The Hawaiian Discovery by Wanda Brunstetter & Jean Brunstetter

     Welcome to Hawaii! For someone who would absolutely love a vacation at this moment, this book takes me on a little escape to the islands.  Having not read the first book in this series, the Hawaiian Quilt, I decided to read that book before I read this one. While you could definitely read this as a stand-alone novel, I don't think it would have the same level of meaning unless you started with the Hawaiian Quilt. I felt like it really built off of the first book and you would be missing half of the story if you didn't start there.

     The Hawaiian Discovery starts on the mainland, where the first book ends at, and then they find themselves over on the islands for some unexpected reasons. Without giving too much away, this story does carry on with the story of Mandy, but it really focuses on Ellen. Ellen is Mandy's best friend and she is willing to sacrifice a lot for her best friend. I kept thinking how different our world would look if everyone had a best friend like her!

    The writing style in this book felt different to me. I'm not sure if it's because of the different characters and short chapters or if it was something else. I liked the short chapters, but I felt like just as I was getting into the new character for that particular chapter, it would switch. I don't think that I would have changed anything, except maybe put a little bit more of each person together to give the reader some time to adjust.

    I really enjoy books on the Amish and Wanda Brunstetter has been one of my top authors for Amish fiction for a long time. I appreciate that she thought out of the box for the setting of this book. It set itself apart and told a sweet story in a fun setting. I hope that she does more books like this, as far as a setting that is unique where you wouldn't really picture the Amish going.

   I'm looking forward to reading her Christmas book that is coming out really soon!

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I received a complimentary copy of this book. No review was required, and all thoughts expressed are my own.

Woman of Courage by Wanda E. Brunstetter

I like Wanda Brunstetter.  Her Amish books are so good and I think I have almost all of them.  I actually had seen this book in the store a few weeks ago and had picked it up to read the back.  I was certain I would want to read it because I love reading her books. But then I saw her character was a Quaker.  I normally don't like a lot of books that deal with the Quakers, for some reason.  So I put the book down.  Fast forward to a little later and the book request came for this book. I figured, "why not? Maybe I'll like it." And much to my surprise, I did! I can't believe I ever doubted her book!

First of all, I think the cover is beautifully done.  The images on the front have good contesting colors and the font used blends so well.  The back of the book wasn't left out and it's nice and simple.  To me, that's beautiful.

I really enjoyed pondering on all that Amanda gave up in order to do what she felt God was calling her to do.  She was single and didn't let it hinder her in becoming a missionary to the Nez Perce Indians.  That's easy to read until you start thinking about her going west by herself at a time where women did not do that.  Not only that, but her life becomes at stake in several instances.  She has to learn who to trust all by simply relying on the Lord's guidance. She has no one to discuss thing with until she meets Mary. 

I liked watching the relationship develop with Buck and Amanda.  It was no easy relationship and was full of hardships and difficult situations.  There's one thing holding Amanda back... Buck isn't a believer and she knows she can't be with someone who is not a Christian. After already being heartbroken with one relationship, she's not quite ready to dive into another one where it is certain she will be heartbroken again.

This was a fascinating perspective on the Quakers and in a way that I never thought I would enjoy.  This has made me realize not to doubt her writing again!

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I received this book free from Shiloh Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

Goodbye to Yesterday by Wanda E. Brunstetter

I'll admit that when I first got this book, I looked up the pages online to make sure that I had all of the book!  It was a little, compact book that I wasn't for sure could hold a lot of information!  However, it held a lot of story within those pages and I was delighted to find that the suspense level I had the end made me want to grab the next book right away to see what happened to Luke Stoltzfus.

Luke and Meridith seemed to have a wonderful relationship, but it tries every marriage when a husband is out of a job.  He was meant to provide and I was glad to see this as part of the storyline, especially with today's economy.  I think this book is very easy to relate to for people today because of so many people without jobs and living off their savings.

I am anxiously awaiting to read the rest of the books in this new series.  This is the first book in Wanda E. Brunstetter's series, The Discovery.

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I received this book free from Barbour Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.