Veterans Day Reading

11 Nov

Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all who have served our nation — your and your family’s sacrifices are very much appreciated! If you are off work today, here are a few suggestions for your reading time (I know that is worked into your celebration plans 😉 ). All feature veterans. Enjoy your day!

Battle Charged by Hannah Hood Lucero

Silence kills.

As a professional body builder, Gatlin Baker knows fitness. And as a survivor of a chronic diagnosis and a broken family, he’s no stranger to overcoming insurmountable odds. Yet no one has ever mystified him more than the laser-focused young woman who comes to his gym at five o’clock every morning to complete a flawless routine. Something other than a training goal is motivating
the army medic he secretly nicknames “Athena.” Gatlin wants to figure it out, but her story is far darker and more complicated than he ever imagined.

Randee Carter’s whole world came crashing down in one week’s time. Now she’s threatened with the loss of her career, while ghosts of the past keep haunting her at every turn. Betrayed by those closest to her and plagued with guilt and grief, whom can she trust, and how will she ever find answers to move forward in her life?

As Gatlin and Randee draw together in a blossoming romance, dark forces close in, threatening to rip them apart. Will the truths kept silent too long be revealed before it’s too late?

Collateral Damage by Lynette Eason

Honorably discharged from the Army after an explosion nearly killed her, former military psychiatrist Brooke Adams has set up shop to help others–but her days of helping military personnel are over. She’s got her own battles to fight from her time overseas, and she’s not equipped to take on more. Former Army Special Ops Sergeant First Class Asher James could handle anything that war sent his way–terrorists, bombs, bullets. The only thing that scares him now is sleep. As the shadows close in, the nightmares begin.

Finally convinced that he needs help, Asher makes an appointment with a counselor, and Brooke is pressed by her boss to take him on. When he arrives at her office she isn’t there–but a dead body is. Brooke is devastated when she walks in, and Asher is a conveniently strong shoulder to cry on. But she can’t take him on as a client after sharing such an intimate and unprofessional moment, can she? And he’s not sure he can handle sharing his deepest fears with such a beautiful woman.

Love Makes Way by Hallee Bridgeman

U.S. Army Special Forces sniper Gerald “Jerry” McBride is no stranger to danger, but his heart faces uncharted territory when he reconnects with surgical nurse Olive Duncan. Years after she patched his wounds in a German hospital, their chance reunion at Fort Campbell sparks a romance that sweeps both of them off their feet. When Jerry invites Olive as his plus-one to a friend’s wedding on a Caribbean cruise, he’s ready to take the leap with a ring in his pocket.

But the ship’s idyllic voyage hides a deadly undercurrent. A Chinese-backed plot to smuggle thousands of weapons into Haiti threatens to destabilize the region, and the pirates orchestrating it have infiltrated the crew.

When the pirates take the cruise ship with Jerry’s special forces team on board, it turns the wedding venue from a celebration into a battlefield.

They have no weapons and no gear. Can they take back the ship and save the people they love, or will celebration turn to tragedy?

Spotlight on Romance Fiction — Sky Kiss

11 Nov
Sky Kiss JustRead Blog Tour

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Sky Kiss by Kathy Maresca, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About The Book

Sky Kiss

Title: Sky Kiss
Author: Kathy Maresca
Publisher: Porches & Planes Press
Release Date: November 1, 2026
Genre: Second Chance Romance

When love gets grounded, can it learn to fly again?

The same day her special operations wing leaves for a rescue mission, Sergeant Rubi Wesson abruptly departs the Air Force. After becoming a successful counselor specializing in neurologic disorders, her military days seem like a distant dream.

When the September 11th tragedy brings the country to its knees, Rubi learns about a plane crash involving Flynn Fletcher, the pilot she loved but could never land. Locked in a toxic marriage, she is tormented by lingering questions and unshakable regrets.

The rehabilitation counselor becomes single again, daring to reconcile her losses. She uncovers what she buried so long ago, her what if. Will Rubi have the courage to reach into the past and chart a new course?

Excerpt

Tossing in the early morning darkness, Rubi is awakened by one of her pooches. The dog yelps before darting to the foot of the bed. Barely aware of her surroundings, she finds herself tangled up in sheets, wrestling with a dream where she was back in the Air Force with Flynn Fletcher. He stands at the door of an airplane, telling her will die over there. Her uniform hat, forbidden attire on the flightline, is caught by the wind. It sails through the air, sucked into a slow-motion tornado. She tries to run after it, but it is beyond her grasp. A siren sounds. When she turns back to Flynn, he and the airplane are gone.

