Happy Tuesday! Today’s TTT topic is buzzwords — words attributed to a book that make you want to read it. With a little tweaking of the topic, I am bringing to you books that might appeal to you if you are looking for a specific trope or plot device. There are 5 buzzwords but 10 books of a variety of genres! I hope my list achieves its goal to make you want to read them immediately! 😉
Happy Tuesday! Today TTT bloggers are celebrating all things romance with a Love Freebie! After many years of creating these posts it is a bit daunting to come up with something fresh. Today I am featuring romance novels — contemporary, historical, and suspense — that have part or whole of their settings on boats. You know, The Love Boat! 😉 Extra points for those whose characters cement their love on the open seas. Come aboard, they’re expecting you!
Happy Tuesday! Today TTT is featuring book covers with interesting typography. What is typography, you may ask? From Google AI —
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and visually appealing.
There were a lot of different directions to go with this topic, but I finally narrowed it down to titles with two or more fonts. While some are more subtle than others, the visual interest really grabbed my eye. What do you think?
Happy Tuesday! This week TTT bloggers are posting about Thanksgiving and thankfulness. I have done a lot of these posts through the year and just couldn’t seem to come up with anything fresh. So . . . I am spelling out THANKGIVING with titles from books I am thankful for. The authors created books that made me smile, laugh out loud, and cry. They made me think and examine and ponder. They entertained and educated. So a big thanks to all on my list!
Top Book Titles That Spell Thanksgiving
T — Truth Be Told by Patricia Raybon
H— The Heart of Bennet Hollow by Joanne Bischof DeWitt
A — The All American by Susie Finkbeiner
N — The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
K — The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan
S — The Stories We Carry by Robin Pearson
G — Guilty Until Innocent by Robert Whitlow
I — The Indigo Heiress by Laura Frantz
V— The Vanished by Cara Putman
I— Indigo Isle by T. I. Lowe
N — Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jaime Jo Wright
Happy Romance Month! For my last post we will travel back in time when romance was just a bit different than it is today. Historical settings are great to set the stage for romance tropes — marriage of convenience, forbidden love, love triangles, etc. — all those that are little harder to put into contemporary timeframes. My list includes some recent reads that span the ages. I know you’ll love them.
The Indigo Heiress by Laura Frantz
Virigina plantation life is all she has ever known. But could the life she was meant to live be waiting on a distant shore?
In 1774, Juliet Catesby lives with her father and sister at Royal Vale, the James River plantation founded by her Virginia family over a century before. Indigo cultivation is her foremost concern, though its export tethers her family to the powerful Buchanan clan of Glasgow, Scotland.
When the heir of the Buchanan firm arrives on their shores, Juliet discovers that her father has arranged for one of his daughters to marry the Scot as a means of canceling the family’s crippling debt. Confident it will be her younger, lovelier sister, Juliet is appalled when Leith Buchanan selects her instead.
Despite her initial refusal, Juliet realizes that fleeing Virginia is her only choice after finding herself in the midst of a scandal. The ship just leaving the harbor for Glasgow is her only hope. But she will soon realize that being part of the complex and calculating Buchanan clan is not the sanctuary she imagined–and the man who saved her from ruin is the very one she must now save in return.
Midnight on The Scottish Shore by Sarah Sundin
In a time of war, danger lurks beneath the water–and in the depths of the human heart
As the German war machine devours the Netherlands, the only way Cilla van der Zee can survive the occupation is to do the unthinkable–train to become a spy for the Nazis. Once dispatched to Britain, she plans to abandon her mission and instead aid the Allies. But her scheme is thwarted when naval officer Lt. Lachlan Mackenzie finds her along the Scottish shore and turns her in to be executed.
Yet perhaps she is more useful alive than dead. British intelligence employs her to radio misleading messages to Germany from the lighthouse at Dunnet Head in Scotland–messages filled with naval intelligence Lachlan must provide. If the war is to be won, Lachlan and Cilla must work together. But how can he trust a woman who arrived on his shores as a tool of the enemy–a woman certain to betray both him and the Allied cause?
Of Gold And Shadows by Michelle Griep
The shadows hold secrets darker than they ever imagined. . . .
In 1888 Victorian England, Ami Dalton navigates a clandestine dual life. By day, she strives to establish herself as a respected Egyptologist, overcoming the gender biases that permeate academia. But with a heart for saving black-market artifacts from falling into the wrong hands, she is most often disguised as her alter ego, the Shadow Broker.
After eight years in India, Oxford’s most eligible bachelor, Edmund Price, has come out of the shadows to run for Parliament and is in search of an Egyptologist to value a newly acquired collection. Expecting a renowned Oxford professor, Edmund instead finds himself entangled with Ami, the professor’s determined daughter. As they delve into the treasures, their connection deepens, but trouble emerges when a golden griffin–rumored to bear the curse of Amentuk–surfaces, and they’re left to wonder if the curse really is at play, or if something more nefarious is hiding among the shadows . . . .
