The Melody of the Soul

Something that soothes that savage beast is music. It can take us back to memorable moments of the past or even help us pass the time during a tragic situation until something better comes along. That is the common thread in the latest novel by Liz Tolsma, The Melody of the Soul. This is the first novel in the Music of Hope Series. World War II genre fans will adore this as the setting between Anna Zadok who has just watched her family step away and left her behind to tend for her aging grandmother while the Nazi's occupy their small town in Prague. It is the one thing she didn't want to happen, for them to be separated but also knows that she can't give up on the one thing that she loves, which is playing her violin. Not from reading music, but from hearing it in her heart and soul. It defines who she is and what she is feeling with each note she plays.

However all musical instruments are outlawed and those found in possession of them will face harsh repercussions. But it is all that remains of her and the love she has for her family. Yet when a Nazi officer, Horst Engel, takes possession of her home and removes the occupants living on the lower level, she believes it is only a matter of time before they will force her and her aging grandmother to leave. She prepares to pack up what meager belongings they have so when it is time, they are ready. During the time she waits however she begins to play and what connects her to the music is the very same thread that reaches into the soul of Horst and he locates the source of the music.

He summons both of them into the lower level of the house he is occupying and asks her to play specific music that she knows and he loves. Perhaps they both are in situations they have no control over and while both know what roles they must play, it is the music that connects them to a better place before the war began. Yet will it connect them in other ways as well? Can a Jewish Christian find love with a Nazi officer in the midst of a war that threatens to divide who they both are? You'll have to check out The Melody of the Soul by Liz Tolsma to find out.

I received The Melody of the Soul by Liz Tolsma compliments of Litfuse Publicity and Gilead Publishing. What I really enjoyed about this novel is first, the setting. I am a huge fan of WWII and using that as a setting really forces readers into a place in history that is vibrant, real and terrifying depending on whose side you might find yourself on. Second, placing a budding romance between two very different characters who have their own shared beliefs, enemies really makes you wonder what will be the catalyst that changes for them both that will cause them to defy the odds for love over war. There are some amazing historical notes at the conclusion of the novel that show how the author incorporated real events into the creation of not only this novel but the series! For me, this one easily rates a 4.5 out of 5 stars and I can't wait for the next novel due out in the Fall of 2018.

For more information about The Melody of the Soul, Liz Tolsma or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

The Melody of the Soul by Liz Tolsma

You can find Liz Tolsma on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on The Melody of The Soul, please visit Litfuse Publicity's Book Tour Page.

Travel back in time to 1943 and meet Anna Zadok, a Jewish Christian and concert violinist whose career is ended because of Nazi occupation in Prague. Don't miss the new historical novel, The Melody of the Soul, by Liz Tolsma. Though musical instruments have been declared illegal, Anna defiantly continues to play the violin. But Officer Horst Engel, quartered in Anna's flat and dissatisfied with German ideology, enjoys her soothing music. When Anna and her grandmother face deportation, Horst risks everything to protect them.

Join Liz Tolsma and other bookworms for a Facebook Live event on February 6, plus enter to win Liz's prize pack giveaway!

One grand prize winner will receive:

• One copy of The Melody of the Soul
• A garnet bracelet
• A box of Czech Republic chocolate

Enter today by clicking the icon below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on February 6. The winner will be announced at Liz's Facebook Live Party. RSVP for a chance to connect with Liz and other readers, as well as for a chance to win other prizes!

RSVP today and spread the word-tell your friends about the giveaway and Facebook Live party via social media and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 6th!

A Plain and Sweet Christmas Romance Collection

If you're new to Amish fiction, and love the idea of a Christmas setting with some great story lines, then you might want to pick up A Plain and Sweet Christmas Romance collection. In it you will find 9 different Christmas Romances of Amish, Mennonite, Quaker and Amana settlements, which vary in some of the dress styles, their religious beliefs, and manner of speech. They hold fast to the belief that what happens stays in their communities to handle and marrying outside of the church, can often result in a shunning from the community especially if they have been baptized into their churches.

Yet the one thing that remains clear in all of them, is their sense of support within the community. Help is always offered from within regarding medical issue, issues dealing with breaking the law and tragedies. They are always there for one another. The best part also of this series, is it gives you a brief insight into the style of writing each of the nine authors. This will help you decide if you want to pick up full length novels of other books in that genre as well. It is well worth it too, if time is an issue. Reading them one at a time, as you have time available, keeps you from feeling overwhelmed about not being able to get through a larger novel, than these nine stories provide.

