This was a wonderfully intriguing story. I loved the twist towards the end of the story. There were a lot of different things happening in this story. I loved Francine and Charlie. This story shows all of the strange things that can happen over a summer in a single neighborhood. I received a copy of this book from Smith Publicity for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a four out of five stars.
Summer, 1989. Reeling from a catastrophic divorce, Francine Haddix flees San Francisco for a two week stay at her sister’s house in Hawthorn Woods, Illinois. The quaint neighborhood of shady trees and friendly neighbors seems like the perfect place for her to sort through her pain and move on with her life.
But Francine quickly discovers the “idyllic” neighborhood is hiding a number of disturbing mysteries. Behind every door and window there’s marital strife, simmering grudges, and a secret so terrible, someone will kill to keep it quiet.
Francine rewrites her prescription from relaxation to investigation. If she can remember how to trust herself, she might discover what’s hidden in Hawthorn Woods. She might even be able to believe the future can be good again, assuming she stays alive long enough to be in it…
I really enjoyed learning about Ancient Rome and how Constantine becomes Emperor. I love the characters of Brandulf Rex and Junia Flavia. I love how the spy and the daughter of a high ranking Roman get to be friends. I loved learning some of the ways that the first Christians prayed and celebrated the mass. This has romance, intrigue and religion all in the same story. This is well written and kept me wanting more. I am looking forward to reading more about Constantine, Rex and Flavia in the next book in the series. I received a copy of this book from Revell for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a four out of five stars.
PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION
It is AD 312. Rome teeters on the brink of war. Constantine’s army is on the move. On the Rhine frontier, Brandulf Rex, a pagan Germanic barbarian, joins the Roman army as a spy and special forces operative. Down in Rome, Junia Flavia, the lovely and pious daughter of a nominally Christian senator, finds herself embroiled in anti-Christian politics as she works on behalf of the church.As armies converge and forces beyond Rex’s and Flavia’s controls threaten to destroy everything they have worked for, these two people from different worlds will have to work together to bring down the evil Emperor Maxentius. But his villainous plans and devious henchmen are not easily overcome. Will the barbarian warrior and the senator’s daughter live to see the Empire bow the knee to Christ? Or will their part in the story of Constantine’s rise meet an untimely and brutal end?Travel back to one of the most pivotal eras in history–a time when devotion to the pagan gods was fading and the Roman Empire was being conquered by the sign of the cross.
This series is very easy to read and this third book in the series was a sweet romance. I always have liked Adam and Meksem is very strong. I like that this story brought together all the characters from the other two books. I liked how the author can describe the mountains. I received a copy of this book from Celebratelit for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a four out of five stars.
About the Author
Book: Light in the Mountain Sky
Author: Misty M. Beller
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release Date: September 29, 2020
This epic journey may seal her fate forever.
Determined to prove her worth, Meksem fiercely fought to earn her place among the warriors in her Nez Perce camp. When her half-sister is captured by an enemy tribe, she refuses to trust the rescue to anyone else. But her new friends insist on joining her mission, and she battles between relief and frustration at their presence. Especially the white man who peers at her as if he can see through the face of the warrior she struggles so hard to maintain.
Spaniard Adam Vargas thrives on adventure wherever his travels take him. He’s fallen in love with this Rocky Mountain wilderness, as well as the spotted horses the Nez Perce tribe raise. His fascination with this Indian maiden-turned-warrior catches him off guard though, including the way she seems to be fighting for more than her sister’s safe return.
The journey proves more perilous than any of the group expects, and the secret Meksem hides becomes impossible to conceal. If they live through this mission, the life they knew will never be the same again.
From a USA Today bestselling author comes another epic journey through breathless landscapes and intense adventure.
Misty M. Beller is a USA Today bestselling author of romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love.
She was raised on a farm in South Carolina, so her Southern roots run deep. Growing up, her family was close, and they continue to keep that priority today. Her husband and children now add another dimension to her life, keeping her both grounded and crazy.
