"Harvest Day in the Square" by Erynn Mangum

About this book:

  “Allie McGrady has always sworn she would NEVER move back to her tiny hometown of Hillview, Texas, and yet, here she is - buying a house in Hillview. But this isn't an ordinary house and doesn't take long before Allie realizes that maybe she bit off more than she can chew with this particular fixer-upper. Add in the pressure to get it done before the town's annual Harvest Day in the Square and Allie is starting to panic.
    Enter Harris, a pastor at Allie's sisters' church. He is a lifesaver for Allie and ends up helping at the house as much as possible, which instantly turns Allie's sisters into a bunch of matchmakers. This is completely terrible because Allie really likes Harris as a friend only, so everything is now just awkward and awful. In the midst of all of this, Allie is confronted over and over again with her identity and who she is - not just to herself or others, but who she is to Jesus.”


Series: Book #3 in the “Holidays in Hillview” series. Reviews of Book #1 Here and Book #2 Here!


Spiritual Content- Many Scriptures are read, quoted, mentioned, discussed, & thought about; Going to Bible study (x4, with lessons/conversations shared) & Bible reading; Prayers & Blessings over food; Many talks about God, Christians, & having worth in the Lord; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Many mentions of God, Jesus, God working on someone’s heart, how God views us, & Christians; Many mentions of churches, church going, pastors, Bible studies, & services; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, Bible studies, & devotionals; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of sin/sinners; A couple mentions of missionaries; A mention of the Holy Spirit; A mention of Heaven; A mention of being blessed; A mention of a Christian school; A mention of rabbis; 
             *Note: A Bible study lesson comments about how meditation and manifestation is commonly said nowadays & the pastor discusses what the Bible really says about it (saying not taking advice or counsel from the wicked, but taking counsel from the Word of God); A couple mentions of luck & being lucky; A couple mentions of a house looking haunted; A mention of a horror movie with a ghost; A mention of a fate.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘crappy’, a ‘dang’, a ‘darn’, a ‘duh’, a ‘dumb’, a ‘holy cow’, an ‘idiot’, a ‘shoot’, a ‘what the heck’, two ‘good grief’s, three ‘holy smokes’s, four ‘stupid’s, five ‘gosh’s, and twelve ‘oh my gosh’s; Lots of eye rolling & sarcasm; Allie exclaims other phrases like “buttered biscuits” a few times; Mentions of a curse being written in graffiti (not written); Mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of wars; A few mentions of injuries; A few mentions of a house looking like it belongs in a horror movie & people being murdered by a ghost; A few mentions of envy; A mention of hatred; A mention of gossip; A mention of tattoos; 
             *Note: Mentions of movies, TV shows, fictional characters (Cinderella, Gone with the Wind, Sleepless in Seattle, Zootopia, Lord of the Rings, Twilight, Pirates of the Caribbean, Wicked, Full House, Home Improvement, Psych, Home Town, Disney princesses, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Olaf, & Hulk); Mentions of brand names & places/restaurants (iPad, Sterno, Formica, Pyrex, Elmer’s Glue, Operation, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Goodwill, In-N-Out, & Cracker Barrel; Mentions of car brands; Mentions of social media platforms/websites (YouTube, ChatGPT, Facebook Marketplace, & Weight Watcher’s); Mentions of HGTV & Hallmark; Mentions of vampires, werewolves, wizards, & aliens; A few mention of celebrities and actors (Steve Jobs, Orlando Bloom, The Pioneer Woman).
 
 
Sexual Content- Two head kisses, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and two border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses; Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, Flutters, & Nearness (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Five ‘babe’s; Mentions of couples kissing, embracing, & showing PDA; Mentions of dates, dating, boyfriends/girlfriends, exes, & break-ups; Mentions of flirting, blushes, & winks; A mention of staring at lips; Love, falling in love, & the emotions.
 
