Review: Wish with the Candles by Betty Neels

This is not going to turn into a Betty Neels' book blog, but I'm still on my Betty Neels' reading streak. 

After reading so many BN novels with heroes who don't tell the heroines anything and whose actions are sufficiently vague, it has been a bit of a relief to read a string of her novels in which the heroes are a bit more clear about their intentions.  Justin, our rich, handsome, Dutch, redheaded (not blond) doctor goes right after our plain, English, clueless nurse, Emma. 

Did I mention that Emma is clueless?  Yes.  I had wondered if I would ever use the expression, "too stupid to live," in a review (and I seriously don't mean to be exceptionally rude or disrespectful); however, Emma...kind of earned it.   Everyone, ...and I mean, everyone else in the novel knew that Justin loved Emma, but Emma herself. From the beginning of their relationship, when they meet in a literal fender bender (Emma's bumper gets caught against his in a car accident), one can tell that Justin is interested in her when he takes a good long look at her passport while they are "exchanging" contact information.  The woman was supposed to have been a medical student, except that life got in the way.  Obviously, her relationship intelligence quotient didn't measure up to her professional abilities.  Still, Wish with the Candles was better than other BN novels in which the heroes let the heroines flounder in the face of mixed romantic signals.

Review: Sweet Christmas Romances 2017 - by Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Angela Ford, Tammy Tate, and Laura Strickland

I haven't been posting on the blog for a few months, but I have been reading a lot of secular and faith based romances.  This review is based on one of the former:  Sweet Christmas Romances 2017.  It is a collection of short novellas whose authors include Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Angela Ford, Tammy Tate, and Laura Strickland.  These authors match up with the following titles in the following order:  Evie's Christmas Chocolate Kisses (Kleve), Analeigh's Christmas Cookies (Conner), Chrissy's Christmas Sugar Cookies (Ford), Amy's Christmas Casserole (Tate), and Margie's Magic Christmas Bars (Strickland). 

The book caught my attention because of the title, because I wanted to see what was meant by the definition of "sweet."  After reading through the collection, I would say that it has more to do with the recipes that are included after each novella, about a dessert/recipe that has a starring role in each of the stories.  That's not surprising considering the titles of the novellas, but I wasn't able to read what they were until after I had downloaded the book.   I had actually been expecting to read stories that were clean (yes, with that kind of definition of "sweet"), but that wasn't quite the case for all of them.  However, the love scenes for the ones that did have them were not very graphic or the intimate moments were mentioned briefly in passing.  The exception was in Tammy Tate's story, Amy's Christmas Casserole, which had a descriptive sex scene.  If you were expecting to read stories that were clean, then, please, know that not all the stories in this collection will pass muster in this expectation.

One of the stories, and I don't want to mention which one, could have used a bit more editing; there were a number of errors in diction and spelling.  However, I also understand that I was reading a galley/proof that may undergo more work before being placed on the market. Most of the other stories didn't have errors that were as noticeable as the one that I just mentioned.

Of the recipes, I think that the one that captured my interest is Analeigh's Christmas Bourbon Bacon Cupcake recipe, but just so that you know, if you are not tremendously inclined to bake entirely from scratch, the cake portion appears to allow for the use of a Betty Crocker cake mix.  I also find it amusing that the title of novella that this recipe is supposed to go with reads, "Analeigh's Christmas Cookies." (By the way, this was not the story that had the numerous spelling errors.)



Disclaimer:  I received an e-copy of Sweet Christmas Romances 2017 from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Review: Wisdom to Know by Elizabeth Maddrey

Wisdom to Know, a novel by Elizabeth Maddrey, is the story about Lydia Brown, a preacher's kid who falls from grace by getting pregnant outside of marriage.  She had given herself to a man who she thought would marry her, but it became apparent that he had no intention in doing so after she slept with him.  Pride, shame, and fear prevent her from revealing the truth to her parents and her friends. She decides to get an abortion to cover up her mistake.  However, guilt over her actions drives her into drug use to escape the emotional and spiritual fallout of her decision.  Lydia also prostitutes herself in order to finance her drug habit. 

