For the Love

I received a copy of For the Love by Jen Hatmaker from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The majority of our joys, struggles, thrills, and heartbreaks relate to people, beginning first with ourselves and then the people we came from, married, birthed, live by, live for, go to church with, don't like, don't understand, fear, struggle with, compare ourselves to, and judge. People are the best and worst thing about the human life.
Jen Hatmaker knows this all too well, and so she reveals how to practice kindness, grace, truthfulness, vision, and love to ourselves and those around us. By doing this, For the Love leads our generation to re-imagine Jesus' grace as a way of life, and it does it in a funny yet profound manner that Christian readers will love. Along the way, Hatmaker shows readers how to reclaim their prophetic voices and become Good News again to a hurting, polarized world.

Jen Hatmaker is one of the most down to earth and honest authors I read books by.  She has a way of getting to the heart of the matter with humor and humility.  We're all human and she proves it with her true life examples of mistakes and positives from her life.  If you want to learn about how to practice kindness, grace and love others this is the book for you.

Tangled Webs

I received a copy of Tangled Webs by Irene Hannon from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
After a disastrous Middle East mission ends his six-year Army Ranger career, Finn McGregor needs some downtime. A peaceful month in the woods sounds like the perfect way to decompress. But peace isn't on the agenda once he crosses paths with publishing executive Dana Lewis, a neighbor who is nursing wounds of her own. Someone seems bent on disrupting her stay in the lakeside cabin she inherited from her grandfather. As Finn and Dana work together to discover who is behind the disquieting pranks, the incidents begin to take on a menacing tone. And when it becomes apparent Dana's foe may have deadly intent, Finn finds himself back in the thick of the action--ready or not.
This was a really good book.  I didn't realize when I got it that it was the final book in the Men of Valor series, so I got the first 2 books to read before I read this one.  Finn McGregor has been through a horrific fight for his life and has moved to the woods to try to sort everything out.  When he's woken in the middle of the night to the sound of a woman screaming he realizes that he has a neighbor.  Dana has come to the cabin her grandfather left her to escape the nightmares of her past.  Can Finn and Dana work together to each get past their fears?

Deadly Decision

I received a copy of Deadly Decision by Regina Smeltzer from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Bill Iver didn't expect anything more than hard work when he offered to help his daughter and son-in-law restore their rented historic South Carolina home, but then he sees two boys in the attic--and his hand passes through one of them. Bill has always believed that being absent from the body meant being present with the Lord, but if that is true, what did he see? And why does the boy dressed in 19th century clothing look familiar while the second boy, dressed in jeans and sweatshirt, look like the missing grandson of the house's owner? What is the connection between the two boys--and Bill? Hesitant to share his experience with his pastor, but consumed with the need to understand, Bill seeks a worldly explanation which leads him down a trail of decisions that are deadly to body and soul. Through the mire, he must undo the consequences of his choices, discover what his visions mean, and uncover an age-old mystery that will bring closure and reconciliation.
This was a good book.  I've never been around someone that God talked to directly.  I like how Bill struggled with the fact that he saw 2 boys in the attach of his daughters home.  He'd always been told that souls don't linger on earth, so what he saw had to be evil.  His gut tells him that the boys were not evil.  Can he get to the bottom of what he saw before it's too late?

Retribution

I received a copy of Retribution by Regina Smeltzer from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Lillian Hunter’s life is destroyed when she’s implicated in setting the fire which killed her husband and daughter. Seeking peace and restoration, she pulls the pieces of her shattered life together and accepts a position at a college in another state. Surrounded by a loving family that has adopted her as their own, Lillian struggles with new life, new love…and new danger. Fires are being set in which she is once again implicated. Doubting her own sanity, Lillian takes steps to ensure she isn’t setting the fires. But if it isn’t her, who is it? And why, after she’s moved halfway across the country, have they followed her? A day of reckoning is coming as Lillian seeks to exonerate herself and claim retribution for the destruction of her life. Will she discover the truth before her new life is consumed by the flames?
I had a little trouble getting into this book.  It seemed really dark and depressing.  As the story continued I realized why it started out like it did.  Lillian felt as if her life was over after losing her husband and daughter to a house fire.  It doesn't help that she blames herself along with everyone else in town.  She desperately needs to find herself again. Will moving south be the answer she needs?

