Author: Catherine Lanigan

An early #blogmas Book Review | “Home for Christmas” (Book No.12 of the Shores of Indian Lake series) by Catherine Lanigan One of the #HarlequinHeartwarming series I love reading!

Posted Friday, 22 November, 2019 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

#blogmas 2019 badge created by Jorie in Canva.

Acquired Book By: I’ve been hosting for Prism Book Tours since September of 2017 – having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. As I enquired about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. 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 when I’m not showcasing book reviews on behalf of Harlequin Heartwarming which has become my second favourite imprint of Harlequin next to my beloved #LoveINSPIRED Suspense. I am also keenly happy PRISM hosts a variety of Indie Authors and INSPY Fiction novelists.

I received a complimentary copy of “Home for Christmas” direct from the author Catherine Lanigan in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Before I begin sharing my thoughts on this 12th installment,
let’s look back and re-visit what I enjoyed in “Hers to Protect”:

You could feel the frustration Violet Hawks had within her – she was a rookie who wanted to make her mark on the force but in a way which would catapult her forward rather than keep her grounded in a small towne (such as Indian Lake); as she had goes to escape into a larger metropolis where her skills could be sharpened on more challenging cases. Except for the main concern hitting Midwestern small townes is the same as it is elsewhere (ironically or not) – the rise on drug runners and lines of distribution of said drugs is becoming a small towne issue rather than a big city trade. This is why local police and law enforcement have to think outside the box and rely on their detectives and officers to stay vigilant about enforcing the law in order to combat the complexities of erasing the drug trade from their region.

Being a woman who wants to advance in her field, you could almost feel the tension from Violet’s co-workers (all men) who did not wish to see her find traction on a case remotely of interest to their Chief. This is another keen example of Ruth Bader Ginsberg legacy case (showcasing “on the basis of sex”) wherein what is inherently wrong between the genders is a disillusion of equality and the fact most issues between men and women arise out of preferential treatment skewing inequality against the other.

One thing that irks my ire inasmuch as Violet’s are the people who think money and their own self-deducing sense of power can entitle them to just about anything they please. Thus, when you see how she arrests Josh for his outwardly poor choices in driving in excess of speeds past 200 mph – you can see why she made the choice to arrest his sorry butt than to debate the merits of his ironically self-inflated ego to compensate for said poor choices in driving speeds! You really want to rally behind Violet – not just for the flak she might be hedging to take once she’s back at HQ but for how she stood her ground, drove home her point in a decidedly calm manner of delivery and also didn’t let the county sheriff derail her effects to take-in a person who felt he was above the law.

You had to laugh really, how Josh didn’t check his conscience until after he spoke to his agent? If you flashback to the CARS sequence of films, even Lightning McQueen had to learn that life lesson! If all you do is coast through life on an ego trip and view everything as one entitled perk after another – then where do you draw the line? Josh Stevens is your typical celebrity racer who hasn’t learnt how to eat humble pie but something told me Violet Hawks was going to be part of the proverbial change in his inflated perspective of self.

In true Lanigan fashion, there is always something a bit extra bubbling beneath the surface of her characters – by the time you sort through the kind of childhood Josh Stevens had lived and the traumatic deaths he had endured from his family, you can see a margin of reason towards his recklessness now as an adult. It wasn’t an excuse for his choices but it was a reason of intention behind them which softened your ire against him. He wasn’t just a reckless driver for the benefit of the joy in the height of driving without limitations – there was more to it than that and this is what made him an interestingly flawed character to read about as the story evolved.

Mrs Beabots is the kind-hearted landlady you definitely wish you had in your life – not just for the random dinner parties and the kindnesses she gives to make you feel welcome as a neighbour but for how she proves that community begins with people reaching out to people. She is also the spearheaded visionary behind the new start-up non-profit to help the foster children in Indian Lake – which proves that sometimes a lot of change can begin with a singular act. She was the secondary character who stood out to me the most within the pages of Hers to Protect. I had a feeling the rest of the supporting cast were making re-appearances from previous stories – I eagerly await making their acquaintances as I journey back into the series lateron this year; however for now, it was Mrs Beabots who held my heart.

One of the reasons I love reading (or watching) police procedurals is how the cases are worked from the inside out. You can have a seemingly one layered case to solve but the more you dig into the particulars of what is involved the more complicated the whole thing becomes and this is what I was loving about the direction Hers to Protect was taking as it gave way to seeing how small townes are policing their communities with an edge of insight generally resolved for larger departments in larger cities.

