by admin | Dec 19, 2014 | Books, Historical, Pinkertons, Romance, Western
MY REVIEW:
“Petticoat Detective” is another fun to read western romance with a twist by Margaret Brownley. I always enjoy books by this author and this one was no exception.
When undercover Pinkerton detective Jennifer Layne is mistakenly thought to be wanting to work in Miss Lillian’s Parlor House and Boots, she decides to play along since there is probably no better way to learn the identity of the Gunnysack Bandit. She soon finds that pretending to be a lady companion will be more difficult than she expected. Jennifer is not the only one looking for the Gunnysack Bandit. Tom Colton, an ex Texas Ranger is searching for his brother’s murderer and his search leads him right to Miss Lillian’s. Despite a mighty strong attraction, both Jennifer and Tom also harbor suspicions about each other.
The plot of “Petticoat Detective” is well paced with plenty of surprises along the way as well as drama and romance. The story contains an abundance of humor including several unlikely business combinations and quirky characters. I particularly liked Jennifer’s character. Despite her uneasiness with how she was expected to dress for her “new job”, Jennifer grew to care for the other women who worked for Lillian and even Lillian herself. She got a personal taste of how others avoid or mistreat undesirable people which affected her own outlook.
“Petticoat Detective” is one of my favorite books of the past month or so and I highly recommend it to those who enjoy historical romance novels, especially westerns. I certainly look forward to the next novel in this series.
This book was provided for review by LitFuse Publicity.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Pinkerton detective Jennifer Layne is no stranger to undercover work. But posing as a lady companion named Amy at Miss Lillian s Parlor House and Boots is a first for her. She s finally landed a high-profile case and is on the trail of the notorious Gunnysack Bandit, when one of Miss Lillian s girls essential to her investigation meets an untimely demise. Only a handful of people are in the house at the time of her death, including handsome Tom Colton, a former Texas Ranger determined to clear his brother s name. Amy has many reasons to suspect Tom of murder—and one very personal reason to hope that she s wrong about him.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Thrills, mystery, suspense, romance: Margaret penned it all. Nothing wrong with this, except Margaret happened to be writing for the church newsletter. After making the church picnic read like a Grisham novel, her former pastor took her aside and said, “Maybe God’s calling you to write fiction.”
Margaret wasn’t sure that was true, but she wasn’t about to take chances. She now has more than 28 novels and is a New York Times bestselling author. Not bad for someone who failed 8th grade English. Just don’t ask her to diagram a sentence.
by admin | Dec 18, 2014 | Books, Historical, Post Civil War, Romance
MY REVIEW:
Regina Jennings has a decided talent for taking the most serious situations, adding her unique style of humor, and ending up with a natural and believable story. She definitely helps me to remember that unless we can laugh at some of what life throws at us, our lives could be dull and boring or perhaps even a tragedy.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Abigail Stuart travels to the home of the wounded soldier she married on his death bed in order to fulfill her promise to care for his mother and sister. Warmly welcomed by his mother, Abigail finds it more difficult to earn the trust of Jeremiah’s sister. Just as she has settled in well, who should arrive but the real Jeremiah Calhoun – injured but very much alive and absolutely not the man she married! He was also not at all happy to find her with his family and known by the entire community as his widow. After all he still had a fiance he planned to marry as soon as possible. It doesn’t take very long before Jeremiah realized he very much needed Abigail’s help on the farm and agreed to allow her to stay until he was able to take care of things himself.
Okay, that is as much as I can say about the story without totally giving it away. At times it was a comedy of errors and at other times it tugged at my heartstrings. I loved the characters and especially enjoyed seeing the effect that Abigail’s caring spirit had on Jeremiah, his sister, and even his fiance. This is one book that should not be missed!
This book was provided for review by the Book Club Network.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Abigail Stuart Thought She was Jeremiah Calhoun’s Widow. But Jeremiah Calhoun Is Very Handsome, Very Alive, and Very Perplexed. Most Inconvenient Indeed.
With few options of her own, nurse Abigail Stuart agrees to marry her patient, a gravely wounded soldier calling himself Jeremiah Calhoun. They arrange a quick ceremony before he dies, giving Abigail the rights to his Ozark farm and giving Jeremiah the peace of knowing someone will care for his ailing sister after he’s gone–a practical solution for both of them.
