Looking for a Few Good Questions...And Giving Away Books

I'll be attending the Coastal Magic Convention in Daytona Beach, Florida this week and I need some help. As part of my duties as one of the featured bloggers, I'll be moderating four author panels. I just got my panel assignments and now I need to come up with questions to generate discussion for at least 40 minutes per panel. I already have a few questions for each panel but I'd like some more. That's where you come in. I hope! :) 

The panel audiences will consist primarily of readers, so I'd like to know what questions you would ask if given the opportunity. I'll list the panels with their descriptions below.  


Panel 1: FICTIONAL FURBABIES 

Real-life 4-legged friends and fictional pets in some of our favorite stories. 

Panel 2: SHOULD’A BEEN A COWBOY 

Western Romance chat about cowboys, cowgirls, ranch life, and everything that makes readers swoon.

Panel 3: TIMELESS TALES 

Historical Romance authors chat about what draws them to the past and why readers love these stories today. How much has changed and what has stayed the same?

Panel 4: THE BOY / GIRL NEXT DOOR 

Bakers and Florists and Handymen…Oh, my! Authors of small-town romance share the inspiration behind their sweet stories and chat about their wide-spread appeal.

Hit me with your questions, friends. To thank you for your help, I'll randomly choose two people who post comments before 11:00 PM, February 20, to receive a package of books. 

*U.S. addresses only.

Winner - - In Love on Anchor Island

The randomly chosen winner of a Kindle copy of

In Love on Anchor Island by Terri Osburn is:

Carla Loves to Read

Congratulations!

Please send your email address to:

theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com

Review - - Isaiah's Legacy

ISAIAH’S LEGACY

by Mesu Andrews

Publisher: WaterBrook

Release Date: February 18, 2020

Reviewed by Hellie

    

At eight years old, Shulle has known only life in a small village with her loving but peculiar father. When Uncle Shebna offers shelter in Jerusalem in exchange for Shulle's help tutoring King Manasseh, Judah's five-year-old co-regent who displays the same peculiarities as her father, she's eager to experience the royal court. But Shulle soon realizes the limits of her father's strict adherence to Yahweh's Law when Uncle Shebna teaches her of the starry hosts and their power.

Convinced Judah must be freed from Yahweh's chains, she begins the subtle swaying of young Manasseh, using her charm and skills on the boy no one else understands. When King Hezekiah dies, twelve-year-old Manasseh is thrust onto Judah's throne, bitter at Yahweh and eager to marry the girl he adores. Assyria's crown prince favors Manasseh and twists his brilliant mind toward cruelty, beginning Shulle's long and harrowing journey to discover the Yahweh she'd never known, guided with loving wisdom by Manasseh's mother: Isaiah's daughter, the heartbroken Hephzibah. Amid Judah's dark days, a desperate remnant emerges, claiming the Lord's promise, "Though we're helpless now, we're never hopeless--because we serve El Shaddai." Shulle is among them, a girl who becomes a queen through Isaiah's legacy.

Hellie’s Heeds

Mesu Andrews had her work cut out for this story. As she tells the reader prior to the start of the story: “Manessah became Judah’s wickedest king and destroyed everything his father rebuilt.” Manessah (Nessah) is more villain than anti-hero, though Mesu does an admirable job of creating flawed but nuanced characters who persevere and eventually triumph, and shows God never gives up on a human heart. 

If you are interested in historical fiction (and/or Christian fiction), this book will tick all the boxes, even though at times it is a hard read. Nessah, after all, does really awful things for most of the book, including sacrificing his own children to other gods. In addition to Nessah, there is Shulle’s uncle Shebna--who I think is even more wicked than Nessah--who forces Shulle into a relationship with the child-king and manipulates her in order to gain more power. Then there are the Assyrian kings, Sennacherib, then his son Esarhaddon, and his grandson Ashurbanipal, each seemingly more terrifying than the last. Still, with all its gritty historical detail and darkness, this book is one of hope, which shows itself through Queen Zibah (Nessah’s mother) and the holy prophets who try to touch Nessah’s heart. 

