Beyond Her Calling {blog tour + book review}

Hello, my lovely friends!

Today is officially my day to post for the Beyond Her Calling blog tour!!

Let's just walk through how this went down, shall we? (to aid me, various Psych gifs)

Me, hearing that Kellyn was writing another book in this series:


Me, hearing that it was about Ivy's love story:


Me, hearing that it's set in SCOTLAND:


Me, hoping Kellyn will accept me as part of her blog tour team:


Me, upon seeing the ARC show up in my email inbox:


Me, finishing the book and having all the feels:


Me at Kellyn, after reading it's adorable wonderful-ness:


Okay now on to the actual review...

Beyond Her Calling

(this cover, though?  *all the heart eyes*)
Author: Kellyn Roth
Genre: Historical romance
Content: None
Main Characters: Ivy Knight, George (Jordy) MacAllen, and Violet Angel

Synopsis:
At twenty, Ivy Knight feels as if she hasn’t accomplished anything of worth. Her life stretches on before her, empty and pointless. Though her faith in God and her mental abilities have been strengthened, she still doubts herself. Does God have a purpose for a socially awkward, often confused and frightened young woman?
Jordy McAllen has just returned to Scotland after his education in London. Though he has accomplished a lot for a farm lad such as himself, he fears that what everyone has always said about him may be true: he won’t really make a good doctor. Determined to prove himself, Jordy snatches up the opportunity to become the doctor in the village of Keefmore near his parents’ farm.
Helping Jordy with his work at Keefmore seems like the perfect opportunity for Ivy. Still, she doubts herself. Is there a purpose to Ivy’s life?

What I Thought:
My first reaction after finishing the last chapter:

Me, a few moments later, while my family looks on judgementally:

I'M SO HAPPY.
(also, sorry if this gets a bit discombobulated, I wrote it last night)
Kellyn's books get better and better, oh my word!  I believe my words when I finished it (last night) were, "OH MY GOSH.  OHHHHH MY GOSH.  FRIENDS-TO-LOVERS IS MY FAVORITE. TROPE. EVER." because my heart was just bursting with happiness and I couldn't contain it.  Now, I love Alice and her husband (whose name I will not spoil because you should also read At Her Fingertips) with all of my heart, don't get me wrong.  But Ivy and Jordy? might take the top spot? and I'm not completely sure how I feel about it but I refer you to the aforementioned bursting with happiness. 
As I've already screamed, friends-to-lovers continues to solidify itself as my favorite romance trope.  Because I love friendship-centered plots ALREADY but add ROMANCE and I am SOLD.  And I just can't handle it, these two are so Pure and Good and Soft and I love them so much.  If someone who's read it could message me on Goodreads or Instagram so we can scream about the ending that'd be great 'cause I can't really do it here because SPOILERS.

*takes a deep breath* Okay, Abby, can we get out some sort of semblance of a put-together review as if we're a proper reviewer?

This series is quickly rising the ranks of my favorites list.  Just... the progression of the characters - the way our girls have grown up is so perfect.
I loved Ivy as a lead, I still (somehow) haven't read Ivy Introspective (I gotta get on that, I know), so I wasn't sure how I would feel about her.  I liked her from Alice's books, but I didn't really know her.  Through this book, I got to know her heart, and I liked what I saw a lot.  I related to her so much more than I related to Alice. 
(Also, I find it kind of funny that Ivy and Jordy's personalities are almost swapped from Alice and her husband's.  Like, Alice is the outgoing, sassy one and her husband is the sweet and loving, and Jordy's the sassy one and Ivy the sweet.  Idk, I thought it was cool.)
I loved all of the side characters too - Violet and Jordy's family and Ena, they were all so great and so rich and so real.  I felt like I could go to Keefmore and be completely at home and happy.  It gave me Mitford vibes... but Scottish.  Yeah.
I adored Alice's letters because they felt so her.  And also had me laughing out loud.  (Seriously, I snickered my way through this book and I loved every second of it) 

So all in all, I found this to be a wonderful story about growing up, trusting God, and waiting to find your calling.  It was beautiful.

Favorite Quote:

 I relate to this quote so hard, I can't even tell you.

Overall Rating: 5 beautiful sonatas out of 5

About the Author:


Kellyn Roth lives on an Eastern Oregon ranch with her parents, little brothers, border collies, cats, and a few dozen cows and chickens.  Always a lover of a good story, and especially of telling one, she's been writing since she was seven and published her first novel at fourteen.  Now a homeschool grad, she divides her time between penning her next Christian historical fiction novel, creating professionally silly articles for her blog, and her actual life.  Actual life plays second fiddle sometimes, though.

