I recently had the opportunity to read four books as part of a Love Inspired blog tour.  What are Love Inspired stories?  Feel comforted and at peace when you read these uplifting romances of faith, forgiveness and hope from Love Inspired. There are 12 new books each month! 6 from Love Inspired for those who love contemporary romance and 6 from Love Inspired Suspense who like some danger with their romance stories. 

As I enjoy a good love story, but especially one with extra action and several of these were suspense stories, I decided to give them a try.  I’m glad I did.

Widowed single mom Rebecca Mast returns to her Amish community hoping to open a quilt shop. She
accepts carpenter Daniel King’s offer of assistance—but she isn’t prepared for the bond he forms with her son. Will getting closer expose her secret—or reveal the love she has in her heart for her long-ago friend?

The Wedding Quilt Bride by Marta Perry was my favorite.  I’ve read other books by Perry, and I enjoy her writing style.  My favorite aspect of this particular one was the way in which she incorporated a suspense angle into an Amish romance.  She made the trauma experienced by the family feel realistic and created a believable and attractive Amish man who came to their rescue.  

I also liked the way that Rebecca grows throughout the story – not just in her faith, but in other ways, too.  She’s a strong character with a strong personality, and those are my favorite characters: the ones who learn to deal the hand they’re dealt.

I read several other Love Inspired books, too – none were Amish titles and all were well-written suspense stories.  Their shorter format keeps them from being as deep as a full-length novel, but it does keep the story a bit lighter.  These would all make great summer beach reads.

Marcus Palermo’s simple life gets complicated when he meets the son he never knew he had—and his beautiful guardian. Lissa Hart thought she’d only stick around long enough to aid Marcus in becoming a dad—but could her happily-ever-after lie with the little boy and the rugged rancher?

When Sgt. Linc Colson is assigned to monitor Zoe Sullivan and determine if she’s secretly aiding her fugitive serial killer brother, his instincts tell him she’s not in league with the criminal—she’s in danger. It’s up to him and his K-9 partner, Star, to keep the pretty single mom alive.

Framed for the murder of his ex-girlfriend—and then attacked at the crime scene—fire investigator Mitch Callahan turns to ER nurse Dana Petrie for help. As they fight for their lives, can she be convinced of his innocence—and in his promise of love?

Want to win some for yourself? Go here and enter to win a $100 Visa Gift Card!!

Love Inspired Blog Tour Sweepstakes! 

I received a free copy of these books from LitFuse Publicity.  All opinions are my own.

Burning debris littering the ground . . . smoke pluming in the acrid air . . . this is just the beginning if he fails.

Seven years ago, operative Luke Gallagher vanished to become part of an elite team set on capturing a deadly terrorist. When Luke returns to face those he left behind, their help becomes his only hope of stopping his target’s latest threat of an attack that would shake America to its core.

Private investigator Kate Maxwell never stopped loving or looking for Luke after he disappeared. But she also never imagined he left her or his life by choice. Now he’s back, and together they must unravel a twisting thread of secrets, lies, and betrayal, all while on the brink of a biological disaster. 

Will they and their love survive, or will Luke and Kate become the terrorist’s next mark?

Dead Drift is my favorite book in the Chesapeake Valor series!  Pettrey writes scene after scene of mayhem and destruction as Luke tries both to protect Kate and find the bad guy.  The action never stops and will keep you turning pages as fast as you can from the first to the very last!

Pettrey has kept readers hanging several times in this series as she wrote cliffhanger endings into the books, but this one was quite different.  While those high-suspense endings were perfect for the other books, as the last in the series, this one was calmer, with details wrapped up and major issues resolved.  I really liked the conclusion that Pettrey brought to the series.  Each character seemed to have the perfect ending for him or her and you’re left feeling that although the action isn’t over, there’s a peace that has been missing up to this point.  

Luke, especially, was missing that peace.  As a presumed-dead CIA operative, he has more stress and tasks on his plate than I could imagine.  Pettrey writes him as a super hunky, Jason Bourne-type – a guy who’s smart, attractive, and with deadly self-defense skills.  He was tormented with the choices that he’d made as he tried to serve his country and the opportunities that he’d lost, and I really enjoyed his journey to resolving that part of his life and moving into a new one.

Pettrey’s writing keeps getting better and better – with more action, deeper lessons, and more deadly suspense.  I can’t wait for her next series to begin!

I received a free copy of Dead Drift from the author.  All opinions are my own.

A tornado has destroyed a small Minnesota community and among the missing are not only a group of students but PEAK Rescue team leader Chet King. Ty Remington will stop at nothing to rescue his mentor, not even when the girl he loved–and lost–walks back into his life. But Brette needs his help more than he knows, despite her stubborn determination to push him away. And when he gets a second chance, loving her just might cost him more than he can imagine.

A blogger for Vortex Storm Chasers, Brette Arnold didn’t expect her adventures to land her in the same place as Ty, the guy who she walked–no, ran–from over a year ago. She had her reasons–good ones. The kind that tell her that falling for him again would only lead to heartache. But Ty isn’t the kind of man to give up–not on the missing students, or on her.

Life and love hang in the balance in Susan May Warren’s breathless story of holding on to hope during a deadly summer of storms.

Make sure you have a few free hours before you pick up Storm Front, because you won’t be able to put it down!  Warren tells an incredible tale of storm-chasing and love finding as Brette and Ty are reunited by freak circumstances.

Circumstances like a tornado – or, rather, a series of them.  A series of freak storms that roll through the Midwest and put everyone there in incredible danger.  The stakes are high as Ty and Brette, have a lofty goal, and suspense runs high.

I love this kind of book.  It’s a romantic story, but it’s so much more than that.  There’s a depth to the romance that is missing in many books because Brette and Ty aren’t just two beautiful, young, skinny  people in lust.  They’ve faced real danger, big problems, and they know the value of love and life.  The string of tornadoes and the immediate danger they face just ups the ante.

The weather danger also reads real.  I wouldn’t have known just how true that is if we hadn’t been in the exact same situation a few weeks ago.  We were put under a tornado warning, then a watch, and then news reports of tornadoes touching down began crossing my Facebook page.  While none hit the county I live in, several caused big damage in areas we frequently visit.  It’s enough to make you pause and re-evaluate things, and that’s what’s happening on every page of Storm Front.  Warren brings you into the turmoil of the storm and sweeps you up into chaos as Brette and Ty fight both the winds and their feelings.

That’s what makes Warren’s books so great.  She writes characters that feel real.  They’re not all skinny beautifies (though most are, really), but they have flaws and problems and stuff just like real people.  In this case, they fight through a series of storms that feel more than real.

I absolutely loved this book.  I couldn’t put it down from the minute I turned the first page, and I can’t wait for the next one.  If you’re a suspense junkie, Storm Front is the book for you.

I received a free copy of Storm Front from the author.  All opinions are my own.