Tour Review - - On Magnolia Lane

On Magnolia Lane 
By Denise Hunter
A Blue Ridge Romance - Book 3
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: November 6, 2018
Reviewed by PJ

Pastor Jack McReady has secretly carried a torch for Daisy for two long years. She’s a member of his congregation, after all, and she’ll never see him as more than a trusted counselor. Jack’s best friend Noah has taken every opportunity to encourage his lovesick friend, but when Noah catches wind that Daisy has joined an online dating site, he takes matters into his own hands and orchestrates a meet-cute of the most unconventional kind.

Owner of the local flower shop, Daisy Pendleton is content with her small-town life, but she’d sure like someone to share it with. After several disastrous first dates, she’s about to give up—and then she finds a seemingly wonderful man online. Daisy gets to know TJ through a series of messages but finds herself spending more time with Pastor Jack outside of the church at the same time. What she doesn’t know is that her online prospect and Jack are one and the same.

Just as Daisy’s love life starts to look promising, a mysterious woman appears in town. Daisy is faced with a revelation about her family that turns her world upside down, and she looks to both TJ and Jack for help.

Jack must find a way to reveal himself as her online suitor without breaking her heart and losing her trust. As Daisy faces Jack’s betrayal, she’ll have to learn to extend grace to herself, her family, and the man she’s grown to love.

My thoughts:

This is a sweet, humorous, and heartwarming Christian contemporary romance set in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains of northern Georgia. It's the third book in Hunter's Blue Ridge Romance trilogy but, while characters from previous books make appearances and I'm guessing Daisy and Pastor Jack have evolved over the course of the series, I had no difficulty reading - and enjoying - this third book on its own. 

One of the things that brought this story to life for me is Hunter's depiction of Daisy and Jack. Both are fully dimensional characters, rooted in their faith, but oh, so human, with all the insecurities, challenges, frustrations, and errors of judgment that encompasses. Jack, in particular, is such an endearing character. I liked him so much that I found myself giving him encouragement and advice as I traveled his journey with him, especially during those scenes where his shyness with women - Daisy, in particular - is on display. It took me a little longer to embrace Daisy. In the beginning, I wondered if she and Jack really could be a good match but the growth she exhibits during her journey, especially as it relates to an unexpected obstacle life throws her way, brought me into her cheering section as well. In the end, I happily embraced them both, individually and as a couple, with the confidence that their HEA will be filled with laughter and love - of each other, of their families, of their small community, and of their Lord. 

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Do you enjoy pastor heroes in the books you read?

Do you have any favorites you'd recommend?

Click to follow the rest of the TLC tour for On Magnolia Lane.

Review - - The Christmas Family

The Christmas Family

By Linda Goodnight

Publisher: Harlequin Love Inspired

Release Date: November 1, 2015

COO Brady Buchanon looks forward every Christmas season to the home makeover Buchanon Built Constructions, his family’s company, offers to one deserving recipient. With the company dealing with losses from vandalism, his father suggests skipping this year’s project, but Brady is determined that they will go ahead with his favorite project. He has already chosen the family, and his brothers are prepared to help. However, Brady’s excitement takes a hit when the single mother who has been selected for the 2015 makeover says, in effect, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Abby Webster works hard as a waitress, tackling twelve-hour shifts at the Buttered Biscuit to support her four-year-old daughter Lila. Lila’s activities may be restricted by spinal bifida, but there are no restrictions on her heart and spirit. Lila embraces life with joy, but life has conditioned Abby to count on no one but herself. She grew up as a foster child who always remained an outsider, and Lila’s father abandoned Abby and their baby as soon as he learned that the infant would be a special-needs child. Devoted to her daughter and possessed of a fierce pride, Abby cannot accept charity no matter how much she longs for a better home or how susceptible she is to Brady whose heart is as big as his super-hero-size body.

