Joanna Chandler always dreamed of becoming an attorney. But when she left law school to help care for her dying mother, stepping away from her single-minded pursuit gave her space to reconsider. The only question is, if not law, what should she do with her life?
To keep her mind off an uncertain future, Joanna helps her older sister, Phylicia, throw an amazing outdoor wedding on the charming Missouri property the three Chandler sisters own together. That’s when she realizes wedding planning could be a thriving business of its own. And Lukas Blaine, the handsome wedding DJ, opens her mind to the possibility of love on the horizon.
But there’s more to Luke than meets the eye. The young boy he’s been mentoring has lost his mother and become Luke’s ward. Mateo is sullen and angry and needs constant attention. How can Luke possibly find the time to start a new relationship or saddle someone else with a wounded child? He may have to let go of the woman of his dreams–and crush her dreams at the same time.
About Deborah Raney DEBORAH RANEY’s first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Twenty-five years later, she has written more than thirty-five books, including novels for imprints of Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Harlequin. Deb is on the board of the 2600-member American Christian Fiction Writers and teaches at writers conferences around the country. Her novels have won RWA’s RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a three-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is a recent Missouri transplant, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, Thursday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard. Visit Deb on the Web at http://www.deborahraney.com.
My Rating: 4 Stars!!
‘You sometimes have a tendency to expect the worst of people, and when you do that, they’re sure to give you the worst.’
I am a Deborah Raney fan. I still have my original copy of her very first book. Deborah Raney writes about real life issues. From her heart. The reader feels this. Her books are not fluffy ‘happily ever after’ books, although we do get a happy ever after ending. But we get heartache and struggle and finding your way back in between.
This is the second in her Chandler Sisters series, Joanna’s story. Joanna, who has dreamed all her life about how she wanted her life to be when she grew up. And now she’s discovering that maybe God has a different dream for her life. I’m so glad He’s planned the best for us! Joanna must travel a road she’s uncomfortable traveling to get to that life, though.
I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to the third sister’s story! I highly recommend this book and this author.
*My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book. The opinion here is entirely my own.
The third lost princess. The final key to the treasure. And a battle for the throne.
Growing up deep in the forest as a poor charcoal burner’s daughter, Emmeline has always known her identity as a princess of Mercia, and she lives in fear of being caught and killed. When her adopted father returns from town with news regarding the imminence of war, Emmeline has no wish to join the rebellion against King Ethelwulf.
Prince Ethelrex, the strongest warrior in the land, has done everything he can to prove his loyalty to his father, including searching for the last lost princess. When Ethelrex finally captures Emmeline, the king commands his son to marry the princess in order to win the support of the people and undermine the rebellion.
Forced into marriage, Emmeline has one goal—to escape. But Ethelrex takes his marriage vows seriously, including his promise to love and cherish his wife, and has no intention of letting Emmeline get away. As the battle for the throne rages, will the prince be able to win the battle for Emmeline’s heart?
About Jody Hedlund
Jody Hedlund is the author of over twenty historicals for both adults and teens and is the winner of numerous awards including the Christy, Carol, and Christian Book Award.
Jody lives in central Michigan with her husband, five busy children, and five spoiled cats. Although Jody prefers to experience daring and dangerous adventures through her characters rather than in real life, she’s learned that a calm existence is simply not meant to be (at least in this phase of her life!).
When she’s not penning another of her page-turning stories, she loves to spend her time reading, especially when it also involves consuming coffee and chocolate.
My Rating:
‘God oft gives us more than we deserve. I can do no less for others.’
Jody Hedlund definitely saved the best for last in her Lost Princesses medieval series. The medieval setting is my favorite, I think, and she does it so very well. This time we have Emmeline’s story, she who is a twin to Princess Maribel. They both, along with their older sister, Princess Adelaide, were spirited away when the evil King Ethelwulf killed their parents and took control over the kingdom. For 18 years they have been hunted, for each holds a part of a puzzle that will bring great riches to the kingdom and also peace. Adelaide and Maribel were never found in time but now Emmeline’s hiding has been discovered and she is forced to wed the evil king’s son, Rex. Rex, however, is not the evil prince she thinks he is.
