Blog Book Tour | “His Honor, Her Family” (Meet Me At The Altar series, Book Two) by Tara Randel A series by #HarlequinHeartwarming

Posted Wednesday, 13 February, 2019 by jorielov , , , , 2 Comments

Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. I am unsure how many books I’ll review for them as most are offered digitally rather than in print but this happily marks one of the blog tours where I could receive a print book for review purposes. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors.

I received a complimentary copy of “His Honor, Her Family” direct from the author Tara Randel in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

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Why I appreciate reading Contemporary Romances
by Tara Randel:

Dear hearts, you might have noticed – I’m the kind of reader who likes to feel emotionally attached to characters – so much so – if I find a wicked good writer (such as Ms Randel, FYI I will be back-reading this series post haste this year!) who can develop the emotional depths of a character’s soul such as we have here in Zoe – this is a writer I appreciate reading because they instinctively understand why readers love to feel as if they’ve lived a lifetime in a character’s shoes! It’s the same with motion pictures, tv movies and tv serials – we like to feel as if we’ve left our reality and our time-line and crossed forward into someone else’s journey if only for a short reprieve from our own. By attaching ourselves through the emotions of a character, it’s quite easily transformative to see how this character is moving in and out of their circumstances or finding the courage to seek out a new beginning or survive an adverse moment of their lives. Emotionally speaking – this is how we connect to each other – both IRL and in fiction.

Quite early-on (even before Chapter Two!) I felt like I could connect with what Zoe was attempting to process of her life. She was caught between the hopes she had for her marriage, the anguish of losing a husband she felt she had lost long before he went missing and the joys of motherhood with the unexpected renewal of seeking out a bloke who not only understood her but wanted to be in her life in this new chapter of her personal journey. It was almost as if we were walking to the fork in the road for Zoe – of where she needed to decide which way to trust her heart and what was most important for her to do at this intersection on her life’s path to decide for herself which course of action was best for her and Leo.

As an aside, I was happily surprised to see the author enclosed a lovely snowman post-it which exclaimed quite merrily: Merry Christmas! It would have been the best time to read this lovely story, as it’s about finding redemption and forgiveness along with a hearty girth of renewal in the unexpected – however, I was full-on into the virus but I never forgot how this arrived in time for wish me a Happy Christmas! Also, the postcard with all the titles in the series was a sweet touch of joy as it gave me a road map of which stories I need to seek out in order to back-read the whole sequence! I used this postie as the ‘bookmark’ whilst I read the novel, too! Top cheers of gratitude to Ms Randel!

I look forward to reading more of her stories – I love her Contemporary style – the same way I love Ms Browne (Sheryl Browne) as both women are knitting together Realistic Contemporary Rom stories which feel like a brilliant bridge into why I love Women’s Fiction; the stories are full of heart, soul and the depth of how muddy life can become whilst it’s being lived but you have to find the will to dig a bit deeper and run straight into tomorrow even if the dramas of today seek to scuttle your spirits. How fitting then, I read this ahead of my second reading of Ms Browne which will be The Rest of My Life wherein I’ll be sharing my thoughts coming up this Saturday!

The other two authors which immediately come to mind are Brenda S. Anderson (see also Reviews) and Mary McNear (see also Reviews) – both of whom I need to follow-up with their series; of the two, I am finishing my readings of the Coming Home series between the end of January and early February – as I am taking the time to re-read both the prequel and the first novel, leading directly into the third and fourth novel which rounds out the series!

-quoted from my review of His One and Only Bride
(The Business of Weddings series, Book Six)

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Blog Book Tour | “His Honor, Her Family” (Meet Me At The Altar series, Book Two) by Tara Randel A series by #HarlequinHeartwarmingHis Honor, Her Family
Subtitle: Meet Me At The Altar
by Tara Randel
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

She could be The One

If he’ll let her in.

The rustic mountain town of Golden, Georgia, is the ideal place for crime scene investigator Deke Matthews to heal after a tragedy left him questioning everything. But there’s another reason he’s here, and moonlighting as an adventure guide provides the perfect cover. It doesn’t include falling for his boss. Attorney Grace Harper is back in Golden only long enough to save her family business. Just when Deke has found the woman to share his life with...

