Amish Wanderer

GIVEAWAY

HILTON, LAURA V.
AMISH WANDERER

Desperate for a Ticket Out
Bethany Weiss is ready to leave town. Tongues haven't stopped clacking in Jamesport, MO, since her daed, the bishop, was admitted to a mental hospital after hurting their small Amish community. But her sharpest wounds Bethany hides from prying eyes, quietly biding her time until she can take a chance at a new life -- away from Jamesport and away from God.

Searching for a Home
Silas Beiler was kicked out of his own family's home. Dogged by a rough childhood and a family who blames him for each new disaster, he begins hitchhiking across the country, sleeping in barns where he can, working for  food when possible -- headed for Pennyslvania, in the hope of some stability.

A Memory of Lemonade
When Bethany spies a man asleep in the hayloft, she first fears the return of an unwelcome suitor. But when it is Silas who turns and speaks, the memories flood back: a happy summer six years ago full of lemonade, long walks, and budding courtship. Now, however, those months of bliss seem naive and idyllic. Will their old love overcome new pain? Or will hurt and rejection continue to haunt their path?

My Review:

Not your typical Amish love story. These are flawed characters struggling to overcome the emotional scars accumulated from a lifetime of dysfunction and abuse. It's gritty and harsh -- emotionally shattering in places -- but ultimately triumphant as both Bethany and Silas find their way to a full understanding of grace.

Bethany feels invisible -- especially to God. She lives to serve and submit and longs for escape. Deeply wounded, her behavior can sometimes be erratic as she flounders to make sense of her world. Silas has so much to offer but he holds back out of fear. These two made a connection when they were youngies attending singings. In fact, Silas used to single Bethany out...and then he and the rest of his family left the community. But now he's returned -- just passing through on his way to a new future. Hearts collide once again, only there are no guarantees that Bethany and Silas will be able to create something long lasting this time round either.

I don't want to say too much more about the plot, because there are things we learn about both hero and heroine that propel the plot along in surprising ways. The author digs deep into the psyche of both, successfully pulling me into their lives and making me feel a gamut of emotions that left me reeling. Tremendously touching, sensitive and ultimately hopeful.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Amish Wanderer, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add your email to a comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please remember to add the title to the subject line so it's easier for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday June 18 2017. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!

June Giveaway - Week Two

WON BY TAMMIE EDINGTON SHAW

WON BY WENDY NEWCOMB

WON BY CINDY JAMESON

WON BY LAURA WALTZ

WON BY KATHLEEN (LANE HILL HOUSE)

WON BY DIANA FLOWERS

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 a winner 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:

Dangerous Depths

GIVEAWAY

COBLE, COLLEEN
DANGEROUS DEPTHS

Sometimes life's most precious treasure lies at dangerous depths

Leia Kahale ditched a promising medical career to settle on a secluded island of Hawaii. She ditched Bane Oanu, too, and he's come to the island to find out why. He's also in search of an archaeological fortune rumored to lie offshore. But an act of sabotage that pushes Bane close to Leia plunges them both into a tangle of emotion -- just as a series of threatening events grip the island. Theft, a friend's death, a bizarre intruder, hints of a second treasure...and even murder -- how can they sort it all out when everyone on the islands has something to hide?

The novels in Colleen Coble's popular Aloha Reef series combine mystery and suspense with tender romance in an irresistible island setting.

My Review:

Published in 2006
#3 in the Aloha Reef series

Coble knows how to stir the pot to create tension and intrigue at every turn. There's a complicated mystery at the heart of this story and it will take all of your reader's wiles to keep up with this author's devious imagination.

Bane's eased his way back into Leia's life with the hope of rekindling their romance. She's determined to hold him at arms length to keep her secret safe. But an epic treasure hunt makes them wary allies as they attempt to stay ahead of the bad guys. It leaves very little time for romance...but when it does happen it's delectable! Be. Still. My. Heart. I don't know how Leia manages to resist Bane! I was a goner a few chapters in.

A strong cast of secondary characters (including a very opinionated cat) keep the story moving at a break-neck speed. Another Colleen Coble page-turner.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Dangerous Depths, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you leave your email address in your comment make sure to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you choose to enter the draw via email please put the title in the subject line to make it easier for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday June 13 2017. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!

