Book Recommendation - Stay With Me

Though contemporary romance has never been my genre of choice, I've come to make exceptions for Becky Wade's novels. She brings a fresh voice with great relatable characters, believable romance, a solid story-line, humor and a steady faith thread. Stay With Me was no different. The first novel in the Misty River Romance series, it introduces a new cast of characters that fans of the author will fall in love with. There is a prequel novella (which I believe is free on Amazon right now, so no reason to NOT read that one as well) called Take a Chance on Me. It offers up some history, but is not at all necessary to enjoy this first book. I, for one, am looking forward to the rest of this series!

Here's a little bit about the book:
When acclaimed Bible study author Genevieve Woodward receives an anonymous letter referencing her parents' past, she returns to her hometown in the Blue Ridge Mountains to chase down her family's secret. However, it's Genevieve's own secret that catches up to her when Sam Turner, owner of a historic farm, uncovers the source of shame she's worked so hard to hide.

Sam has embraced his sorrow, his isolation, and his identity as an outsider. He's spent years carving out both career success and peace of mind. The last thing he wants is to rent the cottage on his property to a woman whose struggles stir his worst failure back to life. Yet can he bear to turn her away right when she needs him most?

Here are some links for additional information:
Becky Wade's website: https://beckywade.com/home/
Becky's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/authorbeckywade/
My full 5-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3310687338

Book Recommendation - Dead End

Nancy Mehl has been a strong voice in the Christian romantic suspense category for a number of years, but it's only been recently that I've come to check her out. Her Kaely Quinn mystery series focuses in on a quirky FBI analyst and digs into her life and how it impacts how she goes after serial killers. Dead End was the final book in this series trilogy and brought a good deal of closure to the series.

Here's a bit about the book:
When a body is discovered in a field in Iowa, the police uncover fourteen additional corpses ranging from 20 years old to recent. The remains point to a serial killer with an MO the authorities have seen before--Ed Oliphant, a man who has been in prison for over 20 years . . . and is Special Agent Kaely Quinn's father. After several failed interview attempts to discover if Ed has been training someone to be a copycat killer, the police turn to Kaely in St. Louis.

Kaely promised herself she would never step foot in her hometown or set eyes on her father again. She's always refused to confront her past, but if she wants to prevent any more deaths, she must come face-to-face with the man she's hated for years.
As more bodies are discovered, Kaely races against time and her own personal turmoil to uncover the killer. Will this most personal case yet cost Kaely her identity and perhaps even her life?

Here are some links for additional information:
Nancy Mehl's website: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/nancy-mehl/
Nancy's Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/Nancy-Mehl-Fan-Page-124075957622557/
My full 4-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3217434345?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Book Recommendation - Daughter of Cana

Angela Hunt has long been on my list of "must read" authors. I'm fairly certain I've read most everything she's released. She has a spectacular voice in both women's fiction and in Biblical historical. Her latest series, the first book of which released at the end of March this year, is a Biblical historical series, taking place in the early New Testament days. This first book, Daughter of Cana, takes place during the life of Christ and takes an interesting voice - that of Thomas's twin and of Jesus's brother. It made for a very intriguing vantage point and brought the scriptures to life. Ms. Hunt quoted scripture any time the words of Christ were being used, which is the best way to represent Jesus in a fictional work. I loved how true to the Word this work remained, with a true fictional element in the main characters' thoughts and actions.

Here's a little bit about the book:
Thomas and Tasmin, twin siblings hired to oversee a wedding feast in Cana, worry when the host runs out of wine . . . until a guest tells Tasmin to have the servants fill the pitchers by the gate with water from the cistern. Reluctantly, she obeys and is amazed when rainwater turns into the finest wine ever tasted in Cana.

When Thomas impulsively decides to follow the teacher from Nazareth, he and Tasmin argue--since the twins have been together since the womb, Tasmin can't accept losing her brother to some magician-prophet. Aided by Jude, younger brother to Jesus of Nazareth, she decides to follow the Nazarene's group and do whatever she must to mend the fractured relationship and bring her brother home.

