The Melody of love

 

I was so excited to see this in my mailbox!  I now can sit back and enjoy all the new characters in this wonderful book. I know I'll be entertained.

Life is not always easy for Amelia.  She is trying to do everything on her own. She is a widow with an autistic son, Micah.  There's no shame is asking for help. What she finds as a result are new friends and unexpected support.

She puts her personal life on hold. But a handsome stranger. Christian, enters her life.  He waited patiently for her. Maybe at times, too patient.

A touching relationship grows between Christian and Micah. In fact, this, to me, was the highlight of the story.

I received this book from the Wanda's Clippity Clop Club to review.  

About the author

Wanda Brunstetter is an award-winning romance novelist who has led millions of readers to lose their heart in the Amish life. She is the author of over 100 books with more than 12 million copies sold. Many of her books have landed on the top bestseller lists, including the New York Times, USA Today, Publisher's Weekly, CBA, ECPA, and CBD. Wanda is considered one of the founders of the Amish fiction genre, and her work has been covered by national publications, including Time Magazine and USA Today.

Wanda's fascination with the Amish culture developed when she met her husband, Richard, who grew up in a Mennonite church, and whose family has a Pennsylvania Dutch heritage. Meeting her new Mennonite sister-in-laws caused Wanda to yearn for the simpler life. In their travels, she and her husband have become close friends with many Amish people across America. Wanda's desire to explore their culture increased when she discovered that her great-great grandparents were part of the Anabaptist faith.

All of Wanda's novels are based on personal research intended to accurately portray the Amish way of life. Many of her books are well-read and trusted by the Amish, who credit her for giving readers a deeper understanding of the people and their customs.

Wanda's primary attraction to the Amish is their desire to live a devout Christian life that strives to honor God, work hard, and maintain close family ties. Whenever she visits her Amish friends, Wanda finds herself drawn to their peaceful lifestyle, sincerity, and close family ties, which is in stark contrast to the chaos and busyness that plagues so many modern "Englishers." Time and time again, Wanda loses her heart in the Amish life, and she hopes her readers will, too. For more information, visit: www.WandaBrunstetter.com

Joy by Samantha Price

Tabitha is Wilma's granddaughter. At 15, she asks a lot of questions. She decided that she is going to ask for her aunts' advice on love and marriage. I don't think she was ready for their advice.

Aunt Joy gives her some wise advice and Tabitha runs away with it!  Chaos results.  

I enjoy reading about Wilma and her family.  A delight to read. 

#Amish

#SamanthaPrice

About the Author

Samantha Price is a USA Today bestselling author of Amish romance and cozy mysteries. Raised in the Brethren faith, she writes with a heartfelt understanding of the Amish way of life. When she’s not writing, Samantha enjoys quiet moments at home with her rescue cat and her fluffy white dog, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Snowy from the Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries. You'll find a printable and downloadable Series-Reading-Order of all her books at: SamanthaPriceAuthor.com Like her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaPriceAu... Listen to audiobooks on her YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@samanthapriceau

The Mistress and the Daughter

Can you even imagine?  You are mourning the loss of your husband.  You are a widow with two small children.  All alone. And then you discover that you were never legally married.  

What a shocker!  Isla pulled up her big girl panties and did what was needed to do to survive.  It was a tough life. But she made new friends and found a new family.  And it was during the war years!

Great story. I loved that my stepdad's hometown was mentioned, Helensburgh, Scotland. We stayed at a hotel there facing the water.  It could have been the same place as it was a historical building.

 You never knew what was happening next in this book.  I know you'll love it like I did. 

A Heart on Consignment

It's hard to imagine your parents not only wanting you to marry but actively looking for you.  I was married at 18 and I can remember my parents urging me not to.  I should have listened.

It wasn't that Salina didn't want to marry.  She just seemed unlucky in love.  The right one took his time to show up.

Seth wasn't looking for a long time commitment.  He surely wasn't interested in the girl who opened the consignment shop.

Salina had to think of something to stop her mother from matchmaking.  She never expected the outcome when she asked Seth to help.

I loved the story.  I really believe when you stop looking love finds you.

Thank you, Mindy Steele for allowing me to read an early ARC.

#Amish

#matchmaking

Author Bio

Mindy Steele was raised in Kentucky timber country and has been writing since she could hold a crayon against the wall. Steele writes Amish Romance peppered with just the right amount of humor, as well as engaging Suspense, using rural America and the residents as her muse. Steele strives to create realistic characters for her readers and believes in engaging all the senses to make you laugh, cry, hold your breath, and root for the happy ever after ending. A hopeless romantic, with a lyrical pen, Steele wants her readers to find themselves somewhere within her pages. A mother of four and grandmother to a half dozen blessings, Steele enjoys hiking and gardening, coffee indulgences and weekend road trips, and is personally doing all she can to make peanut butter its very own food group.

