You know what? I really do admire Melanie Dickerson. She has a knack for creating heroes and heroines that are accurate, believable, and so realistic and relatable that you feel like you’ve known them your whole life. I still haven’t recovered – maybe recovered isn’t the right word – I haven’t been the same writer since I read The Silent Song Bird. Here’s a look at her latest release, book two in the Imperiled Young Widows Series, entitled, A Treacherous Treasure.
Rebecca Heywood thought marriage would make her happy, but that hope was destroyed by her husband’s infidelity. When he is murdered, everyone assumes it was at the hands of the angry husband of one of his paramours. Then rumors emerge of a pirate’s treasure buried somewhere on their estate, and she discovers a long-lost treasure map among her late husband’s grandfather’s papers. Could her husband have been murdered by treasure hunters?
Thomas Westbrook hoped for a quiet life in the country after the horrors of war. But when he hears a gunshot the day after his neighbor is murdered, he finds himself coming to the aid of the young widow. Falling for the widow of his back-stabbing former friend would be a grave mistake. But he feels drawn to the kind and beautiful Rebecca, and when her life is threatened, he realizes he would do anything to save her.
Rebecca can’t imagine marrying again after her husband’s many betrayals. She also can’t deny her feelings for Thomas Westbrook. But how can she ever trust men, attraction, or marriage again—the very things that ruined her happiness? Rebecca and Thomas must find the treasure first, before the murderers and would-be thieves, even as their growing feelings for each other wage war against all their deepest fears.
Melanie Dickerson is the New York Times Bestselling author of The Silent Songbird, The Regency Spies of London series, and Court of Swans.
For more information or to purchase the book, click here
Every once in a while, a new author will catch my eye that has it all – the heroine, the plot, the conflict, the history, the killer book cover, and of course, a little bit of romance. Let me introduce you to my newest author find – Sally Britton.
While she put out a number of books last year – four that I counted off hand! Wow! – the latest if her books to catch my is entitled, Her Unsuitable Match.
Intrigued? Read on.
Lady Philippa must wed to gain her fortune and freedom. A former soldier wants only peace and seclusion. Marriage to each other is their best solution.
Lady Philippa Gillensford is three and twenty, an heiress, and sister to a penny-pinching earl. After rejecting every bachelor her mother approves of, Philippa is ready to take her future into her own hands. Though she doubts she’ll marry for love, she is more than willing to marry for freedom from her family’s influence.
Myles Cobbett has withdrawn from Society, content to remain alone after surviving the horrors of the Napoleonic wars. When a friend convinces Myles to attend a ball benefiting wounded veterans like himself, Myles meets the lively Lady Philippa. Shortly thereafter, to help Philippa avoid scandal, Myles rescues her from a complete cad.
Sensing a chance to escape her family’s control, Philippa convinces Myles he must marry her to save her reputation. In exchange for this favor, Philippa promises him the very thing he thought he always wanted: a quiet life, alone in the country.
While the two put on a show of marital happiness for their neighbors, both realize they want much more from this arrangement. Can they take a marriage of convenience and turn it into a love match?
Her Unsuitable Match is a sweet Regency romance and can be read as a stand-alone or as the sequel to Sally Britton’s previous novel, His Unexpected Heiress.
It is also part of the upcoming Supposed Scandal series.
Sally Britton is a wife, mother, and author who loves the world of romance, received her BA in English from Brigham Young University, and reads voraciously. She started her writing journey at the tender age of fourteen on an electric typewriter, and she’s never looked back.
Sally primarily lives in Oklahoma with her husband, four children, and Izzie the Aussie Shepherd. She loves researching, hiking, and eating too much chocolate.
Follow Sally’s adventures on Instagram and Facebook, and check out her website!
For those of you who are anxious for my Friday book recommendations, those will resume next week.
Some of you know my story of how I became an author, but some of you are new and may not. Hence I invite you on a trip down memory lane…
The year was 2005, I was sixteen and well defined as a reader who loved to make up stories. I had already started writing a Young Adult novel about the mischievous Noel Carlile and her best friend and partner in crime, The Romano Cheese Man. (He had a first name but it escapes me at the present). I’d also created my first children’s book out of notebook paper stapled together about a girl who works in the garage with her dad called, “My Dad’s Pop.” (Equally compelling, I know but in my defense I was like six years old). I even went as far as to enter a story contest with a tale of three sisters (no idea what they’re names were – I only remember the Crayola marker illustrations with each girl having their own distinctive color of dress, one blue, one purple, and one pink), and their chocolate lab named Brownie who goes missing.
Impressive for childhood right?
Even the illustrations.
