Dowryless and desperate, Tressa Neill applies to the inaugural class of Wyatt Herdsman School in Barnett, Kansas, in 1888. The school’s one-of-a-kind program teaches young women from the East the skills needed to become a rancher–or the wife of one. Shy and small for her twenty-two years, Tressa is convinced she’ll never have what it takes to survive Hattie Wyatt’s hands-on instruction in skills such as milking a cow, branding a calf, riding a horse, and cooking up a mess of grub for hungry ranch hands. But what other options does she have?
Abel Samms wants nothing to do with the group of potential brides his neighbor brought to town. He was smitten with an eastern girl once–and he got his heart broken. But there’s something about quiet Tressa and her bumbling ways that makes him take notice. When Tressa’s life is endangered, will Abel risk his own life–and his heart–to help this eastern girl?
My Review:
published in 2010
This is such a fresh look at the mail-order bride trope. I love the whole concept of a Herdsman School. How brilliant is that?! And ‘Aunt’ Hetty nearly outshines the hero and heroine. She’s just such a solid, comforting, no-nonsense but compassionate woman, and her faith is unshakeable. She’s the anchor in this story.
Tressa Neill is a heroine after my own heart. She starts out so timid, cowed by emotional events from her past which have made her lose sight of God. Her lack of confidence makes her a scapegoat for some of the other young women at the school. Her redemption story adds emotional depth and just the right amount of faith to inspire without overwhelming the rest of the story.
Abel Samm’s prejudices against the Eastern women and reluctant attraction to Tressa is infuriating, funny and endearing. He has solid reasons for not being interested in an Eastern bride — or any woman for that matter — as he struggles to hold onto his ranch. And that includes foiling cattle rustlers which adds a bit of mystery to this historical romance.
Kim Vogel Sawyer is a mainstay in Christian Fiction and this kind of storytelling is exactly why.
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:
This giveaway is for a gently read paperback copy and is available to any reader, any where — so, yay, another International Giveaway!
If you would like a chance to win a copy of A Hopeful Heart, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday May 10 2025.
In the stark but beautiful wilds of northern New Mexico, a luxury spa and couple’s retreat turns into a chilling nightmare when a woman vanishes without a trace, just hours after a public fight with her boyfriend. Worried something sinister has happened, her friends reach out to investigator Riley MacLeod, an expert skip tracer, for help. The assignment means going undercover at the retreat, which means pairing up with private investigator Greyson Chadwick. Their partnership ignites a tumultuous mix of attraction and distrust as Riley’s unorthodox methods clash with Greyson’s meticulous approach.
As they delve deeper into the case and a ruthless hitman is unleashed upon them, Riley and Greyson find themselves fighting not only for justice but for their very survival. Staying one step ahead of danger, the pair discovers a hidden truth that rocks them to the core. In their race against the clock, they can only hope that they’re not too late.
With her signature pulse-pounding twists, Dani Pettrey weaves a gripping tale of love and survival in the face of unimaginable danger.
My Review:
Intense. Riveting. Unputdownable.
Pettrey delivers exactly what I’ve come to expect from her – a story full of emotional depth, intriguing suspense and explosive action. And I love the way the author combines all these elements into an impeccably paced pièce de résistance. Tons of tension, not only in the suspense but especially in the romance which adds an extra thrill of anticipation. Just sublime reading all around.
And speaking of the romance…two words. Fake Relationship. Eeeeppp! Riley and Grey go undercover at a couple’s retreat so cue the sizzling chemistry and some wonderful scenes where they are forced to confront inner feelings they might have been ignoring for way too long. Cue some emotionally charged toe-curling kisses. Happy sigh!
This second book in the Jeopardy Falls series reads excellently as a standalone but also contains a wonderful ensemble of secondary characters who add to the overall charm (Riley’s brothers and their banter!) I also enjoyed (well…that’s not quite the right word) the occasional nefarious villain POV. Those scenes added a bit of a creep factor and kept me engaged in conducting my own armchair sleuth investigation. Love immersing myself in a story like this!
I listened to the audible edition narrated by Jennifer O’Donnell who did an amazing job delivering all the emotion and tension of the story. A truly gifted voice performer.
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:
This giveaway is for a print or ebook copy. Winner’s choice.
US – available in print or ebook — winner’s choice
Canada – available in print or ebook or audible (if available) — winner’s choice
International – ebook copy if you have a US Kindle account.
