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Sunday, April 21, 2024
My Thoughts - The Lost Ones --- written by Dana Perry
Thursday, April 18, 2024
My Thoughts - Streams of Courage Author: Sandra Merville Hart
About the Book
Book: Streams of Courage
Author: Sandra Merville Hart
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release Date: March 26, 2024
In a world turned upside down by war and betrayal…will his role as a spy bring them closer…or tear their future apart?
The war that Julia Dodd prayed to avoid is now reality, and with it, her world has been turned on its head. Her fellow citizens, who stood with her in their support of the union, have crossed firmly to the side of the south. And her mother, lost in her grief over the loss of her husband and children, can think of nothing but protecting Julia’s brother’s inheritance. She insists that her daughter seek a wealthier husband than Ashburn Mitchell.
Ash knows what his fellow citizens think of him when he refuses to fight for the Confederacy. Shouldering the accusation of being a coward and refusing to hide behind his limp, Ash remains in Vicksburg to support his family as a saddler while his two best friends join the fight. Struggling to increase his business so he can marry the woman he loves, Ash becomes a spy in support of the Union. He can’t fight for the South but won’t raise a musket against them.
As tragedy instigates Ash to risk greater danger to speed the end of the war, Julia can only pray it won’t cost them everything. She’s already lost her father and two siblings. Must she lose the man she loves too?
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Sandra Merville Hart, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author of inspirational historical romances, loves to discover little-known yet fascinating facts from American history to include in her stories. Her desire is to transport her readers back in time. She is also a blogger, speaker, and conference teacher.
More from Sandra
In Streams of Courage, Book 4 in my Spies of the Civil War Series, Julia, our heroine, has suffered several significant losses in her life, including her father and two siblings. Her mother’s insistence that Julia stop courting Ash, a saddler, and find instead a rich suitor makes no sense. Surely her father had provided for her.
Then she discovers that her parents have only provided for her younger brother, whom her mother had always adored. Julia will be penniless when her mother dies. The knowledge crushes her.
Ash is already supporting his mother and siblings. As Mama points out, adding a wife and children will stretch his income to the limits. Mama will not give her blessing should Ash propose. Julia, who had been raised in comfort, must find some means of support.
As I considered how Julia could make money in a war-time economy, it was clear her mother, as the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, would never condone her working in a shop. What can she do?
Tatting lace.
Her lace patterns have received compliments in the past. With fewer ships bringing goods into the city, lace is in short supply. Granted, the demand for lace has diminished because even dress fabric isn’t as available as before the war.
I enjoyed researching this skill that was once so prevalent among young ladies in society. I watched videos on making lace with a special needle called a tatting needle.
The most basic stitch is the double-stitch. There is a special way to hold the needle and thread so that the first stitch grabs thread from under the thumb and the second stitch grabs it from over the thumb. There is a rhythm to the stitching in the hands of a skilled lacemaker.
I watched videos that demonstrated making rings with picot trim. There is a variety of stitching. The variations create beautiful patterns. The lace is then rolled for storage.
Fascinating. It’s mesmerizing to watch the different patterns emerge.
Tatting is a small yet interesting aspect in the adventurous story. Ash has become a Union spy. For her and her family’s safety, he keeps his dangerous activities a secret from Julia.
Part of my research for this novel and the next two novels included a trip to Vicksburg, Mississippi. I toured the museums and walked the streets of the historic city. Though I wasn’t certain of my story at the time of my visit, I was inspired by the history.
Avenue of Betrayal, Book 1, is set in the Union capital of Washington City (Washington DC) in 1861, where a surprising number of Confederate sympathizers and spies lived. Boulevard of Confusion and Byway to Danger are set in Richmond, the Confederate capital in 1862. Actual historical spies touch the lives of our fictional family.
Through both real and fictional characters, this series highlights activities spies were involved in and some of the motives behind their decisions.
I invite you to read the whole “Spies of the Civil War” series!
My Thoughts
Streams of Courage is book four in the Spies of the Civil War series that is written by Sandra Merville Hart. I have read the other books on the series and was really excited to see a new release. I also love that this did set in Vicksburg. Vicksburg has been a bucket list wish to visit.
