Dancing With Fireflies by Denise Hunter was an amazing book. This book was hard for me to get into but I am glad that I stuck it out because after few chapters I didn’t want to put it down. Through the whole book I felt bad for Jade but I did figure out early on what was going to happen and for the first time in a long time I was okay with that. I am glad that book ended how it did and that things work out just how I thought they should.
About The Book
A Chapel Springs Romance
Jade returns home to Chapel Springs after years of protecting her fragile heart. Then along comes Daniel, making her long to dance again.
Creative and complicated, Jade McKinley felt like a weed in a rose garden growing up in Chapel Springs. When she left, she thought she’d never look back. But now, pregnant, alone, and broke, she has no other choice but to return.
The mayor of Chapel Springs, Daniel Dawson, has been an honorary member of the McKinley family for years. While his own home life was almost non-existent, Daniel fit right into the boisterous McKinley family. He’s loved Jade for years, but she always saw him as a big brother. Now that she’s back, his feelings are stronger than ever.
As Jade attempts to settle in, nothing feels right. God seems far away, she’s hiding secrets from her family, and she’s strangely attracted to the man who’s always called her “squirt.” Finding her way home may prove more difficult than she imagined.
About The Author
Denise Hunter is an internationally published best-selling author. Her books have won The Holt Medallion Award, The Reader’s Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and was a RITA finalist. In 1996, inspired by the death of her grandfather, Denise began her first book, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her husband says he inspires all of her romantic stories, but Denise insists a good imagination helps, too. When Denise isn’t writing, she’s busy raising three heroes-in-the-making with her husband.
Learn more about Denise at:http://www.denisehunterbooks.com
The Devil Walks In Mattingly by Billy Coffey was different from anything I have read before. I have to be honest with everyone this was one of the hardest books for me to get through. I found at times I got confused about who was talking and I would also get bogged down in all the details that the author used. I wanted to like this book because the premise of the story was something that I know I would like but it just wasn’t a book for me.
About The Book
For the three people tortured by their secret complicity in a young man’s untimely death, redemption is what they most long for . . . and the last thing they expect to receive.
It has been twenty years since Philip McBride’s body was found along the riverbank in the dark woods known as Happy Hollow. His death was ruled a suicide. But three people have carried the truth ever since—Philip didn’t kill himself that day. He was murdered.
Each of the three have wilted in the shadow of their sins. Jake Barnett is Mattingly’s sheriff, where he spends his days polishing the fragile shell of the man he pretends to be. His wife, Kate, has convinced herself the good she does for the poor will someday wash the blood from her hands. And high in the mountains, Taylor Hathcock lives in seclusion and fear, fueled by madness and hatred.
Yet what cannot be laid to rest is bound to rise again. Philip McBride has haunted Jake’s dreams for weeks, warning that he is coming back for them all. When Taylor finds mysterious footprints leading from the Hollow, he believes his redemption has come. His actions will plunge the quiet town of Mattingly into darkness. These three will be drawn together for a final confrontation between life and death . . . Between truth and lies.
About The Author
Billy Coffey’s critically-acclaimed books combine rural Southern charm with a vision far beyond the ordinary. He is a regular contributor to several publications, where he writes about faith and life. Billy lives with his wife and two children in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.
It Had To Be You by Susan May Warren was an amazing book. I read this book in a few days and after I got a chapter into the book I didn’t want to put it down. I love the authors writing and her characters. In this book you follow along with Eden as she tries to keep her brother Owen out of trouble all while not living her own life. I loved everything about the book and I was sad when it was over because even though it was a long book I was sad to see the end come. I loved the ending for the most part but I hated to see the story end. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series so that I can check in with these characters again.
About The Book
A Christensen Family Novel.
Eden Christiansen never imagined her role as her younger brother Owen’s cheerleader would keep her on the sidelines of her own life. Sure, it feels good to be needed, but looking after the reckless NHL rookie leaves little time for Eden to focus on her own career. She dreamed of making a name for herself as a reporter, but is stuck writing obits—and starting to fear she doesn’t have the chops to land a major story. If only someone would step up to mentor Owen . . . but she knows better than to expect help from team veteran and bad-boy enforcer Jace Jacobsen.
