Never Leave Me

GIVEAWAY

HEDLUND, JODY

NEVER LEAVE ME

In the last stages of a genetic disease, Ellen Creighton had decided to live out her remaining days at the estate of her longtime friend Harrison Burlington. Harrison cares deeply for Ellen, but as a wheel-chair-bound paraplegic, he's never allowed himself to get serious in a relationship. However, he's desperately trying to save her by finding the holy water that is believed to heal any disease.

When he locates two flasks, Ellen refuses to drink one of them because she believes the holy water killed her sister and father. In an effort to convince her to take it, Harrison ingests the contents first, and when Ellen witnesses the effects, she can no longer deny the power of the substance in the bottles. Dangerous criminals are also seeking the holy water, and Ellen soon learns they will go to any lengths to get the powerful drug -- including sending her back into the past to find it for them.

Award-winning author Jody Hedlund plunges you into the swiftly flowing river of history in a race against the clock in this breathtaking, emotional second Waters of Time story.

My Review:

Me while reading Never Leave Me: "Wait...what? No! Gasp!!!" and repeat. And that's about all I can say in a review because I can't figure out how to talk about this book without posting spoilers. I will say emphatically that you MUST read the first book, Come Back to Me before opening this one. In fact, you might want to do yourself a favour and read them back to back. :-)

Love the intricacies of the time travel elements and the moral questions they pose. And I absolutely adore the romance! Desperate love lived out desperately. Friends who have never ventured further for all kinds of reasons but as events ramp up so do deep emotions. And there are so many wonderful faith elements in this story which also raise moral questions. So, lots of depth for a reader to lose herself in.

Of course there's intrigue and danger and truly vile villains to add to all the angst and drama and keep a reader frantically turning pages which makes Never Leave Me one unputdownable read.

Goal Update: #5 Diversify my reading, setting; #6 Stay current with a series

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a paperback or ebook copy -- winner's choice.

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Never Leave Me, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add your email to a comment, remember to use AT AND DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday February 12 2022. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck

Come Back to Me

GIVEAWAY

HEDLUND, JODY

COME BACK TO ME

The ultimate cure that could heal any disease? Crazy.

That's exactly what research scientist Marian Creighton has always believed about her father's quest, even if it does stem from a desire to save her sister Ellen from the genetic disease that stole their mother from them. But when her father falls into a coma after drinking a vial of holy water believed to contain traces of residue from the Tree of Life, Marian must question all of her assumptions. He's left behind tantalizing clues that suggest he's crossed back in time. Insane. Until Marian tests his theories and finds herself in the Middle Ages during a dangerous peasant uprising.

William Durham, a valiant knight comes to Marian's rescue and offers her protection...as his wife. The longer Marian stays in the past, the more she cares about William. Can she ever find her father and make it back to the present to heal her sister? And when the time comes to leave, will she want to?

Bestselling author Jody Hedlund is your guide down the twisting waters of time to a volatile era of superstition, revolts, and chivalry in this suspenseful story.

My Review:

:-0 This is me. Gobsmacked. Senses reeling, toes still kinked from too many toe curling scenes...wait, can there be such a thing as too many toe curls? I think not. But wooheeee --- make sure you have a fainting couch on hand (and a spare), a stash of smelling salts and a fan or two before you venture into this exceptional time travel story. And a collection of your finest lace hankies because...emotional trauma alert! 

Tumultuous romance! Doomed love, destined to fail...but, wait...this is Jody Hedlund so she'll lead her faithful readers to a happily ever after, right? I wrestled with that question all the way through because I couldn't quite see how she could keep Will and Marian together. Which time period would work best? And what about...and...and...there are still some unanswered questions which will thankfully be dealt with in future books in the series, though the author is giving us no hints of titles or cover art or synopsis or when the next book will come out. I am in anticipatory agony  waiting for news!

So...William. Be. Still. My. Heart. Imagine every fictional heart-throb you've ever loved, multiply that by a hundred and you come close to this knightly hero. Protective. Possessive. Wounded. In turmoil. But when he sees Marian, hope stirs inside him for the first time in a very long while. He's very much a man who is used to being in control while she's a 21st century woman who is having a hard time assimilating to the 1300s. Their verbal sparring is hysterical. And when it morphs into flirtation...THUD! Make sure your fainting couch has extra pouffy ticking, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Hedlund has done an amazing job with the time travel plausibility, making it work to create a very unique edgy vibe. There's danger and intrigue in both time periods with Marian caught between two worlds. There's even some deeply philosophical conundrums posed and I can't figure out how they'll be resolved by the end of the series.

I compulsively listened to the audible edition narrated by Sarah Zimmerman, one of my favourite narrators. She did an excellent job of keeping me riveted to Jody Hedlund's breathtaking storytelling. And get a load of the audible cover art. I much prefer it to the paperback one.

 

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is available in paperback or ebook format -- winner's choice

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Come Back to Me, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winners announced on Saturday June 12 2021. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!

Falling for the Fifties

GIVEAWAY

MCGEE, STEPHENIA H.

FALLING FOR THE FIFTIES

What would you do if you finally found Mr. Right...in the wrong time?

Maddie Palmer is done with dating. Internet matchmaking landed her one dud after another. Tired, frustrated, and finished with love, Maddie stays the night at a quirky Victorian bed and breakfast on the eve of her grandparents' sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. When she suddenly wakes up in 1956, she gets the unexpected chance to witness her grandparents' fairy tale love unfold and finally learn the secret to finding "the one." But what is she going to do when she meets her own Mr. Right -- only to discover he's Mr. Wrong Time?

Nathanial Hall is set on one mission. Pass his training exam and join the Hurricane Hunters at Keesler Air Force Base. When he mysteriously finds himself on base sixty-five years too early, there can only be one explanation. He has to save the crew destined to die in Hurricane Flossy. But when a beautiful singer snags his heart and derails his carefully planned life, he has to decide if staying in the past is worth risking his entire future.

Back Inn Time series: This fun, faith-filled series of short novels takes readers on romantic adventures throughout time and can be read in any order.

My Review:

Are you in a reading rut? Willing to shake things up a bit? Suspend logic and open your mind to a whole lot of what-ifs? Might I suggest embarking on a time travel adventure with Stephenia H. McGee as your guide?!

Seriously fun. Quirky. Unusual. A sense of magic mixed with realism that makes time travel seem completely plausible. And to the 1950s! I felt like I'd landed in the middle of a Doris Day movie. 

And the way the author pulls this heroine and her hero into the setting -- neither realizing the other is from the future too...well, it's mind blowing amazing, that's what. It was so much fun spotting the little 'future tells' one or the other would let slip and then I was on tenterhooks waiting to find out who was going to figure it out first. So, this isn't really a doomed romance...they just think it is! :-)

There's plenty of action and drama and even some heart-in-throat moments along with some lovely swoony ones! All tied up in an enduring love story. I'm a tad shy of giddy over this literary discovery! 

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for an ebook copy

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Falling for the Fifties, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winners announced on Saturday May 29  2021. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!

Shenandoah Nights

GIVEAWAY

BELCASTRO, LISA
SHENANDOAH NIGHTS

The last thing sixth-grade teacher Rebecca O'Neill wants to do during the final week of her summer vacation is chaperone twenty-five students on a six-night, seven-day trip aboard the schooner Shenandoah. But after a desperate phone call from her school principal, she doesn't have a choice. Worse, the ship is rumoured to be "haunted." Five years ago, during the Holmes Hole student cruise, teacher Melissa Smith complained about hearing voices and seeing visions, then disappeared without a trace--from the very same cabin where Rebecca will be staying.

Everything seems normal on Sunday afternoon as Rebecca boards the impressive Shenandoah. But as she sits in Cabin 8, she hears hushed voices whispering about a cannon. Mike, a crewmember, insists he believes the crazy Island story that Melissa time-traveled to Colonial Boston. His eerie interest and constant tracking Rebecca's whereabouts rattles her nerves.

Her first night onboard, Rebecca drifts off to sleep...and wakes the following morning with memories of a dream about secretive conversation concerning a battle with Britain. Monday night Rebecca crawls into her bunk after an adventurous day of sailing, swimming, and overseeing students. She's startled awake when a man grabs her and yells, "Stowaway!" Dragged in front of Captain Benjamin Reed, she looks up into the most gorgeous brown eyes she's ever seen....

My Review:

Squuueeaaalllll!!! Time Travel!!! Suspend all logic, throw common sense out the window and be prepared to be swept away by a unique love story that spans centuries. I do love this genre and there aren't enough books written for the adult market, let alone in Christian Fiction. So I  am happy dancing after reading Shenandoah Nights -- especially since it's the first in a series.

It's campy and fun and romantically delicious. Benjamin is the stuff heroes are made of and Rebecca is quickly out of her element and not just because she's time travelled back two hundred years. A tenuous romance, some toe-curling love scenes and the shipboard setting all mesh together to make this an unforgettable read.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

E-BOOK COPY ONLY

If you would like an opportunity to win an e-copy of  Shenandoah Nights please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you post a comment and add your email address, please use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in the address to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email please remember to put the title in the subject line so that it's easy for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday February 7 2016 . Offer open to international readers. Good luck!

