Category: Monday Book Review

I’m taking a small break from reading contemporary books and reading historicals again while my hands recover from too much typing. I’m also learning to dictate so any oddness in this post will be from that. It’s a difficult skill for me to learn to speak words instead of thinking and letting my fingers talk.

A Most Inconvenient Wedding by Regina Jennings

Abigail Stuart Thought She was Jeremiah Calhoun’s Widow.
But Jeremiah Calhoun Is Very Handsome, Very Alive, and Very Perplexed.
Most Inconvenient Indeed.

Doesn’t that make you want to read this book? I can tell you it does not disappoint. And if you are looking for a book that fits the rainbows and puppies desire in you, this is it.

Did I say rainbows and puppies? I did. That wasn’t a dictation error. My author friend Tanya E. Williams who likes to say that the world is not made up of rainbows and puppies but we both wish it were.

Back to An Inconvenient Marriage, it is such a hoot! It takes place in the Ozarks a place I love to visit but it’s right after the Civil War so Silver Dollar City has not yet opened. 😉

Can you imagine marrying a man who you buried only to find out he isn’t dead and he’s pretty mad about you living in his house? And to make matters worse his mother and sister love her.

I loved this book. It was a sweet relaxing read. Now I didn’t say boring because it wasn’t. There was action, mystery, and some suspenseful moments to enjoy.

I think this is going to be a new thing for me. I’m a writer but I read a lot of books and not all of them are in the genre I write in. I’m wondering if you are that way too.

Do you only pick one type of book to read?

Do you avoid certain books? That I do. I avoid any heavy-duty crime books that have details that won’t let me sleep. Otherwise, I read a lot of genres.

I read this book A Man Called Smith after meeting the author Tanya E. Williams at a writing convention. We spent a break sitting by the pool discussing writing and our careers. She’s from Canada and I’m from Illinois. (USA). It was fun to discover what we both liked or disliked. She’s a planner and a plotter. I was neither at the time but I can say after meeting her I now plan.

This time period spoke to me as it’s about the time my own mother was searching for her place in the world. The details are spot-on as Tanya is an excellent researcher. You’ll feel the desperation and splendor of the settings.

A battle-scarred father. A disillusioned daughter. Can a grieving widower rebuild his splintered family to find peace at last?

South Dakota, 1949. WWII veteran John Smith longs for the life he lost after the tragic death of his wife during childbirth. But in the desperation to provide for his two small children, he is manipulated into an unsuitable marriage by a young woman with a dark neurosis. Tormented by his own grief and the ravages of war, John is blind to his children’s turmoil and pain.

Washington State, 1964. John’s sixteen-year-old daughter Calla dreams of a life beyond her vindictive stepmother. Forced to care for her younger siblings with a list of household demands larger than she is tall, Calla knows it’s only a matter of time until she can escape the abuse and begin anew at college. But her dreams crumble when her heartless stepmother claims the college fund for her own selfish purposes.

As John fears he is too late to stop the war within his home, Calla vows to build a new life worth living.

Can John survive the consequences of war on the home front? Can Calla find the strength to rediscover the meaning of family?

A Man Called Smith is the heartwarming and heart wrenching story following the life of John Smith. If you like courageous characters and narratives told over multiple generations, then you’ll love Tanya E. Williams’ emotional tale.

Get it here https://books2read.com/amancalledsmith

It’s been a great month for reading. Lots of rainy days and nights is a good reason to hang out in a chair with my Kindle. Except for nights when the hockey playoffs are on and then my attention goes to our local team. The St. Louis Blues. I’m not a big sports fan except for hockey. For some reason I like it. I think it’s because I’m amazed at the agility of the players. I can not stand up on ice at all.

I’ve jumped into KindleUnlimited with gusto and have had fun tracking down good books to read.

A series I started and can’t stop reading is by Valerie Comer. The Montana Ranches Christian Romances

There is something about modern-day cowboys that captures my attention.

Start with the first one The Cowboy’s Christmas Reunion and see what you think.

From Book 1: The Cowboy’s Christmas Reunion A jilted cowboy gets a second chance at love when his ex-fiancée returns with her small daughter.

From Book 2: The Cowboy’s Mixed-Up Matchmaker Friends become more in this romance with a matchmaker bent on finding dates for the cowboy she believes doesn’t return her love.

From Book 3: The Cowboy’s Romantic Dreamer Opposites attract in this romance with a grumpy cowboy burned by love and a bubbly romance editor with (almost) all the answers!

From Book 4: The Cowboy’s Convenient Marrage. Rivals form a marriage of convenience in this contemporary cowboy romance but plan not to fall in love.

From Book 5: The Cowboy’s Belated Discovery. In this epiphany romance, all she asks is one shot at winning his heart, but he can’t take one more chance at love.

From Book 6: The Cowboy’s Reluctant Bride. In this unexpected pregnancy romance, they’ve both had a change of heart, but secrets make it hard to trust.

What are you reading this month?

It’s been a busy month for me. I read one book that I fell in love with.

A Moonbow Night by Laura Franz. It’s a bit pricey but if you have kindle unlimited you can read it for free.

On the vast, uncharted Kentucky frontier of the 1770s, Temperance Tucker has learned to be fleet of foot, accurate with her rifle, and silent about the past. But her family secrets complicate her growing attraction to a handsome Virginia land surveyor with a harsh history of his own. Will the hurts and hardships of the past prevent them from a fulfilling future?

When I drive around this country it’s hard to imagine what it looked like in 1770. Thanks to my GPS on my phone I never get lost. Temperance Tucker has her own GPS–her eyes and her memory.

Following her story deep into the woods of Kentucky and a hair-raising event inside of a cave kept me reading many nights after my bedtime.

It’s not your normal romance where the couple meets and fall in love and marry. It’s much more complicated and the setting takes on a life as a character.

If you want a book that’s not so fast-paced allowing you to live in the book’s world for a time, this book is for you.

Since spring hasn’t decided to show up yet this month I’ve been reading.

I have a KindleUnlimited subscription (you can get one here) and I’ve been exploring new to me authors.

The Homesteader’s Sweetheart by Lacy Williams won me over fast. I do love a good marriage of convenience story.

They come from different worlds. Can a wealthy debutante belong with a simple homesteader and his makeshift family?

And this one is a fairy tale retelling suggested by a newsletter subscriber to read.

The Princess Companion by Melanie Cellier It’s a fairy tale retelling. It was fun to put together clues of which fairy tales were used.

Danger and romance await a woodcutter’s daughter in a royal palace.