Book Review: Secrets of the Pastor's Wife by Christina Ryan Claypool

About the Book:

Wherever Cassandra Martin goes, her secrets go with her. And hiding her past is beginning to take a toll.

Cassie lives in a small white parsonage in the village of Maple Grove. For 15 years, the beautiful and talented artist has appeared to be the perfect wife for Rev. John Martin, the new pastor at Maple Avenue Community Church.

The couple has moved frequently, and Pastor John is too busy with other people's problems to notice Cassie's distress. She has no close friends to confide in, fearing her secrets could jeopardize her husband's position.

That’s until Maple Grove coffee shop owner Katherine “Katie” Montague embraces Cassie as if she were the daughter she never had. Sensing her pastor's wife is haunted by something tragic, the caring widow begins praying for her. Will Cassie trust Katie with the pain of her past or will she let the secrets destroy her?

My Thoughts:

Secrets of the Pastor’s Wife by Christina Ryan Claypool offers readers a tale of tragic mistakes, long-held secrets, and the need for spoken truth. Although I’d consider this book a “heavy” read due to the issues it deals with, I enjoyed the gradual unveiling of Cassie’s story. It was easy to relate to Cassie. She loves her husband, supports him as best she can, and strives to follow Christ. Yet, she struggles with unaddressed issues from her past. I have a friend who is a pastor’s wife and based on what she has told me, I think the author offers an honest insider view into the realities of a pastor’s wife’s life.

I sometimes shy away from novellas as I feel they often lack character development due to the shortened form. However, the pages of Secrets of the Pastor’s Wife are packed with a character-driven plot. Although there is some action, Katie’s observations and lots of dialogue serve to put the focus on Cassie’s character growth. Several themes weave into the storyline and I appreciated the emphasis on mentoring/friendship that is shown between Katie and Cassie.

Secrets of the Pastor’s Wife by Christina Ryan Claypool is an inspirational novella that will appeal to readers (and book clubs) who enjoy character development mixed with spiritual truths.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the author. All opinions in this review are my own.

Book Spotlight & Giveaway: Fall From Trace by Rebecca Connolly

Welcome to the Blog Tour and Giveaway for Fall From Trace by Rebecca Connolly hosted by SLB Tours!

About the Book

Series: London League
Genre: Adult, Historical, Regency, Romance
Publisher: Phase Publishing
Publication date: February 1, 2020

Gone, but not forgotten...

Alex Sommerville should have been dead. To the world, he had been dead for almost five years, and with him, the secrets he had carried as Trace, the most elusive member of the London League. When a chance to escape finally comes, Alex finds just enough life left in him to take it, and races off to return to the woman he loves.

...Back, but at what cost?

The last person Poppy Edgewood ever expected to see suddenly falls into her life again - literally. Alex is a shell of the man he once was, and on the brink of the death she thought him already lost to. What answers will he have for her when he recovers, and can she even bear to hear them?

GOODREADS | AMAZON

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About the Author

Rebecca Connolly writes romances, both period and contemporary, because she absolutely loves a good love story. She has been creating stories since childhood, and there are home videos to prove it! She started writing them down in elementary school and has never looked back. She currently lives in the Midwest, spends every spare moment away from her day job absorbed in her writing, and is a hot cocoa addict.

GOODREADS | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | BOOKBUB WEBSITE | NEWSLETTER | AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

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Snippet

Loneliness is a creeping creature, and its pangs were deep and ravaging. In the evenings, when work was completed and she had so much to tell, there was no one to listen. When she missed her sister or her brothers, her parents, or her life, there was no one to commiserate with. When she cried in the night because Alex was gone and no one cared but her, there was no relief. When she felt more alone than anyone ought to feel, there was no one to take away the darkness.

No one to share her burdens with.

The only person she had in her life with any sort of regularity was Stanton, and he would not take kindly at all to her sharing such personal and emotional thoughts with him. It would have made him uncomfortable and gruff, and he probably would have told her to focus on her work and the farm and forget everything else. He had once told her emotions were a nuisance, after all, and that the past was only good for lessons.

Not for visiting and staying for a time.

Poppy was only too prone to spend an extended period of time in her past these days, though she knew it wouldn’t do her any good.

The trouble was that it was too easy.

