Posted Tuesday, 4 January, 2022 by jorielov Golden Matchmaker's Club series, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Her Christmastime Family, Tara Randel 0 Comments
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 “Her Christmastime 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.
NOTE: In conjunction with this review, I’ve also shared a full review for “Stealing Her Best Friend’s Heart” appearing during #SaturdaysAreBookish. Originally scheduled for a December tour stop for this second release in the series – both were unfortunately detained behind my blog until I fixed a technical mistake! Thereby, they are part of my ringing in New Year, 2022 with celebrations of #ChristmasReads, Romances and Jane Austen.
A note about what I loved from “Stealing Her Best Friend’s Heart”:
You have to give credit to Gayle Ann and Alveda! Not only are they interfering with the lives of Heidi and Reid, their doing it in such a crafty way that you can’t help but want to hug them! Seriously – these two women are sharp as fiddles and despite what everyone else might think, they definitely know how to bend the truth to where it influences someone else to act! I loved their scenes together and of course, following along with their schemes. I don’t think anyone could have talked them out of their plans because in their eyes, they were in the right and it would just take a bit of time for others to see that for themselves.
Heidi was so caught up in her own headspace, she wasn’t allowing herself to entertain the moment of being with Reid. There were moments where you thought they might realise their own affections for each other and yet, both were so strong willed they would tuck away from one another as soon as they even felt an emotional shift hovering between them. Reid was just as stubborn as Heidi – not wanting to admit his own heart was giving him reasons to reconsider where he stood in their relationship – as over the years, it had been maintained as a platonic friendship which had started in their youth. Now, they were both finding themselves in each others’ company much more often and yet, both of them couldn’t quite connect their hearts and their feelings together. All whilst Randel etched out reasons why both were hesitating to take a chance on a love they never expected to find. Randel fused the story with the emotional bits you’d hope to find in a relationship-based romance with the angst of trying to bridge two lives together which were fighting their own natural chemistry.
And, yet nothing quite prepares you for the life and death situations Randel places inside Heidi and Reid’s story to serve as a catalyst of enlightened change for all the characters involved. I’ll only say it involves fire, so if stories which have heavily dramatic scenes involving fire upset you, just know this one is a small scene at the end of the novel which packs quite the punch in regards to how it affects your own heart to read the passages involved. I generally find stories involving fire or wildfires the hardest to read myself but the ways in which Randel handled both the intensity of the scene and the ways in which she used that situation as a turning point for the story on all fronts, served as such a strong ending for a story I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I hope others who pick up this novel to read will find the same true for them as well.
One of the best scenes of the story was how Randel choose to bring the Golden Matchmakers Club into its official standing with the men and women in the ‘club’ itself choosing to band together for the good of the community. Each of the members of the club had something different to offer but they had a common goal which makes you smirk and smile; mostly because it is their love of Golden and the will to see this community continue to grow and develop into a destination others would appreciate finding to live out their own lives which endears you to the Club itself because of how their efforts are for the joy they can give to others. Their intentions might be honourable but its how they go about producing results which might blur the lines a bit on what could be considered interference – however, its how they bring lives together which entertained me the most and I can’t wait to read the next installment in this series!
-quoted from my review of Stealing Her Best Friend’s Heart
Her Christmastime Family
Subtitle: The Golden Matchmaker's Club
by Tara Randel
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
A holiday match…
For a lifetime of love!
Creating new Christmas traditions is a priority for single mom Faith Harper. But the handsome widower next door, police officer Roan Donovan, is struggling to make the season merry for his two girls. Sunny Faith could brighten the holiday for Roan. And the way he protects his daughters touches her heart. Will facing their challenges together unite their families…and build a love to weather all seasons?
Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Romance Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 978-1335426529
Also by this author: His One and Only Bride, His Honor, Her Family, Trusting Her Heart, Always the One, (#25PagePreview) of Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart
Published by Harlequin Heartwarming
on 30th November, 2021
Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)
Pages: 384
Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin
Converse via: #Contemporary + #Romance and #HarlequinHeartwarming
The Golden Matchmaker’s Club series:
Stealing Her Best Friend’s Heart (Book One)
Her Christmastime Family (Book Two)
His Small Town Dream
← forthcoming August, 2022!
re-visits the small towne I fell in love with whilst reading two stories from the Meet Me At the Alter series: “Trusting Her Heart” & “His Honour, Her Family” – I am so grateful this new series continues to develop the towne and the characters I’ve come to know in this North Georgia mountain community!
