Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Unbroken, perfectly titled. But I think forgiveness should have been in the book title too.

I found this book to be the most eye opening book reading experience ever. It's so hard to try to imagine the horrors the Pacific theater POW's experience yet alone read it. You can't make this stuff up. It's so, so sad that I found myself getting a little down. But I was pleasantly surprised by the end that that is where I ended up in tears. I think I was just too shocked for tears before the end.

I'm so glad I finally read this book. I've wanted to since it came out. I think everyone should read this book to obtain a great understanding of the WWII POW experience. They and other war veterans deserve more respect than our government has given them. WAY more.

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Forsaken Dreams (Escape to Paradise #1)

Forsaken Dreams by M.L. Tyndall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really liked this book though it seemed a little different than her other books. I liked all of the characters, even down to the "bad guy" who was just straight CREEPY!

This book really was about escaping. These war-exhausted southerners are ready to leave their roots in the south after the civil war. They seek to start a new colony in Brazil where they can start fresh and away from the Union.

Ms. Tyndall is a talented author (my favorite) but this book really shows her growth I think. It's beautifully written, it was seamless to me.

As always, I love her journey into faith for the characters, though the journey for each of them was not quite as powerful as I have read in some of her other books. But that did not take away from it at all.

I am so very excited to read more in this series and see what lies ahead in Brazil!



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The Cinderella Deal

The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was so cute! Yes, this fake marriage story line has been told before, but I really, really liked this one. I've said so many times before that I'm not a huge contemporary romance fan, but every once in a while a cute, sweet, little gem pops up and I can appreciate the genre again.

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Vision in White (Bride Quartet, #1)

Vision in White by Nora Roberts
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Cheeeeeese. That has a double meaning. The main character in this book is a slightly neurotic wedding photographer who is also emotionally abused and manipulated by her extremely neurotic mother, and is kept company by her mousy new boyfriend. I didn't care much for her or her cavity sweet boyfriend. This book was not my cup of tea. These are the types of books that make me hate contemporary romances. I like conversations in a book, but this was too much. No prose, no purpose on my shelf.

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Never Seduce a Scot

Never Seduce a Scot by Maya Banks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good and enjoyable read. Title doesn't match the book though. The title might lead one to believe its your typical cheesy romance, but it's not. I was pleasantly surprised by it's plot and look forward to reading more by this author.

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Blue Moon Promise

Blue Moon Promise by Colleen Coble
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sweet Christian romance read. Maybe more like 3.5 stars but it's a good, clean read so I'll give it 4 stars.

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A Week to Be Wicked

Abandoned. Was about half way through it. I just couldn't read this. It was okay, thin plot, very cheesy. I had a horrible time sleeping last night thinking about the evils of life and decided I would give up this book for some sleep. I didn't get the sleep as I had wished, but I will follow through on my vow to stop reading it.

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare




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Redeeming Love

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What an amazing book. It was sad, it was beautiful, it was haunting, it was lovely. It was powerful !

This brings love and forgiveness to a level that not many people would possibly consider these days. To be broken in so many ways, body and soul, unable to see that there is a higher power who can cleanse you entirely. To go through hell and think you cannot be loved and be told again and again that there is One who can cleanse you, love you, cherish you. Trying to find a purpose in life when all you have to do is believe. It may take time, it may be hard, but in the end, there will be peace.

There were times I would get a little irritated with the dialogue, but it was minor. The ending was moving and brought me to tears. I even loved the authors note at the end. I was very happy to read that finding Christ for her was not a mountain top experience, but a journey.

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Always You

Always You by Kirsty Moseley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I feel generous giving this book two stars, but if it had been properly edited by a publisher, it might have received a higher rating.

Terribly overdramatic, poorly written, poorly researched story. I suppose every author starts with something and we live in a time of self published books, but this is the kind of junk that leaks into the ebook world and people haphazardly buy for $.99 and feel it was a waste. I know that's incredibly harsh, but I honestly think it could have been good if it had gone through the proper publishing channels.

I just finished reading a phenomenal book, Winter of the World by Ken Follet. He's a Welsh author writing not only about his home country, but Germany, Russia, and the United States. The lesson here? An author really ought to do their homework if they truly want to be a respected author.

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All The Way Home

All the Way Home by Ann Tatlock
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall the story (stories) were decent. It felt like two books, almost like it could have been a series, but it was a two part book. The first half of the book took place with the two main characters as children living in southern California leading up to and during WWII. Sunny is a second generation Japanese American who has an incredibly loving and supportive family who feel they are as American as anyone else. Augie comes from a broken family and quickly comes to love Sunny's family when they quickly become best friends.

World War II erupts and Sunny's family is forced to leave their lives behind to live in Japanese internment camps. Augie is devastated as she had become so much a part of Sunny's family, she even thinks of herself as Japanese at heart.

Augie and Sunny's family lose contact and Auguie thinks they have abandoned her and is devastated by what she sees as betrayal.

Fast forward twenty something years and Sunny, now Helen, finds Augie and invites her to her home to write a magazine article about anti-civil rights Mississippi. Augie is shocked to learn that the invitation to Mississippi is from her childhood best friend; there is a weird twist there I won't spoil.

Augie is there to write a story about a school that prepares African Americans to register to vote. She meets a really great guy...blah blah blah, he turns out to be something completely different than she thought...blah, blah, blah...the KKK are everywhere, they are bad, horrible people. I do not mean to demean what happened there, it's disgusting, but the story dragged on too much for me to read every fine detail.

The second part started out good, but then I just lost interest. It could have been shortened substantially. I skimmed over many pages just trying to get to the end quickly.

Great basis for a story, just not as interesting as I think it could have been. And have I mentioned how much I HATE reading accents? It is one of the more annoying parts of this book.

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Wait For Me

Wait For Me by Elisabeth Naughton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really, really good book...and free on Kindle too! The story line was great and main characters were all fabulous. There were a few continuity and grammatical errors that could be fixed though. I wasn't a huge fan of all swearing and how many times, "son of a bitch" was (over) used. If a really good editor got their hands on this book, it could definitely be a five star read.

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Swim

Swim by Jennifer Weiner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Um, okay. Short? Yes. Good enough to draw me into reading, The Next Best Thing? Uh, maybe. Not in a rush though.

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Short-Straw Bride

Short-Straw Bride by Karen Witemeyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cute and clean Christian romance set in the late 1800's Texas. Fun, sweet story with cowboys, love, and faith in the Almighty.

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