Come Rain or Come Shine by Jan Karon

 
Jan Karon

ISBN: 9780399167454

Publisher's Synopsis:

Over the course of twelve Mitford novels, fans have kept a special place in their hearts for Dooley Kavanagh, first seen in At Home in Mitford as a barefoot, freckle-faced boy in filthy overalls.

Now, Father Tim Kavanagh's adopted son has graduated from vet school and opened his own animal clinic. Since money will be tight for a while, maybe he and Lace Harper, his once and future soul mate, should keep their wedding simple.

So the plan is to eliminate the cost of catering and do potluck. Ought to be fun. An old friend offers to bring his well-known country band. Gratis. And once mucked out, the barn works as a perfect venue for seating family and friends. Piece of cake, right?

In Come Rain or Come Shine, Jan Karon delivers the wedding that millions of Mitford fans have waited for. It's a June day in the mountains, with more than a few creatures great and small, and you're invited--because you're family.

By the way, it's a pretty casual affair, so come as you are and remember to bring a tissue or two. After all, what's a good wedding without a good cry?

MrsK's Review:

Dooley and Lace are getting married! Where has the time gone? When a series becomes a blessed place of retreat, characters become family. As a reviewer, I was honored to receive the newest Mitford novel. It was my first pick as 2016 rolled in. As an educator, every break becomes a mini vacation in which your personal reading choice is joyfully awaiting your arrival. During this season of my life, I no longer have a childhood home for the holidays... as a Grandmother I'm creating a home for others to come to! So, going home to Mitford is my destination. What I discovered was incredibly comforting and delicious, no box of chocolates could compare with the delight I received during my journeys home in Mitford. Most of us know what it means to travel home, you anticipate the reunion with family and friends. You laugh, enjoy good meals, and cry. Saying goodbye is accepted because you know it won't be long until your return. It was not my intention for months to pass before I ended this journey home. Yet, savoring every moment brought such joy!

Lace is embracing Dooley's new career, their new business, their new home, as well as the planning of their wedding. Are they taking on too much at one time?

"She felt her heart thump, something like a book dropped to the floor."

During the two week preparation, Dooley and Lace will have so many decisions. Each conversation is an invitation into their plans for their new life. Whether you are sitting with them on the wicker glider "talking against the night," or you are engaged in every one's insight about all things happening before the wedding begins. On top of the list is the "Weather Anxiety", closely followed by the "Potluck Paranoia," and then there is "The Dress" decision.

"Redemption...was everywhere if we're awake to see it."

Father Timothy is antsy over all the items on his to do list. Even winkles bring a state of angst, especially when the vitamin D oil does nothing to stop the "trenching." He always bakes a ham for weddings therefore two should do it. Will it matter that fresh bread will be coming out of the oven, or that three hundred cheese wafers will be baking? What about the cakes, ice, guestbook, vestments, and the Local coverage? Here's to hoping his new planner will keep all things in order.

"I want to...live. Just that."

Cynthia is content with helping "the kids" get ready for the wedding. She is feeling contentment whether it is on the glider with her husband, making bow ties for dogs, listening to the rain on a tin roof, thinking about a RV trip, or knitting in the passenger seat. During the final days before the wedding will contentment continue to "reign?"

"We're asked not to fret about the future and to take no thought for tomorrow.

We must try to live in the present or we shall miss it entirely."

When Dooley gets the call that one, very young, Jack Tyler was arriving... well everything begins picking up speed towards the wedding day. Cynthia and Olivia are jumping for joy at being "Granny's."   Fr. Timothy is popping-button proud to be a grandpa. Sammy gets to be an uncle with all the adventures they can muster. Dooley and Cynthia are embracing the reality that Jack Tyler one day could be their legal son.

"A chord of three strands is not quickly broken."

Ecclesiastes 4:12 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I caution you to sit very still.

Please do not turn around at this time or make

any sudden movement..."

With a son, a new eight-month-old golden retriever, Choo-Choo a crazy mean bull, the after-math of a low-pressure system, Henry's arrival, cans tied to the bumper of the truck, casseroles-fried chicken-cornbread-corn on the cob-Miss Louella's biscuits-baked beans-home made pickles-syrupy peaches-and... Esther's Orange-Marmalade Layer cake!    

Come home to Mitford... there's a wedding a happen',
MrsK

"It will be a great day... Come rain or come shine."