Of Love And Treason by Jamie Ogle
Valentine defies the emperor and becomes a hero . . . and the most wanted man in the empire. Compelled by his faith, he has nothing to lose, until a chance encounter with the daughter of a Roman jailor changes everything.
Rome, AD 270. In the wake of the emperor’s marriage ban, rumors swirl that there is one man brave enough to perform wedding ceremonies in secret. A public notarius and leader of an underground church, Valentine believes the emperor’s edict unjust and risks his own life for the sake of his convictions. But as his fame grows, so do fears for his safety.
Iris, the daughter of a Roman jailor, believes regaining her sight will ease the mounting troubles at home. Her last hope rests in searching out Valentine and his church, but the danger of associating with people labeled a threat to the empire is great. Still, as Iris’s new friends lead her to faith in God, Iris is drawn to Valentine and they both begin to hope for a future together beyond the treacherous empire.
But when a past debt and a staggering betrayal collide, Valentine, Iris, and everyone they love must fight for their lives . . . and wrestle with trusting a God who can restore sight yet does not always keep His followers from peril.
Something Borrowed by Susie Finkbeiner, Allison Pittman, and Rachel Scott McDaniel
In this brand-new novella collection, three renowned Christian historical fiction authors trace generations of wartime romances through a special wedding dress with love sewn into its seams.
A Heart in Disguise by Rachel Scott McDaniel
Clara Westlake loves her job as a seamstress in the US “Camouflage Corps,” sewing suits for snipers and contributing to the war effort. But when she overhears a threat against her beloved New York City, the Great War comes too close to home–except no one believes her forewarning. She must recruit Marcus Reeves, a childhood friend searching for his purpose after suffering a devastating war injury. As they search for answers together, they may also uncover a love that lasts.
Kate Becker and Ike Finch have worked together at his family’s bookstore since Kate’s husband died in the early days of the Vietnam War. She has her daughter, Eloise, to take care of and bills to pay, and this job was a godsend. A second love is not in the cards, especially not with the world still teetering on the edge of insanity. But when Ike brings little Eloise special flowers one spring day, Kate begins to look at him as more than an employer. Is falling in love again worth the risk?
Happy Tuesday! Since it’s April Fool’s Day, this week’s TTT topic is you’d be a fool not to read these books. My list contains books I have read this year that I highly recommend you read. As always there’s a variety of genres so you can easily find your next favorite book. Enjoy!
I really enjoyed my book club’s pick this month. Indigo Heiress by Laura Frantz has a wonderful marriage of convenience storyline that rings true. Her main character, Juliet Catesby is an independent-thinking woman, yet she is true to the 1770s America time period. If you liked this historical romance with plenty of suspense and intrigue, then here are a few more recommendations (including the love story of Juliet’s great grandparents 🙂 ).
America’s First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
In a compelling, richly researched novel that draws from thousands of letters and original sources, bestselling authors Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie tell the fascinating, untold story of Thomas Jefferson’s eldest daughter, Martha “Patsy” Jefferson Randolph–a woman who kept the secrets of our most enigmatic founding father and shaped an American legacy.
From her earliest days, Patsy Jefferson knows that though her father loves his family dearly, his devotion to his country runs deeper still. As Thomas Jefferson’s oldest daughter, she becomes his helpmate, protector, and constant companion in the wake of her mother’s death, traveling with him when he becomes American minister to France.
It is in Paris, at the glittering court and among the first tumultuous days of revolution, that fifteen-year-old Patsy learns about her father’s troubling liaison with Sally Hemings, a slave girl her own age. Meanwhile, Patsy has fallen in love–with her father’s protégé William Short, a staunch abolitionist and ambitious diplomat. Torn between love, principles, and the bonds of family, Patsy questions whether she can choose a life as William’s wife and still be a devoted daughter.
Her choice will follow her in the years to come, to Virginia farmland, Monticello, and even the White House. And as scandal, tragedy, and poverty threaten her family, Patsy must decide how much she will sacrifice to protect her father’s reputation, in the process defining not just his political legacy, but that of the nation he founded.
The Tidewater Bride by Laura Frantz
Selah Hopewell seems to be the only woman in the Virginia colony who has no wish to wed. True, there are too many men and far too few women in James Towne. But Selah already has her hands full assisting her father in the family’s shop. And now she is in charge of an incoming ship of tobacco brides who must be looked after as they sort through their many suitors.
Xander Renick is perhaps the most eligible tobacco lord in the settlement. His lands are vast, his crops are prized, and his position as a mediator between the colonists and the powerful Powhatan nation surrounding them makes him indispensable. But Xander is already wedded to his business and still grieves the loss of his wife, daughter of the Powhatan chief.
Can two fiercely independent people find happiness and fulfillment on their own? Or will they discover that what they’ve been missing in life has been right in front of them all along?
Bestselling and award-winning author Laura Frantz takes you to the salty shores of seventeenth-century Virginia in this exploration of pride, honor, and the restorative power of true love.