Connect with Kellyn: Her website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads ~ Google+ ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest ~ Youtube ~ Amazon ~ her personal blog ~ her review blog

There's also a very exciting giveaway going on (you could win a paperback copy of this beautiful book!!!) and you can check it out at this link right here!

A huge THANK YOU to Kellyn for letting me participate in this blog tour and read your wonderful story!  I can't wait to see what God has in store for you next ;)

And now, if you will all excuse me, I'm off to go read the last chapter again and squeal some more.


~ Abby

A Certain Sort of Madness {book review}

OKAY SO.

You guys know that retellings are my weakness.  Put one in front of me, I will probably read it and odds are pretty good that I will like it.  So when Nicki Chapleway, a friend on Goodreads and an all-around cool person, announced that her next book was going to be an Alice in Wonderland retelling...

I got really excited.

And because Nicki is an awesome person and sent me a copy to review for you, that's exactly what I'm going to do!



Author: Nicki Chapleway
Genre: Fantasy/Fairytale retelling
Content: There's a lot of magic and some uses of h*ck and fr*ck if those bother you. 

Synopsis:
Alicia Hareton is crazy. But that’s nothing new. Her insanity is inherited from her mother, just like her magical abilities and her blood ties to the strange and alluring world of Amar. She’s spent her life on Earth and yet Amar has always called to her, an intoxicating melody that she cannot ignore. Returning to Amar would put her life in danger, but Alicia has never let such technicalities stop her before.
However, when her mother is captured due to her reckless actions, Alicia will do anything to rescue her. That includes trusting her grumpy, sarcastic imaginary friend, who claims he doesn’t know her and doesn’t seem that imaginary anymore. Or that trustworthy. Together, with the help of her cousin and a band of misfits, they partake in an extremely ill-advised heist on the faerie court in order to find a way to defeat the most powerful mage in all Amar, who also happens to be Alicia’s grandfather. But not everything in the faerie court is as it seems, and soon this unlikely group find themselves fighting for their lives as well as the lives of those they love.
In a world of madness and magic, the lines between lies and loyalty are blurred and sometimes the only option you have left is to let the insanity loose.

What I Thought:

My emotions are all over the place right now, tbh, but oh my word, I loved this book.
I did not expect this to be as funny as it was.  I haven't laughed out loud that much at a book that wasn't by Rick Riordan in a long time.  The sass!  The banter!  It was wonderful!  It was a heist story with the found family dynamic and y'all know that is my JAM.
I loved this take on Alice - Alicia was such a cool, different spin on the iconic character.  Olivia annoyed me at first but became hilariously relatable.  Dante is sassmaster supreme.  Eugene had me laughing the whole time.  I got so attached to all of them despite telling myself not to.
Also I have not just one, but TWO new OTPs.  Just thought y'all should know.
So if you want a fun, unique take on Wonderland that's slightly terrifying at times, you found it here.
Basically, all in all, Nicki,


Favorite Quote: tbh there are way too many hilarious wonderful ones so it's hard to choose but the most relatable is "I'm a mess. We're a mess. When did things get so messy?"

My Rating: 5 adorably helpful monkeys out of 5

About the Author:
Nicki has been writing since she was eleven years old. She published her first book A Week of Werewolves, Faeries, and Fancy Dresses at the age of fifteen, one year after she finished writing it. She enjoys reading, writing, swimming when she can, and fan-girling (in other words: obsessing over other peoples' stories almost as much as her own). She also enjoys watching TV, her favorite movies and TV shows include: Doctor Who, Avengers, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Nicki currently resides in Ohio with her family of eight and two dogs, Rylie and Zoey. She is now working on the next books in the My Time in Amar series- when she's not distracted by other stories (both hers and others'). You can contact her at http://pausefortales.blogspot.com

You can add it to your Goodreads shelf here!

I haven't been this pleasantly surprised by a book in a long time.  I cannot wait for book 2.  I'm so happy I got to read it, so huge thank you to Nicki for letting me read and review it! :D

~ Abby

Hello September Tag

Hello, lovelies!  I'm coming to you today because 1) I've been tagged for this September-themed tag and September is almost over, and 2) it's my birthday!  Yay!  I thought what better way to celebrate being 20 than by posting something about one of my favorite seasons - autumn!  (And since we don't really get autumn here in Florida, I'm making this post SUPER fall, so let's do this!)

