Romance and Intrigue During the Gold Rush in San Francisco

Olivia is headed to San Francisco during the 1849 California Gold Rush, but she’s not looking for gold. With her parents dead, she needs to find her brother, Daniel, who owns a prosperous restaurant in the town.

Olivia married hastily to get someone to take her to San Francisco, but before she gets there her new husband is dead of an accidental shotgun wound. The city is nothing like she expected. Rough men are everywhere. When she finds her brother’s restaurant, he tells her that the city has become wild and she won’t be safe unless she’s with him.

Olivia takes a job in his restaurant where she’s under Daniel’s eye. There she meets Jacob Sawyer. He is a miner who struck it rich and is now trying to help the town become an organized and law-abiding place to live. Olivia is drawn to him, but she doesn’t want to marry a gold miner.

This novel like the previous novels in the Daughters of the Mayflower series presents an accurate picture of the time period with a romance fitted into the time and setting. This book shows how two friends try to bring God to this tumultuous city and establish the rule of law. It’s a lovely story although at times the pace is rather slow.

I enjoyed the note at the end in which the author presents some of her research. This is another good addition to the Daughters of the Mayflower series and manages to get in a hint of the other books through the diaries of Olivia’s great grandmother and great great great grandmother. (I’m not sure I have enough greats, but it’s a delightful way to pull the series together.)

I received this book from Barbour Publishing for this review.

A Historical Novel Based on the Story of Ruth and Boaz

Set in 1861 England, this is the story of Reva (Ruth) and Nell (Naomi). Reva, a Brahmin Indian girl, and Nell, her mother-in-law, have returned to Nell’s home in Abbotsville after the death of Nell’s husband and son. Because Reva is an Indian and this is shortly after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the people don’t accept her. They are outraged that Nell has returned with her Indian daughter-in-law. The women have been cast out by everyone who could help them. They have no money. They’re starving and living living at a disreputable inn in a storage room with a dirt floor.

Reva tries to take care of Nell and find food, but it isn’t easy. She goes into the fields trying to gather grain to feed them. Lord Barric’s steward finds her and lets her continue to get grain even though the earl is not pleased. Barric finds himself drawn to Reva, but he fears to compromise his social position.

Reva is a strong character. She is in many respects alone in a strange land. Even the god in England is not the god she grew up with. Barric wants to help her, but he is intimidated by the fact that she is grieving for her husband, a British soldier. He also knows that the towns people dislike having an Indian among them, and it would hurt his standing.

Both Barric and Reva have to grow and learn to accept things and people who are foreign to them. I love the story of Ruth and Boaz. I think the author did a good job of recreating their story in a different setting. It makes the point of how difficult it is to accept people when they are outsiders.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

Recovering from Tragedy and Finding Love

Beck Holiday is a tough NYPD cop. She’s following in her father’s footsteps and carrying a burden of guilt. He died in the 911 disaster and since then she has complete amnesia about him. She also has a secret that will soon become obvious. When her life seems at the lowest, she receives a surprise inheritance. Everleigh Callahan, a woman she has no memory of meeting, has willed her a house in Florida.

In Florida, she meets Bruno, a neighbor with his own problems trying to start his sports agency. When they reconnect, she begins to remember some of their times as children. She’s not sure she wants to build a life in Florida although she’s attracted to him.

Everleigh Callahan had issues of her own. As a happy newly-wed, she saw her life collapse when her husband and his family were killed in a tornado. When she met Don Callahan, she wanted to change and move past her grief, but she had a secret that she wasn’t sure she could share.

The stories of these two women are intertwined and play out with the Memory House in the background. Both long to move past their self-imposed limitations, but find it difficult to do so. Usually, I find stories that trace two lives in different time periods difficult. One character is always the favorite. That wasn’t the case this time. Both women worked hard to make their lives better. I enjoyed both equally.