As a plot point (of sorts), Nessah is portrayed as being autistic (as was Shulle’s father, which is how she becomes a tutor to Nessah.) While I believe this was handled carefully and I value diversity and reality (after all, autism isn’t a “new” thing), I think some readers might be taken aback at Nessah being on the spectrum--and being so evil for so long. I don’t know. Again, the author does address this concern in her author’s note; and this may just be my personal discomfort since I have not read many books with autistic characters, nor have I personally known many people on the spectrum (at least that I’m aware of). The author was walking a lot of tight ropes here--and I do think she handled it as gracefully as possible. I think my only “issue” with the character being autistic is that his family and those he interacted with were a lot more understanding and/or careful with him than I think we have treated people who think/look differently, in the past. In this way, this story was a bit “wish fulfillment” to me, but I know that is one of the struggles in writing historical fiction: how do you write about certain things that would have definitely had different attitudes during that period--and not alienate the readership you’re trying to immerse in this time/culture. 

My last bit of contention is how the author treats any religion or belief system other than Judaism (which I understand, obviously.) Fictionally I understand having your characters who believe in God--the only God--to be dismissive and to hate the “false gods.” This is a Christian book, so the underlying theme is that there is only one true God. However, in the author’s note, she makes mention of the dogs who feature in the book and she indicates the violence of the dogs wasn’t meant to offend, but to “show the depravity of this ancient culture.” Pitting one culture against another in a framework of good and bad is why we do not have peace or understanding. While I commend the author on her ability to write a historical story like this with sensitivity and clarity, I was put off by this personal attitude that created division rather than understanding.

Review & Giveaway - - In Love on Anchor Island

In Love on Anchor Island
by Terri Osburn
131 Page Novella
Publisher: Macie Rae Publishing
Release Date: February 11, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
  

Roxie Chandler is a screw up. She doesn’t look for trouble, but it finds her anyway. After creating a scandal in her hometown, she takes refuge on Anchor Island, her cousin’s adopted home in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Planning to stick around only until she finds an alternative, Roxie doesn’t expect to make friends. Or to find love.

Alex Fielding is living his dream. A small town doctor making a difference in his neighbors’ lives, he ignores his father’s demands to return to the big city and take his rightful place in the family practice. His life on Anchor Island is quiet and simple, just how he likes it, until a leather-clad rebel with a chip on her shoulder moves in next door.

Roxie and Alex get off to a rough start, but sparks fly even when they’re fighting. The more he learns about her, the more Alex wants to save her from herself. And the longer she’s on the island, the more Roxie thinks about staying. But when her prediction comes true and she screws up once again, Anchor Island may no longer be her port in the storm.


PJ's Thoughts:

They say you can't go home again but that doesn't apply to author Terri Osburn who, in this novella, returns to the fictional island, and beloved characters, she created in her debut Anchor Island series. I loved every minute of it. 

As with the earlier books in Osburn's Anchor Island series, this story is infused with humor, deep emotion, and a strong sense of community. I enjoyed how she wove characters from the original series into Alex and Roxie's journey, giving Anchor Island fans the opportunity to check in with favorite couples while at the same time offering up a fresh, new story, with new main characters, for those readers unfamiliar with the series. 

At first, Roxie and Alex appear to be an opposites-attract couple with a dash of enemies-to-lovers but these two have many more common values than they realize. Osburn gives them wonderful banter, delicious sizzle, and heart-tugging complexities. I loved the growth of both characters and the ways in which they each helped the other achieve that growth. The emotions that accompany their journey are deep, rich, and true; eliciting laughter, tears, and deep sighs of satisfaction. Also, anger and frustration. Osburn has a knack for creating realistic and complex dysfunction within families and certain characters had me ready to rally the troops to ride to Alex and Roxie's defense. 

This story may be a shorter-length novella but it has all the depth and emotional richness I expect in a full-length novel. It checked my happy reader boxes and has me hoping Osburn will decide to return to Anchor Island for more stories in the future. There's something very special about both the island and the characters who live there. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Have you read any of the Anchor Island books?

Do you have a favorite Anchor Island couple?