Torrent

GIVEAWAY!!!

BERGREN, LISA T.
TORRENT

“Hold tight,” I said. “No matter what happens, do not let us go.”

“We won’t,” my dad said.

“Never,” Mom added.

And with a look at Lia, we laid our hands upon the prints.

Gabriella and Evangelia Betarrini are just two normal American teenagers. Normal except for the fact that they time travel to fourteenth-century Italy, where they’ve lived in castles they’ve seen as crumbling ruins, become swept up in historic battles, and fallen in love with handsome knights willing to do anything to keep them alive.

 They’ve returned to the present to save their father, just short of his tragic death, and now all four return to the place that holds the girls’ hearts, medieval Italy. But remaining there means facing great risk as the battle for territory wages on and the coming Black Plague looms. Can they convince their parents to stay and leave behind everything they’ve worked so hard to accomplish? And will the girls sacrifice their futures in an uncertain past? Or in facing death head-on, will they discover life as it was always meant to be lived?

My Review:

Stunning conclusion to The River of Time series. I was almost afraid to read Torrent because I just couldn't imagine how Bergren could possibly end the series to my satisfaction...but she more than succeeded. I'm not sure that I can find enough adequate words to express the immense pleasure and excitement --- the sheer exhilaration -- this read brought to me. It's like Bergren fine-tuned every ounce of her writer's craft and poured it all into this novel.

Torrent has it all -- drama, romance, comedy, action, suspense -- in a dizzying, page-turning extravaganza that I just couldn't put down. It's hard to write a review without giving anything away. Let's just say that there's more than one swoonworthy hero within these pages -- and the romance...Be. Still. My. Heart. Ooooohhhhh so romantical...beyond my expectations and unlike anything I've read in a long time. How's that for a bit of vague praise?

As larger-than-life heroines, Gabi and Lia continue to enthrall me, as they did everyone else in Sienna. And Bergren puts them through their paces as they face diabolical plots and imminent danger at every turn. The pacing in this novel is incredible -- a steady rush of action and adventure combined with tender and even comedic moments. This is an all round not-to-be-missed-very-good-read.

Giveaway Opportunity:

If you would like to win a copy of Torrent please leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. The draw is open internationally and the winner will be announced on Sunday September 25. Good luck!

Waterfall

BERGREN, LISA T.

WATERFALL

What do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?

Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives among the romantic hills with their archaeologist parents. Stuck among the rubble of medieval castles in rural Tuscanny on yet another hot, dusty archaeological site, Gabi and Lia are bored out of their minds...until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.

Suddenly Gabbi's summer in Italy is much, much more interesting.

MAGNIFICENT! I'M JUMPING UP AND DOWN OVER THIS YOUNG ADULT NOVEL! I LOVE A GOOD TIME-TRAVEL STORY AND THIS ONE IS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY GOOD! THE HISTORICAL DETAILS ARE INCREDIBLE AND BERGREN HAS DONE A WONDERFUL JOB OF SHOWING THE CONTRAST BETWEEN OUR MODERN DAY HEROINE AND HER MEDIEVAL KNIGHT!

GABI HAS HAD AN UNUSUAL UPBRINGING -- FROM FENCING LESSONS WITH HER DAD TO CONVERSING IN LATIN WITH HER PARENTS TO BEING FORCED TO STUDY CENTURIES OF HISTORY. WHO KNEW SO MUCH OF ALL THAT WOULD ACTUALLY SEEP IN AND SHE'D GET TO USE IT TO FULL ADVANTAGE ON HER SUMMER VACATION?!

THERE'S ACTION AND INTRIGUE, AND STAR-CROSSED LOVERS AND LOTS OF FUNNY MOMENTS AS GABI CONTINUES TO CONFOUND THOSE KNIGHTS IN SHINING ARMOR!

I JUST COULDN'T TEAR MYSELF AWAY FROM THE BOOK -- SO TEMPTED TO TAKE A PEEK AT THE LAST PAGE BECAUSE I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW BERGREN COULD POSSIBLY RESOLVE EVERYTHING. SHE DID A VERY SKILLFUL JOB BUT SHE LEFT THE DOOR OPEN (OR SHOULD I SAY TIME PORTAL?) FOR THE NEXT BOOK IN THE RIVER OF TIME SERIES. CASCADE RELEASES IN JUNE 2011 AND TORRENT IN SEPTEMBER 2011. I AM COUNTING THE DAYS!!!!!