Review: Until the Dawn by Elizabeth Camden

Pure in Heart

Amazon Description

Fascinated by Dierenpark, an abandoned mansion high atop a windswept cliff in the Hudson River Valley, Sophie van Riijn sees no harm in setting up a rooftop weather station for her work with the newly established Weather Bureau. While the villagers are suspicious of the mysterious estate and its tragic history, Sophie has come to see it as her own enchanted piece of paradise.

The first Vandermark to return to the area in sixty years, Quentin intends to put an end to the shadowy rumors about the property that has brought nothing but trouble upon his family. Ready to tear down the mansion, he is furious to discover Sophie trespassing on his land.

Instantly at odds, Quentin and Sophie yet find common ground when she is the only one who can reach his troubled son. There's a light within Sophie that Quentin has never known, and a small spark of the hope that left him years ago begins to grow. But when the secrets of Dierenpark can no longer be kept in the past, will tragedy triumph or can their tenuous hope prevail?

My Review

I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Camden’s historical fiction. The characters are strong, intelligent men and women. They all have a romantic element, but it’s never an easy road for the hero and heroine. The research and the writing are always excellent (in fact, in terms of the writing, I think Until the Dawn is the best yet). And there’s plenty of conflict to keep the plot moving.

There’s certainly plenty of conflict in Until the Dawn: Dierenpark is owned by Quentin’s family, but Sophie treats it as her own—and isn’t pleased when she learns of Quentin’s plan to destroy the historic mansion. And Sophie is a committed Christian while Quentin is an atheist, refusing to believe in anything he can’t experience with his own senses. But he and Sophie bond over science and over Quentin’s son.

Quentin considers Sophie to be too sunny, too cheerful, to have any conception of what the world is really like. I’ve met people like Sophie, and it’s tempting to consider them naïve, but Until the Dawn got me thinking. Sophie is “pure in heart”, and sees the world through that veil rather than through a veil of cynicism. This got me wondering how I see the world, and I have to admit it’s more likely to be through Quentin’s veil of cynicism than Sophie’s purity. It’s a challenge, to consciously decide how we are going to see the world, to actively try to see through a pure heart, to see God. To walk with God.

Recommended.

Thanks to Baker Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: A Reluctant Melody by Sandra Ardoin

The Best Kind of Historical Romance

It’s 1892 in North Carolina, and Joanna Stewart is a young widow with a secret and a reputation. The gossip-mongers in town accuse her of doing away with her husband, as there was little love between them. Now she’s being romantically pursued by her stepson (who is six years older than her), figuratively pursued by Kit Barnes (who wants to buy her house) and physically pursued by Liam (who is blackmailing her around her secret).

Kit regrets his youthful mistakes—especially Joanna—and his past battles with alcohol, which was a contributing factor to said youthful mistakes. He wants to buy Joanna’s house to establish a mission to help people fight the demon drink, but first he’s got to convince her he’s a changed man. And then he’s got to convince himself he’s not interested . . . this is a romance. No prizes for guessing whether or not he succeeds!

I thought both Kit and Joanna were great characters. They’ve made their mistakes in the past, and Kit in particular has turned his life around with God’s help. A Reluctant Melody is clearly Christian fiction, in that the spiritual aspects are as important as the romantic, but it’s never preachy—the Christian elements fit within the plot without being forced. The minor characters are also excellent, and add significantly to the plot and to the suspense.

The one problem with A Reluctant Melody was that the characters, especially Joanna, kept secrets from the reader as well as from the other characters. This added to the suspense as I wondered what Joanna’s big secret was (hey, it’s always good for character to have secrets. It makes them interesting). But this also made it difficult to get completely into Joanna’s head, as it felt as though by holding back from her secret, she was hiding part of herself or lying to herself.

I’d classify A Reluctant Melody as historical romance with touches of suspense, and it was the combination of exceptional characters and the suspense subplot (and the twist) that lifted this novel above average, at least for me. But then all my regular readers know I’ve got a soft spot for romantic suspense! Recommended.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Dreaming on Daisies by Miralee Ferrell

Secrets, Lies and Deception

Amazon Description

When her father's debts, brought on by heavy drinking, threaten Leah Carlson's family ranch, she fights to save it. When handsome banker Steven Harding must decline her loan request, he determines to do what he can to help. Just as he arrives to serve as a much-needed ranch hand, Leah's family secrets—and the pain of her past—come to a head. They could destroy everything she's fought for. And they could keep her from ever opening her heart again.

This is western historical romance that offers hope and healing to the deepest wounds in a woman's past.