Twilight at Blueberry Barrens

I received a copy of Twilight at Blueberry Barrens by Collen Coble from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Kate has devoted herself to keeping her family's blueberry barrens thriving. But when blossom blight devastates her blueberry fields, she's forced to come up with alternative ways to replace that income. Fixing up the small cottage on her property as a rental seems an obvious choice, but it won't be enough. When Drake Carver drives by with his two nieces in tow, looking not only for a place to rent for the summer but also for a nanny for the girls, it's almost too good to be true.
Drake is a judge whose brother and sister-in-law died in an accident shortly after he received a threat that his family would suffer if he didn't drop a high profile case. Is there a connection? This remote area of Maine seems like the perfect place for him to keep his nieces safe until he determines if they're in danger.
Drake and Kate constantly lock horns; having never been a parent before, he gives his nieces free reign. Kate won't stand for their disrespect and keeps challenging Drake to set a higher standard. Even though Kate has given up on having children because of the chemo she had to take, she finds herself oddly drawn to this improvised family. But Drake begins to fear that he's putting Kate in danger as well.
Meanwhile, Kate learns that her uncle—in prison for murder—has escaped. Add to that a stalker whose sights are set on her, and Kate is looking over her shoulder at every turn.
With danger swirling from multiple directions, it may be a question of who gets to her first.
This was a really good book, but I love all of the Colleen Coble books I've read.  Kate has done everything that she feels is expected of her.  Tending to the Blueberry Barrens her family has owned for years and fixing up the small cottage on the property to rent.  Can she believe in her self enough to follow her dreams?

Restoring Love

I received a copy of Restoring Love by Jennifer Slattery from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Mitch, a contractor and house-flipper, is restoring a beautiful old house in an idyllic Midwestern neighborhood. Angela, a woman filled with regrets and recently transplanted to his area, is anything but idyllic . She's almost his worst nightmare, and she’s also working on restoring something—herself. As he struggles to keep his business afloat and she works to overcome mistakes of her past, these two unlikely friends soon discover they have something unexpected in common—a young mom who is fighting to give her children a better life after her husband's incarceration. While both Mitch and Angela are drawn to help this young mother survive, they also find themselves drawn to each other. Will a lifetime of regrets hold them back or unite them and bring redemption along with true love?

This book took me a little while to get into.  It seemed really negative at first.  I think it was because the book started out with Bianca's story.  She's a single mother trying to keep her family afloat without the help of her husband.  He can't seem to keep himself out of jail and when he is he seems to have trouble following him home.  As we get to find out about Angela we find that she's doing her best to get her life on track.  She's a new believer with the help of her daughter and son-in-law.  Mitch is a contractor working on the house across the street from Angela.  Can they help Bianca and her family while also work on a relationship?

Death of a Pumkin Carver

I received a copy of Death of a Pumpkin Carver by Lee Hollis from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This Halloween, Hayley can't imagine a worse trick than her ex-husband Danny returning to Bar Harbor. Her kids may be happy to see their dad, but Hayley's determined not to be taken in by his charms, and suspects he's in financial trouble—again.
Still, the haunted holiday is about to get a whole lot scarier after Danny's moonshine-making uncle is found lying dead next to a tombstone in a cemetery—and Danny quickly becomes the prime suspect. To prove her ex is innocent, Hayley will have to dig deep into her own bag of tricks to unmask the real culprit . . . before anyone else—including her—ends up in the graveyard...

A good book that kept me guessing until the end.  The added recipes were a nice extra.  Hayley's ex-husband Danny has come back to town un-expectantly.  He's nothing but trouble as far as Hayley's concerned but her kids are very happy to see their dad.  When Danny's uncle is found dead Danny becomes the prime suspect.  Hayley doesn't like her ex but she does know that he's not a killer.  Will they be able to work together to find the murderer before they're next?