Christmas at Harrington's by Melody Carlson is a book guaranteed to help get you into the Christmas spirit.  Lena Markham has just been released from prison for a crime that she didn't commit and is trying to make a new start, but jobs are hard to find for ex-cons.  A chance meeting with a nice older lady on the bus ride helps Lena make that first step forward.  However, after Lena thinks that her luck might actually be changing for the better, it all seems to go downhill.  But good prevails and makes us believe that Christmas miracles come true. I really enjoyed this book.  I "blame" it for getting me into the Christmas spirit a bit too early this year.  However, I think this book is great in showing how people's circumstances aren't always as they seem.  Maybe it can't hurt to lend a bit of a helping hand and place some preconceived notions aside. I'm very glad that all worked out in this book.  The Christian focus was very minimal and did not bother me in the least.  The … [Read more...]

Nightingale is Susan May Warren's newest book.  In this book, Esther is a nurse working with wounded soldiers home from WWII.  She is waiting for her fiance and father of her illegitimate daughter, Linus,  to arrive home from his own combat tour when she receives a letter from the medic that found Linus wounded when he gave him his own letter to give to Esther.  Linus is presumed dead but Ester is afraid to share this with Linus' family, who she is living with, unless she is sure.  However, the whole situation winds up blowing up in Esther's face.  Don't worry - things all work out in the end. I enjoyed this book after about the first chapter.  It was a bit hard to figure out what was going on at first, but I managed to work it all out and become engrossed in the story.  My favorite parts were that this was set during WWII but still in America - one of my favorite time periods to read about.  I also enjoyed reading about how customs and ways of behaving different at that … [Read more...]