Tag: Self-Published

23 April 2018

Book Review | Finding Evergreen by Jennifer Rodewald

If you’re looking for a fun contemporary Christian romance novel to read, Finding Evergreen is not for you (but you’ll love Jennifer Rodewald’s recent Valentine’s Day novella, The Cupcake Dilemma).

Instead, reading Finding Evergreen is like watching your two best friends destroy their marriage.

It’s rough. It’s tough. It’s nasty.

Finding Evergreen is not an easy read, and there were times I wanted to run away and pretend it wasn’t happening. Actually, I did. I usually read one novel at a time, over a couple of days. Finding Evergreen took me a couple of weeks to read, because I kept putting it down to read something a little more lighthearted.

But I kept coming back to Finding Evergreen. It was worth the effort, no matter how often I wanted to bang Brandi and Ethan’s stupid heads together. Or force them to have an adult conversation. Anything rather than watching them both trying to justify themselves as being in the right.

There was plenty of blame to go around as two people with issues brought those issues into a marriage. There was also the added complication of So-J, their foster daughter, with even more issues, and the difficulty of trying to get through newlywed life with a sassy eleven-year-old in the house.

It wasn’t just me who found the characters difficult. In her author’s note at the end, Jennifer Rodewald says:

“Brandi Thompson is the most unlikeable character I’ve ever written—and I did it on purpose.”

Jennifer shares what Brandi and Ethan discover: it is not easy to love well, and there are no easy answers. But we must remember that nothing separates us from the love of God, not even our misbeliefs about His love.

Finding Evergreen is the third book in the Grace Revealed series, following Blue Columbine and Red Rose Bouquet. It can be read as a standalone novel (I haven’t read the other two yet), but I’m sure reading the books in order would give Finding Evergreen added depth.

Recommended for those who aren’t looking for likeable characters and easy reads.

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

About Jennifer Rodewald

Jennifer Rodewald is passionate about the Word of God and the powerful vehicle of story. Four kids and her own personal superman make her home in southwestern Nebraska delightfully chaotic.

Born in Colorado, she experienced both the seclusion of rugged mountain living and the busy streets of a Denver suburb during her growing up years. Somewhere in the middle of college, she married a Husker and found her way back to the quiet lifestyle of a rural area, which suits just fine.

Blessed with a robust curiosity, Jen loves to research. Whether she’s investigating the history of a given area, the biography of a Christian icon, or how nature declares the glory of God, her daily goal is to learn something new. Aiming to live with boundless enthusiasm, her creed is vision, pursuit, and excellence.

Jen lives and writes in a lovely speck of a town where she watches with amazement while her children grow up way too fast, gardens, and marvels at God’s mighty hand in everyday life.

You can find Jennifer Rodewald online at:

Website | Facebook | Twitter

About Finding Evergreen

He thought he’d found the thrill of his life; she, the romance she hadn’t dared to hope for. Falling in love had been easy. Being married? Totally different story.

Married within a year of meeting, Ethan and Brandi add a foster daughter to their newly established family. Their story is enchanting—inspiring. Except when the fairytale fails. The stresses of unmet expectations and wounds from their pasts knife into their marriage, severing what they believed would be forever.

Hope for a broken marriage. Healing for their wounded spirits. It would take both to find evergreen. Are they brave enough to try?

You can find Finding Evergreen online at:

Amazon | Goodreads

You can read the introduction to Finding Evergreen below:

19 March 2018

Book Review | Grace Restored by Toni Shiloh

Michelle and Guy dated in high school, but haven’t seen each other since Guy deserted Michelle when she needed him most. Now he’s back in town, a widower with twin daughters.

It’s taken a while, but Guy has adjusted to the fact he’s a single father. He’s coping … but seeing Michelle again brings back memories of what once was. As is to be expected, the course of true love doesn’t run smooth, and both Guy and Michelle have a lot to learn—about themselves, about each other, and about God.

There were lots of reasons to love Grace Restored. It’s a restoration story on several levels, and there is a clear gospel message of grace, love, and reconciliation. Both Guy and Michelle have things to get over in their past before they can move into the future God has planned for them, and it’s great to see that.

Freedom Lake is a unique setting—a town where African Americans are the norm, not the minority (well, that was how I read it). It’s a refreshing change to see Christian fiction better reflecting the diverse world we live in.

