Lilah

How can death, betrayal, a rash proposal, and revenge lead to romance?

An abusive controller compels reluctant travelers westward. To flee her foul stepfather, Lilah proposes marriage to the wagon train scout, which only leaves Padraig thinking she’s a bit soft in the head. It’s 1855. Come join the journey along the Oregon Trail with Captain Cumby. Wagon Ho!

My thoughts: This story is such a delightful, historical read! I enjoyed getting to know Lilah as she took her future into her own hands by proposing to Padraig. I can only imagine what all went through his head as she surprised him with proposing marriage! She grows on the the reader as she gets to know Padraig better, with her spunk and steadfastness. 

This is a wonderful story to pick up, since Caryl brings the time period to life. I highly recommend it!

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

 

About the Author

Award-winning author Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and her best-selling novels—over fifty published—delight Christian readers around the world. The prolific writer also enjoys singing the new songs the Lord gives her—listen to a few at YouTube. Sharing four children and eighteen grandsugars with Ron, her high-school-sweetheart-husband of over fifty years, she lives in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas. The McAdoos wait expectantly for God to open the next door.

 

 

More from Caryl

Writing Lilah wasn’t as easy as some of the past stories because of dealing with such an evil man—her uncle then stepfather, forcing himself on her mother after Papa passed. But my young heroine’s courage, spunk, and daunting outspokenness had me grinning in no time.

Straight off the bat, the fifteen-year-old proposes to the first single man she runs into! It almost reminds me of my own romance, when on the second night of our life together (we’d had our first date the evening before) my husband Ron told me, “I know it doesn’t mean much now, but I love you.”

Later I learned he’d told his mother that same night that he’d met the girl he was going to marry. She didn’t share that until after we were an old married couple with two little boys.

 

We all have our own love stories, and I’d love to hear yours! This is the reason I so love writing romance! And historical romance is even better because I loved the way women were so honored back then. For the most part, they stayed home and reared their own children and worked hard as the helpmate of their husbands.

Plus, I love the research for the era of the novels and once written, a historical is never out of date! Contemporary romance will be outdated almost as soon as it’s written these days due to the technology. In my lifetime—the first twenty years of such is now considered as “history” by the publishing industry!—things have changed extraordinarily!

I don’t know if any generation has seen such advances as my own. My parents’ watched the first televisions, but that can’t begin to compare with computers in every home. I believe we truly are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation—a peculiar people who will show forth the praises of Him Who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light!

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord with me and be blessed!
This Texas author hopes readers will love Lilah as I always am, “Praying my story gives God glory!”

 

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 6

For Him and My Family, June 7

deb’s Book Review, June 8

By The Book, June 9 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, June 10

Inklings and notions, June 11

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, June 12 (Author Interview)

Betti Mace, June 13

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, June 14

A Baker’s Perspective, June 15 (Author Interview)

D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, June 16

Artistic Nobody, June 17 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

My Devotional Thoughts, June 18 (Author Interview)

Connie’s History Classroom, June 19

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Caryl is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/fc1b/lilah-celebration-tour-giveaway

Cross Shadow

All journalist Christine Lewis wants is the truth. All pastor John Cross wants is to avoid it.
 
Former CIA agent turned evangelical pastor John Cross is busy caring for the small community of believers he ministers to in Virginia. Journalist Christine Lewis is busy with the demand for her talents from top news agencies in New York City. Neither has any time left for their relationship, which began eight months before when they paired up to prevent the detonation of a chemical bomb in the nation's capital.
 
But when Christine hears that her stepbrother has been arrested for murder in Texas, they team up again to discover the truth about the crime. Untangling a web of conspiracy, the couple finds themselves in the center of another dangerous situation-and in trouble far deeper than they expected.
 
With an assassin on the loose, a trusted colleague acting as a double agent, and unreliable artificial intelligence connected to mercenaries who have Cross on their hit list, these two may not get out of the Lone Star State alive.

My thoughts: Life is never a dull moment for John and Christine as they recover from the excitement of the first novel and try to work out their relationship with having come from very different backgrounds. I loved all the different things that play into their story: both the differences in religion that they had that are slowly getting resolved, as well as their different professions. When Christine's stepbrother is arrested for a murder she is sure he didn't commit, John and Christine are off on another adventure to solve another high stakes mystery. This is an excellent story to pick up! I look forward to reading the next book when it comes out. 