Sounds like every other kid who has an imagination – and that’s what I thought I was. I always credit my mom for getting the ball rolling with my imagination because as a little kid I couldn’t sleep, so by her suggestion, I would dream up what we now know as “fan fiction” for my favorite stories.
What happens to Cinderella after she marries the prince?
What if Cinderella hadn’t married the prince?
What happened to Cinderella’s step sisters after the story ended?
All valid questions, right?
In 2005, the Lord lit a fire in me for music. I wanted more than anything to be performer, a professional musician. After many heated discussions with my parents we compromised my dream of performing into something more sensible – teaching – but that didn’t make the dream go away.
So what does any sensible kid with an active imagination do?
She writes a story about it.
This, of course, was nothing new for me until I found myself ten chapters in, swimming in almost 100 pages. All my other stories had stopped after a couple of chapters and I never went back to them, but this one seemed to stick. It became an outlet for me – an escape from teenage drama. I got into a rhythm of writing and eventually, I did the unthinkable – I read it to my friends.
Still not sure that I was really onto something, my friends sat around in a circle while I read my story to them. They were hooked. One of my good friend’s moms even offered to design my cover – she had read it too.
So I kept writing.
Fast forward to 2011, I’d finished my first novel, was working on my second, which would later be published as “An Angel in the Distance”, and my friends were bugging me.
“When are you going to publish something?” One of my dear friends asked me. “You promised that you would send something to a publisher when you finished your Bachelor’s degree.”
It had been eight months since I’d graduated. It was time to keep my promise.
I sent out a proposal for the first book I wrote, and promptly got a photo-copied, unsigned rejection letter which basically stated, “we didn’t have time to read your submission, but if you’d like to submit again you can.”
I was devastated.
Yet, something pushed me to try again.
I submitted my proposal for “An Angel in the Distance” to two publishers, expecting the same result again. One morning in late February, I got the email with a contract attached.
It was finally happening. I was getting published.
In August of 2015, “An Angel in the Distance” was released, followed by my other book, “When the Italian Came to Stay” in November of the same year. It was remarkable news for an unremarkable year.
Four years later, I published the sequel to “An Angel in the Distance” called, “Angels in Darkness.” While the first book in the series has a Cinderella arc steeped in 15th-Century Renaissance-Era Florence, the second book gave the villain of the series a redemption arc that took me to the brink of my creativity, stretching my imagination in new ways.
It is here that I come to the bittersweet part of the story.
I learned this week that the publisher of both “An Angel in the Distance” and “Angels in Darkness” is pausing their business endeavors and relinquishing the rights to everything they’ve published, meaning both of those books will soon be out of print.
Its sad, but because I am fortunate enough to know this publisher personally, I understand. I pray that either one day she will be able to take my titles back and publish the final book in the trilogy, or that another publisher will snap them up.
A year ago I would have been freaking out about this, but I have a different perspective now. This is a fresh start as an author. I haven’t published anything since 2019, and I’ve been working on a couple of great projects that I can’t wait to share with you! Thank you for your love and support, it means the world to me. I don’t write for my own amusement, I write because the Creator gives me the stories to put out there into the world. I do have a passion and drive for it that has never gone away, and I’m thankful for that. It is what is going to keep me going and get my next series in print.
If you’ve thought about checking out one of my books, I would recommend doing it soon before they’re out of print. Click the title links to learn more about “An Angel in the Distance,” and “Angels in Darkness.”
Thank you again for your support! I’ll do my best to keep you posted.
Whether you’ve just discovered my blog, or you’ve been following it for a while, you’ve probably put it together that in addition to reviewing books, I’m also an author of three books. I’m a romance writer, but there has to be substance to the plot. I’m a historical fiction writer, but one thing I strive to do in my fiction is to make the time period come alive through meticulous detail. Most of all, my faith comes through in my writing because that’s where my stories come from, so it only makes sense that my books begin and end centered around our Creator.
Writing takes time. The fastest I ever wrote a book was one year, but it felt like it went by too fast. (Then again, an editor’s work is never done). The hardest part about writing is the commitment – once you start writing, you can’t stop.
It’s like when you decide to date someone exclusively. You meet up with them at least once a week, you love spending time together so you work on that relationship, and you don’t start dating someone else.
Well, if you’re a smart person you don’t.
But sometimes relationships don’t work out. Sometimes your personalities don’t mesh, you can’t rationalize what the other person is thinking or feeling, or sometimes, something else distracts you and pulls you away from the relationship.
Sometimes you have to take a break, walk away, or just give up. Although that is the main difference with writing, at least for me.
I never really give up.
