I love GREAT reviews!

Yesterday's Promise received a top-notch review from Orange Blossom over at Long and Short Reviews. I'm soooo excited!

Check it out!

Review: Anna Finch and the Hired Gun

by Kathleen Y’Barbo

Anna Finch wasn’t aiming for Jeb Sanders the day she shot him. It was his misfortune that he decided to take a nap behind the very log Anna used for target practice.

For Pinkerton man Sanders, the wound in his side was the least of his problems. Anna’s bullet made a detour through that painful flesh abrasion, wounded his manly pride (he’d been shot by a woman!), then made a bee line for his heart, which he’d been convinced would never love again. But the feisty socialite changed his mind in an instant—sure as shootin’!

Anna’s parents are set on marrying her off to whatever wealthy, respectable suitor will take her off their hands. But Anna’s every bit as determined not to marry a man she doesn’t love. She’s also set her mind on becoming a reporter. She knows she can write. She’s the anonymous author of a whole series of dime novels, and has her own well-stocked bank account to prove it.

When Anna’s sleuthing brings her into repeated contact with none other than Doc Holliday, as well as his good friend Wyatt Earp, Jeb makes up his mind to stop the headstrong, independent, incorrigible woman before she gets hurt. After all, he’s the hired gun Anna’s father pays to keep his daughter safe from herself. Besides, Jeb has a score to settle with Holliday for murdering his wife.

Anna’s antics and Jeb’s determined quelling of them makes for a hilarious romp of a semi-western romance. Bringing Earp and Holliday into the storyline serves to add believability to this fun tale. Y’Barbo’s well-rounded characters insert themselves into the readers heart and don’t let go. I loved both Jed and Anna from the first, action-packed scene, and cheered for them until the last captivating paragraph.

An easy read, one that leaves the reader with a smile and a little more faith in the power of love.

Review: Life in Defiance

by Mary DeMuth

Ouisie Pepper knows a secret. The whole town of Defiance, Texas would like to know what she knows. But Ouisie is good at keeping her mouth shut. She’s done it her whole life, especially as the battered wife of Defiance’s minister, Hap Pepper.

Her best friend is Emory Chance, a woman who once had an affair with Ouisie’s preacher husband. Without Emory and the bottle hidden in Ouisie’s bedroom, life would be unbearable for the reverend’s wife. Since Emory’s found the Lord, she’s a different woman, and one of only a few who know about Hap’s violent tendencies. One of the few Ouisie trusts with that knowledge.

Ouisie’s children know. They’ve witnessed it, been on the receiving end of it. Her little girl has a lisp and is growing old before she’s grown. Her son, Jed, already bitter after the death of his friend Daisy, grows angrier and more belligerent as his mother continues to keep secrets and refuses to protect herself or her children from Hap. But Ouisie guards her husband’s reputation because, as a wife who fails to make her husband happy, surely his fits of temper are her own fault.

Somewhere in Defiance, the man who stole young Daisy Chance’s life still lives and breathes and plans his next move. And then there’s Elijah, a self-proclaimed prophet, who shows up out of nowhere and befriends Ouisie.

Her life is spinning out of control. She’s on a collision course with disaster, and too afraid to take the reins and stop the headlong rush. Will she find her courage before her world crashes in around her…before her children are forever destroyed by life and Hap Pepper’s cruelty?

Life in Defiance is the third and final book in the Defiance, Texas trilogy. Mary DeMuth has created a town full of living, breathing characters with wants and needs, problems and secrets. They’re not perfect people, and they live in a far from perfect world. This author is a master at capturing human emotion and pouring it onto a written page. My heart bled as Ouisie suffered under Hap’s heavy hand and heartless comments. My mother’s heart cried for Jed and Sissy as they cringed beneath their father’s temper and their mother’s inability to fight back. I longed to comfort Emory, who lived with not only her daughter’s murder, but her own failure as a mother prior to Daisy’s death. No one creates emotion like DeMuth. Every book in the Defiance series is a masterpiece. Each of the first two seemed to reach a pinnacle of excellence, leaving me to wonder how the next story could possibly reach or exceed its impact. Each time, DeMuth answered with another perfect, powerful follow-up. Absolutely unforgettable.

Great News!