I received this book from the publisher. This is my honest review.

About the Author:

Huff spent ten years in local church ministry as a youth pastor and creative arts pastor before pursuing God’s calling into creative storytelling and media production as the product director at Igniter Media, a church media company (ignitermedia.com).
 
He is a two-time finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Genesis Contest for unpublished authors (2014, 2017) and also won the best screenplay award at the 2015 48 Hour Film Festival in Richmond, VA. A Cross to Kill and Cross Shadow in the Shepherd Suspense series are his first releases.
 
Huff holds a bachelor of science in religion degree from Liberty University and a master of arts in Christian education from Dallas Theological Seminary. He resides in Plano, TX, with his beautiful wife, Jae, and their two boys.
 
Learn more Andrew Huff and the Shepherd Suspense novels at www.andrewhuffbooks.com. He can also be found on Facebook (@huffwrites), Twitter (@andrewjohnhuff) and Instagram (@andyhuff).

Purchase a copy here! This post contains affiliate links.

Giveaway!

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Tyrone the Terrible

Tyrone is the skinniest chameleon in the swamp. No one wants him on their team. After going on a fitness program, Tyrone gets carried away with his new self and terrorizes his friends in Gnarly Tree Bend until he meets Sly, the meanest gator in the bayou. Looks like Tyrone is gumbo.

The moral of this story? Someone is always bigger and badder than you, so you’d best make friends along the way.

TYRONE THE TERRIBLE is a bullying tale. The feisty chameleon picks on his bayou buddies before meeting his match. In the process, he learns the value of friends and family and how actions have consequences.

This delightful story is filled with swampy animal characters with a distinctly southern voice – not quite Brer Rabbit, but a good deep-south feel.

My thoughts: This is an adorable book for kids and adults to enjoy reading to spark conversations about bullying. I love the Southern feel that this story has (think Brer Rabbit). The illustrations are darling and I appreciated the discussion questions at the end of the book. This is an excellent book to have in your personal library!

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

Purchase a copy here! This post contains affiliate links.

About the Author

Jan Lis is south Florida writer and artist.  Living in this multicultural area, Jan utilizes these diverse cultural influences in her stories.  Jan fills her children’s books with spunky characters and rich imagery, bringing to her stories and illustrations the same vivid quality found in her fine art paintings.

Jan attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, has a degree from Ohio University’s School of Fine Art, and took post-graduate writing at Case-Western Reserve. She established her writing as a journalist contributing articles to publications such as the Miami Herald, and the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and worked as Fine Arts Editor and Columnist for the Florida Arts Gazette.

Jan Lis is an established artist who has exhibited and won awards in many of the country’s top Annual Exhibitions including: The Butler Institute of American Art, the San Diego Watercolor Society, and the Piedmont Biennial at the Mint Museum.  She is represented in corporate and private collections including: the State of Florida Art In Public Buildings Program, the Brevard County Florida Art in Public Places Program, and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC.

Jan is represented by agent Cyle Young, Hartline Literary Agency, and is member of the
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

 

More from Jan

How I first met Tyrone was an interesting adventure in itself. One day, a curious little chameleon climbed up on a stone, and watched me as I went for my afternoon swim. Day after day his little head popped up every time I entered the pool. Then he scrambled up onto his rock to watch me swim. Over the course of the summer I saw this skinny fellow gradually mature into quite an impressive chameleon. Sometime during the summer he gained the name Tyrone, and the story was born. Much of the action in Tyrone The Terrible takes place around Gnarly Tree, located along the bayou. While the setting of the story is fiction, the tree is not. My Gnarly tree is a venerable old Banyan, located along the pathway near my home. These days I give it a nod whenever I pass by. I loved writing the Tyrone characters, and the southern feel of the dialogue. It’s a story you just have to read out loud, and have fun with.