About 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.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | LibraryThing | FantasticFiction | Secondary Blog
Read More
Posted Tuesday, 4 January, 2022 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
Posted Saturday, 1 January, 2022 by jorielov Golden Matchmaker's Club series, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Tara Randel 2 Comments
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 “Stealing Her Best Friend’s Heart” direct from the author Tara Randel in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
NOTE: During the original blog tour for this novel, earlier in 2021, I was only able to give an abridged preview of my future full length review, which is now being released. It was meant to hug close to my review for “Her Christmastime Family”, originally scheduled for a December tour stop however both were unfortunately detained behind my blog until I fixed a technical mistake! Thereby, they are part of my ringing in New Year, 2022 with celebrations of #ChristmasReads, Romances and Jane Austen.
A note of apology and explanation about the delay in sharing this review:
I am grateful I can finally release my thoughts about two lovely stories set in Golden, Georgia which have captured my heart. It is a setting I originally fell in love with in [2019] and I am so happy the author has continued to set stories in this environment! The towne itself is beyond charming but its the characters who stay with you which makes it a sweetened return whenever you dip back into one of the stories in sequence of the overall series! (you’ll find all the interlocking stories in this world mentioned on this review)
I had hoped this review and the one for Her Christmastime Family would have appeared on Jorie Loves A Story before the ball dropped in Times Square as that had been my intention, however, as I was working extra hours throughout December, I didn’t have time off to realise there was a technical mistake which prevented both posts from being released properly until New Year’s Day, 2022 when thankfully my days off resumed after the holidays.
I’ll be sharing a bit more about how 2021 ended for me as a book blogger during #TheSundayPost, however, for now, I simply wanted to apologise to the author for not sharing these two reviews sooner and for having to wait until this first week of a New Year to sharing my thoughts and reactions with my readers, too.
Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart
Subtitle: The Golden Matchmaker's Club
by Tara Randel
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
A home renovation…
Could change this friendship forever
Heidi Welch has her eye on the perfect home…until Reid Masterson buys it! Now Heidi has one last chance to get back the home of her dreams from her childhood friend and longtime crush. If she helps Reid with the renovations, he'll sell her the house. But “just friends” seems just about impossible…especially when friendship keeps getting in the way of falling in love.
Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Romance Fiction, Contemporary Romance Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 978-1335426369
Also by this author: His One and Only Bride, His Honor, Her Family, Trusting Her Heart, Always the One, (#25PagePreview) of Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Her Christmastime Family
Published by Harlequin Heartwarming
on 27th July, 2021
Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)
Pages: 384
Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming (@HarlequinBooks) | imprint of Harlequin
Converse via: #Contemporary + #Romance and #HarlequinHeartwarming
The Golden Matchmaker’s Club series:
Stealing Her Best Friend’s Heart (Book One)
Her Christmastime Family (Book Two)
His Small Town Dream
← forthcoming August, 2022!
re-visits the small towne I fell in love with whilst reading two stories from the Meet Me At the Alter series: “Trusting Her Heart” & “His Honour, Her Family” – I am so grateful this new series continues to develop the towne and the characters I’ve come to know in this North Georgia mountain community!
About 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.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | LibraryThing | FantasticFiction | Secondary Blog
Read More
Posted Saturday, 1 January, 2022 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
Posted Tuesday, 3 August, 2021 by jorielov Golden Matchmaker's Club series, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Tara Randel 1 Comment
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 “Stealing Her Best Friend’s Heart” direct from the author Tara Randel in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I appreciate reading
stories by Tara Randel which feature “Golden”:
Serena’s store Blue Ridge Cottage is the kind of eclectic papery shoppe I’d love to find IRL! Especially as it brings me back to the joyful past of being an ardent letter writer who loved sending letters through the post office! Stationery stores and typewriter repair shoppes are a bit harder to come by these days as much as a solidly outfitted scrapbooking and/or rubberstamp shoppe for those of us who love paper crafting, mixed media collage and the art of creating handmade greeting cards. You can get lost inside a store like Serena’s inasmuch as you could a book shoppe! The choices, the designs and the curiously clever way she used vintage furnishings to display her wares was enticing enough but it was the soul sister vibe she carried off by endearing herself to fellow typospherians which made it seem sweeter somehow!
