Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter by Lisa Patton

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Summary: A Memphis belle helps her husband open a B&B in snowy Vermont.

I liked everything about this book. I wavered between giving it 4 or 5 stars, but decided on 5 because, even as much as I could predict what would (and did) happen, I kept coming back to it and stayed up to finish it.

Leelee Satterfield has the perfect life in Memphis: her handsome husband, whom she nabbed in college, after she got boobs; a gorgeous house, supportive friends, and happy children. And one night her husband tells her he's profoundly unhappy and the only thing that will ever make him happy is to be the owner of an inn in Vermont. Since Leelee has never said no to Baker -ever-, she sells her house and uses the money along with her father's inheritance to buy the Vermont Haus Inn.

Despite all the red flags, including a smelly house and a tiny bedroom, Leelee reluctantly settles in to life in Vermont, constantly surprised at al the things she never knew about before: black ice, flies that bite, rook rakes, sonic booms and nor'easters. But the biggest surprise of all is when her husband forgets their wedding anniversary and instead leaves her a note telling her he's fallen in love with an older woman and will be taking a job managing her ski resort instead.

The weakest part of the novel for me was how capable and collected Leelee seemed after the man she has adored forever left her high and dry with a cook who hates her and a falling-down building. The rest of the book travels upon predictable paths - her new cook is single and gorgeous, her girlfriends from Memphis come to the rescue, but it worked in sweet and tender ways. I'm ready for more Leelee.

Sushi for One? by Camy Tang

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Summary: A Chinese/Japanese American-born woman is pressured by her family to get married.

You can't pin me down; I admit it. I like many varied kinds of books - memoirs, historical romances, teen vampire fiction, Christian romance (but never Amish-themed books), fantasy fiction, self-help books. You can't classify me as one reader or another.

And that was my problem with this book - it didn't have a clear cut identity.  I started reading a Camy Tang book because most of her characters feature Asian women. My middle daughter is adopted from China and I'd like her to identify with the characters she sees on my books, as much as my biological son looks for dragons and my biological daughter thinks she's Rapunzel. I didn't finish the first Camy Tang book I picked up because I found it rather implausible.  I thought I'd give Tang's best-known series a try - maybe she writes Christian romance better than Christian suspense.

Lex Sakai is a Chinese/Japanese American-born woman pressured by her grandmother to find a husband. Of her group of cousins, Lex will be the Oldest Single Female Cousin, once their cousin gets married in a few months. The pressure is on for Lex to marry. Grandma even goes to far as to threaten to withdraw her funding of Lex's beloved youth volleyball team if Lex doesn't bring a boyfriend (and not just a date) to the upcoming wedding. I do enjoy this particular plot device - marry or you'll lose your fortune.

If that's not enough, Lex's father sells the house they've been sharing and Lex must find her own place. When conditions at work become intolerable, Lex quits and regrets only the loss of the paycheck. Also complicating the boyfriend hunt is that Lex is still traumatized, almost 10 years later, by an unreported rape. The rapist was Caucasian, as well, so Lex will only consider Asian men as part of her dating pool. I say Asian, because Lex Sakai is a Japanese name, but she's also Chinese, yet doesn't speak Japanese or Chinese. And she's not Buddhist. And in Lex's Bible study group, she complies a list of her ideal husband's features from Ephesians. Lex will only date Christians. Lex makes a point of mentioning that her family is Buddhist, but doesn't really explore her conversion to Christianity, something that did interest me as a reader because fighting her family for her faith must have been difficult, not just annoying, although Lex seems annoyed by most of her family.

Lex's love of sports actually does translate into a job perfectly suited to her, an alumni liaison for college sports teams. Suddenly, men are falling over Lex, hoping that by dating her, they can see their favorite college games. Lex resists, mostly because the men still give her the creeps, but she really is trying to find someone. Lex also tries to raise the money on her own, but her grandmother has warned the entire Asian community not to give her funding.

When Lex gets an invite to try out for a prestigious competitive volleyball league, she uses the money she would have spent on a house payment as the entrance fee, and trains vigorously. She gets in, and then in an instant, suffers an injury that almost certainly spells the end of her volleyball career. Her physical trainer, Aiden, fits none of the requirements on her list - he's white, he's skeptical of Christians and Christianity; he seems poor and Lex is NOT attracted to him. But Lex does feel comfortable with him, enjoying their banter, allowing him to touch her body as part of the therapy. Aiden knows just how much to push her, reading her competitive spirit quite well. But Aiden's not a Christian, and not Asian, so he has to be out.

