Home » Romance (Page 14)
Category Archives: Romance
The Valet’s Secret–class barriers to love
The Valet’s Secret
by Josi S. Kilpack
When I started reading The Valet’s Secret, I realized it is a historical romance, not of the Jane Austen satirical variety, but one of romantic attraction thwarted by class differences. This is not my typical reading genre, and so it took a few chapters for me to get involved with the characters and their dilemmas. At that point I began to really care about the main characters.
Kenneth Winterton, while raised as a gentleman, had no expectations or training to be the future Earl of Brenton. When his cousin Edward dies suddenly, Kenneth is expected to prepare himself for his new role, including marrying someone from the local gentry. Thus begins round after round of entertainments to introduce him to suitable ladies. His heart has already been stolen by a chance encounter with Rebecca Parker, a widow living with an abusive, alcoholic father, helping him with his craft of silhouettes. Prior to her marriage, she had been “in service” as a maid. Kenneth and Rebecca are by status incompatible.
As the story moves towards its conclusion, the reader must certainly wonder how the couple could possibly marry. There are several dramatic twists; the actions of a few characters reveal their true motivations and scheming, and some even have a change of heart. The cover reflects the importance of silhouettes in the story, and the title reflects an early, light-hearted deception in the tale with serious consequences. By the end of The Valet’s Secret, I was convinced by this quick read that this genre and author deserve some more attention from me as I make future selections.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Shadow Mountain Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Romance
Publication: March 8, 2022—Shadow Mountain Publishing
Memorable Lines:
“The title precedes you into every room, every relationship, every decision. You do not think what is best for any individual—not even yourself—but what is best for the community affected by your status. Nothing comes above that responsibility. Nothing at all.”
…the thought that he would remain here, learning to live a life that was uncomfortable with a woman whom he did not know while waiting for an old man he loved to die, made him extremely sad.
How he hated this marriage mart he was hung within. So very much. The only viable solution to get out of it was, in fact, to marry.
Edgewater Road–second chance for ex-cons
Edgewater Road
by Shelley Shepard Gray
Jennifer inherits her grandmother Ginny’s old farmhouse with acreage in Ohio and soon discovers that her neighbor is John Lincoln Bennett, an ex-con who has a business managing properties. He also helps other ex-cons reintegrate into society when they are released. Jennifer works in her home as a medical transcriber but wants to reach outside the shield she has established to avoid trusting others. Lincoln is immediately drawn to her and feels very protective of her.
Edgewater Road contains romance, but the real focus is on the characters as their backgrounds are revealed and relationships are developed. There is also some gripping action and danger along with moments of humor as the characters interact in some awkward situations. Lincoln is a natural leader who instills respect, and Jennifer is almost too nice and trusting for her own good. Both are characters that you want to be successful individually and together. The ex-cons in general turn out to be helpful and respectful, especially Bo, Lincoln’s right hand man and Seth, formerly Amish and very polite and trustworthy. Wayne, a young Amish boy, needs to earn money, and his role in the story adds interest as does that of Chad, a semi-feral cat that Wayne finds in Jennifer’s barn.
Author Shelley Shepard Gray excels with plot action. The book is a page turner for me with Gray alternating telling the story from Jennifer’s perspective and from Lincoln’s. Without sugar coating a life of crime, Gray presents the difficulties that might lead one down a bad path, what prison is like, and the reactions of people to ex-cons. They are often viewed with suspicion and distrust and many end up back in prison for various reasons.
I highly recommend Edgewater Road and look forward to the next book in this series.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Blackstone Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: General Fiction (Adult), Romance
Notes: 1. #1 in a new series, The Rumors in Ross County.
2. Although the books deals with some rough ex-cons, there is nothing graphic or offensive in the book, and it is clean in all aspects.
Publication: March 1, 2022—Blackstone Publishing
Memorable Lines:
There was a part of him that was drawn to her like a prisoner to a decent meal.
“That woman’s got more work that needs to be done than an old lady at the plastic surgeon.”
Back when he’d started this, his goals had been almost noble. He’d wanted to give men like him, men who’d made mistakes but were still decent, a second chance… Now, nearly eight years later, his aspirations weren’t quite so lofty. Oh, his heart still searched for the good in people, and he often shared some of the teachings he’d learned from the Bible. However, he’d also learned that not everyone could be rehabilitated.
