Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Book Tour and Giveaway: Sing a New Song by Candee Fick


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Sing a New Song
(The Wardrobe Series #3)
By Candee Fick
Christian Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 275 Pages
May 1st 2019 by Bling! Romance

The pampered diva is about to meet her match

Songbird Gloria Houghton has always needed to be the center of attention, but the spotlight has shifted. Seeking fame and a fresh start, she finds a new stage in Branson, Missouri…only to risk being replaced by a manipulative rival. If Gloria can’t be the star, who is she?

Jack-of-all-trades Nick Sherwood is just one leaf on a vast family tree that includes a restaurant chef, hotel owners, and even the headline act at a family-owned theater. He’s seen how fame can blind a person with jealousy and is more than content to stay in the background thank you very much. If only he wasn’t so fascinated--and irritated--by the newest addition to the staff.

After a disaster of a first impression and financial difficulties land Gloria in the humblest of jobs—with Nick as her boss—it might be time for her to learn to sing a new song.


Other Books in the Series


About the Author


Candee Fick is a multipublished, award-winning author. She is also the wife of a high school football coach and the mother of three children, including a daughter with a rare genetic syndrome. When not busy writing, editing, or coaching other authors, she can be found cheering on the home team at sporting events, exploring the great Colorado outdoors, indulging in dark chocolate, and savoring happily-ever-after endings through a good book.

In addition to writing clean faith-based romance novels and inspirational non-fiction, Candee coaches other authors with their marketing plans and offers content editing to aspiring novelists. She is a member of both American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the Christian Proofreaders and Editors Network. Her fiction has semi-finaled, finaled, and won the ACFW Genesis Contest and Selah Awards.


Tour Schedule


Tour Giveaway


One 1st prize winner will receive: the complete set of The Wardrobe Series (ebook only if international winner, otherwise print copies) plus a $25 Amazon gift card
One 2nd prize winner will receive: Copy of Sing a New Song (ebook only if international winner, US winner can choose ebook or print) plus a $10 Amazon gift card
- Ends May 15, 2019

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My Review: 


Sing a New Song is the first book I have read by Candee Fick and it definitely will not be the last. I loved this book. Gloria and Nick’s are so very sweet, fun and delightful. I was not sure about Gloria at first but she grew on me throughout the book.

I am giving Sing a New Song a well deserved five plus stars. I can not wait to find more by this author in the future. 

Great read!

I received this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

Blog Tour: Highland Crown by May McGoldrick


Highland Crown by May McGoldrick


ABOUT HIGHLAND CROWN:

Scottish pride, persuasion, and passion—this is Highland romance at its breathtaking best. 

Inverness, 1820
Perched on the North Sea, this port town—by turns legendary and mythological—is a place where Highland rebels and English authorities clash in a mortal struggle for survival and dominance. Among the fray is a lovely young widow who possesses rare and special gifts. 

WANTED: Isabella Drummond
A true beauty and trained physician, Isabella has inspired longing and mystery—and fury—in a great many men. Hunted by both the British government and Scottish rebels, she came to the Highlands in search of survival. But a dying ship’s captain will steer her fate into even stormier waters. . .and her heart into flames. 

FOUND: Cinaed Mackintosh
Cast from his home as a child, Cinaed is a fierce soul whose allegiance is only to himself … until Isabella saved his life—and added more risk to her own. Now, the only way Cinaed can keep her safe to seek refuge at Dalmigavie Castle, the Mackintosh family seat. But when the scandalous truth of his past comes out, any chance of Cinaed having a bright future with Isabella is thrown into complete darkness. What will these two ill-fated lovers have to sacrifice to be together…for eternity?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Authors Nikoo and Jim McGoldrick (writing as May McGoldrick) weave emotionally satisfying tales of love and danger. Under the names of May McGoldrick and Jan Coffey, these authors have written more than thirty novels and works of nonfiction. Nikoo, an engineer, also conducts frequent workshops on writing and publishing and serves as a Resident Author. Jim holds a Ph.D. in Medieval and Renaissance literature and teaches English in northwestern Connecticut. They are the authors of Much ado about HighlandersTaming the Highlander, and Tempest in the Highlands.


