Perfect Timing by Jill Mansell

★★★☆☆
When you meet the man of your dreams on girls night out, it's hardly…Perfect Timing.  In this fresh and funny contemporary romance by bestselling author Jill Mansell, Poppy Dunbar's whole life gets turned upside down after a chance encounter with a handsome stranger...Never a troublemaker, Poppy had always been content with the way things were supposed to be done—which included marrying predictable Rob McBride. But that was before she met Tom Kennedy the night before her wedding. Could she really be falling in love with a stranger?  Unable to forget Tom, or go through with the wedding, Poppy runs off to London. Her new life and colorful friends are anything but predictable. Misunderstandings, family secrets, and jealous quarrels ensue, but can Poppy stop running long enough to figure out what—or, rather, who—is in her heart?

I've read a few Jill Mansell novels and thoroughly enjoyed them, so I was really looking forward to reading Perfect Timing.  Sadly, this book was a bit of a let down for me.  It certainly wasn't a page-turner for me like her other novels I've read (Miranda's Big Mistake and Millie's Fling).  Unfortunately, I thought this book was a little slow and boring at parts.  The last 60 or so pages were really good, and I did like how the book ended (although slightly predictable).  I thought there was a good story buried in there, but it could've used to have been trimmed of the slow sections.  Cute story, but not as good as her others.

Double Shot by Erynn Mangum

★★★★☆
Like I did for the last Maya Davis Series book, Latte Daze, I am not going to post the summary for Double Shot because it will be a spoiler since this is the third book in the series!  (The first is Cool Beans).

This book is just a continuation on in Maya's story.  It is so sweet.  I was so very sad when this book was over because it was the last in the series.  I honestly felt a little down for a few days because it felt like I had lost a few friends!  Pathetic, I know.  But these books are so cute and sweet, I would definitely recommend them for something light and semi-romantic!

Latte Daze by Erynn Mangum

★★★★☆
I'm not going to post they summary of Latte Daze because, since it's the second in the Maya Davis series (Cool Beans is the first), there are some spoilers in the summary!

And I'm not going to post much about what happens in this book, either, because there is a third book in the series! (Double Shot).

But like Erynn's other books, this was a great read.  You wish you were actually hanging out with her group of friends.  Such a cute, sweet story.  I was sad when it was over, but at least there is a 3rd book in the series!

Cool Beans by Erynn Mangum

★★★★☆
Everything seems to be going perfectly for Maya Davis: She has a great job at a coffee shop, gets along with her parents, and is happily single. That is until her best friend starts dating Maya’s high school sweetheart.
 
This funny, heartwarming fiction story by best-selling author Erynn Mangum uses the power of story to challenge teens to discover the relevance of faith in their relationships and their lives.

Okay, so I know the summary for Cool Beans says for "teens," but I am clearly not a teen and still really enjoyed this book!  Like Erynn's other books, her main character (Maya in this book), has a great group of friends.  You just want to hang out with them all.  Such a cute, sweet story.  This is the first book in the Maya Davis Series, the second is Latte Daze and the third is Double Shot.  Highly recommended for a light, semi-romantic read!

When I Lay my Isaac Down: Unshakable Faith in Unthinkable Circumstances by Carol J Kent

★★★★★
-This is a true story- When the phone call came at 12:35 a.m., a bleary-eyed Kent listened as her husband passed on the unbelievable news that their son, a Unite States Naval Academy graduate and Navy lieutenant, had shot and killed his wife's ex-husband. During those first few hours after receiving the harrowing news, major decisions, both legal and financial, needed to be made quickly. So began the Kents' two-and-a-half-year journey that led to the trial, conviction and sentencing of their son for first-degree murder. Kent (Tame Your Fears; Becoming a Woman of Influence; Secret Longings of the Heart), whose position as President of Speak Up Speaker Services made her the family's primary breadwinner, had no option but to continue working and speaking throughout this ordeal. She wondered if people would even want her as a speaker if they knew she was the mother of a murderer. Using a biblical story from Genesis 22 where God asked Abraham to literally "lay down his Isaac" as a sacrifice and then intervened at the last moment, Kent prayed for a similar miraculous outcome for her son. She shares her story with a transparency and vulnerability that readers will find both disarming and bracing. The Kent family's ongoing fight against despair and hopelessness is fittingly paired with their resolute faith in God's ability to transform even the most crushing circumstances into something good.