Julia Dodd lost her brothers and dad in the Civil War. She has been staunch on her stand and has watched as friends, family and other townspeople drift slowly to support the Confederacy. Her mother doesn’t want her to marry Ash. She thinks her daughter can do better.
Ash is used to people thinking he’s a coward for not wanting to side with the Confederacy. However he wants to be able to support his family. He soon decides he’s going to spy for the North. He has to be careful since he’s already being considered an outsider.
He suddenly has to be selective to what he tells Julia. He’s not sure who he can trust and who may be spying for the confederate army. While Julia and her family may say they are pro-Union you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. I love reading all things espionage especially during the Civil War.
Our characters are well written. I felt that we got to know Julia and Ash deeply during this story.
The author has captured this time period beautifully. She has done great and careful research. No matter what side you were on the cost was large.
Thank you to the author, publisher and Celebrate Lit for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, April 17
Alena Mentink, April 18
Connie’s History Classroom, April 18
Locks, Hooks and Books, April 19
Bizwings Book Blog, April 20
Holly’s Book Corner, April 21
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 21
Texas Book-aholic, April 22
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, April 23
Betti Mace, April 24
Pause for Tales, April 24
Cover Lover Book Review, April 25
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 26
Books You Can Feel Good About, April 27
Lights in a Dark World, April 27
For Him and My Family, April 28
Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, April 29 (Author Interview)
The Lofty Pages, April 29
Blossoms and Blessings, April 30
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Sandra is giving away the grand prize of 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.
https://promosimple.com/ps/2afa6/streams-of-courage-celebration-tour-giveaway
Thursday, April 11, 2024
My Thoughts - Love’s Winding Road Author: Susan F. Craft
About the Book
Book: Love’s Winding Road
Author: Susan F. Craft
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release Date: February 27, 2024
They were forced into this marriage of convenience, but there’s more at stake than their hearts on this wagon train through the mountain wilderness.
When Rose Jackson and her Irish immigrant family join a wagon train headed for a new life in South Carolina, the last thing she expects is to fall for the half-Cherokee wagon scout along the way. But their journey takes a life-changing turn when Rose is kidnapped by Indians. Daniel comes to her rescue, but the effects mean their lives will be forever intertwined.
Daniel prides himself on his self-control—inner and outer—but can’t seem to get a handle on either when Rose is near. Now his life is bound to hers when the consequences of her rescue force them to marry. Now it’s even more critical he maintain that self-control to keep her safe.
When tragedy strikes at the heart of their strained marriage, they leave for Daniel’s home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. As they face the perils of the journey, Rose can’t help but wonder why her new husband guards his heart so strongly. Why does he resist his obvious attraction for her? And what life awaits them at the end of love’s winding road?
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Susan F. Craft retired after a 45-year career in writing, editing, and communicating in business settings.
She authored the historical romantic suspense trilogy Women of the American Revolution—The Chamomile, Laurel, and Cassia. The Chamomile and Cassia received national Illumination Silver Awards. The Chamomile was named by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance as an Okra Pick and was nominated for a Christy Award.
She collaborated with the International Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation to compile An Equestrian Writer’s Guide (www.lrgaf.org), including almost everything you’d ever want to know about horses.
An admitted history nerd, she enjoys painting, singing, listening to music, and sitting on her porch watching geese eat her daylilies. She most recently took up the ukulele.
More from Susan
Colonial American medicine fascinates me. The shortage of doctors made it critical for women to maintain medicine kits that included remedies brought with them from Europe as well as those shared with them by Native Americans.
In Love’s Winding Road, my character Rose falls into river rapids and suffers serious scrapes and bruises. Daniel, the half-Cherokee scout of her wagon train, rescues her and makes witch hazel flowers into a paste.
With gentle movements, he spread the ointment on her arms, legs, and neck. When he dabbed some on several raw places on her scalp where her hair had been ripped out, Rose clenched her teeth until her face hurt. With her hand trembling, she reached up to touch her hair.
“Don’t worry. It will grow back. Just thank the good Lord, for though it may be distressing and painful to have lost some of your hair, the strands helped me keep track of you.”
Rose’s father suffers from arthritis in his hands, so he chews on the twigs of black willow trees (not weeping willows) and drinks the tea his wife prepares from the bark also used to treat back pain, headaches, and inflammatory conditions.
