Acquired Book By: In (2020) Ms Thorne contacted me about her first Love Inspired novel (“His Daughter’s Prayer”) of which I reviewed and hosted her during @SatBookChat. Fast forward to 2022 and I caught a notice about her review team which led me to asking her about joining the team. I was delighted to receive her second release with Love Inspired as I had fondly remembered the joy I had in reading her debut with the publisher. I was grateful I could join her review team knowing how much I love her writing instincts for telling Contemporary INSPY Romantic stories as much as the fact I love reading stories by this publisher for Romantic Suspense.
I received a complimentary copy of “The Beekeeper Next Door” direct from the author Danielle Thorne in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. Per the badge at the end of this review, I am also a member of the author’s Review Team. All promo materials for this novel were provided by the author herself and are used with permission.
On why I love reading Love Inspired Contemporary:
I have been an appreciator of reading gently told relationship-based Romances for years now as it was a co-joined interest of my Mum and me. This goes back to the days where you could receive a subscription by mail for the Heartsong Presents stories? And, this predates Love Inspired in though as time shifted forward, Love Inspired took over this niche of interest. Originally there were three different types of Love Inspired, too, Contemporary, Historical and Suspense. The first and latter lasted the longest but they occasionally bring back the Historicals.
I took a bit of a hiatus from reading the Contemporaries by Love Inspired (LI) and opted to focus on the authors under their Suspense line instead. A journey which led to a look of book gathering at libraries and hearty discussion with Mum about the characters, the series and the different styles of the writers behind the books. I’m not sure when I decided to take a chance on reading the Contemporaries again, but shortly after I did, I discovered the collective works of Danielle Thorne through my adventures as a book blogger and that led me into being a part of her Review Team.
I’m hoping to be featuring more LI authors this year on my blog, as I have another lovely sequencing of stories by an LI author I haven’t had the pleasure to read in full yet and as I’m keenly interested in keep LI in my life more full-time again, I look forward to seeing where the months led me as I journey back into imprint of choice. The main reasons I love reading the Contemporaries or the Suspense novels by LI is the backbone of the stories include elements of faith whilst living, strong realistic characters, beautiful settings and more times than not and small townes whose communities are just as important as the lead and supporting characters. I love relationship-based romances (both mainstream and faith-based) and the LI romances are an uplift of joy to read due to how their nearly always slow-burns except for the occasional one wherein the characters had a more insta-connection to each other but still, their romance had to develop and blossom through the central arc of their story, too.
My pursuit of LI is in conjunction with my Mum’s and it has become a lovely co-tradition of ours to continue to seek out these lovely authors whilst sharing our joy and affection for their stories as they continue to draw us into the lives of their characters.
The Beekeeper Next Door
Subtitle: They're drawn together like bees to honey...
by Danielle Thorne
Source: Author Review Team
Returning to his hometown to clean up his late parents’ home, professor Heath Underwood has no intention of making his stay permanent. Especially when he discovers his neighbor is a beekeeper. But avoiding widow Ali Harding proves difficult when her eight-year-old son bonds with him and his dog. As Heath spends more time with them, his fear of bees—and heartbreak—could stand in the way of his happily-ever-after…
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781335597489
Also by this author: Josette, His Daughter's Prayer
Published by Love INSPIRED
on 25th June, 2024
Format: Paperback ARC
Pages: 201
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: #SweetRomance, #SweetRomanceReads or #SweetRomanceBooks
and #LoveInspiredBooks as well as #ChristFic, #ChristianFiction, #ContemporaryRomance,
#INSPYRomance or #ChristianFictionBooks on #bookstagram
This story took the award for BEST INSPY Contemporary Romance.
More Inspy Romantic stories by Danielle Throne:
His Daughter’s Prayer (2020) | see also Review
Falling for the Coach (2022)
A Promise for His Daughter (2022) | see also Review
A Home for the Twins (2023) | see also Review
The Doctor’s Christmas Dilemma (2023)
The Beekeeper Next Door (NEW release: 25th June 2024)
*I read somewhere this is the start of the Lagrasse series
A Guardian Until Christmas (*forthcoming, October, 2024)