by admin | Mar 30, 2018 | Books, ebook, England, Historical, Regency, Romance
MY REVIEW:
“Winning Miss Winthrop” was every bit as delightful and entertaining as the other Regency novels I have read by Carolyn Miller. I was especially charmed by the clever way more than one character managed to put an offensive character in their place without their being any the wiser. Oh, if only I had been blessed with such a gift!
As always, Miller’s skill with description and her imaginative plot held my interest until the very end. I was invested enough in the story to want to force Catherine and Jonathan to actually sit down and talk it out rather than constantly avoiding the other’s eyes. My goodness, they could have saved themselves months of misery! Of course the story wouldn’t have been quite so much fun in the meantime.
Quite a few quirky and interesting characters grace the pages of “Winning Miss Winthrop”. Some were very likeable and of course there were one or two of those readers love to hate. All in all, this book is one that will find a permanent spot on my shelf once I purchase a hard copy. Carolyn Miller is quickly earning herself a position on my favorite authors list.
I voluntarily reviewed a digital copy of this book provided by Kregel Publications through NetGalley. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Years ago, the man who stole Catherine Winthrop’s heart rejected her—and she’s never recovered from the grief. Now tragedy has brought him back into her life. This time it isn’t her heart he’s taking, it’s her home and her family’s good name.
Jonathan Carlew’s serious demeanor and connection to trade, not to mention the rumors surrounding his birth, have kept him from being a favorite of the ladies, or their parents. Now, suddenly landed and titled, he finds himself with plenty of prospects. But his demanding society responsibilities keep pressing him into service to the one woman who captured his heart long ago—and then ran off with it.
These two broken hearts must decide whether their painful past and bitter present will be all they can share, or if forgiveness can provide a path to freedom for the future.
Set in the sumptuous salons of Bath, Regency England’s royal breeding ground for gossip, Winning Miss Winthrop is the first volume in the Regency Brides: A Promise of Hope series. Fans of the wholesome and richly drawn first series won’t want to miss this new set of characters—or appearances by their old favorites.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carolyn Miller lives in New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of RWA and ACFW contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers.Find out more about Carolyn at https://www.carolynmiller.org.
by admin | Mar 16, 2015 | Books, ebook, Law Enforcement, Love Inspired, Romance, Suspense
MY REVIEW:
When I agreed to review the Texas K-9 Unit Series Books 1-3 Bundle, I was told I did not have to read all three books. Once I finished the first one, “Tracking Justice”, how could I not continue with the next two? Over the course of approximately two days, I completed the entire series and now I need to read books 4-6.
Although each book is written by a different author and can stand on its own with a resolution to each individual story, there is a continuing thread of a greater mystery to be solved that I assume will reach its climax in the final book. Each book features a different dog and its handler from the K-9 unit. Of course there is a romance involving each handler and someone involved in the case in some manner. The books are action-packed with edge-of-the seat suspense and unexpected twists.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with the Texas K-9 unit. I loved reading about how each dog has its own unique purpose and personality and how its breed specially equips them for their jobs. I look forward to finding time to read the final three books of this series and am hoping to find them in a second bundle in the near future.
This book was provided for review by FlyBy Promotions Blogger Network.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Love Inspired Suspense authors Shirlee McCoy, Margaret Daley and Sharon Dunn will get your pulse racing with tales of Texas cops and their loyal K-9 dogs tracking down a crime ring. Enjoy three action-packed Texas K-9 Unit romantic suspense novels in one box set! When a boy goes missing from his bedroom, a police detective must assure a desperate single mother that he and his trusty bloodhound will find her son. A woman with amnesia has to rely on an officer and his border collie to stay alive when she can’t remember who tried to kill her. An FBI agent is called in to protect a single mother when the rookie K-9 officer witnesses a murder and becomes the killer’s target.
