Any Dream Will Do

"When we worry, we take reality and move it into the realm of fiction. What is real is transferred into the land of monsters and dragons, which are far bigger and frightening than they really are."

Shay Benson has dreams. Dreams of a future, being married, raising a family and perhaps finding a job in which her love of numbers becomes a reality. In fact getting a job as a bank teller is almost too good to be true. It seems as if her life is looking up now that her ex-boyfriend, Shooter has gone to jail for what could be life so now the choices she makes from now on will be her own. Until her brother Caden shows up on her front door step begging for money. She doesn't have much but she is willing to give him all she has saved. Yet when Caden tells her he needs $5000, it is out of her hands. Her brother tells her that he will be killed if he doesn't find a way to get the money and he can pay it all back by the end of the week. He tells Shay to take it from the bank, since they won't know its missing until he can repay it. Stuck between that proverbial rock and a hard place, Shay knows she shouldn't but she also knows she can't watch the only family she has left face being killed either.

Now three years later, she is finally getting another chance on life after being released from prison. She has no family and of course, once she loaned her brother the money, he took off and she never heard from his again, even knowing it would cost her everything. She has no where to go and her only hope had been from an elderly Christian woman who wrote to her in prison that told her to trust God and He would look out for her. Yeah like that would ever happen for Shay. Look where God has gotten her up to this point. Being dropped off in the middle of the day right in front of church, she at least figured she's go inside and try to think things through.

When Pastor Drew Douglas sees Shay in his church, he is immediately drawn to offer her help. He knows of a place where Shay might be able to get a second chance if she can endure their year long program. If she does, she will walk out of the Hope Center with a job and a place to stay. He just doesn't expect her to provide him the desperate help he needs after losing his wife, 3 years ago to cancer. His church is fall apart and church attendance is down, not to mention, his young children Sarah and Mark, who need a mother's touch and lately all the well-meaning women from the church just haven't measured up. Now with Shay trying to make a fresh start on her life, she needs to stay away from everything in her past if she is to make a new future for herself. She just never expected someone responsible and respectable as Drew would see her for what she is, not what she did in her past.

I received Any Dream Will Do by Debbie Macomber compliments of Ballantine Books, Random House Publishing and Net Galley. In accordance with the new FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, you should assume that every book reviewed here at Reviews From The Heart was provided to the reviewer by the publisher, media group or the author for free and were received, unless specified otherwise. This is such a wonderful novel and would almost line up as a Christian novel except for a random profane word uttered from a church member. The theme is truly about second chances and for not judging people by their appearance, or in this case their past. Too often people hold us accountable based on our pasts and not where we are at today. As Christians it is our duty to show people forgiveness and not condemnation and give everyone a second chance at making better futures for themselves. I absolutely LOVE this novel and can't wait for more from Debbie Macomber in the future. I easily give this one a 5 out of 5 stars in this reader's opinion.

For more information about Any Dream Will Do, Debbie Macomber or where you can preorder a copy of this novel due out in August of 2017, please click on the links below:

Any Dream Will Do by Debbie Macomber

You can find Debbie Macomber on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Any Dream Will Do, please visit Ballantine Book's website.

The Long Way Home

Welcome back to St. Dennis, a quaint seaside small town where you are bound to find friendship and love in the most unlikely of places. Once you come for a visit, you may decide you never want to leave. Take Ellis Chapman, the daughter whose father and fiance' have been convicted in one of the biggest Ponze schemes in New York. Now having lost not only her home, her job, her car, her money and her love, she is looking for a place to simply disappear from the limelight and publicity that is haunting her in New York. Taking help from her close friend, Ellie learns that her mother who died of cancer has left her a home in St. Dennis. Since they were divorced at the time, it escaped being sold off with the rest of her family's assets.

There is only one small stipulation in her mother's will, that Ellie live in the house at least six months before selling it. Working with Jesse Enright, the local attorney in St. Dennis, she creates a new identity of Ellie Ryder and learns that will the right money management the funds her mother left behind to care for the house and property may last through the six months she needs to stay there. In that time, she hopes to update it to make it more profitable to sell and hopefully find a way to restore her life. What she doesn't plan on is the house needing more repairs than she has money to pay for.

She finds Cameron O'Connor, the local caretaker that has been maintaining the house and grounds for many years working with her grandmother Lilly when she lived in the home many years before and later her mother, Lynley when she was living there while undergoing treatment for cancer. Cameron learns that the house he has always wanted to own has now been sold but doesn't know that Ellie is related to the family and that is just how she wants things until she can arrange for the house to be sold. She hopes her identity will remain elusive and that she can put her six months in and sell the home. Will she be able to maintain her secret or will her past catch up to her even in a small town like St. Dennis?

