Genre:  Contemporary, Historical, Inspirational, Non-Fic, Memoir, Self-help, Religious
Publisher: Plain Sight/Cedar Fort
Publication date: May 1, 2018
​
Mayim Bialik calls the book a “fascinating journey” and “beautiful exploration of self and identity”. Natan Sharansky celebrates Aryeh’s “engaging passion and persistence”.
After his devastating divorce, which rocked his world and confounded his deeply-held optimism, Aryeh Green’s goal was to get his life back on track. His hike along The Israel National Trail enabled the discovery of a number of universal truths for living based on Jewish tradition.
In a uniquely moving and uplifting book, Aryeh invites you to join him on his trek, as he shares with you both a new perspective on Israel – the land, the country, its history and people – and illuminating insights from the experience.

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Check out the interview with the author HERE.

I’m scared, standing on a thin ledge on the side of a cliff. To my left is a sheer rough wall; to my right, a drop of 30 feet or so to the river bed below. But directly ahead an angry tree blocks the way. (How does it hold to the side of the rock?) It seems threatening as it jumps in the hot wind. With about 50 pounds on my back, I’m too afraid of falling to turn around. Turn to the right and my backpack hits the rock face; turn to the left and the weight of the pack puts me off balance. And the boulders down below aren’t very welcoming.
What to do?
The trail leads into an abyss. Literally. I guess I’ve lost the path, which, while it’s happened before, has never been such a problem. Usually you just retrace your steps, find the last trail marker, and then pay a bit more attention to discover where you missed the next one. But here, on a cliff in Nachal Amud, the Stream of the Pillar connecting the holy city of Tzfat (Safed) with the Kinneret, the Sea of Galilee, it’s just not that easy. Even with the backpack on (including the small guitar hanging from its side), just a minute or so ago I pretty nonchalantly leapt over a three-foot gap in the ledge a few paces back. But I just know—with all my casual confidence built up over the preceding weeks of hiking through Israel’s desert mountains and northern reaches—I can’t do it again.
That is, if I can even turn around on this one-foot-wide ledge.
It may be the perfect metaphor.
Sometimes you reach an impasse. Not only is it unclear what the next step is, but you’re also not sure how the heck you got there and are too scared to move. All the alternatives you can imagine are dangerous, or unpalatable, or frightening. You’re stuck, and the panic starts to rise.
Times of personal hardship, relationships, work situations, and other challenges we face test our mettle. Rabbi Herschel Schachter taught that the biblical “value” of a person in Vayikra, the Book of Leviticus, is calculated by his or her response to suffering and adversity. Elie Weisel and Victor Frankl took the personal and national horror of the Shoah/Holocaust and translated their experiences into timeless lessons for humanity. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl stresses the importance of having a goal to strive for, pushing us to move ahead, to take the next step, and the next.
My goal that day was to get to the Kinneret by nightfall (and not to plunge down the cliff face onto the rocks below). My grander goal was to finish what I’d started, hiking the Israel National Trail (“Shvil Yisrael”) from one end of our tiny country to the other. (It’s not that tiny—the Shvil runs some 1000 kilometers or 600 miles from the Red Sea in the South to the border with Lebanon in the North.) And after my devastating divorce, my ultimate goal was to get my life back on track, or to find a new track for myself.
I take three deep breaths—thank you, Thomas Crum—to calm down, focus, and discover the possibilities open before me; then I make a decision. Not moving my feet an inch, I lower the pack slowly to the ground, managing to lean it against the rock. Freed from the weight of the bag, I turn carefully and retrace my steps along the narrow path on the side of the cliff—jumping over the breach—and yes!—find the trail-marking high up on the rock face above an almost invisible foothold carved into the cliff. I did that ledge once with the pack, I know that; all I have to do now is convince myself I can do it again, this time in the opposite direction.
Retracing my steps, it’s funny, but when I (carefully!) heft the pack on my back, it seems somehow lighter, more manageable. It hasn’t changed; I have changed. Or rather, my attitude, my sense of self and sense of direction and purpose, my confidence and belief in my ability to walk the path, has changed.
It’s not that I’m no longer afraid; I just know I have it in me to keep going.
Sometimes we need to set aside our baggage and re-evaluate. My hike along the
Israel Trail—or my Israel Trail as I’m calling it—enabled the discovery, or rediscovery, of a number of essential truths for living. All come from the ancient wisdom of the
Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition, but at the same time they are universal and universally relevant for anyone seeking inner peace.
I was overwhelmed by the daunting challenges facing me—on the Trail, in my life, and at the national level. Every day brought a new difficulty, from scorching heat and impossible inclines to aching loneliness and crises of confidence, from news of family problems to news of terror attacks. I meditated on mountaintops and cried in dry creek beds; I wrote anguished journal entries and composed songs to lift my spirits. I looked back, and inward, and up to the night sky, and over the valley to the next mountain range, and down at the ants in the dirt, and back along the trail to see how far I’d come.
What I discovered on the Shvil was a sense of self, a sense of personal and national history…and a perspective of sorts on the human condition. These are my reflections, a meditation as it were on existence, relationships, happiness, challenges, and hope.

