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 enquiried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. This is how I came to love discovering the Harlequin Heartwarming authors & series as much as it has been an honour to regularly request INSPY stories and authors. Whenever I host for Prism, I know I am in for an uplifting read and a journey into the stories which give me a lot of joy to find in my readerly queue of #nextreads. It is an honour to be a part of their team of book bloggers.
I received a complimentary copy of “Ready to Trust” direct from the author Tina Radcliffe in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
How I originally crossed paths with Ms Radcliffe:
Before I became a book blogger seven years ago in [2013] – I was an avid reader of bookish blogs specifically group author blogs like Heroes, Heroines & History and Seekerville; the latter was focused more on the process of writing and getting published as each of the authors featured on Seekerville originally were in their season of finding publication whereas HHH’s blog was devouted to authors who were either publishing for the first time or were established in their respective genres of INSPY Fiction.
This goes back to at least a full year before the end of March, 2013 when I developed Jorie Loves A Story as I would regularly converse with authors who are today’s well-known Christian Fiction authors across publishers and outlets of the pub world. Quite a few of those authors I was engaged with during my blog hops and commentary are authors who are still on my TBR List!! I even have a list of #nextreads featuring INSPY Authors on my 70 Author’s Challenge whilst each New Year, I hope to draw closer to reading each of the authors I originally sought out to read as a blog commenter ahead of becoming a book blogger myself!
I haven’t quite managed to accomplish this goal – mostly as my book buying budget is quite a humble one and I rely more readily on my subscription to Scribd (for audiobooks) and my local libraries (and their inter-library loan services when those are active; pre-Covid-19!) to help encourage my bookish wanderings! I also sometimes find Love Inspired novels via library used bookstores and/or second hand shoppes as well which can stretch everyone’s book buying budget whilst giving these stories more love from readers who desire to read them!
How I remember all the authors I’ve crossed paths with over the years online is a wonderment even to me – even though I do have quite a hefty photographic memory – I’ll admit, being a migraineur (one who suffers from chronic migraines) and has dealt with clustering migraines and more supernova migraines than ought to be possible – my memory does take a few hits along the way. However, when it comes to authors & their stories – I seem to be a bit blessed in the regard that I do *remember!* which of them I want to seek out to read and/or whilst browsing shelves with books on them, I’ll readily comment to Mum whose with me looking for books for herself as well – (as we share similar interests, including my aforementioned love & admiration for Love Inspired as our guilty pleasure are the Suspense novels of this imprint) is how I know ‘such and such’ author via this blog or this online website or through this interview or however which our paths crossed online – including Twitter!
Thus – over the years since I first started talking to Ms Radcliffe and the other authors who truly gave me a lot of joy to interact with at the time our paths first crossed – (as I’ll admit, my increasing frequency of migraines restricted my blog visits and/or my participation in Twitter chats over the years to either an erratic blog hopping holiday or a reduction in chats) whenever I find their books in the ‘wild’ wherever that may be I remind myself “one day I shall bring those stories home!”
Imagine my joy as a book blogger being given the chance to jump start those future readings when one of those authors comes along in a blog tour?! I was wicked happy I saw this blog tour was available for readers of stories in print and I couldn’t wait to read my first ‘Tina Radcliffe’ novel!! It is also nice to be able to champion and celebrate an author who gave me so much personal joy as a blog commenter & visitor on my own blog Jorie Loves A Story. Somehow it feels like moments like this one are ways in which I can re-give the joy and pass forward the goodwill her and others gave to me all those years ago.
And, seven is such a good & strong number – it feels fitting I’m featuring her during my seventh year as I also plan to read & showcase another Seekerville author during my 7th Year as well (er, I should say Seekerville alum!) Julie Lessman whose going to be part of my #blogmas plans this year! Ms Radcliffe and Ms Lessman both left Seekerville in [2017] which is one of the last times I was trying to get more active in reading the Seekerville blog.
