Monday, July 27, 2015

Book Tour: The House at the End of the Street by Jennie Jones



 
On Tour with Prism Book Tours.

Fall in love in Swallow’s Fall with
The House at the End of the Street
by bestselling Australian romance author Jennie Jones!

Introduction and Exclusive Excerpt
By Author Jennie Jones

The House at the End of the Street follows the adventures of the heart for Gemma Munroe (blond, sporty, home-loving artist and would-be toy shop owner) and the love of her life – Josh Rutherford (tall, tanned, skilled with horses and carpentry and reticent to say where he’s been for the last ten years). Now he’s back for a week and sparks are flying. Josh owns the toy shop and Gem wants to buy it. But there’s more trouble at Gem’s back than she’d thought, and Josh can’t bring himself to leave town without knowing she’ll be safe.

The House at the End of the Street is book #5 in the bestselling Swallow’s Fall series. But each book in the series can be read alone and frequently are – Jennie’s had plenty of readers buy book #4 and then go back for books #1, #2 and #3. 

Jennie’s fictional town of Swallow’s Fall is set in a remote country area in the Australian Snowy Mountains and boasts 100 residents. Lots of them falling in love, some of them longing for dreams to come true, some of them scheming or creating mayhem with their matchmaking plans – but all of them leaving a mark on this small country town.

Jennie has a great rapport with her readers all over the world and recently asked them if they’d read a new series: Daughters of Swallow’s Fall – and the resounding answer was – Yes!

Read on for the excerpt...

“What do you know about Grandy’s place?" he asked.

Gem’s eyebrows shot up. "The lonely homestead?"

"Why d’you call it that?"

She shrugged. "It’s been empty since he died. Most people just call it the house at the end of the street. What’s it to you anyway?"

"This and that." 

Gem’s exasperation bubbled, overwhelming the original idea of coming out here to calmly persuade him to leave town. ‘This and that,’ she parroted. "Is that all you’ve got? Why don’t you want anyone to know what you’ve been doing?"

The way he bowed his head and studied the ground, his broad shoulders slumped in some kind of despair, caused Gem some remorse.

"Are you in trouble, Josh?" she asked in a whisper. Maybe that’s why he was so evasive. Maybe he’d made a big mistake in life. Maybe he’d been in prison. No, wait—he had a tan.

He smiled at her, the skin creasing around his eyes. A little more depth to the crinkles now, suggesting that he’d done a lot of smiling over the years. That he’d enjoyed himself.

"No. I’m not in trouble." He seemed to come out of his reverie. He lifted a hand and swept it through her hair, brushing it back from her forehead. "Not the way you’re thinking." 

Gem stilled. The gesture was one she remembered from their best-friend days of long ago, but there had been nothing more than friendship in it then—this touch spoke of everything undealt with and unsaid between them since their moment this afternoon.

The House at the End of the Street
(Swallows Fall, #5)
by Jennie Jones
Adult Contemporary Romance
Ebook
August 1st 2015 by Harlequin MIRA

Bestselling Australian author Jennie Jones takes us back to Swallow’s Fall for one more story: Gemma has a burning need to stay and make a home. All Josh has ever wanted is to get out. Now he has the chance, and all he needs to do is tie up a few loose ends…

Gemma Munroe loves hard, laughs hard and plays hard. Or at least she did before today. Her dream is finally within her grasp – owning the toy shop in Swallow’s Fall and establishing herself permanently. Only one person has the power to get in her way: Josh Rutherford – the love of her life who kissed her and left her ten years ago is coming home.

Josh will be in town for five days. Only five days. He’ll finally sever the ties to a youth filled with poverty by selling the properties that are now his. He’s returning healthy, wealthy and emotionally stable, and then he’ll leave forever. It’s all in the plan. Everything…except for Gem. He never forgot her, but he definitely forgot the effect she has on him. Now she’s got problems, and he can’t seem to leave without trying to help her solve them.

