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Her Secret by Shelley Shepard Gray

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Her Secret by Shelley Shepard Gray is one author that I am almost guaranteed that I will like whatever book she puts out.  This is the first book in the “The Amish of Hart County” series, and I can’t wait to read other books in this series because I feel in love with the characters in this book. This book was more of a slow starter for me but once I was a few chapters in I was once again hooked and didn’t want to put the book down.  I loved that this book took on a subject that I haven’t ever read before when it comes to Amish fiction books.  I know that is why I enjoyed this book as much as I did.  I have read just about every book of Amish fiction that has been written, and I enjoyed that this book put me in a different place than all of the others ones that I have read.  I really did enjoy the characters in this book, and I was sad when I finished it because I hate saying goodbye to characters that I fall in love with.  If you love Amish fiction, I would for sure recommend this book to you, but I would also recommend any book written by this author because I don’t think I have ever read one that I didn’t like.

About The Book

A suspenseful tale of a young Amish woman who is forced to move to a new town to escape a threatening stalker
After a stalker went too far, Hannah Hilty and her family had no choice but to leave the bustling Amish community where she grew up. Now she’s getting a fresh start in Hart County, Kentucky…if only she wasn’t too scared to take it. Hannah has become afraid to trust anyone-even Isaac, the friendly Amish man who lives next door. She wonders if she’ll ever return to the trusting, easy-going woman she once was.
For Isaac Troyer, the beautiful girl he teasingly called “The Recluse” confuses him like no other. When he learns of her past, he knows he’s misjudged her. However, he also understands the importance of being grateful for God’s gifts, and wonders if they will ever have anything in common. But as Hannah and Isaac slowly grow closer, they realize that there’s always more to someone than meets the eye.
Just as Hannah is finally settling into her new life, and perhaps finding a new love, more secrets are revealed, and tragedy strikes. Now Hannah must decide if she should run again or dare to fight for the future she has found in Hart County.

About The Author

Shelley Shepard Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town’s bike trail.

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Wooing The Wedding Planner by Amber Leigh Williams

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from PUYB in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Wooing The Wedding Planner by Amber Leigh Williams was a fun book to read. As with most of the books I find that these types of books predictable but most of the time I really enjoy these books because they are my guilty pleasure when it comes to reading them. This is the first book that I have read by this author, and I can’t wait to read other books by her because I really enjoyed her writing and her characters. I really liked Bryon right from the start because he seemed like someone who is alive and someone I would get along with. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Roxie, and I am not sure why that was. I really enjoyed the setting of this book and I was sad when it was done because I hate having to say goodbye to characters that I really enjoy.   If you love chick lit books I know that you will probably enjoy this book.

About The Book

Title: WOOING THE WEDDING PLANNER
Author: Amber Leigh Williams
Publisher: Harlequin (Superromance)
Pages: 380
Genre: Series Romance/Contemporary Romance/Superromance

No more wedding marches for her!

Wedding planner Roxie Honeycutt can make happy-ever-after come true for anyone except herself. Freshly divorced and done with love, she’s okay with watching clients walk down the aisle. What’s not okay? Sharing a charming Victorian house with accountant Byron Strong. He’s frustratingly sexy and determined to keep her confused.

Roxie thought Byron’s expertise was numbers, yet somehow he sees her for who she really is. Somehow he understands the hurt she hides behind a trademark smile. Suddenly romance is tempting again, even if it means risking another heartbreak.

About The Author

Amber Leigh Williams is a Harlequin romance writer who lives on the US Gulf Coast. She lives for beach days, the smell of real books, and spending time with her husband and their two young children. When she’s not keeping up with rambunctious little ones (and two large dogs), she can usually be found reading a good book or indulging her inner foodie. Amber is represented by the D4EO Literary Agency.

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Home At Last by Deborah Raney

Home at Last Deborah Raney

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Home At Last by Deborah Raney was a good book, but it left me feeling sad because I hate to say goodbye to the characters that I fell in love with while reading the very first book.  This series had 5 books in it, so I feel like I have spent years with this family and now I have to say goodbye to them.  I had a tough time getting into the story of this list book, and I think that all had to do with me not feeling like I had anything in common with the characters in this book.  I loved that I got to find out what was going on with the rest of the family because I really do look at this characters as if they are alive and living somewhere in the United States.  In all, I really loved this series, and it is one that I could see myself re-reading in the future.  If you like contemporary fiction than I am sure you will love this series as much as I did.