The Bluebonnet Battle–feuding families
The Bluebonnet Battle
by Carolyn Brown
I expected a romance with conflict between two feuding families. What I got in The Bluebonnet Battle was a very mean-spirited tale. There were clearly two sides. Matilda is an angry woman who excels in manipulating others to get what she wants. The other side is headed up by Liddy who has certainly been wronged but is vindictive and unforgiving. In fact, one of her friends suggests to Liddy that she pray for Matilda explaining that it might not change Matilda but it might take the anger out of Liddy’s heart. Liddy responds with a venomous, disgusting, unkind prayer that causes her adult niece Ruth Ann who acts like a Greek chorus in this book to giggle. It is hard to like any of these characters.
Fortunately, Nick, Matilda’s son, and Amelia, Ruth Ann’s daughter, slowly overcome family hurdles to form a relationship. By the time you get to this point in the story, you will be so tired of how the feud plays out through vegan versus Southern cooking featuring lemon meringue and lemon chess pies, along with who controls the local funeral dinners, that you will be glad for romance in any form. There is actually some motivation revealed for why Matilda is the way she is, but the explanation is too little and too late. The townspeople are closed to outsiders and small-minded. Nick and Amelia develop into nice people, but my favorite of the bunch is Uncle Harry, Matilda’s much older brother; he is the only character I would like to know. If a romance’s plot is character driven, it shouldn’t be replete with bitter characters.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Montlake for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3/5
Category: General Fiction (Adult), Romance
Notes: 1. Includes recipes.
2. Contains profanity, even in church where the characters immediately, but rather insincerely, ask God’s forgiveness.
3. Several older and presumably wiser characters suggest to Nick and Amelia that the only way to know a person (with the goal of having a good marriage) is to live together first. That is advice that may be popular in some circles, but is one with which I take issue.
4. Perhaps a minor detail to some, but the flowers on the cover are not bluebonnets.
Publication: March 8, 2022—Mountlake
Memorable Lines:
When I heard Matilda was coming back to town, I figured we’d have to weather some storms. I just didn’t think we would have a class-five tornado two days after she arrived.
Compared to this thing between her aunt and Nick’s mother, the Hatfield and McCoy feud looked like a kindergarten playground fight.
Matilda’s whisper went right along with the look in her eyes—so toxic that a hazmat team wouldn’t have come near her.
The Sugarcreek Surprise–trusting again
The Sugarcreek Surprise
by Wanda E. Brunstetter
I was glad I returned to Wanda E. Brunstetter’s Creektown Discoveries series to read the second book, The Sugarcreek Surprise. Part way through the first book in the series, Brunstetter found her pace and upped her style. She maintained and even improved on it in this fictional tale of two young people who have been hurt by life and are afraid of renewed suffering if they give life a second chance—outside of the protective shell each one created.
Paul is betrayed by the woman he has been courting who drops him for his best friend. Lisa has survivor’s guilt when, as a child, her parents and grandparents are in a fatal car crash, but she alone survives. Fortunately, these two are mentored by loving relatives and friends. Life is not easy for either one of them and even more surprises are thrown their way as they cautiously try to open up to others.
I enjoyed this trip to Walnut Creek and Sugarcreek, Ohio. Lisa is a school teacher and I found the differences in her classroom
and the typical Englisch classroom fascinating. School extends only through eighth grade for the Amish. Although the children are typical for their ages in mischievousness and enthusiasm, they arrive with basic manners and parental expectations for good behavior. Paul has an excellent work ethic and is skilled in carpentry. Both are committed Christians and practice their faith through Amish customs. They learn to pray more and trust God more. Witnessing how Amish practices play out in our current world is interesting. This book makes it clear that there are benefits and hardships to contemplate about both Englisch and Amish lifestyles.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Barbour Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Christian, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Notes: 1. #2 in the Creektown Discoveries Series, but could be read as a standalone because the main characters first appear in this book.
2. The book ends with recipes and discussion questions
Publication: March 1, 2022—Barbour Publishing
Memorable Lines:
Even snippets from the past, which sometimes flitted through her mind, caused Lisa to feel fearful and despondent. She’d convinced herself that the only way she could be happy was to keep her focus on the present and refuse to give in to thoughts of the past.
The Lord knows each of us very well. He also knows what needs to happen for each of us at the proper time.
“Fear doesn’t stop death; it stops life. And worrying doesn’t take away tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s peace.”
The Walnut Creek Wish–freedom through forgiveness
The Walnut Creek Wish
by Wanda E. Brunstetter
Rhonda and Jeff Davis are a financially successful couple living in a townhouse in Canton, Ohio, where she manages a hotel and he has his own restaurant. They love each other, but they have a fairly testy relationship often exchanging hurtful barbs. Neither wants anything to do with God because each had deep-felt prayers that had not been answered the way that they wanted them to be. Rhonda’s dad had affairs and eventually left his family behind. Jeff’s mom passed away when he was a teenager.
