AAR Reviews: Return of Devotion

This review is now posted on the All About Romance (AAR) website. Remember AAR is both a resource for book reviews across all the sub-genres of romance and a place to find offers, deals and previews of books soon to be released. Enjoy!

A RETURN OF DEVOTION

by Kristie Ann Hunter

I read A Defense of Honor, the first book of the Haven Manor series, liked it very much, and immediately bought the second installment. I found A Return of Devotion a very different experience, one I struggled with as a reader. Whereas A Defense of Honor has a steady pace driven by the action plot woven with the romance, A Return of Devotion spends a little too much time in the character’s minds and too little time on the romance. This book can stand alone but reading the first will provide the necessary backstory for Haven Manor, its mission, and show the heroine in her element.


William and Daphne are intensely aware of each other, but that awareness serves to bring out Christian themes or the characters’ internal struggles more than increasing romantic tension between them. As a reader, after the first twenty-five pages, I had to reset my expectations into the author’s rhythm of characters focused on the external plot and not on each other, at least romantically. Once I did, I became engaged with these two people, both facing long-held assumptions about their class and their lives and growing into their best selves. However, I sorely missed the more consistent interplay and emotional spark commonly evident in the romance genre.

Fans of Ms. Hunter and readers looking for engaging Christian fiction will certainly enjoy A Return of Devotion with its interesting characters and important moral messages. However, if you’re in the mood for a story focused on the growing love between two people, this book may not be the right choice for you.

Find the Buy Links and Full Review at All About Romance.

AAR Reviews: Midnight on the River Grey

This review is now posted on the All About Romance (AAR) website. Remember AAR is both a resource for book reviews across all the sub-genres of romance and a place to find offers, deals and previews of books soon to be released. Enjoy!

Midnight on the River Grey

by Abigail Wilson

I enjoy a good romantic suspense story, and when this title appeared with its hint of classic Gothic romance from a well-known Christian publisher, I was intrigued. Although Midnight on the River Grey is classed by online retailers as a Christian mystery, the book is a sweet romantic mystery with no obvious spiritual or moral themes.

After the death of her mother, Rebecca Hunter moves to London to live with her Aunt Josephine. The ladies have little income, but it is Rebecca’s hope that she can convince the Court of Chancery to grant her a new guardian. Once she has accomplished that, she and her aunt will be able to access the money meant for her dowry and set up their own establishment.

Mr. Lewis Browning of Greybourne Hall is Rebecca’s current guardian. In a convoluted twist of fate. her elder brother Jacob had been working for him but was killed in a fall off a bridge on the Browning estate. The death was officially ruled an accident but there are hints that Lewis Browning was somehow involved, and Rebecca is convinced that means her beloved brother was murdered. She arrived at this conclusion in no small part because of letters from her “silly, prattling” cousin Ellen whom she believes “had flushed out the details surrounding Jacob’s death.”  The family’s entailed inheritance passed to Lewis, a distant cousin, giving him ample motive for the crime.

If you like a light mystery story with a little spookiness and a sweet romance, you might find it a good read, but those looking for something with more substance will need to look elsewhere.

Buy Links and the full review HERE!

AAR Reviews: Love Held Captive

This review is now posted on the All About Romance (AAR) website. Remember AAR is both a resource for book reviews across all the sub-genres of romance and a place to find offers, deals and previews of books soon to be released. Enjoy!

Love Held Captive

Shelley Shepard Gray 

During the past year I’ve enjoyed reading and reviewing Ms. Gray’s contemporary Amish romances. So when I learned her next novel would be set in both a different time period and culture, I looked forward to trying it. Love Held Captive is part of an historical trilogy following the lives of four Confederate soldiers who served time together at an officers’ POW camp on Johnson’s Island, Ohio.  After the war all four return to their home state of Texas to rebuild their lives and discover love in the process. I had not read either of the two previous books and did not miss them. Love Held Captive stands very nicely on its own. 

The book intertwines the lives of two honorable friends, two women struggling to survive, and one villain. The friends, Devin Monroe and Ethan Kelly, both Confederate officers, spent many months in a POW camp and succeeded in creating a tolerable situation for those incarcerated with them. When Colonel Daniel Bushnell arrived, the other prisoners soon recognized Bushnell’s basic meanness and Devin and Ethan often stepped in to stop his bullying. Little did they know that protecting people from Bushnell would become an important pattern in their lives.  

