Inspy romance with Clare Revell

Dark Lake

Clare Revell

Pelican Ventures LLC, September 2018

Inspirational romantic suspense, 320 pp

$5.99 Ebook; $15.99 paperback

Also available on Audible

Buy on Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

Publisher

About the Book

Archaeologist Dr. Lou Fitzgerald is used to unexpected happenings, and they don't usually faze her. After surviving a childhood disability, and dealing with an unfair boss, Lou has learned the art of rolling with the punches. But when she arrives at Dark Lake, what was supposed to be a simple archaeological dig is beyond even her wildest imaginations. Landowner Evan Close has his own reasons for keeping the secrets of Dark Lake, and this attractive interloper is a menace. Her precious dig threatens to bring his house of cards tumbling down around him, and he feels helpless to stop it. It soon becomes apparent there are dark forces at work, and Lou's simple assignment turns into a mystery. Solving that mystery comes with a steep price.

My Review

Dark Lake has many eerie layers in name and back story. While Dr. Louise Fitgerald is a renowned archaeologist, she is also strangely vulnerable to the bizarre whimsies of the power-drunk director of the private organization she works for. He constantly pulls the rug out from under her and threatens her and yanks the privileges of name recognition that goes along with her discoveries. He pays well, but seriously, why is she working for this dangerous jerk? Could it be that her self-confidence is in shambles due to the disfigurement she deals with, yet tries to keep quiet?

“Rolling with the punches” has come to the last straw for Dr. Lou as she is shifted from a different archeological site and job just as she proved a long-held and worked-for premise on an important dig to a relatively recent site submerged when a dam was built a century earlier. She’s to dive and check over the remains of the village. But it’s not just the creepy fog that’s all wrong in Dark Lake. The property owner, the mysterious Evan Close who employs a body guard, has enigmas Dr. Lou longs to explore. The two hit it off right away and sparks fly as they’re drawn together through a mutual need to survive the secrets of Dark Lake.

Told through alternating points of view, the suspense builds wonderfully. The mutual tension works well, though I did have a giggle at Colonel Dad reprimanding two thirty-somethings to stay pure until marriage or he’d hand out knuckle sandwiches. Faith-based romance is nice and clean yet real without being preachy and spinsterish.

About the Author

Clare is a British author. She lives in a small town just outside Reading, England with her husband, whom she married in 1992, their three children, and unfriendly mini-panther, aka Tilly the black cat. They have recently been joined by Hedwig and Sirius the guinea pigs. Clare is half English and half Welsh, which makes watching rugby interesting at times as it doesn’t matter who wins. Writing from an early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fan fiction to using her own original characters and enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, she can be found reading, crocheting or doing the many piles of laundry the occupants of her house manage to make.

Her books are based in the UK, with a couple of exceptions, thus, although the spelling may be American in some of them, the books contain British language and terminology and the more recent ones are written in UK English.

The first draft of every novel is hand written.
She has been a Christian for more than half her life. She goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of four registrars. She can be found at:
http://www.revell124.plus.com/clarere...
https://www.facebook.com/ClareRevellA...
https://twitter.com/ClareRevell

Claiming Canaan by Barbara Britton

Claiming Caanan: Milcah’s Journey 

Book 4 of the Daughters of Zelophehad series

Barbara Britton

Harbour Light Books, an imprint of Pelican Ventures LLC

April 17, 2020

Biblical Fiction

214 pp

$15.99 Print

$5.99 Ebook

Buy on

Amazon

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Pelican Book store

About the Book

When the tribal elders make marriage a requirement for claiming her land, Milcah bat Zelophehad must find a betrothed straightaway. The only problem in finding a husband is that all her suitors were slain while conquering the land of Canaan. Men avoid her in order to stay alive.

After praying to God to send her a bold suitor, a man from her father's clan plummets from a tree right on top of her. Is this God answering prayer, or a foolish antic by Eli, the war-scarred brother from one of her clan's rival families.

Will settling in Canaan sort out Milcah's troubles?

My Review

The final book of Britton’s series about the Daughters of Zelophehad from the Book of Joshua is my favorite. The Israelite clans have finally reached the Promised Land, but their quest to claim it for their own has just begun. For Milcah, fourth of the five daughters given an allotment in their father’s name, pagan Canaanites are not the only enemy. Other members of her tribe lust after her land, and when her allotment comes with a price—a husband—she tries to obey. She even falls in love during the years since her three older sisters have married. Unfortunately, she has yet to share a wedding night since they have a habit of dying heroically and tragically. The draconian rules of etiquette in ancient Israel come to her rescue when the second-to-last man she’d be willing to claim as spouse and she are found in a compromising position.

