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 enquired 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 “Searching for Home” direct from the author Jill Weatherholt in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
A note about why I enjoy Love Inspired Contemporaries:
It has been awhile since I’ve regularly read the Contemporary Romance side of Love Inspired; as I have had the tendency in the past to read more of the Suspense & Historical releases. You might have remembered my review for “His Daughter’s Prayer” by Danielle Thorne? I reviewed the novel and also hosted the author during my #SatBookChat!? In the past few years, I’ve been trying to seek out a few more of these lovely novels as I do enjoy them and the reasons why I love them is because their uplifting gently told romances with faith running through the storylines.
My affection for reading stories like Love Inspired began when Heartsong Presents used to be my go to resource for INSPY Contemporary Romances. Then, as the years shifted forward, and the former publisher merged with another and then finally was discontinued, I re-directed my attention to Love Inspired. I’ve always been a hybrid reader of both mainstream and INSPY literature – stemming from an active readerly life as a young girl and having parents who supported my healthy diet of seeking out as many genres & thematics of story as I could find in both bookstores whilst growing up. To this day, you will see how varied my readerly life as you travel through Jorie Loves A Story.
I was grateful to see this novel touring in the book blogosphere this New Year, 2022 and I am hopeful to read more Love Inspired Contemporaries as the year moves forward. You’ll find between Harlequin Heartwarming & Love Inspired, I’m quite the happy romance reader these days when I’m not reading INSPY Romances from other publishers set either in the historical past or our modern world as well.
Searching for Home
Subtitle: Are these triplets exactly what he needs?
by Jill Weatherholt
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
When injured professional bull rider Luke Beckett returns to his hometown to recover, he doesn’t expect his B and B host and physical therapist to be his first and only love, Meg Brennan. He’s also unprepared for Meg’s adorable triplets to steal his heart. Luke’s past has him doubting he’s good enough for Meg and the children, but they might be just what the doctor ordered to help him heal…
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1335759016
Published by Love INSPIRED
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 224
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! Generally I receive Larger Print copies of Love Inspired and/or Harlequin Heartwarming novels – however, I do on occasion receive Regular Print which I can’t read whilst in the throes of a migraine or shortly after one but when I’m migraine-free I can soak back inside them; hence why having different sized fonts available is a lovely gesture by the publisher for readers like me.
Converse via: #INSPYbooks and/or #INSPY, #SweetRomance and #LoveInspired
as well as #ChristFic, #ChristianFiction, #ContemporaryRomance or #INSPYRomance
More Love Inspired stories by Jill Weatherholt:
Second Chance Romance (2017)
A Father for Bella (2018)
A Mother for His Twins (2019)
A Home for Her Daughter (2020)
A Dream of Family (2021)
Searching for Home (2021)
(*) I love how there is an underlying theme running through these stories & titles; about different kinds of families and some of which appear to be happily unconventional. I love reading about romances which involve children & second chance romances or unexpected new love – definitely will have to seek out more titles by Ms Weatherholt in future!
About Jill Weatherholt
By day, Jill Weatherholt works for the City of Charlotte. At night, and on the weekend, she writes contemporary stories about love, faith and forgiveness for Harlequin Love Inspired.
Raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., she now resides in Charlotte, North Carolina, but her heart belongs to Virginia.
She holds a degree in Psychology from George Mason University and Paralegal Studies Certification from Duke University.
She shares her life with her real-life hero and number one supporter. Their relationship grew on the golf course, and now they have one in their backyard.
Jill believes in enjoying every moment of this journey because God has everything under control.
I’ve apparently reached a new junction in my readerly life where the font sizes for regular mass market novels are a bit trickier for me to read than with larger scaled fonts. For this reason, the two Love Inspired romances I am currently reading have been taking me a bit longer to finish and this is why I decided to cut my review short for this tour – as I didn’t want to rush reading the story nor adversely affect my eyes either. I’ve become a bit spoilt on the Heartwarming line – where nearly all of those releases are in larger print and where other stories I’m reading the font sizes aren’t as scaled down as the Contemporary or Historical Love Inspired stories.