Kevin McGregor has been in love with Lydia forever, and sincerely believes that the Lord has told him that Lydia is the woman that he's going to marry.  However, he has been repeatedly friend-zoned by Lydia.  He is overjoyed at the breakup between Lydia and her latest boyfriend, but senses, along with others in Lydia's family and circle of friends, that she is hiding something important from them.
Although he suspects that Lydia has been physically intimate with her previous boyfriend, he is still open to a future with her.  However, the certainty he feels about God intending him to be with Lydia is tested when he finds out the entirety of the depths that Lydia has fallen. 

Kevin also doesn't get to discover the entire truth at once; it is unfolded to him gradually over many months while God is working to heal Lydia of the pain in her life.  Lydia isn't willing to tell the people closest to her about what she has done because of her fear of seeing their disappointment in her.  She also fears being rejected by them.  By the time Kevin finds out about the abortion, he has had enough; he feels betrayed beyond what he can bear.  Since Lydia has repeatedly acted against the Lord's will, what is it if he rejects the Lord's will over whether he will take Lydia to be his wife? 

Wisdom to Know is a story that alludes to the life of Hosea, a prophet who repeatedly took back an unfaithful wife.  This is confirmed when Kevin tells the Lord that he is not strong enough to be like the Old Testament prophet, about a third of the way into the novel.  I admire Elizabeth Maddrey for writing this story; I don't believe that it is easy to write about the topics that she has covered in this novel.  To me, the plot was quite well planned out and developed.  She certainly makes the focus of the novel center on the receiving and giving of grace. Lydia struggles to accept grace in light of the mistakes that she has made, and Kevin is challenged to give grace, even when it is difficult for him to do so. 

There were a couple of things that didn't work for me about Wisdom to Know which may not matter to other readers.  I had a few "show, instead of tell," moments while reading the novel, but those are a matter of preference.  Also, there were sections where I found myself stumbling over the dialogue, but I recognize that this could be just my own personal expectations about how people should speak. 

On the whole, I was quite impressed with the message of grace in Wisdom to Know.  I could understand why Lydia did what she did, and I could also understand the anger and betrayal that Kevin felt when he discovered what Lydia had done.  I liked how, in the plot, the Lord prepared Kevin for finding out Lydia's secrets regarding the abortion, because, sometimes, I think that the Lord does this in real life.  He'll show His children something so enlightening and absolutely mind-blowing that raises them to the heights, and then they are challenged to actually live it out when they leave the mountain top experiences.  In Kevin's case,  God showed him the need for ministering to those who have been adversely affected by abortion, and then it became extremely personal when Kevin found out that Lydia was one of those in need.  Will Kevin be able to grant Lydia grace so that they can have a future together?

Wisdom to Know is the first novel belonging to the Grant Us Grace Series, which also includes the novels, Courage to Change, and Serenity to Accept.

Review: No Substitute by Susan Diane Johnson

No Substitute by Susan Diane Johnson is a title from White Rose Publishing, which is a division of the Pelican Book Group.  I think that I've never read anything from White Rose before, so this was a new experience to see what their offerings were like.  There are several free e-books offered on one of Pelican Book Group's webpages, so I'll have to check some of those out sometime in the future.  What confused me was that the name of this publishing group is very similar to Pelican Publishing, which is a different entity that has the familiar pelican logo on its books.  Pelican Book Group, however, publishes solely Christian imprints which mainly focus on fiction, whereas, Pelican Publishing publishes titles belonging to several different genres in fiction and non-fiction. 

In No Substitute, Amy Welsh, is a (wait for it...) substitute teacher who is covering for another educator who is on maternity leave.  She finds herself teaching a class which Shayna MacMillan is enrolled in.  Shayna is not just any girl:  she is the daughter of Amy's ex-boyfriend, Quentin, a man who Amy has never been able to let go in her heart.