The town itself also has its own plans: Gemma and Josh are thrown together in Speed-Date fiascos, kissing experiments, bar fights and an issue with the North Star – Josh’s compass and the road to his next adventure. Seven weeks later Josh is still in town. Gem has to get through her best friends’ wedding and Josh has to get over Gem. Because he’s not staying. Is he?


Book Trailer


Other Books in the Series


Find at GoodreadsAmazon, and Barnes & Noble.


Bestselling author Jennie Jones loves writing rich, warm-hearted and refreshing stories of adventures of the heart. She’s a self-confessed would-be small town country girl and longs for the day when she and her family can set up home in a cute country cottage in the middle of a huge field. Until then, Jennie is enjoying life a five minute walk from the beach. She can hear the ocean as she types her stories.


Tour Giveaway

$10 Amazon Gift Card or PayPal Cash and a Kindle copy of The House at the End of the Street
Open internationally (as long as you can receive winnings)
Ends August 2nd

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Review: Until the Harvest by Sarah Loudin Thomas


Heidi Reads... Until the Harvest by Sarah Loudin Thomas

My rating: 4 stars / I really liked it

http://www.amazon.comhttp://amzn.to/1gaFAB2http://www.barnesandnoble.comhttp://www.goodreads.com

Synopsis

When a family tragedy derails Henry Phillips's college studies, he's left unmoored and feeling abandoned. Although Henry tries to find escape in bad company, the only things that can tamp down his anger and grief are the family farm, his fiddle, and sweet but unusual pre-teen Mayfair Hoffman.
Unfortunately, Mayfair's older sister, Margaret, with the freckles and cute, turned-up nose, has the opposite effect. Worse, she's his grandmother's housekeeper and helper, so she's always around and ready to push his buttons. At first he thinks she doesn't care about his loss, before beginning to understand she's facing her own struggles. Mayfair's health and unique gift sit at the heart of those worries, and Henry and Margaret soon find themselves relying on each other as both Henry's future and Mayfair's life are put at risk.


My Review

I enjoyed revisiting characters from the first book in this series (Miracle in a Dry Season), but I have to say, Casewell's son Henry is so clueless! He allows his grief and the varying emotions that accompany it derail him from his planned future, and he comes to regret his poor choices- some he's actually embarrassed about, and others he just considers a close call. I felt like his grandmother and mother, Emily and Perla, as I shook my head over him. Margaret is a little lost as well, but since she's the most responsible caretaker of her little sister, she focuses on hard work and serving others as she discovers God's will for her life. There are also themes similar to the ones found in Miracle in a Dry Season such as the sweetness and love of a child transforming a hard and bitter man, grief over the loss of loved ones, uncertainty over one's future, and hesitancy at the opportunity for love.

(Thank you to Bethany House Publishing for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review)

Review: Miracle in a Dry Season by Sarah Loudin Thomas


 Heidi Reads... Miracle in a Dry Season by Sarah Loudin Thomas

My rating: 4 stars / I really liked it

http://www.amazon.comhttp://amzn.to/1RYNn5Mhttp://www.barnesandnoble.comhttp://www.goodreads.com

Synopsis

It's 1954 and Perla Long's arrival in the sleepy town of Wise, West Virginia, was supposed to go unnoticed. She just wants a quiet, safe place for her and her daughter, Sadie, where the mistakes of her past can stay hidden. But then drought comes to Wise, and Perla is pulled into the turmoil of a town desperately in need of a miracle.

Casewell Phillips has resigned himself to life as a bachelor...until he meets Perla. She's everything he's sought in a woman, but he can't get past the sense that she's hiding something. As the drought worsens, Perla's unique gift divides the town in two, bringing both gratitude and condemnation, and placing the pair in the middle of a storm of anger and forgiveness, fear and faith.