About The Book

Why did their differences matter so much?
Link Whitman has settled into the role of bachelor without ever intending to. Now he’s stuck in a dead-end job and, as the next Whitman wedding fast approaches, he is the last one standing. The pressure from his sisters’ efforts to play matchmaker is getting hard to bear as Link pulls extra shifts at work, and helps his parents at the Chicory Inn.
All her life, Shayla Michaels has felt as if she straddled two worlds. Her mother’s white family labeled her African American father with names Shayla didn’t repeat in polite-well, in any company. Her father’s family disapproved as well, though they eventually embraced Shayla as their own. After the death of her mother, and her brother Jerry’s incarceration, life has left Shayla’s father bitter, her niece, Portia, an orphan, and Shayla responsible for them all. She knows God loves them all, but why couldn’t people accept each other for what was on the inside? For their hearts?
Everything changes one icy morning when a child runs into the street and Link nearly hits her with his pickup. Soon he is falling in love with the little girl’s aunt, Shayla, the beautiful woman who runs Coffee’s On, the bakery in Langhorne. Can Shayla and Link overcome society’s view of their differences and find true love? Is there hope of changing the sometimes-ugly world around them into something better for them all?

 

About The Author

Deborah Raney’s novels have won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers’ Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, the Carol Award, and have three times been Christy Award finalists. She and her husband, Ken Raney have traded small-town life in Kansas-the setting of many of Deb’s novels-for life in the city of Wichita.
Find out more about Deborah at http://deborahraney.com.
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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret

The Ashes by Vincent Zandri

FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Pump Up Your Book in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Ashes by Vincent Zandri was different from anything that I have read lately.  I read this book from cover to cover in two days because I didn’t want to put it down.  Once I started reading it, I just kept on reading it because I wanted to know what was going to happen.  I spent a good part of this book trying to figure out if “Skinner” was a real person or if he was some creature.  I am not going to say what I found out because I don’t want to ruin the book for anyone.  I enjoyed this book the entire time, and it is one that I know I will read again in the future.  This is also the second book in the series, and I am for sure going to go back and read the first book because I am hooked.  If you love horror books, I would for sure recommend this book to you because I am not usually into horror books and this one made me want to check out more books in this genre.

About The Book

HORROR IN THE DARK WOODS

It’s been eight years since artist and single mom, Rebecca Underhill, was abducted and left to die in an old broken down house located in the middle of the dark woods. But even if her abductor, Joseph William Whalen, has since been killed, another, more insidious evil is once more out to get her in the form of the Skinner. The son of an abusive butcher, Skinner, intends on finishing the job Whalen started but failed at.

How is he going to get to Rebecca?

He’s going to do it through her children, by luring them into the cornfield behind the old farmhouse they live in.

HORROR IN THE DEPTHS

Now, armed with the knowledge that the Skinner has escaped incarceration at a downstate facility for the criminally insane, Rebecca must face the most horrifying challenge of her adult life: Rescuing the children not from a house in the woods, but from the abandoned tunnels that run underneath her property.

But the Skinner is watching Rebecca’s every move.

Horrifying question is, will she live long enough to save the children?

About The Author

Winner of the 2015 PWA Shamus Award and the 2015 ITW Thriller Award for Best Original Paperback Novel, Vincent Zandri is the NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, and AMAZON KINDLE No.1 bestselling author of more than 25 novels including THE REMAINS, MOONLIGHT WEEPS, EVERYTHING BURNS, and ORCHARD GROVE. He is also the author of numerous Amazon bestselling digital shorts, PATHOLOGICAL, TRUE STORIES and MOONLIGHT MAFIA among them. Harlan Coben has described THE INNOCENT (formerly As Catch Can) as “…gritty, fast-paced, lyrical and haunting,” while the New York Post called it “Sensational…Masterful…Brilliant!” Zandri’s list of domestic publishers include Delacorte, Dell, Down & Out Books, Thomas & Mercer and Polis Books, while his foreign publisher is Meme Publishers of Milan and Paris. An MFA in Writing graduate of Vermont College, Zandri’s work is translated in the Dutch, Russian, French, Italian, and Japanese. Recently, Zandri was the subject of a major feature by the New York Times. He has also made appearances on Bloomberg TV and FOX news. In December 2014, Suspense Magazine named Zandri’s, THE SHROUD KEY, as one of the “Best Books of 2014.” Recently, Suspense Magazine selected WHEN SHADOWS COME as one of the “Best Books of 2016”. A freelance photo-journalist and the author of the popular “lit blog,” The Vincent Zandri Vox, Zandri has written for Living Ready Magazine, RT, New York Newsday, Hudson Valley Magazine, The Times Union (Albany), Game & Fish Magazine, and many more. He lives in New York and Florence, Italy.