Mrs M is quite the stitch and a half! She is the kind of landlord who has a grandmotherly attitude which lands her into a bit of a tricky spot when she wants to earnestly offer her grandson to a winning match such as Serena! She can’t help herself really, if you observe her as she tries to encourage a love match between two singleton’s who aren’t entirely ready for the prospect of a relationship! Matching is a fun activity for the person whose doing the pairings but for those on the opposite end of the match? I could see why Serena was hesitating to acknowledge the cunning smiles and the curious way Mrs M attempted to stall in the shoppe long enough for Logan to collect her for their day out.
Logan enjoys his job a bit too much if you ask me! He gets too much pleasure out of uncovering a person’s secrets and of finding out what they wish to hide from the world. Not that that is always a bad thing mind you, but in his eyes? He seems to place himself above reproach and just because there was a bad apple incident who affected his grandmother’s life years ago; he’s now embolden to believe others will follow suit. Others like Serena who just want to carve out an honest business and make it as an independent shoppe owner in an era of chains and box stores. You had to feel for him a bit – for his misguided sense of duty as it is one thing to honour your grandmother and protect her interests but it is another to marginalise everyone just because you can’t believe that someone would be honourable and trustworthy. Even Mrs M called him on that!
Serena loved being involved in the local activities Golden provided but sometimes the cost of participation was more than she was willing to yield. You could almost see the mistake in judgement on her face when Logan started to grill her again for information. He thinks he’s this suave bloke who could charm the daisies off any woman but in reality, he’s hard-edged and if your intuitive, you can see what he’s doing even before he finishes his enquiry.
What gives you the best joy of course is watching how Ms Randel knits her characters closer together at moments where they’d prefer to remain isolated, alone and single. She doesn’t let them root there in their own self-pity, but rather attempts to push them towards the people who have unconditional love to share and friendship which will last longer than a rumour. This is a series that is about working through your problems, trusting in yourself to have the chance to repair the past and finding a place as calm as Golden to renew your spirit as you redefine your path.
-quoted from my review of Trusting Her Heart
(Meet Me At the Altar series, Book Three)
(#25PagePreview) of Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart
Subtitle: The Golden Matchmaker's Club
by Tara Randel
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
A home renovation…
Could change this friendship forever
Heidi Welch has her eye on the perfect home…until Reid Masterson buys it! Now Heidi has one last chance to get back the home of her dreams from her childhood friend and longtime crush. If she helps Reid with the renovations, he'll sell her the house. But “just friends” seems just about impossible…especially when friendship keeps getting in the way of falling in love.
Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Romance Fiction, Contemporary Romance Places to find the book:
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 978-1335426369
Also by this author: His One and Only Bride, His Honor, Her Family, Trusting Her Heart, Always the One, Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Her Christmastime Family
Published by Harlequin Heartwarming
on 27th July, 2021
Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)
Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming
Converse via: #Contemporary + #Romance and #HarlequinHeartwarming
The Golden Matchmaker’s Club series:
Stealing Her Best Friend’s Heart (Book One)
Her Christmastime Family (Book Two)
← forthcoming November 2021!
re-visits the small towne I fell in love with whilst reading two stories from the Meet Me At the Alter series: “Trusting Her Heart” & “His Honour, Her Family” – I am so grateful this new series continues to develop the towne and the characters I’ve come to know in this North Georgia mountain community!
About 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.
