Forgetting the Scot New from Jennifer Trethewey

Forgetting the Scot

The Highlanders of Balforss Book 3

Jennifer Trethewey

Historical Romance, serial

Entangled

released October 22, 2018

$3.99 eBook

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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:

Hi, 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.

Keely Brooke Keith Uncharted Journey

Uncharted Journey

Book 6 in the Uncharted Land series

Keely Brooke Keith

Romantic sci fi fiction

Edenbrooke Press

released November 9, 2018

$12.99 print

$3.99 eBook

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About the Book

Eva and Solo find love at The Inn at Falls Creek, while Bailey’s quest to reach the Land costs her everything.

Young widow Eva Vestal assumes loneliness is God’s permanent plan for her life. She keeps busy by raising her son and co-managing the Inn at Falls Creek with her elderly father, but her heart yearns for more.

Solomon “Solo” Cotter has spent his life working with horses, but he secretly wants to write a book of the children’s stories his grandfather told him as a boy. He barters with Eva’s father for a 40-night stay at the inn, a needed respite from work to get his stories on paper.

Once Eva discovers the barter, she believes Solo is taking advantage of her father’s failing memory. But when tragedy strikes and Solo works hard to save the inn, Eva sees his true nature. As her heart stirs with feelings for Solo, she wrestles with the guilt of loving someone new.

Meanwhile, outside the Land...

Bailey Colburn arrives at the coordinates of the Land on the autumn equinox and finds nothing but ocean. The sun sets, ending Bailey’s dream of a safe and simple life with the family she’s never known. Just when she decides Justin Mercer lied about visiting a hidden land in the South Atlantic Ocean and meeting Bailey’s distant relatives, the atmosphere around the boat changes and ushers her into an uncharted world, but her entrance into the Land comes at a devastating price.

Uncharted Journey weaves past and future in this inspirational story of life in a hidden land. There is always room for you at the Colburns’ house in the quaint village of Good Springs. Join the Colburn family as they discover their purpose, find love, and protect the Land. Read Uncharted Journey today.

My review

Uncharted Journey picks up the thread of post-apocalyptic Earth and one young woman’s desperation to find her roots and escape a violent and hopeless life. Trouble is…the family she seeks disappeared two hundred years ago and the only evidence is from a crazy man asking her to catalog a plant that can’t exist. Even worse…Bailey discovers this plant has properties worth killing for.

Bailey convinces her former professor to connect with his nephew who runs a charter boat service. The crazy man’s directions are even loonier—to find this place where the impossible plant exists is to head way south and wait on only one day of the year, the fall equinox, when this island appears like Brigadoon. Imagine her surprise when it works.

Arrival is a shock to both Bailey’s crewmates and the security team of Good Springs, who include a former pilot who had arrived at the Uncharted Land some years earlier and made it his home. One of the initial security party members is a young man in training named Revel who is new to the area.

The parallel Land story is that of Revel’s widowed sister, Eva, who is left as the oldest daughter to run the family business in a society whose traditions over seven generations decrees the son follow his father’s trade. In Revel and Eva’s case, that’s the Inn, a business out in the middle of nowhere, in which Revel has no interest, but a long-term guest, Solomon, discovers he’d rather be nowhere else. Eva has a way to go before she can corral her fears for her ailing family members, their livelihood which affects her ability to raise her young son, and her lonely heart.

It’s a brave new era in the Land Uncharted, when young people are breaking out of the customs of mid-nineteenth-century-era American colonialism and finding their own way. Women can become doctors, run businesses, even wear pants, and sons are choosing their own careers.

 

About the Author

Keely Brooke Keith writes inspirational frontier-style fiction with a slight Sci-Fi 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.

Carol James Christmas novella Marys Christmas Surprise

Mary’s Christmas Surprise

Carol James

White Rose Publishing, a division of Pelican Ventures LLC

Holiday Christmas Extravaganza romantic novella

December 1, 2018

$2.99 ebook

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About the Book:

Mary Sherman’s Christmas is nothing like she’s planned. Her fiancé has called off the engagement just days before Christmas, and her parents have gone on an anniversary cruise around the world.

Suddenly alone for the holidays, Mary returns to the comfort of her childhood home to spend Christmas in her parents’ empty house.

There’s only one problem. The house is not empty. Unbeknownst to Mary, her parents have taken in a boarder, a handsome carpenter named Jake Wolesky.

​Mary’s Christmas surprise may make this the best holiday ever.

My review:

Carol James’s sweet holiday novella is a great bite-size escape from the busyness of the season. Take an hour or so to read the adventures of a young professional man and woman who meet by accident while on leave from their personal traumas.

