Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Southern romantic charm with Victoria Pitts Caine


Cotton
by Victoria Pitts Caine

Released October, 2018
full length romance 
Ebook $2,99
Print $12.99

Buy on Amazon
 Cotton
About the Book
Running from a life of poverty, 16 year old Cotton Ramsey escapes the Savannah River bottomland to New York. Twenty years later, she has changed her name and runs a large pharmaceutical company, which belonged to the family of her late husband. When Beau Simpson, her first love, arrives to deliver the news of her daddy’s untimely death, the life she struggled to leave behind calls her home.

My review
A little different take on the rags to riches story, Caine has created a fanciful tale with all the thrills of New York glamour. The story begins with a glimpse of the home life of poor share croppers in the rural south. Cotton is one daughter in a very large, struggling family growing, you guessed it, cotton. By the time she steals her opportunity to make a better life for herself, the story switches to decades later and another glimpse of the life she has won.

Alone, widowed, and running a company which we see very little of on her own, we learn that Cotton has cut ties so completely with her southern family that she doesn’t know of their own turnabout story. In fact, her beloved daddy had done well for the family after Cotton left. When she is informed of his mysterious death by none other than a lost love who also escaped into a glitzy world of unseemly wealth, she is ready to return to leave cold New York for her warm southern roots, no matter how welcome or unwelcome her long-lost siblings make her feel. But Cotton is still so uncertain of herself that she’s willing to let a soaring leap of willful misunderstanding drag her into despair. Along the way, Cotton learns how to appreciate the people around her and see life with a fresh outlook.

Told through two points of view, the reader sees both sides of the story through Cotton, and her love interest, Beau. Readers who love Jackie Collins and other writers of rich and famous romantic heroes and heroines will enjoy this story of learning what really matters.

About the Author
Victoria Pitts Caine resides in Fresno, California. Her first passion is her family, followed closely by writing and exotic gem collecting. Victoria is also an award winning author who has published both fiction and nonfiction articles in Seekers, Short Stuff, HI Families, The Front Porch and The Manzanita Literary Journal. She has also received an honorable mention at the William Saroyan Writer's Conference, special recommendation in the Writer's Journal poetry contest and second place in the Writer's Journal 2004 romance contest.


Friday, December 28, 2018

Sweet romance with Zoe McCarthy

41015066


The Putting Green Whisperer
Zoe M McCarthy

White Rose Publishing
September, 2018

Ebook $5.99
Print $15.99
Buy on Amazon 

Suddenly unemployed, petite and peppery Allie Masterson returns home to Cary, North Carolina to caddy for her father on the PGA Seniors Tour. There, she encounters Shoo Leonard.

The easygoing caddy drives Allie insane, but Shoo's uncanny ability to read the contours of the greens and his determination to overcome a personal hand injury, fascinate Allie. She finds herself agreeing use her sport science degree to become his trainer... and then she falls for him.

Shoo Leonard is grateful to Allie for her singular determination to get him ready for the PGA tour, but he isn't ready for anything more. Still raw from a broken engagement and focused on his career, he's content to be her fist-bumping buddy...but then he falls for her. What seems like a happily-ever-after on the horizon takes a turn when Allie decides she's become a distraction to Shoo's career. Is it time for her to step away or can the putting green whisperer find the right words to make her stay?

My review:
McCarthy’s latest novel digs into the lives of professional golfers and their caddies. When teens reunite as adults, sparks fly all over the place, and not all from romance.

Allie has finished college but has a lot of growing up to do. She’s quick to leap to conclusions about her family and her friends, and especially her faith. Shoo Leonard, nicknamed by his friends as a sure contender in the world of professional golf, is a man of deep faith and commitment. He’s watched what professional golf has done to take apart his family, and doesn’t want the same fate.

Allie and Shoo meet again as caddies on the senior golf tour, and learn they have a mutual passion—Allie to help golfers as a trainer, and Shoo to recover from an accident which might prevent him from realizing his dream. But their personal baggage is a lot to stumble over as their friendship develops.

When Allie realizes that so much of the hurt she’s bottled since her mother’s death was based on false assumptions, she has decisions to make. When clueless Shoo is whapped upside the head with the truth about relationships, his own choices challenge his commitment to his career.

I appreciate learning new things. I’m not a golfer, but I am fascinated by certain aspects of the sport and the role it’s played in other books I’ve read. While I also love that the author doesn’t try to complicate the story by adding useless details other golfers understand, I admit that any technicalities were lost on me. That didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy the story—a romance is a romance. I liked the interplay between the characters, the camaraderie and rivalry, and learning that glamour doesn’t always trickle down.
The story is told in alternating voice between the main characters, showing their foibles and miscommunications. Recommended for those who enjoy contemporary clean romances, and especially those who are familiar with golf.


Monday, December 24, 2018

Sunnys Dream with Mary Ball

Sunny's Dream (Celestial Investigation Book 1) Kindle Edition

Sunny’s Dream
Mary L. Ball
Contemporary Christian Romantic Suspense
Forget-Me-Not Romances, December 2017

Kindle: $2.99
Print: $7.47
Buy on Amazon

About the Book
“Sunny’s Dream,” Celestial Investigation, book one.
A Christian romantic suspense based on three sisters. Their P.I. skills come in handy in the quaint town of Mercy, North Carolina, a place where romance and mystery unite.

Sunny Kast spends her week fighting cyber-crime, and dreaming of her prince charming.

When a man walks into Celestial Investigations and introduces himself as Trouble, she’s sure he’s not her prince and positive that he lives up to his name.

After Max Trouble finds an important document, his life gets complicated with the know-it-all P.I. hired to track down its owner.

Sunny and Max’s relationship grows. She’s optimistic that he may be her prince charming, but after her car is sabotaged, and she’s almost killed Max’s chauvinist ideas of a female investigator surface.

Will she see God’s perfect plan, or a not-so-perfect relationship?


Mary, tell us what you love about this book.
This is my first series. I liked creating novellas about three feisty sisters who run an investigating firm. 

Share two things you learned while writing this book.
I learned a lot about poisonings, LOL and requirements needed to be an investigator in NC.

What can you tell us about the series?
It’s a Christian suspense about three sisters in a small town who deal with the same shortcomings all sisters do and ban together to solve crimes.  

What do you hope readers will tell others when they've finished the book?
That they enjoyed the series.         

What are you reading now?
Lessons from David- How to be a Giant Killer by Andrew Wommack. I have a whole shelf of fiction TBR’s I need to tackle.

About the Author
Mary L. Ball is a multi-published Christian author. She lives in North Carolina and enjoys fishing,
reading, and ministering in song with her hubby at functions. Her books are about small-town romance, suspense, and mystery, influenced by the grace of Jesus Christ.  
   
Readers can check out her titles at: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-L-Ball/e/B007O97Y0E
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Friday, December 21, 2018

Rose Colored Christmas with Mary Ball

Rose Colored Christmas Kindle Edition


Rose Colored Christmas
Mary L. Ball
Christian novelette, 107 pp
Contemporary romance
Forget-Me-Not Romances, August 2018

About the Book
Young widow Emilee Arnold enjoys her freelance web design, teaching Sunday school Christmas. She’s content until she rescues a pilot from a burning plane and is snowed in with her very own scrooge. 

Gabe King specializes in flying corporate groups. He claims to be an easy-going guy, until Emilee challenges his lifestyle and his heart.

Emilee can’t stop her attraction to Gabe but his dislike for Christmas is the one thing she can’t get passed.

Can Emilee help to make her very own Christmas miracle? 

Kindle: $2.99
Print: $5.97
Buy on Amazon   

Mary, tell us what you love about this book.
I enjoyed plotting the story around Christmas and bringing Gabe back to a place where he can enjoy holidays’ again.
      
Do you prefer novellas to full-length works or vice versa? Why?
Novellas. Life is busy, I just don’t have time to read a 300 page novel. I guess my passion for reading shorter works rubbed off into my writing, I like creating novellas too.
    
What was the easiest aspect of telling this story?
Christmas makes us excited for new possibilities. I enjoyed Emilee’s expectations for the holidays.
    
What did you learn during your research?
A lot about private planes. J
   
What's your favorite Christmas tradition in your family?
I enjoy watching movies where families have a tradition. Our family never had one. Each year seems to present a unique situation, which requires adjustments for us to get together, it’s been hard to carry any customs over to the next year.
  