Purchase a copy of the Texas K-9 Unit Series Books 1-3 HERE.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
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Shirlee McCoy
 Photo: Giordano Photographics Shirlee McCoy has always loved making up stories. As a child she daydreamed elaborate tales in which she was the heroine — gutsy, strong and invincible. Though she soon grew out of her superhero fantasies, her love for storytelling never diminished. Shirlee knew early that she wanted to write inspirational fiction and began writing her first novel when she was a teenager. Still, it wasn’t until her third son was born that she truly began pursuing her dream of being published. Three years later she sold her first book. Now a busy mother of four, Shirlee is a homeschool mom by day and an inspirational author by night. She and her husband and children live in Maryland and share their home with a dog and a guinea pig.
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Margaret Daley
 Margaret has been writing for over 35 years. She started writing in the late 1970s because she wanted to see if she could put a whole story down on paper. That book is still in the drawer and will never see the light of day. But she was able to finish a book, which was her goal. She loved teaching and working with students with special needs, and recently retired from teaching to write full-time. When she isn’t working, she loves to read, travel, and go to lunch and a movie with a friend. She and her husband, Mike, to whom she has been married for over 40 years live in Tulsa. Besides teaching and writing, she is also a mother of one. Her son, Shaun, is married with four daughters.
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Sharon Dunn
 Sharon Dunn first fell in love with mystery and suspense about the time she read Nancy Drew mysteries in the fifth grade. Her first book in the Ruby Taylor mysteries Romance Rustlers and Thunderbird Thieves was a finalist for the Romantic Times Inspirational Book of the Year. The second book in that series Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante was voted Book of the Year by American Christian Fiction Writers. Her hobbies include reading, working out, hiking, trying to find things around the house and making pets out of the dust bunnies under the furniture. Before she started writing, she used to sew. Now she just collects fabric and patterns and fantasizes about projects. After nearly twenty seven years of marriage, Sharon lost her beloved husband in 2014. She lives with her three nearly grown children, two cats and a nervous border collie named Bart.
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by admin | Nov 20, 2014 | Books, Christmas, ebook, Historical, Novella, Romance
MY REVIEW:
During the hustle and bustle of the holiday season that encompasses Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is nice to find a bit of stolen time to relax with a book. The novellas that comprise The 12 Brides of Christmas novella series are absolutely perfect for that. I woke early one morning this week and instead of rattling around in the kitchen, I decided to let my husband sleep. In my comfy recliner, I was able to finish “The Nativity Bride” before he woke.
“The Nativity Bride” is a story about lost love, family secrets, broken family relationships, dedication to family, and second chances. The author managed to pack quite a lot into this short but emotional story that illustrates the affect that personal disappointments can have on future generations.
I loved this sweet story of forgiveness and restoration. I hope you will also.
This book was provided for review by Shiloh Run Studios.
Deborah Summers has waited five years and prayed for Curt Warren to return to Goldendale, Washington, passing up another marriage proposal by believing in her first love. When tragedy finally brings him home, will a rift with his father drive him away too quickly?
More About The Nativity Bride with Miralee Ferrell
A devoted young woman who cared for her mother rather than follow after the man she loved, Deborah’s heart springs to life when he returns for a brief visit. Once there, love flames anew but, as usual, misunderstandings abound.
What can a beautifully carved nativity set have to do with it?
And will she make a choice to love in spite of circumstances?
Set in beautiful Goldendale, Washington, The Nativity Bride‘s hero Curt is an honorable man struggling with a difficult past. Will he be able to overcome his disappointments to find happiness?
Who is Miralee Ferrell?
Miralee’s an avid reader and has a large collection of first edition Zane Grey books, which inspired her desire to write fiction set in the Old West. She rides horseback with her adult daughter and lives with her husband on 11 acres along the Columbia River in southern Washington.
For more information about Miralee, please visit her website: miraleeferrell.com
You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter
by admin | Jul 29, 2014 | Books, Contemporary Fiction, ebook, Novella
MY REVIEW:
“The Tidewater Sisters” served two purposes for me. First it tied up some loose ends in Tandi’s life as well as giving me some insight into her past and the troubled relationship between her and her sister, Gina. It also was somewhat of a tease, giving me a real desire to read Lisa’s next book in the series, “The Storyteller”. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.
