The Road to Paradise: A Vintage National Parks Novel by Karen Barnett

Book Description:  An ideal sanctuary and a dream come true–that’s what Margaret Lane feels as she takes in God’s gorgeous handiwork in Mount Rainer National Park. It’s 1927 and the National Park Service is in its youth when Margie, an avid naturalist, lands a coveted position alongside the park rangers living and working in the unrivaled splendor of Mount Rainier’s long shadow. 

But Chief Ranger Ford Brayden is still haunted by his father’s death on the mountain, and the ranger takes his work managing the park and its crowd of visitors seriously. The job of watching over an idealistic senator’s daughter with few practical survival skills seems a waste of resources.

When Margie’s former fiancé sets his mind on developing the Paradise Inn and its surroundings into a tourist playground, the plans might put more than the park’s pristine beauty in danger. What will Margie and Ford sacrifice to preserve the splendor and simplicity of the wilderness they both love?

My Thoughts:  The year is 1927, the president is Theodore Roosevelt and this is such a unique read!

President Roosevelt's vision for protected lands so that the people of America could enjoy God's creation.  And this story takes place in Most Rainier National Park.

When Chief Ranger Ford Brayden and the senator's idealistic daughter, Margie, meet it isn't a love at first sight kind.of.meeting.  In fact, Ranger Brayden feels that Margie is a spoiled socialite.

Then Margie's former fiancé comes to Most Rainier with a plan to build a Paradise Inn and make a tourist playground.  This plan is most unacceptable to the park and to Ranger Brayden.

I loved reading about the past and Ms. Barnett wrote such a unique and informative novel.  

But the way Margie matured and grew like a young sapling was interesting too.  Since poor Margie really had no understanding of nature but as she learned more about the park and the reason so many people want to preserve the land, was so well written. Made me want to take a trip to one of our national parks, right now!

Don't miss this grand story!

*This book was provided for review by Waterbrook/Multnomah*

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook (June 6, 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735289549
• ISBN-13: 978-0735289543

Love books . . .

WOW {Warm Oven Wednesday}

Love this fruit salad!  

      For years I never knew what to make a for a group or large family...when sending or making food!  This wonderful fruit salad is so good and so easy for a crowd!

Serving Size: 20 

Ingredients 

1 fresh ripe pineapple 

1 fresh ripe cantaloup 

4 fresh ripe mangoes 

2 pounds of fresh strawberries 

4 cups of seedless green grapes 

1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries 

3 to 5 cups powdered sugar. 

Lime juice all over!  

Annie's Stories (Ellis Island) by Cindy Thomson

Book Description:  The year is 1901, the literary sensation The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is taking New York City by storm, and everyone wonders where the next great book will come from. But to Annie Gallagher, stories are more than entertainment—they’re a sweet reminder of her storyteller father. After his death, Annie fled Ireland for the land of dreams, finding work at Hawkins House.

But when a fellow boarder with something to hide is accused of misconduct and authorities threaten to shut down the boardinghouse, Annie fears she may lose her new friends, her housekeeping job . . . and her means of funding her dream: a memorial library to honor her father. Furthermore, the friendly postman shows a little too much interest in Annie—and in her father’s unpublished stories. In fact, he suspects these tales may hold a grand secret.

Though the postman’s intentions seem pure, Annie wants to share her father’s stories on her own terms. Determined to prove herself, Annie must forge her own path to aid her friend and create the future she’s always envisioned . . . where dreams really do come true.

My Thoughts:  I enjoy stories written by Cindy Thomson.  I loved Grace's Pictures.  And Annie's Stories is in somewhat.of.the.same. venue but yet, it's its own story.  