I stash drafts. I save drafts. I reread drafts. I daydream about drafts –
And then, something magical happens.
Suddenly I can see the character vividly in my head, sometimes played by actors from the last show I binged on Netflix or the last Hallmark movie I watched. But most of the time, I don’t recognize these people as anyone I’ve ever seen before.
Sure they have similarities to people I know, but statistically that was bound to happen. Like a good writer, I draw on the emotions in my own struggles and pour all that energy into the plot adding tension, drama, and life to the characters.
So what am I working on now?
I’m glad you asked.
Right now my dreams are staying in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The town doesn’t have British Royalty, but it has heart, charm, and most importantly it has history.
I dare you to take a drive through there – can you hear Tim Allen reading to blog post like those “Pure Michigan” commercials? – down Jefferson Street and around town. The sights are right out of a social studies textbook. There’s the late 19th Century architecture of First Presbyterian church, Street after street of turn-of-the-century homes, and – most magical of all – there’s Cascade Park, a piece of history.
Cascade Park, 1928 E. Washington Street New Castle, PA 16101
Cascade Park is the New Castle gathering place for people from all walks of life. If you’d like to learn more about it, click here.
That’s where I’ve been – New Castle, Pennsylvania in 1920. I can’t wait to tell you more. Rest assured there will be love, there will be tension, and there will be a story full of charm and heart steeped in history.
I’ll do my best to keep you updated and I can’t wait to introduce a new group of characters to you all.
Have you read one of Mercy Givens’ books? Do you love Gone With the Wind and stories of the young United States? Rich in historical detail, my good friend Mercy Givens engulfs her readers in a hoop-skirts and turbulence among our then young countrymen. Interested? Read on for more about book one in the Katie Galloway Adventures series, Almost Home.
Peering ahead, Katie saw a light shining through the darkness. It was a lantern set in a window. She recognized the house from which that beacon shone; they were almost home… Born into a world torn by the politics of slavery and civil war, Katie Galloway is dragged back and forth between her mother’s fruitless world of high society and the lonely life of her father’s Texas ranch. As the South struggles to rebuild itself Katie searches for hope, truth, and a place to call ‘home’. Along the way she wrangles cattle, finds a school, loses her family, saves a man’s life, and survives the worst small pox epidemic the world has known; all by the age of sixteen. Just as it seems that Katie has found her way, a series of tragic events hurls her into desperate circumstances. Katie’s story is a powerful testament of family, human rights, and tenacity. Will she finally find the home she‘s been searching for? Join Katie for the adventure of her life.
For more information, or to purchase the book, click here.
Have you read one of Mercy Givens’ books? Do you love Gone With the Wind and stories of the young United States? Rich in historical detail, my good friend Mercy Givens engulfs her readers in a hoop-skirts and turbulence among our then young countrymen. Interested? Read on for more about book one in the Katie Galloway Adventures series, Almost Home.
Peering ahead, Katie saw a light shining through the darkness. It was a lantern set in a window. She recognized the house from which that beacon shone; they were almost home… Born into a world torn by the politics of slavery and civil war, Katie Galloway is dragged back and forth between her mother’s fruitless world of high society and the lonely life of her father’s Texas ranch. As the South struggles to rebuild itself Katie searches for hope, truth, and a place to call ‘home’. Along the way she wrangles cattle, finds a school, loses her family, saves a man’s life, and survives the worst small pox epidemic the world has known; all by the age of sixteen. Just as it seems that Katie has found her way, a series of tragic events hurls her into desperate circumstances. Katie’s story is a powerful testament of family, human rights, and tenacity. Will she finally find the home she‘s been searching for? Join Katie for the adventure of her life.
For more information, or to purchase the book, click here.
I love discovering new, talented authors with a story to tell. Tea Cooper is a prime example. Take a look at her 2021 release, The Girl in the Painting.
A young prodigy in need of family.
A painting that shatters a woman’s peace.
And a decades-old mystery demanding to be solved.
Australia, 1906
Orphan Jane Piper is nine years old when philanthropist siblings Michael and Elizabeth Quinn take her into their home to further her schooling. The Quinns are no strangers to hardship. Having arrived in Australia as penniless immigrants, they now care for others as lost as they once were.
Despite Jane’s mysterious past, her remarkable aptitude for mathematics takes her far over the next seven years, and her relationship with Elizabeth and Michael flourishes as she plays an increasingly prominent part in their business.
But when Elizabeth reacts in terror to an exhibition at the local gallery, Jane realizes no one knows Elizabeth after all—not even Elizabeth herself. As the past and present converge and Elizabeth’s grasp on reality loosens, Jane sets out to unravel her story before it’s too late.
