A Flood Of Disappointment

Disappointment rained on my family with the force of the thunderstorm battering our house. Sounds like an intriguing first line for a manuscript, doesn’t it? Unfortunately this time it’s all too true.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a church home, been nearly as long since we’ve found one that we truly liked, but last week, we tried a new one. I very much enjoyed the sermon, liked what I saw of the leaders and the music team. We left last week planning to give the church a chance. With the passing of the last seven days our anticipation grew and I found myself looking forward to returning.

I also found myself fighting my own feelings. You see, this church is a cowboy church. Nothing wrong there. It’s one of the reasons we tried it. Okay, it’s the main reason we tried it. But temptation was staring me in the face with every hour that brought me closer to today. The church is having a bull bash this afternoon. They’re going to ride bulls and well…rodeo.

Cute Little Cowboy

I like rodeos. I really do. I want to go. Only I don’t want my children getting involved with rodeo. For sure, I don’t want them riding bulls. And if I take them to such a thing…I’m encouraging it.

So for a week I’ve sat on a teeter totter, leaning one way, then another. Go. Don’t go. For me, I want to go. For them I want to stay far away. I finally settled on going to church and making the decision there, fully expecting to stay.

Then this morning arrived. Overcast and dreary. The question of the day: will they cancel the bull bash? But no worries, we’re still going to church. Never mind that there’s a river pouring over my house or that thunder is crashing loud enough to rattle the windows. That’s what windshield wipers are for. Who cares about wet feet?

Actually, I do. But that’s a whole different plot line.

 Then illness struck. A hypoglycemia attack that landed me with a sick child and washed all our plans away.

Is this how my heroine’s feel when I wipe away what they’ve been looking forward to? Is it how my hero feels when I kill off his herd of cattle with some catastrophe? At least we all know that all of their troubles will work out in the end. After all, who ever heard of a happily ever after that didn’t?

And just as all that works out in my manuscripts, I am sure, this too will end on a happy note. It just may not be the one I wanted.

Book Review- The Accidental Bride by Denise Hunter

 Book Review: The Accidental Bride

Author: Denise Hunter

What can I say? I fell in love with this book almost from the start. I say almost because the first chapter kind of eased into the story, only slightly catching my attention, but chapter two brings the hero and heroine together. Reunites them after fourteen years apart. Her in a wedding dress just as she had been the last time they saw each other. Only this time she’s not wearing it for him. From that moment on, sparks fly between them. Shay can’t stand Travis, or so she tries to convince herself. Travis loves her. He wants another chance, will take her back under any terms, at any cost. When a reenactment wedding where they play the happy couple lands them in a real marriage, Travis grabs his chance, offering Shay the only hope she has to save her ranch. All she has to do is give their marriage a shot.

When I pick up a book to read it must meet two requirements. 1) It must be Christian and 2) it must be romance. I have a third requirement that holds true for 99 out of 100 books. It must be set in the mid to late 1800’s. This book met two out of three of those requirements. The plot line sucked me in and made me buy it even though it’s modern. It set on my to-read-someday stack for months, until that stack got down to slim pickin’s.

I only wish I’d read it as soon as I bought it.

I finished this book in less than a day and have already reread my favorite scenes several times. This is a book I will be reading again and again.

And again.

 

Book Rating: Loved it

A high honor from me for any book, more so for this one because it’s modern.

Young Reader Rating: Very adult

Has adult themes and situations woven throughout most of the book.

Hero On The Chip Isle

There he was. Tall, dark, and handsome. Wearing wranglers and cowboy boots. A real live hero standing right before my eyes. In a flash my mind started spinning tales. I imagined him wearing a tin star, riding a black stallion, stopping a stampede, fording a raging river.

Anything.

It didn’t matter what he was doing, because he was a hero. And when a hero comes to life it makes no difference if he’s saving women and children or taming the west.

Larger than life, this man stood before my eyes waiting for me to figure out what his story was and place him a world where he is…man. And I must move him from where I found him to where he needs to be because you don’t find heroes standing at the end of the chip aisle in your local health food store.

“Howdy, Ma’am. Let me rescue this bag of chips.” Just doesn’t get it. Neither does, “Can I carry that gallon of organic milk for you?”

I spoke not a word to my hero as I mentally transported him to the wild west. I added a black Stetson to his dark hair, a pair of spurs to his boots, placed him on a dusty street surrounded by outlaws and women in long flowing dresses. And then I left him.

To his chips.

The last I saw of my hero, he was standing there debating flavors. And I never once saw him tip his hat to a passing lady.