My Review

Based on the beginning, I thought Dreaming on Daisies was going to be a standard historical romance. While the first half of the novel certainly focused on the attraction and developing relationship between rancher’s daughter Leah Carlson and banker Steven Harding, the second half almost ignored that relationship and instead focused on Leah’s relationship with her drunken stepfather, dead mother and wayward brother.

The Carlson/Pape family had a lot of issues, which had left Leah feeling as though everyone she ever loved abandoned her—and that if she fell for Steven, he’d abandon her as well. There were some strong Christian themes of the dangers of pride and the need to offer forgiveness. These were addressed well, but I couldn’t help feeling the plot was being driven by the need to demonstrate these themes. This was particularly the case with the character of Charlie Pape, whose personal journey detracted from what the romance plot.


I also didn’t like the fact that so much of the plot was centred around secrets, lies and deception. Leah was the victim in most of these secrets and lies, and it seemed her personal journey to deal with the lies she’d been told was the most important factor in the plot. I’m not saying it shouldn’t have been important, but not at the expense of the romantic relationship. This resurfaced out of nowhere towards the end and seemed a little too convenient, because it hadn’t been threaded throughout.

Having said all that, Dreaming on Daisies was a solid read. I’d probably get more out of it if I read it a second time, but it didn’t interest me enough (and there are dozens of books on my to-read list which interest me more!)

Thanks to David C Cook and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: Daughter of the Regiment by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Impressive as Always

I’m always impressed by Stephanie Grace Whitson’s books, by her writing, by her characters, by her historical accuracy, and by the way she manages to weave those things together to always produce a novel worth reading. I admit, Daughter of the Regiment wasn’t the easiest novel to get in to, at least for me.

It’s set in Missouri, and I’m not American so I had no idea where it was. It appeared to be in the South but it wasn’t a state that’s featured in other fiction I’ve read about the War Between the States (it’s really more West than true South, which might explain my confusion). And I was initially confused about which side was which—I’m used to North and South, not Confederate and Union (I read this before the recent fracas about removing the Confederate flag from whichever building it was on. I’ll know for next time. Confederate is South).

Anyway, it’s the early days of what later becomes known as the Civil War, the War of Northern Aggression or the War Between the States (depending on where you live and, I suspect, how old you are). Maggie Malone is left alone on the family farm in Little Dixie, Missouri, after her two younger brothers go off to fight for the Union. She goes off to search for them after raiders destroy the farm and she realises the local sheriff—a Confederate supporter—isn’t exactly proactive about rounding up the miscreants.

Maggie manages to make a place for herself in the regiment, and what follows is a fascinating insight into a different side of army life. There’s also an unlikely friendship with a planation belle, a love interest, and a subplot which addresses deeper issues of faith, love and family. The writing is excellent, and I very much enjoyed the story. Recommended for fans of historical fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

This book counts towards my 2015 Reading Challenge as a book by a female author. Really, it should have been a book by a male author as I mostly read female authors!

Review: A Midwife's Tale by Delia Parr

Fails to Deliver

Amazon Description

Martha Cade comes from a long line of midwives who have served the families of Trinity, Pennsylvania, for generations. A widow with two grown children, she's hopeful that her daughter will follow in her footsteps, but when Victoria runs off, Martha's world is shattered.

Worse, a new doctor has arrived in town, threatening her job, and she can't remember a time when her faith has been tested more. Still determined to do the work she knows God intended for her, Martha is unprepared for all that waits ahead. Whether it's trying to stop a town scandal, mending broken relationships, or feeling the first whispers of an unexpected romance, she faces every trial and every opportunity with hope and faith.

My Review

I didn’t realise when I selected this book to review, but it’s actually a reprint of A Place Called Trinity, published by St Martins Press in 2002 to mediocre Amazon reviews (including a four-star review from Harriet Klausner, who reviews an average of six five-star books a day across a range of genres. I usually discount Harriet’s reviews, but when she—or her minions—give less than five stars, I wonder what she/they disliked so much).

I don’t know why Bethany House decided to publish a medicore reprint when there are a lot of better first-time novelists begging for a chance to be published through Bethany House or one of the other major CBA publishers. Contractual reasons? It doesn’t seem like it’s undergone any changes since the original version—the writing, frankly, isn’t up to the standard I expect from Bethany House, and I sincerely hope the NetGalley ebook wasn’t the final edited and proofread version (tattoo and tatoo in the same sentence? Please.)