The only goof I made was thinking this was the first in the series and I didn’t have a chance to see if I could find a copy of “Finding the Road Home” – however, I didn’t let that worry me as Love Inspired & Harlequin Heartwarming authors share the same grace in giving their serial readers a chance to ‘settle into their series’ without feeling we’ve missed out on anything in the prior installments. Mind you, my preference is read all series in order (or backread them if I’ve started out of sequence) but for now, I’m happily content in reading my first novel by an author I’ve wanted to read for seven years! Which is why I thank my blessings I found Prism Book Tours who’ve helped me find authors to read through both imprints of Harlequin!
Ready to Trust
Subtitle: Proving he's a changed man could be his biggest challenge yet.
by Tina Radcliffe
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
Proving he’s a changed man could be his biggest challenge yet.
Rancher Reece Rainbolt’s shocked to learn he’s inherited half of Claire Ballard’s family farm—and that he’s a father. Now Claire’s determined to break ties with the man who once left her behind. But Reece will buy her half only on one condition: she must stay in town to help with the harvest…and let him get to know his little girl.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1335488015
Also by this author: The Cowgirl's Sacrifice
Published by Love INSPIRED
on 18th February, 2020
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 224
The Hearts of Oklahoma series:
Finding the Road Home (book one) : Daisy & Mitch’s story
Some paths need courage to follow…
Can they find their fresh start with roadblocks around every corner?
To care for her orphaned nieces and nephews, Daisy Anderson moved to a small town for a new deputy position—but now her job could be eliminated. With potential budget cuts looming, her only hope is to work with police chief Mitch Rainbolt to save their department’s funds. But can their fight for her job lead to something neither dared wish for: a future together?
Ready to Trust (book two) : Claire & Reece’s story
His Holiday Prayer (book three) : Jena & Tucker’s story
← forthcoming release! (1st December, 2020)
Published by: Love Inspired (@LoveInspiredBks)
an imprint of Harlequin Books (@HarlequinBooks)
which is now an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing (@HarperCollins)
Note on Formats: Happily Love Inspired novels have the same kind of flexibility as Harlequin Heartwarming wherein you can receive these print copies in Regular Print, Larger Print or True Large Print for those who are vision impaired and/or have low vision. I personally love the Larger Print editions for Harlequin Heartwarming, Love Inspired Contemporary Romance & Love Inspired Suspense as it is much kinder on eyes of a migraineur!
However, the edition I received for Ready to Trust was regular print. I struggled to read this particular copy (after having two severe migraines at the end of July and a mini-nova grip me the weekend ahead of this blog tour stop) because for whichever reason the font size was greatly reduced in my copy from the standard of ‘regular print’ I am used to reading for this imprint. Coincidently, if you open my copy of Danielle Thorne’s His Daughter’s Prayer and place it next to this novel, Thorne’s font is *larger!* in size and their same edition! Only separated by a month! Talk about a confusing time to be reading #LoveInspired!
Converse via: #INSPYbooks and/or #INSPY, #SweetRomance and #LoveInspired
as well as #ChristFic, #ChristianFiction, #ContemporaryRomance or #INSPYRomance
About Tina Radcliffe
Tina Radcliffe is the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award-winning author of inspirational romance. She is an ACFW and Romance Writers of America Honor Roll member, and a four time ACFW Carol Award finalist. Tina is the author of fifteen inspirational romances for Harlequin HarperCollins.
My review of ready to trust:
I definitely love unexpected inheritance stories! And, Ms Radcliffe hasn’t disappointed me either – she’s set the stage for such a wicked wonderful inheritance story I was thrilled just to hear the details of the will being read as both Claire and Reece were trying to process the news themselves as this was a twist of fate for them to hear as her father never shared any information about what would happen after he passed. The fact he’s left her and Reece in a pickle whilst he’s gone felt a bit fitting because he doesn’t have to explain his actions and he can leave them to ask the questions he never answered. The interesting bit of course is how the inheritance was divided and that leads you as a reader to ask questions of your own about why a father would want to give part of his assets to the neighbour next door.
Oh! I definitely need to find a copy of the first novel in this series now – apparently, Mitch and Daisy’s story involves adoption (as Daisy relates how she adopted her nieces and nephews to Claire) as I am constantly seeking stories which touch on adoption and/or foster care families as I’ll be adopting in the future from foster care myself. It is nice to find stories which present adoptive and foster families in a positive light – even those families where it is a kinship placement like it would have been for Daisy, as it any story which can talk to the positives of adopting children is a winner in my book! I was dearly thankful Radcliffe mentioned Daisy and her husband so very early-on in the timeline for Ready to Trust. It helped fill in a few of the questions I had about what came before this novel but also, it gave me a purposeful reason to collect the first novel rather than to focus on the third which comes out later this year.
