Month: January 2016

Lillian Rose Atkins is tired. She’s tired of picking cotton, serving as a maid in a hotel, and taking care of her younger cousins. So when she receives an invitation—from the mother she hasn’t seen in ten years—to move to Chicago and take part in Chicago society, Lily jumps at the chance. This is her opportunity to finally have new things, be on the other side of service, and find a wealthy husband.

Rutledge “Rudy” Addison is tired. As an investigative journalist who reports on the facts of lynchings and race riots in the South, he’s tired of dealing with the dregs of society. But when he is challenged to love those he is starting to hate, he begins to find that life is not as black-and-white as he always thought.

When Lily and Rudy are thrown together, will they realize that maybe the things they’re tired of are more important than they could ever have fathomed?

My new book is out!

Drug violence, revenge killings, and kidnapping are nothing new along the U.S.-Mexican border. But now teenage girls are disappearing from the Apache reservations of Arizona and New Mexico.

Apache tribal cop Pilar To-Clanny and FBI Special Agent Alex Torres have a long and tumultuous history. When someone close to them disappears, Pilar and Alex must risk everything to rescue the child, including facing the unresolved issues of the past, and venture into the no-man’s land of the drug cartels.

Can Pilar and Alex work together to stop a sadistic killer before he strikes again? On a quest to rescue those they love, who will rescue them?

What are you reading?

Guess what’s coming out –finally- in a couple weeks?

That’s right! My new book! I was supposed to be debuting my cover, but wordpress won’t let me.

He’s coming for them. And the kingdom.
Haegan and Kaelyria Celahar are royal heirs of the Nine Kingdoms, but Haegan is physically crippled. What chance does he have against Poired Dyrth, the greatest enemy the kingdom has ever faced, who wields fire with a power none can match?

Their only hope is forbidden: Kaelyria must transfer her fire-harnessing abilities to Haegan. When she does it comes with a terrible price: Haegan’s disability is healed, but only by being transferred to Kaelyria. This decision causes their father, the King, to unleash his wrath against Haegan.
Haegan must flee the kingdom alone with two impossible tasks: Find a cure for Kaelyria and stop the coming war with the omnipotent Poired Dyrth.

Review

I really enjoy Ronie Kendig’s military fiction, and so when she decided to make a foray into fantasy, of course I had to read it! I’ll be honest and tell you it took me a while to get into this book, but once it picked up, I was fully committed. My thoughts:

What I Liked:

The World. It’s a very thought-out world with more than one country and more than one king. There are prejudices and cultures that are unique to each specific group.

Haegan. He must learn to survive and adapt in this world now that he is healed and through his eyes we find out everything that is going on.

Friendship. Haegan falls into a group of interesting characters. Their friendship was fascinating to watch and I am curious as to what they will all accomplish together.  There are also hints of romance, but I’m trying not to get too comfortable there, because there are hints of separation as well.

Prophecies. What’s a fantasy novel without prophecies?

Spiritually, the novel is an allegory, but it’s quite a bit different from the Bible. Haegan is still kind of learning about it and so are the readers.

What I didn’t like:

I did feel like it had too many points of views, and I found myself skimming when certain people came up.

Also, it took me a long time to understand the power/magic system as well as why there was a war going on….I’m still  not sure I could explain the system to you now.

Romantic scale: 6

Overall, a very good first novel in a fantasy series!

Sometimes Love is Found in the Most Unexpected Places!

Love isn’t always a fairy tale, and it doesn’t always go as planned. Sometimes the best stories, though, are the ones that are the most unexpected. Join Karen Witemeyer, Mary Connealy, Regina Jennings, and Melissa Jagears for novellas that celebrate the power of love to triumph . . . even when circumstances go awry!

The Husband Maneuver
When ranch foreman Daniel Barrett seems ready to leave her life forever, Marietta Hawkins decides to grab the reins on their relationship. But to have any hope of maneuvering him into a proposal, she has to act fast or risk losing him completely.

