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

Heart of a Warrior review Angela Couch

 

Heart of a Warrior

Angela K Couch

Prism Books

Sept 1, 2020

American romantic history

$5.99 EBook

https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Warrior-Angela-K-Couch-ebook/dp/B0875NPKLZ

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heart-of-a-warrior-angela-k-couch/1136867479?ean=9781522398608

$16.99 Print

282 pp

About the Book

All Christina Astle wants is to reach Oregon before her baby is born, but the wagon train is attacked, and her husband killed, stranding her in a mountain labyrinth. Raised in the East, within civilization’s embrace, survival is not a skill she’s learned. Neither is evading the lone warrior dogging her trail.

Disgusted by the greed and cruelty of men like his white father, Towan has turned to the simpler existence of his mother’s tribal people. He is not prepared for the fiery woman who threatens to upturn his entire life … and his heart.

 

My Review

Page-turning historical fiction, real romance in American history. Victims of greed on the Oregon Trail, Christina’s husband and his friend pay with their lives, leaving pregnant Christian at the mercy of murderers. It’s a matter of what or who will get her and her newborn first – the coming winter in the mountains, savage Shoshone, or uncouth trappers. But which are the bad guys and which are saviors?

Christina is one mixed-up woman, young and naïve, she must find the will to survive the wilderness with people who willingly take her in, despite their unfamiliarity with each other. The man who rescues her is just as mixed up, ethnically and culturally. Raised in the white world, Towan returned with his Shoshone mother as an adult, but never feels at home in either world, until he gives in to his conscious and helps a white woman. 

Both are lost souls, bound by mistakes and misunderstanding in their past and present and Christina’s adorable infant. Couch’s endearing historical romance doesn’t sidestep issues of racial injustice or violence, goes light on historical Shoshone village life, while creating an enjoyable, thought-provoking read.

 

About the Author

To keep from freezing in the Great White North, Angela K Couch cuddles under quilts with her laptop. Winning short story contests, being a semi-finalist in ACFW’s Genesis Contest, and a finalist in the International Digital Awards also helped warm her up. As a passionate believer in Christ, her faith permeates the stories she tells. Her martial arts training, experience with horses, and appreciation for good romance sneak in there, as well. When not writing, she stays fit (and warm) by chasing after four munchkins.

new inspirational fiction from Carole Brown

Caleb’s Destiny: Troubles in the West, book 1

Carole Brown

Inspirational historical fiction

May 22, 2020

Story & Logic Media Group

ISBN-13: 9781941622636

282 pp

$2.99 ebook

$12.99 Print

Buy on Amazon US

Amazon AU

Amazon CA

Buy on Barnes and Noble 

About the Book:

Mr. Michael, Destiny Rose McCulloch, and Hunter have a mysterious history. Why were three fathers, all business partners, murdered under suspicious circumstances while on their quest to find gold?

Hunter is determined to protect his boss and the precocious young lady who he suspects holds a key answer to his questions.

Mr. Michael wants only to be left alone to attend to his property, but what can he do when Destiny refuses to leave and captures the heart of every one of his employees?

Destiny almost forgets her quest when she falls in love with Mr. Michael's ranch and all the people there. And then Mr. Michael is much too alluring to ignore. The preacher man back east where she took her schooling tried to claim her heart, but the longer she stays the less she can remember him. She only came west to find a little boy she knew years ago. A little boy all grown up by now...unless, of course, he's dead.

Three children, connected through tragedy and separated by time, are fated to reunite and re-right some powerful wrongs.

My Review

Brown’s latest story-telling chops take her fans back to gold rush days, with all the deviousness mankind can wrought. Three youngsters, gathered by tragedy and separated by time are fated to reunite and re-right some powerful wrongs. Rich setting and always excellent scenes will enchant the lover the romantic historical suspense.