This one was so good! I was on the edge of my seat, so to speak, especially during the descent into the Labyrinth of Death. Hedlund gives us a wonderful and oh so satisfying conclusion to her very good series. And we learn that sometimes fear is just courage trying to emerge. I personally hope she returns to her medieval tales soon. Truly, it is her forte.
*My thanks to the author for a preview copy of this book. The opinions stated here are entirely my own.
Hereafter
Publisher: Northern Lights Press
Publication Date: October 29, 2019
This poignant and heartbreaking novel explores the power of resilience, the gift of friendship, and the divine beauty to be found in the big, bright world—if only we’re willing to look. Pennsylvania, 1940s. The only life Brighton Friedrich has ever known is the one she has endured within the dreary walls of Riverside Home—the rural asylum where she was born. A nurse, Joann, has educated and raised Brighton, whose mother is a patient at the hospital. But Joann has also kept vital information from Brighton—secrets that if ever revealed would illuminate Brighton’s troubling past and the circumstances that confine her to Riverside. Brighton’s best friend is a boy she calls Angel, and as they grow up together and face the bleak future that awaits them, they determine to make a daring escape. Nothing can prepare Brighton and Angel for life beyond Riverside’s walls. They have no legal identities, very little money, and only a few leads toward a safe place to land. As they struggle to survive in a world they’ve never seen before, they must rely on each other and the kindness of strangers—some of whom may prove more dangerous than the asylum they’ve fled. Narrated in Elizabeth Byler Younts’s gorgeous style, The Bright Unknown is a sparkling search for answers, family, and a place to call home.
About Elizabeth Byler Younts Elizabeth Byler Younts gained a worldwide audience through her first book Seasons: A Real Story of an Amish Girl and is a RITA nominated writer. Elizabeth lives in Central Pennsylvania with her husband, two daughters, and a cockapoo named Fable.
‘I knew that being a resident of the Riverside Home For The Insane was not how everyone else in the world lived. But it has been my life since birth.’
Brighton was born in the insane asylum because her mother was a patient there. She knew no other life. A nurse educated and raised her inside that dreary place. Brighton finds an albino not and names him Angel because he has no name. They grow up together in this put. Years later they escape but are completely unprepared for life in the world.
Poignantly told but heartbreaking, this will haunt you after the last page is turned. A very sad book.
*My thanks to Thomas Nelson Publishers for a copy of this book via Net Galley. The opinion stated here is entirely my own
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publication Date: October 22, 2019
The compelling, poignant true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal—some of whom learned the truth from Lisa Wingate’s bestselling novel Before We Were Yours and were reunited with birth family members as a result of its wide reach
From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents—hiding the fact that many weren’t orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died.
The publication of Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours brought new awareness of Tann’s lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and award-winning journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of fifteen adoptees in this book, many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families.
Before and After includes moving and sometimes shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. Christie and Wingate tell of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace better-late-than-never brothers, sisters, and cousins. In a poignant culmination of art meeting life, many of the long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with the authors to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children’s Home Society reunion . . . with extraordinary results.
About Lisa Wingate
Selected among BOOKLIST’S Top 10 for two years running, Lisa Wingate writes novels 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, and the author of a host of literary works. Her novels have garnered or been short-listed for many awards, including the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize, the Oklahoma Book Award, the Utah Library Award, the LORIES Best Fiction Award, The Carol Award, the Christy Award, Family Fiction’s Top 10, RT Booklover’s Reviewer’s Choice Award, and others. The group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with six others for the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who promote greater kindness and civility in American life. She’s been a writer since Mrs. Krackhardt’s first-grade class and still believes that stories have the power to change the world.
