Review: A Worthy Heart by Susan Anne Mason

A Worthy Heart Author - Susan Anne Mason Rating - 4.5 out of 5 Stars Would I Recommend: Yes

Back Cover...

Maggie Montgomery's long-held wish to see America is finally coming true. She'll visit her beloved brother Rylan and his wife, Colleen, and at the same time, escape Neill Fitzgerald's unwanted attention. In addition, Maggie has a secret! She plans to remain in America to seek her fortune and to hopefully find love. While visiting Irish Meadows, she meets an intriguing man whom she thinks is a stable hand. Only when Rylan demands she stay away from Adam O'Leary does she realize he's Colleen's brother, recently released from prison. Nonetheless, Maggie can't seem to make her heart conform to her brother's request.

Adam O'Leary has never felt worthy of his place in the family. Spending time in jail only reinforces his belief. Now that he's free, Adam hopes to make amends and earn back his family's trust. Falling in love with Maggie Montgomery, however, was never in his plans.

Despite everyone's effort to keep them apart, the two develop a bond nothing can break--but has Adam truly changed, or will the sins of his past prove too much for Maggie to overcome?

What I Loved...

I have become so accustomed to a focal love story and sometimes hints of another (for the next book), that having a second love story take up so much of a book was a real treat. A double header, two for one, two scoops of goodness...I could get used to that.

Of all the characters in this book (and there are lots) I loved Gabe (the lesser main hero) the most. A confident and flirty firefighter, he was not afraid to go after what he wants.

A Worthy Heart is full of emotion. I laughed and cried. I hardly ever cry for a book, but A Worthy Heart took me there.

What I Liked...

A Worthy Heart is packed full of a lot of plot points. I was never bored because something was always happening to someone or everyone. Mason did a great job making all that was taking place in the story flow easily and believably.

Protagonist Maggie was a real treat to read. She made me laugh and I was rooting for her throughout the book. Not just for her love story, but for her in general.

Other...

The book cover is beautiful. The cover model depicts the Maggie of my imagination.

While this is a stand-alone book, I often felt like I was missing something since I didn't read book one of the series. Although I have read second books in a series without having read the first, I didn't get that "missing info" feeling as much as I did with this one. To be clear, Mason did a great job supplying the main info needed, but it's the small details that make us fall in love with stories and I feel like I am missing that. So my advice is to definitely read book one (Irish Meadows) before reading A Worthy Heart.


Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley. The opinion of this book, is my own and I was not paid or compensated for my review.

Review: At Love's Bidding by Regina Jennings

At Love's Bidding Author - Regina Jennings Rating - 4 out of 5 Stars Would I Recommend: Yes

Back Cover...

After helping her grandfather at their Boston auction house, Miranda Wimplegate discovers she's accidentally sold a powerful family's prized portrait to an anonymous bidder. Desperate to appease the furious family, her grandfather tracks it to the Missouri Ozarks and makes an outlandish offer to buy the local auction house if they promise not to sell anything until he arrives.

Upon their arrival, however, they discover their new business doesn't deal in fine antiques, but in livestock. And its manager, ruggedly handsome Wyatt Ballentine, is frustrated to discover his fussy new bosses don't know a thing about the business he's single-handedly kept afloat. Faced with more cattle than they can count--but no mysterious painting--Miranda and Wyatt form an unlikely but charged partnership to try and salvage a bad situation getting worse.

What I Loved...

A mixture of romance, intrigue, and humor, At Love's Bidding has all the ingredients for what I love in a novel.

I've grown accustomed to characters going out west and falling in love and settling. Without giving away spoilers, I was excited how Jennings, turned the ending up a notch.

What I Liked...

Character, Wyatt Ballentie, is my kind of hero! More times than I can count I wanted to smack some sense into character, Miranda. Logically I couldn't blame the character for her choices, but when a character makes you want to toss caution to the wind...I know that he is my kind of hero!

The secondary characters were delightfully written and provided most of te humor.

Other...

The cover is absolutely adorable! I love it.

While the novel did have the ingredients I found I liked the book but not loved it. It is still worth a read. I enjoy Regina Jennings books and this one is no different. The book is part of a series, but is a standalone book and you need not read the others in order to read this one. But for those who have the other books in the series, the previous characters make appearances...I personally love that.



Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley. The opinion of this book, is my own and I was not paid or compensated for my review.

Review: Until the Dawn by Elizabeth Camden

Until The Dawn Author - Elizabeth Camden Rating - 3.5 out of 5 Stars Would I Recommend: Probably Not

Back Cover...

A volunteer for the newly established Weather Bureau, Sophie van Riijn needs access to the highest spot in her village to report the most accurate readings. Fascinated by Dierenpark, an abandoned mansion high atop a windswept cliff in the Hudson River Valley, Sophie knows no better option despite a lack of permission from the absent owners.

The first Vandermark to return to the area in sixty years, Quentin intends to put an end to the shadowy rumors about the property that has brought nothing but trouble upon his family. Ready to tear down the mansion, he is furious to discover a local woman has been trespassing on his land.

Instantly at odds, Quentin and Sophie find common ground when she is the only one who can reach his troubled son. There's a light within Sophie that Quentin has never known, and a small spark of the hope that left him years ago begins to grow. But when the secrets of Dierenpark and the Vandermark family history are no longer content to stay in the past, will tragedy triumph or can their tenuous hope prevail?

What I Loved...

I am always amazed how author Elizabeth Camden manages to give her heroines truly unique jobs and interests. Hobbies and positions that I would have never thought of. Heroine Sophie is no different as a volunteer weather analyst.

One of my favorite reasons for always reading Elizabeth Camden's books is her ability to add a spiritual connection to the plot without it being preachy or pushy. It flows so well. Until The Dawn was no exception.

What I Liked...

True to her previous novels, Camden offers a wide variety of characters that jump off the pages. Better yet, they bring you into the story and you feel like you know these people, so much so that it is hard to believe that have never once existed in reality.

Other...

I enjoyed both main characters Sophie and Quentin...separately. Together, they just didn't mesh well for me. Often times I found that story had no main purpose and dragged on. I think that is because I wasn't fond of Sophie and Quentin's love story. It lacked that something special that makes me root for characters even though in the end I know they end up together. I still want to root for them. I still want to feel the torment of their struggle and the giddiness of a knowing glance shared between a man and heroine. I just didn't get that with Until The Dawn.  The build up took way too long and the ending was rushed.

I love the cover as I usually do with Elizabeth Camden books.

I will continue to read her work as I have enjoyed all her others and hope this to be an isolated case. To be certain, I reread two of her previous books and fell right back in line with loving her work.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher through Netgalley. The opinion of this book is my own and I was not paid or compensated for my review.