Book Review and Giveaway: The Secret of the 14th Room

I'm pretty sure that the first mystery I ever read was a book called The Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parrish.  In it, three siblings who are spending the summer with their grandparents endeavor to find the solutions to several mysteries hidden in artifacts that their uncle hid when he was a little boy.  I haven't read it in quite some time, but I remember how much I enjoyed the fun of solving the puzzles that the uncle hid.  And so began a lifelong interest in mystery novels.

The Secret of the 14th Room has a little bit of everything: 

Book Review and Giveaway: Matchmaker's Best Friend

One of my happy places (besides between the covers of a good book!) is the beach.  I spent part of my childhood in Southern California and would go to the beach about once a week with the summer day camp that my parents sent me to while they worked.  Although the water was colder than the Gulf of Mexico of my younger childhood, I loved to get in the water and ride the waves, get in the sand and make sandcastles.  At night I would go to bed with the sensation of the waves lulling me to sleep.  Living in landlocked Memphis, we rarely get the opportunity to go to the beach now.  I was able to take Gracie to Malibu when she was six (OK, my brother took us - I don't drive much in California) and had a wonderful time.  The same brother retired to Florida and our little family was able to go to Port-a-Passe (something like that) last November.  We had a marvelous time playing in the water and collecting seashells.  One thing I enjoy about the Independence Islands series is that I get to "visit" the beaches of the fictitious islands located off the coast of Georgia.

Matchmaker's Best Friend is

Book Review and Giveaway: Deepest Roots of the Heart

On a warm summer day a few years ago, my brother, a friend of his family, my little 6-year-old daughter, and I all popped out of his truck and scurried across a dusty parking lot, cutting through a group of low, long buildings to go find a small clearing surrounded by giant oaks where my niece was to be married the next day (with my daughter as her flower girl).  We had to make a stop to find "el bano" for tissue because my daughter had just had an hour-long nosebleed in the truck and used up all of my brother's supply of kleenex and tissue and whatever else we could find.  (That California dry air is no joke!).

Book Review and Giveaway: A Heart's Forgiveness

There's nothing worse than a conniving snake who seeks to steal what is rightfully yours.  Madeleine is put into dire straits when she is led to believe that she is near penniless.  With an infant left to her care and two servants who are more like family, she escapes what could be a disastrous future to go cross-country to New Mexico.  There, she finds friendship and safety . . . for a short time.  A Heart's Forgiveness was a really good book.  I liked the characters and I liked seeing how Jeremiah changes in the story (can't say much - a little bit of a spoiler).  I loved seeing the love between baby Pearl and Madeleine's intended Philip.  The theme of forgiveness is shown several times in this book - in a very real way.