Book Notes & Author Journey: March 26, 2021

 Yikes! Just to explain a bit... Life has been super packed this week and last. I knew last week was going to be a doozy, but this week's dooziness was quite unexpected. I thought I'd scheduled a post for Wednesday. When I logged in today (Thursday, the 25th) to set up a post for Friday, I find I actually did NOT do that. sigh So I'm sorry about that and this post will hopefully make up for it. 

I have a couple of book reviews on box sets for you and a small update on where I am in my writing journey. Read on to check it all out. 

Book Review: Sweet Kisses Box Set by Various Authors

Sweet Kisses Box Set by Judy Corry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Something for Every Clean Romance Reader

My rating is more like 3.6 stars overall. There's a clean romance story for every kind of reader who enjoys a clean story. From ultra modern and hi-tech settings, to island get-aways, to the simple life - from spiritual to non-spiritual focus, this book has it covered. My favorite story was the first one, which surprised me.

Since part of the proceeds of the sales of this book were supposed to go to a military charity, I was also hoping to see more stories about military members. Some of the stories didn't have a military member at all. While others seemed more focused on the more difficult aspects of military life and how those negatively affected one of the MCs. I admit I felt let down.

Still, most of these stories were enjoyable and easy to read. If you're looking for variety and clean romance, this might be a nice addition to your TBR

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I actually wrote down some very short like/dislike pieces for each of the stories in this series. I thought I'd do a more in-depth review later. It hasn't happened. And, if I'm honest, it probably won't happen any time soon. My time is severely limited and my schedule, unhappily packed with not much relief in sight. 

Book Review: Faith & Love Series Box Set by Hannah Jo Abbott

Faith and Love Series Box Set by Hannah Jo Abbott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nice Clean Romance with Godly Focus

What I liked:
Some of the characters were easy to relate to.
The heroes all strove to live according to their convictions.
The heroines grew and blossomed.
Both heroes and heroines had to overcome some serious things, both inside and out.
The stories flowed pretty well with only a few typos.
There was a strong emphasis on trusting God even when the circumstances around the characters made that difficult.

What I didn't like:
All the heroines had wandered away from their faith and fought against leaning on God. While this would've been fine in one, or even two of the stories, having it occur in three (I skipped the third book so that one may be different) made it seem like women were weak and need a man to help guide them. The heavy focus on trusting in God and having a dedicated prayer life helped to balance this a bit, but I thought it would've been nice to see a stronger female lead who had a positive influence on the male lead's life.
I skipped the third story as it's not my cuppa. I'm sure it's on par with the others. I just prefer first love to second chances or struggling marriages. But, as my mother says, it takes all kinds...

Overall, this collection is good. I'd recommend it to folks who enjoy inspirational romance.

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As for this set, it often happnes that I am disappointed in finding that there's a set of brothers and a set of sisters who meet each other and fall in love. I dislike that as it's so utterly unbelievable. Yes, it can and has happened in real life, but not for such large families. I'm happy to say that even though these families were large, they didn't all decide they loved each other. I guess it helps that the ages of the siblings were so widely spaced. 

I also have to say that in retrospect, it's not surprising that God took a backseat in the female characters' lives because they were so focused on themselves and each other after the tragedy which struck their family. That does happen and it made them seem more relateable. 

Author Journey: So What's Going On With Surge??

Not much, unfortunately. I want to write a good novel. I want it to match up nicely with the first novel in the series. And above all, I want it to honor the God I serve. Part of me is afraid I'm not hitting the mark. This is the point where I could use the help of a good content editor. And this is also the point where I lament the inability to hire one. Just know that I'm doing my best to psyche myself up for the task ahead of me. I'm going to try focusing on the novelette I want to release before Surge comes out. I feel if I can publish that one, I can get back on track with my writing. 

I have been working off and on to complete the revamped cover for Ripples and create a similar cover for Surge. I love cover design almost as much as I enjoy world building, so that's less of a chore. I just don't have a lot of time and time is what I need to make sure these novels come up to my own high standards. 

I've been reading a ton of books and probably need to cut back on that so I can write more. I find when I look back over each day, there was a moment here and there which I could've put to better use. Honestly, I'm just so discouraged. And when I'm not discouraged, I'm doubting my ability to pull off this overwhelming project with any kind of success. 

So that's where I am. Where are you in your own creative journey? Are you coming up against hardships? How are you working to overcome them? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.