Annie must find work.  She finds a rather good job in the housekeeping area at a boarding house, Hawkins House.  But when one of the tenants is accused of wrong doing and the authorities threaten to shut the House down Annie knows she may have to find another job.  Not an easy task.  Then there's the "over friendly" postman who show way to much interest in Annie.  Annie knows her father's unpublished stories may hold a secret...does the postman  know?  Are some secrets worth holding onto? And is her father's secret worth enough to hold onto.  Annie only knows this is her way to make a tribute to her father.                                         

Annie only knows that she must help her friend who is accused of wrongdoing. Stories that have a moral and a christian theme that show integrity and kindness are few and far between...that's why this is such                      a great read! Loved this great story!  Mystery and history . . . what a way to spend a summer afternoon reading about lives of past ages!  A great read for mystery and history fans!
*(This review is based upon a copy of this book which was provided free of charge from Tyndale House Publishers. These opinions are my own; I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated for this review.)*

• Series: Ellis Island                                        
• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (July 1, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414368453
• ISBN-13: 978-1414368450

COTT {Clash of the Titles}

The Reason I Wrote Sofi’s Bridge

Guest post By Christine Lindsay 

The aspiration behind all my novels is to share journey the Lord took me on through my own canyons and valleys of loss to eventual emotional healing in Him. I share different aspects of that journey in my books to encourage others in their own struggles. 

And there you are: The valleys and canyons of Washington State are another set of the metaphors in Sofi’s Bridge.

Here is an excerpt from a favorite character of mine, Kiosho, a delightful elderly Japanese man who in his youth mined for gold with Sofi’s grandfather shortly after they both immigrated to the US in the late 1800’s.

Sofi watched her sister drift from pillar to pillar on the wraparound porch, a look of perplexity stamped on her face. 

Kiosho dried his hands on a tea cloth while Sofi pushed out a sigh. “I don’t know anymore, Kiosho. So little improvement in Trina.”

Kiosho took her elbow and shook it. “Remember, Sofi, what I used to tell you. The love of God, all around. Like these mountains that circle this valley. First, Trina and you must go through different canyons of sadness, but He will bring you out to open spaces.”

I live in a valley exactly like the fictional valley in the Cascade Mountains that Sofi and Neil escape to with her sister. Except, my real valley is just across the border in Canada, but still in the same beautiful range of mountains and glaciers. One day as I was going through a personal heartache, our pastor preached on the love of God, and used the metaphor of the mountains that encircle our real-life town nestled in the Fraser Valley. I know these mountains. I know this valley. I know each change on the faces of my mountains as seasons come and go.

I also know how God can use our greatest heartaches to bring forth our greatest joys. If we let Him.

I leave you with this last excerpt, when Neil, on a high alpine meadow starts to feel hope for his set of trying circumstances. He’s on the journey to God and healing, and doesn’t quite recognize it yet, but only feels the comfort and love coming from his Creator in the majesty around him.

At the summit Kiosho reined the Clydesdales in and settled them under a shady tree. The wind, carrying a clean pine fragrance, blew unimpeded as though they’d reached the top of the world. Trina jumped from the wagon to run along a pathway strewn on either side with blue and purple lupine, pink phlox, yellow arnica, and red Indian paintbrush. Only a few feet to Trina’s right, the path dropped to plunge into a flower-dotted meadow. Grasses swayed in the breeze. 

Neil stayed behind with Sofi, sweeping his gaze three hundred and sixty degrees. 

Above the tree line, gray peaks scraped the sky, some still capped with snow. In the distance, pale blue and turquoise ice from glaciers filled crevices between serrated granite heights. 

Quiet awe filled his face. 

As Sofi watched him, she could only hope that up here for a while he could let go of whatever pain he was hiding from the world, and from her.

---

 
About Christine: Irish born Christine Lindsay is the author of multi-award-winning Christian fiction and non-fiction. Readers describe her writing as gritty yet tender, realistic yet larger than life, with historical detail that collides into the heart of psychological and relationship drama.

Christine's fictional novels have garnered the ACFW Genesis Award, The Grace Award, Canada’s The Word Guild Award, and was a finalist twice for Readers’ Favorite as well as 2nd place in RWA’s Faith Hope and Love contest. 