Brady is persistent, and so are Lila’s needs. When Abby trips on a broken board and almost falls with Lila, she relents and accepts the makeover offer. Soon she is falling in love with Brady and with all his big, loving, exuberant family. The God they worship seems very different from the judgmental deity waiting to zap her for her mistakes that has been Abby’s concept of God. But can she trust her heart and can she trust Brady not to become just one more person who leaves her?

Goodnight’s new Christmas book is warm with family, faith, and charity in the fullest, most active sense of the word. A bestseller and RITA-winner, Goodnight is deft at creating characters who capture her readers’ interest and affection.

Abby and Brady are likeable but credibly imperfect characters, and Lila is a heart-stealer. The Buchanon family is large, varied, tightly knit, and faith-filled, but there are tensions and problems enough to keep them believable. My only quibble is that if you have not read Cowboy under the Mistletoe (2014), you will be aware that you are missing bits of the family’s story. I also wonder if we will have to wait until next fall for the next book in the series. Nevertheless, if you like Christmas Inspys, this one is a treat.

~Janga

Today's Special - - Virginia Smith

We're pleased to welcome inspirational author Virginia Smith today!  Virginia is the author of more than twenty inspirational novels, an illustrated children's book and many more articles and short stories.  She's also an inspirational speaker as well as a Certified Lay Speaker for the United Methodist Church.  When she's not busy speaking or writing, she enjoys physical adventures such as snow skiing, scuba diving and motorcycle riding.  You can find more information about Virginia and her books at her website.  Please join us in giving Virginia a warm Romance Dish welcome!  

Thanks, PJ and Andrea, for letting me blog on The Romance Dish today. It’s my first visit, and the menu looks scrumptious!

The road to ‘happily ever after’ is never straight. Sometimes it takes unexpected twists and turns, and you’d better watch out for potholes. As women who are searching for love, that’s not good news. But as readers, it’s the unexpected side trips that we enjoy most of all.

Some girls are lucky enough to grow up next door to Mr. All-American Right, marry him without ever looking at another man (or him looking at another girl), and live in wedded bliss for the rest of their lives. That certainly didn’t happen to me. My next-door neighbors growing up had no kids. Instead, they had a bulldog named Chopper, and he drooled. When I started dating, I went through a series of Mr. Wrongs, and trust me, I stumbled into quite a few potholes along the way. Finally, after a progression of disasters, roadblocks, and detours, I rounded a corner and there he was. My Mr. Right turned up in the last place I thought I’d find him – in an office at work, with his face hidden behind a computer screen.

In A Plain and Simple Heart, which I co-authored with the fabulous Lori Copeland, our heroine Rebecca Switzer finds herself on a similarly rocky road. The setting is Kansas in 1885. Rebecca is Amish, seventeen, and in love with a cowboy she met four years before. She decides to use her rumspringa to strike out on her own across Kansas in search for her true love, her Mr. Right. The first twist in her road comes when she meets up with a group of temperance demonstrators and is swept into the fervor of their cause. Then a roadblock lands her in front of a judge, with her main accuser being the town’s handsome sheriff. From there, matters get quickly, and hilariously, out of hand. She’s stuck in a chug hole up to her Amish prayer cap, her cowboy is nowhere to be found, and she’s beginning to wonder whether the road she’s on leads to ‘happily ever after’ or ‘wild west disaster.’

What about you? If you’ve found your Mr. Right, was he at the end of a smooth road, or a rocky one? And if you haven’t found him yet, what are the road conditions on your journey?

One randomly chosen person leaving a comment on today's blog will receive a copy of A Plain & Simple Heart.  

Today's Special - - Ann H. Gabhart

We are delighted to welcome inspirational romance author, Ann H. Gabhart to The Romance Dish today!  A Kentucky girl with deep roots in the Outer Bluegrass region of the state, Ann lives just a mile away from the family farm where she spent her growing up years.  She started writing when she was ten years old and hasn't stopped since.  A busy wife, mother, grandmother and dog mom (We love dog moms here at TRD!), Ann has still managed to publish twenty novels.  Please give her a warm welcome! 

