"Summer of Promise" is Historical Christian Romance

I liked the dog in this one!

Summer of Promise by Amanda Cabot is the first in the Christian Romance Westward Winds series. Back in the 1880s, Abigail teaches in an all-girls school in Vermont and is planning to marry a colleague named Woodrow who is very nice and well organized. Abigail is worried though about her older sister, Charlotte, who is married to an officer and lives at Fort Laramie in Wyoming. In reading her letters, Abigail got the feeling that something is not quite right so decides to visit her. On the way she meets Ethan, a lieutenant, on the stagecoach who saves the passengers from a couple robbers. Abigail finds that Charlotte is pregnant and seems very weak so stays to help her and cheer her up. When the army post gave orders to kill all the stray dogs running around, Abigail couldn’t help but pick a puppy for Charlotte who she named Puddles. Abigail discovers that Wyoming isn’t boring like she originally thought and finds that God has different plans for her than what she expected.

Teaser from page 58: “Oh, Ethan, he’s so cute. You can’t drown him.”

This book was pretty good but seemed to move a bit slowly. I really liked Ethan and Puddles the best! Although there is some mystery about who was robbing the stagecoaches and who was a traitor, it wasn’t really too hard to figure out. The romance was predictable, as is par for the course with Christian fiction books. I enjoyed some of the funny parts in this book very much, such as when Ethan was teaching Abigail how to shoot a gun. I will probably continue on with this series, but not right away. I need something a bit more gripping.
(Karen’s review, 4 stars)


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"She Rides Shotgun" by Jordan Harper

In She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper, Polly knows something it wrong when she finds her dad waiting for her outside of her school one day.  One, he never does that, and two, he is supposed to be in prison.  Even though Polly is 11 years old, she had her Teddy bear with her as usual and goes off with her dad for better or worse!

Teaser from page 54:   Polly put the bear down.  She picked up the phone.

Polly is a great character and when she was in the story, it was really good!  This book starts off strong and ends well; however, having so many characters made the middle of the book not so good.  That being said, on the strength of Polly and the story line, I still give it 4 stars!
(Gerard's review)

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"The Child Finder" by Rene Denfeld

In The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld, Madison is with her family looking for a Christmas tree out in the woods.  The next thing the parents notice is that Madison is gone.  Years later, they decide to call Naomi, "The Child Finder."  The mother clings to hope that Madison is still alive.

Teaser from pg. 15:  

She was awake, the furs and blankets around her cradled with sweat.  She could feel the snow falling outside.

The pacing of this book is very well done!  You cannot help but love Madison and only want the best for her.  I enjoyed this book very much!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"The Last Magician" by Lisa Maxwell

In The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell, magic is all but gone in modern day New York.  Mageus lives in the shadows.  They have magic, but they are trapped by the Brink.  Esta can save them, but she will have to go back 100 years to change things and it will not be easy.

Teaser from page 32:
The voices were closer now.
She forced herself to ignore the searing bite of the stone's heat against her arm, and with every last ounce of determination she had left, she finally found the layer of time she needed and dragged them both through.

Esta is a great character; I really enjoyed her!  There are some down spots where not much goes on at all, but the last 100 or so pages more than make up for that.  It is a 500-page book and I look forward to book 2!
(Gerard's review, 5+ stars)

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"Sparks of Light" by Janet B. Taylor

Sparks of Light by Janet B. Taylor is the sequel to Into the Dim.  The mission is different but it gets off to the same slow start.  The trip back in time is to New York City during the Victorian era so I was thinking, how much trouble could they get into there.  Well, Hope manages to get locked up in a mental institution along with Doug!  The timeslippers have a much bigger part in this book.

Teaser from page 364:

I was nobody's physical threat.  My normal means of causing people injury generally involved me tripping and falling on them.

I liked Into the Dim better than this one because I really didn't have a good understanding of what exactly their mission was in this and really didn't care.  I was interested to see how Hope and Doug would get out of their predicament.  The thing I did like most about this one was the development of Bran and Collum's friendship.  I got a bit confused on a couple of the characters and was glad when I finished it.  I still liked Hope's sarcasm and one again, she proved to be very brave and useful.  If there is more to this series, I do not intend to read it.
(Karen's review, 2 stars)

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