I didn’t receive a 2016 RITA® Reader Challenge review for this book, so I’m compiling quotes from reviews online and using the grade average from Goodreads as a substitute. This book has a 3.95 average, which I’m interpreting as a B+. Rachael wrote: This was my first read by this author, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It follows a lady who came from a long line of midwives. She wished to become a doctor so … Continue reading The Mountain Midwife by Laurie Alice Eakes →
Reading Tiffany Girl, I discovered pretty quickly that I’m not the audience for this book. This came as an unfortunate surprise. I was promised women with cool jobs, turn-of-the-century New York, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition that anyone who’s read The Devil in White City knows all the (literally) gory details about, plus romance? Yes, please, I love all of those things! Alas, it did not deliver on these premises in the way I was … Continue reading Tiffany Girl by Deeanne Gist →
Sunny shine, a field of gold, cows walking up the pasture. The storybook setting for The Rescued by Marta Perry is beautiful, but don’t be fooled, for this everyday Amish family is dealing with, gasp, family problems. Okay, so let’s ease up on the horse’s reins and slow this cart down. We are introduced to the main heroine Judith Wegler. She is a peaceful girl who likes to help others and worries terribly when she … Continue reading The Rescued by Marta Perry →
So much of this book worked for me, but the ending did not. The ending made me realize I had problems before the ending. This review will start with the strengths. Jake was a well-developed character, and his PTSD seemed well-done. The flashbacks to Iraq seemed powerful and well-researched and vivid and compelling. All of his previous problems seemed realistic and my heart went out to him. I found all of the characters mostly likable … Continue reading A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade →
I chose this book because I wanted to go outside my usual reading and then found comfort in the parts of the story that were familiar. Mistletoe Justice is a Love Inspired Suspense book, so it is an inspirational romantic suspense story which also happened to be set during the Christmas season. A tall order. Well-delivered, Ms. Post, well-delivered. The story included prayers for help and thanks to God for blessings received, but there was … Continue reading Mistletoe Justice by Carol J. Post →
My review takes a quasi-newspaper article type format, with each section being worth a point. Who/Why Lady Miranda Hawthorne, our heroine, has been repressed all her young life by her mother’s well-intentioned “lady lessons.” The reader is reminded, frequently, how Miranda can’t do this or that thing because such behavior’s deemed unfitting of a lady. Quite a bit of Miranda’s internal monologue is dedicated to this theme, which is irritating, for one, but also kept … Continue reading A Noble Masquerade by Kristi Ann Hunter →
I read and reviewed A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade when it was first released, and gave it five stars on my Amazon review (but only four on Goodreads. It was good, but it takes a lot to get five stars out of me on Goodreads). It has been a while, so I did the novel again and found it stood up well to rereading—although I’m not sure it would have made my list … Continue reading A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade →
The Summer of Me succeeds unequivocally in one way – it makes you care deeply about the main character. I had a ton of issues with the book. But I kept reading it avidly because I cared so much about the heroine and I wanted things to work out for her. The Summer of Me is about Destiny Madison, a single mom of twins. Destiny agrees to let the twins spend the summer with their … Continue reading The Summer of Me by Angela Benson →
I picked up “Toward the Sunrise” fully expecting to enjoy it, but ended up wanting to hurl my Kindle into the ocean like a frisbee of rage. On its face, this is actually a well crafted novella with strong characters, emotional nuance, and a premise that seemed almost tailored to bring me joy. I genuinely believe that most people who read this will rate it highly—as the other SBTB reader who reviewed it did—but I … Continue reading Toward the Sunrise by Elizabeth Camden →
I have so many mixed feelings about Unmasked Heart. This is a super melodramatic Regency romance that features a Cinderella plot with a mixed race heroine, a Duke with a Dark And Troubled Past, and two kids with learning disabilities. I’d eat it up with a spoon if the heroine would just quit crying all the damn time. The story has a lot of twists and reveals but at heart it’s very simple: the least … Continue reading Unmasked Heart by Vanessa Riley →
“Toward the Sunrise” is a novella that I wished was a novel as then it would have had the space to show everything that was told. Ashton and Julia felt like a couple that would work due to a previous correspondence and shared dreams to travel. These letters were one of the many aspects of the story that was mentioned but not truly shown, as was the incident that prompted Julia’s being expelled. When Camden … Continue reading Toward the Sunrise by Elizabeth Camden →
