Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Ridge by @StephanieHurt4 #bookreview

Today’s team review has come from Georgia, she blogs at http://www.georgiarosebooks.com

Rosie's Book Review team 1

Georgia has read and reviewed Ridge by Stephanie Hurt

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Review for Ridge by Stephanie Hurt

 

Ridge is an easy read, sweet romance between the eponymous Ridge Cauthern, an ex soldier recently back from Iraq and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and the vet, Mallory. I should add here that I loved the names of all the characters in the story. This is the first in a series which I’m assuming will be based on the Cauthern family which is populated by handsome sons, Ridge, Oakley, Chase and Luke and a beautiful daughter, Maggie – all of whom I’m sure have stories waiting to be told. The parents are mentioned but not named.

I do like to use my imagination when conjuring up characters but a little light painting helps to give me something to get started on and I had no real idea what anyone looked like other than the fact that there were all gorgeous. The brothers clearly weakened the knees of all the women they came across and I would have loved to have had some little descriptive passages here and there to show me why they were so fancied. I did like the closeness of the siblings though and would have loved to have known more about their parents as well – perhaps in future stories?

I have always loved a western so give me cowboys, horses, wide open prairies and cattle wrangling and I’m in heaven. However here I wanted much more detail – I wanted the dust and heat, I wanted to see the prairies, smell the sweat of the horses and feel the feelings that were at the heart of this read. Ridge was struggling on his return to the ranch after his experiences of war and initially pushes Mallory away feeling he can’t have any sort of relationship. This resolves itself quickly as his attraction to Mallory increases and, as they keep being thrown together because of animal based incidents, the inevitable happens. It was all so quick though, I’m not sure how long this book is but it felt short and consequently a little rushed. It’s probably only a personal thing and some, I’m sure, love a quick read but I like to dwell a little longer on settings, that for me could be perfect, and situations, that I would have loved to have felt in detail.

I should add that I really did like the cover design, the western style font and the silhouette I thought worked very well.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Lynn reviews Ridge by @StephanieHurt4 #Romance #Bookreview

Today’s team review is from Lynn

Rosie's Book Review team 1

She chose to read and review Ridge by Stephanie Hurt

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Ridge, the 1st book in the Five Oaks Ranch Series, by Stephanie Payne Hurt  is a love story that follows Ridge Cauthen.  The eldest of the Cauthen Clan who  served in Iraq.  He is now home and working his family’s ranch.  Ridge by chance meets the new Veterinarian;  Mallory.  Ridge is dealing with PTSD from his military service.  PTSD that includes nightmares, flashbacks  and mood swings.  Not an ideal time to try and make someone fall in love with you.  My favorite part of this story was the amount of love, patience and forgiveness Ridge is shown by his family and friends.  I would hope all veterans would receive the same treatment.  I’m not going to tell you if Boy gets Girl, you just have to read it yourself!!

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Good Deeds Year 2, Week 9

Welcome to my second Year of Good Deeds, a challenge I set myself during April 2013. I decided to do at least one Good Deed a day for a whole year.

New Good DeedsDuring my week I’ll also being updating you on My Kindness Challenge which I’m also doing. I read about a new challenge to make the world a better place to live in. “Speak Kind Words, Receive Kind Echoes” see the inspiration on  The Kindness blog . During my learning process I’m donating money to charity for my slip-ups to make me work harder to achieve results. I earn no money from any of my book reviews, so having little to spare should focus my mind.

This week I’ve been doing the following;

June 15th – Met a friend at the shops and asked after her mother who had recently broken her hip. Visited my parents and helped Mum with a little computer question. Discussed with my Dad, how to collect a swarm of bees should I ever find one and he’s not around. (He keeps bees)

June 16th – My morning helping out at school. Then a NEW mad capped idea to run a series on book reviewing ending with a challenge to readers getting them to read and review a book and get it posted here on the blog. Drafted up my review of Dispassionate Lies by Eileen Schuh.

June 17th – Mad blogger syndrome still taking hold as I badger people to help me with the book review series challenge,  giving bloggers and authors a chance to promote themselves.

Made my friend’s day when I saw her new picture on Twitter and sent her a compliment. Thought she looked a “Super hot Mamma”!

June 18th – This spontaneous idea stuff is a bit scary sometimes! I am having so much FUN. Who would have thought that my week would turn out like this? Back story here, when I came home at lunchtime on Monday the day was dreary and I felt low and depressed. Not wanting to feel this way I asked myself how I wanted to feel. I wanted to be happy and bubbly, so I asked what made me happy and bubbly? The answer came; Having fun on my blog and helping people. So I thought, what do I do on my blog? I do book reviews, why? Because I think they’re really important to authors and readers. So I literally started weaving a plan around that one idea, now look at it. I’ve got loads of FREE books from authors, I’ve got friends and fellow bloggers writing articles for me, people are signing up to the review challenge and it’s complete madness and I’m loving every minute of it.

