Seeds Of Change by Lauraine Snelling

 

The Seeds Of Change is a beautiful story of how God can take a bad situation and use it for good. Larkspur "Clark" Nielson is very self-assured and that gets her into trouble. She tries to help out her younger brother and ends up having to become Clark and travel away from all she knows. I loved the strong female characters in this story. And the romance, while not the focus, adds a nice touch. Lauraine Snelling proves once again that she is a master storyteller.

So grab a pot of tea and curl up for a fantastic read!

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley with no expectations. All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

Larkspur Nielsen is ready for a change. Her parents have passed on, and her older brother is successfully running the family business. She bristles at the small-mindedness that permeates life in her small Ohio community, and she sees little chance of a satisfying future there. She has a little money saved, and after turning the tables on a crooked gambler who had fleeced several locals, including her younger brother, she can stake a new start for herself and her three sisters.

As the gambler's threats of revenge echo in her ears, she and her sisters head to
Independence, Missouri, to join a wagon train bound for Oregon. Knowing that four women traveling together will draw unwanted attention, Larkspur dons a disguise, passing herself off as "Clark" Nielsen, accompanying his three sisters. But maintaining the ruse is more difficult than Larkspur imagined, as is protecting her headstrong, starry-eyed sisters from difficult circumstances and eligible young men. Will reaching their goal prove too much for them?

About the author:

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Biography

Award-winning and best selling author Lauraine Snelling began living her dream to be a writer with her first published book for young adult readers, Tragedy on the Toutle, in 1982. She has since continued writing more horse books for young girls, adding historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers to her repertoire. All told, she has over eighty books published with more than 4 million copies in print.


Shown in her contemporary romances and women’s fiction, a hallmark of Lauraine’s style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Her work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German, and she has won the Romantic Times Career Achievement award for Inspirational Fiction, the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land, and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter.


As a sought-after speaker, Lauraine encourages others to find their gifts and live their lives with humor and joy. Her readers clamor for more books more often, and Lauraine would like to comply ... if only her paintbrushes and easel didn’t call quite so loudly.

Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a watchdog Basset named Winston. They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress”.

A Time To Love by Tracy Higley

 How do I even begin? A Time to Love along with the first two books in the Time Travel Journals of Sarah Aldridge is definitely going to be on my best series of 2021 list. I can not do justice to the adventure, suspense, and romance that Ms. Higley has written. These books have cost me sleep. I have been sitting on the edge of my seat today as I finished reading the last pages of this book. I love all of the characters and the settings...WOW! I am almost dizzy from the plot twists, but I would not change one word of these books. They definitely must be read in order. I am satisfied with Sahara's but now I want Persia's. I also would love to know more about the Tempus Vigilia. Hopefully, Ms. Higley will again choose to dive into the world of time travel and give us more!

So brew up a pot of tea, suspend your unbelief, and curl up somewhere you can block out the world.  You are not going to want to be interrupted once you start reading. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I did.

All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

For a Time Traveler, the Future is Never Guaranteed.

Sahara Aldridge, a young Egyptologist in 1922, is mastering the genetic surprise of time travel.

She’s survived a murderous vizier in King Tut’s Egypt, and taken on ancient Roman aristocrats bent on deposing Nero.

She’s even managed to open her heart to the charming Jack Moretti, despite the shocking secret he’s finally divulged.

But when the next clue to finding her parents lands her in an ancient Egyptian assassination attempt, Sahara’s tinkering with the past just might erase her future.

Skimming across the lofty pyramids of ancient Egypt to the elegant canals of 18th century Venice, the answers to Sahara’s desperate search for belonging seem only a breath away.

But an old score must be settled, and an old feud reconciled before she can face a truth more than thirty years in the making, and a secret she was never meant to learn.

How can love be enough, when fear and hate are fierce?

OTHER BOOKS BY TRACY HIGLEY: THE TIME TRAVEL JOURNALS OF SAHARA ALDRIDGE A Time to Seek (Book One)
A Time to Weep (Book Two)

THE SEVEN WONDERS NOVELS: Isle of Shadows
Pyramid of Secrets
Guardian of the Flame
Garden of Madness
So Shines the Night

THE BOOKS OF BABYLON: Chasing Babylon
Fallen from Babel (coming soon)

THE COMING OF THE KING SAGA: The Queen's Handmaid
The Incense Road

THE LOST CITIES NOVELS: Pompeii: City on Fire
Petra: City in Stone

About the author:

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Biography

I've been writing adventure stories since the time I first picked up a pencil. I still have my first "real" novel--the story I began at the age of eight during a family trip to New York City.

Through my childhood, I wrote short stories, plays for my friends to perform (sometimes I had to bribe them), and even started a school newspaper (OK, I was the editor, journalist, and photographer since no one took that bribe to join me). Then there were the "drama years" of junior high when I filled a blank journal with romance and poetry. Sigh.

In my adult years, I finally got serious about publishing suspense fiction, and have since authored twelve novels in twelve years.

When I'm not writing, life is full of other adventures--running a business, raising kids, and my favorite pastime: traveling the world.

I started traveling to research my novels and fell in love with experiencing other cultures. It's my greatest hope that you'll feel like you've gotten to travel to the settings of my books, through the sights, sounds, smells, colors, and textures I try to bring back from my travels and weave into my stories.