Brown’s stories tend to be rich on nuance and detail, spiritual and wholesome tales. In this  story, we hearken back to gold rush days in Colorado, where men become impatient and fools rush in. Three children, orphaned at the outset of the 1870s, are brought together for a very brief time after suffering tragedy.

Young Caleb is a determined protector; Destiny is a spitfire young girl, and Hunter, a young man with a loyal heart. They all witness horrifying crimes. The story picks up fifteen years later when Destiny travels back to the west in an effort to learn more of her history, Only a child when sent to Boston, she longs for a sense of family and friendship she once knew after losing her mother. Her reintroduction to Colorado is a rather violent one, and she’s rescued by the local landowner—a man burdened by secrets.

Caleb’s Destiny continues to unfold as the past slowly opens to reveal the intrigue and reasons behind the sorrowful events of the past. Lovingly researched with well-fleshed characters, Brown unwinds her story through multiple viewpoints, great dialog and realistic events. Fans of historical fiction with all the romance and suspense of classic westerns will find much to love.

A brief Interview with Carole:

Is there a story behind Caleb's Destiny?

Actually, a few years ago, I wanted to enter a book for a contest. When I brainstormed with my hubby, he came up with the plot for the book. I began writing but didn't complete it. This year I decided to finish that beginning. I'd just recently began a Chore & Writing Crawl, which I've been following meticulously (or almost). Doing this has helped me complete this approximately 90,000 word novel in around two and ½ months.

Where do you get the names for your characters?

In this book, it was easy. Our niece lost her baby girl whose name was Destiny. This niece is so special. Loves us and my books. It was decided almost from the first that the female protagonist would be called Destiny. :)  For me, it seems that the names just came to me. I use origins for some names to suit the personality of a character. I use a baby name book. It just depends on the book and character. But it's so much fun choosing!

As far as Mr. Michael's name, it came from a nephew who died unexpectedly and devastated the family. It was a good thing to use his name.

Do you have favorite research books?

I do, and they are such simple but important ones to me. A dictionary, a synonym, a baby's name book, some crime books, personality books. These are my go-to research books. For other research, I use the internet and try to find specialists in whatever I need to learn about some detail. Lots of fun!

About Carole:  

Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. An author of ten books, she loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas. She and her husband reside in SE Ohio but have ministered and counseled nationally and internationally. Together, they enjoy their grandsons, traveling, gardening, good food, the simple life, and did she mention their grandsons?

Personal blog: http://sunnebnkwrtr.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaroleBrown.author

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/Carole-Brown/e/B00EZV4RFY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1427898838&sr=8-1

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/browncarole212

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/carole-brown

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/browncarole212/?hl=en

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sunnywrtr/boards/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5237997-carole-brown

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/carole-brown-79b6951a/

New Waxwood story from Tam May

False Fathers, Waxwood Series book 2

Tam May

December 28, 2019

Dreambook Press

$11.99 Print

$.99 Ebook

Buy on Amazon

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About the Book

Sometimes no father is better than a false father.

At nineteen, Jake Alderdice is shy, contemplative, and passionate about art. With the death of his grandfather, shipping magistrate Malcolm Alderdice, he becomes the new family patriarch and heir to Alderdice Shipping and Alderdice Luxury Liner. After two years of mourning, he is ready to add to the family honor just as all the Alderdice men have, but as an artist, not a shipping magistrate. His plans are delayed with his mother announces the family will be retreating to Waxwood, now a fashionable resort town favored by the San Francisco elite, for the summer, fulfilling her father's dying wish to "go back.” 

On the train, he meets Harland Stevens, an enigmatic but charming older man, who has come to Waxwood as chaperone and guide to his college-aged cousin Roger and Roger's friends. Mr. Stevens, or, as he tells Jake, "just Stevens", takes an interest in the young man's ambitions, and introduces him to the town's most prominent gallery owner. But when Jake takes his paintings for appraisal, the man delivers a fatal blow — Jake's mythology-inspired paintings are too original for the market of realistic landscape paintings favored by Gilded Age patrons.

