Category: review

February 24, 2016

Kissed by a Cowboy Book Review

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.

February 22, 2016

Blue Ribbon Trail Ride Book Review

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.

February 16, 2016

Emmy Nation, Undercover Suffragette Book Review

Being an independent woman in 1913 London is certainly empowering, but Emmy Nation is tired of the damp seeping through her worn shoes and the hopeless grumblings of her stomach. Will she give in and betray her sisterhood for warmth and food in her stomach?

About Emmy Nation, Undercover Suffragette

When she receives an offer from Scotland Yard to boost her typist income by spying on the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), Emmy jumps at the chance. But as she grows closer to the WSPU women the lines begin to blur, and when a painful part of her past resurfaces Emmy begins to question her choices.

How far are you willing to go to secure your equality?

My Thoughts

A stellar novel from start to finish, that should be a required reading for all young boy and girls in high school. Emmy Nation is an accurate presentation of life for women during this time period and how they struggled for freedom, struggled to have their voice heard and the challenges they faced.

My heart broke for Emmy when she had to choose between warm feet and collecting information on the Suffragette movement. No person should ever have to make a choice like this. Emmy grows in knowledge and strength throughout this novel. She starts off like many of the women in this time period, unsure of themselves, their independence and their rights. Many hold this inner desire for independence but are terrified of the repercussions. Women are physically hurt, emotionally and financially betrayed. My heart broke multiple times throughout this novel. All of the rights that I take for granted were fought for so hard by women and even though I know this, it sometimes takes a book like this to drive this imagery home.

Emmy Nation is an important, historical novel that portrays the Suffragette movement in an accurate and detailed manner that is appropriate for all age groups. It is an important novel for so many reasons but I feel that this should be a mandatory reading for high school students. It is written in a manner that they can understand, appreciate and assist them with relating to their own lives. Our rights and freedoms were fought for with the tears, physical pain and blood of women. This novel opened my eyes all over again, gave me a stronger respect and left me craving for more. I want to know what happens Emmy and the sisterhood. What does she do next?

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon and Book Depository.

Rating: 5/5

Video Trailer

About the Author

L. Davis Munro holds a master’s degree with a focus on women’s suffrage theatre and works in theatre and dance. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with her husband and her dog. You can connect with her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.

Author Interview

1. How did you do research for your book?

The research for this book actually started long before I began writing. I did a two-year Master’s degree in Theatre where I focused on the theatre of the women’s suffrage movement particularly in England. I really did the research for this book during that time. I studied a lot about the movement, the politics and the era in order to support the work I was doing in the theatre of the campaign, so that moved over to the book when I started writing. The second Emmy Nation book will feature much more of the theatre scene from London at the time.

2. What made you write a book about the suffragettes?

In many ways, Emmy Nation was created because of the research I was doing for my degree. I choose that period of history to study because I was fascinated by my own lack of knowledge on the suffrage movement. I had considered myself well versed in women’s history before my Master’s degree and was shocked by all that I didn’t know from the time. That is what started my academic research and Emmy Nation emerged from that.

3. Where do you write?

I have a hard time writing in public, so I generally write at home. I need silence and solitude for my most productive writing times. However, sometimes I need to shake that up so I will visit a cafe nearby to give myself the pressure to get something done instead of just awkwardly staring at the other patrons.

4. In today’s tech savvy world, most writers use a computer or laptop. Have you ever written parts of your book on paper?

Yes, absolutely! I actually find moving to paper and pen often helps me through writer’s block. It feels less permanent than writing in the word processed manuscript document, so I feel less pressure when writing on paper.

5. If you were stuck on a deserted island, which 3 books would you want with you?

Definitely a how to survive on a deserted island book. What plants are edible, how to build a shelter and start a fire, those types of things. I would also want some sort of choose your own adventure book, something that I can read over and over again and not get bored with. Lastly, I would want a notebook (is that cheating?) so I could record everything and create my own stories to entertain myself.

6. What is the most courageous thing you’ve ever done?

This! Publishing this book took all the courage I had. For so long it was just me and Emmy doing our thing and no one else could look in and judge us. Letting go of that safe place and releasing Emmy Nation into the world for anyone to pick up, critique and question, is the scariest and hardest thing I have ever done.

The Giveaway!

Win 1 of 2 prizes! A copy of Emmy Nation + $15 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

February 12, 2016

Come Empty Book Review

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.

February 8, 2016

Thirst Blood of my Blood Debut Novel

R.P. Channing has just released his debut novel, Thirst Blood of my Blood.

About Thirst Blood of my Blood

Kira Sutherland

After a near fatal accident (and getting cheated on by her ‘boyfriend’), and beating up the lead cheerleader (with whom the boyfriend cheated…), and being labeled as having ‘issues’ in her school because she, umm, sees ghosts, Kira is left with two choices:

1. Continue her ‘therapy’ (where she’s told the ghost is a hallucination and also gets her legs ogled too often…)

2. Go to Starkfield Academy, a boarding school for “Crazies and Convicts” (as the social media sites call them.)

She chooses the latter..

Cory Rand

Cory Rand has not had an easy life. His mother died in a car accident when he was twelve, and so did his mother’s best friend…sort of. You see, Janice made a promise to take care of Cory just before she died, and so she lingers. Undead. A ghost that watches out for him.

Brought up in an abusive home, Cory quickly falls into a life of disreputable behavior. After his third offense (which was prompted by a girl, as usual – he has a weakness) he’s left with two choices:

1. Be tried as an adult and share a cell with a guy named Bubba (he thinks…)

2. Go to Starkfield Academy, which Cory is pretty sure is run by vampires. But, hey, at least he’ll get an education.

He chooses the latter…

It’s at Starkfield that Kira meets Cory Rand, a boy with an insatiable Rage who sees ghosts, too. As well as other things, other things from his past, things that confuse him, things like fire and witches and demons.

Things he’s always ignored. Until now.

Where to Purchase

You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon or Amazon UK.

About the Author

R P Channing started writing three years ago, but never published anything even after churning out over a million words of fiction. Thirst: Blood of my Blood is the first book he dared to publish. When asked why, he said, “Because it’s the first thing I wrote that my wife actually enjoyed reading.” When not hammering away (most literally) at his keyboard, he can be found buried in a book, reading anything from romance to horror to young adult to non-fiction to comedy. You can find him online, Twitter and Amazon.