Ann Shorey's Blog

AN AMISH CHRISTMAS KITCHEN, by Leslie Gould, Jan Drexler, Kate Lloyd

The three delightful novellas in this collection are must-reads for lovers of Amish fiction--or of fiction in general. Each plot is different, but they all offer the warmth of kitchens and Christmas baking.
    Leslie Gould's story focuses on misunderstandings, loss, and friendship.
    Jan Drexler has created a delectable story about a shy Amish girl who believes all she has to offer is her skill at baking.
    Kate Lloyd shares a tale about an "Englischer" woman who goes to Lancaster County seeking answers to questions about her life.
    I loved each of these novellas, and can't pick a favorite. As a bonus, at the end of each novella you'll find a Christmas recipe.
    I recommend this book for holiday reading and holiday gifting! The readers in your life will thank you.

My thanks to Bethany House and the authors for my review copy.

THE KING'S MERCY, by Lori Benton

The King's Mercy grips the reader from the first scene, and doesn't let go until the conclusion of the book. Alex MacKinnon is a Scot whose punishment for participating in the failed Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 is indenture to a plantation owner in the colony of North Carolina. The loss of his former life and the slavery surrounding him in the colony render his days unbearable.
    The only glimmer of brightness is the presence of the plantation owner's daughter, Joanna Carey. Joanna fights against the burden of being a slave holder's daughter, as well as dreading her expected wedding to the plantation's overseer, a man for whom she has no love.
    The King's Mercy takes the reader through both geographic and emotional twists and turns. At the same time, life in the colonies in the mid-1700's is expressed in such a way as to render the period and the obstacles therein completely authentic. I can't remember at what point I forgot I was reading fiction and started thinking of the characters as actual people. I found myself worrying about their lives even when I wasn't absorbed in the novel.
    Lori Benton is a masterful author, one of the best I've read. All of her novels are guaranteed to leave you remembering the story and the characters long after you finish the book. The King's Mercy may be one of her best. I highly recommend this novel!
   
My thanks to the author and Waterbook for my review copy.

A FAITHFUL GATHERING, by Leslie Gould Leisel Bachmann...

 A FAITHFUL GATHERING, by Leslie Gould

    Leisel Bachmann has her life all planned. She's completed her nurse's training with only the state boards still waiting for her. She and her English boyfriend, Nick, are dreaming of a happy future together.
    Then, in seemingly no time at all, the pieces of Leisel's plans lay scattered at her feet. If anything can possibly go wrong, it will. Her confidence is shattered, as are her dreams with Nick. As she struggles to get her bearings and make new plans, her aunt shares with her the story of Leisel's grandfather's experiences during World War II. At first Leisel is interested only in the account as a story, then she begins to see what her aunt is trying to tell her about the choices she faces.
    A Faithful Gathering is a fascinating novel. I enjoyed both the contemporary sections and the World War II story. Medical details and military history added an enlightening layer to Leisel's life.
    Leslie Gould is a wonderful writer. I felt I was right there with the characters' aspirations and struggles. I highly recommend this book!
    A Faithful Gathering is Book Three in the Sisters of Lancaster County series, but it isn't necessary to have read the earlier two books--although I recommend A Plain Leaving and A Simple Singing as well.    My thanks to the author and Bethany House for my review copy.

A FAITHFUL GATHERING, by Leslie Gould &n...

 A FAITHFUL GATHERING, by Leslie Gould

    Leisel Bachmann has her life all planned. She's completed her nurse's training with only the state boards still waiting for her. She and her English boyfriend, Nick, are dreaming of a happy future together.
    Then, in seemingly no time at all, the pieces of Leisel's plans lay scattered at her feet. If anything can possibly go wrong, it will. Her confidence is shattered, as are her dreams with Nick. As she struggles to get her bearings and make new plans, her aunt shares with her the story of Leisel's grandfather's experiences during World War II. At first Leisel is interested only in the account as a story, then she begins to see what her aunt is trying to tell her about the choices she faces.
    A Faithful Gathering is a fascinating novel. I enjoyed both the contemporary sections and the World War II story. Medical details and military history added an enlightening layer to Leisel's life.
    Leslie Gould is a wonderful writer. I felt I was right there with the characters' aspirations and struggles. I highly recommend this book!
    A Faithful Gathering is Book Three in the Sisters of Lancaster County series, but it isn't necessary to have read the earlier two books--although I recommend A Plain Leaving and A Simple Singing as well.    My thanks to the author and Bethany House for my review copy.