From the gritty reality of the Australian goldfields to the grand institutions of Sydney, this compelling novel presents a mystery that spans continents and decades as both women finally discover a place to call home.
“Combining characters that are wonderfully complex with a story spanning decades of their lives, The Girl in the Painting is a triumph of family, faith, and long-awaited forgiveness. I was swept away!” —Kristy Cambron, bestselling author of The Paris Dressmaker and the Hidden Masterpiece novels
Stand-alone novel with rich historical details
Book length: 102,000 words
Includes discussion questions for book clubs and historical note from the author
Also by this author: The Woman in the Green Dress
About the Author
Tea Cooper is an established Australian author of historical fiction. In a past life she was a teacher, a journalist, and a farmer. These days she haunts museums and indulges her passion for storytelling. She is the winner of two Daphne du Maurier Awards and the bestselling author of several novels, including The Horse Thief, The Cedar Cutter, The Currency Lass, and The Naturalist’s Daughter.
For more information about the book or to purchase the book, click here.
I’m a sucker for the color blue, but that’s not why I’m recommending the second book in Roseanna M. White’s The Secrets of the Isles series. Here’s a sneak peak of what looks like another page-turner from Roseanna M. White.
1906
Beth Tremayne has always been drawn to adventure. During her childhood, she fed that desire by exploring every inch of the Isles of Scilly. Now, after stumbling across an old collection of letters and a map buried on her family’s property, she’s found more adventure than she ever anticipated in the hunt for pirate treasure. But in order to discover where the clues lead, she must search alongside Lord Sheridan, a man she finds insufferable.
Sheridan has spent years pursuing whatever archaeological interests pique his imagination. And when he discovers that Beth’s search connects with one of his far-removed pirate ancestors, he can’t help getting involved. Plus, he finds her irresistible, even though she insists he stole a prized possession of hers.
As they work together following different clues and drawing closer to danger, they start to piece together a story of tragic love and piratical adventure. But which treasure will bring the greatest surprise–the one they find in each other or the one just out of their reach?
About the Author
Roseanna M. White (www.roseannamwhite.com) is a bestselling, Christy Award-nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. She pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of numerous novels, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to Edwardian British series. Roseanna lives with her family in West Virginia. Learn more at http://www.roseannamwhite.com.
For more information or to pre-order the book, (it comes out January 18th, 2022!), click here.
Kate Breslin, smashing author of the novel, Not By Sight, has done it again. Check out this dazzling new release that takes place during the Great War in England entitled, As Dawn Breaks.
Her daring bid for freedom could be her greatest undoing.
Amid the Great War in 1918 England, munitions worker Rosalind Graham is desperate to escape the arranged marriage being forced on her by her ruthless guardian and instead follow her own course. When the Chilwell factory explodes, killing hundreds of unidentified workers, Rose realizes the world believes she perished in the disaster. Seizing the chance to escape, she risks all and assumes a new identity, taking a supervisory position in Gretna, Scotland, as Miss Tilly Lockhart.
RAF Captain Alex Baird is returning home to Gretna on a secret mission to uncover the saboteur suspected in the Chilwell explosion, as Gretna’s factory is likely next. Fearing for his family’s safety, he’s also haunted by guilt after failing to protect his brother. Alex is surprised to discover a young woman, Miss Lockhart, renting his boyhood room, but the two eventually bond over their mutual affection for his family–until Alex receives orders to surveil her.
Rose squirms beneath Alex’s scrutiny while she struggles to gain her workers’ respect. But when her deception turns to danger, she and Alex must find a way to put their painful pasts behind them and together try to safeguard the future.
“With her trademark attention to historical detail, Kate Breslin sweeps readers to a Great War home front full of intrigue, suspense, danger, and courage.” –JOCELYN GREEN, Christy Award-winning author of Shadows of the White City
“Readers will be captivated by this exquisite blend of historical intrigue and heartfelt romance from one of the finest voices in inspirational fiction.” –AMANDA BARRATT, author of My Dearest Dietrich and The White Rose Resists “Breslin uses an exhilarating plotline and tender romance amid the tension of espionage to craft a gripping tale rife with double agents, corrupt foreign arms dealers, and secret missions. Ultimately, this is a story of forgiveness and family, and readers will revel once again in Breslin’s superb chronicling of women’s vital contributions to the war effort.” –Booklist “Breslin keeps the tension up. . . . The stakes could not be higher–in both love and war–in this espionage tale drenched in intrigue.” –Publishers Weekly
About the Author
A Florida girl who migrated to the Pacific Northwest, Kate Breslin was a bookseller for many years. She is a Carol Award winner and a RITA and Christy Award finalist and lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington. Find her online at http://www.katebreslin.com.