-Alexandra “Allie” McGrady, age 30
                                          P.O.V. of Allie 
                                                        355 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

I cleared my schedule today to read this book in a few hours because 1- when your favorite author releases a new book, you should try to do that (10/10 recommended) and 2- I’m been so excited for this book and needed to know what would happen in it! 

 

I love the big family with all the girls' chaos that is in this series—the McGrady family are just dears and I love being a fly-on-the-wall in their lives. Each girl (Sam, Dani, Allie, & Lucy) has their own personalities (with some that become even crazier when being highly over-caffeinated) and interests, but they are such good sisters to each other. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I will cry at the end of the fourth and final book when it releases because I just love this group so much. 🥹 Major props to Mama and Papa McGrady because they’ve raised some wonderful girls who love the Lord and each other. ❤️

 

I’ve loved seeing Harris in the previous two books of this series—the Bible studies they’ve all done together as he taught have me reaching to take notes—but getting to see him and his personality even more? Aww, yes please! Harris and Allie balanced each other well and she friend-zones him pretty hard, but I loved how it all worked out. Allie had one moment in this book that stressed me out with a bad decision/thought, but I could see where she was coming from when making it. Again, the ending was perfect in more ways than one—now I just need Sam’s story, especially after all the hints we’ve gotten! 

 

What else can I say? I laughed out loud multiple times, made lots of highlights at different parts I loved, sighed over the sweetest romance, and felt encouraged and convicted while reading the scenes of the characters at the Bible study. So, so, so many parts I enjoyed and I cannot wait for the fourth book—though, I think I need to reread all of the prior books again first so I can enjoy it even more!

 

 

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.

"Flag Day in the Square" by Erynn Mangum

About this book:

  “Dani McGrady is finally back in her hometown of Hillview and wants nothing more than to make the festivals at the town square just as magical now as they were when she was growing up there. But the giant hailstorm that hits the same week she gets back seems to have ruined all chance of that. Or has it?
    After getting hired as the Hillview event planner for all the town square festivals, Dani is determined to make everything perfect for the town she loves. But on the exact same week she gets hired, a massive hailstorm takes out not only most of the windows and roofs in the town, but also the beloved gazebo in the square. Suddenly, Flag Day in the Square goes from being an easy, low-key beginning of her Hillview career to a headache the size of one of the hailstones. Everything seems to be harder than it should be, especially once her sisters find out about the attractive city planner she is working with and the cute contractor who can't seem to ever show up on time.
    Dani is a fixer at heart and the last thing she wants to do is quit. But with everything mounting at once and nothing going as planned, what does the Lord even want from her? Does He need her help to get things taken care of? Or is Dani trying to fix something that doesn't need to be fixed after all?
    With the help of her close-knit, crazy family, her faith in Jesus and lots of coffee from Tiny's coffeeshop, Dani is about to find out there are some things you just can't plan.”


