by Crystal Caudill | Apr 30, 2024 | Book Reviews, Reading Challenge
It’s another month our challenge: Unlocking Ecclesiastes 3. I’m so excited to join you again this year with guest reviews from our reading challenge participants. If you want to submit a review for upcoming months, feel free to email me using my contact form. If you are looking for reading suggestions, I’ve cultivated a page just for that. (Note that it is still being updated throughout the year, so feel free to message me with suggestions.) I recommend you also checking Inspirational Historical Fiction Index or the Facebook Group Avid Readers of Christian Fiction or my Facebook group Crystal Caudill’s Reading Friends. I’ll also include a short list at the bottom of this post.
Don’t forget to comment at the bottom of the post for your chance to win a book off my prize shelf. *The list of prizes available from my prize shelf can be found here.*
Unlocking the Past: Ecclesiastes 3
Just as Ecclesiastes has two opposites in each verse, most months will leave you with two options to choose from.
“For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.”
April Verse: A time to tear down and a time to build up.
Challenge Theme: A book with characters or plots related to construction, remodeling, demolition, or architecture.
May Verse: A time to cry and a time to laugh.
Challenge Theme: A RomCom or a book that makes you cry
Engaging Deception
by Regina Jennings
Review by: Crystal Caudill
My MIL and I listened to this delightful tale while driving down to and back from watching the total eclipse. This book has long been on my TBR pile–the whole series really–and it was a joy to finally dive in. Olive was a wonderful character who, while reserved, was also interesting, had a wild/stubborn/brave streak, and was incredibly intelligent. The hero, Maxfield, was a loving dad running from his grief. The way both of these characters came together through architecture–at first as secret rivals–was a journey that was enjoyable, poignant, and had a depth I wasn’t expecting. The story was very well done, and I’m looking forward to reading Regina Jennings other books. I can’t remember if I’ve read her before, but this certainly won’t be my last.
Genre: Historical Romance, late 1890s to early 1900s, American
Plot Overview:
A lively competition draws her into her rival’s blueprints–and maybe even his heart.
Olive Kentworth has spent her life hiding her interest in architecture, even though she pores over architectural books and sketches buildings. When she accepts a job on a home expansion, it’s only because her cousin Amos agrees to pose as the builder. To further hide her involvement, Olive takes a position as a nanny–not knowing that she’ll be working for her idol, Joplin’s leading architect, widower Maxfield Scott.
Maxfield is intrigued by his new nanny–she makes his home and his life bearable again. His work, on the other hand, is a disaster. An untrained builder is remodeling a completed project of his. What’s worse, Maxfield’s current client wants changes to his plans because of that builder’s work.
As the architectural one-upmanship heats up, Olive’s involvement becomes harder to hide. Will the relationship between her and Maxfield survive, or will they both miss out on building something for their future?
Purchase Links:
Amazon | Baker Bookhouse | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com
Giveaway
For your chance to win a print copy, comment with what book YOU read for this month. Use the Rafflecopter below for extra entries and to mark that you left a comment. Entries end on the 7th of each month at midnight EST, and the winner will be drawn sometime that week and notified by email. The winner will be announced on the Rafflecopter widget.
*Open to all residents of the contiguous USA, legally able to enter, and an e-book format or Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to those outside that range who are legally able to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Recommendations for May:
- The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh
- The Swindler’s Daughter by Stephania McGee
- Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish by Bethany Turner
- The Hart of Christmas by Latisha Sexton
- Playing the Part, Jen Turano
- Worthy Pursuit, Karen Witemeyer
- Husband Auditions or Hero Debut by Angela Ruth Strong
- Loyally, Luke by Pepper Basham
What did you read for the challenge? What were your thoughts on it? Would you recommend it?
by Crystal Caudill | Mar 26, 2024 | Book Reviews
His Treasured Bride
by Patti Stockdale
Review:
I had the pleasure of reading Patti’s book, written in conjunction with Jodi Hedlund, for endorsement. This darling treasure hunt/marriage of convenience story was a fun adventure sprinkled with suspense and danger. With a mapmaker hero and a seamstress heroine–both determined on marriage for love only–teaming up together, what could be better? Watching their romance bloom and realization dawn was a sweet experience I’m happy to add to my bookshelves to revisit again.
Marriage of Convenience fans will love this sweet story, filled with adventure, romance, and a couple who grow together and as individuals. Like Daisy and Seth, you’ll find a true treasure when you read Patti Stockdale’s bride ship romance.
Genre: Historical Romance, 1860s Canada
Plot:
After recently arriving in Vancouver Island on a bride ship, aspiring seamstress Daisy Harper is determined not to rush into a hasty and quarrelsome marriage, a mistake her parents made. To avoid choosing the wrong man, she creates a rigorous list of ten requirements for a potential husband.
