Lost And Found by Ginny Yttrup

Gerard and Jenna Bouvier live with his mother Brigitte. Gerard is the heir to the family wine business and he hopes that someday soon his mother will hand over the reins to him. Gerard has turned a blind eye to his mother’s abuse of his wife Jenna. Being in a marriage arranged pretty much by Brigitte Gerard and Jenna have spent their married life trying to please her.

Feeling led by the Holy Spirit Jenna begins to seek what God would have her do in her situation. Seeking an outlet Jenna has begun a spiritual journey that she blogs about hoping to find her purpose and help others find theirs. In her quest to submit only to the Lord Jenna seeks the council of Matthew a spiritual guide. Never has Matthew been so touched by a client than he has been by Jenna. They have an instant spiritual connection.

Brigitte has one goal in mind and that is to keep Gerard and Jenna under her control. Being the ultimate business woman Brigitte is determined that she will never allow her son to run the family business. She takes steps to ensure that Jenna too will remain in her power. 

Jenna feels the Holy Spirit telling her that a time of trial is coming. Her prayer throughout is that she will remain faithful no matter what comes her way. Throughout her circumstances Jenna knows in her heart that God will never leave her or forsake her, but when she no longer is able to feel the Holy Spirits presence she fears that once again she has become a failure. 

My Thoughts:

As I’ve been processing Lost and Found since I finished I’ve been trying to think how to express how I felt at the end. As with every book I have read by Ginny Yttrup I found the subject matter thought-provoking and a story that stays with me for long after I finish reading. Ginny has a way of making the characters in her books touch a person’s heart. Her characters are very believable and consistent in their behavior. I feel like I become a part of their lives as I read. Each character is fully developed and able to produce all kinds of emotions in the reader. I totally disliked Brigitte’s character and found myself wanting something bad to happen to her! Jenna garnered sympathy and sometimes exasperation. Several other characters also gave me some strong emotions to deal with. I have to be honest and say that I didn’t care for Matthew’s character as a spiritual guide or some-such that he called himself. I thought he and Jenna risked falling into a relationship together outside of their marriages even though that didn’t happen I felt that in “real life” it would have. I also had problems with some of the charismatic and maybe “new age” material that to me was a bit over the top. I think the final message in the book is that we must be willing to lose everything and empty ourselves out to the Lord. He is the only one that matters.

A Heart Revealed by Julie Lessman

Emma Malloy escaped her abusive husband 11 years ago. She now has made a new life for herself. She is the head of her best friends department store, works long hours and has a generous loving heart.

Sean O'Connor is a confirmed bachelor. When he loses his job in the middle of a depression Charity, Sean's sister, offers him a job as co-manager at the store she owns.

Even though Emma has known Sean for years she has recently seen a side of him that causes her to be nervous working near him. Sean has some anger issues that he can usually keep a lid on. Only two times in his life has he ever lost control.

Emma and Sean develop a close friendship, but neither one is prepared when that friendship develops into something more.

This is the second book in the Winds of Change series. The first one being the story of Luke and Katie in A Hope Undaunted. Although this is Emma and Sean's story we do get to still hear about Luke and Katie newly married and Katie still as feisty as ever! Also we get to see more of Charity and her husband Mitch. At one point Mitch is so angry at Charity he quits speaking to her for a couple of weeks. At first I was rather irritated at this behavior. I wanted to smack him upside the head! I thought "who acts this way in a marriage?" and then upon further thought realized "oh wait, I remember a time when my husband and I didn't speak for a while" Wow! Julie Lessman captured the dynamics of a marriage pretty well in Charity and Mitch's relationship. I liked how each relationship had different struggles and in each case learned to rely on God to work through those struggles to love each other better and ultimately grow in relationship with Him. Looking forward to A Love Surrendered coming out in October.

The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante

Agnes, her brother Benny and their parents live in Mount Blessing a religious commune led by Emmanuel. Agnes used to have fun like most other children. But when she turned 12 and received her book of "The Saints Way" she put aside having fun and started working on becoming perfect like the saints.

Honey is Agnes' best friend. Her mother left her at the commune when she was just a baby. All that she has of her mother's is a cat figurine that she carries around with her. Honey hates the commune. She hates Emmanuel and she hates all of the rules that they are made to follow. Honey is the one that usually gets herself and Agnes into trouble and causes them to have to visit the "Regulation Room."

The Regulation Room is a room that the Believers are sent to when they do something that is against the rules that Emmanuel has created for the commune. Nobody talks about the Regulation Room. But most of the Believers have been subjected to the discipline that is carried out in the room.

Agnes' grandmother Pete shows up unexpectedly for a visit. When she sees the results of the discipline that Honey and Agnes had most recently been subjected to, she is determined to get Agnes, Benny and Honey out of the commune.

Honey is thrilled to be leaving the commune. Agnes wants to go back. She is afraid of the consequences of leaving the commune. After all there is nothing bad going on there. Emmanuel is just trying to make them better believers. This puts a huge strain on Agnes and Honey's relationship. After meeting her father's sister, Agnes finds that there are still more secrets that Emmanuel and her family have held from them.

I didn't want to put this book down! It was heart-breaking reading about the abuse that the children are put through on the commune. I got angry at how gullible people are to a charismatic leader. I wanted to stand up and cheer when Nana Pete took Agnes, Benny and Honey out of the commune. I wanted to shake Agnes out of her brain-washed thinking! I loved Honey's feisty-ness and her ability to see how wrong the whole commune was in following Emmanuel.