Whispers of Fortune by Mary Connealy (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

 Share a book that has a beautiful dedication.  I loved the dedication in this book, “To my cowboy husband: You’re retired now, but you’ll always be a cowboy at heart.”

Brody MacKenzie has just become a doctor in 1874 and he has headed west to find his two brothers who have runaway from the orphan train after their parents’ deaths.  He finds that they are in a great situation living in an orphanage and school, but that they are obsessed with using their grandfather’s old journal to find a hidden treasure.  Will they find it before others that are also hot on the trail?

My thoughts on this novel:

• This was a good clean, western adventure romance.  It was a great start to a new series.

• I enjoyed the character of Brodie MacKenzie.  I liked that he was a good man who wanted to help his brothers out while also keeping the promise to the doctor that had helped him out.

• Ellie and her brother Josh have been taking care of the two brothers on the ranch.  Ellie and Brodie have a romance in the novel that is sweet.  The romance is not the focus of the novel and didn’t have much build-up.

• I always love a treasure hunt and I think it made the story more exciting that there was a villain also looking for the treasure.

• There is a sneak peak at the end for Book 2 of this series and it looks great!

Favorite Quote:

“Revenge was the juice that kept his blood flowing.” – What a great description of the villain.

Overall, Whispers of Fortune by Mary Connealy is an entertaining western adventure romance and good start to what looks to be a fascinating new series.

Book Source:  Review copy from Bethany House Publishing as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour. Thank-you!  Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

In a land of gold and grit, can two hearts uncover the true treasure?

In 1875 California, Brody MacKenzie arrives at the Two Harts Ranch on a mission to find his runaway brothers, worried they may have fallen into harm. Instead, he discovers them thriving at the ranch's school and orphanage under the care of Ellie Hart, a woman with a heart as resilient as the land she calls home. His options limited, Brody reluctantly takes on the role of ranch doctor, and he forms an unexpected bond with Ellie, who's kept a steady eye on Brody's two rapscallion brothers. When the boys show him a mysterious journal that has been guiding their travels and may hold the key to a lost treasure, Brody and Ellie are captivated by the possibility of a thrilling adventure.

With winter approaching and his brothers threatening to bolt again, Brody and Ellie race against time to decipher cryptic clues and unearth the hidden fortune. But along the way, old adversaries resurface, threatening their newfound affection and the safety of those at the ranch.

AUTHOR BIO

Mary Connealy writes "romantic comedies with cowboys" and is celebrated for her fun, zany, action-packed style. She has sold more than 1.5 million books and is the author of the popular series A Western Light, Wyoming Sunrise, and many other books. Mary lives on a ranch in eastern Nebraska with her very own romantic cowboy hero. Learn more at MaryConnealy.com.

Timeless Western Collection: A Wyoming Summer by Carla Kelly, Christine Sterling and Heather B. Moore (Austenprose PR Book Tour)

What is the weather like where you live?  It’s been a mild, but dry spring and early summer here along Lake Michigan in Northeast Wisconsin.  We are heading to Minnesota later this week and the high temperatures look shocking to us!

I have read entries in the Timeless Regency and Timeless Georgian collection, but this was my first read of a Timeless Western Collection.  It was a similar reading experience with three gentle romance novellas set in times past.  I greatly enjoyed reading this book during a hectic period at work and in life.  I also thought it was interesting that the time period, set in the early 1900’s is when my Great-Grandparents were born.

Ellen Found by Carla Kelly is the story of a young woman who was an orphan working at a derelict eating house in Butte.  She decides to apply for a new job at a hotel being built in Yellowstone and leaves with her cat in tow.  Her joyful spirit and new ideas help to bring cheer to the work crew and all around her.  She also finds herself the object of affection for two very different men.  There really wasn’t a mystery of who she would end up with, but there were some tense moments from living life in the American wilderness.  The true hero of the story was Plato the Cat and I loved reading about him.

The Widow of Daybreak by Christine Sterling was more of a gunslinger type western. Doris Whistler recently witnessed her husband being gunned down by an outlaw who has taken over their small town.   Even worse, days later the outlaw shows up in her store telling her that she will become his wife or more will die.  She had written a letter of desperation to her brother asking for help.  He sends his friend Buck to town.  Will he be able to bring law back to their small Wyoming town?  I enjoyed this story as well, although the love between Doris and Buck seemed too quick after her husband’s murder.  Doris did have qualms about this so that helped me out as their love grew over time.

May I Kiss the Bride?  By Heather B. Moore was the final tale in this trilogy.  After a failed engagement, Viola Delany has been shipped off to stay with her aunt in a small town in Wyoming.  On the way she spots a handsome cowboy on the train, who she never expects to see again.   Life has other plans.  I loved this story.  It had a great sweet romance and the pursuit of dreams that included a bakery. I enjoyed that Viola found her strength and had her own coming of age in this story. 

