Tag: Contemporary Romance

2 October 2023

Book Review | The Beacon Street Bookshop (Haven Ridge #2) by Carla Laureano

Olivia Quinn is a widowed and newly unemployed fiction editor who lost her husband a year ago and is now figuring out how to raise her teenage stepdaughter alone. Charlie Castro is a contractor turned handyman after losing his licence. Olivia hires him to finish her kitchen, and the two are instantly attracted to each other.

But Charlie is planning to leave, and Olivia feels it’s too fast to start another relationship.

When Olivia is asked to sell some old books by a friend, she and her stepdaughter, Taylor, somehow end up renovating an old building to turn into a bookshop. Fortunately, Charlie is around to help …

I’m not generally a fan of the instant attraction romance because I believe lasting love is built on relationship, not lust. However, the Beacon Street Bookshop shows that instant attraction can convincingly morph into a solid and believable relationship, given the right circumstances and an author who knows wheat they’re doing—as Carla Laureano certainly does.

The Beacon Street Bookshop is the third title in Carla Laureano’s Haven Ridge series, following The Brick House Cafe (a free introductory novella), and the Broken Hearts Bakery. All three stories are set in the slightly weird town of Haven Ridge and feature a romance as well as some tougher issues. In The Beacon Street Bookshop, the issues are around finding love again after losing a spouse, and with a teenager in tow. While that’s worthy, it didn’t have the depth of the issues in The Broken Hearts Bakery.

The Haven Ridge series is clean and wholesome rather than Christian romance. Some readers might find there is a little too much focus on the physical, and the characters clearly aren’t Christians. But there’s no on-the-page sex or violence.

Carla Laureano fans will enjoy The Beacon Street Bookshop, as will bibliophiles and fans of authors such as Denise Hunter and Liz Isaacson.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review.

About Carla Laureano

Carla Laureano is the RITA® Award-winning author of contemporary inspirational romance and Celtic fantasy (as C.E. Laureano). A graduate of Pepperdine University, she worked as a sales and marketing executive for nearly a decade before leaving corporate life behind to write fiction full-time. She currently lives in Denver with her husband and two sons, where she writes during the day and cooks things at night.

You can find Carla Laureano online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

About The Beacon Street Bookshop

Ever since Olivia Quinn lost her husband to a freak plane crash, she’s been focused on one thing—making a stable life for her teen stepdaughter, Taylor, of whom she’s the sole guardian. But when she loses her job as a children’s book editor because she refuses to relocate from Colorado to New York, all her hard-won stability is shattered.

Then the opportunity arises to open Liv’s dream bookshop in Haven Ridge, offering not only the solution to her financial problems, but a chance to bond with her stepdaughter and become a real family for the first time. Soon, the wild idea transforms into a thriving nonprofit, thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of the town—and a handsome contractor who stirs feelings in Liv she’d thought might be gone forever.

But just as she begins to lean into the new life she’s made for herself, a figure from her late husband’s past puts the life she’s been building with Taylor in jeopardy. And Liv must face the possibility that following her heart might just cost her a daughter.

Find The Beacon Street Bookshop online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

15 September 2023

First Line Friday #303 | The Beacon Street Bookshop by Carla Laureano

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m reading The Beacon Street Bookshop, the second book in Carla Laureano’s Haven Ridge clean contemporary romance series:

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About The Beacon Street Bookshop

Find The Beacon Street Bookshop online at:

Amazon | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

17 July 2023

Book Review | Imperfectly Proverbs 31 by Liwen Y Ho

Samantha Rose designs websites for mommy bloggers. When her archeologist sister gets the opportunity to go overseas for six months, Sam volunteers to look after her twin nieces, and sets up a joke mommy blog so her sister can see the children are healthy and happy. Unfortunately, a national newspaper somehow comes across her blog—which is full of perfectly posed pictures of happy children, healthy food, and a pristine house—and Sam’s blog goes viral.