Mary has spent years waiting for other people to make decisions that impact her future lifestyle and career. Joseph, aka Jake, needs a break from his mother’s bitterness in watching her ideal of a perfect family collapse around her. Jake and Mary meet accidentally when Mary calls the police on an intruder in her parent’s home, which she expected to be empty when she unexpectedly goes home to lick her wounds in private.

It’s a good thing the two grown single adults are on the same page regarding morals and high ground, and decide to refrain from sleeping in the same house. It also doesn’t take long for misconceptions, mayhem, and mistletoe to work its magic.

About the Author:

Carol James 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.

Having always loved intriguing stories with happy endings, she was moved to begin writing to encourage others as she'd been encouraged by the works of other authors of inspirational fiction.

Retired from her "real" job, she enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and grandchildren, traveling with friends, volunteering at and serving on the board of a nearby Christian school, and serving in the production department at her church. 

She is also a soccer fan extraordinaire and keeps her DVR busy recording Atlanta United and English Premier League games. 

And, most days in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning, she can be found bringing her newest novel to life. https://www.carol-james.com

Lillian Duncan I LOVE CHRISTMAS 12 days giveaway

It's Holiday Extravaganza Week

Welcome Lillian Duncan!

*******

I Love Christmas!

I love Christmas!

At my house, we clear off the enclosed porch and put up Christmas trees and other decorations. We’ve had as many as 14, but never fewer than 8 or 9. It’s a lot of work but it’s also a lot of fun.

I love Christmas!

Which is probably why I have published several Christmas novels. It’s so much fun to come up with a plot that involves romance, suspense, and Christmas along with a Christmas message. This year, I got really inspired and actually have two new Christmas stories available—A Rock & Roll Christmas and A Christmas Stolen.

A Rock & Roll Christmas features a rock & roll star, of course. Someone wants megastar, Johnny Rocker, dead. It’s Maddie Cotton’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen. Even under Maddie’s protection the threats continue. As Christmas approaches the danger escalates. This was a really fun story to write.

On a more serious note, A Christmas Stolen is about a newborn baby that’s abducted and the search to find the baby. But don’t worry too much—I believe in happy endings, especially at Christmas!

Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway!

To celebrate Christmas, I’m having A Twelve Days of Christmas celebration on my blog, Tiaras & Tennis Shoes at www.lillian-duncan.com. On 12 different days during December, I’ll be giving away a gift. Leave a comment for each day to win that day’s gift as well as be entered for the grand prize. If you leave a comment each day, that gives you 12 entries for the grand prize!

Grand prize will be a $25 Amazon gift card plus your choice of one of my e-books! So hop on over to www.lillian-duncan.com for your chance to win.

A Christmas Stolen 

Christmas is the best time of the year until evil comes knocking.

Danica Jordan's is looking forward to her first Christmas with her newborn niece, but when she arrives home, she finds an open door and an empty crib. Searching the house, she discovers her sister asleep in her room. Panic sets in when the two sisters realize Baby Angelica’s been abducted. 

With the baby abducted, Christmas stolen, and an investigation in full swing, Danica comes face to face with the two men who ruined her life. 

This Christmas could be ruined, or Danica could realize that Christmas isn’t a thing but a symbol of God’s love that can never be stolen—no matter the circumstances.

Review by Lisa Lickel:

Lilian Duncan’s contemporary Christmas romance showcases the best and worst of people. Forgiveness has been long withheld between Danica Jordan and her high school love, Connor McDonald. When Danica returns to her Ohio hometown years after a graduation night fiasco, she finds life has gone on without her, and shockingly for the very-much better. She’s come home reluctantly from Florida to meet her miracle niece, only to find her sister Leah and darling Angelica have been victimized.

Worse yet, in her nightmare reality, all the bad guys from high school have turned into super knights in shining armor—bearing the armor of God. And she thought she’d left all that behind her.

On a personal hunt to help her sister, Danica realizes she’s not the only one who’s been fleeing from her past. While she’s run physically across the county, Connor has stayed to work out his own demons. When the two of them unite to help Leah and her family, old sparks are reignited…but for the best? Or worst?

Bad guys, babies, and Santas make this Christmas the most memorable miraculous Christmas ever for the Jordan sisters. Readers of bite-size inspirational holiday romance will adore this tale of true love, faithfully changed lives, and forgiveness.

$3.99

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A Rock & Roll Christmas

Someone wants mega rock & roll star, Johnny Rocker, dead. It’s Maddie Cotton’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Johnny Rocker believes he’s doesn’t need anyone or anything—especially God because after all he is a rock & roll god. When the floor beneath his feet crumbles—literally—he hurtles toward a different truth.

Since the death of Maddie Cotton’s family, she’s run from life and love. With God’s help, she’s ready to step out of her comfort zone and into a different life. But when her boss asks—no begs—her to take on one last job, she finds it hard to refuse.