The story is told from multiple points of view, Beck, Bruno, Everleigh, and Don, but it works well. We get to know all four people and understand the part each plays

in the story. If you enjoy romantic stories of love and growth, this is a great book.

I received this book from BookLook Bloggers for this review.

An Old Rape Sparks a Recent Crime

Assistant DA Alexandra Cooper has returned to work after a devastating experience. With more women feeling empowered in the “Me Too” era the case load in the sex-crimes division is heavy. An engrossing case comes along in the person of Lucy. She’s been arrested on an old shop lifting charge, but strangely she freaks out in the police station after viewing the pictures of prominent police officers on the wall. Although Lucy has a reputation for embroidering the truth, Alexandra believes her and promises to find her attacker.

Alexandra also faces a tragedy when her friend, Francie Fain, collapses on the street on the way to Alexandra’s welcome home party. At first it seems a tragic accident, but soon it begins to look more like murder.

This is a complex mystery, but it’s easy to follow the various clues. The thread involving Francie is much harder to guess than Lucy’s case, but both are interesting.

Alexandra is a driven character. Sometimes it’s hard to like her when she single-mindedly pursues a line of inquiry and puts herself in danger. Luckily, Detective Mike Chapman is there to rescue her and Detective Mercer Wallace supplies calm support.

I enjoyed the book. It’s typical of the Alexandra Cooper mysteries, and can seem predictable and slow paced at times, but if you’re a fan, it’s a good one.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for this review.

Making the Events of Holy Week More Personal

Many Christians are so familiar with the events of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday,that we don’t think deeply about how it must have felt to live those events. Karen May wanted to make the events of Holy Week more personal so that people could experience the tragic events as a reality.

In the preface, she tells the story of Alice, a convert to Catholicism. Karen believed that Alice’s understanding of the mass was limited so, as her Confirmation sponsor, she set out to make the experience of Holy Week more meaningful. This is the genesis of much of the personal material in this book.

The book takes each event in Holy Week giving Bible readings, questions, and personal observations. I found the personal discussions particularly interesting. Early in the book, she gives a description of how a modern parallel might play out and how we would feel. It makes you think about the people in Jerusalem at the time of Christ’s crucifixion and how average people might have reacted to it.

Although this book is written around the Catholic mass, I think it’s appropriate for any Christian. It helps to make the story of the last days of Christ on earth come to life.

I received this book from PR by the Book for this review.

An Irish Castle Hosts the Lives of Three Brave Women

Laine has come to France for her best friend Ellie’s wedding. It looks picture perfect, but there are underlying currents that will bring the young couple grief: family problems, illness, and a hold on the castle restoration. One of the major problems is a rift in Quinn, the groom’s family. Laine agrees to accompany Ellie and Quinn to Ireland to visit the ancestral castle and try to resolve family issues.

In the past the castle was home to other women: Maeve, who lived during the 1798 Irish rebellion, and Isabelle, who became involved in the violent Easter week Rising in 1916. Each of the women, like Laine has a story of danger and conflict to tell. Each is also a woman of deep faith and courage.

This is a beautifully written book. The scenes of Ireland draw you in and make the story of each woman real. Although the story is told in three parts, each woman comes across as a real person. I have to admit I did prefer the historical stories. I particularly enjoyed Maeve’s romantic and tragic story the most.

The courage of these women and the strength of their faith is probably the best feature of the book. Each woman was faced with problems and perilous times, but their faith remained strong and they succeeded.

I recommend this second book in the Lost Castle series. It’s easy to read as a stand alone, but for more background on the characters, I recommend reading the first book.

I received this book from BookLook Bloggers for this review.

Save Yourself from Regrets

Constantly putting off the things you really want to do can lead to regrets when you realize the opportunity has passed. This is a self-help book that argues that your dreams are too important to put on the back burner. If you want happiness you must pursue the things you value.

