Carol James and Redeeming Christmas

 

Redeeming Christmas

Carol James

PBGroup Christmas Holiday Extravaganza

December 1, 2020, Romantic Novella, 111 pp

Ebook $3.99

Buy on

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble

Publisher site 

About the Book

Novelist Olivia St. Madeleine is intrigued by a handsome and mysterious stranger she sees when she's Christmas shopping. Who exactly is he, and what is his story?

Gabriel Winter definitely has a story. One he's been running from for years. He's renovating a house next door to a friendly and persuasive grandmother, who is, unbeknownst to him, Olivia's Nana. Through Nana's insistence, Liv helps Gabe wallpaper and paint, and in return Gabe fulfills one of Liv's secret childhood dreams.

But past hurts and secrets threaten to drive them apart rather than draw them together. Will they find the courage to share their secrets with each other and with God, and allow Him to redeem Christmas?

 My review

I adore a little bit of reality check in my romantic fiction. And not mincing situational reality with saccharine. We’re all broken—all of us—and we know it. How we face it shows our true character. This author knows how to pack a lovely punch in a short story. Like your good reads in little bites around the holidays? Redeeming Christmas is a perfect fit.

 Gabe is one of those rare creatures, a humble rising star entrepreneur, while Liv is a novelist who views the world through internal description. Told through both their eyes, their budding romance starts innocently during a holiday shopping event. When they realize they’re temporary next-door neighbors, one precious grandma who’s been praying for them before they were born, takes off her velvet gloves, knows how to use a cell phone, but makes sure Liv carries her pepper spray during their home decorating adventures.

 Of course everyone is too good to be true—on the outside! That’s what makes awesome romance. It’s the twists on the inside of the heart and the depth of reality that make this charming tale more than a gooey peppermint mocha at Christmas. Absolutely delightful for the dedicated inspirational romance reader. Just right amounts of everything packed in a lovely story.

 About the Author

Streams in the Wasteland, Redemptive Romance by Carol James:

Carol is an author of inspirational fiction. She lives in Lilburn, Georgia, a small town outside of Atlanta, with her husband, Jim, and a perky Jack Russell "Terrorist," Zoe.

Love Stumbled In with Nancy Bolton

 

Love Stumbled In by Nancy Shew Bolton

In the midst of tragedy and uncertainty, love stumbles in.

Inspirational Romance from Prism Lux, November 13, 2020

172 pp

About the Book:

In the years of World War I and the flu epidemic that followed, American society and its people underwent profound changes. Carrie and her adopted family are not spared these changes and tragedies, yet what can they do but continue on the best way they can? As Carrie comes of age, she is faced with a future very different than the one she hoped for. She gave her heart, only to have it returned back to her and now she must search herself to find a new direction or give in to the temptation to simply give up and let circumstances dictate her life.

Judd has spent his young adult years coping with the aftermath of war injuries and profound family losses. With no time to grieve or recover, he is thrust into the role of family head and pours himself into steering his brothers and Carrie to adulthood while also seeing to the needs of the family farm. Like Carrie, his losses have caused him to grow cold towards God, leaning only on himself to bear the weight of his responsibilities. The pressure has forged a resolute hardness in him and an unwillingness to be close to anyone. The life journey of both is in need of new direction, if they will choose to take a chance and step toward it.

Enjoy this Excerpt:

Her mind wandered back to days spent with Mama, watching her cook, and sharing the small triumphs while she learned. Memories warmed her and loosened her tongue. “I wish she could know how good I am at it now. With her gift for pies and cake, and mine for bread, maybe we could’ve run a bakery together. That would’ve been wonderful.”

Lucas rumbled out an indeterminate sound. “Two women running a bakery? Never heard of that.”

Carrie’s wistful, nostalgic mood shattered. How backward. Was Jesse the only man in this family with any foresight?

Quenching a sharp retort, she kept her voice airy. “It’s the twentieth century, in case you forgot. Women can do pretty much anything these days. Vote, get a job. Why, I read a story the other day about women policemen in California.”

Lucas sputtered out a laugh. “You just called them policemen. Wouldn’t they be policewomen?”

She scowled at his smirking expression. “Ha-ha. You know what I mean.”

