Home For The Holidays(The Mother Daughter Book Club) by Heather Vogel Frederick

Emma, Jess, Cassidy, Megan, Becca and their mothers are all back for a new season of the Mother-Daughter book club. This season the girls and their mothers will be reading the Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. Since they will all be in different places for the Holidays they decide that they will celebrate together on New Year's Eve.

The girls have picked names among themselves to be Secret Santa to. As each girl opens their gifts each day they are disappointed in their Secret Santa. It seems that their Secret Santa does not know them at all. When the "big reveal" on New Year's Eve comes around tempers are right under the surface.

Becca and her family spend Christmas on a cruise with Megan and her family. Becca's family has a secret that they do not want to share with anyone until after the Holidays. Becca can only think of how this secret affects her.

Megan's boyfriend has just broken up with her over email. She is heart-broken, but when she meets Phillipe the captains son she thinks that maybe life will go on.

Jess is disappointed as she was going to spend the holidays in Switzerland. An unfortunate accident keeps her in the States. When her aunt and uncle invite her family to come to their hotel in New Hampshire they decide to go there.

Emma is invited to go with Jess and her family. Her parents let her go, but she finds that it is not as fun as she thought it would be to be away from her family during The Holiday.

Cassidy and her family go out to California. Her step-father Stanley has a job offer that could take them back to California(where they lived before moving to Concord). Cassidy had longed to go back to California, but now she has established her home in Concord and is not sure that she want to move again.

Through all of the bumps and trials the girls' family and friendships stand the tests of time. I absolutely love The Mother-Daughter book Club series and recommend it as a great read for young girls. My daughter is 19 and when we got this new book in the mail she was so excited! She wanted to read it before I got to it, but was gracious enough to allow me first dibs! This 5th book was just as good as the 1st and I'm looking forward to future books in the series.

A Heart Most Worthy by Siri Mitchell

  

  Three young seamstresses work for Madame Fortier. Each one has a different specialty and a different background.

Julietta is the embroiderer. She comes from a loving home but is determined to shake the fetters of family and tradition and embrace the freedoms of America. 

Annamaria is the smocker. Being the eldest daughter her responsibility is to take care of her parents until their death. If she is lucky she may be able to eventually marry. 

Luciana is hired to do elaborate bead work. Her father was killed by anarchists. She and her grandmother have escaped to America, but they are still pursued by the murderer who killed her father.

Each girl struggles with the prejudices of the day, and the heart-break of forbidden love. 

A Heart Most Worthy is written in what I have read is called "Omniscient voice." I'm not exactly sure what that means. My understanding is that the author breaks into the story now and then and addresses the reader. At first it was a bit annoying, but as I became more enmeshed in the story and the girls' lives those break-ins in the story were less relevant than what was actually happening in the story. I enjoyed the book very much. I've read one other book by Siri Mitchell, Beauty Becomes Her. If you like historical fiction these books are a must read!

Daddy Dates by Greg Wright

"THE ROAD MAP FOR ANY DAD TO RAISE A STRONG AND CONFIDENT DAUGHTER"

In Greg Wright's book Daddy Dates he shares with the reader his insights into dating his 4 daughters. Having 4 daughters made him realize that he wanted to be involved in their lives and invest in their lives. He came up with the concept of dating his daughters and has shared in his book how a Dad can go about doing that.

Getting to know each daughter's personality and likes and dislikes has helped him establish meaningful relationships with each one of his daughters.

My favorite chapter was "Lucky Number 13" where he took each daughter on a big date when she turned 13. He made it a very special get all dressed up kind of date. He shared with her about what is on boys' minds. He talked about how valuable a person she is. He explained the family principle of not dating until college. He also explained about the intimacy of sexual relationships and why it is best to wait for the "I Do". He then presented them with a special ring to wear on their left hand until the time that a young man will put his own ring on her finger.

A great book for any dad that has daughters to read! Greg Wright's daughters are lucky girls to have such a Daddy!