WYOMING CHRISTMAS QUADRUPLETS by Jill Kemerer, Reviewed by Winnie Thomas

What an adorable cover and what an overwhelming situation! Four babies to take care of at one time? The premise of this book drew me in, and the sweet babies, super-organized and efficient nanny, and self-sacrificing and tender hero kept me turning pages to see how they would handle this. 

Jill Kemerer is adept at creating realistic, engaging characters and interesting settings. All of the main characters in this book were hurting, broken people with traumatic pasts that they hadn’t quite gotten over yet. I loved how the author showed healing and how big doses of faith, forgiveness, grace, and mercy can overcome many of life’s problems.

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

BackCover Blurb:

A nanny at Christmastime…
Will she find love in this Wyoming Cowboys novel?

Six weeks on a ranch caring for quadruplets—aspiring nurse Ainsley Draper’s prepared for a busy Christmas. When the children’s handsome uncle opens the door, her task gets extra complicated. Marshall Graham is upholding his promise to look after his twin sister, the babies’ mom. But as family loyalty clashes with new love, will the perfect present include a future with Ainsley?

Available in digital ebook and paperback:

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A MILLION MILES FROM HOME by Mike Dellosso, reviewed by Susan Snodgrass

Mike Dellosso's was the very first launch team I joined. This book was so incredibly powerful! One of my top reads of the year.

'I was already bitter and angry, and not just angry but downright mad. Both at God and myself.'

I have read every single one of Mike Dellosso's books. He has a special gift of drawing the reader right down into the characters' hearts. He can cross genres seamlessly as well. This one I read in hours! It broke my heart, made me burst into tears several times and get leaky eyed at others. It was very full of emotion that my heart filled right up to the brim and splashed over. 

Ben Flurry, his wife Annie and 7 year old daughter Lizzy are incredibly happy in their home and life in Pennsylvania. They have created something special. Ben has loved Annie since he was 13 years old and she would come to his tree house after her dad beat on her, which he did regularly. Ben vowed to always protect Annie. But a day came when he could not. A horrific car accident takes Annie from him and horribly injures sweet Lizzy. Ben is so incredibly bereft he can't even see straight. He can't understand why this happened and doesn't see how in the world he can go on, especially now that Lizzy has such a long road of recovery ahead. He decides to go back to their hometown of Boomer, NC, where his parents still live. This is a move which takes a lot of courage because Ben's alcoholic dad was always verbally abusive to him, all his life. But his dad has suffered a stroke and Ben's mom says he is a changed man and has found Christ. Ben very much doubts it and sees no point in trying to form a relationship with his dad after all this time. But Ben is struggling and desperately wants to not be the kind of dad his own dad was. Will Ben allow bitterness and unforgiveness to mar his own future? Can he find the strength and grace to open his own heart?

Written with such a depth of feeling, this book is destined to be read over and over again and is definitely one for the keeper shelf. Mike Dellosso writes with such heart and compassion and grief that it moves the reader in ways they never expected. Truly, this book touched my heart in a profound way. It will be one of my top reads of 2018. Highly recommended. 

*I purchased this book and was under no obligation to review, nor provide a positive review.

Back Cover Blurb:

After suffering tragic loss, Ben Flurry must confront the past and his own grief to become the father his child needs.

Ben and Annie Flurry have the perfect family, until an accident takes Annie's life and leaves their daughter severely injured. Now Ben struggles to come to terms with his own grief and guilt.

As the past he tried to leave behind threatens all he holds dear, Ben makes the difficult decision to move back to his childhood home to seek the help of his mother — and the father he remembers as abusive and an alcoholic. His mother claims his father is a changed man, but Ben isn't so sure. Can he find the strength to be the dad and man his father never was? Or will the wounds of the past ruin Ben's chance to love again?

Available in paperback and digital ebook:
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ROMANCING THE BRIDE by Melissa Jagears, reviewed by Trixi Oberembt

“What matters now , is what you choose to do in the next hour, what you choose to do tomorrow. If your past decisions didn't get you where you wanted to be, figure out what decisions will. Beating yourself up over the past won't change a thing. ~Annie”


If it's one thing I can count on with Melissa Jagears, is the tightly packed emotion in her stories! From laugh-out-loud moments, to those more tender ones, to tears flowing, and anywhere in between. This one had it all! 

Annie Gephart certainly had her share of past mistakes and plenty of self-condemnation for them. Struggling with trying to raise her two children after the loss of her husband was hard enough without the possibility of losing the only thing tying her to her past. The ranch she loves so much! Her dream could come crashing down if she doesn't take desperate measures to ensure a future. But asking a man to marry her? Now that's quite unconventional! What choice does she have if she wishes to keep her family together and a roof over her head?

Jacob Hendrix, the town marshal, is frustrated by not being able to capture cattle rustlers because he's too busy doing what Mayor McGill wants. Building sidewalks and running mundane errands is not his idea of what it means to keep the peace. When he receives an unexpected marriage proposal from widow Gephart, his dream of owning a ranch would come true. But will a marriage in name only satisfy his longing for more? Taking on two children—one a rebellious, grief stricken teen, and the other an easy-going precarious boy with a penchant for fun—could be a challenge he'd willing face if it meant he'd have a family. Gaining back the ranch just might bring them closer, or tear them apart before it even began!

