Summer in the Spotlight is book 3 in the Prince Edward Island Shores series, by Liz Johnson. Although it works to read as a stand-alone, I felt it would have been best to start with book 1. Even though I had read book 2, at times I was missing bits of backstory.
This book features Levi Ross, the youngest brother in the Ross family. The previous two books feature other family members. Their stories carry on in this one as secondary characters.
I’m not sure if it was just me and the things going on in my life right now, but it took me a long time to get through this book. Normally I like to linger on details, but I found it hard to make sense of them, so I skimmed. Even at that, it wasn’t until the last few chapters where Levi and Kelsey’s romance finally picked up, that the story carried me better. But the wedding at the end featured characters from previous books in the series. Somewhat distracting from the main story.
You might like this book if you are drawn to a painfully shy character matched with an accomplished extrovert. And again, I’d recommend reading the series in order.
My thanks to Revell for sending me this paperback at my request.
Her Only Wish is a slightly confusing title to me, as Betsy actually has a list of wishes–her ‘Life List‘. Not to mention she wishes to experience the things on her Life List during one summer month while she is visiting a friend in Pinecraft, Florida.
Betsy’s health condition (asthma) has held her back until now. Her parents have sheltered her and prevented her from doing normal childhood activities like riding a bike and swimming. While she’s away from her parents for this month, she seizes the opportunity to experience this list of things she’s always wanted to do.
She starts by enrolling in golf lessons, where she meets August Troyer. August has also been emerging from controlling parents. He wrestles with life decisions. Should he become a missionary, following in the footsteps of his parents, or continue to manage the golf course for his aunt and uncle? To tell you the result would be a spoiler, but I can say that, like August, missions was a ‘calling’ that I also struggled with in my younger years. This story would have been helpful to me back then.
The story also features two sisters who offer swimming lessons to Betsy. Betsy and her Life List are an inspiration to them and to everyone she meets.
This is the second in the series, ‘A Season in Pinecraft‘. I haven’t read the first book, ‘Her Heart’s Desire‘. Her Only Wish stood alone fine without it. There is enough backstory for me to know that in the first book Betsy met the friend she’s staying with.
Her Only Wish is a sweet story, paced a bit on the slow side. As an older reader I like that, but it seemed to take me a long time to finish. Perhaps because I had distractions this month with company from out of town.
With every memory that emerges as her brain slowly heals from the accident, earthshaking consequences are triggered.
The accident erased the past eight years of her life. Now back home after nearly a year in a rehab center, random memories keep emerging. She must solve the personal mysteries of her own life. But can she trust her own mind? Or her husband? Or her mother? Friends?
And then there’s her teenage daughter, going through her own sorrows and struggles.
This is the first book I’ve read by Janine Rosche. I found it a bit of a roller coaster ride. Points of View alternate between mother and daughter, who are each coping in their own way with the loss of a family member.
It was interesting to learn something about the way memories can work after a traumatic brain injury, and how the brain can fill in with vivid, sometimes false memories. To be sabotaged by one’s own mind is tragic, not only for oneself but for family members and others who may be affected by your actions.
Issues touched on in the story include grief, faithfulness in love relationships, commitment, betrayal, and exploring what’s really important in life and values and family. It could trigger some great discussions for a book club.
Thank you to Revell for sending me this book at my request. This is my honest review.
Horses, women’s rights, love and marriage in 1905 America.
Horses, women’s rights, love and marriage in 1905 America. A young woman and her horse. Family expectations, loyalties, needs and desires. Secrets brought to light.
the SECRETS of EMBERWILD
What will become of Nora and her dearly loved horse now that her father has died? Her uncle takes charge, but something doesn’t seem right.
At the same time, Silas turns up, asking questions about his father’s death 15 years ago and the horse that went missing.
A series of suspicious accidents occur. Something is wrong, but what is really going on, and why? And who is the culprit?
In 1905, women’s roles and men’s roles were distinct. Men took care of horses. Women cooked and kept the house. But Nora’s horse is all she loves.
Bringing history to life
Horses, women’s rights, love and marriage in 1905 America. Stephania McGee brings to life the difficulties of an independent woman of the era. It wasn’t easy to step out and make choices. Women were expected to obey and fit into the lives cut out for them. Nora had to consider her mother, the reputation of her family, and her own needs for protection and provision. But what about the needs of her heart?
McGee has put a lot of research into the writing of this novel. We learn about horses and racing at the time, as well as the lives people lived. I particularly enjoyed the way she describes places, horses and people. The mystery combined with threads of romance is reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s style, with the real culprit revealed at the end.
Thank you, Revell, for sending me a beautiful copy of this book to review. I’m glad I chose it. I recommend it to horse lovers and readers of historical women’s fiction.
This book can be purchased at Chapters.indigo.ca, by clicking here.
The Last Way Home tells the story of Eli Ross, an NHL hockey player who returns home to Prince Edward Island after more than a decade away.
It’s complicated. Why had he never returned, even for a visit, before now? I don’t want to spoil it for readers by giving away reasons.
Will his brothers and mother accept him? He doesn’t expect them to, but he has nowhere else to go.
And then there’s Violet Donaghy, a young lady who, he finds, his family has taken under wing as a family member. She’s cold to him, and extremely secretive. Which he can’t blame her for. After all, he’s not telling anyone his own secrets either.
No sooner does he arrive home, than a disaster occurs, and he decides to prove his integrity by pitching in to help. Helping Violet is like trying to help a snarling cat. But he ignores the snarling and persists. You’ll have to read it to see how that goes.
Plot and Writing Style
The plot seems to fit into a Prodigal Son trope. Both Eli and Violet carry a lot of angst resulting from years of hidden guilty feelings.
Despite his unrelenting efforts, Eli seems to be stuck on a train headed for doom. Will he be able to ditch it in the end?
The story is compelling, but it took me reading on a ways before I began to really like it. Revell asked me for an honest review, so here you have it. To be honest, I’m wondering whether authors these days are trying so hard to ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’, or to stay in a ‘deep point of view’, that the reader is left feeling a bit boggled at times. For example, instead of simply saying that a character felt anxious, we read that her stomach hit the floor. The first time this happened in the book, it took me a while to figure out whether it was literal or a figure of speech. And that was just the start. Both main characters really had problems with their stomachs dropping, hitting the ground, sinking or twisting.
The Last Way Home causes one to rethink secrets along with Eli and Violet. Is divulging them the best thing to do? Or could it cause more harm than good?
Learn more about the author and her books at LizJohnsonBooks.com.
Read other reviews of The Last Way Home on Goodreads by clicking here.
An English lady falls in love with an Irish man in 1920 Galway.
Forbidden Love
Her father has been assigned the position of landlord and moved the family to dwell in the Irish manor. Lady Annabeth has lived the life of a titled daughter in England, and all that was entailed for her. That was actually quite a restricted life. She was expected to dress well, eat only the best foods, and do only those activities appropriate for one of her class. The expectations even went so far as who she could marry. So far, she’d received one proposal, from an older man who was also titled. He could give her a posh lifestyle, but could she learn to love him? He’d given her a year to answer.
As long as the family lived in England and their lives revolved in this society, it was normal to Annabeth. But here in Galway there were no other families like themselves to associate with. Seclusion in the manor was stifling. Her father, seeing her restlessness, took pity on her and arranged an apprenticeship with a jewelry maker.
The son of the jewelry maker was disillusioned with love. Selling rings to lovers only sickened him. He wanted out of the business. But then, along came Annabeth… You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens between them.
History
War between the Irish and the English has gone on for centuries. The Irish want independence; the British want to rule them. Annabeth had been taught quite a different view of the Irish from what she found out when she worked amongst them.
Deibel captures a bit of the history of the era in Galway, bringing it alive through this tale of forbidden love. I wonder if the story is anything like that of some of my own English and Irish mix of ancestors. By 1920 my father’s parents lived in Canada. Both of them were from a mix of English and Irish descent, so the history would go back pretty far. Could one of my own great great grandmothers have been an English lady who fell in love with an Irish man?
To find out more about the author, go to JENNIFERDEIBEL.COM. You can sign up for her newsletter and see what her plans are for future books.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me this beautiful paperback to read and review. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is my unbiased review. See more books published by Revell at www.RevellBooks.com.
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Cold wild stunning Alaska is the setting for this Romantic Suspense.
Susan May Warren is a master of ‘Deep Point of View’, a writing skill that puts readers directly into the minds of characters. You feel the constant suspense that each character feels, whether physical danger or struggles of the heart.