When Lex is on a date with another prospective husband, he turns overly aggressive, and Lex freaks out, flashing back to the rape. While running away, she injures her knee again, and Aiden rescues her. She discovers that Aiden has been going to church and what she thought was friendship was the beginning of something special. Things end well, and I worried throughout the book if Lex's prickly nature would alienate everyone who loves her.

Sushi is barely mentioned in the book. It's a cute title, and makes you think Japanese, but given Lex's love of volleyball, perhaps a better title would have been "Serving Up Love" or "Game, Set & Matched," something like that. I came up with that in thirty seconds, so a marketing team could do an even better job with all their time and creativity. Just like the title didn't quite fit, and made me a little fidgety, a few other notes just seemed wrong, so I was disappointed. One of Lex's cousins was overweight and lost a ton of weight through a stomach virus. Wha??? That rarely happens. Having Lex be Japanese wasn't crucial to the plot at all (neither was the sushi title), and with many black or Hispanic main characters their specific ethnicity does flavor the book in measurable ways; not so with this one. Despite all that, I will be reading the next book in the Sushi Series, featuring another of Lex's cousin. Perhaps it's because I didn't quite warm to Lex's fierce outlook on life, or her stubborn refusal of any help of therapy for her obvious PTSD.

Love Me Back to Life by Missy Horsfall and Susan Stevens

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Summary: A woman painfully struggles to keep her life and marriage together.

Have you seen the movie Fireproof based on the book The Love Dare? It's an overacted movie starring born-again Christian Kirk Cameron. The movie was painful to watch - as if the directors had commanded, "Get mad now!" or "Pretend that you're attracted to your co-worker."

This book is one cliched crisis after another. Mallory is a burnt-out mother with a shopping addiction and massive credit card debt she's trying to hide from her husband. Her husband Jake is off pursuing his photography career and only seems to want sex with Mallory without the hard work of parenting his children. Of course, it doesn't help their sex life that Mallory flinches when Jake touches her.

And Jake and Mallory hardly spend any time together. It's especially telling that Jake won't go to church with Mallory, since God is such a big part of Mallory's life. When Jake gets offered a job away from home, again, Mallory shouts at Jake to leave, instead of sobbing in the kitchen and telling him how close she is to the breaking point. Jake walks out.

Then one day, Mallory's prayer group is asked to pray for a young girl who was raped. Mallory has a psychotic break and trembles in the kitchen, only to be comforted by her friend and her pastor's wife. I was relieved when Yvonne, the pastor wife, suggested a therapist, since child sexual abuse is more than she and her husband are prepared to council.  Mallory is so fragile and I worried she'd drive her minivan into oncoming traffic just to stop the pain.

Jennifer, Mallory's therapist, seems comforting and supportive and helps Mallory remember that Mallory was raped as a child. We then uncover that Mallory was raped by her older brother Eric as a child. Further shocking us is that Mallory told her father about the rape and he did nothing to stop it.

According to Yvonne, Mallory had a strong foundation. That was a good start; faith in God was a stronger remedy than all the counseling Jennifer could give. 

That was hard to read, since Mallory has had God in her life for so long, but wasn't moved to seek help before now. Then Mallory is challenged to tell her parents. Her mother scolds her for saying such a terrible thing. Her father says nothing. We can't tell if they believe her. Then she confronts the brother who raped her. He never admits his crime, which felt authentic yet was unfulfilling as a book. I do recognize that many rape victims do not get closure.

Once Jake walked out, he had a crisis of his own and then literally has a "come to Jesus" moment. Mallory and Jake are reunited with the help of their pastor, and Mallory stopped shopping. Crises solved!

This book is what would happen if two pastors' wives wrote a book - and they did. Easy to solve ending, help from a pastor, stereotypical problems (busy parenting, busy husband, missed opportunities for sex, etc). I know the authors wanted Mallory to have the kind of problems that people could relate to, but I just wasn't impressed.  It started off as a story of a woman experiencing great personal pain, but ended up as a lecture.

