Reader's Choice - Historical Fiction (2016)

GIVEAWAY

 

 

THE LAST HURRAH FOR BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 2016!!!!!

 
Can you believe that the year is almost over? If you're like me, you have some reading regrets nagging at your sensitive  reader hearts. You know -- those books that got away. New releases that aren't so new anymore. So here's a chance to make things right. Share a title (or 2 or 3) of the 2016 Historical Fiction books that you haven't read yet and you will be entered in the giveaway draw and might just win the very book you suggest.  Leave a comment (or 3) below, including the title of the book(s) in the Historical Fiction genre you'd like to win -- with a 2016 publication date   

Please read and follow rules carefully.

Publication dates must be 2016

Book must be in the Historical Fiction genre

 

Christian Fiction books only please!

You can offer three suggestions

BUT

they need to be made in

three separate comments

(makes it easier for me to tally)

No email entries today 

(too hard to keep track of due to the

# of responses)

 

Open to International readers (I'm all about spreading the Good News about Christian Fiction all over the globe!!!!!!)

 

Please remember to include your email, using AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers. Draw will be held and winner announced on

Sunday December 18 2016.

Rocky Mountain Cowboy

GIVEAWAY

RADCLIFFE, TINA
ROCKY MOUNTAIN COWBOY

A cowboy's second chance...

The last person cowboy Joe Gallagher thought he'd see on his ranch was high school sweetheart Rebecca Anshaw Simpson. Twelve years after she married another man, she's back as his physical therapist. But healing his body is nothing compared to guarding his heart from the woman he never forgot. There's much the single mom would rather forget, but Becca won't let regret and a surly rancher get in the way of her job and the chance to start over with her little girl. She has only a few weeks to make peace with her past. But Becca never expected she'd fall all over again for her first love.

My Review:

Why am I reduced to mush by a brooding cowboy nursing a broken heart? That's the perfect description of Joe Gallagher and the reason my heart is hammering a mile a minute just thinking about him. His independent-bordering-on-foolish nature gives Becca plenty of trouble and brought me hours of reading enjoyment. :-) Stubbornly clinging to past hurts, he's determined to get the pesky woman out of his sight as fast as possible. He just didn't bargain on her equally stubborn nature -- not to mention her cute-as-a-button daughter with hero worship in her eyes. There's angst and laughter, tenderness and heartache and the sweet promise of happily ever after. The kind of story guaranteed to sweep a reader away into romantical bliss.

My thanks to the author for gifting me with a copy of this book.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of Rocky Mountain Cowboy 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 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 December 18. Offer open to international readers. Good luck!

Forget Me Not

Okay, so this isn't Saturday but this is a Retro-Read...published in 2010...
but my TBR pile has dwindled to zilch so I had to get creative. :-)

GIVEAWAY

HINZE, VICKI
FORGET ME NOT

Their exclusive enemies took everything. Now they want more.

Crossroads Crisis Center owner Benjamin Brandt was a content man -- in his faith, his work and his family. Then, in a flash, everything he loved was swept away. His wife and son were murdered, and grief-stricken Ben lost faith. Determination to find their killers keeps him going, but after three years of dead ends and torment, his hope is dying too. Why had he survived? He'd failed to protect his family.

Now, a mysterious woman appears at Crossroads seeking answers and help -- a victim who eerily resembles Ben's deceased wife, Susan. A woman robbed of her identity, her life, of everything except her faith -- and Susan's necklace.

The connections between the two women mount, exceeding coincidence, and to keep the truth hidden, someone is willing to kill. Finding out who and why turns Ben and the mystery woman's situation from dangerous to deadly. Their only hope for survival is to work together, trust each other, and face whatever they discover head on, no matter how painful. But will that be enough to save their lives and heal their tattered hearts?

My Review:

This is a read-in-one gulp kind of novel. Seriously, once you start you won't be able to stop. So clear your calendar, send your loved ones off on an adventure without you and curl up by with this intense read for the afternoon.

A twisty, turny plot that is so complicated I'll just advise you to go with the flow and be content with knowing that eventually everything will be revealed. Edgy and tense and utterly compelling.