Morning sunlight and the aroma of Café Verona coffee brewing in her kitchen awaken Rubi from her dream. Her iPhone alarm continues to bonk, similar to the siren that blasted in her dream. Flynn, her young love, died before he could grow old. His plane crashed when he was flying a mission so many years earlier, somewhere over there.

Nightmare and reality merge.

Youth has vanished.

Flynn is gone forever.

Love escaped.PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub

Also Available

Porch Music


About The Author

Kathy Maresca

Air Force veteran Kathy Maresca served at the USAF Academy and then in special operations at Hurlburt Field. She edited for the University of Florida and taught English, journalism, and drama. A trigeminal neuralgia overcomer, Kathy is a retired credentialed rehabilitation counselor who has helped others experiencing facial pain. She lives in North Carolina with her husband Keith and their three dogs. Her debut novel, Porch Music, was a Christy Awards finalist.

Connect with Kathy by visiting kathymaresca.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email newsletter updates.


Tour Giveaway

(2) winners will each receive a $25 Amazon gift card plus a Sky Kiss tote bag, Sky Kiss microfiber cloth, and Sky Kiss coasters!

Sky Kiss blog tour giveaway JustRead Tours

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight November 11, 2026 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on November 18, 2026. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway


Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours

Top 10 Tuesday — Real And Relatable Characters

10 Nov

Happy Tuesday! Don’t you love it when a character seems real? I often (but thankfully, not always) describe favorite characters as real and relatable. It was a great phrase to use to search my reviews for this week’s TTT prompt book characters I wish were real people. If you’re like me, you already feel like they are real 😉 . I was excited to see the variety of genres my search yielded. I hope you find a book to love.

For more great characters to love, please visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Books with Real And Relatable Characters

Before The King by Heather Kaufman

The Bitter End Birding Society by Amanda Cox

A Bookshop for Christmas by Heidi Chiavaroli

Della’s Song by Donna Jo Stone

Harbor Pointe by Irene Hannon

Midnight on The Scottish Shore by Sarah Sundin

On Living Stone by Heather Kaufman

Some Like It Scot by Pepper Basham

Trail of Danger by Hope Welborn

The Words We Lost by Nicole Deese

Spotlight on Historical Romance — Garden of Opportunities

9 Nov

Today I am featuring the debut Victorian-era romance novel Garden of Opportunities by Keira Cooley. Keira is an up-and-coming author who is in high school! I love that young adults are writing and publishing books that reflect their Christian values. Be sure to give this new author’s book a look.

A clean Victorian Christian romance about two orphans, a London house divided by class, and a God who is still writing the story.

London, 1837. Patrick is nine years old when tuberculosis takes both of his parents. He is sent from the only home he has known to live with his aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Whitfield. In their house he meets Josie, a workhouse girl who never knew her parents and now scrubs the Whitfield kitchens as a scullery maid.

Friendship between them should be impossible. It becomes the truest thing either child has.

Then Lady Whitfield moves to settle an old score. Josie is gone. Separated by rank, by cruelty, and by forces he cannot yet name, Patrick has to find out what happened to the one person who saw him as more than an orphan with a future title. He will have to learn the strict social rules of his time. He will have to decide whether real love can survive the darkest corners of his life, and whether he can trust God for a greater plan.

Garden of Opportunities is Keira Cooley’s debut novel: a wholesome coming-of-age historical romance for Christian young women, from thoughtful teens to the adults who still want a clean Victorian story of faith, friendship, and providence. No spice. No cynicism. Plenty of heart.

Keira Cooley is a high school student from Southern California with a passion for history and world-building. She enjoys reading, writing, playing volleyball, acting, and spending time with friends and family. This is her debut novel, and she hopes to continue writing for many years to come.

First Line Friday — Two Seconds Too Late

6 Nov

Happy Friday! Today I am off for a weekend of bookish fun with several book-friends! Tonight I’ll attend the Christy Award Gala and then tomorrow I will have a full day at Read Write Rendezvous. I will be exhausted but so happy by Sunday. Do you ever center your time away around book events? I’d love to hear some of your adventures.

One of the authors attending Read Write Rendezvous is Dani Pettrey. Dani is an auto-read for me. Her romantic suspense is just the thing when I need a fast-paced book. Today I am featuring Two Seconds Too Late, the second book in her Jeopardy Falls series.