When I Lay My Isaac Down: Unshakable Faith in Unthinkable Circumstances is a fantastic book.  It is a true story written by Carol Kent, a Christian speaker and author.  When something unthinkable happens, their upstanding son commits murder and is sentenced to life in prison, the Kent's world is turned upside down.  You can sense her vulnerability and transparency in her writing - she feels angry, depressed, shameful, guilty.  Even though the Kents' reaction was to be angry with God for allowing it all to happen and for not stepping in, in the process they came to the realization that God loves us more than we love our 'Isaac' (Genesis 22).  They find hope in what appears to be a hopeless situation.  This book is very powerful, and the Kent's story shows how they were able to find a new meaning for their lives after all their dreams for their son's future were destroyed.  I would recommend this book for anyone, especially those that have had life-altering situations (death, illness, job loss, etc.) and are having trouble coping.

Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

★★★★☆
Heather Wells Rocks!

Or, at least, she did. That was before she left the pop-idol life behind after she gained a dress size or two — and lost a boyfriend, a recording contract, and her life savings (when Mom took the money and ran off to Argentina). Now that the glamour and glory days of endless mall appearances are in the past, Heather's perfectly happy with her new size 12hape (the average for the American woman!) and her new job as an assistant dorm director at one of New York's top colleges. That is, until the dead body of a female student from Heather's residence hall is discovered at the bottom of an elevator shaft.

The cops and the college president are ready to chalk the death off as an accident, the result of reckless youthful mischief. But Heather knows teenage girls . . . and girls do not elevator surf. Yet no one wants to listen — not the police, her colleagues, or the P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives — even when more students start turning up dead in equally ordinary and subtly sinister ways. So Heather makes the decision to take on yet another new career: as spunky girl detective!

But her new job comes with few benefits, no cheering crowds, and lots of liabilities, some of them potentially fatal. And nothing ticks off a killer more than a portly ex-pop star who's sticking her nose where it doesn't belong . . .

I really enjoyed Size 12 is Not Fat!  It is a funny, chick-lit story, but it is also a mystery that keeps you guessing.  Heather, the main character, is funny and self-deprecating.  There are some hilarious scenes in the book.  It is a pretty quick read as well, the mystery aspect of it makes it a page-turner.  It is the first book in a series, so if you like it, there are more!!

Divine by Karen Kingsbury

★★★★★
Mary Madison was a child of unspeakable horrors, a young woman society wanted to forget. Now a divine power has set Mary free to bring life-changing hope and love to battered and abused women living in the shadow of the nation’s capital.
 
Mary is educated and redeemed, a powerful voice in Washington, D.C. - both to the politically elite and to other women like her. But she also has a past that shamed polite society. Her experiences created in her paralyzing fear, faithlessness, addiction, and promiscuity. At the crossroads of her life, only one power set Mary free and gave her a lifetime of love and hope. A power that could only be divine.
 
Peggy Madison is Mary’s grandmother, a quiet woman who has spent her life praying for her granddaughter. Peggy clings to the belief that God has a special plan for Mary. Through years of sorrow and longing, Peggy walks the journey in faith and watches from a distance as one key person after another comes into Mary’s life and demonstrates the timeless, powerful love of the Master, the Savior. The divine Lord.
 
Emma Randall is a single mother fleeing an abusive relationship, wondering whether there is hope for her and her young daughters. She is desperate, broken, and unloved, tempted to commit the unthinkable. Then Mary Madison introduces Emma to the greatest love of all, greater than any either of them has ever imagined.

Wow, Divine was a really intense book.  When the book overview mentions "unspeakable horrors," it's not exaggerating.  Divine was written as a parallel to the story of Mary Magdelene from Scripture and the seven demons she dealt with.  The modern Mary of this book certainly faces her seven demons as the book delves into heavy topics such as prostitution, sex slavery, abuse, and more.  As dark as these topics are, this book is NOT explicit in any way; however, Kingsbury certainly leaves no question as to what the women in this book deal with.  Parts of it are certainly hard to read.  But it is a story of finding the all-encompasing and redeeming love of Christ, a love that is Divine.  It's a very good book, reminding us that whatever sins we have committed, even if they are unspeakable, and whatever is in our past, we are made alive and anew by Jesus and His sacrifice.