“The Tidewater Sisters” is a fairly short novella but it was so beautifully written with a magical poetic feeling at times. Although Tandi’s unplanned visit to her grandparents’ farm was prompted by difficult circumstances, secrets from the past were revealed that helped to set her free.
I loved this book and recommend it as well as absolutely anything that Lisa Wingate has written. She has a special gift with words that has blessed me time and time again.
I purchased a digital copy of this book.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Tandi Reese and her sister, Gina, have always been bound by complicated ties. Amid the rubble of a difficult childhood lie memories of huddling beneath beds and behind sofas while parental wars raged. Sisterhood was safety . . . once. But now? Faced with legal papers for a fraud she didn’t commit, Tandi suspects that her sister has done something unthinkable. With Tandi’s wedding just around the corner, a trip to the North Carolina Tidewater for a reckoning with Gina was not part of the plan. But unraveling lies from truth will require confronting strained sibling bonds and uncovering a dark family secret that could free Tandi from her past or stain her future forever.
Read an excerpt from Tidewater Sisters HERE.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Selected among BOOKLIST’S Top 10 of 2012 and Top 10 of 2013, Lisa Wingate skillfully weaves lyrical writing and unforgettable Southern settings with elements of women’s fiction, history, and mystery to create stories that Publisher’s Weekly calls “Masterful” and ForeWord Magazine refers to as “Filled with lyrical prose, hope, and healing.” Lisa is a journalist, an inspirational speaker, a reviewer for the New York Journal of Books, and the author of over over twenty novels and countless magazine pieces.
Her books have held positions on many bestseller lists, both in the U.S. and internationally. She is a seven-time ACFW Carol award nominee, a Christy Award nominee, an Oklahoma Book Award finalist, a Christianity Today Book Award nominee, an Inspy Award nominee, a two-time Carol Award winner, a LORIES Best Fiction Award winner, and a Utah Library Award winner. Recently, the group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with Bill Ford, Camille Cosby, and six others, as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. Visit Lisa at her website: www.LisaWingate.com
by admin | Mar 20, 2013 | Books, ebook
Deeanne Gist’s E-Short gives readers a peek inside the world’s fair. Tempest in the White City is a digital short story available from online retailers for 99 cents.
Deeanne Gist fans won’t have to wait until the April 30 release of It Happened at the Fair to read her latest work! On March 19, readers will be able to purchase the e-short, Tempest in the White City, a 40-page short story prelude to It Happened at the Fair, for 99 cents from all online retailers. While the characters from the short story are not carried over into the full-length release, audiences will get a taste of the awe-inspiring backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and will be anxious to spend more time exploring the exhibition.
In true Gist form, Tempest in the White City combines her trademark humor with romance. Hunter Scott is one of the elite. A Chicago World’s Fair guard specifically chosen for his height, physique, character and ability to serve and protect. When Hunter is overcome with debilitating abdominal pain, he stumbles to an infirmary in the Fair’s Woman’s Building only to discover the doctor is female—which he is none too happy about. But even worse, she has the nerve to diagnose him—the toughest man west of anyplace east—with constipation.
The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair overflowed with the latest innovations welcomed by a throng of people from all around the globe. This setting replete with history, intrigue and wonder caught Gist’s attention and is sure to draw readers of both releases in as well. “I’m always drawn to events in our country’s past that are strangely absent from our history classes. Why the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition has been left out, I don’t know, especially since it was such a pivotal event for us,” explains Gist. “We were able to wow the world with our scientific innovations, and it gave women their first official board position recognized and approved by an Act of Congress (all before we had the right to vote). But it was technology which claimed the day as it nipped at the heels of horses, buggies and man-powered tools.”