For more information or to purchase the book, click here.
Elizabeth Camden is one of my favorite authors. When I read The Lady of Bolton Hill, I decided that was the kind of author I wanted to be – an author that immerses her reader in the time period, fills the story with realistic romantic drama, makes the reader believe that all hope is lost, and then – BAM! – out of nowhere comes this shocking twist that the reader never sees coming.
I dreamed of the day that I could produce something as good as The Lady of Bolton Hill.
It is my pleasure to review Elizabeth Camden’s 2017 release, To the Farthest Shores, not just because she’s one of my favorites, but because this book is truly unique and different from her other novels.
Before my keyboard runs away with me, let’s take a closer look.
Cover/Marketing
If you haven’t read a novel by Elizabeth Camden, you probably haven’t seen the exquisite covers. Most of her books have a photo her heroine, close enough that you can see their costume, get an idea of the mood of the book, and on some you can see their facial expressions.
This cover does not follow that pattern.
I almost didn’t read this one. I thought initially that it was a compilation book written by a host of famous authors in the genre. I happened to read the back of the book and got hooked (like most books by Elizabeth Camden).
Before I get lost in the correlations between the plot and the cover image, (which will inevitably lead me to cover the plot), let me say that I had not heard any buzz about this book when it came out. Going into this new novel journey, I had no pre-conceived ideas other than, “It’s written by Elizabeth Camden, so it must be good.”
Plot (Spoilers! Batten Down the Hatches!)
This is by far the most unique of Elizabeth Camden’s books in that it covers an uncommon, (and quite frankly often forgotten) period in American history. The time period – just after the Spanish-American War and just before World War I – reads like trip through early 20th Century America, complete with an intricate look at racial prejudice against Asian-Americans.
The plot centers around our heroine, Jenny Bennett, (who I’ll talk about more further down), and her work as military nurse. When Jenny meets Ryan Gallagher, the two fall in love and make plans only for Ryan to take an assignment in Japan, leaving Jenny and their dreams behind. Sending her nothing more than a hurried note to break off their engagement, Jenny is broken to the core even seven years later.
Honestly, this is one of the few books I’ve read that found difficult to read but I kept on reading it.
Romance
Like most novels by Elizabeth Camden, there’s hope that the two character will finally declare their love and live happily ever after – not this time. If you ever experienced a nasty break up, this book will drudge up all those feelings you never knew you had. You’ll find yourself, (like me), yelling at the pages, “Don’t do it, Jenny!” Yet somehow, I still rooted for Jenny and Ryan to end up together. I feel like I can’t compare the love story in this one to every other Elizabeth Camden novel I’ve read because their simply not the same.
To the Farthest Shore is a slightly darker love story, and I say that because Ryan not only left Jenny, he also had an affair, married another woman, and became a father. All of these things are incredibly difficult to forgive, and we watch as Jenny slowly lets him back into her life. It’s both painful and triumphant to experience.
The Heroine
As cliched as it sounds, the heroine makes the story. Jenny is the very bones of this story, but she’s human. At times, as I’ve said, it was hard for me to read this without yelling at the book. She’s strong, she’s determined, and as much as she would like to forget it, she’s in love with Ryan Gallagher. Over all, Jenny is inspiring, so much so, I found myself asking if I were in the same situation, would I have the courage, security, and emotional strength to forgive and give Ryan a second chance.
I’m still not sure I could answer ‘yes’ to all of those questions.
In fact, I know I couldn’t say ‘yes’ to all of those questions.
She overcomes great obstacles and seeks forgiveness, but she’s looking for it in the wrong place. Thinking that she can send money off to the family of a young man she helped wrong as a child, Jenny thinks that her note and money will wipe the slate clean – so to speak. Without giving away the beautiful redemptive theme of the book, I will leave you with this: as Christians we know that forgiveness cannot be bought.
Staying Power – Should We Judge This Book By Its Cover?
Honestly, I think that this is a different type of book by Elizabeth Camden. It’s darker, its hard to read at times, but it’s not so off-the-beaten-path that you can’t relate to the characters and enjoy the story. So yes, you should judge this book by its cover – meaning, since it doesn’t follow the typical pattern of Elizabeth Camden’s covers, it’s foreshadowing a book that doesn’t follow the typical pattern that we see from Elizabeth Camden.
The Bottom Line
I have to be honest – To the Farthest Shore is another exquisite work from Elizabeth Camden. Although there are a few of her books that I enjoy more than this one, it still has unique characters, a history lesson built into it, and is ultimately well written.
For more information, or to purchase the book, click here.
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