A Bride for Keeps by Melissa Jagears

Everett Cline was going to marry Rachel Langston's sister, Patricia until she left him.  After that, he ordered a mail-order bride which ended up not working out.  Then he ordered another one and another one after that didn't work out.  After the third one failed, he gave up on marriage.  However, Rachel has other plans.  Julia Lockwood corresponds with Rachel and has become her friend.  She agrees to become Everett's mail-order bride.  The only problem is Everett doesn't know.  Eventually, Julia and Everett agree to marry but in name only.  Everett is scared Julia will end up leaving him.  Julia has been hurt by every man she has encountered.  They both have to let go of their fears and trust God before they can realize what has been right in front of them the whole time.  I had read the prequel to this book, Love by the Letter, so I was familiar with Rachel, Dex and Everett.  A lot of things had happened in between the two stories that I at first didn't understand what had happened to Everett, but the answers were eventually given in the story.  I enjoyed the story for the most part although at times I felt like it was moving along slowly.

I received this book for free from NetGalley.  I was not required to write a positive review for receiving this book.

Plantation Christmas Weddings by Various

The first story is about Marilyn who is a widower.  Her daughter, Constance, is getting married and she is on her way to become acquainted with Beau, Constance's fiance's dad, who is also a widower, before the wedding.  Marilyn instantly takes a disliking to Beau but tries to stick it out for her daughter's sake.  Slowly she begins to realize that maybe he is not as bad as she thought.  She has to learn to deal with some things from her past before she can embrace her future.  The second story is about Meredith who is a writer and heads back to her old hometown to do some research as well as to be in a friend's wedding.  She runs into Gary, a former friend from high school.  They both are fighting hurt feelings from a misunderstanding in the past.  Meredith has to learn to let go of her past hurts and forgive.  Then next story involves Devon and Sandra  who are separated.  Their marriage seems to be falling apart.  Every time they encounter each other, tension feels the air.  Devon wants reconciliation but Sandra has to learn to let go of her hurts and anger in order for this to happen.  The last story centers around Wreath Anderson, who is the wedding planner in each of the previous stories.  She had been left at the altar on her wedding day but still manages to plan weddings for other people.  Then she runs into Micah who was one of her former fiance's close friends.  Micah is in love with Wreath but Wreath is still hanging on to her hurt from being left at the altar.  If she can let go of that, then she just might be able to have the future she's dreamed of.  I enjoyed each of these stories.  They all had a common theme in that the main character(s) were dealing with issues from their past.  They each had to learn to trust God and seek him and his will.

I received this book for free from NetGalley.  I was not required to write a positive review for receiving this book.

Mistletoe Memories by Various

This book contains four stories in one book.  The first story centers on Annaliese Braun and Stephan Yost.  Annaliese's father is the doctor for Heath House and Stephan is the resident carpenter.  Annaliese was on her way to deliver some clothing to the minister when her horses spooked and Stephan rescued her.  This is a short, sweet story that centered around secrets from the past that are eventually revealed.  The second story focuses on Ezekiel Norcross who is delivering five orphans to the town to be adopted.  However, one of the orphans is not on the original list so a temporary home has to be found for her.  She is placed with Marianne Plum who did not want to take care of her but felt like she didn't have the option to say no.
This story focuses on events that happened in the past that affect the way the characters outlook on life is in the present.  I loved how Marianne eventually let go of her past to embrace the future that was waiting for her.  The next story is about Olympia Paris and Theodore Carstairs.  They both grew up in Graff House, an orphanage.  Theodore left at the age of sixteen and has returned to tear down Graff House and rebuild a hotel on the property.  What he doesn't realize is that Olympia is still living there, taking care of the orphans that are there.  When Olympia first sees Teddy, she is overjoyed.  However, once she realizes his plans, she quickly becomes upset with him.  Teddy has to learn to let go of his past hurts and Olympia has to learn to trust that her future will turn out alright.  The last story is about Joy Benucci.  She runs a group home called Comfort House.  Then she meets Evan Lancaster.  He is the lawyer and the nephew of the now deceased owner of Comfort House.  The house was left to him in his uncle's will and now he is evicting Joy and the young adults staying there.  However, things are quite as they seem at first.  People are changed by the power of forgiveness.

I received this book for free from NetGalley.  I was not required to write a positive review for receiving this book.

This book will be released on September 1, 2013.

California Romance by Colleen L. Reece

This book contains three separate stories that all center around the same family.  New characters are introduced with each story.  You can see how the events in one story have an affect on the stories later on.  Each story was pretty easy to read and I enjoyed them.  The first story centered around Sarah and Matt.  The second focused on Dori (Matt's sister) and Seth (Sarah's Brother).  The final story centered on a character introduced in the first book Sara's stepsister, Ellie and Joshua, the minister who witnessed to Red Fallon.  The stories should be read in order so that you can see how the events in the story relate to the next one.

I received this book for free from NetGalley.  I was not required to write a positive review for receiving this book.

This book will be released on October 1, 2013.

A Bride for Noah by Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith

This book is the first in the Seattle Brides series by Lori Copeland and Virginia Smith.  I've always enjoyed Lori Copeland's books and this one did not disappoint me.  The two main characters are Evie Lawrence and Noah Hughes.  Evie breaks off her engagement to her fiance and decides to head west with Noah's uncle, Miles, to start a restaurant.  Noah is working in a logging camp and had sent a letter back home to his family telling them they should come visit.  There are plenty of misunderstandings throughout the story and clashes between Evie and Noah.  I'm interested to see if the next book in the story will focus on one of the characters in this one or introduce someone completely new.

The Lighthouse Brides Collection

I enjoy all of these collections books.  The stories are not too long and I can usually read one on my lunch break so I don't have to wait until later to find out what happens!  I can't stand to put down a book in the middle of a story especially if its good!  All of these stories centered around lighthouses, kind of obvious from the title.  Some had the lighthouse more of the main setting than other stories.  Overall, I enjoyed all the stories.  They were short, fun reads!

I received this book for free from NetGalley.  I was not required to write a positive review for receiving this book.

This book will be released on October 1, 2013.