The Glory of Green by Judy Christie

Chris and Lois's wedding is everything a bride could desire, the reception on the other hand...

When Lois's new hometown of Green, Louisiana is hit by a devastating tornado Chris and Lois must postpone their honeymoon in order to help out their beloved town. Many families and businesses have been uprooted. As the owner of the only paper in town, Lois and her crew must help keep people informed. The reader is able to truly see "the glory of Green" as neighbor helps neighbor and as the town of Green slowly builds itself back up.

I really enjoyed The Glory of Green. Yes, the tornado was devastating, but seeing how the town comes out to help each other is a great reminder to all of us to love our neighbors. Lois and Chris are perfect examples of people who put their own needs second to those who had greater needs. I'm like Lois in that I'm a bit skeptical about Dub's sudden change of heart, but it seems that he has become a more caring person. He has a lot to make up for all of the trouble he caused her while Chuck was alive! I love all of the characters and am looking forward to the next book in the Gone to Green series!

Here are my reviews of the other books in the series:

Gone to Green
Goodness Gracious Green

Silent Sabotage by Susan Sleeman

All Emily Graves wants to do is keep her Aunt Birdie's Bed and Breakfast afloat and take care of  Birdie as her memory declines. But one accident after another threatens to close the B&B down.

Archer Reed happens to be on the scene when a gunman starts shooting in a local mall. Preventing the man from killing Emily, Archer is concerned when the gunman threatens that there are others out to kill Emily.

Emily knows she can never trust a man. After watching her mother go from one man to another Emily has decided that men are not to be trusted. Archer knows that he can never trust a woman because once they find out about his trust fund he can never be sure if they want him for just his money. How can these two people who are becoming more and more attracted to each other learn to put their trust in God and put their past insecurities behind them?

Another page-turner by Susan Sleeman! As always she kept me on the edge of my seat and turning the pages. I loved Emily and Archer. I love that Archer is so protective. He can't help himself. Even when Emily makes it clear she doesn't want or need his help, he still protects her. I love that the whole First Responders team jumps in when one of their own needs them. All Archer had to do was make a phone call and they were all there to help with Emily's situation. I also love that each First Responders story has a Spiritual lesson that the characters learn.  Now the only one left without a significant other is Jake. I'm looking forward to reading his story!

Check out my reviews of the First Responder Series:

Silent Night Standoff
Explosive Alliance
High-Caliber Holiday
Emergency Response

Goodness Gracious Green by Judy Christie

Lois Barker has been in Green for a year now and has made it her home. She has settled into her life in Green and things seem to be going smoothly. That is until Chuck and Dub decide that they want their newspaper back! They don't like the way Lois is running the paper so they offer to buy it back from her. When Lois refuses, they start a lawsuit against her. At the same time mysterious fires start occurring at the paper. Lois knows that Chuck and Dub are behind the fires, she just can't prove it.

In the meantime Lois and Chris's relationship is moving forward. It seems that Chris is ready to move on after the death of his wife, and Lois is who he wants to move on with. Lois is a little afraid to move forward in this relationship because she doesn't want to be compared to Chris's first wife. But Green has embraced her for herself and everyone seems to know that she and Chris are destined to be together even if Lois isn't quite sure yet.

I really enjoyed this second installment of the series. I love the town of Green and I love how Lois has jumped in with both feet and become so involved in the town. I also love the fact that she doesn't even get the fact of how many people she has helped out. She is too hard on herself as someone pointed out to her. I love all of the relationships she has made and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

The Berenstain Bears' Caring and Sharing Treasury by Jan & Mike Berenstain

Since my girls were very little I have read to them The Berenstain Bears. When they were little the books were written by Jan and Stan. Now their son is writing with Jan. The Berenstain Bear books have always taught children morals and life lessons, but I am really loving these newer faith stories. Teaching the Bears their life lessons using scripture adds great teachable moments during reading time.

This book contains 5 full length Berenstain Bears books. That include:

Jobs Around Town
Get Involved
Love Their Neighbors
Gossip Gang
The Biggest Brag

I love that the cover for the book is hardback. It makes it more durable for my grandchildren to enjoy.

I think this book is the perfect addition to any children's library!

Top Ten Tuesday

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks Top Ten is:

TEN FACTS ABOUT ME(bookish, as a blogger or just in general):

1. My husband and I just celebrated our 31st anniversary. It was kind of uneventful since we babysat our grandkids that day! ha! We did make up our celebration day a couple of days later and went out to dinner at our favorite steakhouse.

2. We have 3 grandchildren. We love them to pieces and yes, we do spoil them!

3. I cook for our youth group once a month and I bake every other week for them.

4. I love to crochet. I learned when I was 16. I have a blog for my projects that is called My Other Pastime: http://myotherpastime.blogspot.com/

5. I started blogging in 2009. Mainly I started so that I could keep track of what I read and what the book was about. It developed into writing reviews.

6. I never thought I would enjoy reading on an electronic device, but I love my Kindle Fire!

7. I love all types of genre of books. My favorite is romantic suspense, but I enjoy historical, mystery, Sci-Fi, Dystopian, YA. I rarely read non-fiction books. My reading goal for this year is 100 books. I used to have no problem reaching that goal. Now I struggle! Who says retirement gives us more time?

8. We have family in CA and family in FL. Those are the two places that we travel to when we go on vacation. We usually drive. After driving to CA for many years with our 2 daughters my husband and I finally stopped to see the Grand Canyon 2 years ago. With no children! We are not big site-seers!