Simple Secrets by Nancy Mehl

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Summary: Grace inherits an house from her uncle and discovers a dead body on the property.

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.

Mystery.
Murder.
And Mennonites?
Oh, yes.

This book was a well-seasoned mix of Christian fiction, romance and mystery.

Grace inherits a house from her estranged uncle and takes two weeks off work to settle affairs and get some family heirlooms before selling the house.

What Grace also inherits is the property that her uncle says hides the body of Jacob Glick, a rival for mother's hand. Her uncle believed that Grace's father, his brother, murdered Jacob Glick. Uncle Ben (yes, I know) had hidden the body all these years to protect his brother. Grace knows her father is not a murderer but resolves to solve the mystery of who murdered Jacob Glick, so she can sell the property free and clear.

The Mennonite town of Harmony, Kansas welcomes Grace and Sam is designated to show Grace around town. Sam and Grace fit well together, but Grace can't ever imagine giving up her job in Wichita to stay in backwards Harmony. Why, some houses don't even have telephones!

But as Grace and Sam try to interview other town people to find more about Jacob Glick, the list of suspects keeps growing. Is it even safe for Grace to uncover the truth? The sabotage doesn't fit with the Mennonite community but somebody has been carrying a deadly secret for 25 years.

Grace's relationship with God is a subtle part of the book, not beating anyone over the head, but supplying Grace with a steady hand and guidance. The tender romance between Sam and Grace is written with just enough tension that you could almost forget about the mystery and the dead body in the north forty.

Quite an enjoyable read. Don't let the Mennonite factor scare you off.

Love Finds You in Lahaina, Hawaii by Bodie Thoene

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Summary: The story of Princess Kaiulani and her life in England is uncovered by a researcher in Hawaii.

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.

Forth from her land to mine she goes,
The island maid, the island rose,
Light of heart and bright of face:
The daughter of a double race.

Her islands here, in Southern sun,
Shall mourn their Kaiulani gone,
And I, in her dear banyan shade,
Look vainly for my little maid.

But our Scots islands far away
Shall glitter with unwonted day,
And cast for once their tempests by
To smile in Kaiulani's eye.

- Robert Louis Stevenson written to Princess Kaiulani to mark her journey to Britain.

Love finds you in Lahaina, Hawaii is a dual story. Set in 1973, Sandi Smith is a researcher sent to Hawaii to record and uncover local oral history. Sandi is also worried about news of her husband John, a POW still missing in Vietnam. She is welcomed to Lahaina, Maui, and the scenes set with the locals could only have been written by someone who knows and loves Hawaii’s unique hospitality rules. The immediate intimacy, the lack of privacy, cheerful friendliness and oh, the smell of flowers carried by the warm wind made me instantly homesick for Hawaii. Sandi is sent to speak with Auntie Hannah, who was the companion of Princess Kaiulani.

Here’s where it gets interesting for me. Princess Kaiulani was the next royal in line for the Hawaiian monarchy when it was overthrown by American business interests in 1893. Yes, you heard me. The American government allowed the house arrest of a Hawaiian queen, Kaiulani’s aunt, Queen Liliuokalani. All children in Hawaii learn about Princess Kaiulani, but this was a deeper look into her life while she was abroad.

Kaiulani’s father, Scotsman Archibald Scott Cleghorn married Princess Likelike, the sister of King David Kalâkaua and Princess Lili'uokalani. Princess Ka'iulani (pronounced kah-ee-oo-lah-knee) was sent away to Britain partly to groom her for the monarchy, and likely to protect her from the violence starting to erupt against native Hawaiians.

Kaiulani first meets aspiring journalist Andrew Adams aboard the ship taking them to England, where he mistakes her for her companion Hannah Duncan. Unknowingly, Andrew refers to Kaiulani as the “barbarian princess” and to pass the voyage and for petty revenge, she and Hannah trade roles for the journey. Andrew is humiliated and angry when he discovers their deception. Kaiulani doesn’t expect to see him again but their paths cross many times in England.