The nine authors that have contributed to this collection are: Jerry Eicher, Olivia Newport, Lauralee Bliss, Ramona K.Cecil, Dianne Christner, Melanie Dobson, Rachael O. Phillips, Claire Sanders, and Anna Schmidt. I have read quite a few of the novels of most of these authors, so it was a nice change of pace to meet some I had never heard of before. This collection is comparable to the length of a full size novel and in it, you get 9 short stories that feel like so much more than a simple novella. There is also a wonderful treat included at the conclusion of each one, a recipe that you can make at home from the story! Just the cover of this collection invites the reader to curl up by the fire on a cold wintery night.

I received A Plain and Sweet Christmas Romance Collection by various authors compliments of Barbour Publishing and NetGalley. This is such a beautiful collection of wonderful heartwarming stories of faith, hope and love set among the Christmas season. This is a must have for lovers of Amish Romance, and even for those who want a great sampling of the various communities mentioned in this review. For me, this really introduced me to some authors I had never heard of before, as well as bring back some favorites from best selling authors as well. For me, this collection would rate a 4 out of 5 stars. There are some stories that really didn't connect with me as a reader, and wanted to get through them to something else, especially the Quaker stories with their 'thee's and thou's in how they speak to one another. Kind of like trying to understand Shakespeare in high school, yet overall a great collection.

For more information about A Plain and Sweet Christmas Romance Collection or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

A Plain and Sweet Christmas Romance Collection by various authors

You can read more reviews of A Plain and Sweet Christmas Romance Collection by visiting Barbour Publishing's website. 

An Amish Christmas Love

I love reading Christmas novels during anytime throughout the year and happened upon An Amish Christmas Love, by four extremely talented authors, Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Ruth Reid, and Kelly Irvin. In this delightful collection of four novella's each of the authors shares a wonderfully sweet Amish romance all tucked inside this book. This is perfect for busy readers, who can just sit down and read one at a time, and still feel like they've read a full length novel.

In Winter Kisses by Beth Wiseman, three generations of Amish women find love with the wonderful men who they rent out their rooms for a construction job nearby. All of them have various reasons for wanting to find the right man but will they all be successful in their endeavors as Christmas is coming.

The Christmas Cat by Amy Clipston finds a lonely widow as Christmas Eve approaches with no one to share the day with as she fondly remembers her husband Henry, until a wayward cat finds her home during a winter storm. With it comes changes she never expected in her life, when she realizes she is never really alone.

Snow Angels by Kelly Irvin pairs an Amish couple up with the past one of them wishes would never come back to town. Now that she is here, will those old familiar feelings from the past threaten a relationship already on rocky ground?

And finally in Home for Christmas by Ruth Reid, a young English woman returns to her Aunts home she has inherited as a winter storm approaches and finds her GPS directions have led her to enter a home she thought was her Aunts, but turns out to be a Amish father and her young daughter. But did she really take a wrong turn after all?

I received An Amish Christmas Love by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kelly Irvin and Ruth Reid compliments of NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Publishers. Each of these wonderful stories generate a wonderful sense of love, family, faith and hope and truly feel like you've gotten 4 novels in one. I have to say my favorite one might just be the Christmas Cat, because it reminds us that while we might missing a loved one's presence here, their memories are never gone! At the conclusion of each, you will find some discussion guide questions that are wonderful for book clubs. For me, this collection really is worth all 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about An Amish Christmas Love, Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kelly Irvin, Ruth Reid or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

An Amish Christmas Love by Beth Wiseman, Amy Clipston, Kelly Irvin, Ruth Reid

You can find Beth Wiseman on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

You can find Amy Clipston on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

You can find Kelly Irvin on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

You can find Ruth Reid on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Amish Christmas Love, please visit Thomas Nelson Publisher's website. 

The Christmas Blessing

What is it about romance set among the backdrop of the war? Perhaps its the sensing that time is of the essence and it inspires people to share their truth heartfelt feelings with one another in the event that they will be taken from them far too soon. If you're like me and LOVE that nostalgic romance set during WWII, then pick up Melody Carlson's novel, The Christmas Blessing. It is set in San Diego during 1944 with that romantic couple who have met and instantly fallen in love. Yet before they can marry, James Bradley is called back to his base to be deployed without a moment's notice.

Poor Amelia Richards has a completed intent to wed certificate that James filled out and knows that hopefully this war will end soon and James will return so they can marry. But fate is that ugly judge of what will happen and Amelia learns that James has died and will not be coming home. Now she has to deal with the outcome of what she will be able to do, when she realizes that their one night of romance has conceived a son from that night. As a single mother, not even being able to claim war widow status, she remembers that James told her a bit about her family that lives in Montana and she is sure that perhaps they might even want to help her and poor Jimmie out.

