Category: romance

#bookreview: #Dreamland by #NicholasSparks

BonnieReadsAndWrites14 Comments

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

Colby Mills once felt destined for a musical career, until tragedy grounded his aspirations. Now the head of a small family farm in North Carolina, he spontaneously takes a gig playing at a bar in St. Pete Beach, Florida, seeking a rare break from his duties at home.
 
But when he meets Morgan Lee, his world is turned upside-down, making him wonder if the responsibilities he has shouldered need to dictate his life forever. The daughter of affluent Chicago doctors, Morgan has graduated from a prestigious college music program with the ambition to move to Nashville and become a star. Romantically and musically, she and Colby complete each other in a way that neither has ever known.
 
While they are falling headlong in love, Beverly is on a heart-pounding journey of another kind. Fleeing an abusive husband with her six-year-old son, she is trying to piece together a life for them in a small town far off the beaten track. With money running out and danger seemingly around every corner, she makes a desperate decision that will rewrite everything she knows to be true.
 
In the course of a single unforgettable week, two young people will navigate the exhilarating heights and heartbreak of first love. Hundreds of miles away, Beverly will put her love for her young son to the test. And fate will draw all three people together in a web of life-altering connections . . . forcing each to wonder whether the dream of a better life can ever survive the weight of the past.

BOOK REVIEW

I’m really torn on this one. I enjoyed the love story, and I don’t always enjoy love stories. It was written really well, as all of Sparks’ books are. However, it employs a plot device that I absolutely hate and which I personally feel is a copout. Thus I cannot give it more than three stars.

I cannot go into the plot device too much without providing spoilers, but this particular device just ends up making me mad. This has great characters and a great story, but I ultimately felt cheated by that particular tactic. Others may not have a problem with it at all.

If you want to see more about my issue with this book, here is my Goodreads review. On Goodreads, spoilers can be hidden. So, if you wish to go to the review and unhide the spoilers, you will see what I’m talking about.

I received a copy of this book from Random House via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone.

BUY LINKS

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Google | Kobo

Blog Tour and Spotlight: Goodbye Orchid and Orchid Blooming

BonnieReadsAndWrites3 Comments

*Not a book review

BOOK DESCRIPTION: Goodbye Orchid

Can love blossom after life changes in an instant?

One July morning in Manhattan, handsome athlete and entrepreneur Phoenix Walker accompanies his love, half-Asian beauty Orchid, to the airport.

Neither believes today is goodbye.

But after she leaves, disaster strikes. Phoenix wakes in the hospital, broken, forever changed. He longs for Orchid but remembers the tragedy in her past that makes her panic over images of trauma. 

Now, he’s faced with the hardest decision of his life. Does he burden the woman whose traumatic childhood makes him feel protective of her? Or does true love mean leaving her without explaining why?

BOOK DESCRIPTION: Orchid Blooming

Kind and generous, twenty-seven-year-old Orchid Paige will never forget that day. Living as best she can after witnessing her parents’ fatal accident, the beauty industry marketer yearns to win a promotion to China to connect to her mom’s ancestry. But with competition fierce, she despairs she’ll never make the grade… until she meets an encouraging man who makes her feel safe despite her usual distrust.

After Orchid convinces the handsome entrepreneur to let her gain experience at his nonprofit project, she’s determined to keep their relationship professional and ignore their powerful attraction. But when working on his military ad campaign for veterans triggers her own unresolved PTSD, she fears her confident mentor may be too good to be true even if she could trust him with her heart.

Can she conquer her vulnerabilities before she loses her chance at forever?

Orchid Blooming is the captivating first book in the Goodbye, Orchid contemporary fiction series. If you like complex characters overcoming trauma, heart-warming stories, and compassionate connections, then you’ll adore award-winning author Carol Van Den Hende’s emotionally satisfying page-turner.

