Goodbye to Yesterday {Part 1 of 6} by Wanda E. Brunstetter

Book Description:  Join Meredith and Luke Stoltzfus, an Amish couple who are faced with the greatest challenge of their young lives. Financial struggles. Arguments. A suspected pregnancy. A last-minute trip to Middlebury, Indiana. A drug addict on the run. A deadly encounter at a Philadelphia bus station. Will their love and faith be enough to bring them back together again, against all odds?

My Thoughts:  I was pleasantly surprised when I received this book in the mail.  It's such a neat book, unlike any I've seen before.  It's small in size but not very thick.  It's kind.of.like a miniseries {for lack of a better word} because each book is a continuation. . .  Like a story that will continue in the next issue.  I just love this book!  And can't wait for the others!

Now for the story.  Wanda E. Brunstetter is a bestselling author for a reason.  She brings the story to life.

Meredith and Luke Stoltzfus are newlyweds and like most newly married couples they experience some issues.  First of all issues is money or the lack thereof.  Meredith like most women wants to freshen up their drab spare bedroom but "Luke was probably right about not spending money on paint with their finances so  tight right now.  Paint wasn't that expensive, but in Luke's eyes, it may as well cost a million dollars."            (p. 14) So realistic!

Meredith suspects that she may be pregnant.  But of course Luke doesn't know yet.  Then Luke loses his job at the furniture store, he tries to find another job and decides to go to another town to find a job while Meredith stays home.  Trusting in the Lord, faith in God's timing and love are all apart of this read!

This is a continuing story...like I said at the beginning it's like a miniseries.  I'm hooked!

*This book was reviewed by Handlebar Publishing*

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Barbour Books (February 5, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616260858
• ISBN-13: 978-1616260859

The Discovery Saga Series is a serialized novel--a novel released in monthly installments over a six-month period--check out the fun we are planning with our bloggers below!

Click on this link to Win Books Weekly!

An Exciting Hunt From Handlebar: Join the Scavenger Hunt Which Begins TODAY, February 4! Ten of our bloggers are hosting a virtual scavenger hunt during launch week of A Goodbye to Yesterday: Part 1.You're invited to join in the fun and invite those you know would be interested. The grand prize is a Kindle loaded with some of Wanda Brunstetter's books. The hunt starts onFebruary 4 on the Discovery Saga series Facebook page. Go ahead, like the page, and share! The more involved in this hunt, the more fun it is for everyone!

COTT {Clash of the Titles} Winner!

The Champion of the December New Releases Clash is:

A Promise to Protect, by Liz Johnson

Her novel takes the honors but it went up against some formidable competitors:

The Song of the Tree, Lotis Key

Mind of Her Own, Diana Brandmeyer

Counterfeit Cowboy, Lacy Williams

The Knitting Fairy, Jaime Marsman

Thanks to all for showing up and playing with COTT this week. The voting was amazingly close for a few days, and we had well over 200 voters. Congratulations to our readers and supporters!

A few of the comments from the survey say:

I absolutely love inspirational fiction. Thank you all for your books... I seem to always find one that speaks to my needs.

Keep on creating and inspiring.

ALL of the titles sound fabulous! It was a tough decision. Thank you for writing such awesome books!

Anything about our Seals is a definite buy!

Sometimes it seems unfair to have to choose. All the books look interesting. But I picked the one that I would pick up first.

What a wonderful list of books! Great job, everyone!

The books all look very interesting and well worth checking out. It was very difficult making a choice and all 5 authors should be encouraged for doing a great job.

Liz Johnson is one of my favorite authors. I love how she develops her characters in such a way that I not only want to know what happens in the story but I am emotionally invested in the characters.

About the Book:

Navy SEAL Matt Waterstone knows about keeping people safe. When his best friend’s sister is attacked, Matt promises no harm will come to Ashley Sawyer–not on his watch. But Matt’s not the only protective one. Ashley will do anything to safeguard the residents of the battered women’s shelter she runs. She’s sure she can handle the threats she gets in return. What she can’t handle is the way Matt scales the walls around her heart. Yet when she falls prey to a crime web more sinister than she’d realized, trusting Matt could be the only way to survive.

Buy the book on Amazon, or Barnes and Noble

About the Author:

Liz Johnson graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a degree in public relations and works as an editorial and marketing manager at a Christian publisher. She is a two-time ACFW Carol Award finalist, and A Promise to Protect is her fourth novel with Love Inspired Suspense. Liz makes her home in Nashville, TN, where she enjoys theater, exploring the local music scene, and making frequent trips to Arizona to dote on her two nephews and three nieces. She loves stories of true love with happy endings.

