Book Review - The Sweet Life

I am not gonna lie, peeps. I am totally in love with this book! The Sweet Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the first in her new Cape Cod Creamery series. I needed some good summer poolside reading and she absolutely delivered!

Dawn Dixon is super focused, very successful, and on track to achieve her life’s goals according to plan until her fiancé breaks up with her. Instead of going on her honeymoon to Cape Cod, she finds herself in a swanky hotel there with her mother. Flighty and prone to run with a half baked plan, Marnie Dixon is determined to put breast cancer behind her and is struck with inspiration when she finds the proprietor of the former ice cream shop in a hurry to sell out and leave of town. In the spirit of her late husband, Philip, Marnie decides an ice cream shop in the historic district of Chatham is the perfect venture for this stage of her life. Dawn, however, is not convinced. What will it take for Dawn to catch on to the vision Marnie has for this old building? And what will it take for both mother and daughter to begin to see each other in a different way?

Honestly, it is the character development that has me absolutely in love with Dawn, Marnie, Kevin, Linc, and even cranky old Mrs. Nickerson-Eldredge. The changing of perspective for mother and daughter is quite simply beautiful, and I totally adore the personal and romantic arc the author created for Dawn and Kevin. It is so real, so relatable, and is frankly exquisite. I am on pins and needles to get my hands on more of the Cape Cod Creamery story and encourage you to snatch up a copy of The Sweet Life and fall in love, too.

The Sweet Life, the first book of the Cape Cod Creamery series by Suzanne Woods Fisher, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Shadows In The Mind’s Eye

Sam isn’t sure of much these days, but one thing is for sure. There’s a monster in the hills outside Hot Springs. The problem is, everyone says he’s seeing things as a result of his experience in the war and he is certain something nefarious is afoot.

As a Higgins boat pilot in the Pacific, Sam spent the duration of the war just trying to make it home to his family. His wife Annie has worked to keep the family farm running and care for their little girl, looking forward to the day her beloved Sam would return to them. However, Sam’s homecoming is tainted by fears and anxiety about the way his experiences have changed the man she knew. He insists that he sees people in the woods, and his erratic behaviors are frightening Annie. As she watches his tumble into madness, she fears he might be a danger to his family, especially as his obsession provokes the local mob. The breaking point comes when Sam brings disaster to their doorstep and the family must find a way to work together.

With friends who shouldn’t be trusted and enemies who should, Janyre Tromp kept me up all night, devouring her debut novel!

Shadows In The Mind’s Eye by Janyre Tromp is avaiable now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Book Review - When The Meadow Blooms

 Ann H. Gabhart delivers tale of wounds and their healing in her new release, When The Meadow Blooms. We open to find the Meadows sisters, Calla and Sienna, still struggling to adjust to life in the home for girls where their mother left them two years ago. Mama is also struggling at the sanitarium, fighting the tuberculosis that has already robbed her of so much time with her beloved girls. In an act of desperation, Mama writes to her brother-in-law to request his assistance. Not knowing if her mother will ever recover enough to take them home, Calla leaps at the opportunity to write to her uncle after she stumbles across his contact information in a scientific article he has written.

Dirk Meadows has spent the majority of his adult life hiding the scars on his body and on his heart from the world. The fire that took his beloved Anneliese left him with daily reminders of his love and loss that cause him to limit his interactions with the outside world. Within the family farm, however, Dirk is free to study the flora and fauna that surround him and write about them. Though his estranged brother left the family farm behind, Dirk finds himself begrudgingly agreeing to bring Frank’s widow and two girls to Meadowland, a move which is not intended to interfere with his lonely bachelorhood. In spite of everyone’s best laid plans to maintain distance, Frank’s girls knead at the scars on his heart and leads to healing.

Gabhart writes with great heart and historical clarity, delivering characters who are relatable, some of whom are downright lovable. This tale of hurting and healing is well crafted, easy to read, and speaks right to the heart.

When The Meadow Blooms by Ann H. Gabhart is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Potiphar’s Wife

Are you a fan of the bad girls of the Bible? Do you like to see how God’s purpose is fulfilled even though evil seems to triumph? Do you like to think about what might have gone on behind the scenes of the events you read about in your Bible? 

