Twice a Bride, Mona Hodgson

From the Publisher: Packed with heart and faith, Twice a Bride will thrill and inspire historical romance readers who love to lose themselves in the untamed beauty of nineteenth-century Colorado.Willow Peterson is at a crossroads. Standing alone over her father's fresh grave, she ponders the question she's seen etched on everyone else's face. Will this loss send her over the edge too, as her husband's death did? She has come back once from the devastating effects of loss, started fresh in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and might find her second chance at love working as a portrait artist for photographer Trenton Van Der Veer. With help of the spirited Sinclair Sisters, can Willow embrace God's plan to overcome her past and provide a home for her?
From Pebblekeeper: I’m not sure that my review is quite fair – taken from the fact that I jumped into Book 4 without reading 1-3. I didn’t see that fact when I choose it.  One of the selling points for the book is that this story can stand alone, but I am not sure I agree.
The first parts of the story feels like being invited to dinner with a friend.  You arrive at the diner thinking that you will be able to really have a cozy chat, but find out that they invited 15 family members and a few townspeople with them.  You get the feeling that the food is going to be amazing, and you will have a bit of time with your friend, but you have to spend a few minutes getting to know the history of each person at the very large table.
On the plus side, I feel like I learned enough that I’d like to go back and read books 1-3, but if this wasn’t a review book, I don’t think I would have read it straight through without starting with book one.
I did enjoy Willow’s journey. I have read a few books about the first women photographers, so this was an interesting take on a woman portrait painter. I would call this story a historical romance, but not necessarily a Historical Fiction.  I don’t quite believe that these characters would have existed in that time. I like the historical fiction that makes me feel as if I’m looking through a journal of a woman who wrote daily entries. Really seeing how her life played out, and how she lived day by day.  I am finding within my own reading preference, that I no longer enjoy books where the whole starting and ending points are in discovering a single man in town and then marrying him. Isn’t there romance and life and leisure and adventure outside of flirting?
So, like I said above, I thought I’d be walking along side this Female Portrait Painter, but her whole family showed up and mostly, we hug out at a soda fountain eating pecan fudge and flirting on dates. You pretty much know from the first chapter where it is going – but I DID enjoy the ride.

Publication History: Trade Paperback Original

• Twice a Bride (paper original): A Novel by Mona Hodgson
• On Sale Date: October 2, 2012
• 9780307730329, 0307730328
• $13.99/$16.99 Can.
• Paperback / softback / Trade paperback (US)
• Fiction / Romance
• Paperback Original

• Autho
• More Info
• Read Chapter One
• Author Bio

 "I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review."

Wrapped in Rain, Charles Martin, Book Review

"Life is a battle, but you can't fight it with your fists. You got to fight it with your heart."

An internationally famous photographer, Tucker has traveled the world and seen both the serious and the strange. But when his brother escapes from a mental hospital and an old girlfriend appears with her son and a black eye, he is forced to return home and face the agony of his own tragic past. Back in rural Alabama, Tucker comes to terms with the ghosts he left behind. Miss Ella Rain once loved Tuck and his brother like they were her very own. Hiring her to take care of Waverly Hall and to keep them out of sight was the only good thing their father ever did. And though Miss Ella has been gone for many years, Tuck can still hear her voice. And she keeps telling him, encouraging him, that by reaching out to this young boy he can redeem his father's tarnished legacy and pass on the good she brought into his life.

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A very different writing style. Gripping. Descriptive. Starts at a run right in the middle. So much so – that I couldn’t keep up. We’d be neck deep in a place, a person,  - and then flip. Even in the diving in of a beginning – he was slow to pull out the full story. I was intrigued but almost put the book down. He made me want to know. I wanted to meet Miss Ella Rain. I wanted to protect Mutt and Tuck. I wanted to swoop up the little girl and dress her in wings. He captured my heart with this one. With a husband that suffered child abuse – without reason – I was drawn in. Oh if everyone had a Miss Ella.  My hubby did. He had a Mimi.  If you need a book that will capture your attention, and demand to be read- one that you are a passenger – without knowing where it will go – you won’t know or see any romantic theme – you won’t know what Mutt will do – you won’t know where Tuck’s heart will go – you’ll just ride. I definitely want to check out the other titles by Charles Martin – I am grateful to his amazingly clear writing voice!

I received an free download to my iPod to read in exchange for mentioning the book on my blog and writing a review on a book publisher site. I am allowed to give my free truthful opinion.

A Vision of Lucy

 

As a female photographer, I really enjoyed reading this tale of a young female working to get her photographs in print, working as a professional taking the photographs of the local townsmen. Sprinkled throughout the book are quotes of Miss Gertrude Hasslebrink, 1878 from The Trials and Travails of a Woman Photographer. These captivating quotes led the storyline for each chapter set in 1882 in Rocky Creek, Texas.  Her opening scene captures ones attention as she dangles from a tree to capture the perfect shot – which launches the storyline that will capture your interest until the last page.  I loved the newspaper’s defense – Pictures are not for newspapers, they are a lazy mans way of reading.  If you are passionate about photography, in need of a cozy afternoon’s read, this book should make you happy in deed!

From the Publisher -

Book Description

Trouble may follow Lucy wherever she goes, but with the help of God and the rugged, reclusive David Wolf, she'll never face adversity alone.

Lucy Fairbanks dreams of working as a photographer at the Rocky Creek newspaper. If she can earn money making photographs, then maybe her father will see that what she does is worthy, more than just a distraction. And her deepest hope is that he’ll see her as an artist, the way he thought of her deceased mother, a painter. But trouble follows Lucy on every photo shoot: a mess of petticoats and ribbons, an accidental shooting, even a fire.

When Lucy meets David Wolf, a quiet, rustic man who lives on the outskirts of town, she thinks she can catch the attention of the town with his photograph. She doesn't count on her feelings stirring whenever she's near him.

Two things happen next that forever change the course of her life: Lucy meets someone who sees her as no one else has—as the compassionate, creative young woman that God made in His image. And Lucy helps David uncover a secret that forces him to change his perspective on an event that left him deeply-scarred.

God’s arms are around this unlikely couple as they discover the truth about long-held assumptions and the importance of forgiveness.

 

I was given, for free,  A Vision of Lucy, a Rocky Creek Romance by Margaret Brownley in the expectation that I write a review on my blog and an internet site like Amazon.com.  I will always give my honest opinion of the book and only submit /request books that I think my readers will enjoy.