Her Dearly Unintended
Josiah Huckabee just wanted to make sure Katie Ellen Watson was safe, but when the only bridge to her farm is washed out, the two find themselves alone. Alone, that is, until a menacing stranger appears. Maybe by pretending to be newlyweds, they’ll save their reputations–but can pretending to be in love turn into the real thing?

Runaway Bride
Hired to help Carrie Halsey escape from a dangerous man intent on making her his wife, Big John Conroy never expected the job to interrupt his solitary Texas Ranger life. But now that he’s promised to keep Carrie safe, he discovers he may just want to make a few more promises.

Engaging the Competition
Harrison Gray and tomboy Charlotte Andrews have been rivals for years. With Charlotte intended for someone else, it seems they’ll never settle their differences until an accident changes things completely. When Charlotte breaks Harrison’s glasses–without which he’s nearly blind–she must help with his teaching position, and working together forces these former adversaries to reconsider everything.

What are you reading?

Before Christ called her daughter . . .

Before she stole healing by touching the hem of his garment . . .

Elianna is a young girl crushed by guilt. After her only brother is killed while in her care, Elianna tries to earn forgiveness by working for her father’s textile trade and caring for her family. When another tragedy places Elianna in sole charge of the business, her talent for design brings enormous success, but never the absolution she longs for. As her world unravels, she breaks off her betrothal to the only man she will ever love. Then illness strikes, isolating Elianna from everyone, stripping everything she has left.

No physician can cure her. No end is in sight. Until she hears whispers of a man whose mere touch can heal. After so many years of suffering and disappointment, is it possible that one man could redeem the wounds of body . . . and soul?

Drug violence, revenge killings, and kidnapping are nothing new along the U.S.-Mexican border. But now teenage girls are disappearing from the Apache reservations of Arizona and New Mexico.

Apache tribal cop Pilar To-Clanny and FBI Special Agent Alex Torres have a long and tumultuous history. When someone close to them disappears, Pilar and Alex must risk everything to rescue the child, including facing the unresolved issues of the past, and venture into the no-man’s land of the drug cartels.

Can Pilar and Alex work together to stop a sadistic killer before he strikes again? On a quest to rescue those they love, who will rescue them?

“The realization hits: We’re not going to win. It’s why I couldn’t defeat Draewulf in Bron—because this power was never mine anyway. I drop my arms and let the energy die off. And turn around to face Eogan.”

After a fierce battle with Draewulf, Nym barely escaped with her life. Now, fleeing the scorched landscape of Tulla, her storm-summoning abilities are returning; only . . . the dark power is still inside her.

Broken and bloodied, Nym needs time to recover, but when the full scope of the shapeshifter’s horrific plot is revealed, the strong-willed Elemental must race across the Hidden Lands and warn the other kingdoms before Draewulf’s final attack.

From the crystalline palaces of Cashlin to the legendary Valley of Origin, Nym scrambles to gather an army. But even if she can, will she be able to uncover the secret to defeating Draewulf that has eluded her people for generations? With a legion of monsters approaching, and the Hidden Lands standing on the brink of destruction, the stage is set for a battle that will decide the fate of the world.

This time, will the Siren’s Song have the power to save it?

In college, Griffin McCray and his four best friends had their lives planned out. Griffin and Luke Gallagher would join the Baltimore PD. Declan Gray would head to the FBI and Parker Mitchell would go on to graduate school as a crime scene analyst. But then Luke vanished before graduation and their world–and friendships–crumbled.

Now Griffin is a park ranger at Gettysburg, having left life as a SWAT-team sniper when a case went bad. The job is mostly quiet–until the day he captures two relic hunters uncovering skeletal remains near Little Round Top. Griffin just wants the case to go away, but charming forensic anthropologist Finley Scott determines that the body is modern–a young social justice lawyer missing since spring–and all evidence points to the work of an expert sniper. When FBI agent Declan Gray takes over the case, past and present collide. Griffin soon realizes he’ll need to confront some of the darkest days of his life if he–and those he cares about–are going to escape a downward spiral of murder that crosses continents

Review

I loved, loved, loved Dani Pettrey’s Alaskan Courage and I had my doubts about whether she could pull off a new series without somehow ‘feeling’ like the last; or not being as good as the last. Have no doubts. Have no fears. This series is awesome, and it’s probably to early to say, but I feel like it’s going to be better than the last.