Stevens seizes the devastated and wandering Jake and counsels him toward a more aggressive but moralistic path to manhood inspired by Teddy Roosevelt and Thoreau. Jake proves himself to be more studious and serious than Roger and his friends. Impressed with the young man's determination to take over his grandfather's business, Stevens introduces him to The Order of Actaeon, a secret society built upon those ideals favored by his idols.

But the path to emotional maturity and masculine identity is, Jake learns, a complex thing in the Gilded Age. Will his journey free him from the Alderdice family illusions, half-truths, and lies that have kept him a child, just as it did his sister Vivian's six years before? Or will it lead him into the world of Actaeon, where the hunter becomes the hunted?

My Review

Gilded and Privileged age slice of life

Tam May knows her stuff, and skillfully weaves a tale of, by today’s standards, a coming-of-age story near the early days of the twentieth century in America.

Once the reader gets past an expected but not always practiced two-year mourning period of a family member, the adventure begins. Genteel to the maximum, False Fathers is not an action adventure, but a thoughtful commentary on the last principled era.

After the lengthy period of withdrawal from society, the Alderdice family of San Francisco, shipping magnate, takes to the country for the summer. The male heir to the Alderdice business, Jacob, has reached, or nearly so, his majority, and must decide his future. He is a thoughtful, torn young man who would like to practice painting, to seek a profession as an artist instead of stepping into his familial shoes of business. His strong-willed mother, Larissa, is willing to let him explore this fancy. Jake’s older sister, Vivian, had her adventure some years earlier when she visited a friend of her late grandmother. With his mother and sister always in contention, Jake slides away from the tension and encounters a strangely compelling man chaperoning a group of university boys on a summer lark. Jake and the man, Stevens, begin a mentoring relationship which ends in a sobering, fate-changing reality in an otherwise unassuming summer.

Jake was raised by his late grandfather, and is subconsciously seeking another father figure who will guide him on his decisions for his future. What he learns is that everyone has secrets and failings. Even his family history is built upon secrets and failings and it is up to him to live up to his own principles.

Written primarily from Jake’s point of view, False Fathers is recommended for those who appreciate a little-explored period in American history. Those who love the story of Margaret Brown (“unsinkable” Molly Brown, without the music) or the era of suffrage, will enjoy Tam May’s Waxwood series.

About the Author

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 fiction about characters who find their future by exploring their personal past influenced by the time in which they live.

Her first book, a collection of contemporary short stories titled Gnarled Bones And Other Stories, was nominated for a 2017 Summer Indie Book Award. She is currently working on a Gilded Age family saga. 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.

Westward Hope historical fiction review

Westward Hope: an Oregon Trail Historical Romance

Kathleen D Bailey

Buy on Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Publisher

Historical Shorter Romance – 181 pp.

Christian Fiction

Ebook $5.99

Print $15.99

About the Book

Why him? Why here? Why now?
Caroline Pierce O'Leary expects to work hard to earn her passage to the Oregon Country. She doesn't expect to find that the wagon train scout is a man with whom she shares a troubled past. Though Caroline is a Christian now, thanks to her late husband, she finds forgiving Michael to be the hardest part of her journey, harder even than the Trail.

Michael Moriarty thought he'd left his past behind in "green and hurting Ireland." Seeing Caroline on his wagon train brings his past to the forefront. With a price on his head, he doesn't want her to get hurt, but he can't deny what they were...and could still be.

Michael once betrayed Caroline in the worst possible way. Can she trust him to get her across the Oregon Trail? Can he trust himself to accept her forgiveness and God's?

My Review

Authentic picture of life on the trail. Bailey offers readers of inspirational romantic historical fiction a bittersweet picture gleaned from stories, journals, biographies, and photos of cross country travelers venturing west from Missouri in the mid nineteenth century.

