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Annette P. (Mama-of-Seven) - Reviews

1 to 13 of 13
Anne's House of Dreams (Anne of Green Gables Novels (Hardcover))
Review Date: 1/17/2007


Let me tell you any of the Anne of Green Gables series are great! I love Lucy Maude Montgomery books and also the movies. They are breathtaking.

This story is about Anne Shirley and a new adventure in her life. She came to Green Gables at the age of 9, an orphan, and in all those years there has never been a wedding at Green Gables. It is the same orchard that she and Gilbert Blythe also known as Gil will be married. Now her travels will take her to Four Winds Harbor, where she will begin her life as Mrs. Gilbert Blythe. Anne will be leaving Avonlea and this is a major turning point in her life.
Diana Barry, her best friend, will help her with her wedding along with Miss Lavendar, Paul Irving, Mrs. Rachel Lynde, and her foster mother, Marilla Cuthbert.
This book is a reprint of the 1917 version and don't let the date fool you into think this is not a great book. You really need to read any and all of the Anne books. They are amazing and you will love them!


Christmas Letters
Christmas Letters
Author: Debbie Macomber
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 223
Review Date: 1/18/2007


If you love Christmas and all the great things that happen during the season you will love this book. It is a romantic comedy and Debbie Macomber has become one of my most favorite authoresses.

This is a book about love finding each other and they were right under each others noses all the time and both were not looking for anyone really but they do find one another and must further find a way of accepting their differences. And if you ever have felt embarassed by a relative that comes to visit...read this one...it is sure to crack you up!


The Dead Man in Indian Creek
The Dead Man in Indian Creek
Author: Mary Downing Hahn
Book Type: School Library Binding
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 1/22/2007


The Dead Man in Indian Creek

Two boys adventure off into the woods for a nice weekend of camping and fishing, what they found was trouble. There is a lot of action and tension in this mystery book and Mary Downing Hahn knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat. I recommend this to any young kid wanting an excellent book to read.

Overview: The face stared up with deade eyes, its mouth open, its hair swirling in the creek water. Matt and his friend Parker found the dead man. He'd been murdered. And the worst part is, Parker thinks he knows the killer. He knows him all too well. But he needs some proof.

The evidence may be out at the Olde Mill, but Parker and Matt have to sneak out into the darkness to get it because nobody takes their story seriously. Nobody, that is, except the killer. And he takes them very seriously....


The Knitting Diaries: The Twenty-First Wish / Coming Unraveled / Home to Summer Island
Review Date: 1/11/2012
Helpful Score: 1


This anthology of three different knitters stories is one you don't want to put down. The Twenty-First Wish by Debbie Macomber is a sequel to her book Twenty Wishes. Blossom Street's shop owner Anne Marie Roche is attracted to her adopted daughters biological father when he comes into their lives. When it comes to love Debbie delivers in a tasteful and classy way.

Coming Unraveled by Susan Mallery is an interesting read, Robyn is down-on-her-luck and returns to Texas to run her grandmothers knitting store while she has surgery. She is not welcomed to fondly by a hunky cowboy who is a regular at the store and has grown protective of granny and her two other lifelong friends. He is in therapy after an accident that kills his wife and son and they help get him back to health and he thinks Robyn is up to no good. He is a hotshot in the music industry but keeps it a secret from everyone and is eventually found out. There is one hot and steamy love scene that could have been handled a little more tastefully, but that's me.

Return to Summer Island by Christina Skye is a great read that I could not put down. I've found Skye to be my second favorite romance writer. This story finds the heroine coming to grips with her inability to knit after a devastating car accident. Caro McNeal moves home with her grandmother who raised her and finds healing through Grandma's support, an unquenchable desire to knit again and through her letters to a marine in Afghanistan.


Lightning (Large Print)
Lightning (Large Print)
Author: Danielle Steel
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 5
Review Date: 1/22/2007


Danielle Steele is one of my favorite authors and I think this is one of her best books.

Here is the book overview:

As a partner at one of New York's most prestigious law firms, Alexandra Parker barely manages to juggle husband, career, and the three-year-old child she gave birth to at forty. But Alex feels blessed with her life and happy marriage--until lightning strikes her. Suddenly a routine medical check-up turns her world upside down when tests reveal shattering news.

Sam Parker is a star venture capitalist, a Wall Street whiz kid, and is as proud of his longtime marriage to Alex as he is of his successful career. As a major player in New York's financial world, Sam is used to being in control--until he is caught off guard by Alex's illness. Terrified of losing his wife and family, and haunted by ghosts from his past, Sam is unable to provide any kind of emotional support to Alex.

Unable to cope with her needs, Sam takes his distance from her, and almost overnight she and Sam become strangers. As lightning strikes them yet again, Sam's promising career suddenly explodes in disaster, and his very life and identity are challenged. With their entire future hanging in the balance, Alex must decide what she feels for Sam, if life will ever be the same for them again, or if she must move on without him.

What happens to people when every aspect of their lives and well-being is threatened? In Lightning, Danielle Steel tells the story of a family thrust into uncertainty and explores whether the bonds of love and marriage can withstand life's most unexpected bolts of lightning.


