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Michigan
Four couples come together in diverse Michigan locations, but they each have to answer the same Will they allow God to lead in their love lives? Faith, humor, adventure, and suspense fill four romances by Martin, who shares her love of her home state and her God.
458 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2004
4 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Gail Gaymer Martin
147 books137 followersMulti-award-winning novelist, Gail Gaymer Martin writes Christian fiction for Winged Publications with many books published by Love Inspired and Barbour Publishing, where she was honored by Heartsong readers as their Favorite Author of 2008. Gail has 77 published novels or novellas with over four million books in print. She is the author of Writers Digest’s Writing the Christian Romance and a founder of American Christian Fiction Writers, a keynote speaker at churches, libraries and civic organizations and presents workshops at conference across the US. She was named one of the four best novelists in the Detroit area by CBS local news. Gail loves to hear from readers through her website contact and adds the reader's name to her bi-monthly drawing for a free book or two.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 7, 2017
Author Gail Gaymer Martin has written a novella with 4 short stories, on average 125 pages each. It's enjoyable to read novellas since you can read one short story in a sitting. These stories take place in Michigan as the setting. These clean reads are filled with adventure,suspense,humor and faith.
August 27, 2009
This book contains 4 modern Christian Romances that take place in Michigan. Each story is about 110-120 pages in length. While this book does have Christian undertones and morals, it is not a preachy sermon type of book. All four stories are uplifting, captivating, and romantic. I enjoyed all four and was drawn in my the characters and their issues with faith and relationships with God and other people in their lives. What I love most about these stories is that they aren't perfect, the characters aren't perfect (far from it). I like that they are realistic and bungle things up, because that's what I do sometimes and it is comforting to know that even when you do that God is there to help you and that it isn't the end of the world.
Here is a taste of each story:
1. Out on a Limb: Karen is at her grandfather's house for the summer to help him with his produce stand and keep him company since her grandmother just recently passed away. Across at a neighboring farm Eric is spending the summer with his grandparents while he is preparing to open a new business. Both grandfathers are in a long-standing feud with each other and Karen and Eric can't figure out why. When Karen and Eric start to feel God pulling their lives in a certain direction they decide to put an end to the family feud. But how can they do that when their grandfathers are acting like stubborn children and pulling ridiculous pranks on each other?
2. Mark and Lana seemed to run into mishaps where ever they go, whether it is Lana accidentally feeding Mark peanuts when he is allergic, Lana falling off a canoe into a lake, or both of them catching some serious poison ivy disaster seems to be near by. Mark id the new youth director at Lana's church and even though she admits that she has a lot of flaws in her spiritual make up Mark consistently begs her to help out with the youth activities. What Lana learns during these events helps her improve on those spiritual flaws and helps her to have a closer relationship with God.
3. Both Sally and Brad have lost their spouses and are attending a grief group held at a local church. When they meet each other they felt a special bond and shared all their feelings and dreams with each other. Pretty soon they are in a much healthier place and they could move on in their lives. Sally enjoys spending time with Brad and his children but there are some obstacles in the way. Such as Brad's daughter, Kelly, who takes an instant dislike to Sally and Sally's family telling her it is too soon for her to be seeing anyone and that she should be cautious.
4. Laine and Jeff are neighbors and when Laine has trouble in her life such as a death in the family or a break-in in her condo, Jeff is always there to help. But when mysterious things keep occurring at Laine's home and it seems that someone is after something she has, Laine can't decide if she can trust Jeff anymore because it seems he has something to hide.
Heart-warming. This describes these four novellas perfectly. All four stories displayed love beautifully and inspired me to strengthen my relationship with God and those I love.
Here is a taste of each story:
1. Out on a Limb: Karen is at her grandfather's house for the summer to help him with his produce stand and keep him company since her grandmother just recently passed away. Across at a neighboring farm Eric is spending the summer with his grandparents while he is preparing to open a new business. Both grandfathers are in a long-standing feud with each other and Karen and Eric can't figure out why. When Karen and Eric start to feel God pulling their lives in a certain direction they decide to put an end to the family feud. But how can they do that when their grandfathers are acting like stubborn children and pulling ridiculous pranks on each other?
2. Mark and Lana seemed to run into mishaps where ever they go, whether it is Lana accidentally feeding Mark peanuts when he is allergic, Lana falling off a canoe into a lake, or both of them catching some serious poison ivy disaster seems to be near by. Mark id the new youth director at Lana's church and even though she admits that she has a lot of flaws in her spiritual make up Mark consistently begs her to help out with the youth activities. What Lana learns during these events helps her improve on those spiritual flaws and helps her to have a closer relationship with God.