Introduced in the first book, Eli is bit of a troublemaking curiosity seeker, the third son who has little to look forward to in inheritance. Since being wounded and scarred in battle, he’s chosen to comfort himself through drink. Milcah is determined to keep her inheritance and decides to put up with anything—anyone—who allows that to happen. All Eli needs is a chance to prove himself, and he could certainly find very little to complain about being the spouse of a comely landowner. He’s willing to turn over a new leaf, especially to prove his father and older brother wrong about his capabilities as a responsible man.

As these two begin to bond, truly, their strength is a three-stranded cord. Milcah is blessed upon blessed when she sees the riches of her property, but it comes with potentially insurmountable tests of Eli’s sobriety and their faith as they prepare for their wedding. The sisterly bonds are unbreakable, and their dedication to honor their one true God and their heritage is inspiring for any age. They work together in all circumstances to support each other.

Britton’s wonderful research puts the reader in time and place in ancient Israel. Although not every thread is completely woven in place, the sisters’ stories are lovingly wrapped up in pure romantic love. Britton’s bullies and waifs, however, are left to our imagination, and I’m okay with that. We know the ultimate end of the story, of course, from the Bible. 

About the Author

Barbara M. Britton was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, but currently lives in Wisconsin and loves the snow—when it accumulates under three inches. She writes romantic adventures for teens and adults. Barb has a nutrition degree from Baylor University but loves to dip healthy strawberries in chocolate. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Wisconsin Romance Writers of America, Romance Writers of America and American Christian Fiction Writers. You can visit Barb online at www. barbarambritton.com or follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Inspy romance Flowers Can Be Fatal 11

Mums in November, Flowers can be fatal #11

Clare Revell

Pelican Ventures LLC, October 2016

Inspirational romantic novella, 127 pp

$3.99 Ebook

Also available on Audible

Buy on Amazon

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Publisher

About the Book

Running into Amber Neville after twenty years wasn’t on Dr. Jackson Parker’s list of things to do. Amber had been head girl to his head boy, and from what he remembers, she was British, stuck up and bossy...But the red-haired beauty she’s grown into leaves him stunned.Newly returned from a job in Canada, Amber remembers Jackson as a brash and rude American--not at all the even-tempered, handsome doctor he's turned out to be. But she can’t get involved, not with the massive burden she bears--a burden that has to remain hidden at all costs.As secrets are revealed, Amber’s life is thrown into danger. As the flowers fade, so does her chance of survival. But Jackson has other plans. After all, doctors are meant to save lives, no matter the cost.

My review

After reading several stories in the series and wondering about the American who seems to be everywhere, saving people and generally being part of the community, we finally get to his story. It’s worth the wait, readers! Jackson Parker is full of surprises. Having been raised as the son of a foreign diplomat, he had a lot to overcome and to prove to his classmates. Although smart, he tended to act up and act out in all the wrong ways. The girl he wanted most to approach back in their school days, Amber Neville, seemed out of reach…and then Jackson and his family moved again.

The two of them receive the surprise of a lifetime when Amber turns up in the small village Jackson returned to after getting his medical education and license. She’s been a nanny to a high-powered family and is looking for another job in this tucked-away place. Jackson wastes no time in letting Amber know that now he’s grown up he’s not repeating his past and letting her get away without even getting to know her. Amber is on edge, and Jackson wants to help her. When a dangerous allergy gives him the opportunity to come to her rescue, Amber’s heart is lost. Jackson unwittingly opens an ugly can of worms when he asks his cop brother to do a background check. Unsure what to believe and how to help, Jackson continues to pry until Amber can’t hide any longer. By then it might be too late for both of them.

Lots of twists and turns make this sweet little suspense a page-turner. Told from both points of view I was often shaking my finger at the mean cops and the horrifying situation these poor people were involved with. Those who love clean romantic suspense will love this story.

About the Author

Clare is a British author. She lives in a small town just outside Reading, England with her husband, whom she married in 1992, their three children, and unfriendly mini-panther, aka Tilly the black cat. They have recently been joined by Hedwig and Sirius the guinea pigs. Clare is half English and half Welsh, which makes watching rugby interesting at times as it doesn’t matter who wins. Writing from an early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fan fiction to using her own original characters and enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, she can be found reading, crocheting or doing the many piles of laundry the occupants of her house manage to make.

Her books are based in the UK, with a couple of exceptions, thus, although the spelling may be American in some of them, the books contain British language and terminology and the more recent ones are written in UK English.