Yesterday's Promise is available in PRINT...only through me! They're $10 each, plus $3 shipping. Want one? E-mail me (delia AT delialatham DOT net), or click the Paypal link on my website.

Review: Finding Jeena

by Miralee Ferrell

It seems Jeena Gregory can’t lose. She’s rapidly climbing the corporate ladder in a successful career she loves, lives in an upscale townhouse, drives a BMW, wears the trendiest clothes, and is in a relationship with a handsome man with similar dreams and goals. As for less fortunate people…well, Jeena has only contempt for their lack of ambition and drive. Her heart is a guarded fortress, untouched by anyone or anything save her beloved grandmother, whose carefully planted seeds of hope and Heaven seem to have fallen on dry ground.

And then it all falls apart. She loses everything. The boyfriend. The job. The house. The car. The clothes. The fair-weather friends. Her reputation.

Even Grammie.

Caught in a set of circumstances completely out of her control, Jeena learns what it means to literally not have a roof over her head or food to fill her stomach. When she’s forced to seek help at a women’s shelter, she knows she’s reached rock bottom.

But with nowhere to look but upward, it could be that she will find the greatest treasure possible.

Finding Jeena is a poignant tale of a woman whose life is turned upside-down and inside out. From designer décor to a park bench on the wrong side of the tracks, God chases Jeena Gregory and her fortressed heart, determined to show her His love. The author paints a vivid portrait of down-and-out humanity, handling a delicate subject with grace and finesse. Jeena’s crumbling life unveils the fragile structure of wealth and success and their frivolous accoutrements. This spirited young woman’s journey of revelation, realization, and redemption is a brilliantly told, riveting example of God’s ability to reach even the most hardened of heart.

Superb writing and a captivating storyline. Miralee Ferrell knows how to write a book.

Back to normal

My blog tour is over. I enjoyed chatting with all the commenters and the wonderful hosts who welcomed me onto their blogs. I will be a guest at the You Gotta Read Reviews blog on June 8. I hope you'll all come by and say hello.

I'm working like mad to get my newsletter posted. Kathy Carlton Willis and some of her authors will again be providing some of the content, so it'll be good stuff.

But now it's time to get back into the normal swing of things. Summer's here, and the weather's getting hot and humid. Thank God for air conditioning!

Hopefully I'll get back into the daily grind soon and posts will start appearing on a more regular basis. Tell me ... what kind of posts do you like? What topics would you like to see addressed on this blog? I'm open to suggestions.

And the winners are...

Michelle Vasquez, who commented on Sharon Ball's blog, A Break from the Norm

and

Kim, who commented on Bill Wetterman's blog, The Heart of a Novelist

These ladies won $10 gift certificates to White Rose Publishing.

Thanks once again to all of my blog tour hosts! I appreciate you helping me spread the word about Yesterday's Promise. And thanks so much to all who stopped by and chatted with us from blog to blog. You're the reason we do these things! :)

Review: Almost Forever

by Deborah Raney




Bryn Hennesey’s husband, Adam, and four other firefighters rush into a burning homeless shelter and never make it out. Five spouses are left to try and make an existence from the ashes of their old lives and loves. Bryn’s recovery is made even harder by her diminishing faith and a memory she can’t quite bring to the surface.

When she finally does remember, it could be the most costly memory of her life—in more ways than one.

Garrett Edmonds lost his wife Molly in the same fire. When he and Bryn are thrown together by their loss and external circumstances surrounding them both, he finds himself drawn to the pretty widow. But when he discovers the secret Bryn’s been hiding even from herself, the knowledge could mean an end to their budding relationship.

Can Bryn learn to trust God again? Can she accept His forgiveness and put her life in His hands? And will Garrett find his way around Bryn’s secret to the promise of a new beginning?

Almost Forever tugs at the heartstrings with its poignant exploration of wrenching sorrow and unbearable guilt. It probes the difficult world of the homeless, and the controversial, financial and legal difficulties in keeping their shelters operational. Love and loss, hurt and healing, bad decisions and forgiveness…each has a place in Deborah Raney’s newest contribution to the world of inspirational fiction. As always, she excels at hooking a reader, and weaves a subtle thread of spiritual wisdom into a wonderfully entertaining tale.