Book Review of The Proper Wife by Winnie Griggs

Book Review: The Proper Wife (Love Inspired Historical)

Author: Winnie Griggs

This was a slow moving story that left me frustrated with the hero most of the way through the book. Eli Reynolds and Sadie Lassiter find themselves forced into marriage after they are stuck in an abandoned cabin during a storm. Sadie reluctantly agrees to the marriage and finds herself with a husband that doesn’t seem to approve of her in any way. Eli is willing, almost eager, to marry Sadie, planning all the while to train and cultivate her into the perfect society wife. As the couple learns to be a family they discover their love for each other.

Rating: Good

Young Reader Rating: Adult

I rated this book as adult level for several conversations that discuss adult relationships and for both the hero’s and heroine’s thoughts on marital life.

Book Review of The Rancher's Courtship by Laurie Kingery

Book Review: The Rancher’s Courtship (Love Inspired Historical)

Author: Laurie Kingery

This was an enjoyable read about a woman mourning the death of her fiancé when her almost brother in law, a cattle rancher, comes to town. Caroline has given up on the idea of marriage and family; dedicating her life to the children she teaches but finds herself drawn to her former fiancé’s brother, Jack Collier. When he decides to leave his twin daughters in her care while he waits out the winter on an abandoned ranch outside town, Caroline finds herself falling in love.

My rating: Good

Young Reader Rating: 14

I hesitantly rated this book at age 14 even though I wanted to rate it at 13. Although there are no adult situations in the book, and only a few brief mentions of kissing, the heroine has three men vying for her attentions and she allows the preachers son to court her even though she is in love with another man. The rest of the story would be fine for younger readers but that situation made me hesitate to recommend it for readers 14+. I would still caution parents if their teens are impressionable.

 

Book Review of Wildflower Bride by Mary Connealy

Book Review: Wildflower Bride (Montana Marriages book 3)

Author: Mary Connealy

I have a hard time reviewing this book because like all of Mary’s books it is full of charm, humor, old west, cowboys, and men that are…men. But this book, although very good, created a problem for me. Maybe if I had bought each book in this series (Montana Marriages) separately I would have liked it better, but reading them one after the other, this one came too close to Montana Rose for me to be able to truly enjoy it. Wade Sawyer may be a good hero, but Mary turned him into a bad guy in Montana Rose, a situation I couldn’t forgive him for. It took me a lot longer to read this book then it normally takes me and I never did like the characters. I wanted very much to like this book, but although a good story and full of Mary’s customary charm, I just couldn’t like it.

Rating: Good- but I’m giving it a low good. Maybe someday I will try rereading it without having first read the other two in this series. It is well worth reading and I still want to like it but…Wade is not a character I could like.

Young Reader Rating: Very adult

Book Review of The Husband Tree by Mary Connealy

Book Review: The Husband Tree (Montana Marriages book 2)

Author: Mary Connealy

The second book in the series, Montana Marriages, this one is my favorite. And one of my all time favorites out of all the books I’ve read. What does a woman in the mountains of Montana do in the 1800’s where women are scarce and she finds herself being fought over by every man within a hundred miles. She marries. Then marries again. And again… Well, you get the idea. Belle Tanner doesn’t like men. They’re no good, lying, lazy, and necessary. Or so she believed until her third husband turns up dead, then she vows never to marry again. But she never counted on having to push a herd of longhorns over steep mountain passes in late fall, nor did she count on a cowboy, running from a shotgun wedding, stealing her heart. And proving that all men aren’t lazy. I loved this book and have found myself setting aside new books to reread this one. Time and again.

Rating- Loved it

Young Reader Rating: Very adult

This book speaks of adult relationships and doesn’t always portray them in a good light.

Book Review of Montana Rose by Mary Connealy

Book Review: Montana Rose (Montana Marriages book 1)

            Author: Mary Connealy

This book is a gentle yet moving story of an abused woman forced to marry again on the day she buries her husband. Cassie has always done what is expected of her and wants only to please her new husband. Red is not a bossy man given to telling women what to do. As they face the challenges of like they come to appreciate and love each other. I very much enjoyed reading this book. I bought it in a three in one trilogy book called Montana Marriages that has all three books in this series in one volume. I must admit I am a bit biased as Mary Connealy is one of my favorite authors. For Mary, this book is a bit on the tame side, but it has all the things her fans expect. Namely, the wild west, cowboys, and humor.