 

Blog Stops

For Him and My Family, June 1

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 2

Vicky Sluiter, June 3 (Author Interview)

Older & Smarter?, June 4

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, June 5

Texas Book-aholic, June 6

Simple Harvest Reads, June 7 (Author Interview)

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, June 8

deb’s Book Review, June 9

Inklings and notions, June 10

My Devotional Thoughts, June 11 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, June 12

Splashes of Joy, June 13

Artistic Nobody, June 14 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Jan is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate and a signed copy of Tyrone The Terrible!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/fc14/tyrone-the-terrible-celebration-tour-giveaway

A Mosaic of Wings

<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mosaic-Wings-Kimberly-Duffy-ebook/dp/B0821PWG3W/ref=as_li_ss_il?crid=3OKBSZ9NHHPG1&dchild=1&keywords=a+mosaic+of+wings&qid=1591760393&sprefix=a+mosaic+of+,aps,209&sr=8-1&linkCode=li2&tag=calamityman01-20&linkId=32ff4c13a77ab9b8b24c0e0655e234e9&language=en_US" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B0821PWG3W&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=calamityman01-20&language=en_US" ></a><img src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=calamityman01-20&language=en_US&l=li2&o=1&a=B0821PWG3W" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />

It's 1885, and all Nora Shipley wants, now that she's graduating from Cornell University as valedictorian of the entomology program, is to follow in her late father's footsteps by getting her master's degree and taking over the scientific journal he started. The only way to uphold her father's legacy is to win a scholarship, so she joins a research expedition in Kodaikanal, India, to prove herself in the field.

India isn't what she expects, though, and neither is the rival classmate who accompanies her, Owen Epps. As her preconceptions of India--and of Owen--fall away, she finds both far more captivating than she expected. Forced by the expedition leader to stay at camp and illustrate exotic butterflies the men of the team find without her, Nora befriends Sita, a young Indian girl who has been dedicated to a goddess against her will.

In this spellbinding new land, Nora is soon faced with impossible choices--between saving Sita and saving her career, and between what she's always thought she wanted and the man she's come to love.

My thoughts: I liked the many layers of this story. Nora is single minded in what she wants in life, to follow in her father's footsteps as an Entomologist and take over the journal that he started. When the opportunity to travel to India opens up, she takes it in hopes that it will open more doors for her. But, it's hard to be a profession as a female in the late 1800's, and she finds that her job in India is different from the others when they don't include her in the fieldwork.

I loved the history of this story and learning more about entomology, especially since it took some big steps in the time frame of this story. I also loved the relationships in this book, both the romantic one and that of Nora with her parents. This is a delightful story to pick up!

I received this book from Bethany House. This is my honest review.

Purchase a copy here! This post contains affiliate links.

Yellowstone Yonderings

When a free-spirited wildlife photographer loses her Scottish terrier in a herd of bison, she sets out to rescue her furbaby before he is devoured. But will she succeed when Yellowstone National Park is chock full of boiling, bubbling, and rampaging hazards (both mammalian and geographical) — not to mention a rule-obsessed park ranger whose many rescues thwart her efforts to find her poor pup?

They say opposites attract, and when it comes to Kayla Dineen and Ranger Alexander Brandt, no two people have ever been more opposed…or attractive. Old Faithful isn’t the only thing making noise at Yellowstone this season.

My thoughts: This was a fun trip to Yellowstone with Kayla and her mischievous pup! I enjoyed reading about Yellowstone through the eyes of the story as Kayla and Ranger Brandt are brought together after multiple mishaps, including Kayla's dog coming up missing. Despite a rough start, they must work together to solve the mystery and find out what is happening to the missing animals. This is a fun read that takes the reader on a delightful vacation!

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

Purchase a copy here! This post contains affiliate links.

About the Author

Kristen Joy Wilks lives in the beautiful Cascade Mountains with her camp director husband, three fierce sons, and a large and slobbery Newfoundland dog. She has blow-dried a chicken, fought epic Nerf battles instead of washing dishes, and discovered a stealthily smuggled gardener snake in her sons’ bubble bath. Her stories, devotionals, and articles have appeared in Nature Friend, Clubhouse, Thriving Family, Keys for Kids, The Christian Journal, Splickety, Spark, and Havok. She writes romantic comedies for Pelican Book Group, including Copenhagen Cozenage, The Volk Advent, Athens Ambuscade, Spider Gap, and Yellowstone Yondering. Kristen writes about the humor and Grace that can be found amidst the detritus of life.

