Beauty in the Binding

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Book Review: Nightshade by Ronie Kendig

About the Book:

After a tour of duty in a war-torn country, embattled former Navy SEAL Max Jacobs finds himself discarded and alienated from those he loves as he struggles with war-related PTSD. His wife, Sydney, files a restrain order against him and a petition for divorce. Max is devastated.

Then a mysterious man appears. He says he's organizing a group that recycles veterans like Max. It's a black-ops group known as Nightshade. With the chance to find purpose in life once again, Max is unable to resist the call of duty and signs on.

The teams handles everything with precision and lethal skill--until they're called upon to rescue a missionary family from a rebel-infested jungle and avoid a reporter hunting their identities.

Will Max yield his anger and pride to a force great than him--love?

My Thoughts:

I didn’t read Nightshade by Ronie Kendig in a single sitting, but I could have. This highly entertaining story held my attention from start to finish. The plot packs in danger, romance, and suspense in exotic locations. Max’s personality and personal drama added to the intensity of the story. I absolutely loved his second-chance romance with his almost ex-wife, Sydney. Their relationship was spot on and I loved how things played out between them.

Nightshade by Ronie Kendig kickstarts the Discarded Heroes series. There are some overarching situations that must continue through the series, but the main relationships and situations had satisfying closure. I’ve already ordered book two, Digitalis, and I can’t wait to read more about this amazing group of men and their romances.

Monday, August 22, 2022

Book Spotlight: Life's Journey Our Greatest Test by Marshalee Patterson

About the Book

Title: Life’s Journey our Greatest Test

Author: Marshalee Patterson

Genre: A Contemporary Christian Novel

Release Date: October 3, 2021

Purchase at: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3pnRrkN ┃Kobo: https://bit.ly/3wkVlgU

Synopsis

When Brady lost his brother, John, he felt his entire world crumble. All their plans went up in smoke, and soon his life took a turn for the worst; one he had not seen coming.

When his uncontrollable rage landed him in the Lexington Prison, he lost all will to live. However, his grandmother Ruth, being the devoted Christian woman that she was, never gave up on him and kept praying for him.

Walking around town shortly after his release from Lexington, Brady was pleasantly surprised when he stumbled upon Sara in a partially burnt abandoned building. Thinking that being a good Samaritan to her, could help him make right with God for all the wrong he had done in his life, he later discovered Sara was more of a blessing to his tortured life than he was to her.

Will this unlikely union bring them peace and seeing God’s promises fulfilled in their lives?

An Excerpt

Sara stepped inside as the sight of the memory-filled room enchanted her. Brady’s grandmother sure knew how to preserve family moments, she thought. Staring at all the photos, she did not have to guess too hard to tell who was who. Each one was arranged in the order in which they were taken. It was such an inviting family room; it reminded her of her home when everything was good and everyone happy.

Sara’s eyes soon caught sight of the very thing she loved more than anything—a piano. It was a beautiful white grand and still looked brand new. Before she knew it, she sat in front of it and had her fingers running over the keys with a big grin on her face.

She played each key, familiarising herself with their sounds until she was lost in a beloved melody—which for years, she thought was lost. Now, sitting once again in front of a piano, made it come right back.

From upstairs, Brady heard the piano playing and smiled, knowing Sara was making herself at home. He was unsure of what she liked since she had not really opened up about herself yet. Hearing her play made him content, knowing that she found comfort in at least something in his house. She played well, and he presumed that she must have had many years of training.

Sara sat, playing for nearly an hour, then felt she wanted to test the river waters that Brady bragged about so much. She ran upstairs into her room, picked out a pair of shorts and a blouse to swim in. She laid the dress she wanted to wear later on the bed and put everything else away in the dresser. She didn’t feel comfortable wearing a swimsuit around a man she was still getting to know. Sara walked out of her room, strolled over to Brady’s room, and knocked on the door.

“Brady,” she called.

Getting no response, she tried the knob and found it unlocked. She pushed the door and glanced inside, then closed it when she didn’t see him. A door that stood ajar on the opposite side to both her room and Brady’s piqued her curiosity.

Sara walked across the hallway to the door and peeped inside. Brady sat, painting. He looked so consumed in what he was painting, which looked very foreboding. There was not one ounce of colour on the canvas. Her heart softened to what must be buried inside him. She wondered how he managed to maintain a sense of calmness around her yet hold such darkness inside.

Could his past be even worse than mine?