If you would like a chance to win a copy of Two Seconds Too Late, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday May 10 2025
I couldn’t resist Tracey’s suggestion this week so here we are talking about our favourite fictional couples. Easy peasy topic, right? Uh….not really. Not when you take into consideration that you have to pick fave hero/heroine combos which mean you have to…gasp…choose! And in order to do that you have to browse your bookshelves which leads to scanning all the toe-curling bits which just makes the decision-making even harder (though highly enjoyable!) and all that eats up your day (when you should have been working in the garden!)
Phew! So, let’s set our minds on romance. Epic love stories. Swoonworthy courtships. Toe-curling kisses. Fainting Couch level bookish delights. The kind of heroes and heroines who promise happily ever afters forever in your mind.
I’ll start….but oy, I could go on all day! It’s gutting me trying to pick just a few to start off the conversation but here we go (though please understand that I have been unduly traumatized by the whole selection process. Bwahahaha!)
Oh — and I just picked out excerpts from my reviews of these books to explain why I love these heroes and heroines so much because, honestly, my brain has been fried from re-reading so many heart palpitating scenes all day long that I can’t come up with an original though at the moment. 🙂
Romantically Swoonworthy Fictional Couples
(by no means is this a comprehensive list!!!!!!)
Ara and Phillip from On Wings of Devotion by Roseanna M. White – “Eeep! Squeal! Eeeepquealll!!! I have permanent creases on my face from all the nose-dive swooning onto my fainting couch. Phillip Camden is not a monster, y’all! Tortured soul? Yes. A bit sullen and brooding? Definitely. Running from God? You bet. But none of that makes him a monster and Ara knows that right from the start…and, of course, so did I. 🙂 Hence all the swooning.”
Amanda and Peter from Amanda by Sarah Monzon – “Peter is high up on my favourite heroes ever pedestal — might have bounced some of ’em right off the platform on his way up. This hero is the definition of integrity and honour. And grit and determination. Anchored in his faith and steadfast in living it out in his life. And when he sets his sights on Amanda…
Whimper, my fainting couch has scorch marks and I don’t even care! Squeallll…reunion romance alert! They both haven’t stopped loving each other but there’s all kinds of emotional junk in the way. The undercurrents sent my tummy into loop-de-loops. I was on the very romantical edge all the way to the end.
And sassy, smart-mouthed Amanda puts on a great front to the world, but the closer Peter gets, the more her facade cracks. Honestly, sometimes she went too far and I cringed a couple of times over what she said but Peter doesn’t let her get away with anything. He calls her on it and forces her to reassess. Pries the vulnerability right out of her while she’s kicking and screaming all the way.”
Adam and Persephone from Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden – “Fainting couches, lace fans and smelling salts are definitely necessary accoutrements for this reading journey. Stock up and be prepared to be charmed by witty banter and the social graces of the day…well, maybe not so much when it comes to the Duke who has a somewhat beastly persona. In fact, I would actually classify this as a fairy tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Disfigured in boyhood, Adam hides his heart behind a thick armor of indifference. He doesn’t need anyone. Especially a bride. So, though he begrudgingly accepts Persephone into his home, he bars her from his life. Or tries to. Persephone can be quite a force when necessary — the perils of being the eldest sibling of a motherless brood. Love how this beauty’s gentle spirit proves stronger than her Beast’s gruff stoicism!”
Holiday and Emmett from The Trouble With Love by Toni Shiloh – “One of the absolute delights of this novel is the witty banter between Holiday and Emmett. It’s fast a furious and full of teasing (Emmett) and snark (Holiday). My, but that girl can hold a grudge and she’s been nursing this one against Emmett since she was fourteen. Loved the crackling energy ziinging between these two every time they are together. My fingertips got singed from all that latent longing. :-)”
Ben and Marci from Pelican Point by Irene Hannon – “The romance is slow and steady and fraught with trepidation. I mean, I knew something was going to happen…but not that! Hannon kept me rabidly turning pages, alternately giggling and swooning and even edge-of-my-seating in places. Love how this once-bitten-twice-shy hero and heroine start to cautiously move towards romance. Reluctant describes them both but so does crazy-attracted-to-each-other. Such a dilemma! Be prepared for some fireworks and lots of sizzle right from the very first time they meet.”
