ABOUT THE BOOK
YOU AND ME
Author: Cleopatra Margot
Series: A Faith to Love Novel, Book 7
Genre: Christian Romance
Publisher: Independent
Release Date: October 13, 2020
Pages: 345
After an accident leaves Samantha MacLaughlin reeling, she's faced with the blunt reality that she may never be able to return to the police force. Which not only means she'll be letting her late sister down, but that her life will have to change drastically.
Believe Police Chief Braeden Hayes shoulders guilt from his childhood, and it was only intensified when his actions led to Sam's grim circumstances. He made a promise long ago that he wouldn't hurt her, and he intends to keep that vow, regardless of the repercussions on his heart.
But when he inherits an estate from someone he doesn't know, Braeden and Sam dive headlong into untangling a web of family secrets. Will the investigation lead them to love, or are some wounds too deep to heal?
Believe Police Chief Braeden Hayes shoulders guilt from his childhood, and it was only intensified when his actions led to Sam's grim circumstances. He made a promise long ago that he wouldn't hurt her, and he intends to keep that vow, regardless of the repercussions on his heart.
But when he inherits an estate from someone he doesn't know, Braeden and Sam dive headlong into untangling a web of family secrets. Will the investigation lead them to love, or are some wounds too deep to heal?
MY THOUGHTS
Once again we are back in the fictional town of Believe, Nebraska! This is the seventh book in the series and the second that I have read. I definitely enjoyed it and found it to be a bit different than her last one but in a good way. Cleopatra has a gift at pulling you into a story and putting you right smack dab in the middle of this town like you belong there. She has these characters that are very relatable and a story that is engaging and filled with a little bit of a mystery element that kept you reading.
Being that this is part of a series we meet lots of characters but this story mainly focuses on Braeden and Sam. Since I read the previous book I knew a little of background information on Sam and Braeden so I already knew their feelings for each other. In this story Sam is just beginning to heal from a fire she was in. She suffers from PTSD because of it and she has to deal with all of those emotions plus a complete change in career. All of that while figuring out her feelings for Braeden.
Braeden is in love with Sam but doesn't want to fully commit to these feelings. He is scared and has hurts he needs to deal with concerning his parents. He inherits property from someone he doesn't even know and this is where the story truly begins for me, especially when it comes to Sam and Braeden. They come to realize that even though they know they belong together, nothing can happen between them unless they put God first in everything they do.
If you have never read anything by Cleopatra I definitely recommend that you start at the beginning with book one. The only reason I say this is because this is a pretty big cast of characters that lives intertwine with each other throughout the books. At times its hard to keep up with and you may wonder who they are. My only request to the author would be to perhaps have some type of family tree at the beginning of her books or on her website that readers can refer to when reading the books out of order. I know that would help me as a reader being the visual person that I am.
My Rating: 4 Stars/Really Liked it!
(I received a copy of this book from the author. I was not required to post a positive review. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)
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AMAZON | GOODREADS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cleopatra Margot resides with her family and their golden retriever in small town, rural Nebraska. Inspiration for her novels comes from both real life + fictional characters and storylines in her brain. The town of Believe is based on her own hometown, but with embellishments. She and her two younger siblings are homeschooled, and enjoy traveling with their parents and the dog. When she’s not writing, Cleopatra enjoys Bible journaling, time with family and friends, playing cards, being outside (when it’s not subfreezing temps), laughing, singing, and enjoying life.
Happy Friday and Happy New Year!
I don't know about you but I am definitely looking forward to the weekend. We started homeschooling back up this week and it took the kiddos a few days to get back into the routine of it all so the weekend is definitely needed for a little sleeping in and just lounging around! It is First Line Friday hosted by Hoarding Books and today my first line is coming from The Piano Teacher by Kristie Self.
Now it's your turn! Grab the book closest to you and drop the first line in the comments!
About the Book
Author: Clyde San Juan
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Worship daily in rhyme, reading I Spy a Tiger with the young ones in your life. On this colorful journey, introduce them to some of the beloved characters Adam named into the Animal Kingdom, God’s awesome design, along with a bit of His humor too! I Spy a Tiger invites young and old alike,
“There is so much for us to see and explore! Go on … have a look … it’s right out your door!”
Click here to get your copy!