Even under Maddie’s protection the threats continue. As Christmas approaches the danger escalates—someone doesn’t want Johnny Rocker to celebrate A Rock & Roll Christmas.

$2.99

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About Lil

Lillian Duncan…turning faith into fiction.

Even though her books cross genres, they have one thing in common, faith-based stories that show God’s love and lots of action. OK—that’s two things. She believes in the power of words to change lives, especially God’s Word.

Near future good scary read with Victoria Buck

Wake the Dead

Victoria Buck

Near future inspirational science fiction

Series: Killswitch, and Transfusion

July 2014, Pelican Book Group

Ebook $.99

Print $16.99

Amazon 

About the Book

What if the first man reborn of an evolutionary leap doesn't like his new life? Is escape even possible? The time is right for introducing the world to the marvels of techno-medical advancements. An influential man, one loved and adored, is needed for the job, and who better than celebrity Chase Sterling? After suffering injuries no one could survive Chase is rebuilt like no one has ever seen before. In the not-too-distant future a man—if he can still be called a man—breaks away from the forces taking over his life and finds new purpose in the secret world of hiding believers.

My Review

Let me begin by saying that I bought the sequel when I finished reading this book. Although you can read Wake the Dead as a complete story, be prepared to want to carry on. The book opened like a terrible nightmare. I’m not a fan of reality shows, but I can’t ignore the hype that surrounds them, and when it’s no longer a secret in the near future that a quasi-government has taken control of life as we know it, I am draw reluctantly but compellingly in. Scary.

A TV star and his brilliant but cheeky assistant go too far while researching the next astounding giveaway for a reality game show which promises to “Change Your Life.” In a new era when expectations are lower than they’ve ever been, the only way ordinary citizens can achieve is through a lottery of sorts, a game played with their lives, upon which they must, in turn, serve Big Brother.

Chase, however, has a secret weapon he’s not even aware of…until he dies in spectacular technicolor. A victim of his own research into providing a profound medical breakthrough for his contestants, he slowly wakes up to reality and the truth of his own world. He’s given real choices for the first time in his life. His decision-making journey is what creates the thrilling last quarter of the story of a dystopian society crying for recognition. Chase has the power to truly help the world “Change” if only he’ll risk enough.

Told through the eyes of the main character, Wake the Dead is a novel well written and researched, and frighteningly plausible.

About the Author

Victoria Buck is a native Floridian running a small business with her husband, who teaches her everything she needs to know about both melodrama and comic relief. Wake the Dead is her debut novel. Killswitch is the follow-up to book one. Transfusion is the last book in the trilogy about the world's first transhuman. Now, on to other stories! If you like the futuristic stuff, there's a little steampunkish novelette called Gears available on Kindle. Victoria is currently working on two present-day novels. No transhumans or insurrections. Of course, there has to be a bit of a weird twist!

Historical Romance in Seattle with Christine Lindsay

Sofi’s Bridge

Christine Lindsay

Pelican Ventures

c. 2015

ISBN 978-1611165203

Historical Romance

Ebook $4.99

Print $15.99

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About the Book

Seattle debutant Sofi Andersson will do everything in her power to protect her sister who is suffering from shock over their father's death. Charles, the family busy-body, threatens to lock Trina in a sanatorium—a whitewashed term for an insane asylum—so Sofi will rescue her little sister, even if it means running away to the Cascade Mountains with only the new gardener Neil Macpherson to protect them. But in a cabin high in the Cascades, Sofi begins to recognize that the handsome immigrant from Ireland harbors secrets of his own. Can she trust this man whose gentle manner brings such peace to her traumatized sister and such tumult to her own emotions? And can Neil, the gardener continue to hide from Sofi that he is really Dr. Neil Galloway, a man wanted for murder by the British police? Only an act of faith and love will bridge the distance that separates lies from truth and safety.

My Review

First and second generation Americans with secrets help each other move beyond their stereotypes to protect the ones they love. One succeeds and the other watches another member of the family lose the battle.

Sofi Andersson, born of Swedish immigrant parents, has never suffered until the day her beloved papa didn’t come home, and her younger sister became so traumatized she can no longer function. Her mother Roselle is held up only with destructive advice from her physician and late husband’s business partner, who Sofi has long mistrusted. When threatened with institutionalization, Sofi kidnaps her sister with the reluctant help of their newly hired Irish gardener, Neil Galloway, who is not what he appears.