The Traitor’s Wife by Allison Pataki
A riveting historical novel about Peggy Shippen Arnold, the cunning wife of Benedict Arnold and mastermind behind America’s most infamous act of treason…
Everyone knows Benedict Arnold—the Revolutionary War general who betrayed America and fled to the British—as history’s most notorious turncoat. Many know Arnold’s co-conspirator, Major John André, who was apprehended with Arnold’s documents in his boots and hanged at the orders of General George Washington. But few know of the integral third character in the plot: a charming young woman who not only contributed to the betrayal but orchestrated it.
Socialite Peggy Shippen is half Benedict Arnold’s age when she seduces the war hero during his stint as military commander of Philadelphia. Blinded by his young bride’s beauty and wit, Arnold does not realize that she harbors a secret: loyalty to the British. Nor does he know that she hides a past romance with the handsome British spy John André. Peggy watches as her husband, crippled from battle wounds and in debt from years of service to the colonies, grows ever more disillusioned with his hero, Washington, and the American cause. Together with her former love and her disaffected husband, Peggy hatches the plot to deliver West Point to the British and, in exchange, win fame and fortune for herself and Arnold.
Told from the perspective of Peggy’s maid, whose faith in the new nation inspires her to intervene in her mistress’s affairs even when it could cost her everything, The Traitor’s Wife brings these infamous figures to life, illuminating the sordid details and the love triangle that nearly destroyed the American fight for freedom.
Happy Tuesday! I was not feeling the TTT topic today — DNF (did not finish) books. Didn’t we just post about that topic? I typically finish all the books that I start primarily because I am pretty picky about the books I choose to read — mood reading, favorite genres or authors, etc. So today I am posting an update about my 2025 book blanket. Below are the books I have recently read and the granny squares I have made to remember them by. And in good conscience, I have to confess that I may be choosing books based on pretty covers. 😉 Do you have any bookish projects going on?
My book club is reading The Indigo Heiress by Laura Frantz this month. It uses the marriage of convenience trope of which I have mixed feelings. But I have to say that Frantz does it really, really well! I loved this book. Read about it and my impressions below.
Virigina plantation life is all she has ever known. But could the life she was meant to live be waiting on a distant shore?
In 1774, Juliet Catesby lives with her father and sister at Royal Vale, the James River plantation founded by her Virginia family over a century before. Indigo cultivation is her foremost concern, though its export tethers her family to the powerful Buchanan clan of Glasgow, Scotland.
When the heir of the Buchanan firm arrives on their shores, Juliet discovers that her father has arranged for one of his daughters to marry the Scot as a means of canceling the family’s crippling debt. Confident it will be her younger, lovelier sister, Juliet is appalled when Leith Buchanan selects her instead.
Despite her initial refusal, Juliet realizes that fleeing Virginia is her only choice after finding herself in the midst of a scandal. The ship just leaving the harbor for Glasgow is her only hope. But she will soon realize that being part of the complex and calculating Buchanan clan is not the sanctuary she imagined–and the man who saved her from ruin is the very one she must now save in return.
Bestselling, award-winning author, Laura Frantz, has been writing stories since age seven. She is passionate about all things historical, particularly the 18th-century and her novels often incorporate Scottish themes that reflect her family heritage. She is a direct descendant of George Hume, Wedderburn Castle, Berwickshire, Scotland, who was exiled to the American colonies for his role in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, settled in Virginia, and is credited with teaching George Washington surveying in the years 1748-1750. Proud of her heritage, she is also a Daughter of the American Revolution. Though she will always consider Kentucky home, she and her husband live in Washington State.
Laura Frantz writes novels set in the early days of America really, really well. And her latest novel, The Indigo Heiress, is no exception. Set in the final years leading up to the American Revolution it is set in both the Virginia Colony and Scotland. Main character Juliet Catesby is an independent thinker, yet Frantz portrays her as a true-to-life woman of her time. She fights for the enslaved, yet subjects herself to her father’s will. I liked this about the portrayal. It gave me a heroine to love and root for in her historical context. The story employs the marriage of convenience trope, and Frantz handled it in a believable manner, given Juliet’s penchant for going her own way. It didn’t hurt that the man she was to marry was extremely swoony. LOL! Their love story was certainly romantic, and they both grew in their relationship and faith. The political context of the book was secondary, but really interesting. I don’t think I have ever read a story that portrayed British loyalists in such a way. In other books they are usually one-dimensional traitors 😉 , but Frantz provides a realistic view of their choices. The novel also contains a good amount of intrigue and suspense that kept the pages turning. I really did not see the ending coming!
I really liked The Indigo Heiress and am looking forward to a wonderful discussion with my book club.
Recommended.
Audience: Adults.
(I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
Happy Tuesday! This week bloggers are asked to fess up about unreviewed books. It is rare for me not to review a book I have read, and there is generally a really good reason to not mention them publicly. I’ll just leave that there. 😉 So what to post about then? Today’s list features books that will be read/reviewed in the next few weeks and months, so it technically fits the theme. Let me know if you have read them and what you think.
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