by Crystal Caudill | Sep 17, 2019 | Book Reviews
Under Moonlit Skies by Cynthia Roemer
The Prairie Skies series has been a pleasure to read and one I will read again, which for me is rare. There are few straight romances which I will read, let alone reread. Yet, Cynthia Roemer always seems to bring more to a story than just romance. Her characters and storylines have depth and and life truths. Under Moonlit Skies had the touch of danger for the last third of the book that I crave. Soooo good. Of course it doesn’t hurt that part of the story takes place in my region. 😉 You can read the reviews of the first two books in the series Under This Same Sky and Under Prairie Skies.
Genre: Historical Romance, 1850s
Plot Overview:
Her life was planned out ~ until he rode in ~
Illinois prairie ~ 1859
After four long years away, Esther Stanton returns to the prairie to care for her sister Charlotte’s family following the birth of her second child. The month-long stay seems much too short as Esther becomes acquainted with her brother-in-law’s new ranch hand, Stewart Brant. When obligations compel her to return to Cincinnati and to the man her overbearing mother intends her to wed, she loses hope of ever knowing true happiness.
Still reeling from a hurtful relationship, Stew is reluctant to open his heart to Esther. But when he faces a life-threatening injury with Esther tending him, their bond deepens. Heartbroken when she leaves, he sets out after her and inadvertently stumbles across an illegal slave-trade operation, the knowledge of which puts him, as well as Esther and her family, in jeopardy.
What I loved: My favorite part is the danger and how Stew’s character really stands out in the midst of it. I don’t want to give anything away, but I will say it has to do with the fact Cincinnati was a hotbed of activity during the years leading up to the Civil War.
Favorite Character: I really loved Stew. He was an imperfect man with a strength of character which one cannot help but love. He is sweet and committed. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but he does it anyway.
Who would like this: Anyone who loves stories with characters who struggle with becoming their own person, gentle romance, and a touch of danger. Also, those who enjoy a glimpse into pre-Civil War life in an area where blacks were free but always in danger.
Rating and Why: I gave this a four and half star rating. It was a great conclusion to the series which was different from each of the preceding plots and there was a continued demonstration of great character development. I love getting to see characters struggle and change in ways I can relate to.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author/publisher. The review above was influenced in no way by this and the above opinions are my own.
Join the discussion: If you had a decision to make that would greatly disappoint and hurt a parent’s feelings, would you choose what they wanted for you or what you wanted most for yourself?
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by Crystal Caudill | Apr 17, 2018 | Author Interviews
Today I have the great pleasure of introducing you to Jennifer Uhlarik, a wonderful historical romance author. If you are into reading the novella collections that are so popular right now you might already recognize her name. Now I get the joy of giving you a glimpse of the person behind those delightful stories. At the end of the interview, check out your chance to win a copy of one of the novella collections she has a story in.
Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has finaled and won in numerous writing competitions, and been on the ECPA best-seller list numerous times. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.
Ready to go beyond the blurb? You’ll be glad you took the time to get to know her.
Sweet or Unsweet Tea?
J.U.: Sweet! Like…REALLY SWEET. Cavity-inducing sweet! Anything else is just colored water. 😉
Crystal: A true southern girl, no doubt! Love the, “Anything else is just colored water.”
Beach Vacation or Mountain Getaway?
J.U.: I live in Florida, so beaches are prevalent. I’d prefer a mountain getaway. It feels far more exotic to me!
Crystal: We just got finished vacationing in your area. Definitely a great place to visit, but I can see getting tired of the beaches.
Homebody or Love to Travel?
J.U.: Can I say both? When I’m home…I want to be home in my comfy clothes and chilling with those I love. But I adore traveling too—from planning the trip to sightseeing and hitting all the museums and historic sights each new place has to offer. I guess you could say we’re go-go-go on vacation, and stay-stay-stay at home. LOL
Crystal: Ha, sounds like home might be more relaxing. 😉
Morning Person or Night Owl?
J.U.: Hmmm. This is a hard one. I’m somewhat both. I wake usually around 7:15 in the morning, but I’ll stay up until midnight most nights—and 2 AM if I’m really flowing in my writing.
Crystal: I’d put you in the night owl category then! People who enjoy being up before 6:00, those are the crazy morning people. 7:15 sounds reasonable to me.
Bookmark or Dog-ear Pages?