About Nancy: Nancy Shew Bolton is a wife, mother of five grown sons, and grandmother to a boy and girl. Ever since she learned to write, she would jot down her thoughts and impressions in little snippets of inspiration in the form of poetry, song lyrics, or short essays.

Social Links: 

On Twitter

Amazon Author Page

Group Blog

GoodreadsPage

Facebook Page

Books webpage: https://nancyboltonbooks.com/

$5.99 ebook

Buy at

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

At 50% off: Love Stumbled In : Pelican Book Group Christian Fiction, Illuminating fiction

New from Keely Brooke Keith Uncharted Freedom

Uncharted Freedom 
Book 9 in the Uncharted series
Keely Brooke Keith

Nov 17, 2020
Edenbrooke Press
Near future dystopian fiction
$4.99

Buy on
Amazon
 

About the Book
When she finds the perfect place to hide from one past, another finds her.

Naomi McIntosh is running from her family’s oppressive expectations and the despicable man her father has demanded she marry. Renaming herself to live incognito, she takes a housekeeping job at the Inn at Falls Creek and promises God this false identity will be her last.

When shepherd James Roberts goes home to the Inn at Falls Creek for his sister’s wedding, he doesn’t expect the woman who once broke his heart to be working there. No matter how much he wants to be with Naomi again, he can’t go along with her charade, especially since he is trying to persuade his father to make him the heir.

Though Naomi yearns for a future with James, if she confesses her deception to everyone, her estranged fiancé will find her. And the longer James goes without telling his family the truth about Naomi—and their growing relationship—the further he jeopardizes the inheritance. But just when their relationship looks promising, the inn proves to be a poor hiding place from Naomi’s past.

Meanwhile, in Good Springs…Connor Bradshaw wrestles with the overseers’ decision to preserve the Land’s pacifist ways. His desire to build a defense system for the Land keeps him up at night, secretly scanning for radio transmissions from the warring outside world. His training to be a village overseer will require him to lay down his weapons, but a voice over the radio waves ignites his worst fears.


My review
After getting to know the Land through a dozen novels, I look forward to getting to know the inhabitants even more. Although there are ties to previous novels and there is some sequence, the books can be read as stand-alones. In this story, we learn more about the Falls Creek inn family, the Robertses, as they struggle with long-standing patriarchal tradition. The eldest son, Revel, has already declared he will not take over running the inn, but complications other than tradition are involved in this society of loosely connected communities on a large island.

When the new housekeeper arrives in Falls Creek, she brings more secrets and unrest. Naomi, a young woman attempting to hide, and James Roberts, the second son who longs to have a place at home, have a history. As in Keely Keith’s other novels in the saga, the conflicts are gentle but thought-provoking. Underlying currents of more disruption to this 1860-era culture untouched by the increasingly dystopian outside world continue to intrude in this outwardly idyllic society.

Well-done story-telling of a time-caught faith-based culture lost in a shroud of mystical gray-leaf trees whose magical healing powers provide ample reason for invaders to plunder the defenseless colony. Unless the only person ever to successfully land and stay in the Land, former Lt. Connor Bradshaw, can convince the naïve elders danger exists. The people must be proactive to protect themselves from the ruthless, plagued outside world. Several narrators meld their voices of quiet romance amid turmoil in this latest addition to the saga of the Land Uncharted.

About the Author
Keely Brooke Keith writes inspirational frontier-style fiction with a futuristic twist, including The Land Uncharted (Shelf Unbound Notable Romance 2015) and Aboard Providence (2017 INSPY Awards Longlist). Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, Keely was a tree-climbing, baseball-loving 80s kid. She grew up in a family who moved often, which fueled her dreams of faraway lands. When she isn't writing, Keely enjoys teaching home school lessons and playing bass guitar. Keely, her husband, and their daughter live on a hilltop south of Nashville, Tennessee.

Horses and Hearts new from Pam Gossiaux Saving Grace

 

Saving Grace, a Horses and Hearts Inspirational Romance

Pamela Gossiaux
September, 2020
Tri-Cat Publishing
256 pp

Ebook $.99
Print $15.99
Buy on Amazon
Buy on Barnes and Noble

About the Book

When winning is everything, there isn't much room for grace.