Here are some links for more information:
Angela Hunt's website:https://www.angelahuntbooks.com/
Angela's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Angela.e.hunt/
My full 5 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3271703375?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Book Recommendation - Storing Up Trouble

If you enjoy laugh-out-loud funny historical romances, you need not look any further than Jen Turano. I was introduced to her at the beginning of this series (I still need to catch up on her backlist - it's all on my TBR list!) and I've thoroughly enjoyed all 3 of these books. Fans of the series will be glad to see Miss Beatrix Waterbury get her story and reach her "happily ever after" as well. If you're new to the series, no worries - you can still start here and won't feel lost. This one releases May 5th and you won't regret picking it up!

Here's a bit about the book:

After Miss Beatrix Waterbury suffers multiple mishaps due to her involvement with the suffrage movement, her mother decides a change of scenery is in order for her incorrigible daughter. Banished from New York, Beatrix is sent off for an extended stay with her Aunt Gladys. 

Mr. Norman Nesbit, a gentleman and a brilliant man of science devoted to his work, doesn’t have time to be distracted with members of the feminine set. When robbers descend on the train, intent on divesting him from his important research papers, Norman is thrust into Beatrix’s company when she has the audacity to interfere—leaving him no choice but to try to save her from herself.

When Beatrix’s life is put at stake after her arrival and employment as a salesgirl in Chicago, they find themselves propelled into each other’s company again and again. With danger and intrigue dogging their every step, they become surprisingly drawn to each other—until information comes to light that threatens to crush this relationship that’s barely had a chance to blossom.

Some additional links you might find helpful:
Jen Turano's website: https://jenturano.com/
Jen's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jenturanoauthor/
My full 5-star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3007586247

Book Recommendation - Silent Shadows

One of my go-to authors for romantic suspense novels is Natalie Walters. She is currently releasing into the world book 3 of her Harbored Secrets series, which brings the series to a close. Fans of the series will be glad to be back in the small town of Walton, GA and will get to see some familiar faces. Fans of romantic suspense who think this one looks fabulous and haven't read the others yet, no worries - other than a couple of minor spots, you won't be missing any information. This one is fine to read on its own!This had all the fine qualities I've come to expect from Ms. Walters, including great characters, twists and turns, some serious suspense, a swoony romance, a solid faith thread, and of course, Marvel movie references (don't worry - you won't be lost if you haven't seen those either). This book follows Pecca Gallegos, a nurse at Home for Heroes and Captain Colton Crawford, who has been discharged from the army due to a diagnosis of PMD (which I'd never heard of prior to this book). There's a good bit about overcoming obstacles and looking past people's handicaps.

As part of the launch team for this book, I had the pleasure of being able to ask the author some questions and here's how she responded:

1. Did you have a favorite character in this book? Who and why? Gosh, this is such a hard question because I have been waiting to write this book for a while and dreaming of the characters. If I had to absolutely choose it’d probably be Pecca. And now I’m second-guessing myself and thinking, Colton. Okay, I’ll stick with Pecca. I love her because she’s faced some adversity in her life, loves to see the best in everyone, has made some mistakes in her life that she’s learned from, and she’s feisty!! 2. Who was your favorite in the series? Now this is really not fair!! I can’t choose. I love each of them for different reasons and to pick one out of them all…I just can’t. Sorry! 3. Where did you get Pecca's name from (I love the explanation of its meaning!) I was a member of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) in El Paso, Texas about twenty years ago and had a friend named Pecca. She explained how she got it and I fell in love with the story behind it and for some reason never forgot. Pecca is named after her and the explanation is how it happened.  4. PMD (the disorder Colton has) is not something I've heard of before. How did you decide to use that and what type of research did that entail? PMD is something my family became intimately aware of when my daughter began having tremors in her arm. After numerous appointments with specialists and every test in the world, they were throwing every possible explanation at us and one was Psychogenic Movement Disorder (PMD), which can happen when the body experiences extreme trauma. The doctors eventually ruled this out for my daughter but the idea that our body would respond in such a dramatic and debilitating manner stuck with me. There’s not a lot of information out there about movement disorders but they are crippling to the person experiencing them, I wanted to write this story to share the struggle. 5. Did anything in the story change or surprise you as you were writing? I had begun dreaming about this story while I was writing my second book so I had a lot of the story line ready (in my head) but I’d say the new secondary characters who kept showing up in scenes were a delightful surprise. 6. What was your inspiration for the story line? Colton’s medical condition. Experiencing my daughter’s struggle as her body failed her was heart-breaking for a mom but for her…it was devastating. I wanted this story to represent how God can use our setbacks (whatever they might be) to bring us right where we need to be and that it might be better than we could’ve ever hoped for. 7. What do you hope readers will glean from this book? I feel like this story has a couple of great messages. I hope readers finish this book believing that their pasts do not define them and that our setbacks can be beautiful and promising if we trust them to the Lord. 8. What's coming next and when? Can you tell us a little bit about it? Oh, I am SO excited about what’s coming next!! I have the privilege of writing another 3-book series for Revell about a private agency based in Washington, D.C. The Strategic Neutralization and Protection Agency ensures America that what they don’t know, won’t hurt them. This series has a great team of specialists that I think readers will enjoy getting to know and the suspense will be on a more national and global scale, which I think is going to be a lot of fun!!

