BookLoverAmanda

  Murder in Highbury by Vanessa Kelly  4 Stars  Felt like this one was a good, classic mystery! Reminded me of like an Agatha Christie style mystery. Although I haven’t read Emma by Jane Austen and can’t personally compare how closely this aligns with it, I still found this to be an excellent read. From what I’ve gathered from others, it stays true to Austen’s style by going into themes of class, marriage, and social status. I could definitely recognize those elements myself, having read Pride and Prejudice , Persuasion , and Northanger Abbey . A year into her marriage to Mr. Knightley, Emma is working through things with her family estate, social engagements and whatnot, when things get crazy after she finds Mrs. Augusta Elton, the vicar's wife, has been murdered. Emma and Mr. Knightley become the newlywed sleuthing duo, trying to figure out who really murdered Mrs. Elton.  I think readers who enjoy a good classic mystery will enjoy this book as I did! Sometimes th...

Once Upon A Christmas Carol by Melody Carlson 4 Stars  I really liked this year's Christmas novella by Melody! It has A Christmas Carol feel with our main character of Carol who is a bit of a Scrooge about Christmas, but she soon realizes Christmas may finally be a happy day after all when her planned trip to the Bahamas gets derailed due to a snow storm in Michigan - which just so happens to be where her Aunt Maria - who she never met before - lives. Her mother and Maria have been estranged for years due to a falling out many years ago. When Carol randomly calls her up needing a place to stay due to her travel delays, Maria is beyond kind and welcomes her to her farm with open arms. This blesses Carol in many ways.  As Carol stays with Maria, she realizes she may never want to leave and Michigan feels more like home than anywhere else before...especially after she meets the handsome Victor. :) Victor did have a girl Victoria he had been seeing on a few dates but nothing serio...

Book Review: When The Road Comes Around by Katie Powner  A 5 Star Favorite of 2025 I am finding I LOVE a good Christian Contemporary Fiction book that explores themes of family, faith, and real life struggles and WOW - Katie brought SO much to this story. As a special needs Mama still early on in my parenting journey with our son, I related to Anita and was inspired by her so much. Stay tuned for my reading vlog on YouTube on Thursday, August 28th, 2025! Lots of emotions.  Read if you like: - Montana Settings - Christian Contemporary Fiction - Special Needs Families Represented In Books - Strong Christian Faith Content in Books - Second Chances - Found Family - Stories with Depth - Horses and Farm Life We are in the small town of Grady, Montana. We follow 24 year old Tad who has a reputation for trouble and past mistakes. He gets a job at Come Around Ranch. Here is where he meets Sam, the ranch owners disabled 20 year old son. He develops a soft spot for him and wants to help ...

Book Review: Ransomed Love by Kate Goodwin  5 Stars  Book 2 in the Hatcher Hollow Series  Wow, Kate does it again. This book was so layered, in depth and beautiful. We have a modern day biblical retelling of Samson and Delilah, with a little bit of Hosea elements tied in too. We are in Nashville, Tennessee with Greyson and Dahlia. Dahlia is sent from her controlling father to take down Greyson at his investment firm company. Dahlia is used to getting what she needs to for her father so she will do everything she can to try and earn his love, even though it's not really there to have. So she takes the job to work for Greyson. She doesn't expect to fall for the town, his family, the church....him.  The Lord pursues her and Greyson in this book so heavily. While this is a more gritty Christian Fiction book with some mature themes, it was REAL and raw and powerful.  I know I loved Reckless Love by Kate last year and this one is yet another, favorite book of 2025....

Book Review: Gelato at the Villa - Robin Jones Gunn  5 Stars - A Favorite Book of 2025  Have you ever had a friend that you were praying would return to the Lord after hurt from the past? Have you been the friend that turned back to the Lord after His constant pursuit? This book is one you don't want to miss.  This book was SO impactful for me. I laughed. I cried. I can't recommend it enough! We need more friendship stories in books and I loved this one! In this book, we follow Grace and Claire. Told from Grace's POV, we see our best friends travel to Italy, making stops in Venice, Florence and Bellagio. The girls enjoy art, cooking, AMAZING food, gelato (of course!), museums and the LORD truly works on this trip. I also LOVED the people they met along the way and all the travel details. I have a full YouTube reading vlog coming out on August 25th with ALL the tears and thoughts, but all I can say is this book is one I needed!  Seeing Grace's POV praying for her frie...

  Last Light Over Galveston by Jennifer L. Wright 4.5 / 5 What a moving, emotional read. This was my first book by Jennifer and will not be my last. I really enjoyed the way she can pull you in to the story and you feel like you are right there in the midst of what the characters are going through. I cried. I felt such empathy. And I learned so much about this moment in history. This is surrounding the most devastating hurricane that occurred in 1900 in Galveston, Texas. We follow Kathleen McDaniel who returns to New York after finishing school in Switzerland. A horrific event happens and she flees into hiding....she finds refuge and safety at St. Mary's Orphan Asylum on Galveston Island. She makes friends at St. Mary's, Sister Emily, Mother Camillus, Maggie and Matthew. Matthew is a handsome man who works for Isaac Cline at the US Weather Bureau.  This is dual timeline so we follow Kathleen's life 6 months in New York with her family before she flees to St. Mary's and ...

Love in the Eternal City by Rebecca W. Martin 4.5 Stars  This was a beautiful read. A book club read with my sweet friend Tammy, @protagonistpub on YouTube! While I am not Catholic, I really appreciated how the Catholic Faith was very beautifully portrayed and the characters endured real life struggles and this book is not short of emotional depth. You can see how much the characters love the Lord and how important their faith is to them.  We follow Elena, an American who is struggling with a lot of personal issues after her engagement ends. She leaves her home in the states and travels to Rome where she works closely with the Vatican. This feels like a fresh, new beginning for Elena. Here, she meets Benedikt (Beni) who is a member of the Swiss Guard and she becomes friends with Beni's sister, Reni. We see how Beni and Elena's friendship turns into more and its a very sweet romance. Beni is such a great guy and he truly cares for Elena, I loved that. He loves her for who she i...