now lead such seemingly different lives, Rita is surprised by how well she and Johnny connect anda how far he will go to help her. Though Rita believes Johnny is only being kind, with romance kindling in the air and on the ice, their friendship may just fall into something more. 

My Comments:

This is a sweet romance set near Valentine's Day.  Rita and Johnny have known each other all their lives, but romance with Johnny has never crossed Rita's mind.  Rita wanted to step out on her own.  She turned down college in favor of beauty school and has had a successful career in Beverly Hills--even if her personal life has left something to be desired.  

One thing I found interesting was that Rita was sensitive about people (particularly men) looking down on her because she was "only" a hairdresser; yet her outlook on Johnny changed when she realized he wasn't "only" a janitor.  

The book is published by Center Street, which is an inspirational imprint of Hatchette book group.  Prayer is mentioned a few time and the book is squeaky clean but I wouldn't call it religious.  It is a short, sweet, almost simplistic story that left me smiling.  Grade: B-

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy.  I was not obligated to provide a positive review.

Review: River's End

River's End: The Inn at Shining Water Series #3

About the Book:

In the final story of The Inn at Shining Waters, Anna Larson's granddaughter Sarah is beginning to find her independence. But her relationship with her parents suffers as a result and she travels away from all that is familiar.

While the solace of the river calls Sarah back, surprises await upon her return. Three generations of family heartbreak and disappointments converge at Shining Waters as Sarah finds God right in the center of it all.

My Comments:
I enjoyed the first two stories in this trilogy so I was glad to read the third as well.  Like the others, this is a coming of age story about a woman in Anna Larson's family.  Sarah came of age in the late 1970's, ran away from home and joined a commune.  Like her grandmother and her mother, she was drawn to return to the river and eventually learned that forgiveness frees both the one forgiven and the one who forgives.  Anna realizes that there are certain things people have to experience for themselves; that you can't keep them from the pain.  Sarah's mother becomes comfortable in her own skin and is able to venture away from the river, without running away--and isn't that what we should want for our children--wings and roots.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy of this book available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B+

My Reviews of Other Melody Carlson Books:
River's Song
River's Call
It's a Green Thing
New York Debut
Lost in Las Vegas
Homeward
Spring Breakdown
Christmas Shoppe
Christmas at Harrington's
Three Weddings and a Bar Mitzvah 

River's Call--My Review

River's Call - The Inn at Shining Waters Series

About the Book:

Anna Larson's daughter, Lauren, is confused, brokenhearted, and misguided. It's the turbulent 1960s and feeling alienated from her mother, Lauren chooses to stay with her paternal grandmother. However, repelled by the woman's manipulative and spiteful ways, Lauren returns to her mother, the river, and the Inn at Shining Waters.

There, Lauren begins to appreciate the person her mother is becoming - and she loves the river. However, her mother's romantic interest throws a wrench into the works and Lauren, jealous and angry, returns to her grandmother yet again.

But as time passes, and Lauren, now a mother to her own defiant teenager, faces a new crisis, one that puts the entire family at risk.

My Comments:

I find that one of the hardest things about parenting, especially parenting teens, is knowing how and when to step in and when to step back and let things take their natural course--a course you know will have consequences that will leave you and/or your child unhappy.  That difficulty is played out time and again in River's Call.

Anna's relationship with her daughter has always been strained, and that strain has always been exacerbated by her mother-in-law.  This book, set in the early 1960's, begins with Anna's daughter learning she is pregnant.  While Anna has definite opinions about what should happen, she allows her daughter to make her own choices, even when it becomes apparent that the choices are not good ones.  Anna is there to love and support, but tries to do so in a constructive way that will allow her daughter to grow into the woman Anna knows she can be--but others undermine her efforts.

As in River's Song, the first book in this series, forgiveness is the Christian virtue most discussed, though in this book it is done in a more obviously Christian fashion.  While not preachy or overdone, the Christian element in this book is much more obvious than in River's Song.

This is the second book in the series.  The first gives some background that helps the reader better understand some of the characters, however the backstory is well-enough covered that one does not have to read book one first.  However, this book does have a cliff-hanger which leads to book three.  Luckily the cliff-hanger was resolved in the first few pages of the third book, which were in the back of this book.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  I was not obligated to write any review, much less a positive one.  Grade:  B+

Blog Tour: The Christmas Shoppe

Christmas Shoppe, The

About the Book:

The small town of Parrish Springs is not ready for Matilda Honeycutt. A strange older woman with scraggly gray hair and jewelry that jangles as she walks, Matilda is certainly not the most likely person to buy the old Barton Building on the town's quaint main street. When it becomes apparent that her new shop doesn't fit the expectations of Parrish Springs residents, a brouhaha erupts. After all, Christmas is approaching, and the last thing the town needs is a junky shop run by someone who looks and acts like a gypsy. But as townsfolk venture into the strange store, they discover that old memories can bring new life and healing.

Once again, Melody Carlson delivers a Christmas story that will touch hearts and delight the senses. Sure to be a classic, The Christmas Shoppe is filled with the special magic the best Christmas stories share--that intangible mixture of nostalgia, joy, and a little bit of magic.

My Comments:

This is a sweet read, but it's more than a little on the strange side.

I'd like to thank Donna Hausler at Baker Publishing for providing a review copy.