God has placed a desire in Misty’s heart to combine her love for Christian fiction and the simpler ranch life, writing historical novels that display God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters.
More from Misty
Early Nez Perce Business Women
As I’ve been researching for my current Call of the Rockies series, I’ve had the pleasure of diving deep into the culture of the Nez Perce tribe. I found it interesting that one of the primary food sources of The People (as they called themselves) was camas roots.
But what really drew my notice was how the women would cultivate entire fields of camas root, store what they needed for their family through the winter, then use the extras for bartering. Some savvy women would become quite wealthy from their business dealings!
The bulbs of the camas plant are full of calories and nutrients, and each fall, Nez Perce families would travel to their particular camas meadow (a section of land whose camas rights had probably been passed down from generation to generation within their family). Many of these meadows were located near present-day Weippe, Moscow or Grangeville, where the onion-shaped bulbs grew thickly.
Women used pointed wooden tools to harvest the bulbs, and could often gather over 50 pounds a day, satisfying their full winter’s supply within just a few days.
Native American peoples who ate camas include the Nez Perce (Nimíipuu), Cree, Coast Salish, Kalapuya, and Blackfoot, and Yakama, among many others. Not all of these people groups harvested camas themselves. Instead, many relied on trade in order to procure it. Trade networks were established all the way from the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean, and a shrewd businesswoman who tended her camas meadows well could provide everything her family needed and more!
I love this cozy mystery. I love Mae and Hank and Fifi. I think my favorite secondary character is Dottie. She reminds me of the crazy lady you always hear about in small towns. This newest book in the series gets back into some of Mae’s past and I hope we get to learn even more in future stories. I always love the descriptions of the Daniel Boone National Forest. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a five out of five stars.
Welcome to Normal, Kentucky~ where nothing is normal. A Campers and Criminal Mystery Series is another brainchild of USA Today Bestselling Author Tonya Kappes. If you love her quirky southern characters and small town charm with a mystery to solve, you’re going to love her new cozy mystery series!
This is a very enjoyable set of five novellas written by five authors that all come together around six friends, Christmas and a tiara. Each story was about a different college friend who finds love and marries during the Christmas season. If you enjoy clean romance you will enjoy each of these stories. The first story was my favorite because the main character is not a skinny minny. I hope to read more books by each of these authors. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a four out of five stars.
Publisher Description
Old friends, new loves, and a borrowed tiara.
Always Been Yours by Jaycee Weaver — Hanady’s planning her dream wedding, but her injured best friend Keenan isn’t the groom. If she can’t see she’s marrying the wrong guy soon, his leg won’t be the only thing broken.
All the Moore by Toni Shiloh — Leilah Anderson has been living behind the screen to hide her disability, then she meets Reggie Moore face-to-face. Can their relationship survive the truth and distance between them?
A Holly, Bolly Christmas by Mikal Dawn — A dream wedding venue at Christmas? Sign Chahna Kapoor up. Even if her fiancé doesn’t know it…
Somehow, This Christmas by Teresa Tysinger — When not-so-merry mishaps threaten wedding planner Cate Forsyth’s holiday wedding and reputation, will her own happily ever after with sweetheart Noah Bennett melt away?
A Promise So Sweet by Andrea Boyd — Lydia Osborn hasn’t heard from her ex in ten years, so imagine her surprise when he shows up proposing marriage. Tis the season for love?
This is a story of a few generations of a family. This shows how life really is. The story starts in 1905 and goes to 2012. This shows the ups and downs that occur within a family during each persons lifetime. I laughed and cried. I think my favorite character was Jenny because she always seemed to become the caretaker throughout her life. I received a copy of this book from Smith Publicity for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this story a four out of five stars.