Here’s are the first two lines:

Thwack. The bullet collided with the car at Riley’s back a moment before a retort echoed in the stale air of the junkyard.

A missing woman. Two hit men. When every second counts, who will survive?

In the stark but beautiful wilds of northern New Mexico, a couples’ retreat at a luxury resort turns into a chilling nightmare when a woman vanishes. Skip tracer Riley MacLeod and private investigator Greyson Chadwick pose as a couple to hunt for clues that might reveal the missing woman’s location. Those leads uncover a harrowing truth: They’re not the only ones looking for her. What begins as a normal tracking case turns into a deadly chase when they, too, become the hunted.

As Riley and Greyson work together, their partnership ignites a tumultuous attraction, but Greyson’s secrets prevent him from acting on his feelings for her, and Riley can’t bring herself to fully trust him. Delving deeper into the case, they find themselves fighting not only for justice and the chance at a loving relationship . . . but also for their very survival.

Publishers Weekly and #1 Amazon bestselling author, Dani Pettrey has sold nearly one million copies of her novels to readers eagerly awaiting the next release. Dani combines the page-turning adrenaline of a thriller with the chemistry and happy-ever-after of a romance.

Her novels stand out for their “wicked pace, snappy dialogue, and likable characters” (Publishers Weekly), “gripping storyline[s],” (RT Book Reviews), and “sizzling undercurrent of romance” (USA Today).

Book Review + Giveaway — A Bookshop for Christmas

5 Nov
A Bookshop for Christmas JustRead Blog + Review Tour

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for A Bookshop for Christmas by Heidi Chiavaroli, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About The Book

A Bookshop for Christmas

Title: A Bookshop for Christmas
Author: Heidi Chiavaroli
Publisher: Hope Creek Publishers
Release Date: October 20, 2026
Genre: Christian Women’s Fiction

Seven estranged cousins. One ambitious project. A hundred ways it could all go very wrong.

When Brooke’s beloved grandparents die unexpectedly, their final wish brings her scattered family back to Hope Creek, including Jeremiah, the boy she once loved—the same boy who abandoned them when the Chilton clan disintegrated years ago. Despite the long-held grudges and awkward secrets that kept them all apart, Brooke and Jeremiah convince the Chilton cousins to help honor their grandparents’ last request: to take the old church they saved from destruction and turn it into a bookshop that will serve their beloved community.

And to do it all before Christmas.

But repurposing the church building may be easier than healing the deep wounds that tore their family apart. Secrets, both old and new, threaten to destroy Brooke and Jeremiah’s hope that this project could be a new beginning for all of them. With the bookstore’s opening day fast approaching and everyone’s lives upended, each cousin must discover for themselves that the greatest inheritance their grandparents left behind wasn’t a building—it was the gift of forgiveness, the power of second chances, and the enduring hope of Christmas.

Excerpt

Brooke was seven years old the first Christmas Jeremiah came to them. The snatch of time took up space in her mind like a sticky marshmallow ball of pleasant memories—gingerbread smiles, warm wool hats, clustered cousins, and grandparent giggles.

Jeremiah had climbed out of Uncle Curtis’s truck, his mother—Uncle Curtis’s new wife, Kendall—behind him.

The first thing Brooke noticed was the tear running down the side of Jeremiah’s coat. The second thing was of more worth—how his mother’s hands rested protectively on the puffy shoulders of that torn jacket. As if she was ready to do battle with anyone who so much as looked at her son sideways.

Brooke wondered what it would feel like to have a mom like that.

“Hey.” Six-year-old Shawn ran up to Jeremiah. “Want to build a snow fort?”

Kendall’s hands fell from her son’s shoulders as Jeremiah ran off with Shawn.

And just like that, Jeremiah was one of them. The cousins—a chaotic ball of energy and new ideas and adventure and igloo forts and stories and hot chocolate.

Jeremiah didn’t look like them. While the hair atop the six cousins’ heads was an array of yellow one might find in a paint store selection and their skin the result of their English heritage, Jeremiah’s skin was darker, his hair and eyes as brown as milk chocolate.

And yet Brooke always thought there was something golden about him. As if the fringes of him were lit by an ethereal glow. As if he belonged in the Storybook Bible that Gram had given her, a picture of a host of angels announcing the birth of the tiny Savior.

