The Rocky Mountain series, by Pamela Nissen, is a set of sweet Christian romances I recently discovered. It is light reading and very clean. Set in Boulder, Colorado in the late 1800s, it tells the story of the five Drake brothers. Ben, Joseph, Aaron, and Zach are all honorable men. Max is the black sheep of the family, barely making an appearance, but with an important influence in the second book.
The plots are predictable in that each one brings a brother together with his future wife, but they are very enjoyable nonetheless. All of the characters are struggling with something, not unlike real life, and it is just a matter of finding the person who is the right fit to help with those challenges. (Again, not unlike real life.)The brothers are kind, noble, hard-working, and chivalrous. The women are smart, independent and nurturing. They deal with the expected trials of nineteenth century frontier living–weather, predators, thieves, etc.–learning about themselves and each other through it all.
Don’t be misled by the book covers. This series is better than you would expect.
Book 1:Rocky Mountain Match (Joseph) 9/10 Stars
Book 2:Rocky Mountain Redemption (Ben) 8/10 Stars
Book 3:Rocky Mountain Proposal (Aaron) 8.5/10 Stars
Book 4:Rocky Mountain Homecoming (Zach) 8.5/10 Stars
Jennifer Ryan is known for her tales of bucolic village life in World War II England. She grew up listening to her grandmother’s stories of the time period, longing to write while working as an editor for different publishing houses. After receiving an MA in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University, she wrote her debut novel, The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. I enjoyed that book very much in 2019– a personally dramatic year–and it never received a mention on this site. It’s time to fix that, along with introducing you to her upcoming book, The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle.
The Chilbury Women’s Choir: Told through a series of letters, we learn about the lives of several different women in the village of Chilbury in 1940. The war is raging and the vicar has decided to close the choir until the men return. The ladies take it upon themselves to establish a ladies’ choir (shock and horror) in their absence.
The characters who write the letters have very different personalities, a true testament that perception is everything. There is service, there is gossip, and there are lessons learned. I read and listened to this book. The audio book was especially enjoyable because of the multiple narrators. 9/10 Stars
The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle, Available May 31, 2022: This book is a treat from start to finish. I loved it. Cressida Westcott is a renowned London fashion designer whose home and studio are destroyed in the Blitz. She finds refuge in her family’s manor where her niece, Violet, and nephew, Hugh, now live. Violet is thrilled to meet her famous aunt and invites her to the local village sewing circle. The newest project is to mend and update Grace Carlisle’s mother’s wedding dress. Rationing has made it impossible to get materials for a new dress and Grace, the vicar’s daughter, is engaged to be married. We cycle through the lives of Cressida, Violet, and Grace, whose stories become more entwined as time goes on.
This book is very special. I loved all the characters, their individual journeys, and–yes–the positive effects the war has on their lives. Each of them experienced their share of losses before the story begins and a few bumps after, but the majority of the novel is about their separate epiphanies and realizations about what is really important. People are humbled, they learn more about themselves, the British class system is called into question, and the American soldiers even make an appearance. Highly, highly recommended. 9.5/10 Stars
A beautiful cover. An intriguing title. The Roaring Twenties. Prohibition. Hollywood glamour. The true story of the richest man in the country and a young, unsuccessful actress. Surely these ingredients make for a gripping story?
I had high hopes for The Blue Butterfly. The 30 year relationship between William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies is, no doubt, interesting. However, the more I read, the more I wondered if it is a story that really needs to be told–especially a fictionalized account from the point of view of Davies herself, who is anything but a sympathetic character. Even though it was Hearst that pursued Davies, the fact that he was world famous and married with five sons brings the story to a predictable end before it even begins.
The whole thing reads like a diary entry of bad decisions. The tentacles of their choices reach farther and farther over the years, creating devastating effects in the lives of others. What else could happen? I didn’t really care. Davies comes across as immature and selfish. Hearst is either manipulative or a beaten-down puppy dog of a man. How can we root for either of them? We can’t.
I wandered into the Romance genre recently. Here are some quick reviews. There are Victorian and Regency romances, some are parts of a series, a few have wounded veterans. Most are pretty clean, which I prefer.
The Lost Letter, by Mimi Matthews tells of Sylvia Stafford and the Earl of Radcliffe. She’s a governess and he’s brooding and distant, like Rochester from Jane Eyre. There is a series of misunderstandings and meddling servants. If only everyone communicated better, those misunderstandings would be resolved quicker. A pleasant, but often frustrating story. Very clean. 7/10
The Work of Art, by Mimi Matthews is a book I enjoyed very much. Phyllida Satterthwait is living with relatives she barely knows. Her unusual eyes (one blue, one green) bring her to the attention of a man known as “The Collector.” Meanwhile, she befriends Captain Arthur Heywood, a kind neighbor, recently wounded in battle. The relationship between Phyllida and Heywood is very sweet, with the overall theme of two people rescuing each other. 8.5/10
Heartsight and Heartfelt, by Kay Springsteen are quick reads. Trish is cleaning out her late grandmother’s North Carolina house. She’s recently divorced with daughter, Bella, who has Down’s Syndrome. Their neighbor is Dan Conrad, to whom Bella takes to very quickly. Dan is adjusting, not easily, to life out of the military. A friendship develops between the single mother and the veteran. Both books are fairly clean, maybe a mild PG rating.