She scrubbed at the pot harder, her brow furrowing with the effort, and when she stopped, she looked at her hands. Once these hands had been delicate and soft, protected by gloves more often than not, fair and without blemish but for the occasional pricking of an embroidery needle. Her nails had been clean and manicured, the perfect embodiment of a fine lady. Every now and again, there might be a scratch on the skin from getting into mischief with Alex by climbing a tree or racing across their properties, but her hands had been fairly perfect.

Now, they were rough and worn, weathered by hard work and aggressive labor. She had callouses on her palm, on every fingertip, and along the edges of each finger. Her knuckles were often inflamed, and her skin cracked and peeled regularly. Lines and scars and dry patches dotted every surface of her hands, and her nails were almost brutally short, uneven, and usually had something under them, be it dirt or food or feed for the animals.

These hands were not those of a young lady.

Then again, Poppy could hardly be considered young anymore. Twenty-seven was not particularly old, but in those twenty-seven years, she had lived a lifetime, and she was decades older than anyone of her age. Her life did not even remotely resemble what she had thought out for herself, what she had planned, or anything like it once had.

She closed her eyes and set the pot aside, knowing it was far cleaner now than it had ever been with her excessive scrubbing.

This was what her life amounted to now. Scrubbing the pots and plates from her own meals, feeding the chickens and pigs, currying the horses, farming with whatever help she could afford to pay, even grinding her own flour to make her own bread, at times.

Oh, how far she had fallen.

Lonely and cast out, working for every morsel of bread, sweating her days away in the sun, and mourning a man who had never promised her anything.

Poppy’s hands curled into fists and hot tears filled her eyes. It was wrong to resent a dead man, she knew, but resent him she did. If he hadn’t have died, if that was what had truly happened, she would not be in this situation. He could have just broken off their impending engagement, and she would have been with her family now. She should have been wiser, not giving her heart so freely without the official connection between them.

Never mind that they had been in love since she was fourteen and he sixteen. Never mind that they had been planning to marry for years. Never mind that she was so utterly and completely his that she hadn’t been whole in almost five years.

She should have been wiser.

And it was his fault she was so destitute, despairing, and dismal.

It was his fault she had grown so attached.

It was his fault she still felt the ache within her at the thought of him.

It was his fault that when she looked out of her kitchen window and could see the shadows of Parkerton Lodge in the distance, she still looked for a light in any window.

As she did now.

But there were no lights within, and no lights without, and the crumbling estate looked as foreboding and desolate as it had the day the servants had departed it.

Poppy exhaled slowly, wiping her hands on dry toweling. She couldn’t do this anymore. Couldn’t watch for him, wait for him, ache for him. He wasn’t coming back, and this was the life she had chosen for herself. This was her future, and looking back would not make it any brighter.

She was done.

She had to be.

A knock on her door brought her head around, and she waited for Stanton to enter. When he didn’t, and the knock came again, more firmly, she rolled her eyes as she moved to the door.

"Honestly, Stanton," she moaned loudly. "It’s not so cold that you had to fill your arms to the brim with wood."

She reached for the door handle and pulled the door open, fixing her expression into one of mocking amusement.

The man who stood there stared at her with his dark, sunken eyes, leaning both forearms against the doorframe, his chest heaving wildly, and her amusement faded at once.

She knew that face. She knew the line of that jaw, the dark eyes that were endless in their depths, the nose with a slight crook in the bridge from where her brother had walloped him with a tree branch ten years ago. He was thinner, terrifyingly so, and his face was hollow and gaunt, sickly in color despite being tanned, and covered with a sheen of perspiration. His dark hair was cut brutally short, but it, and the scruff on the lower half of his face, were as dark as his eyes, if not darker still.

All changes aside, she knew that man better than any person on this earth.

"Alex…" she breathed, her voice catching on his name.

His corded throat worked on a swallow. "Poppy."

Her hand lashed out and struck him hard across the face, a weak yet harsh cry ripping from her throat. He stumbled sideways, surprising her with his unsteadiness, and a tremor ran across his once broad shoulders and down to his legs. Slowly, he looked back at her, pressing his left arm against the doorframe again and almost sagging against the wood.

"Please," he whispered, his voice fading with shocking rapidity as his eyes widened.

Then they rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground at her feet.

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Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a $15 Amazon GC + an ecopy of Fall from Trace.

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Link to full tour schedule below. Giveaway will begin at midnight February 10, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on February 23, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Giveaway open internationally. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY HERE

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Tour Schedule

Follow along at SLB Tours for a full list of stops!

First Line Fridays: When I Close My Eyes by Elizabeth Musser

Happy Friday!