A BORROWED DREAM, by Amanda Cabot

Grace Whitfield is the schoolmarm in Cimarron Creek, Texas. She's grieving the loss of her mother due to the town's inept physician, although the youngsters she teaches bring joy to her aching heart. When Austin Goddard, a handsome outsider, buys ranch property in the area and brings his young daughter to the school, Grace senses a man hiding a secret.            Grace and her mother had planned a trip to Paris and now Grace grieves the loss of that dream as well. However, the idea is never far from her thoughts or her dreams.            A Borrowed Dream contains a cast of fully developed characters, from her friend who owns a candy store, to an abusive parent of one of the children in the school.             I really enjoyed this book! With themes of secrets held, big-city gangsters, and a returning prodigal, A Borrowed Dreamkept me reading in every spare moment.             Cabot tells her stories with her heart on every page. Although this is the second book in a series, the storyline kept me informed at each turn of the plot. A map and a genealogical chart at the front of the book also helps readers to track the action.            My thanks to the author and Baker Publishing Group for my review copy.

KATHLEEN Y'BARBO TALKS ABOUT MAKING MISTAKES

As we continue to celebrate the release month of The Mail-Order Brides Collection, I'm happy to welcome Kathleen Y'Barbo to my blog. The title of her contribution to the Collection is "The Mail-Order Mistake."


    Have you heard the joke about the guy who thought he made a mistake? Well, turns out he was wrong.
    We laugh at that joke, but the truth of it is sobering. We've all made mistakes, whether we acknowledge that fact or not. Maybe you put your trust in the wrong person.  Or perhaps you made a choice that you were certain would fix all your problems only to have the situation end in disaster.
    What then? Do you wonder where God was and how He allowed that to happen? To those of us who believe He controls everything, such a mistake can cause us to ask hard questions of Him.
    When May Conrad moved in with her kindly neighbor after fire destroyed her home, she certainly didn't expect to be thrown into the center of a Pinkerton investigation and be considered a prime suspect in a string of mail fraud crimes involving mail-order brides. After all, she felt God was taking care of her, but was He? May certainly doesn't think so when an infuriating Pinkerton detective insists her next choice is between helping him capture that kindly neighbor or be tossed into jail.
    Can you think of a time when you were forced into a situation where none of the options were good? Maybe you had an idea of what your life was going to be like, and then God came in and did something totally different.  Something unexpected. Something uncomfortable. I know I've been there. And while you're in the middle of that something unexpected and uncomfortable, you might be wondering where God is and why He's allowing this to happen. You may even wonder if God has turned away and forgotten about you.
    Good news! He hasn't forgotten. In fact, He is absolutely and certainly using this unexpected and uncomfortable thing. What's He using it for? Sometimes looking back that answer is obvious. Other times there may never be an answer this side of heaven as to why He has allowed something into your life.
    Through it all, there is one thing that never changes and is always true: God never makes mistakes. He's never wrong. And he never leaves you when you do. If you get nothing else from "The Mail Order Mistake," please do not miss that.
    I know May didn't. I hope you won't.


Here's a teaser:
1855, Texas
Pinkerton detective Jeremiah Bingham is investigating a mail-order bride scam bankrupting potential grooms. When unsuspecting orphan May Conrad answers his false ad, she becomes the prime suspect in the case.

Bestselling author Kathleen Y'Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee with than ninety novels, novellas, and nonfiction books to her credit, and over two million copies of these books in print in the US and abroad. A tenth-generation Texan and certified paralegal, she is the winner of the Inspirational Romance of the Year by Romantic Times magazine and a number of Reader's Choice awards as well as a nominee for an RT Career Achievement Award. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Novelists Inc. Kathleen loves interacting with her fans and with book clubs. To connect with her through social media or send her an email, check out the links on her website at www.kathleenybarbo.com.  And don't miss signing up for her newsletter so you’ll be the first to know about new books. She's got five coming out in 2017!

NOELLE MARCHAND'S "THE OUTLAW'S INCONVENIENT BRIDE"

Noelle Marchand is visiting me today as we continue celebrating the February release of The Mail-Order Brides Collection. Noelle will be sharing how she decided on the secondary characters in her novella, "The Outlaw's Inconvenient Bride."


