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Tales from Grace Chapel Inn #10

Something Old, Something New

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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.

373 pages, Hardcover

First published December 8, 2005

1 person is currently reading
274 people want to read

About the author

Jane Orcutt

22 books34 followers
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.

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5 stars
82 (39%)
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80 (38%)
3 stars
42 (20%)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Diane.
213 reviews
May 31, 2008
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.
2,939 reviews38 followers
October 15, 2018
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.
Profile Image for Stacy.
1,359 reviews8 followers
October 30, 2008
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 :)
Profile Image for Chelsea.
64 reviews
October 26, 2023
"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
Profile Image for Barbara.
1,983 reviews
July 19, 2025
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.
442 reviews
June 11, 2018
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.
113 reviews10 followers
June 16, 2025
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.
75 reviews
October 24, 2022
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.

785 reviews1 follower
May 31, 2023
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.
Profile Image for Martha.
84 reviews2 followers
October 9, 2021
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.
Profile Image for Kirby.
866 reviews42 followers
February 16, 2024
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.

Profile Image for Monica Akinyi Odhiambo.
288 reviews12 followers
June 10, 2013
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.
1,713 reviews
January 21, 2015
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.
Profile Image for Gail Barger.
268 reviews
June 6, 2009
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.
Profile Image for Janie  R..
834 reviews6 followers
August 30, 2016
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.
355 reviews7 followers
January 26, 2014
: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!!!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews

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