Hearse and Buggy by Laura Bradford

Hearse and Buggy (An Amish Mystery #1)

Author: Laura Bradford

Published By: Berkley

Date Published: June 5th 2012

Genre: Mystery, Amish Mystery

Pages: 275

Recommended Age: Adult

Read and Reviewed By: Me

Rating: B/4

I borrowed this book from the neighborhood library.

Summary:

Claire Weatherly has divorced her husband and left New York for the Amish village of Heavenly, Pennsylvania. She opens an Amish specialty shop, Heavenly Treasures, and slowly makes friends among the Amish, including Esther, a young Amish woman who works in the shop.

When the store’s former owner, a unlikable man is found murdered Eli, the Amish man Esther is sweet on is the prime suspect. The new detective Jakob Fisher who was raised Amish and is now shunned by the Amish community tries to solve the case, but the Amish won’t talk to him so he relies on the help of Claire.

My Thoughts:

I really liked Hearse and Buggy by Laura Bradford, so much so that I plan on reading the next book in the series. I think Bradford did an excellent job creating the characters and presenting their backgrounds. I believe Bradford was being smart when she included Jakob’s pain and anguish over being shunned by his family. Yes, he knew what would happen if he left the Amish community, but it doesn’t lessen the pain any. How many of you have faced a difficult decision that you knew you had to make for whatever the reasons and ended losing love ones over. Showing Jakob’s pain to the readers made the storyline a bit realistic. If you love cozy mysteries, I recommend you reading Hearse and Buggy by Laura Bradford.  

Parents:

Language: None

Adult Content: None

Violence: None

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Author: Vicki Myron

Published By: Grand Central Publishing

Date Published: October 7th 2010 (first published 2008)

Genre: Autobiography, Memoirs, Biography

Pages:  282

Recommended Age: Adult

Read and Reviewed By: Me

Rating: C/3

This book is from my own personal library.

Summary:

A kitten was only a few weeks old when he was stuffed into the Spencer Public Library’s book slot. The library director Vicki Myron petitioned the library board for permission to keep the kitten. The petition was granted and the kitten had found itself a home. The kitten was then given the name Dewey Readmore Books and the cat won the hearts of the town. For nineteen years Dewey charmed the town and the world with his personality as he ruled over Spencer Public Library.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this book so much that after I had finished reading it I did a search for Dewey Readmore Books on the internet and spent time watching videos of a cat who knew he was king of a library. I liked how the author Vicki Myron shared the town’s history and her personal trials and triumphs. It made understanding her attachment to the cat easy to see. 

I recommend reading Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron, especially if one is a cat lover. It’s good light hearted reading that can make the reader chuckle at some points and cry at others.

Parents:

Language: None

Adult Content: None

Violence: None

The Things Book Lovers Would Wish Someone Would Say to Them

How would you like it if your boss said that 'your job was to read today and you could read any book you want for the eight hours you are at work'? That is on the list of twenty things a book lover would love to hear said to them. Read the rest on Goodreads blog post 20 Things All Book Lovers Wish Someone Would Say to Them posted by Hayley Ingarashi.

Dewey the Cat-CBS Sunday Morning

Saving Amelie by Cathy Gohlke

Saving Amelie

Author: Cathy Gohlke

Published By: Tyndale House Publishers

Date Published: May 16th 2014

Genre: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction

Pages: 453

Recommended Age: Adult

Read and Reviewed By: Me

Rating: A/5

This is from my own personal library.

Summary:

On a trip to Germany with her adoptive father Rachel Kramer is told by her old friend Kristine that her SS officer husband Gerhardt Schlick sees their child Amelie as a disgrace and not worthy of life because she was born deaf. Kristine pleads with Rachel to Amelie back to America with her raise her as her own because Gehardt plans to have her murdered. Rachel once dated Gerhardt so knows how cruel he can be. When she starts searching her scientist father’s documents she realizes that her whole life was a lie and she was an experiment for the Third Reich and now they plan to complete their experiment. With Gerhardt and the rest of the S.S hunting Rachel down she finds herself being helped by unlikely allies.

My Thoughts:

I just love, love this book.  I have a book hangover today because I was up until two in the morning reading this book. I could not put Saving Amelie by Cathy Gohlke down.  Gohlke has gained a new fan. It was a fast-paced book that kept you on the edge of your seat. I also loved how she handled the faith issue. I felt she made the characters who were not believers more realistic in their faith journey by the ways they came to accept Christ. In the beginning, Gohlke glazed over the faith talk in the beginning of the book enough to let the readers know who the true believers were and who were not. She did not over kill the faith talks as some Christian writers do. She made them coming to Christ as non believers more realistic. Introducing the beloved German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his book The Cost of Discipleship helped weaved Rachel and others faith journey into the storyline seamlessly. Gohlke did a fantastic job and I cannot wait to read more of her books and this is the reason I gave Saving Amelie five stars and a grade of A.  I loved it!

Parents:

Language: None

Adult Content: Talks about genocide and eugenics

Violence: insinuated beatings after the effect, insinuated gassing of innocent children

Her Brother’s Keeper by Beth Wiseman

Her Brother’s Keeper (An Amish Secrets Novel)

Author: Beth Wiseman

Published By: Thomas Nelson Publishing

Date Published: February 27th 2015

Genre: Christian Fiction, Amish

Pages: 300

Recommended Age: Adult

Read and Reviewed By: Me

Rating: C/3

This is from my personal library.

Summary:

A few years earlier, Charlotte Dolinsky’s brother Ethan left Texas and had found love with an Amish girl, named Hannah King. He told Charlotte he had joined the Amish community in Lancaster and was engaged to marry Hannah. Then last year he took his own life. Charlotte is determined to find out what caused her brother to take his own life and is certain that Hannah has the answers. Charlotte disguises herself as an Amish cousin of the King family and travels to Pennsylvania to find the answers she is seeking, believing the answers would give her peace, but her peace ends up coming from a source she didn’t even know she was looking for.

My Thoughts:

I liked this book, but something was lacking in it. I really could not tell if the author was trying to make this a romance or somewhat of a mystery. There was basically no romance going on. The reader knew who was interested in whom and who would up with whom. The mystery was what was Ethan dealing with mentally to make him take his own life at a time he should have been happy, but that story line was flat.  This book was mediocre in its story telling. If you are a Beth Wiseman fan and feel the need to read Her Brother’s Keeper go ahead, but if you have never read anything by Wiseman before do not make Her Brother’s Keeper your first read of hers; you will be disappointed.

Parents:

Language: None

Adult Content: Discussions about child abuse and suicide

Violence: None

All Caught Up

Today, I put up the final review of some of the books I read in 2015 and the years preceding. I didn't read a whole lot of books for pleasure in 2015 because I  had been reading mostly text books for my graduate classes, but I did get some books in that was for my pure enjoyment. The last review I posted for last year's books was Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and I highly recommend that book to everyone.

Tomorrow, I will post a review for the first book I finished this year. Yesterday, I started reading a book from the list on My Library page.  This book is set in Germany during WWII. If you haven't checked out My Library yet, feel free to do so.  I hope that you are enjoying My Reading Rainbow. I will try to keep up with it a lot better than I have been. If you are interested in writing book reviews for my blog as a guest blogger, feel free to message me at Theresa A. Mullins-Poet/Writer and I will send you a blog post template to follow. Blogging reviews for books is just for enjoyment and not for any compensation so if this is something you would be interested doing as a hobby then message me.

I hope you all are enjoying the start of the new year and the new year is treating you alright. I will be back tomorrow with another book review.  Later!