What I liked:

I actually went into this blind. I had no clue what the series was about or what this particular mystery was about. And it was lovely. I loved every page of this book.

Complexity: This book obviously has a mystery, but then it has a mystery that will likely span the entire series and then another mystery that will span at least one or two books. It’s layers upon layers of feelings and emotions and issues.

Friendship: The book starts off with broken friendships and I found myself just as invested in these men, their pasts, and their futures as I was with the plot.

Romance: The romance starts off in medias res (in the middle of things). Griff and Finley already know each other. They already have a repartee, but because of the incidents in this book, they begin to really fall for each other. I loved that there was more than attraction there, but respect and understanding. Their relationship made sense to me. But there was still that lovely sizzling quality to the romance that I always really like.

Mystery. I was invested. The book has a lot of twists and turns you won’t see right away.

Spiritually, there are a lot of great themes of forgiveness and how you can’t be free until you let the other person go; trusting in God even if you’re afraid; many of the main characters prayed often and sought God’s guidance and yet the book didn’t feel like a Christian infomercial. These were God’s people living their lives.

What I didn’t like:

There was nothing I didn’t like. Every page was awesome!

Romantic scale: 9

Overall, I obviously loved it. I read this book New Years Day and it just gave me so much hope for 2016!

**I received a copy from Netgalley. My opinion was not affected in anyway.**

The gods are angry.

Volcanic eruptions, sinkholes, ground shakers–everything points to their unhappiness. At least that is what the king of Armania believes. His son, Prince Wilek, thinks his father’s superstitions are nonsense, though he remains the ever dutiful First Arm of Armania.

When a messenger arrives and claims that the town of Farway has been swallowed by the earth, the king sends Wilek to investigate. But what Wilek discovers is more cataclysmic than one lost city. Even as the ground shifts beneath his feet, Wilek sets out on a desperate journey to save his people and his world. But can he do it before the entire land crumbles?

More than a little excited folks! What are you reading?

In spite of the fact that I rarely if ever post a thing on Facebook or Twitter, I do hang out on these websites regularly. Yes, I’m one of those people.

When I first got on Twitter many many years ago, the first thing I did was follow a ton of my favorite authors. Hey, I had to know if/when their books would go free. And besides, some of these people are my role models. Of course I want to hear what they have to say.

However, I have noticed that some authors cannot stick with just speaking about books, but also often tout political opinions and agendas. Far be it from me to tell them not to do so. But I will admit that there is at least one author that I have no desire to read based on her Twitter comments.

Folks, everyone is entitled to an opinion. But you must be careful in how you sound and how you come across, particularly when it comes to matters that affect others that do not affect you. Case in point, immigration affects me not at all. Do I have an opinion about immigration? Sure. Am I going to tout that opinion to the masses as though I know exactly what I’m talking about? No. Because a) I don’t have all the facts and b) I run the risk of being insensitive at some point and it’s not worth it. I write books that reflect Christ, so why would I want to come off as an insensitive neanderthal on social media?

That is why I won’t read this author’s books. In her books, she loves Jesus and praises compassion. In real life, she sounds like a person I would want to avoid. Her comments are not kind and they are not understanding. If I were not saved, I wouldn’t want to get saved based off of what she says.

So, can authors have political opinions? Absolutely. Just make sure they are bathed in love.

I had a wonderful time on vacation in Portugal!!!!

Did a lot of walking. Hung out with my sister. Ate good food. Read books. And now its that time of the year where I try to establish where this blog is going. I won’t lie folks, last year, life got busy.

I didn’t read as much. I stopped interviews and giveaways. Folks, I have been blogging for almost 4 years and for a while it lost its appeal. But I still love blogging, and I still love reading. And while this train may be moving slowly, it is still moving. And so with that said, I’m excited about this new year.

Interviews!

Fun Book Reviews!

Giveaways!

Is there anything else, blog wise you would like to be added?