book review

When Meg Cole’s father dies unexpectedly, she’s forced to return home to Texas and to Whispering Creek Ranch to take up the reins of his empire. The last thing she has the patience or the sanity to deal with? Her father’s Thoroughbred racehorse farm. She gives its manager, Bo Porter, six months to close the place down.

Bo knows he ought to resent the woman who’s determined to take from him the only job he ever wanted. But instead of anger, Meg evokes within him a profound desire to protect. The more time he spends with her, the more he longs to overcome every obstacle that separates them and earn her love.

Just when Meg realizes she can no longer deny the depth of her feelings for Bo, their fragile bond is broken by a force from Meg’s past. Can their relationship-and their belief that God can work through every circumstance-survive?

Filled with page-turning suspense, The Tutor‘sDaughter takes readers to the windswept Cornwall coast-a place infamous for shipwrecks and superstitions-where danger lurks, faith is tested, and romance awaits.

When Dylan Taylor, a single, flirtatious cowboy begs for help with his blind horse, Annie makes a deal:  she’ll help train Braveheart if he helps her answer the letters.  Annie doesn’t expect problems on every homefront, however, especially not to have feelings for Dylan, an “unreliable cowboy.”  Can Annie overcome her past hurts and find love with this cowboy?

I’ve always liked to read books that have meaning and importance to them.  Ones that have drama and suspense and emotion and really tie you to your chair until you’ve turned the last page.

All that intensity, however, can be a little hard to handle – and now that I’m a busy mom, I appreciate switching up my reading style more than ever.

That’s why I loved The Trouble with Cowboys so much.  It’s a love story involving a cowboy (read: fun) and while there is action and drama and emotion, it’s more of the variety that any of us might face.  We all have to deal with childhood hurts and to face the fear of trusting our hearts to another, and Denise Hunter gives these issues the weight they deserve; at the same time, because you can see into each character’s heart, you have information that makes you omniscient, which keeps the tension resting solely on the characters’ shoulders and off of your own.

Besides all of that, the characters in this book have fun.  They ride horses.  They pretend their lives are Jane Austen novels and they mentally shop for Batman capes and have water battles.  They cry, but they laugh.  This book is just plain enjoyable.

Order a copy here.

 

This series has opened my eyes to an issue within Irish history that I’ve never heard of before.  It’s a fascinating, controversial, political time, and Ludwig portrays it well.

That political unrest sets the stage for intrigue and suspense throughout, and Ludwig doesn’t disappoint there, either.  Between the Irish politics, Tillie’s guilt, the murderous villains, and the budding romance, your pulse will be raging with every turn of the page.

You’ll turn them quickly, too, because as the suspense builds, you’ll fall deeper and deeper into the magic scene that Ludwig has painted.  With sights, smells, and tastes described vividly and smoothly, it feels as if you’re really there, walking the streets with Tillie and Keondric.

That makes it impossible to wait to find out what happens.  I certainly couldn’t.  This was a one-sit read for me – I couldn’t put it down.

If you have any interest in love stories, mysteries, or Irish history, definitely pick up Tide and Tempest.

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.