Sofi knows what she’s doing, running back to her late grandfather’s homestead and the friends and family who knew and loved him. Her father had certainly been a modern turn-of-the twentieth-century man who instilled independence in his daughters, encouraging them in daring to cross gender roles in architecture, math, and engineering skills. But he failed to surround them with the support they needed, and Sofi did right to leave Seattle high society and its rules to hunker down amongst her grandfather’s unconventional partners and family. It doesn’t hurt that this hiding place is also near her bridge-building late father’s last project. Sofi, at twenty-one, has absorbed all the skills necessary to build a railroad bridge, and when she realizes her father’s unscrupulous partner has changed her specs, she’ll move heaven and earth to save his reputation.

Meanwhile, Sofi is distracted by her new partner in crime, the Irish gardener Neil, who out of necessity confesses his true vocation and eventually the reason for his subterfuge. Their relationship grows over the summer, but as events come to a head, realize reputation is always trumped by faith, hope, and love.

About the Author

Irish born Christine Lindsay is the author of multi-award-winning Christian fiction and non-fiction. Readers describe her writing as gritty yet tender, realistic yet larger than life, with historical detail that collides into the heart of psychological and relationship drama.

This author’s non-fiction memoir Finding Sarah Finding Me is the true-life story that started this award-winning career in Christian fiction and non-fiction. This book is a must for anyone whose life has been touched by adoption. Christine is currently writing a new fictional series set on the majestic coast of Ireland and loaded with her use of setting as a character that will sweep the reader away. Subscribe to her newsletter on her website www.christinelindsay.org.

New Bible study from Larry Vaughn

A Crash Course in the Bible

By Larry Vaughn

Nonfiction Bible Study

89 pp.

Released May, 2018 from Bible Believers Publishing

$2.99 ebook

$6.99 Print

Buy on Amazon

See this post for other details.

About the book:

God is the author of the Bible as well as the author of life. He reveals his heart and his mind through his words. And when you read his words, you get to know him. A Crash Course in the Bible contains approximately two hundred Bible verses. And these Scriptures will teach you what God wants you to know.

“God so loved the world that he gave . . . .” That’s the essence of God. He’s a giver. That’s who he is and what he does. He loves us so much that he gave us his only begotten Son. And through him, God gives us everything that we need.

He gives us hope and joy and peace. He gives us the desires of our hearts. He gives us eternal life and many other precious gifts. A Crash Course in the Bible describes thirty-eight gifts that God has provided for you. And it tells you how to receive them.

My review:

Larry Vaughn, author the The Bible Believer’s Handbook, has released another little gem in A Crash Course in the Bible. In this tidy little book, Vaughn plucks lessons from everyday life, from children to faith to recompense to salvation and wisdom, and shows how the Word of God teaches God’s ways to humankind.

Opening with an introduction on how times have changed since the Pilgrims first sought America, Vaughn urges us to return to those spiritual roots, and ends with “Twelve things” every believer should know; again, the basics from what faith and redemption are to how to achieve that state of grace and what we should do about it through our newly opened conscience and confidence.

Readers of nonfiction Biblical works will find peace and comfort in these verses, as well as a good way to quantify your faith to share it in a meaningful and understandable way with others.

  

Two questions with Larry:

What do you want readers to know about your latest book, Larry?

I wanted to make the Bible easy to access and easy to understand. And to show how great God is and how generous he is to us.

What do you hope readers will take from this book?

The readers of my book will know what the Bible says. And they will understand what that means to them.

About the author:

Larry Vaughn has been married to his best friend Marie for fifty-one years. They have three daughters, eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. And they live just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Web: http://larryvaughnauthor.blogspot.com and http://Biblebelieverspublishing.com

Emily Conrad and Justice

Justice by Emily Conrad

Christian romance

Pelican Ventures

March 2018

Ebook $4.99

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About the Book

Jake thought he was meant to marry Brooklyn, but now she's pregnant, and he had nothing to do with it. As Brooklyn wrestles with questions about what her pregnancy means and how it will affect her relationship with Jake, she can't bring herself to tell him the truth. To make matters worse, if the man who owns the bookstore across from Jake's coffee shop has anything to do with it, the baby will ruin them both. Can Jake and Brooklyn overcome the obstacles thrown in their path, and finally find the truth in God's love and in each other?

My review

At the core, this story’s title is the one-word bare truth of each character’s reality. Revenge, payback, responsibility, love, forgiveness, and loss all expose the depth of faith and steer the course toward Justice.

Friends from childhood, Jake and Brooklyn can’t seem to figure out what being in love with each other might look like. Their buddies and parents all expected them to marry long since, but Jake and Brooklyn explore relationships with others while they learn to navigate the scary world of responsible adulthood. When the time is finally right for them to move toward each other, crisis inflamed with outside jealousy steps between them. It takes ever-maturing belief to weather the storms, and a lot of help from their friends in an attempt to step back and find the bigger picture.