AWARDS FOR THIS SERIES

ORCHIDBLOOMING HONORS –

■ 2022 International Book Award Finalist: Women’s Fiction and Multicultural Fiction

■ 2022 Beach Book Festival General Fiction Honorable Mention

■ 2022 New York Book Festival General Fiction Honorable Mention

■ 2022 July International Impact Award Multicultural Fiction

■ 2022 Summer Outstanding Creator Awards Grand Prize Honorable Mention; 2nd Place Women’s Fiction, Multicultural, Romance, and Drama; 3rd Place Literary & Contemporary Fiction; Honorable Mention Best Couple

■ 2022 Hollywood Book Festival Honorable Mention General Fiction

Or 

Goodbye Orchid Honors-

■2020 American Fiction Award WINNER urban fiction

■2020 Pinnacle Achievement Award WINNER multicultural fiction

■2020 Outstanding Fiction IAN Book Award for Best New Novel 50-80K words

■2020 Royal Dragonfly Award WINNER Cover Design and Special Needs/Disability Awareness

■2020 New York Book Festival General Fiction Honorable Mention

■2020 Best Book Award Finalist: Best New Fiction and Fiction: General 

2021 Chanticleer International Book Chatelaine Award 1st Place Winner

■The Write Review Top 2020 Favorite

■In D’Tale Magazine Crowned Heart 5-stars

■Audiobook Reviewer 2020 New Author of the Year

And more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carol Van Den Hende is an award-winning author who pens stories of resilience and hope. Her novels “Orchid Blooming” and “Goodbye, Orchid” have been awarded more than 20 times, winning the 2020 American Fiction Award for urban fiction, 2020 Pinnacle Achievement Award for multicultural fiction, IAN Outstanding Fiction for Best New Novel, Best Book Finalist, Royal Dragonfly Award, Audiobook Reviewer Author of the Year. Plus, “Goodbye, Orchid” has been named one of the most anticipated fall reads by Buzzfeed, Parade, and Travel+Leisure, one of The Write Review’s Top Books of 2020 and has been featured in Glamour, Bookstr, Frolic, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, DIYMFA, WABC Radio among others. The Pulpwood Queens selected Goodbye Orchid as a 2022 Bonus Book-of-the-Month.

She’s also a speaker, strategist, Board member and Climate Reality Leader. One secret to her good fortune? Her humorous husband, fun-loving twins, and rescue cat, who prove that love really does conquer all.

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Carol’s Social Media: Instagram | Twitter

BUY LINKS (Click on the covers to buy on Amazon)

QUESTION FOR THE READERS: The main themes of these contemporary romances are: Orchid Blooming: Dealing with PTSD and Goodbye Orchid: Sacrificing your happiness for the one you love. Have you enjoyed books with these themes in the past?

Book Review: The Duchess of Idaho #OregonTrail #TimeTravel

BonnieReadsAndWrites4 Comments

This is another book that I reviewed for The Historical Novel Society, although I added the second to last paragraph for this blog after publication.

Grace Wentworth’s parents, James and Sarah, share a bond so close that nobody can truly fathom it, not even their daughter. Grace also senses they are keeping a secret that involves her in some way. And then there are her vivid dreams of the past. When Grace goes to visit her grandmother’s farm in Idaho, the mysteries begin to reveal themselves. This is the fifth book in The Loving Husband series. It can be read as a standalone.

This is a fascinating mashup of history, time travel, and the paranormal that will keep you guessing. It starts in present-day California and Idaho and then goes back in time to the Oregon Trail in 1850. There is a strong cast of characters that surrounds Grace in every time and place.  The history of the Oregon Trail is well-researched, and the danger, monotony, and sadness of the trail are well portrayed. Magical friends in both timelines help Grace in her search to understand the truth. Secrets are revealed, and the veil between the real and magical worlds becomes thinner than ever. This is a unique and compelling mix of history and the supernatural that will captivate and sometimes surprise the reader.

