Deeply Devoted (Blue Willow Brides #1) - Maggie Brendan

I bought Deeply Devoted when it popped up on the daily deal for $1.99.  I have read a few of Maggie Brendan's books in the past (No Place for a Lady, Jewel of His Heart, & A Love of Her Own).  I enjoyed those and looked forward to seeing what was in store for this novel.

The Blue Willow Brides is a new series, this book being the first.  I like Blue Willow and wondered how the china would tie into the book. 

Catharine is fleeing Holland from a dark secret and is going to Wyoming to marry Peter as a mail-order bride.  The problems arise when she arrives and has her two sisters in tow.  Unaware they were coming, Peter takes it in stride and decides that the marriage will go on.  His mother, however, is the epitome of a meddling mother and decides to hire a detective to look into Catharine's past to see if she is really the gold digger that she thinks she is.

Catharine is harboring a secret about her past.  She keeps it from Peter and in the end, she discovers that honesty would have been her best plan.  I found her secrets disturbing and was a little annoyed at her myself not only that she withheld the secret from her past, but that Peter ends up being the last to know he'll be a father.  I did get past that though.

I felt bad for Peter's mother at the end.  She had good intentions and got used badly by the detective.  Catharine finally comes to her senses at the end, and her sisters grew on me, especially Anna.  I liked the book even though when the author keeps secrets from the reader, I get annoyed.  Overall, it was a pretty good read and I enjoyed the book.  Good book!

Dead Reckoning - Ronie Kendig

This book was basically a James Bond film Christian style.  Action packed, romantic encounters, Green Berets, Navy SEALS, CIA, bombs,...wow.

Shiloh has been trying to avoid her father and anything related to covert operations since she blames her father's involvement for the death of her mother.  She has taken up underwater archaeology thinking it will be a safe way to blend into a normal life.  Not quite...

Death during her dive leads her into danger in India.  Enter Reece Jaxon, who is determined to keep her safe.  He's lost one person he cared about in the past and he's not planning on repeating his mistakes no matter what he has to give up, even his heart.

I had problems putting this book down.  I was drawn to the characters and the twists and turns.  I researched the author and she has a series called "Discarded Heroes."  After reading the blurbs, it seems that the three books are based on former military men who come home and attempt to adjust or just can't stay out of trouble.  I think I'm going to put them on my watch list, this author seems knowledgable and I really enjoyed Dead Reckoning.  Good Book!

Never a Bride - Amelia Grey

Ok, this book was beyond absurd but I made it about 1/2 way through before I finally gave up totally.  Between the "plot" and the language, I just had to let it go...

Mirabella is upset over the death of her best friend and the fact that she's had to wait 6 years for her intended to come claim her.  Her best friend, who was a plain girl, took her own life after being taken advantage of by a man of the ton.  All Mirabella has to go on is the fact that her friend's "Prince Charming" has a scar just below his collar bone.  Mirabella makes a list of all the people her friend danced with and starts flirting with them so she can check their collars.  Ok weirdness #1.

Camden has been in America for 6 years.  He fled after the scandal of his fiance who was caught kissing another man.  When Camden comes back, he has a chance encounter with Mirabella and is intrigued by her.  At a ball the next night, he catches her in the act of "collaring" a young man.  He fears a repeat of his past.  BUT his family is in dire straights financially and needs him to keep up appearances.  He is STILL intrigued by her and even kisses her a few times.  Why is he doing this after he knows she's been kissing all these other men?!  Weirdness #2.

I got annoyed with the language.  Yes, I noticed that they were into each other and yes, they mention it A LOT.  Their feelings of passion are mentioned often and once I read about her "womanly spot" (exact wording) I had a good laugh and quit soon after that.  The weirdness just kept piling up and circumstances went against common sense.  What else can I say?  I won't miss this one.

House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings #1) - Robert Liparulo

This is one of those young adult books that I decide to give a shot because I have read other things by the author and like him/her.  I've read 3 of Mr. Liparulo's novels, and they were pretty good.  Comes a Horseman was really long and took me forever, but it was interesting.  I also read Germ and Deadfall, which were scary in a realistic way.  He has another book out, a sequel to Deadfall, but I was freaked out enough by the first one.  A laser weapon that can just pop out of the sky and fry you is scary enough to think about without continuing with the same people crazy enough to use that kind of destruction.  Anyway!