But Sam is not a natural homemaker …

Sure, the children are happy, but their neighbour cooks the food, and the house is only ever pristine for the minute it takes to get the perfect photo.

Novak is a crime journalist with the newspaper, and his editor gives him an ultimatum: take a four-week holiday in Sunset Bay, interview the blogger, and write an article on her. Or he’s fired. So Novak is technically on holiday, but he does have this one article to write. His specialty is exposing fraud, and he figures Sam must be a fraud. She says she’s never lied. She just hasn’t told the whole truth, because the blog was meant to be a simple joke between her and her sister.

Sam and Novak are immediately attracted to each other, aided by two small girls who also fall for Novack and want him to stay. Sparks obviously fly, but there will be a showdown.

This is my favourite kind of romance: something that’s fairly low-stakes.

We know the hero and heroine are going to end up together (because otherwise it wouldn’t be a romance), so the tension is all built around a few key questions. When is Novak going to find out Sam’s secret? What will he write in his article? Given we know he’s going to tell the truth (because he always does), what will happen? How will they reconcile?

Okay, so there were elements of the story that were predictable (again, otherwise it wouldn’t be a romance). But I enjoyed the banter and interplay between Sam and Novak, I enjoyed the way the twins added to the story, and I loved Sam’s homemaker challenge of baking the perfect pie.

There’s also subtle underlying message about how we think of ourselves and how we define success. No, the ability to bake the perfect pie does not make someone the perfect person. Instead, we have to lean into the gifts God has given us … and that’s a good message for us all.

Recommended for rom-com fans.

About Liwen Ho

Liwen Y. Ho works as a chauffeur and referee by day (AKA being a stay at home mom) and an author by night. She writes sweet and inspirational contemporary romance infused with heart, humor, and a taste of home (her Asian roots).

In her pre-author life, she received a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Western Seminary, and she loves makeovers of all kinds, especially those of the heart and mind. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her techie husband and their two children, and blogs about her adventures as a recovering perfectionist

You can find Liwen Ho online at:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

About Imperfectly Proverbs 31

Journalist Daniel Novak is on a forced vacation with just one assignment: interview blogger Samantha Rose, who is looking after her nieces while her sister is temporarily working overseas.

Here’s the book description:

She’s trying to be what she’s not. He’s where he doesn’t want to be.

To help her archeologist sister, geeky Samantha Rose agrees to swap her black T-shirts and diet of pizza and ice-cream for a pretty apron and a summer caring for her adorable twin nieces and their newfoundland dog in Huckleberry Lake, Idaho. How hard can it be?

When Perfectly Proverbs 31, the blog she starts to reassure her sister, goes viral and everyone believes she really is a wonderful homemaker, Sam reluctantly needs to keep up the pretense. If she doesn’t, she risks ruining everyone’s summer. The girls’ oh-so-capable and over-protective grandma will surely swoop in to take them away from her.

Forced by his boss to interview Sam then take a vacation, a month at the lake with nothing to do but write a fluff piece is burned-out city crime journalist Daniel Novak’s worst nightmare. But he finds Samantha surprising and delightful, as her attempts to impress him with a picnic go horribly wrong. Time with her could restore his lost faith in people — and in God. Except, he has to write the truth in his article.

Can Ms Klutz-in-the-Kitchen transform herself to a Proverbs 31 woman in time to stop him revealing her blog is a fake? And what will happen to their growing love when he does.