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Author’s Website | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub

My Impressions:

If you are ready for some great Christmas reading, then you definitely need to pick up A Bookshop for Christmas by Heidi Chiavaroli. This contemporary novel featuring a big and a bit dysfunctional family is full of heart and the importance of legacy. The heads of the Chilton family are tragically gone, and their grandchildren are left to build on their grandparents’ belief in hospitality, community, and sticking with others through the good and the bad. Each of the 7 cousins have things to work through in their lives, but they have a strong desire to fulfill their grandparents’ dream — turning a decommissioned church into a bookstore that will serve as a hub for their small Cape Cod town. Although not all 7 cousins were given a big role in the plot of A Bookshop for Christmas, the author created a good ensemble cast, and those that were most developed really resonated with me. Their struggles were real. They had disappointments, failures, and big regrets, but they each chose to look to the faith of previous generations to rekindle their own lives. There was real growth that looked like real life. The concept of the bookshop was also heartwarming — bringing community together. The author incorporated the Rule of St. Benedict into the plot, and I am grateful to have learned about it. I was not familiar with it, since my faith is informed by a Protestant tradition, but I loved that the concepts could be incorporated into any Christian’s life. The novel’s cozy, Christmas-y vibe is perfect for the holiday season. It has warmth, faith, and a nice touch of romance while centering on reconciliation and forgiveness. It’s the perfect addition to your TBR.

Recommended.

Audience: Adults.

(I purchased the ebook from Amazon. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

Also Available

Where Grace Appears


About The Author

Heidi Chiavaroli

Heidi Chiavaroli is the award-winning author of several books, including Freedom’s Ring, The Orchard House, The Orchard House Bed and Breakfast series, and the bestselling Draw Close to Jesus: 40 Encounters with the Savior for the Sacred Season of Lent. She makes her home in Massachusetts with her husband and their two sons.

Connect with Heidi by visiting heidichiavaroli.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email newsletter updates.


Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a copy of A Bookshop for Christmas and a $75 Amazon Gift Card!

A Bookshop for Christmas blog tour giveaway JustRead

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight November 3, 2026 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on November 10, 2026. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway


Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours

November/December Book Club Pick — Twelve Days And Twelfth Night

4 Nov

It has been a really busy year with not a lot of slowdown expected by the time it ends. My book club decided that we would meet early in December and skip a late in November discussion. We will all be in the Christmas mood, but glad for one thing to check off the to-do and to-read list. So, we will read Twelve Days And Twelfth Night by Sarah Sundin in November, but celebrate in December. It seems a win-win for us — Sundin is a favorite of ours and to have a Christmas novella by her to read seems an extra treat. Have you read it yet? Let us know what you thought.

She needs a star for her wartime Christmas show. He needs a second chance. Together they stage a production neither expected.

World War II USO director Maggie Oliver faces an impossible task: orchestrate a Christmas show in San Diego for thousands of sailors, with dwindling resources and a quickly approaching deadline. To star in the show, she enlists Prescott Duke, a former Hollywood heartthrob whose career ended in flames after an accident left him scarred and adrift. He eagerly accepts Maggie’s invitation and seizes the chance to reclaim what war has stolen from him.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” Maggie and Prescott craft a show at a Shakespearean theater that promises to lift spirits. But as rehearsals progress, Maggie discovers a secret that could transform her production into something unforgettable. With opening night approaching and unexpected feelings complicating everything, Maggie must decide how far she’ll go to rewrite not just her show but the outcome for everyone involved.

A romantic World War II Christmas novella of Hollywood stars and a holiday production. Perfect for fans of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the opposites-attract trope, redemption, and second chances.

Sarah Sundin enjoys writing about the drama and romance of the World War II era. She is the bestselling and Christy Award-winning author of Twelve Days and Twelfth Night (September 2026), Mists over the Channel Islands (February 2026), Midnight on the Scottish Shore (2025), Embers in the London Sky (2024), The Sound of Light (2023), Until Leaves Fall in Paris (2022), When Twilight Breaks (2021), and several World War II series.

Sarah’s novels have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Booklist. Until Leaves Fall in Paris received the 2022 Christy Award, The Sky Above Us won the 2020 Carol Award, The Sound of Light was a finalist for both the Christy Award and the Carol Award, and When Twilight Breaks and The Land Beneath Us were finalists for the Christy Award.

A mother of three, Sundin lives in Southern California and enjoys speaking to community, church, and writers’ groups. Sarah serves as co-director of the West Coast Christian Writers Conference.