IN THE WRITER’S OWN WORDS: A special first grade teacher, Mrs. Krackhardt, made a writer out of me. That may sound unlikely, but it’s true. It’s possible to find a calling when you’re still in pigtails and Mary Jane shoes, and to know it’s your calling. I was halfway through the first grade when I landed in Mrs. Krackhardt’s classroom. I was fairly convinced there wasn’t anything all that special about me… and then, Mrs. Krackhardt stood over my desk and read a story I was writing. She said things like, “This is a great story! I wonder what happens next?”
It isn’t every day a shy new kid gets that kind of attention. I rushed to finish the story, and when I wrote the last word, the teacher took the pages, straightened them on the desk, looked at me over the top, and said, “You are a wonderful writer!”
A dream was born. Over the years, other dreams bloomed and died tragic, untimely deaths. I planned to become an Olympic gymnast or win the National Finals Rodeo, but there was this matter of back flips on the balance beam and these parents who stubbornly refused to buy me a pony. Yet the writer dream remained. I always believed I could do it because… well… my first grade teacher told me so, and first grade teachers don’t lie.
So, that is my story, and if you are a teacher, or know a teacher, or ever loved a special teacher, I salute you from afar and wish you days be filled with stories worth telling and stories worth reading.
About Judy Christie
Author Judy Christie loves to read, write and talk about books.
An award-winning journalist, Judy is the co-author of “Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society,” a project that combines her love of stories, her Southern heritage, and her journalism background. She wrote the book with longtime friend Lisa Wingate, author of the bestseller “Before We Were Yours,” a fictional account of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society scandal.
Judy’s appreciation for interviewing began in elementary school, where she was editor of The Barret Banner, and continued in her work as a newspaper reporter and editor. Her interviews with the heroes of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society tragedy tell stories of love and loss through the voices of adoptees, now in their seventies and eighties, and their families–and the unexpected blessing of a gathering of adoptees.
Judy also has written a series of nonfiction self-help books and three series of Southern novels, including the Green, Louisiana, and Wreath Willis series.
She writes daily and has kept a diary since she was eleven–and still has all of them. She is also an avid letter writer and loves to create mail art.
Judy writes a #booklover column at http://www.shreveporttimes.com and invites you to visit her online. You can find her on Facebook @JudyChristieAuthor and Twitter @judypchristie.
For contests, book announcements, and chitchat about books, sign up for her free e-newsletter at http://www.judychristie.com.
Judy and her husband, a Tennessee native, live in rural Colorado where they share their place with the occasional bear and the ravens they are trying to befriend.
So, that is my story, and if you are a teacher, or know a teacher, or ever loved a special teacher, I salute you from afar and wish you days be filled with stories worth telling and stories worth reading.
My Rating: 4 Stars!
‘Tann’s empire at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society has been built with a combustible blend of desperate pregnant women, shattered children, vulnerable poverty-stricken families, eager adoptive parents, powerful politicians, ego, and greed.’
I read Lisa Wingate’s ‘Before We Were Yours’ and it impacted me deeply. Based on the facts of the cruel and devious Georgia Tann, who stole and adopted out over 5000 children between 1924-1950, it was a powerful book! After the book came out, many came forth because they knew they were part of that vicious story, taken from parents by Tann and sold to others, sometimes to a life of goodness and sometimes not. People began contacting Wingate about this and this book was born.
Based on the true stories of these people who were victims, for that’s what they can properly and truly be called, of Tann’s evil empire, they now tell their stories. Stories of how they always felt ‘something was missing’ and how they never felt totally complete. And then through the work of Wingate and Judy Christie, these people searched and found siblings they never knew they had!
Deeply moving and mind numbing, this book is a testament to the hearts of those that were abused so cruelly by a heinous woman whose crime rivaled that of any serial killer.
These stories will break your heart and bring joy at the same time. I was very moved by this book.
*My thanks to the publishers for a copy of this book via Net Galley. The opinions stated here are entirely my own.