Jake is a driven young man, full of life and faith, overcoming the devastating death of his father and rising above to operate a popular business while making a difference, or trying to, in the lives of young people at church. Jake tries to follow in the footsteps of his bigger-than-life father, as well as fight the good fight of faith and hormones in the teenagers he wants to influence. He just can’t seem to work up the courage to show his longtime female buddy how he feels. Brooklyn is a naïve young woman who tortures herself by living in the shadow of her dysfunctional and cruel mother. She tries to convince herself that she’s not good enough for anyone, especially God, but has the sense to reach out to a wonderful group of women role models and finally, the person she’s leaned on for most of her life, Jake. When everything goes south, it’s grow up or shut up time. Jake falls back on his deep-seated anger while Brooklyn begins to understand the meaning and sacrifice of forgiveness. Watching their journeys crisscross and wander is a delight. Well-done.

Most of the side stories are woven beautifully into the thread of the story; the biggest one, that of the business competitor, feels a little like a shiny thread that is rough against the grain. While it’s more realistic to be on the side of the victim and not truly understand the hows of the vengeance-seeking little demagogue, I am left feeling a little puzzled. It’s like the scratchy tag on the inside of your shirt. Jake has some growing-up to do, and his business rival helps him learn, on a lesser scale, the lesson in forgiveness that Brooklyn is teaching him through her own faith expedition.

Told through multiple viewpoints, this debut novel is rich in Christian faith portrayal, and not shy about the depth and realities of sin. The characters have great dialog and emotional depth which spoke to me. Those who read deeply inspirational romantic fiction will find much to love about Justice.

About the Author

Emily Conrad writes Christian fiction. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and two 60+ pound rescue dogs. Some of her favorite things (other than Jesus and writing, of course) are coffee, walks, and road trips to the mountains. She also blogs and offers free short stories at EmilyConradAuthor.com.

Regency Romance by Susan Baganz

Lord Phillip’s Folly

Susan M Baganz

Christian Regency

November 2017

Pelican Ventures

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Ebook $5.99

About the Book:

No good deed goes unpunished. Lord Phillip Westcombe is a younger son and sufficiently independent. He has no need upset his tidy life with the messiness of love, but when he comes to the rescue of the lovely Lady Elizabeth Follett, and the two are found in a compromising position, his life takes an unexpected turn. Barely knowing each other, they are forced to wed. Embarking on a new life they must learn to trust God as they face an evil which threatens their lives and the security of the British Empire. Will the minions of the Black Diamond--the bounder who owns the soul of Elizabeth's father--succeed in their evil plans? Will Phillip and Elizabeth's new love and faith survive the test that awaits them? Or will they all fall to the Black Diamond?

My Review:

The undercurrents of Regency England are fraught with a plot to aid the enemy, and forces of evil influence the vulnerable. As the second son of an earl, Phillip’s older brother has the title and privileges thereof all wrapped up. Phillip will not inherit a title or much responsibility and earns a reputation as a reckless young buck in Regency England. When he does inherit a small country estate and turns his life around, his parents don’t believe he could change and set their hearts and minds to bear him from a distance. When he makes another reckless decision during his sister’s coming out ball and rescues a fair damsel in distress, he further inherits a boatload of trouble.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of plots with its twists of creepiness. A young lord who turns his life around takes responsibility for a young lady who’s been victimized for most of her life. As devastating as Elizabeth’s life has been, she is in possession of a fine spirit and courage to beg rescue from a handsome stranger. I would think a woman who’s been through the terror hinted at might be more leery of strange men and wifely duties, but this young couple’s growing faith and mutual love for each other was clearly portrayed.

Sir Phillip’s Folly is another fine addition to the wily Black Diamond series. Characters intertwine and add to each other’s stories, but each book stands as a story on its own. Recommended for those who enjoy inspirational Regency romances. Told in multiple viewpoints with flair and drama and good period accuracy.

About the Author:

Susan M. Baganz chases after three Hobbits and is a native of Wisconsin. She is an Acquisitions Editor with Pelican Ventures LLC specializing in bringing great romance novels and novellas to publication. Susan writes adventurous historical and contemporary romances with a biblical world-view. Website: www.susanbaganz.com

Sci Fi Soap Opera MM Perry

Mission's End series, book 1: The 13
$3.99
buy books 1 & 2 $6.99
c. April 2017

Buy on Amazon

About the Book

After an epic 700 year journey, the 13 ships of the colonial fleet are nearing their new home. One of them isn't going to make it.

While everyone around her celebrates the end of their generations-long mission, Naomi frets. She knows a disturbing secret few are privy to. One of the ships in the fleet has gone dark. No one knows why.

