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Sunday, August 25, 2019

Book Review and Giveaway: The Yellow Lantern by Angie Dicken --- On tour with Celebrate Lit

The Yellow Lantern FB Banner

About the Book


Book: The Yellow Lantern
Author: Angie Dicken
Genre: Christian Historical/Suspense
Release Date: August, 2019
The Yellow Lattern Cover
Josephine Is Forced to Spy for Grave Robbers
Step into True Colors—a new series of Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime
In Massachusetts in 1824, Josephine Clayton awakes on the table of the doctor she’s assisted all these months. She was presumed dead by all and has become the doctor’s next corpse for his medical research. Frightened, the doctor tries to kill her, but Josephine begs to be spared. A deal is struck—Josie will leave her village and work at a distant cotton mill. All the while, she’ll await her true mission—posing as a mourner to help his body snatcher procure her replacement. At the mill though, Josie is praised for her medical remedies among the mill girls, gaining attention from the handsome factory manager Braham Taylor. Yet, when Braham’s own loved one becomes the prey for the next grave robbing, Josie must make a choice that could put her dark past behind her or steal away the promise of any future at all.
What price will Josie pay for love when her secrets begin to unravel?

Click here to grab your copy.

About the Author

AngieDicken
Angie Dicken credits her love of story to reading British literature during life as a military kid in England. Now living in the U.S. heartland, she’s a member of ACFW, sharing about author life with her fellow Alley Cats on The Writer’s Alley blog and Facebook page. Besides writing, she is a busy mom of four and works in Adult Ministry. Angie enjoys eclectic new restaurants, authentic conversation with friends, and date nights with her Texas Aggie husband. Connect with her online at www.angiedicken.com.

More from Angie

Barbour’s True Colors Crime concept intrigued me from the very beginning. Being the daughter of a doctor and discovering the ties of grave robbing to the early medical profession, I was excited to dive deep into 19th century Massachusetts. Grave robbing around Boston and New York was often employed by doctors desperate for medical advancement. Men and women were both involved in the procuring of bodies for doctors. Finding these accounts led me to take took a look at the current medical remedies of the time—tinctures, elixirs, and herbal concoctions. My heroine was created in the tension of a desire to heal and the desperation of medical pursuits.
Amidst these medical ties to the historical moment of 1824, something was also shifting among women in rural areas of New England. Many women were employed by newly built cotton mills (Lowell Mill was my inspiration for the fictional Gloughton Mill in The Yellow Lantern). These working opportunities for women offered an escape from their home-bound lives and the rare chance for independence. Of course, with such industrial environments, injuries, and sometimes death, would occur. Noting the accounts of these kind of fatalities in historical articles, my research came full circle.
I found three strong threads to weave into my grave-robbing story—desperate doctors in need of research, a doctor’s assistant needing an escape from her village, and a mill, not only offering that escape, but the chance at bodies for the desperate medical community.
My heroine, Josie Clay, found life in the tangle of these threads of mills, medicine, and grave robbing—all playing out within the pages of The Yellow Lantern.

My Thoughts

I am a huge fan of this author and her work. She always does careful research to ensure that her stories are as accurate as possible. I have read about mill girls in the past but this put a whole new spin on it. I have never read about grave robbers. However, I was intrugied when I read the story summary. Josephine Clay, has been a doctor's assistant for a long time - so she was surprised to awake on the table - about to become medical research. She is able to strike a deal, and she ultimately becomes the look out for grave robbers. This book is so well researched. I felt like I learned so much while I was reading. The author has written amazing characters that feel like they are out of a page of a history textbook. Her storyline is a page turner. You will want to keep on reading. If you like based on true history stories, this book is for you. 

I received a copy of this book through the Celebrate Lit blogging program. All thoughts are my own. 

Blog Stops

Genesis 5020, August 15
All-of-a-kind Mom, August 15
Bigreadersite, August 16
Emily Yager, August 16
Kathleen Denly, August 19
Simple Harvest Reads, August 21 (Guest Review from Mindy Houng)
Godly Book Reviews, August 21
A Reader’s Brain, August 21
Betti Mace, August 22
Hallie Reads, August 23
Mary Hake, August 23
Pause for Tales, August 25
amandainpa, August 26
Texas Book-aholic, August 27
janicesbookreviews, August 27
Back Porch Reads, August 28

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Angie is giving away a grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of each of the books in the series!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Review and Giveaway: The Awakening of Miss Adelaide by Linda Brooks Davis - on tour with Celebrate Lit