The compelling, poignant true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal—some of whom learned the truth from Lisa Wingate’s bestselling novel Before We Were Yours and were reunited with birth family members as a result of its wide reach
From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents—hiding the fact that many weren’t orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died.
The publication of Lisa Wingate’s novel Before We Were Yours brought new awareness of Tann’s lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and award-winning journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of fifteen adoptees in this book, many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families.
Before and After includes moving and sometimes shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. Christie and Wingate tell of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace better-late-than-never brothers, sisters, and cousins. In a poignant culmination of art meeting life, many of the long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with the authors to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children’s Home Society reunion . . . with extraordinary results.
About Lisa Wingate
Selected among BOOKLIST’S Top 10 for two years running, Lisa Wingate writes novels 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, and the author of a host of literary works. Her novels have garnered or been short-listed for many awards, including the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize, the Oklahoma Book Award, the Utah Library Award, the LORIES Best Fiction Award, The Carol Award, the Christy Award, Family Fiction’s Top 10, RT Booklover’s Reviewer’s Choice Award, and others. The group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with six others for the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who promote greater kindness and civility in American life. She’s been a writer since Mrs. Krackhardt’s first-grade class and still believes that stories have the power to change the world.
IN THE WRITER’S OWN WORDS: A special first grade teacher, Mrs. Krackhardt, made a writer out of me. That may sound unlikely, but it’s true. It’s possible to find a calling when you’re still in pigtails and Mary Jane shoes, and to know it’s your calling. I was halfway through the first grade when I landed in Mrs. Krackhardt’s classroom. I was fairly convinced there wasn’t anything all that special about me… and then, Mrs. Krackhardt stood over my desk and read a story I was writing. She said things like, “This is a great story! I wonder what happens next?”
It isn’t every day a shy new kid gets that kind of attention. I rushed to finish the story, and when I wrote the last word, the teacher took the pages, straightened them on the desk, looked at me over the top, and said, “You are a wonderful writer!”
A dream was born. Over the years, other dreams bloomed and died tragic, untimely deaths. I planned to become an Olympic gymnast or win the National Finals Rodeo, but there was this matter of back flips on the balance beam and these parents who stubbornly refused to buy me a pony. Yet the writer dream remained. I always believed I could do it because… well… my first grade teacher told me so, and first grade teachers don’t lie.
So, that is my story, and if you are a teacher, or know a teacher, or ever loved a special teacher, I salute you from afar and wish you days be filled with stories worth telling and stories worth reading.
About Judy Christie
Author Judy Christie loves to read, write and talk about books.
An award-winning journalist, Judy is the co-author of “Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society,” a project that combines her love of stories, her Southern heritage, and her journalism background. She wrote the book with longtime friend Lisa Wingate, author of the bestseller “Before We Were Yours,” a fictional account of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society scandal.
Judy’s appreciation for interviewing began in elementary school, where she was editor of The Barret Banner, and continued in her work as a newspaper reporter and editor. Her interviews with the heroes of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society tragedy tell stories of love and loss through the voices of adoptees, now in their seventies and eighties, and their families–and the unexpected blessing of a gathering of adoptees.
Judy also has written a series of nonfiction self-help books and three series of Southern novels, including the Green, Louisiana, and Wreath Willis series.
She writes daily and has kept a diary since she was eleven–and still has all of them. She is also an avid letter writer and loves to create mail art.
Judy writes a #booklover column at http://www.shreveporttimes.com and invites you to visit her online. You can find her on Facebook @JudyChristieAuthor and Twitter @judypchristie.
For contests, book announcements, and chitchat about books, sign up for her free e-newsletter at http://www.judychristie.com.
Judy and her husband, a Tennessee native, live in rural Colorado where they share their place with the occasional bear and the ravens they are trying to befriend.
So, that is my story, and if you are a teacher, or know a teacher, or ever loved a special teacher, I salute you from afar and wish you days be filled with stories worth telling and stories worth reading.
My Rating: 4 Stars!