Lanigan excells in giving you a feel for the track as Josh retakes his position as a driver in the high stakes racing renown for an Indianapolis race. Repleat with the dangers that go with racing in general – you can’t peel your eyes off the race even though your concern for Violet’s heart is on the line as well. There is a tempering of emotions between Violet and Josh which make sense since their both in new territory – her for bracing herself against a potentially attractive bloke who may or may not be involved in her current case whilst for Josh, the temptations for feeling smitten by anyone is new for a bloke whose tried to remain emotionally neutral for most of his life.

By the time this story concludes, you feel as hugged inside Indian Lake as your first visit – Lanigan has created a close-knit community where neighbours become extensions of your family and where friendships thrive against the backdrop of the love and warmth only a small towne can provide. I enjoyed watching how Josh grew out of the desperation he was facing as a racer – as a lot of what plagued him on the track was internal and emotionally dimensional to his past. He found a new lease on life in a place he would hardly have considered if life hadn’t intervened and that is what makes this such a sweet second chance romance – as it wasn’t a second chance relationship but rather of carving out your own niche of living in a place which took you by surprise.

-quoted from my review of Hers to Protect

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

An early #blogmas Book Review | “Home for Christmas” (Book No.12 of the Shores of Indian Lake series) by Catherine Lanigan One of the #HarlequinHeartwarming series I love reading!Home for Christmas
Subtitle: Shores of Indian Lake
by Catherine Lanigan
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

Can a magical Christmas under glass…

…bring them back together for good?

Widowed dad Adam Masterson still doesn’t understand why Joy Boston left Indian Lake and broke his heart all those years ago. Now she’s returned to sell her grandfather’s beloved poinsettia greenhouse—and Joy and Adam’s connection is as strong as ever. But Joy has a life in New York. And Adam has only until Christmas to convince Joy that she belongs in Indian Lake—with him.

Genres: Adoption & Foster Care, Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1-335-51092-1

Also by this author: His Baby Dilemma, Rescued by the Firefighter, Hers to Protect

Also in this series: His Baby Dilemma, Rescued by the Firefighter, Hers to Protect


Published by Harlequin Heartwarming

on 5th November, 2019

Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)

Pages: 384

The Shores of Indian Lake series:

The Shores of Indian Lake series collage by Prism Book Tours

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Previously I’ve read the following in the series:

His Baby Dilemma (book nine) | see also Review

Rescued by the Firefighter (book ten) | see also Review

Hers to Protect (book eleven) | see also Review

Home for Christmas (book twelve)

(*) I’ve acquired a copy of “Sophie’s Path” to be read in conjunction with borrowing the rest of the series via inter-library loan

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin Books

Formats Available: Paperback* and Ebook

*Harlequin has the luxury of offering Regular, Large & Larger Print editions
which I personally can attest are lovely to be reading! Especially after a migraine or when my eyes are fatigued.

Converse via: #ShoresOfIndianLake and #HarlequinHeartwarming

About Catherine Lanigan

Catherine Lanigan

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of forty published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, as well as over half a dozen anthologies, including “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living your Dream”, “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul”, and more.

Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into dozens of languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. Ms. Lanigan’s novels are also available in E-books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, Apple Store, Mobi and Kobo. Several of her titles have been chosen for The Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Clubs. Her Vietnam war-based novel, The Christmas Star, won the Gold Medal Award Top Pick from Romantic Times Magazine and has also won Book of the Year Romance Gold Award from ForeWord Magazine as well as Book of the Year Romance from Reader’s Preference.

Lanigan is the author of a trilogy of non- fiction books regarding angelic intervention in human life: Angel Watch, Divine Nudges and Angel Tales published by HCI and Cedar Fort. Skyhorse published Lanigan’s “how-to” book on writing: Writing the Great American Romance Novel. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid Foundation to write a non-fiction book addressing teen addictions. Ms. Lanigan’s first Young Adult adventure novel, The Adventures of Lillie and Zane: The Golden Flute, was published by Cedar Fort.

Currently, she has published eight novels in the Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming: Love Shadows, Heart’s Desire, A Fine Year for Love, Katia’s Promise, Fear of Falling, Sophie’s Path and Protecting the Single Mom. Family of His Own pubs July, 2016. She has recently contracted for one more in the series: His Baby Dilemma.