Sweet Faith over at I Like That tagged me for this and I cannot wait to get into it!

~ Rules ~
>Please copy these questions (below), answer them, and then write out new questions (or just copy these) for the people you nominate below your answered questions.
> Please nominate at least 3 bloggers, but try to avoid ones that you know have already been nominated.  (Note from Abby: idk if I'll do this, considering we only have one more day of September, but if you're reading this and wanna just call it the Hello October tag or something, feel free to say I tagged you!)
> Lastly, include these guidelines in your post, and use the tag picture!

Aaand the questions!

Windy or rainy autumn? 
So far we've had a very rainy autumn, and to be honest, I don't mind it... as long as I'm inside before it really starts coming down, haha!  Windy autumns just make for messy hair and windburn - no fun.  So rainy for me!

Do you like chai tea?
Not particularly... but I'm not really a fan of tea either. *dodges angry tea drinkers*

Tea, coffee, cider, or hot chocolate?
Considering I don't really care for any of those first three, hot chocolate all the way!  It is my hot drink of choice, generally speaking.  And don't even get me started on the glories of peppermint hot chocolate... though that's technically a winter thing... ooh caramel hot chocolate, that's my favorite autumn drink, for sure!

If you could travel to one state in the U.S.A. just for the autumn scenery, where would you go?
I have been to the mountains of North Carolina several times and we've always been just barely too early for the leaves to change and goodness gracious, I wanna see those leaves! 

Do you like soup in the autumn? If so, what kind?
Not often, to be honest.  It never really gets cold enough here to justify it.  But if I'm feeling particularly autumn-y, I'll take a bowl of potato soup!

What color of leaves do you like best?
Any? All?  I don't honestly know, because all we get here is green.  So... any color other than green, haha!

If you could go to another country for the autumn scenery, where would you go?
Hmm... somewhere in Europe, for sure.  Maybe Germany?  That looks lovely in the fall. :)

Sweater or hoodie?
I love a good hoodie.  Sweaters tend to be too warm for me, but a hoodie (especially a zip-up hoodie) is fantastically cozy.

A hazelnut or apple cinnamon candle?
Apple cinnamon, definitely.

Cookies, brownies, or both?
Aaaaahhhhhh that's hard.  I think I have to say cookies, but give me pretty much anything sweet, and I will be happy.

What's your favorite fall activity?
I think I gotta say reading on this one.

Bonus Questions:

Pumpkin pie or apple pie?
Now, see, this is just cruel.  I love both of these things for different reasons, I don't think I can choose.

Have you ever had a pumpkin spice latte?  If not, do you think you would like it/want to try it?
I mean... I kinda tried one for one of our YouTube videos... I didn't love it.  But as I said, I don't care for coffee or tea, so I just don't think it's for me.

Would you rather go on a hayride or do a corn maze?
Considering I'm allergic to most hay, I think I'll opt corn maze.  I've had fun doing those in the past, anyway, so I'd totally be game for doing it again!

And I think that's all the questions, which means we've reached the end of this post!  I hope you had fun (I know I did)!  I love fall so much, don't you?  I'll leave you with this, my autumn playlist, for all the fall-music-vibes you may want:


What's your favorite thing about fall?  What song should I add to the playlist?  Tell me in the comments!

~ Abby

Sing the Wondrous Story Book Review {Orphans of the West blog tour}

Good morning, good day, good afternoon, good whatever-time-it-is-when-you're-reading-this!

Today I'm bringing to you my post for the Orphans of the West blog tour - a review of "Sing the Wondrous Story"!

Let's jump on in, shall we?



Sing the Wondrous Story

Author: Faith Blum
Genre: Christian Historical Fiction
Content: None

Synopsis:
Jason was kicked out three years ago. His judgmental actions and decisions caused a rift and turmoil within his family, especially concerning his sister, Jessamine. Now God is leading him to return home—a home he isn’t certain he will be welcomed back to. The last three years has led to personal growth, he still has a lot to learn. Can he overcome his past mistakes or will he always be the black sheep?
Jessamine has popularity and the attention of many in town except the two men she wants to catch for herself. She lives for those moments of attention and needs to marry a rich man to buy all the pretty things she desires. There are two men who fit that and she will stop at nothing to find a husband to make her life perfect. When Jason returns and challenges her actions, will she be able to let go of her plan? Can she find love in more than herself?