As she plans on making the trip to Montana she isn't sure what she will do if James' parents don't believe her or worse, attempt to take Jimmie away seeing as she is not even married. How could she possibly afford to take care of Jimmie when they don't even know what will happen next. So she takes what money she has in an attempt to give it ago while she searches for James parents, until then she will simply stay a few days at the cheapest hotel in hopes of finding a job as a beautician locally and fate will smile favorably on her this time. What she doesn't plan on is that she is coming down with a pretty horrible cold and now it seems she has passed it along to Jimmie. Without any funds how will she be able to provide care for both of them.

I received The Christmas Blessing by Melody Carlson compliments of NetGalley and Revell Publishing Group, a division of Baker Publishing. This is such a wonderful story and I don't want to give any more away. The setting is heartwarming and the overall situation is completely believable as something that probably happened to many young men and women during the 1940's. Fans of anything relating to WWII will absolutely adore this short novel that really feels like so much more. I easily give this one a 5 out of 5 stars and reminds you that God can even work a miracle during the most tumultuous of times.

For more information about The Christmas Blessing, Melody Carlson or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Christmas Blessing by Melody Carlson 

You can find Melody Carlson on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on The Christmas Blessing, please visit Baker Publishing's website. 

An Inconvenient Beauty

Downton Abbey fans, Jane Austen diehards, want to get hooked on an incredible series of novels? Check out the Hawthorne House Series by Kristi Ann Hunter and you will be as hooked if not more than you are on your favorite area of interest surrounding the traditional Regency Romance genres! An Inconvenient Beauty is book 4 and the possible final one in the series and wraps up the love interest surrounding Griffith, Duke of Riverton!  Now that all his siblings are married off and beginning their own lives, Griffith realizes as the oldest, he must find a way to settle down and produce an heir for the families wealth to be inherited to. Only he isn't about to settle for just anyone that society deems is the right and top choice for him.

His entire family has married for love and not necessarily based on where a suitable lady fell on the social ladder in London. He wants someone who isn't really thinking she might be able to offer anyone, that way she won't necessarily have to work at being the best at all the social graces that come from marrying a Duke, one of the highest honors after royalty that is. With it comes a responsibility and a certain standard that must be maintained to keep things in proper order. Griffith believes he has found a suitable wife in the wallflower Miss Frederica St. Claire who is now going into her fourth season with no potential matches. She would make the perfect wife, because no one would even compete with her plain and homely looks and she wouldn't be out to impress him with things he isn't looking for. Now all he has to do is convince her by simply asking her to dance. Even all of London's society has been wagering on just who he might settle with.

Most think that Griffith will settle for the most beautiful and society's pick of the top females. In fact, her cousin Miss Isabella Breckenridge is working her way to doing just that with all the eligible young and older men vying for the honor to court her. He isn't at all interested in her but in Miss St. Claire instead, but everytime he calls on her, she is unable to communicate and sends signals that she isn't the slightest bit interested in the most eligible and wealthy bachelor in London. It seems Miss St. Claire has her own interests in a young man who has returned from the war, a solider whom she thought dead. Now it seems that Freddie will do all she can to push the Duke's attentions off to Isabella instead and often times it is under the most trying of situations, but then again, Isabella isn't interested in the Duke, because her Uncle wants her to focus her attentions on the members of the House of Commons to sway their vote for an Apothecary Bill he is pushing to be passed. He promises that he will take care of Isabella's family, simple sheep herders in North Umberland, but will anyone discover the true meaning behind Isabella's actions?

I received An Inconvenient Beauty by Kristi Ann Hunter compliments of Bethany House Publishers and NetGalley. This has been such a dream to enjoy every single novel in this series and trust me, you will want to read them in order to understand all the relationships within the Duke's family and how each came to marry the one they have chosen to spend the rest of their life with and ones that they will LOVE first and foremost over what society deems is acceptable. I LOVE Isabella's character because she isn't interested in the Duke for marriage, so it keeps her guard down and she can be the person she is on the inside without having to fake her way through being proper and with that Griffith falls for the true woman she is over the lady she is acting like. Well worthy of all 5 out of 5 stars and only wish there were more to look forward to in this series. There are some historical facts that were incorporated in this novel that are revealed at the conclusion of this novel in the Author's Note section.

For more information about An Inconvenient Beauty, Kristi Ann Hunter or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

An Inconvenient Beauty by Kristi Ann Hunter

You can find Kristi Ann Hunter on Facebook to enjoy all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on An Inconvenient Beauty, please visit Bethany House Publisher's website.

Heart of the West

Love women who are full of fire and determination, especially when it comes to what they want in life over what their influential parents want for them instead. Kate Donahue had to run away quite literally to head west after receiving her certification as a doctor. The man she was suppose to marry wanted nothing but someone who might make him look good as a senator and being a doctor was not in the plans, despite how much her mother and father begged her to reconsider. She waited for everyone in her household to leave and she simply packed up what she could and bought a train ticket heading to Craig, Colorado where she read an advertisement promising new business in the growing town. Surely they would need a doctor.