My Thoughts
This was an adorable book that my children absolutely loved! They were mesmerized by the illustrations and the message of this book was a great one. We loved how the author makes this book fun to read over and over. The silliness is perfect and kept my younger ones wanting to act out the scenes and have me read them over and over. I think I have read it almost every night since we have received it and its not only because they love animals but also because its just a fun read with the sing song rhymes that they giggle over and want to repeat over and over. My six year old also enjoyed being able to pick up some of the words as he is beginning his venture into learning how to read.
Thank you to the author for sending me this book along with some coloring pages! My two little ones really enjoyed coloring them and they now hang in our homeschool room wall!
My Rating: 5 stars/ WE loved it!!
(I received this book from the author through Celebrate Lit. I was not required to post a positive review. All views expressed are my honest opinion.)
About the Author
With the anticipation of the momentous arrival of a first grandchild, the August, 2020 Redemption Press relaunch of his Children’s Book, I Spy a Tiger, he’s seeing the book in a different light.
More from Clyde
“I’ve been blessed to be able to combine visual conceptualization with writing. Right from the get-go, nothing but an exciting synergy leading into any project! Is it the writing, or the illustration that incites a certain section or aspect of a book? At every turn, a toss up, but the reciprocalities are always movement forward.
I Spy a Tiger, a project my wife and I collaborated on while our boys, Tyler and Bryce were little was a bright season of creativity and joy I’ll always cherish. Anne, writing the first draft while I designed and executed the layout and illustrations and later, contributing copy rewrites and additions.
Birthdays, anniversaries, intertwined with school, sports, scouting and all the natural inevitabilities maturing families encounter, quickly moved us into cascading seasons of life. Unceremoniously, I Spy, was slipped “underneath the bed,” along with some forgotten toys, for quite some time until, finally, its first edition was published in 2008.
The seasons of life are many. And what we see, looking back over the years of our family’s tapestry, are divine gold filaments of God, indelibly sown in and amongst our bound human threads.
We easily see it with all the good, but also, in all the not so good, despite our choices in self-power and self-will. Testimonies to His providence in all the victories, but more glorious, His presence with each advent of His protective shield through our trials. Grace and mercy ever present throughout the entirety of our family’s legacy.
And now, with this latest season, in the only way a good God can, I’m seeing I Spy’s second edition in a different light! We’re all anticipating a first grandson, due in December. And come Spring, 2021, another grandchild! With impeccable timing, more golden threads of His glory spun and sown in!
What fun, my new life as a Grampy, highlighted by the first reading of I Spy with grandson, Sonny! And in the blink of an eye, another baby San Juan in April.
The blessings of reading of a book together with the little ones in your lives are eternal. Miraculous, serendipitous, laughter laden moments forever! In this fast-paced, virtual world, the interactive hands-on intimacy of a book between an inquisitive child and a nurturing parent or guardian, represent three cords of love coming together in a strong, invincible bond.
Close fellowship like this can only help edify families and relationships; never losing its high place in championing childhood imaginations.”
Last night, I went outside, experiencing the first nip of the new season and was prompted to a romantic ditty . . .
tell me of the season’s changes . . .
frosty mornings with steaming mugs of cocoa.
piles of fiery leaves tromped through, buffeted
about in all directions . . .
listening to the wind, I sketch in the shadows
that cling to every detail like the lichen . . .
and when I run with that fox, flash of reddish fur,
to the place where the great owl sleeps,
tell me of the honkings of Canadian Geese overhead.
Blog Stops
Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, January 6
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, January 6
Remembrancy, January 7
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 8
Simple Harvest Reads, January 8 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
Fiction Book Lover, January 9 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)
Adventures of a Travelers wife, January 10
Sara Jane Jacobs, January 10
deb’s Book Review, January 11
Spoken from the Heart, January 11
Older & Smarter?, January 12
Texas Book-aholic, January 13
Mary Hake, January 13
Splashes of Joy, January 14
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, January 14
Inklings and notions, January 15
Locks, Hooks and Books, January 16
Stephanie’s Life of Determination, January 16
For Him and My Family, January 17
Southern Gal Loves to Read, January 17
Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, January 18
Artistic Nobody, January 19 (Guest Review from Joni Truex)
Vicky Sluiter, January 19
Giveaway
To celebrate his tour, Clyde is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a signed copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/10530/i-spy-a-tiger-celebration-tour-giveaway
ABOUT THE BOOK
Author: Mary Alford
Genre: Christian Suspense
Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Release Date: November 1, 2020
Pages: 184
Fleeing to Amish country
might be the only way to survive Christmas…
Hiding in Amish country, former CIA agent Victoria Kauffman’s determined to find evidence to catch the corrupt agents who killed her partner. But when her Christmas refuge is discovered, the sole person she can trust is Amish widower Aaron Shetler. With ruthless—and dangerously powerful—enemies after them, Victoria must use all her training to make sure they live through the holidays.
might be the only way to survive Christmas…
Hiding in Amish country, former CIA agent Victoria Kauffman’s determined to find evidence to catch the corrupt agents who killed her partner. But when her Christmas refuge is discovered, the sole person she can trust is Amish widower Aaron Shetler. With ruthless—and dangerously powerful—enemies after them, Victoria must use all her training to make sure they live through the holidays.