Series: Book #2 in the “Holidays in Hillview” series. Review of Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are read, quoted, mentioned, discussed, & thought about; Bible reading & Quiet time; Prayers; Church going, going to Bible study, & lessons/sermons (which are written out a few times); Many talks about God, Him being our Shepherd, & trusting Him; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; Many mentions of God, Jesus, & Him being our Shepherd; Many mentions of churches, church going, pastors, services, sermons, Bible studies, & ministries; Mentions of prayers, praying, blessings over food, & praising God; Mentions of books, people, & events in the Bible; Mentions of Christians; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A few mentions of a Christian school; A couple mentions of testimonies; A mention of missionaries; A quote from both Elisabeth Elliot & C.S. Lewis are shared; 
             *Note: A mention of the phrase “God helps those who help themselves” which Dani recalls hearing as a kid and later found out that it’s not in the Bible (but a Ben Franklin quote); A few mentions of luck.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘crap’, a ‘crud’, a ‘darn’, a ‘sheesh’, a ‘shoot’, a ‘shut up’, a form of ‘stupid’, a ‘ticked’, a ‘what the heck’, two ‘dang it’s, two ‘gosh’s, five ‘good grief’s, and nine ‘oh my gosh’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Dani lies a couple times (saying she’s fine when she’s not); A bad storm & damage (semi-detailed); Mentions of tornadoes, bad storms, & damages (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A few mentions of injuries; A couple mentions of being bullied/teased in high school; A mention of murder; A mention of the lottery; 
             *Note: Mentions of brand names (Motrin, Sharpie, Air BnB, & Polo); Mentions of celebrities, movies, TV shows, & fictional characters (Chuck Norris, Rocky, Hayley Mills, The Olsen Twins, Lindsay Lohan, Mother Theresa, Ben Franklin, The Devil Wears Prada, The Wedding Planner, Twisters, Sound of Music, Beauty and the Beast, Pollyanna, Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, It Takes Two, Princess Bride, Gone With The Wind, A Christmas Story, Walker Texas Ranger, Bob the Builder, Daffy Duck, Frozone, Snoopy, Jack Sparrow, & Barbossa); Mentions of places/stores (Starbucks, Panda Express, Chick-fil-A, IKEA, & Disney World); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of social media & apps (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, & ChatGPT); A couple mentions of songs and singers (‘Proud To Be An American’ by Lee Greenwood & ‘Party in the U.S.A.’ by Miley Cyrus); A couple mentions of Hallmark movies; A mention of Disney Channel; A mention of zombies; A mention of Big Foot.
 
 
Sexual Content- A forehead kiss and a semi-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, Tingles/Sparks, Butterflies, Nearness, & Smelling (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Remembering touches, hand holding, & nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Winks, Blushes, & Flirting (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, dating (including a misunderstanding about a girl dating two guys at the same time), dates, couples, breakups, & exes; Mentions of cute guys; Mentions of sparks; Mentions of flirting; A couple mentions of kisses; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A mention of periods.
 
-Dani McGrady, age 32
                                1^st person P.O.V. of Dani 
                                                        266 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

I love this family so much. Can I just leave it at that? Because honestly, the parents are great and I just love the four sisters so much 🥹 Their banter and humor are top notch, but then their caring and faith scenes are wonderful too and make the book have such a great family to read about. 

 

I think some readers might find Dani a little intense at the beginning, but I related to her in a lot of ways—particularly about the love of organizing and also being a sheep that keeps trying to help the Shepherd. 😅 I wasn’t sure who the love interest was at first, so I ended up a little surprised and I really liked him by the end. The romance in this book was nice and sweet—their faith conversations made me so happy because they were discussing an important aspect of their lives and it added such a depth to their relationship. 

 

Another winner by my favorite author and I absolutely cannot wait for the next book in the series! I definitely let out a squeak at that final page and teaser!

 

 

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.

"Leap Day in the Square" by Erynn Mangum

About this book:

  “Lucy McGrady only wants two things - to open up her cotton candy truck in time for her town's Leap Day in the Square celebration and to never see Ben Wilson again. And yet, somehow, these two things seem mutually exclusive.
    Lucy has spent most of her adult life trying to forget high school, thanks to Ben. Starting up her cotton candy truck, the Farmhouse Floof, is a dream come true and it seems like everything is finally going her way. Until the new health inspector comes over and it's none other than Ben Wilson. What could the Lord possibly be wanting to accomplish in this situation?
    On top of everything going on with the Farmhouse Floof, there's also the new Bible study on forgiveness Lucy's sister is dragging her to, weekly family dinners with her extremely tight and usually overly-nosy parents and sisters, and just when it seems like nothing can get worse, insert a stray cat.
    Lucy's about to discover that while sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways, sometimes He just has to plop her right in the middle of the impossible to redeem everything that was broken and fix the unfixable.”


Series: Book #1 in the “Holidays in Hillview” series. 