‘Tann’s empire at the Tennessee Children’s Home Society has been built with a combustible blend of desperate pregnant women, shattered children, vulnerable poverty-stricken families, eager adoptive parents, powerful politicians, ego, and greed.’
I read Lisa Wingate’s ‘Before We Were Yours’ and it impacted me deeply. Based on the facts of the cruel and devious Georgia Tann, who stole and adopted out over 5000 children between 1924-1950, it was a powerful book! After the book came out, many came forth because they knew they were part of that vicious story, taken from parents by Tann and sold to others, sometimes to a life of goodness and sometimes not. People began contacting Wingate about this and this book was born.
Based on the true stories of these people who were victims, for that’s what they can properly and truly be called, of Tann’s evil empire, they now tell their stories. Stories of how they always felt ‘something was missing’ and how they never felt totally complete. And then through the work of Wingate and Judy Christie, these people searched and found siblings they never knew they had!
Deeply moving and mind numbing, this book is a testament to the hearts of those that were abused so cruelly by a heinous woman whose crime rivaled that of any serial killer.
These stories will break your heart and bring joy at the same time. I was very moved by this book.
*My thanks to the publishers for a copy of this book via Net Galley. The opinions stated here are entirely my own.
When Paisley throws a fan festival for her old bandmate, it becomes a celebration to die for. Just as Paisley Sutton’s all nice and settled into small-town life as an event-planner, in walks Jaz, reigning queen of pop and former lead singer for the Electric Femmes. Jaz’s reputation needs a reboot, and she knows a giant party for her fans will turn things around. Paisley finds herself roped into helping her old bandmate, but when an unexpected guest turns up dead, Paisley will need to hit the right note to unmask a killer. While Paisley’s digs up the dirt on the Who’s Who of the music world, her relationship with Beau hits a snag. Is a breakup in her future? Can’t he see she needs his strong, flannel-covered shoulder to cry on? As Paisley juggles Jaz’s diva antics, an Electric Femmes reunion, and a derailing festival, she’ll need the help of her rowdy, ex-CIA grandmother and aunt more than ever. The hilarious trio will uncover secrets someone will do anything to keep buried—at any cost. Not ready to take her final bow, Paisley will have to work fast to unmask a killer. . .before she’s the next victim. Fanatically in Trouble is the third book in the lively Enchanted Events cozy mystery series with a dash of romance. If you like engaging characters, small-town intrigue, and laugh-out-loud moments, then you’ll love Jenny B. Jones’ musical romp. Buy Fanatically in Trouble and let the fun begin!
About Jenny B. Jones Award-winning author Jenny B. Jones writes romance with sass and Southern charm. Woefully indecisive, she writes YA, New Adult, and women’s romance. Since she has very little free time, Jenny believes in spending her spare hours in meaningful, intellectual pursuits, such as watching bad TV, Tweeting deep thoughts to the world, and writing her name in the dust on her furniture. You can find her at http://www.jennybjones.com.
My Rating: 5 Stars!!!
‘Can we get through one Sugar Creek homicide without you volunteering to be the next target?’
Jenny B. Jones adds to her ‘Enchanted Events’ series with this third offering that is so incredibly delightful that I read it in less than one day! Paisley Sutton is very nearly forced into hosting a long event for pop queen Jaz, who, incidentally, was the former lead singer for the Electric Femmes. The same band she basically kicked Paisley out of years before. And, as usual for Sugar Creek and Paisley Sutton, someone turns up dead. Murdered. And since Paisley is so good as solving crimes, in she dives. Add to the crazy mix, Paisley’s grandmother Sylvie and her Aunt Frannie, retired CIA agents and you have the recipe for a hilarious, rip roaring good time. Then there’s Beau, with whom Paisley has a relationship and both of them have decided to take it slower. But does Paisley really want that? Or will she speak her heart to him?