Find Imperfectly Proverbs 31 online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

17 February 2023

First Line Friday #272 | The Broken Hearts Bakery by Carla Laureano

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’ve just downloaded my review copy of a book I’ve been looking forward to reading for ages, The Broken Hearts Bakery, the April 2023 release from Carla Laureano:

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About The Broken Heart Bakery

Fifteen years ago, the town of Haven Ridge failed its most important mandate—to be a sanctuary for heartbroken citizens in need. Now it’s getting a second chance to set things right …

When Gemma left her hometown of Haven Ridge, Colorado, years ago in a cloud of controversy, she swore she would never return. And she’s kept that promise, instead building her reputation as one of LA’s preeminent family law attorneys. But when her lifelong best friend begs her to come stay with her teen stepdaughter, Taylor, while she’s on a business trip, Gemma doesn’t have the heart to refuse. She’ll simply keep a low profile, do her honorary aunt duties, and be gone before anyone knows the difference.

But Haven Ridge seems to have a mind of its own, dragging Gemma unwillingly back into the community she’s tried so hard to leave behind and she soon finds herself caught up with new friends and old rivalries. When Taylor is the object of an ugly bit of teen bullying, Gemma does the only thing she knows how to do: ply her honorary niece with baked goods and words of affirmation. Soon, her temporary digs are ground zero for teenage girls seeking sugar and consolation for shockingly adult problems—which the girls soon dub The Broken Hearts Bakery.

Complicating matters is an unexpected reunion with Gemma’s high school sweetheart, Stephen, who is determined to change her mind about him, the town, and the nature of love itself. Because as it turns out, her niece isn’t the only one nursing a broken heart…

Find The Broken Heart Bakery online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

9 December 2022

First Line Friday #263 | All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese, a 2022 Christy Award and ACFW Carol Award winner.

Here’s the first line from Chapter One:

The Kindle version is currently on sale for less than a dollar, so click here to check out the sample.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About All That Really Matters

Molly McKenzie’s bright personality and on-trend fashion and beauty advice have made her a major social media influencer. When her manager-turned-boyfriend tells her of an upcoming audition to host a makeover show for America’s underprivileged youth, all her dreams finally seem to be coming true. There’s just one catch: she has little experience interacting with people in need.

To gain an edge on her competitors, she plans to volunteer for the summer at a transitional program for aged-out foster kids, but the program’s director, Silas Whittaker, doesn’t find her as charming as her followers do. Despite his ridiculous rules and terms, Molly dives into mentoring, surprising herself with the genuine connections and concern she quickly develops for the girls–and Silas. But just as everything seems perfectly aligned for her professional future, it starts to crumble under the pressure. And as her once-narrow focus opens to the deep needs of those she’s come to know, she must face the ones she’s neglected inside herself for so long.

Find All That Really Matters online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

2 December 2022

First Line Friday | Week #262 | To Believe in You by Emily Conrad

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from To Believe in You by Emily Conrad, the fourth book in her Rhythms of Redemption Romance rock star romance collection (how’s that for alliteration?).

I’ve read and enjoyed the first three books in the series, and have no doubt I’ll enjoy this one just as much.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About To Believe in You

Can she trust her heart to a man who can’t trust himself?

Since his dismissal from the rock band Awestruck, former bassist and addict Matt Visser has been transformed by faith and a year of sobriety.

Betrayed by her fiancé, Lina Abbey surrenders her hopes of a family of her own. Instead, she focuses on her work as Awestruck’s social media manager and director of Key of Hope, a non-profit funded by the band to teach music lessons to kids from low-income families.

She would never hire a man with Matt’s track record as a bass guitar instructor, but her boss, a firm believer in God’s grace and second chances, overrules her objections. Matt takes the job to clear an old debt, but soon finds he can’t resist the challenge of winning the beautiful but cautious Lina’s trust.

When a new truth about his past reveals a wrong he can never right, he and Lina both need Someone more trustworthy than Matt to believe in. Otherwise, history will repeat itself in all the worst ways.

A meaningful Christian romance with a side of fame and fortune for readers who enjoy faith-filled escapes and happily-ever-afters where no one is beyond hope of redemption.