About the Author

When Marshalee Patterson left high school and started working, she thought she was cursed. She would look at her life and compare it with some of her high school friends who seemed to be achieving the things she wanted. That is—marriage and kids.

That desire led her to seek things her own way and not wait on God and it resulted in many shameful and painful experiences that she hid from everyone. She struggled to forgive herself and to also embrace God’s mercy, thinking she wasn’t deserving because of her weakness to the flesh. She felt cheap and not good enough.

Years later God revealed his plan for her life and it was to write books; books that would bring healing and deliverance to people’s lives. Each book she wrote she realized had a theme and that they were drawing from her own past experiences- the same past she wanted to stay hidden and buried. But as she wrote each book she saw herself healing from whatever trauma mentioned in that book. It was then that she realized, as shameful and painful as her past was, that God had a plan for it.

They were the blueprint for her stories, experiences readers can relate to and the process through which God carried her to find healing and deliverance was how her readers would as well.

Marshalee Patterson is a Christian Fiction Author of life-changing books that have spiritual warfare and romance. Her goal is to see her readers gain the advantage of how to be victorious against Satan’s tactics and exposes some of the devices he uses.

She is a lover of nature and its tranquillity. She finds nature refreshing and peaceful. She loves different cultures, especially Spanish, which she feels make us learn to appreciate ours a little more in areas where we have been ungrateful or unappreciative. She loves salsa music very much and dances it well too. She is a proud Jamaican.

Connect with Marshalee

Website: https://bit.ly/3P6FlaI

Facebook Page: https://bit.ly/3QGOpDK

Add to GoodReads: https://bit.ly/3wjJhfM

Add to Bookbub: https://bit.ly/3dlrVtw

Pinterest: https://bit.ly/3C5xpTwv

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3A0EuSD

Blog Tour Stops

August 22nd - Beauty in the Binding (https://moments-of-beauty.blogspot.com)

August 23rd - Emily Kopf (https://emily-kopf.com)

August 25th- Reading is my super power (http://readingismysuperpower.org)

August 27th- Lock, Hooks and Books (www.amybooksy.blogspot.com)

August 28th- Marshalee Patterson (https://marshaleepatterson1.wixsite.com/christianbooks/blog/categories/book-updates)

August 30th - Felix Felicitated (https://felixfelicitatedblog.wordpress.com)

August 31st- Wall to wall Books (https://wall-to-wall-books.blogspot.com/p/authors.html)

September 1st- Britt Reads Fiction (https://brittreadsfiction.wordpress.com)

September 2nd- Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama (www.musingsofasassybookishmama.com)

September 3rd- Cats in the Cradle Blog (https://catsinthecradle.blog)

September 4th- Batya's Bits (https://batyasbits.home.blog)

Friday, August 12, 2022

Book Review: Love's Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik

About the Book:

When Dani Sango’s art forger father passes away, Dani inherits his home. Among his effects is a book of Native American drawings, which leads her to seek the help of museum curator Brad Osgood to decipher the ledger art. Why would her father have this book? Is it just another forgery?

Brad Osgood’s four-year-old niece, Brynn, needs a safe home, and Brad longs to provide it. The last thing he needs is more drama, especially from a forger’s daughter. But when the two meet “accidentally” at St. Augustine’s 350-year-old Spanish fort, Castillo de San Marcos, he can’t refuse the intriguing woman.

Broken Bow is among seventy-three Plains Indians transported to Florida in 1875 for incarceration at ancient Fort Marion. Sally Jo Harris and Luke Worthing dream of serving God on a foreign mission field, but when the Indians arrive in St. Augustine, God changes their plans. Then when friendship develops between Sally Jo and Broken Bow and false accusations fly, it could cost them their lives.

Can Dani discover how Broken Bow and Sally Jo’s story ends and how it impacted her father’s life?

My Thoughts:

Love’s Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik holds two timelines with vastly different content. I enjoyed both storylines and stayed interested throughout the novel. The questions from the timelines unraveled with perfect pacing that showed the author’s ability to precisely craft a story. The ending wrapped up things with a bit of “telling not showing”, but I still liked the book.

Love’s Fortress tackled the historical actions of removing Native Americans from their tribes, detaining them in Fort Marion (now Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida), and teaching them the white man’s culture. The novel handled the situation carefully and gave it a hopeful spin while still showing the understandable distaste for the white man’s ways through Broken Bow’s perspective. Reading about these happenings made me wish that United States history hadn’t happened the way it did.

