Kingdom of Love

 

Tracie Peterson is a prolific author who has honed her craft to an artform! This new collection of three short novels is one of my favorite anthologies I've read this year.  I truly enjoy Medieval stories, although I wouldn't give up my modern conveniences for anything.  The dukes and duchesses who are responsible for the lives of those entrusted to them take those responsibilities seriously in these three stories.  From an arranged marriage that becomes a love match, to a group of orphaned children collected along a journey to the northern part of the country, these tales have something for every romance reader, gentle heroes who can be firm when needed, loving heroines who see things beyond how they look on the surface, a bit of treachery, and a loving reunion among long, lost relatives.  

The first two stories in the book make a short series, while the third one takes place about two hundred years later.  

Tracie's skill in bringing characters and settings to life is unparalleled.  Her research into the lives and times of those living in such primitive times is spot on.  Her ability to craft such enjoyable prose makes me envious of her talent.  

This is a five-star book, with two thumbs up, and a rescuer of damsels in distress.  

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

Appalachian Song

When I started reading this book I was hooked from the very first page.  The way Michelle Shocklee pulled this story together made this one of the best stories I've read this year.  Her characters are believable and if they were real people, they would be approachable and very well liked.  The setting makes it so easy for readers to insert themselves into the warp and woof of the plot and feel that they are witnessing it firsthand.  

Walker Wylie is an up and coming country singer in the early 1970s.  His father passed away and he finds out he is adopted.  He doesn't have much information to go on, but. he wants to find his birth family so he seeks out Reese, who is an adoption advocate.  What he does have is a note written by the midwife who delivered him, but she only signs it Bertie.  Reese takes Walker to Sevier County, Tennessee, to see if they can figure out who Bertie is and where she lives.  When they find a birth certificate with Alberta Mae Jenkins' signature on it and the name of the area where Miss Jenkins lived, they go up into the hills to find Bertie and her sister, Rubye.  Bertie recognizes Walker right away, but strings him along to get a feel for who he really is. After spending several days with him, Bertie tells him the whole story about his mother, his adoption, and all that she knows of his family.  It's a really sad story, but one thing leads to him finding his mother, and that is a poem his mother wrote when she was giving him away.  

Appalachian Song gives insight into the primitive life in the backwoods of Tennessee and is loosely based on the Walker sisters who lived in a cabin that became surrounded by Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Although the novel has a dual time line, it is not disjointed and it flows cohesively from beginning to end. The backstory in the dual time line gives so much depth to the novel that it would be one I read again and again.  

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a song written just for you.

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

Against the Wind

Louisa is returning to Sweetwater Crossing to attend to the funeral of the father of a friend in Cimarron Crossing.  The friend's mother gives Louisa the key to her husband's office and medical practice.  BUT, on the way there, she encounters a man lying beside the road with a broken leg and nothing around him to indicate where he came from or where he was going.  She loads him into the buggy and carries him with her into Sweetwater Crossing.  The town is rather closed off to Louisa being a healer and able to help them with their physical ailments. The work before her is daunting because gaining the trust of the townspeople is a huge hurdle. She believes that the first hurdle is taking care of the man, Josh, whom she found on the side of the road and mending his broken leg.  As she gets to know him, she finds she wants to help him with his quest to find a way to enlarge his grandfather's store's offerings.  The one thing she encourages him to find a niche for himself that his grandfather would approve of.  

Amanda Cabot is one of those authors a reader likes to read again and again.  Her books are well-thought out and her faithful readers enjoy them immensely. While Against the Wind is part of a series, it stands alone fairly well.  I am sure there are more cross-over characters than just Louisa and her sisters, but the sisters are the most important part of the series.  This book is hard to put down and the way that Amanda has woven in the difficulties Louisa faces makes it all the more readable and engaging. 

Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and a cup of your favorite tea in the tea room. 

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

 

Julia Monroe Begins Again and Again and Again

Julia Monroe Begins Again is a cute novel about second starts, second chances, and new beginnings.  If I were to sit and count the times Julia started over with something or other, I'd still be counting even though I finished the book last week.  

