Summer by the Tides with Celebrate Lit tour

About the Book

Book: Summer by The Tides  
Author: Denise Hunter  
Genre: Christian Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Release Date: May 21, 2019  

From the bestselling author of The Convenient Groom (now a beloved Hallmark Original movie) comes a heartfelt story of family secrets, forgiveness, and unexpected romance.  

Following a painful betrayal, Maddy Monroe’s love life is a wreck, and her restaurant career is in shambles. When her grandmother goes missing, she and her estranged sisters converge at the family beach house in Sea Haven, North Carolina. Being with uptight Nora and free-spirited Emma at the place where their family broke apart is a struggle, and undercurrents of jealousy and resentment threaten to pull the sisters under. In the midst of the storm, sparks begin to fly between Maddy and Gram’s maddening neighbor, Connor Murphy. As the sisters pack up the family belongings, memories of idyllic, slow-paced summers are resurrected. But long-buried secrets also come to light as Maddy discovers that all was not as it appeared that last summer in Sea Haven—nor today in the seemingly perfect lives of her sisters. As family tensions rise and Connor causes tumult in Maddy’s heart, the sisters must find a way to accept each other for the women they’ve become before the bitterness of the past destroys their hope for a future.   Click here to purchase your copy.    

About the Author

  

Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 25 books, including A December Bride and The Convenient Groom, which have been adapted into original Hallmark Channel movies. She has won The Holt Medallion Award, The Reader’s Choice Award, The Carol Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist. When Denise isn’t orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking green tea, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana where she and her husband are rapidly approaching an empty nest. To learn more about Denise, visit her website DeniseHunterBooks.com; Facebook: AuthorDeniseHunter; Twitter: @DeniseAHunter; Instagram: deniseahunter.  

Read an Excerpt from Summer by the Tides

MADDY MONROE WAS COWERING behind a ficus tree near the hostess station when her cell phone rang. Her hands shook as she silenced the phone before it drew the attention of the staff. She jabbed the elevator button for the third time. “Come on, come on.” A star could be born in interstellar space, a polar valley carved by a glacier in the time it took the elevator to reach this floor. Stairs were not an option, as she was on the twentieth floor of the Waterford building and sporting heels. She sniffled. Drat. She seemed to be crying. She swiped a hand under her eyes, heedless of her makeup. She heard voices, Nick’s boisterous laugh. Maddy shrank deeper into the ficus and finally, finally, the elevator dinged its arrival. “Maddy?” Noelle’s concerned voice tunneled down the hall. “Maddy, wait.” “Oh, come on,” she muttered, tapping her fingers against her leg until the gold doors crept open. As soon as she could fit, she squeezed inside and punched the ground-floor button. She didn’t draw a breath until the doors sealed and the elevator began to drop. She placed a palm over a heart that was threatening to beat its way out of her chest. Her white blouse clung to her back, and her skin prickled beneath her arms. She closed her eyes, the scene that had just transpired playing out in fast-forward in her mind. And then, as if that montage weren’t painful enough, the image of Nick’s face appeared. The look on his face just before he’d kissed her good-bye last night. Nick. She clamped her teeth together until her jaw ached. There had been signs. Many of them, really, she was realizing now. They ranged from whisper-subtle to neon-sign obvious. But like so many other walking clichés before her, she was only seeing them in retrospect. Maddy opened her eyes to the buttery sunlight streaming through her blinds. She scrambled for her iPhone to check the time. But as she did so, the events of yesterday washed over her like a tsunami. She didn’t have to get up at all, because she didn’t have a job anymore. Her cell buzzed with an incoming call, and she squinted bleary-eyed at the unfamiliar number on the screen before declining it. She drooped against her pillow, only now aware of how fat and swollen her eyes felt. Of the persistent achy lump pushing at the back of her throat. Her heartbeat made the bed quake. Her eyes burned with tears. Yesterday’s anger had faded, and something worse had filled its spot. Yesterday she’d come home, changed into yoga pants, and worked in her little garden until she was too exhausted to do anything but flop on the sofa. She hadn’t fallen asleep until after three o’clock in the morning. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, didn’t want to see anyone. She didn’t even want to be awake today. She pulled the covers over her head and prayed for oblivion.  