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | LibraryThing | FantasticFiction | Secondary Blog
Read More
Posted Tuesday, 3 August, 2021 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
Posted Sunday, 16 February, 2020 by jorielov (Narrator) Benjamin Fife, (Narrator) Brittany Pressley, (Narrator) Eric Jason Martin, (Narrator) Jayme Mattler, (Narrator) Laura Linney, Always the One, An Unconventional Countess, Andrew Krivak, Anita Abriel, Anne Marie Lewis, Annette Hubbell, Bright Dreams: The Brilliant Ideas of Nikola Tesla, Carrie Callaghan, Chantal Gadoury, Christmas Once Again, Collins Hemingway, Daughter of Sun Bride of Ice, Dayla and the Magic Ink Bottle, Edale Lane, Elizabeth Strout, Ellie Midwood, Emma S. Jackson, Essential Ketogenic Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, Eternity Through the Rearview Mirror, Ghost of the Bamboo Road, Good Boy, H.L. Burke, J.M. Evenson, Janice Broyles, Jenni Fletcher, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jina Bacarr, Julia Kelly, Longbourn Dragon Entail, Margarita Montimore, Maria Grace, Mary Pauline Lowry, Merchants of Milan, Metropolis, Molly Divine RD, My Name Is Lucy Barton, Nancy Montuori, Nicole Derseweh, Oona Out of Order, Pemberley: Mr Darcy's Dragon, Rachel Hauck, Recipe for Persuasion, Regina Scott, Rona Munro, Salt the Snow, Sapphira Olsen, Sense without Sensibility, Signe Pike, Sonali Dev, Soraya M. Lane, Stanley Park, Stef Wade, Susan B Katz, Suzy Spitfire series, Tara Randel, The Bear, The Devil's Bride, The Easy 5 Ingredient Vegan Cookbook: 100 Healthy Plant Based Recipes, The Fifth Avenue Story Society, The Girls of Pearl Harbour, The Highlander's English Bride, The Light After the War, The Light Over London, The Lost Queen, The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen, The Matchmaker's Rogue, The Quill Collective, The Roxy Letters, The Runaway Heir, The Secret Heir, The Story of Frida Kahlo: A Biography Book for New Readers, The Vegan Ketogenic Diet Cookbook, The Very Last Leaf, Tracy Dockray, Vanessa Kelly, Whitney Lauritsen, Winterdream, Yuletide 12 Comments
[Official Blurb] The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog. This is your news post, so personalize it! Include as much as you want or as little. Be creative, it can be a vlog or just a showcase of your goodies. Link up once a week or once a month, you decide. Book haul can include library books, yard sale finds, arcs and bought books..share them!
- Enter your link on the post-
- Sundays beginning at 12:01 am (CST) (link will be open all week)
- Link back to this post or this blog
- Visit others who have linked up
- Read this week’s #TheSundayPost!
A note about the format I am using to journal #TheSundayPost:
I am finding I like being able to give my readers who cannot visit my blog each time a new post, review or guest feature goes live a digest journal of what is happening on #JLASblog each week! If you are familiar with the style in which I journal my readerly adventures via #WWWednesdays (see also Archive) you’ll know why I like this journalled style for #TheSundayPost!
It’s a way of talking about what is bookishly on my mind whilst sharing where my travels in Fiction & Non-Fiction took me through the last seven days! Quite stellar – so very thankful I was encouraged to participate as I love being able to think about which stories settled into my heart and which of the stories I am most eager to see arrive by postal mail and/or via audiobook! It’s a bit of a lovely way to journal your bookish life and have a weekly reminder of the experiences of you’ve gathered and love to remember! In regards to getting back into the groove with #WWWeds – I’m either going to make the meme bi-monthly or monthly which I’ll decide within the next fortnight.
And, then,…
Jorie finally returns to journalling her weekly bookish adventures,…
Finding the motivation to write #TheSundayPost has been a bit tricky the past few years, which is why you’ve noticed a staunch reduction in posts alighting in my feeds! I had a lot of good intentions to resume this lovely meme I was enjoying participating in but structuring it the way I wanted to have my weekly journalled notes to appear on my blog was part of the issue and the other half of it really is that I have a lot to shuffle behind-the-blog so to speak (we all do,..) to where I was thankful I had the hours I needed to maintain Jorie Loves A Story but when it came to writing up supplemental posts and keeping in step with the memes I love to blog about – long ago, I realised something had to ‘give’ and these were the posts I had to put on hiatus.
Some months I thought I might be able to return to them sooner, so there are a few notes here or there saying “#TheSundayPost” is returning this week or that week, but no, they haven’t returnt until now! I have a lot of news I never had the chance to share from past reading challenges or past milestones of the blog – I might tuck those into some retrospective posts as the months move forward. For now, I simply wanted to try to recapture a bit of what has been going on since January and then, I’ll tackle what I want to share from [2019-back].
*UPcoming!* blog & Twitter milestones:
(celebrating my 7th Year as a book blogger and joyful tweeter : dates to remember!)
I created my blog on the 31st of March, 2013 – my blogoversary!
I launched it LIVE to the world on 6th August, 2013 – my blog’s birthday!
I waited til the 13th of November, 2013 to join Twitter – my #twitterversary!
I almost cannot believe *seven years!* have elapsed since I first created this idea I had for a book blog and undertook the journey of what has emerged through seeking out the bookish and readerly adventures I’ve curated ever since I first started to blog my bookish and geeky life wayy back in [2013] !! I hadn’t known then how my life would be tenfold #blessed by the authors, their stories and the bookish culture I would endeavour to become a part of until I was into my first few years as a book blogger. There was no guide and blueprint towards sorting out this book blogosphere world nor the twitterverse where I undertook getting socially chatty on a platform I never expected I’d take like a duck to water to explore, engage and carve out my own joyfully tweeting presence seven years in the making!