Spiritual Content- Many Scriptures are read, quoted, mentioned, discussed, & thought about; Many Prayers, Thanking/Praising God, & Blessings over food (including one that Lucy calls disrespectful and she isn’t surprised she didn’t get an answer); Going to church (including a time Lucy is unable to focus on the sermon) & a Bible study (which Lucy doesn’t want to go to for different reasons but goes to a handful of times and does the lesson book at home; The lessons and pastor’s message are often shared); Quotes by Saint Augustine, C.S, Lewis, Lewis B. Smedes, & Jean Sophia Pigott are read in a Bible study, mentioned, & thought over; Many talks about God, Jesus, forgiveness, a Bible study, sin/sinners, & not being enough, but being enough in God; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Lucy feels like she isn’t good enough and struggles with that thought which has affected her Bible reading; *Spoilers* Lucy has the feeling of not being good enough again and then hears the still, quite voice of the Lord saying “Because you’re not. And that’s okay. Because I am.” and she realizes she has let others determine who she was instead of who God says she is *End of Spoilers*; Lucy recalls her friends calling her parents “stricter than God”; Lucy thinks that if she was Moses, she would have added in an Eleventh Commandment (“Thou shall not hide thy dimples underneath thy scowl”); Many mentions of God, Jesus, forgiveness, & peace; Many mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & Bible studies; Many mentions of churches, church going, services, pastors, sermons, & hymns/worship; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of those in the Bible; Mentions of Christians, becoming one, & being one; Mentions of sins & being a sinner; A few mentions of Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan; A couple mentions of Heaven; A couple mentions of being Blessed; A couple mentions of a children’s ministry at church; A couple mentions of testimonies; A mention of Dallas Theological Seminary; A mention of a prayer request; A mention of something smelling like Heaven;
             *Note: Lucy’s sister says that some lies are not sins, but Lucy argues that lying to your sister in church counts as a lie; Lucy thinks “hell hath no fury like the older sister of one scorned”; Lucy thinks her sister looks like an angel; A mention of Cupid.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘crappy’, a ‘holy smokes’, a ‘idiot’, a ‘ticked off’, a ‘what the heck’, two ‘dumb’s, three ‘gosh’s, three ‘stupid’s, and ten ‘oh my gosh’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Lucy lies a couple of times to her family (to hide her feelings or that she’s gotten enough sleep when they ask); Lucy’s sisters mention about killing Ben and burying his body in their family’s acreage because of what he did to her (which Lucy gets concerned one sister might do this); Mentions of selling organs on the black market (which is what Lucy thinks her sister’s fiancé does); Mentions of poison; Mentions of bullies, mean girls, & their pranks; Mentions of hatred; A few mentions of potential kidnappers & being kidnapped; A few mentions of smoking; A few mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of World War II & Nazis; A couple mentions of jail & felons; A couple mentions of possible car accidents; A couple mentions of gossip; A couple mentions of “animal jails” (animal shelters); A mention of a Russian mob; A mention of thieves; A mention of serial killer movies; A mention of a con man;
             *Note: Lucy struggles with feeling like she isn’t good enough; Lucy and her sisters were bullied in high school about being from a “white trash house” and their lack of money; Lucy has kept from her family about most everything that happened to her in high school, but tells them all of it half-way through (*Spoiler* A girl named Carla and her boyfriend, Ben, with their group would make fun of Lucy by making snide comments of her family’s lack of money and her clothes which made Lucy feel like she wasn’t good enough; Their comments and pranks escalated when a comic was started at a school about her being a superhero with a hand making an ‘L’ for loser on the cape and they all dressed up as her for Halloween with raggedy clothes; She verbally tore into them and Ben left her notes of apologizing in her locker; Eventually and after sharing more notes back and forth, Ben asked her to go to prom and she said yes, but when she got there, he was dancing with Carla and made an ‘L’ for loser aimed at Lucy; *Major Spoilers* It turns out Carla left a note for Ben and signed it from Lucy where it said she would never date someone from a broken family like him; Lucy is stunned by this information and promised it wasn’t her; He apologizes for what happened and that despite not knowing the Lord then, knew what he was doing was wrong; She sobs at the emotions and things that her teenage-self had to face and they choose to start over *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of the foster care system & an implied bad experience; Mentions of movies, TV shows, actors, books, & fictional characters (Pirates of the Caribbean, Marvel movies, Ben-Hur, Angels in the Outfield, The Princess Bride, That Thing You Do, Seinfeld, The Andy Griffin Show, MythBusters, Psych, Chad Michael Murray, Michael Buble, Count of Monte Cristo, Lion King characters, Daffy Duck, the Joker, Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, Jedis from Star Wars, Jack Sparrow, & Mary Poppins); Mentions of bands, singers, & songs (Eagles, Michael Buble, Michael Jackson, Hanson, N*Sync, Aerosmith & Cupid Shuffle); Mentions of Hallmark movies & HGTV; Mentions of brand names & items (Pyrex, Dr. Pepper, M&Ms, Uggs, Tupperware, & iPhone); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of social media platforms & websites (Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, & Google); Mentions of places (Hobby Lobby, Goodwill, Cracker Barrel); A few mentions of Halloween;  A couple mentions of Disney; A mention of ESPN; A mention of Olympic athletes; A mention of the YouTube channel Dude Perfect; A mention of MLM candles; A mention of the grim reaper.
 