As always the method of time travel is important, and this book uses an object fairly well. The rules of time travel in this book seem to be governed by love, the paranormal, and “souls connecting across time.” That’s not my favorite trope, but it’s common in time travel romance. My rating is 3.8 stars.

I received a free copy of this book from Copperfield Press via The Historical Novel Society. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Meredith Allard is the author of the beloved bestselling paranormal historical Loving Husband Trilogy. Her sweet Victorian romance, When It Rained at Hembry Castle, was named a best historical novel by IndieReader. Her other books include Christmas at Hembry Castle; Down Salem Way, the prequel to the Loving Husband Trilogy set around the Salem Witch Trials; Victory Garden, a novel of the American women’s suffrage movement; Woman of Stones, a novella of Biblical Jerusalem; That You Are Here, a contemporary sweet romance; The Window Dresser and Other Stories; and Painting the Past: A Guide for Writing Historical Fiction. When she isn’t writing she’s teaching writing, and she has taught writing to students ages five to 75. She loves books, cats, and coffee, though not always in that order. Her latest release is The Duchess of Idaho, a time-travel romance set on the Oregon Trail. She lives in the hills of Southern Nevada near Las Vegas. Visit Meredith’s website here.

Follow Meredith on Facebook.

BUY LINKS

Amazon | Amazon UK | Google

#AudiobookReview A Bookshop Christmas

BonnieReadsAndWrites7 Comments

BOOK DESCRIPTION

A snowstorm. A stranger. A spark. It should be the perfect start to the perfect love story.

But real life is far messier and more complicated than in the pages of the books in Megan Taylor’s family bookshop – the last few years have left this young widow in no doubt of that. Moving back home to York should have been a fresh start, but all it did was allow her to retreat from the world.

When prize-winning author Xander Stone rams his supermarket trolley into her ankles and then trashes her taste in books, Megan is abruptly awoken from her self-imposed hibernation. It’s time to start living again, and she’s going to start by putting this arrogant, superior – admittedly sexy – stranger in his place.

Just as she is beginning to enjoy life again, the worst happens and Megan begins to wonder if she should have stayed hidden away. Because it turns out that falling in love again is about more than just meeting under the mistletoe…

Audiobook Review

Three years after her husband’s death, Megan is still trying to move forward. On top of that, her bookshop is struggling and she’s not sure it’s going to make it. When famous novelist Xander Stone agrees to do a book signing at her shop, she is thrilled. But his rudeness and condescending manner do not bode well for the event. Angered by Xander’s scorn towards romance novels, Megan invites him to her book club and begins to see a different side of Xander Stone.

This is a sometimes light romance that, interestingly enough, pokes fun at some romance tropes while simultaneously introducing many of those tropes into the actual book. There are several nods to Jane Austen and some poignant discussions of the financial plight of bookstores right now. I’m not sure this transports me completely to the Christmas season, as I think most of the book could have taken place at any time of the year and I didn’t completely feel the holiday spirit.

I have some problems with Xander, the most important of which is that he has a pattern throughout the book of suddenly becoming rude and extremely verbally abusive out of the blue, with no warning. It happens more than once, and the explanation for it is not good enough. I also don’t like the name Xander as a shortened form of Alexander. It sounds like a little boy’s name. But considering his behavior and penchant for temper tantrums, maybe it’s fitting.

The other characters are likable and the narrator, Laura Brydon, does a good job differentiating between all the characters and bringing their personalities alive. This takes my rating from two stars to three.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Saga Egmont Audio. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

NOTE: The first cover is the cover of the audiobook. The second cover is the cover of the Kindle edition. I prefer the audiobook cover. What do you think?

ANOTHER NOTE: I’m annoyed that a book with an abusive main character has 1500 ratings on Amazon and over a 4-star average while much better books struggle for an audience.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Burton has been making up stories for as long as she can remember and always dreamed of being a writer until life somehow got in the way. After reading for a degree in Classics and another in English Literature she accidentally fell into a career in law, but eventually managed to write her first book on her lunch breaks. She loves words, Shakespeare, tea, The Beatles, dresses with pockets and very tall romantic heroes (not necessarily in that order) and lives with her husband and two cats in Yorkshire. A Bookshop Christmas was a finalist in the RNA Romantic Novel Awards 2022.

