Blog Tour: The Promise Box

The Promise Box (Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors)

About the Book:

Every year, young Amish men descend on the cozy little town of West Kootenai, Montana, arriving in the spring to live there for six months and receive 'resident' status for the hunting season in the fall. They arrive as bachelors, but go home with brides! In The Promise Box, the second book of best-selling author Tricia Goyer's Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors series, Lydia Wyse, a book editor from Seattle who grew up Amish, returns to the small community of West Kootenai to give comfort to her father after her mother's death. She is drawn back to the familiar Amish ways after finding her mother's most precious possession, a Promise Box of prayers and scripture. What her publisher sees, though, is an opportunity for a sensational 'tell-all' book about the Amish. Lydia soon finds herself falling in love with Amish bachelor Gideon Hooley. She wants nothing more than to forget her past and look forward to a future as an Amish bride. But will the pain of her childhood---and her potential betrayal of her community---keep her from committing her whole heart?

My Comments:

This book was definitely on the religious side, even for Amish fiction.  We join Lydia as she reads the scripture promises her mother loved so much.  We follow her as she decides to return to the Amish and to give her heart to Gideon.  Both she and Gideon have old hurts that need to be healed.  In the end of course they realize that God keeps His promises to us.  Grade:  B-

Tricia Goyer is celebrating the release of her lastest novel, The Promise Box (Zondervan), by hosting an Amish Baking Box giveaway and connecting with readers during her June 12th Book Chat Party!

One "promising" winner will receive:

• Apron, hot mitts, and kitchen towels
• Amish baking items (rolling pin, pie plate, etc...)
• Sherry Gore's Simply Delicious Amish Cooking
• The Memory Jar and The Promise Box by Tricia Goyer 

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 11th. Winner will be announced at the "The Promise Box" Facebook Author Chat Party on June 12th. Connect with Tricia for an evening of Amish fun - book chat, trivia, laughter, and more! Tricia will also share an exclusive look at the next book book in the Seven Brides for Seven Bachelors series and give away books and other fun prizes throughout the evening.

So grab your copy of The Promise Box and join Tricia on the evening of June 12th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 12th!

Review: A Chesapeake Shores Christmas

A Chesapeake Shores Christmas (Chesapeake Shores Novels)

About the Book:

After years apart, Mick and Megan O'Brien are finally ready to make it official…again. Most of their grown children couldn't be happier about their rekindled love and impending marriage this holiday season. Only Connor is a holdout. Driven to become a divorce attorney after what he views as his mother's abandonment of their family, Connor's not about to give his blessing to this reunion romance.

The last thing Megan wants to do is hurt her family again. After all, is she really sure she and Mick can make it this time around? And when an unexpected delivery causes chaos, it seems only a miracle can reunite this family.

Of course, it is Christmas—the season of miracles.

My Comments:

I got this one as an audio from my library.  The format is called "Walkaway" and it is a pager-sized unit that operates with one AAA battery.  I don't have do download anything, worry about DRM or change CDs.  I'm not a huge fan of audio books but I've been driving a lot lately and I prefer them to listening to the radio.  

I've read an enjoyed many of  Sherryl Woods' books including other ones in this series.  This one kind of fell flat because I just never warmed up to Megan.  After having five kids Megan decided her  husband wasn't paying enough attention to her and the kids.  Despite the fact that she still loved him, despite the fact that she had five kids, including some  young ones, she decides to move to New York and start a new life.  She had planned to take the kids with her but they balked (go figure).  Now it's Christmas, twelve years later.  Mick and Megan are still in love, Megan has made peace with most of the kids and Mick wants a New Year's wedding.  Now, Megan wants everything her way.  Sorry, I understand that some marriages may be intolerable but a parent who has other options does not move hundreds of miles away from where his/her children are if s/he wants to maintain a relationship with them.  Too many kids in this world are messed up because their parents are more worried about making the adults happy than doing what is right for the kids.

Review: Rachel's Contrition

Rachel's Contrition

About the Book:

Rachel Winters had nothing, won it all, and then lost everything

After the death of her daughter, grief-spawned delusions cause Rachel to lose her husband, her home, and custody of her son.

Help arrives from two unlikely sources: a young teen, Lilly, battling her own demons, and a tattered holy card depicting Saint Therese of Lisieux. 

As Rachel grows closer to Lilly and comes to know Saint Therese, unbidden memories from her edgy past reveal fearful mysteries of seduction, madness, and murder . . . and a truth that will haunt her forever.

My Comments:

It has all too often been my experience that what is published today as "Catholic fiction" are books praising big families and touting the benefits of Natural Family Planning.   I'm pleased to say that Rachel's Contrition doesn't mention Natural Family Planning or birth control one time.  It is the story of a mentally ill woman coming to grips with the death of an infant daughter who was left in a car.  It is also the story of a horribly dysfunctional family whose apartment she rents.  In the end, that part of the story just struck me as bizarre, it was just too unrealistic to ring true.  However, I did like Rachel's story.

Rachel grew up as the child of a single mom, a mom who went from man to man, using them and never really loving them.  She was from the wrong side of the tracks. In college she reinvented herself, got in with the right crowd and met and married a doctor.  However, she always felt like she was acting, like she was playing a role rather than being herself.  That insecurity, the death of the baby, and probably some post-partum depression caused her to have a breakdown.  Part of what helped her find her way back was St. Therese of Lisieux's Story of a Soul.  Though she was not Catholic she found herself in a Catholic church talking to a priest.  Still, it doesn't come across as preachy, but more along the lines of "you've tried other stuff, and it hasn't worked, how about trying this?".  It is one of those books where finding Jesus leads to healing in this life.  

Michelle Buckman is a good writer, a real wordsmith.  Though published by a small Catholic press, this is not an amateur production.   It is available both in  paperback and e-book.  I definitely recommend it.  I was thinking of giving it an "A" but the whole unrealistic resolution of the subplot about the other family makes me mark it down to a B+.  

I purchased this book with Amazon reward points and can say what I want about it (but as you know I say what I want about anything I read).

Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival

Hello, and welcome to Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival. We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other. To participate, go to your blog and create a post titled Sunday Snippets--A Catholic Carnival. In it, discuss and link to your posts for the week--whether they deal with theology, Catholic living or cute Catholic kids. I'm mostly a book blogger so my posts are generally book reviews, some Catholic, some not. Make sure that post links back here; some folks are forgetting that! Once you publish it, come back here and leave a link below.

We also have a yahoogroup; signing up for it will get you one weekly reminder to post.  Click here to sign up.

This has been blog tour week for me.  Books on tour are Ray of Light (Amish fiction), Catch a Falling Star (contemporary Christian fiction) and Undeniably Yours (contemporary Christian fiction)