Imagine the sound of a single cello playing a melody--deep, rich, vibrant. Now, imagine two violins and a viola joining in. Suddenly, what was once simple becomes complex with each instrument bringing out a new quality in the others. This is exactly what secondary characters do for main characters.  I always try to create well-rounded characters to interact with hero and heroine.
However, in writing "The Outlaw's Inconvenient Bride," I gained a better understanding of the importance of secondary characters within a novel. Never before had I tasked these characters with so much responsibility. With a huge portion of the story taking place in an outlaw gang's secluded hideout, the six outlaws who lived there needed to provide external conflict, help set the tone of the story, and make the time period seem believable.
It was also paramount, due to the short nature of a novella, that these characters be immediately distinct from each other. I ensured this by researching accounts of real outlaws who lived during the old west. Inspired, my imagination went into overdrive. I created six characters complete with a list of their past crimes, endowed with a weapon of choice, unique character traits, motives for mayhem, and outlaw monikers. Meet all six members of the Renegade gang in "The Outlaw's Inconvenient Bride."

Here's a hint of the plot: After a gang of outlaws uses a mail-order bride advertisement to trick an innocent woman into servitude, an undercover lawman must claim the bride--even if it puts his mission in jeopardy.

http://www.noellemarchand.com/books

Noelle Marchand is an award-winning author and a proud Texas native. She enjoys spending time with family, dancing, and going on daytrips.

LIZ TOLSMA'S "A FAIRY-TALE BRIDE"

Liz Tolsma is visiting my blog today to share her inspiration for writing "A Fairy-Tale Bride," which appears in The Mail-Order Brides Collection. The Collection released this month and is filled with great stories--each one highlighting a different woman's reason for choosing to be
a mail-order bride.



Here's Liz's story behind the story: "A Fairy-Tale Bride," is set just after the Civil War in the make-believe town of Cuento, Texas. Nora, the main character, is a Southern war widow who has lost her husband, her home, and her land. She is impoverished and has no means to support herself. The only respectable option she has is to become
a mail-order bride.

As I researched the story I wanted to write for this collection, I found it was very common for war widows, especially those from the South, to enter into such marriages of convenience. Most of them had lost everything during the conflict. Some of the surviving Confederate soldiers left the Southeast to begin new lives in the cotton fields of Texas. This air of familiarity helped with their transition back into civilian life.
The Texas cotton industry boomed around this time. With their former homes and crops razed and slaves gone, many men turned to Texas as a place to start fresh. The land was fertile, crops were good, and they were able to tap into the now-freed slaves as a work force familiar with growing cotton. Texas quickly became one of the leading producers of cotton in the nation. With the new plantation owners thriving, it was natural for the Southern war widows to go to Texas to enter into new marriages and to start new families.
While I considered not having the sharecroppers appear in the story because of the oftentimes unsavory aspects of the institution, in the end, I decided to show them because sharecropping was a way of life in the South after the war. The hero and his friend would not have been able to sustain their large plantations without this means of getting workers. Neither of the characters is unkind to the sharecroppers, and I don't dwell on it because the characters wouldn't have. It was part of daily life.
As I researched this book, I learned so much about what life was like for some Southerners following the Civil War. When you read it, I hope you learn a little something too.

Here's a link to order the book from Amazon.  https://tinyurl.com/yctnsgwb

The Mail-Order Brides Collection is also available from Barnes & Noble and Christian Book Distributors, as well as your local bookstore.

Liz Tolsma is a popular speaker and an editor and the owner of the Write Direction Editing. An almost-native Wisconsinite, she resides in a quiet corner of the state with her husband and their two daughters. Her son proudly serves as a U.S. Marine. They adopted all of their children internationally, and one has special needs. When she gets a few spare minutes, she enjoys reading, relaxing on the front porch, walking, working in the large perennial garden, and camping with her family.
 

THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE BRIGAND AND THE BRIDE

  To celebrate the release of The Mail-Order Brides Collection this month, Jennifer Uhlarik is visiting my blog to tell us how she brainstormed the idea for her novella, "The Brigand and the Bride."


