WoW #40: Meant to Be Mine by Becky Wade

Hosted by Breaking the Spine.

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Meant to Be Mine by Becky Wade
 Series: Porter Family, #2
Bethany House - May 2014

About
Ty Porter has always been irresistible to Celia Park. All through high school--irresistible. When their paths cross again after college--still irresistible. This time, though, Ty feels exactly the same way about Celia. Their whirlwind romance deposits them at a street-corner Las Vegas wedding chapel.

The next morning they wake to a marriage certificate and a dose of cold reality. Celia's ready to be Ty's wife, but Ty's not ready to be anybody's husband. As a professional bull rider, he lives on the road and can't bring himself to settle down.

Five and a half years pass. Celia's buried her dreams so that she can afford to raise her daughter. Ty's achieved all of his goals. Or thought he had, until he looks again into the face of the one woman he couldn't forget and into the face of the child he never knew he had.

How much will Ty sacrifice to make Celia's dreams come true, to win her trust, and to prove to her that their spontaneous marriage can still become the love of a lifetime?

Why I want to read it
I absolutely loved My Stubborn Heart and really enjoyed Undeniably Yours. Ty is Bo's brother from UY and Bo was "a fabulous hero" according to my review of that book. So I'm looking forward to meeting more of the Porter family and to reading this next book of hers.

Where you can find it
Amazon ($10.51/$8.99) and ChristianBooks ($8.99/$8.89) and Barnes & Noble ($10.49/$10.49)
Prices are good as of April 9, 2014 for pre-ordering the paperback/ebook edition. Please double check for yourself.

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Reclaiming the Crown (series) by Rachelle McCalla

Series: Reclaiming the Crown by Rachelle McCalla. Love Inspired Suspense, 2011-2012.

A while ago Kara, blogger and encourager extraordinaire over at A Booklover's Heart, reviewed this series and reminded me of its intriguing covers and descriptions. I took her suggestion and found a way to read them. So glad I did! I really enjoyed each book but especially the series as a whole. Each book is full of adventure, danger, learning to trust and forgive, and a sweet and clean romance. I think I even found myself wanting to pray for the characters at times - that's how real they felt.

The modern day series begins with Princess in Peril and follows Princess Isabelle as she flees the attack on the king’s motorcade. She has a very perilous escape route – both physically and mentally challenging.

Loved the adventure and the budding romantic tension and the international aspects. But as someone who has flown internationally many times, I can say with certainty that the airport scenes were not realistic. Especially post 9-11. I haven’t flown into JFK but have gone through Newark several times in recent years and there’s no way Isabelle and Levi could have gotten through security and customs so quickly and easily or dodged those following them so simply. Still a fun story though.

Book number 2, Protecting the Princess is Princess Anastasia’s tale. She missed the motorcade and is whisked to safety by a man she’s not sure she completely trusts. Kirk is a royal guard and the only one who knows what happened to her older brother who disappeared five or six years ago.

Theirs is an interesting escape route and during their flight and search for answers we learn a lot more about the magnitude of the attack on the royal family. I like how the mystery unfolds a bit more with each book and I felt with Anastasia how helpless and frustrating the situation seemed at times. Also, Kirk is awesome.

The 3^rd book, Prince Incognito is about Prince Alec. Problem is, he doesn’t remember who he is and the Lily the woman who rescued him doesn’t know it either until he’s in danger again. Then they are both in life threatening danger. Then they’re rescued, then they’re both in danger again. Then they flee into the desert and are still in danger. It’s quite an exciting tale.

In all of these I’ve really liked the characters and the struggles they each face. But especially so in this one. Lily is helping Alec but it’s her family that is threatening him. Trust and forgiveness play an important part of this story. Also the reader learns quite a bit more about the plot against the Lydian royal family.

The 4^th and final book, The Missing Monarch, tells the tale of the missing crown prince. His is an interesting story and we finally find out who is the mastermind behind the plot. I don’t want to say too much more since that spoils some surprises. Even knowing who this last book is about is a bit of a spoiler if you haven’t read book two yet.

I wish the ending could have been a bit longer as things seemed to wrap up a bit quickly and conveniently but then again most of the loose ends were not very exciting, political threads.

The author has written five more stories about the Lydian royal family, two of which are historical and I really enjoyed those. The other three come after this series and I hope the royal family and their guards will have learned some lessons about modern technological safety and its surveillance capabilities.

Five stars for this series as a whole

Go read them!

#1 Princess in Peril: Amazon ; Barnes & Noble

#2 Protecting the Princess: Amazon ;  Barnes & Noble

#3 Prince Incognito: Amazon ; ChristianBooks.com ; Barnes & Noble

#4 The Missing Monarch: Amazon ; ChristianBooks.com ; Barnes & Noble

Disclosure: I borrowed these books from a library. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.

Top Ten Best/Worst Last Books in a Series

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic is difficult. I read to much to be able to remember the specifics of series endings, so this list is about the last book in the series - not how the series ended. And it's not a rating of the series as a whole - it's just the titles I found first while browsing my goodreads lists. (Clicking the cover of a book will take you to the Amazon page via affiliate link.)

Top Ten Best/Worst Last Books in a Series

Worst
1. Rilla of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery

I just never cared for the last few books in the Anne series. Love the first three. (Kindle edition is free if you're interested in deciding for yourself.)

2. A Duke's Promise by Jamie Carie

I really did like the first two books, but the third one seemed to target a different audience - one that was a bit more mature, but also one that was more apt to like fantastical twists to their historical adventure fiction. Here's my review of each book: The Guardian Duke and The Forgiven Duke and A Duke's Promise

3. A Texan's Choice by Shelley Gray

Again, I enjoyed the first two books but book three seemed to try to tell too many stories at once and didn't spend enough time on the story I was most interested in. Here's my review of each book: A Texan's Honor (#2) and A Texan's Choice (#3)

And I'm going to have to leave it at three because I can't find another series whose last book I didn't really like close to the others. Now if we were talking about TV series season endings… that's another matter all together. The dramatic and traumatic endings of Downton Abbey Season 3 or Sherlock Season 2 and the seeming never ending wait (although I just watched all the episodes for the first time last weekend so I don't have as much to complain about).

Best
1. The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

Further up and further in!

2. Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs

Only two books in this series, but I love how this book wraps up the story. Which reminds me, I should put this on my reread list.

3. A Home for the Heart by Michael Phillips

The series The Journals of Corrie Bell Hollister is eight books long and I liked that last two books best.

4. Falconer's Quest by T. Davis Bunn & Isabella Bunn

I didn't care very much for the other books in the series, Heirs of Acadia but the last one was good.

5. Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

A great series all the way through. Here's my review of book one and two: Dealing with Dragons and Searching for Dragons

 What series endings (story line or book) do you think are the best/worst?

Remember - Anytime you visit Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com or ChristianBooks.com use an affiliate link to get there. Any purchase you make from a link on my site generates a small kickback. You need not purchase the item I'm featuring, any purchase counts. It costs you nothing extra and is an easy way to support this site.