You can find To Believe in You online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

18 November 2022

First Line Friday #260 | Authentically Izzy by Pepper Basham

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. I’m quoting from Authentically Izzy by Pepper Basham. It’s an epistolary novel, a genre I enjoy and would love to see more of.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Authentically Izzy

Dear Reader,

My name is Isabelle Louisa Edgewood—Izzy, for short. I live by blue-tinted mountains, where I find contentment in fresh air and books. Oh, and coffee and tea, of course. And occasionally in being accosted by the love of my family. (You’ll understand my verb choice in the phrase later.) I dream of opening my own bookstore, but my life, particularly my romantic history, has not been the stuff of fairy tales. Which is probably why my pregnant, misled, matchmaking cousin—who, really, is more like my sister—signed me up for an online dating community.

The trouble is . . . it worked. I’ve met my book-quoting Mr. Right, and our correspondence has been almost too good to be true. But Brodie lives across an ocean. And just the other day, a perfectly nice author and professor named Eli came into the library where I work and asked me out for a coffee. I feel a rom-com movie with a foreboding disaster nipping at my heels.

But I’ve played it safe for a long time. Maybe it’s time for me to be as brave as my favorite literary heroines. Maybe it’s time to take the adventures from the page to real life. Wish me luck.

Authentically,

Izzy

Find Authentically Izzy online at:

Amazon | BookBub | ChristianBook | Goodreads | Koorong

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

4 November 2022

First Line Friday #258 | Muskoka Blue (Original Six #6) by Carolyn Miller

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m quoting from Muskoka Blue by Australian author Carolyn Miller, the sixth book in her Original Six ice hockey contemporary Christian romance series.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

Yes, this book actually comes before Muskoka Shores, which I read a few weeks ago. Yes, you should probably read them in order. I didn’t, but I don’t think that will matter too much. I hope.

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Muskoka Blue

An ice princess with a broken heart. A pro hockey player with a secret.

For Sarah Maguire, spending the summer at Lake Muskoka was supposed to be about finding the courage to put back the pieces of her shattered life—not falling in love with the charming yet unsophisticated hockey player from next door.

Daniel Walton may have been praying for Miss Right to appear, but Sarah’s ice princess act just cries Miss Wrong. Dan’s summer plans hadn’t included befriending a redhead with a sassy tongue and cute accent, but as Muskoka works its magic he soon discovers that underneath the frost and prickles is the funny, feisty, loving woman he’s waited all his life to meet.

As their friendship deepens, Sarah comes to appreciate Dan’s patience and kindness yet struggles to let go of the past and embrace the future, while Dan, only too conscious of the personal history he wants to forget, questions the wisdom of pursuing a girl whose heart may never be wholly his – who may soon return to live on the opposite side of the world.

Will past regrets lead to further heartbreak? Or can Sarah and Dan learn to leave the past in the past and embrace God’s promises for the future?

Muskoka Blue is the sixth book in the Original Six, a sweet and swoony, slightly sporty, Christian hockey romance series from bestselling author Carolyn Miller.

Find Muskoka Blue online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads | Koorong

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

And you can click here to check out my previous FirstLineFriday posts.

Share your first line in the comments, and happy reading!

Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

12 September 2022

Book Review | To Win a Prince by Toni Shiloh

To Win a Prince is the sequel to In Search of a Prince, and is Toni Shiloh’s second romance set in the fictional island nation of Ọlọrọ Ilé, off the coast of Africa. To Win a Prince is a standalone romance, and you don’t have to have read In Search of A Prince to read this, although it will introduce the main characters and some of the background.

We met both the main characters in In Search for a Prince.

Fashion designer Iris Blakely is the best friend of Bri, the new Queen of Ọlọrọ Ilé, and is starting her own fashion label to employ local women and help lift them out of poverty.

Prince Ekon Diallo was found guilty of conspiring to undermine the line of succession to the throne. His punishment is to be stripped of his title and to undertake community service.