House of Dark Shadows is a book about a house that is hidden out in the woods.  The prologue has a woman being taken through the house by a huge man.  Her family is trying to catch up, stop the man, but he just swats them away and continues to take the mother away through the house to a door.  Once through, the door slams shut.

Thirty years later...

Xander and his family move to the boonies and decide they want to live in this house despite Xander's gut feelings and premonitions about the house.  He confides in his brother, David, and together they try to see if they can figure out the mystery of the house.  They discover that the previous owners of the house disappeared and the town thinks that it was a murder/suicide.  They also find a portal in a closet that takes them to the town school.  They suspect that there is a man in the house one night and follow him to find a secret door in one of the walls.  They find a hallway that has about 20 doors.  I don't want to reveal more, you'd have to read it.

This book was one that I couldn't put down.  Being of a sensitive nature, I tried to read it during the day.  This author reminds me a little of Ted Dekker.  He writes some really interesting suspense that makes you think and now he has this series for the young adults (Dekker has The Lost Books for his YA series).  I looked and there are 6 Dreamhouse Kings books.  I've put them on my watch list, I'd like to know what happens, but I think I can wait to see.  Good book!

Lydia Bennet's Story - Jane Odiwe

I figured this book would be one I would either love or hate right off the bat.  I normally don't touch the sequels to Pride and Prejudice, they just don't measure up to the original Jane Austen.

I didn't get that far into this one before I realized that Lydia is one of my least favorite characters.  She's immature, vain and a real pain in the rear to those around her.  This book is set up as her diary, and it just got on my nerves.  She irritated me in the movie, she irritated me in the book, and to round out the trend, she irritated me in this sequel.

Deleted!  Poor, stupid Lydia! (so saith her sister in the movie, I tend to agree)

Embers of Love (Striking a Match #1) - Tracie Peterson

This was a freebie that I had been watching for my Kindle.  I like Tracie Peterson most of the time, but I was still a little wary since my experience with A Daughter's Inheritance.  Since this particular book was a solo effort and the other was written with another author, I was cautiously optimistic.

Deborah and Lizzie are the heroines of this book with Christopher and G.W. the heroes.  We begin the book with Deborah talking to Lizzie at her wedding.  Lizzie is unhappy and only getting married to irritate her mother.  Deborah and Lizzie's father convince her to go back to the logging operation that Deborah's family runs.  G.W. meets them at the train station, thinking that he is simply picking up his sister from school in Philadelphia and meets a girl in a wedding dress.

Arriving in Perkinville, Texas, Deborah feels that now she is educated, she can only be happy with an educated man and starts doubting herself and feeling like a snob.  She meets Christopher, a doctor that has been hired to heal the sick in the town, and feels a kinship with him.  He has obligations to his huge family and so does Deborah, so they fight their feelings for each other.

I liked this book.  The relationships end up in a tolerable way with enough drama to make you wonder what is going to happen next.  For instance, will Lizzie's angry mother and jilted fiance make another appearance or will his new wife take away his need for revenge on Lizzie?  Will Deborah fulfill her dreams of becoming to truly educated person that she wants to be, or will something happen to put her dreams in jeopardy?

Book 2 in the series is called Hearts Aglow and book 3 is Hope Rekindled.  It seems that Deborah is the recurring main focus with others mixed in.  The other books seems to add emphasis to her brother, Rob, and her mother.  These have been on my watch list and will remain there.  Good book!

Lady in the Mist - Laurie Alice Eakes

This one was a freebie that I really wanted to like.  Alas, I did not.  I got about 50% in before I gave up the fight and I was still wondering what was going on at that point.

Tabitha is a single midwife fighting to keep her position after one of her patients dies.  On a trip to the beach, she runs literally into a British man, Dominick.  After all the abductions of men in the area by British Navy vessels, Tabitha decides to keep an eye on Dominick in case he is involved with the kidnappings.

Tabitha's fiance from two years before pops back up in town.  He abandoned her to try his life at sea and gets abducted by the British but also happens to escape them somehow.  He comes back to see if he has any chance with Tabitha.  After an encounter between his fishing boat and the British, Dominick begins to suspect that his return may not be as innocent as it appears.

Dominick himself is apparently of noble birth but some circumstance has brought him to America to be a servant for four years.  I never really found out what he did, they kept hinting at something he said about the church, but I have no clue.