As a cancer survivor, Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books.

She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. (THE EVOLVING WOMAN). She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Divider

Posted Friday, 22 November, 2019 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Equality In Literature, Foster Care, Indie Author, Modern Day, Orphans & Guardians, Prism Book Tours, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Small Towne USA

#HarlequinHeartwarming Blog Book Tour | “Hers to Protect” (Book No.11 of the Shores of Indian Lake series) by Catherine Lanigan

Posted Wednesday, 22 May, 2019 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

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

Acquired Book By: I’ve been hosting for Prism Book Tours since September of 2017 – having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. As I enquired about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. 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 when I’m not showcasing book reviews on behalf of Harlequin Heartwarming which has become my second favourite imprint of Harlequin next to my beloved #LoveINSPIRED Suspense. I am also keenly happy PRISM hosts a variety of Indie Authors and INSPY Fiction novelists.

I received a complimentary copy of “Hers to Protect” direct from the author Catherine Lanigan in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Why I wanted to read this story & continue with the series itself:

After reading the ninth and tenth story in the Shores of Indian Lake, I knew I wanted to back-read the rest of the series except of course, my path back inside the series has taken a few detours! I did manage to acquire a second-hand copy of Sophie’s Path – however, after multiple migraines this May coupled with the adversities within March and April – you could say, I decided to ‘push-off’ reading through the series as in effect I wouldn’t have time to borrow the books from my libraries. I believe most of the series is going to be available through inter-library loans vs being to borrow them locally (though I could be surprised!) which is why I need to begin this when I have a few months between the releases rather than the month a new one appears.

I truly love tucking back inside Indian Lake – I have come to love the Contemporary Romantic style Ms Lanigan infuses into her stories and each new visit I have within the series is a happy homecoming! It has become one of my favourite Harlequin Heartwarming series and I am truly blessed to be in a position to continue reading this series per each new book which goes on tour with PRISM.

If you read the previous reviews I’ve shared on behalf of Indian Lake you’ll find out what continues to draw my eye into the stories within the series itself but also, what I am appreciating about how Ms Lanigan chooses to write them. Contemporaries used to be a hard-won battle to find authors who are writing the stories I love to read – with Harlequin Heartwarming & #LoveINSPIRED Suspense – I am finding more novelists now who understand the readers like me who are seeking relationship-based romances whilst giving us a firm grounding of reality within a world which is a mirror composite of our own. It is a lovely discovery as previously I felt I could only find these kinds of stories within the INSPY side of the Romance market due to a lot of hit/miss results within the mainstream.

The beauty really are the authors Harlequin has within Heartwarming and Love Inspired – they know how to write the drama within the romance but also how to write compelling series with realistic characters & narratives which are a joy to be reading. I get quite giddy whenever there is a new author to read from Heartwarming or Love Inspired – whilst having the chance to participate on one of their blog tours is quite icing on the romantic cake! I love celebrating authors who are writing the STORIES which give me a heart full of blissitude to be #amreading – thus, for the past two years I’ve been hosting PRISM’s blog tours, I’ve been doubly blessed to become acquainted with the Heartwarming imprint and their series!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Before I begin sharing my thoughts on this 11th installment,
let’s look back and re-visit what drew me into the style
and heart of Ms Lanigan’s writings:

Fire waits for no man. Neither does Ms Lanigan waste time settling us into the scene where a fire is slowly arching its way towards Beatrice and her youth camp. You feel as if you’ve travelled straight into the fire itself – seeing what Beatrice and her staff are seeing, dampening down your fears, swallowing your anxiety and acting on instinct to protect the children. In other words, Lanigan knits you so close to the reality of how fast a fire can erupt out of nowhere, you do not have time to pause to think about the implications because you feel as if she’s placed you squarely into Beatrice’s shoes and are living this nightmare in real-time.

The quickening pace to outwit a fire is quite real – you don’t have to rely on television series or films to know how dangerous a fire can become. Anyone who lives near a forest (which is let’s face it nearly most of us!) to any degree of acres knows how dire it is for rangers and keepers of the forest to maintain the vegetation and undergrowth during the dry seasons where moisture is absent and lightning is a devil’s wand of chaos which ignites within seconds of a strike. Though in truth, even controlled burns give my heart and chest a flutter of anxiety – if the wind were to shift or the burn itself were to outgrow its perimeter, whose to say what would become of the fire line?

