Kentucky Bride by Caryl McAdoo: Review & Giveaway with Celebrate Lit

About the Book

Book:  Kentucky Bride
Author: Caryl McAdoo
Genre:  Historical Christian Romance
Release Date: June 9, 2020

A Country Divided…And so is her heart.

Some might say you can’t be too fussy when almost every unattached young man is off fighting for Southern freedom, but that shouldn’t mean a rebel’s daughter has any business with a Union soldier. Forbidden love never created greater battles than Gigi’s unexpected love for a Union soldier.

A dashing Rebel Soldier. The daughter of a Federal Soldier. How will they overcome the odds and a war to be together? Find out in this twist on Romeo and Juliet.

Click here to get your copy!

MY THOUGHTS.....

The Civil War was known for dividing our country but we Kentuckians know that this war also divided families. Kentucky was a neutral state so its men fought on both sides. One brother might choose the Union while the other chose the Confederacy and fathers often were pitted against their own sons. But what would happen if a daughter of a Union soldier found herself falling in love with someone fighting for the South? This is the premise of Kentucky Bride and author Caryl McAdoo has written a wonderful tale of love, loyalty, and trying to do the right thing. Gardenie Gladiolia Garland and Ephraim Edward Kerns are immediately drawn to each other but the deadly war and their divided loyalties are certainly a hindrance to their romance. Will their differences prevent them from being together? Can Bowling Green, Kentucky survive the Confederate troops that have invaded their small town? Will this Romeo and Juliet find happiness once the war is over?

McAdoo has created an enjoyable story filled with memorable characters, historical detail, and a message of God and faith. I recommend Kentucky Bride to fans of historical fiction and Christian romance.

I received a digital copy of this book from the author via Celebrate Lit. I was not required to write a positive review. These are my own thoughts.


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

About the Author

Award-winning author Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and her best-selling stories—over fifty published—delight Christian readers around the world. The prolific writer also enjoys singing the new songs the Lord gives her; you may listen at YouTube. Sharing four children and eighteen grandsugars with Ron, her high-school-sweetheart-husband of over fifty years, she lives in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas. The McAdoos wait expectantly for God to open the next door.

More from Caryl

It thrilled me to be a part of the North and South Collection series, a thirty-seven titles by seventeen authors project headed up by Christine Sterling Bortner. One reason is that my husband and co-writer has always been a Civil War buff, and the other because it’s such a huge undertaking. I’m actually writing two titles, Kentucky in 1861 and Nevada in 1865.

The stories are broken up by the years (1861-1865) and then the years divided into the states or territories (37 in all) as to when its most major event happened. So, if a reader stays with the series, one releases every other week, they will enjoy a chronological overview of the Civil War.

This story, Kentucky Bride is set near Bowling Green where the Confederates first set up their area headquarters. Twenty-thousand men descended on the city of seven hundred. Nearby, General Hindman with fifteen hundred men that included the 8^th Calvary Regiment from Texas, a group of Texas Rangers who’d joined the effort. Of course, I had to have a Texan as a hero! 😊

My heroine is eighteen-year-old Gardenia Gladiola Garland who helps her grandfather in the family business as her papa, brother, and uncle were gone. They’d joined the Union Army several weeks before. She hates the flowery name her mother pinned on her almost as much as the war and insists on being called Gigi.

My Texas Ranger hero, Ephraim Edward Kerns is sent to meet a supply wagon and it surprises to find such a lovely young woman muleskinning. He ties his horse to the back of the wagon and takes over for her, falling in love with her intelligence, beauty, and determination practically at first sight.

This Texas author hopes readers will love these two young ones, and I’m always “Praying my story gives God glory!”

Blog Stops

Texas Book-aholic, July 10

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, July 10

Inklings and notions, July 11

For Him and My Family, July 12

Novels Corner, July 12

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 13

For the Love of Literature, July 14

Pause for Tales, July 14

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, July 15

Older & Smarter?, July 16

She Lives To Read, July 17

deb’s Book Review, July 18

Bizwings Blog, July 18

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 19

Betti Mace, July 20

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, July 20

KarenSueHadley, July 21

Artistic Nobody, July 22 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Connie’s History Classroom, July 23

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Caryl is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon Gift Card!!

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/fe19/kentucky-bride-celebration-tour-giveaway

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The White Rose Resists: A Novel of the German Students Who Defied Hitler by Amanda Barratt

ABOUT THE BOOK

Inspired by the incredible true story of a group of ordinary men and women who dared to stand against evil The ideal of a new Germany swept up Sophie Scholl in a maelstrom of patriotic fervor--that is, until she realized the truth behind Hitler's machinations for the fatherland. Now she and other students in Munich, the cradle of the Nazi government, have banded together to form a group to fight for the truth: the White Rose. Risking everything to print and distribute leaflets calling for Germans to rise up against the evil permeating their country, the White Rose treads a knife's edge of discovery by the gestapo.

Annalise Brandt came to the University of Munich to study art, not get involved with conspiracy. The daughter of an SS officer, she's been brought up to believe in the f�hrer's divinely appointed leadership. But the more she comes to know Sophie and her friends, the more she questions the Nazi propaganda.

Soon Annalise joins their double life--students by day, resisters by night. And as the stakes increase, they're all forced to confront the deadly consequences meted out to any who dare to oppose the Reich.

A gripping testament to courage, The White Rose Resists illuminates the sacrifice and conviction of an unlikely group of revolutionaries who refused to remain silent-no matter the cost.

Available in digital ebook, paperback

Buy The White Rose Resists at Amazon

Buy The White Rose Resists at Christianbook.com

MY THOUGHTS.....

"All of us can point to darkness in our world. We each have a voice. A ripple can become a flood--a single flame, a fire." -- Author's Notes

From the first page to the last, I was enthralled by this book. The White Rose Resists is a historical fiction book that is based on the true story of a group of German college students who dared to go against Adolf Hitler and his evil regime during World War II. Sophie Schell and her brother Hans, along with several friends, published a set of leaflets to make others aware of the atrocities being performed against the Jewish people. These White Rose leaflets were few in number and they weren't even sure if they were succeeding but these brave students continued their secret agenda until they were all imprisoned and executed for their deeds.

Author Amanda Barratt has written a stunning story that relies heavily on the true happenings that occurred between May, 1942 and February, 1943, but she chooses to show her fictional characters continuing their journeys a few more years. The White Rose Resists concludes in June, 1945, after the end of World War II, when we learn the final fates of the fictional characters Annaliese Brandt, Kirk Hoffmann, and a few members of their families.

The words in this book are like poetry and they're as pertinent for today's society as they are for the time frame of this story. As I read about the real Sophie, Hans, Alexander, Christoph, and Will, I kept wondering if I could have, or would have, been as brave and determined as they were. Barratt's words often left me sobbing and I won't soon forget this powerful story. What more can I say other than I consider that The White Rose Resists is one of the best books that I've ever read!

I received a copy of this book from the author. I was in no way obligated to write a favorable review. These are my own thoughts.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ECPA best-selling author Amanda Barratt fell in love with writing in grade school when she wrote her first story—a spin-off of Jane Eyre. Now, Amanda writes romantic, historical fiction, penning stories of beauty and brokenness set against the backdrop of bygone eras not so very different from our own. She's the author of over a dozen novels and novellas including The White Rose Resists: A Novel of the German Students Who Defied Hitler and My Dearest Dietrich: A Novel of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Lost Love.

Amanda lives in the woods of Michigan with her family, where she can be found reading way too many books, plotting her next novel, and jotting down imaginary travel itineraries for her dream vacation to Europe.

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