A Tree, A Book, and A Breeze

Cloaked Rachel Kovaciny She never imagined she'd need to flee for her life. Mary Rose feels uneasy around Mr. Linden from the moment she meets him on the stagecoach ride to her grandmother's ranch in Wyoming Territory. But he works for her grandmother, so that means he's trustworthy, doesn't it? Everyone else seems to view him as honest and respectable, and Mary Rose wonders if she's overreacting.  She tries to ignore her suspicions until one night, she discovers his real reason for being at the ranch. Now, if she's going to save her grandmother -- and herself -- she's going to need to run faster than she's ever run before.      I will almost never pass up an opportunity for a fairy tale retelling. It's one of my favorite subgenres, and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. Now westerns, on the other hand, aren't usually my thing, but after reading Rachel Kovaciny's The Man of the Buckskin Horse , I knew that she was someo...

The Shadow Things  Jennifer Freitag Ambassador-Emerald International  The Legions have left the province of Britain and the Western Roman Empire has dissolved into chaos. With the world plunged into darkness, paganism and superstition are as rampant as ever. In the Down country of southern Britain, young Indi has grown up knowing nothing more than his gods of horses and thunder; so when a man from across the sea comes preaching a single God slain on a cross, Indi must choose between his gods or the one Godand face the consequences of his decision This book was infinitely better than I originally thought it was going to be. I don't normally care for depressing stories, and mark my words, this one can get a little depressing with the pagan practices and how they clash with Christianity (actually, this book reminded me a lot of a biography of Saint Patrick that I read.) but it was also a very powerful story, despite the novel's short size. I wouldn't recommend th...

Fly Away Home Rachel Heffington Ruby Elixir Press Self Preservation has never looked more tempting.  1952 New York City:  Callie Harper is a woman set to make it big in the world of journalism. Liberated from all but her buried and troubled past, Callie craves glamour and the satisfaction she knows it will bring. When one of America's most celebrated journalists, Wade Barnett, calls on Callie to help him with a revolutionary project, Callie finds herself co-pilot to a Christian man whose life and ideas of true greatness run noisily counter to hers on every point.  The new friendship sparks, the project soars, and a faint suspicion that she is fall for this uncommon man grows in Callie's heart. When the secrets of Callie's past are exhumed and hung over her head as a threat, she is forced to scrutinize Wade Barnett and betray his dirtiest secrets or see her own spilled.  Here there is space for only one love, one answer: betray Wade Barnett to save her reput...

God’s Daughter Heather Day Gilbert I’ve been really wanting to find a novel about the Vikings for some time now; unfortunately, they’re quite hard to find! I’ve actually been thinking of writing one myself, and so when I found God’s Daughter through Goodreads, I immediately knew I had to put it on my to-read list. (And this may seem a bit self-serving, but I was really glad that, though God’s Daughter was about the Vikings, this storyline was nothing like the story idea that’s been rolling around my head.) I did have mixed feelings on this book. I did really like the insight into the culture and time period, and the story was interesting. However, it did bother me that Gudrid was sort of yearning back to a man who wasn’t her husband. I understand that this was a main character development/growth but I didn’t care for it, especially with how much it was mentioned. That being said, it was a nice change to read about a woman who was already married; I do like “marrie...