Eve's Daughters.

GoodReads Synopsis: Yearning for love and dignity, four generations of women must come to grips with the choices they've made--and those their mothers made before them. But breaking the cycle that has ensnared them over the decades will prove more difficult than they had ever imagined... Eighty-year-old Emma Bauer has carefully guarded a dark secret for more than fifty years. But when she sees her granddaughter's marriage beginning to unravel, Emma realizes that her lies about her own marriage have poisoned those she loves most. Can she help her granddaughter break free of a legacy of wrong choices? Or will she take her secret--and her broken heart--to the grave?

With honesty and compassion, author Lynn Austin weaves a compelling story of four unforgettable women--their struggles, their crises of faith, their triumphs.

My Thoughts: I first read this book in the ninth grade and loved it.  I read it again a few years later and again loved it.  So when I started my 2015 book challenge, I knew this would be the one for "A book from my childhood."  Lynn Austin is a wonderful storyteller, and this book did not disappoint me after all these years.  Eve's Daughters is a beautiful story of four generations of women and how we are shaped by the lives of those that come before us.  Five stars.

All Things New.

GoodReads Synopsis: The war is over. The South has lost. Josephine Weatherly struggles to pick up the pieces of her life when her family returns to their Virginia plantation. But the realities of life after the war cannot be denied: her home and land are but a shell of their previous grandeur; death has claimed her father and brother; and her remaining brother, Daniel, has returned home bitter and broken. Her life of privilege, a long-ago dream. Josephine soon realizes that life is now a matter of daily survival--and recognizes that Lizzie, as one of the few remaining servants, is the one she must rely on to teach her all she needs to know. Josephine's mother, too, vows to rebuild White Oak--but a bitter hatred fuels her. Can hope--and a battered faith in God--survive amid the devastation?

My Thoughts:  Another Lynn Austin book for me this year.  I haven't read this many of hers since college, but I'm really enjoying them.  This one took a bit longer for me to get into, but it picked up mid-way through the story.  Romance, danger, and intrigue-- what more could you want?

Wonderland Creek.

GoodReads Synopsis: Alice Grace Ripley lives in a dream world, her nose stuck in a book. But the happily-ever-after life she's planned on suddenly falls apart when her boyfriend breaks up with her, accusing her of living in a world of fiction instead of the real one. To top it off, Alice loses her beloved library job because of cutbacks due to the Great Depression. Longing to run from small-town gossip, Alice flees to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to deliver five boxes of donated books to the tiny coal-mining town of Acorn, a place with no running water, no electricity, and where the librarians ride ornery horses up steep mountain passes to deliver books. When Alice is forced to stay in Acorn far longer than she planned, she discovers that real-life adventure, mystery--and especially romance--may be far better than her humble dreams could have imagined.

My Thoughts:  This was a very sweet story with a bit of intrigue on the side.  I really enjoyed it!  Five stars.

Bridge to Haven.

GoodReads Synopsis:  To those who matter in 1950s Hollywood, Lena Scott is the hottest rising star to hit the silver screen since Marilyn Monroe. Few know her real name is Abra. Even fewer know the price she's paid to finally feel like she's somebody.

To Pastor Ezekiel Freeman, Abra will always be the little girl who stole his heart the night he found her, a wailing newborn abandoned under a bridge on the outskirts of Haven. Zeke and his son, Joshua--Abra's closest friend--watch her grow into an exotic beauty. But Zeke knows the circumstances surrounding her birth etched scars deep in her heart, scars that leave her vulnerable to a fast-talking bad boy who proclaims his love and lures her to Tinseltown. 

Hollywood feels like a million miles from Haven, and naive Abra quickly learns what's expected of an ambitious girl with stars in her eyes. But fame comes at an awful price. She has burned every bridge to get exactly what she thought she wanted. Now, all she wants is a way back home.

My Thoughts:  I've loved reading Francine Rivers' books since I was a young girl, but it had been years since the last one.  When I read Bridge to Haven, it reminded me so much of what I used to love about her.  Rivers is a masterful storyteller, and this book is a beautiful saga of a girl who leaves everything she has only to find that she already had everything she ever wanted.  It's a classic plot, but it's done SO well.  Five stars.