Rise and Shine

I couldn't imagine waiting a lifetime to get married to the perfect man that I had fallen head over heels in love with even as he put his wealthy upbringing behind him to marry me. Spending a blissful honeymoon in Fiji, getting prepared for diving and then waking up 10 years later and not remembering a thing but fragmented bits and pieces of your life. That is just what has happened to Shannon Malone. For the last 10 years, she has been faithfully cared for by her husband Edmund in the Draper Long Term Care facility until cancer took over his life and left her a widow in her comatose state. Now as she tries to make sense of what happens she learns that her attending physician Dr. Daniel Petros has been waiting for just this moment to happen. Not every one wakes up, but Shannon is that exception and miracle that her entire family has been waiting for.

Now as she tries to understand the implications of what happened and how she can pick up and attempt to move forward in her life, Daniel attempts to fill in the blanks for her. Being Edmund's best friend until he passed away, he shows her just how much Edmund believed that Shannon would one day wake up. Being a huge lover of fairy tales, she is Sleeping Beauty in real life, only there was no kiss to wake her from her slumber. If there was, surely Edmond would have made sure to try that. But when everyone else seemed to lose faith and hope that one day she would wake, Edmond's dedication and Daniel's belief she would one day wake up, has proved to be 100% true.

But how do you simply wake up from one life and begin another? How do you stop loving the man you love now that that life is over and he isn't around? How do you stop the implications of Edmond's sister Millicent who believes their family is entitled to everything that belonged to Edmond including her home and wedding ring? Is is possible to find a happily ever after in the wake of a living nightmare?

I received Rise and Shine from author Sandra D. Bricker compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and River North Publishing for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. I love the introduction to a modern day fairy tale that introduces each new section of the novel that is a reference to Shannon's new life. She finds solace in being a different person that when she went into her coma when it comes to remembering her lost love in Edmond and how deeply he went to such great lengths to see to her care, even when he was facing his own death without her. Daniel's dedication to her medical care comes through when he realizes just how wonderful Shannon's life was with Edmond and how easily it can be to fall in love with her. This is such a wonderful novel that I can easily give a full 5 out of 5 stars to and love all the creativity that went into creating this modern day fairy tale! It reminded me of While You Were Sleeping with actress Sandra Bullock.

For more information about Rise and Shine, Sandra D. Bricker, or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Rise and Shine by Sandra D. Bricker

You can also find Sandra D. Bricker on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Rise and Shine, please visit Christian Fiction Blog Alliance's book tour page. 

Merry Humbug Christmas

This time of the year, I love it when you can find some really remarkable Christmas novels that are so good you know that they would make an incredible movie. There hasn't been any great Christmas movies in quite some time but Merry Humbug Christmas provides an outlet in that case. The novel from author Sandra D Bricker is a two for one that combines two unique characters and divides the novel into two separate Christmas tales with a flair for humor and laughter.

Once Upon a Jingle Bells takes Joss Snow into unexpected places for Christmas. Growing up with a formal name of Merry Christmas Snow, a play on words she says can be used in Wheel of Fortune's Before and After puzzle, she decided to change her name after her parents were killed during the Christmas season. Now she swears off of celebrating the season at any cost and has enlisted her best friend Reese in this endeavor until this year. Reese is now engaged and so Joss is on her own. She books a cruise to the Mexican Riviera that is supposed to be a Bah Humbug cruise and when the cruise is cancelled she finds herself rebooked on the 12 Fun Days of Christmas cruise instead with no way out. You can only imagine how this one plays on when your stuck on a ship with Christmas celebrations at literally every corner. Will she be able to avoid catching more than the Christmas spirit after all?

The novel concludes with Reese's story in It Came Upon a Midnight Deer where we find Reese and her fiancè Damian heading to his family's cabin in Sugar Loaf to celebrate Christmas and for Reese to meet the family. While Reese may have had good intentions on making the best impression on meeting her new in-laws, this tale takes a turn for the completely unexpected beginning with a car accident on the road to the family home in which they literally hit a deer. While the deer is injured, it is able to hobble off into the night leaving Reese and Damian stranded in the snow with no phone service and their only out is a two mile hike in the snow. The laughs only build from this point on when literally NOTHING works out like Reese wants and she soon wonder if she is really cut out to marry into this family after all.

I received Merry Humbug Christmas by Sandra D Bricker compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and B and H Publishing Group for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed are strictly my own. This was truly a breath of fresh air and I LOVED every single moment of this story. I love how Sandra combined the two best friends stories into two separate ones but still felt the overlap in what happened to both during an unexpected change in their Christmas plans. This is one of my favorite Christmas stories this year because it adds humor and laughter to the joy of the season and we all know it doesn't always work out as planned. I easily give this one a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion. Can't wait for more novels from Sandra in the future.

For more information about Merry Humbug Christmas, Sandra D. Bricker or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Merry Humbug Christmas by Sandra D. Bricker

You can also find Sandra D. Bricker on Facebook to stay up to date with all her novels.

To read more reviews on Merry Humbug Christmas from the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance book tour, please click here. 

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: B&H Books (October 15, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433680750
• ISBN-13: 978-1433680755
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches

Raw Edges

Grayson McDonough wished that they made something like bias tape to fix the raw edges in his own life. After spending more than a year dealing with the loss of his wife Jenna to Ovarian Cancer, he still couldn't find a way to move forward. It seems that it was easier for his young nine-year-old daughter, Sadie and reading the journal her mother left her with life lessons made those days easier to manage. Even though she missed her mother deeply, the words she penned in the journal offering snippets of wisdom, advice and even insights into her dad enabled Sadie to believe that her mother was still a part of their lives, if she could only get her dad to read it.

It seems like they need a door to open and the invitation came in the form of a quilting group through a cancer support group known as Ovacome. The young women running the project, Annabelle Curtis knows how much cancer can affect the family. Not only just the families dealing with the loss of a loved one, but also for survivors like herself. In Annabelle's situation her future was dashed when she learned she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and had to undergo a hysterectomy that resulted in her fiancè calling off their wedding and also their relationship in favor of someone who could have children.

Now that Sadie has been drawn to helping put together a quilt of scraps of fabric from those who had loss a loved one to cancer and also those who are survivors, she forms a connection with Annabelle that helps her move forward in her own life, finding joy in the simple ways of simply spending time enjoying life instead of merely getting by. Slowly over the course of the novel, Gray has no choice but to get involved since Sadie needs transportation to get to the quilting meetings and soon finds himself working on a project to help benefit the sale of the quilt. Along the way, he realizes that even though life is hard to get through on some days, his wife Jenna left behind a legacy that will last forever.

I received Raw Edges by Sandra D. Bricker compliments of Abingdon Press and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review. This is such a poignant story to read and you can't help but get emotionally involved not only in Sadie and Gray's situation but also Annabelle's story as a survivor. It really is about healing and dealing with the loss of broken hearts and shows that time will slowly allow those wounds to heal but those memories we create will truly last a lifetime. This is my first novel with Sandra D. Bricker and I will be on the lookout for more of her books. She invests the time to entice the reader to become a part of the story and for that reason I give this one a 5 out of 5 stars. This novel is number 10 in the Quilts of Love Series and can be read in any order.

To read more about Raw Edges, Sandra D. Bricker or where to pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Raw Edges by Sandra D. Bricker

You can also find Sandra D. Bricker on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Raw Edges from the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Book Tour, please click here.

• Series: Quilts of Love (Book 10)
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (September 17, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 142675275X
• ISBN-13: 978-1426752759
• Product Dimensions: 0.1 x 7.3 x 9.5 inches