Rhonda and Jeff’s lives intersect with those of Orley and Lois who own an Amish antique store in rural Walnut Creek, Ohio, when the younger couple try to rejuvenate their marriage by purchasing a beautiful house and commuting to their jobs. Orley and Lois take every opportunity to encourage Rhonda and Jeff to develop a personal relationship with Jesus. A lot has to happen in the young couple’s lives before their hearts are opened to their need for God.
The Walnut Creek Wish is a quick and easy read, but it deals with some real issues—satisfaction, childlessness, abandonment, and forgiveness. The writing, especially the dialogue, in the first part of the book is somewhat stilted. Then the author breaks into a pace that is much more comfortable after the character backgrounds have been established and the action in the plot develops. It is a clean read with strong Christian themes involving both Amish and Englisch characters with interesting comparisons and contrasts of their lifestyles and their problems and how they react to them.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Barbour Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3/5
Category: Christian, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Notes: 1. #1 in the Creektown Discoveries series. I will be reading the next book in the series. I am interested to see if there is an overlap or continuation of characters and/or of setting and to see if the sudden improvement in style and pace in this book holds up in the next book.
2. Recipes for a cucumber dip and bacon cheese muffins are included.
3. There are questions for individual thought or book club discussions.
Publication: August 1, 2021—Barbour Publishing
Memorable Lines:
She and Jeff had been married twelve years, and all they had to show for it was a modern townhouse, an expensive sports car, a luxury SUV, and a chasm of disinterest between them.
“I don’t know all the reasons, but I’m sure the Lord directed that young man to our store for a purpose beyond looking at antiques.”
“Any time’s the right time to share God’s love and the redemption He offers because of His Son. Pray for the right words to say, and speak them from the heart with love.”
Bookshop by the Sea–second chance romance
Bookshop by the Sea
by Denise Hunter
Sophie Lawson knows about abandonment and the pain it leaves in its trail. Her father left her family to fend for itself in the midst of her mother’s fatal illness on the very same day her boyfriend Aiden Maddox pulled up stakes and moved five hours away to start a new life. Aiden knows abandonment too. His mother left him sitting on the porch steps as a little boy and never looked back.
Sophie and Aiden loved each other or thought they did. Seven years later, just as Sophie’s dream to open her own bookshop is about to come true, Sophie and Aiden are thrown together once more—by a wedding and a hurricane. Can love revitalize and conquer bitterness, hurt, confusion, family obligations, and distance?
In Bookshop by the Sea, Denise Hunter paints an emotional in-depth picture of Sophie and Aiden, their pasts and the possibilities for their futures. Disaster keeps striking for Sophie who really deserves a break, but it’s hard to see how she’ll get one in time for her grand opening and book signing event. Those stressors are the backdrop for their relationship drama as the threads weave together, breaking in places only to be retied to push the characters towards growth and healing.
Bookshop by the Sea is a clean book with Christian undertones as the characters mention praying over situations. I enjoyed reading it, not really knowing if it would have a happily ever after ending, but hoping so. The characters definitely have baggage to work through—even the more minor characters as found in Sophie’s family. There is a lot of realism as no one’s life is presented as a fairy tale. There is also a lot of hope, kindness, and community spirit.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Romance
Publication: April 13, 2021—Thomas Nelson
Memorable Lines:
He’d forgotten how easily words of affirmation rolled off her tongue. She’d always made him feel like he could do anything. Be anything. He let the admiration in her eyes wash over him like a cool wave on a hot summer day.
“Don’t borrow trouble. ‘Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?’ ’’ She gave him a wry look. “Did you just quote Scripture at me?” “Hey, there’s a reason I have it memorized. If I’ve learned anything it’s that worrying does nothing but stress you out.”
I guess somewhere along the line I started believing that when the going gets tough…people leave.” Sophie’s heart went soft and squishy at his words, his vulnerability. At the little boy who watched his mother drive away from him and never return.
The Girl at the Last House Before the Sea–the power of secrets and gossip
The Girl at the Last House Before the Sea
by Liz Eeles
The third book in the Heaven’s Cove series is quite powerful and touching. Freya’s life seems full and satisfying. She has a husband and a job as a caregiver—until her life falls apart and she loses both. Struggling to get her feet on the ground again, she accepts an offer from her half-sister Belinda to come to Heaven’s Cove to interview for a position as the full-time carer for the eighty-three year old Kathleen, a proud and independent woman who is harboring a powerful secret. Freya has secrets from her own past as does Belinda who is known as the town fixer and gossip. Despite their biological relationship, the sisters hardly know each other.
