Pictures of My CoWorkers and Me.

We (myself, Jeana and Luanne) went out to lunch on Feb. 15, 2012 and we had a Blast.

Enjoy.

Cowgirl Trail by Susan Page Davis

This Book was supplied to me by Moody Publishers through NetGalley for a review in return.


Book Description

In 1884 Maggie Porter returns home after accompanying her mother to a sanatorium for a prolonged illness. The ranch is almost as it was before her mother's death. The young Alex Bright is in charge of the men at Rocking P Ranch and the spring roundup and cattle drive are about to begin. But something is wrong: the cowboys are grumbling. Tired of working long hours at the lowest wage in the area, the cowboys threaten to strike. They walk off the job, leaving no one to bring the cattle to market. Maggie is desperate. She discovers that the ranch is in debt due to her mother's illness and now her father's health is failing. Even if they get top dollar it would not be enough to pay the bills. She is determined to save the ranch.

My Review

This book is the fifth book in the Texas Trail Series by Susan Page Davis. This is the first book I have ever read by Susan Page Davis. I’ll tell you one thing it will not be the last. I loved this book so much, I couldn’t put it down.

The book starts out when Maggie is 13 years old and meets one of their cowhands on their ranch, Alex Morgan. Then, her mother is ill and she accompanies her mother to a sanatorium where her mother eventually passes on.

Her father is so consumed with grief that he sends Maggie to live with her aunt in San Francisco, California. So, she stays there 6 or 7 years and learns the life in San Francisco. But, her heart is in Texas, so she returns a woman now and Alex can’t believe the way he feels. As the story goes on, there is an uprising in the cowhands area and they decide to strike and they do that but don’t complete the job. So, Maggie gets her friends (who are girls) together and they gather up the cattle and take the cattle to market. A Very Interesting story and a GREAT one at that.

I stop and asked myself, “Could I do that and the answer is I don’t think so”. But, if I had lived in that time period, I’m sure I could do it.

I won’t say anything else, I don’t want to spoil the book for you. I would definitely suggest this book to my friends and family. Again, I love this book and thank you to Moody Publishers for giving me an opportunity to review this book.

Following Your Heart by Jerry Eicher

This Book was supplied to me by Harvest House Publishers through NetGalley for a review in return.


Book Description

Susan Hostetler a young Amish woman who had left her community for life in the outside world, returns home to her family with her English friend, Teresa Long, and Teresa's newborn, fatherless son. Teresa has come in hopes of settling with the Amish people.

Deacon Ray gets wind of the situation and forbids the unwed mother from attending the church services, fearing she will pollute the young people of the community.

My Review

This book is Book 2 in the Fields of Home Series by Jerry Eicher. This book is a GREAT book, I could not put it down but had to force myself to do so.

This book takes up where Book 1 left you. Susan Hostetler and Teresa (who has a newborn baby Samuel) leave Asbury Park and go home to Indiana. Susan’s parents are so pleased with Susan coming back home and they welcome Teresa with open arms. Teresa bends over backwards to show everyone she wants to become Amish.

In the meantime, Thomas (Susan’s ex boyfriend) tries to win her back but just cannot seem to do that. In the meantime, the minister’s agree that Teresa will be married to Yost Byler, an older gentleman in his 40’s. So, Teresa agrees because she wants a good home for her son, Samuel. But in the meantime, Teresa wants to be baptized and she agrees to marry Yost, not for love but for a home for her son.

I will not tell anything more about the book because I don’t want to give the details away for you. Everyone who likes the Amish as much as I do, will love this series. It is a GREAT book. I would suggest this book to my family and friends. Thank you, Harvest House for giving me a chance to review this book.

Smitten by Colleen Coble, Kristen Billerbeck, Diann Hunt and Denise Hunter

This Book was supplied to me by Thomas Nelson through NetGalley for a review in return.

Book Description

When a failed logging company threatens their town's survival, four friends devise a plan to turn Smitten, Vermont, into the country's premier honeymoon destination. But little do they know that love is already on the way---for each of them! Enjoy four page-turning romances, each written by a best-selling romance author. Includes reading group guide. 400 pages

My Review

This book is a story about a town called Smitten and is located in Virginia. It has 4 stories in the book about 4 different couples but all intertwine together.

This book opens up and there is turmoil in the town because the mill has to shut down. There are numerous people who have lost their jobs. In the meantime, there are 4 women who want to save the town. So, they get their thinking caps on and start on doing this. They want to turn it into a Romantic Getaway place. Now, wouldn’t that be nice to have something like that in your hometown.

In the meantime, these 4 women, (Natalie, Julia, Shelby and Reese) all have to try to get the men involved in this also. It is funny how they go about all this. I think you would enjoy this book as I did.

It is a GREAT book about all of these stories and one that I think you would laugh in and also cry. My favorite character is Shelby. She is funny yet you want to cry with her as well.

I won’t say anything else, I don’t want to spoil the book for you. I would definitely suggest this book to my family and friends. Thank you, Thomas Nelson for letting me read this and give this review.

Missing Your Smile by Jerry Eicher

This Book was supplied to me by Harvest House Publishers through NetGalley for a review in return.


