It's a second chances romance with a Christian theme. Enjoy an excerpt from For Better and For Worse by Quint Emm Ellis before you download your own copy. Be sure to check out the rest of the tour for even more. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Showing posts with label second chance romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label second chance romance. Show all posts
Thursday, June 9, 2022
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Review of Light the Way (The Lighthouse Sisters #1) by Lin Stepp
On Tour with Prism Book Tours
Welcome to the book tour for Light the Way, the first book in the new Lighthouse Sisters series by Lin Stepp! Today I'm sharing with you my thoughts about this novel. Be sure to follow the tour for even more, including my interview with the author at Candrel's Crafts, Cooks, and Characters. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Light the Way
(The Lighthouse Sisters #1)
By Lin Stepp
Christian Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 292 Pages
April 1, 2022 by Mountain Hill Press
In this new coastal series, Lin Stepp transports her readers into the rich, colorful lives of Burke and her sisters, Lila, Gwen, and Celeste, who grew up at the Deveaux Inn and Lighthouse on a windswept island, accessible only by boat. Get ready to be introduced to the ups and downs, joys and sorrows, challenges and adventures of a Lighthouse Keeper.
Life had grown hard for Burke Deveaux at the family inn and lighthouse since her father died. She missed his warmth and still expected to see him walking into a room, his big laugh booming. Burke and her mother were gradually adjusting to the change, and Lila had come home this winter to help, but the workload was heavy. With spring coming and tourism picking up in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Burke welcomed Hal Jenkins’ request for his son Waylon to work for them. Waylon, retiring early from the Navy, knew the island and the lighthouse, having grown up nearby. Burke also knew Waylon well since they’d grown up together. He’d always been older, and she wondered how he’d see her now.
Waylon had been away from Edisto Island for over twelve years now, traveling around the world in the military, but it felt good to be home. He’d hated learning Lloyd Deveaux was gone, the warm-hearted Lighthouse Keeper he’d followed around as a boy. But he liked the idea of coming to stay at the lodge at Watch Island to help the Deveaux family with the inn, lighthouse, and nearly five-hundred acres of land the Lighthouse Station occupied. He knew Burke had picked up many of her father’s old tasks and he looked forward to seeing her again. He’d kept feelings for her clamped down for years but one look at her brought them surging back. How would he handle that with them working together?
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“This book feels just as tranquil as Edisto and has a wonderful, laid back flow, like beautiful ocean waves lapping up on the shore … you can’t help but fall in love with every facet of this novel.” – Christ F. JUST READS Review
“From the stunning backdrop of the South Carolina Lowcountry … this book was like going home.” – Kim Standridge Boykin, Bestselling Author of Palmetto Moon
“Each book showcases Lin Stepp’s natural gift as a novelist for originality and narrative driven storytelling.” – MIDWEST REVIEW
**My thoughts**
Light the Way was a bit of a change of pace for me, but nevertheless an entertaining read. You have history, strong family bonds, a sort of second chance romance, and a touch of mystery and suspense.
I always love reading about bigger families and small towns. There is a special kind of chemistry and bond that you can't find elsewhere. I would love to see the stories of Burke's mom and sisters fleshed out more. I believe there will be future installments that will update us on them. I think a prequel of Etta and her late husband in their early days could also be fun!
As for the relationship between Burke and Waylon, which is the focus of this installment, I love when childhood crushes are realized and given a second chance. They fit together well. Their leap to boyfriend-girlfriend felt a little abrupt and out of sync at the moment where it happened, though. Their engagement was also fast and felt a bit out of place. But their relationship quickly fell into a great pace as they grew a lot as friends while they worked together on the island.
The author is clearly well-versed in the history of the area and of lighthouses. I enjoyed learning all of that. Lighthouses fascinate me. And while we have some here on Lake Ontario, I haven't yet delved as deeply as I would like into their stories and histories.
I just felt like the information was shared awkwardly at times via conversations that the characters were having. For example, as Burke is taking Waylon around the island, she is giving him a big history lesson as if he had never been there before. But if he grew up there and spent as much time with her family as is indicated, I feel like he should have known a lot of that already. Or sometimes characters talked about places to visit and would describe where they were in ways that you wouldn't in normal conversations with people who were from the same area. I appreciated the background knowledge to help me better understand the setting, but personally would have described it differently. It just felt like the characters were doing too much of the narration.
This is an enjoyable start to a new series and I am looking forward to seeing the future installments, because I really want to know what happens to the sisters as they embark upon new chapters in their own lives.
