A Bride for Keeps

The last thing that Everett Cline wants right now is for another woman to step foot off the train looking for marriage from him. After three unsuccessful attempts to finding a wife to help him on his farm, and all of them not working out in his favor he has lost interest in finding anyone who will marry him. After his failed attempts at finding love through mail order brides, first one married someone else before getting off the train, the second one died before arriving and the third took one look at what he was asking her to help with on the farm, and opted for someone else. Now his sister Rachel is involved with a friend who believes she is just the right woman for Everett. But when Julia Lockwood arrives in town, she turns just about every head there is, women and men.

Julia Lockwood answered Rachel's request to marry her brother Everett in hopes of alleviating the constant demands of men wanting her for her beauty and what they hoped she could provide as the wealthy daughter of a prominent businessman from Boston. Not afraid of hard work, Julia hopes she can provide just what Everett is looking for, someone to help him out on the farm. She has already seen what her looks can do to a man that wanted to be a part of her father's business and insisted on getting it from Julia despite her attempts at refusing his advances. Now assured that besides having more than her beauty robbed of her, she's hoping she can convince Everett to marry her to ensure men won't be looking at her for anything more than being someone's else's wife. She isn't looking for love and hopes she can convince Everett she isn't one to run away from anything.

But since both Everett and Julia have been burned by their pasts, they will do whatever they can to put up false fronts that will do more than build walls around their hearts. It will also keep them from learning to love and forgiving those that have hurt them instead of making one another pay for someone else's mistakes. Yet what will it take for either of them to become truly honest and work to heal those painful pasts and teach each other what God truly wants from unconditional love? Will it take the risk of losing one another to make them appreciate what they really have or will they simply fade away into the sunset and suffer in silence with their dark mistakes?

I received A Bride for Keeps by debut author Melissa Jagears compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and Bethany House Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed in this review are my own. This is such a believable novel for me when you consider the challenges of being a mail order bride. There is no courtship and at times even those marriages are often worse than remaining single and alone. I found Julia's story to be just what I would expect and loved Everett's challenge at trying to keep his promise to refrain from taking advantage of Julia just because he is married to her, despite her beauty. She works hard to prove herself something we all try to do to earn our way into God's good graces, such is the story of Julia trying to earn Everett's favor. It simply doesn't work. This is the first novel by Melissa Jagears and it certainly won't be her last. For those of you that love a great Western Romance, this one is guaranteed to capture your heart. I rate this a 5 out of 5 stars and it has found a permanent home in my library. Melissa Jagears is now on my MUST READ list!

For more information about A Bride for Keeps, Melissa Jagears or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

A Bride for Keeps by Melissa Jagears

You can find Melissa Jagears on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on A Bride for Keeps on the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Book Tour, please click here. 

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (October 1, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764211684
• ISBN-13: 978-0764211683
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 1 inches

A Plain Disappearance

Once again it seems that Chloe Humphrey seems to attract more than just attention, she once again is the common factor in yet another murder in the heart of Appleseed Creek. This brings the total to three and even though she has an air tight alibi, this murder may in fact be the one that ultimately divides the English from the Amish in town. While exploring a deserted barn one early morning after a sleigh ride with her boyfriend, Timothy Troyer, they locate the body of Katie Lambright just under the snow. Signs may point to an accidental death by way of a frozen icicle that is missing just right above when they have found her body, but until they contact the local sheriff, Greta Rose, they won't know for sure. All they know is that she won't like that it will be Chloe once again who has discovered another dead body.

In the third novel in the Appleseed Creek Mystery series by Amanda Flower, A Plain Disappearance once again takes two very different genre's, Amish and Murder Mystery and combines them flawlessly to create something not only unique but unforgettable as well. I have had the wonderful opportunity to be able to read all of these novels and while there is a common thread running through them, they are each completely different. However with that being said in order to understand the relationships the English have with the Amish people living in Appleseed Creek is necessary to read them in order.

In this one it shows the difficulty that can had whenever a crime takes place within an Amish community. Rather than seek outside intervention, the Amish believe that whatever happens is best dealt within their own community of believers and is God's will. The sheriff utilizes the relationship that Chloe and Timothy have being former Amish residents as a common thread that will allow them to solve the crime and find out just who has murdered Katie Lambright, a young girl who was known for attracted more suitors than she needed. Is it possible that despite all the clues they find, the murderer is someone they don't suspect and resides within the town itself working alongside both English and Amish alike? To find out, you'll simply have to pick up this novel!