When Ida and her daughter Bessie flee a catastrophic program in Ukraine for America in 1905, they believe their emigration will ensure that their children and grandchildren will be safe from harm. But choices and decisions made by one generation have ripple effects on those who come later—and in the decades that follow, family secrets, betrayals, and mistakes made in the name of love threaten the survival of the family. A sweeping saga that follows three generations from the tenements of Brooklyn through WWII, from Woodstock to India, and from Spain to Israel, How to Make a Life is the story of a family who must learn to accept each other’s differences—or risk cutting ties with the very people who anchor their place in the world.
This story starts out making you sad since Melissa just sees her mother killed and she finds out she has been in witness protection since she was very young. Then we get twists and turns. Melissa and her son are targets and Miles has to protect and save them. I did not put this book down until I was finished reading. I love the Avery family and hope to see more of his This story starts out making you sad since Melissa just sees her mother killed and she finds out she has been in witness protection since she was very young. Then we get twists and turns. Melissa and her son are targets and Miles has to protect and save them. I did not put this book down until I was finished reading. I love the Miles’ family and hope to see more of his sister and brothers. I love the slight amount of romance and all of the suspense. I received a copy of this book from Celebratelit and the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.sister and brothers. I love the slight amount of romance and all of the suspense. I received a copy of this book from Celebratelit and the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give the book a five out of five stars.
About the Book
Book: Texas Holiday Hideout
Author: Virginia Vaughan
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense
Release Date: October 1, 2020
When her identity’s exposed,
hiding on a lawman’s family ranch is her last hope.
After her mother is killed, Melissa Morgan’s shocked to learn she’s spent her life in witness protection. Now it’s US marshal Miles Avery’s job to keep her and her little boy safe. And with a mole in his agency, the only way to evade the killer is to hide Melissa on Miles’s family ranch…and pretend she’s his wife for the holidays.
Virginia Vaughan is a multi-published author of inspirational romantic suspense. Blessed to come from a large, southern family, her fondest memories include listening to stories recounted by family and friends around the large dinner table. She was a lover of books even from a young age, devouring gothic romance novels and stories of romance, danger, and love. She soon started writing them herself. A former investigator for the State of Mississippi, Virginia utilizes her criminal justice background with her love of writing to transform words into powerful stories of romance and danger.
More from Virginia
What if one day you discovered you were in the Witness Protection Program and didn’t know it?
This is the premise for my October book, TEXAS HOLIDAY HIDEOUT, which releases this month. My heroine, Melissa Morgan, learns she and her mother entered the program when Melissa was a child. Her mother never told her and, when Melissa witnesses her mother being murdered, she becomes the assassin’s next target. US Marshal Miles Avery steps in to protect the single mom and her son from a killer, but a leak in WITSEC leaves him with little options except to take his witnesses to his family’s ranch…and pretend she’s his wife for the holidays.
So, in celebration of TEXAS HOLIDAY HIDEOUT releasing this month, here are 10 things about the Witness Protection Security Program (or WITSEC) I learned during my research for this book.
The program is voluntary. No one can be forced to enter.
You can leave the program at any time—although it is not recommended.
No person in the program, who follows the rules, has ever been killed.
People entering WITSEC sometimes keep their same first name and/or initials so that if they mess up and start to sign their name, they have time to correct.
Since WITSEC is a federal program, many states have their own programs to protect witnesses of gang or street-level crimes.
If you get married while in WITSEC, you must lie to your new spouse to protect your true identity in the event the relationship doesn’t last.
Protected witnesses are mostly criminals. Only about 5% are innocents despite the popular trope in movies and fiction.
Local law enforcement may or may not be notified when a protected witness is relocated to their jurisdiction.
Divorced, non-custodial parents have had their children hidden from them and now must agree to allow their children to enter the program.
WITSEC protected witnesses are expected to eventually become self-sufficient. They do not get to live off the government for the rest of their lives.