9. I went to a Christian school from 8th grade through 12th grade. I was the only graduate the year I graduated!

10. We have 2 grown daughters that we love to pieces.

There you have it! My 10 things about me. If you would like to participate feel free to comment on this post or head over to The Broke and the Bookish and comment there.

Pony Express Hero by Rhonda Gibson

Jacob Young arrives at his new job just in time to save a little girl from being killed by a raging stampede. How did she come to be in the ravine where the herd was stampeding?

Lilly Johnson cannot figure out how her sister Daisy ended up in that ravine, but she is determined to keep her eye on Daisy and not allow anything else to happen to her. Suspicious of all men Lilly doesn't know if she can trust the new Pony Express man. Jacob too has trust issues. Being left on the steps of an orphanage Jacob would like to find his birth mother so he can ask her why she left him.

Jacob soon falls in love with little Daisy and he too will do anything to keep her alive. Who could be out to harm the little girl? And how long can Jacob keep his heart closed towards Lilly?

I thought this was a sweet romance with an added bit of suspense to tie it all up. I enjoyed Lilly and Jacobs characters. Jacob was an honorable man who would do whatever it took to keep the women safe. Lilly too was honorable in that she was always honest with Jacob even if it meant she could lose what she loved most. I enjoyed the story very much. If you have never tried a Love Inspired Historical fiction I recommend them.

**I won my copy of Pony Express Hero in a contest. I was not required to write a review. All opinions on this review are my own.**

Gone To Green by Judy Christie

Lois Barker works for a big-city newspaper. Lois is in her 30's and never been married. Busy with her job she doesn't have time for anything else. When a co-worker dies he leaves her his newspaper he just purchased in Green, Louisiana. Moving to Green, Lois gives herself one year to get the newspaper ready to sell. Slowly Lois settles in to small town life. She develops friendships like she has never had before. She becomes involved in community efforts and she manages to tick off some of the big wigs around town. As much as Lois has come to love Green when her year is up she is ready and willing to sell, or is she?

I thought GONE TO GREEN was a fun read! I enjoyed Lois's character a lot and I also enjoyed some of the friends she made in Green. Lois's energy exhausted even me and I was just reading about it! ha! She is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Of course the ending is fairly predictable, but I think everyone that reads the book will know that Lois ends up staying in Green. I'm looking forward to seeing what relationships develop and what other causes Lois can stir up in this tiny little town.

Top Ten Tuesday

I've never participated in a Top Ten Tuesday post before. The Broke and Bookish bloggers host this weekly meme. Head over to their blog to check out their posts. This week's Top Ten Tuesday list is the Top Ten Books We Enjoyed That Have Under 2000 Ratings On Goodreads.

Here are my choices:

Absolutely love this book! If you have never read any of Lisa T. Bergrens books you must remedy that! They are fantastic time travel novels. The River of Time series is one of my favorite series of all time.

Pirates! No need to say more! Well, actually there is, I loved this whole series starting with The Ryn. Must reads!!

Anything written by Julie Lessman! Oh my goodness! Drama, swoony leading men, passion(clean not dirty!), all make up a novel written by one of my favorite writers.

Susan Sleeman is one of my favorite romantic/suspense writers. I love all of her books!

Keli Gwyn writes such sweet historical romances. This was her debut novel.

I loved this book! I'm currently enjoying Holly's Forever Finley Short Story Cycle that she puts out monthly. They are great short reads.

I love all of Amanda Flower's books! They are mysteries and they have humor to lighten the subject up a bit. This is the first in her new series, but trust me, all of her series are great!

This is another time travel series that I have enjoyed. I love the historical aspect of these books.

I love Camy Tang's writing! This is the first in a series of a woman body guard. I love the strong female characters that Camy portrays in her books.

I actually love all of Debbie Viguie's books, but this series was fun because it came out when the vampire craze was going on. Who can resist a hunky vampire seeking redemption?


There are my Top Ten books that have less than 2000 ratings on Goodreads. I think it is sad that they don't, because they are some of my top favorite books of all times!

A Hundred Julys by Holly Schindler

 Norma, one of the main characters in Miles Left Yet is featured in this month's installment of the Forever Finley Short Story Cycle. Now owner of Norma's Relics in the magical town of Finley Norma is at the time of life where she has no family responsibilities. She can now live her life for herself. Unfortunately the town of Finley has other ideas for her. Norma finds that she is responsible for putting on the annual antique car show. The car show that legend says town founder Amos comes to looking for his love Finley. Amos and Finley have been spotted around lately, will this be the year that they find each other? Of course Norma thinks all of this Amos talk is silly. That is until she encounters Amos herself!

I think each Forever Finley story gets better! Each month I say, "THIS one is my favorite" and then the next one comes out and I say it all over again! Of course I loved catching up with Norman once again. I loved her in Miles Left Yet, and she is just as feisty in A Hundred Julys. I love her independence and her determination to not let her daughter pigeon-hole her into the elderly realm. I also love the fact that she is still open to a new love interest. After losing 2 husbands, Norma is pretty sure that a third chance at love is not possible, but along comes Gary who reminds her of the excitement she felt as a teenager when seeing her first love. I also am enjoying the way that legendary Amos and Finley keep showing up "helping" along the townsfolk in their love stories. I look forward each month to see who they will help out next. The Forever Finley Cycle does not need to be read in order, each story is written as a stand-alone. Me? I'm an order kind of gal so I plan on continuing to keep up with the Cycle each month.

Check out my reviews of the rest of the Cycle:

Come December
January Thaw
Forget February
Dearest March
April's Promise
Mayday Mayday Mayday
Chasing June and

Miles Left Yet where we first meet Norma