Teresa Medeiros

WHAT’S ON YOUR READING SHELF? by Cheryl Pierson

by

Hi everyone! Like most everyone I know, I’m always on the lookout for good reads (even thought I’ve got a huge stack of books on my nightstand, and I’m a VERY slow reader!) From time to time, I like to blog about some favorite books, and hopefully you all will comment about some of your faves, as well! This gives me more books to add to my to-be-read pile, and I love that because I learn, from you all, about books and authors I might not have known about otherwise. 

Teresa Medeiros has long been one of my very favorite authors, and she is so versatile she can write stories set in just about any time period or setting and make them seem so authentic.

Another thing I love about her writing is the way she weaves such wonderful description into her stories, small details that paint a picture for you as you read.

I’m totally enthralled by the latest one of her books that I picked up called THE TEMPTATION OF YOUR TOUCH. No, it’s not a western, but it’s a wonderful Regency story and one that will sweep you up into wondering about the characters–AND a couple of the plot points–and keep you reading into the night! 

Maximillian Burke prides himself on being the man every mother wants her daughter to marry, but after his scoundrel brother steals his bride, Max decides there’s more satisfaction in being a rogue than a gentleman. He flees London for lonely Cadgwyck Manor, and though the tumbledown estate comes complete with a ghost, it’s Max’s no-nonsense housekeeper who haunts his dreams.

Prim and proper Anne Spencer could do without a new master, especially one as gorgeous and temperamental as the Earl of Dravenwood. Even as she schemes to be rid of him, she is irresistibly drawn into his muscular embrace. But when Max vows to solve the mystery of the White Lady of Cadgwyck, he risks both their hearts and tempts them to surrender to a pleasure as delicious as it is dangerous.

 

As if this wasn’t wonderful enough, there is another book that goes with this one. I didn’t realize it when I ordered this from Amazon, but quickly realized my mistake and found the companion story on Amazon, too. Turns out I am reading “book 2 of 2”  right now, but I think it’ll be fine, as book one seems to be more about the younger brother in the family. This companion story is called THE PLEASURE OF YOUR KISS. I’m looking forward to reading it, as soon as I finish this one! 

 

After that, I’m going to launch into something totally different: a book called TOMORROW. Y’all know how crazy I am about animals, especially dogs–and this is a fantasy about a dog that has been granted immortality! Interesting, yes? Also, looks like there is a sequel to this one–so glad I paid attention and am going to read them in the right order this time! 

Venice, 1815. A two-hundred-year-old dog is searching for his lost master. And so begins Tomorrow, a story of love that spans the centuries and of hope as the world collapses into war. Tomorrow is a dog who must travel through the courts and battlefields of Europe in search of the man who granted him immortality. His is a journey of loyalty and determination, as he befriends both animals and humans, falls in love—only once—marvels at the human ability to make music and despairs at their capacity for war.

Tomorrow is a spellbinding novel of courage and devotion, of humanity across the ages and of the eternal connection between two souls.

 

Next up is a book in a time period I don’t normally read, but how could I pass this up? It’s by Shanna Hatfield! It’s called HOME OF HER HEART, and it takes place during WWII. I’m eager to read this, and there are two other books in the series as well!

He needed someone to remember him when he was gone.

Instead, he found a woman he’d never forget.

Orphaned at birth and a loner all his life, the last thing Sergeant Klayne Campbell needs is for feisty Delaney Danvers to entangle his thoughts. Bravely volunteering for a top-secret mission almost certain to get him killed, Klayne can’t bear the thought of dying utterly alone. All he wants is to face death knowing his life meant something to at least one person. Offering Delaney a marriage of convenience, he plans to leave behind a war bride as his beneficiary. After just one night as her husband, Klayne realizes he’ll do anything to survive and return to her.

The moment she met handsome Sergeant Campbell at a holiday party, Delaney’s whole world shifted off kilter. Full of fun with an unquenchable zest for life, she isn’t afraid to go after what she wants. And what she wants is Klayne. When he prepares to join a hazardous mission, she seizes the opportunity to give him a reason to fight his way back home — to her heart.

Sigh…what could be better than this? Not much!

On my Kindle, I’m reading WYOMING WILDFLOWER by Pam Crooks! I have never read a PAM CROOKS BOOK I didn’t love, and this one is no exception!

One of her father’s daughters . . .

All Sonnie Mancuso wants is to be needed by her father. Unfortunately, he already has a daughter–six, to be exact–and all he needs is a son.

One of her father’s men . . .

Orphaned in the slums of New York, fifteen-year-old Lance Harmon needs a home. Sonnie’s father gives him one, on the cattle-rich Rocking M ranch. Through the years, Lance learns to love the land, the work . . . and Sonnie.