BUY LINKS

AMAZON | AMAZON UK

Blog Tour and Book Review: Truly Madly Amy #Bookouture

BonnieReadsAndWrites8 Comments

BOOK DESCRIPTION

We all remember that one magical summer that changed our lives.

For Joe, it’s 1999. School is over, and with zero idea of what he’s meant to do for the rest of his life, he’s reluctantly accepted a job at the local summer camp. Anything to drown out the sharp grief of missing his dad and move on from what school calls his ‘anger problems’. But getting screamed at by hyperactive ten-year-olds is almost enough to make him quit on day one.

Almost.

Then he sees Amy Ashworth for the very first time, her black hair shining in the sun – and learns that nothing hits harder than first love.

She’s the only person he knows who reads for fun, or who’s seen Titanic fourteen times. But there’s another side to Amy. Soon, she’s the only person he’s ever been to a wild house party with, or kissed under the twinkling stars. It’s the happiest Joe has ever been… until the terrible day when what’s left of his family fractures into a million pieces.

Caught up in Amy’s whirlwind, Joe can’t bring himself to tell the truth about his life. Would his dad have wanted him to fight for the girl he loves, or protect his family, no matter what?

Only one thing is certain: this is the summer Joe will grow up. But when he looks back decades later, will he be ashamed of his choices? And will Amy still be by his side?

Heart-warming, hilarious, nostalgic, and bittersweet, Truly, Madly, Amy explores first loves, last chances, and the summers that shape us. Perfect for fans of David Nicholls, Mike Gayle, and anyone who remembers the carefree days of being just sixteen, when the world was full of possibility.

BOOK REVIEW

This is a coming-of-age story about a life-changing summer, when Joe, still reeling from the death of his father, meets Amy at camp and she opens his eyes to new possibilities. It’s also about the whammy of first love. Joe’s struggles to handle his anger and the stress of his family life while also wanting to change his behavior and future are so well written. The relationship between Joe and Amy and the way she opens him up to new possibilities is touching. The fact that they read Little Women together is endearing.

Does Joe give in to his old patterns or reach for something new? Can you become a new person in six weeks? What is growing up all about? This book will explore all of that through a nostalgic trip to the late 1990’s and an unforgettable first love. Do you love coming-of-age romances? Check this one out.

I received a free copy of this book from Bookouture via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.

KERRY’S SOCIAL MEDIA

FACEBOOK | WEBSITE

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BUY LINKS

Amazon | Amazon UK

AUDIOBOOK:

UK
US 

Listen to a sample here:

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#AudioBookReview: The Summer of Christmas

BonnieReadsAndWrites11 Comments

Ivy Green is returning home after five years, but only because Hollywood has decided to film her Christmas screenplay in her hometown, and in the middle of summer! Also coming along for the ride is her boyfriend and future live-in Drew, who is the producer. What Ivy doesn’t count on is that her ex-boyfriend Nick, who she killed off in the screenplay, will be involved in the movie too. Not only are some of the scenes being filmed in Nick’s vineyard, but the lead actress seems to have a crush on him.

This sounded like a fun listen–Christmas in the Summer–but there are some things that did not work for me. The main character is 30 years old, but the dialogue and the narrator make her sound as if she’s in high school. The sex scenes are cringeworthy and could have been left out. The point of view sometimes changing to some of the lesser characters was off-putting. The romance between Nick’s mother and the movie set caterer is cute, but when Nick wishes it was just a one-night stand instead of love, that puzzled me. No son wants that for his mother. I felt the whole thing went on a bit long, with the same things happening over and over.