One person who comments before 11:00 PM, February 18, will receive a Kindle copy of In Love on Anchor Island.

*Must be 18 or older

Review - - Thrill Ride

Thrill Ride
by Breezie Bennett
South Florida Riders - Book 4
Publisher: Palm Island Publishing
Release Date: February 14, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
  

NFL kicker Dylan Rivera and quirky yoga teacher Melody Hayes have absolutely nothing in common, except they both believe in "one true love." But when they are forced to live together for one month before Melody takes off for her dream job on a cruise line, they can't resist the thrill that comes when two opposites attract and ignite.







PJ's Thoughts: 

Breezie Bennett's newest addition to her South Florida Riders series is an opposites attract story that kept me grinning throughout. I really liked these two. They are so much fun together, with sizzling attraction, sparkling banter, adorable exasperation, and a deepening emotional connection that cannot be denied. Even though they both try their level best to do just that.

Dylan looks to his parents' marriage for inspiration and believes he'll know his "one true love" when he meets her. But his parents' marriage is in trouble and Dylan is helpless to get them back on track. The one thing he's confident in is that the wacky "yoga girl", sexy though she may be, is not his one and only. But, if that's true, why is he becoming more and more addicted to her presence in his life? Why is it getting harder and harder to keep her out of his heart? Melody is much more than Dylan assumes, as he comes to eventually realize. But will he realize too late?

Melody is a smart businesswoman, with a kind and generous heart, and a tendency to talk non-stop. She's also a woman in touch with the universe and the signs it shares with her. Years ago, a psychic gave her the signs she needs to know when she finds her fated mate, her one true love. Dylan may be a sexy hunk of man, a sweet and caring soul, and someone she's finding more and more lovable, but she's not getting the signs she needs to know he's the one. In fact, all signs are pointing to him not being the one, yet she can't help but keep getting more involved in his life and the lives of his fractured family. Is she misreading the signs or is she truly meant to walk away from this man who has burrowed his way into her heart? 

I'm having so much fun with the stories in this series. Though they are all centered around a professional football team (which I love), and the sport is an integral part of each relationship, don't be put off if you're not a sports fan. In each book, Bennett delivers a unique, well-plotted, enjoyable romance, populated by well-developed, vividly-rendered characters, on journeys filled with passion, humor, and lots of heart. This newly published author has a bright future ahead. I'm excited to see what she has planned for the newest member of the South Florida Riders next!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you enjoy sports-themed romance?

Have you read a Breezie Bennett book yet?

Do you have a favorite sport you'd like to see more of in romance?

Review - - Break and Enter

Break and Enter
by Lori Matthews
Callahan Security - Book 1
Publisher: Wild Coyote Press
Release Date: January 22, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
  

Callahan Security is on the brink of disaster. Mitch Callahan pushed his brothers to expand the family business into private security, and their first major client is a complete pain in the ass. It’s no wonder the man has a target on his back, but nothing could prepare Mitch for how seductive his adversary is. Dear reader, let me introduce you to Alexandra Buchannan. The woman many of us wish we had on speed dial, at least at some point in our lives…she uses her talents as a professional criminal to equalize the scales of what she likes to call…romantic justice. Your ex still has your favorite painting? He kept the bracelet he bought you for your 5th anniversary? They won’t be his for long. But Alex’s latest job is her biggest challenge yet. Her target just hired a new security company, and the team’s leader is as smart as he is sexy.Mitch knows his ass is on the line, and he could drag Callahan Security down with him, but everything gets much more complicated as he begins to find Alex so damn irresistible. Soon their game of cat and mouse explodes into a million pieces. Unbeknownst to them, there’s another player in the game, and his intentions are far deadlier.


PJ's Thoughts:

You all know how much I enjoy discovering new authors who check all my happy reader boxes. After staying awake until 3:30 this morning to finish reading Break and Enter, I'm happy to say Lori Matthews checked all of those boxes. Not only am I all-in for her Callahan Security series, but she's the first name placed on my Best Debut Authors of 2020 list. 