Jace has built his career on the infamous reputation of his aggressive behavior—on and off the ice. Now at a crossroads about his future in hockey, that reputation has him trapped. And the guilt-trip he’s getting from Eden Christiansen isn’t making things any easier. But when Owen’s carelessness leads to a career-threatening injury and Eden stumbles upon a story that could be her big break, she and Jace are thrown together . . . and begin to wonder if they belong on the same team after all.
Susan May Warren is the bestselling, RITA Award-winning author of more than forty novels whose compelling plots and unforgettable characters have won acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. She served with her husband and four children as a missionary in Russia for eight years before she and her family returned home to the States. She now writes full-time as her husband runs a lodge on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota, where many of her books are set. She and her family enjoy hiking, canoeing, and being involved in their local church. Several of her critically acclaimed novels have been ECPA and CBA bestsellers, were chosen as Top Picks by Romantic Times, and have won the RWA’s Inspirational Reader’s Choice contest and the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year award. Five of her books have been Christy Award finalists. In addition to her writing, Susan loves to teach and speak at women’s events about God’s amazing grace in our lives. She also runs a writing community for authors. Visit MyBookTherapy.com to learn more.
Unbearable Guilt by Emma Grayson was a book that had me hooked from the first page right through to the end. I loved the characters in this book along with the plot. The author did a great job of making me understand the characters and understanding why the characters made the choices they did. I can’t wait to read other books in this series because I loved the characters and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
About The Book
Kane Archer hasn’t always been tormented; he hasn’t always hated himself or been full of rage. He hasn’t always lived his life with an overpowering sense of guilt that threatens to destroy him.
There was a time when his life was different. He was optimistic; he smiled and laughed; he loved passionately; he had it all.
Kane was content—until the unthinkable took it all away.
Two and a half years later and still reeling from his fiancée’s death, Kane returns to the one place he vowed he’d never visit again—Camden—with the promise to find the men who killed her and bring them to justice, regardless of the cost.
Emotionally numb, stricken by guilt, and haunted by the events preceding Aimee’s death, the last thing Kane wanted was to meet someone he connected with; someone who made him feel again.
As Kane gets closer to those responsible for Aimee’s death, he is thrown a curveball when he discovers a secret so devastating it rocks his world and threatens to destroy his chance at happiness.
Whitney Jareau packed up her life when tragedy struck her family, leaving everything behind. Finally free from the persistent and domineering family that insisted she do the one thing she couldn’t, Whitney found peace in Camden.
Two years later, her family wants her to come home and will stop at nothing to get her there. Wearing her heart on her sleeve for Kane Archer, a man so gorgeous it hurts to see the pain he carries, Whitney fights her family and refuses to return home to carry out their wishes.
Can Whitney stay strong without giving in to the demands of her family?
Can Kane let go of the past and move forward with the woman who brought him back to life?
Or, will he walk away from her and carry the burden of UNBEARABLE GUILT
About The Author
Emma Grayson is a Canadian author who resides outside of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with her family and six year old son. She is Amazon’s Bestselling author of Unbeautifully Loved, the first book of the Breathe Again series and Take it All, book one of the two part, inspired by real events series, Blinded by Love. Currently she is working on Promise it All, the conclusion to the Blinded by Love series, and also in the prewriting stages of a new trilogy, Breaking the Rules, a spin-off from Blinded by Love. When she’s not writing she enjoys time with her son, coming up with new book plots, going to the movies, reading, enjoying time with girlfriends, and watching rerun episodes of Criminal Minds. She loves music of all kinds, coffee, all things purple, Oilers hockey, and doesn’t leave the house without her iPhone, Kobo, flip flops and a pack of gum.
A Sky Without Stars by Linda S. Clare was an interesting book to read. I love the Quilts of Love series of books and this one was no different. In this one you follow along with Frankie Chasing Bear as she struggles to make it in Arizona. There are parts of this book that I knew weren’t believable at all but over all it was a good book. The author did a great job of making the characters come to life in my eyes and help me understand some of the choices that they made.
About The Book
In 1951, Frankie Chasing Bear is a Lakota caught between cultures. She wants to raise her son Harold to revere his Lakota heritage, but she knows he will need to become as a white man to succeed. After his father’s killed in a barroom brawl, Harold and Frankie move to Arizona, where she begins a Lakota Star pattern quilt for Harold with tribal wisdom sung, sewn and prayed into it.
