The Sea Keeper's Daughters

Wingate's third Carolina book follows the highly reviewed, The Prayer Box and The Story Keeper as well as related three novellas.

From modern-day Roanoke Island to the sweeping backdrop of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains and Roosevelt’s WPA folklore writers, past and present intertwine to create an unexpected destiny. . .

Restaurant owner Whitney Monroe is desperate to save her business from a hostile takeover. The inheritance of a decaying Gilded Age hotel on North Carolina’s Outer Banks may provide just the ray of hope she needs. But things at The Excelsior are more complicated than they seem. Whitney’s estranged stepfather is entrenched on the third floor, and the downstairs tenants are determined to save the historic building. Searching through years of stored family heirlooms may be Whitney’s only hope of quick cash, but will the discovery of an old necklace and a depression-era love story change everything.
I thought this book was going to be very different then it was. I thought the love story was going to be a wayyyy different one then the one that followed. I liked the story, after awhile I got into it. But after awhile I was almost annoyed, plus there were two typos in the first hundred pages or so. So that annoyed the crap out of me as well, there might have been more I didn't catch. I really had a love hate with Whitney and the way she did things, which was everything but the right way most of the time. And the ending was good but left a lot of holes. So in the end, I like it but found more problems then I ever want to.
I received this book for review from Tyndale House Publishers. 

Not By Sight

Gripping Sophomore Novel from a Rising Historical Romance Talent

With Britain caught up in WWI, Jack Benningham, heir to the Earl of Stonebrooke, has declared himself a conscientious objector. Instead, he secretly works for the Crown by tracking down German spies on British soil, his wild reputation and society status serving as a foolproof cover.

Blinded by patriotism and concern for her brother on the front lines, wealthy suffragette Grace Mabry will do whatever it takes to assist her country's cause. When she sneaks into a posh London masquerade ball to hand out white feathers of cowardice, she never imagines the chain of events she'll set off when she hands a feather to Jack. 

And neither of them could anticipate the extent of the danger and betrayal that follows them--or the faith they'll need to maintain hope.

This book is some of the best historical fiction I have read thus this year. I loved the story and the twists and turns in the story, even though a few things were very obvious about what was going to happen, it still had some twists and turns that you don't see coming. The plot was good, the characters showed growth and a new depth as the story progresses and each showed a very different personality and voice. Each character had a different part to play, so even though there are quite a few people in the story, its not really crowded and each side character has there time to share there story too. Over all I really liked this book and felt like it was well executed and well thought out. 
I received this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. 

Brave Enough

Find the courage to be who you are — not who you wish you were.
Here’s a not-so-hidden secret: We are all a little scared.
 Scared of the unknown; of making that call or saying that we’re sorry; of being too much or not enough. But is that fear holding you back? How would you be different if you could finally let go?
 The courage to change doesn’t have to mean cliff-diving out of your comfort zone. This courage is about being brave enough — for yourself, for God, and for your calling — right where you are. A brave-enough life is one lived fully and confidently, free from the weight of worry and the burden of trying too hard.
 In Brave Enough, popular author Nicole Unice challenges you to get real about the places where you feel too scared to change, too tired to endure, or too worried to move on. Through personal stories and biblical application, Nicole will lead you on a journey beyond worry and into the life God has planned for you — one that’s beautiful, full, and free.

Do you want to learn to be free from your insecurities and be able to be free? Then this is the book for you! Taken from lessons taught in the Bible from Jesus and modern day real life stories, Nicole teaches us how we as women let our doubts and daily problems get in our way from living free from the daily grind and being brave. I loved this, it gave more then advice but a lot of things straight from the Bible to remind us that we as ordinary human woman, can live as brave women. 
I recieved this book form Tyndale for review.  

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down's Syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split-second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. So begins this story that unfolds over a quarter of a century - in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by the fateful decision made that long-ago winter night. Norah Henry, who knows only that her daughter died at birth, remains inconsolable; her grief weighs heavily on their marriage. And Paul, their son, raises himself as best he can, in a house grown cold with mourning. Meanwhile, Phoebe, the lost daughter, grows from a sunny child to a vibrant young woman whose mother loves her as fiercely as if she were her own.

I was heavily intrigued by this book, I remember seeing a small part of the movie version of this a long time ago. But what really got me is the down syndrome angle of this book. I have two brothers with down syndrome and so I wanted to see what turns this book took and how different life for someone with down syndrome differs from the present to the 1960's. As for the actual story line, I wasn't super impressed with it. It seemed like hard to believe story at first, that someone would actually do that. And I later found out this is based in part on a true story. Also I started to hate David as I got farther along in the book. I became more and more angry that some grown man could tell his own wife about what he had done. Over all it was a decent book, just kind of boring and at points repetitive and that made it sometimes hard to get through. I only gave it a 3 stars.

Armada

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.

But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.

And then he sees the flying saucer.

Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders. 

No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.

It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?

At once gleefully embracing and brilliantly subverting science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before—one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon.

First off. Cover love all the way. I love this cover for several reasons, first off its a simple cover that still gives you a feel for the book and what its about. Secondly, its shiny, but only in certain parts. But on to the book. This book is so different from what I normally read. I like historical fiction, dystopian, and contemporary reads. So this is pretty far out of my comfort zone.   But since there was such high rave reviews on Ernest Cline's other novel (ready player one) I knew I wanted to give this one a shot, plus getting it for free for review never hurt anything either. Over all I loved the story, the plot, the people and how the story progressed. My only complaint is that this book takes place in 2018 and yet it sometimes feels like the 1990's at certain parts. So I had a hard time following along with that. But in the end I loved it and defiantly want to read ready player one. 
I received this book for review through Blogging for Books.