This is a cozy mystery to die for, pardon the pun. Just couldn’t resist that one. A dash of romance, two quirky grandmotherly CIA agents, a mom Paisley hasn’t seen in a while, a dashing hero and plenty of suspects, and you are totally set to enjoy yourself immensely. Sugar Creek is one fictional town I’d love to visit, too. Jones writes so well that we find ourselves right there in every scene. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard reading a book. I nearly choked on my lunch and then nearly fell off my treadmill. Read this one in a chair, folks, because you will fall in the floor laughing. I had the BEST time reading this book! I hope Jones sets more books here in Sugar Creek. At least one more. Well done! Higly recommended.
My thanks to the author for a preview copy of this book. The opinion stated here is expressly my own.
Publication Date: October 22, 2019 Publisher: Sweet Pea Productions Genre: Cozy Mystery
December comes to quaint Hearts Bend, Tennessee, with a blanket of white and the glitter of Christmas lights.
For JoJo Castle there is no place like home. Her onetime love of adventure ended when her life in the big city came crashing down. Now that she’s home, she never wants to leave again.
Country music sensation Buck Mathews has charmed the world with his smile and his music. However, news of his mother’s illness brought him home to Hearts Bend for the holiday season.
Working with her cousin Haley in The Wedding Shop, JoJo has no aspirations of love. But when her high school crush returns to town, her buried feelings surface.
Busy with his career, Buck hasn’t had time for family and friends, much less love. Seeing JoJo in The Wedding Shop reminds him there are things more important than his career.
But JoJo and Buck have opposing life goals, and there’s no middle ground. Can love, especially the kind that touches hearts at Christmas, overcome her fears and his quest for greatness?
With the help of a very special wedding dress, there just might be a Christmas miracle.
About Rachel Hauck Rachel Hauck is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author.
She is a Christy Award Winner and a double RITA finalist. Her book The Wedding Dress was named Inspirational Novel of the Year by Romantic Times Book Club. She is also the recipient of RT’s Career Achievement Award.
A graduate of Ohio State University with a degree in Journalism, and a former sorority girl, Rachel and her husband live in central Florida. She is a huge Buckeyes football fan.
I never miss a Rachel Hauck book. Never. When I open a new book by her, I feel like I’ve drifted into the sublime world of peace, great spiritual connections and characters that just take up residence in my heart. When I heard she was doing a Christmas novella based on her Wedding Dress book, I was so excited to read it. And I was definitely not disappointed.
JoJo Castle has let fear take root in her heart and it has mushroomed until she now denies herself great happiness with the man she has loved since she was in school. Buck Mathews has always loved JoJo as well, but hasn’t really realized it. But there is a big obstacle standing in their way. Can they find a way around it? God has some surprises for this precious couple.
Hauck brings it once again with her trademark touch of the Divine in each book she writes. It’s so wonderful to see this in her books. It is incredibly precious to me. It’s amazing to see how she lets God work in her books and the lives on her characters. I read this one in a few hours. Loved every moment. I highly recommend this novella.
*My thanks to the author for a preview copy of this book. The opinions stated here are entirely my own.
Young line producer Danny Byrd is well-known in Hollywood for being someone who gets things done on time and under budget. But when his reputation takes a beating after his partner–and former best friend–makes off with their investors’ money, Danny has but one chance to redeem himself and restore his ruined career.
LA lawyer Megan Pierce has sacrificed years of her life proving herself to her impossible bosses only to find herself disgusted at their snobbery and their specious business practices. When an opportunity to actually make a difference comes her way, she knows she has to grab it–even though she’s not entirely clear what “it” is.
Danny and Megan are each other’s best hope for redemption. What they never could have imagined was that they might also be each other’s best hope for love.
Bestselling and award-winning author Davis Bunn takes you into the beating heart of Hollywood with two characters determined to thrive in a cutthroat business.
About Davis Bunn Davis Bunn is a four-time Christy Award-winning, best-selling author who serves as writer-in-residence at Regent’s Park College, the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Defined by readers and reviewers as a “wise teacher,” “gentleman adventurer,” “consummate writer,” and “Renaissance man,” his work in business took him to over 40 countries around the world, and his books have sold more than seven million copies in sixteen languages.
