Sunday, February 28, 2016

From author Natasha Solomons: "The Song of Hartgrove Hall" is a multi-textured novel, touching upon themes of love, loss, creativity, and mortality, while also weaving together two distinct timelines



































  
 

The Song of Hartgrove Hall: A Novel by Natasha Solomons



A captivating novel that evokes the author’s New York Times bestseller The House at Tyneford 


Natasha Solomons’s breathtaking new novel has it all: a love triangle, family obligations, and rediscovering joy in the face of grief, all set against the alluring backdrop of an English country estate.


It's a terrible thing to covet your brother’s girl


New Year’s Eve, 1946. Candles flicker, a gramophone scratches out a tune as guests dance and sip champagne— for one night Hartgrove Hall relives better days. Harry Fox-Talbot and his brothers have returned from the war determined to save their once grand home from ruin. But the arrival of beautiful wartime singer Edie Rose tangles the threads of love and duty, and leads to a devastating betrayal.
 

Fifty years later, now a celebrated composer, Fox reels from the death of his adored wife, Edie. Until his connection with his four-year old grandson - a piano prodigy – propels him back into life, and ultimately to confront his past. An enthralling novel about love and treachery, joy after grief, and a man forced to ask: is it ever too late to seek forgiveness?



About the setting…


Dorset is a historic county of Southwestern England. It is bordered by the English Channel (South) and the counties of Devon (West), Hampshire (East), and Somerset and Wiltshire (both North). The historic town of Dorchester, in the South, is the county seat. Dorset is mainly rural. Agriculture remains the major use of land. Dorset is steeped in history, and was the inspiration for Thomas Hardy’s “Casterbridge”. Locally quarried Portland and Purebeck stone is found in Dorset’s old stone buildings. Old world thatched cottages are typical in this area, as are many beautiful old manors and farmhouses, which are a reminder of its rich agricultural heritage. Dorset’s charming countryside has been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.




























Natasha Solomons is a writer and the New York Times bestselling author of The Gallery of Vanished Husbands, The House at Tyneford, and Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English. She lives in Dorset England, with her husband, the writer David Solomons, and their two young children. Song of Hartgrove Hall is her fourth novel.




AUTHOR MORGAN CALLAN ROGERS—two richly-told tales--"Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Sea" and "Written on My Heart"--detail the fictional life of Florine Gilham from childhood to adulthood and marriage—setting is charming, picturesque Maine—the author’s own home state



























“An authentic page turner…. Rogers [vividly] captures this era of Elvis records and small-town Maine fishing life.” —Down East

In 1963, twelve-year-old Florine Gilham enjoys an idyllic childhood in small-town Maine—until her beloved mother vanishes. Untethered and adrift in the wake of her disappearance, Florine finds her once-cherished joys—watching her father’s lobster boat come into port, baking bread with her grandmother, and causing mischief with the summer folk—suddenly ring hollow. When a figure from her father’s past comes calling, Florine must find the courage to lay down roots of her own.  Set against the gorgeous backdrop of the Maine coast, Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea is an extraordinary snapshot of a bygone America as seen through the eyes of an iconic New England girl.


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Written on My Heart

"I loved Morgan Callan Rogers’ Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Sea, and I loved the chance to catch up with the magnificent Florine in the wonderful Written on My Heart.  Florine’s unmistakable voice, her approach to the challenges of raising a young family on the rugged coast of Maine, and her search for why her mother vanished years earlier make for an unputdownable novel about love in its many forms that will linger long after you’ve turned the last page." —Ellen Baker, author of Keeping the House and I Gave My Heart to Know This

The marriage of Florine Gilham and Bud Warner is a cause for celebration down on The Point, the Maine fishing village where they grew up. Yet even as the newlyweds begin their lives together, Florine is drawn back into the memory of her mother, Carlie, who vanished when Florine was twelve. As unexpected clues regarding her fate begin to surface, Florine and Bud face the challenges of trying to solve an old mystery while building a new marriage and raising a family. Morgan Callan Rogers’s Written on My Heart will delight readers who love feisty, poignant characters and the beautiful, unforgettable Maine coast.


