Katie Crabapple

This was the first book by Crabapple I have read. It was a short read about a widow with four children who was pushed into placing an ad for a mail order bride.
I typically enjoy reading Mail Order Bride romances and did enjoy this one. Millie being an orphan gave it a unique spin.
That said, I found Crabapple's writing to be one of two things. One, it was targeted for a young teen audience or two, she did not have confidence in her writing or her audience as she repeated or over explained show more mundane facts. This was especially true of Millie's household duties. It is one thing to give the reader insight to the challenges she had in keeping a home. It did get repetitive, leaving me feeling the book had already been digested for me.
While the spiritual focus was a great plus and certainly an encouragement to see in a story, it can be overbearing when the characters are preachy or unnatural sounding with each other. George's unbending nature and the tendency to confront in a way one would a child did not reflect well on Christ's love for the church.
I thought Crabapple was excellent in her portrayal of the children at the ages indicated. Patience stool my heart as soon as she was introduced. I would love to read more of Crabapple's work. show less

If you do not like Christian romance then DO NOT read this book!

I personally feel that many readers did not know what the plot of the book was before reading therefore the lower rating of the book. I am not sure but I loved the book. I thought that it was so unreal at times but it was a true heart warming story. There was not a lot of character development but for a book like this, it was not needed.

I loved Millie and found her a little too good to be true. Charles and his limited reaction show more were very gruff but fit the story well. I just think the story was cute and I liked it. It was a refreshing read and I liked it. show less

Anna is content with her life. She works as a kindergarten teacher for a local school, and gives as much of her time as she can to her church. The new pastor at her church has caused quite a stir among the single females, because not only is he a single pastor, but he’s a handsome single pastor. Anna knows she doesn’t have a shot with him. Or does she?

This short story is meant as an introduction to the Parkside Community Church series. The main characters from this story continue through show more all five books as secondary characters and their characters are expanded on throughout the series. If you don't enjoy short stories, this book may not be what you're looking for.

This is part one of the Parkside Community Church series. Pastor Dan is already frustrated with the lack of christian volunteer spirit in the church. Then he finds Anna, just before she burns her feet. Pastor Dan is in awe of Anna’s Christian spirit and all that she has done for the children’s program. Dan shakes up the church and while doing that he falls in love with Anna and her servants heart.

Cute, romantic story. I was disappointed with the shortness of the book. But it is a great book and well written. Anna has been going to Parkside Community Church all her life and has a good servants heart. But this has allowed her actions and responses to restricted by the small minded eps of a few members of the church. After offering to help out in the children’s room for a couple of weeks it slowly turns into 6 months with not much help insight. After a chance run in with the new pastor that she has never met, Anna’s see’s hope for the future of the church. Dan has become very overwhelmed by the church he has taken on. He is disappointed in the congregations lack of a servants heart until he meets Anna. It shows him there are good members in the church and he see’s something special in Anna.

7 out of 10 show less

I liked it, but it definitely does not rank among my favorites. It's a good, clean, respectable read, but it's not completely gripping. I feel that the two main characters need some beefing up. Considering how quickly I finished the book, I think it may have needed some more "meat" to the story.