I received A Plain Disappearance by Amanda Flowers compliments of B and H Publishing Group and Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed in this review are mine alone. This is such an exceptional series because of not only the combination of genres but it really addresses the subject of forgiveness and what happens when the seeds of bitterness are allowed to grow in people's hearts. I easily give this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars and look forward to more from Amanda Flower in the future. There are even some great discussion questions included for book groups.

For more information about A Plain Disappearance, Amanda Flower or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

A Plain Disappearance by Amanda Flower

You can also find Amanda Flower on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on A Plain Disappearance on the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Book Tour, please click here. 

The Appleseed Creek Mystery Series Books are listed below:

# 1 A Plain Death
# 2 A Plain Scandal
# 3 A Plain Disappearance

• Series: An Appleseed Creek Mystery
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: B&H Books (September 1, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433676990
• ISBN-13: 978-1433676994
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 5.4 x 8.2 inches

The Journey of Josephine Cain

The latest novel from Nancy Moser in the American Tapestry Series, The Journey of Josephine Cain begins when Josephine Cain accompanies her father, General Cain and her mother to the Ford Theater as he has returned from the war. Only for Josephine, this day will become memorable in a way she never expected when she sees President Lincoln shot in the balcony. This will be a lasting reminder that the war will never truly be over in the hearts of some men.

As General Cain now transitions from being a General in the war to heading up the efforts to join the building of the Transcontinental Railroad  in a competition to see if the East can build their connection faster than the west can. Josephine is tired of spending the last year with her mother and Aunt Beatrice mourning the loss of her brother, Thomas and her cousin in the war. She only wishes she can convince her father to allow her to accompany him while he works on the construction of the railroad, but with the development of unsavory types springing up wherever the railroad stops, her father isn't about to put her welfare at risk.

When Lewis Simmons joins her father before he leaves to begin his work, she suddenly sees her prospects in staying at home becoming a bit more appealing since most the single men have died in the war. However Lewis has other motives in his plans to marry Josephine and gain the approval of her parents in doing so. What he doesn't expect is to head west in his efforts to sway Josephine to fall in love with him, nor does he expect another man to turn her eye, one that does not have the influence of a suitable background and instead is merely an Irish worker on the railroad. Will Josephine learn the true intentions of the man she is slowly falling in love with or is she merely falling in love with the idea of being married?

I received The Journey of Josephine Cain by Nancy Moser compliments of Litfuse Publicity and Summerside Press 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. This is the sixth book in the American Tapestry Series and a truly MUST READ for those of you that love a bit of real life history as the backdrop for your romance novels. In this one the Transcontinental Railroad makes its debut and the author includes a reference for readers of what really happened along the way at the end of the novel along with a great discussion guide that book clubs will LOVE! Once again the strong determined female character is what really keep me glued to this one. Josephine is willing to take the needed risks to do the right thing even if it means stepping on a few toes to get there. I love where Nancy Moser took this story amid the turmoil surrounding the disgruntled Lewis and the chivalrous actions of Hudson Maguire. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and once again another Nancy Moser novel has found its way into my permanent personal library.

For more information about The Journey of Josephine Cain, Nancy Moser or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Journey of Josephine Cain by Nancy Moser

You can also find Nancy Moser on Facebook to stay up to date on her latest novels.

To read more reviews on The Journey of Josephine Cain from the Litfuse Publicity Book Tour, please click here. 

• Series: An American Tapestry
• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Summerside Press, an imprint of Guideposts (September 1, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082493427X
• ISBN-13: 978-0824934279
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 1 inches

The Journey of Josephine Cain by Nancy Moser follows the adventures of a D.C. socialite as she gets involved with the building of the Transcontinental Railroad right after the Civil War. Be sure to check out Nancy's fun Pinterest board for the book!

Enter to win 1 of 5 copies of the book!

  Five winners will receive:

• The Journey of Josephine Cain by Nancy Moser

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 26th. All winners will be announced October 28th at the Litfuse blog.

Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to visit the Litfuse blog on the 28th to see if you won one of the books!