And if all that danger and mystery isn't enough to leave you gasping for breath, the romance is sure to. From a less than stellar first meet -- let's just say that Ben doesn't make a great first impression...or second...and possibly third. He's wary and cynical and bitter. A real contrast to the mystery woman who has been stripped of everything but her faith. And he wants none of it, but she has a way about her and he can't deny that it's her faith that anchors her. Definitely interesting dynamics between these two.

Taut suspense coupled with an impossible romance provide hours of sublime reading pleasure.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

 If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of  Forget Me Not 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 December 18 2016. Offer open to international readers. Good luck!

Jilted

GIVEAWAY

DENMAN, VARINA
JILTED

A heartbroken woman desires to move beyond old desires to move beyond old memories, but will her past give way to hope?

Lynda Turner has struggled with depression since her husband abandoned her and their young daughter fifteen years ago. Yet unexpected hope awakens when a local ex-convict shows interest. As long-hidden secrets resurface, Lynda must fight for her emotional stability and for a life in which the shadow of shame is replaced by the light of love.

Jilted tells of a woman who has lost the joy of living, of a man determined to draw her back toward happiness, and of a town that must -- once and for all -- leave the past where it belongs. It is a gentle reminder that all things can work together for good.

My Review:

Raw and real and gritty. Denman has penned a deeply emotional conclusion to the Mended Hearts series.  Jilted is the third book and I do think that it is wise to read the first two, Jaded and Justified before beginning this one. There are circumstances that won't be clear unless you've read the other stories.

The word vivid comes to mind when I think of this author's storytelling technique. From characters to plot to setting - her words paint pictures so vividly that it takes my breath away. I plunge right into Trapp, Texas and become an avid participant in all the small town dynamics. Elderly sisters, 'Blue' and 'Gray', queens of gossip and self-proclaimed judges, Steadfast Dixie who owns the diner and counsels Lynda even when she doesn't want it...and she never does. The complicated Blaylock family -- especially patriarch Neil -- shudder -- you have no idea how many times I pictured myself sitting at the diner and sticking my foot out when he walked by. Not that he was in the diner much but, still, it's a great video that keeps playing in my mind.

Lynda is a glass half empty kind of woman. She's battled depression most of her life and I'll be frank and say she was not a favourite character of mine in the first two books. Wasn't even sure I'd cotton to her this time round. But, oh my goodness, Denman digs deep and uncovers layers and layers of this complicated woman. And yes, sometimes it was uncomfortable but well worth the read.

And Clyde -- well, I was a Clyde fan early one. The strong, silent type with an unfortunate past that he hasn't let define him. His unwavering faith and the gentle way his actions reflect it is truly inspiring.

Jilted is an up-close and personal look at complicated, messy lives and how God works in amazing ways to turn even the most dire circumstances into something good.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of Jilted 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 December 18 2016. Offer open to international readers. Good luck!

Pray A to Z : a Practical Guide to Pray for Your Community

RHODES, AMELIA
PRAY A TO Z : A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PRAY FOR YOUR COMMUNITY

Change the world one prayer at a time

How would our community change if instead of absently saying, "I'll pray for you," we actually did pray -- deeply, intensely, and purposefully?

Pray A to Z will help you topically organize prayer requests and lay those burdens at the feet of your heavenly Father.

With compassion and encouragement, Amelia Rhodes offers Bible verses and prayer prompts, organized topically for every letter of the alphabet. There are five topics for each letter -- three prayers of petition asking God to work in a certain area of need, and two more prayers of praise that reflect gratitude for God's presence in the daily issues and relationships of life. Through petition and praise, your specific, focused communion with God will lighten your heart as you place the heaviness of those prayer requests where thy belong -- on His strong shoulders.

My Review:

An encouraging little book that has the power to change your prayer life. Would make a great gift for someone new to the faith. The author has divided a myriad of community based prayer prompts for easy access in alphabetical order. A gem of a resource that embraces every kind of issue people come across in community -- violence, estranged relationships, law enforcement, nature care, grieving...the list goes on. Each topic is headed by a corresponding scripture, suggestions for how to pray over that issue and then a concise prayer you can use as a prompt. A really unique idea and could easily be used as a daily devotional.

I've recently finished participating in a women's bible study on prayer and I'm trying to broaden and deepen my conversations with God so this book showed up in my mailbox at the perfect time. I've been reading one page a day and then endeavoring to add my own petition to the Lord about the day's issue. This book has been a great encouragement as I work at making my own prayers more meaningful.

My thanks to Litfuse Publicity Group and Worthy Inspired for providing me with a copy of this book.

http://litfusegroup.com/author/arhodes

December Giveaway - Week Two

WON  BY MARIANNE BARKMAN

WON BY TERRILL

WON BY CAITLIN M.

WON BY TRIXI

WON BY CONNIE

WON BY MARJORIE

As always, I will contact the winners by email, however, thanks to the nefarious ways of the internet, my email might land in your spam folder so keep your eyes peeled! :-) If you haven't heard from me by Monday evening, please email me your snail mail address at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. From time to time winners and I don't seem to connect, so I have a month time frame. If I can't reach you within four weeks your win will be forfeited.

 LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK'S GIVEAWAYS:

So, the impossible happened -- my TBR pile is...no longer. Not a single book on it. Yes, I'm telling y'all that I ran out of books!!!! So -- four read and reviewed giveaways on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday PLUS a last hurrah to 2016 with two Reader's Choice Giveaways on Thursday and Friday. Be sure to read all the rules (I tried to make them short and friendly) -- There will be a Historical day and a Contemporary day -- both can also include Amish, Suspense, YA etc as long as the recommended book matches the time period of the category. And all books must have been published in 2016. So this is the chance to snag the book that got away this year! ...As well as one of these books -- OOPSY -- error in the graphic. Instead of Fatal Deduction by Gayle Roper (which was a giveaway this past week) Saturday's retro read is VISIBLE THREAT BY JANICE CANTORE. Sorry about that. I guess that empty TBR pile has me more shaken than I thought. :-)

Fatal Deduction

GIVEAWAY

ROPER, GAYLE
FATAL DEDUCTION

One across...three down...The answer is in the puzzle. The danger is in not solving it before time's up.

Libby Keating longs to be close to her twin sister, Tori, but their lives have taken them in different directions. Forced to share Aunt Stella's old Philadelphia home in order to receive their inheritance, Libby hopes for a change, but it isn't looking good so far.

First, Tori tries to steal the affection and allegiance of Libby's thirteen-year-old daughter, Chloe. Then when a crossword puzzle with a hidden warning shows up on their doorstep, Tori refuses to take it seriously -- in spite of the dead man who delivers it.

Libby finds comfort in neighbor Drew Canfield, but he hesitates to trust her after his disastrous marriage. As Libby struggles to act faithfully in the midst of these confusing relationships, she must also deal with a stolen diamond and a botched kidnapping. The answer to her problems lies in the riddles of the crossroads, if only she can solve the puzzles before it's too late.

My Review:

Incredibly clever clues hidden in random crossroad puzzles (which the author includes so you can complete the puzzle and discover the clues right along with Libby) make this a uniquely fascinating read.

The contrast between Libby and her twin couldn't be more startling and I'll admit to wanting to smack Tori upside the head on numerous occasions! And let's just place a captial 'D' in front of Dysfunctional when describing their extended Keating family. Enough fodder to send my sensitive reader vibes into overdrive! Emotions definitely engaged in this one.

Love the unexpected romance that crops up in the midst of mystery and mayhem. Drew, a lover of all things library, is my idea of a super hero. :-)

Told in mulitple Points of View -- Libby's in 1st person and the rest in 3rd -- gave some interesting perspectives to a captivating plot. And I loved how the author worked a solid faith foundation throughout. A sublime mystery with a kick of romance that will keep you turning pages until the satisfying conclusion.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of Fatal Deduction 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 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 December 11. Offer open to international readers. Good luck!