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

Second Chance Bride by Jane Myers Perrine

Second Chance Bride written by Jane Myers Perrine is the first Love Inspired Historical that I have read.   The Love Inspired books have always caught my eye and I’ve had this book for awhile on my to read list.  I’m so glad I finally read it!  This Love Inspired Historical takes place in the 1880’s. The story is about Annie MacAllister who is going to Trails End to leave her old life behind.  We learn that Annie had a very hard life.  Her father beat her when she did not make enough money, she slept outside a lot, and after her mother dies she is forced to get a job in a brothel as a prostitute.  After her father dies and the house is sold to pay for debts, and she decides it is time for her to start over.  With little money to her name, she takes the stage to Trail’s End.  Along the journey, she meets Matilda Susan Cunningham.  Matilda is very nice to Annie.  Annie learns she is on her way to meet her new employer and that she has no living relatives.  On the way there, the stage loses a wheel and they have a serious accident.  Matilda is killed and Annie is bruised up.  Annie decides to tell the stage coach driver that the dead person is her and she assumes Matilda’s identity.  When she finally gets to Trail’s End she meets Matilda’s employer, John Matthew Sullivan who is the school board chairman.  Annie learns Matilda was going to be the new school teacher.  She wonders how she will do the job since she is can't read or write.  Annie has never had a warm place to sleep and plenty of food and she does here, so she decides she will learn to read and write and will teach the children as she learns.  She ends up doing a good job and just when she thinks she is in the free, one of Matilda’s friend’s writes her a letter, an old brothel customer spots her, she finds the Lord in her life and does not want to sin anymore, and then John falls in love with her.  How will she pull it all off and still get to be Matilda Susan Cunningham?  Will she find true love like she has never experienced?  Will she finally get a second chance?  You will have to read to find out. 
I thought the story sounded kind of crazy and that Annie would never get away with assuming someone else’s identity.  The story really got me interested from Chapter one, and I found myself wanting everything to work out for Annie.  I felt like she deserved it!  This is such a feel good story that includes love and overcoming the worst of things.  I love the fact that the book looked at overcoming things, like sin, by asking for forgiveness from a loving God and recieving it because Jesus Christ died so our sins could be forgiven.   Annie and John both learn a lot about forgiveness in the book.  I really like the book and the love story and recommend it to people who love romances, historical fiction, and inspirational fiction.  If you don’t like a lot of inspiration in the books you read, this book is probably not for you. for some reason, I have stayed away from Love Inspired books because I thought they were like Harlequin romance novels, which I don't really care for at all, but this story was so great, I will have to give them another chance!

Courting Miss Amsel by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Courting Miss Amsel by Kim Vogel Sawyer is the story of Edythe Amsel. Edythe has had a rough life. After her mother’s death, she is left to raise her brothers’ and sisters’. She feels like she has given up all her dreams because she has had care for her family. After raising all but one, Edythe decides to go after her dreams and accepts a teaching position at Walnut Hill in Nebraska for a one room classroom. Edythe is very headstrong and likes to be independent. She also believes in a well rounded education and this soon worries the parents in Walnut Hill who believe that children only need to be taught the 3 R's. She seems to have some unusual teaching methods. Despite these parent concerns, the kids love her because she gave up corpal punishment that the previous teacher used for discipline. Miss Amsel stays with Miz Kinsley a widowed woman in the community. Miz Kinzley shares with Edythe her love of the Bible and God.

Joel Townsend is a hardworking, church going farmer who raises his brother’s two sons’, Johnny and Robert. He wants to take a wife but wants her to also love the boys as much as he does. Joel thinks he is never going to find the love he once in his life again, but when he sees Miss Amsel he feels the love again. He tries to court her but she tells him that she already raised someone else’s kids and wants to start fresh. Joel is heartbroken. But, Miss Amsel turns down all the eligible bachelors who want to court her. She says she wants to teach and has no time for love other than her students.

Will Miss Amsel ever fall in love and with whom? You have to read the book to find out.

I really love books and movies from this time period. I grew up loving Little House on the Prairie and this book really resembles those books and the television series, especially the school settings and the town life. I also find it interesting that the town is called Walnut Hill and Little House on the Prairie it is called Walnut Grove. This really got me thinking Little House on the Prairie. I really loved the character of Miss Amsel. She really seemed to live a hard life before coming to Walnut Hill, but that only made her a stronger and more independent woman. I believe that in life we are given trials to help us become a better person. This was defiantly true for Miss Amsel. I also liked how the book went into the history of woman’s suffrage. We had so many strong women to help pave the way for women today. Miss Amsel’s past experience with her mother’s land really helped fuel her wanting to fight for women. I think she took a huge risk letting her students’ debate this topic in her class. The story and town and characters were so easy to fall in love with from Chapter one.

One quote I really liked from the book was, “The Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn't. “ I lost my grandmother a few years ago and they said something very similar to this. You know how well a person lived their life by how worn out their Bible was. I really think this is so true. Taking the teachings from the scriptures and applying them to how we live our lives truly makes a difference and I think that was one of the themes in this book.

I was given a copy of this book to review from Bethanny House. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest opinion of the book. If you love historical romance with an inspirational side to it, you will love this book.

Book review: Sarah's Choice

Sarah's Choice by Wanda Brunstetter is the third book in the Brides of Lehigh Canal series.  I did not read the first two books at all, so this book is fine to read alone.  Sarah's Choice is about Sarah Turner a mother of  three.  Sarah's husband got killed in an accident working the canal locks.  Sarah is forced to take his hard labor job and do the best she can for her children.  She also sells bread to the boatmen to help bring in more money.  She also dreams of opening a bakery someday as she is an excellent baker.  Sarah gets help from family and church friends to help with watching her children.  We also meet Elias who inherits his grandfathers boat and decides to give up his newspaper job to run the boat since he felt his grandfather wanted him to care for it.  We also meet the town blacksmith who grew up with Sarah and always had an interest in her.  Sarah has decided too many accidents have happened on the canal and she grew walking the mules on the trail.  She has bad meomeries of the canal and vws to get her kids out of there.  That means she will not marry a boatman.  She is asked by both Elias and the town blacksmith to marry.  What will she choose?  That's the choice Sarah has to make.

I have read a lot of Wanda Brunstetter's books.  They have all been about the Amish, so this one was a little different for me.  I had a hard time reading at first for several reasons.  First, there was nothing to tell you that she was changing scenes.  Like in the beginning it goes from meeting Sarah and her kids to meeting Elias with his family.  That may be because this is an advanced copy of the book, but that took me a little while to get used to that happening.  I also was kind of lost when she started talking about mules leading the boats.  This could be because I did not read the previous books in the series.  I did learn about the canal from reading this book though.  I also liked how this was a romance but without all the romance.  The characters did not really spend a lot of time together but fell in love.  I really liked this book.  It was a quick read once I got into it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for allowing me to read this book.  I was given the galley to read but not paid for this review.   The book comes out on December 1st.  I'd recommend it to readers who enjoy Wanda Brunstetter's other books.