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.