There’s a lot going on in this mite of a story—longer than a novella but shorter than typical. A widow on her last half-bag of flour sells her farm and joins a wagon train to Oregon Country, only to find one of the leaders is a former lover with a price on his head. Complicating the picture is a hardened young woman running from the sex slave industry. All these issues come to a head after a several-months’ journey fraught with ill-will, ill-preparedness, illness, accidents and death. It was a perilous adventure that sometimes worked out and often didn’t.

Having recently visited several of the sites from Bailey’s story, I was fascinated and pleased at the depth and quality of her research and story. The tragedies and dissent tend to outweigh the hope of the title, but that’s reality. At its heart, the story is one of forgiveness and trust; of how we deal with what happens to us and choose to make the best of what we’re given and live out what we believe.

Those who appreciate American historical fiction with the harshness of reality in their romance along with the inspirational side of coming to true faith will find much to enjoy in this well-written book.

About the Author

Kathleen D Bailey is a freelance and staff writer with a lifetime devotion to the printed, and now the digital page. Born in 1951, she was a child in the 50s, a teen in the 60s and 70s and a young mom in the 80s. It was a turbulent, colorful time to come of age. She’s enjoyed every minute of it, and written about most of it.

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.

Everstone Chronicles book 4 The Cautious Maiden

The Cautious Maiden, book 4 of the Everstone Chronicles

Whitaker House, October 2016

buy on Amazon

Violet Hawthorne is beyond mortified when her brother Ezra turns their deceased parents' New England country inn into a brothel to accommodate the nearby lumberjacks but when Violet's own reputation is compromised, the inn becomes the least of her worries. In an effort to salvage her good name, Violet is forced into an engagement with a taciturn acquaintance, Vance Everstone.

As she prepares for a society wedding, Violet learns that her brother had staked her hand in marriage in a heated poker game with the unsavory Rowen Steele, and Ezra had lost. Now Rowen is determined to cash in on his IOU.

With danger stalking her and a new fiancé who hides both his emotion and his past, Violet must decide who to trust, and who to leave behind.

My review:

I read The Bound Heart, book 2 in the series, just before this one. Technically out of order, I’m glad I did, as this book carries on with the rogue, Vance Everstone’s, story. We left him wounded after his brother-in-law attempted to seek misguided revenge, and murdered Vance’s brother. Such devastation caused a complete spiritual change, which can be understandable with what Vance witnessed. While the books stand alone and feature different characters, they are all tied together and I would recommend reading at least The Bound Heart with this book.

Starting with a shocking attack, Crandall dives right in to contrast Violet’s depraved sibling with the former rake, Vance, who steps right into gentle heroism with great aplomb. Vance’s reformation comes with a new ability to see past his own carnal desires, and find his soul mate. The problem comes when he has to convince her of his true intentions despite her brother’s interference, and without scaring her off, especially since a good man who loves her might make a better choice. Vance tries to sacrifice his love for her, but his nature of getting what he wants resurfaces. Fortunately for Violet, Vance’s altruism and reconditioned heart works in time to prevent another tragedy.

The Cautious Maiden is historical romance with a little sauce, some pretty passionate kissing and devastating swoon-worthy heroism. As a history lover, I appreciated the details of this era of late nineteenth century New England, but would also have enjoyed some more sense of the exciting accomplishments taking place in medicine and technology and world events to more firmly set the Victorian feel. The story could have been plopped into any era, but that was okay with the richly drawn characters. Book 3, The Captive Imposter, is reviewed on this site.

Everstone Chronicles book 3 The Captive Imposter

The Captive Imposter 

November 2015, Everstone Chronicles Book3
Whitaker House

buy on Amazon

About the Book:
What's in a name? For her own protection following the murder of her brother Will, hotel heiress Estella Everstone assumes the alias of Elle Stoneburner and takes a job as companion to an elderly widow. Never did she imagine that her position would lead her back to her beloved Everston, a picturesque resort property tucked away in the rugged mountains of Maine. Living below her station in a guise of anonymity has its struggles, but her spirits are buoyed by a newfound friendship with the hotel manager, Dexter Blakeley. And his distaste for the spoiled socialites who frequent his hotel causes her to take a close look at her own priorities and past lifestyle. When Estella finds herself in need of help, Dexter comes to the rescue with an offer of employment she can't refuse. As the two interact and open up to each other, Estella feels a growing attraction to Dexter--and increasing discomfort over concealing her identity. Yet, in spite of the false pretense she's putting forth, she's never felt freer to be herself than in his presence. But will he still love her when he learns the truth about who she is?