The first draft of every novel is hand written.
She has been a Christian for more than half her life. She goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of four registrars. She can be found at:
http://www.revell124.plus.com/clarere...
https://www.facebook.com/ClareRevellA...
https://twitter.com/ClareRevell

Inspy romance Flowers Can Be Fatal 8

Gladioli in August, Flowers can be fatal #8

Clare Revel

Pelican Ventures LLC, July 2016

Inspirational romantic novella

$3.99 Ebook

Also available on Audible

Buy on Amazon

Barnes and Noble

About the Book

The work place is volatile and the volcano is restless… Jael Stevens questions her decisions after she ignores her brother’s warnings and takes a sabbatical to work as a nurse on the volcanic island Tiampu. The position isn’t what she imagined. Long hours, difficult working conditions, and frequent rumblings from the nearby mountain are only made bearable by the joy of helping others and a certain set-in-his-ways pilot. Micah Norris has dedicated his life to God and is more than content with his permanent bachelor status. But after his childhood filled with abuse, could it be that keeping his distance from others is self-preservation? When Jael Stevens shows up, Micah isn't prepared to like her. He sees the new nurse as just another in a long line of caregivers from "civilization" who have no idea what life on a remote island will be like, and he is tired of constantly having to train new professionals who don’t last. But Jael makes a big impression. With her Christ-centered focus and her kind treatment to patients, she may be just what the doctor ordered. His confirmed bachelor status may be in serious trouble. Can he finally let go of his painful past, and will he have enough, time to do so with a volatile workplace and a restless volcano?

My review

Bad things happen with volcanoes in August, Jael Stevens’s brother tells her when she takes leave from her hospital nursing job for a missionary stint in Indonesia. Jael isn’t impressed, since the volcano on Tiampu, where the Red Cross home base is set, has been silent for hundreds of years. She has little idea what she’s truly in for, however, as she attempts to match hospital decorum and uniform, including high heels, with jungle medicine. Scrambling over a log with the help of a smirking smug pilot is a humbling experience. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

Pilot Micah Norris has two loves: God and bush flying. In that order. In his world, Micah is the boss, and there’s little room for deviation. Every six months he has to break in a new nurse, and this latest one has a funny name to go with her funny ideas. Didn’t anyone tell her that dresses and pantyhose won’t cut it? And he’s in charge? As the two begin to work out their anything-but-routine schedule, Jael learns confidence in the most unusual circumstances and Micah learns he can bend his strict mindset and closed heart without breaking.

The two face the ultimate sacrificial challenges when Tiampu awakens. Told through intertwining points of view, each of these romantic people share their deepest feelings and fears as they begin to bond. I loved the audio version narrated by Brit Lynne Thompson.

About the Author

Clare is a British author. She lives in a small town just outside Reading, England with her husband, whom she married in 1992, their three children, and unfriendly mini-panther, aka Tilly the black cat. They have recently been joined by Hedwig and Sirius the guinea pigs. Clare is half English and half Welsh, which makes watching rugby interesting at times as it doesn’t matter who wins. Writing from an early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fan fiction to using her own original characters and enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, she can be found reading, crocheting or doing the many piles of laundry the occupants of her house manage to make.

Her books are based in the UK, with a couple of exceptions, thus, although the spelling may be American in some of them, the books contain British language and terminology and the more recent ones are written in UK English.

The first draft of every novel is hand written.
She has been a Christian for more than half her life. She goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of four registrars. She can be found at:
http://www.revell124.plus.com/clarere...
https://www.facebook.com/ClareRevellA...
https://twitter.com/ClareRevell

Inspy romance Flowers Can Be Fatal 9

Forget-Me-Nots in September, Flowers can be fatal #9

Clare Revel

Pelican Ventures LLC, August, 2016

Inspirational romantic novella

$3.99 Ebook

Also available on Audible

Buy on Amazon

Barnes and Noble

About the Book

On his third tour of duty in Afghanistan Lt. Col. Bev King signs up for the parcel service. He likes the contact from home, appreciates the generosity and thoughtfulness of his benefactor, and is intrigued by this woman who lives in the same town as his grandmother. Jude Travis loves sending care packages to servicemen and is thrilled when "her squaddie" replies. A rapid letter exchange follows, and when he comes home on R&R they meet. But Jude is being stalked, and Bev might just get snagged in the crossfire. Will this whirlwind romance cause repercussions? Could coming home be more dangerous for Bev than staying in a combat zone?

