Waiting On:
Title: Thief of Glory
Author: Sigmund Brouwer
Publisher: Water Brooke Press
Publication Date: August 19th, 2014

Synopsis:

In the tradition of Brock and Bodie Thoene's Zion Chronicles and history-meets-contemporary mysteries like those of bestseller Kate Morton, this WWII drama is both exciting in its revelations and heart-rending in its truth about human nature and forgiveness.
In the early 1940s, Jeremiah Prins was a 12-year-old living a content life as the son of a school headmaster in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). When Holland declared war on the Japanese in 1941, the situation changed swiftly. The Japanese army invaded, and Jeremiah and his family were placed in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp-a camp Jeremiah finally escapes and returns to Holland. Yet wartime complications force him to abandon a marriage engagement with Laura Jensen. The young man flees to California, where he struggles with the lingering anger and war stress he faced as a child.

Determined to find some kind of redemption, a now-elderly Jeremiah tries to make sense of his life by journaling of all that he does not want to reveal to his children about his past, intending to leave his writings as an apology after he is gone.

An online encounter puts Jeremiah in touch with his true love from the war years, Laura, and when they meet again, it triggers the time bomb of long-buried secrets. Even seventy years later, if uncovered, these secrets can harm everyone who matters to Jeremiah.

Why I'm Waiting:
Sigmund Brouwer has become one of my favorite authors, so I look forward to any of his new books. I'm looking forward to this story as well for the backdrop of WW2 and a mystery that has been covered up for 70 years.

What are you waiting on?

Title: While Love Stirs
Author: Lorna Seilstad
Publisher: Revell
Pages: 341
ISBN: 978-0-8007-2182-4
Publication Date: May 6th, 2014

Synopsis:   

Take one lovely young woman.
Add two ambitious young men.
Stir . . . and stand back.

As a graduate of Fannie Farmer's School of Cookery, Charlotte Gregory is thrilled to have the opportunity to travel, lecture, and give cooking demonstrations on the very latest kitchen revolution--the gas stove. And she certainly doesn't mind that the gas company has hired the kindhearted Lewis Mathis to entertain at her lectures.

Lewis encourages Charlotte's work, especially her crusade to introduce fresh, appetizing, nutritious food to those convalescing in hospitals. But young hospital superintendent Dr. Joel Brooks is not convinced any changes should be made--especially by this outspoken young woman.

When Charlotte and Joel are coerced into planning a fund-raising gala for the hospital, will this combustible pair explode?

Follow the second Gregory sister as she looks for true love and makes her way in a rapidly changing world in this breezy, lighthearted love triangle that will keep you guessing.

Review:
This is the first book that I have read by this author. And I did not realize that this was the second book in the series, thankfully this story worked well as a standalone. I was introduced to main characters of the first book, and the interactions with them was fun. I might need to back peddle in the series and get acquainted with them.

I will state right off that the main characters didn't click with me right away. The bickering between Charlotte and Joel was a bit much in the beginning. However, as the story moved along and Charlotte advanced in her career, the story picked up and left me wondering where the story was going. Charlotte grew on me as the story progressed and it was fun reading through her how the time was changing in the kitchen with cooking. Joel, he started off a bit ridged, a very orderly, everything has a place type of person. The old way has worked, so why change it. I will say, in real life, those type of people rub me the wrong way, so it was an uphill climb for Joel.

I'm not giving anything away, I promise! I'm glad that these two characters spoke how they are so different and had problems meshing at times. It wasn't glossed over, or given the opposites attracted story and that was the end of it. They each had things to work out and they knew it.

I did connect with the quickly to the secondary characters. I enjoyed the peppiness of Tessa and the thoughtfulness of Hannah. The sisters were all so different, but they meshed well. Hannah is a new mother, so her focus is on her growing family, but she makes time for her family and watches out for everyone the best she can. Tessa is young and wanting to try something new each week. However, when the opportunity to work at a theater comes along, she goes for it, but she doesn't get the job she wants, an actress. She is pushed into the roll of an assistant in the back office. Then there was Aunt Sam. She is a spunky older lady who has taken on the role as matriarch to the sisters.

I'm interested to see what will happen in the third book.

3.5 out of 5

About the Author:
A history buff, antique collector, and freelance graphic designer, Lorna Seilstad is the author of When Love Calls and the Lake Manawa Summers series. A former high school English and journalism teacher, she has won several online writing contests and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. Lorna lives in Iowa with her husband. Learn more at www.lornaseilstad.com.






Thank you to the Revell Reads Blog Tour, I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Today's Topics are very different from each other and should be interesting to explore.


My interactions with authors started long before I ever started blogging. I'm about to giveaway my age...It started when email first became popular. That's right you young ones, it hasn't been around forever. :-) When this avenue opened up and I was in high-school, I had a desire to write, heck I still do, blogging helps that. So, I started to contact some of my favorite authors with questions and they were kind enough to respond back. I still have those emails with their words of wisdom. They have stuck with me.

Now with all the social media, connecting with authors has gotten so much easier. I now have connected with favorites on Twitter and through Facebook and GoodReads and I have been introduced to new to me authors as well. The social media platform has been great in that aspect.

Since becoming a blogger and with Twitter, it has also helped me to see that authors are just like you and me, they just write fantastic books! Before hand, I always thought of them as celebrities (still do, they are my rock stars. :-)), but now they are people to me as well. My perception has changed quite a bit.

Blogging has opened up opportunities to chat with these wonderful authors and it is a lot of fun. And, I always get a little giddy still when an author has been kind enough to post on my blog.

As for interacting in real life with authors, I haven't been able to get around to readings or signings much. I would love to though.



This part of the bookish world I'm not as familiar with. I have enjoyed audiobooks, but finding a time to listen to them with my full attention is hard, but they are enjoyable and I have found that when I listen, I find parts of the story I either skimmed or accidentally skipped. It heightens the story.

I haven't gotten into graphic novels or comics. I know they have been around forever. Movies are popping up everywhere based on them...and that's not a bad thing at all. Thank you very much Marvel for the great movies! I'm slowly learning more about comics, the kid seems to enjoy them, so before she can read and look at them, I check them out first.

I know it isn't part of the original topic, but I do enjoy when a book is transformed into a movie or a miniseries or show on TV. Yes, things can be altered, but the visual presentation helps me sometimes to fully comprehend, all in part to my dyslexia, what was on the author's mind. Sometimes when details are given, it can be hard for my mind to wrap around the way it is written.


All of these have offered me the ability to see what has been written, yes, changed a bit, but I can appreciate the work that it came from and look at the shows as a reference to the book.

Topic: