Operation Bonnet by Kimberly Stuart

If you like Sassy Heroines, then you'll really like this offering from Kimberly Stuart. It isn't your "usual" Amish Bonnet novel. 

Nellie Monroe has one deep desire and that is to become a private investigator; and she even took a course to do it. She has no hope for a case until one young man asks her to find out if his true love is going to marry another because he left the Amish circle to live with The English. 

Nellie is a very charming, and quite disarming character. Her wild, red hair depicts her wild and sassy personality which is just as tangled as her hair. Kimberly Stuart does a good job with character development even with some of the background characters, but it seems a bit heavy-handed. The jokes and quirks of each character get tiring.

The first few lines of chapter one make you want to laugh out loud, but when she takes such a long time to get to the point (Nellie actually going undercover at the Amish which is promised prominently on the back cover) you wonder if that really is the point. Characterization is a tricky thing. If the author doesn't do will with the characters then the story falls flat. Certainly, this story is far from that, and there is everything right with quirky and a bit eccentric in the storyline. 

This is a great Sunday afternoon read. I rate it three stars.

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Operation Bonnet David C. Cook; New edition (February 1, 2011) by Kimberly Stuart



ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kimberly says:

I am a writer of comedic fiction, and would like to suggest that you laugh regularly when reading my books. Let’s also try for one to two teary moments. If you are crying more than that, you don’t understand my sense of humor and should move on to another author.


I grew up in a book-loving home. Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. My mom loves books. My dad loves to read the first chapters of books and then make us all listen as he recites his favorite passages. I, however, enjoy reading books in their entirety and came into writing as a result of book-love. After earning two fancy degrees in education and Spanish, I promptly let the thinking part of my brain take a breather and instead became pregnant. (I’m sure a lot of other things happened between early literacy and pregnancy but I don’t really remember any of that. If you also have shared your uterus with another human, you understand.)


In an effort to author a book that would entertain my sassy, irreverent, breast-feeding/drooping friends, I wrote my first novel, Balancing Act. People were so nice to me after that, I decided to continue with writing. Also, I can’t craft, knit, or scrapbook, so what else was a nice, Christian girl to do?


In addition to writing books to make my friends laugh and cry, I observe the chaos at the home I share with my unfailingly supportive husband and three offspring. We’re doing our best and so far, no one’s been to prison.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Twenty-year-old Nellie Monroe has a restless brilliance that makes her a bit of an odd duck. She wants to be a private investigator, even though her tiny hometown offers no hope of clients. Until she meets Amos Shetler, an Amish dropout carrying a torch for the girl he left behind.


So Nellie straps on her bonnet and goes undercover to get the dish. But though she’s brainy, Nellie is clueless when it comes to real life and real relationships. Soon she’s alienated her best friend, angered her college professor, and botched her case.


Operation Bonnet is a comedy of errors, a surprising take on love, and a story of grace.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Operation Bonnet, go HERE.


Watch the book video trailer:

Larkspur Cove by Lisa Wingate

This is a most charming novel. It has a little suspense, a little tragedy, and a lot of great romance. You can't miss with this one.

While I really love her series about the folks from Daily, Texas, it didn't take very long to fall in love with the Game Warden and the Psychologist along with all the other characters that live in this rural area wrapped around a lake and a river in Texas. It has such depth of characterizations in a down home sort of way.

If you've ever lived in a rural town beside or near a lake, then you've already met the characters in this book. What a fun and amazing nostalgia trip for me. If you've never lived in a rural town before, then you're going to want to after reading this novel. Don't miss the baby raccoon in the shower, the Moaning Lady, or Len who is one of the scrungiest, but most interesting characters I've ever read about.

This is a Five Star offering and is well worth the money.

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Larkspur Cove Bethany House (February 1, 2011) by Lisa Wingate


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa Wingate is an award-winning journalist, magazine columnist, popular inspirational speaker and a national bestselling author of sixteen books. Her first mainstream novel, Tending Roses, is in its eighteenth printing from Penguin Putnam. Tending Roses is a staple on the shelves of national bookstore chains as well as in many independent bookstores.

Recently, Lisa’s Blue Sky Hill Series, set in Dallas, received national attention with back-to-back nominations for American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year Award for A Month of Summer (2009) and The Summer Kitchen (2010). Pithy, emotional, and inspirational, her stories bring to life characters so real that readers often write to ask what is happening to them after the book ends.

Lisa is one of a select group of authors to find success in both the Christian and mainstream markets, writing for both Bethany House, a Christian publisher, and NAL Penguin Putnam, a general market publisher. Her bestselling books have become a hallmark of inspirational fiction. Her works have been featured by the National Reader's Club of America, AOL Book Picks, Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild, Crossings Book Club, American Profiles and have been chosen for numerous awards.

When not busy dreaming up stories, Lisa spends time on the road as a motivational speaker. Via internet, she shares with readers as far away as India, where her book, Tending Roses, has been used to promote women's literacy, and as close to home as Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the county library system has used Tending Roses to help volunteer mentors teach adults to read. Recently, the group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with Bill Ford, Camille Cosby, and six others as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Adventure is the last thing on Andrea Henderson's mind when she moves to Moses Lake. After surviving the worst year of her life, she's struggling to build a new life for herself and her son as a social worker. Perhaps in doing a job that makes a difference, she can find some sense of purpose and solace in her shattered faith. For new Moses Lake game warden Mart McClendon, finding a sense of purpose in life isn't an issue. He took the job to get out of southwest Texas and the constant reminders of a tragedy for which he can't forgive himself. But when a little girl is seen with the town recluse, Mart and Andrea are drawn together in the search for her identity. The little girl offers them both a new chance at redemption and hope--and may bring them closer than either ever planned.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Larkspur Cove, go HERE.