J.U.: I’m strictly a bookmark girl! My husband is a dog-ear guy. I cringe every time he turns down a corner, and I have to resist screaming, “STOP, you animal!”
Crystal: I just cringed right along with you. Eek!
The Writing Journey
What is the hardest part about being an author? What is the easiest?
J.U.: The hardest part of being an author for me is balance. I can be very one-track-minded, so when I’m writing, everything else gets ignored. That’s great for the word-count, but my husband likes to eat each evening, and we often have errands to run, or the house needs cleaning. So keeping all the parts of my life balanced tends to be really hard!
The easiest thing is dreaming up new characters to write about and new adventures for them to experience. It seems I have far more story ideas than I have time to write them.
Crystal: Clean houses and meals aren’t really necessary, right?
What are your “have to haves” when it is time to write?
J.U.: A bottle of water or two, a pad of paper and my favorite pen, a blanket to cover my legs, and my dog Gracie. She is my “helper dog,” and she races me to my writing room each day, ready to get to work! (Her version of work is napping on her dog bed in the corner while I slave away at the keyboard, but she makes for good company for those long, lonely hours).
Crystal: I love that you have a writing buddy. She sounds adorable.
What is your favorite Bible verse?
J.U.: Luke 1:45—Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.
This verse came to my attention one Christmas season years ago when I was waiting for a promise from God to come about in my life. I’d been through a tough divorce, was raising a child alone, and God had promised me that if I would seek Him first, that there was another (better) marriage in my future. From the first time I heard that verse, it became a lifeline to me as I waited on God’s promise to come true, and even after I was married, I’ve hung onto that verse for each new promise God gives me.
Crystal: I love that story and seeing how God does bless those who believe what He has said.
First Love Forever Romance Collection
Heartfelt Echoes by Jennifer Uhlarik
1875—Virginia City, Nevada: A short, urgent letter mentioning his childhood love, Millie Gordon, forces deaf Travis McCaffrey to turn to his estranged birth father for help rescuing the woman he can’t forget.
Crystal: I just have to say, I absolutely LOVE Travis and Millie. Of all the novellas I have ever read, I think they are my favorite.
What drew you to create deaf characters?
J.U.: Wow! I am humbled that my characters are your favorites! Thank you. What an honor!
Travis and Millie are characters that appeared in a previous novella, Mountain Echoes, which I wrote for the Courageous Brides Collection. In that story, Travis was a 12-year-old boy who’d lost his hearing the year before. The heroine of Mountain Echoes, Hannah, crossed the Sierras by stagecoach to pick him up and transport him back to San Francisco to attend the California School for the Deaf. I brought Millie into the story in one of the last scenes of Mountain Echoes, one of Travis’s new friends in his new environment. So when I learned the theme of the First Love Forever collection, they were the characters that came to mind. There was already a foundation laid for their romance, and it was simply a matter of them telling me how they were separated.
Beyond having a “history” with Travis and Millie, I have always loved sign language. During my teens, one of my best friends had a sister who was deaf, so I was exposed to sign language and the deaf culture a little through their family. I guess something stuck from my experiences with them because I have known for a long time that I would like to write a story about a deaf character. It was a challenge, making sure I didn’t write any sounds into that story, but I love a good challenge.
Crystal: I didn’t realize there was another story with Travis and Millie. I will definitely have to check that out. I love how you used the experience of your friends to create a story that others might not have been exposed to otherwise.
I especially loved how Millie had gone through a surgery that affected her. From my own research, that detail was so true to life.
Who or what inspired you to create Millie the way you did?
J.U.: I can credit Millie’s surgery and its effect on her to a wonderful group of friends who helped me brainstorm this story. When we got the word that Barbour Publishing wanted the collection, I had, at most, a synopsis that was roughly a paragraph long, and it may have been only a sentence. As I got to thinking about the story as I’d envisioned it when I wrote the very brief description, I realized that it had some flaws, and I would need to restructure some things. Fortunately, I was headed to the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference and signed up for the brainstorming class. In that class, the eight participants each discussed the respective stories represented in the group, and someone threw out the idea of Millie having had a surgery…and the effect it had on her. As soon as the idea was put out, we all knew it was a must for this story. So I can credit Lynette’s brainstorming class—and particularly Patty Smith Hall, since she’s the one who put the idea out there to begin with.
Crystal: How wonderful to have such a wonderful group of people to help you brainstorm.