Overall, this was a wonderful anthology.  I loved the clean, sweet romance.  The characters were wonderfully developed and interesting.  I enjoyed the plots of all three stories and liked that they were all unique.

Favorite Quote:  "She marveled that such a small body could hold something as enormous as death."

Book Source: Review Copy from Mirror Press.   Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of the Austenprose PR Book Tour. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

QUICK FACTS

·       Title: A Wyoming Summer

·       Series: Timeless Western Collection (Book 4)

·       Authors: Carla Kelly, Christine Sterling, & Heather B. Moore

·       Genre: Historical Romance, Western Romance, Inspirational Fiction

·       Publisher: Mirror Press (June 20, 2023)

·       Length: (330) pages

·       Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook 

·       ISBN: 978-1952611322

·       Tour Dates: June 19 – 30, 2023

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

A Wyoming Summer is the fourth book in the Timeless Western Collection, a bestselling anthology series from Mirror Press. The book features three novellas from acclaimed historical romance authors whose stories ask if true love can survive the changing seasons?

“Ellen Found,” by Carla Kelly

Set n location of Old Faithful Inn, 1903-4. Working in a discouraging café, Ellen escapes an awful situation in rough and tumble Butte, Montana, and goes to work as second in command to a wary cook in the shell that will become Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone Park. She meets Charles Penrose, head carpenter on the massive project of Old Faithful Inn, which is being finished in a harsh Wyoming winter. Will it really open June 1, 1904? Can Ellen start to trust the other workers? What will she learn about the other employees? And Charles. He's a widower with a young daughter there, too. Like Ellen, he wants more.

“The Widow of Daybreak,” by Christine Sterling

Doris Whistler is learning how to survive in a town taken over by outlaws. When the leader of an infamous gang murders her husband, her choices are to tuck tail and run, or stand her ground and make Daybreak as promising as its name. It proves to be a difficult task with the good citizens in fear of the corrupt mayor and godlessness that abounds. What she doesn't expect is the support of a traveling lawman who believes in her and the tiny town she loves so much.

“May I Kiss the Bride,” by Heather B. Moore

Viola Delany is not happy about being sent to the middle-of-nowhere, small town Wyoming. Yes, it will be good to let the gossips find something else to talk about other than her failed engagement. And yes, it will be nice to spend the summer with her Aunt Beth. But as Viola sits on the train heading for Wyoming, wondering how she'll ever occupy her time in such a small town, none other than a real-life cowboy sits across the way. She can't help but take peeks at him, noting that the condition of his unpolished black boots and scuffed rawhide jacket seem to be authentic . . . All right, so he might be tall, dark-haired, and handsome if a woman doesn't mind green eyes and a dangerous-looking scar, but this man certainly has nothing to do with her. Besides she'll never see him again. What are the chances he's traveling to the same middle-of-nowhere small town?

ABOUT THE SERIES

Since 2015, Mirror Press has been presenting the Timeless Romance Collection, a curated anthology of novellas and short stories featuring bestselling authors from the contemporary and historical romance genres. The collection has hit the USA TODAY bestselling list and charted at #1 at Amazon.com. Learn more about the series and other anthologies published by Mirror Press at their website.  

ADVANCE PRAISE

·       5 STARS – “…my new favorite of the Timeless Romance Anthologies.”— Maria Thomas, Goodreads

·       5 STARS – “Another wonderful collection from the Timeless Romance Anthologies...A perfect read for your summer enjoyment that just might have you planning some trips to Wyoming or another western historical feeling location. ”— Julie Carpenter, Goodreads

·       5 STARS – “A clean, fun, well-written collection by three talented authors.”— Lorieah, Goodreads

PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON | BOOKBUB | GOODREADS

AUTHOR BIOS

Carla Kelly started writing Regencies because of her interest in the Napoleonic Wars. She like writing about warfare at sea and ordinary people of the British Isles, rather than lords and ladies. In her spare time, she likes to read British crime fiction and history, particularly the U.S. Indian Wars. She is a former park ranger, and double Rita Award and Spur Award winner. She currently lives in Utah, has five interesting children and four grands. Carla’s favorite authors include Robert Crais and Richard Woodman.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS

Christine Sterling is a USA Today best-selling author who writes small-town inspirational romances with a touch of humor. Most of her stories take place in the plains of Nebraska or Colorado, but she will write wherever there are cowboys needing to find love. Her favorite stories involve tight-knit families, and you will often find that her characters cross over in many of her stories.

She lives on a farm in Pennsylvania with her husband, four dogs, and one spoiled cat, aka The Floof. She can often be found in her garden with a notebook and a cup of tea.

