Author: Dora Hiers

On My Kindle ~ BETTING ON HOPE by Debra Clopton

/ Dora Hiers / 4 Comments
Pre-Order Link

The Cover Story~

Book 1 of FOUR OF HEARTS ROMANCE series
A bet gone wrong. A small town’s meddling. And a cowboy intent on saving his ranch.
Maggie Hope is an advice columnist whose background leaves her with little advice to give . . . and it’s beginning to show. When Maggie fills in at an interview with champion horse trainer Tru Monahan, the on-camera chemistry between them is undeniable. Maggie’s bosses know this is the opportunity she’s been looking for to launch her career—and their bank accounts. In order to save her column, Maggie takes Tru up on the bet that he can teach her to ride a quick-stepping cutting horse like any cowgirl, despite the fact that she has never been on a horse. And in the meantime, she can get the scoop on the man under the cowboy hat.

Tru has been on the competition circuit for longer than he’d like, but he knows it’s the only way he can afford to keep the Four of Hearts Ranch that means so much to his ailing grandfather. So when his sponsors see the opportunity for Tru’s fans to get to know the star on a more intimate level, he knows he must oblige. To his dismay, Maggie not only invades his small town of Wishing Springs, but she also invades his heart, and that is something he cannot let any woman do—for her own good.
In Wishing Springs, Maggie finds what she has always been looking for: a community and a home. But when her past catches up to her, it threatens everything, even the tender hope that this town holds all of her heart’s desires.

My takeaway~ 
Horse Trainer Tru Monahan’s life is more public right now than he’d like, but those endorsements help pay off the staggering debt on his beloved Four of Hearts Ranch. Advice Columnist Maggie Hope longs for a family, but that would involve trusting a man, something her father taught her not to do from an early age. It wouldn’t be a Debra Clopton book without town matchmakers, and Reba and Clara Lyn, co-owners of the Cut Up and Roll Salon, fill that role nicely. Also, just like the Mule Hollow series, Wishing Springs becomes the new “dating destination.”

Betting on Hope packed in plenty of real life issues like Alzheimer’s, teen pregnancy, adoption, sterility, and a main character hoping to keep an unsavory past hidden. While I cared about the three-dimensional characters and the story kept me turning pages, I would have preferred more, um, sizzle in the actual romance, but that’s just me. I bet (lol, pun intended) fans of the popular Mule Hollow series will enjoy Betting on Hope, available 2/15/15 with Thomas Nelson Fiction.

Disclaimer: I received this book free from NetGalley and Thomas Nelson Fiction for the purpose of sharing my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own, and I received no monetary compensation.

What Happened to All My Peoples?

/ Dora Hiers / 8 Comments

Our four-year-old grandson calls his daycare friends “his peoples.” His accent is so cute with that North Carolina twang, that I admit to asking him about his “peoples” every time I pick him up from daycare just to hear him say it. 🙂

Whenever we talk about his “peoples,” my mind wanders to my “peoples” or my friends all over the world on social media. In case you didn’t know, I’m a big fan of Twitter, second favorite only to Pinterest. I appreciate that Twitter allows follows without the obligatory follow back, unlike Facebook’s friend policy. Also, the 140 character limit and the list option makes for quick scrolling at different intervals throughout the day.

Recently, I was using JustUnfollow.com to purge followers who immediately unfollow me or folks I follow who choose not to follow back for whatever reason. But, I must confess that I have never cleaned out my “inactive” followers, those people who haven’t been active on twitter for three months or more.

Yowza! The list was so long. I probably spent an hour “unfollowing” and I hadn’t made it to the bottom. Crazy.

Some didn’t surprise me. Maybe they just decided that Twitter was one too many distractions, or they’d only tweeted a few times and Twitter just wasn’t for them. But what did surprise me was the number of inactive users who had ten or twenty thousand or more followers.

What happened to all my peoples? 
Image Courtesy of Pixabay

Why would they abandon a Twitter account with such an impressive platform? I could only conclude that something traumatic happened in their lives, whether it was death, illness, or job loss. Who knows, but this process made me sad, and I found myself praying over the profiles.

Finishing that task will have to wait for another day. And it just might take me four more years to get it under control.

How do you feel about Twitter? How often do you purge your inactive followers or have you put that off like me? What’s your favorite social media hangout?

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

/ Dora Hiers / 4 Comments

So today we kicked off our sampling of restaurants in and around Charlotte, North Carolina. Today’s choice was Big Ben British Restaurant and Pub. Located in Atherton Mill on the south side of Charlotte, this pub had great food in a sports bar environment. 


When we arrived only a few tables were taken, but unknown to us, a Chelsea vs. Manchester City soccer match was about to start and the place was buzzing with people within 15 minutes. We started with the Bubble & Squeak appetizer. This traditional English dish consists of mashed potatoes and sautéed brussel sprouts, but here they substituted cabbage. The dish had a great consistency and was very tasty. For our meal, my wife went with the Famous Southend Haddock N’ Chips and I took our waiter’s suggestion, the Chicken Pot Pie.


The Chicken Pot Pie was definitely a unique dish. Rather than the traditional pot pie served in some universal type of container, this pot pie was formed inside of an exceptional puff pastry type shell which held in all of the goodness of the dish. It was served with fluffy mashed potatoes, fresh steamed vegetables, and topped with chicken gravy. 


The Haddock N’ Chips was far larger than most persons could eat at one sitting. Luckily, my wife was willing to share. It consisted of flaky haddock, cooked to perfection, crispy pub fries, cole slaw, and a pickle that they call a Wally which in England means a “dill pickled baby cucumber”. The fish was great, not greasy nor overly fishy. The pub fries were cooked flawlessly, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and the average cole slaw complemented the dish.

So, our takeaway…if you’re not a soccer fan, ask to be seated outside the viewing area of the huge screen or you’ll feel like you’re at the game. And go early. We snagged a parking spot right in front, but when we left, vehicles were lined up, circling. Oh, and if you like a coffee after your meals, be sure to stop in Not Just Coffee, located on the back side of Icehouse right next door and wander around the indoor farmer’s market.

I would rate this establishment 5 spoons out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving outstanding food.

Dora here, adding my two cents about this first experience. 

1. Check the times/days that the restaurant is open. Yes, we neglected to do that and our first choice wasn’t open. Which brings me to my next point…

2. Bring the list. Since we didn’t bring our list, we had to switch gears. With a little help from Yelp, Big Ben Pub ended up being a fabulous alternative. 

3. Don’t wait until hunger pangs strike. Charlotte is a thirty minute drive from our house and after factoring in the time it took to navigate one-way streets and to snag a parking spot, let’s just say I could’ve faced down a bear and won. Those of you who deal with sugar challenges might want to bring a snack. 🙂

4. Leave the dog at home. In the cooler months, Bruiser enjoys tagging along with us. So long as we have a container of water and leave the windows cracked, he’s happy. We didn’t think it would be a problem to find a parking spot in downtown Charlotte on a Saturday, but we were wrong. Rather than park in a garage a few blocks away, we chose to drive a bit farther out of downtown where parking was more accessible and Bruiser was close. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed our first Excited about Eating venture. 


Big Ben British Pub & Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Do you enjoy experimenting with new restaurants? 
Or do you prefer to frequent the same ones?