With well-developed characters, a fast-paced and tightly-plotted story, a solid balance between action and romance, and twists and turns aplenty, she drew me into her high-stakes world and kept me riveted from first page to last. I loved the chemistry between Mitch and Alex, the flare of desire that grew ever stronger, even as they matched wits to achieve their respective goals and struggled to find trust without revealing their secrets. I was fully invested in their journey.

Matthews writes with fluidity, painting vivid pictures with her words and using her characters - always at the heart of the story - to move the plot forward. As I read the words on the page, in my mind's eye I could see the entire story unfolding on the big screen. It's as if I was reading the book and watching the movie simultaneously, creating an immersive experience that fully engaged my senses. 

While Break and Enter gives the main couple, Mitch and Alex, a happy ending, and their particular piece of the mystery that unfolds in this book is wrapped up, there are still questions to be answered. It appears that there is an overlying mystery that will continue to unfold within each subsequent book in the series. And, of course, as there are two more Callahan brothers (who are both equally intriguing!), more happily ever afters to be found as well. I don't know how many books Matthews has planned for this series but, based on how much I enjoyed Break and Enter, I'll be here for all of them. 

Winner - - An Everyday Hero

The randomly chosen winner of a print copy of

An Everyday Hero by Laura Trentham is:

Patricia Bennett Barber

Congratulations!

Please send your full name and mailing address to:

theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com

Tour Review & Giveaway - - An Everyday Hero

An Everyday Hero
by Laura Trentham
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
 

At thirty, Greer Hadley never expected to be forced home to Madison, Tennessee with her life and dreams up in flames. A series of bad decisions and even worse luck lands her community service hours at a nonprofit organization that aids veterans and their families. Greer cannot fathom how she’s supposed to help anyone deal with their trauma and loss when everything that brought her joy has failed her.

Then Greer meets fifteen-year-old Ally Martinez, a gifted girl who lost her father in action and now hides her pain behind a mask of sarcasm. But Greer sees something undeniable that she can’t walk away from. To make matters more complicated, Greer finds herself spending more and more time with Emmett Lawson―a man with both physical and emotional scars of his own. When a situation with Ally becomes dire, the two of them must become a team to save her―and along the way they might just save themselves too.

PJ's Thoughts:

In An Everyday Hero, Laura Trentham brings readers into the lives of three people who are all in pain but, when brought together, just might be able to save each other...and themselves. Greer invested her whole life in her single-minded pursuit of a music career only to have it all spectacularly crash and burn in the midst of a panic attack. Returning home to her small town looking for solace from her boyfriend, she instead finds him pants-down with another woman. Is it any wonder she goes a little batsh*t crazy at the local bar when someone plays Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats," and finds herself before the local judge (who also happens to be her favorite uncle)? She expects a light fine, maybe highway trash pick-up, but instead he sentences her to volunteer hours at a local musical therapy center. Music. Her greatest love, greatest failure, and greatest fear. She is not a happy camper which, of course, makes her the perfect person to be assigned to two others resistant to the center's efforts: Ally and Emmett. 

Athletic and handsome, Emmett was the golden boy of his hometown who went off to war to uphold his family's tradition of service but came home severely wounded, both physically and emotionally, and is well on his way to closing himself off completely from his friends, his family, and life. I ached for him and for his parents who have no idea how to reach him. Fourteen-year-old Ally is a heart-breaker. Her father is dead, killed in service, her mother has lost the ability to cope following his death, and Ally is so consumed with anger and grief she fairly vibrates with it, the walls she's erected around herself, practically impenetrable. I wanted to wrap my arms around her and take her pain into myself but what Ally needs is something else.  

I found Greer, Ally, and Emmett all so very realistic and relatable, quickly becoming invested in each of their stories. Processing pain, and grief, are very personal endeavors and Trentham excels at creating those individual journeys on the page while, at the same time, intricately weaving them together as a whole. Greer is the catalyst that puts both Ally and Emmett on their individual paths to recovery, eventually bringing them together in a surprising way but Greer is on her own path as well and as much as she helps them, they help her in return. I liked Greer and I loved the (totally different) relationships that form between her and Emmett and her and Ally. You can feel their pain - Trentham doesn't sugarcoat it - but there's also hope, humor (especially between Emmett and Greer), heart-tugging romance, and deep friendships that form as they all sort through the fears and feelings that are keeping them from moving forward. 