BOOKBUB | BOOKFUNNEL | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS

Heather B. Moore is a USA Today best-selling and award-winning author of more than seventy publications, including The Paper Daughters of Chinatown. She has lived on both the East and West Coasts of the United States, as well as Hawaii, and attended school abroad at the Cairo American Collage in Egypt and the Anglican School of Jerusalem in Israel. She loves to learn about history and is passionate about historical research.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS

A Calder at Heart by Janet Dailey (TLC Book Tour)

 

What is your favorite western book or movie?  We were on a western kick the past few years as a family and watched a lot of classic westerns.  I think my favorite of the mix was The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, but there were a lot of great movies.

A Calder at Heart is a historical fiction western set in Montana in 1919.  Kristin Dollarhide is a doctor who has returned from WWI to her small town of Blue Moon.  She wants to set up a practice and be with her family again.  She tries to forget her sweetheart who died tragically.  When she meets Logan Hunter, she feels something again.  Logan is searching for a new life and to feel something again himself.  A Major in WWI, he returned home to Texas to find that the Spanish flu had killed his entire family.  He sells what is left and decides to move near his Calder relatives in Montana.  He discovers that there is a feud going on between the Dollarhides and the Calders.  Is he a Calder at heart that will get caught up in the feud or will he be able to move on?

I loved this book.  The setting and characters were fantastic. There were just enough characters and build-up that I felt that I knew them all. The chemistry between Kristin and Logan sizzled off the page.  I love reading about this time period and the family drama was riveting.  I also enjoy a Romeo and Juliet type story of two feuding families and a couple who finds love.  I loved that Kristin was a strong and capable woman and Logan was an honorable man.

There were several subplots in this novel that were also very suspenseful including bootlegging, a young woman in trouble, and water rights.  It kept me reading nonstop through the end of the novel.

This is the third novel in a series, but it worked well as a standalone.  It made me really want to read the rest of the series.  I hadn’t read any Janet Dailey novels in awhile, so I looked her up.  Janet Dailey passed away ten years ago, but there is now a ghostwriter writing her novels.  I just wish they had written in the book who the ghostwriter is for A Calder at Heart as I would definitely read more of their works.   There is a nice set of book club discussion questions at the end of this novel.

I keep seeing comparisons of this novel to the series Yellowstone.  I have wanted to watch this series, are you a fan?

Review Copy from Kensington Publishing   Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of the TLC Book Tour. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

News of the World by Paulette Giles

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd undertakes a 400-mile journey to deliver Johanna, a child kidnapped by Kiowa raiders, back to her relatives near San Antonio.  Reconstruction Texas is a dangerous place after the Civil War.  Settlers are constantly at war with the Kiowa and Comanche as they take over the native territory.  Settlers are also at war with themselves over politics.  Captain Kidd must take Johanna through this dangerous territory on an epic journey.  Johanna only speaks the Kiowa language and does not understand why she has been separated from her Kiowa family.  Captain Kidd must build a relationship with her and help her to learn English.  He also must earn money along the way.  He lost his printing press and money with Confederate bonds at the end of the war and now earns his living reading the newspapers from the East to audiences in each town that he stops by.  He doesn’t read local news as it can become too heated.  Will Captain Kidd and Johanna make it safely back to San Antonio?

 It took me a bit to get into this book with the almost stream of consciousness narrative and lack of punctuation.  Once I got into the story, I couldn’t put it down.  Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd is a wonderful character, a compassionate honorable man with an interesting history of his own.  I felt for Johanna as well and loved her progression as a character.  Contrasting Captain Kidd and Johanna with the world that they inhabited made me very nervous for the both of them.  This book ended perfectly.  It was a great story.

 Have you watched the movie yet?  I’m still waiting to watch it.  I would like to buy it rather than rent it.  We did just watch the Searchers with John Wayne this past weekend.  It is a beautiful movie but has a lot of troubling racism in it.  It did make me wonder though about children that were kidnapped by Native American tribes and what happened to them overall.  Would they be accepted and be able to adapt back to their old lives?  How would they be treated?  The note at the end of News of the World makes me believe it was not a happy ever after for them.  It also made me wonder about the reverse scenario, Native American children that were taken from their families and assimilated into pioneer culture.  How did they fair in the long run?

 I had read Simon the Fiddler last spring and I was happy to see him and Doris as minor characters in this novel.  It even concluded with what would happen with them in the future.  It was like getting to visit with old friends again.

 Favorite Quotes:

“This was how the Captain knew that the things of the imagination were often as real as those you laid your hand upon.”

 “If people had true knowledge of the world perhaps, they would not take up arms and so perhaps he could be an aggregator of information from distant places and then the world would be a more peaceful place.”

 “Men had lost the ability to discuss any political event in Texas in a reasonable manner.  There is no debate, only force.”

 “Some people were born unsupplied with a human conscience and those people needed killing.”