1930's Hollywood: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Volume 1

"Today, filmgoers may not wish to go back to a simpler era, where jazz and big band music reigned supreme, or when black and white movies were the norm. The golden age of 30's Hollywood's dead. Nevertheless, if the majority of film fans in modern times favor present film releases, over the past, then why does Hollywood go back in time? There seems to have been more films made about the decade known as the 30's, than any other decade, aside from perhaps films that dealt directly with WWII, and even today modern day filmmakers continue to dabble in 30's themed films." (pg ii).

For those craving old time gossip, and for vintage movie connoisseurs who enjoy reading about 30s films written in a commentary style format, along with exploring riveting Tinseltown old-fashioned stories, this trilogy entitled, 1930's Hollywood: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly is for you. Get a chance to revisit those golden moments from Hollywood's past through this concise book from Frank N. Brathwaite. He offers a chapter geared to take a look back at the magazine headlines from the 1930's from such notables as Photoplay, Hollywood Reporter along with Modern Screen the fed the insatiable appetite of the public's curiosity pertaining the private and public lives of the stars.

The 1930's offered the public an escape from the challenges of dealing with the results of the Great Depression. Movies offered that outlet as the changes came from silent movies to "talkies." Gossip, news, and other timely related articles, were fodder for an increasingly demanding public. Some snippets from the decade include:

1930 February - Charlie Chaplin was rumored to have turned down an offer of $680,000 to perform twenty-six shows, all which were duration of 15 minutes each. August - 23: The anniversary of  Rudolph Valentino's death, the surreptitious lady in black made her first appearance to his crypt. Her arrival would reportedly be the first of many. The word on the street screams, MGM has finally picked their Tarzan. Clark Gable was strongly considered for the part, henceforth; the studio liked what they saw in Johnny Weissmuller, and signed him for the role.

1932 February - MGM purportedly hands Buster Keaton his walking papers. They feel that his best work was in silent pictures; however, the word on the street is they canned him because of his excessive drinking, and failure to complete work assignments in a timely manner! Ironically, Keaton had just finished the picture What No Beer? (1933) Before he was shown the door by the studio.

There is so much great detail about Hollywood's past that you get to experience as if you have stepped back in time in this amazing book. A true MUST HAVE for anyone who loves Vintage Hollywood Films and their stars! There is also an amazing chapter on Frank Capra, a depression era director who went on to make such movies like It's A Wonderful Life, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and You Can't Take It With You. Learn why Lionel Barrymore was moved from using crutches in You Can't Take It With You into a wheelchair in It's A Wonderful Life and so much more of what it took to even direct pictures in 1930's while the big studios were just being created.

I received 1930's Hollywood: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Volume 1 by Frank N. Brathwaite compliments of Outskirts Press for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. Being a huge movie lover more so now that I am older, I thoroughly enjoyed the behind the scenes look at what life was like not only for the celebrities, but also directors, writers and movie studios. You'll learn who was difficult to work with, how movies made it to the big screen and some insider secrets you'll have to pick up this book to enjoy. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and can't wait for Mr. Brathwaite to write his next volumes in this series!!

For more information about 1930's Hollywood: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Frank N. Brathwaite or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

1930's Hollywood: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly by Frank N. Brathwaite

• Paperback: 194 pages
• Publisher: Outskirts Press (September 4, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1432799304
• ISBN-13: 978-1432799304
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches

Happy, Happy, Happy

Sometimes the greatest lessons I learn about life come from reading people's autobiographies. In it, I glean information about a life that is uniquely different from my own and along the way take back something inevitably life changing. I think it's vital that at some point in everyone's life, you read biographies. It opens your eyes to possibilities you never thought possible until you finish the final page.

There probably isn't a person around who hasn't heard about Duck Dynasty, the newest reality television series to come from A & E, based on the life of Phil Robertson and his family. It was designed to give American family what was missing in television, a functional family. Not since the days of the Andy Griffith Show, Little House on the Prairie, The Walton, or even the Beverly Hillbillies has a more genuine family come across television. The Robertson family's faith is what separates them from a lot of other families as well as the love each of them have for one another. They still gather around the family dinner table for home-cooked meals, something you don't see much of any more. Everybody in America is so busy, busy, busy. They are preoccupied with their cell phones and computers, so they don't take time to sit down with their spouses, children, grandchildren, aunts and uncles, and grandparents to eat a meal together. The family structure is slipping away from America, but not in the Robertson house.