Did any of these facts about WITSEC surprise you? I’d love to hear which ones. I had a lot of fun researching WITSEC for TEXAS HOLIDAY HIDEOUT. I hope you enjoy Miles and Melissa’s story! Look out for the next book in the series—middle brother Navy SEAL Paul Avery’s story—coming in TEXAS TARGET STANDOFF in March of 2021.
I really enjoyed these four novellas that all revolve around a certain tree in a certain town. Each of the stories take place in different years but they are all connected through the families in this town. I loved the characters in each story. I love the romance and the love that happens in each story. The four authors that wrote the stories were all true to what happened in the first story. These stories show how the tree, town and the towns people grow with the years. I did not want to put this book down. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a five out of five stars.
Bestselling novelist Karen Witemeyer joins award-winning authors Regina Jennings, Amanda Dykes, and Nicole Deese for this Texas-sized romance novella collection. Each of the authors’ unique voices is on display in stories where courting couples leave a permanent mark of their love by carving their initials into the same oak’s bark. In Regina Jennings’ Broken Limbs, Mended Fences, a small-town teacher has her credentials questioned by a traveling salesman.In Karen Witemeyer’s Inn for a Surprise, two opinionated collaborators with conflicting visions must turn a doomed business venture into a successful romantic retreat. From Roots to Sky by Amanda Dykes follows a young WWII naval airman who heads to Texas to meet the sister of a lost compatriot. Heartwood by Nicole Deese is a modern-day romance about the groundskeeper of a historic inn who’s reunited with someone from her past while she fights to save a town landmark.
Very good story. This is a wonderful coming of age story along with the main character learning a life long lesson. I loved the use of Charles Dickens The Christmas Carol. I enjoyed learning a little bit of how the Vaudeville scene worked. There are some parts that will make you cry. I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a four out of five stars.
Annalise Rycroft has spent her whole life afraid she’ll be lost to obscurity. She wants nothing more than to be viewed as someone important.
Anna grew up traveling with her family on the Vaudeville circuit with dreams of becoming a shining star. She has talent. Unfortunately, as a young girl, she also has fears that she will have to overcome if she is going to be successful.
With a powerful voice able to mesmerize audiences, Anna is paralyzed by stage fright. But that’s not her only fear. Her deepest fear is that she’ll be lost to obscurity, becoming part of the “surplus population” spoken of by Ebenezer Scrooge in her favorite book A Christmas Carol. During the 1918 flu epidemic, Anna has a strange experience where characters from her favorite book unlock a hidden part of her past—a past that involves an absent father and missing younger brother. Dismissed as a fever dream, Anna pushes aside not only the dream but her fears as she pursues the stage.
Years pass, and eventually Anna finds the career success she desired. Yet even as an adult, she is driven by unfilled longings. She wants to marry her leading man Frederick Mansfield—only Frederick has fears and failings of his own. Leaving the drunk lush and philanderer behind, Anna pushes toward even greater stardom only to discover that the fever dream was based on reality, when her dad Charles surprises her with a visit. As she spends more time with her father, she learns she must choose between her fear of being seen as part of the “surplus population” or to courageously believe and act in a way that shows everyone has significance.
This is a group of Amish stories written by male authors. I enjoy each of these authors. Each story has some romance and a lot of inspiration. Each of these stories gives a slightly different view of the Amish people and their faith. I received a copy of this book from Celebratelit for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.
I give this book a four out of five stars.
About the Book
Book: The Amish Menorah
Author: The Men of Amish Fiction
Genre: Amish Fiction
Release Date: May 13, 2020
Come sit and enjoy!
Six short stories by the men of Amish fiction to entertain and educate you. You’ll journey with an Amish man and the Jewish woman whose life he saves, agonize with an Amish girl in love with an Englische man, fret with two sisters both in love with the same man, pray with the family whose child is injured in a fall, work with the Amish sheriff in a western town, and laugh at the girl forced to be Amish for the summer.