In the latest novel from the Chesapeake Diaries series from Mariah Stewart, The Long Way Home captures the same characters from the books we've come to love and adore, Jesse Enright is the local attorney who is married to Brooke, the local owner and creator of the town's delicious cupcakes. Once again the small town feel is apparent from the first page as the novel opens once again with a diary entry from the oldest town resident Grace who owns the local newspaper and the town's historic inn. New characters now intermingle with the charming residents that Mariah has so lovingly introduced us to in each of her consecutive novels and my heart warms whenever Mariah launches a new novel in the series. The saddest part is when this series will come to a close, but thankfully there is another waiting in the wings when this one ends. So it gives this reader peace to know that the story will continue for a bit more longer with an excerpt to At The River's Edge at the conclusion to tease us until it publishes.

I received The Long Way Home by Mariah Stewart compliments of TLC Book Tours and Ballantine Books for my honest review. I am always excited to learn when another novel in this series is published because to me, it's like returning home to place where love, peace and friendship resides and I can escape my routine life to escape into virtual one for a brief time. I only wish St. Dennis were as real as the residents that Mariah Stewart so lovingly breathed life into. I, myself would move there instantly and open my own bookstore and join in the fun of living among real friends and true down to earth people. I easily rate this one a perfect 5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend it and if you haven't read any of the books in the series, please pick them all up. You'll definitely want all of them if you love small town romance with friendship and great characters that will captivate you from the very first page. This one can be read as a stand alone however. but once you read this one, you 'll want them all.

For more information about The Long Way Home, Mariah Stewart and where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

The Long Way Home by Mariah Stewart

You can also find Mariah Stewart on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest books.

To read more reviews on The Long Way Home from the TLC Book Tour, please click here. 

The Chesapeake Diaries Series:
 #1 Coming Home
#2 Home Again
#3 Almost Home
#4 Hometown Girl
#5 Home for the Summer
#6 The Long Way Home
#7 At the River's Edge (Coming Soon)

Home For the Summer

There is a reason for Lucy Sinclair to stay away from her childhood home in St. Dennis, it simply holds too many memories she wishes desperately to forget. It's also a reason she hasn't told anyone and doesn't plan on it if she can help it. If only the nightmares didn't keep her up all night and her mother didn't want her to come home for the holidays more. Being a successful wedding planner as a joint owner in her own company Shaefer & Sinclair, she stayed more than busy in her office in Los Angeles. Now after the biggest celebrity wedding she hosted for Dallas MacGregor in her hometown of St. Dennis, the phones were literally ringing off the hook with business.

But things are going to get even more interesting as Lucy gets another big boost to her business when billionaire Robert Magellan wants the exact same wedding set up for her new bride Suzanna and he will spare no expense to ensure she has the true wedding of her dreams. Their's won't simply be a one day affair, they want a week long event and they want it all to take place at her family's historic inn in St. Dennis. Knowing she can't possibly turn down an opportunity this grand, Lucy does what she can to hop back and forth from L.A. to St. Dennis to attempt to coordinate this wedding. However Susanna isn't the type to deal with phone calls and emails. She wants the personal face to face contact with Lucy and she won't deal with anyone else.

Now Lucy has to try and find some way to work through the many details of pulling together a wedding of a life time in only 5 short months while trying to manage her ever increasingly busy business back in L.A. Her partner Bonnie is now commuting to Sacramento to help her ailing ex-husband back to health and finds herself falling in love with him once more. Will Lucy be able to handle all the increasing work load on both coasts or will she have to find a way to cut something lose before she loses her sanity.

In book 5 of The Chesapeake Diaries series by Mariah Stewart, Home for the Summer will require a balancing act for poor Lucy Sinclair of epic proportions to make her business a success and still give her elite clients exactly what they desire. Along the way, Lucy befriends her childhood friend, Clay Madison and soon finds that there is more there than simply friendship with someone she has grown up to respect and possibly love. But is that enough to warrant leaving her successful business in L.A.? Only time will tell as the romance continues to grow between some of the most wonderful characters in St. Dennis. If you haven't had the opportunity to pick up this series, may I suggest starting at the beginning with Coming Home? This is an unforgettable series and I for one am more than thrilled that Mariah is keeping this one going when most authors end a series after three books.

I received Home For The Summer by Mariah Stewart compliments of Ballantine Books and TLC Book Tours for my honest review and the saddest part about her books is when you get to the last page. It's hard to let go of the characters you honestly come to love and get to know. From the always quirky Inn owner and editor of the St. Dennis Gazette Grace, to the fun-loving ice cream shoppe owner, Stef, you are just bound to connect to someone in this delightful and truly charming series. I personally rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and while it's not a stand alone book there is certainly enough given in the book, that you could read it as a first, but trust me you'll want to pick up the entire series! I absolutely LOVE it and highly recommend it! Now I'm am anxiously awaiting, the Long Way Home which is due out in January 2013!!!

