Book Notes: January 12, 2022 - Charlotte Dearing

 Welcome back to another round of book notes! I've got two inspirational, historical romance reviews to share with you today. I had a late start getting to work this morning, so if this post is a bit wonky in some ways, I do apologize. Let's get to it!

Book Review: Kiss of the Texas Maverick by Charlotte Dearing

Kiss of the Texas Maverick by Charlotte Dearing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An Excellent Historical Romance

I'm really enjoying this seriesby Charlotte Dearing! This story had several humorous moments. Having raised a son myself, I'm reminded of times gone by. I can relate pretty well to Amelia, while not necessarily agreeing with all her ideas. I also enjoyed the sweet romance between the MCs. It was interesting to see how they thought and watch them grow. I loved the ending, too. If you enjoy historical, inspirational romance, then I recommend this series to you.

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Book Review: Vow of the Texas Cowboy by Charlotte Dearing

Vow of the Texas Cowboy by Charlotte Dearing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An Excellent Finish to the Series

This book was a nice way to end this series of stand-alone romances. I really don't know which story is my favorite but I do love how this plot played out. It wasn't necessarily realistic in places, but it was most certainly plausible enough to be enjoyable. I loved Poppy's antics. Lilly might've been my least favorite but I still liked her. My favorite part of the story was the scene with Mr. Rankin. If you enjoy clean, inspirational, historical romance, then I recommend this book...and the other two in the series.

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I enjoyed this book series. The three novels can stand alone, but they're much better when read in order. My favorite is the first, but I enjoyed them all more than I expected. I think this shows how much Charlotte Dearing has improved in her writing career. It's a good indicator of positive progress in her future writing ventures, too. 

Since last Friday's post, my family's life has taken an interesting direction. Suffice it to say, we're back to cinching our proverbial belts. However, I know Adonai has a plan for our family. I know it's a good plan. And since I can only pray and wait, I will do my best to get that done with a joyful and thankful spirit. 

What does this mean for my writing and reading? Well, I had been buying inexpensive ebooks on a fairly regular basis, but that will have to be put on hold for now. I'm back to perusing the free offerings more closely. There haven't been many blurbs that really grabbed me in the past few weeks. And since erotica is not something I'm into, tons of the free romance novels are off my list. 

It hurts my heart that most Christian authors who offer free books to their readers just aren't quite up to par in some way. Either the books are so shallow, it makes you wonder if they truly understand the meaning of the Christian life. Or the books are super preachy in places and, to be honest, that elicits an unfavorable response in most readers, including me. 

So I would like to encourage more of the writers of Christian-based books to offer at least one book free to readers. I would also like to humbly request that the book be of equal quality to those they really want to sell. When I get a free book and it looks like it might have been edited a couple times...maybe, I'm less likely to want to pay $2.99 for any of their other offerings. 

In conclusion, I'm going to be really hunting for free books and focusing on reading those for a while, at least until we better understand where our finances sit. It's far better to err on the side of caution. The book I'm reading right now is technically alright, but the 'inspirational' part is lacking so much. I'll have a review for that one soon, I hope. My goal this year is to read 200 books. I don't know if I'll make it, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Until next time...