Masterpiece Marriage: Quilts of Love Series

About The Book:  After a flood damages the looms at Zenus Dane’s Philadelphia textile mill and the bank demands loan payment, Zenus turns to his aunt for help repurposing his textiles. Trouble is . . . his aunt has already been hired by the lovely yet secretive Englishwoman Mary Varrs. Eager to acquire his aunt’s quilt patterns, Zenus attends the summer Quilting Bee, a social event his aunt has uniquely designed with the secret purpose of finding Zenus a wife. However Zenus only has eyes for Mary, but Mary has no such desire for him. Though his aunt is determined to design a masterpiece marriage, both Zenus and Mary will have to overcome their stubborn ways. Can he realize that love requires stepping out of his routine? And will she recognize that following her heart doesn’t mean sacrificing her ambition?
About The Author:  Gina Welborn loves watching Community, playing Mario and Zelda with her middle child, and baking anything sweet and tasty in desperation not to hear her children say, "Chef Mom, you've been chopped!" Years ago, Gina worked at a news radio station scripting copy until she realized how depressing human tragedy was. Thus she fell in love with writing romances and now only thinks "It is time for a dead body?" when she's at a lull in her newest manuscript. (Warning: Dead bodies aren't found in Gina's writing.) Gina is a 2009 ACFW GENESIS historical romance finalist and a 2007 RWA GOLDEN HEART® inspirational finalist. She writes lighthearted historicals featuring spunky heroines and wild-at-heart heroes.  For eleven years, this Oklahoma-raised girl lived in Virginia with her youth-pastor husband and their five Okie-Hokie children before they headed back to Oklahoma. Her Barbour novellas can be found in HIGHLAND CROSSINGS, A CASCADES CHRISTMAS, and ECPA-bestselling MISTLETOE MEMORIES. This year ushers in the arrival of her full-length novels: THE HEIRESS'S COURTSHIP, THE MARSHAL'S PURSUIT, and MASTERPIECE MARRIAGE.
My Thoughts On The Book:  I have loved the Quilts of Love series.  This one is no exception.  Gina Welborn does an outstanding job of character and plot development.  I love Mary Varrs and I love Zenus.  This book has it all with intrigue, romance, quilting, and a friend who needs to mind her own business.  I loved it!  The aunt was priceless and was a perfect fit to turn of the century dowagers.  This was an easy read and once I started it I found I had to finish it before putting it down. 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse Publishing, NetGalley Publicity Group and Abingdon Press as part of their Book Review Blogger Programs. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you! 

Quilts of Love Series: Swept Away

About Quilts of Love: Quilts tell stories of love and loss, hope and faith, tradition and new beginnings. The Quilts of Love series focuses on the women who quilted all of these things into their family histories. A new book releases each month and features contemporary and historical romances as well as women's fiction and the occasional light mystery. You will be drawn into the endearing characters of this series and be touched by their stories.

About The Book: Sara doesn't think she wants love. But her grandmother has other plans.

Sara Jane Morgan is trying to balance teaching with caring for her ailing, stubborn grandmother. When school lets out for the summer, the plans are for Grandma to teach Sara Jane to quilt as they finish up the Appalachian Ballad quilt Grandma started as a teenager. But things don't always go as planned.

Andrew Stevenson is hiding from his past---and his future. He works as a handyman to pay the bills, but his heart is as an artisan, designing homemade brooms. When Sara Jane's grandmother hires him to renovate her home, sparks fly between Drew and his new employer's granddaughter.

Still, it doesn't take Sara Jane long to see Drew isn't what he seems. Questions arise, and she starts researching him online. What she discovers could change her life---and her heart---forever.

Learn more about this book and the series at the Quilts of Love website.

About The Authors:  Laura V. Hilton is an award-winning author and a professional book reviewer. A stay-at-home mom and home school teacher, Laura lives with her family in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas. 

Cindy Loven is active in the church and writes from her home in Conway, Arkansas, where she lives with her husband and their son.

 

My Thoughts About The Book:  Swept Away was a book I struggled with.  It was amazing, but the story line of Alzheimers really touched me.   The authors did an amazing  job in character development.  I felt as if I knew each one of them first hand. This book is one of the Quilts of Love collection yet, it is a stand-alone.  I have read all of the series to date and was delighted by each one.  This book contained several crafty ideas that were very interesting.  The ballad quilt drew me in, I am now planning my own ballad quilt for a tune my grandfather used to play called Maggie.  Drew's homemade brooms with the faith connection were such a neat way to weave in the faith part of the story.  I loved the Grandmother best of all.   This is a must read!  Loved it!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse and Abingdon Press as part of their Book Review Blogger Programs. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you! 