I’ve worked with publishers in the United States, Canada, the UK and aboard whilst I have had the chance to get to host blog tours with genre focused blog touring companies inasmuch as innovative and insightful touring companies who either focus on select works of Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry. Each step of the way, I was not just hosting blog tours or seeking stories for review consideration but I was endeavouring with each opportunity which crossed my path to read deeper and to seek out the stories which :pushed: me into new horizons of literary exploration. For me, that was always the key goal: to find the stories being writ by the authors who are giving me a wicked good read!
I never knew if I could balance my online readerly life the same way I balance my IRL readerly life – but I have found being a hybrid reader has had its best benefits because I can move between mainstream and INSPY offerings by publishers, publicists, authors, agents and touring companies quite easily. Each year, I have decided to seek out new adventures and to re-shift what I wanted to focus on – I started to reduce how many blog tours I would host each month back in [2016] something I happily maintained until this February [2020] where I slide back into a bit of a chaotic blog schedule! (laughs)
Through the years, I’ve disclosed snippets of my walk in faith, my struggles of being a migraineur (someone who has chronic migraines) and have found that I love hosting guest features where I get to interview different guests – authors, editors, narrators (of audiobooks), actors (for Indie Film projects) and other creatives who have crossed my path. I still love blogging the heart out of the stories I am reading – not just to examine the story as a discerning reader myself but to truly give a strong impression about what I found inside the story in order to help someone else choose whether or not the story I’ve read and blogged about is a good ‘fit’ for their own readerly curiosities. As we all gravitate towards different stories at different times – we all dance through genres and literary styles – a book which appeals to us today might not resonate with us when we go to read it, etc. I find I love visiting with the book bloggers who give me something to ‘chew on’ as I’m reading their blogs – from their reviews, to their guest features to their discussion posts. I want to know more than the surface layer of their reactions to stories and that is what I try to bring to my own readers here on Jorie Loves A Story. (and yes, the “a” is purposefully shown in caps!) Read More
Posted Sunday, 16 February, 2020 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Birthdays & Blogoversaries, Blogosphere Events & Happenings, Bookish Memes, JLAS Update Post, Jorie Loves A Story, Photography of Jorie, Spontaneous Musings, Stories of Jorie, The Sunday Post
Posted Thursday, 13 February, 2020 by jorielov Always the One, Harlequin Books, Harlequin Heartwarming, Meet Me At The Altar series, Tara Randel 2 Comments
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 “Always the One” direct from the author Tara Randel in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I appreciate reading
the Meet Me At the Altar series by Tara Randel:
Serena’s store Blue Ridge Cottage is the kind of eclectic papery shoppe I’d love to find IRL! Especially as it brings me back to the joyful past of being an ardent letter writer who loved sending letters through the post office! Stationery stores and typewriter repair shoppes are a bit harder to come by these days as much as a solidly outfitted scrapbooking and/or rubberstamp shoppe for those of us who love paper crafting, mixed media collage and the art of creating handmade greeting cards. You can get lost inside a store like Serena’s inasmuch as you could a book shoppe! The choices, the designs and the curiously clever way she used vintage furnishings to display her wares was enticing enough but it was the soul sister vibe she carried off by endearing herself to fellow typospherians which made it seem sweeter somehow!
Mrs M is quite the stitch and a half! She is the kind of landlord who has a grandmotherly attitude which lands her into a bit of a tricky spot when she wants to earnestly offer her grandson to a winning match such as Serena! She can’t help herself really, if you observe her as she tries to encourage a love match between two singleton’s who aren’t entirely ready for the prospect of a relationship! Matching is a fun activity for the person whose doing the pairings but for those on the opposite end of the match? I could see why Serena was hesitating to acknowledge the cunning smiles and the curious way Mrs M attempted to stall in the shoppe long enough for Logan to collect her for their day out.
Logan enjoys his job a bit too much if you ask me! He gets too much pleasure out of uncovering a person’s secrets and of finding out what they wish to hide from the world. Not that that is always a bad thing mind you, but in his eyes? He seems to place himself above reproach and just because there was a bad apple incident who affected his grandmother’s life years ago; he’s now embolden to believe others will follow suit. Others like Serena who just want to carve out an honest business and make it as an independent shoppe owner in an era of chains and box stores. You had to feel for him a bit – for his misguided sense of duty as it is one thing to honour your grandmother and protect her interests but it is another to marginalise everyone just because you can’t believe that someone would be honourable and trustworthy. Even Mrs M called him on that!