Mike is an obedient soldier, but if his commanders knew the doubts he was harboring, he'd be the next one spaced. When he accompanies Naomi to the fleet's silent ship, his worst fears are confirmed. Naomi's life is in danger and he's the only one who can save her.

As they uncover the mystery of the unresponsive ship, they soon realize there's only one way they'll make it to Mission's End. One ship must fall. Mike and Naomi will do whatever it takes to make sure that ship isn't theirs.

My Review

Well thought-out science fiction soap opera, ala Future Shock, The Giver, and many other sagas of humanity in search of a new home. We don’t know why these people are sent off or what happened to Earth, but the fact that some 10-15,000 humans on thirteen generational ships know Earth and its customs makes for good connections without the author having to teach us too many new and strange things.

Perry has created a cast of memorable and well-fleshed characters. From floor waxers to different class engineers to genetically enhanced caretakers, societal structure is strict protocol on the ships. How else are thousands of people going to hold together for a 700-year journey?

But the truth of the matter is…not very well. One ship, the Magellan, the ship of this tale and its main characters, has maintained a very happy but restricted standard of living to keep its infertile placeholder humans pleasantly occupied during these last years before landing on a chosen planet. Everything during these many generations has been pre-programmed, from expected death and repopulation rate, to food, oxygen, medical needs, work and play, education and nurture. Redundant society has been programmed into three levels which don’t interact: command, general population, and military. All three are necessary for the survival and establishment of a new planet-bound colony. But things don’t go as merrily on other ships, which experience catastrophic accidents and/or mutinies.

Things really aren’t what they seem, especially when two ships join forces. I found the story exciting and page-turning. I love science fiction and appreciate enough detail to make a journey believable without getting stranded in too much tech talk. I did wonder at why so many people were necessary to “live” during the many, many generations it took to travel to the new world, when their real job was to build the new world and care for and nurture the first generation of fertile embryos when they reached mission’s end. The author chose to head-hop throughout which led to some confusion upon occasion about who was talking, though most of the story is told through a female engineer, Naomi Tesla. I thought her society was interesting, especially when seen through the eyes of others. It’s a lengthy saga, and you’ll want chunks of time to spend in Perry’s world when you pick up this book. I had to get the second one too.

About the Author

M.M. Perry has published ten books. By day, she is an expert cat and dog wrangler, a nacho connoisseur, and writer of fantasy, science fiction and horror. By night… she does the same things. She is hard at work editing her next novel. She’s equally busy teaching her pug to sing along to the Muppets. She is known for saying, “No task involving a pug is impossible, just highly improbable.”

Read more about M.M. Perry at authormmperry.com

Reviewed for VoraciousReadersOnly.com

New Young Adult from Susan Miura

Healer by Susan Miura

Young Adult Christian paranormal

Releasing January 31, 2018

330 pp

Print $16.99

Ebook a42.99

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Publisher, Vinspire Publishing

Read my review below.

About the Book:

Hovering just below the surface of Shilo Giannelli’s average existence lays an amazing spiritual power. Late one night, her world erupts with the revelation that, like her great-grandmother, she has The Gift. But the power to heal isn’t something she can share with the soccer team, her genius little sister, or her boyfriend, Kenji. Definitely not Kenji.

Deep beneath Misty Morning’s tough façade is a lifetime of abandonment, foster homes and broken dreams. When her two-year-old son is abused by her boyfriend, her fragile world shatters…until Shilo prays for Tyler, and he is healed, leaving Misty grateful but incredibly curious.

Shilo can’t give Misty the answers she needs; she only knows she has a God-given destiny, and despite facing strained relationships, impossible decisions, and the threat of being hounded day and night for her abilities, she will fulfill it.

The journey Misty and Shilo take together unites them as friends but invites danger into their lives. And it will take a miracle for these unlikely friends to elude a gang bent on revenge, keep The Gift a secret, trust God in extraordinary circumstances, and hold on to the people they love.

Susan, what do you love about this book?

The growth in the characters, the unlikely friendship that blooms between Shilo and Misty, the romance between Shilo and Kenji, the relationship between Shilo and her little sister, and Shilo’s determination to use the amazing gift God gave her despite the challenges and heartache inherent in doing so. 

Introduce us to your quirkiest character.

That would be Julia, Shilo’s little sister. She’s a genius and vegetarian who loves astronomy and geology. She does not have an athletic bone in her body, unlike Shilo. In short, she’s everything Shilo isn’t, and even though she drives Shilo crazy, they have a very close bond. Julia provides a little comic relief from time to time.

~I agree--I loved her, too!

Share two things you learned either about the era/genre or about publishing while writing this book.