A Tailor-Made Husband

GIVEAWAY

GRIGGS, WINNIE
A TAILOR-MADE HUSBAND

From Bachelor Sheriff to Family Man

Tired of pining for handsome sheriff Ward Gleason, seamstress Hazel Andrews plans to head East for a fresh start -- until Ward finds an abandoned child. Hazel can't turn down his request that she watch the little girl while he investigates a spate of crimes. But spending time with Ward is sending local gossips -- and Hazel's heart -- into turmoil.

Nothing in Ward's world is the same since he took charge of orphaned Meg...and that includes his growing feelings for Hazel. A face engagement will allow them to care for the child together until Hazel moves away and finds someone more worthy. But with little Meg convinced she's already found her forever family, can Ward and Hazel dare to make her dreams come true, along with their own?

Texas Grooms...in search of their brides...

My Review:

There's nothing like a hopeless unrequited love story to set my heart hammering. Hazel's about done with her one-sided yearning for her childhood friend. Now that he's sheriff he seems more distant than ever.

Ward has vowed to dedicate his life to the service of his town with a ruthless single-mindedness that would be infuriating if it wasn't so noble. But that determination is challenged when a sweet orphan comes into his care.

Young Meg is the catalyst that brings this sheriff and seamstress together. But a string of unsettling incidents -- acts of vandalism that grow increasingly personal -- might be enough to pull them apart. Romance and mystery collide in Turnabout Texas.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of A Tailor-Made Husband, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you include your email address in your comment make sure to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please out the title in the address line so it's easier for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday June 11 2017. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck.

Rescue Me

GIVEAWAY

WARREN, SUSAN MAY
RESCUE ME

When Deputy Sam Brooks commits to something, nothing can sway him -- not just on the job but in his private life. He's the one who stuck around to take care of his mother after his father's accidental death. And he's the one -- perhaps the only one -- who believes Sierra Rose is the perfect girl for him. Safe, practical, and organized, she's nothing like her hippie, impulsive, bleeding-heart sister, Willow.

Willow, however, has been in love with Sam Brooks for as long as she can remember. But she wants her sister to have a happy ending. Besides, Willow has other things to focus on -- namely, nabbing the job of her dreams. Best thing for her to do is to purge Sam from her heart.

Neither can predict the events that will bring them together in a fight for their lives in the forbidding wilderness of Glacier National Park. Stranded, injured, and with the winter weather closing in, Sam and Willow will have to work together to save a crew of terrified teenagers. As they fight to survive, they might just discover a new hope for love.

My Review:

Susan May Warren delivers another heart-stopping, angst-riddled romance that kept me both yearning and dreading reaching the last page. And now that I have, I am in a bit of a reader funk...but not for long because Book Three, A Matter of Trust, comes out in just one month! Anticipation is mounting! I love the members of the PEAK Rescue Team and I won't be satisfied until I have the scoop on each and every one of them.

Free-spirited Willow with her unorthodox upbringing and unrequited love drew me in right from the start. Her past is an emotional minefield that has her feeling 'less than'. She has yet to figure out that it's okay to be a work in progress...especially in God's Kingdom.

Deputy Sam Brooks is definitely hero material -- in a flawed kind of way. He's the guy you can always count on.The take action, fix-it kind of guy...but he's also the one who needs to be in control and there's a boulder size chip on his shoulder which complicates all his relationships -- especially with his kid brother, Pete. (Insert happy swoon here because the author gives us a delectable peek into Pete's love life...well, the potential for one which is sure to be fleshed out in a future book...pretty please Ms. Warren.)

I so appreciate the solid inspirational thread that winds its way throughout these characters lives...and consequently into mine. Both Willow and Sam are Christians but, like all of us, they are in need of divine rescuing. Harsh circumstances refine them as individuals and as a couple and there are so many wonderful faith discussions that ministered to me in a powerful way. Exactly what I love to find in a Christian Fiction novel.

A stupendous addition to the Montana Rescue series (which reads really well as a standalone, by the way. All the books do.)

