What Hope Remembers by Johnnie Alexander

When you need a new beginning, sometimes

the best place to start is home.

When Amy Somers loses her job as a lobbyist, she moves to Misty Willow, well aware that she's crossing bridges she'd burned years before. With all the mistakes she's made and the uncaring things she's done--even to her own family--she can hardly believe that happiness will find her, especially when Gabe Kendall, her first crush and her first kiss, rides back into her life atop a buckskin mare.

A former Marine, Gabe is at loose ends after serving a prison sentence for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He sees beyond Amy's hard exterior to the girl he once knew and loved, and he longs to see her open her heart. Yet with his vision clouded by shame for his past and fears about the future, he finds it difficult to see the path ahead.

But the memory of that long-ago kiss just may have the power to reignite a romance that brings out the best in both of them.

Publisher: Revell, 2017

Genre: contemporary romance

My Review

What Hope Remembers is book three of Alexander's Misty Willow series and is a nice conclusion to the Somers family saga. Set in rural Ohio, this romance features two broken characters fighting for a fresh start. With pasts that both bond them together and makes their future relationship challenging, this story brings the Somers family together, heals, and brings true faith to light. The twist at the end caught me completely off guard, which was nice as that doesn't happen often. This book reads as a standalone novel, however, I recommend reading the entire series in order to better appreciate Amy's character. I give this book four stars, and I'm looking forward to what Ms. Alexander brings us next!

Roots & Sky by Christie Purifoy

A Journey Home in Four Seasons

When Christie Purifoy arrived at Maplehurst that September, she was heavily pregnant with both her fourth child and her dreams of creating a sanctuary that would be a fixed point in her busily spinning world. The sprawling Victorian farmhouse sitting atop a Pennsylvania hill held within its walls the possibility of a place where her family could grow, where friends could gather, and where Christie could finally grasp and hold the thing we all long for--home.

Publisher: Revell, 2016

Cover and Author Photos: Chelsea Hudson Photography

Design: Peter Gloege| LOOK Design Studio

"Lord, I love the house where you live, the place where your glory dwells."  Psalm 26:8

My Review

Roots & Sky follows a woman on her journey to live out her dream in an old farmhouse, away from the bustling city, a place where she can have a garden, teach her children, and follow the Lord. But with each restoration she and her husband tackle, Christie's paradise takes on a new form and so do her dreams. This author reveals how God's handiwork is stamped in the most ordinary, and sometimes unusual, places.

Christie Purifoy's poetic prose and artistic descriptions painted vivid pictures in my mind, layer upon layer with each chapter. I connected with this story because I, too, have an old farmhouse where the work never ends, yet it is my sanctuary. I, like Christie, have journeyed through the wilderness of life, longing for an oasis. I've also relaxed  in the oasis, too content to see the water slowly drying up, the palm leaves disintegrating, the  dry desert dust approaching to smother signs of life. And I believe each and every reader will find that connection within themselves, also. 

I recommend this book to anyone who is living their wilderness journey right now, to anyone who has just stepped out of the desert. To anyone who needs a story of hope, a reminder that God is always there. 

I gave this books 5 stars!

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For more on Christie, visit her website at www.christiepurifoy.com. While you're there, follow her blog These Farmhouse Bookshelves for a closer view of Maplehurst.