First Line Fridays is hosted by Hoarding Books and participants share the first line from a nearby book.

Today I'm sharing the first lines from When I Close My Eyes by Elizabeth Musser:

"The lady come out of the bookstore -- it was all decorated for Halloween, all sizes and colors of pumpkins making faces at me from where I watched across Haywood Street in downtown Asheville."

What are you reading this weekend? Feel free to share your first line!

Have a great weekend! Happy reading!


About the Book:

Won't they find out about The Awful Year. . . ?

There is one story novelist Josephine Bourdillon shirked from writing. And now she may never have a chance. Trapped in her memories, she lies in a coma.

The man who put her there is just as paralyzed. Former soldier Henry Hughes failed to complete the kill. What's more: he failed to receive payment--funds that would ensure surgery for his young son.

As detectives investigate disturbing fan letters, a young but not-so-naïve Paige Bourdillon turns to her mother's tormented past for answers. How bad could remembering The Awful Year truly be compared to the one they're all living?

Set against the flaming hills of North Carolina and the peaceful shores of the Mediterranean Sea, When I Close My Eyes tells the story of two families struggling with dysfunction and finding that love is stronger than death.

Book Review: Veiled in Smoke by Jocelyn Green

About the Book:

The Flames Took So Much.
She Can't Lose Her Father As Well.

Meg Townsend and her sister, Sylvie, seek a quiet existence managing the family bookshop. Meg feels responsible for caring for their father, Stephen, whose spirit and health are both damaged from his time as a prisoner during the Civil War. Her one escape is the paintings she creates and sells in the bookshop.

Then the Great Fire sweeps through Chicago's business district. The fiery explosions and chaos stir up memories of war for Stephen as he runs from the blaze and becomes separated from his daughters. Days later, when the smoke has cleared, Meg and Sylvie manage to reunite with him. Their home and shop are lost, and what's left among the ashes may be even more threatening than the flames, for they learn that a close friend was murdered the night of the fire--and Stephen has been charged with the crime. After he is committed to the Cook County Insane Asylum, where they cannot visit him, Stephen feels as lost to them as the shop that now lies in rubble.

Though homeless and suddenly unemployed, Meg must not only gather the pieces of her shattered life but prove the truth of what happened that night, before the asylum truly drives her father mad.


My Thoughts:

Veiled in Smoke by Jocelyn Green is a well-researched novel of history, drama, suspense, and mystery. This historical fiction novel captivated my attention from beginning to end. I never lost interest even though I had to spread out my reading. The vibrant prose brought to life the setting, characters, and, quite potently, Chicago’s Great Fire. This novel is what I’d consider a “heavy” read because of the devastation and drama. However, as the story progresses, hope and resilience do appear.

For me, part of Veiled in Smoke’s appeal lies in the authenticity of the main characters. The tangled family relationships and dysfunctional dynamics were true-to-life. I liked the characters’ honest and messy progress toward healing. As someone with PTSD, I could relate to Stephen and the author’s treatment of his “soldier’s heart” condition was kind and sensitive, addressing the issue in healthy manner.

Veiled in Smoke by Jocelyn Green commences The Windy City Saga novels and I can’t wait for the second installment. 5 Stars!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.

Book Blitz with Giveaway: Shadow and Stone by Melissa Wright

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

***SPECIAL SALE***

Go to Smashwords HERE and enter QU46N at checkout to grab the first three books for only 99¢!

Shadow and Stone
(Frey Saga #5)
By Melissa Wright
New Adult, YA Fantasy
Paperback and ebook
February 4th 2020

No bargains unpaid.

After a perilous clash with the fey, the changeling who betrayed the paramount of their laws--and threatens the safety of both realms--has gone into hiding. As Frey and her Seven recover, concealed plans and furtive bargains begin to unravel, putting in danger their old guard and new.

They’re on unsteady ground.

Scattered and healing, those sworn to protect the North and its lord work to secure their footing. They are running out of time to cure the darkness poisoning the fey lands, before it overflows into the rest of the realm. But Ruby has gone missing, and this time it seems of her own accord.

They’re out of time.

If they don’t stop her, she’ll face the deadly changeling alone. But more forces are at play than it seems, and the fey lord confined on his lands by treachery and two half-human elves has made a bargain of his own.

(Affiliate link included.)

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Guest Post: What You Need to Know About the Frey Saga

New to The Frey Saga? Check out what you need to know to jump into this world of magic, elves, and fey. (Warning: this post containers spoilers for the first three books.)

