Seasons of Paradise

In Barbara Cameron's Seasons of Paradise, the second installment in the Coming Home Inspirational Romance series, this beautiful story would move you to tears and tug your heart. For Mary Elizabeth Zook, she lives and works with her Amish family in Paradise, Pennsylvania in Lancaster County. All her life, she wants to be with Sam Stoltzfus and have a life with him. Ever since he left his community to live with the English, she gave up on him and moved on to be with Ben Miller. And her older sister Lavina prepares to have her first child with her brother-in-law. As Sam dealt with such acrimony with his father, he rarely came home to the farm, except when his father was diagnosed with cancer and helped David out. As he tried to find a place in her heart, he wants to live his own life and have worked hard with his friend Peter. Later, Sam and Mary Elizabeth became friends together as they let God guide them to be back together to start a new life as a couple.

This was a beautiful inspirational romance about letting God guide your heart and lead you to your one true love, other than him. This deals with heartache, romance, life, love and loss, and second chances to come back home. I cared for Mary Elizabeth and Sam and liked Rose Anna and Lavina and David. I did find Amos was a bit harsh and Ben wasn't well suited for her. I loved the beautiful scenic descriptions of Paradise in Amish Lancaster county in Pennsylvania. This would make you listen to your heart with romance, inspiration, a hint of drama and little action along the way.

Will you welcome your own seasons of paradise today?

In Twenty Years

In Allison Winn Scotch's In Twenty Years, this woman's fiction novel grips you about friendship, love and loss and life itself from the very start. Twenty years ago, six Penn students make a pact to reunite and write their future plans in a time capsule on their graduation day. When their ringleader Bea died 13 years ago, the five friends reunited together on what would've been her fortieth birthday at the house they shared at Penn State. Each of the five friends took their own path. Narrated from the five friends' POV and how they dealt with the issues along the way. The college sweethearts, Catherine and Owen, who are going through marriage problems, when Owen's a stay at home dad and quit his law firm, and Catherine who's a superstar crafty diva like Martha Stewart. There's Annie, who's have her own marriage crisis, Colin, a single doctor, who had eyes for Bea and later for Annie, and Lindy, a Nashville superstar who's bisexual and an expectant mother. In the end, they remember Bea and what secret she took to the grave on her illness.

This was a beautiful woman's fiction that would tug at your heart strings. I cared for the five friends in their own way and how a remembrance for Bea had brought them together. In return, she gave something back. I loved the Pennsylvania scenic locations and the crisp settings that was seen from the five friends. I really felt bad for Bea who had to go through cancer again and later die from it, hiding the terrible secret of the real truth she died. This would grip you real hard and take you on an emotional heart-breaking ride with drama, romance, and plenty of heart-breaking scene with a hint of action.

Will you remember where you are in Twenty Years?

Dark Mirror

In Barry Maitland's Dark Mirror, the 10th installment in the Brock and Kolla mystery series, we'll be introduced to the dark side of the rich and famous in this compelling mystery. For Special Crimes Unit Detective Kathy Kolla, it all started with the mysterious death of Marion Summers. As Kathy and her supervisor, DCI David Brock, they look into her life and the days that lead up to her death from arsenic poisoning. They talked to everyone she knew at the university, including her family life, and lined up a string of suspects. The more disturbing details appeared, the most they were concerned, as they discovered secrets of her private life and her paperwork on the pre-Raphaelite art period. When they dug deeper, they learned more about the truth and who done it and why in the end with a shocking ending you wouldn't believe.

This was a dark and gritty British serial mystery. I instantly liked Kathy and David working as a team at the Mat. I liked the central English locations and the compelling settings of city life in London. I didn't like the Warrenders one bit for one reason or another--the same for Marion's mother and sleazy step-father. I thought Guy and Kathy would make a great couple. This would hook you from the start with this gripping and twisted storyline with drama, suspense, non-stop action and tons of mystery with a hint of art history.

Will you be cautious of the dark mirror tonight?