The beginning was slow, as it covered sixty years of medical history in the town of Trinity, and it never got faster. A lot of the story was told in the past rather than being shown in the present—Parr has midwife Martha Cade thinking about a conversation she’s just had rather than showing us the scene in which the conversation occurred. This felt old-fashioned and boring. Yes, I know the book is set in 1830, but it doesn’t need to feel as if it were written in 1830 as well.

The most distracting thing in The Midwife's Tale was the dialogue tags. It seems plain old “said” is too difficult. Instead, the characters gushed, suggested, murmured, whispered, simply said, ventured, argued, offered, spat … and that’s just one conversation. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the tags fit the characters, but gushed sounds like a modern teenage girl—a cheerleader, perhaps—not a staid middle-aged housekeeper or a widowed midwife in 1830. Modern Christian writing has been criticised for obeying the "rules" to the point where individual voice is removed from the writing. This novel is a good argument for the rules.

There were flashes of brilliance in the writing, like “a skein of good intentions that tangled her hopes with disappointment”. But these were outweighed by the ever-present explanatory dialogue tags and excessive telling, which made it hard to see the story. I know there are people who enjoy this kind of writing and storytelling, but I’m not one of them.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: A Heart's Betrayal by Colleen Coble

Emmie finds shelter in the arms of a soldier in Fort Laramie, Wyoming, but will her big secret drive them apart? Find out in book four, A Heart's Betrayal, of Colleen Coble's A Journey of the Heart series. Suddenly displaced, powerless, and ashamed, Emmie can’t stay in Wabash, Indiana. She makes a hopeful start for Fort Laramie to find her friend Sarah Montgomery and a new beginning. But when she arrives, she discovers she’s pregnant—and without a husband. The new start she’d hoped for slips from her fingers.

Melt into summer with a new giveaway from Colleen: four books (books one–four in Colleen's A Journey of the Heart series) and a box of chocolates to pair with your new books!

 

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A copy of A Heart's Betrayal
• A box of Colleen's favorite chocolate truffles from DeBrand Fine Chocolates
• A copy of A Heart's Disguise
• A copy of A Heart's Obsession
• A copy of A Heart's Danger

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 30th. Winner will be announced July 1st on Colleen's website.

Spoilers in the Book Description. Again.

Well done, Thomas Nelson (and Litfuse Publicity). Yet again you’ve done Colleen Coble the huge disservice of giving away the key plot twist in the book description. I understand that writing these advertising blurbs is hard, but let me give you a hint: the objective is to hook the reader into buying and reading the book, not give them a plot synopsis. Here's the Amazon Book Description:

Emmie finds shelter in the arms of a soldier, but her secret could drive them apart.

When Emmie Croftner answered the door to her late husband’s home, she discovered an awful truth: her deceased husband was a bigamist. And what’s more, the home she thought she inherited never belonged to her at all.

Suddenly displaced, powerless, and ashamed, Emmie can’t stay in Wabash, Indiana. She makes a hopeful start for Fort Laramie, Wyoming, to find her friend Sarah Montgomery and a new beginning. But when she arrives, she discovers she’s pregnant—and without a husband. The new start she’d hoped for slips from her fingers.

But then she meets Isaac Liddle, a handsome soldier with a kind heart. When he begins to court her, Emmie wonders whether she could ever really be his—and whether she dares to tell him she is carrying another man’s baby.

No, Emmie doesn't find shelter in the arms of a soldier, at least not in this novella. She's not also worried about any secret which cold drive them apart—she doesn’t discover she’s pregnant until the final chapter of this novella. Despite the book description, she meets Isaac when she arrives in Indiana, weeks before she discovers she's pregnant.

The writing is good, the characters are interesting, and I have to say I’m interested in the story of Emmie Munroe/Croftner. This is partly because I’m interested in her dilemma as the pregnant non-wife of a bigamist, and I want to know why she is so different from her rotten brother, Ben, who persecuted Sarah and Rand in the first three novellas in this collection. But I should have listened to my own advice (in my review to the first novella, A Heart’s Disguise) not to read the book descriptions. Because I’m now afraid I already know everything important that happens in these three novellas, which takes away any possibility of suspense (which Coble is known for) or even surprise.

Thanks to Litfuse Publicity and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

Review: A Stranger's Secret by Laurie Alice Eakes

Slow and Unengaging

Widowed Lady Morwenna Trelawny Penvanan wants nothing more than to be left in her rundown mansion, but her grandparents want her to move back to their estate … or marry one of her pursuers. Plans change when she finds a shipwreck survivor on her private beach, a strange man with the Trelawny family crest on his pendant.

