30 November 2018

Winter at the Beach | Spotlight & Excerpt

ABOUT THE BOOK

Jenna Jones, manager of the Driftwood Inn, a vintage motel in the Washington beach town of Moonlight Harbor, is convinced that a winter festival would be a great way to draw visitors (and tourist business) to town during those off-season months. Everyone in the local chamber of commerce is on board with her Seaside with Santa festival idea except one naysayer, local sour lemon, Susan Frank, who owns a women’s clothing boutique in town. The beach gets hit with storms in the winter, no one will come, too close to Christmas. Blah, blah. What does Susan know?  

It turns out that Susan knows a lot. A big storm hits during the weekend of the festival, wreaking havoc with the parade and producing power outages all over town. Including at the Driftwood Inn.

Jenna finds herself with a motel filled with people, all with no power. What to do? Enlist the help of friends, of course. Her friends take in many of the stranded visitors, and Jenna and her Aunt Edie take in the others, stuffing them into Aunt Edie’s house next door to the Driftwood.

All the guests come with their own unique stories. The last thing Taylor Marsh wanted was a getaway with her husband. His refusal to give up on his dying business is taking them down financially and killing their marriage. But her sister Sarah (she who has her financial act together and never lets her sister forget it) insists this will be fun for both their families. It will only be fun for Taylor if her husband gets eaten by a giant squid. Then there’s Darrel Wilson, who planned the perfect anniversary getaway for his wife, who’s been undergoing chemo. So much for the perfect anniversary. And the sisters, Lisa and Karen, who can’t seem to go on a sister outing without it turning into a Lucy and Ethel adventure. Unlikely roommates, all of them. But perhaps each one has a valuable lesson to share with the others. And perhaps, what looked like a disaster will prove to be the best holiday adventure of all.

Publisher: Harlequin/Mira
Release Date: October 23, 2018

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The Friday 56 & First Line Friday | The Further Adventures of Ebenezer Scrooge

The Friday 56 is hosted weekly by Freda's Voice.
First Line Friday is hosted weekly by Hoarding Books.

Happy Friday!

Tomorrow's really December? Already?

Well, here's another Christmas-y book that I'll be picking up very soon. I'm looking forward to catching up with Scrooge.

29 November 2018

A Charming Holiday Read | Defending Christmas by Carol Ross

ABOUT THE BOOK

Christmas Town’s city attorney Lincoln Vasser suspects the multi-million-dollar lawsuit threatening the town is a fraud, but he needs help proving it. Private Investigator Jax Marshall comes highly recommended, but when Lincoln hires her he can’t quite figure out why. Her laid-back attitude, questionable work ethic, and apparent unconcern for the urgency of the case rub him the wrong way. It doesn't make sense for him to be attracted to her.

Jax Marshall knows that taking a case for the arrogant Lincoln Vasser is a mistake. But when he makes her an offer much more tempting than money, she agrees. She soon wishes she hadn’t. The guy is demanding and uptight, and, worst of all, he keeps trying to tell her how to do her job! He's almost completely unlikable. Almost.

One thing they can agree on is that happy ever afters are strictly for fairytales and Christmas Town myths. Finding a way to work together is difficult enough, admitting that they’re falling in love is going to take an extra little nudge from that very Christmas Town magic they don’t believe in.

Publisher: IndieWrites
Release Date: October 9, 2018

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Christmas Suspense & Romance | Lost Christmas Memories by Dana Mentink

ABOUT THE BOOK

A witness with amnesia...

Can she trust this Gold Country Cowboy with her life?

Tracy Wilson witnessed a murder—but after a head injury, she can’t remember what she saw. Now someone plans to silence her for good, and only cowboy Keegan Thorn believes her. With a killer after her at Christmas, Tracy is running out of time to remember…and falling dangerously hard for the cowboy who could break her heart.

Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense
Release Date: November 6, 2018


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27 November 2018

More Blackwell Brothers Romance | The Rancher's Redemption by Melinda Curtis

ABOUT THE BOOK

His family committed a terrible wrong.

Ben Blackwell wants to make it right.

The last time Ben saw Rachel Thompson was when her best friend left him at the altar. Now Rachel’s suing the Blackwells over river water rights. Rachel’s a triple threat—rancher, fellow attorney and single mom—and Ben’s plan to win in court hits a snag when mutual attraction blooms. If he divulges a long-held secret, will his family forgive him? Will Rachel?