Quentin, a widower, can't believe that Amy Welsh is back in town.  She's the woman who has always owned his heart, and if he can get a second chance with her, he's going to take it.  However, Amy is reluctant to pick things up with him again.  She left town years before when she found out that Quentin had married another girl three months after he and Amy were supposed to elope when they were teens.  Taking on the job in her hometown, Goose Bay, is a necessity since Amy can't find any teaching jobs elsewhere.  The short term position is also giving her a chance to take time out to make a decision whether or not to accept a marriage proposal from Jared Parker, a man who is waiting for her answer in Issaquah, Washington, where Amy had built a life for herself since leaving Goose Bay.

Amy and Quentin are thrown together when Quentin requests her help in monitoring Shayna's interactions with a teenage boy, Bradley Baxter, whom Quentin does not approve of.  Quentin is feeling inadequate to the task of raising a daughter who is growing up too quickly in his eyes.  Spending time together draws our two protagonists together, but Amy still harbors anger and distrust towards Quentin.  Why did he refuse to elope with her seventeen years ago even though he claimed to have loved her then, yet turn around and marry another girl so soon after his refusal to marry Amy?

I'd probably categorize this story as one where the protagonists are separated by a misunderstanding, circumstances beyond either's control, and secrets which Quentin does not feel that he can share without hurting his daughter or Amy.  After reading the whole story, I wish that I could pick Quentin's brain over a few things. Without giving too much away, I understand why Quentin refused to elope with Amy, and I can confirm that he did love her then.  However, I also don't understand why he didn't do a similar type of soul searching with the Lord over the question of whether or not he should have married the other girl as he did over whether or not to elope with Amy.  From the novel, it seemed that he agonized with the Lord over doing the right thing with Amy, but we don't really hear whether he struggled in prayer with the Lord over marrying the second girl.  Perhaps he did, and we, as readers, could make that assumption, but the vagueness over this point niggles me a bit.

The other thing that I wondered as I read the novel was why Quentin thought that he could actually continue to put off answering Amy's questions about what happened in the past, because we know that he will need to do it sooner or later if he truly wants to be with her.  I kept thinking, "The truth will set you free!  The truth will set you free!"  If Amy loves him, she'll get over it and forgive him, even if she needs time to take it all in.  However, Quentin is a man in denial:  he knows what he needs to do, but he's afraid to lose her when he tells her.  The irony is that he's going to lose her for sure if he doesn't tell her. 

It's probably no surprise for you to know that I have a soft spot for stories that involve teachers.  I enjoyed reading No Substitute, although at times, I wanted to strangle both protagonists at certain points for their stubbornness. You already know about what I thought about Quentin, but I haven't mentioned much about Amy.  I liked her character.  As a former teacher, it was a bit amusing to read about her experiences in school, because yes, kids sometimes act like the way they are described in the book.  They can be silly, sassy, smart alecky, sly, fun, and fragile, although, probably not all at the same time.  I liked Amy's patience with both students and adults (in other words, parents, and namely Quentin), but I wanted to shake her shoulders when her anger and hurt got the better of her when Quentin finally got around to talking to her about the past.  Her reactions are not surprising, and it lent to the drama, but I was thinking, "Come on, Amy...he's finally going to tell you everything after putting you off for sooooooo looooonnnnnnggggggg...and you're going to walk out on him before I can find out what he's going to say!"

As I mentioned before, I liked reading No Substitute.  I'd consider reading more from Susan Diane Johnson in the future. 




Disclaimer:  I received an e-copy of "No Substitute" by Susan Diane Johnson from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Review: Parting Secrets by Becky Melby and Cathy Wienke

I found Parting Secrets by Becky Melby and Cathy Wienke to be a surprise.  I picked up the book as a freebie on Amazon yesterday.  The title is from Heartsong Presents, an imprint that used to belong to Barbour Publishing.  The imprint was purchased by Harlequin in 2012.  Unfortunately, Heartsong Presents has since ceased being a published line, but many of its books are now appearing in e-book form as Truly Yours Digital Editions.