Julianne Van Fleet and Lizbeth Barclay were both affected by Bushnell's cruelty during the war, and Devin and Ethan are attracted to the women who now live outside society’s norms. Ms. Gray weaves these four strong characters into parallel romantic story lines. Each man must face his own prejudice, family concerns, and the evil of Bushnell before the couples find a happy ending.  

Read the full review HERE!

AAR Reviews: The Two of Us

This review is now posted on the All About Romance (AAR) website. Remember AAR is both a resource for book reviews across all the sub-genres of romance and a place to find offers, deals and previews of books soon to be released. Enjoy!

THE TWO OF US

By Victoria Byline 

I’ve been a Victoria Bylin fan since first reading her historical inspirationals, and several of her books sit on my Keeper shelf. So I was pleased to have the opportunity to review one of her contemporary novels, and a pleasure it was. The Two of Us is multi-layered, written from the heart, and subtle in its impact.

Mia Robinson, a Denver nurse practitioner reeling from the pain of a second broken engagement, decides to apply for a position with Mission Medical, an international aid organization. Her plan is to work overseas for a few years and then consider her next direction. During a pause in the interview process, Mia’s younger half-sister Lucy calls to announce that she is pregnant and she and the father are marrying in Las Vegas. As Mia has acted as a mother to Lucy for years, Mia flies to Vegas hoping to talk some sense into the mother-to-be.

Jake Tanner had a promising career in the Denver Police Department, and after the bombing that left him partially deaf and killed his partner, Connie, he has become a mentor and father figure for Sam, Connie’s son.  Now Sam has asked Jake to serve as best man at his wedding in Las Vegas, and Jake is thrilled to be there. 

Overall, each character sounds different and how each approaches a situation is matched to personality. Ms. Bylin uses her ability to show faith with a subtle touch. For example, Sam’s faith is never mentioned until he explains to Mia that he believes his marriage will work because he and Lucy will put God at the center of their relationship and life together. The characters express their faith when it is most appropriate, in the way that I see and hear my friends express theirs.   

Read the full review HERE!

AAR Reviews: Her Secret

Here's another book review I published with All About Romance (AAR). Remember AAR is not only your resource for book reviews across all the sub-genres of romance, but also offers deals and previews of books soon to be released. Enjoy!

HER SECRET

By Shelley Shepard Gray 

I’ve not read anything by Shelley Shepard Gray before, but Her Secret, the first novel in her new series, illustrates why she’s a popular Christian writer. Her style is smooth and readable,

her characters are easy to know, and her stories center on realistic daily life. This is an engaging Amish woman-in-jeopardy story where the suspense element is prominent, and the romance, Amish environment, and spiritual messages are woven around a hovering threat.

The Hilty family has a near perfect life in the Amish community of Berlin, Ohio, and Hannah, the eldest daughter, works at a tourist diner. She admits that she had made some foolish mistakes during her rumspringa — encouraging the Englisher Trent being the worst one — but that is over now, and she has pledged herself to her community. When Trent doesn't give up, her parents make a difficult and unpopular decision to avoid the determined stalker by moving the family to the rural Amish community at Munfordville, Kentucky, to begin a new life in safety. 

Over time Hannah stops being a recluse in Kentucky and meets Amish farmer, Isaac Troyer. As affection and love blossom between Isaac and Hannah, signs appear that Trent has followed Hannah yet again. It is in the Kentucky community that all the Hiltys learn the importance of reaching out to others when trouble touches them and to accept support when offered.  

Read the full review HERE!

AAR Reviews: The One True Love of Alice-Ann

All About Romance (AAR) not only provides book reviews across all the sub-genres of romance, but also offers deals and previews of books soon to be released. Here's another review I recently published with them. 

Happy Reading!

The One True Love of Alice-Ann

By Eva Marie Everson 

Given the steady-paced, un-romance-like beginning, I was prepared to place The One True Love of Alice-Ann in the general Inspirational Fiction category. After the first chapters, however, the romantic pace picks up and provides a lovely story of how a young girl learns to distinguish between affectionate friendship and mature and lasting love.  

It’s Alice-Ann Branch’s sixteenth birthday in rural Bynum, Georgia. She’s excited about her birthday party because she plans to tell Boyd MacKay—“Mack” to his friends and older than her by four years—that she loves him and will be devoted to him forever. A brief radio announcement changes her life, for not only is this her birthday, it is also Sunday, December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. 

Read the full review HERE!