Category: Litfuse blog tour

In The Hearts We Mend, planning and Post-It notes are the epitome of Evie’s life. But when she meets Jack, her life gets more than a little complicated.

About The Hearts We Mend

Thirteen years ago, Evie’s firefighter husband was killed in the line of duty, leaving her to raise their young son, Cody, alone. Now, Cody is marrying the love of his life, and as he packs up his belongings, the house feels as empty as Evie’s heart. But for all her planning and mad organizational skills, Evie could never have anticipated the dramatic shift her life is about to make.

Tattooed, rough-around-the-edges Jack raises quite a few eyebrows in the tight-knit community of Banister Falls. Where Evie’s life is stream-lined, Jack’s approach to living is moment-by-moment. But as Evie gets drawn into Jack’s world—a world that isn’t as safe or predictable as the one she’s worked so hard to create—he challenges her to open her eyes to the problems outside the walls of the church.

Jack doesn’t make Evie feel comfortable, but he definitely makes her feel something. Something she hasn’t felt since Max passed away—or, maybe ever. Because even though Jack isn’t anything like her late husband, he just might be everything she needs.

My Thoughts

This is the second book by author, Kathryn Springer, following Evie and her son Cody. This second book is just as fantastic (if not more!) as the first novel. In this novel, we see Cody marry his highschool sweetheart and pregnant girlfriend,watching this transition from depending on Evie to being his own man. This has a huge array of effects on Evie and she struggles at first with these changes until she meets Jack. Jack challenges her to get out of her comfort zone, to realize her potential and want more. But does she really have the courage to accept his challenge? Can she look beyond tattoos and the outer appearance of Jack to see the person inside? A fantastic novel from start to finish! It leaves you wanting that much more.

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Kathryn Springer is a USA Today bestselling author. She grew up in northern Wisconsin, where her parents published a weekly newspaper. As a child she spent many hours sitting at her mother’s typewriter, plunking out stories, and credits her parents for instilling in her a love of books — which eventually turned into a desire to tell stories of her own. Kathryn has written nineteen books with close to two million copies sold. She lives with her husband and three children in Marinette, Wisconsin.

In Kissed by a Cowboy Cassidy was looking for a home and a place to belong and not for a cowboy to steal her heart!

About Kissed by a Cowboy

Having lived through her parents’ endless string of “matrimonial bliss gone wrong,” Cassidy Starr knows when the odds are not in her favor. Divorced and humiliated, her faith on rocky ground, Cassidy is through with love. She has been bucked off that horse far too many times. Instead, she returns to Wishing Springs, Texas, and the rundown farm she has inherited from her great aunt Roxie. She’ll reopen the strawberry farm and a bed & breakfast and follow in her aunt’s footsteps, remaining forever-independent, happy and single.

Rancher Jarrod Monahan’s hands are full running the ranch, looking after his ailing grandfather, and chasing down a group of rustlers on the loose. He’s pushed his longing for a family to the bottom of his list of priorities. Besides, he was in love once but ran scared and lost his one shot at happiness. But suddenly, the biggest regret of his life has moved in next door with a wounded heart, determined to become a spinster and that is a challenge that Jarrod just can’t pass up.

Jarrod sets his mind to breaking down the walls around Cassidy’s stubborn heart. How can he show her that this cowboy’s kiss lasts forever?

My Thoughts

A great Western romance read with some twists along the way. We have our main character Cassidy who has been through so much through her marriage. She is hurt, betrayed and unable to trust and ready to start another relationship. She has darkened her heart to a chance of romance. A strong part of me can’t blame her, I can’t even begin to imagine the emotions she is going through. She is struggling to come to closure and does not want this to interfere with her future but it is hard not to let it. Her pain keeps surfacing to the top throughout the novel.

On the flip side we have Jarrod, a man who has known her whole life but who has also been scarred by family and life. He has come to terms with his past and wants to move forward but he needs to help show Cassidy the way. He needs to help build her trust and acceptance, which is not easy!

A wonderful tale of trust, honesty, love and acceptance with a Western spin! You will fall in love with the warm and funny characters and the honest story.

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse Blog Tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

Debra Clopton is a multi-award winning novelist and has written more than 22 novels. Along with writing, Debra helps her husband teach the youth at their local Cowboy Church. Debra’s goal is to shine a light toward God while she entertains readers with her words.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Book Four in this series, Blue Ribbon Trail Ride, find them raising funds to help support her autistic brother.

About Blue Ribbon Trail Ride

Thirteen-year old Kate and her friends came up with the perfect way to raise money for her autistic younger brother and others to attend summer camp, a horse scavenger hunt! As local businesses donate money and prizes, Kate keeps the entry fees in her mom’s antique jewelry box.

But when the box and the money disappear, Kate and her friends must unravel the clues, hold on to hope, and solve the mystery along the Blue Ribbon Trail Ride.

My Thoughts

An amazing series of novels for young adults. The novel is well written and thought out with characters that young adults (and even adults!) can relate to.

Kate is like many thirteen year old girls, who struggles with independence, her own wants and needs. She struggles at time with being patient especially with a younger brother who requires a high amount of care due to his autism. A lot of her parent’s time and money goes in to his care, and while she understands this as any  normal child would she also struggles with sometimes having her needs put second. I love that Miralee shows this vulnerability and how Kate works through it and shows her understanding and love for her brother.

