Rachel McMillan: Murder in the City of Liberty

By Kelly Bridgewater

Hamish DeLuca and Regina “Reggie” Van Buren have a new case—and this one could demand a price they’re not willing to pay.

Determined to make a life for herself, Reggie Van Buren bid goodbye to fine china and the man her parents expected her to marry and escaped to Boston. What she never expected to discover was that an unknown talent for sleuthing would develop into a business partnership with the handsome, yet shy, Hamish DeLuca.

Their latest case arrives when Errol Parker, the leading base stealer in the Boston farm leagues, hires Hamish and Reggie to investigate what the Boston police shove off as a series of harmless pranks. Errol believes these are hate crimes linked to the outbreak of war in Europe, and he’s afraid for his life. Hamish and Reggie quickly find themselves in the midst of an escalating series of crimes.

When Hamish has his careful constructed life disrupted by a figure from his past, he is driven to a decision that may sever him from Reggie forever . . . even more than her engagement to wealthy architect Vaughan Vanderlaan.

From Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Murder in the City of Liberty by Rachel McMillan is a story filled with accurate details and a nod to classic literature. The story does have a dead body in it and does move the story along, but, I believe, the plot is more a cultural nod to the social and racial tensions of the 1940's. America is on the brink of World War II, even though majority of the citizens want to ignore the rising terror. McMillan jumps into the plot and brings 1940's Boston to life. I really enjoy her attention to historical detail with her settings and bringing the conflicts to light. The romantic heat between Hamish and Reggie spark even hotter in this addition of their story. McMillan does wonderfully at creating a story that grips my attention and kept me glued to the page. I finished the whole novel in under one day. Wonderful story. I can't wait to see what troubles and romance come to Hamish and Reggie next.

I received a complimentary copy of Murder in the City of Liberty by Rachel McMillan from Thomas Nelson publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Purchase Murder in the City of Liberty

About the Author:

From Amazon

Rachel McMillan is the author of the Herringford and Watts mysteries, the Three Quarter Time series of contemporary romances set in opulent Vienna, and the Van Buren and DeLuca mysteries praised for bringing an authentic 1930's Boston world to life while normalizing the fictional conversation surrounding mental illness. Her first work of non-fiction, described as a romantic's guide to independent travel, releases in 2020. Rachel lives in Toronto, Canada. (Taken from Amazon.)

Memorial Day

By Kelly Bridgewater

This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend.

Don't forget to honor and bring memory to those soldiers who have passed on before.

That is what this holiday is truly about.

Yes, it is time for bar-b-ques and swimming pools to open.

It is also time for overbearing temperatures.

Weeds.

Mosquitoes.

Bugs.

Bugs.

And did I mention, Bugs!!

As you can tell, I can't stand summer. It is no fun for me. I usually hibernate and read books. We'll see how that goes this summer.

Anyways, have a wonderful summer and make memories with your family.

Natalie Walters: Living Lies

By Kelly Bridgewater

In the little town of Walton, Georgia, everybody knows your name--but no one knows your secret. At least that's what Lane Kent is counting on when she returns to her hometown with her five-year-old son. Dangerously depressed after the death of her husband, Lane is looking for hope. What she finds instead is a dead body.

Lane must work with Walton's newest deputy, Charlie Lynch, to uncover the truth behind the murder. But when that truth hits too close to home, she'll have to decide if saving the life of another is worth the cost of revealing her darkest secret.

Debut novelist Natalie Walters pulls you to the edge of your seat on the first page and keeps you there until the last in this riveting story that will have you believing no one is defined by their past.

From Amazon

My Thoughts:

Natalie Walters debut novel Living Lies is full of tension-filled moments with a hint of romance on the sidelines. Depression is something that is realistic in the world. No one really knows what it feels like unless you have been affected by it personally or by being near someone close who has dealt with it. Living Lies dives into depression as the background for Lane, the heroine. She tries to keep secrets from her past from coming to life. The inner workings of the suspense captivate readers and allow them to follow Lane and Charlie on their hunt for the killer. With the discovery of the dead body in the first chapter, Walters takes readers on a hunt for justice. The romance seems out of place for me. Not that Charlie and Lane don't deserve happiness. It just the romance didn't seem to flow naturally. Overall, Walters definitely created a romantic suspense novel that should be picked up by lovers of romantic suspense. I believe fans of Irene Hannon and DiAnn Mills would enjoy this book.