Regarding the genre, you really have to make yourself go back in time and remember the thoughts and feelings you had as a teen, while keeping the setting and social scene current. As for publishing, the actual writing part is only half of what it takes to be a published author. At least, it feels that way to me. Marketing makes up the rest. It would be great to just write and not promote, but that would be a career killer.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on Healer Book 2, though I don’t know yet if that’s definitely happening.  I’m also writing my first young adult sci/fi and trying to get a contract for a women’s fiction manuscript that has always been special to me. It’s about a woman who accidentally kills her best friend’s five-year-old daughter, so it starts out with a pretty hard tug on the reader’s heart.

How do you overcome your biggest challenge to publication?

Prayer and walking is my way of overcoming any challenge. I’m also blessed with a great support system of family and friends. If I’m having a tough time with something, I take it to Jesus first, usually while I’m walking by the lake. I figure, if he can make a way for sinners to get into Heaven, he can help resolve my little challenges. Then I move on to people with skin. 

My review:

A young lady on the verge of adulthood is thrust into a lifestyle of secrets at a vulnerable time. Just when she can see an inviting future filled with college, music, faith, and especially a wonderful, almost too-good-to-be-true boyfriend, Kenji, Shilo learns of a fearsome and awe-inspiring family secret that’s been passed down through the generations. Under dire warning from her mother, Shilo must never, ever tell anyone. But it’s a secret Shilo can’t hide.

Sixteen, ready for the best summer of her life, Shilo experiences her second use of a God-given Gift when she accidentally heals a child. She learns early on, though, that the Gift cannot be taken lightly or for granted. Despite her mother’s warnings of becoming a media frenzy or even delusional with power, Shilo is put in an uncompromising position when her boyfriend’s life is at stake. Under the influence of enormous family stress, Shilo has pushed Kenji away, something that’s tearing her apart. Their reunion and subsequent revelations may not result in all that she or her family wish, but the words and actions cannot be undone.

Miura’s story is a nicely shaped and paced young adult story that’s well defined. The real angst of teenagers and tweens is lovingly created with a cast of characters that will leave a mark on the reader. Told through multiple first-person viewpoints, Shilo’s appeal as a young lady in love, mature, yet vulnerable, is a great story to share with young people. This is a lengthy book for young adult, so although I recommend for seventh grade and up, younger readers should be good readers. Younger readers should have parental supervision regarding some mature situations (teenage pregnancy, abuse, drug running, some violence, and serious injury).

The theme of obedience running through the story, speaking to trust, conscience, responsibility, obedience to authority figures such as teachers and pastor, parents, and especially to faith in God and acting on that faith, is wonderfully illustrated.

Historical detective mystery from Sabrina Flynn

From the Ashes

Sabrina Flynn

c. 2014

A Ravenwood Mystery, book 1 of a 3-book series

Historical detective, California history, 1900

$4.99 eBook

$15.00 Print

Buy on Amazon 

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About the Book:

Atticus Riot took a bullet to his head the day his partner was killed. Three years later, Riot returns to San Francisco to put his ghosts to rest, but the abduction of an heiress snags his attention. Two ransom demands are delivered, and the husband of the abducted Isobel Kingston is hiding the truth. 

The clock is ticking. Can Riot find Mrs Kingston in time, or will she become one more regret among many? 

My Review:

I have to admit I always pick up review requests for self-published books with a jaundiced eye but I was more than pleasantly surprised by Flynn’s book. I was enthralled and wanted to immediately purchase the next two in the Ravenwood Mystery series posthaste, no matter how large my review pile. And that’s saying a lot for me.

Of course it helps that I love the era and genre, historical detective novels. Atticus Riot is a wonderfully developed character. We’ve obviously come in the rebirth end of things, for Atticus as well as the newest adventure he steps into. Thus, the title, well-fitting for this first book in a series. Riot returns to San Francisco from a sojourn in Europe to put an end to the former business he and his dead partner ran, the Ravenwood Detective Agency, conveniently located just up the block from Pinkerton’s. However, his manager, Tim, talks him into just one more case before he officially retires. An heiress has been kidnapped.

Throughout the case Riot is visited with the ghostly advice of his late partner, for whose death he cannot forgive himself. He’s haunted by past cases where he hasn’t been quick enough to prevent death and makes it a goal to see it doesn’t happen this time. As the body count rises, however, Riot’s last case may become a lost cause.

There is so much rich history in the era and area that Flynn could have easily lost us in detail. She does introduce a quirky cast of characters who have taken over the Ravenwood mansion and then drops them, but I hope we’ll see more of them in the future. The pacing is perfect, and the twist is that the reader is treated to events of the crime in a back-and-forth catch-up chase until one day time equals out.

Surprises, not exactly cheat-the-reader moments but very subtle hints and clues will keep readers who adore this type of fiction on their toes. Told in multiple viewpoints from Riot and the victim’s points of views, well-researched. Near flawless writing shows the care the author took with her book.