Charlie and Ella from The Lady and the Lionheart by Joanne Bischof – “There’s an exquisite Beauty and the Beast quality to their love story. Charlie is seriously swoonworthy. Tough and determined. Gentle and kind. Passionate. Committed. Loyal. Fierce. And oh so tender! His faith is his anchor, his desire to share the power of God’s grace touched me in ways no other hero has. He has a servant’s heart and his powerful example of sacrificial love is mind-blowing. Sigh. There’s just something about Charlie. If I was into making lists and composed a Best Hero Ever in the History of the World one Charlie would be right at the top.
Caspar and Scarlett from The Captain and Miss Winter by Sally Britoon – “A hero with a troubled past set on putting things to rights. A wronged heroine doomed to be an outcast the rest of her life. The hope that tragedy might be overcome and a happily ever after possible. My heart is flip-flopping just thinking about it. And, oh, the dialogue, the shy glances, the yearning to fan the fires of that sweet spark of attraction…BUT…Scarlett has secrets, Caspar is on a quest and there’s danger lurking in the woods! Squeal! Eep! Squueeeepppp!!!!”
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY
Now it’s your turn. Do you have a favourite fictional couple you like to swoon over? Share in a comment below and you’ll be entered in a giveaway from a $10.00 Baker Book House gift card.
Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday May 10 2025.
Winners will be contacted if they left their email address, otherwise it’s up to the winner to contact me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca (please note it’s ca as in Canada, not com.) From time to time a winner and I do not connect so I have a one month time frame on giveaway wins. If I haven’t been able to reach you within 30 days of your win, it will be forfeited. This has happened a few times now, so please, DON’T BE SHY — CONTACT ME IF YOU DIDN’T LEAVE AN EMAIL OR IF I HAVEN’T BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN REACHING YOU!
Conversations with Kav – a place for us to chat about bookish topics if anyone is so inclined. Sometimes there will be giveaways, sometimes there won’t. It will just depend on the topic of the day. Hope to see you there! Otherwise my inner book nerd and I will carry on by ourselves. Bwahaha!
Living in Greece at the turn of the twentieth century, widow Minnie Harper struggles to find her place in a swiftly changing world. But when a local woman is murdered, her resolve is put to the test in a race to shed light on the truth . . .
Minnie Harper isn’t used to putting herself first. Not after she moved away from England only to be left raising two children alone on the Greek Island of Corfu following her husband’s unexpected death. But with her daughter begging to be sent to school abroad and her son grasping at his own independence, Minnie realizes she must prepare for the next stage of her life.
When famous mystery author Stephen Dorian settles into a neighboring villa to escape writer’s block and hidden scandals, she is intrigued at first by the handsome Londoner—until he proves to be nothing more than a boorish grump. Determined to avoid the man as much as possible, Minnie is shocked when he offers her a well-paid job as his typist. She isn’t in a position to turn down work, even from a man she has sworn to hate.
But before Minnie can fully regret her decision to take the job, she makes a horrifying discovery that changes everything. A young maid has been murdered, and local authorities aren’t moving fast enough to bring justice to the terrible crime. Unwilling to allow the death to fade into obscurity like the stories of so many other women deemed unworthy by society, Minnie launches an investigation of her own—and reluctantly accepts Stephen’s help. As she embarks on a dangerous search for answers that reveals another side of Corfu, unsettling questions take shape about her employer-turned-confidant and the culprit who just might do whatever it takes to strike again . . .
My Review:
Eeeeppp!!!! So excited about this new series! Love the exotic locale and the historical timeline. The author transported me to turn of the century Corfu with captivating descriptions full of luscious details. I so enjoy armchair traveling through my fiction!
Minnie is a widowed British ex-pat raising her two children in Greece. It’s mostly an idyllic life within a small but thriving British community. The children attend the village school while Minnie occasionally finds office work to help expenses. But when she accepts a job typing for a temperamental visiting author, the comforting rhythm of her days morph into a series of unexpected events that are both exhilarating and confusing.
Murder and mayhem ensue in true Agatha Christie fashion along with a dash of romance. Perfect balance between cozy details and the mystery plot with lots of red herrings to sort through. Loved puzzling out the clues right along with Minnie and Stephen, but mercy, that ending! A bit of a cliff hanger in Minnie’s personal life but a lovely set up for the next book in the series…at least I hope there’s a series because I need more! Sooner rather than later. Please!!
I enjoyed listening to Siobhan Waring’s excellent narration. Her animated portrayal of these characters is really well done – especially the sniping/banter between Minnie and Stephen! So much fun! As well as authentic dialects of both the Greek and British characters. A real pleasure to listen to.