The winner of a copy of Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lamb was delighted to receive her copy of the book today.

Finished reading The Mystery Box by Eva Pohler,

June 19th – Am reading The Agben School by Jo Sparkes, second book in The Legend of the Gamesmen series, which will soon be coming hot off the presses. Adding more books to my book review challenge and drafting up pieces of advice on book reviewing. Discussed with fellow author Stephanie Hurt the possibility of running our very successful Romancing September Tour again this year. Let us know if you’d be interested, last year we did author interviews, book promos and talked about writing romance in 2 locations around the world each day for 30 days. Haven’t discussed if we’ll follow the same format or make a few changes, will keep you all posted.

June 20th – Still busy with the Book review Challenge posts. Walked to the post box at lunchtime and picked up litter on my way home. Here’s a link to one of the posts about the challenge http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-5kG

Left a little comment on a fellow blogger’s site to help cheer her up and I hoped it helped.

June 21st – Tonight we’re off out bearing gifts to help celebrate our friends 25th Wedding Anniversary. Had a great time and donated money to The Children’s Cancer Trust as the bar was free, but asked for donations. Started reading In Praise Of Lilith, Eve And The Serpent In The Garden Of Eden And Other Stories by Susan Scott. Got inspired by the first essay to clean my house as a reflection of cleaning up my life. Such a good book.

Reflections on the April 2014 A-Z Tour

The 2014 April A to Z Challenge, had over 2000 bloggers taking part this year it was an awesome tour to get involved in. If you’ve not heard about it, nip over to the April AtoZ Challenge website after you’ve read this post.

Firstly I want to thank Arlee Bird for continuing to organise the annual tour. Secondly A REALLY BIG THANK-YOU to all the authors who let me use their books for my challenge, without you and all your support sharing the posts it just wouldn’t be the same.

So how has it all gone? For me it’s all about planning. I began my journey at the end of January, I knew it would takes weeks to gather all the authors and the information I would need for the tour. I contacted friends and fellow authors and I sent out Tweets about my tour offering FREE advertising of work for authors. I even ended up stalking authors and inviting them to take part.

So what did we all get from the tour? Well hopefully readers were introduced to new books and new authors, TBR piles are now groaning under the weight of all the books on readers bookshelves. I’m hoping that the authors got some new sales and I, made some new blogging friends and supporters. At the bottom of this post I’ve highlighted bloggers that I’ve been particularly impressed by with their own tour. If you’ve not visited their blogs yet do take a moment if you can. I’ve been all over the world visiting bloggers taking part in the challenge. Each day I made a point of promoting up to 5 bloggers from the sign up sheet, some days I found they were no longer able to do the challenge, but people seemed to have had great fun. There really are some amazing bloggers out there.

On April 16th, this day in the tour also coincided with the end of a year long challenge which began this time last year. During last years challenge I set about reading a book called “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. This wonderful lady spent a whole year doing good deeds. I decided to try it for myself. An enormous challenge I began with tiny steps, if I could make it to the end of April, then I would carry on. My deeds may not have been as great as Judith’s but I have made it, I’ve collected my small change, donated money, given books and clothes to charity, I volunteer at a local school, I pick up litter, bake cakes, send gifts and thank-you notes and letters to friends plus I’ve done a whole host of other deeds. AND I’m going to do it all again! YES I’ve decided to carry on, you can follow my challenge on Sunday’s when I blog about my latest weeks.

My own April A-Z tour was set around the theme of books, here are a list of books and authors who featured on this tour.

Top posts during the tour which had everyone talking were letter B – Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lamb, letter G – The Georgie Connelly series by E.L.Lindley, letter N – Nobody’s Fault by Terry Tyler and letter T The 20’s Girl, the Ghost and All That Jazz by June Kearns.