For feisty and driven Hannah Whitney, winning is everything. She and her dressage horse Amazing Grace are headed towards the final qualifying competition for the Olympic games, when her trainer suddenly quits. With the competition just ten weeks away, Hannah's dad hires Chase Livingston as the new trainer.

Chase is a Gold Medalist in dressage. After an incident in the show ring one day, he loses his nerve and goes into hiding from the media. He’s reluctant to come out just to train the spoiled, rich daughter of a pharmaceutical tycoon, but the money is good.

Hannah doesn't want to be seen with him, but if she's going to be ready for the competition, he may be her only hope. What she doesn't count on is how attractive he is...

When faced with the question of what is most important in life, can two people with different answers ever find common ground?

My Review

Has-been Olympian Chase gets more than a second chance when he becomes the last hope trainer for needy dressage drama queen Hannah who’s determined to get to the Olympics riding her only friend in life, Amazing Grace.

With a lot to overcome in their personal lives, Chase’s reputation as a loser is the least of their worries when Hannah’s past threatens to throw her off balance. Chase, as well as Hannah’s formerly driven father, have turned their lives over to Christ, received forgiveness, and vow to live better, something twenty-four-year-old Hannah can’t understand or trust. She’s turned inward and encased herself in a hard shell since childhood, and only great compassion will crack it.

Chase and Hannah learn patience leads to good things; forgiveness is even better, and when winning doesn’t have to be the most important thing in life, a lot of good things can finally come home. Told in alternating viewpoints with all the perfect points of a good romance, readers of inspiring stories will enjoy this special romance set on the western shore of Lake Michigan.

About the Author

Pamela Gossiaux is the international bestselling author of the Horses and Hearts Inspirational Romance series, the Russo Romantic Mystery series, the romantic comedy Good Enough, and the inspirational books Why Is There a Lemon in My Fruit Salad? and A Kid at Heart. She is also a keynote speaker, freelance writer, and teaches writing workshops. She lives and writes at her horse farm in Michigan, where she resides with her family and an assortment of pets. Visit her website at www.PamelaGossiaux.com.

Cheryl Colwell and Astoria Rumors

 

Astoria Rumors, Get Eaven series #1
Cheryl Colwell
Suspense

October, 2020
$3.99 ebook, 283 pp

Buy on
Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J7KJ5SH
Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/Astoria-Rumors-Get-Eaven-Book-ebook/dp/B08J7KJ5SH
Amazon AU https://www.amazon.com.au/Astoria-Rumors-Get-Eaven-Book-ebook/dp/B08J7KJ5SH/

About the Book
She's desperate, alone and unprotected. But she will survive.

Homeless, broke, and broken, Eaven Alexander resurrects her career, but with an innovative twist. Her degrees in historical architecture and antiques attract a lucrative but questionable job offer to locate an important document for the mysterious Greg Sault.

The hunt takes her inside a decaying mansion and into conflict with Clayton Mercer, a town heavyweight and Greg’s enemy. Too late, she realizes that something insidious is lurking beneath Astoria’s idyllic façade. And that no one is who they claim to be.

 

Lisa’s Review

Dragging herself out of her rut might have been the most important thing Eaven has done for herself since a devastating accident robbed her of her happiness. Eyes wide shut to the crumbling decay of her comfort zone, she feels hung out to dry after her husband reveals the depth of his own despair. Waking to reality forces Eaven to face unpleasant truths about herself. Coming from high society in Charleston SC, Eaven had run as far northeast as she could to rural Washington State, Eaven decides to reclaim her former professional life as an antiques appraiser. But first she needs to build her stakes. Her first stop down the coast is Astoria, where she meets a mystery man, Greg, and becomes privy to the town’s unnerving history.

Greg hires her to help clean out his grandmother’s house, but his real objective is hidden in the mists of time and allusion. At the same time, one of the last town bigwigs has died, and his relative, Clayton, is looking for help getting an old moldy family mansion inventoried and hopefully ready for sale. Eaven happens to fill that need, and she’s put in a position to be able to double agent, so to speak.