The characterization of the movie as a “career-maker” and a blockbuster did not match the description of the movie itself, which sounded more like a tv movie or Hallmark movie. I did think the ending was stronger than the rest of the book. The narration was acceptable overall. As I mentioned before I felt like Ivy’s voice was more high school than adult. The narration of the rest of the characters was fine. Overall, it’s an average rom-com with a decent ending and a lot of awkward and unnecessary moments in between. The “Christmas in Summer” theme was well conveyed.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from Dreamscape Media via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Juliet Giglio is an associate professor of screenwriting at SUNY Oswego. Keith Giglio is a professor of screenwriting at Syracuse University. Their produced films include most recently Christmas in Tune, Dear Christmas, A Very Nutty Christmas, and Christmas Reservations. Their other credits include Disney’s Tarzan, Pizza My Heart, Return to Halloweentown, Joshua, and A Cinderella Story.

BUY LINKS

Amazon | Google | Kobo

Blog Tour and Book Review: Outcast

BonnieReadsAndWrites5 Comments

BOOK DESCRIPTION

In 1945 Molly Hazleton is heartbroken when her fiancé doesn’t return from the war after being reported “missing in action.” So when Aunt Daphne comes to visit with news of having bought a 17th century manor house at auction in Scotland, Molly welcomes the opportunity to start afresh and help her aunt turn Aberdoch Manor into a hotel.

With a strange sense of déjà vu, Molly struggles to understand her connection with the property having never stepped foot inside of it or even Scotland for that matter. Ross McDaniel, the newly appointed gardener, knows more than he is letting on. And when he shows Molly an ancient yew tree named by the locals as the Ghost Tree, after touching it, Molly discovers a remarkable ability to vividly see and experience her own past life – a life of extreme danger and hardship on the road with the Jacobite in 1745, hunted by the Red Coats for crimes she hasn’t committed. She is also in love with a brave, Scot warrior, leader of the McDaniel clan who soon becomes her husband.

Stirring up forgotten memories and an uncontrollable yearning to be back with those she once loved, Molly is hopelessly torn between very different worlds, two hundred years apart!

BOOK REVIEW

This is a really intriguing historical romance set in 1745 during the Jacobite rebellion and in 1945 after World War II. The back and forth between Ella’s life during the Jacobite Uprising and Molly’s life after World War II is well done. The connection between the lives of Ella and Molly is very well done, and the use of a yew tree is brilliant.

I tend to look at this as more of a “past life” romance than a “time travel” romance, which is a good thing, as I have high expectations of time travel novels–my favorite genre–and time travel romances usually don’t hold my interest. However, I was completely captivated by this book. I loved the use of the yew tree to draw Molly into her past life, and I loved all the historical references from the Jacobite uprising in 1745 and post-war Britain in 1945. It was a pleasure to read. Outcast is a well-researched, cleverly plotted, and gorgeously written dual timeline historical romance. I look forward to a sequel.

I received a free copy of this book via Zooloo’s Book Tours. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Claire Voet is an English author, born in Gosport across the shores of Portsmouth Harbour. Claire started writing in 2010 and has since then written a number of books, including The Ghost of Bluebell Cottage, The Other Daddy A World Away, Captain Hawkes, short story A Helping Hand, Echoes In The Mist and the Outcast series.

Claire demonstrates her love for history and also the supernatural in many of her spellbinding stories.

As a commercial participator for the BBC Children in Need Appeal, Claire donates money from her book sales once a year.


Website : www.clairevoet.com

BUY LINKS

Amazon | Amazon UK

Book Review: The Beach Trap by Ali Brady #family #rejection #reconciliation

BonnieReadsAndWrites8 Comments

Blake and Kat meet at camp as 12-year-olds and quickly bond, promising to be best friends forever. But then Kat’s dad arrives to pick her up and Blake quickly realizes that this is her Dad too, and she was part of her dad’s secret family up until her mother died. Finding out they were sisters does not make Kat happy. Instead, she becomes angry and never talks to Blake again–until their father dies 15 years later and leaves them both a beach house.