It’s always a challenge for a writer to take the antagonist from one novel and turn that character into a sympathetic hero in the next in the series, and to make that believable for the reader. Toni Shiloh has done an excellent job of that with Ekon, and it’s a definite strength of the novel.

What I liked most was the fact Iris and Ekon had a relationship of equals.

Iris is an intelligent and independent woman, but one who recognises her limitations. Ekon, despite his arrogance and life of privilege, does have valuable information to contribute to Iris’s business. Equally, Ekon also has limitations, and learns to ask for help. That’s a solid foundation for a lasting relationship, and it’s good to see.

Another strength was the natural way faith and prayer flowed seamlessly from the narrative.

It never felt forced, not even when Iris and Ekon went to church. I liked the way their relationship developed. Iris had found Ekon attractive, which made their developing relationship feel real and not forced. I also liked the fact that she deliberately tried to distance herself from Ekon emotionally once she found out he wasn’t a Christian.

Ekon was a well-written character. He was suitably arrogant and unpleasant at the beginning of the novel but softened as the story progressed. This gave their relationship an additional sense of realism.

To Win a Prince is an excellent contemporary Christian romance which will appeal to fans of royalty romance, or people looking for romances set outside the USA.

Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a fee ebook for review.

About Toni Shiloh

Toni Shiloh is a wife, mom, and Christian fiction writer. Once she understood the powerful saving grace of the love of Christ, she was moved to honor her Savior.

She writes soulfully romantic novels to bring Him glory and to learn more about His goodness.

Before pursuing her dream as a writer, Toni served in the United States Air Force. It was there she met her husband. After countless moves, they ended up in Virginia, where they are raising their two boys.

When she’s not typing in imagination land, Toni enjoys reading, playing video games, making jewelry, and spending time with her family.

About To Win a Prince

Can she stop herself from falling before she’s too far gone?

As a fashion aficionado and best friend of the queen of the African island country Ọlọrọ Ilé, Iris Blakely dreams of using her talent to start a sustainable clothing line to help citizens in impoverished areas and honor the country’s resources. But when she discovers that Ekon Diallo–the man who betrayed her best friend–will be her business consultant, the battle between her desires and reality begins.

Ekon Diallo has lost everything: his princely title, his material possessions, his friends, and the respect of his fellow Ọlọrans. To pay for his actions against Ọlọrọ Ilé, he’s forced to assist the charismatic Iris Blakely–but he can’t allow his heart to distract him from regaining his status.

Though they come from vastly different worlds, Iris and Ekon are both determined to reach their goals, and the only way to do that is to work together–if they can just keep their hearts from getting in the way . . .

You can find Told You So online at

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Don’t forget to click here to check out my Amazon shop for my top picks in Christian fiction!

2 September 2022

First Line Friday | Week #249 | Desert Willow by Patricia Beal

It’s First Line Friday! That means it’s time to pick up the nearest book and quote the first line. Today I’m sharing from Desert Willow by Patricia Beal.

Here’s the first line from the Chapter One:

What’s the book nearest you, and what’s the first line?

About Desert Willow

After a failed engagement, Captain Andrew Lee James has focused on building a career in the Army he loves. That commitment includes helping a feisty, out-of-work ballerina whose devotion to her grandmother’s dying wish immediately grabs his heart. She’s the one, but will he be able to win the heart of a woman who has vowed to never be involved with a soldier?

College graduate Clara Malone swore to never love anyone in the military again but when her dying grandmother asks her to deliver a love letter to the general who broke her heart decades ago, she agrees and finds herself escorted by a handsome Army captain whose kindness challenges her beliefs. Surrounded by desert willows that shower her path with pretty pink flowers and sing with the buzzing of hummingbirds, Clara enjoys the wild beauty of El Paso—and her time with Andrew—more than expected.

Can she deliver her grandmother’s last love letter without losing her heart to a man who represents everything she fears?

You can find Desert Willow online at:

Amazon | BookBub | Goodreads

Click here to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today.

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