Parting Secrets has some interesting, uncomfortable, and complicated plot developments for a short Christian novel.  For starters, the two protagonists, Jeanie Cholewinski and Steven Vandenburg, have a past, which resulted with Jeanie getting pregnant out of wedlock.  That was challenging in itself, but the uncomfortable complication was that at the time, Jeanie was a seventeen year old high school student, and Steven was a 22 year old student teacher.  When Jeanie realized that she was pregnant, she ran away to keep the pregnancy a secret from her family, and to protect Steven from being charged with statutory rape.  She also left without telling Steven about the baby, and they do not see each other for almost thirty years.

Through what Jeanie and her mother would call "Godcidences," coincidences orchestrated by the Lord, Jeanie and Steven have been reunited at the wedding of their daughter.  It is here where Steven finds out that Angel is his daughter and it's a bit much for Steven to take in.  He struggles with the anger that he feels over Jeanie's abandonment and neglect in not telling him that he had a daughter.  However, he still carries a torch in his heart for Jeanie after all these years, and now as a widower, he is free to finally pursue a much longed for relationship with her. 

Jeanie, a baker, has had a hard life as a single mother.  Her dream of becoming a teacher may be finally within her grasp when she enters a baking/pastry competition where the grand prize includes a nine month apprenticeship in France with a renown pastry chef.  Now that her secret about Angel is finally out, she is ready to pursue this dream.  She isn't ready to drop this in order to have Steven in her life.  In addition, a dangerous man from her past is trying to pull her back into a dark lifestyle, one in which she had been trapped in for three years after she had left Steven.  She cannot bear the thought of the exposure of this secret life being made known to her friends and family, especially to Angel and Steven. 

Will Steven be able to convince Jeanie to give them a second chance?  If Jeanie does choose Steven over the French apprenticeship, will Steven still want her after finding out what she did to survive in those mysterious three years?  Will she also be able to protect Angel from the threats that the dangerous man is making? 

SPOILER ALERT

At 176 pages, the authors have packed a lot into the plot with such limited room.  There is plenty of foreshadowing about Jeanie's secret past, and although it wasn't exactly what I thought that it was going to be, her entrapment into and involvement in sexual exploitation added to the list of heavy topics that were touched on in this novel.  Much of the emotional angst was centred on the fear that Steven would reject Jeanie once he finds out what she did during those three years.   There was also Steven's turmoil over Jeanie's removal of his freedom to choose whether to go to jail for having sex with an under-aged female (and being reunited after his incarceration), or to have a life without Jeanie and Angel, a life that he always felt was second best. 

If the novel were longer, I think that the story could have delved more into the guilt that our protagonists may have felt over their respective choices and actions.  With a longer novel, I think that the issue of forgiveness could have also been developed further; Steven's anger over Jeanie's disappearance and withholding of Angel's existence seemed to be minimalized.  Any anger or bitterness that the girls who were hurt by Jeanie during those dark three years seemed to be easily glossed over with the explanation that they knew and understood why she did what she did.  Maybe, truly, people can be that gracious and forgiving, but it would interesting to think about what might have been if things were not that neat and tidy in the execution of this plot. 

SPOILER ALERT OVER

As I mentioned before, Parting Secrets tackled quite a few taboo topics, making it a meatier novel than what I anticipated from such a short novel.  The novel wasn't terribly heavy, but it had more substance in it than what I would have expected.  I also found it intriguing that the protagonists were an older couple, rather the young'uns that appear in the majority of romances that are out in the market today. 

