Five Fall Favorites || Day Four { Hope + Blankets }

Welcome back to day four! I can't believe it's almost the weekend already. Any special plans, other than the wrap-up of FFF? :)

In my opinion, wrapped in a blanket is the best place to enjoy a good book. Would you like one? 

H O P E

A Touch of Purple Paint by Hailey Rose

Seven-year-old Harper’s biggest concern isn’t that she has cancer. Or even that her diseased leg was just amputated. She’s worried about getting well enough to see the purple bedroom her daddy painted for her birthday—the birthday she spent undergoing chemo.

Chad Bailey is more than content with the world-traveling plans he and his wife have in place. What started out as posting their travel vlogs on YouTube for their niece, Harper, to watch during her chemo treatments exploded into an immensely popular channel—and it’s still growing.

When a single phone call changes everything for both Chad and Harper, YouTube is the last thing on his mind as he faces the biggest decision of his life.

With their world full of questions and pain, can a little purple paint mend the fragments of their lives? 

•••

Ohh, this one hurt. It hurt a lot. But still, hope shone through and brought warmth and light to the broken pieces. This little read is a total gem. <3 

No Chance Meeting by Jaye Elliot || No Chance Love #1

Alex Jennings is done with life. After losing her brother in Afghanistan, everything has collapsed around her. Getting laid off from her day job and failing in her art career, she has nowhere left to turn. She once had faith to believe that all things would work together for good, but that faith died with her brother. Now she just wants the pain to end.

Riley Conrad served thirteen years in the military until three bullets sent him home. After a year and a half of physical therapy and scraping together a living, all he wants is to live a simple life and perhaps even open the coffee shop he dreams about. However, the weight of failing his parents’ expectations doesn’t make it easy, and working as a bartender isn’t getting him anywhere fast.

Could a “chance” meeting between Alex and Riley set them both on the path God always intended?

•••

There's lots of sadness, darkness, loss, and pain in this story. But there's also hope. Joy, love, second chances, and grace. I enjoyed it very much. 

~ R E V I E W  H E R E ~

Never Say Goodbye by Sarah Grace Grzy

They say time heals all wounds. But he was finding it a poor painkiller.

Tyler Collens has seen grief and loss in his years of experience as a paramedic—but he never expected it to touch his life in such a personal way. The death of his wife eighteen months ago shook his steady world and changed him in more ways than he can count. Time and routine have steadied his feet, and he looks toward the future as he raises his infant daughter—but the past has a tighter grip on him than he knows. 

Alyvia Emmerson has never been certain of who she is or where she belongs. Her dad’s abandonment as a teen broke a fragile piece of her heart, but ten years later, she has moved on. Living on her own, she at last has a project to devote herself to: revitalizing a shabby bookstore. But she didn’t count on her dream job revealing the shattered pieces of herself she thought mended long ago.

•••

Never Say Goodbye combined several things I love in a book and delivered on all fronts. Single parent stories get me every time, but especially ones like this. <3 

Beloved by Kaitlyn Krispense

Life without love is hopeless. 

Foster teen Cara Richards is unloved. With nothing left and nowhere to go, she is determined to find peace, no matter the cost. But despite her intentions, she’s tossed into another foster family and this time, there’s no going back to who she used to be. To make matters worse, one of her five new foster brothers is a Jesus freak, and she refuses to believe that God actually cares.

Her world is thrown upside down in a way she never expects. Though she prides herself on a resilient heart, her mind is lost adrift among a sea of questions: Is death really the answer? Does God care about someone as unworthy as me? Can everyone truly be loved, no matter what? 

•••

My book release buddy from just over two years ago! Suicidal survivor stories might be my favorite kind of hopeful. 

~ R E V I E W  H E R E ~

Tattered Wings by Kassie Angle

Some scars can't be seen. And some can't be hidden.

Layla Trent's life is pretty much perfect, except for the little matter of a dog of her own—and maybe a brother. So why does a random nightmare of a princess dress, a hospital, and a stranger who's definitely not her daddy feel more like an aching wound? And can a broken, glassy-eyed puppy somehow help her release the pain she didn't even know she was carrying?

Corporal Andrew Reyes has proven he has what it takes to be the best—a US Army Ranger. But when a double tragedy rocks his world, his resolve is shaken to the core. What's left for a man to live for when he's lost everything he ever wanted to be? And is the sudden appearance of a teenage girl with a three-legged therapy dog a cruel joke or a divine appointment?

Some scars can't be hidden. But some don't need to be. 

•••

As much as this book touched me, I can't believe it's still the only "Kassie book" I've read, but at the same time I'm not sure another can compare. Broken wings still fly. <3 

~ R E V I E W  H E R E ~

 

Next to last day! How much is your TBR pile teetering just now?