Grace Restored is the second book in Toni Shiloh’s Freedom Lake series, following Returning Home. I haven’t read Returning Home yet (it’s one of those bought-but-not-read books on my Kindle), and I didn’t feel I needed to have read it for Grace Restored to make sense. But I’ll be moving it on up the to-read pile now!

Recommended for fans of contemporary Christian romance with an emphasis on the Christian.

Thanks to the author for providing a free ebook for review. And come back on Wednesday, when I have an interview with Toni Shiloh about Grace Restored and Freedom Lake.

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.

Toni is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) as well as the president of the ACFW Virginia Chapter.

You can find Toni Shiloh online at:

About Grace Restored

Michelle Thomas has it all. Beautiful and successful, she’s just opened her own law firm in Freedom Lake. What more could she want? When her old flame rolls back into Freedom Lake, she’s intent on ignoring him. But how can she give the widower and his precious twin girls the cold shoulder?

Still reeling from the death of his wife, Guy Pierre returns to Freedom Lake to take over as town sheriff and raise his twin daughters. Alone. Yet, life keeps throwing Michelle in his path and sparks of interest began to rise.

Will old secrets tear them apart again or can they find the faith to let God’s grace restore what has been broken?

You can find Grace Restored online at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads | iTunes | Kobo

31 October 2017

Book Recommendation | Lu by Beth Troy

All the stories have been written, including mine.

It’s a great first line, because it’s a strong statement that sounds true, in the same way as the famous opening line to Pride and Prejudice sounds true … until you think about it. Because we’re all unique, so our stories are also unique.

Although our stories also have some common elements:

I thought I’d finished writing that story years ago, but then yesterday’s story happened—the one about the boy who cheats and the girl who leaves. You could dress it up and call it a journey. But there was nothing new in the story about the girl who went home because she had nowhere else to go.

I know not everyone enjoys novels written in first person, but I do—especially when the character has a strong and interesting voice, as Lu (short for Louisa) does.

So Lu is home, with a car that barely runs, a 1970’s crockpot, and no money. She finds a job at the local newspaper, where she is asked to write wedding features. And she befriends the young preacher, back in town after his divorce. Lu isn’t sure if she believes in God and she certainly isn’t following him, despite having been raised in church.

Jackson challenges Lu to come to church, and she does. He’s preaching a series on the Book of Ecclesiastes, which brought him through his own tough time when his wife left him. These sermons start Lu on her own faith journey, reading the Bible and trying to understand what Jackson sees in Jesus. At the same time, she’s developing feelings for Jackson … all the while knowing nothing can come of those feelings if they don’t share a faith, and Jackson isn’t going to change.

Lu isn’t typical Christian fiction.

The characters drink alcohol and swear. Lu has been living with her boyfriend, and Jackson is divorced. Yet there is a lot more Christian content than in most Christian novels I read, and it feels natural, not forced. I liked the way the novel showed Lu’s faith journey warts and all, and that the focus was on finding Jesus for herself.

My one complaint about Lu was that it ended too soon. There was a clear ending to the main plot—Lu’s faith journey—but not to the main subplot. This annoyed me at first, but in hindsight it was the right decision. I only hope that dangling thread means there is a sequel in the works.

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

You can find Beth Troy online at:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

About Lu

“There’s great hope where the road meets the sky – maybe even an answer. But this road leads home. Just home. I thought I’d finished writing that story years ago, but then yesterday’s story happened – the one about the boy who cheats and the girl who leaves.”

Lu Sokolowski never planned to return to her small hometown of Dunlap’s Creek, but it’s the only place she can think of to go after her boyfriend cheats on her. Moving back in with her family lets her run away from her problems, but it also means suffering their attempts to reassemble her failed life, including arranging a job as the wedding beat writer at the local paper and setting her up with Jackson, the divorced pastor of her family’s church. Unexpected success and friendships restore Lu to the family and faith she’d left behind. But when the small-town life Lu never intended shakes up, will she run again?

Lu’s story is a journey of a woman back to her family, her faith, and herself. It’s about second chances and the unchosen circumstances that press the point of who we are and what we believe. Are we the sum of our successes and failures, or does our identity rest in a greater hope?

Find Lu online at:

Amazon US | Amazon AU | Amazon UK | Goodreads

27 October 2017

First Line Friday | Week 14 | Lu by Beth Troy

It’s Friday, which means it’s time to open the book nearest you and share the first line

Today I’m sharing from Lu by Beth Troy:

All the stories have been written, including mine.

