A Matter of Heart by Tracie Peterson

Rating: 3/5

I liked this book at first. It seemed new and fresh and I really liked it. But then around the halfway mark, it started to not be so good and it sounded like every other romance novel. It didn’t feel real, at least not in the way I would have liked it to.

I also feel like Gable could have been left out of the plot. He wasn’t there for a lot of the story, than he just sort of disappeared. He didn’t really add anything to the plot. I mean yeah, he sort of made a tug-and-pull of emotion with Jessica, but he just sort of showed up. Didn’t like him.

The references to Jessica’s selfish and snobbish ways also got to be a little much. I might be saying the opposite if she had maybe kept the mentioning to a maximum of three times, but I’m not sure.

Everything else I pretty much liked, but I don’t know if I would read this book again. And that makes me sad because I’ve been a fan of Tracie for a very long time and I hate that I don’t like this book better than I do.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin

Rating: 5/5

Summary – Allie Miller has never been able to please her parents. In order do so, she will married a man that she does not love. But when is has a chance meeting with Walt Novak. Walt is everything that Allie wants in a man and the two begin to write. In their letters Allie and Walt find love and faith. But there are secrets that may keep them apart for ever.

Some things I liked about this book was that the characters were believable. It wasn’t all rainbow kisses and unicorn stickers. There were trials the characters went through, which made them feel realistic, which is what I like. And Ms. Sundin didn’t just mention God once, either. He was actually mentioned several times through out the book and instead of sentences, there were paragraphs. Thats something that annoys me in some books, where al they add is a sentence or two to make it “Christian”, so this was a refreshing change. I also liked how the chapters alternated back and forth between the two main characters until near the end, which was nice to hear both sides of a story, and not confusing. The book was never boring… it always had a way of getting you to turn pages, wondering how their stories will turn out. The ending was absolutely perfect {though I did feel it was a tiny bit rushed}. Not at all left on a cliffhanger.
Also, if you read this book for a book club it does have discussion questions at the very end.

Something that needs to be addresses for younger readers is that this book does have mentions of drinking and smoking through out the book. There is also mention of homosexuality once or twice. And because this book is set in WWII, there is war violence on Walt’s side of the story, but it’s not too graphic.

Language – From what I remember it was pretty clean, but there may have been one or two words of choice slipped in there.

Romance – Clean and sweet.

Conclusion – I absolutely loved this book. I will definitely read this again, once I finish reading all of my other books. It was sweet and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.