After the war, Abigail fulfills her side of the bargain–until the real Jeremiah Calhoun shows up, injured but definitely alive, and wastes no time in challenging Abigail’s story. Abigail is flummoxed. After months of claiming to be his widow, how could she explain that she’s never seen this Jeremiah Calhoun before? How can she convince him that she isn’t trying to steal his farm? And will she find a way to stay, even though this practical arrangement has turned into a most inconvenient marriage?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Regina Jennings is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University with a degree in English and a history minor. She has worked at The Mustang News and First Baptist Church of Mustang, along with time at the Oklahoma National Stockyards and various livestock shows. She now lives outside Oklahoma City with her ornery husband and four dangerously charming children.
Visit Regina’s website at www.reginajennings.com.
by admin | Dec 18, 2014 | Books, Christmas, Historical, Romance, Western
MY REVIEW:
The end of The 12 Brides of Christmas is fast approaching with bride number eleven “The Snowbound Bride”. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series thus far and hate to see it come to an end with the next novella. I would be hard pressed to choose my favorite among them but once again the latest installment has taken that place – at least temporarily.
I loved the story about an orphaned city girl who has been raised by an uncle and grandmother with all the comforts and privilege of wealth but love has been missing from the equation. Ara has fled the city to accept a position in Colorado to avoid marrying the man her uncle has chosen for her. Complications find her hiding in the back of a wagon in the midst of a snowstorm and eventually snowed in on a remote ranch with Nate and his mother. With a match-making dog and mother, how can Ara and Nate avoid romance?
“The Snowbound Bride” was entertaining with a sweet romance, a bit of drama, and a touch of humor. My only complaint is that it ended much too soon. Loved the characters and the dog Beetle. Do yourself a favor and pick up “The Snowbound Bride” and others from this new Christmas series.
This book was provided for review by Shiloh Run Studios.
On the run from a heartless uncle, Arabella Taube hides in Nate Horne’s farm wagon just as a harsh winter storm sweeps into Colorado. Despite Ara’s mysterious background, Nate’s mother thinks she is the answer to a prayer and the hope for his future.
More About The Snowbound Bride with Davalynn Spencer
Davalynn Spencer’s The Snowbound Bride feels very close to home. Her home in Colorado, that is, where she loves seeing the snow come down every Christmas!
“During my childhood, Christmas was always about Jesus, and I have continued with that joyous celebration in my home as an adult. Scent plays a part as well—the tree, clove-studded oranges, hot cider, cinnamon bread. Christmas always smells good.”
“After I married, I moved to Colorado and discovered snow! Of course there is snow elsewhere, but its crystalline beauty here against our blue Colorado skies is breathtaking. I wanted to express the contrasting power and beauty of a snowy holiday in my book, as well as the simple joy of receiving the Christ child.”
Set on a ranch not far from where Davalynn currently lives, The Snowbound Bride tells the tale of a woman fleeing a vicious relative, only to wind up snowbound with total strangers for more than the holidays.
The plot originally came to her as a contemporary story, but she wondered what the situation would look like in the 1880s. “Once I began exploring the differences, the characters took on color and ran off with the tale!”
Davalynn’s paternal family came west, one uncle served as the doctor on a wagon train, long ago. She used some of that experience in her research, coupled with investigations she made from a recently released trilogy of western stories.
“My characters in The Snowbound Bride are working ranchers trying to make a living off the land and their horses in the 1880s.
“Like many families of that time, they don’t have a lot of money for baubles and store-bought trinkets, so decorations as well as gifts are homemade. Dried berries and popcorn adorn the freshly cut tree, and hand-made cookie cutters fashioned from empty tins are used to make star-shaped cookies tied on the tree with yarn. One character is particularly talented, and carves a nativity scene from willow branches.”
An unexpected character turned up while she wrote:
“Beetle the dog surprised me. Almost as suddenly as he surprises Ara! He stepped out of my heart and onto the page without any planning, and established himself as an important background character. I love animals, and all my stories have dogs or cats or horses—sometimes all three.”
The theme of The Snowbound Bride is simple and yet important:
“Trusting God’s leading is key in my life, and I believe it is for others as well. However, I still want to see where I’m going and it doesn’t always work that way. That’s where the trust comes in. The Lord has this incredible way of using things that we think are failures or mistakes or disasters, and often those very things become our greatest blessings.”
Who is Davalynn Spencer?
Novelist and speaker Davalynn Spencer is an award-winning journalist whose background spans the city crime beat and the national rodeo circuit. She’s both the wife and mother of professional rodeo bullfighters. When she’s not writing inspirational romance or teaching as an adjunct professor, she enjoys speaking and leading worship at women’s retreats. She makes her home in Colorado where she continues to be amazed by God’s creative splendor.