My Rating: 3 Stars
‘Danny’s life, career, and professional standing had all been destroyed by one word.’
Danny Byrd has spent time in jail as a juvenile, robbed a bank, but now, as a grown man, he is on the docket again, but he’s innocent this time. He had a good reputation until now and his career and indeed his life, needs redemption.
Danny teams up with a lawyer, Megan Pierce and it turns out both of them could stand a good dose of redemption. But sometimes God gives us more than we need. He’s just good like that.
Unscripted is a story of pain, loss, great challenges and redemption. And while this setting is not my favorite, it is told well and full of insider information on the film industry. And it carries a great message. Recommended.
*My thanks to Revell Publishing for a copy of this book. The opinion here is my own.
He’s lost her twice…he’s not going to lose her again…
NHL Hockey Goalie Wyatt Marshall has everything–fame, money and a thriving career. But he’s hiding the two things that matter most…a career-ending injury, and his broken heart. He’s been in love with Coco Stanley since she walked into his life at age fourteen, a foster child for the Marshall family. She stole his heart years later, when, after a secret tryst, she returned to her home country of Russia. But she won’t let him back into her life—and he can’t figure out why.
She’s harboring a secret that could cost lives…
Coco Stanley is tired of living her life undercover. Or at least, with an assumed name, always pretending to be someone she’s not. And that’s not the only secret she’s harboring. If Wyatt discovers the real reason she left him, it might just destroy him. She’s resigned herself to loving him from afar…
But when he discovers she’s in danger…
Wyatt is horrified when he learns Coco has been shot and left in Russia, her fate unknown. There is nothing—nothing—that will stop him from finding her. So what if he’s not one of his super-heroic brothers, not a Ranger, not a SEAL…Wyatt is a hockey goalie, a special kind of crazy brave. Except, is he brave enough to face the secret Coco is keeping, or will it destroy everything he’s hoped for?
What will it cost them to save her?
What Wyatt and Coco don’t know is that revenge is stalking her and bringing her home just might cost them their long-awaited happy ending.
Continue the breath-taking Montana Marshalls series!
Action, drama, adventure, flawed individuals and emotional and spiritual challenges are hallmarks of Warren’s books. – Christian Library Journal
Warren has a knack for creating captivating and relatable characters that pull the reader deep into the story. – Radiant Lit
Genre: Inspirational Romantic Suspense
About Susan May Warren
Growing up in Minneapolis and attending the U of MN, I learned to love city life, although I’m a woodsy girl at heart. Or maybe I’m an adventurer — having lived and traveled all over the world, including Siberia Russia as a missionary for eight years. Probably that’s why my characters can’t sit still, and seem to get into one scrape after another — they’re too much like me! I love God, my family, my country, my church, and feel privileged every day to be able to write stories.
Here’s my “Official” Bio.
With over 1 million books sold, critically acclaimed novelist Susan May Warren is the Christy, RITA and Carol award-winning author of over seventy-five novels with Revell, Tyndale, Barbour, Steeple Hill and Summerside Press. Known for her compelling plots and unforgettable characters, Susan has written contemporary and historical romances, romantic-suspense, thrillers, rom-com and Christmas novellas.
With books translated into eight languages, many of her novels have been ECPA and CBA bestsellers, were chosen as Top Picks by Romantic Times, and have won the RWA’s Inspirational Reader’s Choice contest and the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year award.
Of her books, Publisher’s Weekly has written, “Warren lays bare her characters’ human frailties, including fear, grief, and resentment, as openly as she details their virtues of love, devotion, and resiliency. She has crafted an engaging tale of romance, rivalry, and the power of forgiveness.”