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The Elusive Miss Ellison by Carolyn Miller

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

The Elusive Miss Ellison by Carolyn Miller was a rich historical fiction book.  This is the first book I have ever read by this author, and I was surprised by how much I liked this book. On the back of the book they compare this author’s writing to Julie Klassen, and if I had to pick between this author and Julie, I would choose this author.  I was interested in this book right from the first page right up until the end of the book.  I liked both Livvie and Nicholas from the outset because they seemed like they were people who were alive at one point.  I love when I find that characters in historical books seem like they were alive at some time because it means I was able to feel like I was part of the book and that doesn’t often happen when I am reading historical romance.  If you are looking for a great book to read I would one hundred percent recommend this book.  I also think that this book would be a great book for some who is looking to start reading historical fiction.

About The Book

Handsome appearance counts for naught unless matched by good character and actions.

That’s the firm opinion of not-so-meek minister’s daughter Lavinia Ellison. So even though all the other villagers of St. Hampton Heath are swooning over the newly returned seventh Earl of Hawkesbury, she is not impressed. If a man won’t take his responsibilities seriously and help those who are supposed to be able to depend on him, he deserves no respect from her. In Lavinia’s pretty, gray eyes, Nicholas Stamford is just as arrogant and reckless as his brother-who stole the most important person in Livvie’s world.

Nicholas is weighed down by his own guilt and responsibility, by the pain his careless brother caused, and by the legacy of war, he’s just left. This quick visit home to St. Hampton Heath will be just long enough to ease a small part of that burden. Asking him to bother with the lives of the villagers when there’s already a bailiff on the job is simply too much to expect.
That is, until the hoydenish, intelligent, and very opinionated Miss Ellison challenges him to see past his pain and pride. With her angelic voice in his head, he may even be beginning to care. But his isn’t the only heart that needs to change.

These two lonely hearts may each have something the other needs. But with society’s opposition, ancestral obligations, and a shocking family secret, there may be too many obstacles in their way.

Fans of Georgette Heyer, Lori Wick, and Julie Klassen will enjoy the spirited exchanges between the bluestocking minister’s daughter and the bruised war hero as they move past pride and presumption to a humbled appreciation of God’s grace and the true strength of love.

About The Author

Carolyn Miller lives in New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of RWA and ACFW contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers.

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Kill and Run by Lauren Carr

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FTC: I received a free copy of this book from iRead Book Tours in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation and the opinions expressed in this review are one hundred percent true and my own.

Kill and Run by Lauren Carr was an interesting book.  I know in a prior review that I wrote that I love how this author has created an entire world for her books where characters from different books show up and have parts in other books.  I really like that because it means that you still get to see the characters that you have fallen in love with from her other books.  I really enjoyed getting to know these characters better, and I can’t wait to get started with the next book in this series.  I fell in love with Murphy right from the onset of this book, and when it was over, I was so glad that I already have the second book in the series waiting for me to read it.  I find that even though her books can be repetitive I still enjoy them and I always get excited when I see that I can get one to review.  If you love mystery books, I know you will love this book and even more than that she has a ton of books out, so you will have something to read for quite awhile.

About The Book

Five women with seemingly nothing in common are found brutally murdered in a townhome outside Washington, DC. Among the many questions surrounding the massacre is what had brought these apparent strangers together only to be killed.

Taking on his first official murder case, Lieutenant Murphy Thornton, USN, believes that if he can uncover the thread connecting the victims, then he can find their murderer.

The case takes an unexpected turn when Murphy discovers that one of the victims has a connection to his stepmother, Homicide Detective Cameron Gates. One wintry night, over a dozen years before, her first husband, a Pennsylvania State trooper, had been run down while working a night shift on the turnpike.

In this first installment of the Thorny Rose Mysteries, the Lovers in Crime join newlyweds Lieutenant Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday to sift through a web of lies and cover-ups. Together, can the detectives of the Thorny Rose uncover the truth without falling victim to a cunning killer?

About The Author

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries—over twenty titles across three fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!

Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr’s seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, romance, and humor.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Connect with Lauren: Website  ~  Twitter  ~  Facebook

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Digiprove sealCopyright secured by Digiprove © 2017 Margaret Margaret