Book Description

When Susan Hostetler has a falling out with her boyfriend, Thomas Stoll, she leaves her Amish community and moves to Asbury Park to experiment in English life. There she learns to drive a car, takes her GED test, and falls in love with young and handsome Duane Bower. Back home, her parents are devastated and miss their daughter terribly. But what can they do? Susan has a mind of her own.

Just as Susan is enjoying her new life, her plans are interrupted. She meets Teresa Long, a young, unwed, expectant mother who asks Susan to help her have her baby adopted by an Amish family. As Susan is drawn into the young woman's life, she also finds herself drawn back to her Amish roots. But can she truly leave her life behind.and Duane?

My Review

This book is the first book in the Fields of Home Series by Jerry Eicher. Jerry is one of the best authors who write about the Amish and what their world deals with.


This book is about Susan Hostetler who breaks up with her fiancé Thomas Stoll. It is a complete misunderstanding I believe anyway. After this happens, she leaves her Amish community and goes to the English world in Asbury Park, N.J. At first, I thought she was making a complete mistake for going there but as it winds up, I don’t think so. She learns how to drive and this part is hilarious and you will love this part also. She then takes her GED which I really didn’t think she would.

She meets Duane Bower and goes out with him a few times and she doesn’t understand how the English date, but she learns.

In the meantime, she meets a young girl who is single and pregnant. After she is friendly with Teresa Long, she wants Susan to adopt her baby or see if an Amish family will adopt her baby. When this happens, Susan is drawn back to the Amish life and she isn’t sure she wants that part. But, she does wind up helping her though.

I won’t say anything else, I don’t want to spoil the book for you. I love Jerry Eicher’s books, he is GREAT. I would definitely suggest this book to my friends and family.

Love is a Gentle Stranger by June Masters Bacher

This Book was supplied to me by Harvest House Publishers for a review in return.

Book Description

In an adventurous saga of the American frontier, an independent young schoolteacher sets off on a dangerous quest to find a new beginning beyond the trail's end.

Heartbroken and ashamed at being jilted, Chris Beth welcomes the perils of frontier life and intends to face every crisis as she has all others-alone. Then, thrown together with a small band of settlers in a place ravaged by uprisings, Chinook winds, and devastating floods, she learns to lean on God and others in good times and bad. Readers will laugh and cry with her as she discovers that never-failing love is a gentle stranger.

My Review

This book is by June Masters Bacher, who has passed on but her legacy will not. She is a GREAT author and I just want to thank Harvest House Publishers for letting me read this and give my review on it.

This book is a GREAT one. Chris Beth is jilted by her fiancé. So, in order to lose the memory, she accepts an offer to teach school in the Far West. She gets on the stage and heads west but in the meantime, she makes friends with the other people on the stagecoach. She is from very well to do family and for her to travel to the west, her family just doesn’t understand that.

She finally gets to her destination to only find very rustic conditions and not much of a town, if you want to call it that. In the meantime, Joseph Craig is on the stage also, and he helps her throughout her time getting settled, etc. She finds that Mrs. Malone and her become very good friends.

I won’t say anything else, I don’t want to spoil the book for you. This is such a GREAT book, a very good page turner. It’s a shame the author has passed because I would love to read more of her books. I would definitely suggest this book to my friends and family.

A Life of Joy by Amy Clipston

This Book was supplied to me by Zondervan Publishers through NetGalley for a review in return.



Book Description

Take a trip to Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, where you'll meet the women of the Kauffman Amish Bakery in Lancaster County. As each woman's story unfolds, you will share in her heartaches, trials, joys, dreams . and secrets. You'll discover how the simplicity of the Amish lifestyle can clash with the "English" way of life-and the decisions and consequences that follow. Most importantly, you will be encouraged by the hope and faith of these women, and the importance they place on their families. In A Life of Joy, the fourth installment in the series, eighteen-year-old Lindsay Bedford has reached a crossroads. Should she stay in the small Amish community she's known and loved for four years or return to the English life in her hometown in Virginia where her older sister is a college student? An extended visit to Virginia might just tip the scales as Lindsay reconnects with friends, joins a new church, works on her GED, and is pressured by her sister to stay and "make something of herself."

My Review

This book is the 4th book in the Kauffman Amish Bakery Series by Amy Clipston. Amy is one of the GREATEST authors who write about the Amish.

This book is about Lindsay Bedford, who is living with her Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Daniel and her cousins. She came to live there when her parents were killed in an auto accident about 4 years ago. She doesn’t know if she wants to join the Amish Church, so she chooses to wait and not go through baptism with Katie and Lizzie Anne, 2 of her best friends. She is struggling about where she belongs, whether it is with the Amish or the English. In the meantime, her Aunt Rebecca is not feeling very good and finds out she is pregnant and not doing well, so Lindsay helps her out.

Then Lindsay gets a phone call from her Uncle Frank and Aunt Trisha. Aunt Trisha broke her leg, so she needs to go to Virginia to stay with her Aunt Trisha until she is better.

I won’t say anything else, I don’t want to spoil the book for you. I love Amy’s books, she is GREAT. I would definitely suggest this book to my friends and family.  Thank you Amy for giving us all such great books to read.