My thanks to RBMedia and Net Galley for providing me with an audio edition of this book.
Because I recently discovered that a book’s success or failure is often determined by first month sales! (Though I bet preorders play into that as well.) Publishing houses look at those stats to determine whether they’ll add on to a series or accept the author’s next manuscript! All that literary goodness hanging in the balance but for a month’s worth of sales! (This was a cozy mystery author, but I imagine all traditional publishers use the same ‘system’.) So, I thought I should do my wee little bit to promote Christian Fiction.
By hosting a special “Hello — insert month” giveaway. It’s easy to play along. You just have to choose one of the May 2025 new releases on your TBR wishlist (must be Christian Fiction) and mention the title in a comment below (or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca.) If your name is drawn, that May release is the book you will win and we’re one book count closer to keeping our fave authors in business.
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE TO:
ebook for anyone anywhere who has an Amazon.com kindle account
US – paperback or ebook copy — winner’s choice
Canada -paperback or ebook (in form of an Amazon gift card) or audible.ca audio book (if available) – winner’s choice
Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday May 3 2025.
Dr. Meredith Quinn always planned to return to Gossamer Falls to practice dentistry. Now that she’s back home, she’s made it a point to offer clinics to children and adults in nearby underserved areas. Unfortunately, those same areas are known to harbor drug traffickers, and Police Chief Grayson Ward suspects that local law enforcement is looking the other way.
After too many losses, Grayson has closed off his heart. But when Meredith enters his life, his walls crumble, and he’s left exposed and vulnerable. To keep her alive, he must keep her close, but that makes it impossible for him to retreat and rebuild. Will she be the one who finally helps him emerge from isolation? Or will this force of nature leave him shattered?
My Review:
Put a Lynn H. Blackburn book in front of me and I’m in my happy place! Love the way she spins a story and the depth in her characters. This series is phenomenal on both counts – and full of thrilling surprises for diehard fans too. 🙂 This is me, still grinning.
First off, you need to know that this is the second book in her ‘Gossamer Falls’ series, though there’s also a novella in the multi-authored ‘Cornered’ collection that precedes this book as well. While you could read ‘Break My Fall’ as a standalone, I’d recommend reading the books in order for two reasons. First, this one has a major spoiler about the suspense from the novella, ‘Downfall’ and second, because there are a lot of characters and town history that is introduced really well in the first book.
It was so much fun being back in Gossamer Falls and getting reacquainted with the gang. Close friends/siblings/cousins and their meddlesome extended families bring so much heart and humour to the story. There’s banter and teasing and soul stirring heart to hearts. Relatable characters that are so easy to love including…
Meredith and Gray. This is their love story and it is equal parts infuriating and toe-curling. Honestly, I never thought they’d sort themselves out (Gray has issues) but, oh my, once he makes up his mind to pursue Meredith we venture into fainting couch territory! Consider yourself forewarned: abundant swoon alerts ahead!
I enjoyed the unusual approach the author took with the suspense. It was less investigative and more things happening around them until close to the end when action and danger spike in a breathtaking way. The threat to Meredith keeps Gray close and creates a kind of close proximity vibe to their romance throughout the book, giving lots of room for clashing wills and, eventually, lots of sparking!
A breathtaking suspense paired with an emotional blockbuster romance kept me engaged all the way through. And I do believe the author has teased us with a hint of what we can expect in the next Gossamer Falls book which we hopefully won’t have to wait long for.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time listening to the audio book narrated by Kate Forbes who does an incredible job with all these characters. Always love when she’s the narrator.
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:
This giveaway is for a print or ebook copy. Winner’s choice.
US – available in print or ebook — winner’s choice
Canada – available in print or ebook or audible (if available) — winner’s choice
International – ebook copy if you have a US Kindle account.
If you would like a chance to win a copy of Break My Fall, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday May 3 2025.
Romance blossoms when Isla Crawford steps into McQuivey’s Costume Shop in London and is swept back in time to 1605, where she and Lord Bancroft attempt to thwart Guy Fawkes’s Gunpowder Plot.
One moment, Isla Crawford is inside McQuivey’s Costume Shop trying on a Jacobean-style gown for the parliamentary Autumn Ball, and the next, she is standing in an unfamiliar garden, barefoot, coatless, and at the mercy of a fierce storm. Confused, she seeks refuge in a Tudor manor, where she discovers that she has inexplicably traveled back to 1605, mere weeks before the culmination of Guy Fawkes’s infamous Gunpowder Plot.
