Melissa Mashburn

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Book Review: The Tutor’s Daughter, by Julie Klassen

November 3, 2013 By: Melissa

Tutors Daughter

My Thoughts About the Tutor’s Daughter:

Be still my heart, the Tutor’s Daughter is everything a Jane Austen fan could hope for. Julie Klassen has captured the wit, the heart and the adventure of our most beloved Jane Austen. Emma Smallwood is a beautiful mixture of many of Austen’s different characters and the gift of being able to journey alongside her in this book was a precious gift.

I was drawn in right from the beginning and went on an adventure, sometimes on the edge of my seat, with Emma and the Weston brothers. Rich with character, story lines that were unexpected and a sweet story of love and redemption…what more could you ask for in a Christian Fiction book. I am absolutely going to be checking out the other books Julie Klassen has written.

About The Tutor’s Daughter:

Filled with page-turning suspense, The Tutor’s Daughter takes readers to the windswept Cornwall coast-a place infamous for shipwrecks and superstitions-where danger lurks, faith is tested, and romance awaits.

Emma Smallwood, determined to help her widowed father when his boarding school fails, accompanies him to the cliff-top manor of a baronet and his four sons. But soon after they arrive and begin teaching the two younger boys, mysterious things begin to happen. Who does Emma hear playing the pianoforte at night, only to find the music room empty? And who begins sneaking into her bedchamber, leaving behind strange mementoes?

The baronet’s older sons, Phillip and Henry Weston, wrestle with problems-and secrets-of their own. They both remember the studious Miss Smallwood from their days at her father’s academy. But now one of them finds himself unexpectedly drawn to her…

When suspicious acts escalate, can Emma figure out which brother to blame and which to trust with her heart?

Link to buy the book:  http://ow.ly/gI7qC 

Meet Julie:

Tutors Daughter Author ImageJulie Klassen loves all things Jane–Jane Eyre and Jane Austen. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Julie worked in publishing for sixteen years and now writes full time. She has won the Christy Award: Historical Romance for The Silent Governess (2010) and The Girl in the Gatehouse (2011) which also won the 2010 Midwest Book Award for Genre Fiction. Julie and her husband have two sons and live in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Find out more about Julie at http://www.julieklassen.com/.

 Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 
 

Book Review: Undeniably Yours, by Becky Wade

August 4, 2013 By: Melissa

UndeniablyYours_mck.indd

My Thoughts About Undeniably Yours:

What a sweet story of love when you least expect it. With twists, turns and laugh out loud moments this Christian Contemporary Romance was the perfect Saturday afternoon snuggle on the back porch and get whisked away into the world of Whispering Creek Ranch. I love that the characters were unpredictable in many ways, but also very real and authentic at the same time. I felt like I was right alongside them while they peeled back the layers of complexity that each of us use to cover up the real us because we’ve been hurt so many times. A real action adventure ensues to boot, this is a must read for a summer get away right in your back yard!

About Undeniably Yours:

When Meg Cole’s father dies unexpectedly, she’s forced to return home to Texas and to Whispering Creek Ranch to take up the reins of his empire. The last thing she has the patience or the sanity to deal with? Her father’s Thoroughbred racehorse farm. She gives its manager, Bo Porter, six months to close the place down.

Bo knows he ought to resent the woman who’s determined to take from him the only job he ever wanted. But instead of anger, Meg evokes within him a profound desire to protect. The more time he spends with her, the more he longs to overcome every obstacle that separates them and earn her love.

Just when Meg realizes she can no longer deny the depth of her feelings for Bo, their fragile bond is broken by a force from Meg’s past. Can their relationship-and their belief that God can work through every circumstance-survive?

Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/kGPEI

UndeniablyYoursAuthor

Meet Becky:

Becky Wade is a graduate of Baylor University. As a newlywed, she lived for three years in a home overlooking the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, as well as in Australia, before returning to the States. A mom of three young children, Becky and her family now live in Dallas, Texas.

Visit her website at www.beckywade.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: For Such a Time As This, by Ginny Aiken

August 2, 2013 By: Melissa

ForSuchaTimeAsThis
My Thoughts about the book For Such a Time As This:
I love that this book was inspired by the story of Esther. Olivia is town between her husband and what she knows is right. What a sweet journey of love developing slowly and deeply as Olivia and Elijah seek to live and love with full abandon. The characters are complicated and stubborn at times, but that is exactly what makes you fall for them and cheer them on as they fall in love with each other. Go on this adventure with them, this is a great book to grab on a weekend get away!