A – A World Apart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yA

B –  Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lanb http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yy

C – Coronado’s Treasure by Randy Mixter http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yw

D – Derek’s Revenge and the Derek series by Mac Black http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yq

E – Everlasting by Candace Knoebel. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yn

F – Finding the Right Time by Stephanie Hurt http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yl

G – The Georgie Connelly Series by E.L. Lindley http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yi

H – Hidden Heart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yg

I – The Imdaland Series by Rebecca Etherington http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4ye

J – Jaded by Kristy Feltenberger Gillespie http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yb

K – The Bench by Sue Koenig http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4xb

L – Legends of Windemere – Family of the Tri – Rune by Charles E Yallowitz http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×9

M – My GLR by John W Howell http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×6

N – Nobody’s Fault by Terry Tyler http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×4

O – The Orphan and The Thief by M. L. LeGette http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×2

P – The Potter’s Daughter by Daniel A Smith http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×0

Q – Quentins by Maeve Binchy http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wY

R- Red Clay and Roses by S. K. Nicholls http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wW

S – Silk, Spice and Furry Dice by Andy N Robinson http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wU

T – The 20’s Girl, The Ghost and All That Jazz by June Kearns http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wS

U – Unforgiven by Barbara J Hancock http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wQ

V – Victoria by Stephanie Hurt http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wO

W – What it Takes by Terry Tyler http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wM

X – X by Jack Croxall http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wK

Y – Over Odyssey – Yellow by Tony Carnival http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wH

Z – Zen Master Next Door by Edward Kardos http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wF

During the tour I met so many great bloggers, here are some of the blogs which really impressed me.

Susan Scott at The Garden of Eden blog http://www.gardenofedenblog.com/

Vikki Thompson at The View Outside http://the-view-outside.com/

Hilary Melton-Butcher at Positive letters  Hilary  http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/

Co-host Damyanti at Daily (w)rite http://damyantiwrites.wordpress.com/

So it’s with a little sadness that I wave Goodbye to another year of the A -Z, but not without thanking, once more, all the hard working hosts and co-hosts who helped make it all happen.

CONGRATULATIONS!

 

All through the tour we’re asking readers to leave as many comments as possible on blogs, all supportive comments are much appreciated, thank you.

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April A-Z Tour Round up of letters A-W

Well we are nearly at the end, over 2000 bloggers signed up and started out on the month long challenge, here is a round-up of all my posts so far.

April 1st – A world Apart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yA

April 2nd – Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lamb http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yy

April 3rd – Coronado’s Treasure by Randy Mixter http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yw

April 4th – Derek’s Revenge (The Derek Series) by Mac Black http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yq

April 5th – Everlasting by Candace Knoebel http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yn

April 6th -Round up of the tour so far http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-50X

April 7th – Finding the Right Time by Stephanie Hurt http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yl

April 8th – The Georgie Connelly series by E. L Lindley http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yi

April 9th – Hidden Heart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yg

April 10th – The Imdaland series by Rebecca Ethington http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4ye

April 11th – Jaded by Kristy Feltenberger Gillespie http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yb

April 12th – The Bench by Sue Koenig http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4xb

April 13th -Round up of the tour so far http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-516

April 14th – Legends of Windemere series – Family of the Tri-Rune by Charles E Yallowitz http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×9

April 15th – My GRL by John W Howell http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×6

April 16th – Nobody’s Fault by Terry Tyler http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×4

April 17th – The Orphan and the Thief by M L LeGette http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×2

April 18th – The Potter’s Daughter by Daniel A Smith http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×0

April 19th – Quentins by Maeve Binchy http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wY

April 20th -Round up of the tour so far http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-51f

April 21st – Red Clay and Roses by S. K. Nicholls http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wW

April 22nd – Silk, Spice and Furry Dice by Andy N Robinson http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wU

April 23rd – The 20’s Girl, The Ghost and All That Jazz by June Kearns http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wS

April 24th – Unforgiven by Barbara J Hancock http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wQ

April 25th – Victoria by Stephanie Hurt http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wO

April 26th – What it Takes by Terry Tyler http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wM

All through the tour we’re asking readers to leave as many comments as possible on blogs, all supportive comments are much appreciated, thank you.

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Letter V on The A to Z April Challenge 2014

Today we bring you letter V on the A to Z challenge. My book today is called “Victoria” and is written by Stephanie Hurt. Genre: Romance

Victoria – 1st book in the Women Of Magnolia Hill Saga

victoria

Victoria Slaughter was a strong willed young woman. She knew what she wanted in a husband and it wasn’t going to be a prearranged marriage as her parents had. When the Civil War looms near, her father has to take matters into his own hands. In comes Zane Camden, a hard-working, handsome shipping magnate from Boston. Victoria immediately turned her back on him. Could he win her over? Would her father force her hand? Would the Civil War change things forever at Magnolia Hill Plantation?

Stephanie  Hurt

Places to find me:

www.stephanie-hurt.com

Twitter:  @StephanieHurt4

https://www.facebook.com/StephaniePayneHurt

All of my books are available on Amazon, Smashwords, Allromanceebooks.com, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel, Oyster Ebooks, Apple iTunes, and CreateSpace.

