Seek Me with All Your Heart

I was able to review Seek Me with All Your Heart by Beth Wiseman a few months ago. I loved the Amish background to the story. It's a story of two different young people in a new Amish community. Emily is quite reserved and seems to be running from something in her past. David is also a bit reserved, also seemingly from his past, but for very different reasons. The story picks up as they meet and mingle and fight and (not to give it away, but this is a romance) become friends.

The Amish culture is very interesting to me, and I was surprised to read this book about a new community that they have formed in Colorado. I had no idea that the Amish were spread nationwide, as I normally view them as residing in Pennsylvania or Ohio. It makes sense, but I just hadn't thought about it much I guess. I wish that there was some good Amish fiction available that wasn't a love story or romance. Anyone have any good ideas they could toss my way? I'm not much of a romance reader. =) In the author's defense, she did a very good job keeping the romance interesting without being over the top about it.

Thanks to Book Sneeze for bringing this book to my attention!

Same Life, New Story

Same Life, New Story: Change Your Perspective to Change Your Life by Jan Silvious was a good read. It is broken up into ten chapters, each highlighting a different woman of the bible and her story. It covers Naomi, Leah, Rahab, Deborah, Hannah, Anna, Jehosheba, Abigail, Naaman's servant girl, and Elizabeth. It is also filled with stories from modern times that highlight the same principles found in the bible verses, followed by applications and study questions to implement into your own life. The overarching principle found throughout the book is a basic how-to course on changing your own life for the better. It demonstrates how changing the small things, your attitude and your perspective can have massive impacts in your life.

This was my first time reading a book by Jan Silvious, and I was impressed with her life experiences and writing style. Although I probably won't read another one of her books (due to differences in our religious and bible perspective), I do not regret reading this book, as it helped me learn more about the women discussed, and helped me dive deep into my own copy of the bible to study out the stories for myself. I would recommend this book to people looking to learn more about women in the bible that don't have a biblical version preference (the author uses several different bible translations throughout, none of them being KJV).

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, but the opinions and views discussed are completely my own.

Love on Assignment by Cara Lynn James

Love on Assignment by Cara Lynn James should be a quick read, but I must admit, it took me awhile to get into this book. The storyline follows a woman in her early twenties, Charlotte Hale, as she tries to work to provide financially for herself, her ailing aunt, and disabled sister. When a rare promotion offer is given to her by her boss, she immediately takes it for financial gain, although she isn't sure if her motives are pure. Her assignment, to spy on a local religious columnist at a rival newspaper while posing as the family governess, leads to twists and turns in the storyline and a religious awakening of sorts within Charlotte. Obviously there is a bit of a love story going on as well, as shown by the title.

While not overly amazed by this novel, I will say that it was a wholesome read that kept my attention. I liked that even though this was the second book in the Ladies of Summerhill series, I was able to jump right into the story without needing to read book #1 first. I'm not sure how the book within the series are related, but it seems like each story could stand alone, at least to an uninformed reader like myself. I will probably not read more by this author or within this series, but I do not regret the time I spent reading about Summerhill and the values presented within Love on Assignment.

I was provided with a free copy of this book from BookSneeze.com for the purpose of reviewing it. I did not receive any other compensation and the ideas stated within are purely my own.