3. Both Sally and Brad have lost their spouses and are attending a grief group held at a local church. When they meet each other they felt a special bond and shared all their feelings and dreams with each other. Pretty soon they are in a much healthier place and they could move on in their lives. Sally enjoys spending time with Brad and his children but there are some obstacles in the way. Such as Brad's daughter, Kelly, who takes an instant dislike to Sally and Sally's family telling her it is too soon for her to be seeing anyone and that she should be cautious.
4. Laine and Jeff are neighbors and when Laine has trouble in her life such as a death in the family or a break-in in her condo, Jeff is always there to help. But when mysterious things keep occurring at Laine's home and it seems that someone is after something she has, Laine can't decide if she can trust Jeff anymore because it seems he has something to hide.
Heart-warming. This describes these four novellas perfectly. All four stories displayed love beautifully and inspired me to strengthen my relationship with God and those I love.
June 2, 2010
Nice, little stories with Christian theme. Pleasant reading. The last of the novels, Secrets Within, was more suspenseful and interesting reading.
October 21, 2010
Fun stories that are easy and quick to read. Good Christian romance book!
May 17, 2012
All of the storys were great!
August 12, 2017
This edition was in fact a collection of four separate novels.
'Out on a limb' was a delightful story concerning the budding romance of the younger generation of two families who succeeded in bringing together their antagonistic Grandfathers.
'Over her head' tells the story of two very different sisters and how the mistake of the one leads to the other meeting the love of her life who wins her affection as he cajoles her into helping him deal with the escapades of a group of youngsters on a camp holiday.
'Seasons' was a very difficult story for me. I found it hard to relate to a recently widowed lady
being regarded as single and within so short a time of her loss be contemplating close friendship and even marriage with another man.
'Secrets within' is a heartwarming yet heartsearching story of family relationships and the discovery of the depth meaning of the words in the Bible.
'Out on a limb' was a delightful story concerning the budding romance of the younger generation of two families who succeeded in bringing together their antagonistic Grandfathers.
'Over her head' tells the story of two very different sisters and how the mistake of the one leads to the other meeting the love of her life who wins her affection as he cajoles her into helping him deal with the escapades of a group of youngsters on a camp holiday.
'Seasons' was a very difficult story for me. I found it hard to relate to a recently widowed lady
being regarded as single and within so short a time of her loss be contemplating close friendship and even marriage with another man.
'Secrets within' is a heartwarming yet heartsearching story of family relationships and the discovery of the depth meaning of the words in the Bible.
July 11, 2014
What more could you ask for with this really? You get four Christian romance novels in one and all of the stories are so real. Each of the characters in the novels have some kind of struggle of their faith and their relationship with Christ. They aren't perfect characters, but they all grow throughout and change and it's uplifting and heartwarming to watch the romances take place through all of that.
Out on a Limb
I loved that this was the first story of the novel. It was so cute and funny the way the characters of of Karen and Eric met. And who doesn't love it when two people are drawn together in the middle of a dispute between families. But both Eric and Karen have a struggle to figure out exactly where they are in life and where they need to go. At a time when it would be easy to stay in the same place because they are afraid that the next choice they make could be the wrong one, we see them feeling the pull of the faith they know and able to take the step and know that God has a plan already made; all they have to do is trust in him.
Over Her Head
What do you do when your sister brings home a guy and tells you he's there to do work? Well you put him to work; and that's just what Lana does to Mark. Then Mark confesses that there was some kind of misunderstanding and he is actually a guest of the neighbor. So what does Lana do? She feeds him peanuts; which he happens to be allergic to.
I personally really loved this story. I think it was the comedy of it. Like the accidentally feeding peanuts to someone who's allergic, Lana getting locked out of the house in her bathrobe and Mark coming to her rescue, and on to the camping trip with the teenagers where there is no indoor plumbing for bathrooms and several minor mishaps take place. It just makes for the perfect little Christian romantic comedy.
Seasons
I struggled with this story a little. It was wonderful and romantic, but you started to wonder if there was going to be the romance part. After losing their spouses Sally and Brad meet in a grief group. You instantly know there is a connection between them, but both have some obstacles in the way of them being together. From pushy co-workers who try to insist on getting a date any way they can to kids who are still reeling from the death of a parent, it's pretty obvious that this couple will have a long way to go if they want to be together. And readers get to see them through that journey and see if they make it out the other side for a happy ending.