It is hard to understand the choices Claire has made without better understanding why she made them – which is why I tempered my reaction to her conversation with Nan. Nan was the wise woman who was a big help to both her and the family over the years but understood the ways of both the heart and the spirit. She was still acting as a guiding light for Claire all these years lateron and providing the voice of reason which I felt Claire needed to hear as she was a bottled wreck of both nerves, memories and the anxiety of worrying about things left unsaid. I was hoping through her fortnight away from being a nurse she could see the growth round her – both in the beauty of the farms and ranches and in the people she once knew of whom might surprise her now in the present. From the outside looking in – Claire hardened herself to the world and towards people, shutting herself off and crowding out the spontaneity of embracing the ‘moment’ as its lived.
I happily discovered this is a series about brothers and the ways in which love alighted in their lives one by one – however, its the backstory about Mitch I’m most keen to learn about as every little nugget of information I’m gleaming from this installment is giving me more joy in my heart to learn! To think he took over the role of parenting his younger brothers and became the family’s rock of strength as he took on a role many might have tried to avoid! I love stories like this because I love celebrating non-conventional families – there are so many different family dynamics out there it is nice to start seeing them celebrated in INSPY Contemporary Romance (and/or other genres of interest therein). Family dramas are amongst my favourite to read – which is why I’m even more happier now to have discovered the Hearts of Oklahoma series!
I was wicked thrilled over how Reece handled the news and the situation evolving his daughter – I’m not sure why Claire thought she could go forward with their lives without including Reece – the whole idea was ridiculous knowing how much Reece was an upstanding member of the community now and how he had a soft spot for children courtesy of his brothers’ children. I had a feeling Claire was holding a grudge from her own childhood and her own issues with her parents to where she was blinding herself to see Reece as he is now vs whom he was beforehand. In her eyes, people never change and whomever they were when you first meet them that is how they remain until death. Its a hard way to look at both life and people but given the circumstances of her past, it makes sense she’d be this hardened. It was just hard to read because Reece has every right to declare time with Zoe (his daughter) and to give them all a chance to heal as a family; even if a future for them together isn’t on deck, I felt Reece deserved the time with Zoe. After all, he isn’t a bad influence and he doesn’t have the scruples her family had themselves.
Most would be thankful they had land and a workable farm to inherit but Claire is a different sort of woman who has allowed herself not to heal from the past wounds which have stolen years out of her life. Land in today’s economy still means something and if you work it well and allow the land to prosper it came become the difference between having financial security and not being able to live sustainably. Of course, part of the issue I felt for Claire is that when she left her life in Rebel, she also left that side of her life – the part where she grew up a farmer’s daughter and her love of the land and what it could provide went with it. Reece is stepping in at a point in her life she didn’t want anyone to run interference and was providing the advice she needed to hear but it was advice she didn’t warrant to be heard. She was definitely a hard nut to crack – she didn’t bend like a willow and she was sturdy as an oak.
Radcliffe has written a romance which in of itself isn’t a romance as it is more of a healing of hearts and a second chance at a new beginning for two characters weather worn from life. She takes you through the motions of how one of them is more willing to let go of the past than the other whilst at the same time, there is this little girl in the middle of it all, too. Young Zoe has the innocence of a five year old and the charm of a father’s girl about her as she sweetens the story by her presence. The story also evokes a reckoning of thought about independent farming and ranching – how those operations have to think outside the box to survive and be sufficient in the worst of times as well as in the best of times. Overall, what I loved most about the story and the characters is how grounded Reece is now in his life and how important family is to him and his brothers. This is a story about how brothers and siblings can redefine their own lives after something goes horridly wrong and seeks to define their futures.
