The Holiday Husband (Sugar Creek #4) by Jenny B. Jones {Review}

The Holiday Husband (Sugar Creek #4) by Jenny B. Jones

Kindle Edition, 277 pages

Published November 5th 2020

Source: Kindle Unlimited

 

 

 

Annie made a holiday wish to be reunited with the one who got away.
She should’ve been more specific...
Museum curator Annie Bristow has spent years regretting a marriage proposal she turned down from her college sweetheart. When a fateful ride on a holiday train gives Annie the opportunity to make it right, she wishes for a do-over. She wants to go back and say yes to her one true love. Who better than a twinkly-eyed Mrs. Claus to make it happen? What could possibly go wrong?

Getting a second chance at love should’ve been a dream come true. But when Annie wakes up married to the wrong ex-boyfriend, she’ll have to pretend to be Mrs. Holden Thomas until the holiday train returns on Christmas Day. She’s determined to find a way to reunite with the right true love, but obstacles keep foiling her efforts. Like Holden being frustratingly handsome and unexpectedly charming. This quiet man holds onto a painful past of his own, and Annie finds herself drawn to the life Holden has built. But falling for him is so not part of the plan...

The countdown is on, and love is at stake. When Christmas morning arrives, will Annie return to her old life? Or say ‘I do” to the one man she never wished for?

   

My Review: 5 Stars

Annie learns that hard way that you should be careful what you wish for. Thinking if she could go back in the past to the "one who got away," her life would be better, but she's in for a surprise when she hits her head and wakes up to find herself married to someone else--Holden. 

This is the kind of book that I want to pack up and move right into. I loved everything about it--Annie's desperation and persistence in finding the Mrs. Claus who granted her wish; Holden's sweet, patient, and perfect wonderfulness; the undeniably swoony chemistry and zippy interactions; and the most endearing characters, plot, growth, and even side stories/relationships. I enjoyed every minute of peeling the layers away from the story to reveal something unique and beautiful.

The Holiday Husband was the perfect cap to my holiday reading. I haven't read the other books in this series, but if they're anything like this one, that will definitely change! 

Content: mild romance

Review: An April Bride by Lenora Worth

An April Bride (A Year of Weddings Novella Book 5) by Lenora Worth

ebook, 140 pages

Published March 25th 2014 by Zondervan
Source: I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars


Description:

War changes everything . . . even their love.
Bride-to-be Stella Carson can’t wait to marry her longtime sweetheart Marshall Henderson. But Marshall has been away serving his country and after suffering a head wound and being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome, he has distanced himself from Stella by asking her not to visit him in a Washington, D.C. hospital.
Marshall returns to Louisiana just four weeks before the wedding, but as the big day draws near, Stella wonders if the man she’s loved for most of her life still wants to marry her. 

My Review:

I honestly can't imagine how war can affect a person. Marshall and Stella are planning on getting married when Marshall returns from his service, but a severe wound and amnesia/PTSD complicate their plans.

Stella is absolutely amazing! I kept putting myself in her shoes and wondering if I'd have the guts to go through with a wedding to a man who doesn't seem to remember me. Of course, she is human and those doubts came creeping in. Marshall is pretty amazing himself. He had every chance to walk away and decided since he'd promised something to someone else, he would stay and try to figure it out, but he could only take things so far without coming to a conclusion.  

One thing that bothered me--if he couldn't remember her, why didn't he want her to see him all beat up when he was in the hospital? That aside, it was heartwarming to watch a couple work through issues and feelings to really dig down deep and figure out what they love about each other and if a marriage to one another is worth it and the right thing to work for. Such a tender story.

Content: mild war-type violence; mild romance; Christian elements. Clean!

Buy Links:

About the Author:

Lenora Worth has written 35 books for three different publishers. She reached a milestone in 2006 when she received her 25th book pin from Steeple Hill and Harlequin. Her books have won both regional and national awards and she now has over 1 million books in print. Currently she is writing both Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense for Steeple Hill. Married to her childhood sweetheart, Lenora has two grown children. She wrote a weekly opinion column for five years for the local paper and currently also writes freelance for a local magazine. Lenora lives in Louisiana.