Heartsight is the kind of book I could see adapted into a made-for-TV movie. Trish and Dan are great characters with excellent chemistry. There is some suspense and action, but it mostly focuses on these two getting to know each other. 8.5/10
Heartfelt is a mess. A very chaotic plot, frenzied pace, too many new characters, and Bella needed to be written better. It is disappointing. 5/10
See Me, by Autumn Macarthur is part of the Chapel Cove series. It reads like a Hallmark movie, but Jake and Bronte are so likable that I didn’t care. Both are entering new chapters in their lives and necessity brings them together. This is a Christian romance, so there are religious discussions. I found it very endearing. 8.5/10
Turn to Me, by Becky Wade will be available May 3, 2022. It is part of the Misty Rose Romance series and also a clean Christian romance. I wanted to like this one more. Luke and Finley are great characters, along with Finley’s coworkers and Luke’s family. He is an ex-con who promised Finley’s father he would protect her. She’s mourning her fiancee who was killed in a car accident. The main plot is great, but there is a lot of fluff–including a detracting side romance that I all but skipped. This could be a winner with better editing. 7/10
In Front of Me, by Dana LeCheminant is part of the Simple Love Story series. There are recurring characters in the series, but this one focuses on Lissa Montgomery, Brennan, and his roomate, Steve. There’s a bit of a love triangle, but not really. Like See Me, this is about two people who need each other. Most of it is from Lissa’s point of view and readers can easily identify with her. Fairly clean. 8/10
Isabelle and Alexander, by Rebecca Anderson is barely worth a mention. This book had so much potential, but poor pacing made it fall short. Clean romance. 6/10
Falling for the Guarded Duke, by Sally Forbes also could’ve been better. I liked the main characters, Olivia and Alexander, very much as well as the basic plot. Alexander’s younger brother is terrible, with motives that do not make much sense. There are some errors that should’ve been caught before the book went to print and the word “giggled” is used to excess. Clean romance. 7.5/10
The Arrangement and The Escape, by Mary Balogh are part of The Survivor’s Club series. It’s a unique premise. Six men and one woman have suffering a variety of injuries in the Napoleonic War. Some wounds are physical, some are emotional. After three years convalescing together, the friends reunite annually to update and support each other. The writing is actually very good. However, this series has some steamy scenes. (Think Titanic steamy–with description.) Personally, I found those scenes unnecessary and a bit “blush-worthy.” I would give 7.5/10 to The Arrangement and 8.5 to The Escape.
Thoughts: Like any genre, Romance can be done well or not. I prefer reading about the relationships and dialogue between characters more than private moments and torrid affairs. Mimi Matthews is an author whose books I’ll keep pursuing. Most others in the genre will be Advanced Reader Copies from NetGalley.
Imagine you’re trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle. You have no idea what it is supposed to look like. Painstakingly, you continue working. When you’re about 30% done the frustration really starts. What is it supposed to be?
Unfortunately, that is my metaphor for this book.
214 Palmer Street is a book that required a lot of patience. I doubt I would’ve finished it if it wasn’t for my agreement with NetGalley to review it. By one-third completed, I was still full of questions, confused by so many characters, and getting whiplash by the POV format that jumped from one person to another. Finally, finally the pieces started to fit together. But the more they did, the more predictable it became. By then I just didn’t care.
Sarah Aden is seen lurking inside the house of Josh and Cady Caldwell. They’re on vacation. A neighbor is suspicious. Who is this woman and why is she there? We discover Sarah is recovering from a head injury–an assault–and is becoming more and more mistrusting of her husband, Kirk. She’s discovering things about his past that do not add up.
Over time, more characters are added. Each tells their part of their story, pressing the rewind button on tedious scenes you just read. Then there’s the mysterious, unnamed “Her,” who I first assumed was one person and then changed my opinion (correctly.) All of the main characters are terrible people. Even the protagonist, Sarah, was unlikable.
This is my third Karen McQuestion book and, sadly, my least favorite. There’s no real hope, no real solution, no hero. I do not have a lot of experience with the suspense genre, but I know readers need something more than what we get here. I longed for a strong character to be the moral center, but there was none.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the advanced copy. I wish I enjoyed this one more.
