Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand (2014)

The book that started it all. Felty and Anna Helmuth are 2 of the best daddi and mammi in the world. In their 80s, they have kinner, kinskinner and even some great kinskinner. While many are happily married, too many of the kinskinner still need to get married, most of all their kinskind Moses, who is still pining for that Barbara, who broke their engagement and ran off to the world. But Mammi has a plan. It involves Lia coming to help Anna for the summer. She lets Moses in on her plan, so when the pair meet, she’s quite surprised when he tells her that he doesn’t want to marry her. She doesn’t want to marry him either and so begins their love story. 

Lia and Moses have a lot in common. Best of all, Lia is almost 6 feet tall, so Moses can talk to her without her getting a view of her nose hairs. (It’s even better that her height means he doesn’t have to fold himself in half to kiss her. But that thought comes later.) 

Love Scenes by Bridget Morrissey (2021)

An enjoyable look at what goes on behind the scenes of a movie shoot. Our narrator is Sloane Ford, daughter of an acting dynasty, whose life is a little chaotic at the moment. She's been fired from the television show she headlined and the boyfriend who dumped her just released an album everyone knows is about her that makes her the villain of their relationship. She's watching someone else woodenly play a role written for her, a role she turned down because of her contract with the TV show. If that weren't enough, the movie's being directed by her sister, written/directed by her step-father, and stars her mother and one of her father's ex-wives. Her brother is doing the music and her father (along with his new girl friend) likes to drop by the set.

But the worst thing is the film's leading man, a former co-star who almost made Sloane give up acting because of the experience. Now, Joseph is a hugely famous/popular award-winning actor who swears he's changed. Based on his first couple days on set, Sloane is not convinced that he's any different. Her mother orders her to help Joe by running lines each day before shooting starts. Sloane has no choice, since Joe's 'performance' will delay filming, sink the movie and flush her family's money down the drain.

Thankfully, Morrissey takes something that could read like a telenovella and instead gives us 3-dimensional people. Drama happens - both on and off set - but it's nothing too fanciful or unrealistic. Sloane, her family, and Joe are all people with baggage, but it doesn't overwhelm or trap anyone in harmful patterns. Her extended family reminds me of the Pritchetts in 'Modern Family'; at times they fight or drive each other crazy but no matter what, they love and like each other. Getting a behind-the-scenes peek at the movie business (ex: the intimacy coordinator) helped me appreciate the job that actors do to end up with the final product that I see on my screen.

3.5/5 stars

The Space in Between by Jen Minkman (2014)

I received this book as an ARC through ReadingDeals and rated 4/5 stars.

Our story starts with someone who has just learned to astral project. We don’t know why we’re reading about this - is this Moira? Someone else? It’s the prologue after all. But it's a mystery and one I don't think we get an answer for.

Chapter One introduces us to our heroine, Moira. Her car doesn’t want to start (which implies that she's not rich). We soon meet her siblings, twins Tabitha and Dai, and her Mam. Tad (Dad) is away, working in the city. Theirs is a loving family who supports each other while giving each other a hard time (always the best kind of family). 

We also meet Patrick, her longtime boyfriend. They’ve been together for a while. It soon becomes apparent that not all is well in paradise. She’s studying art and art history at Uni and he seems to resent the time her studies take up. Moira rationalizes conflicts with him so as to not make waves. After all, she likes to over react, like Patrick always says. (Do not like him. At all.) 

The Midnight Bargain by C L Polk (2020)

In Chasland, marriage means a warded collar that stifles a sorceress’s magic to nothingness, all in the name of protecting the woman. An unwarded married female could become pregnant and a spirit could inhabit the child before it became ensouled.  Beatrice wants to be a mage, but her family’s survival depends on her marrying well. Without a favorable marriage, the mortgage her father took out will come due; not only will her family be homeless but the scandal will cost her sister, Harriet, any chance at a season and a match. Beatrice is sure that if she’s able to become a mage, her father will relent and all will be well. 

Her search for a grimoire that will aid in her quest has her crossing paths with Ysbeta and Ianthe Yavan, 2 very rich Llanandarians in town for the season. What starts as a grudging friendship with Ysy soon becomes sisterhood as the both work to become mages before the collar clamps shut. 

Steamed (2017) by Katie MacAlister

It’s rare for me to DNF a book. I might set it aside for a while but not finishing a book? I think I can count my DNFs on 1 hand. Unfortunately, this is one of them.

Synopsis: 

Jack Fletcher’s heart is about to get punked.

Computer technician Jack Fletcher is no hero, despite his unwelcome reputation as one. In fact, he’s just been the victim of bizarre circumstances. Like now. His sister happens to disturb one of his nanoelectromechanical system experiments, and now they aren’t where they’re supposed to be. In fact, they’re not sure where they are when…

…they wake up to see a woman with the reddest hair Jack has ever seen—and a gun. Octavia Pye is an Aerocorps captain with a whole lot of secrets, and she’s not about to see her maiden voyage ruined by stowaways. But the sparks flying between her and Jack just may cause her airship to combust and ignite a passion that will forever change the world as she knows it… 

Review/Gripe:

This is not a slam on the author. I've read and enjoyed her different dragon shifter series.  There are hints in those series of what I find problematic with this book, but it's kinda built into the genre and the male shifter-female human dynamic, so you expect manly men and the women who appease/befuddle them. This, however, doesn't involve males with instincts that drive them to be more dominating; this involves a man who should know better and a woman who knows her mind and isn't confused about what she wants, but still ends up an repressed Victorian miss who just needs someone to set her free.

 

A Simple Prayer by Amy Clipston (2017)

Even though the ‘someone who left the Community has come home’ trope feels a little tired, this novel did a great job of illuminating the perspective of older son in the parable of the prodigal son. In this iteration, the older brother, Samuel, is much more likable. His anger stems from watching his parents suffer, which leads him to hide the prodigal Aaron’s letters. Samuel resents how much and how long Mamm wept over her lost son and how these events kept him bound to their dairy farm instead of leaving him free to make a living building houses. 

But hiding the letters has caused most of what is making people miserable: 

• Even when he wants to return home, Aaron doesn't because their lack of response to his letters have made him think they've moved on and forgotten about him,
• It's only prolonged his parents’ suffering because they think their son is dead),
• Samuel's wife used to be friends with Aaron, but she's cold and angry at Aaron when he returns because she can't believe he didn't write and abandoned his family (especially his wonderful mother!) 

A Perfect Amish Romance by Shelley Shepard Gray (2021)

Tons of Amish Loveliness

This was a great read. There were so many things that I underlined; so many nuggets of goodness that I wanted to remember. I’ve been having luck with my Amish romances lately and it’s been very spiritually uplifting. 

One of the best things about this book is how loving the families were. There were challenges and love developing and one of the best things is that there wasn’t an overbearing parent or ordnung in sight. Thinking about it, we really didn’t see any English in this story and yet the oppressive feeling of some Amish stories wasn’t here. These people weren’t stifled by their simple life. They enjoyed it, which made me enjoy it too. And their faith was not just lived out in going to 3-hour church services but in the way they cared for each other, their community, and used the Bible to guide their lives.