Wednesday, December 13, 2023
Rocky Mountain Promise by Misty M. Beller
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Settlers & Toffs by Caryl McAdoo
Second in a series where the wagon train settlers moved on to their new destinies with new struggles as another wagon train moves across the country towards them. Each has opportunities to make a new prosperous life. Entertaining read, very well written. Intertwined ups and downs, dangers and attractions, kids trying to grow up.
I received this book free from the author, publisher and CelebrateLit book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
#Settlers&Toffs #CarylMcAdoo #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #CelebrateLit #HistoricalRomance #FiveStarNovel
About the Book
Book: Settlers & Toffs
Author: Caryl McAdoo
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: August 23, 2023
New and old collide in SETTLERS & TOFFS as Ambrose Lee and Blaire build a hotel and a new life together with a remnant from the wagon train he captained in ’49. Settling in Auburn, California, they deal with the gold rush boom town’s growing pangs while the next Earl of Farnsworth, William Cromwell, voyages home to England with his intended Clara and her family. Though separated by a country and an ocean, troubles and trials plague them all. Revisit old friends from Book One WAGONS WEST and meet new ones in this second novel of the New Beginnings Family Saga! This story has been previously published on Kindle Vella with the same title as episodes for Season Two. Season Three, ANSWERING THE CALL episodes are now available at Kindle Vella now.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Award-winning author Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and her best-selling tales—coming up on seventy titles now published—delight readers all around the world. The prolific writer also enjoys singing the new songs the Lord gives her; you may listen to those at her YouTube channel.
She loves working in the yard at The Peaceable, her home tucked away on twenty acres, mowing and planting flowers. She lives there with Ron, her high school sweetheart and husband of fifty-five years, five dogs, two dairy goats she milks daily, a flock of chickens, and a plethora of barn cats.
The couple shares four children and twenty-seven grandsugars, six are greats. Caryl and Ron love their quiet, country life in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas and wait expectantly for God to open the next door so they may do His will.
More from Caryl
I started writing “episodes” for Kindle Vella the first month they opened the new format with WAGONS WEST, season one in the New Beginnings Family Saga Season One. For those who don’t read at Kindle Vella, after the ”season” has been up thirty days, the author can create a book!
The episodes become chapters and WAGONS WEST debuted last November 2022! The SETTLERS & TOFFS story is “Season Two” and I’m tickled pink with it! Book One in the series was an epic wagon train story that ended when they got to the gold fields around Auburn California.
In Book Two, the characters spread out across the globe, and we follow them all. Some of those who arrived in covered wagons began to build the pioneer town of Auburn, making a new home for themselves. Some panning for gold and others building hotels and businesses the miners need.
Some travel to merry old England where one of the wagon train sojourners has been called home after his older brother’s death to be the future Earl of Farnsworth. Having fallen in love, he couldn’t bear to leave Clara behind, so arranges for her family to accompany him. So many of the main characters sail away cross the seas.
The third storyline in SETTLERS & TOFFS becomes another wagon train when the scout in book one decides with his wife to go and bring another group of settlers to the new land—a very lucrative business venture for the captains who knew the way.
There are plenty of characters who come in and out as the story progresses. I’ve come to love the primary ones. There are struggles at every turn. Trials and tribulations fill many of their days, but there are those joyous ones as well!
Through it all, the Lord—still on the throne and in control in 1850—helps His children overcome and blesses them beyond measure . . . just as He does today. He is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek him and obey His commandments—then and now.
My author’s motto is “Praying my story gives God glory!” I also pray that its readers will be drawn into a closer walk with the Almighty as they walk alongside these awesome, stalwart folks who settled the West! They had it rough, but God . . . PRAISE HIM!
They sure do! And so do I!
BLESSINGS!
Blog Stops
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 4
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 5
Texas Book-aholic, November 6
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 7
Adventures of a Travelers Wife, November 8 (Author Interview)
Books You Can Feel Good About, November 9
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, November 10
Beauty in the Binding, November 11 (Author Interview)
The Lit Lady, November 11
For Him and My Family, November 12
For the Love of Literature, November 13 (Author Inteview)
Exploring the Written Word, November 13
Holly’s Book Corner, November 14
Cover Lover Book Review, November 15
Pause for Tales, November 16
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Caryl is giving away the prize of a $50 Amazon gift card and signed copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/28b2c/settlers-toffs-celebration-tour-giveaway
Thursday, February 6, 2020
An Uncommon Woman by Laura Franz
Buckhannon River, Western Virginia Spring 1770 Amazing story of frontier life with the presence of Indians around the settlers. Native Americans who didn't want them there. Tessa and her family have a ferry business not far from Fort Tygart. Just her mother and five brothers. The detail of this story is written as though the author was there. I was fully engaged from the beginning and I swear I held my breath through the entire second half of the book.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
#AnUncommonWoman #NetGalley
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Monday, February 19, 2018
The Mayflower Bride Daughters of the Mayflower (book 1) by Kimberley Woodhouse
Travel to America with the first residents!
What a pleasure to be able to read the first in this new series. My husband and I have been tracing our ancestry back as far as we can. In each instance, we would love to have a journal or something that belonged to our people so that we can understand their journey and know more about how they lived. Stories like this are so helpful to us. The author did a LOT of research before writing this story. I still find it fascinating how an author takes facts, creates new characters to illustrate, and fills in an individual’s day to day thoughts and actions to tell the tales. Kimberly is another great author who brings history and the people to life.