And Library Journal adds, “Warren’s characters are well-developed and she knows how to create a first rate contemporary romance…”
Susan is also a nationally acclaimed writing coach, teaching at conferences around the nation and winner of the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Mentor of the Year award. She loves to help people launch their writing careers and is the founder of Novel.Academy and http://www.LearnHowtoWriteaNovel.com, a writing website that helps authors get published and stay published. She’s also the author of the popular writing method, The Story Equation.
My Rating: 5 STARS!!!
‘Wyatt Marshall hadn’t come all the way to Russia to fail.’
Sometimes you read a book and you just can’t pick up another for a while because this one just blew your completely away. Wyatt is that book.
‘You will not be free of the striving until you hear the voice of your true Father telling you that you are loved. You are delighted in. You are enough, Wyatt.’
Wyatt Marshall. Strong. Determined. Forceful. Romantic. Brave. With each Marshall, I think they are the best, but then along comes another and I change my mind. Wyatt will make your heart soar. Orrin and Gerri Marshall raised some mighty fine children. Mighty fine indeed.
Susan May Warren continues her highly explosive Montana Marshalls series with Wyatt, the superstar goalie for the Minnesota Blue Ox hockey team. And boy, is Wyatt ever a hero! As in the previous books, this one intertwines with the rest. Wyatt has gone to Russia to find his one true love and bring her home with him. But Coco has a huge set of problems facing her, including the fact that she doesn’t believe Wyatt wants her. And she has a big secret.
I have always been a Susan May Warren fan since I read my first book by her. I shall always be a fan. And not just because she is a great author and tells a tremendous story, which she does. But she brings the spiritual message and brings it incredibly well. She takes God out of the box and shines the light of Jesus all over the place! How I love this. Warren truly shines here. The story is on fire, the danger, the predicaments, the intrigue, the emotions, everything was absolutely perfect! She always manages to dig so deep into her characters’ hearts and make them feel like real, live, breathing people to her readers. My emotions were all over the place in this book. Let me warn you: you will need tissues. I just hated for it to end. I love these folks! Another one for the keeper shelf. I highly recommend this book.
*My thanks to the publisher and author for a preview copy of this book. I received no compensation and the opinions stated here are entirely my own.
Spend the holidays with family in these two Western novellas!
Home is where the heart is in His Christmas Family when Laurel Adams comes home and discovers a foster kid and a seriously charming horse trainer living on her grandmother’s ranch. And in A Merry Wyoming Christmas, single mom Leann Bowden is starting over when she and her daughter are rescued from a snowstorm. Might the dashing cowboy be the Christmas gift they’re dreaming of?
About Jill Kemerer Jill Kemerer is a Publishers Weekly bestselling, multi-published romance novelist with Harlequin Love Inspired. Her essentials include coffee, M&Ms, a stack of books, her mini-dachshund, and long walks outdoors. She resides in Ohio with her husband and two almost-grown children. For more information, please visit her website, https://jillkemerer.com/About Brenda Minton Brenda Minton lives in the Ozarks with her husband, three children and a few too many pets. She’s a pastor’s wife as well as children’s ministry worker.
Her hobbies include sitting on the porch drinking coffee and going out to eat with friends.
If you enjoy her Love Inspired Cooper Creek series, you can find Brenda most days drinking coffee and hanging out on facebook.
My Rating: 5 Stars!
‘God had laid a new path before her and it was frightening.’
This was just the best little book! I had already read Jill Kemerer and love her books but I’d never read Brenda Minton. I have found a new author to read!
A Merry Wyoming Christmas by Jill Kemerer made me want to go live in that small town. A single mother is stranded when her car slides off the road and is rescued by a very nice wildlife biologist who used to be a cowboy. I loved every minute.
His Christmas Family by Brenda Minton was so precious, I found myself getting very leaky eyes more than once and outright crying in other places. A young woman returns to her hometown with a heart full of hurt to take care of her grandmother but finds a very handsome cowboy next door who is wounded himself. Again, I loved every minute. I recommend this book very much.
*My thanks to the publisher and author for a preview copy of this book. The opinions stated here are entirely my own.
Simply Susan 