Simon Hartworth, Lord Bancroft, finds his orderly seventeenth-century life disrupted when a mysterious woman appears on his sister’s doorstep during a storm. Intrigued by the stranger’s quirks and bewildering speech, he feels compelled to protect her and heed her warnings about a fatal plot against Parliament. As Simon is drawn into Isla’s dangerous scheme to stop the evildoers, he can’t help but also feel drawn to her.
With seemingly no way to get back home, Isla uses her twenty-first-century knowledge of the past to try to thwart Guy Fawkes and his coconspirators without altering the course of history forever. She and Simon must race to unravel the threads of the treasonous plot even as they wonder how their hearts will navigate their deepening connection and the seemingly insurmountable four centuries that separate their lives.
My Review:
Squuueeeaaalllll!!! Another time travel romance (my second in two weeks…what are the odds?!) And I’m kinda hoping this is a trend because I really enjoy the added angst of trying to figure out how things can possibly end well. I mean, what era will the heroine end up in? And how can there truly be a happily ever after?
There’s all kinds of rules about time travelling that fans of the genre are sticklers about adhering to and Bessey did a great job of sticking to them creatively. Loved the mode of time travel — so clever and deals with a crucial complication that most time travellers have to deal with. Argh — I want to be more specific but I don’t want to reveal anything spoilerish. This would make a great book club selection because it would be so much fun to talk about the speculative side of this novel.
I felt Isla’s culture shock when she shows up in 1605. She’s confused and incredulous and in denial for awhile. Her meet-cute with Simon is anything but cute. Grinning just thinking about the convoluted conversation that takes place. Also swooning over his Jacobean gentlemanly manners while madly anticipating the moment that he finally realizes Isla’s colossal secret.
The historical details around Guy Fawkes and the gun powder plot are easy for non-British readers to grasp which I appreciated. Argh — again so much more I want to say about the ingenuous way the author works Isla into this epic historical event….but, no spoilers. Gah, so frustrating! lol
Perfect balance between the cozy historical details (the clothing! I had to google farthingale…what in the world?! It boggles the mind!) and the burgeoning doomed romance all while a traitorous plot is unfolding all around them. Unputdownable from start to finish!
I enjoyed listening to the audio book narrated by Billie Fulford-Brown and Paul Fox. They helped me settle into the time and place as I visualized the story unfolding around me.
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY
ebook copy available to anyone with a US Kindle account (.com)
Canadians will have a choice of receiving an Amazon.ca gift card towards the purchase of an ebookOR an audible copy. Winner’s Choice.
If you would like a chance to win an ecopy of A Time Traveler’s Masquerade, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday May 3 2024.
Sometimes what you think you want and what you actually want turn out to be different things . . .
Rosie Waterman has one to become a working actor. But lately, that hasn’t been working out. When she loses her apartment and her job on the same day, she does what she always does–puts herself out there, ready to find the next big thing. But a trip home makes her realize that while she’s been struggling to make this dream come true, all her friends have become real adults with careers and weddings and babies on the way. Rosie’s been at this for years, and she has nothing to show for it. But how does she simply let go of her dream?
When she’s offered a job as the director of a regional theatre’s production of Cinderella, she jumps at the chance–even though she’s only directed in college and the job is in Door County, Wisconsin, and not in New York. She has no other offers, and at least she’ll be getting paid to do something theatrical. But when she arrives, she quickly realizes that the “regional theatre” is actually in a retirement community, and the “actors” are actually senior citizens with no acting experience whatsoever.
Working on the show presents new challenges, forcing Rosie to learn how to step up and be the leader this fledgling theatre troupe needs. The more time she spends with her new cast, the more she begins to rethink what it means to dream big, especially when that big dream hasn’t turned out to be at all what she thought it would be. It’s not at all what she expected, but could it be exactly what she needs?
My Review:
Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! Funny and touching and thoughtful and inspiring! What an incredible story, made all the better by the phenomenal performance of narrator Jorjeana Marie. Yes, this is another audio book win for me. Comedy beat perfection. Inner dialogue perfection. Rosie’s personality – perfection. And all the various characters in the retirement village – yet even more perfection. This narrator is off the charts fantabulous! I could tell she was relishing the story as much as I was and that made my listening experience extra special.
Rosie is hilarious and heartbreaking all wrapped up in a cute package of insecurity. It seems like she has it all together – but that’s just what she portrays to the outside world, including her very best friends. She’s an actress more often performing a role offstage than on. And it’s tiring and stressful and even debilitating…until one summer in Wisconsin.