Serena loved being involved in the local activities Golden provided but sometimes the cost of participation was more than she was willing to yield. You could almost see the mistake in judgement on her face when Logan started to grill her again for information. He thinks he’s this suave bloke who could charm the daisies off any woman but in reality, he’s hard-edged and if your intuitive, you can see what he’s doing even before he finishes his enquiry.
My three favourite characters ended up being Serena’s father, Jasmine (the new love of his life) and Mrs M; mostly as the three of them are the crafty parental figures who knew how to get forward motion churning in the lives of Serena and Logan. They needed a lot of pushes and nudges to work through their feelings, re-think what they felt they knew of each other and of course, like most relationships that have a rocky foundation they needed help finding common ground. All of this is put together through the vision Randel had in showcasing how ordinary life can be messy but its the hours betwixt and between which count the most.
The person I felt the most sorry for was Logan and Reid’s father – I think he never truly gave himself permission to feel the losses he experienced nor had the capacity to find a way to heal through self-forgiveness for his own past sins. Logan’s father was a proud man but what he needed most was his sons to accept his faults, understand his frailties and still find a reason to accept him as a father who loved his sons most of all. This is why the series feels rooted in a family drama set in a small close-knit mountain community. Everyone is in a different stage of progress towards resolving something of their lives or of their past; no one is unaffected by the secrets but it is those secrets which cause more harm than good.
What pulls me back into the plotting of Meet Me At the Altar series is the thickening plot points – there is an overlapping arc of narrative threading between the novels which is leading into a revelation period. There is one underscoring mystery involving Serena’s own past, her family and especially the goings on with her father which stem from the investigative instincts of detectives both private and publicly employed. It is within this scope that Randel encourages your curiosity because each new installment of the series hugs you closer to the truth but also pulls away from it quite a bit in order to lengthen the reveal.
I am hoping there are a few more stories yet to come in this series – I’d love to see what becomes of Reid, but also the supporting characters of Heidi and Carrie. There are more characters whose lives are entwined with the leads and I would love to see how their lives begin to work out as well!
What gives you the best joy of course is watching how Ms Randel knits her characters closer together at moments where they’d prefer to remain isolated, alone and single. She doesn’t let them root there in their own self-pity, but rather attempts to push them towards the people who have unconditional love to share and friendship which will last longer than a rumour. This is a series that is about working through your problems, trusting in yourself to have the chance to repair the past and finding a place as calm as Golden to renew your spirit as you redefine your path.
-quoted from my review of Trusting Her Heart
(Meet Me At the Altar series, Book Three)
Always the One
Subtitle: Meet Me At The Altar
by Tara Randel
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
She’s the love of his life… but is he still hers?
FBI agent Derrick Matthews has finally found his childhood sweetheart and the love of his life—but she isn’t exactly happy about it! Years ago, Hannah Rawlings disappeared overnight when her family went on the run, and she blames Derrick. She tells him she’s moved on and he should, too, but Derrick fears Hannah’s still in danger. He vows to protect her—even if that means betraying her trust…again.
Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Romance Fiction Places to find the book:
Borrow from a Public Library
Add to LibraryThing
ISBN: 978-1-335-88957-7
Also by this author: His One and Only Bride, His Honor, Her Family, Trusting Her Heart, (#25PagePreview) of Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Stealing Her Best Friend's Heart, Her Christmastime Family
Also in this series: His Honor, Her Family, Trusting Her Heart
Published by Harlequin Heartwarming
on 4th February, 2020
Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)
Pages: 385
Published by: Harlequin Heartwarming
Converse via: #Contemporary + #Romance and #HarlequinHeartwarming
Meet Me At The Altar series:
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?
As an aside – when it comes to the redesign for Harlequin Heartwarming – I am on board with it as far as the front covers are concerned with one note of criticism from a reader who loves her serial fiction. The series names have been moved to the back cover and that is most distressing as it is harder to sort out which books are meant to be read in which sequence per series. I noticed that they are not routing through the series names either online except thankfully on Fantastic Fiction. That is the only mark of criticism I have though as I liked the triangle graphic on the upper left but I wish the series names were still on the front covers.
About 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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Posted Thursday, 13 February, 2020 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