Intriguing! I enjoy first person novels, especially when the voice is as interesting as Lu promises to be.

About Lu

“There’s great hope where the road meets the sky – maybe even an answer. But this road leads home. Just home. I thought I’d finished writing that story years ago, but then yesterday’s story happened – the one about the boy who cheats and the girl who leaves.”

Lu Sokolowski never planned to return to her small hometown of Dunlap’s Creek, but it’s the only place she can think of to go after her boyfriend cheats on her. Moving back in with her family lets her run away from her problems, but it also means suffering their attempts to reassemble her failed life, including arranging a job as the wedding beat writer at the local paper and setting her up with Jackson, the divorced pastor of her family’s church. Unexpected success and friendships restore Lu to the family and faith she’d left behind. But when the small-town life Lu never intended shakes up, will she run again?

Lu’s story is a journey of a woman back to her family, her faith, and herself. It’s about second chances and the unchosen circumstances that press the point of who we are and what we believe. Are we the sum of our successes and failures, or does our identity rest in a greater hope?

Find Lu online at:

Amazon US | Amazon AU | Amazon UK | Goodreads

Click the button to check out what my fabulous fellow FirstLineFriday bloggers are sharing today:

Yes, rather each blogger listing each of the other bloggers—which is getting to be a longer and longer list each month—we’ve got our own site. It’s just sharing FirstLineFriday posts for now, but who knows what the future holds?

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

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

3 October 2017

Book Recommendation | An Unexpected Groom by Nerys Leigh

Nerys Leigh’s Escape to the West series is unique.

All the books run concurrently, which means the stories can be read in any order as none comes first. Each book follows one of five women who have come west to California as a mail-order bride.

The Unexpected Groom is the fourth book in the Escape to the West series.

Louisa has been raised to believe she must marry well in order to be happy. She’s arrived in California to marry Jesse Johnson, an accountant with the local bank—a man with the right kind of social standing for Louisa. But when she arrives, she finds Jesse’s letters neglected to tell her one significant fact …

Jesse Johnson is used to women calling off relationships when they find out what’s wrong with him. So, despite his better judgement, he agrees when his friend Adam suggests he doesn’t mention his problem. Instead, let the lady arrive and get to know the real Jesse before making a decision.

Louisa is taken aback at first, but agrees to stay for two weeks, to get to know Jesse. But she finds more than bargained for and has to make the difficult decision to follow her parents, follow her heart … or follow God.

The Unexpected Groom was an excellent romance.

I loved the growing romantic tension between Lousia and Jesse almost as much as I loved the Christian element. It was great to see a character really consider their Christian faith and deepen their relationship with God, even over the relatively short timeframe of this novel (a few weeks).

The one problem with the story was the excess of run-on sentences (Leigh uses British spelling and grammar, which explains Britishisms like gammon, but run-on sentences are wrong in all versions of English). But these didn’t detract from the excellent story, and the great use of humour:

Recommended for fans of Western Christian historical romance.

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

About Nerys Leigh

Nerys Leigh writes thoroughly romantic Christian historical love stories. She loves heroes who are strong but sweet and heroines who are willing to fight for the life they want.

She’s from the UK, which you would think puts her in a unique position to not write about mail order brides in the American west, but the old adage of writing what you know has never appealed to her. She has an actual American read each book before publishing to make sure she hasn’t gone all English on it.

No One’s Bride is the first in the Escape to the West series which tells the stories of a group of women willing to travel across America to find happiness, and the men determined to win their hearts.

You can find Nerys Leigh online relaxing and generally enjoying the view at:

Website | Facebook

About The Unexpected Groom

When heart and mind pull in opposite directions, which way do you turn?

Louisa Wood’s parents have always taught her that appearance is everything, and to behave like a lady because one day she would marry a man who could make her one. But without money or social standing, New York society has proved beyond Louisa’s reach. The answer? Go where no one knows who she is.

A young accountant advertising for a mail order bride seems the perfect solution, until Louisa arrives in California to find that Jesse Johnson has been keeping a secret and isn’t at all what she’s expecting. What he is, however, is charming and handsome, and she agrees to stay for two weeks despite knowing she will likely return home at the end.

But as a mystery at the bank where Jesse works draws them closer and her heart wakes to new possibilities, for the first time in her life Louisa finds herself doubting everything she’s been raised to believe.

Find The Unexpected Groom online at:

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Goodreads