Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes

I love the Sisterchick series, so I read this one as soon as I could after it was published.  Robin Jones Gunn does a great job with this series, and she takes me along with her again as she visits a foreign land.  This books is about two friends who have been life-long penpals.  Noelle now lives in Holland.  Summer finds out she has an abnormal medical test and decides to visit Noelle before having to face more testing.

I want to visit the Corrie Ten Boom house and museum, so it was nice to get to visit with Summer and Noelle.  They visited so many great places and had such an adventure one afternoon on an unusual boat.  Noelle and her husband treated Summer like an honored guest.  Summer was refreshed from the visit and from her quiet time with God every morning.  I’m looking forward to traveling again with the next set of sisterchicks!

Get Cozy, Josey

I’ve enjoyed reading this series by Susan May Warren and hope she will continue to write about Josey. Get Cozy, Josey is the third book in the series. The first book, Everything is Coming Up Josey, follows Josey as she moves to Russia as a missionary. The second book, Chill out, Josey!, is about her married life as she continues to live and minister to the people in Russia. The third book continues her story as she moves her family to Siberia, mostly to support her husband. She ends up making many friends and reaching out to the women of the village.

I like Josey because I can identify with her. She is insecure about herself, but trusts God to help her. She is braver than I am, though. I don’t think I would be willing to do without indoor plumbing! I admire her dedication to her husband. She moves to Siberia because he’s excited about it, and when his excitement wanes, Josey encourages him. Josey does have to prove to the town and her husband that’s she’s been faithful, but you’ll have to read to find out why.

Inside Story

I found the first book in this series, Frasier Island, at the library and decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did because I found another talented author. Since then, I have read Finding Marie and now, Inside Story. The characters in these stories are engaging and interesting to follow. I have also read and enjoyed a few other mysteries by Susan Page Davis, but this series is my favorite so far. The third novel, Inside Story, is about Claudia, Marie’s sister. She is a journalist and works for a magazine, Global Impact.

I love this story! The story is fun, suspenseful, and leaves me cheering for the main characters. Lieutenant Bill White is believable and easy to admire for his charitable work and dedication to the navy. Claudia is a risk taker and does whatever it takes to find and tell moving human interest stories. I don’t want to say too much and give away the story, but I think you’ll enjoy this one.

The story does make me wonder whether the U.S. Navy would authorize embedding a magazine correspondent with a secret mission unit after deployment, but this is minor and doesn’t detract from the story. The majority of the story takes place in the Philippine jungle. Marie, Pierre, Rachel, and George (characters from the earlier books) appear in this story to help Claudia, Bill, and Bill’s unit.

My Heart Remembers

This is the first book I’ve read by Kim Vogel Sawyer, and I’m very impressed. My Heart Remembers was an easy, enjoyable read. I would gladly read another book by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

The basic story is Maelle, the oldest child in her family, is asked by her Da to take care of her brother and sister during the fire that burnt down their apartment. Her Da went back in to gather some more belongings and bring his wife out with him, but they never made it. Maelle is alone in New York with her brother Matthew and infant sister, Molly when a policeman finds them and takes them to an orphanage. The lady in charge of the orphange places them on an orphan train bound to Missouri. Here the three children are taken by three different families. Seventeen years later, Maelle is still searching for Matthew and Molly. She heads back to Missouri in the spring of 1903 hoping that she will find them.

Sisterchicks Go Brit!

Well, I’ve taken quite a vacation from this blog. Part of my vacation was time I spent in Prince Edward Island, Canada (2 weeks) and the rest I just haven’t been writing. Speaking of vacations, I did enjoy reading the new Sisterchick novel, Sisterchicks Go Brit! (Sisterchicks Series #7). If you haven’t discovered this series yet, you’re in for a treat. These fun books can be read in any order as each novel has new characters. Robin Jones Gunn is a talented author, and she makes you feel like you are traveling with the sisterchicks (see my Sisterchicks in Gondolas review).

I have been to London, England once, so it was nice to read about some of the places I visited in 2001. Kellie and Liz are given airline tickets to visit England by Opal. Kellie, who is trying to start an interior design business, offers to decorate Opal’s apartment. Liz helps Kellie and mentions that she has always wanted to visit England. Opal wants to return to Olney, England to visit her sister so she gives Kellie and Liz the tickets as payment. Kellie and Liz do spend some time in Olney when they first arrive, but after a few days leave to explore England on their own. Liz just can’t wait to see Big Ben. The plans don’t quite go as expected, but Liz and Kellie see that God has other plans for their vacation. I like the way Kellie and Liz allow events to happen and aren’t too uptight about their vacation plans changing. They explore Oxford and Exeter College as well as London. They were able to see more than they had planned. On the way to Windsor castle, they met a young lady from France, Annette, who was traveling alone. They invited her to join them and immediately connected. After spending the day together, Annette invited them both to visit her in France.

The story flows well and puts you in the mood to have an adventure of your own. I’m glad I read it before going on my trip! We made friends with a couple the first time Sean and I visited Prince Edward Island. It was an instant connection like Robin Jones Gunn described when they met Annette. We have kept in touch over the years. They have discussed coming to visit us sometime, too. I felt like God did guide our trip, too. I was wishing we could see the talented fiddle player that we saw on our first visit to PEI in 1995. He went on to travel and play all over the world. We have been listening to his CDs, but haven’t seen Richard Wood in person since that first island visit. He was going to be playing before we arrived and after we left the island. We were strolling through the Charottetown area with our friends, and a couple of guys were playing music on small stage. One of the gentlemen starts playing on a fiddle and our friend says, “That’s Richard Wood.” I felt so blessed to be able to hear him play again.

I would love to hear about your vacation. Did you feel God directing your vacation? Did you instantly connect and make a new friend or friends?