What I Thought:

Well this was nice. 
Y'all probably know by now that sibling relationships in books are my favorite everything, and this one didn't disappoint.  The way Jason and Jessa started out heartbreaking and ended up heartwarming.  So obviously, I loved it.
I liked Jason as a character really quickly after meeting him, but Jessa took me more time to enjoy.  I'm not hugely into her kind of character, but the way she arcs and changes was awesome.  God's grace was evident throughout the whole story and I loved it.
Jason and Claire's relationship was ADORABLE.  I love these two, they remind me of so many of my favorite couples from other books.  The way they relate to each other is wonderful, with the mutual respect they both deserve because they're both amazing.
I won't spoil anything, but I love how Jessa's storyline wrapped up.  I really appreciate the different take on the common tropes.
Overall, it was a little story that gave me all the happy fuzzy feels.  I will definitely be picking up more from this author in the future!  (Also, can I just mention how much I love that the titles of her books are hymns?  Because I love it a lot.)

Favorite Quote:

This quote made me laugh out loud; it's so great.

My Rating: 4 jars of preserves out of 5

About the Author:
Faith Blum is a small-town Wisconsin girl. She’s lived in, or outside of, small towns her whole life. The thought of living in a city with more than 60,000 people in it scares her, especially after some interesting adventures driving through big cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
Faith currently resides in the middle of the state of Wisconsin with her husband and their cat, Smokey. She is blessed to be able to have writing as her full-time career with household work and cooking to do on the side. She loves to paint walls as long as she doesn’t have to do hallways or ceilings.
When not writing, you can find her cooking food from scratch due to food allergies (fun), doing dishes (meh), knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, or spending time with her husband (yay!). She is also a Student Mentor for the Young Writers Workshop and loves her work there. She loves to hear from her readers, so feel free to contact her on her website.

You can purchase "Sing the Wondrous Story" from Amazon here or add it to your Goodreads shelf here!

There's also a GIVEAWAY going on at this link here!

HUGE thanks and many hugs to Faith for letting me read her book!  I had a great time. :D

~ Abby

Goldfish Secrets {a mini-review}

*sing-song voice* I have another review today!

Or rather, I have a mini-review.  Because it's a mini-book, of a sort.  An adorable, very small, mini-book.

Namely, Goldfish Secrets by Kellyn Roth.



Judy only has one friend: her goldfish, Marlie.
With Marlie gone, who can Judy rely on?

 This was so stinkin' cute.  Judy is an absolute sweetheart and I still want to give her a hug please and thank you.  She deserves the world.

I've read all three The Lady of the Vineyard stories, and I've really enjoyed them.  This was a perfect prequel to set up the characters and I think I may have to go back and re-read the original to see the character arcs again. 

Overall, this was really sweet and kind of too small to do an in-depth review of.  Thus, this mini-review.  If you've read the original book, or if you just like cute little stories about a girl and her best friend the fish, I highly recommend it. 

5 stars from me!

Connect with the author: her website - her blog - Facebook - Instagram

You can add Goldfish Secrets to your Goodreads shelves here, pick up a copy on Amazon here, or grab a copy from Barnes & Noble here!

Huge thanks to Kellyn for sending me a copy of this sweet story so that I could tell y'all all about it!

~ Abby

When Beauty Blooms {blog tour + book review!}

Hey there everybody!  I'm coming at you today with another review!  I don't know when this blog became a straight-up review blog but honestly I'm not too mad about it.  Hope y'all don't mind ;)

But seriously, I'm really excited to be giving you my review of Victoria Lynn's new, adorable novelette!

Let's jump on in, shall we?

When Beauty Blooms


(How pretty is that cover, right?)

Author: Victoria Lynn
Genre: Historical fiction (Revolutionary War era, set in England)
Content: None, unless you count an unmarried lady showing her ankles to an unmarried man... that was scandalous. (lol)

Synopsis:
Marjorie Kirk is a woman with no fortune, no prospects, no family, and no skills. Or so she thinks. She is awkward, shy, and the farthest thing from any semblance of a society lady.
The new minister keeps turning up in the most awkward of places and she can’t help but feel that her life is doomed to one of embarrassment. But will her flaws actually be the thing that others find the most attractive?
A story of a young woman with social anxiety and how she learned to bloom.