The Quilted Heart

About The Book:  Like a beautiful patchwork quilt, the three novellas in The Quilted Heart tell stories of lives stitched together with love and God’s unending grace.
Once a week, Elsa Brantenberg hosts the Saint Charles Quilting Circle at her farmhouse on the outskirts of the riverside town of St. Charles, Missouri. The ladies who gather there have all experienced heartache related to the intense hardships of the Civil War, and together, they are facing their painful circumstances with friendship and prayer. Can the tattered pieces of their hearts be stitched together by God’s grace?

Dandelions on the Wind
When Maren Jensen took a job on Elsa Brantenberg’s St. Charles, Missouri farm, she never expected to call the place her home. As she grows to love Mrs. Brantenberg and her granddaughter, Gabi, Maren is transformed from a lonely mail-order bride-without-a-groom to a beloved member of the Brantenberg household. But when Gabi’s father, Rutherford “Wooly” Wainwright, returns to the farm unexpectedly, everything changes for Maren, and she feels compelled to find another job. Are her choices in obedience to God, or is she running from His plan?

Bending Toward the Sun
Dedicated to her education and to helping her father in his general store, Emilie Heinrich is convinced she doesn't have time for love. But when a childhood friend returns to St. Charles, Missouri, after serving in the Civil War, his smile and charm captures Emilie’s eye and her heart. Will she be forced to choose between honoring her father and a future with a husband and family of her own?

Ripples Along the Shore
Change is brewing in St. Charles. A group of brave souls are preparing to head west on the Boone's Lick Wagon Train, led by the mysterious and handsome Garrett Cowlishaw, who served as a Confederate soldier in the war that killed Caroline’s husband. Despite her dislike for him, Caroline is tempted to join the wagon train and start fresh somewhere new, but when Mr. Cowlishaw forbids her—a single woman—to travel with them, will one man’s prejudice destroy Caroline’s hope for a new future? Or will the ripples of God’s love bring the answer she needs?

- See more at: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com

About The Author: Mona Hodgson is the author of nearly 40 books, historical novels for adults and children’s books, including her popular Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek Series, The Quilted Heart novellas, and Prairie Song. Her children’s books include bestseller, Bedtime in the Southwest, Real Girls of the Bible: A 31-Day Devotional. six desert and princess Zonderkidz I Can Read books, six I Wonder books, and more.  Mona’s writing credits also include several hundred articles, poems and short stories, which have appeared in 50 different publications. Mona is a speaker for women’s groups, book clubs and reading groups, schools, and conferences for writers and librarians.  Read more about Mona and her books at http://monahodgson.com

My Thoughts On The Book:  If you are a lover of the Civil War Era then this book is for you.    Do you enjoy reading about womanly friendships than reach across decades?  If you do then you will love this book. You cannot help but fall in love with the three women in the book who travel west together and overcome the things in their lives that seem unfair.  Life was not easy for any of these women and along their way west they experienced many difficulties. As someone who loves quilts and would love to learn to quilt I found the three novellas a quilt of sorts. It is the story of three women whose lives are woven together into a life quilt.  I loved it.  This is my kind of reading and I cannot wait for Hodgson's next book.   

Disclaimer:  I received this book free from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”  Thanks guys for allowing me this opportunity!

Aloha Rose: From the Quilts of Love Series

 

About the book: When Laney Carrigan's adoptive parents encourage her as an adult to seek out her birth family, her only clue is the Lokelani quilt in which she was found wrapped as an infant. Centering her search on the Big Island, she battles fears of rejection from a family that abandoned her once before while her faith struggles to embrace God's love.Along the path to her true heritage, she meets Hawaiian cowboy/helicopter pilot, Kai Barnes. Kai is determined to protect the people he's come to regard as family against a woman he suspects of being nothing more than a gold-digger, but he finds himself drawn to Laney in spite of his reservations. He's spent his entire life seeking forgiveness from past mistakes and longs for a second chance at happiness. Laney's painstaking journey to find restoration and a place to belong among the breathtaking allure of the Big Island will lead her closer to her past and maybe even something more.
Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/qKmVW

Meet the author: Lisa Carter has been published in MomSense and Christian Parenting Today. Lisa is currently teaching music at a preschool and enjoying the enthusiasm and joy for life for which preschoolers are famous. She and David have two beautiful daughters.  Find out more at: http://www.quiltsoflovebooks.com

My Thoughts About The Book:  I loved the characters in this book.  My most favorite were Kai and Laney. Both of them had dark childhood issues and I found myself hoping the two would find peace with their pasts and learn to accept love. Carter is a master with character development and I found I was hooked from the very first chapter. This book is more than a love story, it is a story of hope, love, and finding keys to the past. 

Disclaimer:  I received a complimentary copy of this book from Litfuse Publishing Group  in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.