She comes up with creative solutions to solve her problems and uses her religious teachings to help guide her. In this particular story – first raising money through a scavenger hunt and then solving the mystery of the stolen box and money. I love how her faith is lightly woven into the novel to help guide and how easily young adults can relate this to their own lives.

This novel (and the whole series) will be a great addition to the young adults in your life personal library. They are well written and funny while teaching valuable moral and faith-based lessons.

You can find more reviews on the Blue Ribbon Trail Ride on the Litfuse Blog tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Miralee Ferrell is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels. She and her husband live along the Columbia River Gorge in southern Washington State, where she enjoys riding the wooded trails and spending time with her grown children. In addition to horses and dogs, Miralee once owned two cougars

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book and the series in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

When a water vessel is filled with dirt and stones, it cannot be used to quench a thirst.

About Come Empty

When our vessel is emptied, there is an opportunity to fill it until it overflows with fresh, cool, life-giving water. Water that quenches, refreshes and soothes.

Our souls are the same: they can be filled with fear, doubt, and disappointment. Running over with unanswered prayers and lingering questions. When we empty the mess of our lives in the presence of God, we are offered an invitation to come. An invitation that allows us to come empty so that we can be filled until we overflow.

Come Empty: Pour Out Life’s Hurts and Receive God’s Healing Love guides you through fifty days of experiencing the fullness of God’s love and His ability to overcome life’s hurts. Each day, you will receive assurance of God’s presence in your difficult situations. Each devotion gives new vision and perspective when you’re hindered by emotional blind spots, and leads you to experience God’s peace and wholeness. When His invitation is accepted, He will set your captive mind and heart free to live fully by His grace. The question is not if you will get an invitation. The question is, will you come?

My Thoughts

Come Empty provides you with a daily five-minute readings and question work to help you understand the “empty” you are feeling at the current time and how to work through these feelings. There is actually eighty days of readings which is perfect for you to set out a time each day whether it be in the morning or evening, to reflect on your emotions and how you are feeling. She provides  you with a scripture reading and helpful questions that really get to the root of your emotions. Each day is devoted to an emotion or feeling and I like how she organized the devotional. The beginning of the book starts with a great introduction to not only the subject matter but her personal life. We see how she struggled as a physician trying to be the support her patients needed but still feeling empty inside. It is a feeling so many of can relate to . I find even myself struggling at times and when I can work to empty my mind, thoughts and heart of these feelings and emotions, only than can I be at peace. Come Empty is an excellent daily read that you can start, pause and always come back to certain passages. It will become a book that you will need more some days then others but one you will always find yourself drawn back to.

You can more reviews on the Litfuse Blog Tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Rating: 4/5

About the Author

Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith is a Board Certified internal medicine physician. She shares with audiences nationwide on the topics of eliminating limiting emotions, finding grace in difficult places, and experiencing personal renewal by drawing near to God. Dr. Dalton-Smith is a national and international media resource on the mind, body, spirit connection and has been featured in Women’s Day, Redbook, and First For Women magazine. She is the founder of I Choose My Best Life. Her other books include award-winning Set Free to Live Free: Breaking Through the 7 Lies Women Tell Themselves.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

When life changes drastically three months ago, Darla’s whole life is turned upside down. It is up to A Son’s Vow to help her during this time.

About A Son’s Vow

Darla’s father was responsible for a terrible fire at Charm’s lumber mill which killed five Amish men. And though he, too, lost his life, the town of Charm hasn’t looked at her family the same since. Even Lukas Kinsinger–with whom Darla used to have a close friendship.

Now her brother’s anger at the town is spilling over onto Darla, and she has the bruises to prove it. The accident already cost five lives, but if something doesn’t change soon, Darla fears it will cost her–and her family–even more.

Lukas Kinsinger wants to mourn the loss of his father, but he can hardly find the time to breathe. Suddenly the head of his father’s lumber mill and responsible for taking care of his three siblings, he’s feeling the pressure. He has also never felt more alone–especially with the new tension between he and Darla. But when he learns of her troubles at home, Lukas knows he can’t simply stand by and watch. Someone has to help her before another tragedy occurs.

As Lukas and Darla attempt to repair their families, they discover something deeper than friendship growing between them. But will Lukas and Darla’s love be accepted after so much loss? Or will the pain of the past overcome any chance of future happiness?

Shelley Shepard Gray’s first book in her Charmed Amish Life series is set in the quaint Amish village of Charm, Ohio, and tells the stories of the Kinsinger siblings who are each struggling to find both forgiveness and love in the face of tragedy.

My Thoughts

A Son’s Vow has so much depth and emotion. A small town is devastated by a fire that killed five of their own community members. Some of the community can’t help but point the finger at Darla’s family, some are so full of hate and anger at the loss of life that it now consumes them.

At the heart of this novel is Darla. Darla is the daughter of the man who has been blamed for the fire. She faces daily struggles with her community, she is verbally harassed in the book and on top of that has the responsibility of caring for her younger family members. Her life is consumed with the care of others without ever looking at her owns emotions and pain. She ignores the struggle she feels on the inside and puts on a brave face for the outside world. To top it all off, her brother is so angry and takes it out on her – sometimes physically!

Lukas would do anything for Darla, he has always been her teacher, her friend and her support. He feels they can only heal and move forward if they speak about their loss and join forces. He misses his friend. Slowly they find their friendship is changing, maybe into a more romantic feel???

I don’t want to spoil anything for you! But definitely check out this wonderful book from Shelley Shepard Gray.

You can find more reviews on the Litfuse blog tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Shelley Shepard Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town’s bike trail.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.