The Romance of Writing

Have you ever thought about making up a cast of characters and dropping them down into a world you created? A world where they might find love? Are you in love with words? Do you like how words look spilled across a page promising knowledge or adventure or romance? Are you amazed at how you can rearrange the twenty-six letters of the alphabet to tell endless stories? If you smiled and nodded yes to any of the above, then you may have been captured by the romance of writing.

I fell in love with writing when I was about ten. I wasn’t thinking much about writing romantic stories then. I was too busy scribbling words to solve a mystery the way the Hardy Boys did in their books I so enjoyed at the time. While I might not have been worried about romance, I was definitely in love with the written word. I’ve written about dozens of characters since my first attempt at writing that mystery years ago, and love has seeped into most of the stories. Romance can sweeten any story.

A few times my characters have also been in love with the written word and the idea of stories the way I am. Jessamine Brady in The Gifted (Revell trade paperback, On sale now) is one of those characters. From the very beginning of the story she’s wondering about love. She might live with the Shakers who try to teach her that romantic love is not proper, but her heart won’t be convinced. Before she came to the Shakers, her granny told her fairytales. Princes ever showed up in those stories, and love always curled up in the hearts of the characters with a pleased sigh of contentment. Her granny promised the same would be true for Jessamine. A prince would come. If only she’d wait. But then she ends up with the Shakers who not only frown on the idea of romantic princes but also try to quell Jessamine’s love of story. The Shakers’ creed is “Hands to work and hearts to God,” and that doesn’t leave any room for fanciful stories. While they get very imaginative in their worship, they prohibit reading or writing fiction. In spite of their rules, Jessamine can’t stop the stories dancing in her head. It’s a gift she wants to embrace but one she worries might not be proper.    

Stories dance in my head too until I coax them out onto paper or the computer screen. I love stories. I love the way a book can carry a reader off into a new world with characters who capture my heart. While the actual act of writing is often hard work and not nearly as romantic as we might wish or imagine, once the story is written, then the romance of writing can bloom between author and reader. I’ve always believed storytelling takes two – one to tell the story and one to listen. A book can’t truly come to life until a reader adds his or her imagination to the author’s and lets the story play in his or her head. That’s the romance of writing and the joy of reading.   

Have you been captured by the romance of writing or reading? What do you like best about the books you read? The romance? The adventure? The history? Tell me why you love stories.

Ann is giving away two copies of The Gifted today.  A print copy will go to a randomly selected person from the U.S./Canada leaving a comment and a digital copy will go to one randomly selected international commenter.  Please indicate US/CAN or INT in your comment to be eligible for the giveaway.

Check out more about Ann's stories on her website, www.annhgabhart.com. 

Review - - When Love Comes My Way

When Love Comes My Way
By Lori Copeland
Publisher:  Harvest House
Release Date:  June 1, 2012

1873

Timber heiress Tess Wakefield may have called the logging camps of Michigan's Upper Peninsula home when she was a young child but she is now a city girl, firmly entrenched in Philadelphia society.  When her grandfather dies and leaves the timber business to her, Tess briefly considers keeping it but her fiancé (who has been her guardian since she was eleven and upon whom she has relied for financial advice for most of her life) recommends selling.  The timber business, according to reports, is in decline and Tess can use the money to fund her dream of opening a string of hat shops.  She makes arrangements to sell to a rival company and, in an uncharacteristic burst of independence, travels alone by train to Michigan to sign the papers that will seal the deal.

Jake "Big Say" Lannigan loves the timber business and can't imagine doing anything else.  As foreman of Wakefield Timber, he enjoyed a close relationship with the owner, a man who shared Jake's love of the ruggedly beautiful forests of Michigan's UP and supported his dream of restoring the land with a tree planting program.  Unfortunately, Rutherford Wakefield died before they could put the re-planting program into effect and now Jake's faced with Wakefield's spoiled granddaughter who is on her way to Michigan and set upon selling the entire business to the most ruthless man in the area.  Jobs will be lost and forests will be devastated if he can't convince Tess Wakefield to change her mind before it's too late.

