Today is Tuesday which means it’s Emily’s usual day to post a review. Unfortunately Emily doesn’t have a book to review. Why? Because the holidays have sucked the life out of me and I am slowly trying to reclaim it. So I apologize for the lack of book review today. Instead here is a list of books I am going to review in the future.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read a contemporary and I am eager to get back into them.
Star Bright by Catherine Anderson – She’s fleeing from an abusive husband and finds refuge on a horse ranch. He’s determined to save her from her past and love her in the future … but can she trust him and herself enough to have the life she deserves?
A Coventry Wedding by Becky Cochrane – a bride running away? I’m hooked. Running to the middle of Texas? Hello, I’m buying. Throw in a dog and a chocolate festival and I say we got ourselves a winner ladies. Let’s hope this book delivers because I am really excited about this one.
And now, back to the historical …
To Seduce a Texan by Georgina Gentry – Set during the Civil War an outlaw kidnaps a banker’s stepdaughter. I wasn’t really convinced until I read the opening chapter compliments of Amazon.
Give Me a Texan by Jodi Thomas, Linda L. Broday, Dewanna Pace, and Phyliss Miranda – Thomas is the draw for me on this anthology of the American West but with three other potential must-read authors, I couldn’t pass this one up.
So, that’s what I have coming up in the future. You may have noticed I read mostly Westerns and Regencies but I am open to contemps too. If you have a book out there you’d like me to review, just drop me a line at elbecher@gmail.com. Until then, happy reading!
For me, the official start of Fall is October 1. Before that date, I still hold on to summer with a white-knuckled grip and persist in wearing flip-flops to the grocery store or driving down the road barefooted. But with the coming of October 1, I give into the red leaves and settle down to enjoy long-sleeved t-shirts and blue jeans (still hate socks though). Bon fires, apple cider (with rum in it of course!), pumpkins, football and looking forward to the first night we can light a bundle of logs in the fireplace. Unfortunately for those of us in Central Illinois, fall only lasts a few weeks and soon enough snow starts to fly. But until then, I can imagine myself in some fictional New England town and take delight in the creepy sensation that the really wild-haired woman down the street MIGHT be a witch. Or perhaps I am the witch. This year I haven’t decided yet.
The second half of Quinn's Wyndham Duke pairings, this book promises to be even better than the first (a hard thing to accomplish, let me assure you). Thomas Cavendish has spent his whole life in preparation of becoming the next Duke of Wyndham. Amelia Willoughby, daughter of a viscount, has spent her entire life preparing to become Thomas' wife (an arrangement made at her birth). But now Thomas has come to the hard conclusion that someone else is, in fact, the duke and Amelia herself, in love with Thomas, has decided she can wait no longer. 
Can I do much more than that? This Muggle cannot wait!"... tales reveals a lesson befitting children and parents alike: the strength gained with a trusted friendship, the redemptive power of love, and the true magic that exists in the hearts of all of us. Rowling's new introduction also comments on the personal lessons she has taken from the Tales, noting that the characters in Beedle's collection "take their fates into their own hands, rather than taking a prolonged nap or waiting for someone to return a lost shoe," and "that magic causes as much trouble as it cures."
But the true jewel of this new edition is the enlightening and comprehensive commentary (including extensive footnotes!) by Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who brings his unique wizard's-eye perspective to the collection. Discovered "among the many papers which Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives," the venerable wizard's ruminations on the Tales allow today's readers to place them in the context of 16th century Muggle society, even allowing that "Beedle was somewhat out of step with his times in preaching a message of brotherly love for Muggles" during the era of witch hunts that would eventually drive the wizarding community into self-imposed exile. In fact, versions of the same stories told in wizarding households would shock many for their uncharitable treatment of their Muggle characters."
Hmmm ... I realize now I have a lot of Christmas anthologies to go through. This is not a problem. This is a good thing. Except ... as it gets closer and closer to Christmas I seem to have less and less time. THEN there's the little thing I run into when I am suppose to be wrapping presents and find myself picking up these little babies instead. Once I even wrapped a book I was reading without noticing. I only realized the next day when I went hunting for it. 
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