On the Contemporary inspy styling of ms radcliffe:
Ms Radcliffe places you into her characters’ shoes quite immediately after you open her novel – the joy therein is getting to have such a clear path towards understanding the emotional angst of her characters’ lives! In this case, Claire seems to be shouldering more than she is willing to share and Reece is a man with purpose who counts his hours as carefully as he completes his duties on his ranch. To see how their personalities both clash when they are together was a bit telling in of itself – as Claire was definitely confused by Reece’s presence as much as he was to be in her company. This is a lovely set-up as these are two people who haven’t seen each other in several years and because of Claire’s father’s will they are now back front and centre into each other’s life! I mean, what could you hope for more than a situation of convenience and unexpected inheritance to reunite two people who lost touch with one another!?
Radcliffe has writ a realistic storyline which brokers itself to discuss single parenthood and the secrets people keep from others when they are attempting to safeguard themselves. Those secrets of course have a way of spilling forward in the future at some point and that is at the heart of the story Radcliffe has written. With a realistic nod towards a scenario you can see happening IRL – Radcliffe guides her readers towards understanding both sides of the coin – in this case, the motivations and reasonings behind Claire’s omission and secret from Reece and the periods of growth Reece undertook since Claire last saw him.
Ms Radcliffe has an easy manner about her storytelling – she lets you dip into her world and see the flaws of her characters and challenges you a bit to understand their personal motives for what they are doing in their lives. For me, the true hero of the story is Reece because of how far he had come in his life and how he was rooted to his family. His siblings and him forged a life and lifestyle many might not have taken advantage of curating but because of their willingness to succeed and to remain in close touch with each other, I felt they had the best kind of life anyone could lead.
In closing, I did find a second-hand copy of the second book in Ms Radcliffe’s Big Heart Ranch series which is “Falling for the Cowgirl”. Now, I just have to sort out how to find a copy of “Claiming Her Cowboy” (the first in the series) or read this one I have on hand similar to how I’ve entered the Oklahoma Hearts series! Hmm… I do love a Cowboy Romance – which the Return of the Blackwell Brothers authors can attest as readily as Karen Rock & Cathy McDavid!
For those who are curious – I queued “Country Coffeehouse” one of my favourite Country music playlists on #Spotify to play in my ears as I settled into “Ready to Trust”. I love listening to Country songs as I’m reading Western Romances & Cowboy Fiction – which is part of my listening habits to tune into music which compliments the stories I am reading and thereby add another dimension to the stories themselves. Somehow the music and the story are wicked good matches and I love how randomly this remains true whenever I pair a particular kind of music with a particular book in hand to be read!
This blog tour is courtesy of: Prism Book Tours
By 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!
readers who gravitate towards the same stories to read.
Find out more about my #INSPYAugust reading goals!
This review is cross-posted to LibraryThing.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Finding the Road Home”, “Ready to Trust” and “His Holiday Prayer”, the book synopsis for “Ready to Trust” and “Finding the Road Home”, author biography, author photograph of Tina Radcliffe and the blog tour banner 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. LibraryThing banner provided by librarything.com and used with permission. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #RomanceTuesdays badge and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
I happily rec'd the same #bookmail for this lovely @PrismBookTours's #blogtour – (my review goes LIVE tomorrow AM) however with my severe migraines recently I wasn't able to sort out a way to take a #bookphoto – thanks for sharing the JOY we all received on the tour!??
— Jorie blasts off into #SciFiMonth? (@joriestory) August 11, 2020
PS: I agree about the volcanic heat this year (or every year, really!) — I am going to remember to use the fan when I think I’m about to pass out from the heat whilst wearing my mask & trying to get the groceries I need because *truth!?* its insanely *hot!* out there!☀️☀️
— Jorie (#WyrdAndWonder) ??? (@joriestory) August 11, 2020
An #INSPY #RomanceTuesdays?via #JLASblog!
Radcliffe writ a realistic story which involves single parenthood and the secrets people keep from others when attempting to safeguard themselves.?
?#bookreview: https://t.co/2WZuPIkKtx#LoveInspired | #ChristianFiction #bookblogger pic.twitter.com/vBgYjgoH7D
— Jorie blasts off into #SciFiMonth? (@joriestory) August 11, 2020
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- #INSPYAugust
Thank you so much for sharing my release. I love readers (and reader/writers are even more exciting to meet).