For more information, here are some good links:
Natalie Walters' website: www.nataliewalterswriter.com
Natalie Walters' Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Natalie-Walters-Writer-147854518601519/
Silent Shadows Pintrest page: https://www.pinterest.com/nakeliwalters/silent-shadows-harbored-secrets-book-3/?fbclid=IwAR21eZi5edCISeU_59HvH3XD3XUHiny8xbuofcLJoWNljcoEvpKcoow_83Q
My full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2865298234?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Book Recommendation - Before I Called You Mine

 One of the things I love about authors that I follow and help is that they lead me to other fantastic authors. Such was the case with my discovery of Nicole Deese. Another author that I follow and was helping with a launch put out a plea for fans of hers to help launch Nicole's latest, Before I Called You Mine. I read the cover blurb, saw it was about adoption (which is so close to my heart) and knew I wanted to read this one! So, I signed up for the launch team, and the rest is history. I SO totally loved this book. It is easily one of my favorites for 2020. There was a lot of laughter and more than a few tears. Those are the proofs of a good book!

Here's the synopsis:

Lauren Bailey may be a romantic at heart, but after a decade of matchmaking schemes gone wrong, there’s only one match she’s committed to now—the one that will make her a mother. Lauren is a dedicated first grade teacher in Idaho, and her love for children has led her to the path of international adoption. To satisfy her adoption agency’s requirements, she gladly agreed to remain single for the foreseeable future; however, just as her long wait comes to an end, Lauren is blindsided by a complication she never saw coming: Joshua Avery.

Joshua may be a substitute teacher by day, but Lauren finds his passion for creating educational technology as fascinating as his antics in the classroom. Though she does her best to downplay the undeniable connection between them, his relentless pursuit of her heart puts her commitment to stay unattached to the test and causes her once-firm conviction to waver.

With an impossible decision looming, Lauren might very well find herself choosing between the two deepest desires of her heart . . . even if saying yes to one means letting go of the other.

Being part of the launch team, I was made aware of the "story behind the story":
In the summer of 2017, my little family of four - my husband of 16 years and our two pre-teen sons - became a family of five when we adopted a six-and-a-half-year-old girl from an orphanage in Beijing, China. Our lives, and our daughter's life, was forever changed that day. Over the next year, as I took time off from writing deadlines and publishing contracts to bond with our daughter, Lucy Mei, God began to weave a new storyline in my writer's heart.

While we'd been in China, I met several single mothers who'd made the incredible trek overseas to adopt their son or daughter during the same time we adopted our Lucy Mei. Their journeys were not only courageous, but their obedience to pursue a life-altering call despite the cost, stigma, and sacrifice, left me teary-eyed and inspired. The rules are clear - you can either adopt as a woman who has been married for two years or longer, or as a single, unattached woman. No exceptions. Basically, if you start the process to adopt as a single woman, get matched with your future child, and then accidentally meet and fall in love with Mr. Right during that same timeline.... you are going to have some hard decisions to make.