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Romance Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781335510563

Also by this author: His One and Only Bride, Trusting Her Heart, Always the One, (#25PagePreview) of Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Her Christmastime Family

Also in this series: Trusting Her Heart, Always the One


Published by Harlequin Heartwarming

on 5th Feburary, 2019

Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)

Pages: 384

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming

Converse via: #Contemporary + #Romance and #HarlequinHeartwarming

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Meet Me At The Altar series:

The Lawman's Secret Vow by Tara RandelHis Honor, Her Family by Tara Randel

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how this series began within the pages of : The Lawman’s Secret Vow

To have and to hold — until the case is solved?

When an undercover assignment pairs laid-back Florida detective Dante Matthews with by-the-book cop Eloise Archer, he knows it won’t be easy. And not just because they’re competing for the same promotion. Now they’re living together under the same roof, and it’s getting harder to ignore his deepening feelings for his “wife.” Can he convince Eloise to partner up—for life?

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About Tara Randel

Tara Randel

USA Today Bestselling Author Tara Randel has enjoyed a lifelong love of books, especially romance and mystery genres, so it didn't come as a surprise when she began writing with the dream of becoming published. Family values, mystery and, of course, love and romance are her favorite themes, because she believes love is the greatest gift of all. Tara lives on the West Coast of Florida, where gorgeous sunsets inspire the creation of heartwarming stories, filled with love, laughter and the occasional mystery.

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on looking forward to reading another tara randel novel:

I am thankful to say, this time round I get to enter this series a bit closer to the beginning of it than I had been able to the last time! It is quite curious – I’m reading this story in February, 2019 – a full year and one month after I first read a Tara Randel novel for the first time! I had hoped the last year might have yielded a chance to gather more of the stories within her previous series as well as other Harlequin Heartwarming novelists I’ve been reading these past few years – however, [2018] was a wreck of a year for personal health, hence why I was simply thankful to be able to read the stories I was able to enjoy rather than re-visiting past series or authors I’ve enjoyed. One of these years I shall get back round to them all!

I had fond memories of reading His One and Only Bride – which is why when I spied a new Tara Randel blog tour, I decided quite quickly to tip my hat to see if I could join the blog tour! This one sounds charmingly similar to the #LoveINSPIRED novels I love devouring with Mum!! She does write realistic romantic stories and this one, (the series, not just the novel at hand!) sounds like a lovely combination of suspense and romance!

From the author’s lovely note included at the start of His Honor, Her Family – I noticed how thrice blessed I am now to enter into a series by this publisher whose keeping family centric series at the foremost of interest to release for those of us readers who are *devouring!* those kinds of series!! Previously, I shared my thoughts on behalf of the latest installment of the Rocky Mountain Cowboys (which follows the lives of two families: the Cade’s and the Loveland’s) as well as the fifth story in the Return of the Blackwell Brothers series! I dearly need to get a copy of the first novel in this series to back-track how the Matthews brothers first began sharing their lives with us!

I also concurred with Ms Randel about the appeal of small towne life whilst I love how she ended her note talking about the benefits of being able to rise through our adversities as life is never foreseen ahead of the circumstances that alight on our paths. We have to each decide how best to transition through those periods in our lives whilst remembering not to let them hold us down or make us think we can’t have a future we’ve planned due to those adverse situations. This is why I love reading this particular imprint – their authors remind me dearly of Love Inspired Suspense – between the two, I am happily entrenched into the kind of Contemporary Romance and/or Romantic Suspense story-lines I love reading the most!

My review of his honor, her family:

You really have to let yourself have a good chuckle of a laugh over Grace’s first encounter with Deke! I felt he was dressed for the job he was applying to obtain from her but she took it a different way! She felt he was under-dressed and a bit under-qualified. Though what she was expecting from him or anyone else who might apply for the position is uncertain. Especially as Deke had observed himself- she hadn’t let any potential new employee have a lot of lead-time to get settled into the routine that would be expected of them. If it had been me, I think Grace should have sent a silent prayer of gratitude that someone had responded to her advert! Rather than being the selectively critical fill-in boss she was for her mother – as this was a family business but from the sounds of things, it is part of Grace’s past, not her future.