I received a complimentary copy of Living Lies by Natalie Walters from Revell Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

About the Author:

From Goodreads

James L. Rubart: Pages of Her Life

By Kelly Bridgewater

How Do You Stand Up for Yourself When It Means Losing Everything?

Allison Moore is making it. Barely. The Seattle area architecture firm she started with her best friend is struggling, but at least they’re free from the games played by the corporate world. She’s gotten over her divorce. And while her dad’s recent passing is tough, their relationship had never been easy.
Then the bomb drops. Her dad had a secret life and left her mom in massive debt.

As Allison scrambles to help her mom find a way out, she’s given a journal, anonymously, during a visit to her favorite coffee shop. As the pressure to rescue her mom mounts, Allison pours her fears and heartache into the journal.

But then the unexplainable happens. The words in the journal, her words, begin to disappear. And new ones fill the empty spaces— words that force her to look at everything she knows about herself in a new light.

Ignoring those words could cost her everything . . . . but so could embracing them.

From Goodreads

My Thoughts:

James L. Rubart creates mind-bending stories of faith and takes the ideas to a new level. Rubart takes what appears to be a simple story on the surface and creates something much, much deeper to the characters. All, at least the ones I have read, of the characters transform completely by the end of the novel. With Pages of Her Life, Allison is no exception. The plot dug deep and had me questioning why Allison kept working for Dexter, who I couldn't stand from the moment I met him. He was a very unlikely villain. I enjoyed the story, and I couldn't wait to see how the ending happened. As for the element with the money that was due by their mother, I believe, Allison, Parker, and her mother should have hired a lawyer and taken them to court. There is no way I would have paid that money. Unless the contract proved them liable, not just their deceased father, the money people had no leg to stand on. As a bonus, there is a couple of characters who appear from Rubart's previous novels. What a nice surprise. Overall, James L. Rubart's Pages of Her Life showed how trusting in yourself and God can change your perspective on life. I enjoyed this novel. I anxiously await what Rubart creates next.

I received a complimentary copy of Pages of Her Life by James L. Rubart from Thomas Nelson Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase Pages of Her Life on Amazon

About the Author:

From Amazon

James L. Rubart is 28 years old, but lives trapped inside an older man's body. He thinks he's still young enough to water ski like a madman and dirt bike with his two grown sons, and loves to send readers on journeys they'll remember months after they finish one of his stories.

He's the best-selling, Christy Book of the Year, Carol, INSPY, and RT Book Reviews award winning author of nine novels as well as a professional speaker. During the day he runs his marketing company which helps businesses, authors, and publishers make more coin of the realm. He lives with his amazing wife on a small lake in eastern Washington. More at www.jameslrubart.com More at http://jameslrubart.com/ and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JamesLRubart (Taken from Amazon.)

My Favorite Covers

By Kelly Bridgewater

What makes a cover appealing to you?

Is it the colors?

Is it the gesture of the heroine and hero on the cover?

Is it the allure of the suspense hidden in the pages?

I enjoy a cover that hints at what the story is about without actually giving away too much.

So for today, I want to share some of my favorite covers. In a couple of weeks, I will share the covers that really don't do it for me, even though I'm sure the story inside will take me away.  (Images taken from Goodreads, unless noted.)

The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

 

The Number of Love by Roseanna M. White

 

Wings of the Wind by Connilyn Cossette

 

Kissing Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn

 

Blue Skies Tomorrow by Sarah Sundin

 

From This Moment by Elizabeth Camden

In Places Hidden by Tracie Peterson

 

Out of the Ordinary by Jen Turano

 

What about you? Do you enjoy some of these covers? Do you have any favorites you want to add to this list?

Beth K. Vogt: Moments We Forget

By Kelly Bridgewater

Jillian Thatcher has spent most of her life playing the family peacemaker, caught in the middle between her driven, talented older sister and her younger, spotlight-stealing twin sisters. Then on the night of her engagement party, a cancer diagnosis threatens to once again steal her chance to shine.

Now, Jillian’s on the road to recovery after finally finishing chemo and radiation, but residual effects of the treatment keep her from reclaiming her life as she’d hoped. And just when her dreams might be falling into place, a life-altering revelation from her husband sends her reeling again.

Will Jillian ever achieve her own dreams, or will she always be “just Jillian,” the less-than Thatcher sister? Can she count on her sisters as she tries to step into a stronger place, or are they stuck in their childhood roles forever?

