The Indebted Earl by Erica Vetsch {giveaway}

The Indebted Earl by Erica Vetsch is one of my most anticipated books of 2021. I feel terrible that I've been ill lately (sinus and ear infections) that have launched me into a huge reading slump right when I wanted to enjoy this little beauty.

I am determined to crack out of the slump, and The Indebted Earl is bound to be the book to do it. The first two books in the Serendipity & Secrets trilogy were spectacular and right up my alley, so I've got really high hopes for this story.

Be on the lookout for my review later this week, right here on Writing to Inspire.

I've got a jam-packed article for you today, and there's going to be some spill-over. I was given so many great tidbits for this blog tour! I just want to use it all. There's a neat Q&A that I'm going to post with my review later in the week. Be sure to come back for that. As for today's article, we've got a really great interview from author Erica Vetsch -- and it includes what's coming up next after The Indebted Earl.

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Our Good and Sovereign God Works in Mysterious Ways

Erica Vetsch offers readers a marriage-of-convenience story that is sure to delight.

Grand Rapids, MI — Erica Vetsch brings her much beloved Serendipity & Secrets series to a close with the highly anticipated release of The Indebted Earl (Kregel Publications/March 23, 2021/ISBN: 9780825446191/$15.99). This latest installment tells the story of Lady Sophia Haverly, the free-spirited and energetic younger sister of Marcus Haverly readers will remember from The Gentleman Spy, and Captain Charles Wyvern, a longtime naval officer trying to find his footing on dry land.

The Black Midnight by Kathleen Y'Barbo {book review}

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review. These are my honest thoughts.

 

Jack the Ripper has fascinated and baffled people for nearly a hundred fifty years. It’s no surprise that this serial killer was featured in a book in the True Colors series about true crime stories.

This was a pretty good story and kept me intrigued most of the time. The reason I lowered my rating from four stars to three was that history was altered simply for the sake of creating a “better” or “more picturesque” setting. The snowy, slushy scenes that created such beautiful atmosphere during which two of the murders took place? Yeah, that snow happened the year before the murders in real life, which was freely admitted in the author’s note at the end of the book. This is a huge pet peeve for me. If the details were researchable, why alter them? Having lived in Texas my whole life, I’m very familiar with how rare snow is in this state. Since it’s so rare, when we get a good snowfall, it’s memorable to the point of remembering which year it was or how old we were when we got it. It’s disappointing to me that this was disregarded for the sake of a story.

The speculation about who might or might not have been Jack the Ripper or the Midnight Assassin did not bother me. These crimes have been long speculated (for nearly a century and a half), so it makes sense that any author writing about the crimes, whether fiction or non, would have to speculate at least a bit, along with doing a ton of research, to make the finale of an unsolved crime believable, even if it ends on an unfinished note (due to the crimes’ having never been solved in real life). This speculation was handled really well and in a realistic way.

I liked that the leading lady was a royal working undercover. Y’all, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that done in a book before! Maybe there are others out there, and I would be interested in hearing your recommendations, because I found this incredibly fun and highly entertaining.

The Lost Lieutenant by Erica Vetsch {book review}

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and JustRead Tours. These are my honest thoughts.

How do I even begin?

I was a little nervous going in to this one. See, I’d only read a couple of westerns by Mrs. Vetsch. Sometimes the quality of books, the attention to detail, lags a bit in the first book exploring a new genre for an author. Rest assured, my friends, that was not at all the case with this author. This Regency era novel perfectly captured the time period, including the settings, costumes, and the hierarchy of the British nobility.

The people populating this fictional world Mrs. Vetsch created were fantastic, even those I found rightfully abhorrent. From the leads (Diana and Evan) to the supporting characters (Louisa, Shand, Marcus, Cian, and Beth) to the antagonists (who I’ll keep secret for you to discover for yourself), they each brought something important and unique to the story. Because their personalities popped off the page so well, I was completely engrossed in their journeys, good and bad and every twist and turn in between. Of course, the hope for certain somebodies to find their fictional comeuppance kept me flipping those virtual pages quickly. But it was the hope strung throughout that kept my heart so intimately connected to the journey of the leads to the very end.

Never Say Goodbye by Sarah Grace Grzy {book review + giveaway}

Graphic Credit: Victoria Lynn Designs

Y’all, let me catch my breath!

Sniffle, sniffle, dry my eyes.

All right.

Ahem. This review may be a hot mess. Why? you wonder. I’ll tell you.

This book wrecked me.