More about It Happened at the Fair:
Young inventor Cullen McNamara gambles everything, including the family farm, in order to make his family proud—and earn his father’s entry money to the Fair Expo back—by selling his design for an automatic sprinkler system inspired by his mother’s death in a mill fire. Struggling with hearing loss from his previous life on the farm, McNamara finds it difficult to communicate with potential buyers over the din in the Fair’s Machinery Building. In an act of desperation, he hires attractive Della Wentworth, a teacher of the deaf, to tutor him in the art of lip-reading. Much like the newly invented Ferris Wheel, Cullen is caught in a whirl between his girl back home, his dreams as an inventor and his unexpected attraction to his new tutor. Can he keep his feet on the ground or will he be carried away?
by admin | Oct 25, 2012 | Books, ebook, Historical, Romance
MY REVIEW:
After reading the stories about their children in Julie Lessman’s Winds of Change and Daughters of Boston series, I was delighted to have a chance to read Marcy and Patrick’s story in “A Light in the Window. It was all I have come to expect from one of Julie’s books and I am happy to recommend it. Like her previous novels, “A Light in the Window” is refreshingly honest and includes a large dose of romantic tension. Tempered by a bit of humor and dramatic action, the story focuses on relationships with family, friends, the opposite gender and God.
Marcy and Patrick’s relationship was filled with ups and downs, misunderstandings, friendship, and distrust. An excellent example of how a relationship with God can change a person and how another person can unknowingly be the influence that leads them to the Lord, “A Light in the Window” has several lessons in life and faith for the reader to ponder. Its Christmas theme is the perfect setting for this wonderful story.
If you have enjoyed Julie’s other novels, you don’t want to miss this one. It’s available now at Amazon.com as a preorder to be delivered to your Kindle on November 9.
A digital copy of this book was provided for review by the author.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
MARCY AND PATRICK’S E-BOOK PREQUEL!!!
A Light in the Window: An Irish Christmas Love Story
(Release date November 9, 2012)
One Woman. Two Men.
One stirs her pulse and the other her faith.
But who will win her heart?
Marceline Murphy is a gentle beauty with a well-founded aversion to rogues. But when two of Boston’s most notorious pursue her, she encounters a tug-of-war of the heart she isn’t expecting. Sam O’Rourke is the childhood hero she’s pined for, the brother of her best friend and a member of the large, boisterous family to which she longs to be a part. So when his best friend Patrick O’Connor joins in pursuit of her affections, the choice seems all too clear. Sam is from a family of faith and Patrick is not, two rogues whose wild ways clash head-on with Marcy’s—both in her faith and in her heart.
While overseeing the Christmas play fundraiser for the St. Mary’s parish soup kitchen—A Light in the Window—Marcy not only wrestles with her attraction to both men, but with her concern for their spiritual welfare. The play is based on the Irish custom of placing a candle in the window on Christmas Eve to welcome the Holy Family, and for Marcy, its message becomes deeply personal. Her grandmother Mima cautions her to guard her heart for the type of man who will respond to the “light in the window,” meaning the message of Christ in her heart. But when disaster strikes during the play, Marcy is destined to discover the truth of the play’s message first-hand when it becomes clear that although two men have professed their undying love, only one has truly responded to “the light in the window.”
Can the light in the window illuminate the path of true love?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Julie Lessman is an award-winning author whose tagline of “Passion With a Purpose” underscores her intense passion for both God and romance. Winner of the 2009 ACFW Debut Author of the Year and Holt Medallion Awards of Merit for Best First Book and Long Inspirational, Julie is also the recipient of 14 Romance Writers of America awards and was voted by readers as “Borders Best of 2009 So Far: Your Favorite Fiction.”
Chosen as the #1 Romance Fiction Author of the Year in the Family Fiction magazine 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice Awards, Julie was also awarded #1 Historical Fiction Author of the Year in that same poll and #3 Author of the Year, #4 Novel of the Year and #3 Series of the year. She resides in Missouri with her husband, daughter, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter and is the author of “The Daughters of Boston” series—A Passion Most Pure, A Passion Redeemed, and A Passion Denied. Book 1 in her “Winds of Change” series A Hope Undaunted ranked #5 on Booklist’s Top 10 Inspirational Fiction for 2010.
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