David Chastain is a shipbuilder who has travelled to Cornwell to try and solve the mystery of his father’s death, and the disappearance of their family’s money. But now he’s injured and in the care of an angel …

A Stranger's Secret never engaged me. I didn’t understand why Morwenna chose to live in the rundown Penvanan when her grandparents lived in luxury only a short distance away, and where where her parents? These questions were answered, but not until too late for my liking (and I had read the first book in the series, A Lady’s Honor, so that wasn’t the reason).

I found the first three-quarters of the novel very slow, which wasn’t helped by Morwenna’s overlong interior monologue (which still didn’t give any information about how she got into her situation, or why she wouldn’t accept help). David wasn’t any better: late in the book, we found out he knew more than he’d let on, which was a problem I had with the first book in the series as well. In contrast, the ending was fast—too fast. I never felt as though I got to know either character.

The historical research and sense of time and place was excellent, as were the Christian themes. However, I found some of the writing to be overly complex, almost archaic, even for a novel set during the Regency. There were several times when I found myself reading and rereading sentences in order to understand what was being said. I never had that problem reading Jane Austen.

Overall, I found A Stranger’s Secret a struggle to finish, because it took so long to get interesting and I felt no connection with any of the characters.

Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Laurie Alice Eakes at her website.

Review: Deception on Sable Hill by Shelley Gray

Excellent. 

Shelley Gray is more commonly known as Shelley Shepherd Gray, bestselling author of Amish fiction. I haven’t read any of her Amish fiction, but I think I’ve read the three contemporary romantic suspense novels she’s published as Shelley Gray, and they are excellent. Excellent writing, strong characters, and hard-hitting plots touching on some major contemporary issues.

Deception on Sable Hill is, as far as I can tell, Gray’s second historical novel, following Secrets of Sloane House. It’s part of her series set in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair, although the Fair isn’t a major feature. Anyway, Sable Hill is the exclusive part of town, although Miss Eloisa Carstairs has found out that exclusive doesn’t necessarily mean safe ...

In hindsight, Deception on Sable Hill shouldn’t have worked. While it’s entirely believable that Mrs Carstairs was so self-absorbed that she didn’t notice the anguish Eloisa was going through, it’s much less likely that she didn’t notice Eloisa spending far too much time with that police detective. It would be unusual for a lady of Eloisa Carstairs’s station to spend time with an Irish police detective under normal circumstances … but this is a novel, and Eloisa’s circumstances are hardly normal.

Maybe it shouldn’t have worked, but it did, and that’s a testament to Shelley Gray’s consistently excellent characterisation and strong writing, Even if logic says the plot shouldn’t work, Gray managed to convince me it did, and I was swept up in a romantic suspense novel set against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair (a popular topic, it seems: Deeanne Gist is also writing a series set in and around the Fair).

Deception on Sable Hill is the sequel to The Secrets of Sloane House, but can easily be read as a standalone novel (I own The Secrets of Sloane House, but haven’t yet read it. This reminds me I must). Recommended for those who like historical romance … especially historical romance with a mystery/suspense twist. Recommended.

Thanks to Zondervan and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Shelley Gray at her website.

Review and Giveaway: A Heart's Obsession by Colleen Coble

Can a woman held captive by her family make it back to the one man she knows she can trust? Find out in book two, A Heart's Obsession, of Colleen Coble's Journey of the Heart series. When Sarah Montgomery’s father succumbs to his long illness, Sarah is faced with a life-altering choice: submit to her brother’s will and marry the deceptive Ben Croftner . . . or escape through the dangerous American West to reclaim the heart of her beloved Rand Campbell at Fort Laramie, Wyoming.

Celebrate book two in Colleen's A Journey of the Heart series by entering to win a Kindle Fire and RSVPing to her May 5th author chat party!

One grand prize winner will receive:

• A Kindle Fire
• A copy of A Heart's Disguise
• A copy of A Heart's Obsession
• A copy of The Inn at Ocean's Edge (blog tour coming in mid-April)

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 7th. Winner will be announced May 8th on Colleen's website. Plus be sure to clear your calendar on the evening of May 5th because Colleen is hosting an author chat party on Facebook to celebrate her A Journey of the Heart series and the release of The Inn at Ocean's Edge! RSVP here!

RSVP today and spread the word—tell your friends about the giveaway via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on May 5th!

My Review

Lieutenant Rand Campbell left his intended in Wabash, Indiana when he was posted to Fort Laramie, Wyoming, because she wouldn’t leave her family. The prospect of a forced marriage to liar Ben Croftner gives Sarah Montgomery the push she needs to leave her family and find Rand—and marry him. But when she arrives at Fort Laramie, she finds things aren’t as she expected …

I didn't enjoy the first novella in this collection because the publisher’s description gave away all the key plot points. They didn’t make quite the same mistake with this second book, but the description still covers the first two-thirds of the story (although this time I made sure I didn’t actually read the book description, just in case).

