A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman

Faith O'Connor has loved Collin McGuire since the first time she saw him. He is off limits though because he does not share Faith's belief in God. Not only does Collin not share her belief in God, but he also is dating Faith's sister Charity! When Collin and Charity become engaged Faith must learn to trust in the Lord more than she has ever done in her life in order to forget her feelings for Collin.

No woman has ever been able to hold Collin's heart. But never has a woman stirred him more than Faith. He is determined to never yield to her God. He likes the life he lives just fine, but he can not get Faith out of his mind.

When America enters World War I Collin, Mr. O'Connor and Sean all head off to war while the rest of the family goes to Ireland to be with Mrs. O'Connor's family. While in Ireland Faith takes a job at the newspaper. Sparks fly between her and her new boss Mitch Dennehy. Finally being able to put Collin out of her mind and out of her heart she hopes, Faith begins dating Mitch. When circumstances shake Faith's belief in God she heads back to America on her own determined to leave her faith behind.

Having read The Winds of Change series before I read this book I knew who Faith ended up with, but that didn't make the book less exciting and stressful to read! Both Mitch and Collin had qualities that I could see Faith being with. And as always, life in the O'Connor house isn't always filled with gumdrops and roses. Charity's rivalry with Faith made me want to shake her! I felt the heartbreak that Marcy had when Patrick went off to war. And the dalliances that both Collin and Mitch had with other women made me cringe. But to see the hand of God work in a "bad boy's" life, and the change that only He can bring always reminds me that even the most hard-hearted can be brought to their knees by the loving God of all. I'm definitely looking forward to reading the next two books in the Daughters of Boston series. After all, I have to read how Charity's life is changed because at the end of A Passion Most Pure I don't like her very much!

Irises by Francisco X. Stork

As Mary and Kate's mother lays in a vegetative state once again the girls are faced with tragedy. Their minister father has now passed away and they are left with decisions too difficult for them to face.

Mary is an artist, but once her mother's accident happened the light has gone out of her paintings. Mary has devoted her life to taking care of her mother. Now she must give up her extra art class after school in order to be more available to care for her mother.

Kate has always dreamed of going to college at Stanford and becoming a doctor. It was her mother's dream for her, and her constant secret for the past several years. Now that dream is about to be realized but with the death of her father Kate is confused about her responsibilities.

Irises was an engaging story. Mary and Kate's struggles with what to do once their father dies kept me turning the pages because I wanted to find out how things turned out. There were so many other issues in the book though that I couldn't give it a better rating. I didn't care for the new minister(Andy) and his goal of some day being the head of a more affluent church. His willingness to allow Kate in his apartment with the idea that things may lead to a sexual encounter was just wrong. His preaching of love and faith without actual guidance of how to gain those things showed that he had no business being a preacher. The girls' father even though he had been a minister for years had led his family with rules and antiquated ideas rather than teaching them about faith. So I guess that the author's portrayal of the religious figures left a dis-satisfied taste in my mouth. Even with that I found empathy for both Mary and Kate's characters. Both struggling with what has happened in their lives, having to face giving up dreams, relationships that have turned disappointing, and the ultimate decision of what to do about their mother all were written to be very believable. Definitely not a waste of time to read this book!

I received my ARC copy in January at ALA.

The Dashwood Sisters Tell All by Beth Pattillo

Ellen and Mimi are fulfilling their mother's last wish by embarking on a walking tour of Hampshire, England. Their mother was a Jane Austen fan and her dying wish was for her daughters to walk the countryside that Jane herself had lived in.

Ellen and Mimi have never been close. Ellen is the sensible sister and Mimi has always been the flighty sister. Neither woman has been lucky in love. Ellen feels that she has always had to clean up Mimi's romantic disasters and Ellen herself lost the love of her life while she was in college.

 After arriving at their first hotel Ellen receives a package containing what appears to be the diary of Jane Austen's sister Cassandra. Shortly after that Daniel arrives on the scene. He is the only man that Ellen has ever loved. He is now divorced and his presence causes Ellen much stress.

Mimi in her usual fashion starts flirting with their tour guide Tom. She doesn't mean anything by it as he is way too old for her taste. She really falls for Ethan though and mistakenly tells him about Cassandra's diary. While the girls are studying the diary they soon find a sort of code in the words that Cassandra has written. It becomes obvious to them that Cassandra has left clues to a second hidden diary. One that could be worth much more than Cassandra's. When the diary disappears both girls have suspicions of who took it and for what reason.

What I enjoyed most about The Dashwood Sisters Tell All is the development of Ellen and Mimi's relationship. How it compared with Elinore and Marianne Dashwood's relationship in Sense and Sensibility and then to how it compared to even Jane and her sister Cassandra. I have really enjoyed reading Beth Pattillo's trips into Austen-land!

Wherever Nina Lies by Lynn Weingarten

Nina disappeared two years ago. Leaving her mother and sister to wonder where she went or if she is even still alive.

Ellie, Nina's sister, works at a coffee-house her friend Amanda works at a shop called Attic. When the girls are going through a box of junk dropped off for "crap day" a drawing falls out of a book. The drawing is one that Ellie recognizes as her sister's. While reviewing the video camera they spot the person that dropped the box of junk off leaving a flyer on the public bulletin board. The flyer is for a party. Ellie decides to attend to see if she can find anyone that recognizes her sisters picture. At the party she meets a boy wearing a mask. They seem to hit it off but don't have enough time to get to know each other.

The next day the boy shows up at Ellie's work. What transpires after that is Ellie and Sean taking off across country following clues to find Nina's whereabouts. Ellie just knows that she is on the right track to find Nina alive, but with a scary twist to the story will Ellie herself make it home alive?

I'm kind of torn with this book. I want to give it 4 hearts because I really liked the twist to the story. But seriously I almost put this book down after the first couple of chapters. The language, the party scene, drug and alcohol usage by underage teens, sexual situations and innuendo's would keep me from recommending this to too many people. And especially not young teens. So that is why I gave it 3 hearts instead of 4.