On the last leg of her trip, Tess boards a wagon along with Fedelia Yardley and two loggers.  Miss Yardley, a woman close to Tess in age, is on her way to the Wakefield camp to be the new school teacher and is expected.  Tess is not.  When an accident tosses the wagon into icy, rushing waters, Tess is the only one of the two women who survives but when she awakens with amnesia, everyone believes her to be Miss Yardley.  Everyone, that is, except Jake.  As he spends time with "Fedelia," Jake begins to notice things about her that lead him to believe she might be the woman with whom he's been corresponding since her grandfather's death.

When we find out her true identity, let her be Fedelia Yardley.
    Jake could deal with falling in love with a stranger, but not Wakefield's granddaughter.  And yet, in his heart, he knew who she was. 

He has a choice:  tell her what he thinks or use the long winter ahead to show her why Wakefield Timber is special, give her the opportunity to get to know the people she employs and win her over to his side in his quest to restore the forests they clear cut for future generations.   But when push comes to shove, will he be able to go against his conscience?  And when desire turns to love, will he keep his silence or listen to his heart and risk losing all by telling Tess what he believes to be the truth?

I enjoyed this book so much!  First, it's set in my home state of Michigan and Copeland does an excellent job of capturing the beauty, danger and history of the unique Upper Peninsula and the people who call it home.  Her descriptions are so vivid that I quickly lost myself in them; remembering the bone-chilling cold of the harsh winters, easily imagining the spartan conditions of the logging camps, feeling the heart-wrenching fear when someone is injured in a logging accident, smelling the freshness of the pine forests and hearing the joyful laughter and voices raised in song as friends race across snow-covered, moonlit fields in horse-drawn sleighs.  But, as much as I enjoyed the backdrop of this book, it's the characters that bring it to life.  Tess and Jake are at the center; two good but stubborn people who butt heads at every turn, set off enough sparks to start a forest fire and couldn't be more perfect for one another.  The banter between them is a delight!  Surrounding them is a memorable cast of secondary characters who all add flavor, humor and added depths to the story in their own ways.  Especially noteworthy are André, a gentle French giant who is Jake's right hand man, Echo, a downtrodden young woman trapped in an emotionally abusive marriage and Tess's fiancé Talbot Wellington-Kent, a good man who truly does want what's best for Tess.

This is an inspirational romance so it's on the mild (not spicy) side but still packs plenty of sexual tension.

Her hands gently cupped his face.  "If you're trying to scare me, you might as well stop.  It's time you knew the real Jake Lannigan, and that man finds me attractive."
   "You don't know me or what I'm capable of doing."
   "I know you well enough to see a good man, one who would not take advantage of a lady who merely asks for a - mmph."
   Her words were stopped when his mouth met hers.
   She closed her eyes and gave herself freely to his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as his arms came around her to hold her close.  She felt a new awareness he brought alive in her.  She would gladly spend her life with him, mending his clothes, cooking his meals, soothing his hurts, bearing his children, and loving him fiercely until one or the other of them drew a last breath.

The book also is not preachy.  Rather, the faith of the characters in the story is a seamless part of their being as shown in this quote as Tess prepares for bed after an enjoyable day getting to know the people of the logging camp.

   Sundays in a logging camp would be her favorite day.
   Late that night, as she snuggled down between extra clean sheets, she tried to clear her mind.  She plopped her pillow over her face to drown out the noise in the next room, but tonight the men's snores weren't so bothersome.  She knew the snorers a bit more personally now, and somehow that made the strange noises easier to tolerate.  Thank you, God, for the new friends I've made today.
   For some crazy reason, she wished Jake Lannigan had been one of them.

This is my first Lori Copeland book but it won't be my last. A beautifully written love story filled with humor, emotion and memorable characters, When Love Comes My Way is a book I highly recommend.

~PJ

Do you read inspirational romance?  Have you read any of Lori Copeland's books?  Any inspirational books or authors you would recommend?  I'm giving away the review copy I received of When Love Comes My Way to one randomly chosen person leaving a comment on today's review.