Honor- Wilma's Daughters Book 2

Honor always dreamed of having a little girl.  So when Matthew, Grace and Lana showed up at her door asking to stay, she welcomed them with open arms.

Tabitha is at it again. She has her notebook and is ready to ask her Aunt Honor about marriage. What she didn't expect to see was Grace.  

Tabitha just can't keep secrets.  But is that always a bad thing?

Family is important in the Amish community.  They are there to help in anyway they can.  Maybe that is what's missing in today's world.  Amish usually live in the same proximity to each other.  Englishers,  as we are called, are scattered all over. Our kids live in other States. Grandparents are in another. Family ties are often broken.

I enjoy these Amish stories by Samantha Price.  The common themes are Family and their love for one another. This book was a quick read but between the pages was a family that truly cared for each other.

#SamanthaPrice

#Amish

About the Author

Samantha Price is a USA Today bestselling author of Amish romance and cozy mysteries. Raised in the Brethren faith, she writes with a heartfelt understanding of the Amish way of life. When she’s not writing, Samantha enjoys quiet moments at home with her rescue cat and her fluffy white dog, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Snowy from the Ettie Smith Amish Mysteries. You'll find a printable and downloadable Series-Reading-Order of all her books at: SamanthaPriceAuthor.com Like her on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaPriceAu... Listen to audiobooks on her YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@samanthapriceauthor

The Miller's Bride

 

Gracie couldn't move. She couldn't leave the town she loved.  I don't blame her as I've been to Scotland.  What a gorgeous country! So she married a man in order to stay in the Highlands.  The problem is he loved another.

It's a lovely story of a family trying to make ends meet, trying to survive.  Gracie prays for a better life and for the love of her husband.  

Of course, there is always someone out there trying to mess everything up.  But you never expect it to be a member of your own family. 

I sure was routing for Gracie and Angus MacKenzie to realize what they meant to each other. 

I received this book from Boldwood to review.

 

#rararesources

#blogtour

The Miller’s Bride

When independence comes at a price...

Scotland, 1885

Gracie McLeod’s life changes overnight when her father sells the family grocer’s shop and moves the family from their Highland village to a distant fishing town. But Gracie refuses to follow.

Desperate to maintain her independence, she reluctantly agrees to an arranged marriage to Angus MacKenzie – a stranger who makes it clear he doesn’t want her, and who is in love with another woman. When Gracie arrives at the mill she now must call home, she finds herself entangled in a web of deceit and ambition. Unknown to her, Angus’s cousin is plotting to take over the mill and destroy her marriage from within, and he’s enlisted Angus’s former lover to help him.

As secrets and sabotage threaten to ruin everything Gracie has tried to build, she must decide whether to fight for a life she never wanted – or walk away with nothing.

A sweeping, emotionally rich saga about betrayal, resilience, and a woman brave enough to demand more.

Purchase Link -  https://mybook.to/MillersBride

Author Bio – 

Liz Harris is an award-winning author of 28 novels, including emotional and heartwarming sagas that are perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin, Rachel Brimble and AnneMarie Brear. 

Her latest series of sagas, The House of McLeod, is set in Scotland in the 1880s, and was a joy to research for someone who loves to travel, as Liz does, as it involved Liz going up to beautiful Scotland for several weeks and staying in Central Scotland, Fife and Edinburgh, where the three books are set. 

After graduating in Law in the UK, Liz moved to California where she led a varied life - from cocktail waitressing on Sunset Strip to secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company. Upon returning to England, she completed a degree in English and then taught in a secondary school for a number of years before developing her writing career. 

Liz now lives in Windsor, Berkshire. Her two sons have fled the nest, and now have families of their own. In what free time she has, which isn't much, she loves to travel, go to the theatre and cinema, do cryptic crosswords, and above all, to lose herself in a novel!

Social Media Links – 

Twitter Handle:  @lizharrisauthor

Instagram Handle:  liz.harris.52206

Website:  https://lizharrisauthor.com

Facebook: Liz Harris

To Fall in Love at Christmas

Truman took his profession very seriously.  He loved his congregation. He served GOD with all his heart.  But he felt something was missing.  A wife.  But who would marry a simple man like him?

Young Alice arrived in town to be Dr. Grant's nurse.  She had experience as she worked at a hospital in Calgary, Canada.  She had no contact with her father and brothers. Her father was cold and distant. She always felt lacking in his presence. He drained every bit of happiness from her.