Morgan Callan Rogers













Morgan Callan Rogers, a generations-back native Mainer, grew up in Bath, Maine, an historic shipbuilding city located on the mighty Kennebec River. A town of approximately 10,000 people, Bath is central to two of the most beautiful beaches in the world - Reid State Park in Georgetown, Maine, and Popham Beach in Phippsburg, Maine. During the summers, she and her family shared a small cottage along the New Meadows River in West Bath, where lobster boats chugged out every morning and came back in the early afternoon. This entire area is surrounded fishing villages strung out along points of rocky coasts and little islands. State parks abound. These places were the inspiration for the setting for her books, Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea, and Written on My Heart: a Novel.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

“RANSOM CANYON”—compelling contemporary western romance series from superb storyteller Jodi Thomas











 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter's Camp (Ransom Canyon Prequel)  by Jodi Thomas



New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas has captivated readers around the world with her sweeping, heartfelt family sagas. To introduce her brand-new series, Jodi tells the story behind the unforgiving Texas landscape and how one man claims Ransom Canyon—and a timid beauty—for his legacy…


A wanderer’s life was all James Randall Kirkland had known since he was an orphaned boy in San Antonio. And while years of adventure had satisfied his younger self, now he’s longing to put down roots of his own and is prepared to go it alone. But when he sees the Apache slave woman with the startling blue eyes, the course of his journey is changed forever.


Ever since the Comanche raided her village and took her for their own, Millie hasn’t known any kind of freedom. After years of being outcast, beaten and traded from tribe to tribe, she’s unprepared for James’s patient tone and gentle ways. Still, as her handsome savior slowly earns her trust, Millie struggles between desire and fear, sure it’s just a matter of time before James tires of her and her burgeoning feelings are nothing but another wasted memory.






















Ransom Canyon (Ransom Canyon 1) by Jodi Thomas




From New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas comes the first book in a compelling, emotionally resonant series set in a remote west Texas town—where family can be made by blood or by choice 


Rancher Staten Kirkland, the last descendant of Ransom Canyon's founding father, is rugged and practical to the last. No one knows that when his troubling memories threaten to overwhelm him, he runs to lovely, reclusive Quinn O'Grady…or that she has her own secret that no one living knows. 


Young Lucas Reyes has his eye on the prize—college, and the chance to become something more than a ranch hand's son. But one night, one wrong decision, will set his life on a course even he hadn't imagined. 


Yancy Grey is running hard from his troubled past. He doesn't plan to stick around Ransom Canyon, just long enough to learn the town's weaknesses and how to use them for personal gain. Only Yancy, a common criminal since he was old enough to reach a car's pedals, isn't prepared for what he encounters. 


In this dramatic new series, the lives, loves and ambitions of four families will converge, set against a landscape that can be as unforgiving as it is beautiful, where passion, property and pride are worth fighting—and even dying—for.











 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rustler's Moon (Ransom Canyon 2)  by Jodi Thomas

 


On a dirt road marked by haunting secrets, three strangers caught at life's crossroads must decide what to sacrifice to protect their own agendas…and what they're each willing to risk for love. 


If there's any place that can convince Angela Harold to stop running, it's Ransom Canyon. And if there's any man who can reveal desires more deeply hidden than her every fear, it's Wilkes Wagner. Beneath the rancher's honorable exterior is something that just might keep her safe…or unwittingly put her in danger's path. 


With his dreams of leaving this small Texas town swallowed up by hard, dusty reality, all Wilkes has to show for his life is the Devil's Fork Ranch. Though not one to let false hope seduce him, he can't deny the quiet and cautious beauty who slips into his world and changes everything. 


Lauren Brigman finally has freedom at her fingertips. All she needs is Lucas Reyes's attention—a look, a touch, some sign that she's more to him than a girl he rescued one dangerous night. But now it's her turn to rescue someone, and the life-altering decision may cost her more than a chance with Lucas.





















Lone Heart Pass (Ransom Canyon 3)  by Jodi Thomas



Where family bonds are made and broken, and where young love sparks as old flames grow dim, Ransom Canyon is ready to welcome—and shelter—those who need it 


With a career and a relationship in ruins, Jubilee Hamilton is left reeling from a fast fall to the bottom. The run-down Texas farm she's inherited is a far cry from the second chance she hoped for, but it and the abrasive foreman she's forced to hire are all she's got. 


Every time Charley Collins has let a woman get close, he's been burned. So Lone Heart ranch and the contrary woman who owns it are merely a means to an end, until Jubilee tempts him to take another risk—to stop resisting the attraction drawing them together despite all his hard-learned logic. 


Desperation is all young Thatcher Jones knows. And when he finds himself mixed up in a murder investigation, his only protection is the shelter of a man and woman who—just like him—need someone to trust.



