I felt so many things through this story! I was laughing in one moment, crying the next and had my heart so torn from one scene to the next! These characters get under your skin. I just wanted to hug Anne, take Celia under my wings and erase her grief, wrangle Spencer in some fun, and sidle up to Jacob to boost his confidence. I loved him especially! He's a man's man, but yet has his softer side he shows when it comes to Annie and her children. All those tender looks he shoots her way melted my heart. There were many times I wanted to shout to Annie to stop being so stubborn and let the man into her heart to love!! Ah yes, this is when I know an author does their job, when I get so emotionally tangled in the story and the characters. When it's hard for me to form a review and feel like I don't do it justice, then you as a reader know you're in for a treat with “Romancing the Bride”!

* I received a complimentary copy from the author and was under no obligation to leave a positive review. All opinions are my own. *

BackCover Blurb:
 
Marrying a stranger to save a ranch is one thing; losing the land on their wedding day is another.

Desperate to keep the ranch where three of her children and a husband lie buried, Annie Gephart must marry or sell. Which of the few bachelors in town would consider a surprise proposal to wed a plain widow with a rebellious daughter, a spirited boy, and unpaid taxes—without laughing in her face?

Jacob Hendrix has never fully let go of his ranching dreams despite ending up as a small Wyoming town’s marshal. The job wouldn’t be so bad, except he’s more errand boy than lawman. When Annie proposes marriage without a single coquettish bat of an eyelash, can he commit himself to a woman he hardly knows for a choice piece of property he’d be an idiot to pass up?

But taxes aren’t all that threaten Annie and Jacob’s plans. Cattle rustlers, crumbling friendships, and wayward children make this marriage of convenience anything but. When they lose what they’ve sacrificed everything to save, will the love of a stranger be enough?

Romancing the Bride is the first book in the Frontier Vows Series by award-winning Christian romance author Melissa Jagears. If you like heartwarming marriage-of-convenience stories, you’ll love this sweet romance filled with endearing characters.

Available in paperback and digital Ebook:
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AN HOUR UNSPENT By Roseanna M. White, Two Reviews by KIm and Winnie

Two Reviews Today!

First up – Kim!

This series is so so good! I’m hard pressed to pick a favorite. While this is the third story in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone.  But, it is so worth it to read them all because you get a real sense of who these characters are, and how they all band together to form a unit. Such an interesting premise for these books!

I’ve been wanting to read Barclay’s story since book one. What a unique and great character. Barclay is such a kind-hearted, giving, caring person!  He’s so good to so many, even those who don’t really deserve it. Lina took a little bit for me to warm up to, but when she -oops - spoilers! Let’s just say she did something to Barclay and I knew she was meant for him. Their romance was so natural and smooth. They are just meant to be together. Although, right around page 300, I was...well...let’s just say my heart was breaking! 

This story has it all - romance, danger, mystery, family - some wonderful and some not so wonderful- and God sprinkled throughout. I loved these lines after Barclay has just finished praying: “The weight on him wasn’t any lighter. And yet, somehow, it wasn’t quite so heavy. The burden still weighed, but it was as if another shoulder had come alongside his under it. That, he’d come to realize, was how the Lord worked. At least for him. He didn’t remove the bad- He just lent him the strength to face it.” 

This is one of my favorite series and because of it, Roseanna is now one of my auto buy authors. You must add this series to your TBR pile! 

*I purchased this book and was under no obligation to review, nor provide a positive review.

AND NOW WINNIE! 

The third and final book in the Shadows Over England series, An Hour Unspent, was an absolute pleasure to read. I had been looking forward to Barclay Pearce’s story and was not disappointed. White is a master at developing unique, vividly drawn, and emotionally layered characters, and Barclay and his patchwork “family” of orphans are so endearing and lovable that I couldn’t help falling in love with them. Barclay is so tender and protective of his family and always willing to take on additional members and duties as needed. Evelina is an independent and spunky heroine who is taken aback by Barclay’s “family” but seems to quickly fit right in.

I’m always so impressed with White’s ability to pack a lot of history and background into her stories. That she has done her research is readily apparent. I enjoyed learning more about London during WWI and what conditions were like for the residents there. For a riveting and fascinating read brimming with intrigue, suspense, and romance with elements of faith woven in, grab this book. Better yet, read the whole series. Although this is a stand-alone book and can be read by itself, you’ll want to read all three books to get the whole background build-up.

The covers of the books in this series are absolutely gorgeous. They complement the stories so perfectly. I would recommend this book and series to those who enjoy historical fiction at its finest. I’m looking forward to more of this author’s stories.

*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Back Cover Blurb:

 
Once London's top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war. But not until he rescues a clockmaker's daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold.

Evelina Manning has constantly fought for independence, but she certainly never meant for it to inspire her fiancé to end the engagement and enlist in the army. When the intriguing man who saved her returns to the Manning residence to study clockwork repair with her father, she can't help being interested. But she soon learns that nothing with Barclay Pearce is as simple as it seems.

As 1915 England plunges ever deeper into war, the work of an ingenious clockmaker may give England an unbeatable military edge--and Germany realizes it as well. Evelina's father soon finds his whole family in danger--and it may just take a reformed thief to steal the time they need to escape.

Available in paperback, hardcover, digital ebook and audiobook:

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