Engaging Deception

Engaging Deception is the third book in Regina Jennings' Joplin Chronicles series, but for me, it is also the best of the Chronicles. Sometimes an author will seemingly get tired of a series before the series is finished and the last story becomes trite and lackluster.  Regina took a look at her characters and brought a freshness to this latest book that gives the reader a satisfying sigh after finishing the book.  

Olive Kentworth has spent the last several years taking care of her ill mother until she passed.  Now she is caring for her father and his house.  She has been slow to rejoin society and seems to like her life just as it is.  One of the things she loves doing is designing houses and buildings. She has already designed buildings for her cousins places of buildings.  She has also gotten ahold of every book on architecture the library has and bought quite a few more that showed up in a rummage sale at church.  Her idol (for lack of a better word) in the architecture world is Maxfield Scott.  When her cousin sets her up to babysit for Maxfield, she feels the world has been handed to her on a platter.  She finds his library is full of resources and ideas that fuel her own.  

Two men lived in Joplin who were rivals in wanting the biggest, showiest house in town. Maxfield has built one of the houses and is in process of building the other.  When the owner of the first house decides to add on to the house, Olive's design is the one that wins the owner's heart, and Maxfield is dismayed at the remodel of one of his prized designs. 

Even though Maxfield is dating the daughter of his client, he is growing closer to Olive.  There is something he sees in her that intrigues him.  She likes Maxfield, but is afraid to let him know who she really is and what she really does. 

The characters in this book have foibles and flaws that make them more real and more likable.  There is a tiny bit of romance formula in the plot, but it's there to give the characters time to contemplate the situation. It does not detract from the story at all.  

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and an award-winning home design. 

Bethany House provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

A Novel Proposal

 

Sadie teaches art at an elementary school, but on her breaks, she writes western novels.  Unfortunately, her publisher is not happy with her sales and wants her to branch into another genre--specifically romance.  Her best friend's mom owns a duplex on an island off the South Carolina coast and sets it up so that Sadie can go spend her summer writing without distractions.  The other half of the duplex is occupied by Sam, a man who wanted nothing but solitude for the summer. Sadie and Sam are polar opposites 

When Sadie's agent described what the publisher was looking for, she described the "romance novel formula" to a T. 

• Boy meets girl
• Boy gets girl
• Boy loses girl
• Boy and girl get back together again.  

Well, this is exactly the way the story played out, except in reverse--girl meets boy, girl gets boy, etc.  Denise Hunter has taken the basic romance formula and built a novel with it, but she's done it with more skill than the cheesy romances that usually follow this formula.  She has also woven in a bit of a mystery that keeps the reader engaged throughout the plot from beginning to end.  

In meeting the characters of this book, I got the impression that Sam was pretty curmudgeonly, while Sadie was over-the-top extrovert. Some of her actions early on bordered on the manic, but she calmed down by the end of the book.  The setting on an island right on the ocean makes me a little wistful for beaches and ocean waves.  The pupster, Rio, a malti-poo, was the icing on this wonderful cake.  

Solid Four Stars

Thomas Nelson Publishing provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

Pretty Little Pieces

I stayed up late reading this novel, then I woke up early to finish it.  At first, I was disenchanted by the way Carmen Schober dealt with her characters' characters.  Lance was underhanded and manipulative, Georgianna was not the "good, Christian girl" found in most Christian novels.  That was my bad for judging the characters before they were fully revealed through the plot.  The characters have flaws, and I do too.  It took something like this to shake up my stodginess.  Thank you, Carmen.

After my sweet Mama passed away, I was going through her papers and things (she had thirty years worth of tax returns, plus a plethora of other papers to sort and sift) and I found a gem that I think was an enlistment form for World War II.  That it was still in her possession tells me that she didn't follow through.  (I promise this particular ramble is relevant).  One of the questions on the form asked what her career aspirations were and she said, "secretary or interior designer."  That surprised me.  Mama wasn't one who chose form over function during the years I was growing up.  Our house was decorated in early comfort eclectic.  Daddy had a chair and ottoman or a recliner with a side table.  Mama had a rocking chair and a footstool.  The sofa was for company and we kids sat on the floor.   The rugs on the floor were made by my grandmother who crocheted them from the scraps of fabric left over from Mama making our clothes.  No matchy-matchy stuff for us--not even a theme in our décor!  

The premise of the book is a behind-the-scenes look at how an interior design show is made.  The players are the main characters of the book.  When Georgianna miscarries, Lance leaves their apartment and ghosts her for the better part of three months.  The producers want another show from Georgianna where she and her best friend, Poppy, join forces to renovate a cabin in the Tennessee woods, near the Bible camp Georgianna attended as a child.  A Non-Disclosure Agreement binds Georgianna and Lance from discussing their relationship, or what was left of it, so when Georgianna meets Cassidy Stokes, she is not totally forthcoming with details about her life.  

While working on the cabin, everything that can go wrong, does, in a way.  First, Lance hijacks the producer who has worked with the two of them, so a substitute producer is brought in for the making of this what could be a pilot episode for Georgianna.  The new producer can't find a contractor because Lance has hijacked him, as well.  She finally finds an elderly gent who still has his license and his bond to be the contractor while Cassidy helps out.  Georgianna's twin sister, Savannah, shows up.  She is something of an emotional drain on Georgianna, but ends up giving Georgianna the masterpiece bedroom she needs for the show and for the owners of the cabin.   Both Cassidy and Georgianna have pasts to overcome on the way to a relationship, and at one point, Georgianna can't see that they can even have a relationship.  

