Book Review: A Cowboy in Shepherd’s Crossing

Happy Friday, dear readers!! Beth spotlighted today’s book on Wednesday – so you can already tell that we love it around here. And what’s not to love – with Ruth Logan Herne at the helm, a swoony cowboy, a sassy southern designer, and two adorable baby girls!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Cowboy bachelor Jace Middleton was ready to leave Shepherd’s Crossing for good – until he learns his family’s unspoken secrets.

Now Jace finds himself not only caring for his twin baby nieces, but working with beautiful, strong-willed designer Melonie Fitzgerald to renovate his grandmother’s run-down estate.

Love wasn’t part of the plan… but Jace soon finds himself wishing Melonie could become part of his unexpected family.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook

review on Hope By The Book magazine website

MY THOUGHTS

First of all, kudos to Love Inspired for putting a hero of color on the cover – and kudos to Ruthy for writing one!

Jace Middleton is swoony and sweet, with a heart of gold and a spirit of integrity. He loves the small town of Shepherd’s Crossing, and family is the most important thing to him. Poor Jace is punched with a lot of life-changing revelations all at once, not the least of which is his attraction to career-minded city girl Melonie. (Melonie, for her part, has a much softer side to her than first appears and feels like a woman you’d want as your best friend.)

Herne has a way of capturing the beauty of diversity without making it a political issue or without seeming as though she’s just trying to make a point. Her warmth and genuine love for people from all walks of life and cultures shine through in her stories, and A Cowboy in Shepherd’s Crossing is no exception.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Best-selling, multi-published, award-winning author Ruth Logan Herne is the author of nearly fifty novels and novellas through traditional publishers and her own independent works. She loves God, her family, country, coffee, chocolate and dogs, and wishes possums would leave the cat food on the side porch alone. And yet… they don’t. With over a million books in print, Ruthy is living her dream of touching hearts and souls by writing the kind of books she likes to read.

She lives on a pumpkin farm in Western New York where they grow all kinds of cool things for fall from sumptuous squashes and veggies to gorgeous stacking pumpkins. Ruthy’s farm is quickly becoming the place to be every September and October!

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Book Spotlight: A Cowboy in Shepherd’s Crossing

Hi, reader friends! Today’s featured title is a deliciously complex family drama and sweet romance with kids and cowboys to boot!

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About the Book

Cowboy bachelor Jace Middleton was ready to leave Shepherd’s Crossing for good – until he learns his family’s unspoken secrets.

Now Jace finds himself not only caring for his twin baby nieces, but working with beautiful, strong-willed designer Melonie Fitzgerald to renovate his grandmother’s run-down estate.

Love wasn’t part of the plan… but Jace soon finds himself wishing Melonie could become part of his unexpected family.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Christianbook

review on Hope By The Book magazine website

 

About the Author

Ruth Logan Herne has more than a million books in print, including over twenty Love Inspired contemporary novels. She loves God, her family, country, coffee, chocolate and dogs, and wishes possums would leave the cat food on the side porch alone.

Ruthy is also a founding member of Seekerville, a popular writing-collective blog. A country girl who loves the big city, Ruthy and her husband live on a farm in upstate New York.

website  | Facebook | Twitter

 

Don’t these two look cozy?! I love the two little girls in this story too!

 

POST CREATED BY BETH ERIN

 

Book Review: Her Cowboy Reunion by Ruth Logan Herne

Happy Friday, dear readers!

I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m looking at Ruth Logan Herne’s new release Her Cowboy Reunion, the first book in her new Shepherd’s Crossing series!

About the Book

A new life…an old love
Can she risk loving him again in Shepherd’s Crossing?

With her family in disgrace, Lizzie Fitzgerald never imagined she’d end up at an Idaho ranch.

Fortunately, she’s working with horses she loves—even if it means dealing with her old sweetheart Heath Caufield. The widowed father of an adorable boy, Heath hasn’t forgiven Lizzie for their past.

But even a stubborn cowboy can’t stop the heart’s ability to forgive…or love again.

GOODREADS | AMAZON

My Thoughts

“What we’ve got in mind and what the good Lord’s got planned don’t always agree, but that’s what makes life interesting. Sometimes it’s a collision course. Other times it’s a wide, beautiful curve.”

Ruth Logan Herne always delivers a warm story with a solid message and diverse characters. Her new release, Her Cowboy Reunion, is no exception. I was immersed into the story from the very first page and still didn’t want to put it down even when I reached the end.