My review:

Crandall’s tale of presumptive and mistaken identity is a charming addition to the Everstone Chronicles. The setting at the end of the nineteenth century at a Maine resort adds a fresh feel to romance in which the journey drives the story to the expected happily-ever-after ending.

A few twists in this inspirational historical romance add page-turning intrigue. The reader knows this is the third in a series, but as the reasons for assumed identity are gradually revealed, never feel as though stepping into the middle of a story. Both hero and heroine begin their relationship under assumptions about the other, ala the mistaken identity trope, to sweet affect when Elle learns the truth about Dexter long before he learns her secret. Readers are tossed headlong into an old family fray and Elle grows up quickly as she learns more about her older siblings, the family past and present and their connections that were kept under the carpet.

Secrets and misunderstandings, adventure, danger and the past come together in this spiritual romance where angst over telling the truth may hurt worse than keeping a potentially life-saving secret. Told in first person throughout, readers of romantic historical fiction set in high society will enjoy Captive Imposter and the rest of the Everstone Chronicles. Book 4, The Cautious Maiden, released October 2016 and will be reviewed on this site on December 13. The Bound Heart was reviewed here.

Long awaited prequel Aboard Providence

Aboard Providence

Keely Brooke Keith

October 2016

CrossRiver Media

ISBN 9781936501359

Print $15.99

Ebook $5.99

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From the Publisher:

The Uncharted series has a past...

The Uncharted storyline begins in the 21st Century in a hidden land that was settled in the 1860s by Americans. Throughout the Uncharted books, the characters refer to their founders' history. Soon after the release of The Land Uncharted (Edenbrooke Press), readers expressed their desire for more. Why did the founders leave America in 1860? How did they plan the group migration? Where did they believe they were going? How did they establish what is now a fascinating culture?

I too was drawn by the founders' story. When I set out to write it, I enjoyed fleshing out the mystery of how the founders arrived in the Land and what it was like for them, not only for the characters who wanted that adventure, but also those who didn't. I was swept away on a journey of faith, sacrifice, and God's unfailing provision.

Join the founders as they embark on their voyage aboard the Providence to an uncharted land.

My review:

This is one of those books that make you sigh when you get close to the end and whisper “there better be more, please don’t end…”

Aboard Providence is the long-awaited answer to the series that began with The Land Uncharted in 2014, this talented author’s debut. Keith has begun to show me that not all DIY efforts are the same. In that story arc, the time is the near future, and a military pilot crashes on the proverbial lost island. Ultimately a romance, the pilot is part of a story meant to explore human nature and ultimately survival in a parallel commentary of a seemingly innocent world and a world about to self-destruct. Aboard Providence is the prequel journey of how The Land Uncharted came to be settled.

Keith always had a good sense of story and has continued to grow. My only commentary is that she has a tendency to introduce characters and situations that could add zest and conflict, yet drops them in favor of a less complicated plot, allowing situation, or internal turmoil, to take precedent over external conflicts. For example, intriguing interplay between the young adults aboard the ship could have been fleshed out. Her main characters, however, are well developed, handle their struggles in a realistic manner, and stay with the reader.

Told in multiple viewpoints between the two sweet and highly motivated main characters, the pace is swift and skillfully shows time passing on board a ship without the situation becoming dull. If this is your first taste of this compelling series, you’ll want to read the other books, a mixture of Swiss Family Robinson and O Pioneers.

