Book Review

The Story of Gatlinburg by Jeanette S. Greve

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A vintage history first published in 1931

What a treasure this book is to readers interested in the history of Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains!

I purchased this book on one of my family vacations to Gatlinburg. I knew the city’s popularity has exponentially grown in last fifty to sixty years and wondered about its humble beginnings.

This book demonstrates that growth while giving readers many details about how the first settlers lived. If you have roots or family ties to the area, you may discover more about your ancestors.

As a historical author of Civil War romances, I loved the information about the Battle of Gatlinburg. I learned the town was occupied during the war. The author provides officer’s names and specific regiments in the area—wonderful details for researchers.

Folks interested in the history of Gatlinburg as well as those who love learning America’s history will enjoy this book. A treasure!

-Sandra Merville Hart

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ABCs of Praise and Prayer by Barbara Kois

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How 15 minutes with God can change your day

 I found this devotional book very creative.

First, each devotion begins with praise.

Second, each devotion focuses on a particular letter of the alphabet. For instance, the praise section of the letter ‘M’ uses words like Mighty, Majestic, Maker, and Matchless to describe God.

The devotional thought for each day also follows the letter theme—its title for ‘M’ is Mercy.

Scriptures are sprinkled throughout, along with prayers. Thought-provoking questions end each devotion.

I love that the author begins each section with praise to God. So often we come to God with heavy burdens. Beginning our time by praising Him shifts our focus.

Recommend.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

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A gripping true story!

Solomon Northup is a free man living in New York when kidnappers sold him into slavery. They had enticed him away from his home and family with offers to pay him for playing his violin entertaining their guests. As Solomon often earned extra money playing for parties, he was happy to travel with them.

They eventually ended up in Washington D.C., where the two men who had treated him as friend drugged him.

Solomon had a wife and three young children when he was kidnapped. They had no idea what happened to him for some time and, even then, did not know where he was—or that he’d been forced to live under another name.

The author tells his story honestly, providing names, locations, and excellent descriptions. This made it easy for folks to verify his story. The book contains language of the time and many of the names he was called are offensive.

Beautifully written. Poignant. Impossible to read this man’s story and not be touched by it.

-Sandra Merville Hart

 

In the Shadow of Salem by Donna Gawell

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This book is based on the life of Mehitabel Braybrooke Downing. The author’s note reveals that few facts are known about her. A story was crafted using many actual historical figures and what is known of their lives.

Readers first meet Mehitabel as a prisoner in 1692. She’s been accused of witchcraft in her hometown of Ipswich, Massachusetts, during the Salem Witch Trials. Joan, the woman she has always referred to as Mother, is then arrested. Lifelong resentments invade the prison cell with her.

The author then goes back in time to show what soured their relationship from the very beginning.

Told in first person, the story gripped me from the beginning. I couldn’t put it down for long as I had to know what happened to a mistreated young girl who made unwise choices.

Recommend!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

 

Never the Same by Steven James

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Stories of those who encountered Jesus

What an amazing book!

Readers will meet a few of the people who interacted Jesus during his thirty-three years on this earth. And, as the author demonstrates so beautifully, you can’t meet Jesus and remain unchanged.

Unexpected folks tell events of Jesus’s life are told by unexpected people who were there, allowing readers a fresh look into stories they may have read in the past.

Each chapter, written in first person, reveals the reactions of those who were there—with plenty of surprising emotions. Readers may find a piece of themselves within the pages.

Insightful.

Thought-provoking.

Inspiring.

A must-read.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

 

Echoes of Titanic by Mindy Starns Clark

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Co-written by Mindy Starns Clark and John Campbell Clark

Kelsey Tate has inherited some of her great-grandmother Adele Tate’s business savvy, a Titanic survivor who had kept the family’s company afloat during the depression. Kelsey is working her way up the ladder in her father’s retirement and subsequent stroke. Her coworker’s odd behavior right before an important press event worries her, but there’s no time to figure it out. Then a relative Kelsey has never met accuses Adele Tate of being an imposter.

Two young women—cousins raised together who grew up as close as sisters—and the man who is the father of one of them cross the Atlantic Ocean on Titanic’s maiden voyage. When the ship goes down, only one of the women survive. Which one is it?

The question plunges Kelsey into the fight of her life when a coworker commits what appears to be suicide. Who can help her? If only Cole, the man she loves, was still in her life. She knows she hurt him, but it was just business, right?

This spellbinding time-slip novel tells the story of the women who cross on the Titanic and how their fate ripples down to affect the living even a hundred years later.

Gripping.

I couldn’t put it down! I’ve read other books by Mindy Starns Clark and will look for more.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

Grave Consequences by Debra DuPree Williams

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Charlotte Graves is the new director of the local historical and genealogical society. She’s back in Loblolly after eight years but old hurts die hard. Or are murdered.

Before she knows what’s happening, Charlotte is arrested for the murder of Boopsie Sweets, a childhood enemy. Worse, she’s arrested by Roan Steele, the man who’d broken her heart back in high school.

There’s mystery afoot that only a genealogist can decipher!

Lovable, realistic characters invited me into a small Alabama town in the 1960s. Williams does a fantastic job giving an authentic feel with details such as music, clothing, decorations, and furniture. The characters seem to step off the page from an era 50 years ago.

Written in first person so the story drew me in immediately. I couldn’t put the book down!

The story is well-written with escalating tension that kept me turning pages. I’ll look for more books by this author. Recommend!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

In Black and White by MaryAnn Diorio

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Tori Pendola, artist and student of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania, will soon graduate. She has already been offered a good job but longs for love. She finds it in Jebuni Kalitzi.

Jeb is an African exchange student and son of a tribal chieftain in Ghana. The economics major falls in love with Tori, a white woman that his tribe would not approve of him marrying.

It’s 1959 and the couple faces apartheid in Africa, prejudice in America. They face societal barriers, threats, rejection, and insults.

I was quickly pulled into their struggles, which mounted as the story progressed. The author does a great job showing the prejudice on both sides. Recommend.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

Caleb’s Destiny by Carole Brown

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Book 1 in Troubles in the West Series

Destiny McColloch travels west to find a man named Caleb. She hasn’t seen him in fifteen years. Her memories of the boy from her childhood are sketchy, but she’s sure she’ll know him. Her search doesn’t start well as a stagecoach robbery lands her as a guest at Mr. Michael’s ranch.

Mr. Michael has enough to do without a feisty guest to watch over. A dangerous foe in town threatens his safety and those around him. How can he keep her safe?

Believable, lovable characters—and some readers will love to hate—drew me with them into the danger and mystery. Readers of historical romance set in the Wild West should enjoy this novel.

I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

A Malleable Heart by Jennifer Uhlarik

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The Blacksmith Brides Collection

Leah Guthrie bears the heavy burden of raising and caring for her brother and two sisters after the death of their parents. They scrape by on what she earns by washing neighbors’ clothes. Then the wagon wheel breaks.

Blacksmith Bo Allen has earned his reputation for quality work as well for his ornery character. Leah can’t pay him double his rate for a rush job. Something in him softens to see her struggle, especially with the trouble she has with her younger brother.

Yet Bo has endured much abuse in his childhood. He must find a way to deal with it.

This story deals with anger and forgiveness. The characters tugged at my heart and I couldn’t put it down.

I’ve read other books by this author and will look for more. Recommend!

I loved this whole collection.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon