Trouble in Store by Carol Cox

 

Plot: When Melanie Ross is fired from her recent job as a governess, she has no where to turn. She decides to head to Arizona to help with a mercantile shop that her cousin, George, had run with his partner before his death. The partner had a sent a letter offering to give her George's items should she ever make here way out there. 

When Melanie arrives in Arizona, she is met by Caleb Nelson who is convinced he is the rightful heir to the store - left to him by his uncle who was her cousin's business partner. 

The two must try to get along with each other and run the store even though there are many setbacks - including a murder or two that need to be solved. 

Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. While there were a couple slower spots, it quickly picked up and I always felt drawn into the story line. What was going to happen next? Who is causing all the trouble for the store? This book really kept my attention the whole way through. 

The main characters were likeable - and well-detailed, you really felt like you were right there in an early town in Arizona. They were also relatable. These were humans trying to do the best they could, but still making mistakes because let's face it - that's what humans do. We make mistakes, even with the best of intentions.

Since I love historical fiction, this book was perfect. It drew you back into the Wild West when towns were starting to sprout up, but weren't completely settled. I loved the mystery that was thrown in as well. I love a book with a good mystery. Even though I figured out the mystery before it was completely resolved in the book, I still wasn't 100% sure until I read the resolution. So enjoyable!

If you like historical fiction and mystery/suspense you'll probably like this book. It is a very clean book that would appeal to teenagers and adults that like books to be wholesome. 

In conclusion: I did receive this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own and I was under no obligation to give it a positive review. 

Hershey's Spreads: Chocolate = Yummy!

I typically only write about books on this blog but since I named it "'n' Things" I left it open for reviewing other types of products. So when I was given the unique opportunity to sample this jar of Hershey's Spreads recently I figured I'd write and let everyone know about it.

My first impression was it was just chocolate in a jar - not even their normal chocolate flavor, but just plain chocolate. I wasn't really impressed with my first bite. But then I had a second and a third. This stuff was great. It had a nice, smooth feel to the tongue. If you compare it to Nutella (which is the only thing I have to compare for this type of product), it really doesn't compare. It isn't a nut + chocolate, it is simply creamy chocolate in a jar. Now who doesn't like that!?!

I mainly tried this with graham crackers and it was a great combo. My husband tried it with Ritz-like crackers and didn't really like that combination together. He discovered the graham crackers with chocolate combo and recommended that I try it that way too. I'm still hoping to get some marshmallows and maybe some fruit to test it out, but I'm sure I won't be disappointed.

Things I really liked about the product, the creaminess of the product and that it didn't have nuts in it (though I did notice that it is processed in a place that processes things with nuts so if you have a severe allergy to peanuts - stay clear!) Fortunately, I don't have that severe of an allergy so I was able to enjoy this product.

In closing, I did want to mention that crowdtap.com provided this to me to sample. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review.

When Happily Ever After Shatters by Sue Birdseye

 



 

 

About the book:

 

When Sue Birdseye found out that her husband of 17 years had been cheating on her, she tried to do everything in her power to stay with him...but God had other plans. Even though she finds herself a single mother of five children, she has decided to get past the pain and try to help others going through the same struggles. This book tells her story, but it also has tons of practical advice to get you through the struggle. The back cover states, "With compassion and honesty, she addresses such difficult topics as adultery, forgiveness, anger and loneliness. She offers seasoned wisdom, thoughtful guidance, and hope to anyone who has been hurt by a broken marriage and is walking the path to healing."

 

 

My review:

 

I am fortunate in that I'm not reading this book because my marriage is broken or in the past. I'm still happily married, but know many friends and family that are going through this and wanted to be more understanding of what they are going through.

 

This book seemed incredibly practical to me. Sue tells her story, but not in a way to give you the gruesome details, but to show you how God still guided in her life. She does give such practical advice. I found much of it to be about trusting God even when you're life doesn't go as planned. Even though the reason for writing the book wasn't specifically for that reason alone, I found that I could still apply a lot of the practical and biblical advice to my own life.

 

I really enjoyed reading this book as it gave me more of an inside look of what is going on inside of the person who has been abandoned by their spouse.

 

I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who is struggling with divorce or who is friends with those that are struggling and just want to be more understanding to their friends.

 

 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review from Tyndale. I was not obligated to give it a positive review. 

What Your Husband Isn't Telling You: A Guided Tour of a Man's Body, Soul, and Spirit by David Murrow

 

 

When I saw the title of this book, I was intrigued. I wanted to read it and find out what does make my husband tick. While I may be delusional, I think my husband and I have a pretty good marriage. We usually communicate and we love to hang out with each other, for the most part. But I'm always looking for books that can help me understand this man I married, or books that can help me see ways I can personally improve our marriage. I am so glad I read this book.

 

I read this book in about 24 hours and I really haven't had a chance to test or talk to my husband about my new-found knowledge of the inner-workings of his mind, so for all I know this book was way out there and doesn't relate at all to how my husband thinks. But this book was very clear and insightful on how men, in general, think.