Your heart goes out to Beatrice – she made a singular act of courage take on the higher proportions of risk associated with a fire when she made a desperate sprint into the forest where trees were exploding, pine cones were melting and two young boys were lost in the smoke and mayhem of the fire! I was drinking in the words at such a fast clip by that point, I had to slow down just to understand what was going to happen next! You really feel like your heart is in the fire, wondering how Beatrice and the boys can emerge alive and also, what the after effects of surviving the fire will have on her and them long term. Mostly though – your nerves are frayed and your emotionally connected to the story in such a way, you don’t dare pause longer than it takes to catch your breath!

By the time the fire is smoldering itself out of its fury, your still catching up to the fact Rand found Chris and Beatrice was in the ER nursing a badly broken foot! What you did notice though is Rand was able to get through to Chris in a way the camp counselors hadn’t and with that revelation, he knew Chris had a secret. The kind of secret I’d suspect no fireman wanted to keep for long and then, of course leads into a lovely foreshadow of what is yet to come – I liked how the layers were set early-on, how Lanigan gives you a glimpse of where she wants this story to go direction wise but holds back some of the key bits as well. She wants you to wait it out and see how it unfolds – taking it gently and allowing you to understand her characters without prejudgement.

As soon as you dig into Rescued by the Firefighter you almost think your reading a #LoveINSPIRED Suspense novel due to the wicked pacing, the high octane suspense (fire is never static nor predictable!) and the cleverness of how we’re inserted into the horrors of a raging wildfire! I literally felt at one point I would wheeze on the smoke!

I warmed to Rand quite quickly – he was frustrated by finding a child who hadn’t wanted his help nor his attention but there was something else in that moment of reckoning he spent with Chris. A murmur of a memory – a reflection of something he wasn’t quite explaining outright and it gave me the idea that Rand himself had either a past he didn’t want to talk about openly or he knew someone who had a past similar to Chris. It is interesting how those threads knit together – how two people are meant to meet and why their meant to be in each others lives; if only for a brief period of time.

-quoted from my review of Rescued by the Firefighter

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

#HarlequinHeartwarming Blog Book Tour | “Hers to Protect” (Book No.11 of the Shores of Indian Lake series) by Catherine LaniganHers to Protect
Subtitle: Shores of Indian Lake
by Catherine Lanigan
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

She’s sworn to protect…

But does that include a speeding celebrity?

Violet Hawks is a by-the-books police officer—so when she catches a man speeding, she arrests him. Only, the man is famous race car driver Josh Stevens. To make amends, Josh launches a charm campaign, and it works on the small town…and on Violet. But when Josh is connected to an investigation, Violet begins to wonder—can she trust her instincts when her heart is involved?

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Police Procedural, Romance Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781335510662

Also by this author: His Baby Dilemma, Rescued by the Firefighter, Home for Christmas

Also in this series: His Baby Dilemma, Rescued by the Firefighter, Home for Christmas


Published by Harlequin Heartwarming

on 7th May, 2019

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Pages: 384

The Shores of Indian Lake series:

Shores of Indian Lake series collage provided by Prism Book Tours

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Previously I’ve read the following in the series:

His Baby Dilemma (book nine) | see also Review

Rescued by the Firefighter (book ten) | see also Review

(*) I’ve acquired a copy of “Sophie’s Path” to be read in conjunction with borrowing the rest of the series via inter-library loan

Note: Home for Christmas → forthcoming 12th novel this November!

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin Books

Formats Available: Paperback* and Ebook

*Harlequin has the luxury of offering Regular, Large & Larger Print editions
which I personally can attest are lovely to be reading! Especially after a migraine or when my eyes are fatigued.

Converse via: #ShoresOfIndianLake and #HarlequinHeartwarming

About Catherine Lanigan

Catherine Lanigan

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of forty published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, as well as over half a dozen anthologies, including “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living your Dream”, “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul”, and more.

Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into dozens of languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. Ms. Lanigan’s novels are also available in E-books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, Apple Store, Mobi and Kobo. Several of her titles have been chosen for The Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Clubs. Her Vietnam war-based novel, The Christmas Star, won the Gold Medal Award Top Pick from Romantic Times Magazine and has also won Book of the Year Romance Gold Award from ForeWord Magazine as well as Book of the Year Romance from Reader’s Preference.

