Book Review

Awaken My Heart by DiAnn Mills

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Marianne Phillips is mortified by her wealthy father’s plan to force out those who had lived first in the Texas valley where he built his ranch. Her fear grows as she learns he will use weapons and his Virginia friends to remove the Mexicans from La Flor because his cattle need their land to graze.

Then Marianne is kidnapped in exchange for La Flor by members of the rebel band led by Armando Garcia, angering him. They acted without his knowledge. He insists on guarding Marianne himself, who is soon captivated by the man’s bravery. Yet there could be no future for these feelings for her father’s enemy, especially after he arranges for her to marry a man older than himself.

Innocent characters on both sides of the book’s conflict quickly snagged my sympathy. There is action and adventure throughout the novel with a love story that tugged at my heart.

This book was a page turner for me. I learned much about the struggles in the early history of Texas before it became a state. Recommended for historical romance readers.

I’ll look for more novels by this author!

-Review by Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

Hard Road South by Scott Gates

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The War Between the States has been over four years. Solomon Dykes, a former officer in the Union army, longs to move south to the beautiful country in Virginia he fell in love with as a soldier.

Jeb Mosby farms his Virginia land once again. The war took so much from him and his family but he doesn’t want to dwell on those painful losses. He is willing to give Dykes a chance as his new neighbor.

There are those in town who are not as forgiving.

I was transported to the difficult days following the Civil War by this story, when Carpetbaggers and soldiers were an unwelcome presence in the South. This story is mostly set in the beautiful Virginia valleys and I could see them again through the author’s descriptions.

Likeable, authentic characters tell a story of tough times, of wounds that fester. I loved learning more about the struggles beyond the war. The story caught and held my interest.

Recommended for those interested in American history and the American Civil War.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

EO-N by Dave Mason

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A boy discovers a sharp metal object buried in the snow that leads to the unearthing of a World War II plane crash, a plane that Alison Wiley’s missing grandfather had flown.

Alison, sorting through her recently-deceased mother’s files, discovers a telegram informing her grandmother that her husband was missing in action. The family mystery of what happened to him tugs at her. What happened to her grandfather?

I was pulled into the mystery along with the characters in this time-slip novel with the careful insertion of scenes from the war. At first these scenes feel unrelated yet are masterfully woven together in a way that grips a reader’s attention and builds suspense.

Readers will be shocked at the cruelty of some leaders and heartbroken by the tragedy others suffered at their hands. There is violence and language in this story.

This book is a page-turner from beginning to end. Highly recommend for readers of World War II historical novels.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon

To Capture Her Heart by Rebecca DeMarino

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The Southold Chronicles, Book 2

Heather Flower’s captors tied her to a tree. She doesn’t want them to return. They had forced her to watch them kill her husband at their wedding feast and then kidnapped her and several other women.

Lieutenant Dirk Van Buren rescues Heather Flower for her family on Long Island. Aware she survived a terrible tragedy, he fights his attraction for the beautiful, brave woman.

Benjamin Horton is also a good man and an old friend. Heather Flower knows he loves her and wants to marry her.

Two good men care for her. Which should she choose? She can’t stop worrying about the women who were kidnapped with her. Are they alive?

This story, set in 1653, captivated me from the beginning. I fell in love with the characters. I love books where I learn some history as a natural part of reading the story. I enjoyed this book, a page-turner for me, and recommend it for historical romance readers.

-Sandra Merville Hart

Christianbook.com

Rescuing Her Heart by Cindy Ervin Huff

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Sequel to Healing Hearts, Cindy Ervin Huff’s novella in “The Cowboys,” a Smitten Historical Romance Collection

Jed Holt recognizes the desperate fear in Delilah James’s eyes. His days as a chaplain during the recent War Between the States taught him to tread lightly when a desperate person held a gun.

Delilah’s house lay in charred ruins. Her husband lay dead among the ashes of the small building that had never been the safe haven. She couldn’t mourn the man who’d treated her so cruelly.

Never would she trust another man … no matter how kindly he treated her. Experience had taught her it didn’t last.

Even as Jed’s compassionate heart grows to love the widow who now works for his sister-in-law, he has ghosts from his own past—remnants of the war he can’t overcome.

This novel, set on an 1870 Kansas ranch, tells a story of abuse and the difficulty of trusting again that will resound with many readers.

Likeable characters tug at the heart in this emotional story filled with plenty of twists and turns. Huff has written a spell-binding tale of budding romance with road blocks at every turn.

I first met some of these courageous characters in Healing Hearts in “The Cowboys” Smitten Collection, and fell in love with them there.

This novel is even more compelling. I couldn’t put it down. A page turner from beginning to end for me!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas

Carolina Carpenter Brides

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Four couples find tools for Building Romance in a Home Improvement Store

I loved that all four of these romances begin with a connection at the Home & Hearth Superstore.

