Something Old, Something New

Tales from Grace Chapel Inn #10

by Jane Orcutt

A celebrity author visits Grace Chapel Inn to finish her novel. Can the Howard sisters give her the quiet she needs? The whole town gets involved in the high-school genealogy project, and Aunt Ethel provides some surprise information about their own family's history. Meanwhile Jane is busy with preparations for a Grace Chapel wedding. Everyone seems ready to pitch in, but time is short! Available only in Christian Fiction 6 & 8.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Adult Fiction

236 pages, Hardcover

First published December 8, 2005

About the author

Award-winning Christian author Jane Orcutt was born on January 25th, 1960, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Born with a serious heart defect, Jane faced surgeries and long recoveries from the age of five. But these solitary times only strengthened Jane’s love for reading, and her dream of one day becoming a writer.

Jane achieved that dream with style, not only as a popular Christian novelist with fourteen published books to her credit, but also through her mentorship of many young writers.

Throughout Jane’s life, she enjoyed writing about her home state of Texas. She was particularly talented at breathing life into historical time periods and she brought a fresh view of the bluebonnet state to her readers worldwide.

As a University of Texas graduate, she possessed a broad range of writing and editing skills, which she used in her own writing, as a production worker for an Austin television station, and as an editor for a Forth Worth publishing company.

In 1982, Jane married Bill Orcutt. They had two sons, Colin and Sam, whom Jane homeschooled until they reached high school. Jane often stated that this accomplishment was her pride and joy. She was passionate about helping her sons explore their interests and intellect while allowing them to grow into individual men of their own account.

Jane was a loyal and loving wife, mother, daughter, and sister, a witty and sought-after friend, a powerful writer, and a tender pet owner. Most of all Jane was a follower and lover of Jesus Christ.

On Sunday, March 18, 2007, after a long battle with acute myeloid leukemia, Jane stepped into the arms of her Savior.

She now rests safely in His arms, while her powerful legacy lives on through her family and through her books.

Reviews

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The whole town of Acorn Hill and the sisters at the Inn get involved in a local towns person wedding as well as a High School genealogy project. I love this fictional town of Acorn Hill in PA. If it was real I would move there.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Author of 100 books is staying at the inn,Aunt Ethel has read her books and is determined to get the local bookseller to have an autograph signing, even though the bookseller only sells classics. A friend’s daughter is getting married in a month and Jane is busy trying to help with the wedding. Louise worries about the old organ giving out during the wedding. The high school stats a genealogy project and the whole town gets involved.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover of my book (purchased this summer at Walmart, of all places), looks nothing like the one pictured here. It's more up to date and modern looking. :)

Guideposts is the force behind this series of books, and I believe that the original books numbered in the 30 or 40 range. Several of them have been re-written, updated and re-released. I've been slowly buying and reading those. Once you've read the first one, and learned about the Howard sisters, and how after their father died, they turned their family Victorian into a bed and breakfast (the Grace Chapel Inn), you can pretty much read them in any order. Most of the characters are the same, and the stories don't depend too much on a previous book. I believe this is one that they didn't update, except in the cover. At the end, it said that the author was the late Jane Orcutt, so I don't think they changed it.

Anyhoo, this was another cozy, comfortable, easy read. I love these books for just that - wrapping up with a quilt, a cup of cocoa and just reading about a simpler time, a simpler place, where everything always has a rosy slant and an even rosier ending. Just what a Guideposts book should be. The three sisters are here, along with a writer who stays at the inn for a month. There's a wedding involved for the daughter of a town friend. Very similar to the other books in this series that I've read. Always enjoyable for me though :)

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Acorn Hill feels like the best of America to me."

Page 179

I love reading these books around the time it takes place in the book. It starts just after Labor Day and takes place about a month, which I took a little extra with it, but I love reading about the start of fall and here in the Midwest it's now getting cool, and the trees are turning colors just like in the book. Perfect.

So, for this book the whole town gets involved in researching their families roots during the American Revolution War, Vera's daughter is getting married, and they have to put it together on short notice, they hire a young 18-year-old girl to clean for them and a famous writer stays with them for a month to write her novel which Ethel loves, but Viola thinks her novels are not worth reading. It was a fun read and really comes all together in the end as they all do, and I found myself filled with the warm and fuzzies these books always give me.

All the girls are focused on in this book, but it's always Alice that I resonate with the most. And I love how good of a friend she was to Vera and so selfless in offering her time/love to anyone who needed it. All the sisters coming together for the wedding needs was so special. They all gave what they could in each of their own expertise and for free as a wedding gift, as did the whole town. It really does make you want to move there. Ada the writer was such a sweet guest to stay with them and I would love to see her back in another one of these novels one day. She became part of the family and I, like the sisters, didn't want her to leave.

"Writing is what I'm gifted at, just as you're gifted as a chef, Jane. And Louise is a musician, and Alice has the gift of nurturing."

Page 215

I also loved the little hints dropped in a couple places about Alice and Mark Graves romance rekindling still happening over time. Like it's always there and I can't wait until he comes back to see how their relationship will evolve. I love Alice's giddiness like a schoolgirl when she thinks of him.