Keep up with Liz's adventures in writing at www.lizjohnsonbooks.com, Twitter @LizJohnsonBooks, orhttp://www.Facebook.com/LizJohnsonBooks.

Upcoming book news: Ashley's brother, Tristan, gets his own story inSEAL Under Siege, which will release in September of this year.

Moon Over Edisto by Beth Webb Hart

Book Description:  The past has come knocking on Julia's door. Can she summon the courage to answer betrayal with love?

Julia’s best friend, Marney, broke up her parents' marriage years ago. Now Marney shows up at her Manhattan apartment, asking the impossible—come home to Edisto Island to care for the half-sisters and half-brother she has never known. Marney, recently widowed, has lung cancer. There's no other family to care for the children while she’s in the hospital following surgery.

Julia loathes Marney. But if she doesn’t step in, her own mother—who has never gotten over the divorce—will be called upon to take care of the children. So she heads to South Carolina to keep the peace.

On Edisto, she begins to reconnect with the place and the people and she’s been running from her whole adult life. There’s the local doctor who once stole a kiss from her on that very beach, and the siblings she’s never known—especially the sister with selective mutism named Etta who’s the keeper of nearly every family secret . . . including the very one that just might bind-up Julia’s long-since shattered heart.

My Thoughts:  First of all, I had to look up the word Edisto . . . Edisto is one of South Carolina's sea islands.  Wow!  I learn something new almost every time I read a book.  Love that one can learn facts from fiction!

Now, Julia seems to have it all and on her way to a happy future.  And like our lives, when all is going too well, it all comes to halt.  Maybe, just maybe, this is a life lesson for us not to get too comfortable in our lives.

God  has a way of bringing forgiveness to us.  

Then it seems that Julie is like a lot of oldest children...very responsible.  So, when Marney comes knocking on her door, Julia does what she deems right ,and well, so her mother won't have to face the grief again.

This is a "different" kind of read for me...there are many different view points.  Too be honest I found this a little confusing at times.  It's an interesting way to write but not my favorite way to read.

The story line is interesting.  Etta's selective mutism is a psychiatric disorder in which a person who is normally capable of speech is unable to speak in given situations or to specific people. Selective mutism usually co-exists with shyness or social anxiety.  It seems that Etta's disorder speaks volumes of this family's disfunction.

There always seems to be "that" aunt who takes in the children and helps them over the hurdles.  In this story, it's Aunt Dot.  Aunt dot is a loving, caring person who seeks to help others do better.

This was an okay read maybe because I had trouble getting past the different viewpoints.

*This book was provided for review by BookSneeze/Thomas Nelson Publishing*

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (February 12, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595542027
• ISBN-13: 978-1595542021

Material Witness {Shipshewana Amish Mystery, Book 3} by Vannetta Chapman

Book Description:  The Fall Crafters Fair has barely begun in Shipshewana when murder strikes the small town once again---this time on the property of Daisy's Quilt Shop. It will take all of the sleuthing skills Deborah Yoder and Callie Harper possess to catch the perpetrator. But the stakes are higher than ever before, since the material witness is their best friend's child. Everyone will have to go on a journey of faith deep into the heart of God’s grace.

My Thoughts:  Material Witness by Vannetta Chapman is the third book in the Shipshewana Amish Mystery Series.  Having read the first two books A Perfect Square and Falling To Pieces, I was excited to read this third (and hopefully! not final) book in this series.

I was pleasantly surprised at how Vannetta Chapman's story telling had "increased."  I loved the first two books but in this third book she has "come into her writing!"  The characters, the sights & sounds and the development of the story are so GOOD!

Now, one doesn't have to read the first two books to understand the mystery of the third book but it would be best to read the books in order for more understanding of the characters.

A murder has been committed in the small community during the fall festival and one little crippled, wheelchair bound boy is the only witness.

Callie and her quilt shop are in the middle of the tragedy.  

The robber somehow thinks that Callie knows where the treasure is hidden.  Callie is clueless but with the help of her trusty Amish friends, Deborah and Esther, they piece the heirloom quilts together coming up with an interesting idea.

This mystery has a lot of action, hidden messages, friends that help and a dash of romance.

Here's hoping that there will be a fourth book.  I love this series!