And, yet, we observe her bating Deke into a full-out argument – to which he expertly noted, isn’t she the one who needed to be hiring him? I thought it was interesting how her alarm bells went off after he mentioned what he used to do for a living – I don’t believe anyone with his kind of career would place alarms to flag on an application, but apparently for Grace he was a step away from not being hired because of his past job.

It seemed to me Grace had a lot of issues – not just with her inability to size up a person’s character or to easily find fault with what they were telling her, but she seemed wound a bit too tight. Almost as if just by being back in her hometown, she was somehow unable to put any kind of perspective on her life in this moment vs the way it had been when she was younger. I can respect the fact she wanted to exit the towne, as any towne might feel oppressively small if it is the only towne you knew or hadn’t been able to experience living somewhere else – but to me Grace was putting roadblocks in front of herself she couldn’t possibly live up to resolving. She wanted to be in one location (where her job was established) and live a new life outside the constraints of her past which is respectful but to what cost in the present? If she truly wanted to help her mother, I could only see how she was working against the tides to where she would undo any hope she had at re-aligning the business back to rights.

Deke was a soulful deep thinking man – he had a lot to wrestle through emotionally but at his heart, he was a considerate bloke who was dealt a bad hand. He was trying to shift past what affected him but there hadn’t been enough time for him to process it all. I could understand his thoughts on that matter as whenever you put your passion and soul into your work; when the work becomes personable and has meaning to you – if something goes horridly wrong, it is hard to separate the job from the heart. That kind of job can wear a person’s soul down to the studs – almost like a house which had to be razzed in order to be re-built with a healthier set of bones. So, too, it seemed Deke was in dire need of a restoration.

Cheekily, I liked how Deke and Grace both ended up in the cabins her Uncle manages – as she was on shaky ground with her mother and Deke was chasing after his mother’s boyfriend which is why he was lying low in the mountains of Georgia in the first place! This causes them to be a bit underfoot of each other, leading them to interact outside the office and finding much to their own chagrin how humbling it is to realise that first impressions are not always the litmus test they ought to be in ascertaining a person’s personality! Honestly at this point – I was trying to sort out how long Deke could keep his secrets to himself and how long it was going to take Grace to forgive her mother, as she seemed to be holding a lot of angst against her that was a bit misplaced.

If Deke was attempting to outfox his brothers and take some alone time to wrestle out his emotional anguish than Grace would be the opposite of his intentions, as she longs to knit closer to her sister Faith. Faith didn’t have an easy lot in life to live but she tried her best to not let that get her down. It was a traditional situation of sisters drawing apart as they grew and of how at some point the closeness they once shared was something they longed to re-affirm back into their lives. Part of the story is hinging on forgiveness, redemption and restoring the relationships in our lives that are most important to maintain.

What you have is a story built out of the fragility of family, where adult children have to step up and help curate strong changes within their own families. Deke and his brothers were attempting to highlight a potential threat in their mother’s life whilst Grace was caught up in the drama of her own family’s trials. She was the caregiver of the family – constantly looking out for everyone but forgetting about her own self-care; a pattern of behaviour that stemmed all the way back to her days in high school. She had a bit of an edgy grudge against the towne itself – whilst part of her couldn’t break her conscience over the guilt it would take against her soul to return to her old life before she knew her siblings and mother were well cared after. For Grace, she took her role in her family quite seriously – to the brink of forsaking her own affairs.

Randel brings together all the hearty emotional drama you would expect out of an intergenertional saga – thereby, fusing the series with a heartfelt light of deciding what is most important to a person’s life. If family is important, than you have to determine what lengths you will embrace to resolve things once everything goes upside down. This is a story where you have people realising their reaching crossroads in their lives and they need to find the courage to follow through with their plans to either a) fix what is wrong or b) find a new beginning to effectively change their life before its too late to live it.