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For Quinn Collins, buying the flower shop in downtown Harbor Pointe fulfills a childhood dream, but also gives her the chance to stick it to her mom, who owned the store before skipping town twenty years ago and never looking back. Completing much-needed renovations, however, while also competing for a prestigious flower competition with her mother as the head judge, soon has Quinn in over her head. Not that she'd ever ask for help.

Luckily, she may not need to. Quinn's father and his meddling friends find the perfect solution in notorious Olympic skier Grady Benson, who had only planned on passing through the old-fashioned lakeside town. But when a heated confrontation leads to property damage, helping Quinn as a community-service sentence seems like the quickest way out--and the best way to avoid more negative press.

Quinn finds Grady reckless and entitled; he thinks she's uptight and too regimented. Yet as the two begin to hammer and saw, Quinn sees glimpses of the vulnerability behind the bravado, and Grady learns from her passion and determination, qualities he seems to have lost along the way. But when a well-intentioned omission has devastating consequences, Grady finds himself cast out of town--and Quinn's life--possibly forever. Forced to face the hurt holding her back, Quinn must finally let go or risk missing out on the adventure of a lifetime.

Includes discussion questions.

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Courtney Walsh is a novelist, artist, theater director, and playwright. Change of Heart is her fifth novel and is set in the same town as Paper Hearts. Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, hit the New York Times and USA Today e-book bestseller lists and was a Carol Award finalist in the debut author category. She has written two additional books in the Sweethaven series, as well as two craft books and several full-length musicals. Courtney lives in Illinois where she and her husband own a performing and visual arts studio. They have three children.

Check out the interview with the author HERE.

Courtney Walsh is one of those authors that leaves a lasting impression on a reader’s thoughts, as well as touches the heart and soul.  Walsh captures the attention of her readers with deep and heart wrenching topics being discussed within her novel, Just Let Go.  This story is about friendship and finding true and lasting romance.  It’s about overcoming past mistakes and striving to become a better person.  From page one, West brings to life her relatable characters and their stories from the pages.  This is a story that readers will be touch and inspired by, not wanting to put it down until the very last page is turned.
 
Series: Harbor Pointe
Genre: contemporary, romance, Christian
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date: June 5, 2018
Number of pages: 416
 
Other books in the series:
1-Just Look Up
 
A review copy of this book was provided by the author’s street team.  A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Genre:  Inspirational, LDS, Romance
Publisher: Books You Can Trust
Publication date: May 8, 2018
​
Sara Castleton resolved to make better choices now that there was a new life growing inside her. When her husband, Peter, plowed through that stop sign and left this world, he left a mess behind. Picking up the pieces of her shattered life and finishing the house Peter started could be the answer to her future, but she needed help.
When Nicholas Bradford was asked to step into Sara’s unfinished house project, he reluctantly agreed. He didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Peter’s friends and business associates, but one look at his pregnant widow and Nick couldn’t say no.
Before they know it, they aren’t just building a house, they’re Building a Life.

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Check out the interview with the author HERE.

