Do You Have a "Shut Down" Heart?

As those of you who actively follow my blog know, last week I shared a post about the way that we live not-so-loving lives, how we treat others in not-so-loving ways, and how we need to live with “open hearts.” If you haven’t read that post, you’re going to want to go back and read it, because that was just the beginning of everything I have to say about that particular topic. This post is just the first of many that will come after the one I shared last week, so if you read that one first it will give you a little bit of context.

Last week, I shared that I had just finished a book that I loved, and that taught me a lot about what it means to love, but what I didn’t share as much about is that it also taught me a lot about what it means to live alive. That’s something I want to talk about today. In Secrets Over Sweet Tea, Denise Hildreth Jones writes about being alive. Really alive. And ever since I read that book, that’s something I truly want to be, and that something that will help us to really love.

This Isn't Love

Can I ask a serious question this morning? I’m hoping it’s not too early for what I have to say, because I have been thinking about this a lot in my life, and I am sure there are some people who need to hear it. I know I need to hear it, and I’m the one writing it. I just hope people will take the time to open their hearts to what I have to say instead of shutting them down with the familiar “Everything is fine just the way that it is” and “I’m fine, I don’t need to change.” I just recently read a book that I know is going to stick with me for quite some time, and when it doesn’t anymore I am going to read it again so that it does. This book, this fictional story at that, has taught me more about loving others and living my life than many sermons and Bible lessons ever have. So I’m working on an a series about not living with “shut down” hearts, and I think this is my first step, though this one is more my own and has a lot less to do with what I read about in that book (the review of which will come at some point, when I’ve finally stopped being behind on all my reviews).

It's Not About Me?

 Do you ever make everything—or even just one particular thing—all about you? And then because of your selfishness you say or do something that hurts someone else…and you feel terrible? Please tell me it’s not just me. I’ve been doing this far too often recently and it’s been making me wonder, “Am I really this selfish?” Do I really care that much more about myself than about others around me? I suppose one could argue that since I am taking the time to ask myself these questions, then I must not be totally selfish, otherwise I wouldn’t care at all. But still, my actions haunt me.

Must-Have New Releases

                Happy Friday!! I have come to the decision that on the last day of every month I will post about the books I am most looking forward to that will release the next month. Today, however, I am going to post about all the books that I cannot wait to read that have released from January until now. That is quite a few books but, even though I haven’t yet read any of them, I am positive I would recommend all of them because I am that confident about the authors that wrote them. So, if you’re looking for something new to read, you just might find something here.

                Miss Harriet Peabody dreams of the day she can open up a shop selling refashioned gowns to independent working women like herself. Unfortunately, when an errand for her millinery shop job goes sadly awry due to a difficult customer, she finds herself out of an income.

Mr. Oliver Addleshaw is on the verge of his biggest business deal yet when he learns his potential partner prefers to deal with men who are settled down and wed. When Oliver witnesses his ex not-quite-fiance cause the hapless Harriet to lose her job, he tries to make it up to her by enlisting her help in making a good impression on his business partner.

Harriet quickly finds her love of fashion can't make her fashionable. She'll never truly fit into Oliver's world, but just as she's ready to call off the fake relationship, fancy dinners, and elegant balls, a threat from her past forces both Oliver and Harriet to discover that love can come in the most surprising packages.

                After a Fashion by author Jen Turano is the first book in her new series A Class of Her Own, and it released on February 24^th. I have read almost all of her Ladies of Distinction series, and I cannot wait to read this new release! Jen Turano does an amazing job of weaving bits of mystery into her novels, leaving you guessing until the very last page. It is nearly impossible to put her books down, and I know After a Fashion will be no exception!

Pick up a copy of it here!

            Behind him, beside him, before him, the synchronized cathedral bells began to ring out.

One, two, three . . .

Then she said it first. The words his heart burst to share. “I love you, Stephen. You are my true prince.”

An American heiress and a crown prince seem destined to be together. Will the devastation of war keep them apart forever?

American heiress Corina Del Rey caught her prince once. But the tragedy of war kept her too long in a fog of grief. Now she’s shifting her life forward, reigniting her career as a journalist. Still, nothing can relieve her of the secret and the love she carries in her soul.

Prince Stephen of Brighton is one of the world’s most eligible bachelors and a star rugby player, trying to make sense of his life. His days in Afghanistan with the Royal Air Command will mark him forever. And he can’t shake their dark shadow.

But when his brother, King Nathaniel, confronts him with a document the prince thought long buried and forgotten, Stephen is forced to face the pain of his past and the love he left behind.