To experience my travel journals and see the romantic settings of my books, I hope you'll visit my website at TracyHigley.com or meet up with me on Facebook at facebook.com/tracyhigley.

Remember 9/11/2001 and 9/11/2012

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iy2L9VeUfc

A Lady In Attendance by Rachel Fordham

 

A Lady In Attendance is a lovely story full of romance and suspense in late 1800s New York. I loved the witty dialogue and intriguing plot. Rachel Fordham is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She tells delightful Faith-filled stories that draw you in, causing you to forget ordinary things like cooking supper or washing dishes. Unfortunately, since I have finished her book I will have to return to those mundane duties...My family will be pleased! So when you have a block of time available, brew a pot of tea, grab a cozy blanket and curl up for a wonderful tale.

I was given a copy of this book with no expectations. All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

Five years in a New York state reformatory have left a blemish on Hazel's real name. So when she takes a job as Doctor Gilbert Watts's lady in attendance in 1898, she does so under an alias. In the presence of her quiet and pious employer, Hazel finds more than an income. She finds a friend and a hope that if she can set her tarnished past in order, she might have a future after all.

As Gilbert becomes accustomed to the pleasant chatter of his new dental assistant, he can't help but sense something secretive about her. Perhaps there is more to this woman than meets the eye. Can the questions that loom between them ever be answered? Or will the deeds of days gone by forever robbing the future of its possibilities?

Rachel Fordham pens a tender tale of a soft-spoken man, a hardened woman, and the friends that stand by them as they work toward a common purpose--to expunge the record of someone society deemed beyond saving--and perhaps find love along the way.

About the author:

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Biography

Rachel Fordham has long been fascinated by all things historical or in the words of her children “old stuff”. Often the historical trivia she discovers is woven into her children's bedtime tales. Despite her love for good stories she didn’t attempt writing a novel until her husband challenged her to do so (and now she’s so glad he did). Since that time she’s often been found typing or researching while her youngest child naps or frantically writing plot twists while she waits in the school pick-up line. In addition to her passion for storytelling, she enjoys reading, being outdoors, and seeing new places. Rachel lives with her husband and children on an island in Washington state.

Learn more about current projects at rachelfordham.com

War Room by Chris Fabry

 

War Room is a fantastic book that demonstrates the power of prayer. Chris Fabry tells the story of Tony and Elizabeth Jordan at the crossroads of their lives. Miss Clara, an elderly prayer warrior, mentors Elizabeth to become a new prayer warrior. The movie was awesome and the book is even better. I highly recommend this book to boost your faith and prayer life. This will definitely go down as one of the best books I have read this year. So grab your Bible, a notebook, and a pot of coffee. You will enjoy this book.

All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

Juggling motherhood and her job as a real estate agent, Elizabeth Jordan wishes her husband could help more around the house. But Tony’s rising career as a pharmaceutical salesman demands more and more of his time. With a nice home in the suburbs and a lovely young daughter, they appear to have it all―yet they can’t seem to spend time together without fighting.

Hoping for a new listing, Elizabeth visits the home of Clara Williams, an elderly widow, and is both amused and uncomfortable when Clara starts asking pointed questions about her marriage and faith. But it’s Clara’s secret prayer room, with its walls covered in requests and answers, that has Elizabeth most intrigued . . . even if she’s not ready to take Clara’s suggestion that she create a prayer room of her own. As tensions at home escalate, though, Elizabeth begins to realize that her family is worth fighting for, and she can’t win this battle on her own. Stepping out in blind faith, putting her prayers for her family and their future in God’s hands, might be her only chance at regaining the life she was meant for.

About the author:

 Following

Biography

All my stories are prayers from a wounded heart. As you enter each one, I hope you’ll sense that struggle and pain and questions are not just part of life but part of how you can be drawn deeper into it. A Piece of the Moon is the book I’ve waited more than 40 years to write. It combines my love for radio with a quirky cast of characters who need a second chance in a world that judges and marginalizes. There’s also a faith angle to the story that leads to a mystery to solve. I hope it sings in your soul.

Many of my stories are set in my home state of West Virginia. I was born there in 1961. I caught the writing bug early, but didn’t have a vision or encouragement for my words until much later. I wrote a lot of children’s books in the late 1990s and had my first novel for adults, Dogwood, published in 2008. It received a Christy Award in 2009.

Then came June Bug, a novel loosely based on Les Miserables. Almost Heaven released next and won a Christy Award, as well as the 2011 Christian Book Award for Fiction.

Not in the Heart also received a Christy Award. Borders of the Heart followed our move to Tucson, Arizona. Every Waking Moment and its sequel, Looking Into You, were award winners as well. The Promise of Jesse Woods was a coming-of-age tale again set in West Virginia. Then, my 80th published book, Under a Cloudless Sky, was set on Beulah Mountain, WV.

In 2018, I was honored to be inducted into the Christy Award Hall of Fame as a five-time award recipient for my work in Christian fiction.

I've also crafted three novels based on screenplays. The Song, War Room, and Overcomer were written for the screen and I helped bring them to the page.

I am a graduate of the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2019. I have been married to Andrea since 1982. We have nine children and we now live near Tucson, AZ.

I maintain a website for aspiring writers, giving tips and encouragement at HeyYouCanWrite.com. Stop by my website at ChrisFabry.com to learn about my writing and radio endeavors. Email me at chris@chrisfabry.com.