Where the Sky Begins broke new ground for this book blogger. It is the first full-length WWII novel I’ve read by Rhys Bowen and, even more exciting, it is the first Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) I’ve downloaded from NetGalley.
When we think of great literary heroines we think of Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennett, and Scarlett O’Hara, to name a few. I’m going to add Josie Banks to that list. I loved this character.
A London East Ender (“the slums,” as she describes it,) Josie is stuck in a frustrating life, one that never felt like her own. She helped raise several younger siblings and her brash, Cockney husband, Stan, wants nothing more than a simple, passive little wife. But Josie is smart. Very smart. She made high marks in school and showed great potential. But potential for what?
It doesn’t matter now, because as World War II escalates, all plans are interrupted. Stan is called up and Josie finds herself shuffled off to the countryside, billeted in the dilapidated mansion of reclusive, elderly Miss Harcourt and her grumpy Irish housekeeper, Kathleen. Yes, Josie has a roof over her head and food to eat, but little else.
It’s situations like this that make or break a person. Josie refuses to be broken. Her intelligence, fortitude, dignity, and kind heart will be her greatest assets.
This is a book I could not put down. (Yesterday I had the tired eyes to prove it.) Following Josie on her journey was exhausting but rewarding. Her endurance is admirable and her story is epic. I was immersed in Rhys Bowen’s world. Not just the fleshed-out characters, but the sights and sounds of the time period. Air raid sirens, criss-crossing searchlights, neighbors crowded together in shelters, families being separated, scared young pilots–all of it springs to life in vivid detail with a plot that takes many unexpected turns. At the center of it all is Josie Banks, whose strength and compassion elevate everyone around her.
I highly recommend Where the Sky Begins. Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this advanced copy.
If it seems like I’m fan-girling a bit over Katherine Center books right now, it’s only because I am. They’ve been a terrific distraction from the world’s craziness. So, as a postscript to the previous entry, here’s info on two short stories that bridge her novels. Prequels/sequels is a fun trend that several authors use to keep the reader’s interest and, when done correctly, can really be a treat when there are great characters and more to add to their stories.
I listened to both of these as audio books, each one clocking in at just under an hour. Links are available on her website, https://katherinecenter.com/, and can be downloaded for free on Google Play or Apple Books.
The Girl on the Plane: This is a retelling of the first part of How To Walk Away, except now we’re hearing from Cassie the firefighter. Yes, Cassie from Things You Save in a Fire. When the plane crashes at the beginning of the story, it is Cassie who rescues Margaret, the heroine in the main novel. Their brief interaction, with Margaret making an unforgettable impression, prompts Cassie to set things in motion for the rest of the story.
The Guy at the Wedding: The guy is Jake Archer. The wedding is that of Helen Carpenter. Jake is Helen’s brother, Duncan’s “plus one” at the reception. Helen is about to start a marriage that we already know will go down in flames. Several years before Happiness for Beginners, Jake and Helen are just two people living their lives with no idea what lies ahead. This delightful short story tells about their first encounter, setting the groundwork for that fateful hiking trek in Wyoming. Helen and Jake are my absolute favorite characters, so this look into that life-altering evening was like a tasty dessert. I make no apologies for my bias on this one and, what makes it extra fun, is that it is both a prequel AND a sequel.
***
I’m late to the party, but after years of reading about Netgalley on Goodreads, I finally signed up and requested an ARC (Advanced Reader’s Copy) of The Bodyguard, due out in July. Here’s hoping I’ll be approved and can include a review before it’s published. Enjoy!
I am going to do something on this blog that I have never done before, and that is focus on a certain author. Let’s talk about Katherine Center.
Katherine Center graduated from Vassar College and received a Master’s in fiction from the University of Houston. She calls her style “bittersweet comic novels.” An ideal description.
Until recently, the two books I’d read that she’d written were The Lost Husband and How to Walk Away, (click to visit my reviews) both in 2018. I loved them both but went on to other things, as we often do.
Now, four years later, I’ve read three more of her books and I can honestly say that, if I were a storyteller, this is the kind of storyteller I wish I could be. Her books are infused with sadness, humor, wit, and characters beaten up by circumstance who need to start over. Like real life, none of these characters end up on the path they expected. Do any of us? And is that such a bad thing? We grow, we get wiser, we gain perspective, we appreciate things more–all because of the challenges hurled at us.
Things You Save in a Fire: Cassie is a hard-bitten female firefighter who moves from Austin, TX to Rockport, MA to care for her ailing mother. She jeopardized her career when it was at its peak, so this move is a chance for redemption. Aside from being the only woman in the firehouse, Cassie must also endure the pranks and fraternal atmosphere. These guys work hard and play hard. They’ve seen a lot and getting past their hardened exteriors will not be easy. Cassie’s only ally is “the rookie,” a new recruit. Now she just has to prove herself to the others.