I’m still not sold on the series. Rand is almost the perfect man, except for one error of judgement about the true character of the pretty Miss Jessica DuBois. Sarah was too wishy-washy for my tastes in the first book (A Heart’s Disguise), but seems to have grown a spine on the trip to Wyoming. She also has a respect for the local Indian population that seems a little uncharacteristic for a sheltered woman of her time.

The minor characters were, if anything, worse. We didn’t get the opportunity to get to know either Ben Croftner or Jessica DuBois in any detail, which meant they came across as clichés. The plot moved along too quickly, in that the characters (Rand, in particular) had dramatic changes in their feelings without any logic or explanation. The other problem was the end: it was very abrupt, as though it was just cut off. Perhaps it was—after all, there are another four novellas in the series after this one.

Thanks to Litfuse Publicity and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

This book counts towards my 2015 Reading Challenge as a book with a love triangle.

Review: The Captive Imposter by Dawn Crandall

Excellent end to trilogy!

After the murder of her brother, heiress Estella Everstone goes incognito as Elle Stoneburner, paid companion to an elderly widow. But she doesn’t anticipate the job taking her to Everston, her favourite of her family’s hotels, where she meets Mr Dexter Blakeley, the hotel manager … and Jay Crawford, her ex-fiance.

The whole book is told in first person, by Elle/Estella. She’s an interesting character: people treat her differently as Elle Stoneburner, and she finds their attitudes quite different. It gives her the opportunity to find out who she really is, apart from the much-younger Everstone sister, the heiress. The first person gives it a gothic romance field, a little like Victoria Holt (for those old enough to remember her!).

This is especially the case with Mr Blakeley and his mother, both of whom seems to have a low opinion of society women. Elle/Estella is attracted to Mr Blakely, and he seems to be attracted to Elle, but will he have the same feelings for Estella, given she represents so much he appears to despise?

The Captive Imposter is the final book in The Everstone Chronicles trilogy, with each book telling the romance of one of the Everstone siblings. The Captive Imposter is a standalone novel, but features characters and situations from the earlier books—so if you plan on reading all the books, do start with The Hesitant Heiress.

I’ve read all three books, and they all have solid plots with excellent characters, feisty women with faith and attitude. The books are well-written, and I especially like the way they each include a strong Christian thread without being preachy. Having said that, I think The Captive Imposter is my favourite of the three books, because the plot is something a little different, and because the characters are so good--both well-imagined and well-portrayed. Recommended for fans of historical romance.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

Review, Kindle Giveaway, Blog Tour, and Author Chat Party with Colleen Coble

2015 Reading Challenge: A Popular Author's First Book

A Heart's Disguise was first published by Heartsong Presents in 1997 as Where Leads the Heart. Check out that cover!

The cover might have changed (improved!), but the blurb is still the same:

In the aftermath of the Civil War, a young woman searches for her lost love at the edge of the West.

The Civil War has destroyed Sarah Montgomery’s marriage before it’s even begun.

After Sarah receives word that her fiancé, Rand Campbell, has been killed fighting for the Union, her brothers and ailing father persuade her to pledge herself to Ben Croftner—despite her strong misgivings. But when Sarah finds out that Rand is in fact alive—and that Ben Croftner knew it—she indignantly breaks off the engagement and goes in search of Rand.

But Ben Croftner does not take rejection lightly—and a single woman with a sick father makes an easy target. When Sarah is abducted by her treacherous fiancé, Rand finally comes to her aid . . . only to reveal that he has been posted at Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and intends to take her there as his wife.

But could Sarah leave her dying father’s side for the love of her life? And what plans are forming in the jealous heart of Ben Croftner?


It’s hard to review this novella. I usually read the book descriptions when I request a book for review and have often forgotten it by the time I come to read the book. But this time I hadn’t, because the book description was right there in the front—which was a shame, because it wasn’t a teaser. It was a plot summary.

Publisher fail.

The result was a novella where I kept waiting for something to happen. And waiting. And waiting. The writing was good, and the characters had potential, but the two plot twists in the story (Rand being alive, Ben hiding that from everyone, and Ben trying to kidnap Sarah) were covered in the book description, which took away any suspense the story might have had.

This is the first of six novellas in the series, being released each month for the next six months. After reading the description, there’s no point in reading this novella. I’ve signed up to read and review the whole series, but I won’t read any more of the descriptions. Maybe that way I will be surprised and enjoy them.

