Book Review - A Christmas in the Alps

Christmas novella lovers, rejoice! Melody Carlson, queen of the Christmas novella, has gifted us this year’s edition and it solidifies her status as literary royalty. Pack your bags and log in to your translation app, because she is sweeping us off to find family, friendship, and hidden treasure in the snowy French Alpine village of Avre.

At a time in her life when Simone Sophia Winthrop has lost her last known living relative and her circle of friends is nearly as small as her dating prospects, she finds an unopened letter from her great-grandmama that shakes things up in her already-shaken comfort zone. With more than a little prompting from her best friend, Simone finds herself struggling to conquer her fear of flying to find the treasure her recently departed great-grandmamma left behind in her haste to leave war-torn France. Is it love or is she caught up in the romance of France at Christmas when she starts to have zingy feelings about her airplane seat mate? Is the exceptionally friendly hotelier flirting or just French? And why is she so warmly accepted by some of her newly found family members, but so icily received by her great-grandmamma’s own sister?

Set up your tea tray and snuggle into your favorite blanket to enjoy this season’s treasure from Melody Carlson.

A Christmas in the Alps 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 - Freedom’s Song

Kim Vogel Sawyer delivers sweet romance with just the right amount of tension in her upcoming release, Freedom’s Song. Years of indentured servitude as the Darling of the River Peacock have dimmed Fanche Beck’s hope for her family’s new life in America, until she is knocked overboard amid the chaos of a terrible storm and fire aboard the entertainment steamboat and into the mighty Mississippi River. Presumed dead, Fanny seizes the opportunity to try to reach her family in New York. A runaway slave family and a broken-hearted widower with a darling little girl challenge Fanny to follow God’s guidance despite the fact that they slow her journey to her family. It is these challenges that teach Fanny how to find out who she is when she is freed from her gilded cage and has the chance to choose her way forward. What happens when her former employer discovers she survived the near-drowning and the decisions that must be made when a new bride is found for the widower who has hired her are enough to keep the pages turning until the satisfying end.

Freedom’s Song by Kim Vogel Sawyer releases on October 19 and is currently available for preorder 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 - A Midnight Dance

I had not read Joanna Davidson Politano prior to her new release, A Midnight Dance. I have, however, seen her books among so many I have enjoyed and was looking forward to trying a new-to-me author. I will now be sure to read all the others, as this one has swept me onto my toes and launched me flying in a most glorious and intriguing way.

Ella Blythe had ballet in her soul long before she was even born, but her dreams of the stage were as untouchable as the famous Ghost of Craven Street Theatre. One brief encounter with a handsome dancer ignites in her a fire that sweeps through her and demands to be fed; even though Ella knows the truth that whatever grueling punishment her body must take in the process will pale in comparison to what will happen to her heart if she allows the romance of the theatre to overtake her. In spite of her efforts to keep such tragedy from her life, Ella finds herself mirroring the story of the ghost. Only she can decide if she will be consumed by flames or dance above them.

In A Midnight Dance, Politano composes a story that sweeps the reader into the intrigue of the theater with an all consuming plot sure to thrill. Characters leap from the pages to be loved or despised, flaws held close but laid bare before us. The mystery, the passion, the desire to be known and loved at the soul-deep level keep pages flying in pursuit of the final act of this compelling performance.

A Midnight Dance by Joanna Davidson Politano 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 opinions and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery

Amanda Cox brings three generations of one family together to examine the secrets we keep and the cost of those secrets in The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery. Glory Ann, the matriarch who is struggling to keep her husband’s legacy alive and provide security for her children and grandchildren through the grocery store her Clarence used to care for his family and his community. Rosemary, who holds on to store out of duty, but also the jealousy and guilt that rob her of joy. And Sarah, the woman whose childhood dreams of carrying on the family legacy were crushed by her mother’s prodding to go farther and do more than their small town could offer. Sarah’s return to her childhood home fervor to save Old Depot Grocery is the catalyst that drags those secrets into the light, slowly but doggedly, and prods all the women of Old Depot to reveal secrets that have the power to undo them or to strengthen them as they determine their own ways of dealing with the things left in the dark for way too long.

It doesn’t take long for the reader to become completely enmeshed in the lives of these women. Cox creates a family into which one is easily and thoroughly inserted, so that their stories are our stories and their life lessons are ours as well.

