Review: An Inconvenient Beauty by Kristi Ann Hunter

I'M SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SOOOO LONG!!!!!


Blurb-"Griffith, Duke of Riverton, likes order, logic, and control, and he naturally applies this rational approach to his search for a bride. He's certain Miss Frederica St. Claire is the perfect wife for him, but while Frederica is strangely elusive, he can't seem to stop running into her stunningly beautiful cousin, Miss Isabella Breckenridge.

Isabella should be enjoying her society debut, but with her family in difficult circumstances, her uncle will only help them if she'll use her beauty to assist him in his political aims. Already uncomfortable with this agreement, the more she comes to know Griffith, the more she wishes to be free of her unfortunate obligation.

Will Griffith and Isabella be able to set aside their pride and face their fears in time to find their own happily-ever-after?"
I'll give this book 4 stars. It was a nice book. I enjoyed the distraction from college life. And I was so glad to see the conclusion of this series that I started in the summer. This book had me laughing out loud a whole awful lot. My poor roommate probably thought that the stress had finally gotten to me, but really I just found this very humorous. The plot was nice. The characters were nicer. It wasn't my favorite in the series, but I did enjoy it. Definitely one of the better regency novels I've read. If you enjoy regency, then I would recommend this series. Sometimes it got a little much for me, as it is heavy on romance. But all in all, a good ending to a lovely series. (Really, though, I found this to be one of the most humorous books I've read in a while.) Also, note the yellows of the cover, which spice up my bookshelf quite nicely.

Review: Alaska Twilight by Colleen Coble

"For some people, Alaska is a breathtaking wilderness adventure, full of light and beauty. For Haley, it is a dangerous world of dark dreams and tortured memories. On the surface, she's here to document wildlife activist Kipp Nowak's bear encounters. But her real reason is to unearth the truth about a past murder.
From behind the viewfinder of her camera, Haley observes it all, including Tank Lassiter, the bear biologist who has been forced to lead Kipp and his team into the Alaskan backcountry. As she watches him with his work, she feels a growing attraction. It will take great courage to confront the truth she once ran away from. Will she have the faith to move beyond the role of observer and embrace life-and love?"

I'll admit that I should have written this months ago, when it was all still fresh in my mind, but I'll do my very best.

First of all, this is my first time to read something by Colleen Coble and I'm definitely a fan now. You guys know that I can't resist a story set in Alaska! It's one of my Achilles' heels in reading. {The other is adoption of any kind, including by marriage} Colleen did such a good job of capturing the beauty of Alaska with her words, that the fire inside me that longs to go there is burning brighter than ever. The characters were wonderful. Not only was there growth, but there was just a meshing of the perfect cast. Even the bad guys, one of whom I did not actually see coming until it was almost too late, were exactly what the story needed. I, of course, spent a good amount of time being angry at the dumb ol' sister-in-law. She was certifiable, the looney witch! {Don't worry, just a turn of phrase. No witches in the book.} The relationships that each of the MCs had with Brooke would melt any heart of stone. And seeing Haley work through her new relationship with a sister she didn't even know she had was both painful and beautiful. The grandmother was basically the only voice of TRUE reason in the whole book, since everyone else was caught up in all the what-not going on, and I loved her. Especially, her love for Haley. And those two even worked out some of their own junk to. Basically a 5 star book of love and healing that has an edge of suspense that keeps you flipping pages like nobody's business ;)

Review: Murder Is No Accident by A.H. Gabhart

Blurb-"Young Maggie Greene may be trespassing in the old, empty Victorian mansion on a quiet street in Hidden Springs, but all she wants is some private time in the magnificent tower room to write her stories. Certain she'll be in trouble if caught, she hides when a realtor shows up. But someone else is in the house too, someone even more worried about getting caught. When Maggie finds the realtor's body at the bottom of a flight of stairs and the other person gone, Deputy Sheriff Michael Keane is called in. He assumes the realtor's death is a tragic accident--until a second person is found dead in the house. When Maggie is threatened, Michael must catch the murderer before anyone else dies."