The supporting cast of this book bring dimension and depth to the main characters and help to flesh them out a bit more.  The setting in rural Tennessee reminds me so much of the area in Arkansas where I grew up and makes me just a bit homesick.  Carmen has done a skillful job in depicting the real life conundrums in negotiating around relationships.  

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a bedroom mural to take your breath away. 

Bethany House provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.

 

Love Through the Seasons

This collection of four novellas by Tracie Peterson is a departure from her normal historical romances, but all four stories were a breath of fresh air in the way the characters tackled the ups and downs of navigating their way to love.  I've read a number of Tracie's historical novels and have found them entertaining and intriguing.  This collection is no different in that aspect.  

In all four plots, the characters are real and believable, not forced, and not hurried. Some of them are stories of younger adults finding their way to love, some are more mature and finding their way to love a second time around after rather unfortunate circumstances, and one in particular is about re-finding and redefining love that has somehow gotten lost in the shuffle of work life.  

The way Tracie handled these problems in her stories make them all the more enjoyable.  I found it hard to put the book down.  Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a season in Kansas for love. 

Barbour Publishing provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

Pride and Puppies

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I asked to read and review this book.  From what I read, it was supposed to be a pretty funny read with a side of romance, but it wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it would be.  For me, the humor was forced, and therefore, didn't come across well.  I've not read any other books by Lizzie Shane, and this wasn't the kind of first impression that keeps me coming back for more.  

For the most part, the characters are likable, believable, and real.  Kendall thinks that Charlotte sabotages herself in the romance department by looking for love in all the wrong places, but she and Magda are Charlotte's best friends who stand beside and try to coach her in finding love.  

George lives in the same apartment complex as Charlotte, works with Charlotte, and is in love with Charlotte.  He only wishes she could see him for who he truly is.  

After Charlotte's latest break-up, she decides to get a dog to fulfill her desires for love.  When she goes to the animal shelter, she finds the perfect puppy for her, a golden retriever that had been rescued from a puppy mill.  With George's help in training her pup (he already has a Bernese Mountain dog, Duke), she and Bingley bond in a way far more satisfying than the past loves she's known.  

The book is set in a small town in Vermont where newcomers will be called such for time and eternity.  I live in such a small town (though not in Vermont), and have lived here for forty years, but I am still a newcomer in the grand scheme of things. 

There are many enjoyable parts to this book and lots of people will like reading it.  For me it is at most a three star book, but that is my opinion.  

Forever (Grand Central Publishing provided the galley I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

 

A Wedding in Wild Harbor

 

Grace Worthington is known as a "sweet romantic author," and her latest book,  A Wedding in Wild Harbor, bears out the moniker. It is definitely a sweet romance with very human characters, but these very human characters follow the romance novel formula and that detracted from the story for me somewhat.  

Cassandra responds to a man driving across the center line of the highway by overcorrecting and ending up in a corn field.  The man circles back around to pick her up and take her where she needs to go.  Liam, the man, finds out that Cassandra works for the book store in Wild Harbor that he plans to buy and create a high tech gym.  That does not endear him to Cassandra at all. 

Liam's mother has been fighting cancer and has been told she has run out of options for treatment and all she wants for Liam is for him to be married.  She sets up dating profiles, leases a billboard, anything to advertise his single status.  This aggravates Liam to the point that he will enter into a fake relationship with Cassandra in exchange for keeping the bookstore open longer to allow her to turn it around and make it profitable.  It's not really good business sense, but there's something about Cassandra that appeals to him.  The more he learns of Cassandra, the more he likes her, and wants their fake relationship to become something real.  Cassandra is wary of Liam, but he worms his way into her heart, slowly but surely. 

This is the final book in the Wild Harbor series by Grace, and while I haven't read the other books in this series, it stands alone fairly well.    I am sure there are parts I've missed because I haven't read the other books in the series, but I wasn't confused by anything that happened in this book.  It was a quick, entertaining read that fulfilled a need for something lighthearted. 

If it weren't for the formulaic plot, I would have given this book five stars, but it was a bit too predictable, so I give it four stars. 

Poets and Saints Publishing provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own. 

The Florence Legacy

 

Lauraine Snelling has been writing for so long, she has honed her craft into some of the finest fiction I've ever read. I love the premise that she uses with her latest offering--a group of friends in the empty-nest years of their lives with new opportunities granted by a friend who passed away.

Breeanna is dealing with her daughter's spendthrift ways and her son's growing family.  When she gets this windfall that has been marked for a trip to Italy, Bree's daughter thinks that she should help her out  of her financial woes instead.  

Breeanna is also a member of a writing group that meets periodically to discuss their writings and to just have some time for girl-talk.  When all of the members of the group chime in that they have been the recipients of the late members largesse, Bree is beginning to believe that this is a providential event and that they should plan the trip they all wanted to go on for so long.  

In the midst of the planning for the trip, one of Bree's friends lost her husband suddenly, and Bree meets the  friend's brother-in-law and they hit it off.  As Bree navigates reentry into the dating world, she finds herself in quite the conundrum.  She wants to go to Italy, but she also wants to see where this relationship will go.  

The Florentine Legacy is not a romance novel, per se, but there is romance in it.  What I liked best about it is that it is a great novel about friendships of mature women, some of whom are navigating life with their grown children--especially knowing when and how much to help them with their problems. 

I especially loved how Lauraine described the trip to Italy, she made it come alive so that the reader feels they are experiencing the same things the characters are.  

This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and a lesson on cooking some REAL Italian food. 

FaithWords Publishing provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.