This novella collection is about First Love Forever. Most people I know dream of finding one person to love and cherish for an entire lifetime, but marriage can be tough.
What is the best piece of advice for marriage you have ever heard?
J.U.: This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. As I mentioned above, I went through a divorce and spent a decade as a single mom before I found love again. God was gracious to me and brought me my Dave—my best friend who is funny, kind, giving, and amazing in so many ways. He makes marriage seem easy (though, no…no marriage is truly easy—at least not all the time. Marriages take work, but when you’re with the right person, the work doesn’t seem so hard).
When Dave and I were planning our wedding, our pastor made an offhand comment during a planning meeting that both Dave and I immediately locked onto. The pastor said, “Marriage isn’t about finding the right person. It is about being the right person.” As soon as the words crossed his lips, we each immediately recognized that our marriage needed to be more than expecting our other half to meet our every need or make us happy all the time. Rather than being self-focused, we needed to have the outlook of “how can I make his (or her) life easier? What does he (or she) need from me now?” Sure, we falter from that at times, but by and large, we’ve had eleven years of marital success by living by this principle—thinking of our other half before ourselves.
Crystal: Beautiful, wonderful advice. It is something I hope many take to heart.
Fun Question of the Day:
If you could spend the day with any author you wanted (past or present), who would it be?
J.U.: I think I’d have to say Louis L’Amour. It was his books that made me fall in love with the western genre. He was a wealth of knowledge about the west, history, and so much more. It would’ve been quite a dream to meet him and listen to the stories he had to tell of his various adventures and experiences in life.
Want to learn more? You can find Jennifer on the following:
Webiste: www.jenniferuhlarik.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferUhlarikAuthor/?ref=settings
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferUhlarik
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferuhlarik/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jenuhlarik/
RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY:
Alright, beloved readers, it is the time you all have been waiting for! This time I am giving the winner a copy of Of Rags and Riches Romance Colletion if in the contiguous U.S. or an e-copy of Oregon Trail Romance Collection if not. Just comment below AND use the Rafflecopter link below to enter. Entries are open Tuesday 12 AM (EST) 4/17/2018 and close on Monday, 4/23/2108, at 11:59 PM (EST). Winner will be announced on the First Love Romance Collection Review the next day.
Rafflecopter giveaway
*Legal Jargon: No Purchase is necessary. This contest is open to all readers in the world, 18 years and older who are legally allowed to participate in such a giveaway as allowed by their local laws. The Write Call does not exchange prizes for reviews. Reviews are appreciated, but not required.*
by Crystal Caudill | Apr 10, 2018 | Book Reviews
The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo
Genre: Historical Romance, 1730’s, Carribean/New Orleans
Plot Overview: 12-year-old Maribel is taken from her home by her pirate father who is thrown overboard when privateers take over the ship. Believed orphaned Captain Jean Beaumont takes her onto his vessel until better arrangements can be made. Over the months together, her spitfire ways worm their way into his heart. When circumstances separate them and allow them to believe each other is dead, they move forward with their lives only to be reunited eleven years later with danger hampering their every move.
What I loved: I loved the high seas adventure aspect of this book. I grew up loving books like Treasure Island, Three Musketeers and the such, so there were parts of this book that threw me back to my childhood and I relished the danger and adventure.
Favorite Character: Israel, the African man rescued from a slave trade vessel. He was a strong Christian figure and full of wisdom. He cared for both Jean and Maribel to a high degree and his loyalty was like no other.
Further Thoughts: While this book is a romance it doesn’t really have a ton of romance in the traditional sense. Half of the book occurs when Maribel is twelve and the rest when she is an adult. Their shared history made the spark happen very quickly, but it still didn’t feel fully romantic.
Who would like this: Anyone who loves adventure with a touch of romance.
Rating and Why: I gave this a four-star rating because while I did really enjoy the story, it was not really a mystery like the blurb tends to make you think and the romance aspect was cute but not fully developed as they entered the adult stage.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher/author. I was in no way required to leave a review, and the above review is my honest opinion.
Join the discussion: What is the best adventure book or movie you have ever read or seen?
Purchase Links:
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by Crystal Caudill | Apr 3, 2018 | Book Reviews
Under Prarie Skies by Cynthia Roemer
I love how great a job Cynthia does with character development. She has never failed to fully flesh out her characters and make them relatable and Under Prairie Skies is no different. You can read the review of the first book in the series Under This Same Sky,here.