4 Stars for this murder mystery. Do you know, I'm not sure what I expected, but I don't believe it was this... The setting is very much "small-town-USA" and the so are the people. Hidden Springs seems to be a place where everyone knows everyone. Where the deputy sheriff goes to help an old farmer fix his fence and shoo his cows back in. Where using the lights AND sirens on the car causes everyone to sit up and take notice. I enjoyed getting to know the characters from Hidden Springs (and I did jump right into book 3, typical me, so if I know I've missed out on some of that!) Especially Aunt Lindy. She was one of my favorites. Michael was another of my favorites and it was from him that almost all of the POV came. I thought it was going to be a slow book, I think, and at first it was, but somewhere when I wasn't looking, action started happening. People came in from other states. Bodies were being found. Kids were getting threatened. And Van Gogh's were being carried around as shields. I thoroughly enjoyed the heart-pounding action. (Even if it did make me wish I weren't alone at home after dark...) There were a couple things that annoyed me/ I didn't agree with/ I wish weren't in there/ Whatever: 1) There's a woman preacher (2) There were several (pardon me) slang-y "heck"s and "darn"s and "gee"s and stuff like that, which I could have done without. Other than these things, I enjoyed it immensely. (I still prefer Gabhart's River To Redemption though.)

Review: Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson

From a best-selling author, a touching story of a prodigal daughter who learns it's never too late to come home, but will she find acceptance?

This book was so layered and multi-faceted. There were so many many things going on. The layers upon layers of sadness and hurt and anger that had to be worked through made for a very gripping story that totally engrossed. I couldn't put it down. I usually read Tracie's historical fiction, but this is the second contemporary I've read. I have to say... it's quite excellent. It was cool how bit by bit we saw the past twelve years exposed. The revisiting of old wounds and the journey from rebellion to faith made it a book of healing for the characters. I'd like to point out that the ending was so spot on spectacular that I didn't know what to do! It's incredible. It ended just the way I wanted it to. And, there is the fact that this achieved that impossible fiction that seems realistic. I loved this book and definitely recommend it to people who enjoy contemporary books that aren't super heavy in the romance department.

CelebrateLit Tour: Review: Flights of Fancy by Jen Turano

Miss Isadora Delafield may be an heiress, but her life is far from carefree. When her mother begins pressuring her to marry an elderly and uncouth duke, she escapes from the high society world she’s always known and finds herself to be an unlikely candidate for a housekeeper position in rural Pennsylvania.

Mr. Ian MacKenzie is known for his savvy business sense and has built his reputation and fortune completely on his own merits. But when his adopted parents are in need of a new housekeeper and Isadora is thrown into his path, he’s unexpectedly charmed by her unconventional manner.

Neither Isadora nor Ian expected to find the other so intriguing, but when mysterious incidents on the farm and the truth of Isadora’s secret threaten those they love, they’ll have to set aside everything they thought they wanted for a chance at happy-ever-after.

Jen Turano has astounded me at every turn. Each time I read one of her books I find myself almost sick with laughter. However, she somehow still manages to balance the mishaps of heroes and heroines alike with serious moments of either self-discovery or spiritual realization. The levity of the story becomes the perfect vehicle for a non-preachy "moral to the story" and we learn much without even realizing it. Flights of Fancy is incredible. The first two chapters weren't my favorite (I'd much rather skip the backstory and hit the action, in theory anyway)  but I found myself unable to tear my eyes away from the pages, and several times forgot that I was reading as I became engrossed in the storyline. Izzy's desire to become a normal girl caused many laughing tears, and also was a really nice storyline. That's something I like about Jen's books. They often have a storyline that's just a hair different from what's normal in the genre and that makes you enjoy it all the more. Inserting not 1, not 2, no, not even just 3, but 4 kids into the story made it a bread winner for me. You'll find little hidden gems throughout this book that make it a cohesive, did I mention hilarious?, and extremely enjoyable read that will have you pushing through a massive headache just to see what's happening next. With convincing bad guys who are actually worth your while to hate, and controlling mothers with semi-surprising endings, and half crazy uncles, this is something to drop right on the top of your TBR list, pronto!
And check out this killer cover!

I received this book as a part of the Celebrate Lit Team opportunity, but I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts/comments are my very own.

Click here to order your copy!

About the Author

Named One of the Funniest Voices in Inspirational Romance by Booklist, Jen Turano is a USA Today Best-Selling Author, known for penning quirky historical romances set in the Gilded Age. Her books have earned Publisher Weekly and Booklist starred reviews, top picks from Romantic Times, and praise from Library Journal. She’s been a finalist twice for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards and had two of her books listed in the top 100 romances of the past decade from Booklist. When she’s not writing, she spends her time outside of Denver, CO.

Guest post from Jen

Q & A With Jen Turano

“Flights of Fancy” is the first book in the American Heiress Series. What inspired you to write this series?

The inspiration for this entire series started off with a What If? All of my proposals for new series start off that way, and this time it was – What if Consuelo Vanderbilt had balked when her mother insisted she marry the Duke of Marlborough – and then that led to – What if she’d run away until her mother came to her senses? Just like that, an entire series was born – a bit of a different take on American heiresses because in all three books, my heiresses might decide to go a tad…rogue. We start off with Miss Isadora Delafield – who does run off to avoid marriage to a duke, then we get to meet Miss Poppy Garrison, who is an unexpected heiress but who can’t quite seem to get a handle on the expected social decorum of the day, and then the final book revolves around Miss Beatrix Waterbury – who gets banished to Chicago after she annoys her mother one too many times, and once there, well, gets up to a bit of mischief.

How do you come up with the names of your characters?

I find most of my names as I research the New York Four-Hundred, although I normally take a first name here, a last name there so I’m not stepping on any toes by writing about an actual historical figure – except for some of the main figures in New York society back then, such as Mr. Ward McAllister – who was the social arbiter of the day, or Mrs. William Astor, who was the queen of that society. What I don’t do is simply make up names, no matter how outrageous they may appear. And, no matter how I may love a certain name, if the character decides it doesn’t suit them, that’s it, it’s out and I’m back to the drawing board.

How do you picture your character? Do you use Pinterest, magazines, movies?

Odd as this may seem, I don’t use pictures for my characters. They start off in my mind as a blurry figure, and then, they develop from there – I like to keep my descriptions of them somewhat vague on the pages so that the reader can imagine them exactly the way they’d like them to be.

What are some of your favorite resources for historical research?

I’ve been building up a research library over the past few years and now have over 200 books dedicated to the Gilded Age. My favorites are – “A Season of Splendor” by Greg King, “Society as I Have Found It” by Ward McAllister, “The Gilded Age in New York – 1870-1910” by Esther Crain, and “ ‘King Lehr’ and the Gilded Age” by Elizabeth Drexel Lehr.

The setting for “Flights of Fancy” is a bit of a departure for you since it’s set in and outside of Pittsburgh. Any reason for that?

My mom was born in Pittsburgh, and unfortunately, her father, a prominent attorney back in the day, died when she was only four. I thought it would be cool to set a story in Pittsburgh, which would then allow me to really dive into some research. And get this – while I was doing that research, I found this obscure journal called “Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In that journal was a bit about my great-grandfather, Fred, his wife, Susie, my grandfather, and his brother and sister, but I’d never heard about this brother, who apparently died quite young. One of the most fabulous research tidbits I’ve uncovered to date.

What are you working on now?

I’ve just recently turned in the content edits for the second book in this series, “Diamond in the Rough,” and I’ve also turned in a novella about the Harvey Girls that will be coming out in a novella collection in Fall, 2019. With those out of the way, I’m now starting the third and final book in the American Heiress series, Miss Beatrix Waterbury’s story, but I’m having a bit of a struggle with the hero at the moment – he was supposed to be Edward, but he doesn’t want to be an Edward – I think he wants to be Norman – but, time will tell on that one – don’t hold me to the name – it’ll depend on if he changes his mind or not – pesky characters.

You seem to enjoy adding animals in many of your stories. Will we find any animals in “Flights of Fancy?”

Since Miss Isadora Delafield ends up on a farm, I do believe you will find a few animals, such as an adorable cow by the name of Buttercup, a few goats that seem to have a great liking for laundry, and…there might be some chickens.

Thanks for stopping by today, everyone! Always enjoy visiting with all of you – in fact, that’s the best part of my job!

All the best,

~ Jen ~

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Jen is giving away a grand prize of a trunk filled with all of Jen’s full-length novels released to date!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/d8d1/flights-of-fancy-celebration-tour-giveaway

DON'T JUST TAKE MY WORD FOR IT! SEE WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING AT THESE BLOG STOPS! AND LEAVE COMMENTS FOR EXTRA ENTRIES IN THE GIVEAWAY!

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Review: The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

I pulled this one out of my old hat... It's been waiting for a good long while now.

Young Jody adopts an orphaned fawn he calls Flag and makes it a part of his family and his best friend. But life in the Florida backwoods is harsh, and so, as his family fights off wolves, bears, and even alligators, and faces failure in their tenuous subsistence farming, Jody must finally part with his dear animal friend.


I'm giving this book 4 stars

1: Is there any word for this book except "classic"? It's written in the style of other books of its era, yet it hasn't passed into oblivion. I'm gonna be honest, I read this book because I like the movie. Now, I'm so glad I read it. I felt like it had a slow start, and I dragged my feet through the first....bit... of the book. And then, it just up and took off and me with it. (The movie is pleasantly accurate, a rare thing.)

2: I was getting near the end of the book and it hit me, all of a sudden, that "The Yearling", the title, wasn't referring to Flag, not really. Jody was the yearling. Its his "growing up" story, a coming of age story that never dies.

3: Younger readers might want the abridged version, cause them Forresters can have a mouth on 'em.

4: I can honestly say that after finishing this my accent is twangy-er than ever. Everything is spelled phonetically, and with a deeply southern accent that you can't ignore.

5: This is a SPOILER for anyone who hasn't read or seen the movie... but I didn't cry when Flag had to be... well... you know. But that could have been because I spent 300+ pages preparing myself for it. That doesn't mean it wasn't touchingly sad. And the ending was just a tiny tiny bit different than the movie. Ma Baxter wasn't in the last scene, which made me a little sad. I love how the movie ended.


(That was the most I've ever put a movie in my review... I hope you don't mind!)

Review: In Every Heartbeat by Kim Vogel Sawyer

WARINING: THIS REVIEW IS GOING TO BE SO FULL OF SPOILERS. I'M GOING TO RANT AND RAVE AND PROBABLY TELL EVERY SINGLE THING THAT HAPPENS IN THE END, SO YOU MAY NOT WANT TO CONTINUE.

Well, now that you've had sufficient warning, I guess if you're still reading this you're very brave. I'm going to put the official blurb first, and then keep on with this paragraph....

Three best friends, three cherished dreams, three searching hearts... As three friends who grew up in the same orphanage head off to college together, they each harbor a special plan for the future. Libby Conley hopes to become a famous journalist. Pete Leidig believes God has called him to study to become a minister. And Bennett Martin plans to pledge a fraternity, find a place to belong, and have as much fun as possible. But as tensions rise around the world on the brink of World War I, the friends' differing aspirations and opinions begin to divide them, as well. When Libby makes a shocking discovery about Pete's family, will it drive a final wedge between the friends or bond them in ways they never anticipated?


Okay, now back to the ranting. I'm going to embarrass myself. I can already tell, but I finished this book, sat and cried (whether from frustration or enjoyment, I can't tell, although I'd guess it's a bit of both) and then spent the next 30 minutes cleaning. And I was so fired up that I got a lot done. Dishes, laundry, clutter, bathroom, sweeping, vacuuming.... I was just working through this, trying to digest. I honestly can't even imagine putting this review in my usual 1-5 format. I read this book because I LOVED the first book in this series. Maelle is a character who is constantly coming back to my mind. It's been a year since I read My Heart Remembers (or close to a year....) and still it pops into my head all the time. It's the book that made me a Kim Vogel Sawyer fan. I read it straight through. And I was so excited when Maelle was in this book too. I honestly wanted the whole thing to be in Libby's POV. Pete's was okay though. I didn't care for Bennet at all. I spent the whole book getting ready for Maelle to adopt Libby at the end, but instead she called her her "handpicked little sister" which is super sweet and all, but y'all know I have this thing about adoption. I wanted it to happen so badly that it took me forever to fall asleep. (I had to stop on page 175) I woke up at 7 this morning, and couldn't go back to sleep anticipating it. And the ending just fell short of what I had hoped because of that. And I know it shouldn't have. But I just wanted it so much. Don't get me wrong, I loved the story, it had me in tears multiple times, but oh... I mean, I even resented Hannah and Hester... which is ridiculous. The ending between Pete and Libby was great though. The engagement broach was so sweet, and Maelle's silent approval from across the room meant so much to Libby that I teared up again. That one was a plus. The ending doesn't mention Bennet at all, which I honestly didn't realize till halfway through doing dishes because I didn't particularly care for him. I'm so glad I read this book, but that one little blip made me do this.... awful excuse for a review. Which I do apologize for, but I'm not going to change it. It just might be the most honest one I've done so far.... But please, don't let me scare you off of this book. That would be awful. Do read it. The college setting really hit home, thinking about this upcoming semester. Thankfully, BJU has a 99.99999% chance of having much better cafeteria food. There were lots of almost shocking twists and Libby's coming to Christ was the absolute best! There were so many good things about this book, and now that I've gotten ^that^ out of my system, I can see that more clearly. I want to give this book 4.5 stars, but I'm afraid after that rant that would seem very weird. So, decide what rating you'd think I give it, just know that I do recommend this book and the one before it too.



Okay.... that was a lot of words all at once. I hope it wasn't too much, but I'm not holding my breath. Thanks for sticking it out, if you've made it this far. You're the best!