Lyn grew up loving books. Her favorite night of the week was Friday night, when the Bookmobile came to her neighborhood in Illinois. She’d spend those two hours chatting with the driver of the Bookmobile and the librarian and making the big decision of the week — which books to check out! In those distant days, children were limited in how many books they could check out. Lyn could only take home six a week — and there were so many to choose from. Her favorites were Cotton in my Sack by Lois Lenski, The Little House series and the One of a Kind Family series. Later, she discovered Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances! This love of books led to a desire to write. Lyn won prizes in high school and college for her poetry and, not surprisingly, Lyn became a history and English teacher. When she became a mother, she gave up teaching, and while raising a son and a daughter, she began working on her first novel. Then she wrote her second and third. Long years of rejection followed — as it does for most writers. Finally in 1997, Lyn got "the call." Her first book, Never Alone, was chosen to appear in the first year of the new Love Inspired line. Lyn has written many articles on writing and the emerging Christian Booksellers Assoc. (CBA) fiction market. In 2006, Lyn's book, Chloe, is a finalist for the RWA's RITA, the highest award in the romance genre in the inspirational category. Now, Lyn spends her days writing books that show the power of divine as well as human love. Her nest is empty and she and her real life hero, her husband, have more and more time to spend together in their home on a lake in the lovely northwoods. And books are still dear to her heart.
A great read and something I'd reread again in a heartbeat! (the only problem with most of these books is the ending seems rushed :/ She wrote in such a way that it kept me coming back for more, never wanting to put it down. The plot itself was also amazing. I kept trying to imagine myself as poor Annie, with twin boys and a husband who... I won't give it away. I'll be keeping my eyes open for the other books by Lyn Cote!
I did like this. I didn't have quite the cookie cutter quality to it that so many Christian novels have. I would have liked to have read more about Rand's deceased wife and how that affects him today.
MY FAVORITE of the 'Sister's Of The Heart' series! LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, Rand!!! LOVED Connie!...LOVED seeing Jack & Gracie, and Patience and Gil again! VERY interesting storyline!!! Enjoyed it more than the storyline's for Gracie and Patience!!!....GREAT BOOK!!! ;-)
This book was good until the baby baptism part, then typical all false religion beliefs, it wen down hill from there.
Lies about God were written and unreality was written.
Author do you not know that only in books and movies can a couple be alone together, especially in a home and not get out of hand? You write that the couple snuggled on the couch many evenings on end and never got too far, but reality says that humans are not that controlled, our emotions and physical feelings take over and that is why a chaperone is always needed.
But your books make the girls that get in a situation that gets out of hand feel like a failure. Why in your book can the lady and guy use self control, but with her boyfriend they did not? So she feels like she has failed God.
Oh and the lack of real communication between the couple is telling. A couple cannot make it work if they cannot talk to each other, if they just have thoughts.
I thought this book was going to be good, but when false religion beliefs and teachings appeared, it had to take a nose dive in every manner.
Enjoyable Clean mystery romance. Connie, naive with eyes full of moonbeams helps search for a friend's husband for whom she has strong, unrequited feelings. During the search she is drawn to the detective heading the search. Her illusions of human perfection in her friends and experiencing her first legal defense of a guilty part force her into self awareness and new maturity.
It was a pleasure to read a romance not drowned in the machinations of sex!
This was read in one afternoon. It is nice to find an author who does not need 800 or more pages to deliver a satisfying story.
I really enjoyed this book, it took me just two days to finish it. The plot was realistic and easy to follow. It had a good message that no one is perfect and we shouldnt put anyone on a pedestal, we all fail at some point. Overcoming the pitfalls of life and moving on are important. I liked how the author mixed in the dialogue the inner thoughts of the characters as they wrestled with their true feelings. Very nice.
While I loved the first two books in the series, 'Loving Constance' wasn't anywhere near as good.
Mostly? I was very upset with the spirituality behind this. First, Rand wasn't a believer. His idea of being 'born again' was a second chance at love, by the grace a'Gawd... and that's NOT even right. I'm not even sure how much faith meant to Constance - mostly she didn't spend much time with her mind on heavenly things, either.
But the fact that the author was abusing scripture trying to justify child baptism about sent me over the edge. YES - Messiah said "let the little children come unto me". But THE CHILDREN COME of their own will... it's not the parents making the children perform a right when they're too young to make conscious decision. YES, we are to be born again, but that has *nothing* to do with being born from the womb, and shouldn't be lumped in as a part of the first birth. BADLY, B.A.D.L.Y. done, there. That's false teaching, RIGHT there.
As for the story, it was nice to revisit Patience and Grace, even though they're so far in the periphery that they're barely even mentioned in this story. This book centers around Annie, who's been a hot mess since the beginning. And it also focuses on Constance, who's story is barely covered ('my parents are long gone' but no explanation as to how or how she came to be so close to the Petrovs)...
And I'm not okay with Constance, who is now going to crap all over her most important job as mother so that she can be a career woman. NOT OKAY - if you want a career, fine. I'm good with that. But if you choose to have children, that's your job. You quit your job to mother. You can't be self-less and selfish at the same time. No man can serve two masters. THIS is why the world is a deplorable place, and why the demise of society has degraded to the point it has. ALSO badly done.
It was an okay read. I didn’t really care for the main character Constance Oberlin or her best friend Annie. I did not like Annie’s husband Troy at all. I liked Annie’s sister Grace and their cousin Patience. I really liked Constance’s husband-to-be Rand O’Neill and his brother Chuck who is really cool. Randy’s whole family is a dream. Wish I had in-laws like that. I own the book but I’ll give it away. It’s in perfect condition.
I picked up this book because I was leaving on a trip and I liked that it was small, light-weight and had large, bold print. Also noted that my copy had been read by 3 of my sisters. I will pass it on to another one.
As pocket novels go, it was sweet, loving and light story, and had a cute plot to it, and a smile ending.
I didn't like the way the author used italicized thoughts for the characters constantly throughout the book. It actually grated on my nerves.
Its a pretty basic run of the mill Christian romance. Girl likes boy. Boys likes girl. Both are too scared of rejection/commitment/whatever to say something to the other. Something happens to make them realize they love the other person and can go no longer without telling them. Then they rush into marriage. The End. It was good for what it was.