Found: Bought off of Amazon

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quaint, interesting book with enjoyable characters, the Grace Chapel Inn is definitely somewhere I would like to visit. The sisters who run it have distinct personalities, and a visit by an author on a deadline and a wedding add humor and warmth. The community works together on a genealogy project and many of them have rigid viewpoints softened as unfounded prejudices are changed. There is a definite sense that God is using conflicts to build their faith. I would read other books set in this inn.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

book 10. This story has the Howard sisters busy with a high school genealogy project that the whole town has gotten involved in researching their own families. Alice's best friend Vera's oldest daughter is getting married to her college boyfriend before he leaves for the army. And they have a romance novel author staying at the inn till she finishes her latest book. She is quite the surprise for the sisters.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Grace Chapel Inn books, they make me feel at home... cozy, warm, with family, friends.
Jane is busy with all the plans and preparations for a very special wedding to be held at the Grace Chapel. With a very short amount of time she recruits many friends and towns people in whatever way they can help.
Meanwhile, a summerlong guest is a well known author, registered under her real name so that she can have the quiet time she needs to complete her latest book.

[Lana Leung · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0/5 - This book was not necessarily the most interesting, but at least it was written really well. The plot of three older sisters hosting an unexpected visitor in their inn was pretty simple and lackluster. I found it difficult to want to pick up this book and read, as the plot is extremely straightforward and predictable. I used this book more so as a way of relief from stress right before bedtime to tire me out. With this function, it was a pretty decent book. The book was written well, not redundant or too simplistic. I didn’t find myself struggling to read from lack of writing ability, instead mainly from the bland plot. I found the plot of the sisters finding out their ancestry to be pretty boring, but a saving grace was Marina and her father’s bond. Although I did enjoy how the ancestry arc intertwined with Ada Murdoch’s new publication, as it created an ending that was cohesive.

[Diane Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful easy read for days when you don't want to think too hard.

[Asmaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it nice happy endings and just what i needed to make me smile

[Linda Corrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another lovely Grace Chapel Inn story. This one is about finding family roots, recognizing and using God-given gifts and talents, and the healing gift of love.

[Concetta Kellough · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books take off kind of slow, but it’s well worth continuing to the end. I read this series when I want to mellow out.

[Kathie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mel LP. Good series and many books and authors

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has multiple authors and the late Jane Orcutt is one of my favorites. I'm very sorry she won't be adding any more titles.

It's a hit or miss proposition when I pick up a new Grace Chapel Inn book. There's also some difficulty in telling where in the series each book falls. There does not appear to be a consistent list of titles and there different site have the same titles in different number positions in the series. That being said, except for my OCD need to read books in order it doesn't create a story line flow for the most part.

I did enjoy this book more than the last one I read. The story was sweet and funny. One of the hardest parts to writing a series in my opinion is how to introduce old characters to a new audience if the joining mid-series. Jane Orcutt manages better than other authors of the series and that helps this book flow better.

The new characters introduced were fun and endearing and the story on whole was lite enjoyable and somewhat romantic. There were many sweet moments and as always a happy ending which is what I look for in this set of books.

All and all these stories are a nice was to spend a weekend (or a day is you're a fast reader) and I will surely read more Grace Chapel Inn tales.

[Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always look forward to picking up a new to me title in the multi author Tales From Grace Chapel Inn series, and I was especially looking forward to reading my first ever title by the late Jane Orcutt. This was definitely another wonderful story full of all the warm fuzzies and heartwarming moments that this series is known for. It was the perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter's night, and was lovely to get to check back in with the three Howard sisters and the slightly eclectic townspeople of Acorn Hill.

I will say, however, that while I did enjoy this story overall, it wasn't my personal favorite of the series so far. I wasn't the biggest fan of either the genealogy or the wedding storylines, but I did wholeheartedly enjoy the visiting author, and all the chaos that comes along with her.

I appreciate that these titles can really be read in any order, and I also appreciate how romance isn't really the focus, and instead it's on faith, family and friendship.

Final Rating: 4/5.

I'm looking forward to continuing on with more titles in the series, and I'd highly recommend this series for anyone who is a fan of small town faith based series.

[Monica Akinyi Odhiambo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was such a delight.The community of Acorn Hill were seriously one of the most close knit societies I have ever read about.There just seemed to be this closeness that would make you crave to live there.Jane,Alice and Louise are sisters who own a bed and breakfast left to them by their father who was a pastor.After his passing,they came together to help manage the b&b.I also loved the geneology project everyone in the town was involved in,finding out their roots was really interesting.I just wished I was there to eat most of the food they kept talking about,it just seemed so scrumptious.Talk of bacon,eggs,cookies,candies-had me getting really hungry.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another wonderful addition to this series based in Acorn Hill, a small town in Pennsylvania. Three sisters have reunited to turn their family home into a Bed & Breakfast. In each book, the reader gets to know each of the sisters, the wonderful & sometimes eccentric town residents and the guests who stay at the B&B.

In this book, a successful author comes to stay to write one of her books and she proceeds to stay mostly to herself. At the same time, a wedding is brewing and all the sisters get caught up in the preparations.

A wonderful book about wonderful & interesting people striving to make their part of the world a bit better.

[Gail Barger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of the books from The Tales from the Grace Chapel Inn series. The three Howard sisters come together after their pastor father dies to turn their family home in Pennsylvania into a bed and breakfast. Many of the series are written by a couple of different authors but once you know the background, the books can be read in any order I think. They usually incorporate guests in the inn or some event or holiday going on. They are warm fuzzy, cozy reads! Put out by Guideposts I believe.

[Janie R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book, a wedding takes place, and also it also features genealogy interests. There was a cozy feeling in this small town of Acorn Hill, where everyone knows everyone else, and ready to help their neighbor, even when disagreements occur, somehow the conflicts are resolved.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

:0) I loved how much content this book had...history, the work of an author, a wedding, a teenager finding her way after her mother's death......and then of coarse all the relationship values of the main characters. very very good book and of coarse series!!!

[Cws]

YA GCI

[Penny Pennella]

This book is about Polly's wedding and the 5th grade Geaneology project.