 

More from Kristen

Greetings and Salutations!

My name is Kristen Joy Wilks and I am a mountain woman, married to a camp director, who lives at a remote Bible camp where we don’t have access to electricity, water, or garbage services unless we do it ourselves. Yes, it is totally possible to do all these things. But it does mean some frantic running about when the generator starts making a strange noise or the water inexplicably cuts off. As a girl I did have one or two mountain kid adventures that were perhaps not typical for the average tomboy. Such as when I rode my horse through a herd of 200 elk or when I got together with my brother and cousins to build a homemade snake pit so that we could dangle one another over it by our legs from a tripod made of logs in classic Indiana Jones style. Of course, we caught snakes for our pit!

Why do you ask?

We managed to find over twenty and it was a huge success, except for the tiny issue of me being too tall and all those snakes getting into my hair. As you can plainly see, mountain kids do have more fun. I’m now the mom of three fierce sons, six pet chickens, and a large and slobbery Newfoundland dog named Princess Leia Freyja Wilks. I spend most of my time thwarting my sons’ attempts to smuggle their pet chickens onto their bunk beds and trying to keep my husband from filling another wall of our dinning room with strategy board games. Yes, you would think that 300 would be sufficient, but there is always another one, apparently. Well, he does have a point when he insists that they are great for camp ministry. I spend a great deal of time over at Camas Meadows Bible Camp photographing the daily comings and goings of counselors and campers so that their parents can look online and see that everyone is still alive. During all that photo taking, I have seen many a shy child open up after playing an exciting game of Camel Up, Snorta, or Star Trek Ascendancy. I also write the camp blog, step in as camp mother when homesickness pops up, and volunteer at our local public schools with Princess Leia Freyja who excels at reading therapy … yep, she just flops on the floor next to children while they read, which is definitely her spiritual gift. I can also be found at 4:00AM, with a cup of Jasmine Monkey King tea, tucked under my Star Trek quilt, writing crazy stories that might sound insane, but always have a tiny hint of truth. Thank you for joining me today to see what kind of misadventures I managed to put my unsuspecting characters through.

 

 

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, June 4

Quiet Quilter, June 5

You Read It Write, June 5

Book of Ruth Ann, June 6

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 7

Texas Book-aholic, June 8

Inklings and notions, June 9

Emily Yager, June 10

For Him and My Family, June 11

deb’s Book Review, June 12

Reflections From My Bookshelves, June 13

Holly Jo Morris, June 13

reviewingbooksplusmore, June 14

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, June 15

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, June 16

Artistic Nobody, June 17 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Kristen is giving away the grand prize of a delicious dark chocolate bar with candied ginger bits!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/fc19/yellowstone-yondering-celebration-tour-giveaway

This Wandering Heart

In the first entry in the Madison River Romance series, Keira Knudsen gets the traveling opportunity of a lifetime, but when she reunites with her first love, Robbie, she learns that even a wandering heart needs a home….

No one in the quaint town of West Yellowstone, Montana, knows that unassuming geography teacher Keira Knudsen moonlights as sensational travel blogger Kat Wanderfull. No one, that is, except for her first love, Robbie Matthews, who has just discovered the woman he is falling for online is the same one that broke his heart five years ago.

But Robbie has another problem: the mother of his daughter, Anabelle, has resurfaced after a three-year absence determined to rip Anabelle away from him. Robbie needs a steady paycheck for a chance at custody, and now, on the eve of a grand adventure that could give Keira a chance to flee her old, troubled life once and for all, she is in need of assistance.

With so much broken trust between them, Keira and Robbie must keep an arms-length away to make this partnership work. But the more time they spend together, exploring majestic places and sharing new experiences, the closer they get–until their secrets and dreams threaten to cost them everything.

My thoughts: I loved this story of a small town girl who makes it big as a travel blogger, something that those around her don't realize. I love stories like this of people who exchange letters/emails/messages and fall in love without realizing that person is right in front of them. Keira and Robbie have a lot of baggage to work through. This is such a beautifully written story of finding love again with the person you least expect it. I really liked how the characters got to know one another again, as well as the part that Robbie's daughter plays. I highly recommend this one and look forward to the next story in the series!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

Purchase a copy here! This post contains affiliate links.