What I Thought:

What a sweet little book!  Marjorie was such a relatable character with such a great arc for how few pages there were.  I really appreciated how she retained her personality throughout the story even as she learns and grows.  I loved her relationships with her friends and yes, her relationship with the love interest (I shipped them pretty much from the first page he was on, so that's great.)
Honestly, I don't have too many thoughts because it was so cute and short!  It only took me a couple of hours to read and that's because a dance class interrupted my reading time.  It just.  It made me happy.  Yeah. 
(Also, I loved reading about someone in England at the time of the Revolution?  I used to be obsessed with reading books in this time period, but they were always from the American perspective.  So that was great.)

Favorite quote: "Beauty blooms when you are true to who God has created you to be."

My rating: 4.5 pretty gowns out of 5

About the Author:
Victoria Lynn is in her 20s and if she's not writing, she is probably sewing, singing, playing the piano, washing dishes, creating something with her hands, or learning something new. She has a passion for serving her Creator, encouraging others and being creative. She blogs at www.rufflesandgrace.com about writing, fashion, modesty, her walk with God and life. She lives in Michigan with her parents and 8 siblings.

You can get a copy on Amazon here and add it to your Goodreads shelf here!
There's also an awesome giveaway going on for a paperback copy of this sweet book PLUS an Amazon gift card! You can enter it here!

Aaaand I think that's all I have for today!  Huge thanks to Victoria for letting me read her lovely book!  Can't wait to read more from her in the future, God's got big plans for this one. :)

~ Abby

Chosen For Such a Time as This {blog tour + book review!}

Hello my friends!  How's it been?  It's been really busy around here, but a schedule should be sorting itself out here soon, and I'm going to be doing my best to make sure that blogging is on it!  But today we're here for a very exciting blog tour!

But what is this blog tour about?

It's about this book, the one with the absolutely gorgeous cover!



But what is this book about?

No matter what your background is, what type of experiences you've had, or what mistakes you've made, your life is of significance. And regardless of what you may have grown to believe, God created you with a specific purpose in mind. This book was written to encourage and inspire single women, however, it addresses the issues that many women face today, no matter what their marital status is. Chosen For Such A Time As This places great emphasis on the truth that the most valuable relationship you can have is with our Creator. Through that relationship, we are made whole.
This life is a journey that comes with blessings, frustrations, laughter and tears. Whether you are married or single, wholeness and contentment in Christ is essential. Despite the season you find yourself in, God has a plan for your life. And He can use you right where you are.

You can add it on Goodreads here and check it out on Amazon here!

And because Jheralynne (whose blog you can check out here) and Livy (whose blog you can check out here) were sweet enough to include me on this blog tour, I get to review it for you right now! 

To be honest, though, I'm not quite sure how to review it.  I mean, it's a devotional type book.  I feel like everyone is going to get something different out of it.  So I find it hard to give it a star rating. 

What I will do is tell you what I gleaned from these pages. 

First off, Jheralynne's story is so powerful.  God has given her a wonderful testimony, and I'm so glad she's using it to His glory.  She covers some very important topics in this book that need to be talked about and brought to light.

My favorite quote was one that I read and said aloud, "YES!" before going back to reading, because it's something that's proven quite true in my own life.  It goes like this, "I will never be able to fully understand how God works, but I've decided to accept it and to trust Him."  I mean, can I get an amen?  This needs to be proudly proclaimed!

There were a couple of passages that pointed to things in me I need to work on (with His help, of course), and some really powerful messages overall.  My only problem with it was a problem I've found with a lot of devotionals, and it's nothing wrong with the actual book, per say... it's more a me thing, I think.  I felt like it wasn't... for me.  Like I'm not in the target audience, I guess?  It felt like a book for a new Christian and not someone like me who's farther along in my spiritual walk.  Which, again, isn't a problem, it just lessened my experience with it. 

But if I knew someone who was newer in their faith and was struggling with some of the fears and things that Jheralynne talked about, I would 100% hand them this book.  So for that, I give it a solid 4 stars.  If, like I said, I can even give a book like this a star rating. 

I highly recommend it if you're struggling with singleness, or just want to be reassured of God's hand in your life.

ALSO, GUESS WHAT there's a giveaway going on!!!!  Enter here for a chance to win a paperback copy of Chosen!

Well, that's all for today, folks.  I promise it won't be as long before next time. :D

~ Abby