Book reviews! For the last few cold wintery nights !

First review is for :

Allie Emerson, the girl voted least likely to save the world may have to do just that. She has problems: Life in a crummy travel trailer with a malingering mother. High school bullies and snarky drama queens. Bad guys with charming smiles. And then, there’s that whole thing about fulfilling a magical prophecy and saving the world from evil.

Welcome to the funny, sad and sometimes scary world of fifteen-year-old Allie Emerson, who’s struggling to keep her act together (not to mention her mom’s) in the small town world of Peacock Flats, Washington. A zap from an electric fence sets off Allie’s weird psychic powers. The next thing she knows, she’s being visited by a hippy-dippy guardian angel, and, shortly after, her mysterious neighbor, the town “witch,” gives her an incredible moonstone pendant that has powers only a “Star Seeker: is meant to command.

“Who me?” is Allie’s first reaction. But as sinister events begin to unfold, Allie realizes she has a destiny far bigger than she ever imagined…if she can just survive everyday life, in the meantime.




Her follow-up novel is just as intriguing!!

Her mom's still dating losers. Her boyfriend's gone back to Mexico. Dad still hasn't told his wife and kids that she exists. At school, the drama queens and bullies still rule. But worst of all for Allie Emerson--aka the Star Seeker of an old Gypsy prophecy--is that her powers have taken a hike. She can't read minds anymore. She can't move stuff just by looking at it. The other Star Seekers are counting on her psychic gifts more than ever, and the evil Trimarks are closing in, eager to snatch her magic moonstone necklace while she's helpless. The hot new guy at school is ready and willing to fight her battles, but he comes with some wicked baggage.  "  Dear Diary: I'm a little worried. My new BF is a demon.  "  Welcome again to Allie Emerson's funny, scary, amazing, and always unpredictable life, as the girl voted least likely to save the world from evil.  

A Bride Begrudgingly overview:

Lady Constance Morrow finds herself held against her will aboard a ship bound for the American colonies a ship filled with "tobacco brides" and felons she is quite sure that as soon as she arrives she will find a reasonable man who will believe her father is an Earl and send her back on the next ship to England. Instead she meets Drew O'Connor, a determined Colonial farmer who is nearly as headstrong as she is. Drew wins Constance as his bride but soon realizes he has taken on much more than he bargained for....
Drew O'Conner knows that only the strong survive in the new world. He has lost the love of his life and he is not interested in marrying...ever. So when he is the reluctant winner of Constance, he brings her to his home only to find out she can't cook, how to keep house and has a sassy argumentative mouth. And she's has red hair and freckles! But some how these two very different people learn to appreciate each other and a marriage of convenience is more then they ever thought it could be.

Ms. Gist is a wonderful addition to the inspirational romance genre. Her story is full of heart and emotion. Drew and Constance were engaging characters and their romance is truly a superb read. Ms. Gist has done her research for time period and as a result the reader will feel transported to the Virginia colony. This is one author I highly recommend and one I look forward to reading in the future.

A Bride in the Bargain 

Popular evangelical Christian novelist Gist tells a could-have-happened tale of a Seattle landowner who requires a wife to keep his 640 acres. In the land replete with timber but few women, widower Joe Denton signs a contract with Asa Mercer to deliver the wife he needs to ensure his land rights. Unfortunately, 19-year-old Anna Ivey doesn't realize she's signed on for marriage; she only wants passage out West and a job. Sparks fly as tempers flare when Joe and Anna discover they are at cross-purposes. Acquiescing to common sense as well as a sense of desperation, the two agree to work together temporarily. As Anna cooks up a storm in payment for the traveling debt Joe incurred on her behalf, Joe cooks up his own scheme for wooing Anna into marriage. Gist's work is comical, sassy and sweet — yet her story's ending ties together a bit too neatly for readers who relish real-life finales. History + Romance = A Great Read !!