Fired Up #2 by Mary Connealy

Book Description

Rollicking Wild West Adventure and Romance from Bestselling Author Mary Connealy

Dare Riker is a doctor who saves lives, but someone seems determined to end his. It may have something to do with the traitors he dealt with during the Civil War, or it might be related to the recent incident with Flint Greer and the ranch. Whoever the culprit is, he or she seems really fired up, and Dare can't let his guard down for a moment, which is a challenge, since right now he's trying to win the heart of the recently widowed Glynna.

Glynna can't help but notice that danger follows Dare wherever he goes. There's the avalanche. And then the fire. But things really get out of hand when someone plunges a knife from Glynna's diner into Dare's back. Are Flint's cronies still plotting revenge? Is Glynna's son engaged in a misguided attempt to protect his mother? Is a shadowy outsider still enraged over past injustices? And can Dare survive long enough to convince Glynna to take another chance on love?

My Review

Continuing shortly after saving Mrs. Glynna Greer and her two children, and regaining Luke’s land, this story turns our attention to Dare Ricker, the local, and only doctor in all of Broken Wheel. Having learned all he knows from working in Andersonville, a civil war prison in Georgia. He feels he’s lying and cheating by calling himself a doctor. He didn’t get proper schooling for his skill; he’s no more a doctor than Tug Andrews is an honest tradesman. He decides he can’t be a doctor anymore and begins pursuit of becoming a rancher. Which he knows absolutely nothing about!

As for Glynna and her two children, Janny and Paul, things are going as well as can be expected for a widower of a man who bullied people out of their homes to steal their land and beat her nearly senseless. Both Glynna and her son Paul harbor a lot of anger towards her second husband, but it seems there’s even more behind her first husband story than originally thought. She likes Dare Riker, she’s thankful for him and his friends rescuing her and her children, but she can’t seem to get past her fears. The last two men she married were horrible scoundrels and had left her, and her family, broken and bruised in one way or another.

Dare Riker is still sweet on Glynna and it’s becoming harder and harder to stay away from her. But he’s worried more about her son, Paul. A young man like him shouldn’t be carrying around so much anger and hate, and yet here he is threatening Dare’s life if he doesn’t stay away from his Ma. Which turns Paul into a suspect when Dare’s house is suddenly set ablaze in the middle of the night, set up to kill the good Doctor. If that weren’t bad enough, he’d narrowly escaped an avalanche a couple weeks before that! Coincident? Vince doesn’t think so. Everything is piecing together and it seems someone is out to kill Dare Riker. But, who? Could it really be Glynna’s son Paul?

“A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for the triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” ~Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NLT)

I love how Dare’s friends all care and come to his aid, without even asking. They stand by him and they watch out for one another.

Dare is hilarious. One of my favorites was when he was getting annoyed with Paul and his attitude.

“Dare wondered if God ever got plump tired of the people He’d created.”

I’ve wondered that as well. Lol. How exhausting we must be!

My second favorite is when Tina Cahill, Jonas Cahill’s, the parson’s, sister rolls into town! Expecting that chubby young woman he once knew, which meant he had less to worry about some lowdown cowpoke chasing after her, here tumbles in the most beautiful girl in all of Broken Wheel! Some would argue in all of Texas. No man can take his eyes off of her! Which makes one man in particular stumble like a drunken fool, head over heels for Tina Cahill. That makes Jonas rather upset and very protective over his little sister.

“[Tina,] smiling, as if begging each and every man to say something that might get him punched by a preacher.”

Tina’s a little spitfire too! She is an amazing addition to the cast.

I loved the message of the story. It’s about trust and forgiveness, even to those who don’t deserve it. Holding on to anger and hatred keeps us bound tight in the very chains we thought we’d escaped. The hardest part is letting go and both Dare and Glynna learn to trust one another.

I have to say, this one of my all favorites in all the series. The title perfectly describes not only Dare Riker, but also many of the characters and the situations they all encounter throughout this book. It’s filled with humor, action, and mystery that well keeps you on your toes!

I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars!

Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin

 

Cover Description

Finding each other was only the beginning . . . 

When Kate Darby swerves off a mountain road to avoid hitting a California condor, she ends up trapped in her car, teetering on the edge of a cliff. Terrified, she breathes a prayer that changes her life.

It's Nick Sheridan who comes to Kate's rescue. Nick is handsome and confident, and he seems to develop a habit of rescuing her, but Kate is in town only until her grandmother recuperates from a stroke. She's not planning to get involved with one of the locals.

Nick is a reformed veteran of life in the fast lane, a new Christian, and a travel writer. When he sees a car dangling on the edge of a cliff, the daredevil in him jumps into action. He doesn't expect to be swept off his feet by the car's occupant. He's made a vow--no dating for a year--but keeping that vow is going to be a lot more difficult now that he's met Kate Darby. . . .

My Review

This book looked really good when I read the description you see up above, but I wasn't expecting it to become one of my favorites! 

One of the first things I loved about this book was the involvement of Leona, Kates grandmother. Usually such characters get left in the background throughout the story but not this one. From the very beginning you meet Leona in her log cabin, talking to God about and wishing she could help her sweet granddaughter find and accept him into her heart as she had many years ago. That's when everything changes, Leona is in the hospital from a stroke, Kate holding on to the edge of a cliff for dear life, rescued by this handsome of a stranger named Nick. But through the rest of the book you get to hear Leona's thoughts and read the journal she is writing for Kate of her experiences with the Condors and how she came to trust in God with her life. 

Kate Darby was an inspirational character, especially for those who still have doubts or cling to our so called securities: job, finances, home, etc,. When in reality it's fear of change and trust that keeps us at arms length. It's funny, you can't really talk about this book as just one persons journey, it's really about three. Leona, Kate, and Nick. 

Nick was one of my favorite of all characters. I even loved his brother, Sam. Before Nick accepted Christ into his life he lived the life the world calls us to live but when something happens he sees differently and calls on God to change his life the way He wants him to live. He doesn't call it easy, he doesn't glam it up, but in Kate's eyes she seems him as a hero on a pedestal that can do no wrong. But he knows he is no hero and that she needs Jesus in her life before he jumps into it. He could never take the place of Jesus and he continues to see that hero gleam in Kate's eyes and that worry's him. His faith is tested as well when he has to hand Kate over to God's care when he so desperately wants to be there for Kate in a time when only God can take care of her.

Through the rest of the book you see both Kate and Nick struggle with trust, which I think is one of the main focal points in this book. Trusting God when we don't know what's going to happen or where our life is headed or with the things that are just simply out of our control. God has it under control. Until I Found You is a beautiful, heartfelt, true love story with believable characters and in-depth meaning on what it means when we choose to follow Christ. 

I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars!

I received this book for free from the publisher’s in exchange for this honest and unbiased review as part of their Blogging For Books program.