Rating: Very Good

Young Reader Rating: Very adult

This book openly speaks of adult relationships

Book Review System

            I thought I would take a moment to explain the way I review books. As a mother, I have found myself wishing many times that I had written down my thoughts on a book I read, whether it’s one of the books I read for my own pleasure or something I have read to my children. Over the years I have read so many books that I even lose sight of what some of the seldom read picture books are about. So I started keeping track of my own books for future reference for those times that a young reader outgrows the teen chapter books and asks to borrow a book from my personal, and rather extensive, library.

            I know the rules about never writing in books (this rule doesn’t apply to autographs by the author), but by trial and error, I discovered the best way to keep a book review with the book is to write it on the front cover. So if someone picks up one of my books, opens the cover and sees: 4/14-CR-Good-14. It means I read the book April of 2014, it was good and by my standards it is appropriate for anyone aged 14 or over. Sometimes I’ll add a few comments like if it was my favorite book by a certain author or if it’s the first in a series and books one and two are appropriate for young readers but book three is not.

            This method has been working well for me as it means I can quickly see at a glance what book may or may not be okay for a young reader asking to borrow a book. It also means I can let that reader look through my books and choose for themselves what they want to read, so long as they understand how the books are rated.

            Now that I am doing book reviews on my blog, I will be keeping the same system but giving a bit more detail so my readers will understand why I chose a certain young reader level for that book. To make things easy for my readers here’s a quick look at my young reader rating scale.

13- Means it is okay for readers age 13 and up. The book is either about teen or adult situations but they are kept to a minimum and come through as just the way life is.

14- Okay for readers age 14 and up. The book has some situations that are adult level, encounters with outlaws, shootouts, violence, but it is kept to a minimum.

Low adult- has adult relationship situations but very little and nothing too detailed

Adult- has adult relationships that go into some detail

Very adult- had adult relationships that are (in my opinion) best kept out of the hands of young readers.

As I write these book reviews, I will also be writing a short review of each book. Now as a writer I find I have a hard time saying a book is bad. After all, somewhere out there is an author that has fallen in love with the characters and spent countless hours writing that story. And my review of that book is nothing but my opinion. What I think is bad, someone else may love. So I refuse to say a book is bad. I will comment on what I felt as I read the book and give it a rating similar to the way I rate them for young readers. Here’s a look at my rating system.

Did not enjoy- this is rating I will reserve for the handful of books that I only make it through the first few chapters. This could happen for a number of reasons but will usually be one of the following. 1) Set in a time period I do not enjoy, 2) poor writing, 3) story line that is too graphic for my tastes. Books with this rating will not become permanent residents on my book shelf.

Fair- Means I read the book, but did not truly enjoy it. Most books with this rating will not be kept.

Good, but not likely to read again- exactly what it says.

Good- most of the books I read will get this rating. It means I enjoyed it and will be keeping it. This rating covers everything from the barely enjoyed to just under the very good level.

Very Good- means I very much enjoyed the book, will be keeping it and will reread it.

Loved it- this rating is reserved for the handful of books that touched me emotionally. There’s a good chance if a book has this rating it made me laugh, cry, or both.

            I hope this will help anyone reading my reviews to understand why I gave a book a certain rating and what each rating means.

Book Review of Blessing by Deborah Bedford

Book Review: Blessing (Love Inspired Historical)

Author: Deborah Bedford

 

This story is intriguing for the way the heroine spends all but the very last of the book disguised as a boy in a mining camp. When she single handedly takes down a man intending to kill the town sheriff she becomes something of a hero, and accidently reveals her identity to the murderer. Aaron Brown uses his knowledge of Uley Kirkland’s identity to blackmail her into helping him. As Aaron’s trial keeps getting postponed the two find themselves thrown together through a variety of circumstances. Falling in love is the easy part for this couple. The hard part is keeping their feelings secret, and facing Aaron’s sentence to hang will test their newfound feelings.

Rating: Good

Young Reader Rating: Adult

I gave this book a rating of adult because of graphic kissing.

Counting the Days

           

            Twenty three. Two words that don’t seem like a lot when looked at from just about any angle. It’s the number at the bottom section of a calendar that marks the final days in a month. And it’s the number of days I must wait for the first round of the ACFW Genesis contest to be over.

            When I first heard about that contest back in November I determined to enter one manuscript. I put the first words on that blank sheet of digital paper after Thanksgiving and pushed hard to meet my first deadline in the writing world. There were times I had doubts I would make it. I pored over that story like nothing I’ve ever written before.