1. My husband, a builder by trade, built two houses for us during the writing and revision process of this book. To make sure I had the facts right, I would sometimes stop him in the middle of working on our house to clarify details.
2. Nick’s two soccer goals in the book were taken directly from my son’s high school soccer experience as a center forward. Nick’s love of the game beyond high school and college stemmed from my husband’s experience playing on a city league when we were dating.
3. Nick’s neglected drafting table in his home office was a salute to my late father-in-law who was a professional draftsman before the days of computer aided drafting programs.
4. Brenda’s house that screamed with bright light was originally supposed to be a house that was immersed in darkness. I had stayed with some friends who lived with the drapes drawn, the blinds closed, and the TV room dark like a theater and found it terribly oppressing. I thought it played well into her dark nature, but I was afraid this friend would see themselves in the book if they read it and changed it to the opposite. I felt it still worked well, showing Brenda as a woman who lived in fear of the dark instead of embracing it.
5. Nick getting beat up was a complete surprise until the day I wrote the scene. In my notes and outline, there was no mention of Nick being attacked. When the story headed that direction, I followed along, interested in seeing where it would go. I was impressed by how well it fit into the story.
6. I didn’t dwell on the many opportunities for complications during the birth of Sara’s baby, but the part where she held Nick’s hand and squeezed it so hard she almost broke his fingers happened for real during the birth of my second child. It was my first natural delivery and my husband shook out his hand and offered two fingers for me to squeeze instead so I would hurt him. It’s amazing how much strength a woman delivering a baby has!
7. Nick and Josh’s experience with the welcoming attitude of people in the LDS church when they were investigating various churches was much like every ward I’ve ever visited or moved into. I wanted to show the openness that the church demonstrates to people who are new.
8. When Sara described Nick’s maneuvering in the trusses as a slow dance, it was exactly how I feel watching my husband when he sets trusses on a house. When the crane operator knows what they’re doing, it can be as smooth as I made it sound and just as riveting.
9. The name of Peter’s friend, Mitch, was just a name when I started writing the book. During the course of revision, I met someone named Mitch who turned out to be the boyfriend of the daughter of people who were living with us. (another story). While I was describing the storyline to the mom of the daughter (to pass the time while we painted the house), Mitch (the boyfriend) joined us. I immediately apologized for the name and explained that the Mitch in the story wasn’t a good guy. He reassured me it was okay and kind of liked the idea that his namesake was the bad guy.
10. Nick’s smile is a direct correlation to Josh Turner’s smile on the cover of his album Haywire. It’s a breathtaking sight to behold and truly swoon-worthy! (Or you can watch the video of Josh’s song Firecracker for more of that Hollywood smile.)

She thought of Brenda. No, she couldn’t. Brenda drove her crazy. She still wasn’t sure her in-laws realized she wasn’t moving in with them. Her mind automatically landed on Nick. She could call him. He would take her to the hospital. She wasn’t sure she should be driving anyway. If she had a contraction on the way to the hospital, she could get in an accident. She shivered. She tapped Nick’s speed dial number.
He picked up on the first ring.
“Sara,” he started. “I’m sorry. I mean, I’m not sorry I kissed you. I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long time, but I’m sorry I didn’t give you more warning or whatever, so you were prepared and didn’t think I was kissing you to prove a point. I know you were upset, and I was trying to be supportive, and I heard what Mitch said and it worried me, and I was trying to comfort you, and I just got carried away when you were talking about Peter, and I just don’t want you to think I was trying to take advantage of you because I wouldn’t do that. I really do care about you.”
Finally, he took a breath.
“Good,” she said with a glimmer of a smile after his rambling, “because I need your help, again.”
“Sure, anything. What can I do for you?”
“I need a ride.”
“Did your car break down? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m at home, but I can’t drive. I’m in labor.”
“Oh,” He paused. “Oh! I’ll be right there!” The line went dead and Sara smiled, knowing she had called the right person. Regardless of where things stood at the moment, she knew Nick would take care of her.

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Giveaway includes the winner’s choice of an e-copy (International) or autographed signed print copy (US only) of the book.  Giveaway ends 11:59pm MT on July 21st.
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Freed from the clutches of her cruel, traitorous mother and impostor husband, Lady Camden wants to rebuild her fractured life. But the years of terror and pain she endured at their hands continue to grip her heart in an iron vice. Refusing to stray from the refuge of her country estate, Kate tentatively agrees to an unusual alliance with the new Lord Camden, being mindful to keep her trust, and her heart, firmly safeguarded.
Adrien, the Earl of Camden, had lost everything he held dear while working undercover in France as an agent of the Crown, known only as Hawk. Now an earl, he wants only to repair his tattered, lonely life. His efforts are interrupted, however, when he is called to accept another assignment: Stop French spies from passing a bill in Parliament that will eliminate British aid in the war against Napoleon.
When Kate's past pulls her into a web of treachery and deceit, a life she is wholly unprepared for, Adrien must use any means necessary to stop the French spies from succeeding in their evil designs and keep her safe. When the truth is finally revealed, will Lady Camden be strong enough to seize her own future and happiness, or will her heart be too shattered to ever love a spy?

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Check out the interview with the author HERE.