In Janet Benrey’s How to Refurbish an Old Romance, the romance begins when both Brianna and Zach take a course on “How to Repair Bad Decisions Made Years Ago.” Brianna had signed up to learn how to wallpaper. The last thing she expected was to see Zach, the man she’d been engaged to years ago.

When Kaitlyn Ferrer’s boss asks her to write a feature story on the dating scene at a hardware store as her first reporting job, she thinks he’s crazy. Chris Taylor also works for a newspaper with a similar assignment. Things go awry when they both go undercover in Once Upon a Shopping Cart by Ron Benrey.

Valerie Bradford, high school teacher, plans to install cabinets herself but Austin Hodges figures she’ll need help no matter which style she chooses. She reluctantly accepts his help in Can You Help Me? by Lena Nelson Dooley.

Marc Goodson is the head of security at Home & Hearth Superstore and has reason to suspect Laurel Jones, a new employee in the flowers and plants department, of theft. On the other hand, Laurel believes he’s a stalker … not the best way to begin a romance in Caught Red-Handed by Yvonne Lehman.

I enjoyed this collection of light-hearted, easy-to-read romances!

-Sandra Merville Hart

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The Devil’s Bookkeepers by Mark H. Newhouse

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by Sandra Merville Hart

Book 3: The Noose Closes

I shunned from the title of this book yet it is aptly named.

Newhouse has written a fictional story based on chronicles of events that were written during WWII. Jews in Poland lived through a nightmare. This story begins with Ben Ostrowski’s frantic worry for his wife and two-year-old daughter. German soldiers had come for all the children in Lodz Ghetto. His wife wouldn’t allow her daughter to leave without her and both were taken in September of 1942.

Ostrowski can barely function at his job, but he must. Those who don’t work are in danger of deportation. Where did the trains go? It was rumored that people were taken to farmlands up north. He wanted them to be safe and happy … he wanted to believe it, yet the increasing atrocities dictated by the Germans and their Jewish Chairman say otherwise.

This story chilled me even as it held me in its grips. It was difficult to read and impossible to put down. Well-written. Terrifying. Poignant.

Tragic.

The author’s parents managed to survive the misery and danger of Lodz Ghetto but never talked about their experiences. Many of his relatives did not survive Auschwitz. His parents never talked about their experiences. The haunting shadow of the Holocaust compelled Newhouse to write this trilogy. His message? “Never again to anyone, anywhere.”

Amen.

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The Egyptian Princess by KD Holmberg

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A Story of Hagar

Hagar is a Royal Princess of Egypt in the times of Abram and Sarai (Abraham and Sarah in Genesis.) Hagar is destined to marry her twin brother, Crown Prince Merikare, who views her with jealous hatred. The Pharoah is her father and he is more interested in his sons, a painful rejection she’s dealt with all her life.

She’s been having visions, horrible nightmares, since she’s learned that Sarai was coming. The Pharoah wants Sarai to become his newest wife.

Some are troubled by Hagar’s visions while others, like Merikare, ridicule them.

Then her dreams begin to happen …

I was first caught by all the old Egyptian traditions and beliefs that were new to me. Then I became engrossed in the story and the escalating danger Hagar faced. I lost sleep finishing it!

Realistic characters search for answers about the one God in the midst of a society where such conversations can cost their life. I was drawn into the drama that didn’t let me go.

Readers of Biblical fiction will enjoy this story. It’s also a great read for history lovers.

 -Sandra Merville Hart

https://www.amazon.com/Egyptian-Princess-Story-Hagar/dp/1943959994/

Hard Tack and Coffee by John B. Billings

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The Unwritten Story of Army Life

What a treasure this nonfiction book is for readers of Civil War books!

The author, John B. Billings, was a Civil War soldier in the Army of the Potomac. He gave American history lovers a great gift when he wrote about a soldier’s experiences during the war.

He gave details of shelters the Union army used for hospitals. Living in tents in army camps and log huts during winter presented challenges for soldiers.

Billings writes about their rations. Hard tack loses any appeal from his sometimes humorous descriptions yet was a staple in their diet.

I enjoyed the wonderful details of Civil War army life. As an author of Civil War novels, I loved how Billings brought those days to life. This book, written in 1887, helped me gain an understanding of a soldier’s everyday life.

Recommended for those interested in American history, the American Civil War, and military camp life.

Civil War Romances Series with reviews-Sandra Merville Hart

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First 100 Animals Sticker Book by Roger Priddy

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I normally would not review a children’s sticker book, but I have to make an exception for this one.

I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old in my life who love this book. They have to take turns choosing stickers or they’d fight over it.

We’ve enjoyed finding the animal stickers from the back to place on pages where the animals are grouped by categories like Farm babies, Pets, At the Zoo, On Safari, and several others.

They require help at these ages. I’ve had to help them find the stickers to go with each picture so it’s not exactly a do-it-yourself at 2 and 4, though the four-year-old isn’t too far away from that independence.

I’ll look for more of these fun sticker books!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Amazon