This is both a heartwarming and heartbreaking read, as Blake deals with decades of rejection and Kat confronts misplaced anger. Of the two romances, the one with Blake and Noah is more in-depth and interesting. The sisters are well portrayed, with social media influencer Kat a perfect contrast to her down-to-earth, dogsitting half-sister. Another theme is introduced, as Blake is wading into the uncertain and expensive waters of finding care for her grandfather, who is experiencing dementia. The beach setting is perfectly cozy, and home renovation is a popular topic that many readers will enjoy. Full of family, secrets, and the pain of rejection, this is a great summer read.

I received a free copy of this book from Berkley Publishing via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ali Brady is the pen name of writing BFFs Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey. THE BEACH TRAP is their first book together. Alison lives in Chicago where she works as a creative director for an advertising agency. She has published two solo books, YOU AND ME AND US and LITTLE PIECES OF ME. Bradeigh lives in Utah with her husband and four children. She works as a doctor, and her solo debut, IMPOSTER is forthcoming.

BUY LINKS

Amazon | Apple Books | Google | Kobo | Amazon UK

Book Review: Suspects by #DanielleSteel

BonnieReadsAndWrites8 Comments

Theodora Morgan is a fashion icon, but has been mostly in seclusion since her billionaire husband, Matthieu, and their son Axel were kidnapped and murdered a year before. She is slowly beginning to attend events at some of her pop-up stores, but maintains a behind-the-scenes profile. Mike Andrews is a CIA operative investigating Pierre De Vaumont, a social networker with Russian contacts. When Mike and Theo meet, they have a connection, but she has no idea of the danger she is in or the real reason Mike came into her life.

This is a riveting story that is all at once sad, thrilling, and hopeful. The romance between Theo and Mike is well done, and the CIA thriller aspect of this novel is compelling. The main characters instantly draw the reader in and the book is filled with intrigue.

I noticed something when reading this book that made me smile. All of the writing manuals, classes, and guides always say “Show, don’t tell. Don’t just tell the story. Show it in dialogue. ” Well, I would say 75% of this story is telling, not showing, but it doesn’t matter. It’s captivating, compelling, and moving. The characters are believable and I connected with them immediately. It completely works. And it made me realize that most or all of the books that I’ve read by Ms. Steel have been written this way. That old adage that “rules are made to be broken” stands true here. This style works for Danielle Steel, as many millions of her readers will attest. It is a good lesson for writers to remember. If you want to write in a way that may break a few rules, and it works for you, go for it. Fans of romantic thrillers and of Danielle Steel will greatly enjoy this one.

I received a free copy of this book from Random House via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Danielle Steel has been hailed as one of the world’s most popular authors, with nearly a billion copies of her novels sold. Her recent many international bestsellers include Against All Odds, The Duchess and The Right Time. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death; A Gift of Hope, a memoir of her work with the homeless; and the children’s books Pretty Minnie in Paris and Pretty Minnie in Hollywood. Danielle divides her time between Paris and her home in northern California.

BUY LINKS

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Google | Kobo

Blog Tour and Book Review: Dark Blue Waves #TimeTravel #JaneAusten

BonnieReadsAndWrites7 Comments

*Book review at the bottom of the page.

Dark Blue Waves by Kimberly Sullivan

Publication Date: May 27, 2022 Genre: Time Travel Romance/Regency     When you wake up in Bath, England two hundred years in the past, how far can a love of Jane Austen get you? Janet Roberts dreams of an academic career in literature, so she can hardly believe her good fortune when she’s accepted into a Jane Austen graduate seminar in Bath, England. Settled in Georgian splendor among her seminar colleagues, Janet and her classmates live, eat and breathe Jane Austen. An accident interrupts this idyll when Janet regains consciousness in her own room—back in Regency England. For a scholar of nineteenth-century literature, this should be a dream come true. But Janet quickly learns there’s a world of difference between scholarly knowledge of the written page and maneuvering real life as a reluctant time traveler. Her burgeoning friendship with Emma Huntington eases her entrée into nineteenth-century society. However, Emma’s brother, the handsome, proud and frustratingly magnetic Sir Edward, is far less welcoming. While desperately attempting to make sense of her dilemma, Janet treads a thin line between trying to blend into her new world and not being unmasked as the imposter she is. Can she find the way to return to her twenty-first century life before her secret is discovered? After working so hard to create a rewarding nineteenth-century life for herself, does she even want to?

