BookLoverAmanda

  Dream by Barbara O'Connor 3.5 Stars rounding up to 4 I loved Wish by Barbara last year and was so excited to see the Dream audiobook available on NetGalley! Suzy Jackson does such a great job narrating. As a southern Tennessee gal, I love her accents for the characters and it feels like home.  As a follow up to Wish, Dream follows Idalee Lovett, who lives in the small town of Colby, North Carolina. Idalee's Mama is going on your for the summer with her cover band and Idalee works on her songwriting skills. There is a local radio songwriting contest and Idalee is determined to win with her songs. Idalee needs a new guitar and there is supposedly long-lost treasure for her and her friends to find hidden somewhere in their house from her late grandfather... the friends spend their time helping Idalee trying to find it, while sneaking around.  We see Howard, Charlie and Wishbone from Wish helping out in this book - loved seeing them again. You can technically read this outs...

The French Kitchen by Kristy Cambron  3.5 Stars Read if you love: - Historical Fiction - Undercover Operations - Julia Child  - Hidden Identities  - Dual Timeline - WWII Fiction - Paris/France Settings - French Language  - Kitchens and Cooking in Books Kristy Cambron really has the attention to detail in her books and this one was really interesting! We follow Kat, who is recruited by the OSS as an agent in 1943. She is hoping to find her missing brother and agrees to go to France as a spy. Years later in 1952, she is still searching for her brother and becomes acquainted with others she knew during the war time. We see different timelines here for the same characters, with multiple identities and plans.  I really liked Kat's character, she is very sharp and in her undercover operations she is working in a kitchen that caters to the Nazi elite. She is tied in with the resistance and there is a lot of suspicion.  In 1952, we see her marriage to Gerard, a man...

  If All Else Sails by Emma St. Clair 5 Stars  Let's start this review out with....I LAUGHED SO MUCH IN THIS BOOK! I read this with my friends Oceana and Lindsay and we both really enjoyed it! So many laughs and just an overall great rom-com! This is Emma's first traditionally published book with Thomas Nelson and I HIGHLY recommend! I have loved all of Emma's books I've read, she just has such a way with writing funny, clean rom-coms and this did not disappoint! Tied to the Appies Hockey series, we have Wyatt, Josie's brother's best friend and Hockey Player, who spend the summer together. What happens when the "enemies" spend a summer together including sailing, forced proximity situations and a sweet dog accompanies them? FEELINGS!  Our characters spend time together, feelings come to the forefront....their walls come down as they get to know each other more deeply and we really get to know them. Emma always tells stories that are filled with depth a...

  God Speaks Your Love Language by Gary Chapman 4 Stars I really enjoyed this book. It's heartwarming, encouraging and a good reminder that the Lord meets us where we are. Most people have heard of the 5 Love Languages and Gary Chapman's books. In this one, Gary takes the concept of the 5 love languages and beautifully shows how God speaks to us in the ways we best receive love. I loved how this was not just a theory but he added scriptures tying it back to my own personal and relatable walk with the Lord. He meets us where we truly are in each season of life. This books truly helped me to see that we are all designed with a unique way to connect with His love. If you feel distant from God or unsure of how He is speaking to you personally, I would recommend adding this book to your bible study time. A very gentle reminder that His love is not just general.....it is very specific to you.  I love how he shared different stories from others with their own personal experiences to...

The Sands of Sea Blue Beach - Rachel Hauck 4 Stars  Rachel sure does know how to deliver a heartwarming, emotionally layered story! This one is filled with second chances and healing. If you want a book with depth, charming seaside town and a second chance romance, check this out. Emery Quinn is our main character and she is very relatable with her realistic feelings of grief after losing her mother to cancer when she was a teen. Cut to being in her 30s with no real career or relationship and her step sister is set to be married. She struggles with comparison and the complexity of her blended family. She goes back to Sea Blue Beach and starts a new role at the struggling Sea Blue Beach Gazette. Here is where she runs into her old boyfriend from a summer long ago and they reconnect in many ways, recounting events of the past. Caleb Ransom has a sense of devotion to his nephew and preserving the town's history - you really root for him and Emery.  Their reunion 16 years later if...

The Collector of Burned Books by Roseanne M. White 5 Stars This books was breathtaking for me! I loved it so much. I related to the characters and felt the passion Roseanna had with writing this story from the very first chapters. What made this story really shine was the interconnected characters, themes of freedom, faith and honesty.  Roseanne really shares a story with depth and the Catholic faith displayed was beautiful and authentic to the time and characters. Set in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1940, we see a story of resistance, not just with weapons but with words. We follow Corinne who is a young woman finding refuge and purpose in a secret library filled with banned books. Her love for truth and literature make her a fierce heroine and that really comes to light as we get to know her. On the other side of the war is Christian Bauer, a German professor trapped working for the Nazi's, forced into a role he never wanted. He has quite the internal struggle and his rebellion is beau...