Spotlight on Regency Romance — Pride And Practicality

4 Nov
Pride and Practicality JustRead Takeover + Review Tour

Welcome to the Takeover + Review Blitz for Pride & Practicality by Pepper Basham, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About The Book

Pride & Practicality

Title: Pride & Practicality
Author: Pepper Basham
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: November 3, 2026
Genre: Clean Regency Romantic Comedy

In a world ruled by reputation, compassion may be the most scandalous act of all.

Arianna Reeves knows how quickly admiration can turn into exile. One poorly placed trust, one disastrously charming rake, and she is no longer society’s darling–but its favorite cautionary tale.

Now returned home–uninvited and unmistakably whispered about–Arianna is determined to make amends with her estranged family and do something useful with her thoroughly ruined life. Even if polite society would prefer she did it at a very great distance from anyone respectable.

Thomas Bridges, a principled clergyman with an inconvenient habit of thinking for himself, is already walking a narrow line. His congregation expects propriety, his mother expects matrimony, and both have very firm opinions about his future. Thomas, however, would prefer a life guided by conviction . . . even when it proves impractical.

When Arianna repeatedly–and quite disruptively–crosses his path, Thomas faces a dilemma no sermon prepared him for. She is not at all what she ought to be: not dull, not foolish, and–most dangerously–not someone he can overlook, but a kindred spirit who shares his passion for service and his troubling habit of defying society’s expectations . . . all with good intentions, of course.

As their forbidden acquaintance deepens into something far more perilous than friendship, Arianna and Thomas must decide: preserve their reputations, or risk them entirely for the good of others—–and their own hearts.

Because in a society that measures worth by perfection, choosing grace, mercy, and love may cost them everything–and give them more than they ever hoped to find.

Excerpt


They moved through the opening figures in silence, the steps requiring concentration that precluded conversation. But finally, as the pattern brought them close enough for private speech and to his utter surprise—and delight, truth be told—she smiled up at him with genuine warmth.

“I do believe you are determined to rescue people, aren’t you, Mr. Bridges?”

The knot in his chest uncoiled a little. Ah, so she battled difficulties with humor even now, as she’d done in Leeds. It was a far too attractive trait.

“I’m only fulfilling the natural response of any gentleman worth his salt.” He sent the room a glare for good measure, God help him. “It’s unpardonable viciousness.”

“Unpardonable?” Her brow tipped with teasing challenge. “Not a very pleasant thought for a rector, I should think. Doesn’t your profession rather depend on the notion that all things might be forgiven?”

His smile responded to her gentle mockery. “Perhaps I should amend to ‘unconscionable’ instead. Does that satisfy your theological concerns?”

“Considerably better. Though I confess myself surprised that a man of the cloth would risk his reputation for someone he barely knows.” The words emerged carefully, testing the waters of what they could acknowledge in such public circumstances. “Most clergymen I’ve encountered only reserve their heroics for the pulpit.”

“Then you’ve been keeping company with the wrong sort of clergymen.” The words escaped before he could stop them, and he had the grace to look abashed. “I should hope I would choose to do the right thing regardless of acquaintance.”

The declaration stung with conviction at his earlier hesitation in intervening at all. Thomas guided her through the next turn, attempting to ignore how perfectly her hand fit in his.

“You absolutely refuse to remain in a tidy box for my well-honed bitterness, don’t you?”

“Do I?” His brows shot northward. “Well, if you will inform me of my supposed ‘box’ as you say, then I shall endeavor to climb inside it directly. I’ve always thought myself rather good at fitting into confined spaces—a necessary skill for visiting parishioners with very small parlors.”

She chuckled, the sound inciting an alarming response from his pulse. “Please do not.” Her gaze fixed on his and for a moment all humor fled. “I fear I may be lost to the thought of faithful men if you did.”

Her sentiment struck him with an odd sense of grief and . . . what was the feeling? Gratitude? Yes, but something more. Something deep and spine-straightening. Something that made him want to prove himself worthy of that fragile trust in her eyes.

Dangerous territory, that.

“I pray there are many more who would do what is right, Miss Reeves,” he managed. They only need—”

“Someone else to show them the way?” She studied him with those impossibly blue eyes, and he felt rather like a specimen under glass.

He swallowed through the tension in his throat and dipped his head toward her. “I fear you are attempting to embarrass me and it will not do, but I would remind you that there are many more praiseworthy men in this room, if you recall.” He looked toward the wall where Mr. Graves stood. “Our host was first to dance with you.”

They parted in their turn, and he found himself counting the steps until she returned to him. Ridiculous behavior for a man of sense.