Types of magic

Magical energies are divided into light, dark, and that of the fey. These energies to do not play well together (and neither do their owners).

What makes Frey special?

Freya, Lord of the North and the Dark Elves’ Kingdom, is a halfbreed. She’s not only able to use the magic of both the light and dark energies, but she’s also half human--a weakness as far as any of the North are concerned. She’s managed to keep her throne despite that though, in no small part due to her rare ability to control animals. She’s been known to use birds of prey, wolves, and mountain cats, and readers can expect a few larger beasts as her talent grows.

Who’s the villain?

It depends on who you ask. Light elves oppose the methods of the dark and dark elves the light, but both hate the fey. The fey court is headed by the fey lord Veil, whose power is strong enough to shift the seasons. Veil—like all fey—engages in dangerous games and relies heavily on deceit and trickery.

Cast of characters

Frey’s high guard is known as the Seven, a once ragtag band of elves turned warriors including a halfblood fey, her horse trader brother, the strongarm, the wizards, the quick one, and the brooding hero/love interest: Chevelle.

The story so far

After meddling with powers and making deals with the fey, Frey’s predecessor was removed as Lord of the North. A great many lives were lost in the battles that followed, including Frey’s mother, and as heir to the throne Frey has much work ahead of her to set things to right. She’s finally settled into her place as ruler and her Seven and guard are loyal and true, but a darkness was set free during that meddling that threatens not only her people, but all elves and fey.

What’s next

In The Frey Saga Book V: Shadow and Stone, Frey faces her biggest challenge yet. A deadening of magic is spreading through the kingdoms and one of her Seven has gone missing. As fey treacheries and past secrets unravel, Frey’s duty as Lord might force her into a bargain that could destroy them all.

Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Melissa is the author of the Frey Saga, Descendants Series, and Shattered Realms. She is currently working on the next book, but when not writing can be spotted collecting the things she loves at Goodreads and Pinterest. Contact her through the web at www.melissa-wright.com.

Website | Blog | Goodreads | BookBub | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Bookstagram Tour

Follow the tour here! Get extra entries in the giveaway
below when you follow and comment on each stop!

February 4th: @jhannabass
February 5th: @mythical_books
February 6th: @acmeteenbooks2019
February 7th: @canadianbookaddict
February 8th: @leslielmckee

Tour Giveaway

One winner will receive an ebook box set of the first three books in the series (Frey, Pieces of Eight, and Rise of Seven) and a $20 Amazon eGift Card

Open internationally (as long as winner is eligible to receive prizes)

Ends February 10, 2020

ENTER HERE

January Recap & February TBR

My January 2020 Reads: 

January was a bit of a rough month in my real life, but it went well reading-wise.😁 Did you read any books in January? I'd love to hear about it!

In January, I finished:

1. On Wings of Devotion by Roseanna M. White. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.


2. Booked by Karen Swallow Prior. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.


3. Veiled in Smoke by Jocelyn Green - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Review to come soon.


4. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis - ⭐⭐⭐⭐


5. Isaiah's Legacy by Mesu Andrews - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.


6. A Girl's Guide to the Outback by Jessica Kate - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.


7. The Spice King by Elizabeth Camden - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 


8. Miracles and Other Reasonable Things by Sarah Bessey - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 


9. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - ⭐⭐ - I know it's a classic and had amazing prose, but I just couldn't get over the tragedy. 🤦

My favorite book this month was.... either On Wings of Devotion or Booked. I can't choose! 🤣

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Expected February 2020 Reads:

In February, I have a rather ambitious reading list:

1. The Medallion by Cathy Gohlke - My local book club's selection for this month.


2. Showers of Blessings by Helen Steiner Rice - I like to read a few of her poems daily.


3. The Christian Book of Mystical Verse compiled by A. W. Tozer - I'm loving this one so far!


4. Like Flames in the Night by Connilyn Cossette - Connilyn is one of my favorite Biblical Fiction authors and I am so excited for this one!


5. Worthy: Celebrating the Value of Women by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Eric Schumacher.


6. Secrets of the Pastor's Wife by Christina Ryan Claypool.


7. A Lady's Maid by Jen Geigle Johnson.


8. The Runaway Bride by Jody Hedlund - Fingers crossed that I get chosen for the launch team for this one. If not, maybe I'll pick another Jody Hedlund book to read.

 What will you read this month?