The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson

Have you heard of Liz Johnson? She is an author that writes inspirational romance and I have been able to review a few of her books in the past. A Promise to Protect and Vanishing Act. This past week she just came out with her latest book, The Red Door Inn.

From Amazon…

Marie Carrington is broke, desperate, and hoping to find sanctuary on Prince Edward Island while decorating a renovated bed-and-breakfast. Seth Sloane moved three thousand miles to help restore his uncle’s Victorian B and B–and to forget about the fiancée who broke his heart. He wasn’t expecting to have to babysit a woman with a taste for expensive antiques and a bewildering habit of jumping every time he brushes past her.

The only thing Marie and Seth agree on is that getting the Red Door Inn ready to open in just two months will take everything they’ve got–and they have to find a way to work together. In the process, they may find something infinitely sweeter than they ever imagined on this island of dreams.

I have always had a thing for Prince Edward Island. I loved the show Road to Avonlea and decided I needed to go there someday. So when I heard that Liz Johnson’s newest book was going to take place there, I knew I had to read it.

The book was a great story with a great setting. I could picture myself there on the island. Standing in front of the Red Door Inn. I enjoyed reading about Marie, Seth and Jack. They were each different and dealing with their own struggles.

The book was more than just a love story but a story about trusting others and finding hope after something bad has happened to you. If you are a fan of inspirational fiction or just love a good story, you will enjoy this book.

You can purchase the Red Door Inn on Amazon and enter to win a copy on Goodreads 🙂

• I was provided a free book for review and this post does contain affiliate links! 

It is always exciting for me to get a book review request about a fictional book having to do with Military families. I always enjoy reading them because they each offer a different perspective on war and living life as a Military spouse. I had the opportunity to review Blue Stars by Emily Gray Tedrowe and just finished the book last week.

BLUE STARS brings to life the realities of the modern day home front: how to get through the daily challenges of motherhood and holding down a job while bearing the stress and uncertainty of war, when everything can change in an instant. It tells the story of Ellen, a Midwestern literature professor, who is drawn into the war when her legal ward Michael enlists as a Marine; and of Lacey, a proud Army wife who struggles to pay the bills and keep things going for her son while her husband is deployed. When Michael and Eddie are injured in Iraq, Ellen and Lacey’s lives become intertwined in Walter Reed Army Hospital, where each woman must live while caring for her wounded soldier. They form an alliance, and an unlikely friendship, while helping each other survive the dislocated world of the army hospital. In the end, both women are changed, not only by the war and its fallout, but by each other.

What I liked best about this book is the two different women we get to learn about. Neither one is your typical Military spouse, if there is such a thing. One is the adoptive mother and the other is the wife who married her Army husband later in life. They both experience so many emotions during the book and it is so hard to know how I would have handled the situations they went through. Knowing that my husband could have been in their loved one’s shoes was humbling as well.

Ellen is not someone who ever saw herself in the role she was put in. That makes for an interesting point of view. I liked how the author explained how she was feeling and how she was dealing with it all.

Lacey’s story is very different from Ellen’s but the two come together because of Walter Reed. It is an unlikely friendship but one that I know happens time and time again just because two people are going through the same sort of difficulties. I have seen it happen in my own life.

I have heard stories about Walter Reed but not like this.  I never knew what the day-to-day looked like and it seems like this book does a good job of letting the reader know what it can be like to sit by your loved one who is there because they were injured overseas.

EMILY GRAY TEDROWE is the author of Commuters: A Novel, which was named a Best New Paperback by Entertainment Weekly. Her short fiction has been published in the Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Journal, Fifty-Two Stories, and Other Voices. Her new novel, Blue Stars, was conceived during her brother’s Marine service in the Iraq war. Originally from New York City, Emily now lives in Chicago with her husband and daughters. For more information visit her website at www.emilygraytedrowe.com

I received a free copy of this book for review. This post does contain an affiliate link. 

When I was a little girl, bears were my favorite animal. I loved them. So of course I LOVED the Berenstain Bears. I think my favorite one was the one about the junk food. My mom liked the messy room one.

Over the years I have tried to pick up a few for my own boys.

I was given the opportunity to review, The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag.

It is written by Mike Berenstain. He grew up watching his parents, Stan and Jan, working together to write and draw these lovable bears. Eventually he started drawing and writing about them too.

It was published by Zondervan!

This book is good for children of all ages. You can read it to them or they can read it to you.

The book is about how brother and sister bear keep trying to one up each other. I think a lot of kids like to brag. They are trying to figure out their place in this world and when they discover they are good at something, they want to share it. Between siblings it can be such a battle. That is what this book is about. Brother and sister bear are trying to one up each other and Grizzly Gramps comes and explains why they shouldn’t be doing so.

In the back of the book you can find activities and questions you can ask your own little cubs. This is great because it gives you some good ideas on how to make this real for your kids and to get them to think about it. I like how each of the Berenstain Bear books have a lesson we can teach our children. Whether it is something they are struggling with or just something that is important to learn.

The illustrations are fantastic and really show the detail of the bear’s world as well as what they are experiencing.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 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.”