Monday, November 30, 2015

Must-Have December Releases

        How is it possibly (almost) December already? I’ll never know, but I’m so excited to share my most anticipated new releases for the month with you! So, here goes…

At Love’s Bidding

        After helping her grandfather at their Boston auction house, Miranda Wimplegate discovers she’s accidentally sold a powerful family’s prized portrait to an anonymous bidder. Desperate to appease the furious family, her grandfather tracks it to the Missouri Ozarks and makes an outlandish offer to by the local auction house if they promise not to sell anything until he arrives.
        Upon their arrival, however, they discover their new business doesn’t deal in fine antiques, but in livestock. And its manager, ruggedly handsome Wyatt Ballentine, is frustrated to discover his fussy new bosses don’t know a thing about the business he’s single-handedly kept afloat. Faced with more cattle than they can count—but no mysterious painting—Miranda and Wyatt form an unlikely but charged partnership to try and salvage a bad situation getting worse.


        I am so excited for this book! I have been a huge fan of Regina Jennings ever since I read A Most Inconvenient Marriage, and this novel sounds so intriguing! I can already see the sparks flying between Miranda and Wyatt, both the good and bad kind! I’m getting a copy of this novel as soon as possible, so be looking out for my review, and expect to hear lots me raving all about it!

The Midwife’s Choice

Come home to Friendship, Family, and Faith in the Town of Trinity.
        In a time when the traditional ways of medicine are constantly being questioned by new doctors fresh from medical school, midwife Martha Cade tries to balance her life’s calling with the demands of her family. Recently reunited with her estranged seventeen-year-old daughter, Martha finds herself torn between guiding her child and allowing her to be an adult. At the same time, she must decide whether she’ll risk reopening the heart she’d long closed off to love.
        Though a small town, Trinity, Pennsylvania, is fraught with secrets, and as a midwife, Martha moves among its people. She knows which homes are filled with light and love, which families have slipped into grief, which wives are unhappy, and which husbands dare to cross lines…As Martha struggles with the conflicts of being a mother, a midwife, and a woman, she learns the greatest lessons of all—that hope can shine even in the darkest hours, and that faith has a way of making the impossible possible.

 
        The Midwife’s Choice is the second book in Delia Parr’s At Home in Trinity series, and is another book that I am so excited for! I read the first book in the series—The Midwife’s Tale—just a couple of months ago and absolutely loved it, and I have been anticipating the rest of the series ever since. Martha Cade is such a great character, I am so glad that her daughter is returning to her, and I cannot wait to read more about her story!

The Painter’s Daughter

        Sophie Dupont, daughter of a portrait painter, assists her father in his studio, keeping her own artwork out of sight. She often walks the cliffside path along the north Devon coast, popular with artists and poets. It’s where she met the handsome Wesley Overtree, the first man to tell her she’s beautiful.
        Captain Stephen Overtree is accustomed to taking on his brother’s neglected duties. Home on leave, he’s sent to find Wesley. Knowing his brother rented a cottage from a fellow painter, he travels to Devonshire and meets Miss Dupont, the painter’s daughter. He’s startled to recognize her from a miniature portrait he carries with him—one of Wesley’s discarded works. But his happiness plummets when he realizes Wesley has left her with a child and sailed away to Italy in search of a new muse.
        Wanting to do something worthwhile with his life, Stephen proposes to Sophie. He does not offer love, or even a future together, but he can save her from scandal. If he dies in battle, as he believes he will, she’ll be a respectable widow with the protection of his family.
        Desperate for a way to escape her predicament, Sophie agrees to marry a stranger and travel to his family’s estate. But at Overtree Hall, her problems are just beginning. Will she regret marrying Captain Overtree when a repentant Wesley returns? Or will she find herself torn between the father of her child and her growing affection for the husband she barely knows?

 
        I just love Julie Klassen. All of her novels (and yes, I’ve read every single one of them) are absolutely wonderful, and I just know The Painter’s Daughter will be no exception. It sounds so captivating, and I just know I will never regret purchasing it (yes, I’ve already preordered it)! Look out for my review of this one in the near future, because I just know I will devour it as soon as I get it!