Yet another excellent regency romance spy novel comes from Laura Beers in her novel To Love a Spy.  More great characters, some from her previous two novels Saving Shadow and A Peculiar Courtship show up in this novel too.  Just as exciting and thrilling as the previous books in the Beckett Files series, readers will not want to put this exhilarating story down!  There is plenty of excitement and sweet romance in this story, along with superb characters, to keep readers coming back for more.  Like the other books in this series, there is a bit of violence, but it is not descriptive or gory.  This is a story that readers will not soon forget and will definitely want to get their hands on!!
 
Series: Beckett Files
Genre: historical, regency, romance, spy thriller
Publisher: Phase Publishing
Publication date: April 2, 2018
Number of pages: 300
 
Other books in the series:
1-Saving Shadow
2-A Peculiar Courtship
4-A Tangled Ruse
 
A print review copy of this book was provided by the author, as well as an e-copy purchased on Amazon.  A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Lord Jonathon Beckett's mission is simple: retrieve Lady Hannah and place her under the protection of the Crown. But he isn't prepared for the havoc she inflicts on his world, making him question whether his duty as an agent of the Crown should always come before his heart.

Lady Hannah's father has uncovered evidence exposing a French traitor to the Crown. Willing to do anything to silence him, the traitor's primary target has become Lady Hannah. Keeping her safe means locking her away from Society, but she refuses to stand idly by, letting others put their lives on the line to protect her. Instead, she will stop at nothing to learn to defend herself, even at the risk of losing Lord Jonathon's protection, or his affections.

With a sinister scheme in play to collapse the English government from within, Lord Jonathon must protect Lady Hannah from the French spies intending to use her as a pawn in their game of treachery. But can he protect her from herself?

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Check out the mini-view with the author HERE.

Author Laura Beers has written an excellent and exciting historical, regency romance, spy thriller novel that readers will absolutely not want to put down in A Peculiar Courtship.  Well written and with exciting and exhilarating characters that were in her previous novel, Saving Shadow, Beers brings to life the exciting life of a spy during the regency time period and the war with Napoleon.  Hidden secrets, abductions, love, this story has it all.  Although this book has a bit of violence in it, the violence is not glorified or gory.  Readers will not want to miss this next book in the exhilarating Beckett Files series!
 
Series: Beckett Files
Genre: historical, regency, romance, spy thriller
Publisher: Phase Publishing
Publication date: December 1, 2017
Number of pages: 284
 
Other books in the series:
1-Saving Shadow
3-To Love a Spy
4-A Tangled Ruse
 
A print review copy of this book was provided by the author, as well as an e-copy purchased on Amazon.  A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

Seeking justice against the man who destroyed his family, Logan Fowler arrives in Pecan Gap, Texas, to confront the person responsible. But his quest is derailed when, instead of a hardened criminal, he finds an ordinary man with a sister named Evangeline--an unusual beauty with mismatched eyes and a sweet spirit that he finds utterly captivating.

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More Than Meets the Eye by Karen Witemeyer is a fun historical western romance novel that readers will thoroughly enjoy.  Witemeyer has a way of drawing readers into her stories and connecting the heart of readers with her beloved characters.  The beginning of the novel does an excellent job in telling readers the backstory of the main characters, and causing them to feel empathy and fall in love with them from the start.  A delightful story filled with adventure, excitement, and a sweet love story too, readers will not want to put down this enjoyable and heart-warming story.  Readers will love Witemeyer’s storytelling and charming characters in this beloved tale!
                             
Series: Patchwork Family
Genre: historical, romance, western, Christian
Publisher: Bethany House
Publication date: June 5, 2018
Number of pages: 347
 
A review copy of this book was provided by Bethany House, as well as an audio purchased from Audible.  A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

I have been participating in this summer's
New LDS Ficiton Summer Book Trek.

For more details, visit the site HERE.

1. The Start of Us (A Change of Plans #1) by Rachel John
2. A Peculiar Courtship (The Beckett Files #2) by Laura Beers (review coming soon...)
3. Pretty Much Perfect by Sally Johnson
4. To Love a Spy (The Beckett Files #3) by Laura Beers (review coming soon...)

1. The Matchmaker's Match by Brittany Larsen

1. Loving Lieutenant Lancaster (Lancaster Family #4) by Sarah M. Eden
​2. The Secret of Haversham House by Julie Matern

Camille Weston, a recently returned missionary, anticipates returning to college for her degree and perhaps to meet a nice guy. A sensible young woman with her future mapped out, Camille would never do something dangerous—like pick up a stranger on the side of the road. And yet, inexplicably, she does just that. This is one split-second decision that changes everything.