Required text: Taken from “Summer by the Tides” by Denise Hunter. Copyright © 2019 by Denise Hunter. Used by permission of http://www.thomasnelson.com/.  

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, June 4

The Power of Words, June 4

Back Porch Reads, June 4

The Morning Chapter, June 5

A Baker’s Perspective, June 5

Worthy2Read, June 5

Carla Loves To Read, June 6

Genesis 5020, June 6

Through the Fire Blogs, June 6

Among the Reads, June 7

Quiet Quilter, June 7

For Him and My Family, June 7

The Christian Fiction Girl, June 8

cultivating us, June 8

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, June 8

Girls Living For God’s Glory, June 9

Moments, June 9

Inklings and notions, June 9

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, June 10

Coast and anchor, June 10

amandainpa, June 10

Lighthouse Academy, June 11

EmpowerMoms, June 11

Pause for Tales, June 11

Christian Chick’s Thoughts, June 12

For The Love of Books, June 12

Just the Write Escape, June 12

All-of-a-kind Mom, June 13

Texas Book-aholic, June 13

Hallie Reads, June 13

2014 and Beyond, June 14

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 14

Simple Harvest Reads, June 14

Living Life Free In Christ, June 15

janicesbookreviews, June 15

Vicky Sluiter, June 15

Have A Wonderful Day, June 16

A Reader’s Brain, June 16

To Everything A Season, June 16

Lukewarm Tea, June 17

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, June 17

Daysong Reflections, June 17

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Denise is giving away a finished copy of Summer by the Tides!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e541/summer-by-the-tides-celebration-tour-giveaway

My Review

Denise Hunter is one of my go-to favorites! Her books transport you to another place. Usually somewhere on the east coast :) which always makes me feel at home. I grew up in the southeast. 

Summer by the Tides was such a great story of forgiveness and redemption of lost relationships. The characters are, as always, well developed. The thing about Denise Hunter books is that every one has a totally swoon-worthy kiss scene that does not disappoint. I highly recommend this book for your summer pool-side read!

Life is too short...to read boring books.

My new reading motto for 2012.
It's pin-able.

Do you ever feel this way?

It occurs to me that if I'm reading a work of fiction, it should be entertaining. I won't say what I was reading at the time but if you know me (or read my blog) you'll know what I'm reading right now. Well, what I was reading and then stopped because it felt like work.

What are your requirements for a good read?

What do you consider a deal breaker with a book?

How far do you read before you decide you just can't stand  it anymore and run madly into the street and fling the book?

I got about halfway through the book in question and decided, you know what I don't really care what happens to these characters. How sad is that?

I know, I know what about classics? You may ask. I forced myself to read Pride and Prejudice. And I do mean forced. I thought it was time. I've seen the movies so many times it's not funny. I think my husband can quote it (from hearing it, not watching it). But it felt like honest to goodness work to get through that book. Maybe it was because the speech isn't what I'm use to? Dunno. But I felt proud to say I finished it.

I do apologize to the author of the book in question. And I'm not sure how I'll feel about finishing the rest of the series. I'm not sure it's worth it. Even if it does mean not reaching a goal I set for this year. Life just seems to short to stay up late, straining my eyes to read something that I don't find entertaining.

I'm sure there are varying viewpoints. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Have you read something that felt like a struggle? Was it worth it?

By the way, I created the graphic above. You are more than welcome to pin it or print it or whatever. I do not own the quote. I don't even know where I heard it. But if you happen to use it keep the link coming back here :) Thanks.

For The Love of Reading

Source: bookfessions.tumblr.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

I'm a Reader...with a capital R. I have stacks of books in our home that I've bought or "inherited" or have been given to me. I love the smell of the pages and the feel of the book in my hand. I like the way they look whether they are stacked on top of each other or lined up like little soldiers. Books have been an ever-present part of my life. I remember being probably about 5 or 6 and going to the little shelf in school and picking out a book that I could check out for the first time. I picked one of the Dear Dragon books. And the next was a fairy tale about a fish and an old man. 