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Rescue Me, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you include your email address in your comment, please remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw to via email, please add the title to the subject line so that it's easier for me to see your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday June 11 2017. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!

Deadly Memories

GIVEAWAY

ALFORD, MARY
DEADLY MEMORIES

Woman without a past

Amnesia may be keeping Ella Weiss from remembering her past -- but not from saving the little boy who's been her fellow prisoner the last seven years. After managing to escape her cell, all she wants to is to find where little Joseph is being kept. Instead she runs straight into CIA Agent Kyle Jennings. Kyle isn`t sure if Ella is actually a kidnap victim or if she`s working for the gunrunner he`s been after. One thing he is certain of is her uncanny resemblance to the wife he thought thought he`d buried. To save a child`s life and stop a terrorist from slipping through his fingers, he`ll need to uncover the secrets of Ella`s past -- and whether or not she`s really the woman he`s never stopped loving.

My Review;

Oh my goodness, gracious me.
I can`t even...
Words fail me.
Well, maybe not. Intense, heart-in-throat action propels the reader through a tumultuous story fraught with danger and betrayal. There`s intrigue, romance and I have blisters on my fingers from frenzied page turning! Clear your calendar because you'll want to read Deadly Memories in one sitting.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like an opportunity to win a copy of Deadly Memories leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If add your email in your comment, please 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 easier for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday June 11 2017. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck.

Naomi's Hope

GIVEAWAY

DREXLER, JAN
NAOMI'S HOPE

When the future is threatened by the past, can she trust herself to make the right choice?

Despite growing pains in her 1846 Amish community in Indiana, Naomi Schrock has settled into a comfortable life in her parents' home with her adopted son, Davey. Surrounded by family and friends, she tries not to think about the fact that she's not at the top of any man's list of potential wives. Yet when Cap Stoltzfus moves into the area and befriends Davey, Naomi finds herself caught between the plans she has made for her future and the tantalizing though that Cap might be part of a life she never dared to hope for.

When a couple shows up claiming to be Davey's true family, Naomi and Cap must unite to make the decision that will determine the boy's future -- as well as their own.

My Review:

The third and final book in the Journey to Pleasant Prairie series and it's a bittersweet read because I'm not ready to let this Amish settlement go. No worries if you haven't read Hannah's Choice and Mattie's Pledge because Naomi's Hope makes a wunderbar gut standalone read. :-) But I also enjoyed catching up with some familiar faces -- sharing their joys and their sorrows in this final installment.

The mix of historical and Amish genres is a huge draw and Drexler does it so well. She brings the pioneering spirit to life through an array of appealing (and not so appealing!) characters. In fact there is one snide, conniving reprobate that put me in conniptions time and time again. Sometimes I had to stop reading because I couldn't see past the steam coming out of my ears. I fumed and railed and gnashed my teeth as I contemplated gruesome outcomes for this character! He's not one I will easily forget.

But I'll remember Naomi too -- though for very different reasons! She's a courageous young woman who takes in an orphaned boy and raises him as her own even though she's not married. Her family has endured a lot of hardships over the years and though she doesn't waver from the faith, her personal convictions are sorely tested and she's often at odds with God.  "If she could, she'd tell God a thing or two about how he controlled his world." (p. 228) Loved her defiant questioning because it leads to some real soul searching and, ultimately, answers. But she struggles to get there and I could totally relate to that.

And then there's Cap -- a lonely stranger fighting his own battles. He's drawn to the Schrock family -- especially young Davey and his intriguing mamm. There's great dynamics between Cap and Naomi. A bit adversarial at times, often awkward but also incredibly sweet. Cap just really needs to work on his communication skills. But then Naomi is quick to take offense when it comes to criticism of her parenting. There's some lovely fireworks within the pages of this book which makes the romance all the more fun.

Add in a mischievous little boy with an adventurous spirit who stirs up trouble even when he's trying to be good and you get the kind of read it's easy to lose yourself in. A triumphant conclusion to an amazing series.

My thanks to the author and Revell Publishers for providing me with a copy of this book.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Naomi's Hope, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you include your email address in a comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easier for me to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Sunday June 11 2017. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck.