"Lucy and Matthew: A Bold Love" by Florence Linnington

After Lucy's Aunt Mary dies, Lucy decides to seek out her only other living relative, her sister Caroline. Caroline had moved out west years earlier after having gotten married. The two of them had not seen each other since, but Lucy has nowhere else to go and does not wish to marry someone she doesn't love just to remain in Virginia. 

Matthew can only be described as a gruff mountain man who has never felt the need to remain at home for very long and has never been interested in finding a wife. But something about Lucy keeps him wanting to know more about her.  She is much more independent than most women he has met.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was different from Ms Linnington's other books in that the main conflict doesn't come from misunderstandings due to a lack of communication between Lucy and Michael. Instead, it comes from Lucy's sister, though what happens results from good intentions, however undesired those intentions were.

I really liked this twist and new direction of a romantic not quite a mail order bride story. Lucy is a very strong character and one that I found very relatable and who captured my interest. She knows what she does and doesn't want and isn't afraid to go against societal norms to live her life on her terms.

I believe that anyone who enjoys historical fiction, romance, and yes, mail order bride stories should enjoy this book.

 ★★ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐀𝐋!★★

 

𝐇𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐞-𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐘𝐀 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧!

 

𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 - https://bit.ly/3ny7QCc

𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 - https://bit.ly/3AnP2NF

 

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗯𝘆𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿.

 

Jagged Island: a private amusement park for the very rich—or the very influential. Liam, James, Will, Ava, Harper, and Paisley—social media influencers with millions of followers—have been invited for an exclusive weekend before the park opens. They’ll make posts and videos for their channels and report every second of their VIP treatment. 

 

When the teens arrive, they're stunned: the resort is even better than they’d imagined. Their hotel rooms are unreal, the park’s themed rides are incredible, and the island is hauntingly beautiful. They’re given a jam-packed itinerary for the weekend.  

 

But soon they'll discover that something's missing from their schedule: getting off the island alive.

 

#CoverReveal #NatashaPreston #TheIsland #YaThriller

"Wings and Broken things" by Trixie Silvertale

In this, the 3rd book of the Mitzy Moon Series, events take place at the yuletide extravaganza. The local vet has been injured in a hit and run accident with seemingly no witnesses and the same night an angel statue is stolen. It seems the perfect time for Mitzy to practice using her newfound psychic abilities as well as putting her amateur sleuthing skills to the test. 

I've been slowly working on catching up with reading this series as I often find myself reading them out of order. And while it is quite possible to pick up on much of what has gone before when reading the later books in the series, I do find it helpful to try & read the earlier books as well in order to gain more knowledge & understanding of the characters and their motivations.

This book was quite fun and entertaining, and as always it was amusing to see what new trouble Mitzy would find herself in. I thoroughly enjoyed spending a nice, relaxing afternoon reading this tale. I believe anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries, any of the other books in the Mitzi Moon series, or are just looking for something fun to read then I think you'll enjoy this book.

"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

This was a tale that takes place in the country of Gilead, though that wasn't what it had always been called. The country had started out as a democracy, but over time many in power had turned to extreme religion, turning the country into a theocracy where women had no rights, their possessions were taken from them and turned over to male relatives, they were no longer allowed to hold any job outside the home, and many other changes began to take place as well.  It started out as a slow decline that many didn’t see coming in the beginning, but soon spiraled out of control as the religious extremists took control.

In the end, women who were capable of bearing children were forced to become surrogates & bear children for those who could not get pregnant to raise as their own. Little choice was given to these women, and the other options should they continue to refuse were far worse.

I decided to read this book because of the many parallels between this fictional story and much of what is happening in the real world today. It is a story that seems as if it should be impossible, but there are many women who have just been stripped of some of their rights by those in power, and there is a clear path from that to many other rights being stripped away as well in the name of religion. For a fictional story, the parallels between what happened in this book and the world today are uncomfortably real and painfully clear.

I believe that this is a book that should be read at least once in your life, especially now, though I'm sure many will not agree. Beyond that, I will only say that I found this to be a very powerful cautionary tale of what can potentially happen even in a world where so many are still fighting to hold on their rights and to improve their lives and the lives of others. It may be a fictional tale, but I could see it could very easily become reality under the right circumstances.

“Blades and Bridesmaids” by Trixie Silvertale

In this most recent addition to the Mitzy Moon series, Mitzy is missing Sheriff Harper who is away at an extensive FBI training session (or as Mitzy calls it “FBI sleepaway camp.” But never fear, Acting Sheriff Pauly Paulson, who doesn’t exactly get along with Mitzy, is filling in for him while he is gone. Now, Mitzy and Paulson are forced to work together when Odell’s niece and her bridal party are being stalked in the woods while on a bridal party camping trip. Camping is not something that Mitzy is familiar with, and she and Acting Sheriff Paulson need to be able to work together well enough to rescue the missing girls before they wind up dead. Can the two of them manage it?

I really enjoyed reading this story. (I read it in one day.) There is a lot going on, and watching Mitzy and Acting Sheriff Paulson learn to work together and rely on each other in the woods was a very interesting story. We got to learn a lot more about this secondary character and her history and motivations that we haven’t gotten to see before, and it truly adds to the enjoyment and understanding of the character. And while this may be Mitzy’s mission to rescue the girls, this time she isn’t the only one who gets to be the hero of the story.

There is also a secondary plot in this one involving Mitzy and her “Sheriff too hot to handle.” I don’t want to say too much about that story since it is just, if not more entertaining and enlightening as the main part of this book. It is definitely just as much, if not more fun to see the trouble this plot twist causes the two characters as well as the lessons learned from it. And I am definitely looking forward to seeing what trouble they will all get into for the next book in this series. 

"The Academy of Beasts" by Becca Fanning

Fiona was rescued from a fire that killed her family. The rescuers believe that she is a shifter who simply hasn't experienced her first shift yet. If she is, it's news to her as she believed herself to be, like those who raised her, completely human. Now, she's in some mysterious academy full of various animal shifters and feeling completely lost. 

This was an interesting little short story that I picked up while it was free on Amazon, believing it to be a full book. (It turned out to be only 63 pages.) The story was interesting, but ended on a cliff hanger and far too soon. While I will admit to being curious as to what happens next, I probably won't continue on with the series as I expect that the other books are also far too short for me to feel they're worth the expense for me to buy them. (I finished this one in a couple of hours at most & was left feeling like there should have been much more.) 

The series has 40 books in it and it appears that each book is $3.99. If each of those books is also only about 63 pages, it's not worth it for me to want to buy the rest of this series, no matter how much I respect how hard the author may have worked on it. I'm happy to pay more for a full length novel, but not for something that feels more like a sample or a teaser to me. 

But I'll keep my eyes open in case the series ever goes on sale. The concept was interesting, though there were a few dropped words here & there. It just wasn't interesting enough for me to want to buy 39 more sets 63 pages for almost $4 each. As much as I love a good story, I'd rather buy a $10+ novel than a $4 short story.

"The Bride's Shame and her Miracle Baby" by Florence Linnington

On her way to the train station, Maribelle runs across an abandoned infant. She knows the man she is leaving town to meet and marry does not want any children, but there isn't time to take the baby to an orphanage without missing her train, and just leaving it would mean certain death for the poor thing.  So she does the only thing she can do & takes him with her, deciding to raise him as her own.

As expected, when seeing an unmarried young woman with a baby, most people assume the worst about her. Even her potential husband seems to believe her a liar at first. But he does need someone to help keep his homestead running, which means either hiring help or getting married, so Edward gives Maribelle a chance to prove herself useful before deciding whether to send her back east or not.

Like Ms. Linnington’s other books, there is a common theme running through this one as well…assumptions cause more problems than being honest with one another from the beginning, and if not resolved soon enough can ruin potential relationships as well as reputations or even lives.

I enjoyed reading this one. Maribelle is a strong character, and given what she both has been through & will face in this story, she needed to be. Anyone who enjoys mail order bride stories, historical fiction with a bit of romance, or any of Ms. Linnington's other books is sure to love this one as well.