From the back cover:
Olivia Moore has been praying desperately to God for guidance. Drought and plagues of insects have devastated her family’s farm in Hope County, Oregon and her parents don’t know how they’ll survive the winter. Deciding to ease their burden, Olivia applies to be the new nanny to the children of handsome widower Elijah Whitman, the president of the Bank of Bountiful. Since the death of their mother, Luke and his sister, Miranda, have been increasingly wild and have driven every governess back East. Having helped raise her brothers and sisters, Olivia convinces Elijah she’s up to the job.

As Olivia works to win over the children and settle into the Whitman household, gossip begins to spread throughout the town about Olivia and Elijah. For the sake of her reputation, it seems Olivia will have to leave Hope County, until Elijah proposes another solution: Marriage. It would be a purely business relationship, and Elijah’s one emphatic condition is that she promise never to interfere with her work. She accepts, but when the Bank of Bountiful forecloses on the Moore’s farm, Olivia is torn between her duty to her husband and her love for her family.

About the book For Such a Time As This:

Drought has forced farmers around the small town of Bountiful in the Hope region of Oregon to mortgage their property. Then word comes of plans for a spur line to run through the area and join the railroad in nearby Milton. Folks with money see an opportunity to fill their coffers by buying farmland cheap then selling to the railroad for a profit. The Bank of Bountiful, owned by Eli Whitman, appears to be doing that, as well.

Widowed two years earlier, Eli, with a son and daughter to raise, sought a hard-working, educated Christian woman to care for them and his home. Olivia Moore filled the bill, and as soon as Eli recognized her as an excellent investment, he offered her first employment then a marriage of convenience.

While Olivia is an excellent choice, her large family gives Eli pause. He knows about the problems posed by in-laws, so he will do whatever it takes to avoid a repeat of his earlier experiences.

When Papa tells Olivia the Moore family must move according to Eli’s terms for the new railroad line, she fears for their safety, since they’ll be homeless during winter. Where will they go? How will they survive? It is up to Olivia to convince her husband to renege on his demands, though she swore before their marriage she would stay out of his business.

ForSuchaTimeAsThisAuthor

About the Author:
Ginny Aiken, a former newspaper reporter, lives in Pennsylvania with her engineer husband. Born in Havana, Cuba, raised in Valencia and Caracas, Venezuela, she discovered books early and wrote her first novel at age fifteen while she trained with the Venezuelan Classical Ballet Company. She burned that tome when she turned a “mature” sixteen. Ginny has taught novel-writing seminars and workshops at Harrisburg(PA) Area Community College and Penn State University.

 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: It Happened at the Fair, by Deeanne Gist

July 6, 2013 By: Melissa

ItHappenedAtTheFair

My Thoughts about It Happened at the Fair:

Deanna Gist is a genius! She weaves in history with delicate flecks of romance and intrigue to make a completely beautiful tapestry all within four hundred pages of this book. I found myself completely engaged from the beginning of the book and went on an adventure with Della and Cullen. The depth of detail Deanna brought to this book made me love it even more. I found myself, after finishing the book, doing some follow up research on the Chicago World’s Fair. What an incredible time in history and what a sweet story of love, adventure, and history all rolled into one. It was a grand adventure and I can’t wait to share this book with my girlfriends…they are going to love it too. This is a perfect summer time get away book!

More about It Happened at the Fair:

A transporting historical novel about a promising young inventor, his struggle with loss, and the attractive teacher who changes his life, all set against the razzle-dazzle of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Gambling everything, including the family farm, Cullen McNamara travels to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair with his most recent invention. But the noise in the Fair’s Machinery Palace makes it impossible to communicate with potential buyers. In an act of desperation, he hires Della Wentworth, a teacher of the deaf, to tutor him in the art of lip-reading.

The young teacher is reluctant to participate, and Cullen has trouble keeping his mind on his lessons while intently watching her lips. Like the newly invented Ferris Wheel, he is caught in a whirl between his girl back home, his dreams as an inventor, and his unexpected attraction to his new tutor. Can he keep his feet on the ground, or will he be carried away?

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the book you can click here: http://ow.ly/komrd

ItHappenedAtTheFairAuthor

Meet Deeanne:

Deeanne Gist—known to her family, friends, and fans as Dee—has rocketed up bestseller lists and captured readers everywhere with her very fun, very original historicals. She has received numerous RITA nominations, two consecutive Christy Awards, and rave reviews. Deeanne has a background in education and journalism and a degree from Texas A&M. She has written for People, Parents, and Parenting. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and has four grown children. She has a very active online community on her website at IWantHerBook.com and at Facebook.com/DeesFriends.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Pastor’s Wives, by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

June 30, 2013 By: Melissa

PastorsWives

About Pastors’ Wives

What’s it like when the man you married is already married to God? asks Pastors’ Wives, an often surprising yet always emotionally true first novel set in a world most of us know only from the outside.