Thank you to the author and Prism Book Tours for fulfilling my review request. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
About the Author
Lin Stepp is a native Tennessean, businesswoman and educator. A New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon best-selling international author, Lin has twenty published novels out now, including her twelve beloved Smoky Mountain novels, all set in different Tennessee and North Carolina locations, three Mountain Home books, a novella in one of Kensington’s Christmas anthologies, and four South Carolina coastal novels, including her three Edisto Trilogy books and her first release in the new Lighthouse Sisters series. Lin and her husband J.L. also write regional guidebooks, including a published Smoky Mountain hiking guide and a TN and a SC state parks guidebook, all filled with hundreds of color photos. Stepp’s latest 2022 releases are Eight at the Lake, set in Dandridge near the Smoky Mountains, and Light the Way, set at the SC coast. Writing and adventuring are her joys and more novels set in the Smokies and at the beach are on the way, as well as more colorful regional guidebooks. Lin’s title Claire At Edisto was the 2019 Best Book Award Winner in Fiction: Romance, sponsored by American Book Fest and her novel Welcome Back a finalist in the 2017 Selah Awards. Lin enjoys speaking for events, festivals, libraries, and book clubs. And she loves reading, hiking, exploring out of doors, and keeping up with her readers. Look for her pages on Facebook and Twitter and follow her monthly blog and newsletter, too, that you will find on her website at: www.linstepp.com
Tour Schedule
Tour Giveaway
Ends April 6, 2022
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Review of Ready to Trust by Tina Radcliffe
On Tour with Prism Book Tours
Welcome to the book tour for Ready to Trust, the second book in Tina Radcliffe's Hearts of Oklahoma series! It's another one of those inspirational, second chance romances that will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Find out more about the book as well as more of my thoughts. And be sure to enter the giveaway at the end!
Ready to Trust
(Hearts of Oklahoma #2)
By Tina Radcliffe
Christian Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 224 Pages
July 21, 2020 by Love Inspired
Proving he’s a changed man could be his biggest challenge yet.
Rancher Reece Rainbolt’s shocked to learn he’s inherited half of Claire Ballard’s family farm—and that he’s a father. Now Claire’s determined to break ties with the man who once left her behind. But Reece will buy her half only on one condition: she must stay in town to help with the harvest…and let him get to know his little girl.
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**My thoughts**
This story was so familiar to me for some reason. Then again, I have been reading a lot of these inspirational, second chance and rancher romances lately. I'd say that you have the same general formula as a lot of those books, but Tina makes this story her own and you'll love follow Claire and Reece along their journey.
The two of them knew each other a little bit when they were younger, as their family homesteads were next door to each other. But then after devastating losses in their lives, they ran into each other in a different city and things happened. They broke up and lost touch and Claire never told Reece that she had given birth to their daughter. But now that her father has passed away and left each of them one-half of his farm, they have no choice but get to know each other. And that is going to include telling the truth about Zoe's parentage not only to Zoe, but also the rest of the town.
Both of them have deep-seeded issues from all of the pain in their past. The difference between them is that Reece has learned to deal with his pain and has put it to productive use. Claire still has her barriers up, which makes sense in a lot of ways, but is also preventing her from following her true heart's desires.
The two of them have to work it out in their own time and ways. And they have the whole town quietly rooting them on. I was also mentally pushing them to figure it out. They just need to have faith. Reece already has it. Claire is still learning how to trust.
Note that while this book is the second book in the series, it very easily works as a standalone. I need to check out some of the other books now!
Thank you to the author and to Prism Book Tours for fulfilling my review request. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Other Books in the Series
Finding the Road Home
(Hearts of Oklahoma #1)
By Tina Radcliffe
Christian Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 224 Pages
February 18, 2020 by Love Inspired
Some paths need courage to follow…
Can they find their fresh startwith roadblocks around every corner?
To care for her orphaned nieces and nephews, Daisy Anderson moved to a small town for a new deputy position—but now her job could be eliminated. With potential budget cuts looming, her only hope is to work with police chief Mitch Rainbolt to save their department’s funds. But can their fight for her job lead to something neither dared wish for: a future together?
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And coming in December...
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About the Author
Tour Schedule
Tour Giveaway
One winner will receive a Lily Queen Canvas Totebag (retail value $21.99), a $25 Amazon gift card and a print copy of READY TO TRUST (US/CAN only)
Ends August 19, 2020
Ends August 19, 2020
Monday, June 3, 2019
Lawfully Betrothed (A Texas Ranger Lawkeeper Romance) by Ginny Sterling
Lawfully Betrothed
Once upon a time…
That was how fairy tales were supposed to begin, except in the case of young Faye Miller. When a dark-haired boy sneaks into her favorite hiding spot, she isn’t sure if this was the beginning of a fairy tale, a blessing, or an evil curse. Captivated by the sincerity and earnestness in his kind eyes, she’s convinced that this boy was an angel sent from the heavens to show her life would be okay someday. When he pledges to marry her and gives her a ring made of grass… how could she ever say no?
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I was compensated via Fiverr for sharing this book with you. I only share those books that I feel are of interest to my readers.
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