This New Year January I’ve finally reclaimed days off and requeued my reading life since I worked straight through Thanksgiving to New Forgive me the shorter notes today and find out my reactions to the story Ms Weatherholt has written!
| Searching for Home | by Jill Weatherholt
We immediately arrive inside Meg’s life to find she’s the caregiver and guardian of abandoned triplets – which isn’t fully etched out enough for me in the beginning as it is only loosely mentioned their parents walked out of their lives. It is hinted that they not only left their children but their business and although, I suppose that is plausible, I wish there had been a few more details to smooth out the backstory in the opening pages to give me a firmer rooting into Meg’s life in the here and now of when we’ve arrived. It almost seemed more fitting they were orphaned than abandoned because to say their parents left without remorse or reason (as its implied) is a harder set of circumstances to accept or understand without the details.
The triplets: Tilly, Tucker and Tia steal your heart and the scenes as soon as you see them! Even though Tucker is the more withdrawn of the three, each of them have their personality and opinions expressed through the dialogue and of course, as there are three of them, its a delight to hear what they have to say and see how their impression of their world revolves.
Luke is definitely the bloke who got away from Meg – you can tell by her reactions to his presence on her doorstep and how she’s still not fully recovered from the emotions of their shared past. She’s definitely the type to remember whose hurt her heart and I had a feeling there was a larger story between her and Luke which will be evolving through the novel.
Thankfully soon after Luke arrives at the Bed and Breakfast to take up residence in Meg’s life for the foreseeable future, Meg reveals more about how she’s the guardian of her sister’s triplets and how she’s come to be both single mother and innkeeper. I only wished that part of the story had been the lead-in hook for the first chapter rather than disclosed when Luke arrived. It would have felt more like an anchour than an afterthought for me as a reader. Especially considering the circumstances – I was definitely on the fence about how it was disclosed and of course, what those situations were as well because its just difficult to imagine Gina never returnt.
As Luke starts to find himself feeling more comfortable at the inn, he also is finding that interacting with the triplets is a bit of slippery slope and emotionally, those conversations are opening the doors to his own past. You can tell he was betwixt a rock and a hard place in his own life right now but without those details, you can only go on what you’ve surmised by what he’s not saying. He keeps a lot to himself but in the smaller moments, when he’s talking to the children, you can tell he has a lot to give even if he doesn’t have a lot of confidence in himself right now. Meg of course, is full of questions – why he’s returnt and what he’s doing, etc, but I had a feeling time will let those details surface and become explained.
This is definitely a slow brewing romance – where it takes time to settle into the characters’ lives and find your traction with where they are right now. Some of the opening bits of the story felt a bit rough round the edges for me. I would have liked to have a few things fleshed out a bit more but overall, you’re definitely curious about how Meg, Luke and the children are going to find the tomorrow and future they all deserve. I also had a feeling Miss Mattie was going to be a character I’d feel charmed to know better – she’s Meg’s right hand at the inn and she’s a delightful person with a cheerful personality!
This blog tour is courtesy of: Prism Book Tours
By clicking this badge you’ll be able to find the tour route for the blog tour – finding more posts by the book bloggers on tour itself, their reactions to the story and other lovely additions to the route. All the blog tours I host with Prism have a variety of stops & posts to enjoy visiting and I encourage you to click these badges in order to find where to travel next! Whilst most tours also have giveaways attached to them, too.
readers who gravitate towards the same stories to read.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Searching for Home” as well as the book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Jill Weatherholt and 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. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: #RomanceTuesdays banner, #25PagePreview banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2022.
Thanks for hosting me today, Jorie. I appreciate you taking the time to read and review Searching for Home. I’m happy you enjoyed the book. Happy New Year!