Truman and his family demonstrated to Alice the true meaning of family and Christmas.

I enjoyed the book. Truman was a catch.  All the mothers with eligible daughters knew that.  But did Alice?

I received this book from the author to review.  

Best-selling novelist Robin Lee Hatcher is known for her heartwarming and emotionally charged stories of faith, courage, and love. She discovered her vocation after many years of reading everything she could put her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and ketchup bottles.

After fifteen years writing for the general fiction market and a change in her own heart, Robin began to write stories that included her Christian faith and values.

Winner of the Christy, the RITA, the Carol, the Inspirational Reader’s Choice, and many other awards, she is also a recipient of the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from both Romance Writers of American (2001) and American Christian Fiction Writers (2014). Robin is the author of over 95 novels and novellas.

A lifelong Idahoan, Robin enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies. Hobbies include Bible art journaling, decorative planning and knitting. She makes her home on the outskirts of Boise, sharing it with a demanding Papillon dog named Boo

Mercy

Samantha Price's characters almost have become friends of mine.  I start reading and I am right there in Wilma's living room enjoying the company. 

There is always confusion and mishaps when Tabitha is around.  This happens again in this story. Tabitha is determined to get married.  It sounds a lot better than milking cows.

She thinks that if she does a little research she would find the answers to her questions.  She started with her Aunt Mercy. Boy, did Tabitha open a can of worms.

I loved the story.

I received this book to review from the author. 

#blogtour

#SamanthaPrice

The Schoolmarm and the Miner

I have a list of must read authors. Denise Weimer now Farnsworth is on it.  Her books stand out with historical detail.  I love learning about events and places I never knew about.

This lovely story is about Dahlonega, Georgia during the Gold Rush.  Adelaide arrives in town to become the new schoolteacher.  She had quite a difficult job ahead of her due to a few boys causing trouble.

She meets widowed miner, Wade Coulter.  His daughter caught Adelaide's heart.  

Adelaide and Wade are guarded and afraid to take their relationship beyond friendship. But can they?

A real enjoyable story. I loved it.  

#blogtour

#CelebrateLit

I received this book to review from Celebrate Lit.

About the Book

Book: The Schoolmarm and the Miner

Author: Denise Farnsworth writing as Denise Weimer

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: May 5, 2026

A teacher seeking independence. A widower guarding his heart. In Georgia’s gold country, the richest prize may be the love they’re afraid to claim.

Adelaide Duncan’s dream of teaching is within reach until her father’s drinking and gambling force her to start over. Taking a position in the rough-and-tumble gold rush town of Dahlonega[DF1] , she’s determined to prove herself. But unruly students, strict rules against [DF2] teachers courting, and her growing feelings for a certain widowed father threaten the independence she’s fought so hard to claim.

Wade Coulter walked away from the law after he lost his wife and unborn son. Raising his daughter alone is safer than letting anyone else in. But Lotty’s beautiful new teacher makes him question everything. Just as he begins to trust again, a dangerous man from Wade’s past threatens both the women he loves.

A gold strike on Wade’s property promises security…but also revives old dangers. Scarred by her father’s choices, Addie fears any man who might put [DF3] selfish desires before love. As deadly threats close in and the past refuses to stay buried, Wade must prove he’s changed or risk losing his chance at happiness forever.

About the Author

North Georgia native Denise Farnsworth, formerly Denise Weimer, has authored over twenty traditionally published novels and novellas—historical and contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and time slip. As a freelance editor and Acquisitions & Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books, she’s helped other authors reach their publishing dreams. A wife and mother of two adult daughters, Denise always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.

More from Denise

At the end of book one of my Twenty-Niners of the Georgia Gold Rush series, The Songbird and the Surveyor, the bad guy walked free! Saloon and mine owner Charles Martin’s manipulative plotting and family money spared him from facing justice. Well, we can’t have that…

Wade Coulter, the sheriff whose sister died in a confrontation with Charles, turned in his badge after the man avoided standing trial for kidnapping the wife of Jesse Holden (the hero of book one) and his theft of a local mine owner’s gold. Jesse and Genny left North Georgia for a fresh start, but Wade gets stuck with the burden of failure and—following the deaths of his wife and unborn son—heartache. He’s retreated to his mountain farm with his plucky overall-wearing daughter, Charlotte, determined to keep her safe from the criminals who frequent gold rush boomtowns like the county seat of Dahlonega.