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen’s debut novel Pastors’ Wives follows three women whose lives converge and intertwine at a Southern evangelical megachurch. Ruthie follows her Wall Street husband from New York to Magnolia, a fictional suburb of Atlanta, when he hears a calling to serve at a megachurch called Greenleaf. Reeling from the death of her mother, Ruthie suffers a crisis of faith-in God, in her marriage, and in herself. Candace is Greenleaf’s “First Lady,” a force of nature who’ll stop at nothing to protect her church and her superstar husband. Ginger, married to Candace’s son, struggles to play dutiful wife and mother while burying her calamitous past. All their roads collide in one chaotic event that exposes their true selves. Inspired by Cullen’s reporting as a staff writer for Time magazine, Pastors’ Wives is a dramatic portrayal of the private lives of pastors’ wives, caught between the demands of faith, marriage, duty, and love.

My Thoughts About Pastors’ Wives

Completely captivated right from the start — as a Pastor’s wife I was curious to see what road this book would go on. What I wasn’t prepared for, though, was how completely accurate and real this story would be. I’ve been in ministry for almost fourteen years and have been a PW in a mega church as well as a church plant. I’ve seen all sides of the ministry and was sure that, at times, the author had been reading my mind or had experienced some of the stories I have experienced. I know that probably sounds crazy, but after delving into why she wrote this book and all the research behind it I could see how these characters came to life in her mind.

There were times when I felt myself cringe, cry and even gasp at some of the things going on in the storyline…not because they just didn’t feel right but that they were so real and so personal in some ways that I found myself nodding along and sharing in the emotion of each of these three Pastors wives. As a PW there are so many sides of my life that carry unique burdens and stressors, but there are also so many moments of great joy with doing what God has called me, as well as my husband, to do.

Make sure you check out the interview below to find out more about the why behind this incredible story. If you have a friend in ministry or are a PW yourself, I think you will be greatly encouraged by this book. I also know that many of my friends would get a better insight into the ministry life just by reading this too.

Interview with the Author of Pastors’ Wives

How would you react if one day, completely out of the blue, your husband told you he wanted to go into ministry? What’s it like when the man you married is married to God? These are the questions the women must answer in Pastors’ Wives (Plume/April 30, 2013/ISBN 978-0452298828/$16.00), the debut novel from Lisa Takeuchi Cullen. Pastors’ Wives tells the story of three women whose lives converge and intertwine at a Southern evangelical megachurch and is set in a world that most of us know only from the outside.

Cullen passionately portrays the private lives of pastors’ wives, caught between the consuming demands of faith, marriage, duty and love. Ruthie follows her Wall Street husband from New York to Magnolia, a suburb of Atlanta, when he hears a calling to serve at a megachurch called Greenleaf. Reeling from the death of her mother, Ruthie suffers a crisis of faith—in God, in her marriage and in herself. Candace is Greenleaf’s “First Lady,” a force of nature who’ll stop at nothing to protect her church and her charismatic husband. Ginger, married to Candace’s son, struggles to play dutiful wife and mother while burying her calamitous past. When their lives collide during a fateful event that threatens the survival of all that is precious to them, each will ask herself: What is the price of loving a man of God? Each will answer that question in a different way.

Q: How did the idea for Pastors’ Wives come about?

A: It all began when my editor at TIME magazine handed me a press release about a convention of pastors’ wives. The article I reported and wrote for TIME eventually turned into the inspiration for the book.

Q: Why was the idea of a conference for pastors’ wives so intriguing to you?

A: It was a world I knew nothing about. And then, when I began meeting and getting to know PWs, I was utterly captivated by their stories, their passion, the careful balancing act of their lives.

Q: How much of Pastors’ Wives is based on women you actually met?

A: Quite a few of the anecdotes and details are inspired by real people and their stories. I spent two years, on and off, reporting the subject. I attended a weekend retreat for pastors’ wives in Wisconsin and conferences in Florida. I spent a lot of time in churches, including megachurches. I interviewed dozens and dozens of PWs, read their books and their blogs, followed them on Facebook and Twitter. But no one character is based on any one person. If anything, all three of the main characters are on some level an extension of me—the me I wish I was, and the me I wish I wasn’t.

Q: What is the most interesting thing you discovered in researching either the original article you wrote or the book?