The two main characters of the book had their trip on the Mayflower decided for them. They both grew in strength and learned how to live in faith. And found each other to share their troubles, individual thoughts and fears.
I bookmarked two of the passages, the first a quote from scripture, that go to the heart of this story:
“. . . Count it exceeding joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth forth patience. And let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing. “
And
“…but it wasn’t until I found salvation through Jesus Christ and my new faith that I was able to let go of the past.”
All of the passengers on the Mayflower (and that of other immigrants after) went through exceedingly hard times. It’s a wonder that any from this voyage made it at all, or that others still kept coming afterward. Timing is everything, and theirs was not good yet it's God who directs all of our lives, and uses many of us in one way or another to help and shape the lives of others.
Mary Elizabeth is carried along on the journey by her father and her best friend. They are very enthusiastic about the opportunity, but she would rather stay where they are in Holland. Yet the Separatist community they lived in felt that this was getting to be as bad as what they had left in England, so it was decided to emigrate.
William was orphaned as a baby and given to relatives to raise, who used him as a slave then kicked him out at 9 years of age. He lived on his own, working as he could to live, until a man found him, took him in and taught him the trade of being a carpenter. His mentor purchased a share on the Mayflower and a place in developing the new colony in America – so his path was set for him. A good and honest person, he had developed an excellent reputation – but because he was an orphan he would never have a social standing if he stayed in England. However, that early life had shaped him too, and fed his fears. He knew something was missing in his life, and found it when he sailed to America with the Separatists.
This is an excellent read that makes you wish you could learn even more about this time and the people who lived through it. I highly recommend it!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the Bethany House Publishers - Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Description from the Publisher
A brand new series for fans of all things related to history, romance, adventure, faith, and family trees.
Mary Elizabeth Chapman boards the Speedwell in 1620 as a Separatist seeking a better life in the New World. William Lytton embarks on the Mayflower as a carpenter looking for opportunities to succeed—and he may have found one when a man from the Virginia Company offers William a hefty sum to keep a stealth eye on company interests in the new colony. The season is far too late for good sailing and storms rage, but reaching land is no better as food is scarce and the people are weak. Will Mary Elizabeth survive to face the spring planting and unknown natives? Will William be branded a traitor and expelled?
Join the adventure as the Daughters of the Mayflower series begins with The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse.
More to come in the Daughters of the Mayflower series:
The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1620 Atlantic Ocean (February 2018)
The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1725 New Orleans (April 2018)
The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep – set 1760 during the French and Indian War (June 2018)
The Patriot Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1774 Philadelphia (August 2018)?
The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear – set 1794 on the Wilderness Road (October 2018)
The Liberty Bride by MaryLu Tyndall – set 1814 Baltimore (December 2018)
Friday, August 18, 2017
The Return by Suzanne Woods Fisher
If you like Historical Fiction, you will enjoy this. Set in Pennsylvania near Philadelphia and Lancaster in 1763, it’s the third in a series about Amish settlers who emigrated from Germany. There is turmoil in the area after a group of Indians massacres northernmost settler and children are kidnapped. A daughter, Betsy, who is betrothed to Hans from Stoney Ridge Amish church, taken as a “tribute” replacement for one in their village who had been killed. She is treated well after she arrives at the village and is befriended by Caleb, who is the son of a Mennonite girl who had been kidnapped years back and was taken as a Shawnee bride. He can speak her language and takes time to help her acclimate. Even though Betsy doesn’t forget her home and people, she learns to endure the hardships and becomes close to the female leaders of the tribe, and Caleb. Tessa, the Preacher’s daughter, has always loved Hans and was very jealous of Betsy. The tragedy becomes a good thing for her since Hans draws close and proposes marriage. That is until Caleb brings Betsy back.
This story is woven with jealousy, prejudice, racism and selfishness, also kindness, forgiveness, tolerance and strength of faith and spirit. Colonial settlers mostly left their country because of great difficulties, only to arrive in America and face some of the same as well as new challenges. Different ways of life, and the settlers’ greed for the land that was set aside for the Indians by treaty strongly influenced this time. This is about one part of that history and peaceful immigrants who are making a great contribution (like the Conestoga wagon) yet are torn apart by violence from within and without.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher from the Baker Publishing Group, Bethany - Netgalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
From the Publisher:
Beautiful and winsome, Betsy Zook never questioned her family's rigid expectations, nor those of devoted Hans, but then she never had to. Not until the night when she's taken captive in a surprise Indian raid. During her captivity, Betsy faces brutality and hardship, but also unexpected kindness. She draws strength from native Caleb, who encourages her to find God in all circumstances. She finds herself torn between her pious upbringing and the intense new feelings this compelling man awakens within her.
Handsome and complex, Hans is greatly anguished by Betsy's captivity and turns to Tessa Bauer for comfort. Eagerly, Tessa responds, overlooking troubling signs of Hans's hunger for revenge. When Betsy is finally restored to the Amish, have things gone too far between Hans and Tessa?
Inspired by true events, this deeply layered novel gives a glimpse into the tumultuous days of prerevolutionary Pennsylvania through the eyes of two young, determined, and faith-filled women.
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