For more information about Davalynn, visit her webpage: http://davalynnspencer.com/
In social media, you can find Davalynn on Facebook and Twitter
Davalynn ends with a word to readers: “I hope readers will enjoy this brief trip into Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, warm themselves by the home fires of love, and come away with a good helping of faith and fresh hope.”
Click below to purchase from your favorite online vendor!
by admin | Dec 13, 2014 | Books, Historical, Romance
MY REVIEW:
Not only is “To Everything a Season” the first book in Lauraine Snelling’s new Song of Blessing series, it is her latest in the ongoing saga of the Bjorklund family. Set in the town of Blessing, North Dakota, the story is a captivating illustration of life during the early 1900’s, especially among the Bjorklund family and friends. The narrative moves along at a leisurely and gentle pace for the most part but is punctuated by the excitement of a bank robbery, a few trials and tragedy, and choice bits of humor.
I have to confess that “To Everything a Season” is my first book featuring the Bjorklund family. I have read and enjoyed other novels by this talented author but somehow have missed any of the series set in Blessing. For this reason, at times I felt that there were things I should know about certain characters and that knowing this things would have made my experience all the richer. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book as a whole.
Obviously, as the first book of a new series and a continuation of the series that have preceded it, “To Everything a Season” spent some time catching the reader up on the lives of the Bjorklund family members. For this reason, I found myself nearly halfway through it before the primary character of the book description made her appearance. Then as series are famous for, I was left with a large cliffhanger at the end. If I really want to know what happens with Trygve and Miriam, I will have to wait until the next installment. Oh well, I have become accustomed to waiting and there are many, many other books to read while I wait.
Truthfully, I loved my visit to Blessing and getting to know many of the Bjorklunds and their friends and neighbors. I may even go back and read the previous series (if I can find the time). Fans of Lauraine Snelling will definitely not want to miss this one.
This book was provided for review by the Book Club Network.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Beloved Author Lauraine Snelling Returns Again to Her Popular Red River Valley Setting
Trygve Knutson is devoted to his family and his community. With his job on the construction crew, he is helping to build a future for the North Dakota town of Blessing. Though he loves his home, he sometimes dreams of other horizons–especially since meeting Miriam Hastings.
Miriam is in Blessing to get practical training to become an accredited nurse. She’s been promised a position in the Chicago women’s hospital that will enable her to support her siblings and her ailing mother. Although eager to return to her family, Miriam is surprised to find how much she enjoys the small town of Blessing. And her growing attachment to Trygve soon has her questioning a future she always considered set in stone.
When a family emergency calls Miriam home sooner than planned, will she find a way to return? If not, will it mean losing Trygve–and her chance at love–for good?
by admin | Dec 12, 2014 | Books, Historical, Romance
MY REVIEW:
I thoroughly enjoyed “Playing by Heart” and hated to see it come to an end. I was actually somewhat surprised at the course of Lula’s career – probably due to the book’s cover. The story is told in first person with chapters alternating between the two primary characters, Lula and Chet. I found it fun to see the book’s events through both points of view and felt like it gave me an inside track to how everything would turn out.
A historical romance set during World War 1, “Playing by Heart” is about two people whose lives have been shaped by the expectations of others. Lula has pursued a career in mathematics primarily to overcome her schooldays nickname of “Fruity Lu” and to prove herself to her father and her siblings. Chet has remained in his hometown to take care of his widowed mother while his brother serves in the army during the war but knows he can never live up to his brother in his mother’s eyes. The narrative examines the futility of attempting to meet the expectations of others and the importance of being the person the Lord designed one to be.
I enjoyed the historical aspect of the story, especially the early history of both men and women’s basketball. It was also interesting to learn how different life was for women in our not so distant past, especially when it came to a career. The characters came to life on the pages and the plot moved at a steady and believable pace. I was not exactly crazy about the ending but even that was quite realistic in that Chet had to follow through on a hasty decision made when highly emotional and a happy-ever-after had to be delayed for awhile.
I highly recommend “Playing by Heart” and hope you will give it a chance.
This book was provided for review by The Book Club Network.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Lula Bowman has finally achieved her dream: a teaching position and a scholarship to continue her college education in mathematics. But then a shocking phone call from her sister, Jewel, changes everything.
With a heavy heart, Lula returns to her Oklahoma hometown to do right by her sister, but the only teaching job available in Dunn is combination music instructor/basketball coach. Lula doesn’t even consider those real subjects!