Mandie and the Holiday Surprise (Mandie, Bk 11)
Mandie and the Holiday Surprise (Mandie, Bk 11)
Author: Lois Gladys Leppard
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 23
Review Date: 1/17/2007


Mandie is going home for Christmas which seems like a dream for her. She gets to be with her family and see her friends and she remembers all the good times of wrapping presents, decorating the Christmas tree and all the baking.

However, when she gets home things are not normal. Something is different and she knows her mother and stepfather are keeping something from her, but what? A very adventureous story I think you will love too.


The Mark: The Beast Rules the World (Left Behind, Bk 8) (Large Print)
Review Date: 5/23/2007


The Mark
The Beast rules the world...

His Excellency Global Community Potentate Nicolae Carpathia, resurrected and indwelt by the devil himself, tightens his grip as ruler of the world. The battle is launched for the very souls of men and women around the globe as sites are set up to begin administering the mark.

If you have followed the Bibles revelations of the coming of the anti-christ/devil then this is the book that will wake you up to something that is coming in the near future.


Me and the Pumpkin Queen
Me and the Pumpkin Queen
Author: Marlane Kennedy
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 5
Review Date: 6/29/2012


Mildred is a young girl who lives with her dad, she lost her mother to an illness and through her father's stories she learns that her mother was once the Circleville Show Pumpkin Queen in Ohio.

She dreams of being like her mother and entering in the Pumpkin Show, but not as a queen. She wants to win the giant pumpkin contest. Mildred tries and tries and is obsessed with growing that giant pumpkin. Many things interfere each year, hindering her best efforts; a dog, a tornado and other life troubles. Most people don't think she can grow a pumpkin let alone the biggest.

One day she goes with her father, a vet, to deliver a calf. She ask a farmer for a few tips, which he gives her, but she is soon discouraged when she sees the high-tech gadgets he uses to grow his pumpkin. But she never gives up.

Then there is her Aunt Arlene who is annoyed by little Mildred's over-determination with the pumpkin-growing project. Each year Mildred tries to grow a pumpkin but something always happens. Mildred's dad believes in her, and her best friend, Jacob, believes in her too.

You have to read Me and the Pumpkin Queen to see if she succeeds or accepts her loss graciously. One thing I will say there is a real Circleville Pumpkin Show, the best festival I have ever attended in my life, and they do have the largest pumpkin contest.

The festival sells everything pumpkin from candy, pies and taffy to fudge, soup and rolls. Good times and good stuff...and a great book you must read. It has an occasional hiccup but overall it is very informative, fun and by the end of the book you will want to grow your own giant pumpkin too!


Motherhood Stress: Finding Encouragement in the Ultimate Helping Profession
Review Date: 1/27/2007


This is a book with some great advice on how to relieve the stress of motherhood.


Once Upon a Christmas: Just Like the Ones We Used to Know / The Night Before Christmas / All the Christmases to Come (Harlequin Superromance, No 1380)
Review Date: 1/17/2007


This is a 3-in-1 Harlequin Super Romance. These 3 stories are in the spirit of Christmas past, Christmas present and Christmas future. I can't say which of the tree I loved the most, but if I had to choose one I would say The Night Before Christmas. The first story is about a father who doesn't know he has a child because the mother who is always on drugs leaves her child with her best friend to raise. She becomes the foster mother and when she attempts to give the girl her Christmas wish to meet her father...well something magical happens. :D

In the Night Before Christmas a big shot hotel owner is ready for a business trip to Las Vegas to meet with some even bigger big wigs. He forgets its Christmas and has sent his chauffer home with his car. Then comes a limo drive dropping off her last client for the holiday and is heading for a long drive home to help her family with the Santa Express. Guess who orders her to take him where he wants? Read this and you'll find out. She is hard headed and teaches him a few things about the spirit of Christmas along the way.
The last story is about a single dad Andrea who had dealt with losing his girl friend Rachel in a break up. She wanted kids of their own not just his daughter by another, and he doesn't. But then he finds out his second child is on the way and she is on a train headed home...far, far away...read this and find out what happens!


The Quiet Child (Sisters of the Silver Dollar, Bk 3) (Harlequin American Romance, No 1139)
Review Date: 1/17/2007


Alex isn't looking forward to Christmas. Her 3 other sisters have all found their soul mates and her mother is involved with someone too. Then Alex's ex-fiancee who betrayed her and had a child by another ask for her help. As if! However, Alex feels for the little boy after hearing about some terrible things that happen in his young life. Alex's Gypsey Mother predicted that a child will come into her life and its laughter will heal her wounded heart, but first the child must be healed, she says. You need to read this wonderful book to really appreciate it.


The Rock
The Rock
Author: Josh McDowell
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.8/5 Stars.
 2
Review Date: 1/17/2007


This book reflects on Bible teachings and how to make moral decisions in your life.


The Wonderful Wizard of OZ (Young Readers Classics)
The Wonderful Wizard of OZ (Young Readers Classics)
Author: L. Frank Baum
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 1/17/2007


This young readers version of the classical Wonderful Wizard of Oz is easy to read for youngsters. It is much like the movie version but this is the actual story that L. Frank Baum wrote and it is a little different then the Hollywood version of the movie to some extent. A nice story just the same and a classic!


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