I chose this book from several that Revell offered me to review because the cold wild stunning setting of Alaska drew me, and I wanted to learn more about this Deep POV that Warren is so well-known for.
Zoom, zoom, zoom, speeding from one scene to the next, on dog-sled, ski-doo, small planes, helicopter and skates. That’s what you experience. Glancing up at shades of purple and gold on snow-covered mountains. Night time aurora and stars. Grizzly bears, wolves, foxes and chickens. Broken families and long-gone love. The slow thaw of forgiveness.
At the end of this first book in the Sky King Ranch series, while there is some resolution, Warren leaves us with untied threads. Enticement to read the next book and find out who this unconscious, nearly frozen woman is, that they found in the wilderness. News of a brother needing urgent rescue in another continent. Wondering if the resolution between characters will stick. The constant suspense never really ends. It just goes from one thing to another.
Learn more about Susan May Warren and her books at www.susanmaywarren.com.
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A woman of the 1890s victoriously fights her way to the top of treacherous Mount Rainier, overcoming personal challenges as well as physical.
A Most Glorious View
Earning women’s rights is the theme of this historical fiction, based on real history. Mount Rainier, 58 miles northwest of Tacoma, Washington, rises to 14,411 feet. The views, both of it and from it, are stunning. The setting of this story takes place from Tacoma to the top of the mountain, and we get a taste of life and circumstances in the 1890s.
The Suffragettes fought for women’s rights in an era when they couldn’t vote, or do many other things they were capable of. As a woman, I appreciate these women who took a stand in spite of adversity, contributing to the freedoms I live in now. They were hard won.
Ever relevant themes depicted in personal characters.
The author depicts well the expectations and virtual prisons that bound people of the time. But Cora, the main character, refuses to settle for all that. And she finds a match in her mountain guide, Nathan, also a person who despises the falsity and confinement of high society.
Not only the Suffragettes revolted against the status quo. Uprisings of angry men who were either out of work or were not paid fairly caused panic in the city. They also demonstrated for rights.
The author cleverly weaves all these threads into a personal story of family, conflicts, a treacherous suitor, and a mountain romance. She brings out the sense of propriety of the upper class, contrasted by the raw nitty gritty of the lower class. Her writing style is pleasant to read, exemplifying the English of the day.
I’m glad I chose A View Most Glorious. I will happily choose Regina Scott’s books again. Thank you, Revell, for sending me the paperback copy to review. A real pleasure.
Connect with the author at www.reginascott.com. Choose more books from this publisher at RevellBooks.com.
The era subsequent to the Vietnam war in the United States is full of edgy racial integration. The Nature of Small Birds isn’t really a bird book–it’s a story of a girl from Viet Nam adopted into an American family. I enjoy watching the various birds that come to Vancouver Island, but am not really interested enough to buy another book about them.
It’s about adoption. Americans fight their enemies, then adopt their children.
When Revell presented me with a choice of books to review, I saw that this one was actually about an adopted girl from Viet Nam. One of her names means ‘bird’, and the author seems fascinated by birds.
Themes of family and adoption and Asia interest me. The back cover blurb says the girl plans to return to Viet Nam to find her birth mother. That sounded intriguing. What adventures in Viet Nam would it entail? But as I read on and on, every so often Mindy’s thoughts of returning to Viet Nam were touched on, but never got very far until the very end. We never do find out how it goes.
It’s about the era subsequent to the Vietnam war.
The book reads like three diaries–of the father, mother, and sister of the adopted girl. The timeline of the diaries alternates between 1975, 1988, and 2013, finally ending in 2014. It’s the story of how they came to adopt Mindy, and grew to love her. How she adapted to them, but kept her birth mother and homeland in her heart.
I like the writing style. It’s not hard to follow, and there are lots of homey details that I could relate to, about relationships, food, popular music, humble houses and cars. We see through three points of view, and are able to understand how Mindy and other characters feel through these.
Mainly, the story is a snapshot of the era subsequent to the Viet Nam war, in the United States. If you find the era and family vignettes evocative, you will like this book. If you’re looking for a suspenseful plot, that you will not find. Nor much information about actual birds.
Author’s website.
Susie Finkbeiner is the award-winning author of several books. She welcomes people to get to know her on her website at SusieFinkbeiner.com.
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An English lady falls in love with an Irish man in 1920 Galway. 