New York Times and USA Today's bestselling author Jodi Thomas has published over 30 books in both the historical romance and contemporary genres, the majority of which are set in her home state of Texas. Publishers Weekly calls her novels "Distinctive...Memorable," and that in her stories "[tension] rides high, mixed with humor and kisses more passionate than most full-on love scenes." In 2006, Romance Writers of America (RITA) inducted Thomas into the RWA Hall of Fame for winning her third RITA for THE TEXAN'S REWARD. She also received the National Readers' Choice Award in 2009 for TWISTED CREEK (2008) and TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN (2008). While continuing to work as a novelist, Thomas also functions as Writer in Residence at the West Texas A&M University campus, where she inspires students and alumni in their own writing pursuits. Jodi Thomas says: "I'm a New York Times and USA Today Best Selling author, wife, mother, in-law, grandmother, sister, friend, and owner of one fat cat."
 



“BACK IN THE SADDLE”--the first book in author Ruth Logan Herne’s inspirational contemporary western romance “Double S Ranch Series”—the writing is perfectly paced, the story line is involving, and the characters all have great appeal









































The Prodigal Is Coming Home 
 
It’s been a long time since Colt Stafford shrugged off his cowboy legacy for shiny Manhattan loafers and a promising career on Wall Street. But when stock market manipulations leave him financially strapped, the oldest son of legendary rancher Sam Stafford decides to return to the sprawling Double S ranch in Gray’s Glen, Washington. He’s broke, but not broken, and it’s time to check in with his ailing father, and get his legs back under him by climbing into the saddle again.


He doesn’t expect to come home to a stranger pointing a loaded gun at his chest— a tough yet beautiful woman that Sam hired as the house manager. Colt senses there’s more to Angelina Morales than meets the eye and he’s determined to find out what she’s hiding...and why. 


Colt’s return brings new challenges. Younger brother Nick has been Sam’s right-hand man at the ranch for years and isn’t thrilled at having Colt insert himself into Double S affairs. And the ranch’s contentious relationship with the citizens of Gray’s Glen asks all the Stafford men to examine their hearts about what it truly means to be a neighbor.  And as Wall Street recovers, will Colt succumb to the call of the financial district’s wealth and power—or finally the courage to stay in the saddle for good?



MY REVIEW:  “Back in the Saddle” is the first book in author Ruth Logan Herne’s “Double S Ranch Series”. I so enjoyed this story—the writing is perfectly paced, the story line is involving, and the characters all have great appeal. Colt Stafford left his ranching family home in Gray’s Glen, Washington to make his mark in the financial world of Wall Street. Big city life and big business suited him just fine until it crashed, leaving his future uncertain. With his reputation and his own personal finances in question, he finds himself heading home to touch base with his family and to immerse himself, at least for a while, in the day to day operations of the ranch. He doesn’t expect to be met at the door by a beautiful young woman wielding his father Sam’s own gun. Angelina Morales is the housekeeper and general overseer of the Stafford household. Colt’s brother Nick is the one who stayed behind to help run the ranch, and his other brother, Trey, had left home and started a successful music career. The relationship between father and sons is complicated, as Sam was a difficult and demanding man. Health problems and his own personal losses have given him a new perspective on life, and he wants to make amends with his family and the community. Angelina has her own secrets, but she and Colt have an immediate attraction. Neither of them intended to stay permanently at the Double S, but heartstrings are drawing them closer together—is love in their future? Each character’s faith is in various stages, and their personal growth is an ongoing process. The author generously included a wonderful recipe for “Angelina’s Cherry Cake”. I very much look forward to future entries in this series so that I can find out more about the Stafford men and the special woman who will claim each man’s heart.


Review Copy Gratis via Blogging for Books


Ruth Logan Herne

 

 

 










Ruth Logan Herne loves Charlie Brown Christmas trees, rooting for the underdog and people who go the distance while others see the path as too long or broken! She loves God, chocolate, writing, dogs and is blessed by a sprawling family, oodles of grandkids and a sweet old farmhouse in constant need of work. She's sure that clean rooms are over-rated, snakes and possums should mind their own business and buy their own farm and puppies and kittens and babies are about the cutest things on Earth. A "pull-up-your-big-girl-panties-and-move-on" kind of gal, she is blessed to be married to her high school sweetheart (although it wasn't as if THEY WERE KNOCKING DOWN THE DOOR to challenge him for her!!!), work with young families who allow her to exploit their sweet children on blogs, and rock babies on a regular basis. An author for Love Inspired Books and Summerside Press, she lives in upstate New York.