MY THOUGHTS
I honestly did not know what to expect for this little book. I mean it has two of the things I enjoy reading combined into one: suspense and Amish story! It was a very quick read, at least for me. It was fast paced and had a good amount of suspense with it. The characters were good and for the most part well written. We meet former CIA agent Victoria who is hiding out in Amish country and in the process of falls for Aaron. I have a love/hate relationship with the Love Inspired books. I love to read them because they are short and sweet but I hate that the romance seems to move so quickly! But its understandable I mean again its a very quick read!
I think the author did a great job with the story. The plot is very well done and kept me pretty engaged throughout. That being said this was a book that took me a bit to fully get into. Maybe it was the mood I was in but I struggled at times to fully connect with it. Overall I thought it was a quick read and had its sweet moments.
My Rating: 3.5 Stars/ I enjoyed it!
(I received a copy of this book through Just Read. I was not required to post a positive review. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)
Affiliate Links
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary is published through Annie’s Publishing, Love Inspired Suspense, Forget Me Not Romances, and she is an Indie Published Author. As a writer, Mary is an avid reader. She loves to cook, can’t face the day without coffee, and her three granddaughters are the apple of her eye. She and her husband live in the heart of Texas in the middle of 70 acres with two cats and one dog.
Mary is very active online and would love to connect with readers on Facebook and Twitter or any social platforms listed at www.maryalford.net.
What an amazing reading year it has been! Combined with some of my kids read alouds I managed to read 118 books last year! That's pretty cool! Everyone always asks how do you manage to have so much time for reading? Honestly I find pockets of time throughout my day. I also don't sleep all that great so the nights that I have trouble sleeping I find myself with book in hand. Sometimes I lose sleep just because the books are that incredible that you just can't put them down! Like these below!!
Since becoming a book reviewer I've had to examine myself and how I rate books. I know not everyone does it the same. I can't really say that some books are bad and others are good. Everyone has a different way of doing things and everyone doesn't like the same type of stories, style of writing or love of genre. I think that's the beauty of a book review. Everyone has a different opinion and I don't know about you but I look at them subjectively when I am looking at my next read because if I dwell too much on someone's negative review it may deter me from reading an amazing book for me!
So because we have to give ratings when we review for me a 5 star book has to have different elements. Right off the bat it has to touch my soul. Something deep within me must stir in order for me to be wowed by a book especially if its a genre that I am not familiar with, like fantasy or sci-fi. If its a historical book I look for authenticity. I mean you can tell right away when you are reading if the author has done their historical research by the way you have to look up things just to make sure that actually didn't happen! When they make it believable enough that you think it could be a part of history you know they did their research. A romance for me must be clean but have that romance that is for ages. You know the swoon worthy type of romance yep that's what I look for! Oh, in a suspense book I must be kept at the edge of my seat and be kept guessing on who the culprit is. And there are just stories that hit ya, because they put you in a place of relatability that you can't get past but to connect with a book.
All these elements for me make for a great book that rank up there with the rating of 5 Stars. You may not agree with me and that is totally okay! Again like I previously stated, everyone has their own opinion and I think that's the beauty of having so many books readily available and so many amazing book reviewers out there that tell us what they think of books!
I love to read. I love to read great books that take me out of my normal world and put me in amazing fictional places. (Oh and most of these below I have reviewed here on the blog if you would like to check them out!)
"A book is a magical thing that lets you travel to far-away places without ever leaving your chair."
~ Katrina Mayer
ABOUT THE BOOK
Author: Rachel Scott McDaniel
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Publisher: Smitten Historical Romance
Release Date: November 10, 2020
Pages: 313
In 1928, soot from the local mills and music from speakeasies linger in the Pittsburgh air. When the manager of The Kelly Club is found dead, nightclub singer Vera Pembroke is thrust into peril. As the only witness to the crime, she’s sentenced to hide away in the Allegheny Forest with a stuffy police sergeant as her guardian.