To know Wil, one would probably not think of him as an author. He is a husband, a father, a Christian, a veteran, a business owner, and a servant. He has led a life of bold and diverse experiences that immediately capture one’s attention. Wil has an unexpected artistic and creative side—something that might be considered uncommon, given his life’s works. Wil’s greatest inner strength is his expression and creativity. His life’s works give a credit to his writing that few other fiction authors possess. This generates a vivid degree of realism above and beyond other works of fiction.
Amazon bestselling author Patrick E. Craig is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful music career to become a pastor in 1986. In 2007 he retired to concentrate on writing and publishing fiction books. In 2013, Harvest House Publishers published his first Amish series, Apple Creek Dreams. Patrick and his wife, Judy, live in Idaho. They have two daughters and Five grandchildren. Patrick is represented by the Steve Laube Agency
Jerry Eicher was born to Amish parents, and raised in an Amish settlement in Honduras, Central America. The family returned stateside in the late seventies, when Jerry was sixteen. He spent his youth with a beloved Amish youth group in Belle Center, Ohio, and was married in 1983 to Tina Schmucker, whose parents had moved to the community from Nappanee, Indiana. Jerry and Tina left the Amish to join the Mennonites after the birth of their second son. He wrote his first work in the early twenties, a fictionalized version of his childhood in Central America. His second title was an Amish love story— Sarah. Since then Jerry has published over thirty fiction titles and sold nearly a million books.
Thomas Nye writes novels about Amish life, with a touch of romance, and a foundation of faith in Christ. He and his wife, Shari, live on her family farm where they raised five children. They have seven grandchildren and a team of draft horses. Thomas walks a mail route for the US Postal Service. It keeps him close to nature and a affords many quiet hours in which to dream up novels. “Over three decades of friendships with Amish neighbors has revealed a simple wisdom that inspires my writing.” To find out more about Thomas Nye and his books, visit: amishhorses.blogspot.com
Murray Pura has over twenty-four novels to his credit and, in addition, has published dozens of short stories, novellas,,and poems along with numerous books of non-fiction. He has worked with Baker, Barbour, Zondervan, Harvest House, MillerWords, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Harper One and Elk Lake Publishing. His fiction has won or been short listed for a number of literary prizes. Pura has lived in the UK, the Middle East, the USA and Canada. He now makes his home in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta.
Amos Wyse was born in the Midwest. Spending a great deal of his youth around good, hard-working farmers, those who lived near them and worked with them. When writing, he keeps those people and the life lessons they taught close by.
More from The Men of Amish
The Amish Menorah and Other Stories was born out of a happy meeting between Patrick E. Craig and Thomas Nye at an Amish writers and readers event put on by Connie Spradling Lynch in Shipshewana, Indiana in 2019. Most of these readers did not know that there were several men who wrote Amish fiction. So Patrick and Tom decided to do something about that. After the conference, invitations went out to Murray Pura, Willard Carpenter, Jerry Eicher and Amos Wyse. Deb Haggerty at Elk Lake Publishers signed on and The Amish Menorah came to be.
Patrick E. Craig
As always, the six of us male authors of Amish fiction, have the goal of writing interesting and inspiring stories about Amish life. Collectively, our purpose in putting together The Amish Menorah, was to offer a sampling of Amish novellas written by men. There are only a few of us guys and dozens of women writing Amish novels. This book is an opportunity for readers of Amish fiction to sample six of our writing styles in one setting.
The Biblical description of a Menorah is a seven-flame lampstand. We like to think of our six stories in the Amish Menorah as six flames, each shining a unique light on Amish life. Our prayer is that you, our readers, will become that seventh flame as you join us by reading The Amish Menorah.
To celebrate their tour, The Men of Amish Fiction are giving away the grand prize package of copy of The Amish Menorah and Other Stories, a copy of Samson and Amish Delilah (by Thomas Nye), and an Amish coloring book designed for Amish children and sold in Amish stores!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