With a little heavenly help, Prince Stephen and Corina embark on a journey of truth. But when the secrets are revealed, can they overcome, move forward, and find love again? 

                How to Catch a Prince by Rachel Hauck is book three in her Royal Weddings series, coming after Once Upon a Prince and Princess Ever After. I read both of her previous books in this series, and absolutely loved each of them. She did a fabulous job of bringing her stories to life, weaving wonderful tales of princes and princesses as dreamy as a Disney princess story but so realistic you’d wish you were the heroine. I just know I’ll love How to Catch a Prince, and I’m sure you will too!

Pick up a copy of any of the Royal Weddings novels here.

                On a hot day in 1737 in Rotterdam, Anna Konig reluctantly sets foot on the Charming Nancy, a merchant ship that will carry her and her fellow Amish believers across the Atlantic to start a new life. As the only one in her community who can speak English, she feels compelled to go. But Anna is determined to complete this journey and return home—assuming she survives. She’s heard horrific tales of ocean crossings and worse ones of what lay ahead in the New World. But fearfulness is something Anna has never known.

                Ship’s carpenter Bairn resents the somber people—dubbed peculiars by the deckhands—who fill the lower deck of the Charming Nancy. All Bairn wants to do is to put his lonely past behind him, but that irksome and lovely lass Anna and her people keep intruding on him.

                Delays, storm, illness, and diminishing provisions test the mettle and patience of everyone on board. When Anna is caught in a life-threatening situation, Bairn makes a discovery that shakes his entire foundation. But has the revelation come too late?

               

                Anna’s Crossing by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the first book in her Amish Beginnings series, all about how the American Amish settlements got started. Suzanne Woods Fisher does an amazing job of weaving wonderful tales of the Amish, and I just know her new novel will be chock full of interesting Amish facts that will teach you more than you ever knew before. I cannot wait to read this story!

Grab a copy of this book here.

            In the celebratory mood of the recently-ended Civil War, Sarah discovers her betrothed has been keeping a devastating secret.

While the tiny town of Wabash, Indiana, celebrates the end of the fighting, Sara Montgomery attends the parties, but inside she’s fighting a deep sadness. The love of Sara’s life, Rand Campbell, didn’t come back from the front.

So her brother and ailing father persuade her to pledge herself to another man—despite her misgivings. When Sarah finds out that Rand is in fact alive—and that her fiancé Ben Croftner knew it—she indignantly breaks off their engagement.

Croftner doesn’t take rejection lightly—and a single woman with a sick father makes an easy target. He abducts Sarah, his intentions anything but honorable. Then Rand comes to her aid . . . only to reveal that he has been posted at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and asks her to go with him as his wife.

Will Sarah leave her dying father’s side for the only man she’s ever loved? And what plans are forming in the jealous heart of Ben Croftner?

                A Heart’s Disguise by Colleen Coble is the first novel in her new A Journey of the Heart series, based just after the civil war. She always does an amazing job of adding mysterious themes to her novels, and they are always sure to be something you won’t be able to put down. Check it out, it released March 3^rd, so it shouldn’t be hard to find!

                 Twelve years of marriage, 4,000 square feet of dream house, and a handsome husband. Jessie Stanton has it all… until one fateful afternoon when she notices her BMW bouncing by the window behind a tow truck. Her husband has gone, and he’s taken it all. The whirling tornado that cuts down the life she’s built drops Jessie onto the sandy beach of Malibu with a thud, penniless and alone. When all she’s left with are the designer labels in her closet and the dreamy Neil Lane rock on her finger, Jessie tries to make ends meet by pawning her prized ring to fund a new business venture: a small shop where her designer duds and shimmering accessories are temporarily leased out to Southern California women with champagne tastes but root beer realities. As Jessie tries to rebuild, she realizes she can’t move on, not without answers. Reluctantly, Jessie turns to beach bum/private investigator Danny Callahan for help. But is she staking her future success and happiness…on a ring and a prayer?

                On a Ring and a Prayer by Sandra D. Bricker is the first book in her new Jessie Stanton series, and is sure to keep you laughing until the end. Sandra D. Bricker is amazing at writing hilarious stories chock full of fun, laughter, and love that will never disappoint. I am positive On a Ring and a Prayer will be no exception.

Want to laugh? Pick up a copy here!

                When trouble roars into quiet Arborville, Alexa and Anna-Grace find themselves the target for discord and exposed secrets. Can they continue to seek the God of all grace amidst the fog of confusion?  