Publisher: Harlequin Heartwarming
Release Date: October 2, 2018

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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26 November 2018

A Perfect Choice for Historical-Fiction Readers | When the Heart Sings by Liz Tolsma

Welcome to the blog tour & giveaway for When the Heart Sings by Liz Tolsma, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Natia has a secret, and she’s hiding him right beneath her captor’s nose…

The Nazis have forced Natia and Teodor from their Polish farm to a labor camp. When the couple is separated, Natia is chosen to be the housekeeper for the camp’s overseer, and Teodor is sent to work in the factory. Despite the strict camp rules—and the consequences for disobeying them—Natia finds a way to communicate with Teodor by sending messages through song as she passes Teodor’s dormitory.

The stakes get higher when Natia finds a Jewish orphan on the overseer’s doorstep. She is determined to protect the boy and raise him as the child she and her husband were unable to bear— but if her German captors discover how much she’s hiding, both she and Teodor may pay the ultimate price.

Publisher: Gilead Publishing
Release Date: October 9, 2018

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #24

Hosted weekly by The Book Date.

Happy Monday!

It's been a good week of holiday fun, family, food, and reading. I'm excited that it's officially the Christmas season now (and the semester is almost over)!

25 November 2018

A Thrilling Page-Turner | Stratagem by Robin Caroll

ABOUT THE BOOK

A high-stakes simulation adventure leaves Grayson Thibodeaux the prime suspect. . .for murder.

Deep in the gritty underbelly of New Orleans, psychologist Grayson Thibodeaux loses everything when his wife leaves him to climb her company’s corporate ladder. He buries himself in his job of creating mind-bending adventure games for businesses as team-building explorations. When his ex-wife’s company hires Grayson’s to create an elaborate game, he doesn’t see how things can get worse. Until she dies during the course of the game he created…making him the prime suspect for murder.

Publisher: Shiloh Run Press
Release Date: November 1, 2018


23 November 2018

The Friday 56 & First Line Friday | Christmas at the Red Door Inn

The Friday 56 is hosted weekly by Freda's Voice.
First Line Friday is hosted weekly by Hoarding Books.

Happy Friday!

Well, I've been spotlighting Christmas books for weeks now, so of course, I have no intention of stopping now that Thanksgiving has officially passed.

This week, I discovered that Liz Johnson is adding a holiday novella to her Prince Edward Island Dreams series (which I loved!). I'm excited to get started on this snowy romance as soon as I can.

22 November 2018

Captivating Detail & Drama | Shelter of the Most High by Connilyn Cossette

ABOUT THE BOOK

The daughter of a pagan high priest, Sofea finds solace from her troubles in the freedom of the ocean. But when marauders attack her village on the island of Sicily, she and her cousin are taken across the sea to the shores of Canaan.

Eitan has lived in Kedesh, a City of Refuge, for the last eleven years, haunted by a tragedy in his childhood and chafing at the boundaries placed on him. He is immediately captivated by Sofea, but revealing his most guarded secret could mean drawing her into the danger of his past.

As threats from outside the walls loom and traitors are uncovered within, Sofea and Eitan are plunged into the midst of a murder plot. Will they break free from the shackles of the past in time to uncover the betrayal and save their lives and the lives of those they love?

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: October 2, 2018


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21 November 2018

Waiting on Wednesday | Warrior of the Wild

Hosted weekly by Breaking the Spine 
to spotlight eagerly-anticipated upcoming releases.
(Similarly, Can't-Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings.)

Happy Wednesday!

Vikings. Enough said, right?

19 November 2018

Complex, Dangerous Mystery | In Too Deep by Lynn H. Blackburn

ABOUT THE BOOK

When the dive team is called in to recover a body from a submerged car, they aren't prepared to find an encrypted laptop--or an unsettling connection between investigator Adam Campbell and the dead accountant.

Adam turns to his friend Dr. Sabrina Fleming--a professor at the local university with unparalleled computer security and forensics skills--to recover the files from the laptop. But the deeper they dig, the deadlier the investigation becomes. When evidence uncovers a human trafficking ring and implicates members of Adam's own family, he and Sabrina will have to risk everything to solve the case.

The truth could set hundreds free--but someone is willing to do whatever it takes to silence anyone who threatens to reveal their secrets. Award-winning author Lynn H. Blackburn invites readers back to Carrington, North Carolina, where everything is not as it seems and sinister elements lurk behind the idyllic façade.

Publisher: Revell
Release Date: November 6, 2018


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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #23

Hosted weekly by The Book Date.

Happy Monday!

It's been another decent week: bowling & homework & This Is Us & Christmas movies & football & grocery shopping for Thanksgiving & plenty of good reading. Now, I'm looking forward to a week free of class and full of family.

16 November 2018

A Third Enjoyable Venture Into Nantucket History | The Light Before Day by Suzanne Woods Fisher

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Henry, this . . . fortune, this sudden wealth . . . I fear it will change our lives. And I don’t want my life to change.”

After three years on a whaling voyage, Henry Macy returns to Nantucket to news that his grandmother has passed, bequeathing her vast fortune to him and his sister, Hitty. And it was truly vast. But Lillian Coffin was no fool. The inheritance comes with a steep cost, including when each should marry and whom—a Quaker in good standing, of course. But if they relinquish the inheritance, it all goes to Tristram Macy, their father’s thieving business partner.

As Hitty and Henry seek a way to satisfy the will’s conditions, they’ll be faced with obstacles on every side—and it may be that Lillian Coffin will have the last word after all.

Publisher: Revell
Release Date: October 2, 2018

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Find out more about this amazing deal!

A Cowboy's Christmas Proposal by Cathy McDavid

ABOUT THE BOOK

At a magical time of year…

Can a cowboy help falling in love? 

For single dad Owen Caufield, living and working at Sweetheart Ranch for a month is the perfect change of pace. While the cowboy turned wedding officiant can now spend more time with his children, Molly O’Malley, his new boss, is less thrilled. A wedding ranch isn’t the best place for three rambunctious youngsters. But amid the chaos—and the coming holidays—it may be the best place to fall in love…

Publisher: Harlequin Heartwarming
Release Date: November 6, 2018

The Friday 56 & First Line Friday | A Cowboy's Christmas Proposal

The Friday 56 is hosted weekly by Freda's Voice.
First Line Friday is hosted weekly by Hoarding Books.

Happy Friday!

This week, I'm in the middle of reading this holiday story from Cathy McDavid, and it is so fun so far. So, enjoy the peek—and if you want to enter a giveaway, hop over to my review-coming-soon post, too!

15 November 2018

Teal Paisley Tights | Spotlight & Excerpt

Welcome to the blog blitz & giveaway for Teal Paisley Tights by Barbara Brutt, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours! It's release day for this debut author!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Life post-graduation was supposed to see the launch of paisley-loving Jadyn’s art career, or at least an art gallery showing one of her watercolor paintings. Instead, this Pittsburgh native is locked into a low-paying, buttoned-up consultant position with an impossible boss. When another colleague is dismissed, Jadyn inherits extra workload, including the company’s biggest client. If she loses him, she’s fired.

Jadyn people-pleases her way through life, resulting in extra work opportunities and a community classroom of art students. But when two guys appear on her doorstep, she just might not be able to people-please her way out of this love triangle. At the end of the day, she can’t please everyone.

Then, because of a small spending problem, Jadyn is evicted from her apartment, and she must move in with her know-it-all sister. Jadyn needs to decide between a job transfer that would place her near her love interest, or a full-time art career with all its risks.

Stretched like canvas between responsibility and dreams, she must choose. Will practicality always win?

 
Publisher: Vinspire Publishing
Release Date: November 15, 2018

14 November 2018

Heartwarmingly Delightful | Ava's Prize by Cari Lynn Webb

ABOUT THE BOOK

He needs a great idea.

She can provide it—but at what cost?

The battle lines are drawn when army medic turned EMT Ava Andrews enters a contest devised by San Francisco entrepreneur Kyle Quinn. The first responder isn’t just competing for a tempting grand prize. She’s fighting her attraction to the self-made millionaire…and losing the war. But private and professional boundaries blur when a breach of trust threatens Ava’s future with Kyle.

Publisher: Harlequin Heartwarming
Release Date: November 6, 2018

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Waiting on Wednesday | Fame, Fate, and the First Kiss

Hosted weekly by Breaking the Spine 
to spotlight eagerly-anticipated upcoming releases.
(Similarly, Can't-Wait Wednesday is hosted by Wishful Endings.)

Happy Wednesday!

Kasie West is one of my auto-buy authors for adorable YA romance—I never pass on the opportunity to read a new book for her. So, can my pre-ordered book just show up already?

12 November 2018

A Sweet Contemporary | Return of the Song by Phyllis Clark Nichols

Welcome to the blog tour & giveaway for Return of the Song by Phyllis Clark Nichols, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
 
ABOUT THE BOOK

When Caroline lost her love, she lost the music too.

Caroline Carlyle’s dreams were crushed when her fiancé died six weeks before their wedding. For years she wrestled with aching loss and shattered faith, struggling to find the inspiration that once came so easily. Abandoning her half-finished piano compositions, Caroline trades her old ambitions for the comfort and familiarity of life as the town’s piano teacher.

But Caroline’s world turns upside down when a mysterious stranger enters her life. Filled with courage and fresh purpose, Caroline embarks on a quest to track down the beloved, rare piano she played as a child. Her search leads her to Rockwater, the Kentucky estate of a wealthy gentleman, where Caroline finds her heart may be composing a surprising new song.

Publisher: Gilead Publishing
Release Date: September 18, 2018

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #22

Hosted weekly by The Book Date.

Happy Monday!

What a week. I voted, my bowling team finally moved into first place, and a day of snow prompted a delightful binge of cheesy movies (The Perfect Catch, Appetite for Love, The Spirit of Christmas, Holiday in Handcuffs, My Fake Fiancé & Christmas With a View), and I read a whole lot of enjoyable books, to boot.

11 November 2018

A Compelling Legal Thriller | Chosen People by Robert Whitlow

ABOUT THE BOOK

Bestselling author Robert Whitlow dives deep into the legal ramifications of a tragic event half a world away and how it affects two lawyers in Atlanta from vastly different backgrounds.

When Hana Abboud walked into the conference room, she was unprepared for the images of a horrific terrorist attack near the Western Wall in Jerusalem. But after watching a courageous mother sacrifice her life to save her four-year-old daughter, Hana knew she needed to help attorney Jakob Brodsky represent the family’s pursuit of justice against those who perpetrate acts of violent jihad. As an Arab Israeli lawyer trained at Hebrew University, Hana is uniquely qualified to step into the gap.
But they need a third partner, an investigator on the ground to help them unravel the snake pit of connections between the terrorists and an organization or company that can be sued in the American courts. Hana returns home to Israel and meets with investigator Hamid Hasan who quickly becomes more than a crucial part of the litigation team.

As Jakob and Hana investigate the case in the US, he is stalked on the streets of Atlanta by affiliates of a terrorist organization. Their pursuit of truth can only be resolved where it began: the streets of Jerusalem. But who can they trust? How deep does deceit go? Can two lawyers and a shadowy investigator impact the kind of violence and terror that has become common in our broken world?

Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: November 6, 2018


09 November 2018

Swimming in the Deep End | Spotlight & Excerpt

Welcome to the blog blitz & giveaway for Swimming in the Deep End by Christina Suzann Nelson, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

A moving novel entwining the many faces of motherly love.

Jillian Connors has the perfect daughter: loving and smart, she’s an Olympic hopeful with a bright future. But when Gabby becomes pregnant, Jillian fears that future is lost. Worse, she must confront her own secret past and hope the decisions she’s made don’t drown their whole family.

Gabby can’t believe God let this happen to her. She knew the risks, but who thinks about that when they’re in love? Now she has to face the consequences–and the disappointed stares from everyone who thought she was the perfect Christian girl. At least she has the baby’s father, Travis. Nothing can tear them apart, right?

Margaret Owens had determined dreams for her son. She’s furious that Gabby’s pregnancy jeopardizes his college baseball scholarship and terrified that Travis will be trapped in a life of struggle and poverty–the life she’s tried so hard to save him from. She’ll do anything to protect him–even if it means forcing him to leave Gabby.

Stacey Meyers is aching for a child of her own. But the son she was meant to adopt was taken before she could hold him in her arms. It feels like she’ll never stop mourning; even the move to this new town hasn’t distracted her from the pain. How can she and her husband find peace? Is there any hope of a family in their future?

And in the midst of all this . . . an unborn baby. Whose arms will hold him in the end?


Publisher: Kregel Publications
Release Date: September 25, 2018

The Friday 56 & First Line Friday | The Christmas Secret

The Friday 56 is hosted weekly by Freda's Voice.
First Line Friday is hosted weekly by Hoarding Books.

Happy Friday!

My Christmas reading has continued this week with Donna VanLiere's Christmas Hope series. This fifth book is my favorite so far, so here's a peek into it.

(Do you have any recommendations for Christmas books to read? Or Hallmark movies to watch? Let me know in the comments!)

08 November 2018

Everything I Hoped & More | An Hour Unspent by Roseanna M. White

ABOUT THE BOOK

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

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

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

Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: September 4, 2018

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Mail-Order Bride Fun | The Kitchen Marriage by Gina Welborn & Becca Whitham

ABOUT THE BOOK

A bright future awaits the women of courage and faith who boldly chase their dreams across the wide-open Montana Territory, prepared to embrace adventure and forge their own destinies...

When French immigrant Zoe de Fleur is forced out of her position as household cook for a high society New Yorker, the pretty and talented chef seizes an unexpected chance to head west for a new beginning. She pursues what she thinks is a prestigious job in the frontier’s “finest kitchen,” but instead finds herself in a matchmaker’s agency...

Isaak Gunderson is one of Helena, Montana’s most eligible bachelors, but he’s too focused on running for mayor and his family’s business to think about a wife and family. His twin brother, Jakob, is supposed to be too busy as well, yet sends for a mail-order bride anyway. Isaak doesn’t want to fuel an ongoing rivalry with his twin, but this tempting newcomer can’t be ignored. If only she’d come to Helena a different way and loving her wasn’t a betrayal...

Publisher: Zebra
Release Date: September 25, 2018

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