When a mountain lion attacks Daniel, Rose stitches the laceration. She cleans the area with whiskey and offers it to him as a painkiller.
She threaded her needle with her finest flax fiber, and holding her breath, she began the first tiny stitches. Think of it as cloth. Think of it as cloth. She repeated the words over and over in her head.
Sometimes doing research can be amusing.
The night before I was to see my doctor, I’d read a resource book, Indian Doctor – Nature’s method of curing and preventing disease according to the Indians. I showed my doctor the Indian cure for my problem.
What a hoot! We had such fun looking through the book. Seems as if every cure involved mixing something with wine, ale, beer, or liquor. We came to the conclusion that with enough alcohol, even if you still had the problem, you wouldn’t care anymore.
Two weeks later, I saw my doctor for an earache. Of course, we looked up the Indian cure. It involved lily onions, marsh mallows, oil of violet—all taken with wine. And then, bleeding.
I’ll stick with antibiotics.
I pray that my Great Wagon Road series honors the Lord and the gifts He has given me and that you will love my characters as much as I do. Soli Deo Gloria.
My Thoughts
Love’s Winding Road is book one in the Great Wagon Road series and is written by
Susan F. Craft. I love marriage of convenience books. I also love wagon trail books. So I was super excited to see this show up in my mail box.
Rose Jackson and her Irish immigrant family join a wagon train headed for a new life in South Carolina. Along the way she finds herself drawn to the half-Cherokee wagon scout, Daniel. He also feels drawn to her. Rose is suddenly captured by Indians and Daniel rescues her. In doing so, rumors start to fly at camp about how they may have been inappropriate.
Rose’s father comes up with a solution. Marry. They do so and Daniel had a hard time adjusting. He’s used to being in control and having a lot of self control and that has gone out the window now that he’s met Rose. I loved seeing their characters get to know each other.
The author has done a great job is showcasing what life may have been like for those who had long days of travel. I enjoyed learning about all of the remedies they used for illnesses and injuries. I love stories where I can learn while I’m enjoying the story. The author has written some great details into the story so that you feel like you are there with the characters.
Thank you to the author, publisher and Celebrate Lit for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
Blog Stops
Locks, Hooks and Books, April 3
Simple Harvest Reads, April 3 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
lakesidelivingsite, April 4
Pause for Tales, April 4
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 5
For Him and My Family, April 5
Lighthouse Academy Blog, April 6 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 7
The Lofty Pages, April 7
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, April 8
Bizwings Book Blog, April 9
Life on Chickadee Lane, April 9
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, April 10
Texas Book-aholic, April 11
Connie’s History Classroom , April 11
Cover Lover Book Review, April 12
Batya’s Bits, April 13
Holly’s Book Corner, April 13
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, April 14
Books You Can Feel Good About, April 15
Blossoms and Blessings, April 15
Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, April 16 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake, April 16
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Susan is giving away the grand prize of 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.
https://promosimple.com/ps/2ac74/love-s-winding-road-celebration-tour-giveaway
Monday, April 8, 2024
My Thoughts- When the Flames Ravaged Author: Rhonda Dragomir
About the Book
Book: When the Flames Ravaged
Author: Rhonda Dragomir
Genre: Christian / Historical / Romance
Release Date: March, 2024
Will Faith Perish in the Big Top’s Flames?
Introducing a new series of 6 exciting novels featuring historic disasters that transformed landscapes and multiple lives. Whether by nature or by man, these disasters changed history and were a day to be remembered.
Evelyn Benson’s husband perished in the Bataan Death March but not her faith. The World War II Gold Star widow is taken in by her brother and soothed by the love of his wife and children. Evelyn refuses to cower to grief. She may not understand God’s mysterious ways, but she has never questioned Him—until the circus fire.
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus train chugs into Hartford, Connecticut, on a sweltering day one month after the Allies invaded Normandy. Among the roustabouts is a reluctant clown, Hank Webb. He may hide from his murky past behind grease paint as Fraidy Freddie, but God wants to offer Hank a chance to be found. Though first, what little Hank believes about God will endure a fiery trial.