My review

I enjoy Revell’s Flowers Can Be Fatal series. These gently linked stories that mention characters in other books and sometimes involve them are all stand-alone romances with a bit of bite. In this story, Jude Travis has a special affinity for soldiers since members of her family have also been in service. She supports Her Majesty’s troops overseas through letters and care packages. She owns her own bakery and spends her spare time keeping up with her business. She’s on the lonely side, but doesn’t have much time or interest in a social life. She also has a sneaking suspicion someone from her past is showing up at all times in all sorts of crazy places, but she can’t prove this person means her harm. When it becomes obvious she’s in danger, she does what she can to protect her new love interest, the soldier she’s been writing to on leave at home, Bev, and her heart.

The recipient of her latest personalized and warm-hearted care packages and letters, Bev King finds himself attracted to this writer like no one else When he’s fortunate enough to meet her, it’s pretty much lifelong love at first sight. Jude is an enigma, attempting to be confident and independent, yet facing a nameless fear she won’t share. When the stakes are raised and Bev is pulled into her trauma, potential repercussions abound. Protecting Jude could be more dangerous than active duty.

Told through interchanging viewpoints, Forget-me-nots is a compelling, short drama of inspirational romance and suspense. I listened to the audible version and enjoyed hearing the British nuances that don’t look the same on a printed page.

About the Author

Clare is a British author. She lives in a small town just outside Reading, England with her husband, whom she married in 1992, their three children, and unfriendly mini-panther, aka Tilly the black cat. They have recently been joined by Hedwig and Sirius the guinea pigs. Clare is half English and half Welsh, which makes watching rugby interesting at times as it doesn’t matter who wins. Writing from an early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fan fiction to using her own original characters and enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, she can be found reading, crocheting or doing the many piles of laundry the occupants of her house manage to make.

Her books are based in the UK, with a couple of exceptions, thus, although the spelling may be American in some of them, the books contain British language and terminology and the more recent ones are written in UK English.

The first draft of every novel is hand written.
She has been a Christian for more than half her life. She goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of four registrars. She can be found at:
http://www.revell124.plus.com/clarere...
https://www.facebook.com/ClareRevellA...
https://twitter.com/ClareRevell

Tam May on Updating Gnarled Bones

In 2017, I published my first book. It was a book of contemporary literary/psychological fiction short stories titled Gnarled Bones and Other Stories. Lisa Lickel was, in fact, generous enough to review the book, which you can read about here. It was an important book for me and one that allowed me to “test the waters,” as it were, as a self-published author.


But, like many authors with their first book, I wasn’t completely satisfied with it. In 2018, I started to entertain the idea of putting out a second edition. At the end of that year, my writing started to evolve from contemporary fiction to historical fiction. I began the Waxwood Series, and in 2019, I published the first two books of that series, The Specter and False Fathers. I discovered my passion for history and fiction go very deep, and I wanted to transfer that passion to readers as well.


At the end of 2019, I began looking again at the stories of Gnarled Bones. Many readers had commented they felt the stories were too short and ended too abruptly. I entirely agreed with that. So the first order of business was to expand and revise the stories.


But I realized also that, like many beginning authors, I hadn’t gone as deeply into what themes tied the stories together in the collection as I should have. Short story collections are tricky because if there isn’t really something to connect the stories, readers sometimes feel unsatisfied with the reading experience.


About that time, I started to read Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. I had read a snippet of the book in grad school, but I’d always wanted to read the entire thing. Friedan’s experiences interviewing suburban housewives in the 1950s and her quest to find the “happy housewife” connected with me because I realized she was talking about my mother’s generation. I could see how the feminine mystique and the Problem That Has No Name related to my mother’s life and the lives of her friends. I wanted to write about these women in the post-war generation who struggled with a definition of femininity that they were being pushed to accept and that was simply unsatisfying to them and their journey to self-discovery that would bring on the second-wave feminist movement a decade later.


These were the themes that guided me in revising Gnarled Bones for the second edition. In doing so, the book became almost an entirely new work. I even had to change the title of the book to Lessons From My Mother’s Life because the original short story upon which the first edition was titled could no longer be a part of the collection (I’m saving it for a novella of its own). I explain what changes I made to this second edition, and why I made them, as well as some of the background behind the collection in an Author’s Note I include in the book.


I really hope this second edition will resonate with many women who, like me, have mothers and grandmothers that lived through the post-World War II era and that it will help them to understand these women just as writing the stories helped me to understand my mother better.   

It was the 1950s. The war was over and women could go back to being happy housewives. But did they really want to?


Women should have been contented to live a Leave it to Beaver life in the mid-20^th century. They should have been fulfilled. Women’s magazines told them so. Advertisers told them so. Doctors and psychologists told them so. Some were. But some weren’t.


In the 1950s, women were sold a bill of goods about who they were and who they should be as women. Some bought it. But some didn’t.


These five stories are about the women who didn’t.