Kaiulani grows into a regal, often haughty princess, turning down the multiple offers of marriage because she knows that she cannot marry for love, but must most likely make a marriage of state to secure Hawaii’s interests. Kaiulani is a curiosity to the British who are fascinated by her dark skin and mysterious beauty and yet refer to her as a savage. (I imagine she experienced a little of what Pocahontas might have encountered.) But Kaiulani is NOT a barbarian, in fact she’s deeply religious, having been raised as a Christian from birth. Many Hawaiians, who struggled when missionaries led the ban on the hula and native dress, nevertheless embraced Christianity and were happily Christian living under a Hawaiian monarch.

Kaiulani and Andrew meet again at a religious revival in England. Funnily enough, Hannah again posed as Kaiulani, so Kaiulani could attend the revival. Andrew and Kaiulani renew their friendship and are separated once again, and know they cannot marry. Andrew covers the chaos of Hawaii following the death of King David Kalakaua and the forced abdication of Queen Liliuokalani. Kaiulani embarks on a PR campaign to win the hearts of the American people, but was ridiculed and mocked by the American press. You know by now that Hawaii was annexed to the United States and is the 50th state, so Kaiulani’s efforts were in vain.

Ka'iulani had returned to Honolulu later, at age 23, a deposed princess. It was said she died of a broken heart, though typhoid was blamed as the cause.

This book really is Kailuani’s story, but the character of Sandi Smith allows the story to unfold in a way that makes sense given the style of the book. Sandi did not seem to me to be a fully-fleshed out character, but how can anyone hold a candle to the vibrant personality of a real Hawaiian princess?

My primary concern about the romance between Kaiulani and Andrew is a nit-picky one, as Kaiulani was only 13 when she left Hawaii for England.

I won’t ruin the love story for you, but it is a tender one. I will also share that both Kaiulani and Sandi Smith find love, or love finds them in Lahaina.

There is an entire series of books that start with "Love Finds You in ---, ---." I can't wait to read whatever book is also set in Minnesota.

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

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Summary: A Mormon stay-at-home mom strikes up an unlikely friendship with a Hollywood heartthrob.

Don’t be fooled by the title. This is not a light chick-lit read. It’s an intense story of intimate friendship and marriage in the style of Kristin Hannah with religious overtones.

Within 10 seconds of meeting movie hunk Felix Callahan, pregnant Mormon housewife Becky Jack makes an obscure Biblical reference that leaves everybody awkward and uncomfortable. Then she insults him and he calls her fat. Despite that unusual opening, the two become friends.

The friendship between Becky and Felix surprises everybody, including themselves. Like many friendships, it goes through times where they talk on the phone multiple times a day and times when they grow distracted by the stresses of daily life. It's usually light and fluffy, providing comic relief for both. Felix carefully avoids anything intimate.

“The conversation had turned a little chilly, and Becky backed away from the pit of unsaid things. This was not the fodder of their friendship, and Becky was feeling waterlogged with the awkwardness drowning the room.” 

Together, Felix and Becky have weak insults, inside jokes, totally separate lives and two spouses who don’t understand their friendship but do tolerate it.

Their close friendship does cause a few marital problems on Becky’s side. Becky is all set to visit Felix alone in LA for a fun weekend when Mike says that he’s having a hard time. Becky doesn’t go on her trip and drops Felix immediately. She moves on with her life, and never mentions Felix again, but feels lonely and virtuous. There was never any doubt that Mike and her four kids and her tame Mormon life are everything she needs, yet…

Then Felix’s wife Celeste calls Mike to ask permission for Becky to be Felix’s friend again. This part of the book is fascinating. Can men and women really be friends? If it bothers one spouse but not the other? Is jealousy a sign of love? What if they are really attractive? Is the appearance of impropriety enough to assume infidelity? Can you be friends with your movie star crush? All I know is that I would have a hard time sitting next to Daniel Craig if he was in my kitchen. I’d just be waiting for him to kiss me or for me to spill grape juice on him in my nervousness.

Mike recognizes that Becky's friendship with Felix is special but can’t understand why. Becky explains:

“But with Felix- it’s different from talking with my other friends. It’s a little gift for me to laugh with him – or at him more often than not. It’s fun but it also feels … important somehow. Like I’m exercising a part of my brain that’s been neglected. And I feel a little more excited to live the day.”

This was a good book, but not what I expected from the title.

Betsy's Return (Brides of Lehigh Canal, Book 2) by Wanda E. Brunstetter

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Summary: A woman returns to her hometown to care for her ailing minister father and falls in love with the pastor who replaced her father. 


