Book Review

A December Wedding by Denise Hunter ~ Sharing My Review

/ Dora Hiers / 2 Comments
Purchase Link~
DeeperShopping.com

About the book~

What started as a whim turned into an accidental — and very public — engagement. Can Layla and Seth keep up the façade in Chapel Springs this holiday season – for the sake of her career . . . and his heart? Under normal circumstances, Seth Murphy — the best friend of Layla O’Reilly’s ex-fiancé — would be the last person she’d marry. But the news of their upcoming (and phony) nuptials convinces a big client that Layla may be high-society enough to work for his agency — a coup that would put her fledgling home-staging business on the map. Seth has secretly loved Layla for years, even when she was dating his best friend. Maybe she’ll never forgive him for the way he hurt her back then, but he has to try. And Layla is willing to keep up their engagement farce until she’s landed her client. For Layla, it’s the chance to save her career. But for Seth, it’s his last chance to win her heart.

Sharing My Review~
A December Bride draws you into Layla’s predicament right from the first page. Layla’s friendly date cancels on her at the last moment, and she’s determined to find another one, pronto. After all, the wedding she’s attending should have been hers, but the groom’s marrying her cousin instead. Seth Murphy offers to take her, and while she hasn’t forgiven Jack’s buddy for his role in their breakup, she’s not about to miss the wedding and the chance to show her ex-fiance that she’s so over him.

I just love a hero who’s loved the heroine for a very long time, but the circumstances kept them apart, and Seth fills the hero role to perfection. He should have asked Layla out first, but Jack beat him to it. Now that Jack’s married, this is Seth’s chance, but he almost blows it. 

Layla set the white votive inside the Mason jar and slid it down the table to Murphy.

He caught the jar and cut a length of twine. “I swear they’re going to revoke my man card.”

Layla scooped sugar into the next jar and arranged red berries around the votive. “You own a hardware store; I think your manhood is intact.”

He scowled. “I’m tying bows on glass knickknacks. Don’t you need some wood chopped or something?”

“What I need is thirty of these to line the walkway, so butch up and tie the bow.”

Cute, adorable sparring keeps the dialog moving along at a face pace, and A December Bride packs just enough heat to make me reach for the air conditioner switch in the middle of winter. Denise Hunter is now on my must-read list, and A December Bride could slide very easily onto your bookshelf any time of the year!

Disclaimer: Sending a big thank you to Zondervan  Fiction and NetGalley for allowing me the privilege of reviewing this book. I received a free copy of A December Bride in exchange for my fair and unbiased review. This opinion is my own, and I received no compensation.

With Autumn’s Return by Amanda Cabot~ My Review

/ Dora Hiers / 2 Comments
With Autumn’s Return
Buy Link~DeeperShopping.com

About the book~

When Elizabeth Harding arrives in Cheyenne to open her medical practice, she is confident that the future is as bright as the warm Wyoming sun. Certain she’ll have a line of patients eager for her services, she soon discovers the town may not welcome a new physician—especially a lady doctor. Even Jason Nordling, the handsome young attorney next door, seems to disapprove of her chosen profession.

When a web of deceit among Cheyenne’s wealthiest residents threatens to catch Elizabeth and Jason in its snare, they must risk working together to save one of Elizabeth’s patients—even if it means falling in love.

Sharing my review~
After her experience in medical school, Dr. Elizabeth Harding chose progressive Cheyenne to set up practice. Assured by her sister that the town would embrace a female doctor, Elizabeth is disappointed when nobody’s waiting outside her office door, even more disappointed when handsome attorney Jason Nordling expresses his scathing opinion of working women. Jason and Elizabeth suffer career setbacks, and when both defend the other, you know the romance is about to begin! 