About the Author
Mary L. Ball is a multi-published Christian author. She lives in North Carolina and enjoys fishing, reading, and ministering in song with her hubby at functions. Her books are about small-town romance, suspense, and mystery, influenced by the grace of Jesus Christ.    
  
Readers can check out her titles at: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-L-Ball/e/B007O97Y0E
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Wednesday, December 19, 2018

One day book shopping spree!


ONE DAY ONLY!

One day special promotion of Holiday Books for that last-minute shopping. Even E-books can be great stocking-stuffers! Visit http://robinsnest212.wordpress.com 
TODAY Wednesday December 19 
for a browsing experience of only the best in clean holiday fiction.

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Forgetting the Scot New from Jennifer Trethewey

Forgetting the Scot (The Highlanders of Balforss Book 3) Kindle Edition

Forgetting the Scot
The Highlanders of Balforss Book 3
Jennifer Trethewey
Historical Romance, serial

Entangled
released October 22, 2018

$3.99 eBook

Buy on Amazon 

About the Book:
Virginia Whitebridge is trapped in a loveless, abusive marriage. The law says her husband can have whatever he wants from her—so he's taken her inheritance. And he tried to kill her. After a close escape, Virginia feels protected for the first time in forever, thanks to the Scottish Highlands and the Highlander Magnus Sinclair. But she must go back to England, regardless of the danger, to reclaim what's hers. Even if it means leaving her heart in Scotland.

It's just Magnus's luck that he's fallen for a woman he can't have. Virginia is rich and titled... and English. To keep her safe, he must follow her to the one place he loathes—England. Where the bowing, preening London Society has a secret language of manners unknown to him. Where he is too large, too uncivilized, too everything.

Despite omens that death awaits him there, Magnus vows to help Virginia go to London and restore her fortune. Get in. Get out. Or die trying.

My review:
The Sinclair clan Highland Scots save a pirate crew’s captured women, one of them Declan Sinclair’s bride. Another Sinclair is about to fall. Magnus, a cousin raised in part by clan patriarch, Laird John, respects his uncle, but when Magnus, the least tamed of the Sinclairs, does more than make passes at a lass in glasses, even Laird John can’t talk sense or manners into his nephew. Especially since the lass is so inviting.

In the most bawdy tale in the series, Magnus and Virginia, the much-abused wife of a truly evil English viscount and who has no support from her greedy father and equally despicable aunt, find true lust and impossible love. Magnus might have trouble keeping his kilt in check, but his heart and sense of nobility are truly in the right place as he vows to do anything, even disobeying his uncle, to ensure his soulmate’s safety and her heart’s desire to benefit the needy.

I enjoyed returning to this unruly but talented and dedicated clan with their high dreams, camaraderie and work ethic. A few loose ends with story elements introduced then left drifting kept me noodling over them after I’d finished the book. I don’t want to give anything away by mentioning them, and perhaps most readers won’t be bothered. Told from Magnus’s and Virginia’s perspectives, this highland adventure is full of chases, fellowship, angst, and charm. It also includes pretty hot sensuality which is a little different from the first two books.

About the Author:

Jennifer TretheweyHi, I'm Jennifer Trethewey and I write about men in kilts because, hey, what's not to love about a man in a kilt? I was lucky enough to travel to Scotland twice. I'm planning a third trip next year. I have fallen in love with the Highlands and all things Scottish: the people, their language, cuisine, customs, idioms, humor, history, intense sense of pride, and, most of all, the land--the perfect setting for sweeping romantic tales of love, strife, and glory. As they say, Scotland is pure dead brilliant! 

As for more personal stuff, I'm an actress, former co-artistic director of a professional theater company, and my husband and I operate an improv comedy club. I live with my comedian husband in the Midwest where I've been ever since college. 

I write both contemporary and historical fiction full time. I like to read romance, mystery, fantasy, and paranormal, as well as literary fiction and non-fiction. As you can imagine, I'm a big fan of Outlander and Herself. I adore traveling to new places (but I hate flying). I love movies and music and dogs and good wine and I love to enjoy them all with my friends.