A Most Peculiar Circumstance (Ladies of Distinction #2) - Jen Turano

I'm happy to say that I'm all caught up with this series!  I've read the novella, Gentleman of Her Dreams, the first book, A Change of Fortune, and also the third book, A Talent for Trouble.  This particular book is the second in the series.

Arabella is devoted to the suffrage movement.  On her way back home, she encounters a distraught mother who begs Arabella to find her daughter and return her home.  Once the young woman is located, Arabella's troubles begin.

Theodore has been asked to track down Arabella and bring her home for a wedding. Even though he's too late for that, he's just in time to bail her out of jail.  She then proceeds to bury him with information on why he should change his medieval views on women and come around to her way of thinking.

At first glance, these two are the least likely match you'll find.  As they begin to understand one another, they seem to have more in common than they believed.  While Arabella is still in danger, Theodore is determined to try and keep her safe despite herself.

This was another winner by Turano.  I loved the characters and how they learned to compromise.  It wasn't a big deal that I had read them out of order and that's something I really enjoy in a series.  You get to see the personalities of all the characters, even the ones that appear in the previous books.  In my review of A Talent for Trouble, I mentioned that I hoped there was more because we haven't settled Agatha and Zayne's fate.  I'm happy to say that A Match of Wits, book 4, is due out in July and we'll get to read their story.  It's already on my watch list.  Good Book!

A Bride for Keeps (Unexpected Brides #1) - Melissa Jagears

After reading the novella, Love by the Letter, I looked forward to reading more from the author.

Julia is coming to see her friend Rachel, but she's also agreed to be a mail-order bride for Rachel's friend, Everett.  The strange thing is that Everett is very distant and seems to want nothing to do with her.  She has secrets in her past that she's running from, so she doesn't want to push him too hard.  She's just looking for protection.

Everett has had the worst luck with women.  Not much of it is his fault, but the town likes to tease him about it.  He is drawn to Julia, but fears that she'll just leave like all the others. They all left in different ways, but he's in pain and believes Julia is just the next one. When he finally comes to his senses, will Julia be able to trust him enough to make their marriage work?

I think most of this book can be summed up with the quote, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." (By the way, I use that phrase all the time but just looked up its source today - Cool Hand Luke, 1967)  Anyway!  These two wallow in their own sorrows for most of the first half of the book, making them both a bit irritating.  I kept reading, because I knew it had to get better.  I wasn't wrong!  This turned out to be a great book!

The next book in this series isn't due out for quite some time.  A Bride in Store is due out in September.  From the summary, it's about Axel, a very minor character in this book.  If you haven't read Dex and Rachel's story (they show up a lot in this book), make sure to read Love by the Letter.  As of today, it's still free.  You're not going to feel lost if you don't read it, so it's okay to read these alone.  I look forward to the next one.  Good Book!

A Vision of Lucy (Rocky Creek Romance #3) - Margaret Brownley

This is my first read with this author.  This book is part of a series with A Lady Like Sarah being the first book and A Suitor for Jenny being the second.

Lucy's passion is taking photographs.  Her dream is to see her pictures printed in a newspaper.  In the beginning, we find Lucy up in a tree trying to find the legendary white mustang.  Instead, she witnesses a stagecoach robbery and her life is in danger.

David saves her and the stagecoach, but can't quite figure Lucy out.  She doesn't stop talking, so he uses his own methods to put her off balance.  While he is attracted to her, he tries to push those feelings aside.  Since he's half-white, half-Indian, prejudice has kept him from being an accepted member of society.  David is in town to find something that was taken from him years ago. When a man disappears and David is suspected, both their lives get more complicated than they thought.

I finished this book in a day.  Honestly, I had a feeling I was going to love it when I saw the first quote in the book, "Never climb higher to take a photograph than you can afford to fall."  It was an unusual opening and immediately caught my curiosity.  At the beginning of every chapter is a quote from Miss Gertrude Hasslebrink.  I found them to be interesting, but I'm not quite sure if they are from a real book or not.

I really enjoyed this book.  I haven't read the first two in the series, which are about Sarah and Jenny.  These characters made appearances in this book, but I didn't feel like I was missing vital information.  I'm watching the other two and look forward to reading more from this author.  Good Book!

Mail Order Millie - Katie Crabapple

This is the first time I've read something from this author.  I have to admit that I was drawn to the length of the book.  I have oodles of books on my Kindle to read and I picked this one to read so that I could feel a sense of progress in that ever-growing pile of books.  It's listed as 62 pages and I knew I could read it quickly.