Pen name: Lenora Nazworth  

Review: Simply Anna by Jennifer Moore with Giveaway

Simply Anna by Jennifer Moore

Kindle Edition, 224 pages

Published September 1st 2015 by Covenant Communications
Source: I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
 

Description:

Suffering from a cruel heartbreak, Lord Philip Hamilton has been driven to seek refuge from the painful memories haunting London, and his father’s Jamaican sugar cane plantation provides just the escape he needs. Philip finds solace in his hard work and takes comfort in the fact that his distance from society ensures that his heart will be protected from future entanglements. Protected, that is, until the unexpected appearance of a mysterious woman with no memory of her past. The only clue to her identity is a necklace inscribed with a name: Anna. In a matter of weeks, this gentle, intelligent, and impossibly beautiful stranger turns Philip’s world upside down. But as the bond between the pair grows, the threat of Philip losing his heart once more is only the beginning of the dangers that await. Island renegades and a ruthless band of pirates clash in a swashbuckling battle, and it soon becomes clear that these villains may be the key to unlocking Anna’s past . . . 
 

My Review:

This is a companion book to a few of the others that Ms. Moore has written, but it can definitely stand alone.


Anna is aboard a ship heading for Jamaica when she falls overboard in a storm. Washing ashore, she has no memory of who she is or where she came from. Lord Philip is newly in Jamaica, managing his father's land, when Anna is discovered.

Anna is such a sweet and caring woman. I love the way she is able to stand up for those around her and has the confidence to express her opinions. Despite her situation in life, she is very smart, especially with street smarts and I love the whole pirate interaction. The pirates and feisty Anna had me laughing and completely engaged.

Lord Philip has never given though to whether he's even hungry or not. Every thought and move on his part have always been anticipated and he's never had to think. When he arrives on the plantation, he doesn't quickly realizes that not everyone is treated equally. Although in England, things are similar (servants and upper class), no one is ever abused because of their situation and I love how Philip jumps in to do what's morally right. What a good man!

Although we have two very strong people, I love how they each realize just how much they need to rely on others.  I love a story in a beautiful setting, with fantastic characters, sweet romance, and abundant lessons learned. Great job, Ms. Moore! I can't wait to see what's in store for us next!

Content: no language; very mild religious elements; mild romance; mild-moderate violence (talk of slavery and treatment of slaves done in a tasteful, educational way, without being graphic). Clean!

Buy Links:

 

About the Author:

Jennifer Moore is a passionate reader and writer of all things romance due to the need to balance the rest of her world that includes a perpetually traveling husband and four active sons, who create heaps of laundry that is anything but romantic. She suffers from an unhealthy addiction to 18th and 19th century military history and literature. Jennifer has a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Utah and is a Guitar Hero champion. She lives in northern Utah with her family, but most of the time wishes she was on board a frigate during the Age of Sail.

Website * Twitter * Facebook

Also by Jennifer Moore:

Becoming Lady Lockwood (2014 Whitney Award Winner)
Lady Emma's Campaign
Miss Burton Unmasks a Prince
The Sheik's Ruby

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Review: Married to Santa by Beverly Farr

 

Married to Santa (Romantic Novella) by Beverly Farr

Kindle Edition, 66 pages

Published September 29th 2014 

Source: Bought on Kindle

Description:

Caroline has only two small problems this Christmas season.

1. She has amnesia.
2. The man who says he's her husband thinks he's Santa Claus.

Married to Santa is a sweet, quirky, rated PG Christmas novella. 

My Review:

I can't imagine having amnesia and not remembering anything, including the man I was married to. That's exactly what happened to Caroline when she hit her head while swimming on vacation in Florida. A very good-looking man was there when she woke up and he claimed to be her husband...he also later claimed to be Santa. 

Caroline took things pretty well. When little snippets of her memory returned, she would do everything in her power to make things better. I loved seeing her discover what's truly important in life. 

Mike is a very kind and patient man. He's willing to meet Caroline in the middle. Instead of blaming her for their problems, he takes responsibility and together they set out to change.

This is a fun, slightly quirky story with a great message.

Content: no language or violence; kissing and innuendo, but it's between a married couple. Everything is fade to black. Clean for an older reader.

 

Amazon  *  Goodreads

About the Author:

 

Happily-ever-after is my drug of choice. Not that I won’t read or watch a sad story (now and then), but I crave happy endings. I love Jane Austen, Cinderella stories, and 1930s screwball comedies. (Think An AFFAIR TO REMEMBER or WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING). Since real life has a way of being tough enough, I write sweet, quirky contemporary romances to take the edge off.

What you will find in my stories:

1. Sweet quirky romance.

2. Very little swearing. There may be an occasional hell or damn, maybe even a b*tch, but there will be no Lord’s name in vain and no f-bombs.

3. No explicit sex scenes. Characters might discuss sex, but any love scenes are off screen (Think AFRICAN QUEEN).

4. No vampires. At least, not yet.

Website  *  Goodreads