Lanigan is the author of a trilogy of non- fiction books regarding angelic intervention in human life: Angel Watch, Divine Nudges and Angel Tales published by HCI and Cedar Fort. Skyhorse published Lanigan’s “how-to” book on writing: Writing the Great American Romance Novel. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid Foundation to write a non-fiction book addressing teen addictions. Ms. Lanigan’s first Young Adult adventure novel, The Adventures of Lillie and Zane: The Golden Flute, was published by Cedar Fort.

Currently, she has published eight novels in the Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming: Love Shadows, Heart’s Desire, A Fine Year for Love, Katia’s Promise, Fear of Falling, Sophie’s Path and Protecting the Single Mom. Family of His Own pubs July, 2016. She has recently contracted for one more in the series: His Baby Dilemma.

As a cancer survivor, Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books.

She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. (THE EVOLVING WOMAN). She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

Divider

Posted Wednesday, 22 May, 2019 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Equality In Literature, Foster Care, Indie Author, Modern Day, Orphans & Guardians, Police Procedural, Prism Book Tours, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Small Towne USA, Social Services

Blog Book Tour | “Rescued by the Firefighter” (Book No.10 of the Shores of Indian Lake series) by Catherine Lanigan #Harlequin Heartwarming

Posted Wednesday, 7 November, 2018 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

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

Acquired Book By: I recently started hosting with Prism Book Tours, having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting her blog as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold these past several months (something I hope to resume in 2018) but as I enquired 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 “Rescued by the Firefighter” direct from the author Catherine Lanigan in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Why I wanted to read this story & continue with the series itself:

As I had previously declared having read the ninth book in the Shores of Indian Lake series, I wanted to continue reading more stories by the pen of Ms Lanigan! I had intended to back-read the series through my local library by requesting them through ILL’ing services (inter-library loan) – however, this particular year I’ve been a bit higher on my queue levels and due to the changes to our ILL services catalogue taking longer to ‘clear’ our requests after they’ve been returnt, I haven’t quite sorted out a system yet where I can balance what I want to request with what I’ve already received! I’m hoping as I move closer into the New Year, I’ll master a new plan of action and can start to re-visit this lovely series from the beginning! I have quite a few Harlequin Heartwarming series which fall in this category of #booklove and I dearly look forward to spending more time inside them as time moves forward!

However, when I heard about the premise of this tenth novel was centred round a firefighter, I was overjoyed as I love reading about first responders and emergency personnel! I even have a favourite Hallmark Channel movie starring Alison Sweeney which involves a firefighter who swoons her heart into realising she deserved a ‘second chance’ at both love and romance! Not to mention the fact, I loved how the husband of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character in ‘Ghost Whisperer’ was a firefighter!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Before I begin sharing my thoughts on this 10th installment,
let’s look back and re-visit what drew me into the style
and heart of Ms Lanigan’s writings:

One of my favourite parts of the whole story though was seeing Mica’s family – from his brothers to his sister-in-laws to his Mum and her beau, all stepping forward to help Grace in her time of need. Even her renewed friendships with those she left behind in the towne were heart-warming to see blossoming back into her life. As one of her friends said quite well: it’s one thing to go it alone but without someone to lean on or others to sound off on whilst your trying to juggle everything in life, things get difficult fast! Isn’t that the truth!

Seeing Grace surrounded by support and friendship reminded me why I loved “Three Men and A Baby” as much as I did growing up! I was still a kid myself when the film first came out – it made me laugh and smile and felt warm & cosy all over because of how Mary as a baby had impacted the lives of the Bachelor’s! I should have known then I’d love reading Romances & Women’s Fiction! The same is to be said of Mica – he hasn’t quite realised his own worth or his own capacity for being a father – this is something that is jarring him to his core and he has no idea how to handle the swirl of emotions assaulting him all at once. Whereas Grace reminds me so very much of Silvia (played by Nancy Travis) – unwilling to to compromise the well-being of her baby but without knowing how to ensure he’s being looked after properly.

This novel touched on all the moments I loved in the film, but it tells it’s own story, too. There is a long road towards redemption and the grace of second chances – where each party has to come to terms with their own baggage before they can move forward. At the centre of it all is this beautiful baby boy who gives their parents a run for their money! And, rightly so! He is just the unexpected ‘bundle’ to bridge a family back together whilst finding a way to heal two hearts who never realised how fractured they had become when they stopped letting themselves feel love and embracing the blessings which comes from being loved.