Mesu Andrews pries open the tale of Potiphar’s wife in her new release and makes us wonder if she was genuinely horrid or if her circumstances shaped the woman we blame for Joseph’s time in prison. Potiphar’s Wife centers around Princess Zuleika, a strong and capable young woman whose father is king of the Zakros district of Crete and whose beloved husband will become king. Her world is turned upside down by a tragedy which rips her husband and mother away at the same time as it cripples the districts of the island she loves. The only hope to save her home is for her father to offer his most beloved possession in marriage to Egypt’s king. To fulfill her duty to her homeland, Zully is also ripped from her homeland and carried to Egypt before she the chance to mourn her losses.

Adding insult to injury, the beautiful and talented princess is handed off to Pharoah Khyan’s second in command. Potiphar is a crusty old soldier with no desire for a wife, and yet that is exactly what Zully must become. Torn from her family, passed over by the Egyptian king, and scorned by the noblewomen of her new homeland, Zully finds herself spiraling into the depression and madness she fought to resist. If not for a small group of slaves who are especially kind to her, there’s no telling how far she might fall.

This is the woman who flings herself at Joseph in desperation and seizes upon the opportunity to shame him. Yet this story is actually filled with strong women who work together. Ahira is one of those women, a Hebrew slave who is maid to Zully, and a woman both in need of healing and whose care heals others. Ahira’s devotion to her mistress is an opportunity for both to grow through their circumstances. Her care for Joseph is a ministry to him and to those who witness it throughout his dark days.

Potiphar’s Wife by Mesu Andrews is absolutely a must-read and is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online.

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine. 

Book Review - The Master Craftsman

Drawing upon the life and craftsmanship of Peter Karl Faberge, Kelli Stuart wraps the history of the Faberge Easter egg and Russian Revolution in the intrigue of a modern treasure hunt in The Master Craftsman. The kicker is that our treasure hunter is a struggling restaurant hostess who is reluctant to reconcile with her estranged father, a man who chose the thrill of the hunt over his family. At death’s door, he faces some hard realities and seeks out the wife and daughter he left so long ago. A fantastical proposal is made and the search for a fabled mystery Faberge egg ensues.

Stuart carefully takes the golden history, enamels it in mystery, and bejewels it with sparkling intrigue. I greatly appreciate the way she crafts each timeline and each family’s story. It is not until the very end that most precious theme is revealed. Her writing is smooth, her storytelling exquisite.

The Master Craftsman by Kelli Stuart is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Catch

The wife of a high profile judge is dead at the hands of his mistress, and that is just the beginning. The baby born to his mistress and the baby’s sitter are missing. But it is the complication unearthed as a result of the Amber Alert that has Deputy US Marshals Madison James and Jonas Quinn racing to find them before they are lost to the men who are hunting the babysitter. If that was the only complication, it would be a hair raising, heart pumping, escapade. If that was the only complication, the person who murdered Madison’s husband and has been tormenting her would not be shooting at her. Again. If that was the only complication, Madison and Jonas would not be wrestling with the attraction that has been growing between them. Still. The original intrigue and its complications add up to a novel you will devour and will finish feeling well satisfied.

If you loved The Escape and The Chase, you are going to love The Catch! The third installment in the US Marshals Series by Lisa Harris is now available at your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House            Christian Book            Barnes & Noble            Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - What Remains True

Merry Anna’s quick stop in Antler Creek was not supposed to last months. But after living her life all planned according to her family’s wishes and married to the high school sweetheart who lived off Merry Anna’s success and broke their marriage vows, she has decided to start embracing new opportunities. First with a new job at an adorable little boutique and renting an old cowboy bunkhouse as her new home, then by making friends and learning new and valuable lessons on friendship, she embraces new opportunities. The handsome cowboy neighbor was not supposed to be one of those things, but the way he looks at her and the way she feels when she is around him make her want embrace Adam Locklear.

If only this was not the year he decided to focus on winning the professional bull riding championship to set up his future outside the arena. If only Merry Anna was sure her future is in Antler Creek. If only complications from the past would stay in the past and not complicate their future. Nancy Naigle writes a romance with just the perfect balance between sweetness and strife, proving her prowess once again in her new release, What Remains True.

What Remains True by Nancy Naigle is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.