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Praise

“Sullivan has crafted a detailed and immersive time-traveling romance populated with colorful characters and plot twists that would make Jane Austen proud.” -IndieReader Review “A transporting drama of love, desire, and hope. Sullivan’s deft, assured narrative is interwoven with wry humor and shrewd observations as she delves into love, passion, courage, integrity, honor, duty, and sacrifice. The assured prose, visceral images, and sharp dialogue create a suitably period feel, and the swift plot advances unpredictably. Janet is an endearing heroine, and her inner turmoil at the core of the story is beautifully conveyed. Steeped in period feeling and written with intelligence and authenticity, this time-travel tale makes for a winner.” -The Prairies Book Review “A captivating story about finding love and discovering where you belong. Sullivan’s novel is absolutely enchanting, and it’s a joy to see Janet reassess her contemporary prejudices, offering a compelling take on both the time period and on period literature. Dark Blue Waves is an effortlessly charming novel about following your heart, which is recommended for all fans of Austen and historical romance.” -Self-Publishing Review

About the Author

Kimberly grew up in the suburbs of Boston and in Saratoga Springs, New York, although she now calls the Harlem neighborhood of New York City home when she’s back in the US. She studied political science and history at Cornell University and earned her MBA, with a concentration in strategy and marketing, from Bocconi University in Milan. Afflicted with a severe case of Wanderlust, she worked in journalism and government in the US, Czech Republic and Austria, before settling down in Rome, where she works in international development, and writes fiction any chance she gets. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA) and The Historical Novel Society and has published several short stories and two novels: Three Coins and Dark Blue Waves. After years spent living in Italy with her Italian husband and sons, she’s fluent in speaking with her hands, and she loves setting her stories in her beautiful, adoptive country.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, June 27 Feature at Bookworlder Review at Gwendalyn’s Books Tuesday, June 28 Guest Post at The Romance Book Fairy Wednesday, June 29 Review at Booking with Janelle Thursday, June 30 Excerpt at Books Blog Review at Bonnie Reads and Writes Friday, July 1 Review at Books, Writings, and More Monday, July 4 Excerpt at Reading is My Remedy Tuesday, July 5 Review at Michelle the PA Loves to Read Wednesday, July 6 Excerpt at Coffee and Ink

Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of Dark Blue Waves by Kimberly Sullivan! The giveaway is open to the US only and ends on July 6th. You must be 18 or older to enter. Dark Blue Waves https://widget.gleamjs.io/e.js  

BOOK REVIEW

This is a very interesting combination of a Jane Austen inspired romance combined with time travel! I will address the time travel first, as my expectations for time travel fiction are very high. The method of time travel in this book is extremely unique. It is a combination of an object and another event working together. I certainly haven’t seen it before. It may fall somewhere between unique and over the top, but it is intriguing. As far as rules of time travel, It is up to the author to set the rules of time travel and I don’t see too many here. I would say this book is definitely Jane Austen forward with just a bit of time travel.

The Jane Austen aspect of this book is superb and Austen fans will be delighted by all the references to her work. The location of both timelines was Bath, England, and I felt completely transported to the 19th century there. The romance is very well done. I loved the references to Austen’s books and the comparisons between the 19th and 21st centuries. Fans of Jane Austen will surely enjoy this romance with a bit of time travel and lots and lots of Jane.

I received a free copy of this book via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

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