Kathleen’s son Ryan, a widower, has a guilty secret of his own that makes him suspicious of Freya. He locks himself away from most society focusing on the task of caring for his mother and his daughter Chloe. Chloe is struggling with the death of her mom, their move to a new town, fitting in with new friends, and the hormones of a typical twelve-year old girl.
Freya is a talented listener and people open up to her and tell her their secrets. Unfortunately, along with sharing their pasts, people often insist that Freya not speak of their disclosures with anyone. That request is not usually an issue as Freya is not a gossip. In The Girl at the Last House Before the Sea, however, things spoken in confidence can conflict with well-meaning promises Freya makes to various family members. She is honoring their wishes and motivations, but the secrets can still hurt if and when they are revealed.
Freya finds that Kathleen has lied about never having been to Driftwood Cottage on the cliff; the little cottage, now a B&B, holds both an attraction and a revulsion for Kathleen. What could have happened in Heaven’s Cove to draw Kathleen to move there after the death of her husband? Freya wants to help, but the request needs to come from Kathleen herself.
I loved this book. Its plot includes a part of history that affected many families painfully but is now thankfully in the past. The plight of the various characters is moving. The sadness and agony Kathleen suffers is heart-wrenching, but there is also hope in the book as secrets are laid open and the air is cleared. The final upset in the book comes from a surprise source, and the denouement is particularly satisfying.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Women’s Fiction, General Fiction (A), Romance
Notes: #3 in the Heaven’s Cove series, but could be read as a standalone. Although there are a few minor characters who overlap from the first two books, the plot is self-contained.
Publication: February 28, 2022—Bookouture
Memorable Lines:
But today, a sea view was just what she needed, because the endless movement of the water was calming. Life might disintegrate into an unholy mess but the waves would roll on.
Freya spent some time inspecting the photos, which were of the village from decades ago and people long gone. The pictures were fascinating and made her realize that her current problems were merely a blip along the way of life.
Secrets held power—the power to surprise or delight, to hurt or harm—because they were so often bound up with primal emotions.
The Cowboy Meets His Match–fake sparks
The Cowboy Meets His Match
by Melinda Curtis
Olivia Monroe has spent two months with Sonny, a sports psychologist, after a disastrous sailboat racing accident that destroyed her self-confidence. When she impulsively kisses handsome former rodeo star Rhett Diaz in front of her cousins, she sets herself and Rhett up for a fake boyfriend scenario which her two business-minded cousins jump on. They offer Rhett a deal. They will help him in his yet undetermined adventure tour company if he will deliver Olivia to her home base of Philadelphia. Sonny accompanies them as they try out various adventure sports like mountain biking and zip lining along the way.
From their first fake kiss, Olivia and Rhett are drawn to each other, but they realize that they are impossibly suited for a long-term relationship. They both are strong-willed and love adventures, but Rhett’s cowboy skills and Olivia’s sailing require very different locations.
The characters are well drawn by the author. Rhett and Olivia are both struggling with the direction of their futures. Sonny is a fun character as he is full of platitudes and advice. Physically he resembles Santa Claus in a motivational T-shirt: he is a walking billboard for positivity with slogans like “Show No Fear” and “Be a Unicorn.” Sonny is recovering from a health scare so food choices on their cross-country trip are a constant, humorous struggle as is his passion for goats!
Relationships change under the pressurized close quarters of travel. Feelings are hurt and reconciliation is needed. Decisions about the future loom large. Compromise seems out-of-reach.
As a Harlequin Heartwarming novel, The Cowboy Meets His Match fulfills its goals of providing the reader with a fun, clean romance. I learned about a lot of adventure tours I never want to personally experience. Author Melinda Curtis created a story that kept me turning pages and left me with smiles and a chuckle at a surprise ending.
I would like to extend my thanks to Melinda Curtis for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Romance
Notes: #7 in The Mountain Monroes, it could be read as a standalone, but reading it in sequence will provide a lot of interesting reading about the various Monroe cousins and the grandfather who binds them together.
Publication: February 1, 2022—Harlequin Heartwarming
Memorable Lines:
Grandpa held a secret the way a colander held water…which was not at all.
This trip was turning into a fresh cowpie on a steep trail.
Sonny snored louder than a revving engine at a tractor pull.