Amazon is already offering a 6-in-1 volume which goes on sale in September (at only $14.99 for the paperback, compared to $6.99 for this paperback). If you’re interested in reading A Heart's Disguise, I’d suggest waiting until then and not reading any of the book descriptions or reviews in the meantime.


Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Litfuse Publicity for providing a free ebook for review.


In the midst of end-of-war celebrations, Sarah discovers her betrothed was keeping a devastating secret in Colleen Coble's A Heart's Disguise. Will Sarah leave her dying father’s side for the only man she’s ever loved? And what plans are forming in the jealous heart of Ben Croftner?

Celebrate book one in Colleen's A Journey of the Heart series by entering to win a Kindle Fire and RSVPing to her May 5th author chat party!




One grand prize winner will receive:

• A Kindle Fire
• A copy of A Heart's Disguise
• A copy of A Heart's Obsession (blog tour coming in April)
• A copy of The Inn at Ocean's Edge (blog tour coming in April)

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on May 7th. Winner will be announced May 8th on Colleen's website. Plus be sure to clear your calendar on the evening of May 5th because Colleen is hosting an author chat party on Facebook to celebrate her A Journey of the Heart series and the release of The Inn at Ocean's Edge! RSVP here!

RSVP today and spread the word—tell your friends about the giveaway via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on May 5th!

Review: After a Fashion by Jen Turano

A New Jen Turano Series!

Miss Harriet Peabody is a ladies’ hatmaker in New York City in 1882. An out-of-the-ordinary request from her employer to deliver some hats to an important customer sparks a chain of events which finds Harriet as the hired companion of Mr Oliver Addleshaw, one of the wealthiest gentlemen in America. Harriet had asked God for “something wonderful” for her birthday, but surely He didn’t mean this? Sure, Mr Addleshaw is attractive, but he has some questionable views and associates with some inappropriate people.

Oddly enough, Oliver Addleshaw has the same complaints about Harriet: she is impulsive, knows all the wrong people, and has some quite inappropriate skills. But he needs a lady to act as companion when he meets with the Duke of Westmoore in regard to a business deal, and the previous candidate simply won’t do. Harriet is his only option.

I’m a big fan of Jen Turano’s writing. Her characters are intelligent, quirky, and funny, yet it never seems as though that’s the effect she’s trying to achieve (I recently attempted to read a title where I suspect the author was trying to be funny, but missed the mark and hit cringe-worthy instead. At least I hope she was trying to be funny. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate).

Jen Turano manages to infuse her writing with amusing quips (such as describing one character as having an “overabundance of personality”) without being cringey. And the over-the-top ridiculous situations her characters routinely get themselves into are well-paced comedy, not slapstick. After a Fashion is the first book in a new series, and is recommended for fans of Carol Cox and Karen Witemeyer.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Jen Turano at her website.

This book is part of my 2015 Reading Challenge, as a book by an author I love that I haven't read yet (well, I have now!). 

Review: Uncharted Redemption by Keely Brooke Keith

Solid Sequel

Uncharted Redemption is the second book in the Uncharted series, and takes us back to the Land, an island that is mysteriously hidden from radar and other navigation equipment, a land that has remained unknown except for one accidental intruder—Connor Bradshaw—and his wingman, Justin Mercer, who caught a glimpse of the island and is desperate to return. However, that’s the ongoing subplot.

The main plot of Uncharted Redemption follows the Colburn and Foster families as they solve the mystery of the missing lambs, a mystery that soon solves itself and leaves them with bigger problems—problems which relate back to the events in The Land Uncharted (yes, this is a series and I recommend you read it in order). I don’t want to say too much more for fear of giving spoilers.

The crux of Uncharted Redemption focuses on Levi Colburn, who is breaking with Land tradition by working as a carpenter rather than following in his father’s footsteps, partly because he blames his father for their mother’s murder many years ago. He is in love with Mandy Foster, who spurned his offer of courtship for her own reasons. Both need redemption in their own ways, but it doesn’t come easily.

While I enjoyed Uncharted Redemption just as much as the first book in the series (The Land Uncharted), I found the writing a little more stilted, a little less easy to read. This was mostly with the dialogue, and I suspect the stilted feel came because the inhabitants of the Land didn’t use enough contractions. Yes, I understand they have been isolated from the world for seven generations, but the English language has been using contractions in conversation since before then.

However, I will still be pleased to read the next book in the series, to find out what happens when Justin Mercer finds the island … assuming he does.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Keely Brooke Keith at her website.