Love’s Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik is part of the Doors to the Past series from Barbour Publishers, but reads as a standalone novel. Recommended for fans of Christian fiction who enjoy a tightly crafted story with interesting historical detail. I adored the beautiful Gospel presentation to Broken Bow. I read Love’s Fortress with my local book club and there was plenty to discuss.

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

Book Spotlight & Giveaway: Shoal Waters by Normandie Fischer

Shoal Waters JustRead Blog + Review Blitz

Welcome to the Blog + Review Blitz for Shoal Waters by Normandie Fischer, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: Shoal Waters

Series: Carolina Coast Stories #6

Author: Normandie Fischer

Publisher: Sleepy Creek Press

Release Date: June 14, 2022

Genre: Inspirational/Clean Women's Fiction

Dementia, mad gunmen, and a yearning for something more make life difficult for the Beaufort folk in this series finale.

Georgie's mind threatens to go walkabout, and she'd better get help soon if she's to stop her daughter from taking over. Enter granddaughter, Jeminy, a songwriter from L.A., and Eric, her lawyer.

Jeminy hates herself and is pretty sure God does, too. There’s that huge unforgiveable sin, plus the boyfriend/manager who dumped her and lost her a music deal. Her mistakes. Her fault.

When Mother plots to tuck Nana Georgie neatly into a nursing home to gain access to Nana’s money, Jeminy hightails it out of L.A. and back to Beaufort. God may still hate her in North Carolina, but at least she’ll be on hand to protect her beloved grandmother.

Enter Eric, the lawyer hired to help Georgie protect herself--and possibly Jeminy, too. But Eric just rescued his orphaned stepson from Social Services, and while he’s adept at legal briefs and courtroom dramas, classrooms and angry second graders are brand new territory.

Guitar in hand, Jeminy tries to write songs to jumpstart her flagging career, but when someone threatens her life, she has to ask why. Could it have to do with the money missing from her bank accounts (and maybe her unstable ex)? If she prays for help, will God even listen to someone with her baggage?

With the help of the Beaufort crew, a new father and a terrified musician struggle to safeguard everyone they love, but it’s going to take more than good neighbors to show each of them the true meaning of grace.

MORE BOOKS IN THE SERIES

EXCERPT

Jeminy Chapter 5

Jeminy didn’t—wouldn’t—care that her life had been reduced to a moderate savings account and the plans she now had to make. Nana’s call precipitated her decision to move out of Los Angeles, and that was no bad thing. It was past time.

This place of promise and glitter had captivated her until she’d looked more closely at its underbellies, from enclaves peopled with the untouchable elite to Skid Row’s un-helped homeless. Many of those living in between stumbled around on the verge of bankruptcy as they clawed toward access to the gated communities. Once upon a time, she’d been on the fringes of money and fame.

She didn’t—wouldn’t—care about the trappings of her big-city life she’d be leaving, not the BMW she’d thought hers, not this apartment.

…Tomorrow, it would be off with the old and on with the new, whatever that was and wherever it would take her and her guitar. A few more hours and this place would be on the way to being forgotten.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Normandie Fischer had the best of several worlds: a Southern heritage, access to schooling in the DC area (which meant lots of cultural adventures), and several years of sculpture studies in Italy. It might have been better for her if she'd used all these opportunities more wisely, but it's possible that the imperfect and the unwise also add fodder for the artist and the writer.

Her life changed radically when she married the love of her life at an age when some would have said she was over the hill and way past her prime. (Clichés often speak the truth, don't they?) A lifelong sailor, she was delighted to find that Michael also longed to cruise lovely waters, which is what they did from Northern CA to Mexico, spending too-few years in the incomparable Sea of Cortez. Sea Venture, their 50' ketch, is back home in North Carolina now because Normandie's mama needed care. Still, it's gorgeous there, too, and she can write from home as easily as she could on the boat.

Her two grown children and two step-sons are handsome (or gorgeous, as the case may be), talented, and a delight. And now there's a granddaughter and grandson in the mix--woohoo! She just wishes they lived a lot closer to home.

Connect with Normandie by visiting normandiefischer.com to follow her on social media or subscribe to email newsletter updates.

TOUR GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card and one signed book written by Normandie Fischer (winner's choice)!

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight August 10, 2022 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on August 17, 2022. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

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

*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.