When she arrived she wasn't looking for any man's attention, and yet that is precisely what Stanley Jones was used to getting his way and he wasn't about to take Kate's no for her final answer. He reminded Kate of the same kind of man she walked away from in Long Island. She wasn't about to be curtailed by another one now. Yet for the Jones family, it seems they were used to things going there way and it none of the town's proprietors were going to say anything to contradict their wishes, even if it meant keeping the local law close and in their pocket. So Kate would be on her own to start up a medical practice but she received less than warm invites from those in town. For sure she would have the women in town who would come to her for medical needs, but how was she going to make a living working in trade and bartered services. Her parents reminded her if she walked away from their wishes she would forfeit her entire inheritance so she would have to find a way to stretch what little savings she had left.

She doesn't plan on falling for anyone in town but when Stanley Jones begins to bark orders to a small crippled boy named Logan and an Irish sheep rancher by the name of Lucas McCurdy she was about to go against the Jones family in a bad way. Knowing that they wouldn't do anything to her personally, they vetted their anger in other ways like trying to intimidate and frighten off McCurdy to take his sheep and head back to Ireland. Logan was another story as his brother was Stanley and he was proud to boss his little brother around, not that he would amount to much being as crippled as he was. It is going to take more than grit and raw determination to make her way in Craig, but then again, what does Kate have to lose by giving up? She certainly has no plans on heading back home any time soon and she vows to make sure that Stanley understands that loud and clear.

I received Heart of the West by Carolyn Twede Frank compliments of Covenant Communications. I absolutely LOVE it when authors choose to right about a strong and determined female character that defies what society deems is appropriate. Kate Donahue is by far one of my favorites. I love that she had already gotten her doctor's certification and now it was all about following her dream to head west and so glad I picked up this novel to enjoy. Even more is the delectable recipe for Lavender's Cinnamon Rolls. Can't wait to mix up a batch. My only hope is that this author has more western romances up her sleeve and now I have her name on my watch list. This one easily garners a 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about Heart of the West, Carolyn Twede Frank or where you can pick up a copy of this novel, please click on the links below:

Heart of the West by Carolyn Twede Frank

You can find Carolyn Twede Frank on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Heart of the West, please visit Covenant Communication's website. 

Kill Shot

What immediately drew me to want to read this novel was the fact that technology could be developed or imagined that would allow a novice to be able to fire a gun and have a bullet be programmed to kill a specific person without having to be skilled enough to be a professional marksman. Chilling to consider the repercussions if such a device was developed. What is worse is to imagine that it is and was stolen along with 3 dozen of the self-steering bullets. Are they intended for 3 dozen targets or are they about to be sold to the highest bidder?

When the body count begins to rise, the White Knights, a specialized FBI task force is called in to quickly figure out who the potential killer is and to recover the remainder of the specialized bullets before they are sold or used. Heading up the investigation is Rick Cannon who has his own demons to face, and now he will have to put aside his differences and feelings to work with Dr. Olivia Dobbs, a therapist who has been working with two former Marines to deal with their PTSD, and now both of them are dead with the self-steering bullets. When Olivia is also targeted, Rick Cannon will ensure that she remain safe even if it means taking a bullet himself, but first he has to clear her from being the suspect.

At first, this novel was a bit of a challenge to really settle into, based on all the action that happens at the beginning of the novel. Since this is part of a series, and not reading the first one, Fatal Mistake, I was wondering if I would be able to enjoy this one. I can tell you I did. I had to remove myself from all the distractions happening around me to be able to truly tune into this one and once I did, I was hooked. From the chemistry happening between Agent Rick Cannon and Dr. Dobbs, I had to know how this would turn out. Perhaps my favorite character is one of the specialized team members, Brynn, as she is the computer hacker for the team. I learned a bit about the deeper workings of the internet I never knew about and I could only pray self-steering bullets are not a reality considering where technology is headed.

I received Kill Shot by Susan Sleeman compliments of Faith Words, a division of Hachette Book Groups. A Discussion Guide is included at the conclusion of this novel that would make it a perfect selection for book clubs. I can't wait to go back and read this series from the beginning and pick up Fatal Mistake. There is enough information in this one that allows you to move through the novel without having to read the first one. The first conveys a bit of why Rick Cannon is so far removed from things and why those mistakes cost him everything and now make him second guess how involved he will allow himself to become. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and easily give it a 5 out of 5 stars. Finally a novel that doesn't have to sacrifice a story line to deal with profanity or other issues you might find in similar novels. What a breath of fresh air this one is!

For more information about Kill Shot, Susan Sleeman or where you can preorder a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Kill Shot by Susan Sleeman 

You can find Susan Sleeman on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Kill Shot, please visit Hachette Book Group's website.