Author Twitter: @MayMcGoldrick

SMP Romance Twitter: @SMPRomance or @heroesnhearts


Excerpt 

Cinaed looked up into a woman’s face. Fine black eye-brows arched over brown eyes that were focused on his chest. Thick dark hair was pulled back in a braid and pinned up at the back of her head. Intent on what she was doing, she was unaware that he was awake.
Her brow was furrowed, and lines of concentration framed the corners of her mouth. The grey travel dress she wore was plain and practical. She was not old, but not young either. Not fat, not thin. From where he lay, he guessed she was neither tall nor short. She was beautiful, but not in the flashy way of the women who generally greeted sailors in the port towns. Nor was she like the eyelash-fluttering lasses in Halifax who never stopped rying to get his attention after a Sunday service. He didn’t bother to assess the pleasant symmetry of her face, however. The “brook no nonsense” expression warned that she wasn’t one to care what others thought of her looks, anyway.
But who was she?
The last clear memory he had was seeing a flash from the shore. The next moment his chest had been punched with what felt like a fiery poker. Everything after that floated in a jumbled haze. He recalled being in the water, trying to swim toward some distant shore. Or was he struggling to reach the longboat again?
Cinaed didn’t know what part of his body hurt more, the fearsome pounding in his head or the burning piece of that poker still lodged in his chest.
“Where am I?” he demanded. “Who the deuce are you?”
Startled, she sat up straight, pulling away and scowl-ing down at him. In one blood-covered hand, she held a needle and thread. In the other, a surgeon’s knife that she now pointed directly at his throat.
“Try to choke me again and I’ll kill you.”
“Choke you? For the love of God, woman!”
His ship. The reef. The explosion. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to clear away the fog.
Everything he’d been through struck him like a broad-side.
The Highland Crown was gone. He’d detonated the powder himself. Where were his men? He’d climbed into the last longboat. They’d been fired at from the beach.
He’d been shot.
Cinaed grabbed the knife-wielding wrist before she could pull it away. “Where are my men?”
An ancient woman in Highland garb slid into his line Highland Crown of sight behind the younger one. She was making sure he saw the cudgel she had over one shoulder.
“This one is worth less than auld fish bait, mistress,” she taunted. The crone was ready and obviously eager to use that club. “And thankless, too, I’m bound. I was right when I said ye should never have saved him.”
Should never have saved him. He released the wrist, and the hand retreated. But the dark-haired woman didn’t move away. As if nothing had happened, she dropped the knife on the cot, out of his reach. The brown eyes again focused on his chest, and she put her needle back to work.
He winced but kept his hands off the woman.
By all rights, he should be dead. A musket ball had cut him down and knocked him into the water. He should indeed be finished. Someone on shore had tried to kill him.
But he was alive, and apparently he owed his life to this one. Gratitude flowed through him.
“Want me to give him another knock in the head?” the old witch asked.
“Last stitch. Let me finish,” she said in a voice lacking the heavier burr of the northern accent. “You can kill him when I’m done.”
A sense of humor, Cinaed thought. At least, he hoped she was joking. She tied off the knot, cut the thread, and straightened her back, inspecting her handiwork. He lifted his head to see what kind of quilt pattern she’d made of him. A puckered line of flesh, topped by a row of neat stitches, now adorned the area just below his collarbone. He’d been sewn up by surgeons before, and they’d never done such a fine job of it. He started to sit up to thank her.
That was a grave mistake. For an instant, he thought the old woman had used her cudgel, after all. When he pushed himself up, his brain exploded, and he had no doubt it was now oozing out of his ears and eye sockets.
The taste of bilge water bubbled up in his throat.
“A bucket,” he groaned desperately.
The woman was surprisingly strong. She rolled him and held a bucket as his stomach emptied. She’d been expecting this, it appeared. However horrible he was feeling before, it was worse now as the room twisted and rocked and spun. Long stretches of dry heaves wracked his body.
“Blood I can deal with,” the old woman grouched from somewhere in the grey haze filling the room. He heaved again. “By all the saints!”
“I’ll clean up later. Don’t worry about any of this. Go sit by the fire, Jean. You’ve had a long night.”
Cinaed felt a wet cloth swab the back of his neck and his face.
Jean mumbled something unintelligible about “weakbellied” and “not to be trusted” and “a misery.” When he hazarded a glance at her, she was glaring at him like some demon guarding the gates of hell.
“Does my nephew know that yer a doctor?” she asked, not taking her eyes off of him as she snatched up the knife and handed it to the younger woman.
A doctor! He lifted his head to look at her again. She was definitely a woman. And a fine-looking one, at that. 
He was still breathing, and she’d done an excellent job on whatever damage had been done to his chest by the bullet. But the possibility of any trained physician, or even
a surgeon, being here in this remote corner of the Highlands was so implausible. Male or female.
“John knows.” 
“But ye say yer not a midwife,” Jean persisted, a note of disbelief evident in her tone. “And not just a surgeon, in spite of all them fine, shiny instruments in that bag of yers.”
“I trained as a physician at a university. But I’m finding that my abilities as a surgeon have more practical uses wherever I go.”
University trained. Cinaed stole another look at her.
She had an air of confidence in the way she spoke and acted that convinced him that she was telling the truth.
And for the first time since the Highland Crown struck that reef, he wondered if his good fortune was still holding, if only by thread. Lady Luck, apparently, had sent him Airmid, his own goddess of healing.
Long-forgotten words, chanted over some injury, came back to him from childhood. Bone to bone. Vein to vein. Skin to skin. Blood to blood. Sinew to sinew. Marrow to marrow. Flesh to flesh . . .
From the floor, she retrieved a bowl containing bloody cloths. A musket ball lay nestled like a robin’s egg on the soaked rags. By the devil, he thought, his admiration nearly overflowing. She’d not only stitched him together, she’d dug the bullet out of him.
The deuce! He’d never seen anyone like her. Frankly, he didn’t care if she came from the moon to practice medicine here. He owed his life to her.