Cue the dashing hero, an eclectic mix of quirky secondary characters and a theatre to save before the summer’s out! And while the theatre needs some redeeming, Rosie does too as she navigates an emotionally fraught path to a deeper understanding of herself.
I’d be laughing hysterically at one point and then wiping tears from my eyes the next. The depth of emotion in Rosie’s story is stunning! Her struggles are so relatable, her insecurities all too common. A sympathetic heroine with a depreciating sense of humour that deflects from what’s really hidden in her heart.
Did I say brilliant already? Well, it’s worth saying it again. Brilliant! The kind of story that stays with a reader even after you reach the end. The kind you want to revel over and ponder on and just plain bask in the bookish afterglow. Definitely a book I will revisit over and over again!
My thanks to Thomas Nelson, Zondervan Fiction Audio and Net Galley for providing me with an audio edition of this copy.
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:
This giveaway is for a print or ebook copy. Winner’s choice.
US – available in print or ebook — winner’s choice
Canada – available in print or ebook or audible (if available) — winner’s choice
International – ebook copy if you have a US Kindle account.
If you would like a chance to win a copy of Everything’s Coming Up Rosie, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it’s easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday May 3 2025.
So excited to get back to chatting with you today! And about a subject that’s been on my mind for quite awhile now. Mostly because I’ve been in a never-ending shelf organizing state of bookish distress as I try to make just one more book fit. 🙂
Of course, that means I have to pull everything off the shelves for a ‘quick’ dusting which leads me to nostalgically reacquainting myself with old friends. Which in turn has me pondering what happened to these authors. Did they actually stop writing or am I missing a decade’s worth of wonderful novels? That thought is as anxiety inducing as finally finishing a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle only to find one key piece missing.
So, I thought I’d share some of these much loved authors and see if you might have more information or new leads for me to check out. And, in turn, feel free to share the name of one or two or however many authors you’ve lost tract of and maybe we can collectively offer hope and direction. Because, surely not all of these authors have stopped writing!
Participate n the conversation in the comments to be entered in a giveaway for a $10 Baker Book House gift card. More details about that at the end of the post.
Exquisite prose. Stories with depth as characters struggle with moral dilemmas. Intriguing historical settings. And, oh my, the incredible cover artwork! I can still feel the bookish euphoria I felt reading Rosslyn Elliot’s books!
Toe-curling redemptive stories full of drama and so much heart! The Everstone Chronicles is an amazing series exploring the struggles and triumphs of four siblings. Heart-in-throat at times and there’s some shredding of sensitive reader’s heart tissue but there’s always a hard won happily ever after to rejoice in by the end.
Contemporary perfection. The kind of stories you feel your way through. Emotional sucker punches with a side of cowboy — can it get any better than that?
I adore all the historical fiction I’ve read by Siri Mitchell but, if I had to pick a favourite it might be Like a Flower in Bloom. Hilariously funny in places, the dynamics between the hero and heroine are priceless. But I also loved the author’s contemporary romance, The Cubicle Next Door. Again, comedic brilliance with a touch of poignancy. I need to read both of these novels again….soon!
Brilliant Regency with Gothic tendencies and strong faith elements. The Ravensmoore Chronicles books are amazing…and yet they seem to be the only books Jillian Kent has written!
The Natchez Trace series — mercy! -a reader’s heart can only take so many O’Shea brothers before self-combustion becomes a real threat. Swoonworthy Irish heroes making their way in a new world. And Stealing Jake is divine too. Different time, different setting but pure romance along with some intriguing suspense. I need to reread these books too!
Suspense with a hint of magical realism…or maybe subtle supernatural elements? Riveting and unexpected. Sometimes I’d be like — ‘Wait…what is happening here?” — but I was always transfixed.
Vivid descriptions. Larger than life ex-privateer hero. Baking-diva heroine with a backbone of steel. Their worlds collide and fictional perfection is made!
Richly layered storytelling, Melby has mastered the art of the slow reveal. Deep characterization and faith threads. This series was my introduction to Christian Fiction dual timeline – way before it became so popular.
So, how about you? Have you read any of these authors? Do you have your own ‘Missing’ list? Mention some names and maybe we’ll have some insights to share.
GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:
Contribute to the conversation in the comments and you’ll be entered in a draw for a $10 Baker Book House gift card.
Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday May 3 2025
Kav's Best Reads 