Secrets Within
I think this was actually my favorite novel out of all of them within this book. Not only do we have another couple falling in love there are secrets and mysteries surrounding their relationship. Laine moves back to Michigan to help her sister as she battles illness and to help take care of her 5 year old niece. She meets her neighbor Jeff and to her surprise he becomes very helpful in helping her to deal with the loss of her sister and the new responsibility of being the guardian of her niece. Then things start to turn for the worse when it seems like someone from her sisters past may be after something in the things she kept of her sisters. After her life is threatened Laine is forced to take a look at who it could be and if she should be looking at the man who has been right next door all along. Whoever is after Laine and her niece she has to hope that the police can figure it out before it's too late and what she'll do if the man next door is not who she thought he was.
I have to say. I kind of realized from the start how the story would ultimately end, but I really enjoyed the ride of getting there.
Out on a Limb
I loved that this was the first story of the novel. It was so cute and funny the way the characters of of Karen and Eric met. And who doesn't love it when two people are drawn together in the middle of a dispute between families. But both Eric and Karen have a struggle to figure out exactly where they are in life and where they need to go. At a time when it would be easy to stay in the same place because they are afraid that the next choice they make could be the wrong one, we see them feeling the pull of the faith they know and able to take the step and know that God has a plan already made; all they have to do is trust in him.
Over Her Head
What do you do when your sister brings home a guy and tells you he's there to do work? Well you put him to work; and that's just what Lana does to Mark. Then Mark confesses that there was some kind of misunderstanding and he is actually a guest of the neighbor. So what does Lana do? She feeds him peanuts; which he happens to be allergic to.
I personally really loved this story. I think it was the comedy of it. Like the accidentally feeding peanuts to someone who's allergic, Lana getting locked out of the house in her bathrobe and Mark coming to her rescue, and on to the camping trip with the teenagers where there is no indoor plumbing for bathrooms and several minor mishaps take place. It just makes for the perfect little Christian romantic comedy.
Seasons
I struggled with this story a little. It was wonderful and romantic, but you started to wonder if there was going to be the romance part. After losing their spouses Sally and Brad meet in a grief group. You instantly know there is a connection between them, but both have some obstacles in the way of them being together. From pushy co-workers who try to insist on getting a date any way they can to kids who are still reeling from the death of a parent, it's pretty obvious that this couple will have a long way to go if they want to be together. And readers get to see them through that journey and see if they make it out the other side for a happy ending.
Secrets Within
I think this was actually my favorite novel out of all of them within this book. Not only do we have another couple falling in love there are secrets and mysteries surrounding their relationship. Laine moves back to Michigan to help her sister as she battles illness and to help take care of her 5 year old niece. She meets her neighbor Jeff and to her surprise he becomes very helpful in helping her to deal with the loss of her sister and the new responsibility of being the guardian of her niece. Then things start to turn for the worse when it seems like someone from her sisters past may be after something in the things she kept of her sisters. After her life is threatened Laine is forced to take a look at who it could be and if she should be looking at the man who has been right next door all along. Whoever is after Laine and her niece she has to hope that the police can figure it out before it's too late and what she'll do if the man next door is not who she thought he was.
I have to say. I kind of realized from the start how the story would ultimately end, but I really enjoyed the ride of getting there.
November 22, 2008
Not one of her best works.
April 18, 2012
Nice stories, but it some parts of the story felt more like a sermon illustration of how we are supposed to act rather than how we do act.
February 8, 2017
Overall a very good inspirational book
April 9, 2017
It took me forever to get through this book. To be fair, I no longer have a lot of built in reading time in my routine (I used to ride public transit to work), but a good book will compel me to make the time, and this did not. Flat characters, underdeveloped plot lines, and a lack of focus.
In the last novella, for example, here are the storylines the author tried to cram in to 150 pages:
Meet cute and romance with main character and hunky mysterious neighbor
Main character wrestling with sister's death and internal and external battle for custody of her niece.
Main character rediscovering faith in God
Bad guys trying to find her sister's hidden jewels, and trying to figure out who the bad guys are
This book is going on the garage sale pile for me.
In the last novella, for example, here are the storylines the author tried to cram in to 150 pages:
Meet cute and romance with main character and hunky mysterious neighbor
Main character wrestling with sister's death and internal and external battle for custody of her niece.
Main character rediscovering faith in God
Bad guys trying to find her sister's hidden jewels, and trying to figure out who the bad guys are
This book is going on the garage sale pile for me.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews