Author: Loving
Publisher: Zondervan
Pages: 352
Genre: Christian Fiction
Source: Purchased

Goodreads:  The answers Bailey Flanigan once longed and prayed for are finally becoming clear. In Loving, the fourth and final book in the Bailey Flanigan Series by New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury, Bailey is planning a wedding and making decisions that will shape her future. Bailey enjoys the beginning of her new career and time spent with Brandon while Cody faithfully coaches his team on and off the field. Will she spend her life with Brandon Paul in Los Angeles, or will her heart draw her back to Bloomington, Indiana and Cody Coleman, her first love? Bailey has learned much and grown over the years, but the greatest challenges, the richest joys, and the deepest heartaches are still to come. Featuring members from Karen Kingsbury’s popular Baxter family, Loving completes Bailey and Cody’s story — the finale thousands of fans have been waiting for.


Ope’s Opinion:  Overall this series was not Karen Kingsbury’s best.  I was  a Cody fan and wasn’t thrilled with the way it ended.  I felt like this could have been written in about two books instead of four.  I felt like Bible verses and God’s words speaking to the characters repeated too many times.  It will make me think twice about buying Karen Kingsbury’s next book.

Rating:  Three Chairs – I like this book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

Author:  Karen Kingsbury
Publisher: Zondervan
Pages: 331
Genre: Christian Fiction
 Source: Purchased

Goodreads:  Longing, book three in the Bailey Flanigan Series, picks up where Learning ended. After a long and lonely silence from Cody Coleman, Bailey Flanigan becomes closer to her one-time Hollywood co-star, Brandon Paul. Nights on the town in New York City and long talks on the balcony of Brandon’s Malibu Beach home make Bailey dizzy with new feelings and cause her to wonder if her days with Cody are over forever. Meanwhile, Cody’s work coaching a small-town football team has brought him and his players national attention. In the midst of the celebration and success, Cody finds himself much closer to a woman who seems to better understand him and his new life. Even so, never does much time go by without Bailey and Cody experiencing deep feelings of longing for each other, longing both for the past and for answers before they can move forward. Will an unexpected loss be the turning point for Cody? Will Cody and Bailey find a way back together again for the first time in more than a year? And if they do, will their brief time together be enough to help them remember all they’ve been longing for?


Ope’s Opinion:  I enjoyed this book more then the first two, so keep reading!  The pace was better.  I felt like the story kept moving.  I am ready read the last one and see what happens.


Rating:  Three Chairs – I like this book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

Author:  Karen Kingsbury
Publisher: Zondervan
Pages:  334
Genre: Christian Fiction
Source: Purchased

Goodreads:  Kingsbury delivers the sequel to “Leaving.” Bailey Flanigan is growing closer to her dream to be an actress and dancer in New York while Cody coaches a small high-school football team . . . on and off the field. But neither feels complete without the chance to share their dreams with one another. Can distance truly make the heart grow fonder?


Ope’s Opinion:  The story has continued from the previous book.  This one seemed to move somewhat faster.  I would prefer that the series were shorter and the story line would move faster.  I am still interested enough to see what is going to happen next to continue reading.


Rating: Three Chairs –  I like the book enough to suggest to a friend or two.

Author:  Karen Kingsbury
Publisher: Zondervan
Pages:  352
Genre: Christian Fiction
Source: Purchased

Goodreads:    “New York Times”-bestselling author Kingsbury delivers the first volume in a new series that features members of the popular Baxter family and finally completes the Bailey Flanigan/Cody Coleman story.


Ope’s Opinions:   I have read all of Karen Kingsbury’s books.  This is not her best.  I love Christian Fiction.  I like the example of good marriages, people with problems looking to God for answers.  This one just seemed to move slow and was a little on preachy side.  I am reading the second one in the series now.  I hope it improves.

                                       Karen Kingsbury always writes very wholesome stories – which is why I like to read her.  I would like just a little more reality too. 

Rating:  Three Chairs – I like the book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

Author:  Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Pages:  368
Genre: Young Adult
Source:  BEA

Goodreads:     BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY…
                                  THEY GET EVEN.

Lillia has never had any problems dealing with boys who like her. Not until this summer, when one went too far. No way will she let the same thing happen to her little sister.

Kat is tired of the rumours, the insults, the cruel jokes. It all goes back to one person– her ex-best friend– and she’s ready to make her pay.

Four years ago, Mary left Jar Island because of a boy. But she’s not the same girl anymore. And she’s ready to prove it to him.

Three very different girls who want the same thing: sweet, sweet revenge. And they won’t stop until they each had a taste.

Ope’s Opinion:  I know this was a young adult books, which I usually really like, but this one felt a little superficial.   I love Jenny Han and what she has written in the past, but this one did not step up to her usual standard.  

                                      Yes, peoples feelings were hurt ( weren’t we all at some time ), but we don’t go out for revenge.  It is dangerous to decide how someone else should pay for what they have done.  

                                       I did feel for each of the girls.  I did want the people who hurt them to pay, but I think it would have been a much better story for these girls to be strong together and confront the people who hurt them.  Sneaking around and hurting people back doesn’t really teach anyone a lesson.  It made the girls who were hurt look weak.  I was hoping it would be about strong female role models for young teen girls.  I was disappointed.

                                       My final disappointment was the ending.  It just ended.  Did the girls feel satisfied with their revenge?  What happened to Reeve at the end?  I just feel like they quit writing, not like it ended.

Rating: Three Chairs –   I like this book enough to suggest it to a friend or two.

                                                      FTC – Disclosure of Material Connection: 

                                                          I received one copy of this book free of charge from BEA. 

                                             I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the

                                                            book; rather the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

                                                         

 
FRIENDS FOREVER
 
Gabby, Billy, Izzie, Andy, and Sean—each bursting with their own personality, strikingly different looks and talents, in sports, science, and the arts. Each drawn by the magical spark of connection that happens to the young. At the exclusive Atwood School, on a bright September day, starting in kindergarten they become an inseparable group known to outsiders as the Big Five. In this rarefied world, five families grow closer, and five children bloom beside one another, unaware of the storms gathering around them.
 
As they turn from grade-schoolers to teenagers, seemingly perfect lives are buffeted by unraveling families, unfortunate missteps, and losses and victories great and small. And, one by one, they turn back to the Big Five to regain their footing and their steady course. But as they emerge from Atwood and enter the college years, the way forward is neither safe nor clear. As their lives separate and diverge, the challenges and risks become greater, the losses sharper, and the right paths harder to choose, in a journey of friendship, survival, and love.
 
In what may be her most intricate and emotionally powerful novel yet, Danielle Steel tells a heart-wrenching, ultimately triumphant story that spans decades, weaves together a vivid cast of characters, and captures the challenges we face in life—sometimes, if we’re lucky, with a friend forever by our side.

Skipping a Beat

Author: Sarah Pekkanen
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Pages: 327
Format: Book

Goodreads:     Julia and Michael meet in high school in their small, poverty-stricken West Virginia hometown. Both products of difficult childhoods — Julia’s father is a compulsive gambler and Michael’s mother abandoned his family when he was a young boy – they find a sense of safety and mutual understanding in each other. Shortly after graduation they flee West Virginia to start afresh. Now thirty-somethings, they are living a rarified life in their multi-million-dollar,Washington D.C. home. From the outside it all looks perfect – Julia has become a highly sought-after party planner, while Michael has launched a wildly successful flavored water company that he sold for $70 million. 
But one day Michael stands up at the head of the table in his company’s boardroom — then silently crashes to the floor. More than four minutes later, a portable defibrillator manages to jump-start his heart. Yet what happened to Michael during those lost minutes forever changes him. Money is meaningless to him now – and he wants to give it all away to charity. A prenuptial agreement that Julia insisted upon back when Michael’s company was still struggling means she has no claim to his fortune, and now she must decide: should she walk away from the man she once adored, but who truthfully became a stranger to her long before his near-death experience – or should she give in to her husband’s pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life?