I look forward to back-reading the rest of the series and seeing which characters thread through the series overall – there are generally minor and major characters who take different roles in the spotlight in series similar to this one which will make it a lovely discovery as I move through each installment! I liked how Ms Lanigan tempered the emotional reactions with the living realities of parenthood – of the struggles of relationships which are never fully realised before pregnancies and how the choices after becoming a parent can make or break the relationship in the end. She dealt with a lot of hard topics – from depression to debilitating injury to unplanned and unwed pregnancy to commitment issues in relationships. The muddiness of her characters’ lives makes the resolutions a bit sweeter but also, it shows how hard the journey is to reach a point of peace within the spirit of the person living the life with the hand they are dealt.

-quoted from my review of His Baby Dilemma

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Blog Book Tour | “Rescued by the Firefighter” (Book No.10 of the Shores of Indian Lake series) by Catherine Lanigan #Harlequin HeartwarmingRescued by the Firefighter
Subtitle: Shores of Indian Lake
by Catherine Lanigan
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

He saved her life…

But will he destroy her dreams?

Firefighter Rand Nelson is tall and handsome and has literally walked through an inferno for Beatrice Wilcox. He’s a hero…and that’s exactly the problem. Beatrice knows all too well the risks of loving a man with a dangerous career. But when Rand’s report threatens her beloved children’s camp, Beatrice can’t refuse his offer of help…even though she knows they’re both playing with fire.

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance Fiction



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781335633880

Also by this author: His Baby Dilemma, Hers to Protect, Home for Christmas

Also in this series: His Baby Dilemma, Hers to Protect, Home for Christmas


Published by Harlequin Heartwarming

on 6th November, 2018

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Pages: 384

The Shores of Indian Lake series:

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin Books

Formats Available: Paperback* and Ebook

*Harlequin has the luxury of offering Regular, Large & Larger Print editions
which I personally can attest are lovely to be reading! Especially after a migraine or when my eyes are fatigued.

Converse via: #ShoresOfIndianLake and #Harlequin + Heartwarming

About Catherine Lanigan

Catherine Lanigan

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of forty published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, as well as over half a dozen anthologies, including “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living your Dream”, “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul”, and more.

Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into dozens of languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. Ms. Lanigan’s novels are also available in E-books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, Apple Store, Mobi and Kobo. Several of her titles have been chosen for The Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Clubs. Her Vietnam war-based novel, The Christmas Star, won the Gold Medal Award Top Pick from Romantic Times Magazine and has also won Book of the Year Romance Gold Award from ForeWord Magazine as well as Book of the Year Romance from Reader’s Preference.

Lanigan is the author of a trilogy of non- fiction books regarding angelic intervention in human life: Angel Watch, Divine Nudges and Angel Tales published by HCI and Cedar Fort. Skyhorse published Lanigan’s “how-to” book on writing: Writing the Great American Romance Novel. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid Foundation to write a non-fiction book addressing teen addictions. Ms. Lanigan’s first Young Adult adventure novel, The Adventures of Lillie and Zane: The Golden Flute, was published by Cedar Fort.

Currently, she has published eight novels in the Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming: Love Shadows, Heart’s Desire, A Fine Year for Love, Katia’s Promise, Fear of Falling, Sophie’s Path and Protecting the Single Mom. Family of His Own pubs July, 2016. She has recently contracted for one more in the series: His Baby Dilemma.

As a cancer survivor, Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books.

She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. (THE EVOLVING WOMAN). She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs.

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Posted Wednesday, 7 November, 2018 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Contemporary Romance, Fire Rescue | Firefighters, First Responders | Emergency Medical, Indie Author, Modern Day, Prism Book Tours, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Small Towne Fiction, Small Towne USA

Blog Book Tour | “His Baby Dilemma” (Book No.9 of the Shores of Indian Lake series) by Catherine Lanigan

Posted Wednesday, 6 December, 2017 by jorielov , , , , 0 Comments

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

Acquired Book By: I recently started hosting with Prism Book Tours, having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting her blog as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold these past several months (something I hope to resume in 2018) but as 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 Baby Dilemma” direct from the author Catherine Lanigan in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Why I wanted to read this story:

I was smitten by the premise to be honest! And, when I first saw the cover art for this novel, I hadn’t seen the series name underneath the title! I’ve been a long-time appreciator of Harlequin Romances – from a variety of their imprints which I first started to talk about on my conversation with Rachel Magee and shared a bit more recently on my Spotlight with Extract & Notes on behalf of “His Frontier Christmas Family”. If you’ve been following my blog for awhile you know my main preference is to read series in order – even if the publication order differs from the series order – however, in this case, I hadn’t realised my error until after I received the novel – finding the lovely serial list included!