About the Author

Prone to wander, Janine Rosche finds as much comfort on the open road as she does at home. This longing to chase adventure, behold splendor, and experience redemption is woven into her Madison River Romance series. When she isn’t writing or traveling, she teaches family life education courses to college students, takes too many pictures of her sleeping dogs, and embarrasses her four children and husband with boy band serenades.

 

 

 

More from Janine

Do you remember that weird kid who would sit at their desk in elementary school and stare into space for minutes at a time? If you don’t, then chances are, you were that weird kid. Welcome to the club—you know, the club for people who believe that what could be is worth imagining.

 

“If you imagine it, then it will never happen,” my junior high friends said.

 

“You’re setting yourself up for disappointment,” my high school mentor advised.

 

“Close your mouth, or you’ll catch a fly,” my second grade teacher warned.

 

While that last one scared me into buttoning my lips while staring blankly at the chalkboard, those early naysayers didn’t keep me from daydreaming. I couldn’t help it. I loved imagining a world far more exciting, awe-inspiring, and romantic than my own. Even when I’d finish books or movies, I would happily dream myself into the story where courage abounds and heroes are truly larger-than-life.

 

Of course, through the years, disappointment did come, and so did reality. In love, my heart was broken. In my career aspirations, my confidence was shattered. My daydreams almost stopped entirely.

 

People often ask me if it was a lifelong dream of mine to publish a book. The answer to that is yes…and no. It had been once, but holding on too tightly to that while also believing it was too far out of reach for someone like me created such an overwhelming ache in my heart. And so, I buried it. However, that dream, along with the storylines and characters in my mind weren’t content to stay buried. For eight years they awakened me at night and distracted me by day, until finally, I chose to spit out the words in a blank spiral notebook. I’d hoped that by writing down the story that had festered, I’d finally have peace, but then the next story came, and the next.

 

“I’ve learned that courage isn’t something we’re born with. It’s a choice.” That line of dialogue comes from a key moment in my debut novel, This Wandering Heart. In the story, my heroine, Keira, rises above an awful childhood to live a life of adventure. The line was quite autobiographical. I could have chosen to keep believing the naysayers. That would have been easy. It took no courage–no risk at all—to believe the lies, the criticism, and the discouragingly low probability statistics of publication.

 

Pursuing your dream, though, requires a lot of courage. Courage to be laughed at, to fail, to be rejected. Courage to be terrible at this new thing you’re trying. Certainly more courage than I carried in my spirit. So I prayed. I climbed onto that metaphorical rope dangling from the hand of God, and swung.

 

It was a choice. To be completely honest, it still is a choice to believe these daydreams of mine. Each day, it takes faith to chase this dream of writing novels and to imagine what could be. I guess you could say that I’ve found my way into the story after all. And it truly is exciting, awe-inspiring, and—dare I say?—romantic.

 

I’m honored to have you all join me on this incredible journey! But it’s not all about me. What daydream are you tempted to believe in your life?

 

 

Everyone is eligible to receive a free subscription to the Love Wander Read Journal, a quarterly digital magazine from Janine Rosche that aims to provide inspiration for a life well-lived. Link: http://janinerosche.com/the-love-wander-read-journal/

 

Blog Stops

Inklings and notions, June 8

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 8

Texas Book-aholic, June 9

Read Review Rejoice, June 9

My Devotional Thoughts, June 10

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, June 11

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, June 12

Get Cozy Book Nook, June 12

Batya’s Bits, June 13

deb’s Book Review, June 13

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, June 14

The Becca Files, June 14

Older & Smarter ?, June 15

Through the Fire Blogs, June 15

For Him and My Family, June 16

Vicky Sluiter, June 17

Pause for Tales, June 18

All-of-a-kind Mom, June 18

Locks, Hooks and Books, June 19

Britt Reads Fiction, June 19

Life of Literature, June 20

Hallie Reads, June 21

Livin’ Lit, June 21

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Janine is giving away the grand prize package of a set of GelConnie leather bracelets, a 2020 National Geographic Road Atlas, and a $50 Visa gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/fc1c/this-wandering-heart-celebration-tour-giveaway