An April Bride by Lenora Worth

From the publisher:

War changes everything…even their love.

Bride-to-be Stella Carson can't wait to marry her longtime sweetheart Marshall Henderson. But Marshall has been away serving his country and has suffered a head wound. After being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, he has distanced himself from Stella, asking her not to visit him in a Washington, D.C., hospital. Marshall returns to Louisiana just four weeks before the wedding, but as the big day draws near, Stella wonders if the man she's loved for most of her life has become someone else. Can true love conquer all for Stella and Marshall, even the tragedy of war?

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This novella is part of a series of bridal stories that are each one of the months of the year.  

The idea of this novel is one that people enjoy.  You have watched or read movies/books with the idea of true love that is forgotten in a tragic event.  The Notebook or The Vow come to mind.  Lenora Worth writes Stella and Marshall to be the love of a lifetime that began in childhood.  Readers will probably sympathize with both Stella and Marshall as they struggle to deal with the head wound and memory loss.

I had a hard time really getting into the characters or feeling for them.  I wanted to but found myself wanting more from the writing to make me care about these characters who were going through such a hard time.  Marshall and Stella seemed to swing from one emotion to the next and it just didn't seem to flow.

I received this ebook free from BookLookBloggers in exchange for my honest review. 

Meant to Be Mine by Becky Wade

From the publisher:
Ty Porter has always been irresistible to Celia Park. All through high school--irresistible. When their paths cross again after college--still irresistible. This time, though, Ty seems to feel exactly the same way about Celia. Their whirlwind romance deposits them at a street-corner Las Vegas wedding chapel. 

The next morning they wake to a marriage certificate and a dose of cold reality. Celia's ready to be Ty's wife, but Ty's not ready to be her husband. He's a professional bull rider, he lives on the road, and he's long planned to settle down with the hometown girl he's known since childhood. 

Five and a half years pass. Celia's buried her dreams so that she can afford to raise her daughter. Ty's achieved all of his goals. Or thought he had, until he looks again into the eyes of the woman he couldn't forget and into the face of the child he never knew he had.

How much will Ty sacrifice to win back Celia's trust and prove to her that their spontaneous marriage can still become the love of a lifetime?

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This book has surprised me--in the best of ways.  I was expecting a fun romantic story by Becky Wade and it was definitely that.  There was swoon worthy moments and laughable moments.  This story will have you eager to return to it, if you have to put it down.  The chemistry and romantic tension that Becky Wade writes is fun to read.  Readers will find themselves giggly with the situations and characters.

Both Ty and Celia were wonderful characters.  They were developed in such a way that you could relate to them.  Likable, but flawed in their own ways, you could really understand their development as characters through the story.  Becky Wade showed who they were and took you on a journey to who they would become.  

What I didn't expect was the level of spiritual depth in this book.  Becky Wade doesn't preach at the reader but the truths that she shares through the story were amazing.  The theme of forgiveness flowed through out the book and even on the last page the Bible verse was about forgiveness.  This is something we all deal with and I feel that as readers read the story they will be impacted by Becky Wade's writing.  I don't want to spoil the story but I was touched by the spiritual aspect in this story.

This is the second book in the Porter family series, and while this can definitely be a stand-alone book, I highly recommend reading Undeniably Yours first, just because it is an excellent read as well.

I really loved reading this book and will be highly recommending it and the series to others.

I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.  

Seasons of Tomorrow by Cindy Woodsmall

From the publisher:

More settled in her heart than ever before, Rhoda Byler feels a newfound confidence living in the Old Order Amish settlement she helped establish in Orchard Bend, Maine. Time has helped to heal the wounds of Rhoda’s recent severed relationship, and she finds that even her unusual gift of profound intuition is less of a burden as she continues to seek God’s wisdom for her future. She is happy to be working alongside the King family and the love of her life as they tend and nurture the settlement’s orchard.

Yet when Leah King’s involvement with Englischer Landon Olson becomes known outside of the Maine community, her disregard of the Ordnung could threaten all the Orchard Bend Amish are building. In the midst of addressing the discord, a shocking tragedy challenges the young settlement like never before, threatening to uproot Rhoda’s peace and the future of everything she holds dear.

When several members of Orchard Bend Farms are displaced, the estranged King brother is called upon to return. Can those who founded the new Amish community in Maine unite Or will the lingering pain of past hurts and present struggles result in the end of their dreams?

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This is the fourth and final book in the Amish Vines and Orchard series.  This book is not a stand-alone book.  I highly recommend that if you are going to read this book, that you get all four of the books together and read them in a row.  This series has a complex maze of characters and situations which are much easier to understand and follow if you read the books right after one another.  That being said, the author did do a good job of recapping the previous books at the beginning of this book.

This series is probably the most complex Amish series I've read.  There is so much going on in each book.  That is a good and bad thing.  By the fourth book I felt that there were too many little side-stories.  While Samuel and Rhoda are the central characters the book also spends time focusing on Leah, Landon, Jacob, Steven, and Phoebe.  

I felt a little bit of disappointment in how Rhoda's "gift" was dealt with and explained.  In the previous books it played such a big part, and in this one it seemed that it was there and sort of explained--but not enough.

I did really like the way Cindy Woodsmall developed Leah's character and decisions.  I enjoyed the growth of all the main characters about forgiveness, righteousness, beliefs, etc.  This was very well done.  Sometimes with Amish fiction it seems that you are just led to believe it is okay to shun people or make them follow the rules set by the bishop and leaders, but this book allowed the characters to really think for themselves.

I received this book free from Waterbrook Publishers in exchange for my honest review.