Alexa Zimmerman wonders if the Old Order Mennonite community in Arborville, Kansas will ever fully accept her. Her family roots here aren’t what anyone thought when she first arrived, but she is hopeful that her culinary and hospitality skills will win the skeptics over. The bed-and-breakfast she’s operating needs to succeed so Alexa agrees to allow Briley Forrester, the hotshot reporter from Chicago, to stay as a long-term boarder not knowing his real motives for being amongst the Plain folk.
 
But when Alexa agrees to host her cousin Anna-Grace Braun, the presence of extended family brings out Alexa’s insecurities and sets Briley on the trail to uncovering a web of hidden truths. 
 
Plans for a secure future and the sweetness of young romance hang in the balance when Alexa and Anna-Grace have to face that their secrets are interconnected, binding the two in ways they could not have imagined. They must trust in a loving, heavenly Father and His plan for their futures.

                When Grace Sings by Kim Vogel Sawyer is the second book in her Zimmerman Restoration Trilogy, coming after When Mercy Rains. It is a wonderful story full of hidden secrets and sweet romances that I cannot wait to read.

Pick up a copy here!

                Marlena needed time to let things sink in. It was beyond her how all this could possibly work out--adding the care of an infant to her daily routine. Fortunately, it would just be until Luella returned home from the hospital and was stronger.
No more than a couple weeks, surely.

Marlena Wenger's life takes an unexpected turn on the day she learns she must care for her estranged sister's baby. Spending the summer in Brownstown, Pennsylvania, to assist her Mennonite grandmother, and miles from Marlena's Old Order Amish beau, she feels out of her element in nearly every respect. Yet Marlena determines to do her best and stay focused on her future, even as those hopes become drastically altered.

                I have been anticipating the release of Beverly Lewis’s The Love Letters for quite a while now, and the fact that I have to say I haven’t read it yet pains me a little. I absolutely love Beverly Lewis’s work; I have read almost every single book she has published and have enjoyed every one. Obviously I need to pick up this one!

You can pick it up here.

14 Days of Love: Day Two

                I am so sorry this is late (I know day two was yesterday), but, better late than never. Today’s item I love is an amazing book I call one of my absolute favorites. When I say favorite, in this instance, I mean favorite. I have only read a handful of books that I can say I loved as much as this one.

                I know, I know, what is it called, you ask? Whispers from the Shadows. Amazing title, right? It is by a wonderful author named Roseanna M. White, who has impressed me with every one of her books. The ones I have read, that is. And I have read most of them.

                Anyway, Whispers from the Shadows is a book based during the war of 1812 about a young man named Thad and his family, who run a spy ring, for the US, of course. His parents, Bennet and Winter Lane, were spies for the Revolution when they met, and their story is told in Ring of Secrets. They formed an unlikely friendship with Colonel Fairchild, a colonel for the British army, in that novel, and they continued their friendship through the years in-between the two stories.

                Because of circumstances I cannot tell you without spoiling the book, Colonel Fairchild, who had moved back to England, sends his daughter, Gwyneth, into the care of Bennet, Winter, and Thad at the beginning of Whispers from the Shadows. Through war scares, a mystery, and the pain of the separation from her father, Gwyn struggles to adapt to life in the US. Eventually, though, she finds her place, in Maryland, and in the Lane family. I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say the book is full of comical scenes, suspenseful chapters, and sweet moments that will keep you hooked until the last page. It is absolutely worth the read! Go check it out!!

{ Below is the synopsis, and yes, that is my copy of the book above (: }

I love her... can I trust her?

I love him... is he safe?

          1814—England and America are again at war. Sudden and implacable treachery causes Gwyneth Fairchild's world to crumble in a moment's time. The daughter of a British general, she barely saves her life by fleeing London aboard a ship bound for America. Her goal is to find refuge with the Lane family in Maryland. Yet after meeting the Lanes' son, Thaddeus, Gwyn wonders how safe she is. For she discovers that this family trades in a dangerous commodity—espionage. 

Thad Lane is a prominent citizen in the city of Baltimore. He has the ear of everyone, and he is in a unique position to pass on to leaders of government exactly what he hears. Not long after the beautiful and British Gwyneth Fairchild finds safe haven in his community, he experiences the tug of love, though he fears it may blur lines of loyalty. With family playing the part of enemies and enemies proving themselves friends, a future with Gwyn is more than uncertain—it could be life threatening. 

          In the end, with the British advancing relentlessly on Baltimore, Thad and Gwyn have to trust in their shared faith in God to be a shield about them. To give them a future and a hope.[1]

          Don't forget to check out the blogs my sisters, Sarah and Allie, have as they do 14 Days of Love along with me!

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[1] All credit for the above synopsis and for the wonderful book go to Roseanna M. White and her publishers. No copyright intended.