His Darling by Ashley Elizabeth Ludwig

Story: 8.5
Presentation: 9
Total: 17.5
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Sweet Contemporary
To Purchase

Blurb: The Flower Basket Series

Love can bloom at any age…But, will it wilt under the spotlight?

Former fifties Hollywood starlet—Nona Darling—fell in love onscreen over and again. In her granddaughter Misty’s opinion, true love only exists in the movies and too often, she falls for the villain. Running from a failed relationship and her film production company turned tabloid, she returns to Almendra, California to care for her grandmother, and hide from the world.

Cain Trovato, a small town jack-of-all-trades, finds Misty and refuses to let her escape into obscurity. Blocked for years from songwriting, he starts putting words to music as a way to define his growing feelings.

When the Almendra Film Festival spotlights Nona Darling, Misty’s former fiancée makes a claim to reveal her grandmother’s secret past. No amount of editing will spare the coming scandal. With Cain at her side, can Misty believe in a happily ever beyond the rolling credits?

Review: Another fine addition to this series. Almendra is begining to feel like home to me :) I feel so connected to the characters and the stories. Can I move there? ;)

A witty, sweet wonderful story that really bounced for me. A sassy movie star, her lovely granddaughter and a hometown man who does just about everything. They all made this story come to life. Of course the wonderful women at the Flower Shop added their spice to the story :) as they always do :)

With not one, but two romances playing out in this one, Love is certainly in the air and really hard to ignore. And let me just say that I will never look at olive oil the same....Oh I wish Cain was the one I was buying it from. CUTIE!!!! And a musician to boot :)

Rest assured that I will be waiting for the next installment of this series. Ms Ludwig's addition makes the collection shine just a bit more than it already did :)

Only in Novels by Laura Briggs

Story: 7.5
Presentation: 9
Total: 16.5
Publisher: White Rose Publishing
Contemporary Inspirational
To Purchase

Blurb: When a simple mistake lands bookstore owner Lannie Maxwell with the wrong author for her book signing, she wonders if her tiny business is destined to fail. Instead of Ms. Modern Homemaker-an author sure to multiply the bookstore's gross revenue-Lannie finds herself stuck with D.E. Hensen, an unorthodox and infuriating adventure novelist. The dashing D.E. is determined to help Lannie rescue her struggling business, but his outlandish ideas threaten to turn her world upside down. Can the two put aside their differences to save the store-and find their own version of happily-ever-after?



Review: This was a cute little story. The emotion that she felt about her bookstore literally jumped of the pages at me from the beginning. While I thought there were some…silly ideas :) suggested by the hero, I think the author did a really good job making it all work. In the end I was pleased with the journey I made.

The inspirational aspect of the story was not over the top, but a pretty steady influence throughout. All in all it was a story that had likeable characters, a cute plot and story line and a good conflict that I found to be believable.

Good job Ms Briggs :)

In His Sight by Pamela S. Thibodeaux

Story: 6
Presentation: 8
Total: 14
Publisher: White Rose Publishing
Inspirational
To Purchase

Blurb: Grade school teacher Carson Alexander has a gift—a gift that has driven a wedge between him and his family. Worse, it’s put him at odds with God. Feeling alone and misunderstood, Carson views God’s gift of prophecy as the worst kind of curse…that is until he meets Lorelei Conner, landscape artist extraordinaire, and perhaps the one person who may need Carson and his gift more than anyone ever has.


Lorelei Connor is a mother on the run. Her abusive ex-husband has followed her all over the country trying to steal their daughter. Distrusting of men and needing to keep on the move, she’s surprised by her desire to remain close to Carson Alexander. Through her fear and hesitation, she must learn to rely on God to guide her—not an easy task when He’s prompting her to trust a man.

Can their relationship withstand the tragedy lurking on the horizon?
Review: While fraught with inspiration and the Lord, the plot seemed to be weighed down at times by scenes that just didn’t seem to move the story forward at all.

I enjoyed the characters for the most part. I think the light paranormal element could have shined a bit more giving me, the reader, a better look at it rather than just a passing glance. While it was discussed, the actual “feelings” seemed rather vague and gone before I knew it.

All in all it was a story that I think had really good potential but I felt like I read a first draft rather than a final product.