“She might not have gained any patients, might instead have alienated several, but she had accomplished at least one thing. Not only had she and Jason forged a truce, but she was beginning to believe she’d been mistaken about him. In the time they’d been together, she had seen his arrogance disappear, falling away like a butterfly’s chrysalis, revealing a man with surprising vulnerabilities as well as fundamental strengths.” ~Elizabeth

Working together to solve a crime reshaped Jason’s opinion of marriage and the partnership role each would assume, and left Elizabeth wondering if it was possible to combine a career with a family. This conflict between Jason and Elizabeth unfolded, an organic and essential component of the plot.

With Autumn’s Return captured my attention from the first page, and the engaging plot kept me turning pages quickly, anxious to see how everything would turn out. Each character brimmed with depth, and (bonus!) I got TWO romances in one book! With Autumn’s Return is a “must read” and left this romance lover with a huge sigh of satisfaction and a smile on her face! I’ll definitely be looking for Cabot’s next book.

Disclaimer: Sending a big thank you to Amanda Cabot and Revell for providing me with a copy of With Autumn’s Return in exchange for my fair and unbiased review. This review features only my opinion, and I received no compensation.

My Review of CLAIMING HIS HEART by Tanya Hanson

/ Dora Hiers
Claiming His Heart
Purchase Link

About the book: Caught between a noose and a gold mine cave-in, Tulsa Sanderson must do anything within his power to prove his outlaw brother’s innocence…even if it means marrying a gold miner’s daughter he just met. Tulsa needs every nugget and flake he can pull from beautiful Charmlee’s worn-out claim, but he sure doesn’t need a wife! Charlotte Amalie lost her heart, her virtue, and her money to the last disreputable outsider who passed through her peaceful California valley months ago. She has no desire and no choice but to wed the handsome stranger who arrives, bearing a mysterious letter that will change both their lives forever. Charmlee and Tull each have plans of their own. He’s set on raising quick money to save his brother’s life—a secret he isn’t going to share. She’s determined to leave the valley to find a new life for herself and medical treatment for her own brother. Marriage would put an end to the plans they’ve each worked so hard for, but is there a bigger dream for the future ahead that they can’t see? Trusting comes hard for them both, but Charmlee realizes it’s the only way to stake her claim on what’s really important— CLAIMING HIS HEART.

Sharing my thoughts:

“Something warm and soft touched Tull head to toe. Like somebody had dripped honey down his back. This picture of friends helping out when they had tasks and busy days of their own was no mirage at all. After tending Reno for who knew how long, Miz Trudy still remained to help Charmlee even as Zeal expected a large shipment. And Miz Maudie, herself a new bride, had a homestead and husband out at the Pine Tree mine.

Yet, here they were. True community…A fine little town of good folks, this Spiggleville, this out-of-the-way settlement long used up, but not used up at all.”

Claiming His Heart transports you back to the gold rush days in California, to a tight-knit mining community called Spiggleville. Neighborly folks all come together to help each other out when times get tough, and believe me, things get plenty rough in this story. You’ll be drawn in and won’t want to leave!

Tull’s pa named all his kids after places like Tulsa, Bronx, Reno and Charlotte. Yep. You read that correctly. A twist I didn’t see coming, and it’s not what you’re thinking. You’ll have to read the book to figure that one out. 🙂 

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, 
in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”
“Since then, Tull did fear. Never trusted. Never prayed.”
Both Tull and Charmlee reminisce on this verse as the tragedies keep piling up. Hanson does a great job keeping you furiously flipping pages, ramping up the conflict, leaving you wondering if Charm and Tull will ever cast aside their past hurts and finally open up and trust God and each other. Claiming His Heart kept me reading through all the busyness of the Christmas season. It’s the perfect book to curl up with in front of a crackling fire, a sweet romance with enough kindling to warm you more than the fire. But when summer rolls around, it should also be the first book you pack to take to the beach!

Disclaimer: Sending a big thank you to the author, Tanya Hanson, and Prairie Rose Publications for providing me with a review copy of Claiming His Heart. The opinions expressed here are my own, and I received no compensation.

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