My Review

Highland Crown is the first installment from the Royal Highlander series. It is, also, the first book I have read by May McGoldrick. It definitely will not be my last. I loved this Scottish tale. The chemistry between Isabella and Cinaed was undeniable. 

I am giving Highland Crown five stars. I can not wait for the second addition to the Royal Highlander to release. I will be looking for books by Miss McGoldrick until then.

I received this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion. 

Monday, April 29, 2019

Review: The Inn at Hidden Run by Olivia Newport


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blurb: 

A Father-Daughter Genealogy Team Link Present to Past on Family Trees

Meri's family has been producing doctors for so many generations that no one remembers why, so when she flunks out of medical school, she runs as far from her parents as she can get. In the small mountain town of Canyon Mines, Colorado, she takes a job at the Inn at Hidden Run B&B. And waits. It's only a matter of time.


What she doesn't count on is genealogist Jillian Parisi-Duffy and her father, Nolan, having her back when it takes everything she has not to bolt again but to stay and face the truth that only unfolding her family's history will reveal. While Nolan works on keeping Meri calm--and in town--Jillian pulls out of her gems of information she doesn't know she has and arranges the puzzle pieces.

But none of that changes the fact that Meri's family is closing in to haul her back to her "real" life. When their arrival inflames tensions and Meri finally does bolt, Nolan and Jillian may be out of time.



My Review: 

The Inn at Hidden Run is the first installment from Olivia Newport’s new series, Tree of Life. I have other books by her in the past and this one is by far my favorite. As a genealogist myself, I loved the story line.

I give The Inn at Hidden Run five stars. I look forward to the next addition to the Tree of Life series.

I recommend this one to other readers.

I received this book from the publisher, but was not required to write a review. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.


View all my reviews

Review: A Silken Thread by Kim Vogel Sawyer


A Silken Thread by Kim Vogel Sawyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Blurb: 

For readers who love a heartwarming romance and a rich historical setting comes a tale of a young woman with a heavy burden, the International Cotton Exposition, and the pursuit of true love.

Eighteen-year-old Laurel Millard, youngest of seven children, is expected to stay home and "take care of Mama" by her older siblings, but Laurel has dreams of starting her own family. Operating a silk loom at the Atlanta Exposition will give her the chance to capture the heart of a man wealthy enough to take care of Laurel and any children she might bear, as well as her mother.

Langdon Rochester's parents have given him an ultimatum: settle down with a wife or lose his family inheritance. At the Exposition, Langdon meets Laurel. Marrying her would satisfy his parents's command, she would look lovely on his arm for social events, and in her besotted state, he believes she would overlook him continuing pursuing rowdy adventures with his unmarried buddies. Langdon decides to woo Laurel. Willie Sharp is not well-off and must take on an extra job at the Atlanta Exposition as a security guard. When mischief-makers cause trouble in the Women's Building, Willie is put in charge of keeping the building secure. He enjoys visiting with Laurel, who seems like the little sister he never had, but his feelings for Laurel change to something much deeper. Can Willie convince Laurel that he can give her better life--even with so little to offer?


My Review: 

Kim Vogel Sawyer has done it once again with A Silken Thread. She knows how to write a story full of grace and this one is no exception. Her vision of what it was like a few decades after the Civil War in Georgia was fascinating. It is a wonderful story of hope and love. 