Mapmaker Seth Ryann moved to the colony to assist his partially blind brother, a local missionary. They’ll soon return to Ireland, but first, Seth is tasked by a friend to find a treasure of gold hidden in the mountains. Seth has the map to the treasure, but he’s missing the key.
When he discovers Daisy somehow has the key, the two agree to search for the treasure together. They’re left with little choice but to quickly enter a marriage of convenience. As they venture into the wilderness and work together to overcome danger, an undeniable attraction grows. But will they find the treasure only to lose what matters most?
Author Website: https://pattistockdale.com/
Purchase Link: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
What is the most recent book you’ve read? What did you like about it? Who would you recommend it to?
by Crystal Caudill | Mar 12, 2024 | Book Reviews
A Lady’s Heart of Gold
by Sally Britton
Review:
This was the last book in the Hearts of Arizona series, and it was a wonderful wrap-up to the series with a depth that touched on historical hardships that many would like to forget or ignore. The author’s note in the back almost broke my heart when she said while she enjoyed writing the series, the hardships of the ethnically non-white people groups (Native Americans, Spanish, Blacks etc) were extremely hard on her to research, and so she was returning to her Regency romances to stay. Not that I don’t love her Regencies, but I felt the way she handled a lot of the injustices was beautifully done and brought new understanding and perspective to something I thought I was already very familiar with, considering my own family background in the Native American realm. The romance was sweet, the depth of characters greatly appreciated, and the view into previous books’ characters’ lives a joy.
I recommend this book to those who love ranch love stories, female reporters, historical details that are accurate and moving, well-developed characters, and romances that are solidly built without being gag-worthy. 🙂 If you know me, I am not a gag-me-with-a-spoon romance girl. 😉
Genre: Historical Romance, Western
Plot:
When a determined English newspaper woman arrives in the Arizona desert, she expects to find the lawless and the illiterate. Instead, she meets a well-spoken and handsome cowboy who’s ready to prove to her there’s more to the Territory than cattle and cacti.
English newspaper reporter Molly McKinney is determined to make a name for herself by writing about the wilds of the American West. After convincing her editor to take a chance on her idea, Molly travels to the United States looking for tales that will transport and inspire her readers. When she meets a quiet cowboy in the middle of Arizona Territory, she can sense that his story might be the most important of all—if only he’ll open up enough to tell it.
Eduardo “Ed” Byrd has worked at the KB Ranch for five years, making an honest living and trying to ignore his past. He’s one-quarter Cherokee, three-quarters Mexican-American, and entirely his own person. Light-hearted and hard-working, Ed keeps to himself and reserves his dreams for the privacy of his notebooks. When one meeting with the tenacious English woman rattles his mind and heart, Ed can’t help but wonder if he’s been playing things safe for too long.
A reporter’s natural curiosity spurs Molly to make her way to the ranch where Ed works, and she’s determined to find out what the cowboy is hiding beneath his gentle smiles. There’s more to Ed than he lets on, and when Molly starts to unravel his past, he realizes their story might only have a happy ending if he’s willing to risk more than just his heart.
Author Website: https://www.authorsallybritton.com/
Purchase Link: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
What is the most recent book you’ve read? What did you like about it? Who would you recommend it to?
by Crystal Caudill | Feb 13, 2024 | Book Reviews
Copper for the Countess
by Sally Britton
Review:
Sally Britton once again brings a British character into the wilds of the Arizona Territory. While the first book had the second-born son of a Marquess, this time, it is the widowed Countess and her daughter. Evelyn is way over her head when she travels to Arizona, hoping to secure funds from her late husband’s holdings in Arizona. When things go in an unexpected direction, Evelyn’s left to rely on the kindness of strangers to survive. Learning to live on a ranch isn’t easy, but she’ll do anything for her daughter, including marry the handsome foreman who saved her from the streets. But Chris isn’t the only one getting unexpected challenges thrown his way. As the sudden father of two children, Chris needs help. People might think him crazy for marrying a countess who doesn’t know one thing about living in the desert, but he sees beyond what the world sees.
I loved watching the romance bloom between these two as Evenlyn, in particular, has deep wounds to overcome from her previous marriages. Chris is the perfect gentleman, and while there are natural romantic tensions in a marriage of convenience story, the heat is very mild and well done. In particular, I loved watching the two of them learn to parent together and watching Evelyn roll up her sleeves to learn the ways of the West.
I recommend this story to fans of Westerns, marriages of convenience, orphan stories, and sweet romances.
Genre: Western
Plot:
A Victorian countess doesn’t belong on a ranch, and a frosty cowboy knows nothing about raising a family. When the two have no choice but to rely on each other, is there any hope for happiness, let alone true love?