Until the Dawn

        A volunteer for the newly established Weather Bureau, Sophie van Riijn needs access to the highest spot in her village to report the most accurate readings. Fascinated by Dierenpark, an abandoned mansion high atop a windswept cliff in the Hudson River Valley, Sophie knows no better option despite a lack of permission from the absent owners.
        The first Vandermark to return to the area in sixty years, Quentin intends to put an end to the shadowy rumors about the property that has brought nothing but trouble upon his family. Ready to tear down the mansion, he is furious to discover a local woman has been trespassing on his land.
        Instantly at odds, Quentin and Sophie find common ground when she is the only one who can reach his troubled son. There’s a light within Sophie that Quentin has never known, and a small spark of the hope that left him years ago begins to grow. But when the secrets of Dierenpark and the Vandermark family history are no longer content to stay in the past, will tragedy triumph or can their tenuous hope prevail?

 
        Until the Dawn by Elizabeth Camden is yet another novel I have been eagerly anticipating. I have been a fan of Elizabeth’s for quite some time now, even though I still haven’t gotten around to reading very many of her books yet, so I am excited to see how her latest novel will play out. It sounds wonderfully intriguing, and I cannot wait to pick it up!

The Forgotten Recipe

After losing her fiancé in a tragic accident, Veronica Fisher finds solace in the old recipes stored in her mother’s hope chest—and in a special visitor who comes to her bake stand to purchase her old fashioned raspberry pies.
        Seth Lapp is kind, hardworking, and handsome—but most importantly, he loves his fiancée, Veronica Fisher. As for Veronica, she knows how lucky she is to be marrying her best friend.
        When an accident on the job steals Seth away from her, a heartbroken Veronica is certain she will never love—or be loved—again. Yet when she discovers a batch of forgotten recipes and opens a bake stand to sell her Mammi’s raspberry pies, Veronica picks up a regular customer who gives her heart pause…despite her best efforts.
        Jason Huyard was with Seth when he lost his life—a memory that haunts him still. So when he seeks out the grieving fiancée to convey his condolences, the last thing he expects—or wants—is to fall in love. Nonetheless, Jason soon finds himself visiting Veronica’s bake stand every week…and it’s for more than the raspberry pies.
        Now, as Veronica’s heart thaws, Jason can’t bring himself to tell her he was there when Seth dies. Can he ever reveal where he was on the day her life derailed? Or will his secret rob them of the second chance at love they both want?

 
        Doesn’t this sound like such an interesting story?! Clearly it wasn’t difficult for me to decide to add it to this list. I cannot wait to read The Forgotten Recipe, the first book in Amy Clipston's Amish Heirloom series, as I am sure it will be such a sweet novel, full of twists and turns that will make it so interesting to read!

The Mountain Midwife

The women in Ashley’s family have helped mothers usher new life into this world for generations. But what if it’s Ashley’s turn to have a new life?
        Ashley Tolliver has tended to the women of her small Appalachian community for years. As their midwife, she has seen it all. Until a young woman gives birth to a baby at Ashley’s home and is abducted just as Ashley tries to take her to the nearest hospital. The new mother is dangerously bleeding and needs medical attention. Now Ashley is on a mission to find the woman and her newborn baby…before it’s too late.
        Hunter McDermott is on a quest—to track down his birth mother. After receiving more media attention than he could ever want from a daring rescue of a young girl, he received a mysterious phone call from the middle of Virginia from a woman claiming to be his mother. He seeks out the aid of the local midwife—her family has assisted in the births of most babies for many generations; surely she can shed some light on his own family background.
        Ashley isn’t prepared for the way Hunter’s entrance into her world affects her heart and her future. He reignites dreams she has long put aside, dreams of earning her medical degree and being able to do even more for her community. But is it commitment to her calling or fear of the unknown that keeps her feet firmly planted in the Appalachian soil? Or is it something more—fear of her growing feelings for Hunter—that make her hesitant to explore the world beyond the mountains?

 
        Confession time: I’ve already started this book (shhhh, don’t tell)! The wonderful Laurie Alice Eakes sent me an advanced reader PDF to read and review, and I have to say, so far, I’m enjoying it immensely. Because of that, I had no choice but to add The Mountain Midwife to this list, but I was planning on it anyway so it all worked out. Anyway, I cannot wait to finish this novel, and to share my review with you! Look for it soon!

        Those are all of the December releases I am anticipating!!! What are you looking forward to reading this month?
        Happy (early) December!



If you want to see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party page.

All credit for the italicized synopses goes to the various authors and their publishers.

2 comments:

  1. Hi, some of these look like they would make great Christmas presents. :) Thanks for sharing on Literacy Musing Mondays.

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