The diverse cast of characters gives the story its heart and soul, but adorable Zeke steals the show in the most endearing ways possible! His instant love for “my Lizzie” (oh, my heart!), his enthusiasm for life, his adoration of his dad Heath, and his tender sweet heart made me want to reach inside the pages and HUG that precious boy! The fact that he is bi-racial is just as much a part of his story as all these other things I’ve mentioned, and I love that Herne just lets him be Zeke, in all his endearing adorableness.

Lizzie and Heath are old flames, whose history is bumpy to say the least. Both have skewed perspectives of a very significant event in their past, and both are still nursing their wounds all these years later. And with good reason, when you consider the erroneous view of the truth from which they’re each approaching the situation. Yet, Herne takes their story – all its tangled emotional mess – and gently allows God to restore and heal their hearts and their relationship. With some soul-deep Ruthy wisdom via the character of Corrie, an almost-mama to Lizzie and her sisters.

“Sometimes we spin in circles because we’ve misplaced our direction. When we can’t see our way forward we tend to run in place.”

Bottom Line: Lizzie’s resilience (I love the strong women in Herne’s stories!) and Heath’s steadiness (for the most part lol) set the tone for this delightful story filled with horses and sheep and a precocious little boy. The glimpses into life on a horse farm/sheep ranch are unique and intriguing (a mare app…. who knew?!?), and Lizzie and Heath’s shared history is just as much so. The added subplot of the dying small town also captured my attention, and I look forward to where she takes this in future books in the series. Herne takes this story and these characters and wraps them in grace, strength, courage and wit – and love, lots of love. A must-read for all!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I purchased for my own collection.
All opinions expressed are only my honest opinion.

About the Author

Ruth Logan Herne has more than a million books in print, including over twenty Love Inspired contemporary novels. She loves God, her family, country, coffee, chocolate and dogs, and wishes possums would leave the cat food on the side porch alone.

Ruthy is also a founding member of Seekerville, a popular writing-collective blog. A country girl who loves the big city, Ruthy and her husband live on a farm in upstate New York.

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What about you, dear readers? Have you ever been on a sheep ranch?

Book Spotlight: Welcome to Wishing Bridge by Ruth Logan Herne

Happy Wednesday!

We at Diversity Between the Pages have a new book to tell you about! Welcome to Wishing Bridge by Ruth Logan Herne releases November 14, 2017 (Waterfall Press) and is the first book in Herne’s new series. It features a diverse cast of characters, one of whom I would consider a ‘main secondary character’ who will get her own story in a future book.

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About the Book

Kelsey is on her way to a life do-over. And it’s not the first time. Abandoned by her drug-addict mother as a teen, she landed in a foster-care group home where she experienced faith and community—and met her best friends, Jazz and Theadora. The trio stuck together like sisters and vowed to make their lives mean something.

Now Kelsey’s pushing thirty, and her life has taken a wrong turn. Pregnant and alone after loving the wrong man, she’s on her way to making another life-changing decision when a wicked blizzard strands her outside the sleepy town of Wishing Bridge.

After being rescued from a snowbank by a handsome cop, she’s embraced by the welcoming village, but she still feels upside down. Fortunately, her frantic SOS brings her besties rushing to help sort things out. They soon find that Wishing Bridge has as many secrets as Kelsey does—and she’s connected to it in ways she couldn’t have imagined.

Links: Amazon, Goodreads

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About the Author

Best-selling, multi-published author Ruth Logan Herne is the author of over thirty novels and novellas through traditional publishers and her own independent works. She loves God, her family, country, coffee, chocolate and dogs, and wishes possums would leave the cat food on the side porch alone. With over 3/4 million books in print, Ruthy is living her dream of touching hearts and souls by writing the kind of books she likes to read. She is also part of Mighty Finn Creations with her photographer/editor daughter Beth Jamison.

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Book Review: Back in the Saddle by Ruth Logan Herne

About the Book

It’s been a long time since Colt Stafford shrugged off his cowboy legacy for shiny Manhattan loafers and a promising career on Wall Street. But when stock market manipulations leave him financially strapped, the oldest son of legendary rancher Sam Stafford decides to return to the sprawling Double S ranch in Gray’s Glen, Washington. He’s broke, but not broken, and it’s time to check in with his ailing father and get his legs back under him by climbing into the saddle again.