On the Contemporary writing style of tara randel:

I was quite chuffed this new series I am reading involves brothers, as previously mentioned I had just concluded another Harlequin Heartwarming series about the Blackwell Brothers! In this series, Randel has four brothers to keep her busy with their stories! Deke and his brothers, Dylan, Dante and Derrick were all law enforcement blokes with a dedication to their Mum. It was heartwarming to note how dedicated they were to their mother and to what lengths they were willing to take to ensure her safety and security. In this way, Randel had started to lay down a compelling foundation to this series – even though this is the second chapter of their lives rather than the first. She gives you quite a bit of back-story on the brothers but I am sure there was quite a bit more in The Lawman’s Secret Vow.

One of my favourite discoveries in this novel was seeing the ample time given for each character to introduce themselves – as you would expect to find them living their life. Meaning, when we were in the office with Grace, she held nothing back but revealled her strengths and a few of her faults; like the spiced tongue she had when she felt uncomfortable and let her spunk emerge to the point of turning people away. As we spent time with Deke, we learnt how close he is to his brothers but it didn’t feel like his section was being narrated through the lens of feminine perspective. It’s hard not to let that happen, especially as most of these kinds of stories are written by women. I always appreciate those who can keep either a dual focus spilt between their heroine and hero and/or allow their men to sound as you would envision them to sound as your reading. It brings more realism to the stories I think and it was lovely to see being done in His Honor, Her Family.

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I rather enjoyed the soft tones and lyrics accompanying the songlist for the Evening Acoustic playlist via #Spotify. The selections worked well for this novel and I love having a background ambiance of music to read by – there is something rather soothing about it and I enjoy matching playlists or musical styles from Spotify to the books I’m reading. I wonder what kinds of music other book bloggers enjoy as their reading and blogging? Hmm.

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This blog tour is courtesy of: Prism Book Tours

Prism Book Tours

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His Honor, Her Family blog tour via Prism Book Tours

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End of the Blog Tour badged provided by Prism Book ToursBy clicking this badge you can find out about the giveaway associated with the tour;
my particular tour stop doesn’t host the giveaway as I’m a review stop, however,
you’ll find many other bloggers who are hosting the information!

This review is cross-posted to LibraryThing.

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Reading this story counted towards my 2019 reading challenges, specifically:

2019 New Release Challenge created by mylimabeandesigns.com for unconventionalbookworms.com and is used with permission.

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{SOURCES: Cover art of “The Lawman’s Secret Vow” and “His Honor, Her Family”; book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Tara Randel, blog tour banner and the Prism Book Tours badge were all provided by Prism Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review Banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Frank McKenna and the Comment Box Banner.}

Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.

I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

About jorielov

I am self-educated through local libraries and alternative education opportunities. I am a writer by trade and I cured a ten-year writer’s block by the discovery of Nanowrimo in November 2008. The event changed my life by re-establishing my muse and solidifying my path. Five years later whilst exploring the bookish blogosphere I decided to become a book blogger. I am a champion of wordsmiths who evoke a visceral experience in narrative. I write comprehensive book showcases electing to get into the heart of my reading observations. I dance through genres seeking literary enlightenment and enchantment. Starting in Autumn 2013 I became a blog book tour hostess featuring books and authors. I joined The Classics Club in January 2014 to seek out appreciators of the timeless works of literature whose breadth of scope and voice resonate with us all.

"I write my heart out and own my writing after it has spilt out of the pen." - self quote (Jorie of Jorie Loves A Story)

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Posted Wednesday, 13 February, 2019 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Family Drama, Indie Author, Life Shift, Modern Day, Prism Book Tours, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Small Towne USA




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2 responses to “Blog Book Tour | “His Honor, Her Family” (Meet Me At The Altar series, Book Two) by Tara Randel A series by #HarlequinHeartwarming

  1. Tara Randel

    Thanks so much for featuring His Honor, Her Family, along with your lovely review and very kind words on why you enjoy reading my contemporary romance novels. I’m so happy to be here today!

    • Hallo, Hallo Ms Randel,

      I am the one whose been blessed by discovering your writings and your styling of Contemporary Romances! :) I find it is sometimes a hard niche of literature to uncover, as I can be a bit particular about what I enjoy within Contemporaries. Yours are a refreshing find and I am thankful I could champion your new story today on this latest blog tour! I still intend to back-read both series, hoping that this is a much better year for me as far as reading goals are concerned and thereby, I can’t wait to continue my immersion into the stories you’ve been writing. Have a wonderfully lovely day!

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