My Review

Deep and thoughtful writing depicts a simpler time, but with timeless conflicts faced by the community and the individuals in it. There is a heavy focus on themes of judging and the need for forgiveness- of others and self. Casewell has a genuine heart that is seeking for truth as his perceptions shift and he allows his heart to open. Perla is bravely trying to start over and provide for her daughter. There is a sense of desperation that increases with the drought and the division of loyalties, but in the situations where Christ-like love is given and shared, peace prevails until the miracle everyone is praying for comes to pass. A somewhat leisurely pace throughout the whole book, but the insights and reflections call for it.

(Thank you to Bethany House Publishing for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review)

E-book sale: 99 cents each for the Hope For the Holidays historical and contemporary novella collections


(Be sure to check the price since e-book sales are for a limited time)
 Hope for the Holidays: Historical Collection
Only 99 cents for the e-book Hope for the Holidays: Historical Collection by Mary Connealy,  Ruth Logan Herne, Myra Johnson, and Julie Lessman. I really enjoyed this novella collection and rated it 4 stars!
http://www.amazon.comhttp://www.goodreads.com

Synopsis

"Sophie’s Other Daughter" by Mary Connealy
Laura McClellen is just answering a call for her big sister, Doctor Beth, at the Reeve's home. Ike Reeves shows up for a surprise Christmas visit, exhausted and filthy. Ike claims the right to escort Laura home and outlaws after Ike turn a simple ride into a fight for their lives.

"A Town Called Christmas" by Ruth Logan Herne
When gruff English pioneer Edward Stillwell offers a former prostitute a job, he gets more than he bargained for: a wagon train more! With winter rolling in, can Sylvie’s faith, hope and optimism be just what the guilt-laden Idaho rancher needs to love Christmas—and people-- again?

"Designs on Love" by Myra Johnson
Ranch foreman Jacob Collins has had designs on Vera Mae Beasley since their schooldays. When the pretty seamstress returns home to settle her late family's affairs, Jacob hopes his Christmas surprise will win her heart and convince her to stay.

"A Whisper of Hope" by Julie Lessman
With a husband dead set against adoption, Charity O’Connor Dennehy has barely a whisper of hope for more children, but if hope doesn’t disappoint … will it be enough to find a precious bundle under her tree?


Hope for the Holidays: Contemporary Collection

Only 99 cents for the e-book Hope for the Holidays: Contemporary Collection by Mary Connealy, Audra Harders, Ruth Logan Herne, Sandra Leesmith, Tina Radcliffe, and Missy Tippens. I really enjoyed this novella collection and rated it 4 stars!

http://www.amazon.comhttp://www.goodreads.com

Synopsis

"Hope for Christmas" by Mary Connealy
Kelsey is alone, lost, pregnant, stuck in a blizzard and surrounded by wolves.
And then things get worse. Tanner Harden finds her but with trouble coming and a baby at risk, can they stay alive long enough to fall in love?

“Her Christmas Cowboy” by Audra Harders
Can a single mother looking for forgiveness, and a reclusive cowboy convinced he’s beyond redemption, find hope and love in a simple Christmas pageant?

"Longing for a Miracle" by Ruth Logan Herne
Christmas dimmed when an automobile accident claimed Tasha Sorkos’s little girl… could saving Rafe Karralis’s sick daughter bring the light of faith, hope and love back into her eyes?

"A Heart Full of Hope" by Sandra Leesmith
Elena Delgado loves her father’s new business partner, Stephen Edwards. As they work together to find funding for the project that will bring jobs and hope to their small community in time for Christmas, will Stephen notice her? Or is he still in love with the fiancĂ©e who left him?

“I’ll be Home for Christmas” by Tina Radcliffe
Dr. Matthew Christopher doesn't believe in happily ever after. Can wedding planner Patience McCord melt the heart of the last bachelor in time for Christmas?

"One Perfect Gift" by Missy Tippens
In this sweet Cinderella story with a country music twist, a homeless single mother with a secret may get more than she expected for Christmas, including hope, love and home, sweet home.