Review: Out of the Flames by Cheryl Wyatt

Out of the Flames by Cheryl Wyatt is a novella about whether a relationship will develop between the two protagonists, Lilah Rose McLaughlin and Scott Cohen.  Lilah runs a marine animal rescue and rehabilitation centre right next door to the Coast Guard watch station at Haven Bay, Florida.  Scott is a Chief Coastguardsman who has just transferred into his position from Chicago.  The two first meet at the Soggy Sandwich Diner where Lilah is enjoying lunch out with close friends who want to help her find love.  When Scotty enters the diner, they lock eyes...and the rest doesn't quite immediately become history.  It's a mystery to Lilah's friends, Memaw, Tilly, and Monique, who make up three generations of the Audet Family who have adopted Lilah as an honourary granddaughter, daughter and sister.  This is because everyone in the diner noticed how Scotty's gaze stopped and lingered on Lilah.  However, their first encounter ends with Scott blowing her off, averting his gaze and slighting her.  Lilah knows that this isn't her imagination; her friends noticed Scott's behaviour too.  It hurts because it reminds her too much of her failed relationship with her ex-fiancé.    

Scott can't walk away quickly enough from Lilah.  He is instantly attracted to her, but sees the hurt in Lilah's soul when he looks into her eyes.  He doesn't have time for a relationship with a woman right now because of the Coast Guard fire squad safety program that he is in charge of organizing and putting together.   Getting this program off the ground is something that he is driven to do because of his past.  Scotty can't allow himself to get distracted by Lilah.  He feels that if he gets into a relationship with her, it will keep him from achieving his goals with the program.  He feels guilty about slighting her, and decides that if he sees her again, he will apologize.

However, the Audet Family closes rank around Lilah to protect her.  This includes Tilly's husband, Roy, who is Scotty's supervisor, who tells Scotty that he won't apologize to Lilah on Scotty's behalf; Scotty will need to do it himself.  Ron then prays for Scotty's and Lilah's paths to cross again...and they do.   Scotty can't help but be drawn to Lilah, but he blows hot and cold towards her. His behaviour confuses and hurts Lilah who keeps remembering how her ex-fiancé said that she wasn't good enough. 

Will Scotty be able to come to terms with his past and let go of it so that he can move on to a future with Lilah?  Will Lilah work through her insecurities so that she can be the friend that Scotty needs while he works through the guilt that he feels from his past? 

I liked Scotty.  He is a good guy, although he seems to be unable to keep from hurting Lilah with his ambivalent behaviour while he is working through his issues.  Lilah seemed to be a tad bit oversensitive about rejection, but that is explained by the hurt inflicted upon her by her fiancé.  She is strong enough to take a risk in being there for Scotty while he is struggling with his guilt even  though he has hurt her.  The author makes a note about Lilah's character in her acknowledgements:  that if people ever feel invisible or meaningless like Lilah, they should know that they are loved by God and matter to Him. 

I especially liked the character of Memaw Audet.  She's the grandma who you wish had a sensor for her mouth to keep her from saying embarrassing things, but who you can't help but love, quirks and all.   It was funny reading about the scuffle that she got into with another senior lady over the affections of an eligible man of suitable age.  Actually, the woman has outrageous behaviour toward eligible men regardless of their age.  She even told Scotty to his face that, "...I could sit here and look at you allll day."  In fact, her first reference about him was, "A hot man!" while the Audets and Lilah were sitting in the diner.  I like Memaw; she's hilarious.

Out of the Flames is a fairly quick read at eight chapters.  This story touches on the issues of grief and survivor's guilt, and on self worth.  If you enjoy reading about characters in the Coast Guard, this may be the novella for you. 

Review: Plain Change by Sarah Price

Plain Change, by Sarah Price, is the immediate sequel to Plain Fame.  It is the second in the Plain Fame Series, which also includes Plain Again, Plain Return, and Plain Choice.  Plain Change picks up right after Plain Fame leaves off.  Alejandro (Viper) Diaz, the famous hip hop singer, has swept Amanda Beiler away from her family's farm in Lancaster after she made an appeal to him for help in dealing with the paparazzi that had been stalking her.  Amanda believes that she had no choice but to leave everything that she knows and to go with him, since she had been commanded to leave her Amish community by her bishop.  She also realizes that no other Amish community would welcome her because of the unwanted attention from the paparazzi which would follow her wherever she may go.  She is apprehensive of her future, but Alejandro says to her, "You will change.  And you will live." (Location 109 on Kindle.)