Sergeant Mick Dinelo harbors a burning hatred for Pittsburgh’s underworld after the devastation it left on his life—and heart. He should be out exposing the culpable gangsters rather than tending to the impetuous woman who defies his every effort to keep her safe.
Mick and Vera must set aside their differences to solve the murder that someone wants to keep buried beneath the soot of Steel City.
Sergeant Mick Dinelo harbors a burning hatred for Pittsburgh’s underworld after the devastation it left on his life—and heart. He should be out exposing the culpable gangsters rather than tending to the impetuous woman who defies his every effort to keep her safe.
Mick and Vera must set aside their differences to solve the murder that someone wants to keep buried beneath the soot of Steel City.
MY THOUGHTS
Another amazing story by Rachel Scott McDaniel! I am always in shock that she doesn't have more books out! She definitely is an amazing writer and has a great gift at transporting you into the era her books are set in. From the descriptive settings to the way the dialogue is between the characters this one was no exception! In this book we travel to the 1920's to the age of speakeasies and the prohibition era. We meet Vera who is a singer at the Kelly Club who is owned by her "boyfriend" Carson Kelly. Vera is spunky, has goals and dreams for her life she wants to accomplish but unfortunately her boyfriend and lifestyle hold her back. She was raised to know God by her grandmother but life circumstances have her leaving her faith.
We also meet Mick Dinelo, an upstanding cop, who becomes guardian to Vera after she witnesses a murder. He carries a heavy burden with him and doesn't like getting close to anyone. However, he can't help being drawn to Vera and falling for her. I absolutely loved the chemistry between them. The witty banter and the way that their romance develops is quite dreamy!
If you have not read anything by this author I highly recommend it. You will definitely be drawn into the story and these characters. The way that she also interweaves faith into the story was very well done and perfectly suited for this story.
My Rating: 4 Stars/ Really Liked it! Can't wait to read another one of her books!
(I received this book from Just Read. I was not required to post a positive review. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)
Affiliate Links
Also available through Kindle Unlimited
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE BOOK
Author: Lauren H. Brandenburg
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Publisher: Lion Fiction
Release Date: October 23,2020
Pages: 272
It is said that something magical happens during the festival season in Coraloo, something unexplainable. People tend to be a little crazier, reckless. Maybe it's because it coincides the full moon, but Coraloo's constable, Roy Blackwell, is beginning to think it's something else. That said, Roy has other things on his mind, like marrying Margarette Toft. A controversial decision as the Toft and the Blackwell families have a hatred for one another that is older than the town itself. Tradition collides with superstition as the feuding families compete to organize the events surrounding the most talked about wedding in the history of Coraloo. Despite the array of minor catastrophes that ensue, and the timings clashing with a four-week long festival celebrating a legendary beaver, Roy and Margarette hold fast and declare they will do whatever it takes to wed. That is until Roy unearths a town secret - a murder involving a pair of scissors, an actor with a severe case of kleptomania, and the mysterious marriage of Innis Wilkinson. Can good come out of unearthing the past - or will only heartbreak follow?
MY THOUGHTS
The cover of this book is what drew me in. I told you I am a sucker for covers and this one just looks so whimsical and completely unique just like the story inside. This book returns to the whimsical and quirky town of Coraloo to tell the story of a few characters but mainly of Constable Roy, Margaret Toft and of course Innis Wilkinson. The town of Coraloo is definitely an interesting place filled with residents that are involved in each other's lives and even more interesting traditions.
Constable Roy and Margarette Toft are planning to get married but when they go tell their family members it all goes down the tubes and the family is in an uproar. Both their families are at war with each other and do not get along. Although the story revolves mainly around the wedding we find out that there is mystery as well as there is a possible murder linked to Innis Wilkinson. And I have to say that the scissors on the cover that intrigued me so much do play a key role in the story. (I will not ruin it for you!)
This is definitely very different from any book that I have picked up this year. Although I must be honest it took me a while to get into it but I didn't feel like it needed to be abandoned and I am glad I didn't. It was refreshing and to read. This author definitely has a unique writing style that I can't say I love or disliked because it was an interesting read that drew me in eventually. It definitely took me out of my reading comfort zones and I am glad it did.
My Rating: 4 Stars/Really liked it for its uniqueness.
(I received a copy of this book from the author through Just Read. I was not required to post a positive review. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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