I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.


As you can guess from the title, Betsy returns to the Lehigh Canal region in Pennsylvania to care for her ailing father, the former pastor of Walnutport. Soon after her arrival, she meets the replacement pastor, Reverend William Covington of Buffalo.  

This is William's first position as pastor and his wealthy family would prefer that he minister to a wealthier community as well as one closer to home. But having been jilted at the altar by his fiance, William needs to escape and heal from his hurt and humiliation. As William vows never to let his heart be vulnerable, we, as readers, know that he and Betsy will eventually find each other in their loneliness.  

Betsy was an interesting character. From lines in this book, I can tell that Betsy was pretty much a bitch in the first book in this trilogy. Her sharp comments, snobbery and ego seemed to have made her a lot of enemies in the first book. Betsy seems unsure of her reception in Walnutport, as she now recognizes all she had done to hurt people. I always like it when characters develop and grow during a book or series, and although I haven't read the first book, I can appreciate Betsy's new maturity, even though it interferes with her romance.

"She had noticed how handsome the pastor was, and if she were still the old flirtatious Betsy, she might be tempted to let her interest in the man be known. But she had changed and would not throw herself at any man, no matter how much he might interest her. If God ever decided that she should have a husband, then He would have to cause that man to make the first move."

Betsy is struggling with her obligations to her father, feeling displaced since she is no longer the pastor's daughter, and finds herself tentatively intrigued by the new minister. And when she advises the pastor on ways to better serve the community, they find themselves enjoying their time together. Who better to advise a novice pastor than the pastor's daughter, right? William's grouchy housekeeper Mrs. Bevens resents the entire Lehigh Canal community and does her best to distance William from his church community and especially Betsy. Of course, Mrs. Bevens becomes the biggest obstacle to the relationship between William and Betsy, although Betsy is seen kissing another man. Of course that man kissed Betsy first and she rejected his advances but Betsy's landlady Freda

"explained that she'd walked away after she'd seen them kissing, so she hadn't witnessed whatever had followed."

Puh-leeze. You mean to tell me that Freda wouldn't have stared at some big burly canal man kissing the former reverend's daughter? Not a credible scene. 


I was so astonished that a character talks about making a salad for supper that I immediately searched for when Americans started serving salad. I was convinced that 1896 was too early, but I was wrong. That makes me think that the author really did research about canal life at that time. 


This was a nice, sweet Christian romance. The plot moved along fairly quickly and the writing was easy and simplistic, with more than a few Scripture quotations thrown in. I do read Christian fiction, but this one seemed to have more than the usual amount of Bible quotes. Given that the hero was a minister and the heroine a minister's daughter, this did make sense.

The Promise of Morning (At Home in Beldon Grove series) by Ann Shorey

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Summary: A pastor's wife grieves the death of her children while her husband struggles with a challenge to his ministry. 


I was given a copy of this book by the publisher.


Love is not enough to keep a marriage going. Faith in God is not enough to keep a marriage going. But faith in God, and love, and a commitment to living your best life all help, no matter what era you live in. This tender, poignant story shares a marriage in crisis, as two people try to get their needs met while staying happily married. I love stories with happy endings, too.

I can't imagine the pain of losing a child, and so while I ached for Ellie, I winced reading this. Reliable birth control in 1846 was rare, so when Ellie refuses to have sex with her husband to avoid giving birth to another child who might die in infancy, I fumed.

Ellie and Matthew are growing apart, with the stress of following a budget, farming, raising their children and dealing with family secrets. And then they're not even having sex? And the rain threatens to destroy the crops?

The problems just keep appearing. When each character focuses on what God wants for them, or the lessons the Bible teaches, things get better. But it was not preachy-preachy, as so many Christian fiction books can be.

Matthew is forced out of his church and feels so insecure he doesn't want to fight back. It doesn't help that Matthew rails against a public performance of Macbeth, without knowing the story.

Reading this story was a treat, reminding me that people have ordinary stresses, no matter the time period they live in, but it was also absorbing watching the characters dealing with problems exclusive to that time - like flies in the butter, kids running off to fight in wars, itinerant preachers, corsets, and wagons with flat tires - ooops, broken axles.

I enjoy reading romance novels where the characters have a real relationship with God, and this book was no exception.