 

For the most part this book just describes what is going on in a man's mind, or body, or soul and doesn't really give anything applicable to us wives. Notice, I said, for the most part - the last portion of the book specifically deals with how we as wives can relate to our husbands.

 

I really enjoyed the insights and the reading style was extremely easy to read. The book goes into details, but not too deep of details on some parts - enough for you to know what is going on, but not too much to be super graphic.

 

This book is written from a Christian perspective which as a believer who is married to another believer, I really appreciated. I would highly recommend this book to any wife. I was going to qualify that statement, but I'm just going to stop there. If you are a wife, read this book! It really will help you understand where your husband is coming from.

 

 

In conclusion, I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review, I was under no obligation to give a positive review. All the opinions are my own. 

 

The Tempted Soul: An Amish Quilt Novel by Adina Senft

This is the third book in the Amish Quilt Novel series by Adina Senft and another very good book!

I believe that there are times in every believers life where God will test their faith. It may be that there is a job loss which causes financial stress for many years - whether that is because of not finding another job or because you found another job, but had to move someplace to get that job and you now have a mortgage and rent. You cry out to God knowing that He is all powerful and that He can change anything and yet, seemingly nothing happens. You keep believing that God will provide because He promises He will and you pray that the desires of your heart will be answered. For some, it is financial difficulty. For others, it may be the loss of a loved one. And still for others, it may be that they long for a child of their own to love. These things that are good things, things that you know God could change in a heartbeat, but that He allows you to go through for some reason unknown to you. This book is one such book. This book deals with Carrie Miller, who longs to have a child of her own through any means possible and how she cries to God to allow her to have a little one of her own. 

Carrie Miller has been married for many years and loves her husband deeply, yet the one thing she wants most seems to elude her. For in Amish culture, children are seen as a blessing and a woman isn't fulfilled if she doesn't have children of her own but for some reason God doesn't seem to be answering the cry of Carrie's heart. This book chronicles her life and her desire to serve God even with no children of her own. She befriends the young people in the community and when one of the girls gets pregnant out of wedlock, she prays that she might be a blessing to her. 

I really enjoyed reading this book as it spoke so much to me in my life. Having gone through and still going through many trials and wondering why God hasn't seen fit to answer them, this book was a good reminder that God loves us and He will take care of us and continue to draw ourselves to Him.
I would recommend reading this book if you enjoy reading books about the Amish, or just want a book that lets you forget about your own problems for a little bit and lets you see other people's problems. While this is the third book in the series, I think it would be easy enough to read it on its own. If you are interested in the other books, you can read my reviews of those as well. For the first book about Amelia, who has been misdiagnosed and seems to be losing everything, see my review here. For the second book about Emma, who longs to be married to the only person she has loved since she was 18 (she's now 30), see my review here.

In closing, I did want to mention that I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review through  FaithWords a division of Hachette Book Group. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review. All the thoughts in this review are my own.

No Safe Harbor by Elizabeth Ludwig

 

 

Years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Ellis Island and I loved it! I'd always liked learning about history and visiting historical sites, but for some reason even now many years later Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty hold special places in my heart. Perhaps it is because of the hope that so many immigrants sought after and seeing the Statue of Liberty and being processed through Ellis Island gave them their opportunity. For whatever reason that I loved Ellis Island, that was a big reason why I wanted to review this book.

 

This book is about a girl that didn't really have any reason to stay in Ireland, her parents were dead and for many years she thought her brother was dead as well. When Cara Hamilton receives a letter from her brother, Eoghan, to come to the States, she can't believe that he is alive and she might get to see him again! Everything is very secretive though as the last time she'd seen him he'd been caught up in a group called the Finians that were causing political upheaval in Ireland.

 

Cara leaves her home and goes to America to start a new life and to see her brother again. He warns her to not trust anybody and she tries to keep his secret though everything in her wants to tell people who she really is. While on the boat to America, she meets an elderly man who is kind to her and gives her the name of a boardinghouse where she can stay and find some work. She has just gotten through processing on Ellis Island when she meets a young man named Rourke. Rourke isn't exactly what he seems, but he is kind to her and continues to be a friend to her.

 

Knowing that she is supposed to not trust anyone, Cara wars within herself to tell Rourke why she came to America. With intrigue, mistaken identities and of course a little bit of a love story thrown in, this book was a delight to read.

 

The main characters sometimes frustrated me because I like people to just tell what they are thinking and not to skirt around issues, but that also was a big part of the book so I understood the reasoning behind the secrecy.

 

I did enjoy this book, I think that if you like mysteries and historical fiction this will probably be a book you'll enjoy. There are many other delightful (and some not so delightful) characters in this book that just really help to give the book substance.

 

 

I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review. I was under no obligation to give it a positive one. All the thoughts in this review are my own.