When I was in 4th grade I had the absolute best teacher ever, Mr. Wright. Every day after lunch we had downtime and he would either give us a word search puzzle which won us tootsie rolls or he'd read to us. To this day I can beat the best at word search just ask my poor husband.  And I learned to love Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Barbara Robinson's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I couldn't read enough. 

In Junior high, I was hooked on the Girl Talk series. I read lots of cheesy high school romance books I got from the Especially for Girls book club. Did anyone else do that? My favorite was Dream Boy by Ann Reit (Goodreads). I wish I could find those books. I'll have to keep an eye out at the goodwill (aka my favorite bookstore). Some of the other books I read on the school bus to and from Junior High and High School were Sex Education by Jenny Davis (Goodreads), Where it Stops Nobody Knows by Amy Ehrlich (Goodreads), and a lonely thriller Broken Date by R.L. Stine (Goodreads). High School was the same. I read on the bus (yes, even in high school I rode the bus). I read at the library. I read in my bed till I couldn't keep my eyes open any more :) 

Then between my last years of high school and college I began reading Harlequin romance. Everything else fell to the back burner I was obsessed. My favorite Harlequin author was Jessica Steele (Goodreads). I don't recommend them until you are an adult :) But I thoroughly enjoyed the hunt for all of her books. I had a collection of about 100 of that type of novels with me when I landed at college. They were borrowed often by dorm-mates :) Around the second year of college I had come to terms with the fact that those were not the books I wanted to be reading. So I tossed them. Just up and tossed them all. I don't miss them. That's how I roll. I've been known to toss books in the trash if I feel that's what they are. I know that's probably controversial but whatever it's my blog :)

This, however, left me in a bit of a dry spell. From around 1995 until the birth of my second son in 2000 I didn't read anything. It was very hard. It feels to me like my own personal version of the dark ages. I couldn't find anything to read. Dh and I met, dated and spawned in that time. It was a very hard thing to go to the library with him and watch as he picked up book after book and I couldn't seem to find my niche. It was a very painful time. I felt like I'd lost a friend and I couldn't do anything about it. 

Then one day, we were visiting college friends in Tn. I told my friend that I hadn't been reading in a really long time. She walked over to her bookshelf and handed me a stack of about 7 books. They were The Californians by Lori Wick, The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers, The Testament by John Grisham and I believe there was one more but I can't remember it. I read each of the Californians series books in one day each. I confess that I read them out of order but they were still so good. Lori Wick and my friend, Barbie, gave me back my love of reading. (I've read every book Lori Wick has ever written. They are so good and pure and full of scripture.) From that point on I started reading every night at bedtime. I just read better then. The house is quiet, the hubby and kids are sleeping, no one needs me. I become me again. That little girl so totally excited to pick out a book for the first time. 

All this is to say, I just started reading Sean Donovan by Lori Wick last night. I'll always remember it as my first book after the dark ages. It just made me feel really excited and reborn. I've set a goal for this year to reread all of Lori Wick's books and 2 other books. I've read 1 other book and am on my 7th Lori Wick book. It's nice to reminisce with the old books. To visit a place in time where things were simpler. To escape. I hope if you've made it to the end of this that it means you love books too. And if you happen to have gotten this far and you haven't watched the video below, please do. I believe it won an Oscar? But even better than that it was so good I cried. My kids watched it with me. It's 15 minutes long but it's so worth it. Enjoy the video and thanks for letting me talk.

Book Review: The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck by Kathleen Y'Barbo

I'll just start out by telling you that I'm a huge fan of Lori Wick. I know what you're thinking...This book is by Kathleen Y'Barbo. But honestly, this book takes the torch from Lori Wick who is sadly no longer writing.

The Inconvenient Marriage of Charlotte Beck is by far one of the best books I've read lately. Does it matter that it is the last of a 3 book series? Absolutely not! In fact I had no clue the previous 2 books existed :)

The characters are really well developed and the plot was so familiar that it felt like coming home. A familiar plot does not however mean that it's overly predictable. The romance which develops whether the main characters want it or not is heartwarming.