It was this rule that began a series of "what if" questions in my writer brain: What if there's a single woman in her thirties who loves children and feels called to adopt an orphan overseas? What if that same woman is "matched" to a child with a real face and a real history? What if only a short while after she's matched with her future child, she meets the man she's prayed for all her life? And what if she's forced to make an impossible decision between the two deepest desires of her heart, even when walking through one door will mean closing the other?

"Before I Called You Mine" is a contemporary romance that colors outside the lines of a traditional romantic fairytale but highlights the undeniable connection of two hearts meant to beat as one. While there are many playful interactions and humorous scenes throughout Lauren and Joshua's story, there are also raw and vulnerable moments that I pray will stir your soul and paint a lasting, more vibrant picture of all that love can be with the turn of every page.

Since Nicole is new to my blog, here's a little bit more about her:

Nicole Deese’s eight humorous, heartfelt, and hope-filled novels include the 2017 Carol Award Winning A Season to Love. Her 2018 release, A New Shade of Summer, was a finalist in the RITA Awards, Carol Awards, and Inspy Awards. Both these books are from her best-selling Love in Lenox Series. Her newest contemporary romance, Before I Called You Mine, from Bethany House Publishers has recently received a starred review from Booklist.

When Nicole’s not sorting out characters and plots of her own, she can usually be found reading near a window overlooking the inspiring beauty of the Pacific Northwest (most often while sipping on a sparkling water). She lives in small-town, Idaho with her happily-ever-after hubby, two towering-over-her teen sons, and her princess daughter with the heart of a warrior.

You can find out more about her here:

Website: https://www.nicoledeese.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicoledeeseauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoledeeseauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicoledeese

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6878628.Nicole_Deese

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/nicole-deese

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nicole-Deese/e/B00BMRQOD2

Please check out my full 5 star review of this one!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3188144846?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Book Recommendation - Like Flames in the Night

When it comes to Biblical historical fiction, Connilyn Cossette is one of my go-to authors. Fortunately, I discovered her pretty early-on in her writing career and have really enjoyed being along for the ride ever since. Her upcoming release, Like Flames in the Night, is the last in her Cities of Refuge series, and is my absolute favorite of hers so far. This book follows Tirzah, the youngest daughter of Moriyah and Derek (fans of this series will be intimately familiar with them) and Liyam, whose parents will also be a blast from the past for fans of Ms. Cossette. One of the things I loved most about this book was Tirzah's character. As a woman who'd grown up amidst the best spies in the land, she found a way to use her feminity to help  obtain information in a way that no man could. Her ingenuity, strength and willingness to serve were fantastic and not at all unrealistic as I've seen some Biblical novels try to do with women.

I also loved how the title came about, using the Bible's theme of light piercing the darkness and the need for community (you'll just have to read it see how those things relate). As part of her launch team, I was invited to participate in an author Q&A. Here's how that went:

Who was your favorite character (or the one you most resonate with) and why?

In regards to the entire series, I would have to say Moriyah because I got to know her as a young girl and was able to follow her journey all the way through becoming a great-grandmother. She has been the foundation of all of the stories within the cities of refuge and she will just always be one of my very favorites. Don’t tell the others. For Like Flames in the Night, I’d have to say Liyam because he was just a blast to write, such fun to put through the wringer, and I just loved how his character arc developed!

Did anything surprise you in this story as you were writing?

I have to say that the length of the story was what most surprised me. There were no plans for it to be longer than the others but just due to the nature of the plot and also because I wanted to make sure that all the loose ends from the entire series were tied up in a satisfying way it ended up having a few chapters more. However, I hope that readers will be so absorbed in Tirzah and Liyam that they won’t even notice! (For the record, I didn't notice!)

What are you hoping readers will glean from this story?

Tirzah’s story is one of standing up courageously for her people, her family, and her God. My hope is that readers will be inspired to shine their lights boldly for Jesus and to not be afraid of anything—be it human or spirit—because Yahweh is our champion and when we are out of strength and frightened and feeling alone the Word says that He will fight for us! Nothing can stand against our great big God. Also, I want readers to be reminded through Liyam's Journey how truly powerful grace is.

Any fun bits of trivia you want to share with readers?