One thing I do appreciate about surprising myself on the odd moon I misunderstand the sequence of series, is it sometimes paves the way for me to find a #newtomeauthor I might not have met otherwise! Therefore, because I love stories involving children & families, I was still just as delighted to curl inside this Heartwarming Romance as if it were the first in the series and not the 9th! It just means I have 8 unexpected blessings awaiting me one day – whilst I seek a way to read the rest of the interlocking stories within this series! Perhaps even, through my local library wherein they have a lovely stack full of Harlequin novels everyone in my region loves to read on a regular basis! Plus, they surprised me this December by purchasing “Christmas at Cade Ranch” which I recently spotlighted as I reviewed the prequel in the series “A Cowboy to Keep”. Suffice it to say, I’ve found a path back into reading Harlequin and I couldn’t be happier!

The author kindly sent me a bookmark with this novel – giving me her online sites, four covers of her novels and a delightful way to ‘greet’ this story as I read it! Besides – who could resist reading a story with the cut little baby on the cover holding the pages of a book? NOT ME! Laughs with mirth. I was sent a ‘larger print’ edition of this novel – which is a first for me, as I generally have only read their ‘regular or large print’ editions. The nice blessing for receiving this larger font right now is after coming out of two migraines last month and finding myself running into a third migraine this week – the extra large font allowed me to read with less issues in focusing! Also, outside of being my younger self, I’ve never had the joy of reading a book at a ‘distance’ before as the fonts being used today in publishing are growing so very tiny! Whoa. This was a lovely discovery!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

His Baby Dilemma by Catherine Lanigan

Must they always be continents apart?

Nobody expects Paris fashion designer Grace Railton to settle down in her Indiana town, least of all Mica Barzonni. Fifteen months ago, he turned to her for comfort and compassion following a farming accident that left him permanently injured. Then she returned to France and went silent on him.

Until, suddenly, Grace shows up on his doorstep with life-altering news. Mica, a father? He’s barely learned to navigate his post accident life. But this could be his chance to become the man he’s always wanted to be—the husband and father Grace and their baby son need. Now Mica just has to convince her to stay.

Pub Day: 5th December, 2017

Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance

Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming

Add to Riffle | Add to LibraryThing

The Shores of Indian Lake series:

About Catherine Lanigan

Catherine Lanigan

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of forty published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, as well as over half a dozen anthologies, including “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living your Dream”, “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul”, and more.

Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into dozens of languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. Ms. Lanigan’s novels are also available in E-books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, Apple Store, Mobi and Kobo. Several of her titles have been chosen for The Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Clubs. Her Vietnam war-based novel, The Christmas Star, won the Gold Medal Award Top Pick from Romantic Times Magazine and has also won Book of the Year Romance Gold Award from ForeWord Magazine as well as Book of the Year Romance from Reader’s Preference.

Lanigan is the author of a trilogy of non- fiction books regarding angelic intervention in human life: Angel Watch, Divine Nudges and Angel Tales published by HCI and Cedar Fort. Skyhorse published Lanigan’s “how-to” book on writing: Writing the Great American Romance Novel. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid Foundation to write a non-fiction book addressing teen addictions. Ms. Lanigan’s first Young Adult adventure novel, The Adventures of Lillie and Zane: The Golden Flute, was published by Cedar Fort.

Currently, she has published eight novels in the Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming: Love Shadows, Heart’s Desire, A Fine Year for Love, Katia’s Promise, Fear of Falling, Sophie’s Path and Protecting the Single Mom. Family of His Own pubs July, 2016. She has recently contracted for one more in the series: His Baby Dilemma.

As a cancer survivor, Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books.

She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. (THE EVOLVING WOMAN). She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com Read More

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Posted Wednesday, 6 December, 2017 by jorielov in 21st Century, Blog Tour Host, Child out of Wedlock, Contemporary Romance, Deception Before Matrimony, Family Life, Indie Author, Life Shift, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Modern Day, Prism Book Tours, Realistic Fiction, Romance Fiction, Second Chance Love, Single Mothers, Singletons & Commitment, Small Towne Fiction, Small Towne USA, Unexpected Pregnancy