            I reworked it. I rewrote whole scenes. I agonized over the best way to write what I wanted to say and how to bring my characters to life. I shortened scenes as much as I could to get what I wanted to say in while giving myself the maximum impact in those allotted fifteen pages.

            Five weeks later I wrote my final word. Several rereads and two critiques later…it was done. With miniature outlaws setting off dynamite in my belly I filled out that form, attached my manuscript and hit the submit button.

            But I still had time and I had an opening line pounding at my head, just begging my fingers to put it on a digital paper. So I did. One line. A single sentence. I thought it was brilliant. My family smiled when I told them what it was. It was intriguing.

            I took that single sentence and added a second, then a third. With no idea of what the story line was or who my characters were I created another manuscript. My hero came to life before my eyes, as did my heroine. They took shape, developed personality, likes, dislikes, backstory. A few weeks later I completed that story and repeated the entry process.

            For two months, I wrote, never expecting to complete another story before the contest ended. On March 15, slots were closed. The deadline was over. And I had seven manuscripts entered.

            Now it’s April and I have twenty three days until they announce the semifinalists in the contest. I’ll be honest; I didn’t enter this contest to win. At the time I started writing that first manuscript for entry my sole purpose was to receive feedback. It is still my main purpose. Getting those comments from the judges is still my goal. But I have to admit the closer we come to the end of the first round the more fuses those outlaws light in my belly.

            And I count the days until I can find out just how heroic my heroes were. Did they fight the battle and gain me a favorable comment? Did they go beyond that and earn me a spot in the next round? Or did they give up in the first round?

            Whatever they accomplish, I am proud of them. Because they are my heroes. They fought the battle and made it into the running. For me, it is enough. Mostly.

            For all of you that are counting days with me. I wish you the best of luck. May we all learn from this experience and come through it as better writers.

Influences

            “My outlaws are bad outlaws.” Says the small boy in my care.

            I cringed and searched for a way to redirect him. “Outlaws have to be nice.”

            “No, they don’t. They’re going to steal the gold.” He informed me in his little boy logic.

            “We don’t steal.” I tried once more to make him see things my way. “Make your outlaws play nice.”

            “They’ll be nice until the bank gets here, then they’re going to rob it.”

            I tried again to redirect him. Robbing banks is not something to be encouraged. Lucky for me, my sister was there and stepped in to help.

            “Crystal, that’s the way you play.” She pointed out with a smirk firmly in place.

            I fought the urge to scream. Yes, I play outlaws and bank robbers. I’ve instigated a few hangings, and created more than a few shootouts. But that’s me. And I do it all with words. On the computer. I don’t have little plastic men with bandannas and Winchesters, nor do I have plastic women wearing Colts strapped low on their hips.

            I gave in gracefully.

            After all, how can I argue with their logic when they’re right? I do all those things and more. My outlaws are bad. They are mean. They shoot and pillage and… Well, they do all the things outlaws are supposed to do. And they do it while wearing guns.

            And my heroes?

            Have always been cowboys. Now they wear Colt Peacemakers low on both hips and they carry Winchester rifles and they shoot and sometimes kill to save the woman they love. Because…they are heroes.

            And they are mine.

Law of the Land

In the Old West, the law was: Don’t steal a man’s horse, his land, his cattle, or his woman. Do any of those things and get hung.

            In a house with more than one author living in it, the same rule can apply with a little tweaking. I’m sure everyone out there that writes has had those moments where you see, hear, read, or experience something and think ‘Oh, I’ve got to put that in a book’. Unfortunately, in my household, those intriguing, explosive, or just plain brilliant lines and events have to be shared.

            This is not always easy. Sometimes we see the same thing at the same time and shout, ‘I claim it’, only to look over at the other and realize they claimed it too. Or maybe one of us discovers a gem of a scene idea before the other, and it doesn’t seem quite fair for the other, who didn’t even have a chance to claim it. Sometimes one of us thinks something is incredible and the other thinks ‘ugh’. Compromise is key. The person who’s the most enamored with the idea in question gets it.

            However…when we both want it equally badly…the writing law is: If someone else had it first, they get to keep it. Or…Don’t steal an author’s line, their character, their scene idea, or their book title. Now we all know that if one of us does happen to snitch the others, there won’t be a noose waiting for us. But, if we respect one another’s claim, there’s a lot less strife.

Is Progress Really Better?

Someone please send me a rub board and a wash tub like my heroines use. My washing machine was murdered.

 It is sitting there.

Dead.

Gone. No more. And worse…I believe a roving band of outlaws may have tried to use it to wash their laundry because the thing is full of water that is starting to smell. Bad.