Review: Like a Flower in Bloom by Siri MItchell

Victorian Botanist Seeks to Marry ...

Miss Charlotte Withersby is following the family tradition by being an acclaimed botanist, although she does wish she could get published under her own name rather than her father’s name. But life changes when her uncle suggests it’s time she married and her father agrees. She protests, but the unexpected arrival of Mr Edward Trimble, one of her father's correspondents, seals the deal. Charlotte will enter local society in search of a husband, and Mr Trimble will take over her duties. Charlotte agrees only because she believes her father will soon find Mr Trimble lacking, but her plans soon go awry.

Charlotte is one of those people with academic intelligence, but not a lot of understanding of the subtleties of human nature (she’s the Victorian equivalent of Amy Farrah Fowler from The Big Bang Theory). This makes for interesting reading, as Like a Flower in Bloom is written entirely in first person from Charlotte’s point of view, yet the underlying subtext made me, as the reader, suspect things which Charlotte had no idea about (and I was right). That’s exceptional writing.

I also found the minor characters fascinating, from the young lady determined not to marry to the widowed minister (a father of six), and the enigmatic Mr Trimble, who unintentionally takes Charlotte's life purpose away from her at the same time as displaying an uncommon knowledge of female dress and manners.

Overall, I really enjoyed Like a Flower in Bloom. I was ambivalent about Siri Mitchell’s last novel, because it seemed to be missing the “Christian” aspect of Christian fiction. Like a Flower in Bloom is much better in that respect, and while it had a slow start (too much character history and not enough present action—well, 1852 action, given it’s historical romance), it improved quickly once we had been introduced to all the main characters.

There were a couple of language glitches at the beginning, but I didn’t notice any once I got into the story, because the characters captured my attention so much. It's obvious a lot of research went in to the writing of Like a Flower in Bloom, but this never detracted from the story (and, frankly, was easy to gloss over without losing the essence of the plot. I'm not a plant person, and the only plant reference I really understood was New Zealand's Mount Cook Lily ... and I've no idea how that would have looked after a sea voyage halfway around the world).


Recommended for fans of historical fiction.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Siri Mitchell at her website.

I'm Reviewing at Suspense Sisters!

I'm over at Suspense Sisters Reviews, reviewing The Bracelet
by Dorothy Love. I thought it was going to be a run-of-the-mill historical romance, but it turned into something much different.

Click here to read my review.

Review: Beyond All Dreams by Elizabeth Camden

Excellent Historical Romance

It’s 1897 and quiet, studious Miss Anne O’Brien has her dream job: she’s the map room librarian in the Library of Congress. In the course of her research, she finds evidence that a Navy report is wrong, and enlists the assistance of a handsome young congressman to right the error. Luke Callahan is the opposite of Anne: confident and outgoing, but finds himself intrigued by the librarian.

Elizabeth Camden is one of my favourite authors, because I love her characters and plots, and I especially like the way she weaves real-life events into her stories. Beyond All Dreams is set in Washington DC in the late 1890’s, and if you know your American history, that means you’ll know the political backdrop to this novel (I didn’t know, which meant it came as a surprise, and I don’t want to spoil it).

I also liked her characters. As a keen reader (!) I could related to Anne (although I’d like to think I’m a little more outgoing…), and Luke was a wonderful hero, prepared to do almost anything for those he loved—Anne, his nephew, and his brother and sister. As always, Elizabeth Camden’s novel has managed to integrate interesting characters with real historic events into a gripping plot with a solid underlying Christian message:

“If you don’t make it as a painter, funnel that passion into something else … [it is] a gift from God … even though we don’t yet know what form it will take. Don’t limit yourself by thinking you already know God’s purpose for you.”

It's a lesson we all need to hear, regardless of whether our God-given passion is painting or something else. Recommended for fans of historical romance.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Elizabeth Camden at her website.

Review: The Fruitcake Challenge by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Jo Christy is a cook in her family’s logging camp in 1890 Michigan, and wants to get away … and perhaps be courted. She’s not impressed when she finds out the reason none of the loggers have approached her over the years is because her brothers have warned them off, and is even less impressed with the new man in camp, Tom Jeffries, starts paying her attention.

Tom wants to catch the attention of the pretty young cook, so issues the fruitcake challenge: he’ll marry the woman who can bake a Christmas fruitcake as good as his mother’s cake. Several other bachelor loggers take up the idea, but Jo’s having none of it. She wants to leave the camp, no matter what.

The Fruitcake Challenge is a short but enjoyable Christmas novella that manages to pack a lot into a small space. The plot is original, the characters are fun, and there is an underlying Christian theme. All that’s missing is the recipes!

