Wednesday, May 22, 2013

CFBA Tour: Follow the Heart by Kaye Dacus

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Follow the Heart
B&H Books (May 1, 2013)
by
Kaye Dacus


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Humor, Hope, and Happily Ever Afters! Kaye Dacus is the author of humorous, hope-filled contemporary and historical romances with Barbour Publishing, Harvest House Publishers, and B&H Publishing. She holds a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, is a former Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers, and currently serves as President of Middle Tennessee Christian Writers. Kaye lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is a full-time academic advisor and part-time college composition instructor for Bethel University.

Kaye Dacus (KAY DAY-cuss) is an author and educator who has been writing fiction for more than twenty years. A former Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kaye enjoys being an active ACFW member and the fellowship and community of hundreds of other writers from across the country and around the world that she finds there. She currently serves as President of Middle Tennessee Christian Writers, which she co-founded in 2003 with three other writers. Each month, she teaches a two-hour workshop on an aspect of the craft of writing at the MTCW monthly meeting. Kaye lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is an academic advisor and English Composition instructor for Bethel University.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Set during the Industrial Revolution and the Great Exhibition of 1851, Follow the Heart is a “sitting-room romance” with the feel of a Regency-era novel but the fashions and technological advances of the mid-Victorian age.

Kate and Christopher Dearing’s lives turn upside down when their father loses everything in a railroad land speculation. The siblings are shipped off to their mother’s brother in England with one edict: marry money.

At twenty-seven years old, Kate has the stigma of being passed over by eligible men many times—and that was before she had no dowry. Christopher would like nothing better than to make his own way in the world; and with a law degree and expertise in the burgeoning railroad industry, he was primed to do just that—in America.

Though their uncle tries to ensure Kate and Christopher find matrimonial prospects only among the highest echelon of British society, their attentions stray to a gardener and a governess.

While Christopher has options that would enable him to lay his affections where he chooses, he cannot let the burden of their family’s finances crush his sister. Trying to push her feelings for the handsome—but not wealthy— gardener aside, Kate’s prospects brighten when a wealthy viscount shows interest in her. But is marrying for the financial security of her family the right thing to do, when her heart is telling her she’s making a mistake?

Mandates . . . money . . . matrimony. Who will follow the heart?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Follow the Heart, go HERE

Pattie's Review:

I have thorougly enjoyed reading Kaye Dacus's contemporary romances, but this is the first historical romance of hers I've read. I think I enjoy her contemporary novels much better. This is a good historical Christian novel, and a good set-up for a series. It just didn't capture my attention as much as the other books of hers I've read.

If you are interested in reading historical Christian fiction with a future series in line to be published, then this is a good choice for you this summer.

Friday, May 17, 2013

The Prequel to the O'Malley Saga

My review is at the end. Special thanks to Bethany House and CFBA for both a paper copy and a Netgalley ebook copy of this book for review.
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Jennifer: An O’Malley Love Story
Bethany House Publishers (May 1, 2013)
by
Dee Henderson


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dee Henderson is the bestselling, award-winning author of 15 previous novels, including the acclaimed O'MALLEY series and UNCOMMON HEROES series. These days, most authors are out there energetically promoting their books in print and broadcast and via social media—wherever they can get attention. But Dee Henderson keeps a low profile. She avoids telephone interviews because of hearing problems, declined to provide a current photo, and will say only that she lives in Illinois.

 ABOUT THE BOOK




It's a summer of change for Jennifer O'Malley. The busy physician has a pediatrics practice in Dallas, and meeting Tom Peterson, and falling in love, is adding a rich layer to her life. She's sorting out how to introduce him to her family--she's the youngest of seven--and thinking about marriage.

She's falling in love with Jesus too, and knows God is good. But that faith is about to be tested in a way she didn't expect, and the results will soon transform her entire family.


If you would like to read the first chapter of Jennifer: An O’Malley Love Story, go to HERE.

Review:

This is a novella that Dee Henderson has been wanting to publish for years. It tells how Jennifer, the first one of the O'Malleys to follow Jesus, came to faith. It also talks about all the things that happened both before and alongside the beginning of The Negotiator.

I have been a big fan of the O'Malley books by Dee Henderson for years. I wrote reviews of them all for Multnomah when they first came out, and I could hardly wait for each new story.


Until now, we have only gotten glimpses of Jennifer's story in each of the other novels about each of the O'Malley siblings. This novella takes us back to the beginning of Jennifer and Tom's story (with only a few possible anachronisms, although when Henderson changed publishers, perhaps those things were updated in more recent editions of the novels).

While short, it was also sweet, and now I want to reread the whole series. Perhaps I'll have time to do so this summer.