But then a new teacher arrives…one who is also fleeing heartache in hopes of a fresh start. Forced by the mistakes of her drunken father to seek employment in the gold fields rather than at the prestigious girls’ academy from which she just graduated, Adelaide Duncan has no other choice than to make her way in Dahlonega. If that means doing battle with thieves on the square, a pompous school board president, and bullies as big as she is, fine.

The one battle she doesn’t count on is keeping her heart safe from a moody widower who needs convincing by Addie and his aunt, the owner of the boardinghouse where Addie lodges, that his mannerless daughter desperately needs to attend school. It soon enough becomes clear that, despite her guardedness, Lottie longs for a mother’s love. Just when the discovery of gold on Wade’s land allows him to picture a family in his future, an old nemesis shows up with a new scheme…one that once again endangers the women Wade loves.

The Schoolmarm and the Miner packs humor, romance, action, and all your favorite tropes into a real-life town setting so charming, it’s a Hallmark movie-filming destination. After you read the story, you’ll want to plan a road trip to tour the gold museum in the historic courthouse and the drippy tunnels of the Consolidated Gold Mine, one of many that operated in Lumpkin County from the 1830s through the early 1900s. As you wander the North Georgia mountains, you’ll see why I’ve long felt there’s still plenty of treasure there. And fodder for great stories!

Blog Stops

Fiction Book Lover, May 12 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 12

Texas Book-aholic, May 13

For Him and My Family, May 14

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, May 15

Lakesidelivingsite , May 15

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 16

Devoted To Hope, May 17

Jeanette’s Thoughts, May 18

Books You Can Feel Good About, May 19

Connie’s History Classroom, May 20

Simple Harvest Reads, May 21 (Guest Review from Donna)

Holly’s Book Corner, May 22

Cover Lover Book Review, May 23

Pause for Tales, May 24

Lyssa Loves Books, May 25

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Denise is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://gleam.io/DSQoC/the-schoolmarm-and-the-miner-celebration-tour-giveaway

Part of Your World

I love classic Disney movies.  I've seen a lot but.....I never saw The Little Mermaid. I feel ashamed.  My grandson is now 17 but when he was 3 or 4, he loved Ariel.  We went to Disneyworld and stood in line for him to meet her.  He got a kiss in the cheek. He announced to everyone in his high pitched little boy voice "Hey Everybody, Ariel kissed me!

I realized this book was loosely based on that movie.  

I always loved Karen Witemeyer's books.  This is a wonderful addition to her catalog.  There is no way that you can't enjoy and love Muriel and Zane's story.  

Zane was not only handsome but he was also rich.  He wasn't a rich snob. He was kind and loved unconditionally.  Muriel was beautiful in her own way. She came from a working class family.  She dreamed of finding a kind husband. But he had to understand her love for swimming.  Her father didn't. 

Muriel deserved the happiness that Zane can provide. Zane deserved the love Muriel had for him.

Great story.

I received this book to review from the author.

Official Bio:

For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. Voted #1 Readers' Favorite Christian Historical Author in 2023 by Family Fiction Magazine, Karen is a multiple award-winning author and a firm believer in the power of happy endings. She is an avid cross-stitcher, tea drinker, and gospel hymn singer who makes her home in Abilene, TX with her heroic husband who vanquishes laundry dragons and dirty dish villains whenever she's on deadline.

Her Reluctant Amish Heart

Everyone deserves a second chance. Not everyone gets one.  I did when I met my husband.  GOD  thought I deserved one.  And I have been blessed ever since.

Anika Glick thought her life was over. Tragedy struck her family again.  She knew she would never be happy again.  She gave up hope. 

Elam Muller left his Amish family to strike out on his own.  And strike out he did. What a mess he made of his life. One terrible night changed their futures.   

Can forgiveness and faith bring the two of them together?

I received this book to review from the author.

#blog

About the author

New York Times & Publishers Weekly bestselling author Pamela Desmond Wright grew up in a small, dusty Texas town. From the time she learned to read, books have been her passion.

A veteran of the e-book revolution of the late '90's, Pamela moved into traditional publishing, writing for Kensington and NAL/Penguin. Nominated 2 times, she won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award in 2010. Pamela was also a founder of the scam publishers and agents website, The Write Connection, which was transferred to the SFWA through (then) vice-president A.C. Crispin to become Writer Beware. Her experiences with scam agents and publishers was documented in Professor Jim Fisher's book, Ten Percent of Nothing: The Case of the Literary Agent From Hell.

In 2013, Pam took a break from publishing. Unable to shake the story bug, she came back in 2019 with a new focus, fulfilling a promise to write wholesome books readers of all ages could enjoy.

Find her online at pameladesmondwright dot com. She's also on social media: Facebook, X, Threads, Bluesky and Instagram as @pamdwrites.