Before we get started I need to mention…. a new page has been created with the sole purpose of keeping track of authors showing up in these blog posts. I hope some of you will find the new list helpful and inspiring. Personally, it is useful already. I’m gaining a much clearer overall picture of who and what I’m reading. It’s mindboggling to see how many little-known authors are showing up on the list. I find that pretty exciting. The world of writing has changed so much in the last decade or two. It’s now possible for an impossible number of books to be published. The overall quality of writing is consistently higher too, I’m finding. Amazing, and encouraging.

We all go through different seasons of reading in our lifetime, at least I hope we all do. My current season is discovering new things. New and different story ideas as well as  authors. I’m happy to see publishers embracing the idea of allowing authors to write outside the box of the last best seller (theirs or someone else’s.) I’m glad, because that kind of thinking  helps with a supply that will feed my hunger.

 

   A Heart Set Free – Janet S, Grunst …… Heather Douglas is desperate for a new start after the death of her father, and the betrayal of both her intended and her brother. Left with no resources, fleeing an unjust scandal, she books passage to America as a seven-year indentured servant.

Matthew Stewart is in town to visit his children and stock up on supplies. It is a new and unwelcome idea when his friend Maggie suggests he should look over the indentured servants on the new ship just in. His children could go home with him if he had someone there to look after them.

He has no intention of following through with this suggestion but one of the women draws his attention. She seems different than the rest. Maybe…..

Heather watches him watch her and wonders what he could be discussing with a well dressed gentleman. When Matthew steps up to bid on her she is expecting he has arranged for a servant. He accepts possession of her but doesn’t share he’s made arrangements for a hurried wedding before they leave town. What happened to her right of freedom?

The children have just been told and they are as shocked as Heather. They aren’t ready for any of this either.

 The Hope Series – Flight 259 book 1 – Staci Stallings …. Three years and Jenna is still reeling from the loss of her father, husband, and daughter. Claustrophobic living with her mother, she decides on a drastic change. Missing her flight by seconds, she can’t turn back or she will lose the courage to try again. A ticket on the next available flight anywhere, as long as it’s East, is what she has to do.

Single parent, Scott and Lane, his two-year-old, are headed home after a visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Lane is not happy about leaving them. Struggling to cope with an uncooperative child, Scott is not winning any friends among the other passengers. Life begins to look so much better when a  new crop of passengers board for the second leg of the trip. A new seat mate makes him feel like an angel has been sent to help them survive. Jenna seems to have the right touch when it comes to unhappy little boys.

Everything seems to be going so much better and they will soon be home. A welcome relief…… until they encounter an unexpected, horrific storm. There’s a terrifying explosive cracking sound and the plane begins to go down.

  Midnight is My Time – Mike Dellosso …. Andy Mayer is struggling to survive. Just like everyone else after The Event, the one that saw many people mysteriously disappear. War has broken out between animals and the remaining humans. The animals seem to be winning.

Missy, sees with all of her senses, just not with her blind eyes. She sees Andy sleeping in a drainage pipe. She would leave him there but she can tell he has a story and somehow it is supposed to connect with her story, so she wakes him.

They both have a story, a past, and special gifts they haven’t learned how to use. There is an old man who keeps showing up, and somehow, he seems to be helping them get to where they need to be. The old man is not the only one though. Opposition appears in unexpected places, taking them unaware. Someone wants to stop them but why is still a mystery.

   The Bargain – Aaron D Gansky ….. Connor Reedly is devastated, his beloved wife is dying of cancer, and he doesn’t want to miss a minute of the time she has left. They’ve made the long trip to visit Nadine’s sister because  there is an urgency about her dying wish. He thinks they would be better staying home but he can’t deny her anything.

They arrived just hours ago and Aida has someone she wants Conner to visit now?

Mason is looking for an award winning journalist to write ten articles. The dying town of Hailey needs to be saved from destruction by a tornado. If he writes articles proving there are ten good citizens the town will be spared and Nadine will live. He has ten days to write ten articles and he will be paid twenty five thousand dollars for each one.

Of course, Conner thinks this guy is a crazy and wants nothing to do with him. He is tempted though. Between rising medical debt and pressure from the two women in his life, he is at least  considering it. An emergency trip to the hospital makes him consider a little faster.

The interviews he must conduct for these articles are not turning out as expected. Some of these people seem to have more bad than good in their lives. It’s a challenge to write an article proving there is anything good in this town, he has to look pretty hard to see it.

The whole thing is overwhelming and time consuming. The aspect he resents most is having to leave his dying wife. It all feels like a complete waste of time but whenever he gets discouraged and tries to stop Nadine gets sicker. Her best days are when he is writing.

He can’t quit and nothing about this is easy, in fact it’s downright life threatening. Not only by tornados. Someone is trying to kill him, and the people helping him.

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There are some rather different books this time, each one going in unexpected but welcomed directions.