Here are some randomly selected links to other bloggers who are blogging through April, please find time to visit their blogs too.

http://bish-randomthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/

http://caronessauthor.wordpress.com/

http://www.beccajcampbell.com/

http://thechildlikeauthor.wordpress.com/

 

During the challenge we are asking people to leave as many comments as possible on blogs, all supportive comments are very much appreciated thank you.

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April A to Z Challenge Round up letters A – Q

The 2014 April A to Z Challenge, has now been going for three weeks, with well over 2000 bloggers taking part this year it is an awesome tour to get involved in. If you’ve not heard about it or want to know who’s taking part, nip over to the April AtoZ Challenge website after you’ve read this post.

My own tour is set around the theme of books, here are a list of books and authors who have featured so far on this tour.

A – A World Apart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yA

B –  Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lanb http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yy

C – Coronado’s Treasure by Randy Mixter http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yw

D – Derek’s Revenge and the Derek series by Mac Black http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yq

E – Everlasting by Candace Knoebel. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yn

F – Finding the Right Time by Stephanie Hurt http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yl

G – The Georgie Connelly Series by E.L. Lindley http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yi

H – Hidden Heart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yg

I – The Imdaland Series by Rebecca Etherington http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4ye

J – Jaded by Kristy Feltenberger Gillespie http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yb

K – The Bench by Sue Koenig http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4xb

L – Legends of Windemere – Family of the Tri – Rune by Charles E Yallowitz http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×9

M – My GRL by John W Howell http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×6

N – Nobody’s Fault by Terry Tyler http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×4

O – The Orphan and The Thief by M. L. LeGette http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×2

P – The Potter’s Daughter by Daniel A Smith http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4×0

Q – Quentins by Maeve Binchy http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4wY

All through the tour we’re asking readers to leave as many comments as possible on blogs, all supportive comments are much appreciated, thank you.

AtoZ Banner [2014]

April A to Z Challenge Round up of letters A – K

The 2014 April A to Z Challenge, has now been going for two weeks, with well over 2000 bloggers taking part this year it is an awesome tour to get involved in. If you’ve not heard about it or want to know who’s taking part, nip over to the April AtoZ Challenge website after you’ve read this post.

My own tour is set around the theme of books, here are a list of books and authors who have featured so far on this tour.

A – A World Apart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yA

B –  Boot Camp Bride by Lizzie Lanb http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yy

C – Coronado’s Treasure by Randy Mixter http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yw

D – Derek’s Revenge and the Derek series by Mac Black http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yq

E – Everlasting by Candace Knoebel. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yn

F – Finding the Right Time by Stephanie Hurt http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yl

G – The Georgie Connelly Series by E.L. Lindley http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yi

H – Hidden Heart by Camelia Miron Skiba http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yg

I – The Imdaland Series by Rebecca Etherington http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4ye

J – Jaded by Kristy Feltenberger Gillespie http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4yb

K – The Bench by Sue Koenig http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4xb

All through the tour we’re asking readers to leave as many comments as possible on blogs, all supportive comments are much appreciated, thank you.

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Letter F on the A to Z April Challenge

Today is letter F on the A to Z Challenge. My book today is “Finding the Right Time” by Stephanie Hurt. Genre: Romance

Stephanie has previously been a guest author on this blog and you can find out more about her here, http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2QW

finding the right time

Lily has a dream that’s followed her since childhood. She’s standing on a porch watching a handsome cowboy walk toward her smiling, but she wakes before he reaches her.  The moment she moves to Savannah she realizes the dream is from another time, another life. She has to choose between two men, two moments in time. Finding The Right Time is a haunting love story that pulls you in to the struggles of time travel and reality.

Can dreams tell you about your past life? When Lily moves to Savannah to start her new career she moves into the very house she’s dreamed about since childhood. The landlord is a little too familiar and the cemetery on the property carries memories from her past. When she slips into the past everything comes back, even the man from her dreams. Can Rafe keep her in the past or will she slip from him again? Will their love transcend time? This is a powerhouse of romance that will keep you guessing until the end.

Stephanie  Hurt

Places to find me:

www.stephanie-hurt.com

Twitter:  @StephanieHurt4

https://www.facebook.com/StephaniePayneHurt

All of my books are available on Amazon, Smashwords, Allromanceebooks.com, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel, Oyster Ebooks, Apple iTunes, and CreateSpace.

Here are some randomly chosen links to other bloggers taking part in the challenge, please find time to visit their sites too.

http://nedyfay.wordpress.com/

http://wannabewriterlife.wordpress.com/

http://www.writer-way.blogspot.co.uk/

During the challenge we are asking people to comment on as many blogs as possible, all supportive comments are very much appreciated.

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