An Everyday Hero is a story of second chances, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, and love. Its a story of overcoming the challenges faced by wounded veterans and by military families left behind. And it's a story of healing, friendship, acceptance, and finally finding the path we're meant to travel. I laughed, I cried, and I turned the final page so grateful to have met these wonderful characters through Laura Trentham's deeply emotional storytelling. It's a book I highly recommend. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you read any of Laura Trentham's books?

Do you enjoy books with military themes or characters?

Tell me about the last women's fiction novel you enjoyed.

One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, February 7, 2020 will receive a print copy of An Everyday Hero. 

*Must be 18 or older.

*Open to U.S. addresses only.

Review - - To Bed the Bride

TO BED THE BRIDE

by Karen Ranney

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: November 26, 2019

Reviewed by Hellie

    

Politics has introduced MP Logan McKnight to many fascinating people, but the lady he encounters on the lands bordering his ancestral Scottish home outshines them all. Eleanor Craig of Hearthmere seats a Thoroughbred like a queen, knows as much about world events as any of his colleagues—and is engaged to one of the worst men Logan knows. She also seems lonely, so Logan brings her a friend. Thus should their acquaintance end, yet it’s only just begun.

The puppy Logan delivers is every bit as irresistible as the man himself. How could this stranger sense the isolation Eleanor suffers among her scheming, snobbish extended family and fiancé who control her life? It’s even worse in London—until she begins meeting Logan secretly in a secluded park. Their passionate connection frees Eleanor, body and soul. But discovery threatens disgrace—or worse.

Hellie’s Heeds:

I have not read the other books in this series, but this book stood by itself without needing to read the other books to enjoy the romance. What I enjoyed most about this book and setting is how realistic it felt for the heroine, who would have had limited choices and also expectations of her as a single young woman (i.e. you must marry.) I can get a little put out with “modern” historical romances that have the heroine wishing to experience carnal love without the fear of consequences (which would be severe for the woman) or who wish to marry only for love, when they come from the upper classes where love meant less to the marriage than compatibility or adjoining land, etc. 

I know, I know: it’s romance! It doesn’t have to be real! Still, I think this is a good balance between more realistic in how the heroine is drawn and thinks in her time period and also being a more modern heroine who seizes control of her fate and does something different. This is what happened here. Eleanor is well aware she is engaged to an earl--which is a good thing, which everyone wants, even her once upon a time--but now that the wedding details are commencing, she’s realizing more and more that what she thinks she’s getting is not it at all. In fact, her fiancé has very specific requirements of her--and the reason he picked her to be his wife is because she’s so biddable. 

But our author shows us that a heroine who is as quiet and demure as Eleanor is can be far from being actually biddable. I also enjoy that as a trope as well in reading romances: the underestimated heroine. The heroine everyone dismisses because they’re too shy, too ugly, too bookish. Eleanor is average in looks, average in gregariousness, just average. Thus her fiancé Michael is a bit put out when his supposedly biddable bride will not part with her new dog that her Scottish neighbor has given her because he thought she looked lonely. 

And you know if the one you plan to marry doesn’t like dogs--that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about him as a person, right? Not to mention, her family--which Eleanor keeps sacrificing things for to make happy (to no avail because they don’t know how to be happy)--hate the dog too. I don’t know how. Bruce is a most adorable border collie mix. 

By the time Eleanor makes a true play of resistance to the marriage, the family (as well as Michael) turn on her in such a way that one can easily see this is how misbehaving women of the time period were treated. Punish them until they give in. Fortunately with help from the hero and Bruce, things all work out in the end. (In fact, I really like how the end worked out. I thought it served her family right--just how well it worked out for Eleanor--after they cut her off for not doing what they wanted. *LOL*)

The hero, Logan, is a delight--the kind of government official you want in office. Someone who fights for the common man, for basic human rights. The friendship that grows between Logan and Eleanor is so natural and authentic, you can’t help rooting for them. Watching a relationship unfurl from real kindredness and friendship almost feels like a change of pace in current historical novel writing trends. There is no doubt to the chemistry between them, but they build the friendship first.