The Awakening of Miss Adelaide FB banner

About the Book


Book: The Awakening of Miss Adelaide
Author: Linda Brooks Davis
Genre: Historical 
Release Date: July, 2019
The Awakening of Miss Adelaide by Linda Brooks DavisOrphaned as an infant, Oklahoma heiress Adelaide Fitzgerald has enjoyed every advantage. She possesses a unique gift for music and has excelled on the opera stage in Italy. As a philanthropist, she’s adored from America to Europe.
But Miss Adelaide is about to awaken in a 1918 nightmare. The Great War—and the Great Influenza—knock, and Adelaide finds her uninvited guests more than unwelcome. They threaten her life and alter her identity and purpose.
Snatched from a quiet life in an Italian villa, Miss Adelaide is thrust into conflicts others have created. What battle scars will she sustain? And where will love lead her?
In The Awakening of Miss Adelaide, war and peace, laughter and heartache, love and loss come together to ignite a fresh fire that reveals one woman’s hidden needs and potentials. 
What will gaining a fresh understanding of herself require of the Angel of the Opera?

Click here to grab your copy!

About the Author

Linda Brooks Davis
Linda Brooks Davis was born and reared, educated, and married in Texas. Her children and six grandchildren were born in Texas. She devoted the bulk of her 40 years as a special educator in Texas schools. But her mother and grandmother hailed from Oklahoma, the setting for Linda’s 2015 debut novel, The Calling of Ella McFarland, which won the 2014 Jerry Jenkins Operation First Novel Award and the 2016 American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. Linda continues to write from her home in San Antonio, Texas. She and her beloved husband Al worship and minister at Oak Hills Church. Linda enjoys chatting with readers through her website www.lindabrooksdavis.com.






More from Linda

Awakening Miss Adelaide begins with my mother’s cedar chest, which bore an unwritten warning: Hands off! Priceless treasures resided in its depths. My parents’ wedding suits. An old tattered quilt. Mother’s felt hat with a jaunty feather at the rolled-up grim. Bible notes. A stained tablecloth. Equally stained ladies’ handkerchiefs. And old, crocheted, scorched pot holders.
My paternal great-grandmother wrote letters and created intricate, painstaking handwork while she was committed to an asylum in Terrell, Texas. They represent the dearest items in the cedar chest.
Incalculable are the times over the years when a family member would comment Great-granny didn’t appear insane at all. I often wondered how it was she resided at a state mental hospital from 1900 until her death in 1948. How could an insane person write coherent letters and create such handwork?
Mystery shrouds those answers as surely as Great-grandmother herself.
Family legend developed around her. Stories varied from “She wasn’t crazy. Her husband wanted to get rid of her” to “She was an Indian who chose the name McFarland to avoid White bias against the indigenous people.” The truth hides somewhere amid the deadfall of her tragic life.
Sometimes research for a novel can feel like digging up bones. In a way, it is.
One such “bone” I got my teeth around and refused to let go was an article in a 1913 edition of Fort Worth Star-Telegram. It described a murder committed in the lobby of the Metropolitan Hotel. This violent act occurred in connection with an adulterous affair.
Consequently, heightened emotions, lowered common sense, and the control males exerted over females resulted in one man’s murder and the murderer’s acquittal. The “offending” woman’s husband dragged her home kicking and screaming and committed her to a mental asylum for “emotional insanity.”
wondered if the “offending” man had been treated in like manner. Hardly.
How could I NOT include this morass in a novel?
Someone ought to write a book about that was often said around our family reunions. My interest in doing just that developed little by little over the years. The Women of Rock Creek series deals with some of the ways in which women were denied equal rights when they were denied the vote. Such realities presented an ideal platform for illustrating some women’s plight in the hands of unscrupulous men–inequality in education, the courtroom, and even in mental health care.
With an abundance of love and respect for my great-grandmother; her daughter, my grandmother; and her grandson, my father, I offer this imaginary story. It contrasts two different women: one with a voice heard around the world and the other with no voice at all.
offer The Awakening of Miss Adelaide to the Lord to do with it as He sees fit. May this story inspired by the agony experienced by my great-grandmother serve to lighten someone else’s load.

My Thoughts

I love reading stories that are based in WWI era. It is such a wonderful, trying time and I love stories that are created in it. This was a new to me author - and I loved the description and cover and signed up to review this book. This is the 3rd book in the Rock Creek Women series. I have not read the other ones - and had no problems following along. This book can be read as a standalone. This book contained well written characters that are well developed. I love how the author's writing style flowed across the pages. She has created an intriguing storyline that did not become stagnent. In this story we see, Adelaide who is a beloved opera singer. However, when she contracts the flu - will it damage more then her spirits? Will she lose hope in the war torn country that is her new normal? 

I received a copy of this book through the Celebrate Lit blogging program. All thoughts are my own. 