Julia has had to start life over after her husband died ten years prior.  She had to go to work to raise her sons, maintain her home, and keep body and soul together.  Now there is a new wrinkle in her new beginnings--an old flame has shown up at her church and wants to reclaim their relationship.  Julia is gun-shy where Samuel is concerned.  There's too much history, too much brokenness, and too much chemistry/electricity between them.  Also, there are her sons to think about.  

There are laugh-out-loud moments in this book and some angsty moments, but overall, this is a fun book to read,  It is my first by Rebekah Millet, but I hope it won't be my last. She puts some new wrinkles in the Romance Novel Formula, which makes this a refreshing read.  She also brings in the culture of New Orleans in a way that gives the reader a sense of belonging.  And I wish I could have one of Kate's Beignets.  

Four Strong Stars

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

 

On Moonberry Lake

Cora has inherited a broken down house that was once a bed and breakfast.  The kicker is that she has to live in this house  for one year and  fix it up.  Once the year is completed, she will own the house out-right and all expenses will be reimbursed. She remembers the house well as she spent quite a bit of her young years living there, but something happened that estranged her mother from her grandmother.  

With a cast of characters filling out the story in this book, Cora learns what she needed to know about her mother and her mother's family.  Each character seems to hold a piece of the puzzle Cora is trying to put together that makes up the tapestry of her life.  

Holly Varni has taken some hidden circumstances and built a cohesive novel that grabs the reader's attention from the very first page.  She has written about small town America, where each small town has its own colorful people.  Every character in the book is a welcome addition to a well-rounded friend group.  

On Moonberry Lake is a great read for a couple of lazy afternoons. It is engaging, compelling, surprising, and altogether interesting.  I give it five stars, two thumbs up, and a restored B&B on a peaceful lake. 

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

 

The Paris Housekeeper

 This is actually a story of three women facing difficulties in World War II, and the friendship that the three of them forged through the hardest of times.  Vivian was a resident of the Ritz Hotel in Paris until the Germans took it over.  Rachel and Camille were housekeepers in the hotel.  Vivian often asked for Camille's assistance and tipped well. As the Germans infiltrated Paris, Rachel got singled out as the Jew on the staff and eventually had to go into hiding because the Jews were going to be rounded up and sent to a death camp.  

A German officer who has moved into the suite where Vivian once resided and then is promoted and given a house closer to his  work.  He takes Vivian as his mistress/hostess and Vivian recommends Camille to be his housekeeper at three times her normal wages.  

Camille finds a tunnel under the house where there is a couple of cots set up and she hides Rachel and her mother until new papers can be acquired for them to escape France and to move into Spain. It all comes to a head when the German officer finds the forged papers and realizes that the two Jewish women had been hiding in his house for months.  

I didn't find this book as compelling as the other book by Renee Ryan that I have read.  The plot moved very slowly and the characters weren't as engaging.  Many of the characters seemed two dimensional to me and lacked depth.  Those who like World War II fiction may like this and this may have been just the mood I was in when I read the book. So I will give it three stars. 

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

A Royal Christmas

Melody Carlson's books are sweet, light, and often humorous.  Sometimes she adds a bit of mystery to keep the reader engaged.  

So imagine you are a barista working your way through law school and you get a letter telling you that your father, who is a king in a very small European country is on his death bed.  Now, imagine that you didn't even know you HAD a father, much less one who is considered royalty, albeit in a country of 15,000 people.  How do you handle this piece of mail that is requesting a visit from you before your father passes away?  First of all, determine whether the letter is a scam, then choose your path accordingly. 

Adelaide Katelyn had just that series of events happen to her. In the midst of meeting her father and becoming accustomed to palace life, Adelaide finds her stepmother less than welcoming.  This is almost a Snow White kind of story minus the poison apple.  

Some of the supporting characters make the story so much richer, especially Anton. But, I felt that the novella was incomplete.  The problem with novellas is that there is limited space to fully develop the narrative.  That is the only criticism I have for the novella.  It is a quick read and quite engaging.  

Four Strong Stars. 

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