Oh, it’s in a great way, believe me, but I’m still wrecked! You see, this book sort of sneaked up on me. It was gallivanting along in a lighthearted, contemporary romance kind of way… and then BOOM! All these emotional things started happening, and they all made sense in the plot and everything, but they blindsided me. Completely blindsided me.

They shouldn’t have. I should have seen them coming. I’m a writer too, for goodness’ sake! But I did not see a certain couple of plot twists coming at all, and they waylaid me. Hard!

Even as it was happening and tears were gushing out of my eyeballs, I was happy about it. Truly, I was. Even as I was fretting for the beloved characters who’d crept into my heart when I wasn’t looking, I was grateful that a talented author had dug in deep and delivered the tough but very good stuff.

Dark Ambitions by Irene Hannon

Hey, friends! So sorry this is coming to you a day later than expected. We had a wicked storm here Sunday night with scary fireworks-like sparks coming off a couple of power lines that were smacking against each other. Terrifying stuff, really. Thankfully, God kept the sparks from catching the tree or any rooftops on fire. Yesterday, the power company sent guys out, and they fixed the wires so that hopefully this problem won't happen again.

Now, back to regular programming...

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell Reads. A positive review was not required. These are my honest thoughts.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this story. It was quite the intriguing mystery featuring high stakes, politics written well (and I’m tough to please on that front), and plenty of twists and turns along the storyline.

Positives:

The mysterious scene at the camp near the beginning was fantastic. It pulled in my interest and set the bar for the suspense vibes for the remainder of the story. I had hoped this was a sign the camp would play an integral role in the plot, but I ended up not missing it until about two thirds of the way in, so that speaks to the pace and twists being strong enough to keep me invested through the lack of focus on the camp.

Live Without You by Sarah Grace Grzy + Giveaway!

Beautiful Debut

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Victoria Lynn Designs. A positive review was not required. These are my honest thoughts.

What’s worth risking your heart?

That’s a powerful theme in Sarah Grace Grzy’s debut book, Live Without You. The characters face it many times throughout the story, but the reader does as well.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about Piper’s and Ezra’s journeys was the faith thread. For each character, it was a little different, but both grew well into deeper belief. That, in a story, always gives me great hope that such incredible spiritual growth is possible each day. Sometimes it feels like my own growth is by inches; other times, it feels bigger, stronger. It’s especially nice to read books that deal with faith conquering fears, because I’ve personally lived that out and know just how strengthening it is – not because of my own strength, or the characters’, but because of God’s strength working in us. That was beautifully displayed in this book.

Waiting for Wonder by Marlo Schalesky - Blog Tour + Giveaway!

by Andrea Renee Cox

Waiting.

Not the easiest thing to do. I’m not sure anyone would call it their favorite thing. But even in the fast-food and social-media era we live in, waiting is a necessary thing.

I’ve struggled with impatience my entire life. Over the years, I’ve prayed for patience, going against advice from lots of different people. But asking God for patience was something He had asked me to do, so I followed through. And He followed through. He’s faithful like that, you know. If we ask for something in accordance to His will, He is faithful to give it to us. I’m walking proof of that now.

The timing of reading Waiting for Wonder by Marlo Schalesky could only be God-ordained. He sent me this book as confirmation that what He’d been teaching me through my tutoring and editing jobs, as well as my personal growth, was that patience truly is a virtue and one worth asking for. It’s a gift worth fighting for. Yes, it’s a fight. To tame that impatience within our souls. To learn to rely on God’s guidance and especially His timing.

Be My Guest and *Giveaway*: Beth K. Vogt

by Andrea Renee Cox

One of the books on my summer reading list was the newly released Almost Like Being in Love by Beth K. Vogt. It's a fun beach read (not that I was on a beach, but a girl can daydream, right?) that delves into a couple of deep topics.

Here today is the author of this novel. Stay tuned after the interview for some *giveaway* news.

Andrea: One of the supporting characters in Almost Like Being in Love is a double amputee with a great sense of humor. Why did you choose to feature this particular disability? What were some of the challenges in writing such an interesting character as Mitch?

Be My Guest: Lisa Wingate

by Andrea Renee Cox

Every book requires research. Authors generally learn way more during their research than they ever share in their novels. During the discovery phase, sometimes there are interesting finds that just have to make it into the author's work-in-progress. Lisa Wingate is here to share one such tidbit that she uncovered while researching her latest book, The Sea Keeper's Daughters.

New Novel Unearths America's Hidden Treasure

by Lisa Wingate

      Caught in the age of worldwide connectivity, many of us don’t realize that only scant decades ago, our parents and grandparents experienced a very different America. Its faces and stories might have quietly faded into history, but for a little-known program that charged average Americans with recording the stories of their communities.