A series of awkward and dangerous events, filled with clues and a curious series of historical flashbacks, flood the book until the conclusion. There’s obviously something nefarious happening in Astoria; that’s never a secret; but how the rest of the citizens, and in particular the visitors like Eaven, act on those events and that history provide an intriguing visit to Astoria. Good details engage the reader.

About the Author

Author of Romantic Suspense, Women's Suspense, Political Suspense

Cheryl Colwell loves to travel. and loves being home with family and friends, authentic conversations, the gifts of faith and writing, and people who are as passionate about life as she is. Each new adventure, whether traveling, listening, or writing a book, reveals things she needs to know. Things she needs to share. Readers will find these adventures and insights on her Journey with Me blog. Visit www.cherylcolwell.com.

Tam May and the Gilded Age

 New from Tam May: Pathfinding Women

Pathfinding Women,

Book 3 in the Waxwood series, a family saga of the Golden Age in San Francisco CA

Tam May

Historical fiction

$3.99 ebook

$12.99 paperback

Buy on Amazon  Barnes and Noble 

Read the interview with Tam here 

About the Book

There are paths in life we have no choice but to follow.

At the close of the nineteenth century, Vivian Alderdice is twenty-six, unmarried, and has no prospective suitors. Now the heiress of the Alderdice fortune, she has yet to fulfill her duty to her family and to society: to marry well and produce heirs.

Her brother’s tragic plight the year before left her and her mother on shaky ground with the San Francisco blue bloods of Nob Hill, and the only way they can re-establish their social position is to win the heart of Monte Leblanc, a wealthy Canadian in search of a wife and looking to become a member of the exclusive Washington Street society.

But a young man on the train tells Vivian things about her grandmother that shake her to the core. Even as she is pursued by the debonair Monte Leblanc, Vivian can’t avoid ghosts from the past who send her on a journey she is reluctant to take.

My review

The third book in the series is my favorite so far. Having fallen into the rhythm of this era and family, I look forward to following Vivian Alderdice learn more about the secrets of her fascinating grandmother. Penelope left a trail almost like breadcrumbs, and after her death waited to see if her clever grandchildren could figure it and not suffer the fate of her gilded cage.

This series is for those who love the era of gentile literature, the Jane Austen and Little Women-type stories of family saga, of noblesse oblige and grasping for status just before the rise of the middle class in America. The Alderdices are a “made” family, only third-generation of wealth and class, to which Vivian’s mother is desperate to cling despite the disappointment of her children’s decisions, and the previous summer and loss of son Jake. The widowed Vivian is set up one summer to marry a man nearly twice her age in order to fulfill her duty and produce Alderdice heirs. Vivian, however, is consumed by the mystery introduced in the first book when her grandmother’s friend Bertha shows up at Penelope’s funeral and suggests there was more to Penelope than her granddaughter knew, or her daughter would admit.

As the summer plays out, Vivian is torn in several directions, searching for clues which involves a former Pinkerton detective, rising women’s suffrage, and a brief appearance of a monster from Vivian’s past. Couched within an eager courtship and the plight of single women striving to be independent, Vivian is at last learning not only who she is, but who she can become.

While these stories are in a series and build upon each other, May deftly weaves a pattern that can be easily picked up at any point. I look forward to the fourth book.

About the Author

Tam May started writing when she was fourteen, and writing became her voice. She loves history and wants readers to love it too, so she writes historical fiction that lives and breathes a world of the past. She fell in love with San Francisco and its rich history when she learned about its resilience and rebirth after the 1906 earthquake and fire during a walking tour. She grew up in the United States and earned a B.A. and M.A in English. She worked as an English college instructor (where she managed to interest a class full of wary freshmen in Henry James' fiction) and EFL teacher (using literature to teach English to business professionals) before she became a full-time writer.

Pathfinding Women and the art of sequels with Tam May

Tam May started writing when she was fourteen, and writing became her voice. She loves history and wants readers to love it too, so she writes historical fiction that lives and breathes a world of the past. She fell in love with San Francisco and its rich history when she learned about its resilience and rebirth after the 1906 earthquake and fire during a walking tour. She grew up in the United States and earned a B.A. and M.A in English. She worked as an English college instructor (where she managed to interest a class full of wary freshmen in Henry James’ fiction) and EFL teacher (using literature to teach English to business professionals)before she became a full-time writer.