The author includes a note about how women’s property was treated once they were married. It explains a bit about a plot point in the book and will make you grateful that’s no longer the case now. 

I plan to go back and find the rest in the series. I think they will be just as delightful.

Review - - Risk it All

Risk it All
by Katie Ruggle
Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters - Book 2
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: December 31, 2020
Reviewed by PJ
    

Cara Pax never wanted to be a bounty hunter. She’s happy to leave chasing criminals and tackling skips to her sisters. But if she wants her dreams of escaping the family business to come true, she’s got one last job to finish... Only problem is, she doesn’t think her bounty is guilty.

Henry Kavenski is a man with innocence to prove. When he realizes that Cara believes him, he’ll do anything to keep her out of harm’s way. Escaping criminals and dodging cops might not be the best time to fall in love, but Henry and Cara won’t give up, not when there’s a chance at a new life ahead—if they can survive the fall.

PJ's Thoughts:

Katie Ruggle has been on my auto-buy list since her first series. I love her well-developed, out-of-the-box characters, tightly-woven suspense, edge-of-the-seat danger, and fast-paced story lines. I love the overarching mystery that begins in the first book of each series but doesn't conclude until the last, keeping me eagerly returning for each book in the series. She pulls me into each connected group - family, friends, co-workers - that populates her various series, creating a fascinating dynamic that engages me emotionally. But, I have to admit, of all her series, so far, I'm enjoying these five bounty hunting sisters the most. I love how they interact with and support one another, the banter, humor, and sass in their relationships, and how they are each a unique, different personality but mesh together into an unbreakable, loving unit. And I love their dog. I so love their dog!

Cara is the sweet sister everyone protects. She's the one who stays behind to do computer research when she's not in class working toward a degree to fulfill her dream of being a kindergarten teacher (a dream their mother has successfully delayed too many times), all of which makes her the least likely sister to go after a suspected murderer on her own. Which, of course, makes this book all the more interesting when she and Henry are forced to go on the run.

I really enjoyed these two together. Ruggle ratchets up the tension, sending them into the wilderness in a race for their lives where they're forced to depend on one another. The romance portion is a slow build, making it much more realistic considering the circumstances, while the danger is high intensity. Cara is one of my favorite Ruggle heroines. I really enjoyed watching her come into her own during this story. I love how protective Henry is of her, in both action scenes as well as personal ones. And, speaking of Henry, I was right there with Cara, hoping Henry would turn out to be innocent of the charges against him but still wondering how it would all turn out right up until the reveal. Kudos to Ruggle for story telling that kept me guessing. I love when an author accomplishes that. 

Risk it All is the second book in this series and will stand on its own but to better understand the overarching mystery, the dynamic among the sisters, and the precarious position their law-breaking mother has put them in, I recommend readers begin with the first book in the series: In Her Sights. 

Coming Attractions

Well, February isn't getting off to the best start. My entire Coming Attractions post just disappeared. Poof! Gone! Sigh...  Let's give this another try and hope the rest of the month goes a bit better, yes? :) 

We kick off the month on Thursday, February 6, with my tour review of An Everyday Hero by Laura Trentham. This is Trentham's second military-inspired women's fiction novel and is filled with emotion, redemption, and hope.






I'll be at the Coastal Magic (Reader/Author) Convention in Daytona Beach, Florida the third week of February so watch for reports from the beach!




Stop by Thursday, February 27 for a guest post from Cathy Maxwell then stay for my review of Maxwell's upcoming historical romance, His Secret Mistress, which launches her new A Logical Man's Guide to Dangerous Women series. With logical men and dangerous women, you know this is going to be fun! 





Rounding out the month, visit the blog on Friday, February 28 for my tour review of Lady Edith's Lonely Heart by Audrey Harrison. I'm looking forward to reading this Regency romance by a new-to-me author.