BOOK REVIEW: Hearts Made Whole by Jody Hedlund

I received a copy of this book from Bethany House to read and give an honest review. This was the first book I've read by this author and based upon it, I would read others she has written.  The story is a love story in the mid 1800's in Michigan on the grounds of a lighthouse.  The love story aspects of it are not graphic (which is nice as I would be comfortable allowing my pre-teen granddaughter to read it).  Ryan and Caroline (the two main characters) have their share of difficulties...past and present...to endure and it is interesting to see how they both manage to overcome all of this.  Along the way, there are some plot twists.  I do have to say, though, that I realized quite early in the book who the major "troublemaker" was....not sure if it was a lucky guess on my part or if the book wasn't written mysteriously enough to surprise me when that person was revealed.  That was a slight disappointment for me as I'd have preferred that to be a surprise to me.   Overall....nice book.....easy read...and I'm happy I got a chance to preview it.

The Love Letters by Beverly Lewis (review)

I enjoy Amish fiction and have read many books by various authors, including Beverly Lewis. Usually I read through them quickly, but this one was a slower read for me. I felt as if it took a long time to get to the parts of interest to me and then.....when the story did get interesting to me, it was so near the end of the book that the ending was rushed. Actually, another problem I had was the same that a couple of folks have mentioned in reviews on Amazon

.....it seemed to be two stories that really had no connection with each other (except that the mother in one of the stories...Ellie.... taught sewing and had some contact with the main character in the "second" story.....Marlena). For some reason, I had a tough time making myself sit for long with this book, so each of my reading sessions was short and it took me many days to finish this book. (I got this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.) In truth, I have enjoyed other books by Beverly Lewis much more than I enjoyed this one, but if someone is new to Amish fiction, they will probably like reading this.