And their legacy . . .

But Vince Mancuso’s health is failing, and there’s trouble on the Wyoming range. Sonnie returns home to claim the legacy that’s rightfully hers . . . but learns Lance has already claimed it.

Sweet and gritty romance.

I think I’ve mentioned about a few hundred times through the years that I’m from Oklahoma, and was lucky enough to marry a guy who loved my home state, too–so I got to come back HOME after we married! This next book is one that has some really interesting stories in it…they are very entertaining, but I’m not sure all of them are factually verified. Still, it makes for great reading!

 

The Oklahoma Land Rush was a madhouse scene that brought both smiles and heartache to its participants.There is also the wonderful story about Cherokee Indian Lewis Ross who drilled for water but failed. He wasn’t disappointed though, as he struck oil instead.Then there’s the wild and woolly No-Man’s land in the Oklahoma Panhandle where outlaws could hide without fear of the law. There was no law.No history of Oklahoma would be complete without a run-down on its favorite son, the ever-humorous Will Rogers.

 

 

Well, there you have it. Only a partial list of what I’ve recently read and what’s coming up next. How about you? Please share any past favorites and upcoming reads that you are looking forward to! You can never have too many books! Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 

WHAT A GREAT STORY! by CHERYL PIERSON

by

Well, summer’s over, and fall is “on the way”! I wish I could say I had an actual “beach read” but we haven’t taken a vacation in years, and probably won’t in the foreseeable future now that we have our two furbabies. So we have to do little fun things locally, and try to relax at home—which is sometimes hard to do. But one way I can always escape is with a good book—and I have read (and re-read) some wonderful ones this summer.

Have you ever read a book that you didn’t want to finish because it was so good you didn’t want the story to end? I remember when I read Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series—that was how I felt. A lot of people don’t like lengthy books, but I love them—the more intricate and in-depth the characters and plotlines are, the more I enjoy them I was so glad to have “the next one” to go to in that series, and though there were some I liked better than others, I thought they were all well-written and entertaining!

 

I read a book this summer called The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson that was in this category. I could not put it down, but I didn’t want it to be over! Linda Broday had recommended it and I went right over and bought it from Amazon. I rarely do that, but something about the way Linda talked about that book made me want to read it, and put it right at the top of my TBR pile! I was NOT disappointed. Here’s the blurb:

The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything?everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt’s Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome’s got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter. Cussy’s not only a book woman, however, she’s also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy’s family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble.

If Cussy wants to bring the joy of books to the hill folks, she’s going to have to confront prejudice as old as the Appalachias and suspicion as deep as the holler.

Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman’s belief that books can carry us anywhere?even back home.

https://tinyurl.com/y35ms65w

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but this is one book you will remember long after you reach the end. I read a ton of books every year, and this is going on my “keeper” shelf, along with the NEXT book I bought by the same author called GodPretty in the Tobacco Field. Oh, goodness. I then had to just go to Amazon and order the rest of her books. These may ALL be keepers!

I read one of Kat Martin’s older books, Natchez Flame—that one had my heart pounding and wondering how in the world she was going to let Priscilla and Brendan have their happy-ever-after that they so richly deserved! Sigh…Take a look…

A woman of courage and honor. She sold everything she owned to go west and marry a powerful land baron she’d never seen. But Priscilla Wills hadn’t counted on the gunfight—or the gun—fighter—who would change her life: the tall, broad-shouldered man who killed her guardian in self-defense. Reluctantly he agreed to take her through the dangerous Texas back country to her fiancé’s ranch. She hadn’t planned on a journey that would take her into a stranger’s soul as he delivered her into another man’s waiting arms.

A man who lived by the gun. He was an outlaw—yet Brendan Trask unleashed in the prim and proper Priscilla a fiery passion that matched his own. But a man running for his life couldn’t afford a woman who hungered for the security that only her wealthy fiancé could provide.

What’s on the agenda for the next “wonderful read”? I’ve got two I want to re-read—Nobody’s Darling, by Teresa Medeiros, one of my very favorite authors ever—and Star Keeper by Patricia Potter, who is also a dear favorite, as well. I’ve read both of these in the past but it’s been a while and they need to be re-read! LOL Nobody’s Darling is a western historical romance, and Star Keeper takes place during the War of Independence, which is such an interesting time period, as well!

Also waiting for me are Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart—it’s been a long time since I read any of her work, and it’s always so wonderful. And last but not least, These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901 by Nancy E. Turner.

And…of course, the other books I ordered by Kim Michele Richardson that will be here any day now! I’ve got my reading cut out for me, but I’m looking forward to every single one of these stories. Have you read any wonderful books lately that you’d want to share with us? I’m always on the lookout for “the next good read” and love to talk books! How about you?