This author’s non-fiction memoir Finding Sarah Finding Me is the true-life story that started this award-winning career in Christian fiction and non-fiction. This book is a must for anyone whose life has been touched by adoption. Christine is currently writing a new fictional series set on the majestic coast of Ireland and loaded with her use of setting as a character that will sweep the reader away. Subscribe to her newsletter on her website www.christinelindsay.org

---

About the Book: Seattle Debutante Sofi Andersson will do everything in her power to protect her sister who is suffering from shock over their father's death. Charles, the family busy-body, threatens to lock Trina in a sanatorium—a whitewashed term for an insane asylum—so Sofi will rescue her little sister, even if it means running away to the Cascade Mountains with only the new gardener Neil Macpherson to protect them. But in a cabin high in the Cascades, Sofi begins to recognize that the handsome immigrant from Ireland harbors secrets of his own. Can she trust this man whose gentle manner brings such peace to her traumatized sister and such tumult to her own emotions? And can Nei, the gardener continue to hide from Sofi that he is really Dr. Neil Galloway, a man wanted for murder by the British police? Only an act of faith and love will bridge the distance that separates lies from truth and safety.


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Food52 Mighty Salads: 60 New Ways to Turn Salad into Dinner--and Make-Ahead Lunches, Too Hard by Editors of Food52

Book Description:  A collection of 60 recipes for turning ordinary salads into one-dish worthy meals. 

Does anybody need a recipe to make a salad? Of course not. But if you want your salad to hold strong in your lunch bag or carry the day as a one-bowl dinner, dressing on lettuce isn’t going to cut it.

Make way for Mighty Salads, in which the editors of Food52 present sixty salads hefty with vegetables, meats, grains, beans, fish, seafood, pasta, and bread. Think shrimp and radicchio tossed in a bacon vinaigrette, a make-ahead jumble of white beans with charred lemon and fennel, slow-roasted duck and apples scattered across spicy greens. It’s comforting food made captivating by simply charring one ingredient or marinating another—shaving some, or roasting a bunch.

But because we don’t always follow recipes, there are also loose formulas for confident off-roading, as well as back-pocket tips and genius tricks for improving any old salad. Because once you know how to fix too-salty dressing, wash greens once and for all, keep an avocado from browning, and even sprout your own grains, the humble salad starts looking a lot more interesting—and a whole lot more like dinner.

My Thoughts:  We are trying to eat healthier and so when I saw this book I knew I needed it.

There are 60 wonderful recipes for salads.  Not just a lettuce and tomato kind but salads packed with protein and nutrients.

When it comes to making a salad I get stumped.  So this book has helped me to go beyond the boring and actually make a meal out of a one bowl supper.  

Some of the salads are a little on the "dicey" side for us . . . we don't eat roasted duck, I'm not even sure where to find such a delicacy.  But there are other salads that are great.  We like eggs so I began with a more simple salad that included soft boiled eggs.  It was good and filling.  And we felt better after eating a much healthier supper.

The tips for washing and keeping greens and how to keep an avocado from turning brown are quite helpful.

A lovely book with great directions to help us all eat a little more healthier.

*This book was provided for review by Waterbrook/Multnomah*

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (April 11, 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399578048
• ISBN-13: 978-0399578045

WOW {Warm Oven Wednesday}

 photo credit: www.pauladeen.com

Mexican Chicken Casserole with Cheddar Cheese and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 10 3/4 -ounce can cream of chicken soup
• 1 10 3/4 -ounce can cheddar cheese soup
• 1 10 3/4 -ounce can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 10-ounce can tomatoes
• 1 whole chicken, cooked, boned, and chopped or 4 cups leftover cooked chicken
• 11 1/2-ounce package flour tortillas
• 2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the three kinds of soup and the tomatoes. Stir in the chicken.
3. In a greased 13 x 9- inch pan, layer the tortillas and the chicken mixture, beginning and ending with tortillas. Sprinkle the cheese over the casserole and bake for 30 minutes.