Amanda does change and live in the rest of the novel, but not without feeling conflicted about the process at times.  Her Amish upbringing and her personal preferences sometimes make the transition into Alejandro's world difficult, for example, in the clothes that she must now wear,  in flying on a plane (something that was forbidden by her bishop), in using a cell phone so that Alejandro and his staff can keep tabs on her, and in interacting with the people in Alejandro's life.  Besides describing the changes that Amanda is currently making in her life, the novel contains flashbacks from her Amish life that provide contrasts to the experiences that she is presently facing.

Alejandro's plan for Amanda is to take her with him while he is on his concert/publicity tour.  They will present themselves as a couple and give the paparazzi what it wants until it moves onto more interesting subjects.  In the meantime, Amanda will have time to decide what she really wants; does she wish to return to her Amish world, or will she stay outside in the Englische world?  Alejandro promises Amanda that he will not dishonor her in a way that will make her unacceptable should she decide to return home to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  However, he makes it clear to her that the world will not believe that their relationship is innocent, and that he will not try to convince them otherwise (Locations 751, 759 Kindle).  As Amanda is drawn more into Alejandro's life, she finds herself acknowledging that her reasons for joining him are not solely for altruistic reasons in sparing her family and community the attentions of the paparazzi; she admits to herself that she is falling in love with him.

I have mixed feelings about Alejandro.  He is a romantic who knows just what to say and do to make Amanda feel special when she feels insecure and he knows how to comfort her when she feels afraid or troubled.  However, I'm not impressed that he would allow the world to continue to think that he and Amanda have a less than innocent relationship.  We are not really told if Amanda is comfortable with what people think about this. 



SPOILER ALERT

Another thing that Alejandro did that bothered me was that he initiated sharing a bed with Amanda while he was touring.  She started voicing her discomfort about it, saying that it wasn't right, but he pushed her objections aside and kept her there with him, even though he didn't have sex with her.  It bothered me, in my opinion, that she began to rationalize the situation away, by comparing what Alejandro initiated to the Amish practice of bundling, where a young courting couple would spend the night together with a board separating them.   Since I'm not Amish, I'm not well acquainted with the practice of bundling, but I would guess that both participants have to come to an agreement to try it out.  However, Amanda voiced her objection, albeit, a bit weakly, and Alejandro did what he wanted anyways, without respecting her wishes.  What kind of love is that?  Anyways, by the time the leg of the tour is done, and they are ready to return to his home in Miami, he has primed her for what he really wants:  for them to share his room (and more).  What will Amanda do?  You'll have to read the book for yourself to find out.

SPOILER OVER



Throughout the novel, we can see that God and faith are very important to Amanda, and that she is struggling to separate which aspects of her Amish faith are cultural and which are more universal in nature for all believing Christians.  However, with Alejandro, his faith doesn't seem to be a practical one.  He acknowledges that God is the One Who got him to the place where he is in his life today, and he prays with his entourage before concerts, but when it comes to living his life in a way that completely honors God...well, Alejandro doesn't seem to be quite there yet.  He is attracted to Amanda's purity and also to the fact that she does not want to use him for her personal gain.  Since he likely doesn't have a full comprehension of what it truly means to not dishonor Amanda, I would have to say that he is trying his best to not dishonor her according to his own perception.

Plain Change is not just about the changes that Amanda is making in her life in the Englische world.  Alejandro is also challenged to make changes in his life, simply from knowing Amanda and in growing to love her.  I would not consider Plain Change to be a stand alone novel.  Much of the background story to how Amanda ended up joining Alejandro is detailed in the first book, Plain Fame, and Plain Change ends in a cliff hanger which finds Amanda and Alejandro separated from each other in spite of their love.  I have enough interest invested now in this couple to want to find out what happens to them, in their romance, and in their walks with the Lord.