 


Hi all!
Jennifer Uhlarik here. I'm so excited to share with you the story behind the story on "The Brigand and The Bride," my selection from The Mail-Order Brides Collection. So . . .where did the idea for this story come from? As I pondered the idea of a mail-order bride story, I knew it needed to be different than a previous mail-order bride story I'd done. ("Wedded to Honor" from The Convenient Bride Collection). I began thinking of different scenarios and quickly struck on the idea of a woman marrying a stranger to escape her outlaw family. Probably not the most original of ideas--but then, every story's been told a million times already. It's the fun twists you add that makes a story unique. So as I pondered the heroine that was taking shape in my mind, I saw a scene begin to unfold.
The heroine hurries through town, anxious about being caught by her brother. Rather than heading straight to the church, she stops in the seamstress' shop to pick up a suit for her mail-order groom--something they'd pre-arranged through their letters. Suit in hand, she goes to the church, lays out the clothes and grooming supplies for him, then waits in the sanctuary. A bit later, the hero rushes in, shaves and cuts his hair, dons the suit, and steps out of the room, where the pastor's wife shoves him down the aisle, scolding him for his lateness.
The scene played so vividly in my mind's eye that I knew I had to write it and find out how the rest turned out. From the couple's first awkward face-to-face meeting to the "quickie" wedding that ensues, I was giggling and grinning ear-to-ear. I sure hope you'll read "The Brigand and The Bride" to find out why!
"The Brigand and the Bride," by Jennifer Uhlarik
1876, Arizona 
Jolie Hilliard weds a stranger to flee her outlaw family but discovers her groom is an escaped prisoner. Will she ever find happiness on the right side of the law?
Purchase from your local bookseller or online at:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mail-Order-Brides-Collection-Historical-Marriage/dp/1683224442/ref=pd_ybh_a_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WT6X9D0B6ETRDGH42MHS
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mail-order-brides-collection-megan-besing/1126627885?ean=9781683224440#/
Books-A-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Mail-Order-Brides-Collection/Megan-Besing/9781683224440?id=6797742722867#ReviewHeader
Christian Book Distributors: https://www.christianbook.com/brides-collection-historical-stories-marriage-precedes/megan-besing/9781683224440/pd/224442?product_redirect=1&Ntt=224442&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP
Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only "horse" book she found on her older brother's bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L'Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won and finaled in numerous writing competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite--a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, college-aged son, and four fur children.

LIES CHARACTERS BELIEVE

To celebrate the release month of The Mail-Order Brides Collection, it's my pleasure to welcome Megan Besing to my blog. Megan has agreed to share with us the story behind the story of her novella, "Perfect for the Preacher," which is one of nine novellas in the collection.


 Perfect for the Preacher, by Megan Besing
1897, Indiana
Fresh from seminary, Amos Lowry believes marriage will prove to his skeptical congregation that he's mature. If only his mail-order bride wasn't an ex-saloon girl, and worse, pregnant.



As we all know, lies are a part of everyday life--and every good book. Whether it's one we tell ourselves for years or one someone else makes up, lies consume our time. In my story, "Perfect for the Preacher," lies, gossip, and assumptions nearly become main characters themselves.
Despite his age, Pastor Amos Lowry believes he's the man to fill the pulpit at Hilltop Chapel. He's certain he's qualified and longs to be hired. Wouldn't a congregation with such generosity be a preacher's ideal church? At least that's what he tells himself.
Those on the council assume Pastor Lowry is too young and immature, and they believe marriage for Amos could be the answer to all their problems. Except no one asked for a mail-order bride with a sketchy past to apply as Amos's wife. After all, won't an ex-saloon girl ruin Hilltop Chapel's reputation?
Sophie Ross was told she could be a pastor's wife. Except when gossip mixes with the dreadful experiences from her past, Sophie fights the doubt in her head. If a man of God can't love and accept her, what kind of future does that leave?
Behind every deception, whether in real life or story form, is the truth waiting to save the day and set us free. I hope you discover and enjoy the truths buried in the lies of Amos and Sophie's happily-ever-after. What starts off as an unlikely match might just become a marriage built on unconditional love and a ministry for a renewed congregation. Lies may win a battle, but like the characters of "Perfect for the Preacher," let's not allow evil to claim victory of our lives.



Purchase from your local bookseller or online at:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mail-Order-Bri...

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...

Books---Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Mail-O...

Christian Book Distributors: https://www.christianbook.com/brides-...


Megan Besing adores reading, writing, and reviewing stories with happily-ever-afters. Her own writings have received many awards, including being a multi-category finalist in ACFW's Genesis and a winner of MCRW's Melody of Love contest. Her debut "Perfect for the Preacher" released February 1, 2018, in Barbour's The Mail-Order Brides Novella Collection.
She lives in Indiana with her husband and their children where she dreams of the beach and drinks way too many Vanilla Cokes. Connect with Megan on Facebook and at www.meganbesing.com.