Meet the Author:

During her years in advertising, Jan kept alive her childhood ambition to be an author. At the age of 50, she left her career in advertising and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to pursue that dream. After struggling—and failing—to get a novel underway, Jan awoke one night with a mental image of an Episcopal priest walking down a village street. She grew curious and started writing about a character she named Father Tim Kavanagh. Soon, Jan was publishing weekly installments about Father Tim in her local newspaper, The Blowing Rocket, which saw its circulation double as a result. “The installment plan certainly worked for Mr. Dickens”, says Jan.
The installments became Jan’s first Mitford novel, At Home in Mitford. That book has since been reprinted more than eighty times and was nominated three times (1996, 1997, and 1998) for an ABBY (American Booksellers Book of the Year Award), which honors titles that bookstore owners most enjoy recommending to customers. A New Song won the Christy and Gold Medallion awards for outstanding contemporary fiction in 2000. A Common Life, In This Mountain, and Shepherd’s Abiding have also won Gold Medallion awards. Since the publication of Out to Canaan, Jan’s books have ridden high atop the New York Times bestseller list, frequently landing at #1.
Jan has also published two Christmas-themed books based on the Mitford series, The Mitford Snowmen and Esther’s Gift, as well as Jan Karon’s Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader. Other Mitford books include Patches of Godlight: A Compilation of Wit and Wisdom and A Continual Feast: Words of Comfort and Celebration. In addition, Jan has written two children’s books, Miss Fannie’s Hat and Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, and an illustrated book for all ages, The Trellis and the Seed. For readers interested in Cynthia’s legendary cat books, Jan presents Violet Comes to Stay and Violet Goes to the Country.

Books by Jan

"I received this book for this review from G.P. Putnam's Sons." 

 

The Mountain Midwife by Laurie Alice Eackes

Laurie Alice Eakes

ISBN: 9780310333449

Publisher's Synopsis:

For nearly two hundred years, women in Ashley Tolliver’s family have practiced the art of midwifery in their mountain community. Now she wants to take her skills a step further, but attending medical school means abandoning those women to whom she has dedicated her life, the mountains she loves, and the awakening of her heart.

Ashley Tolliver has tended to the women of her small Appalachian community for years. As their midwife, she thinks she has seen it all. Until a young woman gives birth at Ashley’s home and is abducted just as Ashley tries to take the dangerously bleeding mother to the nearest hospital. Now Ashley is on a mission to find the woman and her newborn baby . . . before it’s too late.

Hunter McDermott is on a quest—to track down his birth mother. After receiving more media attention than he could ever want for being in the right place at the right time, he receives a mysterious phone call from a woman claiming to be his mother. Hunter seeks out the aid of the local midwife in the mountain town where the phone call originated—surely she can shed some light on his own family background.

Ashley isn’t prepared for the way Hunter’s entrance into her world affects her heart and her future. He reignites dreams of having her own family that she has long put aside in favor of earning her medical degree and being able to do even more for her community. But is it commitment to her calling or fear of the unknown that keeps her feet firmly planted in the Appalachian soil? Or is it something more—fear of her growing feelings for Hunter—that makes her hesitant to explore the world beyond the mountains?

"The doorbell rang sometime after midnight...

But this was the double-toned chime of the doorbell in the darkness, and that meant trouble."

 

MrsK's Review:
Answering the door late at night was what Ashley does. Given that generations of midwives coursed through her DNA, Ashley cared for those in need. That's what being a midwife is all about, especially in her Appalachian community and the mountains. Caught between being the community midwife and wanting to be a doctor, Ashley will be driven into decisions that will matter to so many lives.

That night, when so much went wrong was a turning point in Ashley's life. To have the safety of your home, the place where women came to deliver their in children safely, victimized and shrouded in mystery was unnerving. Add in the mysterious Hunter McDemott and his quest in finding his birth mother and sister... life as Ashley knew it was about to change forever.

In the community of Brooksburg, Hunter will discover truths about the type of life his birth mother lived, about the depths of being a son, about the blessings of family, and about trusting a woman to the point of  surrender. For Ashley, love just might be knocking on her door at a time in her life when she was once again accepted into medical school.

"I was just...assaulted..."

It was like that night when the Davis' first showed up. This house was her practice, everyone knew how to find her. For now leaving to become a doctor looked better and better. That is until Hunter needed her guidance up and down the mountain. Locating a mysterious unidentified birth mother needed someone with insight, knowledge of the area, and a way beyond closed doors.

Smoothly written, the life of a midwife in the Appalachian mountains is difficult, fulfilling, maddenly-frustrating, life-threatening, and filled with moments of hope. Reading a story that isn't a normal pick often leads to a discovery beyond prior experiences, yet, linked to a familar journey within...