            What brilliant person decided we need a metal box full of complicated pieces that relies on some kind of motor and electricity to wash our clothes? A rub board never gets cantankerous and a wash tub need only be turned over to do away with the soiled water.

            But I suppose I must look on the bright side. That metal box allows me to do in a matter of minutes what it took my heroines hours to accomplish. And when I can cut my work to minutes instead of hours I get more time to play in my alternate world and visit with those characters I love so much.

Book Review- Blowing on Dandelions by Miralee Ferrell

I finished reading Miralee Ferrell’s Blowing on Dandelions last night. As with most of the books I read this sweet story takes place in the American west during the 1800’s. This is a moving tale about a widow and widower that are first brought together during their search for their teenage children, who just happen to be a boy and a girl, and are together without their parent’s permission. As the book progresses the couple are thrown together despite their lack of interest in remarriage. The heroine’s mother moves in with her and stresses life for everyone in the story. I found myself frustrated with the heroine’s mother for her snippy attitude and with the heroine for her lack of gumption to tackle the problem in the way most people would have. I also found myself yearning for longer scenes and more interaction between the hero and heroine. In the end everything worked out and the couple found their happily ever after.

 

            My personal rating for this book: Good but not likely to make my reread list

            Young reader approval: age 14

I rated this book at age 14 because it alludes to adult relationships- although in a very informative and gentle way- and because the 13 year old daughter thinks of running away several times.

Secrets of a Characters Heart

Yesterday was a complete disappointment in my alternate world. I only hit just over 4,000 words in my newest manuscript. To some, that may seem like a lot, but for me I don’t consider the day a success unless I hit at least 5,000 words. I’m having a hard time getting into this story. Not because it’s a bad story or because I don’t like my characters, I do.

            It’s just that the characters in my last manuscript stole my heart and they haven’t released it yet. Such are the problems of a writer.

            The characters in this new manuscript will do the same. I’m sure. But giving up my beloved Elias and Lorelei has been hard. Katie, my new heroine, is going to break my heart too. Her story is heartrending. And I only know a small part of it so far. She’s keeping the things that happened to her close to her heart and only sharing them with me a small bit at a time.

            Today promises to be another day of few words and snippets of secrets that will in time bring me closer to my heroine. But first I must leave my characters on their own while I venture into the real world for groceries.

            I am certain that trip will be a disappointment as I rush to accomplish my task’s so I can return to my characters and my true home in the time of outlaws, stagecoaches, long dresses, and men wearing holsters.

            But for now…

            I’m off to visit the small town of Sparrow, Texas where my hero sits at the heroine’s bedside nursing her through a horror that has left her fearful and battered.

About Me

I wrote my first manuscript more than fifteen years ago, a contemporary romance that never saw the light of day. In the years since I finished that manuscript, it was eaten by a dinosaur computer and disappeared from my life. But not before earning me a rejection letter from a publisher. I remember little but the first names of my characters and the basic plot line.

            I moved onto other things. Marriage. Children. And the joys and sorrows that accompanied both. I never thought to write another manuscript. That brief foray into the writing world was put behind me and kept as a treasured memory that I examined from time to time. Then, last June my oldest daughter talked me into writing a book. How she managed that feat, I’ll never figure out, but one day I gave in to her begging and sat down to the computer intent on writing a few lines to appease her.

            Five weeks later my daughter and I finished that first story. That was nine months and ten manuscripts ago. In that time my daughter and I have learned things we never imagined. We’ve written manuscripts together and on our own. And I have discovered I only live in the present in body. In mind, I am firmly planted in the 1800’s.

But more than that, I discovered something about myself I never knew in those first short weeks of writing. I not only love to read, but I adore writing. When I sit at the computer with a blank word document in front of me, something magical happens. There’s a connection between my imagination and my fingertips that somehow transfers that blank sheet of digital paper into a story with people and places that I had no idea were living inside my head.

            But that makes me sound like a raving lunatic, so maybe I shouldn’t admit that.

            At least I haven’t resorted to having quilting bees with my heroines or joining my heroes on cattle drives. Wait! I went on a cattle drive in my last manuscript. It was great fun. I got to lasso my hero and… No, that wasn’t me. That privilege went to my heroine. All she let me do was put her story on that no longer blank sheet of digital paper.

            Then she broke my heart. Or maybe my hero did. Can you believe they actually fell in love and made me end their story after only 97,000 words? Now I’m forced to let them lead their lives without me while I move on to other people I didn’t know were living in my head.