He doesn’t expect to come home to a stranger pointing a loaded gun at his chest— a tough yet beautiful woman that Sam hired as the house manager. Colt senses there’s more to Angelina Morales than meets the eye and he’s determined to find out what she’s hiding…and why.

Colt’s return brings new challenges. Younger brother Nick has been Sam’s right-hand man at the ranch for years and isn’t thrilled at having Colt insert himself into Double S affairs. And the ranch’s contentious relationship with the citizens of Gray’s Glen asks all the Stafford men to examine their hearts about what it truly means to be a neighbor.  And as Wall Street recovers, will Colt succumb to the call of the financial district’s wealth and power—or finally the courage to stay in the saddle for good?

goodreads | amazon | christianbook

 

My Thoughts

I just really love Ruth Logan Herne novels! The first page grabbed my attention and the whole book was one wild ride. Colt Stafford and Angelina Morales each bear secrets and past hurts that cloud their better judgment. Colt is the returning prodigal and hesitant to be reunited with the family he essentially shut out of his life. Coming home seems to soften his heart while familiar places and faces unlock memories long suppressed. Colt grows by leaps and bounds into the man he was always meant to be.

Angelina is used to being in control yet her father’s death has shaken her confidence in her own plans and left her with a very unfamiliar feeling, vulnerability. She’s a strong woman, willing to turn her life upside down and go into hiding to protect her son and her mother. Angelina is a force to be reckoned with and none of the men on the Double S dare cross her, until Colt. She never meant for ranch life to be any more than an escape but there’s no denying the growing attraction and respect she has for him.

Back in the Saddle is a great start to what promises to be a must-read series. Readers get to know the Stafford family in this first installment and I am excited to read more about each one of the different brothers and the various ranch hands too!

I received an advanced reader copy of this title from the publisher. The opinions expressed are my own.
This review first appeared on Faithfully Bookish.

 

About the Author

Ruth Logan Herne loves Charlie Brown Christmas trees, rooting for the underdog and people who go the distance while others see the path as too long or broken!

She loves God, chocolate, writing, dogs and is blessed by a sprawling family, oodles of grandkids and a sweet old farmhouse in constant need of work. She’s sure that clean rooms are over-rated, snakes and possums should mind their own business and buy their own farm and puppies and kittens and babies are about the cutest things on Earth.

A “pull-up-your-big-girl-panties-and-move-on” kind of gal, she is blessed to be married to her high school sweetheart, work with young families who allow her to exploit their sweet children on blogs, and rock babies on a regular basis. An author for Love Inspired Books and Summerside Press, she lives in upstate New York.

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Double S Ranch series

Goodreads | Amazon | christianbook

 

review by Beth Erin

Book Spotlight: Their Surprise Daddy by Ruth Logan Herne

Hi, y’all! Today’s book spotlight is a brand spanking new release from one of my favorite authors! I recently won a copy in a giveaway and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

About the Book

Cruz Maldonado has vowed to provide for his beloved cousin’s orphans. With his estranged mother’s health failing, they might soon be Cruz’s only family. But the kids’ immigration status brings complications.

Mostly “Miss Rory”—their idealistic young teacher—and Cruz’s court-appointed co-guardian.

Cruz has the means to give the kids a good home, yet Rory Gallagher wonders whether he has the heart. That is, until she glimpses the sweet small-town boy inside the polished, handsome Wall Street exterior.

Soon they both begin to wonder if this temporary partnership could turn into more—a chance to raise the children as husband and wife.

goodreads | amazon

 

About the Author

Ruth Logan Herne loves Charlie Brown Christmas trees, rooting for the underdog and people who go the distance while others see the path as too long or broken!

She loves God, chocolate, writing, dogs and is blessed by a sprawling family, oodles of grandkids and a sweet old farmhouse in constant need of work. She’s sure that clean rooms are over-rated, snakes and possums should mind their own business and buy their own farm and puppies and kittens and babies are about the cutest things on Earth.

A “pull-up-your-big-girl-panties-and-move-on” kind of gal, she is blessed to be married to her high school sweetheart, work with young families who allow her to exploit their sweet children on blogs, and rock babies on a regular basis. An author for Love Inspired Books and Summerside Press, she lives in upstate New York.

website | facebook | twitter | pinterest

 

Enter to win Their Surprise Daddy plus THREE more books by Ruth Logan Herne on Faithfully Bookish

post created by Beth Erin