Fiction from April Gardner and Michelle Massaro

The first three books in April W Gardner's Creek Country Saga have just hit the Amazon shelves! They are now available for purchase, but every subscriber to her newsletter gets the first in the series for
FREE!

Scroll to nab your copy!

Beneath the Blackberry Moon will sweep you away to another time, then make you sigh and wish you could stay just a little longer.

I cannot put this book down! April Gardner crafts the scenes and character interactions so well, you are there! What a powerful story.

~Amazon reviewer

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About the book:
War, captivity, hunger that will not be denied. And a blackberry moon with enough pull to endure the test of time.

Frontierswoman Adela McGirth has never feared her neighbors, the Creek Indians, but a suspicious encounter with a steely-eyed warrior shakes her confidence. As dreaded, a skirmish with the natives sends her family fleeing into a hastily constructed fort. But no picket is strong enough to hold off a party of warriors who fear nothing but the loss of their ancient ways.

Totka Lawe, a Red Stick bound by honor to preserve his heritage, will do what he must to expel the whites from Muscogee soil. But in the midst of battle, he is assigned to protect those he’s expected to hate and kill. One of whom is the copper-haired woman who has haunted his thoughts since that strange night under the blackberry moon. The war was simpler before his enemy became a beautiful face with a gentle warrior’s spirit he cannot resist.

But what woman would have a warrior whose blood-soaked hands destroyed her life?

Then again...does she have a choice?

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(releases April 2016)

Better than Fiction

April W Gardner and Michelle Massaro

Romance novelist Meghan Townsend’s marriage is slipping, and no amount of prayer seems to help. She aims to recapture her husband’s waning attention by getting in shape and finds escape by crafting her own fictional love story. Taking inspiration for the hero from a new friend—the attractive, spiritual, and attentive Curtis Jameson—she pours her yearnings onto the page, and craves the kind of pulse-pounding romance found in her book, Racing Hearts…

In 1916 Corona, California, motorcars are all the rage, and racing them is what Meghan’s hero, Russell Keegan, does best. But when his competition vandalizes his car, the only mechanic available is a greasy woman in a man’s overalls.
After a racing accident claimed her father’s life, Winifred became the sole breadwinner for her family. She is disdained as a female mechanic, but her daddy's trade is all she has left. Can she swallow her hatred of the races and take up Russell' s offer of big bucks to fix his car, or will she lose everything to mounting debt?

Under Meghan's skillful pen, these two embark on a thrilling, adventurous romance. But she finds that writing those love scenes with Curtis’s face in mind takes her heart places it shouldn’t go. Will she realize in time that real life can be better than fiction?

Book Review: Patriot's Pride by Penelope Marzec

Patriot’s Pride

Penelope Marzec

Prism Book Group

July 2015

ISBN  978-1514364994

Print $13.99

Ebook $3.99

Amazon

About the Book:

With knowledge, he believed he could find answers.

She had only faith.

Derrick, a surgeon, is haunted by his brother’s death. When his prayers went unanswered, he turned his faith to science. He believes studying with an esteemed surgeon in England will return meaning to his life.

Margaret’s fiancé died at the hands of a doctor who bled him to death. On board the Prosperity, she meets the arrogant Doctor Fortune who considers her no less than a milkmaid. She considers him a butcher. Though she must journey to England to hear the reading of the will of her grandfather, the Earl of Broadcraft, she finds herself constantly confronting Derrick on his methods of healing. Yet, there is something about his soulful eyes that attracts her.

When a British ship presses the Prosperity’s sailors into service, Margaret and Derrick must work together if they are to reach England. But can they ever learn to trust each other enough to allow love into their hearts?