A: The most fascinating thing I learned, and I hope this does not make me sound like a complete dolt, is that pastors’ wives are not necessarily supportive of their husbands’ jobs. Of the calling and the faith—yes. Of the job and all its attendant annoyances—no. I had imagined the woman standing behind the man behind the podium was an infallible pillar of support. Instead, I learned the role of pastor’s wife can be a great test.

Q: Tell us about the spiritual journey you embarked upon during the writing process.

A: My mother died of cancer in 2008. Nine months later, my father died of a broken heart. My parents were the root of my Catholic faith. My father was a Catholic priest who left the priesthood to marry my mother but remained devout to his last day; my mother had converted from Buddhism before they married. The only thing stronger than their love for the church was their love for each other. When they died, I felt forsaken.

Their deaths, along with the birth of my second daughter, forced me to reconcile my own faith. What did I believe? And why? Over the years I had grown increasingly disillusioned, and then outright disgusted, with the Catholic church—its protection of abusers, its disdain for women, its political stands. And yet I ached for its comforts and community.

Writers have the incredible privilege of working out our issues in our stories, and that’s what I did. Ruthie, Candace and Ginger guided and accompanied me in my hour of need. I asked questions. They answered. Sometimes I leaned on one; sometimes on the other. On the surface, Ruthie’s journey mirrors mine most closely. But each of them taught me something and helped pull me through.

Q: If you were in Ruthie’s situation — your husband was suddenly called into ministry — do you think you would react in the same way?

A: Marriage is complicated, isn’t it? But I think the bottom line is that when you love someone, you want to support him and help make him happy. This, by the way, was the central question driving me in writing this novel. What’s it like when the man you married is married to God? How does that feel? What do you do? Different women deal differently, as we see with Ruthie, Candace and Ginger’s very different journeys.

Q: Do you think megachurch pastors’ wives are often misunderstood? Do the stereotypes really fit the ones you have met?

A: Oh, yes, I do think they are misunderstood. When they think of megachurch wives, many secular and non-Christian Americans imagine a Tammy Faye Bakker. In real life, the First Ladies I met were incredibly accomplished and impeccably mannered. They reminded me of politicians’ wives. More importantly, I think outsiders—and even many congregants!—just have absolutely no idea how hard all PWs work for their churches. No task is too big or too small. They minister, manage budgets, coordinate programs, keep track of holiday decorations, welcome new members, stock the bake sale…all while providing counsel to their pastor husbands. And they receive little credit. I challenge you to find a PW who is appreciated for all her labor.

Q: Is there a spiritual message you hope readers walk away with after reading your book?

A: I feel it’s not for me to impart a spiritual message. What I hope with all my heart is that readers might take a journey with Ruthie, Candace and Ginger. I hope they’ll spend time at Greenleaf Church, a world of faith and wealth and power and intrigue. I hope my characters’ stories might make them wonder, What would I do for love?

Q: You have a background in journalism and have written for publications such as TIME. What made you decide to write a novel?

A: I had a story I had to tell. That’s the only reason to go through the torture of writing a novel!

Q: The release of Pastors’ Wives isn’t the only big thing you have going on right now. What can you tell us about your new TV pilot?

A: We’re currently shooting my CBS pilot, The Ordained. It stars Charlie Cox, Sam Neill, Hope Davis, Audra McDonald and Jorge Garcia. It’s set in New York City.

The Ordained is inspired by my father, a priest who left the priesthood in his mid-30s. In the case of the pilot, the main character is a member of a Kennedy-like political dynasty whose father is the former governor of New York and whose sister is the sitting mayor of New York City. One day, he takes a confession about a deadly plot against his sister. The seal of the confession prevents him from telling anyone about it. He re-enters civilian life to pursue the plot and the people behind it.

I wrote The Ordained right after I finished Pastors’ Wives. Clearly, the subject of faith was still on my mind. In the case of my TV pilot, what inspired me was my father’s story: What’s it like to start your life over as a man in your mid-30s? Of course I wove in many more complications and higher stakes because it’s TV. But that’s the central question for me. My character is named Tom Reilly, after my Dad. You could say it’s my way of resurrecting him. I hope to do him proud.

Learn more about Lisa Takeuchi Cullen and Pastors’ Wives at www.lisacullen.com. Readers can also friend Lisa on Facebook, become a fan on Lisa’s Facebook author page (LisaTakeuchiCullen), or follow her on Twitter (@LisaCullen).

PastorsWivesAuthor

About the Author

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen was a longtime staff writer for TIME magazine. She now develops television pilots for production companies. Born in Japan, Cullen lives in New Jersey with family. This is her first novel.   Learn more about Lisa at her website.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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