Determined to lend assistance, Camille gets more than she bargains for when she is roped into helping Liam, a handsome British man, with more than just a ride. As they are thrown together over the coming days and their mutual attraction grows, they realize they just . . . click. That is, until she makes a shocking discovery: the mysterious stranger is William Liam Jones, lead singer of the popular band Gear. Camille has never been one to swoon over a celebrity, and she knows her and Liam's lifestyles could never be compatible. But how can she convince her heart to listen to logic?

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Sally Johnson grew up in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She went to college at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She went on to earn her Bachelor's Degree in English. While at college, she met and married her husband, Steve, and then relocated to Las Vegas. They have lived in Las Vegas ever since and love it. They have four children and a dog.

She has wanted to write books since she was twelve years old and being a published author is a dream come true.

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From page one, Sally Johnson will steal the heart of readers with her novel Pretty Much Perfect.  Because that’s what it is, a “pretty much perfect” novel.  The story and characters are well written and developed.  And the story is sweet, cute, and funny.  Readers will not want to put down this delightful and thoroughly enjoyable story!  Readers of Johnson’s previous novels will definitely not want to miss this one.  And even if it’s a reader’s first Johnson novel, they will not be disappointed by this charming and hilarious contemporary romance!
 
Genre: contemporary, romance, new adult, LDS
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Publication date: July 2, 2018
Number of pages: 272
 
A review copy of this book was provided by Covenant Communications.  A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

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Artur Mandelkorn is a young Hungarian Holocaust survivor whose desperate quest to find his sister takes him to post-war Israel. Intersecting Artur’s tale is that of Suzy Kohn, a Toronto teenager whose seemingly tranquil life is shattered when her uncle’s sudden death tears her family apart, leading her into a troubled relationship with a charismatic musician. Their stories eventually come together in Israel following the Six-Day War, where love and understanding become the threads that bind the two narratives together.

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Sharon Hart-Green's debut novel COME BACK FOR ME is a gripping story of trauma, loss, and the redemptive power of love set in the aftermath of World War II. It was chosen as the inaugural fiction offering of The New Jewish Press and was released on June 1, 2017.

Sharon received her PhD in Judaic Studies from Brandeis University and has taught Hebrew and Yiddish literature at the University of Toronto. Her first book NOT A SIMPLE STORY (Lexington Books) was a study of the work of Hebrew novelist S. Y. Agnon. Her second book, BRIDGING THE DIVIDE (Syracuse University Press), is a compilation of her translations of the Hebrew poems of Hava Pinhas-Cohen.

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Check out the interview with the author HERE.

Come Back for Me by Sharon Hart-Green is fantastic duel timeline WWII Holocaust novel that readers will love.  From page one readers will be captivated and drawn into the duel timeline stories of the characters.  Hart-Green’s story is both captivating and heart-wrenching as she brings to life the struggles and pains of those that lived through and survived the Holocaust and the effects it had on their lives and the lives of friends and family around them.  Additionally, Hart-Green does an excellent job of pulling readers in with her duel timeline story, as well as bringing the duel timelines together, doing an excellent job at the end of pulling the stories together in a way that readers will thoroughly anticipate and enjoy!
 
Genre: historical, WWII, Holocaust, Jewish
Publisher: New Jewish Press
Publication date: June 1, 2017
Number of pages: 288
 
A review copy of this book was provided by the author.  A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are my own. 

A steampunk Sleeping Beauty story from the author of Beauty and the Clockwork Beast.

Doctor Isla Cooper is cursed. Literally. Each night, at the stroke of midnight she falls into a death-like sleep from which she cannot be awakened for six hours. To make it worse, the curse has an expiration date—after a year, it becomes permanent. And the year is almost up.

In a desperate attempt to find Malette—the witch who cursed her—Isla blackmails her way onto Daniel Pickett's private airship bound for the Caribbean, only to discover she's traveling with three illegal shapeshifters and the despicable Nigel Crowe, a government official determined to hunt down and exterminate every shapeshifter in England. Isla and Daniel must work together to keep the identities of the shapeshifters hidden while coming to terms with their own hidden secrets, and their blossoming attraction to each other.

Filled with suspense, intrigue, and plenty of romance, Kiss of the Spindle is steampunk Sleeping Beauty story. It is a race against the clock as Isla and Daniel try to hunt down the elusive Malette before Isla's death-like sleep becomes permanent. ​

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Check out the other books in the series HERE.