 
Sexual Content- A cheek kiss and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Seeing an engaged couple kiss & embrace (no details); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, Nearness, & Smelling (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Remembering touches, embraces, & warmth (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); *Spoiler* After talking about past events, Lucy says it was good that she and Ben never went on a date because it could have led to them dating and he wasn’t a Christian then which could have changed things now *End of Spoiler*; A ‘babe’; Mentions of boyfriends/girlfriends, exes, break-ups, dates, dating, & asking someone out; Mentions of prom; A couple mentions of blushes; A mention of a heartthrob at school; Some love, the start of falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A mention of unmentionables; A mention of butting into a conversation.
 
-Lucy McGrady, age 28
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                                        235 pages
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

AH! That ending! Well, now I’m counting down the days to a book I don’t know when is going to be released—that’s just mean! 

 

Let it be known I don’t usually like the whole “misunderstanding-in-high-school-and-holding-onto-to-a-grudge-for-ten-years” trope, but this is one of my favorite authors, so I was going to read it regardless. This was a harsh misunderstanding though—Ben did something to Lucy in a way that truly hurt her and the effects of it have stayed with her all these years. It’s not serious enough to not wish for them to be together one day, but it’s enough to make me side with her sisters about off-ing him and burying him in their family’s acreage for the first while of the book. 

 

That said, when the conversation happened and everything is shared, it wasn’t a “misunderstanding” that I’ve seen in other books and would (quite honestly) roll my eyes at over the pettiness shown by the characters. Perhaps it’s because I felt Lucy’s pain or how the author wrote it, but I could understand her emotions and I’m really glad she wasn’t petty back to those who hurt her. I think that’s probably the main difference from other times I’ve read this trope before, the main girl there is usually insufferable and acts like she’s still in high school despite being in her late twenties. Lucy was definitely not this way and I greatly appreciated it and it made the story actually believable.

 

Just like for Lucy, it took a while for me to warm up to Ben. I do wish they would have talked about The Events™️ just a wee bit more when it all came to light, but I think the discussions that they had were shown well with their emotions and regret and moving forward. As I always appreciate with this author’s books and a reason why Erynn Mangum is a top favorite author of mine, there was a ton of faith content and the main character going about her life, but also going to church and a Bible study. There’s something about that that I just love to see, but especially in this book as it highlights forgiveness (despite Lucy not really wanting to hear about that topic) and that we’re not enough because we all need the Lord. Everything was so well done in the faith content and it felt like I was right in there with them in class. 

 

I loved seeing Lucy and her sisters and many of their conversations made me laugh out loud, so I’m so excited that the next book will be Dani’s story! I definitely need Sam’s ASAP, though! This is the problem about starting a series as it’s being released—you have to have patience and wait for the next book, something I still haven’t perfected in my many years of reviewing!

 

 

 

See y’all on Friday 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.