A review copy was provided through VoraciousReadersOnly.com

About the Author:

Sabrina lives in perpetual fog and sunshine with a rock troll and two crazy imps. She spent her youth trailing after insanity, jumping off bridges, climbing towers, and riding down waterfalls in barrels. After spending fifteen years wrestling giant hounds and battling pint-sized tigers, she now travels everywhere via watery portals leading to anywhere.

New Fiction from Tam May The Order of Actaeon

The Order of Actaeon, Waxwood Series, book 1

Tam May

c. Janurary 2018

Dreambook Press

Print ISBN 978-0998197920

Print $10.95

Ebook $2.99

Buy on Amazon

About the Book

Sometimes the hunter becomes the hunted.

Jake is heir to the fortune and name of the prominent San Francisco Alderdice family. Although dearly loved by his sister Vivian, his passion for art and his contemplative temperament make him a pariah in the eyes of his bitter, tyrannical mother Larissa.

Eight months after his grandfather dies, Larissa announces the family is going to Waxwood, an exclusive resort town in Northern California, for the summer. At first, Jake’s life seems as aimless in Waxwood as it was in the city. Then Jake meets Stevens. With paternal authority and an obsession for power and leadership, Stevens is the epitome of Larissa’s idea of a family patriarch. Jake develops a hero worship for Stevens who in turn is intrigued by Jake’s artistic talent and philosophical nature. Stevens introduces him to the Order Of Actaeon, a group of misanthropes who reject commercial and conventional luxuries for a “pure” life in the wild.

But behind the potent charms of his new friend and seductive simplicity of the Actaeon lifestyle lies something more brutal and sinister than Jake could have anticipated.

My review

Literary, and in this case, psychological fiction, is often hard to classify. It’s meant to be thought-provoking, and May’s full-length fiction certainly does that. I admit not having a base from which to understand the Alderdice family and others like them who can simply afford to move to a resort for several months, where the bulk of this story takes place. I’m also from a hunting family, so I also can’t personally understand the depth of horror others feel about killing for food. Maybe for perverse sport or torture, yes, but not as a necessity for gathering food.

That said, I also recommend readers understand the background of the very basic Greek myth of the hunter, Actaeon, before or during reading this novel. May does share the story in different ways through the book, but having a base knowledge first helps.

The Order of Actaeon is an oddly coming-of-age story about adult children who have never grown up in a family seemingly in isolation in many ways. The story begins in contemporary times in San Francisco and begins on a left foot in the purview of the family matriarch saying farewell to her dying father. Her view of her adult children seemingly sets one tone for the book that ends with the Introduction and Larissa’s voice. Jake takes up the storyline in chapter one. Jake will probably never step into the family patriarchal role of leader and business mogul. He has an artist’s soul, if not encouragement or self-acceptance. A character is introduced who has the power to send the family on a summer break, and then shoved off-stage. While on this summer break, another powerful man, Harding Stevens, steps into the gap and changes the course of their lives.

Another important aspect to appreciate this novel is to step into Jake’s shoes as he slowly reveals the depravation of his psyche and the desperation to fill it with love and admiration, no matter the source. May’s lyricism in describing the comparison Larissa makes between Jake and his father, no longer in the picture, show this beautifully when Jake broods that his mother has “kept photographs never taken and never thrown away” of his father. The love of his sister will never be enough. Jake’s need to garner the admiration of Stevens starts on the highest of proverbial pedestals, and you know what they say about the length of the fall. While he charms Larissa and repels Vivian who also has a strange attraction to him, Jake comes the closest to leaving his self-imposed funk.

The reader is led on an emotional awakening with Jake and Stevens. Toward the climax of the story, Stevens asks, “No one is going to alienate you anymore, isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

I’m not really sure how to describe what seems to be merely a prop, the Order of Actaeon as a group of men Stevens seemed to have stumbled upon. When I try to recall exactly the role of the group, I wonder if the story wouldn’t be just as good without them. But this is just the first book in a series, and I’m sure there are plenty more twists to come.

About the Author:

Tam May was born in Israel but grew up in the United States. She earned her B.A. and M.A in English and 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 psychological fiction, exploring characters’ emotional realities informed by past experiences, dreams, feelings, fantasies, nightmares, imagination, and self-reflection.

Her first book, a short story collection titled Gnarled Bones And Other Stories, was nominated for a 2017 Summer Indie Book Award. The first book of her family drama series, The Waxwood Series, is out now in paperback. She is currently working on the second book of the series and a work of psychological women’s fiction titled House of Masks.

She lives in Texas but calls San Francisco and the Bay Area home. When she’s not writing, she’s reading classic literature and watching classic films.

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