Christian Book Review Round-up #4

Each Thursday the Christian Book Review Round-up will be a place where we can link our book reviews from the past week and create a type of book review library.

There's no limit on link-ups as long as your review post was created during the previous week. 

The reviews can be for Christian Fiction, Christian Non-fiction, Cookbooks, Fitness, basically anything that we, as Christians, would read.

Make sure you put a link to the Round-up on your review post so others can find our library of reviews.

Christian Book Review Round-up #3

Each Thursday the Christian Book Review Round-up will be a place where we can link our book reviews from the past week and create a type of book review library.

There's no limit on link-ups as long as your review post was created during the previous week. 

The reviews can be for Christian Fiction, Christian Non-fiction, Cookbooks, Fitness, basically anything that we, as Christians, would read.

Make sure you put a link to the Round-up on your review post so others can find our library of reviews.

Christian Book Review Round-up #2 & a Winner!

Each Thursday the Christian Book Review Round-up will be a place where we can link our book reviews from the past week and create a type of book review library.

There's no limit on link-ups as long as your review post was created during the previous week. 

The reviews can be for Christian Fiction, Christian Non-fiction, Cookbooks, Fitness, basically anything that we, as Christians, would read.

Make sure you put a link to the Round-up on your review post so others can find our library of reviews.

And now for the winner of "Shadows of Lancaster County" by Mindy Starns Clark!

The winner is:  Linda!!

Thank you so much to every one who participated in last week's Round-up and who entered the giveaway. 

Keep coming back.  There will be more giveaways in the future!

Book Review: "A Tailor-Made Bride" by Karen Witemeyer

Book Description:

Jericho "J.T." Tucker wants nothing to do with Coventry, Texas's new dressmaker. He's all too familiar with her kind -- shallow women more devoted to fashion than true beauty. Yet, except for her well-tailored clothing, this seamstress is not at all what he expected.

Hannah Richards is confounded by the man who runs the livery. The unsmiling fellow riles her with his arrogant assumptions and gruff manner while at the same time stirring her heart with unexpected acts of kindness. Which side of Jericho Tucker reflects the real man?

When Hannah decides to help Jericho's sister catch a beau -- leading to uproarious consequences for the whole town -- will Jericho and Hannah find a way to bridge the gap between them?

My Thoughts:

I loved this book!  I loved the characters, the setting, the plot.  Everything.

I love to sew and make things with fabric.  The details about sewing machines, dressmaking, dollmaking, breadcloth making, fabrics and frills were all fascinating.

Hannah also is helping Jericho's sister, Cordelia, get in shape and attract the eye of a certain telegraph operator.  The timing was perfect for me as I just started a "Fall Fitness Challenge."  It was actually kind of motivating!  Hearing the techniques used for exercise in that time was quite interesting.

The banter between Hannah and Jericho was so very life-like.  I could hear me and my husband going back and forth like that anytime.

A very enjoyable read!

Linking up to:

Christian Book Review Round-up #1 and a Giveaway

I'd like to create a way that we can have a library of our book reviews. I've often wanted to read reviews of a certain book and had to go searching to find one.

Each Thursday I'll post a Christian Book Review Round-up post where we can link our book reviews from the past week. There's no limit on link-ups as long as your review post was created during that week.

The reviews can be for Christian Fiction, Christian Non-fiction, Cookbooks, Fitness, basically anything that we, as Christians, would read.

Make sure you put a link to the Round-up on your review post so others can find our library of reviews.

To celebrate the first week, I'll be having a giveaway for "Shadows of Lancaster County" by Mindy Starns Clark.


The following are ways to be entered in the drawing:

+1: Link-up and/or leave a comment with your email address.

+2: Be a follower.

+3: Invite your friends by blogging about the Christian Book Review Round-up.

That is a total of 6 chances. The drawing will be held on Thursday, September 16th at 12pm.

I've linked my review for "Shadows of Lancaster County" below.

I hope we can have fun with this round-up!

Book Review: "Shadows of Lancaster County" by Mindy Starns Clark

Book Description:

Following up on her extremely popular Gothic thriller, Whispers of the Bayou, Mindy Starns Clark offers another suspenseful stand-alone mystery full of Amish simplicity, dark shadows, and the light of God's amazing grace.

Anna thought she left the tragedies of the past behind when she moved from Pennsylvania to California, but when her brother vanishes from the genetics lab where he works, Anna has no choice but to head back home. Using skills well-honed in Silicon Valley, she follows the high-ech trail her brother left behind, a trail that leads from the simple world of Amish farming to the cutting edge of DNA research and gene mapping.

Anna knows she must depend on her instincts, her faith in God, and the help of the Amish community to find her brother. She also must finally face her own shadows, and pray that she's stronger than the grief that threatens to overwhelm them all.

My Thoughts:

This book had a little bit of everything in it. Mystery, intrigue, drama, danger, romance, history, redemption, forgiveness, and more.

The first two-thirds of the book I read over a couple days. The last third, I stayed up late to finish because I knew I was so close to finding out the answers to the mystery. It kept me guessing the whole time. It definitely wasn't one that I had figured out.

This isn't an Amish fiction, per se. It has Amish interaction and a good bit about their heritage but it is more of a sideline.

This was a great read. It was the first fiction book I've read from Mindy Starns Clark, but I have "Whispers of the Bayou" on my TBR pile and am looking forward to reading it even more now!