Made to Last by Melissa Tagg

  Miranda, Randi, Woodruff star of her own home improvement show "From the Ground Up" is in trouble.  Randi has felt abandoned all her life.  Her missionary parents sent her back to the U.S. to be raised by her grandparents.  Her fiancee left her and she is stuck hoping that he might return someday.  Her show is in jeapordy of being cancelled, so her manager comes up with a couple of publicity stunts to save the show and her career.

Matthew Knox  is a political reporter that has taken chances with his career and lost.  Matt continues to take chances on "lead stories" but  continues to lose.  Matt is offered a "fluff" job as a blogger who follows the life of celebrity, Miranda Woodruff.  This isn't his style of writing, but he takes the job to help pay for cochlear implant surgery for his niece.  Miranda Woodruff also happens to be his niece's favorite celebrity.  So he figures he can't mess up on this story, or can he?

Tagg builds beautiful characters with real life issues.  The story was built with a satisfying conclusion. There were some knots along the way.  Randi works on the issues in her life while keeping up a fake marriage and hoping to keep the personal shadow, Matt Knox, in the dark.  Find out how a relationship can be "Made to Last" in Melissa Tagg's debut novel.  I loved this simple story.  The life issues gave a sense of reality.  Sometimes things in life take on a life of their own before we know think about consequences.  I look forward to hearing more from this talented writer.

My thanks to Bethany House publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a free e-copy of the book to review.

Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury

I just finished Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury.  She stopped time for me as I read this insightful story about a young man by the name of Zack who goes onto a singing show much like American Idol.  Zack is a very strong Christian who says that going after a chance to sing on the TV show Fifteen Minutes won't change him.  He is going to honor God with every chance he gets.  Zack is hoping to win it all in order to save his parents horse farm.  Little does he know that the production of a television show will cost him some things that are very important to him.  God is watching out for Zack and you can see God's hand in Zack's career in ways you do not expect.

As I said earlier, Kingsbury stopped time for me.  What I mean is that she pulled me into the story so completely that as I was reading I had no idea how much time had passed.  Kingsbury brings up some good questions in the book about how we all think that life will not change us.  Yet as time goes by we see the little compromises we make here and there, only to see just how we have changed.  Sometimes we have people that speak into our lives to help us see the changes so we can correct things.  Sometimes the changes cost us things we weren't expecting.  As Christians, we want to do things that glorify God.  Some of the roads that we travel will end up pulling us away from God.  Zack found that this was happening in his life, but God also had people in his life to pull him back to God.  All he had to do was listen.  The same goes for us, God is constantly calling to his children back to himself.  There is a price to pay and Zack had to pay that price, but was it too high for him?  Read Fifteen Minutes to find out if the price for fame is too high.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ebook to read and review.

Into the Whirlwind by Elizabeth Camden

Set against the Great Chicago fire, this book blazes from start to finish.  Mollies runs a watch company and Zack is a lawyer for the famous Harman's Department Store in Chicago.

Mollie grew up learning how to make beautiful watches from her father, when he passed away she took over the company.  The 57th watch company employs about 40 people, most of whom are Civil War Vets suffering from various forms of PTSD.  Mollie is proud to provide work for the men who would otherwise be unemployed.

Zack is a no nonsense lawyer who has secretly admired Mollie for 3 years.  He wanted to date her, but because of their work relationship he felt he couldn't mix the two worlds.  His boss also had some rules against mixing business and pleasure.

The fire brings Mollie and Zack together in a way that only a disaster can and helps them to form a friendship.  As Chicago begins to rebuild, Mollie and Zack work at rebuilding their personal and professional lives.  This couple discovers that their personal lives do not mesh as well as they first thought.  Read Into the Whirlwind to find out if Mollie and Zack will ever be more than business associates.

The opening scene of the book is Chicago burning down to the ground and the action and pace of the book doesn't slow down until you finish it.  Mollie and Zack learn about business, life and love.  This is a great adventure.  You learn a little bit of Chicago's history and there is a touch of God.  I enjoyed the adventure, but was hoping for more than a hint of God in the book.  I love learning about history through stories, so this book hit the spot.