Blog Stops

Bettimace, August 10
Godly Book Reviews, August 10
Connect in Fiction, August 11
Mary Hake, August 11
Genesis 5020, August 12
Bigreadersite , August 15
Blessed & Bookish, August 16
Emily Yager, August 16
CarpeDiem, August 17
Pause for Tales, August 20
Texas Book-aholic, August 21
janicesbookreviews, August 22
A Reader’s Brain, August 22
Simple Harvest Reads, August 23 (Spotlight)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Linda is giving away the grand prize of an eBook copy of her book and a $50 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.



Monday, August 12, 2019

Book Review and Giveaway: Meghan's Choice - By: Donna L.H. Smith - On Tour with Celebrate Lit

Meghan's Choice FB Banner

About the Book


Book: Meghan’s Choice
Author: Donna L. H. Smith
Genre: Christian Historical Western Romance
Release Date: November, 2017
Meghan's Choice COVER FinalistMeghan Gallagher complies with her father’s demand that she work on her own for a year by choosing to tutor eight children in a wild Kansas railroad town. But she had no idea just how wild it was until she was rescued by a local dance hall the day she arrived, and soon after hit by a stray bullet. In short order, she meets a dark, handsome cowboy and a wholesome, attractive doctor who both vie for her heart. As things heat up around town, Meghan’s love life catches fire as well. Is she scandalous to allow both men to court her at the same time? And—how close a relationship with God does Meghan want? Will she draw near?
Meghan’s Choice (pre-published) was named a semi-finalist in the 2014 Operation First Novel by Jerry B. Jenkins and an honorable mention for the Golden leaf Award in 2015. Since publication, Meghan’s Choice was a Selah Award finalist and also in the Will Rogers Medallion Award.
Published in connection with Hartline Literary Agency, serving the Christian book community. Visit us at www.hartlineliterary.com.

Click here to grab your copy.

About the Author

Donna Smith
Donna L.H. Smith is a Kansas prairie girl transplanted to Lancaster County, PA. She is a graduate of Christian Writer’s Guild Craftsman program and holds two college degrees, both B.S. and M.A. in Mass Communication. She’s been married to a wonderful man named Kirby for thirty years. Her debut novel, Meghan’s Choice, made the finals of both the Selah and Will Rogers Medallion Awards. Rose’s Redemption, the sequel, was just released. She blogs, speaks at workshops and retreats and although she is at an age where many begin slowing down, she wouldn’t think of it. Recently, she took on the role of Managing Editor of Almost an Author.com, and serves as ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Mid-Atlantic Zone Director. She is also a member of AWSA’s Protégé program (Advanced Writers & Speaker’s Association).

More from Donna

Back in 2012, I wrote “Zorro” stories for Fan Fiction. I had an awful lot of fun with them, and people seemed to really like them. So, the thought came, what could I write for ‘real?’ I contemplated, prayed, and after a couple weeks or so, an idea came floating across my brain.
“Gunfight at Hyde Park.” Huh? I thought about it, and realized it was an obscure history lesson from my hometown in Kansas. I had Google it to get the details. I thought, well, I’m not gonna write a Christian romance novel just about a series of gunfights that killed and wounded more people than the OK Corral.
But I did think that the beginning of the gunfights could be the climax of the story.
Now, who should my heroine be? And the hero?
I started with that and took Christian Writer’s Guild’s Craftsman and the novel was completed in 2013—but only published in late 2017.
I’m proud of Meghan’s Choice. Pre-published it made the semi-finals of the last Operation 1st Novel that CWG held and placed in a couple of smaller contests. Last year, it made the finals of the prestigious Selah Awards for published books through the BRMCWC, and the finals of the Will Rogers Medallion Award.
My hope is that you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.

My Thoughts

One of the best things about being a book blogger is getting to read new authors. I love when I find an author that creates stories that are believeable, well researched, and leave me wanting more. That is exactly what happened with this book. I loved how the writer described her scenes. They were vivid, carefully researched and took me back in time.  Meghan has to adjust to living without her father's wealth and making a name for herself in the Kansas town. She captures the hearts of two men, who are completely different from each other. Throw in some saloon roughness, stray bullet that finds Meghan, and so much more! I really enjoyed this book!

I received a copy of this book through the Celebrate Lit blogging program. All thoughts are my own. 

Blog Stops

Moments, August 14
Godly Book Reviews, August 15
Emily Yager, August 16
Vicky Sluiter, August 18
mpbooks, August 20
Pause for Tales, August 21
Older & Smarter?, August 22
Texas Book-aholic, August 23
A Reader’s Brain, August 24
janicesbookreviews, August 25

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Donna is giving away the grand prize of a copy of her book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.