From Amazon

My Thoughts:

Moments We Forget by Beth K. Vogt invites readers to return to the Thatcher sisters. This story reminds me a lot of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott after Beth dies. How are the three sisters getting along? What secrets keep them tied together or apart? I really enjoy seeing the fresh reality of their emotions and dilemmas. In Moments We Forget, Vogt dove deeper into the faith issue. A sister grapples with the idea of God, another grasps onto a full relationship with God, and the last one is still skeptical. Not that the entire plots focuses on coming to faith. It really is a small part of the novel. The sister dynamics run the story. I stayed glued to the pages and wanted to know more about each character. Being the middle child, I can relate to Jillian in a lot of instances in this story. I am the good kid who had to pick up the slack of my troublemaking siblings. I really love this series, and can't wait to read Johanna's story. Fans of Little Women or Catherine West's stories might enjoy this novel.

I received a complimentary copy of Moments We Forget by Beth K. Vogt by Tyndale Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Purchase Moments We Forget

About the Author:

From Amazon

Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she'd never write fiction. She's the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she'd never marry a doctor--or anyone in the military. She's a mom of four who said she'd never have kids. Now Beth believes God's best often waits behind the doors marked "Never." As a contemporary romance novelist, Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2015 RITA® Finalist and a three-time ACFW Carol Award finalist. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publisher's Weekly's Best Books of 2014. In 2015, Beth introduced her destination wedding series with both an e-novella, Can't Buy Me Love, and a novel, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. She continues the series in 2016 with the e-novella You Can't Hurry Love (May) and the novel Almost Like Being in Love(June). A November Bride, was part of the Year of Wedding Series by Zondervan. Beth enjoys writing contemporary romance because she believes there's more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us. Find out more about her books at bethvogt.com. An established magazine writer and former editor of Connections, the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth is also part of the leadership team for My Book Therapy, the writing community founded by best-selling author Susan May Warren. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories.

Connect with Beth on her website (bethvogt.com) and her blog on quotes, In Others' Words, or on any of these social media platforms:
Facebook.com/AuthorBethKVogt
Twitter.com/bethvogt
Instagram.com/bethkvogt

(Taken from Amazon.)

Denise Hunter: Summer by the Tides

By Kelly Bridgewater

From the bestselling author of The Convenient Groom (now a beloved Hallmark Original movie) comes a heartfelt story of family secrets, forgiveness, and unexpected romance.

Following a painful betrayal, Maddy Monroe’s love life is a wreck, and her restaurant career is in shambles. When her grandmother goes missing, she and her estranged sisters converge at the family beach house in Sea Haven, North Carolina. Being with uptight Nora and free-spirited Emma at the place where their family broke apart is a struggle, and undercurrents of jealousy and resentment threaten to pull the sisters under. In the midst of the storm, sparks begin to fly between Maddy and Gram’s maddening neighbor, Connor Murphy.

As the sisters pack up the family belongings, memories of idyllic, slow-paced summers are resurrected. But long-buried secrets also come to light as Maddy discovers that all was not as it appeared that last summer in Sea Haven—nor today in the seemingly perfect lives of her sisters.

As family tensions rise and Connor causes tumult in Maddy’s heart, the sisters must find a way to accept each other for the women they’ve become before the bitterness of the past destroys their hope for a future.

From Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Summer by the Tides by Denise Hunter is a predictable contemporary romance featuring three sisters all with secrets. Filled with heart and intrigue, Hunter crafted a novel worth spending a couple of hours with. The novel enraptured my attention and kept me flipping the pages, so I could learn the truth holding each women in the story captive. The romance was sweet and moved along with the plot. I really enjoyed the hurricane as it made a secondary character as the truth deepened and became a reality. I believe fans of Beth K. Vogt, Melissa Tagg, and Courtney Walsh should pick this book up.

I received a complimentary copy of Summer by the Tides by Denise Hunter from Thomas Nelson Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

About the Author:

From Amazon

Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 30 novels, including "The Convenient Groom" and "A December Bride" which have been made into Hallmark movies. She has appeared on the The 700 club and won awards such as The Holt Medallion Award, The Carol Award, The Reader's Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist.

Denise writes heartwarming, small-town love stories. Her readers enjoy the vicarious thrill of falling in love and the promise of a happily-ever-after sigh as they savor the final pages of her books.


In 1996, inspired by the death of her grandfather, Denise began her first book, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she's been writing ever since. Her husband says he inspires all her romantic stories, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!

When Denise isn't orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking good coffee, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana where she and her husband raised three boys and are currently enjoying an empty nest.

You can learn more about Denise through her website www.DeniseHunterBooks.com or by visiting her FaceBook page at https://www.facebook.com/authordenisehunter (Taken from Amazon.)