Lady Evelyn Lyon lost her husband and her fortune on the same day. Daughter in hand, she makes her way to the copper mines of Arizona, hoping her husband’s stock in the Bisbee Copper Queen mine will make it possible for her to raise her little girl. Every man she’s known has failed her, and she would far rather be alone than dependent on one. When the stock certificates in her possession prove fraudulent, Evelyn and her little girl are more alone than ever.
Chris Morgan, known as “Frosty” by cowhands and neighbors alike, never expected to have a family. When his cousin back east dies and leaves Chris with two children to raise, Chris has no choice but to change his plans. But raising children and running a ranch at the same time is a tall order. He’s at his wit’s end when he comes across a British noblewoman who has no business wandering around the desert without protection. When he learns her story, Chris knows they might be the solutions to each other’s problems.
A hasty wedding and dusty ride to Chris’s ranch starts their marriage of convenience off on a bumpy road. With children to raise and cattle to herd, Evelyn and Chris have no choice but to trust each other. But in the west, trust is hard won, and it’s hard to grow anything…especially love.
Copper for the Countess is Book 2 in the Hearts of Arizona Series, but it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone romance.
Author Website: https://www.authorsallybritton.com/
Purchase Link: Amazon| Barnes & Noble
What is the most recent book you’ve read? What did you like about it? Who would you recommend it to?
by Crystal Caudill | Jan 31, 2024 | Book Reviews, Reading Challenge
It’s time to start our newest challenge: Unlocking Ecclesiastes 3. I’m so excited to join you again this year with guest reviews from our reading challenge participants. If you want to submit a review for upcoming months, feel free to email me using my contact form. If you are looking for suggestions as to what to read each month, visit my recommendations page – Reading Challenge Recommendations — or I recommend joining my Crystal Caudill’s Reading Friends Facebook group, or visiting Avid Readers of Christian Fiction or Inspirational Historical Fiction Index. I’ll also include a short list at the bottom of this post.an Fiction or Inspirational Historical Fiction Index. I’ll also include a short list at the bottom of this post.
Don’t forget to comment at the bottom of the post for your chance to win a book off my prize shelf. *The list of prizes available from my prize shelf can be found here.*
Unlocking the Past: Ecclesiastes 3
Just as Ecclesiastes has two opposites in each verse, most months will leave you with two options to choose from.
“For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.”
January Verse: A time to be born and a time to die.
Challenge Theme: A book with a Baby or End of Life character
February Verse: A time to plant and a time to harvest.
Challenge Theme: A book with a Rural Setting OR a Major Move/Life Change
Catching Christmas
by Teri Blackstock
Review by: Crystal Caudill
Yes, I know. It’s a Christmas book and a contemporary one at that. I promise most of my future challenge books will be historical in nature, but I accidentally read this end-of-life book in December and decided to work ahead since I had a deadline in January. What do I mean by accidentally? I wouldn’t have picked it up if I knew it was an end-of-life book when I started listening to it. As a caregiver, that is just a hard subject for me right now, and the grandma, Callie, in this story dealt with a lot of memory/dementia-type issues and something else that . However, I forced myself to finish listening to it since it came so highly recommended, and Terri Blackstock has been on my need-to-try author list for a long time.
I’m still processing it. It was written in first person, one of my least favorite, but it didn’t fall under suspense or romance like I thought it would. It was fascinating to be in Finn’s perspective, and Sydney was . . . a difficult character for me. I tend to fall along Finn’s lines in that you sacrifice and give up for your family. Not that Sydney wasn’t trying her best, but I really got frustrated with her throughout the book with the decisions she made.
Genre: Contemporary Christmas
Plot Overview:
An overworked attorney’s grandmother will stop at nothing to find her a date for Christmas in this heartwarming holiday love story about finding what really matters in life.
As a first-year law associate, Sydney Batson knows she will be updating her resume by New Year’s if she loses her current case. So when her grandmother gets inexplicably ill while Sydney is in court, she arranges for a cab to take her grandmother to the clinic.
The last thing cab driver Finn Parrish wants is to be saddled with a wheelchair-bound old lady with dementia. But because Miss Callie reminds him of his own mother, whom he failed miserably in her last days, he can’t say no when she keeps calling him for rides. Once a successful gourmet chef, Finn’s biggest concern now is paying his rent, but half the time Callie doesn’t remember to pay him. And as she starts to feel better, she leads him on wild-goose chases to find a Christmas date for her granddaughter.
When Finn meets Sydney, he’s quite certain she’s never needed help finding a date. Does Miss Callie have an ulterior motive, or is this just a mission driven by delusions? He’s willing to do whatever he can to help fulfill Callie’s Christmas wish. He just never expected to be a vital part of it.
Purchase Links:
Amazon | Baker Bookhouse | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook.com
Giveaway
For your chance to win a print copy, comment with what book YOU read for this month. Use the Rafflecopter below for extra entries and to mark that you left a comment. Entries end on the 7th of each month at midnight EST, and the winner will be drawn sometime that week and notified by email. The winner will be announced on the Rafflecopter widget.
*Open to all residents of the contiguous USA, legally able to enter, and an e-book format or Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to those outside that range who are legally able to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Recommendations for February:
- Counterfeit Hope by Crystal Caudill
- Mark of the King, Jocelyn Green
- When Valleys Bloom Again by Pat Jeanne Davis
- Forsaken Dreams by MaryLu Tyndall
- Rocky Mountain Promise by Misty Beller
- Shaped By the Waves – Christina Suzann Nelson
- The Shunning trilogy by Beverly Lewis
- Forsaken Dreams by MaryLu Tyndall
What did you read for the challenge? What were your thoughts on it? Would you recommend it?
by Crystal Caudill | Jan 4, 2024 | Book Reviews, Reading Challenge
It’s time for another month of the Unlocking the Past Reading Challenge: Unlock an Adventure. I’m so excited to join you on an adventure this year with guest reviews from our reading challenge participants. If you want to submit a review for upcoming months, feel free to sign up for a month here and use the Google form to submit your review. As my time has become too limited to do a suggestions post each month, I encourage you to jump over to the Unlocking the Past Reading Challenge page and ask for suggestions from there or from any of a number of amazing reader groups like Avid Readers of Christian Fiction or check out the Inspirational Historical Fiction Index.
*The list of prizes available from my prize shelf can be found here.*
December’s Theme: Christmas
January Verse: A time to be born and a time to die.
Challenge Theme: A book with a Baby or End of Life character
Christmas at Whitefriars
by Elizabeth Camden
Review by: Crystal Caudill
I’ve long been a fan of Elizabeth Camden, and I’m slowly working my way through her backlist. This story is a lot of fun, taking place in a castle in England at Christmas. The heroine, Mary, is agoraphobic–meaning she has a fear of leaving her safe little castle, while the hero is a businessman who has a partnership with Whitefriar Castle to license their image for their food products. The interaction between the two is sweet, and one I’m ready to reread again. But can love and marriage happen when the hero, Everett, has to live in New York for his business and Mary can’t even leave her English castle? You’ll have to see how they overcome this obstacle because it’s not what you expect, and I cheered the whole time.
Genre: Historical Romance, 1912, England
Plot Overview:
Mary Beckwith lives in a magnificent English castle during the twilight years of the gilded age. With the help of an American millionaire, she has succeeded in renovating her beloved Whitefriars castle into a splendid estate just in time for Christmas.
From across the ocean, millionaire Everett Wooten has spent a fortune propping up Whitefriars to add modern conveniences and rebuild crumbling old walls. Even though he’s never met Mary, they have enjoyed a lively business correspondence over the nine years they have been working toward a renovation. Now he has finally come to see Mary and the castle in person, but nothing is as he was led to believe.
Mary and Everett try to find a way forward, but red-blooded American entrepreneurship doesn’t always mingle with blue-blooded English tradition. Can a Manhattan business tycoon and an English lady come to an accord, or will their joint venture in Whitefriars result in heartbreak for them both?
Giveaway
For your chance to win a print copy, comment with what book YOU read for this month and you will also be entered into the year-end Grand Prize Reader Basket. Use the Rafflecopter below for extra entries and to mark that you left a comment. Entries end on the 7th of each month at midnight EST, and the winner will be drawn sometime that week and notified by email. The winner will be announced don’t the Rafflecopter widget. (This month is being extended to the 12th, due to my lateness in getting it out.
*Open to all residents of the contiguous USA, legally able to enter, and an e-book format or Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to those outside that range who are legally able to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Recommendations for January:
- The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip by Sara Brunsvold (End of Life)
- Something I Haven’t Told You by Pearl Ada Pridham (Baby)
- Where the Blue Sky Begins by Katie Powner (End of Life)
- Chasing Christmas by Teri Blackstock (End of Life)
- This is Where it Ends by Cindy Sproles (End of Life)
- Fragile Designs by Colleen Coble (Baby)
- Because of the Rain by Deborah Raney (Baby – but tough read)
- The Noble Guardian, Michelle Griep (Baby)
- In Harm’s Way by Irene Hannon (Baby)
- Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico by Lena Nelson Dooley (Baby)
What did you read for the challenge? What were your thoughts on it? Would you recommend it?