I think I got tired of all the secrets.  Dominick is working for his uncle in America trying to find out "something" after he did "something" and Tabitha's fiance is up to "something."  It is so blatantly being hidden from even the reader that it got me too frustrated to move on.  I wasn't looking forward to coming back to the book after I would put it down.  I was almost happy after I had finished a chapter, like I had just paid penance.

Various books!

I figured that I would go through some of the fiction that I have stashed away in my Kindle and see what I could easily weed out.  I did try to find something that sounded like it would interest me, but in the end I deleted 5 books.

AND THEREBY HANGS A TALE -  JEFFREY ARCHER - Oh my gosh - this short story made me want my 30 minutes back.  This rich woman finds a banker at a horse race and convinces him that she loves him.  As a result, she also decides that she needs a hugely expensive ring.  When he tells her he can't afford one for her, she talks him into stealing one.  After he's done, she disappears and already has her next target lined up.  This time she wants earrings...ugh, please!

THE NIGHT HORSEMAN - MAX BRAND - Ok, I got about to the second page on this one before I gave up.  Knowing this guy was a Western guy, I felt like I needed to give it a chance, it reminded me of my Grandpa.  Well, I totally could NOT understand anything I read for two pages so I gave up.  Memories work much better!

MISS ANNA'S FRIGATE - JENA KUHN - I didn't get too far into this one either.  It started out on a ship that is headed toward Sweden.  Flash forward to a naked lady in Sweden doing who knows what.  When I get about 5% in and am already reading about breasts and sex, it's time for me to move on...

BAKE SALE MURDER - LESLIE MEIER - I got about 50% into this one.  There was a murder in there, but it didn't happen until about 40% in.  The other things I got to read about were bake sales, urban drama, football hazing rumors and cheerleader teenagers.  I gave up because by the time I got 1/2 way through I could have cared less about anyone in that book.  Even the murder victim!

WAITER, THERE'S A CLUE IN MY SOUP! - CAMILLE LAGUIRE - This was a series of 5 short stories.  I got to the third one before I gave up.  The first one was very short.  It was about a detective that ended up at a diner discussing how someone was murdered.  The clue to the whole thing lies with a food connoisseur who ends up giving them the murderer.  The second one seemed to be based on some crime solving team, one of them being a 17-year old girl who sounds like Annie Oakley.  I got through that one, but stopped when I realized that the third story also revolved around the same team.

I got a few of my fiction books deleted that didn't need to be there.  I still have a ton in there but hopefully I'll be able to sift through them again soon!

The Silent Governess - Julie Klassen

This was one of the Kindle books that popped up for October in the $3.99 or less deals.  This one was $2.99.  I read The Girl in the Gatehouse quite some time ago and was pleased that this one popped up on the price drop.

This is not a small book.  It doesn't follow the normal length for the standard Christian romances, but I was not just watching the percentage all the way through the novel.

Olivia flees her home after she has an altercation with the man who was trying to strangle her mother.  She gets instructions from her mother to head to a particular area and wait for her there.  On the way, she gets accosted in the woods and then gets caught trespassing Edward's property.  She also hears some information that could be harmful to him.

While in jail, Olivia gets attacked by a man in the same cell and the strangling causes her to lose her voice.  Hoping to keep her close to prevent her telling his secret, Edward gives her a job at his house.

I really got my money's worth on this one.  It was a little long, but there was so much going on that it didn't seem that way.  Good book!

When All My Dreams Come True (Colorado Runaway Series #1) - Janelle Mowery

This was a freebie from Amazon.  New author for me.  This book is the first one in the Colorado Runaway Series.

Bobbie is headed to the Double K ranch to take up her new position as ranch hand.  She can wrangle and shoot better than most of the men but has to prove herself to owner Jace Kincaid to secure her position.

Add in a dose of cattle rustling and bank robberies and Jace's trust in Bobbie starts to come into question.  Someone at the ranch accuses Bobbie of seeing her with a lot of money and Jace must deal with his issues as well as his growing feelings for Bobbie.

I liked this book.  I didn't know who was behind the whole thing until the end, which I can appreciate.  There are two more books in this series that are fairly new, When Love Gets in the Way and When Two Hearts Meet.  I'll start tracking them and hope for the best.  Good book!

Rugged and Relentless (Husbands for Hire #1) - Kelly Eileen Hake

This was not a free book.  It was $1.99 and I decided to take a chance on it.