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch–fathering a teenager
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch
by Carolyn Brown
Jesse Ryan returns to Honey Grove, Texas, after twenty years of touring the world following his dreams as a medic in the Air Force. His father’s MS diagnosis hastens his homecoming as his father Sonny now clearly needs help in running the Sunflower Ranch, especially since his father’s longtime friend and foreman is retiring.
Jesse grew up on the ranch after he and two other foster children were adopted by Sonny and Pearl, so he has no trouble with the cowboy aspects of his new life. What he didn’t expect was to be working closely with Addy, his best friend from childhood who stopped communicating with him shortly after he left for his first tour of duty. Addy and her nineteen year old daughter Mia are living and working at the ranch as Addy, a nurse, manages Sonny’s healthcare. Jesse finally does the math and figures out his relationship with Mia while he and Addy are determining what their own adult relationship will be.
Addy is a strong, smart woman. Mia goes through a rebellious period. Jesse takes on responsibilities wherever he is needed. Sonny and Pearl face the MS diagnosis with the love that has held them together through the years. This is a character driven plot that moves quickly with some surprises along the way. There are some gossipy women, a mean local family, and a jealous, confused doctor who complicate the plot, but the Ryan family is one you would want to know, maybe even be a part of. The author of Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch introduces Cody Ryan, a doctor, and Stevie O’Dell, a veterinarian, at the end of this book; they will be the focus of Texas Homecoming, the next book in the series.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Notes: 1. #1 in The Ryan Family Series. I started reading this series with the second book in the series which could be read as a standalone, but reading Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch actually enhanced my enjoyment of Texas Homecoming (read review here) after the fact. My recommendation: read this series in order.
2. Clean romance, but does use “d—n” frequently as a slang expression.
3. At this point in the series, the theme of the series is “second chance” romance, but there are many other common themes as well regarding family relationships, work ethics, values, etc.
Publication: 2021—Forever
Memorable Lines:
“If I’m honest, I’ve always loved him for more than a friend. That’s probably why I can’t seem to last in a relationship with anyone else. I can’t give them my heart when he’s got it in his pocket.”
…her mouth was set in a firm line. Her light brown ponytail swung back and forth like a frayed flag in a hard Texas wind, and her hands were knotted into fists.
“Change is good for folks. It keeps us on our toes so we don’t get to taking life for granted…”
Texas Homecoming–not too late to try again
Texas Homecoming
by Carolyn Brown
He broke her heart and moved away. He had good intentions and spent the next twenty years becoming Dr. Cody Ryan, and serving patients in distant, war-torn countries of poverty. A few years younger, she picked up the broken pieces of her heart to achieve success as Dr. Stevie O’Dell, veterinarian. When both move back to Honey Grove to help aging and ailing parents, Stevie avoids Cody until they find themselves trapped together for four days in the tack room of a barn by a snowstorm. At that point, they have to work together to survive, but Stevie won’t let her guard down.
Of course, being a romance, you know the attraction is going to re-emerge, but it is fun to watch their relationship develop. Both are spunky characters; no longer teenagers, they learn to tease and flirt with each other on an adult level. Both have past and present hurts they have to deal with. Just as things begin to move smoothly, there are several major plot twists; you wonder just how much more Stevie can endure. Some readers might think there are too many difficulties to be realistic, but I find that a series of calamities in life is not unusual. In this case, the challenges, good and bad, draw them together.
Cody’s family takes Stevie under their collective wing, always willing to help, but careful not to smother or judge. They make it clear that they are not perfect, but they know how to stay the course and work things through.
Carolyn Brown’s Texas Homecoming is a romance, not intended to be great literature. I found it to be a quick read, and one that I enjoyed.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Romance
Notes: 1. #2 in The Ryan Family Series. It could be read as a standalone, but I’ve already put a copy of #1 (Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch) on hold at my library so I can get the backstory of some of the Ryan family members.
2. Clean romance, but does use “d—n” frequently as a slang expression
Publication: January 25, 2022—Forever
Memorable Lines:
“I would never get in between a woman and her chocolate.”
Stevie remembered coming home crying because some little girl had made fun of her height or of her curly red hair, and her mother telling her that the important thing was to be beautiful on the inside. The kids who were mean to you are ugly on the inside. You are pretty and smart, and they’re jealous, Ruth had said.
“…marriage is not another word for sex. Marriage is a sacred agreement between two people to live together and love each other through good times and bad and through poverty or riches. It’s about sticking together side by side even when you want to shoot him and throw his sorry carcass out for the coyotes’ supper.”
education pathways 