And it's got just the right amount of edgy that I love from authors such as Deeanne Gist and Julie Lessman. All in all I couldn't put this book down. I got it on my Kindle and read it in less than 3 days!

If you are looking for a nice romance to read while sipping a chai latte :) this is the book for you.

I got this book free for my review! And you can get free books too just for signing up at Blogging for Books! Just click the link in the sidebar.

Also, if you're interested the previous 2 books in this series are Anna Finch and the Hired Gun and The Confidential Life of Eugenia Cooper.

Book Review: Lady in Waiting

My first impressions of this book when I picked it up were:

1. The cover art is beautiful.
2. I want that ring!
3. I've never read anything by Susan Meissner. I'm excited to get to know a new author.
4. It's got that new book smell!!!
5. There's a family tree chart in the front. I love books with charts!

My impressions after reading are that you still can't judge a book by it's cover. That said I must confess, I'm an avid reader. I eat books. But this book turned out to be a really slow read for me. It took probably 3-4 days to complete.

Lady in Waiting is the story of 2 women, living hundreds of years apart. Their destinies become connected by a ring found by Jane, an antique shop owner and our main character. Jane is in a bad place, emotionally. When her husband walks out, she is blindsided. She begins to see her life clearly for the first time. That she has the life that she decided for herself. She's allowed others to shift her focus and make her life decisions. Jane doesn't know herself. She begins to question the life that she's been living for the past 20 plus years.

The other character, Lucy Day is a dressmaker for Lady Jane Grey in 1500s England. Lucy's story begins when she is brought in to attend to Lady Jane Grey, a young royal who is the chief mourner at a funeral for the Queen Dowager, Katherine. Jane and Lucy form a friendship that impacts them both for life.

This story is about decisions. We make them daily and they impact our lives. We decide who to love. We decide where our focus lies and in the end we have to live with those decisions. I didn't really enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. It felt very disjoint. The two stories didn't seem to have an obvious common thread. The theme was decisions. The ring didn't really play that big a part in the story, in my opinion.

I would have like to read just Jane's story. Her story would have been enough. I think the historical secondary story actually took away from the story of Jane and her husband. So in the end there were 2 semi-complete stories that felt forced in to the same book. Jane's story doesn't have the ending you want to read. It's more of a beginning. Overall, the characters could have used a little more development. I didn't feel like they had a lot of depth.

I will rate this book at 3 stars. 

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: Tandem by Tracey Bateman

I haven't read anything by Tracey Bateman before so I have no idea what her style is usually. This book was a slow starter. It took about 1/3 of the book to get going. It's also a sequel. The cover says "A Novel" but it's the sequel to Thirsty, which I haven't read.

All that aside, it was an interesting read. I didn't know it was going to be about vampires. But the cover art and title font is reminiscent of a certain series.

The writing style took a while to get use to. The story was engaging. It did keep me wanting to know how it would all end. I don't know if there's to be a third book in the series but I'm probably gonna check out the first one.

If you are on a vampire binge, I would recommend it. It's a pretty good mystery.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball by Donita K. Paul

I'll be honest. This is the first book I've read by Donita K. Paul. But it won't be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of *Two Tickets to the Christmas* Ball. My only complaint is that is was short. It left me wanting more of Cora and Simon. I want to know what happens next. But that's not really a bad thing. Is it?

The story is very reminiscent of The Shop Around the Corner and You've Got Mail. I love a "diamond in the rough" story. You know, that person that's always been there but when they finally get their "shining moment" they become the love of your life.

I foresee this book becoming a Hallmark holiday special. It's got all the elements of a fun movie. The lead characters who aren't really looking for love but find it anyways. Mysterious matchmakers who get them ready for the ball. People who know each other but come to really see each other for the first time.

This book comes highly recommended! It's one of those books you keep around to read at least once a year. That is if your friends don't swipe it.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

New stuff to be excited about!

I started blogging for books! I'm really excited. The first book I received was "Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball" by Donita K. Paul. I'm really loving the book so far. Kind of a "You've Got Mail" type story. The review is coming as soon as I finish reading. But in the meantime, here's a book trailer for it. It's not really descriptive but here it is anyways.