“You shouldn’t have done this,” Arianna said quietly as the dance brought them together again, almost as if she’d been reading his mind. “It certainly cannot assist in your cause for children or increase your social standing.”

Thomas waited until the pattern reunited them, the separation giving him time to formulate his answer. “Because sometimes doing what is right matters more than doing what is safe.”

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Faith Gateway | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook | Bookshop | BookBub

Also Available

Sense and Suitability
Some Like it Scot
A Brewed Awakening

 


About The Author

Pepper Basham

Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance “peppered” with grace and humor. Writing both historical and contemporary novels, she loves to incorporate her native Appalachian culture and/or her unabashed adoration of the UK into her stories. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of southwestern VA, where she is a wife, mom to five great kids, a speech-language pathologist, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus.

Connect with Pepper by visiting PepperdBasham.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.


Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a Cranford Collection copy of Pride and Prejudice, a matching journal, four Pride and Prejudice inspired bookmarks, and a copy of Pride & Practicality!

(1) additional winner will receive a signed copy of Pride & Practicality!

Pride & Practicality JustRead Giveaway

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight November 4, 2026 and lasts through 11:59 PM EST on November 11, 2026. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

Enter Giveaway


Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

JustRead Publicity Tours

Top 10 Tuesday — Short And Sweet Reviews

3 Nov

Happy Tuesday! Today’s TTT’s topic is one word reviews. This was so hard! My short and sweet list uses a lot of hyphens to simulate one word. They are really more descriptions than reviews, too. Again, hard! The list includes the last 10 books I have written reviews of, so at least that is on topic. I hope you find a book to love.

For more fabulous one word reviews. please visit That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten Short And Sweet Reviews

Community — A Bookshop for Christmas by Heidi Chiavaroli

Faith-filled — Cascade by Linda K. Rodante

Danger-around-every-corner — The Final Word by Laura Thomas

Man-against-the-elements — Fire Mountain by Dana Mentink

Merry-vibe — The Heartfelt Formula by Leslie K. DeVooght

Suspense-filled — The Last Noel by Sarah Hamaker, Kimberly Woodhouse, and Jayna Breigh

Twisty — The Lies We Trade by Kristine Delano

Sassy — Spies, Lies, And Alibis by Natalie Walters

Magical — The Spring at Trulee Holler by Jana Hutcheson

Journey-toward-forgiveness — Things We Cannot Keep by Amanda Cox

Mini-Book Review — The Final Word

2 Nov

The Final Word by Laura Thomas, the second book in the Bite of Betrayal romantic suspense series, focuses on main character Sophie Brooks. Looking to start a new chapter in her career and life, Sophie moves from Paris to a small British village. Her excitement to become closer to her family and pursue her dreams dampens when danger (a violent ex) follows her across the British Channel. I liked this book’s quaint setting, the addition of a dreamy opera singer/love interest, and the threat of danger that the two face head-on. Members of Sophie’s family get caught up in the nefarious goings-on, increasing the tension for the main characters. The suspense really ratchets up as the danger increases. If you like quiet settings and big suspense, then The Final Word is a book you need to check out.

Recommended.

Audience: Adults.

(I borrowed the ebook from Kindle+. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

Terrorized by darkness from her past. Real life is no fairy tale…

When aspiring author Sophie Brooks chooses to trade a vibrant Paris life for the tranquility of a quaint English village, she imagines her final days in the City of Lights will be magical. Sophie doesn’t anticipate a chilling encounter with an old flame—nor does she plan to find a new love on her very last night.

Miles Morgan’s life has been defined as a successful opera singer—until now. His chance encounter with Sophie in Paris ignites renewed hope … if he can figure out his next chapter and if she can accept what his future may hold.

In the heart of the English countryside, Sophie and Miles’ fairy tale romance turns into a noxious nightmare as the darkness of Sophie’s past—and her volatile ex—catch up with her. Both Sophie and Miles must surrender everything to the One they thought had betrayed them as they lean into love and fight for their lives.

Travel from Paris to England in this fast-paced, faith-over-fear story of surrender.

An award-winning Christian author, Laura Thomas writes heartwarming encouragement for your soul… with the ultimate desire to inspire fiction readers in their real lives with her stories of hope.

Laura is a certified writing coach, a book-loving chocoholic mom and nanny, and is married to her high school sweetheart. Originally from the UK, they now live the empty nest life in Kelowna, British Columbia, with their French bulldog!