Disclaimer:  I received an e-copy of Plain Change from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  All opinions stated in this review are mine. 

Review: Plain Fame by Sarah Price

What could happen to the world of an innocent, simple Amish girl when it collides with that of a sophisticated, hip hop superstar on the streets of New York?  Sarah Price writes about the possibility in her novel, Plain Fame, which begins when Alejandro (Viper) Diaz's limosine crashes into Amanda Beiler.  He is taken with her unadorned beauty and also with a desire to see that she is well looked after; Alejandro still remembers how hard it was to survive as a Cuban immigrant in Miami without deep connections to others.  Something about how alone Amanda is, far from her family and friends, speaks to Alejandro, and he finds himself looking out for her welfare as she recovers at the hospital.

He decides to escort her home to Lititz, Pennsylvania, to see that she arrives home safely and to see that she receives enough care in Lancaster County until she has fully recovered.  He is also hoping that he will be able to hide from the outside world for a few days and rejuvenate his spirit and the part of himself that is Alejandro, and not Viper, for he finds the demands of his Viper persona has become increasingly taxing.

Alejandro is like no other man that Amanda has met before.  She becomes deeply attracted to his charm and physical presence, but realizes that the world that he comes from is so far from her own Amish background that a romantic relationship between the two of them would be impossible.  She also sees him as Alejandro, and not as Viper, something that means a lot to Alejandro.  Alejandro is attracted to Amanda's honesty and purity, and is also deeply impressed that Amanda doesn't want anything from him.  She doesn't know who he is, or what he has done to achieve his fame, and he feels that he has finally met someone who accepts him as he is, rather than for what he can do for them.  He knows, however, that their time together is limited, and that he will soon leave Amanda behind in Lancaster, even though he is drawn towards her.

Their little idyll comes to a close when someone recognizes who Alejandro is.  He returns to his life in the outside world to protect Amanda and her family from the paparazzi that will inevitably descend upon the place where Viper has apparently been hiding out.  Unfortunately, because of the disparity between Amanda's and Alejandro's backgrounds, the paparazzi is fascinated with Amanda, making life unbearable for her, her family, and her community.  Amanda is told by the ruling bishop of her church that she must leave the area if the press does not leave. What will happen to Amanda if the paparazzi do not leave?  Her prospects are limited, and she cannot escape the press wherever she goes.  Will Alejandro help protect Amanda from being sullied or harmed by influences belonging to his world or will he leave her to make her own way through her troubles?

I found Plain Fame to be fascinating, because I wanted to know if Amanda and Alejandro would act on the attraction between them.  They realize that they are too different from each other, yet find that the other is able to give something that no other has been able to give to the other before.  For Amanda, Alejandro makes her feel beautiful and precious; he constantly calls her, "Princesa," an endearment that means, "Princess" in Spanish.  For Alejandro, Amanda's acceptance of him as a person, rather than as a person whom she could use, helps him to recognize that she is a person whom he can trust.  This is in contrast to all the other people who surround him in his life, which include his manager and his entourage, which did not travel with him to Lancaster.  The book describes several situations in which others have failed him because they were seeking for their own gain, rather than respecting Alejandro's wishes or serving in his best interests.

Amanda comes across as a young woman who holds her faith in the Lord very seriously.  She sometimes finds it difficult to accept certain aspects of the Amish way of living, but manages to hold her tongue even when she may balk internally about the way things are done.  Alejandro says that he is Catholic and a believer, but somehow, his lifestyle doesn't seem to quite match what Amanda expects from a person of faith;  she is quite put out when she discovers that Alejandro has slept with a number of women and when he admits that he has done so, simply because he can.