Enjoy!

More sucking up to my favorite authors

Okay so if you've read this blog for more than one day you may have seen several mentions of books. My favorite authors tend toward the young adult section. On author whose work never disappoints is Shannon Hale. The writing style, no matter the genre, is always top quality. And her characters are some of my all time favorites.

I wish I could say I did the interview but I'm not seeing that happening any time soon. lol.

Publishers Weekly has an excellent interview they did recently with Shannon Hale about her latest young adult fiction novel, Forest Born. I can not wait to get my hands on this book. So any news about the novel is welcome here.

The Actor and the Housewife: A non-spoilerish review

I'm a huge Shannon Hale fan. Let's just get that out in the open. It's shameful. Well not really shameful but obsessive. I've read every published work. Some multiple times. I'd like to say that I own them all as well but after my recent book buying kick I think I'm on a budget. I dragged my family 12 hours from Denver to Phoenix back in April to see Shannon Hale and Stephenie Meyer at the Project Book Babe event.

I follow Shannon's blog and when I heard a few months ago that she had a new non-YA novel coming out I was very happy. The last non-YA novel she published was Austenland. I waited for that book to be released. And then I devoured it in 4 hours. It must have taken months to write, edit, etc. And it took me almost no time to rip thru it and really want some more. It was good. I liked the idea alot. The plot drew me in. Good stuff.

The Actor and the Housewife was a good book. I really enjoyed it. I'm going to be as descriptive as possible without giving anything away. I hope. This book was a slow starter. By that I mean it didn't immediately draw me in. I knew the basic premise of the story from the blurbs I'd read and the discussion on Shannon Hale's blog.

There's an actor and a housewife obviously. They become friends. They have life. They have laughs. People think they are weird. They are weird. Things happen to them. Life events bring them together and apart. They made me laugh and cry.

NOTE: Thanks a lot by the way, Shannon. My husband had to come comfort me at the end of Act 2. I was a mess. But I continued reading anyways.

The story take some surprising twists and turns. I really didn't see some things coming. Others were more obvious to me. In the end, I can look back on this book and say I really enjoyed it. My favorite lines from the whole book (and it's hard to pick just one) are:

Felix: "I don't know how you persist in being so stubborn---"
Becky: "It's a superpower. I was bitten by a radioactive mule."

I woke my husband up about 15 minutes after he fell asleep last night to read that to him and he fell back to sleep with a laugh.

This book brought out emotions from me that I didn't want to experience. To me that says something about a story. That you experience emotions with the characters. It means you made a connection. It really did start kind of slow. However, like most good stories if you stick with it for the first couple of chapters you won't be sorry.

And by the way, if like me you've already devoured this yummy book there is a great "behind the scenes" of how this book came about. Here's the link: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/books_housewife.html

Keeping the Faith. . .and the House

I recently finished began and finished The Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers. Oh my gosh. What a moving series! These books are awesome and long. I stayed up till almost 2am some nights reading. I just couldn't put them down.

Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Francine Rivers writes really moving Christian fiction. The kind of books that you really can't put down. . .

Well actually I have put them down. I've gotten so ticked off while reading some of her books that I just said to my husband, "No, I am not finishing that book. I cannot believe he(character) did that." You get so into the stories that you see things in yourself. The characters stories reveal things about yourself. She also wrote Redeeming Love which I stopped reading about halfway through and then finally finished after a week of fighting with myself.

For instance, The Mark of the Lion series is all about faith. In the first, a slave named Hadassah learns to trust in the face of death. Now, I've never been in a "face of death" situation (to my knowledge). But it put my own lack of faith into perspective. I realized that I always seem to have a backup plan. I expect that God will see me through but in the meantime I tend to try to solve the problem myself. Not good. I have majorly messed up things this way.

Anyways, I could go on and on. My lack of faith could fill up a few volumes, I'm sure. All this is to say read the books. They are awesome. Sometimes heart-wrenching. I have to be very careful when reading Francine Rivers books not to forget that I have a life. Make sure you have a box of tissues. And a very understanding husband. Cause my housework didn't quite get done. Enjoy!