Sunday, August 7, 2022

Book Review: A Tenuous Betrothal by Jen Geigle Johnson

About the Book:

Rhianna Davies is well-acquainted with heartache after the painful loss of her parents. At the arrival of her ghastly uncle, she is brought even lower: Rhi has been banished from her family’s estate home and must rely on the kindness of her tightly knit Welsh miners for help. Without the protective love of her parents, Rhi has no illusions that hers will be a happy ending—until an addendum to her father’s will arrives in the hands of a prince.

Marc Wilhelm, Prince of Oldenburg, is in Wales with one purpose: to claim his betrothed. A long-ago promise between their fathers forges an indelible link between Rhi and Marc, but there remains just one problem: neither wants to marry a stranger. With no remaining ties to Wales, Rhi agrees to accompany Marc to Oldenburg, where he will forfeit their betrothal so she may have her pick of husbands. But their journey takes them down unexpected paths, from the depths of a Welsh mine to the marriage mart of London to a warm reception in Oldenburg. Rhi and Marc discover that their connection and their challenges run deeper than either anticipated, but whether from their own hesitations or from danger that threatens without, the couple might be thwarted before they can even begin the happily ever after they so richly deserve.

My Thoughts:

Reading A Tenuous Betrothal by Jen Geigle Johnson gave me a calm respite from life. It’s the type of sweet romance novel that makes me root for the characters without feeling desperate to gobble up their story. It’s relaxed and fun and pleasant. In other words, it’s a classic Jen Geigle Johnson novel.

I liked that A Tenuous Betrothal held story tension without the main characters acting as adversaries. Rhianna’s natural leadership skills give her the necessary stubbornness and strength she needs to do good for her hometown. Marc is a born leader with a bent for protecting others, but these two characters partner together throughout the novel. Whether it’s finding a spouse or bettering the lives of others, Marc and Rhianna respect each other and willingly support the other’s goals. Although their romance felt a tad angsty as they rehashed their reasons to not be together, Rhianna’s uniqueness, plus the strong partnership between her and Marc, kept me turning pages until I finished this agreeable story.

A Tenuous Betrothal lands as book three in Jen Geigle Johnson’s Royal Regency Romance series. I read book one, but not book two, and A Tenuous Betrothal worked fine as a standalone story. Though the events involving Napoleon and France take a backseat to the characters’ relationships, that background setting does carry over from book to book. I suggest reading the novels in sequence to see how these six royal brothers navigate political happenings and personal romances.

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

Friday, August 5, 2022

July 2022 Reading Recap & August 2022 TBR

My July 2022 Reads:

Love and the Dream Come True by Tammy L. Gray - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.

The Bound Heart by Dawn Crandall - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.

Vying for the Viscount by Kristi Ann Hunter - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.

The Captive Imposter by Dawn Crandall - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Love's Fortress by Jennifer Uhlarik - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.

A Tenuous Betrothal by Jen Geigle Johnson - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Read my review.

The Cautious Maiden by Dawn Crandall - ⭐⭐⭐ - Read my mini-review on Goodreads (with spoilers).

Enchanting Nicholette by Dawn Crandall - ⭐⭐⭐

Florida: A Pictoral History by Hampton Dunn - ⭐⭐⭐ - Mixed feelings on this one. Lots of history, but could have been organized better. Also, a product of it's times - POC are almost completely ignored and women are frequently objectified. But yes, lots of fascinating history.

Best. State. Ever: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland by Dave Barry - ⭐⭐ - Had some legitimately funny parts, but would have been better without the raunchy content.

Expected August 2022 Reads:

Since I almost completely disregarded last month's TBR list, my current TBR is largely the same! 🤣

Every Word Unsaid by Kimberly Duffy - My local book club's selection for August. I read this novel when it released and I'm looking forward to experiencing it again! Read my review.

Winning the Gentleman by Kristi Ann Hunter - Currently reading.

The Hidden Prince by Tessa Afshar - I'm super excited about this one. Tessa's novels are always excellent!

Prayer Without Pretending by Angela Ashwin - I'm currently reading and loving this book. Wish I had read it years ago!

Suncoast Empire: Bertha Honore Palmer, Her Family, and the Rise of Sarasota by Frank A. Cassell - I've been interested in Bertha Honore Palmer since I read about her as a side character in Jocelyn Green's Veiled in Smoke. I love visiting her estate, Historic Spanish Point, which is about 45 minutes away. Looking forward to learning more about her and her family.

Nightshade by Ronie Kendig - This book has been on my want-to-read list for a long time. Looks like I'm finally going to get to enjoy it! 🎉

What will you read this month?