This book gives good advice on how to figure out what is really important to you and how to work toward achieving it. In addition to giving suggestions for how to figure out what you want, the book has motivational quotes to help you think about where you are and your desires.

The book is easy read. I enjoyed the author’s style. I also found that it makes you think. Life really can be better and more fun.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

An Actor Goes to Prison to Get Evidence for the FBI

Tommy Jump is an ex-child actor whose career is deteriorating. He’s type cast in his famous role and can’t seem to break out of it. Tommy’s problems don’t end with his career. He has a pregnant fiancée, and he wants to take care of his family.

When Tommy meets an old friend now in the FBI, he’s surprised to get an offer for a different kind of acting job. The FBI wants him to enter prison under an assumed name and become friends with Mitchell Dupree, a banker who is in prison for laundering funds for a drug cartel, New Colima. Headed by El Vio, this is one of the deadliest drug cartels in Mexico, a primary supplier of crystal meth is the US.

Tommy, in spite of the worries of his mother and girlfriend, takes the job. When he enters the minimum security prison ready to befriend Dupree, he is faced with much more than he bargained for. Drug cartels don’t fool around. They want the papers Dupree knows about as much as the FBI.

If you like thrillers, this is a good one. Tommy is a believable character. His reaction to prison including the fear and stress draw you in. Although the book opens slowly, once Tommy enters the prison, the action is non-stop. It’s hard to put the book down.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

Veronica and Stoker Pursue the Mystery of a Missing Bride

Veronica and Stoker have feelings for each other that they are unsuccessfully trying to keep from showing. When Tiberius, Stoker’s older brother, asks Veronica to accompany him to a house party, much to Stoker’s chagrin, she agrees. Tiberius has a yen for Veronica. His motives for inviting her to the house party become even more suspect when he asks her to pose as his finacée. However, there is the lure of a very special butterfly, so Veronica agrees.

The house party is held on an island from which there is no escape, in a suitably Gothic manor house. When Victoria arrives, she learns that all the guests are connected to the host’s missing bride, Rosamund. The bride vanished on her wedding day. It seems strange that she would run away, but they haven’t been able to find her on the island either.

Not surprisingly Stoker arrives at the party. He is clearly unwilling to give Tiberius a free had with Veronica. This interplay between Veronica and Stoker make this my favorite book in the series to date. I had been hoping for them to acknowledge their feelings and this story presented the opportunity.

The atmosphere is suitable eerie. There’s even a poison garden tended by the owner’s sister. In someways, I was reminded of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. It was altogether a satisfying book: interesting characters, hard-to-guess plot, chilling atmosphere.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.

Tea at a Hot Air Balloon Rally Spiced with Murder

Theodosia and Drayton are catering a tea at a hot air balloon rally. Theodosia leaps at the chance for a balloon ride. Dayton is not so enthusiastic. When they’re aloft, they near another balloon just as a strange object plows into it exploding the balloon and killing the passengers.

Theodosia is interviewed by Detective Tidwell, who hopes she’ll refrain from using her detective skills in this case. She has good intentions, but when one of the main suspects turns out to be the fiancée of one of Theodosia’s best friends, she can’t help trying to discover who committed the murder.

There’s no dearth of suspects in this latest tea shop mystery. Somehow Theodosia meets them all either through happenstance, or design. There’s the widow of the murdered software CEO who is building a mansion which is supposed to be a bed and breakfast, and there’s also the CEO’s assistant and a missing Revolutionary war flag.

As usual, the characters are delightful. I was a little disappointed that Detective Riley, Theodosia’s current boyfriend, was away at a conference. Hopefully, he’ll be back in the next book. I particularly enjoyed the history woven into the story. It makes Charleston come alive.

The descriptions of the teas were wonderful as usual. I’m glad the recipes are included at the end of the book. The food is so mouthwatering, you can’t help wanting to try it

. If you enjoy cozy mysteries, this is a good one.

I received this book from Net Galley for this review.