She distrusts Christians, as her own parents were forced to convert at an Indian School, until she meets BIA agent Nick Vandergriff, a half-Lakota who’s also caught between cultures. Nick must convince Frankie that white men and Christians aren’t all bad as he tries to win her heart in order to put the stars back into her sky.
Learn more about this book and the series at the Quilts of Love website
About The Author
Linda S. Clare is an award-winning coauthor of three books, including Lost Boys and the Moms Who Love Them(with Melody Carlson and Heather Kopp), Revealed: Spiritual Reality in a Makeover World, and Making Peace with a Dangerous God (with Kristen Johnson Ingram). She is also the author of The Fence My Father Built. She has taught college-level creative writing classes for seven years, and edits and mentors writers. She also is a frequent writing conference presenter and church retreat leader. She and her husband of thirty-one years have four grown children, including a set of twins. They live in Eugene, Oregon, with their five wayward cats: Oliver, Xena the Warrior Kitty, Paladine, Melchior, and Mamma Mia!
Quilts tell stories of love and loss, hope and faith, tradition and new beginnings. TheQuilts of Love series focuses on the women who quilted all of these things into their family histories. A new book releases each month and features contemporary and historical romances as well as women’s fiction and the occasional light mystery. You will be drawn into the endearing characters of this series and be touched by their stories.
Cowgirl Trail by Susan Page Davis was an amazing book. I loved this book. I loved that for the second time while reading a historical novel that the main character is a woman she just takes over and does what needs to be done. In this book you get to see what Maggie goes through as she comes home from being away and has to basically take over rounding up the cattle and handling the cattle drive because the cowboys go on strike. I loved Maggie and I have to say that the author does a great job of making you understand what is going on and also understand the time period.
About The Book
Cowgirl Trail is part of a six-book series about four generations of the Morgan family living, fighting, and thriving amidst a turbulent Texas history spanning from 1845 to 1896. Although a series, each book book can be read on its own.
In 1884 Maggie Porter returns to the Rocking P Ranch. The sanatorium was not able to save her mother and now her father’s health is failing. When the cowboys walk off the job leaving no one to drive the cattle to market, head ranch hand, Alex Bright, cannot convince the men to stay. How could Alex let this happen?
Maggie is desperate to save the ranch and she turns to the town’s women for help. The new cowgirls must herd, rope, and drive the cattle to market. With only two days left, outlaws charge the small band of cowgirls in an effort to start a stampede. The cattle begin to scatter. Will they lose everything? Where will their help come from?
About The Author
I’m a native of central Maine, and grew up on a small farm with a wonderful mom and dad, three sisters and a brother. Most of my books take place in small towns, many of them in Maine.
My husband, Jim, and I moved to his birth state, Oregon, for a while after we were married, but decided to move back to Maine and be near my family. We’re so glad we did. It allowed our six children to grow up feeling close to their cousins and grandparents, and some of Jim’s family have even moved to Maine!
Our children are all home-schooled. The two youngest are still learning at home. Jim recently retired from his vocation as an editor at a daily newspaper, and we’ve moved from Maine to Kentucky.
I’ve always loved reading, history, and horses. These things come together in several of my historical books. My young adult novel, Sarah’s Long Ride, also spotlights horses and the rugged sport of endurance riding, as does the contemporary romance Trail to Justice. I took a vocational course in horseshoeing after earning a bachelor’s degree in history. I don’t shoe horses anymore, but the experience has come in handy in writing my books.
Another longtime hobby of mine is genealogy, which has led me down many fascinating paths. I’m proud to be a DAR member! Some of Jim’s and my quirkier ancestors have inspired fictional characters.
Jim does freelance editing as well. In addition to his 20 years experience at the newspaper, he’s edited all my novels before they go out, and he helped edit Primitive Archer Magazine for several years. He has recently edited several novels for Summerside Press.
For many years I worked for the Central Maine Morning Sentinel as a freelancer. This experience was a great help in developing fictional characters and writing realistic scenes. I also published nonfiction articles in several magazines and had several short stories appear in Woman’s World, Grit, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.