MrsK  

"I think you'd better call the sheriff. 
My patient and her baby have disappeared."

Worthy read for a lazy afternoon.

Meet the Author:

“Eakes has a charming way of making her novels come to life without being over the top,” writes Romantic times of bestselling, award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes. Since she lay in bed as a child telling herself stories, she has fulfilled her dream of becoming a published author, with a degree in English and French from Asbury University and a master’s degree in writing fiction from Seton Hill University contributing to her career path. Now she has nearly two dozen books in print.

After enough moves in the past five years to make U-Haul’s stock rise, she now lives in Houston, Texas, where she and her husband are exploring their new neighborhood. Although they haven’t been blessed with children—yet--they have sundry lovable dogs and cats. If the carpet is relatively free of animal fur, then she is either frustrated with the current manuscript, or brainstorming another, the only two times she genuinely enjoys housework.

"I received this book for free from the Fiction Guild for this review."

Brooklyn On Fire by Lawrence H. Levy

Lawrence H Levy

ISBN: 9780553418941

Publisher's Synopsis:

Brooklyn’s most witty and daring detective risks everything to solve a dangerous triple-murder case

After closing a case with the Brooklyn Police Department, Mary Handley is determined to become an official detective in her own right. And when Emily Worsham shows up at her new office— convinced her uncle John Worsham was murdered and desperate for answers—Mary’s second assignment begins. 

As she investigates the curious circumstances surrounding John’s death, Mary soon finds herself entangled in a high-stakes family scandal, a series of interconnected murders, political corruption, untrustworthy sources, and an unexpected romance with a central member of New York's elite.

Featuring historic figures like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and the Vanderbilt family, Brooklyn on Fire takes Mary on a wild journey from New York City to North Carolina to uncover not only the truth of one man's death, but to unravel the mystery in three murders – with links tied perilously close to her own personal world.

MrsK's Review:

Who is Mary Handley? Well she is as clever as Sherlock. She is quite adorable.  She is inquisitive and wise in discernment's concerning character. Which by the way is why she is a Consulting Detective for the Brooklyn Police Department.  As a salesclerk for Lazlo's Books, she is ready to begin her investigative services in her new office. Mr. Lazlo believes that many customers will enter the bookstore in need of Mary's service, so an agreement was made that she could locate her office in the back of his bookstore since there was a possibility of "elevating someone's intellectual pursuits" as they sought Mary's services and perused the inviting titles upon his shelves (which by the way I fully agree is an excellent business arrangement).

With such outstanding traits, Mary tends to "step" into the craziest... life-threatening situations. Mary's second mystery begins when Miss Emily Worsham requests assistance in proving the murder of her great-uncle John. Solving a murder case entails so many different twists and turns, yet solving a 20 year old murder will not be completely accepted by the Police Department, relatives, nor the "elite" society that may have benefited from the murder.

Even though it is 1890, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle has failed to mention the murder of  Gabrielle Evans. The Huttington's are powerful, rich, and willing to do anything to keep their status. So would murder be out of the question? Has Archer Huttington's quest for the truth about his father's death (John Worsham) set off more cover-ups? Will an attack on Mr. Lazlo quiet Mary? Will Superintendent Campbell help Mary exhume John's body? For Mary, too many strands were getting tangled, including the new attention of one George Vanderbilt!
Events unfold quickly once an actress is stabbed. Now Mary's list of unanswered questions has grown out of control, as well the list of suspects.

Nothing is as it appears, the plot continues to plummet into a depth of corruption that is mind-boggling. The one consistent thread will be found in Mary's character. As a team, George and Mary will get to the truth and untangle all of the threads. What will be revealed is the moment in which the reader realizes how entertained they have been with a read such as this!
Enjoy a mystery in which all are players...
Including the reader,
MrsK

"When traveling, dining, or really doing anything with a Vanderbilt, 
there was generally only one class--the best and the finest."

 
An enjoyable and entertaining read!

http://www.lawrencehlevy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/MaryHandley_Map.jpg

 click to read more

Meet the Author:

 

LAWRENCE H. LEVY is a highly regarded film and TV writer who is a Writers Guild Award winner and two-time Emmy nominee. He has written for various hit TV shows such as Family Ties, Saved by the Bell, Roseanne, and Seinfeld. Brooklyn on Fire is his second novel.

Read an excerpt  

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review." 

The Princess Twins and the Tea Party by Mona Hodgson

Mona Hodgson

ISBN: 9780310750383

Publisher's Synopsis:

A lesson in humility. Princess Emma wants everything to be perfect for her tea party, but only God is perfect. Just when her guests arrive, everything seems to go wrong. How will Emma fix it? This Level-One I Can Read teaches girls what it means to be a princess for the true King.