In addition to dealing with a new job and a new town, Cassie must also reestablish a relationship with her estranged mother and heal from a violent incident. Her past has made it difficult to trust others. But the saving aspect is that, with one exception, everyone is good at heart, even those who caused hurt. It’s just a matter of allowing themselves to be vulnerable enough to let others into their lives and hearts. 9/10 Stars
What You Wish For: Samantha is single, a bit eccentric, and dealing with epilepsy. It’s embarrassing and isolating. She’s ready for a change of scenery after being a school librarian in California for several years. She’s chosen Galveston, Texas as her new home, working in a school headed by her landlord and surrogate father, Max.
Then Max dies and militant new principal, Duncan Carpenter, is hired. He’s a cross between the fairy tale Beast and Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. The problem? Duncan was Sam’s previous principal in California and he used to be completely different. He was creative, fun, and inspiring. What happened? And why doesn’t he even remember her? Like the classic Katherine Center character, Duncan has issues that are reshaping him–but not for the better. He needs compassion, patience, and understanding. Sam does too. 9/10 Stars
Happiness for Beginners: I’ve saved the BEST for last. Remember Duncan from What You Wish For? Now we’re going to learn about his older sister, Helen, and his best friend, Jake. Helen is a first grade teacher, newly divorced, and about to embark on a three-week hiking trek. Jake has recently graduated college and is rethinking his future. He decides to clear his head on the same trek as Helen, bumming a ride to Wyoming in her cramped Subaru. Helen is annoyed at this optimistic, persistent, but highly intelligent kid. She’s known him for six years as her younger brother’s goofy friend, but never really paid attention to him. Now they’re thrown together on the road and, soon, in the wilderness, along with a motley crew of other young twenty-somethings, Helen being the oldest. When you’re at Nature’s mercy, it really changes people.
I LOVED this book. So much so that I bought the audiobook and listened to it again in one day. The banter between Helen and Jake, is humorous and sad, entertaining and profound. The supporting characters–Duncan, Grandma GiGi, and the hiking group are smart and fun. Did I mention that I LOVE this book? 9.5/10 Stars
*****
If you’ve said to yourself, “Well, these books sound formulaic,” I assure you, they are not. Yes, the author starts with a basic template for her characters, but once you get to know them and witness their interactions with each other, you’re sold. (I speak as someone famous for abandoning books that bore me–these never do.) There are lots of deep conversations about life and its struggles. There are people helping each other. There are decisions to be made about how invested one should become in the life of another at the risk of being hurt. They get you thinking about your own relationships and challenges.
Katherine Center has definitely become one of my favorite authors. Happily, there are still a few books left to explore. Her newest, The Bodyguard, will be published in July. She is also very generous to her readers, visiting book clubs in her home state of Texas and interacting with followers and friends on the Goodreads site, including myself.
Be aware that the language sometimes varies between PG and PG-13. But for a reader in their late thirties and beyond, the plots are very appealing. By this time you’ve already been knocked around a little, either by your own choices or the choices of others. Finding intelligent characters with similar experiences and reactions to life’s hardships is reassuring. They become your friends, you root for their happiness, and feel motivated to pursue your own.
I was different. Different from other women. The crushing paralysis that came from being stuck between a past I couldn’t return to and a future I couldn’t have was heightened by the realization there was nothing to be done about it. I couldn’t change the fact I was a woman.
It is the mid 1700’s, closer to the American Revolution than the American Civil War. Sixteen-year-old Eliza Lucas has been set a daunting task. While seeking to advance his military commission in Antigua, her father wants her to take charge of the business dealings of their three plantations in South Carolina. This will involve supervising planting, harvesting, selling, bartering with buyers, managing multiple accounts, sparring with violent overseers, and dealing with slaves and their internal dynamics and hierarchy. Her mother, on the other hand, has only one goal for Eliza–find a husband.
Colonel Lucas has every reason to feel confident in his daughter, but no one can predict the amount of obstacles Eliza will encounter, some of which her father creates. An unmarried teenage girl who cannot vote or own land holds little sway in the business world. Only the most intelligent, respectful, progressive individuals will see past her age, gender and marital status. They are few and far between.
With rice being the main cash crop of the region, Eliza sets a new goal. Indigo. It is a revolutionary idea, one that requires ideal conditions and knowledge of the plants and how to transform them into marketable dye cakes. Success eludes her again and again. But never tell a smart, determined woman that something cannot be accomplished. That will only kindle the fire within her.
This is a true story, which makes it even more remarkable, and perfect for March–Women’s History Month. The real Eliza left behind writings which were, aptly, passed from mother to daughter for generations. Details lost to time are woven in elegantly by the author. The story is inspiring and the writing is marvelous. Very highly recommended and a terrific read for book clubs.
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