I am giving A Silken Thread a well deserved five stars. I highly recommend this beautiful, well written and inspirational story. 

I received this book from the author, but was not required to write a review. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

View all my reviews

Blog Tour and Giveaway: Gone Too Soon by Melody Carlson

About the Book


Book: Gone Too Soon  
Author: Melody Carlson  
Genre: Young Adult
 Release Date: November 15, 2018

An icy road. A car crash. A family changed forever. Hannah Josephson had always been the “perfect” daughter. Kiera couldn’t live up to her before, and she certainly can’t now that her older sister has died in a car accident. But the image she carried resentfully of Hannah is challenged when she finds her dead sister’s diary and begins to read. Apparently Hannah’s final year wasn’t as perfect as everyone thought. Caught in a pattern of blaming each other, the Josephson family is falling apart. Their father has left, their mother is mixing opiates and alcohol, little sister Maddie has been shipped off to spend the whole summer with their grandmother, and Kiera feels utterly alone with her grief and anger. A summer job helping at a park in a poor section of town provides a friend and a purpose. But it’s Hannah’s diary that fills her thoughts. For the first time in years, she feels close to the sister she’s lost. But can the knowledge she gleans about her possibly help her patch back together the family that seems determined to implode?

Click here to purchase your copy.

About the Author

Melody Carlson has written more than 200 books (with sales around 6.5 million) for teens, women, and children. That’s a lot of books, but mostly she considers herself a “storyteller.” Her young adult novels (Diary of a Teenage Girl, True Colors etc.) appeal to teenage girls around the world. Her annual Christmas novellas become more popular each year. She’s won a number of awards (including RT’s Career Achievement Award, the Rita, and the Gold medallion) and some of her books have been optioned for film/TV. Carlson has two grown sons and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and yellow Lab dog.

More from Melody

I think I’ve written about a hundred or more teen novels, but Gone Too Soon, a rather serious story, is a bit different. There’s no denying I’ve covered a bunch of gritty issues—everything from self-harm to suicide to murder—but I’ve never written a novel quite like this one. For starters, I wrote it from two viewpoints. Both the teenage daughter and her mother express themselves in this story. And because the premise involves an untimely death, the family is torn apart. As a result, there’s a lot of guilt and blame and confusion going around. They’re all in pain. I’ve been asked several times what “inspired” this story. And I’m sad to say that it’s simply a case of “art imitating life.” I live in a small community where too many young people have died “too soon.” These untimely deaths—for a variety of random and unexplainable reasons—are devastating. I know more than a dozen families (some very close friends) who have tragically lost a child. So I’ve seen up close how it can tear a family apart. It’s truly heartbreaking, often leaving friends and family without words of comfort or explanation. But that’s not the only reason I wrote this story. My hope is that teens (who often feel invincible) will be reminded that they are mortal and that this earthly life is temporary. Hard as it sounds, death is inevitable. And it’s not that I want everyone to be obsessed about dying, but we do live in a culture that practices denial about the end of a life. No one really wants to talk about it. My hope is that readers will take a hard, honest look, peel back some layers, and face death for what it is—a part of earthly life. And I hope readers will close the book with a little more understanding . . . and hope.

Blog Stops

The Avid Reader, April 25
Emily Yager, April 26
Moments, April 26
Hallie Reads, April 27
Mary Hake, April 28
SusanLovesBooks, April 29
amandainpa, May 4
Remembrancy, May 6

Giveaway


 
To celebrate her tour, Melody is giving away a grand prize of paperback copy of Gone Too Soon and a matching journal!!
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/dfa9/gone-too-soon-celebration-tour-giveaway



My Review 

Gone Too Soon is among my favorites I have read this year so far. It tells the story of the Josephson family struggling with the death of the oldest daughter. Hannah died in an auto accident and the family points fingers at one another as to who is to blame. Kiera, the middle daughter discovers Hannah’s diary and finds out she was not who she thought she was. This discovery brings a whole new view of life for the family.

Gone Too Soon covers quite a bit of heavy real life issues. Such as: Grief, rape, and addiction. I intended to read only one chapter before continuing on to my daily chores. However, my daily chores did not get done that day. I could not put the book down until I read the last page. My heart ached for Kiera and her family. I was hoping they would find their way.

I am giving Gone Too Soon a well deserved five plus stars. I highly recommend this inspirational story for all! I loved it!

I receive this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.