MrsK's Review:

Every host wants all things to be perfectly "pleasing" for our guests. Of course the goodies must be divine. Of course the table must be elegant, eye-catching, welcoming, and royal. Every detail is checked and re-checked.

Yet, if there is a puppy that is just so excited to be at the party... well so many things can go wrong.

How would you react when your tea party is "crashed?" Are you gracious? Do you get angry, pout, or cry when your plans aren't going the way you want them to?

Tea parties are the most fun when you are a host who values your guests.

Read-learn-and have a cup of tea for me,

MrsK 

 

 Delightfully fun!

Perfect beginning reader for all little princesses, especially when they want a tea party.

Meet the Author:

  Mona Hodgson is the author of nearly 30 children's books and also writes 19^th century historical fiction. In addition to writing and speaking, Mona likes to read mysteries and love stories, hike Arizona, travel to Africa, play table games, and play Wii Tennis. She lives in central Arizona where she spies roadrunners, quail, cottontail rabbits, and even an occasional skunk in her yard.

The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

Melanie Dickerson

ISBN: 9780718026264

Publisher's Synopsis:

Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man. She paints beautiful flowering vines on the walls of her plaster houses. She sings so sweetly she can coax even a beast to sleep. But there are two things she is afraid her mother might never allow her to do: learn to read and marry.

Fiercely devoted to Rapunzel, her mother is suspicious of every man who so much as looks at her daughter and warns her that no man can be trusted. After a young village farmer asks for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage, Mother decides to move them once again—this time, to the large city of Hagenheim.

The journey proves treacherous, and after being rescued by a knight—Sir Gerek—Rapunzel in turn rescues him farther down the road. As a result, Sir Gerek agrees to repay his debt to Rapunzel by teaching her to read. Could there be more to this knight than his arrogance and desire to marry for riches and position?

As Rapunzel acclimates to life in a new city, she uncovers a mystery that will forever change her life. In this Rapunzel story unlike any other, a world of secrets and treachery is about to be revealed after seventeen years of lies. How will Rapunzel finally take control of her own destiny? And who will prove faithful to a lowly peasant girl with no one to turn to?

MrsK's Review:

 "Mother, you promised someday you would find someone who could teach me to read."

In this charming retelling of Rapunzel you will be enchanted with a "spiritual" dimension to an endearing young heroine. Of course most of us know that "Once upon time" Rapunzel was held captive in a tower. Yet, there is so much more to the story!

Rapunzel wasn't locked away in that tower until she was older. She actually learned many skills from the various villages her mother traveled to. With an inquisitive mind, a longing to read, and a desire to be true to the precepts and principles of God, Rapunzel proves to be a noble servant and friend. As an excellent marksman, Rapunzel will defend anyone in need. She will display a wisdom that is acquired by truth-filled and loyal heart. 

As Rapunzel's story begins, she is on the road to Hagenheim. Her mother once lived there a long time ago. It is on this road that Rapunzel will meet two robbers and one knight. Sir Gerek will need some attending after rescuing Rapunzel and her mother, of course I'm not certain as to who saved whom. It will be during Sir Gerek's recovery at the monastery that Rapunzel will begin reading, knowing others, and discovering that she can not stay with her mother any longer. Her quest will be to live a good life and it will begin as a servant at Hagenheim Castle.

All the while, Rapunzel is aware of the repercussions that would come from her mother if she was ever found. With many diabolical plots and menacing schemes unfolding, Rapunzel will find herself locked away and in need of Sir Gerek.

"She let the tears squeeze free and run down her cheeks.

She would allow herself to cry, to hurt and mourn,

but only for a few minutes.

Then she would be strong, and she would escape."

For all readers who once enjoyed the traditional Fairy Tales, or for those whom are captivated by the newer fractured versions... Take a moment to meet a Rapunzel with depth, spiritual wisdom, spunk, and wit.

MrsK 

"It's not a trick... It is a skill, and you will never learn it if you do not practice!"

 

A Christian retelling of an endearing Fairy Tale! 

Meet the Author:

Melanie Dickerson is an award-winning author who earned her bachelor’s degree in special education from The University of Alabama.
She has taught in Georgia, Tennessee, Germany and the Eastern European country of Ukraine.
A member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA), she now spends her time writing and taking care of her husband and two daughters near Huntsville, Alabama.

"I received this book for free from the Fiction Guild for this review."