Determined to prove herself, Lula commits to covering the job for the rest of the school year. Reluctantly, she turns to the boys’ coach, Chet, to learn the newfangled game of basketball. Chet is handsome and single, but Lula has no plans to fall for a local boy. She’s returning to college and her scholarship as soon as she gets Jewel back on her feet.
However, the more time she spends around Jewel’s family, the girls’ basketball team, music classes, and Chet, the more Lula comes to realize what she’s given up in her single-minded pursuit of degree after degree. God is working on her heart, and her future is starting to look a lot different than she’d expected.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Anne Mateer has loved reading and writing stories since childhood. In 2000, she began studying the craft of fiction and working toward publication. Ten years later, she received her first book contract. Anne is a three time Genesis contest finalist, a Carol Award finalist, and a contributor to A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts.
Anne and her equally history-obsessed husband live in Texas. They are the proud parents of three young adults who spent many family vacations touring historical sites.
by admin | Dec 12, 2014 | Books, Christmas, Historical, Novella, Post Civil War
MY REVIEW:
After losing the man she loved during the war, Esther had focused on raising her orphaned niece and managing the family bakery. Jeremy had been rejected by his fiance when she learned he had lost a foot in battle. Neither ever expected to find love at their age but Esther’s search for just the right artist to paint a Christmas star for her niece’s wedding gift may have set things in motion for another family wedding.
“The Christmas Star Bride” may be my favorite so far in the 12 Brides of Christmas collection – probably because the romance came as somewhat a surprise to both parties. I probably also liked the story because it featured a couple who were a bit more mature than those in the usual romance novels. Of course, Cabot’s excellent skill at developing a wonderful story and her careful research combined to make this one well worth my time.
I am loving getting to read all the stories in this collection and hate to see it quickly coming to the end. I encourage everyone to grab a copy of one or more of these sweet and inspiring stories about Christmas brides.
This book was provided for review by Shiloh Run Studios.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Esther Hathaway lost her one true love at Gettysburg twenty years ago, but she is still willing to celebrate her niece’s wedding by commissioning Jeremy Snyder to paint her portrait. Will Esther’s prayers for God to ease her loneliness be answered by a wounded vet?
More About The Christmas Star Bride with Amanda Cabot
Who would have guessed that at one time Cheyenne, Wyoming had the highest number of millionaires per capita in the country? Amanda Cabot discovered that fact and many others while researching her novella The Christmas Star Bride. Such a surprising fact spurred her imagination and intrigued her writer’s sensibility.
“Ever since I moved to Cheyenne and learned a bit of its history, I’ve been fascinated by the era of the cattle barons when Cheyenne was the wealthiest city per capita in the country. Not only was Cheyenne the capitol of Wyoming Territory, but it also boasted beautiful parks, the only opera house west of the Mississippi and even had electric lights. What better time and place to set a story?”
This is not Amanda’s first visit to nineteenth century Cheyenne. Two of her Westward Winds books, Waiting for Spring and With Autumn’s Return, are both set in Cheyenne during this period.
In this particular story, however, she wanted to tell the story of “an older couple, one who’d suffered through the War Between the States, and how love comes when it’s least expected. Once I realized what Jeremy and Esther had endured, the story practically wrote itself.”
“The Bible verse I chose for this story is Psalm 34:22, “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Both Esther and Jeremy have had desolate periods in their lives, but thanks to their faith in the Lord, they are redeemed.”
Amanda noted that while her characters are not based on real people, “my heroes and heroines frequently embody my personal values. Because I believe in justice and happy endings, readers will find that my protagonists do, too. They’ll also find the recurring theme of the healing power of love, since that’s something I believe in.”
Because she lives in Cheyenne, Amanda often walks the streets her characters inhabited. She’d not personally like to have lived in that time period (too dangerous to be ill), but she would love to have seen the opulent homes now gone.
Who is Amanda Cabot?
Amanda Cabot is the author of more than thirty novels, including the CBA bestseller Christmas Roses and Waiting for Spring. A Christmas-time bride herself, Amanda now lives in Cheyenne with her high-school sweetheart husband, where they celebrate a fairly simple Christmas tradition.
For more information about Amanda, please visit her website at www.amandacabot.com or read her blog.
You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter
Amanda had one last word: “I hope everyone who’s reading this has an opportunity to read all of the 12 Brides of Christmas novellas. I’ve had the privilege of reading each of them, and I can tell you that you’re in for a treat.”