The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery by Amanda Cox 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 - Beyond the Tides

Meg Whitaker’s plans for her life went sideways ten years ago, when Oliver Ross destroyed her science fair project in a moment of impulse. She held a grudge all those years, through college and even after coming home to help her father care for her mother when a mysterious degenerative disease made it no longer feasible for Meg to pursue her education further. Back in their cozy fishing village on Prince Edward Island, Meg teaches at the local school, helps her dad with her mom, and does everything in her power to avoid Oliver. There is just one glitch in that plan: Meg’s father has chosen to sell his lobster business and license to her nemesis. Meg can not allow Oliver to win this. She declares her interest. She quits her job. She takes on the responsibility of working the lobster season alongside Oliver.

Working side by side with Oliver for the duration of the lobster season is absolute torture for Meg, but it is made worse by the way her eye keeps wandering to notice his fine features. The way he cares about her parents doesn’t help. Neither does the way he keeps saying and doing things that make Meg wonder if he is still the same old Oliver Ross. Adding to the challenge is the series of small but frustrating acts of sabotage that keep happening and the long nights of watching over the boat together. Still yet, her mother’s condition continues to baffle the doctors. Despite the long held grudge, Meg and Oliver have to work together and do what is best for her parents.

Liz Johnson delivers a story filled with heart to pull the reader into life in the tiny PEI fishing village. Anger, confusion and frustration pave the way for hope, love, and intentionally trying to make happy moments together. Beyond the Tides is the first book in Johnson’s Prince Edward Island Shores series; I look forward to reading the others as they release.

Beyond the Tides by Liz Johnson is currently available 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 - Under the Magnolias

 Sometimes I read books that I don’t review. I love writing reviews to share amazing books with y’all and I love supporting some truly exciting authors. But every now and then it is nice to simply read a book without thinking about just the right quote, just the right image background, or sitting down to write the review while the story is fresh in my mind. That’s exactly what I had planned for Under the Magnolias by T. I. Lowe and our scheduled beach trip: toes in the sand, book in my hand.

There’s just one problem with that plan. I can’t let this book just pass as a beach read. T. I. Lowe did something I don’t remember ever seeing in a storyline about mental health. All too often, the storyline focuses on a family sucked into the vortex of a parent’s mental health issues and struggles that end only when the children run away or grow up and escape the madness. And all too often in life, this is reality; I am in no way dismissing the painful reality of families battling mental illness. But who is fighting for these families?

Austin Foster’s pa has been prone to seasons of darkness for as long as she can remember, but her mama always did what needed to be done to shelter the children from the worst of his lows. When Mama passes away while giving birth to twins, the weight of her family’s world falls squarely on her shoulders, and that includes protecting her younger siblings while weathering Pa’s highs and lows. Austin doesn’t have time for silly teenage activities or romances, and she certainly can’t take the chance that someone in town might find out what demons they are hiding under the magnolias out at Nolia Farms.

The thing about Dave Foster is that he loves fiercely. He takes the call to be the hands and feet of Jesus very seriously, so it is no surprise that the congregation meeting in the little white chapel at Nolia Farms includes a ragtag band of the town’s riffraff outcasts. But these are the people God uses to be his hands and feet when the secrets Austin has tried to keep buried claw their way into the light. They are the ones who support the Foster family through the struggles of finding help for Dave, and who encourage Austin and her siblings to begin to dream of a life beyond the swirling vortex of his instability. Lowe does not sugarcoat the struggles, and I really appreciate the way she highlights the value of a fierce support system in the family’s healing process. 

Under the Magnolias by T. I. Lowe is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Book Review - Under The Bayou Moon

With just a few sentences, Valerie Fraser Luesse swept me into the sultry and utterly captivating of life of the bayou. I could feel the gentle forward motion of the pirogue as Raphe navigated into the secluded microcosm of the glorious white alligator, hear the night music of the croaking bullfrog, the gentle splash of turtles launching themselves from their log perches into the still water. I could feel the humidity settle on my skin, and I was taken to a place which stirs the spirit to stop and bide a while.

Luesse does not so much tell as story as she welcomes us into the lives of these individuals and their community. It does not take long to feel like family to Ellie, Remy, Raphe, and Heywood, or to the colorful and beautiful characters that surround them in Bernadette, Louisiana. We cheer for their victories and mourn with them in their losses. The plot centers around Ellie’s arrival in Bernadette, seeking to find herself and her future, as well as the small town’s struggles against a dirty politician. It is about community and family, friendships that last a lifetime, and romance that inspires the heart to sing. It is about fighting fiercely to protect the things that matter most and learning to let go when the time is right.

Under the Bayou Moon by Valerie Fraser Luesse is available August 20 and may be preordered 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.