The Rancher's Secret Wife

The Rancher’s Secret Wife is the first book I have read by Brenda Minton.  The book starts out in Las Vegas when Cheyenne, a waitress, is really upset because the father of her baby tried to get her to have an abortion.  She wants to keep the baby but does not know how she can make it.  Along comes Reece, a cowboy, who is getting ready to go fight in the war.  He decides to help her out by marring her.  While he is gone she will get insurance and some money.  After the baby is born they will dissolve the marriage.  Their plans go bad when Cheyenne gets a visit and is told her husband was hurt in the war.  Cheyenne decides to go visit his parents to see how he is doing.  She finds out that he went blind from his accident.  She decides to stay around and with the help of Reece’s grandmother opens a beauty parlor.  Reece and Cheyenne seem to have feelings for each other, but both have reasons that they feel they cannot act on those feelings.  Will they stay together or go their separate ways after the baby is born.

I really enjoyed this story.  I feel in love with the characters.  The author really seems to bring them to life.  I liked how the author added blindness as a problem in the story.  We get to see what a person who goes blind really goes through to start living their life again. It seemed to me that God played a big part in both of their lives by putting them together before Reece lost his sight.  I enjoyed seeing them learn to love each other.

I only had one problem with the story and that might be because I have had experience with preeclamsia.  I wondered why after the doctor’s told Cheyenne she had high blood pressure she was still working as a hair stylist.  She talked about getting shoes that would fit and she continues to cut hair.  In one scene she even cuts Reece’s hair and gives him a shave.  I do not think many doctor’s would let her continue working in a job that she is on her feet most of the time while suffering from this.  Other than that I really loved the story.

There are more books in the series and I plan to check them out after reading this one.

I was given an advanced copy of the book through Net Galley and Love Inspired Books was not required to give a positive review

Holiday Hideout

This is the third Lynette Eason book I have read this year. I have loved all of them! So when I saw this book coming out this holiday season, I decided to give it a try. I was not disappointed!

Abby Sullivan is running from her life. A few months before, she tried to deliever her sister's baby at home. They both died. Her brother-in-law Reece decides to blame Abby and probmises revenge. Abby gets scared of him and decides to run. While on the run she gets sick with what she thinks is strep and the flu. Deputy Cal McIvers catches Abby as she faints from the sickness. He decides to take her back to Rose Mountain to get her well and figure out what she means by the words she spoke before passing out, that someone was after her. The story has lots of twist and turns and the pages turn easliy!

Some positives: I fell in love with the characters! The author really brought them to life. This is a great story to read during a snow stom or the winter. Eason really keeps the reader on the edge of their seat as they try to figure out who did it. This was just a fun read! This story reminded me some of her book Zero Visability and even had snow mobiles in this on too. This is a really quick read. I was trying to read in the middle of getting ready for Christmas or it would have gone a lot faster for me. I probably could have read it in a day or so.

Some negatives: The only negative was that this book was that the autor tried to get the reader to believe the person after Abby was one person. I got really tired of hearing all the bad stuff about this person. I have found almost always in suspence novels that the one they are trying to pin it on is never the who did it person. So I knew all along that it was not that person, but trying to figure out who it was did not come until we meet some new characters later on in the book. Other than that I really did not find much wrong with the story.

I found this to be a fun read during the holidays! I will have to check out Eason's other two books about the Rose Mountain area soon. Check out Holiday Hideout on Amazon for Kindle.

A Hope Springs Christmas by Patricia Davids

I always enjoy the Brides of Amish County series books from Love Inspired. This time, A Hope Springs Christmas, introduces us to Sarah Wyse. She is a widow who has lost her job during the Christmas Season. She seems to always have losses during the holiday season. She lost her husband, parents and sister. Sarah believes because she loved them they were taken from her and she refuses to marry again for that reason. Levi lives close to her and has ran her husband's carriage shop since his death. Levi promises her husband he would look after Sarah until she found a husband. Levi's daughter, Grace is Sarah's best friend. She runs to Sarah when she wants to marry her beau but she feels she can't leave Levi (her brother) and their twin brothers who they have cared for since the death of their parents. Sarah tells Grace to go to her grandmother’s house for a visit and she would take care of her brother's while she was gone. Grace asked Sarah to play matchmaker for Levi while she is gone so when she gets back she will be able to leave Levi and the twins so she can get married. Will spending more time help Levi and Sarah to overcome their fears and realize that they love each other? You'll have to read A Hope Springs Christmas to find out.
I really enjoyed this book. Two people getting over their fears to trust God enough to find true love. I also loved the twins in this story. They are quit a mischievous bunch of kids. There was a little bit of a mention of Christmas in the book, but I really did not feel Christmas when reading this book. It could have been anytime during the winter season, except for the fact that we know Sarah has lots of losses during the Christmas season. I also enjoyed briefly meeting old characters in the story. At the end of the book, Patricia Davids gives hints as to who she might write about next in the series. I will be waiting for that next book as her reads always uplift me.
I recieved a copy of this Galley through Net Galley and Harlequin and was not required to give a positve review.