“CRISIS TEAM” CONTEMPORARY MEDICAL ROMANCE SERIES FROM CANDACE CALVERT—author’s own experience as ER Nurse adds invaluable insights





































Three years after a tragic accident left her a widow, ER nurse Taylor Cabot is determined to move on, checking off one item after another on her survival list. Her relationship with a handsome plastic surgeon even gives her hope for the last point—“fall in love again.” At least until crisis chaplain Seth Donovan steps back into her life, reawakening unanswered questions about her husband’s death
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While in San Diego to train community volunteers, Seth hopes to learn why Taylor is backing away from the crisis team and from their friendship. But nothing prepares him for the feelings that arise when he sees Taylor again . . . and sees her moving on with another man.


When a community crisis hits home and puts lives at risk, emotions run high and buried truths are unearthed. Will hope make the survival list? 


MY REVIEW:  Author Candace Calvert's contemporary medical romances are given great insights by her own experiences as an ER Nurse. "Step by Step" is Book 2 in her "Crisis Team Series". In Book 1, "By Your Side", readers were introduced to Taylor Cabot and Seth Donovan, and now they are given their own story.  Several years after the accidental death of her husband, ER Nurse Taylor Cabot is striving to resume a full and meaningful life, seeking resolutions to unanswered questions, and checking off items on her Survival List. When she is reunited with Crisis Chaplain Seth Donovan, her decision to move away from the crisis team and their friendship is questioned by Seth, who discovers his own deeper feelings for Taylor. Since Taylor is involved with a local doctor, Seth keeps his personal issues to himself, and he continues to hope that Taylor will change her mind about the crisis team. Working together when several emergencies arise in the community keeps Taylor and Seth in close contact, and Taylor discovers a new depth to her fondness for Seth. However, unexpected and long withheld secrets will shed a new light on everything Taylor thought she knew--will there still be a chance for a new and lasting love to grow from old memories?


Review Copy Gratis via Tyndale Blog Network










































ER nurse Macy Wynn learned essential, gritty lessons in the California foster care system: land on your feet and trust no one. She’s finally located the fellow foster child she loves like a sister, but the girl’s in deep trouble. Macy’s determined to help, no matter what it takes. Her motto is to “make it happen” in any situation life throws at her—even when she butts heads with an idealistic cop.


Deputy Fletcher Holt believes in a higher plan, the fair outcome—and his ability to handle that by himself if necessary. Now he’s been yanked from Houston, his mother is battling cancer, and he’s attracted to a strong-willed nurse who could be the target of a brutal sniper.


When everything goes wrong, where do they put their trust?



Candace Calvert



















Former ER nurse, wife, Mom and grandmother, Candace Calvert believes that love, laughter, and faith are the best medicines of all. Her new Mercy Hospital Series for Tyndale House offers readers charismatic characters, pulse-pounding medical drama, romance, humor, suspense--and a prescription for hope. Think, “Grey’s Anatomy finds its soul.”


She is a Northern California native who began her nursing career in rural Oregon, and later moved to Hill Country Texas--where she learned to check her shoes for scorpions and plucked an armadillo from her swimming pool. Thinks cruising is the best way to travel: honeymooned in Venice, swam with stingrays, rode a camel at the pyramids, and sang (badly) with a Newfoundland country band. She loves cooking, dancing the Two Step, bird watching, and gets goose bumps when her handsome husband hits the low notes at karaoke. She’s wild about Beth Moore Bible studies, and recently graduated from The Community of Hope training for lay chaplains. Candace published a series of madcap cruise mysteries in the mainstream market, and now writes inspirational fiction because God blessed her with a quirky wit, buoyant optimism, and a contagious sense of fun--but she didn’t come to know him until after the Triple Whammy that turned her life into bad country song. A painful and unexpected divorce, the merciless Northern California floods of 1997, and (just when she was coping like a champ, no problem) an equestrian accident that left her with fractured ribs, a bleeding lung, broken back, neck fractures and a spinal cord injury. She’ll tell you that God took drastic measures to get her attention.


In the months of rehabilitation, Candace healed in body and spirit and came to fully understand the difference between being a strong woman and a woman of strength. The difference is faith, and that lesson has been her biggest blessing. Her story, “By Accident,” appears in Chicken Soup for the Nurse’s Soul, and launched her writing career. Now, she is honored to bring readers a new medical drama series offering exciting entertainment and a healthy dose of hope. In these challenging times, she thinks it’s exactly what the doctor ordered!