Avery and Prince Colin have a past. Could a Royal Wedding Ensue?

Posted on by March 5, 2017
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Deb’s Dozen: Avery and Prince Colin have a past. Will a Royal Wedding ensue?

Weddings have been the focus of Rachel Hauck’s The Royal Wedding Series, and I have loved every single book she has written on the topic. A Royal Christmas Wedding is no exception. Avery Truitt is a washed-up, former volleyball player whose career ended with a rotator cuff injury. She works with her mom at the Rib Shack, her family’s business, but her heart isn’t into the work since her dad died. The place just isn’t the same without him.

However, even with her losses, Avery has joy in anticipating the upcoming birth of her sister Susanna’s baby. Susanna invites Avery back to the Kingdom of Brighton for the Christmas season and to help her prepare for the new prince or princess. Avery is at first doubtful because she knows she’ll run into her old suitor, Prince Colin, whom she’s not seen for five years.

In the meantime, Colin has been learning to be a royal, with duties and obligations surrounding his every moment. However, during one of the interminable balls of the season, after he’s seen Avery and realizes he still loves her and she him, he also realizes he’s entangled with Lady Jordan. He and his buddy, Guy, decide to escape to the Pembroke Tower where legend declares if the bells ring on this night, a prince will be married on Christmas Day. To their astonishment, the bells ring! What now?

The balance of the story involves God’s providence, the machinations of a couple of reporters, and the very real love of two people meant to be together. But the means to the end is complicated with lots of twists and turns. You’ll adore this final novella in The Royal Wedding Series. Four stars.

Rachel Hauck is “the New York Times, Wall Street A Royal WeddingJournal, and USA Today bestselling author of The Wedding Dress, which was also named Inspirational Novel of the Year by Romantic Times.” The Wedding Dress was also a RITA finalist. Rachel lives in Florida with her husband and two pets.

Zondervan gave me a copy of A Royal Christmas Wedding, but I was in no way obligated to write a favorable review.

Conspiracy of Silence Could Mean the End of the World

Posted on by March 5, 2017
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Deb’s Dozen: A Conspiracy of Silence Could Mean the End of the Known Civilization

Ronie Kendig’s Conspiracy of Silence presents an interesting thesis: what would happen if an ancient curse were unleashed on the modern world? The second book in The Tox Files, Conspiracy of Silence brings back our hero from the first book, Tox Russell. His actions have estranged him from his team, his family, and his country. He has been in exile and left alone.

But now his country needs him back. A strange plague has broken out in the Mideast and the President (Tox’s brother) wants him back in action to find and eliminate the threat. When a team is sent to retrieve Tox, he eludes them and then shows up in his brother’s office–easily eluding the security systems in place to protect the President.

Tox is able to reunite his team and they are off to the Middleast along with an FBI deception expert, Kasey Cortes, and an archeologist, Tzivia Khalon, the sister of one of the members of the team. They travel the globe searching for answers but are blocked near the location of the outbreak. Why? What has caused the plague? Why do these people want to keep the source a secret?

Tox Russell is a complex character but very believable. Kendig has the knack of creating heroes who are flawed but endearing. The romantic interests are believable but restrained. The secondary characters are fleshed out and each are unique personalities. In the Tox Files, Ronie has created a modern-day speculative series of intrigue and mystery.

Ronie Kendig is a prolific author with several awards to her Conspiracy of Silencecredit. As an army brat, Kendig has drawn most of her series from her experiences with various branches of the military. You will enjoy any of her books you read, especially my favorite, her series about service dogs, A Breed Apart.

Bethany House gave me a copy of Conspiracy of Silence, but I was in no way obligated to write a favorable review.

Wounded Woman Meets Gallant Cowboy–Mystery and Romance Flourish

Posted on by March 4, 2017
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Deb’s Dozen: Wounded Woman Rides onto Donovan Ranch. Amnesia. Only Memory? Trust No One.

Matt Donovan is surveying his ranch when he sees a stranger on a horse riding toward him. Whistling the horse to him, he is started to see the rider is a woman, gravely wounded. Summoning help, never once considering not coming to her aid, Matt starts a trail that will lead from the ranch to Glenpark, Colorado, and its sheriff to murder and a family.

They call her Cristeen, a name they find in a letter stuffed in a book in her saddlebags. She is delirious for days, but the doctor says she’ll live even though she’s lost a lot of blood. But how was she wounded and where does she come from? When she rouses a bit, and Matt introduces himself, her first question is, “Do you know who I am?”

As she mends, one thing Matt figures out quickly is that Cristeen is fiercely independent and has a great facility for working with horses. As she heals, he comes to care for her more deeply. In the meantime, the sheriff in Glenpark is investigating a death at a campsite not too far from town. Are they related—Cristeen’s wounds and the man’s death. What caused this situation? Who is Cristeen?

This is a delightful western romance with lovable characters and situations fraught with danger and doubt. I enjoyed Cristeen and Matt’s story–you will too. 4 Stars.

Tammy Doherty lives in New England on a small farm and her day job is that of a customer service representative for a veterinary supply company. She dreams of continuing her writing and bringing glory to her Lord.

The author gave me a copy of Celtic Cross, and I also purchased the Kindle version in 2015, but I was in no way obligated to write a favorable review.