Her book Lessons From My Mother’s Life debuted at #1 on Amazon in the Historical Fiction Short Stories category. She is currently working on a Gilded Age family drama titled the Waxwood Series. The first book of the series, The Specter, came out in June 2019, and the second book, False Fathers, was released in December of that year. Book 3, Pathfinding Women is out now, and Book 4 will be released in December 2020.

Tam lives in Texas but calls San Francisco and the Bay Area “home”. When she’s not writing, she’s reading classic literature, watching classic films, cross-stitching, or cooking up yummy vegetarian dishes.

For more information on Tam May and her work, check out her website at www.tammayauthor.com. You can also sign up for her newsletter, which features lots of information on fascinating psychological and social history and subscriber-exclusive sneak peeks, giveaways, and polls. plus a free short story.

Guest Post

When I started publishing books in 2017, I had only a vague idea of what meant to write a series. My first book was a stand-alone short story collection (which I revised and re-released earlier this year as Lessons From My Mother’s Life, which you can find out more about here). After that book came out, I knew I wanted to write a Gilded Age family saga which became the Waxwood Series. I originally planned on writing  a trilogy. However, the series morphed into four books after I realized a prequel short story I had written as an early free gift for my newsletter subscribers needed to be Book 1 of the series. It was the story of “how it all began,” that is, how the protagonist of the series, Vivian Alderdice, begins her journey to uncover the lies, half-truths, and secrets tainting the family through the generations.

Most writers have an “I wish I would have known that before I started” moment, and mine was when I realized a series is not just a collection of books that share similar characters or locations. A series has a beginning, middle, and it has to work like a story. It has to have a climax and resolution and a progression of growth and change in one or more of the characters to satisfy the reader. Even if the books do not tell one cohesive story, they must be linked, and that link has to have causality. Author and writing teacher John Gardener explained it as the difference between “The king died, and then the queen died” and “The king died, and then the queen died of grief.”

I made this discovery after I wrote the second book of the series, False Fathers. That book is about Vivian’s younger brother, Jake, and his coming of age. I originally intended Book 3 to follow the pattern of focusing on different characters who had a connection to the Alderdice family, the family of my series. But after Book 2, I realized the central theme of the series was the way the family members find authenticity and truth after the façade created by the lies and secrets is exposed. The family metaphorically sheds its old skin for a new one.

Given that, I knew Book 3 had to continue that story arc.Book 1 was about Penelope Alderdice, Vivian’s grandmother, “where it all began.” Book 2 was about Jake and his journey. Vivian’s journey kicked off in Book 1, and then stalled in Book 2. So it was a natural progression to bring her back and continue her journey in Book 3, Pathfinding Women.

Pathfinding Women is now available, and you can find out more about the book and get your copy here.

Pathfinding Women (Waxwood Series: Book 3)

Author – Tam May

Publisher – Dreambook Press

Pages – 376

Release Date – 13 September 2020

ISBN 13 – 978-0998338507

Formats – ebook, paperback

Synopsis

There are paths in life we have no choice but to follow.

At the close of the nineteenth century, Vivian Alderdice is twenty-six, unmarried, and has no prospective suitors. Now the heiress of the Alderdice fortune, she has yet to fulfill her duty to her family and to society: to marry well and produce heirs.

Her brother’s tragic plight the year before left her and her mother on shaky ground with the San Francisco bluebloods of Nob Hill, and the only way they can re-establish their social position is to win the heart of Monte Leblanc, a wealthy Canadian in search ofa wife and looking to become a member of the exclusive Washington Street society.

But a young man on the train tells Vivian things about her grandmother that shake her to the core. Even as she is pursued by the debonair Monte Leblanc, Vivian can’t avoid ghosts from the past who send her on a journey she is reluctant to take.

Is there always light at the end of a dark and hellish path?

Author Links:

Website: https://tammayauthor.com/

Blog: https://tammayauthor.com/category/thedreambookblog

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tammayauthor

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/tammayauthor/

Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/tammayauthor/

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16111197.Tam_May

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Tam-May/e/B01N7BQZ9Y/

BookBub Author Page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tam-may