Phil says it best, "You'll never find me living in a city, folk. Where I live, I am 911. Like I say, if you spend too much time in the subdivision, you go a-runnin' when the snakes fall out of the trees!" This is why he has maintained the life he was born and raised on, living off the land, being self sufficient for the most part and ensuring that his family retains those things that are slowly missing from the family today. He reminds us that young girls don't know how to cook. "Their grandmothers and mamas cooked for them, but they never took the time to learn how to cook. They were more interested in other things. If you go out into the subdivisions and suburbs of America, where all of the yuppies live, you'll see restaurants are packed with people. They don't want to eat slop and they're looking for good food, but they don't want to take the time to make it. Dad is working, Mom is working, and so no one has the time or energy to cook a good meal anymore. So our families end up eating in restaurants, where they're surrounded by noise and clutter, instead of sharing quality time in a family setting."

Perhaps Phil is on to something we all need to hear. While his ways may not work for you, there is some wonderful wisdom in what he has learned by growing up during the time of the great depression and teaching us all to be a little more self sufficient in what we decide to keep or giveaway. There are some great life lessons Phil learned along the way, that I think are the true diamonds in this book and one I plan on incorporating a bit more of before it's too late. Perhaps too much technology is a bad thing and it's time to find our way back to those solid family roots once again.

I received Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions I shared are mine alone. I love all the interesting stories that come from reading this book, to how the family spent their time growing up without Xbox or Nintendo games and instead spent their youth exploring fields, woods and swamps that surround their homes. Even today, Phil doesn't own or use a cell phone or computer, nor does he plan on ever having one. He does promise one thing however, you'll never find him on Twitter or Skype, and if anyone needs to talk to him, they know where he lives. I easily rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars and by the end, I think you too, will be Happy, Happy, Happy!

For more information about Happy Happy Happy, Phil Robertson or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson

You can also find out more about Phil Robertson, The Duck Commander on Facebook.

To read more reviews on Happy, Happy, Happy, please visit Howard Books website. 

Annie's Christmas Wish

It's not often you find a great Christmas novel with a compelling and lasting message regarding extended family, but I think Barbara Cameron has managed to do just that with Annie's Christmas Wish, book 4 in her Quilts of Lancaster County Series. This is perfect for those that enjoy Amish fiction or even a great contemporary romance because that is exactly the blend that Barbara has managed to create.

Annie Bontrager knows that she desires to become a writer at some point in her life. She carries around a notebook so that she can capture whatever thoughts or ideas come to her wherever she might be like all great writers do. She carries that inspiration from being around her step mother Jenny who was a famous newspaper reporter when she used to live in New York City. Jenny was raised English and thus was never really subject to the terms one usually finds in an Amish community. However when a bomb exploded while covering a story on children who were living in a war zone, she found comfort and love recovering in the Amish community of Paradise, Pennsylvania under her grandmother's care. It was there she discovered healing and love in the being reunited with David, Annie's father who was born Amish but decided not to join the church and in a way incorporated the love of both English and Amish upbringing in the children. Annie's mother died when she was just a child and had known no other mother but Jenny. To her, she was as real as a mother could be.

The family is on the brink of making a trip to New York City for vacation and Jenny hopes to show Annie not only the major tourist sites but also take her on a tour to her old office as well as to the New York Times, something Annie has only dreamed about doing for as long as she can remember. All she knows is that the desire to write is just as strong in her blood as it was for her mother and even though she knows at some point she might find love, she isn't the least bit interested right now.

Yet Aaron Beiler who has grown up with Annie as a close childhood friend has been making plans for what he believes will be his future with Annie working as a carpenter and furniture maker in town. Now if only he can convince Annie that his feelings go beyond that of just her friend and into something more. With the trip to New York coming up however, Aaron fears that Annie's love for writing might take her someplace she may never want to return. He just want's a wife that will take care of the home and any future children they might have and leave making a living up to him. What if Annie goes to New York and decides to never return? Is there anything he can do to change her mind?