*This book was provided by Zondervan Publishing*

About the Author

Vannetta Chapman has published over one hundred articles in Christian family magazines, receiving over two dozen awards from Romance Writers of America chapter groups. She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather's birthplace of Albion, Pennsylvania. Her first novel, A Simple Amish Christmas, quickly became a bestseller. Chapman lives in the Texas hill country with her husband.

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (September 4, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310330459
• ISBN-13: 978-0310330455

{Glass Road Blog Tour} The Runner Book One in the Michael Knight Series by A. Wayne Gill

Book Description:  The Runner is the first book in a seven-part series that follows the life of Michael Knight, a young man who is conflicted about his future and who embarks on a long journey of self-discovery. In that sense, Michael is like many of us. I don't think anyone ever just "arrives." We all have to go through things in life in order to learn and grow.

My Thoughts:  Michael Knight lives in the beautiful Ozark mountains, he's the son of a pastor, he has a wonderful girlfriend, and he plays a great game of football.  He seems to have the best of life!

I love the Bible verse that is on the first page of this book...Psalm 139: 7-12.  As Michael finds out...where can I go from Your presence?

Michael's sister, Cindy, is longing for "something" but she always seems to be "making a statement" and dating guys who, well, are not quite up to living well.  Now, Cindy is dating Ramon.  Ramon has a reputation as a bad boy.  And after's his father's suicide, Ramon and his mother party together.  Ramon is back from the Marines but Michael doesn't think that the Marines has changed Ramon's life view.

Abby and Michael have a sweet loving relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.  Their relationship grows as they move on with their lives.

The fight scenes are not graphic but quick and to the punch...a lot like this fast paced read.

This is an easy, believable read that flows from chapter to chapter and it's an interesting read.  Because the title is "The Runner" I wasn't sure what kind of runner this would be about.  If you remember the Bible verse on the first page, maybe you'll guess what kind of Runner this read is about.

Also, this Christian suspense/thriller is written by a pastor.

If there is such.a.thing as a cozy thriller, I would say this is a cozy thriller!  Good language (except where a guy calls out a bad word that shows sin), no murder and no bedroom scenes and a book that shows faith and redemption.  The kind of things that show God is in control!

*This book was provided for review by Glass Road PR*

Make sure to check out the trailer to this great read!

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Iron Pillar Media Group, Inc.; 1ST edition (2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979785618
• ISBN-13: 978-0979785610

Mystery of the Heart {Book III the Ravensmoore Chronicles} by Jillian Kent

Book Description:  Lord Eden is intrigued by Lady Mercy Grayson’s secret, but how can he hope to gain her heart if he is forced to betray her?

Lady Mercy Grayson longs to be a physician like her older brother, Lord Ravensmoore. However, society would never tolerate a female physician, let alone one who is a noblewoman. So Mercy takes matters into her own hands, disguising herself as a man to get through medical school. But when a colleague grows suspicious, Mercy is in danger of losing more than her dreams.

Returning home from a secret voyage for the regent, Lord Eden agrees to give Mercy passage back to London. As their attraction to each other grows, they face circumstances, decisions, and treachery that could forever change the course of their lives.

My Thoughts:  I love this series.  Each book is a stand.alone.read so you don't have to read them in order.

Now the first two books in this series, Secrets of the Heart and Chameleon, are more about mental health and how it affects families and individuals.  Now in Mystery of the Heart the reader is introduced to Lady Mercy Grayson (Mercy is definitely a well chosen name for the main character of this read!)  Mercy has set her heart on becoming physician...a female doctor.  
Now becoming a female doctor in Regency England is somewhat like a female wanting to be a football player in our present day.  *Gasp* Why would a female want that?  And men (the male persuasion) will look down on a lady pursuing this profession.
This read begins with Lady Mercy being washed up on shore.  Wow!  It's one great read!  I loved page 23 when Mercy is rescued by a man with one blue eye and one brown eye.  Her curiosity gets.the.better.of.her and she gets a little too close.  With her rescuer making her blush.  Love that regency/victorian age of innocence.
Lady Mercy and Lord Eden have quite a story to tell.  There are many ups and downs and of course, this story includes the medical side of life.
I've read all of the books in this series and I must say this is my favorite read of the three.  Maybe because there is more romantic intrigue.
A wonderful series!

*This book was provided for review by Charisma House*

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Realms (January 8, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1621360156
• ISBN-13: 978-1621360155

{Zondervan Bold Tour} Unglued Devotional, 60 Days of Imperfect Progress by Lysa Terkeurst

Book Description:  This companion devotional to the bestselling book Unglued provides encouragement to help readers handle emotional struggles. Including a daily opening Scripture, Thought for the Day, devotion, and closing prayer, this book helps readers begin a 60-day journey in learning to positively process raw emotions, such as fear, anger, and regret.

My Thoughts:  When I saw this devotional, Unglued, 60 Days of Imperfect Progress, by Lysa Terkeurst, I knew this devotional was written just for me!

As a mother, a pastor's wife and a teacher I feel that I am coming Unglued at times.  You know, those little things that don't mean much to anyone else but can make you, well, come unglued!??!  

I also was impressed by the subtitle, 60 Days of Imperfect Progress.  Yeah, um, that's me!  Imperfect by trying.

As I was reading this devotional and came to Day 32, p. 101, Procedure Manual Step 5, Your Reactions Determine Your Reach,  the scripture from 2 Chronicles 20:29-30, is given at the top of the chapter. And then the Thought For the Day:  "My  reactions testify to the kind of relationship I have with Jesus and the kind of effect He has on my heart."  Oh!My! Just what I needed for the day!

I then prayed the prayer at the end of the chapter:  "Dear Lord, in times when my happy gets bumped, help me to add to the authenticity of my love for you, not negate it.  In Jesus' name. Amen."

This is a great devotional for those of us traveling the road of life.  And, yes, we are imperfect and will have days we come unglued but He is there for us!  

If you're feeling unglued then grab this devotional today!  And join us as we seek His way!

*This book was provided for review by Zondervan Publishing*

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (December 18, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310320321
• ISBN-13: 978-0310320326

Meet the Author:

Lysa TerKeurst (www.lysaterkeurst.com) is the New York Times bestselling author of "Made to Crave" and "Unglued" as well as 14 other titles and a speaker who helps everyday women live an adventure of faith through following Jesus Christ. As president of Proverbs 31 Ministries, Lysa has led thousands to make their walk with God an invigorating journey. For over 15 years, her message has enabled women to:
Make the Bible come alive whenever you read it.
Discover how to develop inner peace and security in any situation.
Replace doubt, regret, and envy with truth, confidence, and praise.
Stop unhealthy cycles of striving and learn to love who you are.
Sense God responding to your prayers.
Lysa's personal adventure of following God captured national media attention when she and her husband adopted two teenage boys from a war-torn orphanage in Liberia, Africa. They never imagined their decision would start a chain reaction within their community, which inspired other families to adopt over 45 children from the same orphanage! Lysa's amazing story led to appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The 700 Club, USA Today newspaper, Woman's Day magazine, and Focus on the Family radio.
Today, Lysa and her ministry team at Proverbs 31 encourage 500,000 women through their daily online devotional. In addition, she co-hosts a 1-minute inspirational radio program aired on more than 1,200 stations around the world. Lysa's blog averages over 80,000 avid readers per month. Plus, she touches hearts through their monthly magazine, P31 Woman.
Lysa is the award-winning author of 14 books, including her newest New York Times bestselling release, Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God Not Food..
Other noteworthy books include:
Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl
What Happens When Women Say Yes To God
What Happens When Women Walk In Faith
Am I Messing Up My Kids?
Capture His Heart
Capture Her Heart
Living Life On Purpose
A Woman's Secret To A Balanced Life
Leading Women to the Heart of God
Lysa was a Gold Medallion finalist for her book, Leading Women to the Heart of God, and a People's Choice Award finalist for, What Happens When Women Walk In Faith. In addition, her articles have been published in Focus on the Family magazine, Marriage Partnership, and Crown Financial Ministries' Money Matters.
Each year, Lysa is a featured keynote presenter at more than 40 women's events, banquets, and retreats across North America, including the Extraordinary Women conferences and Focus on the Family's women's conference, Renewing the Heart. In addition, she hosts the annual She Speaks Conference, which has helped thousands of women gain the tools to pursue God's calling on their life.
In the midst of her busy schedule, Lysa is an everyday woman who simply seeks to glorify God through her life and family. She and her husband, Art, reside near Charlotte, North Carolina, with their five priority blessings named Jackson, Mark, Hope, Ashley, and Brooke. Join Lysa and discover the everyday adventure that God has waiting for you! www.lysaterkeurst.com