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find more about Carrie Fancett Pagels at her website.

Review: The Bound Heart by Dawn Crandall

Excellent Sequel

Meredyth Summercourt has been waiting for Vance Everstone to come to his senses, return to Boston, and marry her ever since their illicit liaison six years ago. But Lawry Hampton is back in town, and Meredyth finds herself attracted to her old friend … and he might just be in love with her as well, especially when they find out they have more in common than family background.

The Bound Heart is written entirely in the first person, from Meredyth’s point of view. While she is a reliable narrator, she’s also got some wrong ideas about herself, God, and redemption. Yes, she’s “ruined”, and she didn’t try and stop Vance, but that doesn’t mean she’s obligated to marry only him. There were times when I got quite frustrated with Meredyth, when she found out some things which called Vance’s character into question, but didn’t allow even these to sway her from her purpose. But I liked the way she changed, particularly towards the end of the story.

One possible fault in The Bound Heart is the character of Lawry. He’s almost too perfect. He’s been in love with Meredyth for years, yet he remains constant even though he knows she’s holding a torch for Vance. It would be natural to see him as a rather sad character, but instead he comes across as noble (in the same way as Michael Hosea in Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
), and a study in the eternal constancy of love. My other issue was with Vance: the way he behaved towards the end of the story didn’t ring true for me.

The Bound Heart is the second novel in The Everstone Chronicles, following The Hesitant Heiress (which I also reviewed, and thoroughly enjoyed--while The Bound Heart was good, The Hesitant Heiress was better). The final book in the series, The Captive Imposter, is due out next year and I’ll be looking forward to reading it.

Thanks to Dawn Crandall for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Dawn at her website.

Review: The Land Uncharted by Keely Brooke Keith

Excellent Mix of Historical Romance and Science Fiction

Lydia Colburn is twenty-two, the unofficial doctor in the village of Good Springs, in The Land. She knows her profession means she’ll never get married, and she’s happy with that—after all, the only man in the village who has ever shown her any attention is Frank Roberts, who she finds disturbing. There’s no reason to suggest her life will be anything different until a stranger arrives from the sky: Lieutenant Connor Bradshaw, who has come from a place beyond The Land.

Connor is a naval aviator, ejected from his aircraft over the South Atlantic Ocean, and now rescued and resident on an uncharted island. How will he get back to his unit? Perhaps more importantly, does he want to? And can he prevent the outside world from finding him and The Land, and taking the precious resources?

The first part of the novel was setting the scene, introducing Lydia and the inhabitants and customs of Good Springs. While it was interesting enough, it did make the beginning rather slow as the plot doesn’t really start to take off until Connor arrives. We then get to see Connor’s confusion as he navigates this strange new land, his developing feelings for Lydia, and conflict with her protective brother--and the creepy Frank …

The history and culture of The Land was developed well, and without any uncomfortable information dumps. It’s an intriguing concept, an island that has always existed but can’t be seen by even the most modern navigation equipment. It also adds another layer to the plot: what would happen if the outside world knew about this paradise with healing trees, and no poverty? Especially given the outside world is at war over the kinds of natural resources The Land has?

The Land Uncharted is an enjoyable read, and I think the Epilogue suggests it’s the first book in a series. If so, I’ll certainly be looking forward to the next book.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Keely Brooke Keith at her website.

Review: A Lady at Willowgrave Hall by Sarah Ladd

More Convenient than Convincing

Sixteen-year-old Cecily Faire is sent away from home to Rosemere School for Young Ladies when her blacksmith father finds her about to elope with Andrew Moreton, the scion of Aradelle Park. Six years later, she hasn’t heard from either her father or her twin sister, who she suspects is now living in Manchester. Cecily is given the opportunity to take employment as a lady’s maid at Willowgrave Hall, where she meets Nathaniel Stanton, the young steward, and is reintroduced to Andrew Moreton, who she finds is the heir to Willowgrave and is now engaged to be married.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series (The Heiress of Winterwood and The Headmistress of Rosemere), and while A Lady at Willowgrove Hall is good, I don’t think it’s as good as the first two. The plot, while not completely predictable, isn’t as original as the first two books, I didn’t think the characters had as much depth, the Christian elements weren’t as well integrated, and the ending was a little too neat (there were a couple of changes of heart towards the end that I found more convenient than convincing).

However, I’ll be interested to read the next book from Sarah Ladd, as I do enjoy her writing, and she’s still one of the top authors writing Christian historical romance set in Regency England (the other is Julie Klassen).

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. You can find out more about Sarah Ladd at her website.