Millie is turning 18 and will not be allowed to stay at the orphanage.  She is given a stack of letters and told to choose a man to marry.  She lies about her age and ends up at the house of George, a recent widower with four children that need caring.  Millie does her best to get settled in, but she finds George to be distant and demanding.

I think that this story had potential, but there were some issues that bothered me.  For the most part, we're in Millie's head, but there are strange moments here and there where we get a brief glimpse into George's thoughts and once in his daughter's.  No warning and you're immediately back to Millie.  There were some errors that could have been caught, like where the baby's name changes from Grace to Hope and then back to Grace again.

I understand that this is a short story, but I feel like the characters could have been developed more.  Instead of telling me about Millie's choices for dinner, maybe some time could have been spent developing the character's personalities.  At the end, I felt like I didn't know George at all and the ending didn't quite seem believable.  I also didn't see what the goal of the story was.  Was I reading to watch George and Millie fall in love?  Was I watching Millie discover what it means to be a Christian?  I wanted to like this story, but it's ultimately a pass for me.

Every Perfect Gift (Hickory Ridge Romance #3) - Dorothy Love

This is the third and final book in this series.  The first two books are Beyond All Measure and Beauty for Ashes.  I enjoyed those and looked forward to finishing out the series.

A few years have passed since book two, and we find that little Sophie Caldwell has grown up.  She's skittish about coming back to Hickory Ridge after the way the town treated her as a child at the orphanage, but she is determined to come back and open up the local newspaper.  Her goal is to make the newspaper a success and have something of her own.

Ethan has avoided everything from his childhood and refuses to even discuss it.  When he meets Sophie, he is entranced by her, even though she prints things at odds with his work at the Blue Smoke resort.  Once they get on the same page, Sophie withdraws a little because she believes that her unknown lineage will push Ethan away.

I have to admit that this one was a little more dependent on the first two books than I thought it would be.  After reading the first two, I thought it would be okay to read them out of order and not be lost.  Even though time has passed and the author has some reminders in there, I can see how someone who hasn't read the previous two might be lost.

Overall, this was a pretty interesting book, but there were a few little things I noticed that seemed a bit out of place.  As far as I could tell, at the resort Sophie asks one person about the fighting but then writes about it without getting the other side of the story or even fact checking.  Seemed a bit off.  Some of her reactions to Ethan seemed odd as well.  When she sees him arguing with a man, she immediately assumes he looks down on the man because of his parentage.

All things considered, this was a good series.  I still believe that you are okay to read the first two alone, but this one is more fulfilling if you have read the previous novels.  I feel comfortable giving this one a Good Book! review.

Lonestar Series on sale today! - Colleen Coble

Amazon has all four of the books in the Lonestar series on sale today for $1.99!  I've been tracking one of these for over two years waiting for a price drop!  Coble is a great author and if you haven't read anything by her, this is the perfect time to give her a chance!  I read these books before I started my blog, so I don't have any reviews for them, but I remember liking them.  Even though I'm more of a historical fiction girl, Coble is one of the authors I make an exception for.  I just hope I can get caught up on my reading one of these days!  Check out the sale: the series includes Lonestar Sanctuary, Lonestar Secrets, Lonestar Homecoming and Lonestar Angel.

Tide and Tempest (Edge of Freedom #3) - Elizabeth Ludwig

After reading the first two books in this series, No Safe Harbor and Dark Road Home, I just had to find out how it all ended.  This is one of those series that is best read in order.

Morgan has just discovered that Tillie, a woman who was on board his ship years ago, may be in danger.  Since he feels it is his responsibility to take care of the situation, he positions himself to keep an eye on her.

Tillie doesn't quite understand what it is that draws her to the captain, but she doesn't feel like she deserves to have that kind of happiness.  When someone tries to take her life, she finds herself depending on him much more than she feels she should.

I enjoyed this book.  I didn't feel that it was as much of a continuation as the first two, so you could almost read this one alone, but I recommend reading them in order to get the complete story.  They're all great books with believable characters and lots of action.  The only thing I was missing was a wrap-up for the characters from the first two books.  I would have liked to read about Cara and Ana, if only in an epilogue.  Regardless, it was a nicely written series.  Just make sure to read them in order!  Good Book!

*I received a copy of this book through NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.