A teenage bride sees her future mirrored in Circe’s twisted face. A woman’s tragic life serves as a warning about the dangers of too much maternal devotion. And the lives of two women intersect during two birthday parties, changing both of them. These and other moving tales of strength, discovery, and hope are about our mothers and grandmothers and the lessons their lives have to teach us.


This book is the second edition of my 2017 short story collection, Gnarled Bones and Other Stories. This edition has been extensively revised, the stories changed and expanded, and the context moved from the present day to the 1950s and 1960s. This edition also includes a Preface and a bonus chapter from The Specter, the first book of my Gilded Age family drama, the Waxwood Series.


You can find out more information, including buy links here.

Tam May grew up in the United States and earned her B.A. and M.A in English. She worked as an English college instructor and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher before she became a full-time writer. She started writing when she was 14, and writing became her voice. She writes historical fiction that examines characters in the social and psychological contexts of their time.


Her first book, a collection of contemporary short stories, was nominated for a 2017 Summer Indie Book Award. A revised and expanded second edition of this book is now available under the title Lessons From My Mother’s Life. She is currently working on a Gilded Age family saga. The first book, The Specter, came out in June of 2019, and the second book, False Fathers, is also now available. Book 3 (The Claustrophobic Heart) and Book 4 (Dandelion Children) will be out in 2020. She is also working on a historical mystery series featuring a turn-of-the-century New Woman sleuth. Both series take place in Northern California.


She lives in Texas but calls San Francisco and the Bay Area “home”. When she’s not writing, she’s reading classic literature and historical fiction, watching classic films, or cooking up awesome vegetarian dishes.


For more information on Tam May and her work, feel free to check out her website at www.tammayauthor.com.

Ponder this with Lisa Lickel

Ponder this... series of inspirational romantic novellas

New from Pelican Book Group

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Everything About Us by Lisa Lickel

About the Book - "Whatever is true"

Danny Winston, America's newest heartthrob, thinks he can have it all—his dream business and the girl. He's sure he can convince Shelly, the woman who made it all possible, to marry him. When things keep going wrong, Danny can't ask her to be a partner in failure.

Shelly Colter isn't sure she can give up her California-style life with all the glamour for a move to quaint, rural Wisconsin. At first, she thought Danny, her leading-man protégé, was all she needed, but when things get serious, her secret might ruin everything.

When Danny and Shelly realize they have a common enemy thwarting their dreams, they can choose to fight for each other or risk losing out to fear. It's an epic he-thinks, she-thinks, with the truth somewhere in between. Will they stop worrying everything beyond their control and rely on God first, then each other?

Pelican Ventures LLC

March, 2020

Inspirational romantic novella

121 pp

$3.99 eBoook

Buy on

Amazon

Pelican

BN

Review from Amy Laundrie

For Fans of Light Romance

Dream Big, Love Well, Live Large, Have Faith. These words, which movie publicist Shelly read on a ceramic mug, sum up her philosophy of life. The novella’s other point of view character, a farmer by the name of Danny, falls in love with Shelly. Danny is a farmer turned heartthrob actor who stars in a movie by the same name as the novel's title, Everything About You. He knows Shelly is beautiful and ambitious, but he doesn’t know about her criminal former boyfriend. Will their love and faith be enough to keep them safe and together?

Reviewer: Retired fourth grade teacher Amy Laundrie began writing because of a desire to share stories and connect with others. Laundrie has published seven children's books and LAUGH, CRY, REFLECT: STORIES FROM A JOYFUL HEART, testimonials to a woman's life. She enjoys sports and raising pet ducks. Visit her at www.laundrie.com.

About the Author

Lisa Lickel is an author, editor, and mentor who lives with her husband in the rolling hills of western Wisconsin. Surrounded by books and dragons, she writes inspiring fiction both short and full-length, including mysteries, romance and family drama, feature articles, and radio theater. She belongs to the Wisconsin Writers Association, the Chicago Writers Association and is a writing coach at Novel-in-Progress Bookcamp & Retreat. Lisa loves to encourage new authors through mentoring, speaking, and leading workshops. Lisa also is an avid book reviewer and blogger, and a freelance editor. Find more at www.LisaLickel.com.

Check out all eight books in the series.

Featured here: March 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, 27

Buy in the Pelican book store

Lucy in Love by Kimberly M. Miller

Charlotte's Dilemma by Susan Karsten

Buttonholed by Anita Klumpers

A Field of Forget-me-nots by Rachel A. James

To Complicate Matters by Linda Widrick

This Worthy Heart by Dixie Jo Jarchow

A Perfect Fit by Christine Schimpf

Everything about Us by Lisa J. Lickel