On Thursday, July 6, 1944, a devasting blaze of unknown origins consumes the circus tent along with Evelyn’s hopes and Hank’s anonymity.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Rhonda Dragomiris a multimedia creative who treasures her fairy tale life in Central Kentucky, insisting her home is her castle even if her prince refuses to dig a moat. She has multiple published works in anthologies and periodicals, along with numerous Bible studies studied weekly by more than 10,000 women around the world. Rhonda has garnered numerous writing awards for both fiction and nonfiction, including her selection as 2019 Writer of the Year by Serious Writer, Inc. In 2020 she was also a finalist in ACFW’s Genesis Contest for her first novel, a 16th century historical romance.
More from Rhonda
The heroine’s last living family members are struck down in a tragic fire. Will she crumble? Will she tumble into bitterness? Will she forsake her faith? We view life through her eyes and wonder, “What would I do?”
The best fiction sails the vast sea of human experiences and explores how we survive when storms roil the waters. Triumph, tragedy, victories, valleys—though we have not lived through the exact events as the characters, we feel the same elation on the crests and despair in the troughs of the waves.
This is why I love to write historical fiction, especially romance. I interweave my own thoughts and feelings with those of my characters. My words become theirs, and their responses mirror my own as I fight to keep my head above water.
I spent dozens of hours researching When the Flames Ravaged, the story of a horrific circus fire in Hartford, Connecticut on July 6, 1944. I gasped, I wept, and I marveled at the courage of rescuers who sacrificed their own lives to save others. True, live-or-die battles fueled my imagination, and composite characters leaped to life.
At one point, my hero dives into dark water, grasping with frail human understanding to comprehend the scope of the disaster. He decides good and evil are locked in an everlasting struggle, and humans are mere pawns stuck in the middle. Then he asks, “What is the use of serving God if He won’t protect you?”
Who has never asked the same thing when tragedy strikes? Pat answers and platitudes won’t suffice. Only a personal quest to discover an acceptable answer to this age-old question will help us find peace in the midst of the churning sea of doubt.
I hope my novel will toss a live preserver to everyone treading water.
My Thoughts
When the Flames Ravaged is written by
Rhonda Dragomir. This is book two in the Day to Remember series. The series is written by multiple authors with a focus on American historical events that changed so many lives.
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus train chugs into Hartford, Connecticut. So many people are excited about it. They desperately needed something entertaining while war rages on. Clown Fraidy Freddie aka Hank Webb is hiding some hard stuff deep down. He’s trying to get everything set up and blend in when he has to deal with some unsavory circus characters. The circus has to hire people on the towns that they are in due to the shortage of bodies from the water.
Evelyn is a war widow. She lost her husband in the Bataan Death March. She lives with her brother, Bill and her sister in law Helen. Along with their two children Lillie and Jamie. She works long hard hours for minimum wages at a local diner. She is looking forward to visiting the circus with her family. However, her boss calls her into work.
Once the circus is all set up the matinee is all ready for the show on Thursday, July 6, 1944. While the show is starting up flames burst out. Despite Hanks efforts there is a lot of carnage that is left behind. Hank and Evelyn are drawn to each other. Hank tries to be the pillar of strength for Evelyn while she has to sort a lot out. However as details of the fire emerge can their friendship withstand it?
This is a beautiful written story based on a horrible tragedy. The author has done great research to bring this part of history to life. The story is well written and so engaging.
I’ve been loving all of this series. Thank you to the author, publisher and Celebrate Lit for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 30
Pause for Tales, March 30
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 31
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 1
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, April 2
Texas Book-aholic, April 3
Simple Harvest Reads, April 3 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
Locks, Hooks and Books, April 4
Betti Mace, April 5
For HIm and My Family, April 5
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 6
Blossoms and Blessings, April 7
The Lofty Pages, April 7
Connie’s History Clasroom, April 8
Labor Not in Vain, April 9
Holly’s Book Corner, April 9
Cover Lover Book Review, April 10
Inkwell Inspirations, April 10
To Everything There Is A Season , April 11
Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, April 12 (Author Interview)
Life on Chickadee Lane, April 12
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Rhonda is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon e-Gift Card & a copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/2aa75/when-the-flames-ravaged-celebration-tour-giveaway