My Review:

Peril and Romance on the High Sea

The second book in the Patriots saga is a thrill ride. Marzec’s story of a citizen of the new United States of America traveling to enemy territory, England, to learn of her inheritance, is an exciting story. From the start of the perilous sea voyage, to the death of an emotionally disturbed passenger, to a marauding British ship and highwaymen and murder, poor Margaret hardly stands a chance to get to her late grandfather’s manor to hear the reading of the will, much less claim anything of value. When she reaches the manor to see it virtually empty and the solicitor dead, facing the hostile local constable is a laugh. Help comes from a surprise source—the mournful, proud young surgeon who matched skill and wits, and occasionally temper, on the voyage from America. Derrick has crossed the ocean to study with a famed doctor, but once he learns Margaret is in trouble, rushes to her aid.

During the turn of events, Margaret realizes that the pride she accuses Derrick of flaunting is only an echo of her own behavior. Both must come to terms with matters of faith, lifestyle, and prejudices which threaten any chance of future happiness.

Told through the eyes of both Margaret and Derrick, Patriot’s Pride is well-told historical adventure looking at rebel colonists from the eyes of the British, a humbling experience all around. Well done historic details makes this adventure a great read. Recommended for those who enjoy historical fiction with aa little humor amidst matching wits, peril, and romance.

About the Author:

Penelope Marzec started reading romances at a young age even though her mother told her they would ruin her mind, which they did. She became hopelessly hooked on happy endings. She is a member of the New Jersey Romance Writers, the Liberty States Fiction Writers, and EPIC. Winning the EPPIE award twice for inspirational fiction, she has also been a finalist in the same contest. Her paranormal, Irons In The Fire, was a nominee for a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award.

Book Review of historical American hisorical fiction Cassia by Susan F Craft

Buy Cassia by Susan F. Craft on Amazon Kindle $1.99
Amazon Print
Barnes and Noble

September 2015

Lighthouse publishing of the Carolinas

Historical fiction

From the publisher

The Xanthakos family’s voyage from South Carolina turns ugly when the ship’s captain maroons Lilyan and her family on an island along North Carolina's Outer Banks. There, the family is captured by pirates and taken to a secret island hideout where they witness a mock trial and a hanging.

Forced to rebuff the advances of the murderous pirate, Captain Galeo (The Shark), and fearful that her children will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, Lilyan forges an escape plan. Meanwhile, her husband, Nicholas, calls upon his skills as a captain in Brigadier General Francis Marion’s militia to devise a battle plan to save his family.

Will the couple’s faith be enough to see them through? Or will their declaration to rescue the infant slave girl, Cassia, from the pirates prove too high a price?

My review

This third story of the early American historical family saga starting with The Chamomile wraps of the story of the Greek Xanthakos family. Plenty of references to their past adventures didn’t interfere with the telling of this adventure. If you like pirates, ships at sea, family love and sacrifice, you’ll love this gentle, faith-based tale of strong women who are willing to do what they must to save not only their own family but the lives of strangers.

Lilyan’s life is an adventure as one experience builds upon another. Her daughter has reached marriageable age, and Lilyan and Nicholas wonder if they’ve done well enough as parents. She’s attracted to men of valor in their own way, and both have declared their intentions. Both are capable men who would be a good match, both could save her, but only one can hold her heart. On the ship, the family witnesses a dreadful event when a slave ship dumps its dead and dying. She demands they care for one of the dying at the risk of the entire ship and ends up put ashore on a pirate island. Deciding reluctantly to separate, Lilyan waits while Nicholas goes for help, but neither realize the danger that waits when the pirates see who’s been set ashore on the other side of their island.

The title of this story refers to a promise as much as a character who plays a subtle, circular role rather than an overt one. Lilyan is a good judge of character and proves it when her life and that of her children are at stake.

An epilogue wraps up the family saga. Told from Lilyan’s point of view throughout, This novel is recommended for those who are fans of early American history and love the references to everyday objects, the lifestyle, and costuming. Those who read Cassia before the others will find their interest piqued and want to pick up the other stories. 

Cassia follows The Chamomile, currently available only in Print
and the second book in the series, Laurel, available on Kindle, sale, .99, and Amazon Print