Plain Fame is the first volume in a series of books about the relationship between Amanda and Alejandro. As of the present, these titles include Plain Change, Plain Again, and Plain Return.  There is also a fifth volume, Plain Choice, but I haven't seen it listed on Amazon yet.  Will Amanda and Alejandro get together and become a couple? If they do, how will their relationship work in the face of their differences?  Is Alejandro truly a believer, or is he someone who knows of Jesus, but does not know Jesus?  Will Amanda compromise her faith in order to be with Alejandro?  It will be interesting to see how those questions will be answered in the rest of the series.     

Disclaimer:  I received an e-copy of Plain Fame from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  All opinions stated in this review are mine.      



   

Review: I Need a Hero by Emma Bennet

This book grabbed my attention for a variety of reasons.  First, the author's name alludes to Jane Austen's work, and she includes references to other Jane-isms in the text.  There's Mr. Darcy, the heroine's cat, and Lord Sebastian Fairfax, one of the men that is a contender for her heart.  Even the heroine's name, Bronte, alludes to other famous authoresses.  Second, the cover of the book also captured my attention.  There is the outline of a carriage, and the positioning of the people on the cover hinted a connection to historicals and regencies.  Finally, I have seen another of Emma Bennet's books on the Amazon list for inspirational literature, although I have not read any of her work before reading, I Need a Hero.  When I saw the book on Net Galley offerings, I decided to bite. 

Despite all its literary allusions and cover, I Need a Hero, actually takes place in contemporary times.  Bronte Huntington, a romance writer, has friend zoned her neighbour, Ryan Murphy, who Bronte perceives as average and uninteresting.  Instead, her romantic attentions have been arrested by Sebastian Fairfax, a bona fide member of the nobility, who rescues her in a similar fashion to Mr. Willoughby's rescue of Marianne from Sense and Sensibility.  He rescues her by horseback (he was riding on his property) after she tumbles down a hill and injures her foot.  Sebastian is dark and mysterious, like the romantic heroes that Bronte writes about.  In fact, he becomes the inspiration for the hero in the novel that she is currently working on.

Her non-Sebastian time is spent with Ryan, who wants to be more than friends with Bronte, but who can't compete with Sebastian.  As Bronte spends time with both men, she discovers that Sebastian is not quite the romantic hero that she thought him to be, and that Ryan is not as boring and average as she thought.  However, she is stubborn, and is unwilling to give up her hopes for a relationship with Sebastian, even though Ryan is looking better and more attractive as the days go by.  Who will Bronte choose?  Will she end up with the self-centered Sebastian, whose social circle is reluctant to accept her, or with Ryan, who is thoughtful, warm, and reliable, and whose mother would love to have Bronte as a future daughter-in-law? 

This novel is secular in nature and Bronte is a gal who has been around the block a few times.  She had been burned in a previous relationship in which the man who she had lived with, and who she expected to marry, bailed on her when she expected to receive a marriage proposal.  She had always known that he wasn't the person for her, but stuck it out nevertheless.  After getting dumped, she decided that she wouldn't take on any guy who didn't meet her expectations of what a hero would look like, and Sebastian seems to fit the bill.  Unfortunately, for poor Ryan, he does not; he's a bit on the short side, he has red hair, and he's a boring dentist.  It becomes obvious who the superior choice is, but Bronte is a bit head strong, and ironically, continues to stick it out for another inappropriate candidate, even though she thinks she knows what a real hero looks like. 

For readers of this blog who are interested in knowing, there are no sex scenes in this book.  The heroine is pressured to have sex with one of the men, but she refuses him.  Bronte also shares a bed for a night with the other man, but does not get physically intimate with him. 

The writing style of this novel didn't quite work for me at certain points of the novel; it felt like it could have used more dialogue and I thought that things could have been shown more to the reader than having it explained through the prose.  However, the plot, although predictable, was quite solid.   I liked how the relationship developed between Bronte and her final choice for a hero.   It was cute how this choice also was reflected in the direction of the novel that Bronte is writing. 

Disclaimer:  I was given an e-copy of "I Need a Hero" by Emma Bennet from NetGalley in exchange for a review.  All opinions stated in this review are mine.