Deb Hockenberry Recommends "Feisty Family Values"

TITLE: Feisty Family Values
AUTHOR: B.D. Tharp
PUBLISHER: Five Star (ME),
February 17, 2010
FORMAT: Hardcover
PRICE: $25.95, £18.39
PAGES: 271
ISBN-10: 159414849X
ISBN-13: 9781594148491

Reviewed by Deborah Hockenberry, Independent Reviewer

A cab stops in front of the Victorian mansion in a well-to-do neighborhood in Wichita, Kansas. The passenger fumbles through her wallet for the correct fare. Finding everything but thirty cents, she dives into her cracked vinyl purse in search of it. The passenger walks up the steps of the mansion to see if her cousin, Regina, will take her in. But why is she here?

Regina, a bitter lady, a snob and born with a silver spoon in her mouth, hesitantly lets her poor relation in. After all, Annabelle is family. Regina is sure that her cousin’s stay will only be temporary. It has to be temporary! What will the neighbors think and how did Annabelle get that black eye? Tillie joins Regina at the door and makes up Regina’s mind for her.

Tillie is Regina’s best friend. She also lives in the old Victorian. Tillie is the total opposite of Regina. She’s full of life, accepts people for who they are, never hesitates to tell Regina what she thinks and is also a gourmet cook. In short, she’s one feisty lady!

Annabelle is different from either Regina or Tillie. Life has made her a timid creature so she doesn’t really speak up much. She is so eager to please her cousin that she’s even willing to learn to cook the way Tillie does! Will Annabelle overcome her shyness?

Will these three women be able to live together as a family unit? After all, each lady is in her 60’s and life has made each totally different from the other.

What’s happening to Regina’s perfect life? Now, there’s a cat in the house not to mention the chaos of Annabelle’s three grandchildren that are there periodically. What has made Regina so bitter? We don’t find this out until the end of the book. To complicate matters even more, a hunk of a man moves in right across the street from the ladies. All three ladies fall for their handsome neighbor. Will he fall for one of them?

I highly recommend Feisty Family Values. This is a very compelling and relatable tale that I had trouble putting down. Everyone knows people like Regina, Tillie, and Annabelle.

B.D. Tharp’s book deals with cancer, parental abuse, child abuse, love in your 60’s and more. Not only did she touch on some very real issues in her book but she wrote a very entertaining one. Feisty Family Values keeps you turning the pages!

If you’d like to learn more about the author please visit her website at: http://bdtharp.com.

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The reviewer is Deb Hockenberry who blogs at http://thebumpyroadtopublishing.blogspot.com. Her reviews also appear at http://debsbookreviews.blogspot.com.

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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below:

Deb Hockenverry Reviews Christian Fiction

TITLE: Third Time’s a Charm: A Novel
AUTHOR: Virginia Smith
FORMAT: Paperback, Kindle
PAGES: 327
PRICE: $10.19 (print), $9.99 (kindle)
ISBN-10: 0800732340
ISBN-13: 9780800732349

Reviewed by Deb Hockenberry



Tori Sanderson is the youngest of the three Sanderson sisters. She loves to shop for designer clothes and shoes.

Her two older sisters fix her up with Ryan, a farm boy from her hometown. Over time Tori slowly falls in love with Ryan, much to her two older sisters’ delight. Unfortunately, Ryan’s busybody sister-in-law interferes way too much, showing up at their first date with her two sons. The two older Sanderson sisters are also not quite as bad at interfering but they do invade their sister’s love life asking Ryan for details after each date. In fact, they go as far as to show up at the hardware store where Ryan works!

Tori works at a very high pressure job in a nearby town and has a boss that expects her to work 24/7. She’s also up for a promotion along with her coworker, Mitch. If Mitch gets the promotion, Tori would work for him so the competition between the two is fierce!

Mitch also has his eye on Tori and can’t figure out what Tori sees in Ryan.

Tori’s possible promotion adds further complications to their relationship since she has to work harder than ever hardly leaving her time to breathe much less date. She has to do her regular job as well as garner experience and get a presentation together for the owners of a restaurant. Whoever has the best presentation and wins the restaurant owners over, gets the promotion. So, the competition between Tori and Mitch is fierce!

I truly enjoyed this easy to read book but was a bit disappointed in the beginning. Tori is at the mall buying a gift for her sister, Joan’s, wedding shower present. While she’s in the mall she sees a pair of designer shoes that she thinks she has to have. This makes her late for Joan’s wedding shower! How can you be late for one of your sisters’ biggest events in her life? From there on the book got much better.

This is the last book in the Sister-to-Sister series. As a sister myself, I could relate to the three sisters. I’ve never read a book from this trilogy before but after reading this book, I would like to read the other two books. This Christian book is easy to read without being ‘preachy’. This book has to be in any church library and in your own personal library!

To learn more about the author please visit: http://www.virginiasmith.org .

The reviewer Deb Hockenberry may be reached at kidztales@verizon.net. Also find her review site at http://debsbookreviews.blogspot.com.


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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've loved. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by author names, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the index handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. As a courtesy to the author, please tweet and retweet this post using the widget below: