When the Soul Mends by Cindy Woodsmall

I really enjoy this authors style of writing. "When the Soul Mends," is the 3rd (and I believe the final) book in this series. The main character, Hannah, struggles with many fall-outs due to a tragic, life-changing event that happened in her life. She has to struggle to discover who she really is, what God is calling her to be, and what will ultimately serve her purpose. She faces many ups and downs along the way and learns about forgiveness and trueness to self. This is a wonderful story about self-discovery and love.

One Perfect Day by Lauraine Snelling

This book was a very good read- I read it in 2 days (took that long only due to other responsibilities that demanded my time). This is a very emotional topic that touches upon many different emotionally charged topics. The story begins with the character Nora's desperate attempts at creating the perfect Christmas for her family. The focus on perfection quickly looses its importance when tragedy strikes the family.
The author uses the back-and-forth writing style that I enjoy very much. We next meet Jenna who is a single mother of a 20 year old daughter awaiting a heart transplant while quickly loosing her strength in life.
This story takes very emotional, tough subjects and presents them in a way that allows the reader to both grieve and rejoice with the families.
I enjoyed reading this book and plan to recommend it to friends for use in a book group. I also plan to investigate more books by this author.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

I enjoyed this book. The topic presented is a very emotional one- that of the french occupation of Jews during the 1940's. This story traces the path basically surrounding one certain apartment and its occupants. The story tells of the different responses of each person and how they were affected.
It was one of those stories that you wish for a different outcome than the one you know is coming- but still as a reader I was hopeful for the good in people. This book would make an excellent book group read. There are many aspects/emotions that could be explored in a group discussion. I also enjoyed the writing style of the author- she presented the story in a back-and-forth manner telling a little bit about the past and present families.