Genre: Historical Romance, 1850s
Plot Overview: Charlotte is a jealous, bitter young lady with no idea on how to improve herself until Chad Avery steps into her life as a new neighbor. Challenged to face her faults and change, Charlotte finds helping others is the first steps to becoming the woman God has called her to be.
Chad Avery is trying to fulfill the dream he and his late wife had together, to establish a cattle ranch. He has no desire to love again and struggles with the tug of attraction toward Charlotte as circumstances bring them together over and over again.
Can both Charlotte and Chad let go of the past to discover a better future?
What I loved: These characters are so real and deep. Even though Charlotte was a woman we didn’t like in the last book, Cynthia really brings us full circle with this character. We get a full understanding of why she is the way she is and absolutely relate to it. Chad is a sweet hero with his own struggles but a man who brings out the best in Charlotte.
Favorite Character: This is a toughy. I love both the hero and the heroine so much, but I have to admit, I really like Johnny. Without giving too much away, he is a determined little boy that helps both characters to move beyond themselves.
Who would like this: Anyone who loves stories with deep characters, characters who struggle with grief and learn to move forward, or sweet romances.
Rating and Why: I gave this a five-star rating because of the mastery of character development and solid plot line. Everything weaved together perfectly and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the author/publisher. The review above was influenced in no way by this and the above opinions are my own.
Join the discussion: Do you think it is possible to fall in love with someone else without loving the other person any less?
Purchase Links:
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by Crystal Caudill | Feb 20, 2018 | Book Reviews
Join the Discussion: Check out the Community Question below and comment.
The Lacemaker by Laura Frantz
In high school, I was obsessed with the American Revolution. I lived, breathed, and dreamed every detail I could find about the American Revolution. Stories that (thankfully) will never see the light of day were written.
As terrible as those amateur stories were, I am happy to report that The Lacemaker is no amateur story. Laura Frantz crafted a wonderful story that draws you so completely into the complexities of those first days that it is a shock to your system when someone *ahem – children I’m referring to you* interrupt your reading for something as trivial as being fed.
Who can eat when the balance of a nation is hanging on a lacemaker’s thread?
Genre: Historical Romance, American Revolution
Plot Overview: Lady Elisabeth “Liberty” Lawson is days away from her arranged marriage taking place when she is abandoned by her fiancé and family. As daughter of a prominent British leader, she is suspected to be a spy and struggles to survive in her hometown of Independence Men. No one is willing to come to her aid, save the Welsh Independence man, Noble Rynallt. An enemy to the crown, he has his own struggles to contend with, but the former-lady-turned-lacemaker cannot be ignored. As tensions grow, Liberty must make a choice – join the Independence Men or turn her back on her father and country? Whatever the choice, the cost could be her life.
What I loved: I will say my absolute favorite part of any story that takes place during the American Revolution or Civil War is the complexities of how families were affected. The relationship between Elisabeth “Liberty” and her family is so complex that I just relish every detail. Her father so wonderfully reflected the Independence Men’s view of England while her mother was the independent spirit that refused to be broken. The broken family was such a wonderful symbol of Britain’s relationship with it’s colonies. I don’t know if she meant that symbolism or not, but I absolutely loved it.
Favorite Character: It is such a hard toss up between Liberty and Noble. Liberty is such an amazing young woman who really grows from the submissive daughter to a woman who learns to fend for herself without compromising her morals. She is brave, kind-hearted, and the woman I hope I would be under such circumstances.
Noble is the swoon worthy hero every romance needs. He is a man who watches out for the needs of others, has a strong sense of obligation and duty to bring this nation to independence, and Welsh heritage makes you want to cuddle up next to him in real life. I won’t give away the details, but he is a great leader and a man who will do anything for those he loves. Such a brave man.
Who would like this: Anyone who love historically accurate stories with love, romance, danger, and self-sacrifice (no one dies). Those who especially love the American Revolution and the complex relationships between the British and those seeking independence.
Rating and Why: I give this story 5 stars. I loved the complexities of the story, the romance that was exciting but clean, and all the historical characters. It was masterfully created and a pure joy to read.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this story on #netgalley through the publisher for review purposes. The opinions above are completely my own and not influenced in any way.
Join the Discussion: What is your favorite aspect of reading books set in the American Revolution? Do you like the battles? Espionage? Relationships? Love between opposite sides? Romance against all odds?
If you read the book: Which character did you identify with most?
Purchase Links:
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