 Overall, News of the World is an excellent novel.  I highly recommend it.  I loved the characters and the story.  I loved the story of an honorable man in a not so honorable world.

 Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow. Thank-you!

The Last Woman Standing by Thelma Adams Review and GIVEAWAY! (TLC Book Tours)

At the end of the day in Tombstone, who will be the last woman standing with Wyatt Earp?  Josephine Marcus is a young Jewish teenager in San Francisco when she runs off with a traveling show.  While on tour, she meets Johnny Behan and falls in love before returning to San Francisco.  One year later, Johnny has sent an escort with an engagement ring, Kitty, to bring Josephine back to Tombstone to become his bride.  Once in Tombstone, Josephine discovers that Johnny isn’t all that he seems.  Despite promises of marriage, he seems unwilling to actually take her to the court house and sign the papers.  She stands by her man waiting, but feels a growing attraction to the handsome, fearless and married lawmaker Wyatt Earp.  Will Johnny ever take Josephine to the alter?  Where will her feelings for Wyatt lead her and are they returned?  What is life like for a Jewish teenager in the outlaw west?  How will the rivalry between the top two lawmen in town play out with Josephine in the middle?

I had never heard of Josephine Marcus before and was fascinated by her story.  I watched Tombstone and read about it twenty years ago when I was a teenager and I haven’t really delved into the history of it since then.  I thought she was a fascinating character on many counts.  I thought it was intriguing that she was able to capture the love of two prominent men in the history of the Wild West.  I also was intrigued that she was Jewish making her way alone as a teenager in the Wild West.  I looked her up on Google when I finished the book and was intrigued to see how much is known and not known about Josephine Marcus.  Author Thelma Adams mostly took the high road and told the story that Josephine Marcus chose to tell at the end of her life, although she probably wouldn’t want it to be mentioned that she bedded anyone before marriage.  Josephine may have also been a soiled dove, but history will never know at this point for sure.

I’ll admit I was shocked by the first page and how bold Josephine was with her sexuality.  As I read through the book, I understood that it was because that was the power that Josephine had.  Why were all of these men attracted to her?  It was all because she was the most beautiful woman in town and exuded a lively sexuality. She was able to make her way independently in the world with this power, but it also provided times that she was in trouble as well. The story seemed to turn more about Wyatt Earp toward the end of the novel instead of Josephine.  I wish that it would have gone on longer and really told the story of Wyatt Earp and Josephine’s amazing life together after they finally ended up together.

My favorite quotes: 

“Let’s face it:  aging is a bitch for everybody.”

“Fox eyes flashed.  An owl hooted.  I gazed at the stars, gradually making out the Big Dipper, the plants Venus and Mars, fat Orion’s belt.  I awaited a wishing star, only to realize that this was my wish:  serenity – without Kitty’s chatter or Mama’s judgements or the pressures of an arranged marriage – was what I desired.”

“When I think back, I know I didn’t run away from home.  I ran to Wyatt.  He caught me, not because I was some lost sheep but because he needed who I was as much as I needed him.  When the smoke cleared in Tombstone – he ran to me.”

Overall, The Last Woman Standing is a unique and interesting look into the fascinating life of Josephine Marcus, and the rowdy outlaw new town of Tombstone.

Book Source:  Review Copy for being a part of the TLC Book Tours.

Thelma Adams’ TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, June 27th: WV Stitcher

Tuesday, June 28th: A Bookish Affair

Wednesday, June 29th: The Magic All Around Us

Thursday, June 30th: Open Book Society

Friday, July 1st: Lavish Bookshelf

Tuesday, July 5th: A. Holland Reads

Wednesday, July 6th: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

Thursday, July 7th: Just One More Chapter

Monday, July 11th: Books Without Any Pictures

Monday, July 11th: FictionZeal

Wednesday, July 13th: Laura’s Reviews

Thursday, July 14th: Reading is My Superpower

Friday, July 15th: Write Read Life

Monday, July 18th: A Bookaholic Swede

Tuesday, July 19th: Books and Bindings

Wednesday, July 20th: West Metro Mommy Reads

Friday, July 22nd: Worth Getting in Bed For

Monday, July 25th: Just Commonly

Wednesday, July 27th: Mom in Love with Fiction

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million

Connect with Thelma

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a copy of  The Last Woman Standing by Thelma Adams.  If you would like to win The Last Woman Standing, please leave a comment on why it sounds interesting.

 

As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. 

 

For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar. Provide a link to this post in your comment.

I will be using random.org (or a Monte Carlo simulation in excel) to pick the winners from the comments. 

This contest is only open to addresses in the United States

 

The deadline for entry is midnight on Friday July 22nd!

 

Please make sure to check the week of July 25th to see if you are a winner. I send emails to the winner, but lately I've been put in their "junk mail" folder instead of their inbox.

 

Good luck!