“Accepting God’s timing has never been so hard.
When thirty-nine-year-old Adeline Parker’s sisters send her to a baking retreat at a castle nestled in the hills of Kentucky, she’s relieved to spend Christmas away from the reminder of her mother’s passing. Her Christmas plans include:
•Exploring the festive charms of River Cottage
•Eating her weight in bear claws and cinnamon rolls
•Learning how to bake Bûche De Noël
What isn’t part of the plan is meeting Luke Bauman.
Luke has always felt called to the mission field. He never expected that when the door finally opened to go to Turkey, he would have a reason to stay in Kentucky. At forty-one, he’s spent most of his adult life focused on carpentry, keeping Reginald the rooster in line, and checking in on his widowed mother. Luke thought he was ready for change—but that was before Adeline stumbled (or sprinted) into his life.
Adeline refuses to distract Luke from his calling, but is there a chance that their meeting is all part of God’s good timing?”
Series: No, a stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are mentioned and quoted; Many Prayers, Thanking God, & Blessings over food; Talks about God, Jesus, His plans and timing, callings from Him, & being a missionary; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Many mentions of God, being called by Him, callings, missionaries, the mission field, & witnessing to others; Many mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of Christmas & celebrating the birth of Christ; Mentions of churches, church going, & services; Mentions of Christmas hymns & gospel songs; A few mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A few mentions of guilt about not witnessing to a friend enough before his death; A few mentions of theology books; A couple mentions of Christians; A couple mentions of salvation; A mention of a Christian being excited about death; A mention of a Biblical reason for a divorce (not said what);
*Note: Luke asks his mother “What on God’s green earth are you doing?” and later literally uses the phrase “only God knows”; Adeline knows that her mom can’t communicate with her anymore, but thinks of what she would be saying to her in certain situations; A teasing comment about someone being a fortune teller; A couple mentions of a possible ghost; A mention of aliens (Martians); A mention of something acting like a “demon-haunted swine”.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘shut up’, three ‘stupid’s, five ‘oh my gosh’s, six ‘darn’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Adeline is grieving the death of her mother as she passed away (from cancer) about a year prior to the book starting (Adelaide was her caretaker and feels guilt and regret); Many mentions of deaths, grief (including for a mom, a dad, and a wife for her husband), & cancer (both where the person makes it and another who did not); Mentions of injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, & stitches; Mentions of gossip; Mentions of peeing & needing the bathroom; Mentions of divorces; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of wine & a possibly spiked punch; A few mentions of hunting trips; A couple mentions of a possible serial killer; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of lottery tickets; A mention of Adeline not being a betting person;
*Note: Mentions of books & authors (From Whom the Bell Tolls, Romeo & Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, The Hobbit, The Velveteen Rabbit, Black Beauty, Meant to Be (by this author), Knowing God by A.W. Tozer, & Beatrix Potter); Mentions of social media platforms & websites (Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Etsy, Google); A few mentions of the Backstreet Boys (and how Adeline would blush over Nick Carter); A few mentions of fictional characters (the Grinch, Santa Claus, Edna Mode, Harry Potter, & Gilderoy Lockhart); A couple mentions of brand names, places (M&Ms, & Walmart); A mention of a chicken being named Margaret Hatcher (instead of Thatcher); A mention of Gordon Ramsey; A mention of Barbie movies; A mention of Luke being up on his vaccines.
Sexual Content- A hand/fingers kiss, six cheek/nose kisses, seven forehead/head kisses, a not detailed kiss, nine barely-above-not-detailed kisses, two border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses, four semi-detailed kisses, two detailed kisses, and two very detailed kisses; Remembering kisses (up to semi-detailed); Staring at lips; Touches, Embraces, Cuddling, Hand holding, Dancing, Flutters, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss/be kissed, touch, embrace, hold hands, & dance (up to semi-detailed); Noticing & Staring (including muscles, up to semi-detailed); Flirting, Winks, & Blushes; After kissing a couple of times, Adeline and Luke mention about either not kissing because they don’t know where a relationship will go for them (her thoughts) or that maybe they should kiss because of that (his thoughts); Luke tells Adeline to quit fixing her sweater and jeans after a kiss because she’s making it look like they were doing more than just kissing (teasing her); Adeline makes a comment that Luke smirks at because of how it sounded (asking if he would like to “sample some of [her] pavlova?”); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of blushes, winks, flirting, & swooning; Mentions of dates, dating, & boyfriends; Mentions of crushes & types; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Adeline isn’t comfortable with low-cut dresses and appreciates someone picking out a modest dress for her; Adeline refers to being a teenage girl screaming into a pillow with a celebrity crush; Luke goes shirtless in the epilogue and teases Adeline about her liking what she sees.
-Adeline Parker, age 39
-Luke Bauman, age 41
1st person P.O.V. switches between them
293 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Ahh, I really would like to give this book a higher rating! While typing up this review with the content, though, I had to drop my personal rating because of all of the kisses/make out sessions, which is really a bummer!
I went back and forth grinning like a ninny and then crying my eyes out while reading this book. Which might scare some away, but it felt therapeutic to me. Christmas is hard for my family and while some days it’s hard to read about another’s grief, I understood so much of what Adeline was feeling in a lot of ways.
I do think a few kisses were a bit too much—especially because they didn’t know if everything would work out for them. When Adelaide comments on that, he says about
maybe they “should be soaking up every moment we have together” which wasn’t quite the right mindset in my opinion. They were adorable together and one couple I would actually approve of despite the couple only knowing each other a short time. But I do think those detailed kisses affected their emotions and added more angst and stress for them with the already difficult decisions they have to make about their futures. Might be an unpopular opinion, but one I stand by. 😅
I do really like how strong the faith content was in this book and how much they communicated and actually had discussions about important things to them both. Because of the kisses, I have to give this book lower ratings for teen readers (keeping in mind that every teen and what they’ve been exposed to—secular romance readers probably wouldn’t be bothered by these kisses but it’s more than I feel comfortable recommending). Had the kisses not been so intense, I think I would have given this one a five star personal rating.
See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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