Evelyn and Cora are sisters that are close to Lacey, a rich girl that they grew up with.  Naomi is her cousin and a close friend.  Braden, Lacey's brother, is engaged to Cora.  These women are independent and not afraid to assert themselves.  When word comes that Braden, who was thought dead in a mine cave-in, is alive but doesn't want them to come, they sell it all and decide to forget about the mine and invest in a lumber mill in Hope Falls.  Needing the protection of having a man for the business part, paperwork mostly, they decide to advertise in a newspaper and request that the interested men send their attributes care of the local postmaster.  Instead, they get two dozen men showing up in Hope Falls hoping to get themselves a wife.

The main woman we follow in this one is Evelyn, one of the sisters.  She is a great cook and runs her own cafe.  She also sees herself as plump and unworthy of anyone's notice.  Our hero is Jacob Granger, who changes his last name to Creed for anonymity.  He is not looking for a wife, he is looking for a killer.  His brother was murdered and Jacob intends to clear his brother's name.  Jacob becomes the self proclaimed protector of the ladies, especially Evelyn.

I liked this book.  It was a different concept than most of the ones out west I read.  I don't regret the price I spent on it. There is another one that you can't get yet.  It's called Tall, Dark and Determined and follows Lacey, the rich girl.  Once it's available, I'll track it.  Seems like it's going to be a good series.

A Husband for Margaret - Ruth Ann Nordin

This little freebie is the sequel to A Bride for Tom.  I liked that novella, so I figured this would be along the same lines.  Short book, nice read...

Oh. My. Gosh.  When I read through the reviews I noticed that it listed this book as R when the previous one had been listed as G.  I figured it was a mistake.  Um, nope. 

Margaret feels that her internal clock is ticking away too fast and that she needs to be more proactive if she wants a husband.  She advertises and anxiously awaits the arrival of her fiance, Paul.  Instead, she is met by his brother, Joseph, and his four unruly children.  Apparently Paul had an accident with his horse and died.  After some soul searching, Margaret agrees to marry Joseph.  At the wedding, Debra, who is under the impression that she is the one for Joseph, tries to break up the wedding and afterwards the marriage.

About 1/2 through, there was about 4 pages of sex.  Really?  I could have totally done without that.  Besides the scenes that offend my prudish sensibilities, I felt like there wasn't much to this story.  Margaret adjusts to life with the boys and Joseph and then turns her focus into finding other pursuits for Debra who is driving her crazy.

The story felt like an afterthought and not really worthy of my time.  I should have stopped after A Bride for Tom.

A Bride for Tom - Ruth Ann Nordin

This little novella was put up for free and I decided to give it a shot.  I noticed that it was rated G and that is right up my alley!

Jessica is engaged to a momma's boy.  At a party, she takes pity on Tom, a clumsy, nervous man who needs some lessons on how to act around women.  When she decides to take Tom on as a student, Jessica faces getting to know him better and also finding out more about what her future life would be like with her fiance. Some misunderstandings and reflections on their feelings make this story what I would term "cute."

I liked this novella, or "diet" book as I like to call them.  It was a quick read and really enjoyable.  I usually am not a big fan of the short stories or novellas that pop up but I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

A Knight in Central Park - Theresa Ragan

First off, I want to note that it was a good weekend for my Kindle and I.  On October 1, a whole bunch of new free books popped up.  Three of those were the type of books that I really enjoy, so they were snatched up immediately!  I also got an email that one I had been watching dropped to $2.99.  I looked through the 100 books for $3.99 or less and found another one for $1.99.  Averaged out, I got 5 books for $5.00.  Very pleased!

Now, on to the review.  I only got about 1/2 way into this one.  Joe (Sir Joe) is a normal nerdy professor that has issues with germs and dirt.  Alexandra uses her grandfather's magic stones to come to our time and find the hero that is going to save her village from the evil neighborhood knight who pillages and plunders at will.  Alexandra convinces Joe to humor her and "meet the evil knight" in Central Park, thinking she is slightly insane.  Instead, he is whooshed back in time and has to use his wits and Three Stooges-like abilities to make things work out.  Bringing back things like a lighter and a can of mace come in handy in his first encounter.  It was not long after that I abandoned the book.

Maybe I have been spoiled with the River in Time Series.  I expect a lot from my time traveling books and something about this one bored me.  As far in as I was, I was hardly interested in whether Joe decided to return to his own time and become the all important scholar he aspired to be or whether he chose to stay and fulfill the prophecy that he would redeem the village and marry Alexandra.  It didn't matter to me at all.

It has been removed with no regrets.  It just didn't hold my interest the way I wanted it to.