For more information about Home For The Summer, Mariah Stewart or where to pick up a copy of this book, please click on the links below:

Home For The Summer by Mariah Stewart

You can find Mariah Stewart on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest books.

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 29, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345531221
• ISBN-13: 978-0345531223
• Product Dimensions: 4.1 x 1 x 6.9 inches

Lola's Secret

There is an old saying that misery loves company and that is no more true for the residents of The Valley View Motel run by the Quinlan family under the wise old adage of 84-year-old Lola. Her goal is to help find a way to help restore hurting souls during the Christmas season. While strife remains between her own family members, Lola also opens up the hotel to strangers during Christmas and with that comes a host of other issues. I always say that sometimes it's easier to deal with other people's issues rather than your own because you are too close to see a clear solution and that seems to be the wisdom that Lola applies to those staying at the hotel. Each one has their own issues that they are struggling to overcome whether it's addictions, or simple relationship issues, Lola is hoping that simply being together can help them get past their problems and into solutions.

In the novel, Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney, it seems as though Lola's straight shooting and forward advice is often times what is needed instead of merely candy-coating a sympathy with her guest or family members. I love how well written and diverse the different characters are and how each of them thinks each situation that they are in, are generally worse than what anyone else is experiencing. Sometimes it takes working together to get to the heart of the problem and I think that through this fictional account of the Quinlan family, Lola is able to help each person in sometimes very unexpected ways.

I am always looking for a great Christmas book to read and while I have read similar books with storylines much like this one where a group of people are gathered together during unfortunate circumstances in the end, it all works out, this one has a bit more going for it. I love Lola's gumption and sometimes find that the older we get the wiser we become. It's often hard however to get younger people to follow such sage wisdom until they have exhausted all other attempts.

I received Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney compliments of TLC Book Tours and Ballantine Books for my honest review and think everyone will find something that they can relate to in this beautiful written novel. My only regret was that I wish the book was longer because you truly come to care about each and every single one of her characters she introduces in this novel. In my opinion, this one justly deserves a 5 out of 5 stars and I'll be looking for more from Monica McInerney in the future.

For more information about Lola's Secret, Monica McInerney, or where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney

For more review from the TLC Book Tour for Lola's Secret please click here. 

You can also find Monica McInerney on Facebook by clicking here. 

The Language of Flowers

Have you ever received some flowers and really responded to the message of receiving them? Not just who they were from or what color roses were sent on a particular holiday but as if someone was trying to send you a message just based on the type of flower they sent?

Victoria Jones has that uncanny ability to do just that. After spending years within the foster care system and in and out of more homes than most, she spent her time understanding and learning about the different types of plants, flowers and trees around her. Not only the scientific names as well as their common ones, but what is the meaning behind every single one. Now that she's 18 and technically homeless, she spends her first few weeks living in the park planting and overseeing the flowers she finds there.

Often times she wanders the streets while looking for job or something to eat and will come across a flower that she finds would be perfect to plant in the park. When fate plays a role in her life one day after helping Renata, the owner of Bloom, a local flower shop, she finds a perfect job suited just for her.

At first it's only helping to create flower arrangements for weddings on the weekend, but when Renata leaves her in charge of the shop for a few hours, her ability to understand what customers wants when ordering flowers, makes her a sought after employee, especially when the recipient responds based on what she creates for them.

In addition to making her way in this world, Victoria finds a chance encounter with a local flower vendor leads to more than she ever expected. Even though they don't exchange any words, they are able to communicate through the simple exchanges of different flowers and plants each time they meet.

I received the novel, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, compliments of Pump Up Your Book Tours and Random House Publishing House for my honest review and LOVED this concept. Even though the background story on Victoria's upbringing within the foster care system is hard, it helps you to understand how she uses her gift to speak to peoples hearts through the messages of flowers. It made me realize how often we don't think about what we are saying through the meanings of flowers we give, for example, lavender means mistrust, so what are we trying to say to the person we are sending it to. Makes you really consider that next flower arrangement you are going to send in the future. It makes for a great idea to surround the story around with Victoria's difficult upbringing but it all works so well in helping her work towards restoration in her life. I arrange for this book to receive a 5 out 5 stars!

For more information about this book, the author and where to pick up a copy of this book, please click on the links below:

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Vanessa's even working on an organization called the Camelia Network designed to help the youth making the transition from foster care. You can find out more information by clicking here.