I guess I would have to say that the first thing is that I never planned on writing this book at all. The original Cities of Refuge was a three-book series but when I got to the end of Until the Mountains Fall I felt like there was more story to be told within the time period and with this family. So I proposed the idea to Bethany House and thankfully they went for it! Also, the book discusses an altar that’s at the top of Mount Ebal in Israel and that altar has actually been found on top of that mountain. It’s most likely a later rebuild of the original altar and from what I read it looks like beneath the altar there are possible remnants of the altar that Joshua built when he and the entire congregation of Israel re-confirmed the covenant before he died. So that’s pretty cool! Someday I would really love to walk up that mountain and see that altar for myself.

Has your relationship with God changed at all through writing these stories? If so, could you share an example?

I would say that my faith is so much more real now. All the study of history and culture and archaeology that I have done has given me such confirmation that His hand has worked through history in such an intimate way, tying all the billions of threads together from Genesis to Revelation. The fact that he has led me on such a personal path of discovery just reminds me how much he wants me to love him with my heart, my soul, AND my mind. And the Cities of Refuge series, in particular, has illuminated his grace so clearly in my own life, especially looking backward and seeing how he led me lovingly to himself, even when I was so rebellious and self-centered that I could not look past my own nose, and called me to write stories that glorify his Name.

 Why Cities of Refuge? Why not another story?

The easy answer is that because I was just fascinated. Once I started to do some reading about the cities of refuge, which I really didn’t know much about, I saw the beautiful way that they foreshadowed Jesus our Messiah who is the perfect balance of grace and justice for his people and I just wanted to delve into those characteristics of God so I thought that the cities of refuge was a perfect vehicle to do so! Besides, I’d just fallen in love with Moryiah in Wings of the Wind and felt she needed a story too. Who knew what would come of it all when I was struggling over whether to brand that poor girl’s face!

What inspired the idea for this story?

When I was in Israel a couple of years ago we went to a place called the Ayalon Institute. It was actually a kibbutz (like a co-op farm) that contained an entire underground bullet factory hidden from the British and the Arabs before the 1948 war. They secretly crawled down ladders beneath a commercial laundry room because it was noisy and could cover up the sound of the bullet making machines and many of the people who lived and worked on the kibbutz had no idea what was going on under their feet! Over a number of years, this group of young people managed to make thousands and thousands of bullets and ship them out through covert means, like in milk trucks. Without their sacrifice and ingenuity, the nation of Israel might have been lost when the Arabs attacked en masse. I was enthralled by the stories of miracles that happened during this time and how these young people, men AND women stood up for their people so courageously. I was inspired by this short visit to the underground bunker to write about brave men and women who put their lives on the line for the nation of Israel, both in ancient times and in modern ones. So as you will see as you read, there are a number of places where I talk about covert operations and secret weapons-making and those were directly inspired by that tour of the Ayalon Institute. Malakhi and Eitan would have loved everything about it. Look it up, it’s fascinating! 

How does it feel saying goodbye to characters you’ve been with for so long?

It is really so bittersweet because I feel like these people are part of my family and I know them inside and out. So it kind of feels like I’m abandoning them in some way. But they’re always there waiting for me and maybe someday I’ll have a chance to come back and revisit them. And then again I’m also really excited to find new characters and discover their journeys and now that I’m writing this new series I’m having a great time creating a whole new set of people, discovering what makes them tick, and finding all sorts of disastrous and dangerous situations to put them into peril and complicated situations to mess with their heads. I’m kinda evil like that ;) 

What do you have coming up next? Tell us a little bit about it and when we can expect it.

I will be coming out with a new series this winter which is called the Covenant House series. We are skipping forward a few hundred years to First Samuel in a time when Israel was in a fierce struggle against the Philistines, a foreign people that had arrived on the shores of Israel from the island of Crete hundreds of years before. This is a duology, based on the lives of a Philistine sister and brother who are adopted into an Israelite family and begins with the theft of the Ark of the Covenant. The first book is called To Dwell Among Cedars and will be releasing December 1 of this year.

I know that I, for one, am super excited to read To Dwell Among Cedards later this year!

Like Flames in the Night is available March 3, 2020 at your favorite book retailer. Check out my full 5-star review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2816131086?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

You can learn more about the author on her website: https://www.connilyncossette.com/ or her facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ConnilynCossette/