I received Annie's Christmas Wish by Barbara Cameron compliments of Abingdon Press for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed here are mind alone. This is such an incredible book and one of the few that really reach to the heart of what really makes a family even though in this case it is a blended one. Annie sees the relationship with Jenny as that of what a mother/daughter relationship is as well as one with Jenny as her friend as well. Jenny never tries to replace Annie's birth mother but gives her the room and the time to accept her as she is in her role as a mother and wife in their family. It also shows how difficult our choices can be when it comes to the true desires of our hearts, in this case with Annie's love of writing and how she will have to make a choice that will forever change the relationship in her family and possibly her community as well. I rate this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars and think this makes the perfect Christmas addition to The Quilts of Lancaster County series!

For more information about Annie's Christmas Wish, Barbara Cameron or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

Annie's Christmas Wish by Barbara Cameron

You can also find Barbara Cameron on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Annie's Christmas Wish, please visit Abingdon Press' website. 

• Series: Quilts of Lancaster County (Book 4)
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (October 1, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1426733895
• ISBN-13: 978-1426733895
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches

An Honest Heart

Kaye Dacus is one of my favorite must watch authors since reading her first novel, Follow the Heart and she came back in a big way with An Honest Heart. Captivated in your traditional regency style, Kaye mixes this one up with a dramatic twist with the upcoming opening of the Great Exhibition just at the height of the Industrial Revolution.

In An Honest Heart combines two very distinctive love stories, the first being with Cadence "Caddy" Bainbridge, a seamstress who has made a life for herself opening her own dressmaking shop in the heart of Oxford, England in 1851. She uses her valuable skills not only to create the equivalent fashions of the higher end shops in London, but also incorporating those same skills to create attire for the lower class residents who also need clothing. She spends her free time teaching sewing skills to the women housed in the poor houses and prisons so that they can have a skill to fall back on much like she did. It's her way of simply giving back to the heart of the community. She was sent to a finishing school by her father who had connections with high end schools through his friendships with head masters as a way of hoping to raise her opportunities for marriage to a fine gentleman in the future.

She meets quite by fate and accident, Dr. Neal Stradbroke, the town's new doctor as he brings her mother home late one afternoon who has fainted on her daily walk. Dr. Neal Stradbroke advises Caddy that her mother has heart issues and needs to make sure she is taking better care of herself, but Caddy's mother sees a fine prospect for a husband in Neal instead and will stop at nothing to ensure that the two see what is right in front of their eyes.

The secondary story involves Edith Buchanan, a fine upstanding but often times cold-hearted wealthy women of a prominent family who is searching for a well deserved husband complete with a high end title. When her father arranges for Lord Thynne, a single viscount to arrive at their home in hopes of a possible connection for Edith, he instead has interests in her American cousin, Katharine Dearing, an heiress to a railway fortune instead of the Ice Queen. She plots to find a way for Katharine to do something that she can use to engineer her downfall and thus enable Lord Thynne to fall in love with her instead. She makes a bet with Oliver Carmicheal, Lady Carmichael's eldest son and future baron at Chawley Abbey that if neither of them secure a better match for themselves by the close of the Great Exhibition, they will agree to marry one another.

Yet Oliver Carmichael has his own sites set on Miss Bainbridge after making a bet with his close friends at a gentlemen's club when he is snubbed and dismissed by Miss Bainbridge. He believes he will have no problem in getting her to fall in love with him, since he has never been turned down by any female in his life and wagers 100 pounds that he can do it by the day the Great Exhibition opens on May 1st.

There are so many different twists and turns in this exceptional and wonderfully written novel, you truly feel like you're at the heart of something amazing as you watch things unfold between the different classes set in this novel. You are cheering that some will get what they truly deserve and you definitely have the good and evil characters in this one. I often found myself seeing the characters of Caddy Bainbridge played by the actress, Anne Hathaway and Dr. Neal Stradbroke by Hugh Jackman, while the opposing characters Mr. Oliver Carmichael portrayed by Billy Zane and Edith Buchanan played by Charlize Theron. I can't wait to see what Kaye Dacus comes up with next and this one easily rates a 5 out of 5 stars.

I received An Honest Heart by Kaye Dacus compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and B and H Publishing Group for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. This is the second novel in the Great Exhibition Series.  For more information about An Honest Heart, Kaye Dacus or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

An Honest Heart by Kaye Dacus

You can also find Kaye Dacus on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Honest Heart from the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Book Tour, please click here. 

• Series: A Great Exhibition Novel
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: B&H Books (October 15, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433677210
• ISBN-13: 978-1433677212
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches