Women’s Fiction

River Aria by Joan Schweighardt

June 30, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

River Aria by Joan Schweighardt

It’s 1928 and Estela Euquerio Hopper, an ambitious young woman from an impoverished area of Brazil, has landed a job at the New York Metropolitan Opera, though only to work in the sewing room. Her good fortune is due in part to her unique education and in part to the fact that her father is American. She hopes to make it from the sewing room to the stage, but there are obstacles in her way: her possessive father, her secretive cousin, and the wild temperament of the city itself in its pre-depression heyday.

Beyond the Song by Carol Selick

June 20, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Beyond the Song by Carol Selick

“Beyond the Song” is an autobiographical novel, based on the author’s coming of age in the ‘sixties and early ‘seventies. A singer-songwriter like her alter-ego Carol Marks, Carol Selick begins each chapter with lyrics she wrote and still performs today.
There’s a lot of nostalgia for that time period. In many ways, my character’s search for her voice expresses the search of a whole generation of women. The settings in New York and Berkeley, are immediately recognizable. Drugs, sex, and rock ‘ roll provide a provocative landscape for Carol’s journey into womanhood.

Seasons by Rebecca Forster

June 12, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Seasons by Rebecca Forster

Elizabeth MacMillan’s husband has deserted her. She struggles to keep it together, until a chance meeting with Max Marino offers her another chance at love. Handsome and kind, Max also has a devastating secret that will pit Elizabeth’s happiness against her young son’s.

FEATURED BOOK: Cape May, a novel by Holly Caster

April 29, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

New Yorker Joanna Matthews is rapidly approaching 60 and desperate for a change. The last remotely daring thing she did—jumping into an unconventional marriage with her best friend Brian—happened 20 years ago. Now, their life’s comfortable, if routine. Joanna craves more and begins pursuing her long-deferred dream: owning and running a bed & breakfast. She’s captivated by Cape May, New Jersey, America’s Oldest Seaside Resort. On the bus south, she meets a novelist, and is thunderstruck when she falls passionately in love for the first time. How will her late awakening affect the future and her three-decade relationship with Brian? $15.00

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The Shade Under the Mango Tree by Evy Journey

April 7, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

The Shade Under the Mango Tree by Evy Journey

Gold Medal, Contemporary Fiction, Global Book Awards (formerly New York City Book Awards)
Finalist, Multicultural Fiction, International Book Awards

After two heartbreaking losses, Luna wants adventure. Something and somewhere very different from the affluent, sheltered home where she grew up. An adventure in which she can make some difference.
After meeting Lucien, a worldly, well-traveled young architect, she goes to a rice-growing village in a country steeped in an ancient culture and a deadly history. What she finds there defies anything she could have imagined. Will she leave this world unscathed?
An epistolary tale of courage, resilience, and the bonds that bring diverse people together.

Dreams by Rebecca Forster

April 2, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Dreams by Rebecca Forster

A famed actress goes to the ends of the earth to find a tortured Irish novelist who wrote a book she wants to bring to the big screen. Nothing could prepare her for the man, the desire he stirs in her, or the hatred of those who would do anything to destroy their dreams.

Seasons by Rebecca Forster

February 5, 2022 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Seasons by Rebecca Forster

Elizabeth MacMillan’s husband needed space, and now he’s gone for good leaving her with their ten-year-old son and no idea how they will survive. Max Marino’s life has been empty for years, and then he meets Elizabeth. The attraction is instantaneous and passionate, but Max has a dark secret that will shake Elizabeth’s faith in second chances. Only time will tell if their love can weather the storm ahead, or be destroyed before the seasons change.

The Shipyard Man by Ann Streetman

December 24, 2021 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

The Shipyard Man by Ann Streetman

The late summer Sunday morning in 1905 appeared to be as boring as ever for Mary Johns Leonard until a stranger slid into the pew in front of her and her daughter Callie.

When the prayer ended, Mary stole a glance at the stranger before turning to the right page in the hymnal. She began to sing. The tenor voice of the stranger singing “Love Devine All Loves Excelling” was the most beautiful male voice she had ever heard. Could he be a professional singer passing through?

Mary’s eyes strayed to his broad shoulders more than once during the sermon. The collar on his shirt was clean, but frayed. Surely no traveling performer would have such a frayed collar. His straight black hair was clean but a bit too long at the nape of his neck. Working too hard to stop for a haircut?

The next day Mary looked up from the counter in her pappa’s general store to see the stranger. By the time he left, she knew he had grown up in Oregon where he worked at a sawmill and later helped build ships. A shipyard man. Clearly not like anyone she had ever known. A very interesting stranger.

Come along with Mary and Bill in their rocky journey of learning more about themselves and each other. This book does not easily fit into a neat category. Mary’s journey of self-discovery is Women’s Fiction. The love story of Mary and Bill is unmistakable Romance. It could be called Christian fiction since their faith is a significant part of their love story. Call it what you will and enjoy the journey of Mary and Bill.

Mission: Courage by Stacy Eaton

November 30, 2021 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Mission: Courage by Stacy Eaton

Mission: Courage is the fourth book in the Rise Again Warrior Series. A series that focuses on what our veterans go through after the war and their careers are over.

After years in the Army, Gianna Roberts is detached and unsure of herself and her future. When a chain reaction occurs, she finds herself falling into the deep, dark, den of demons called alcohol.

With Gianna physically self-destructing with her abusive addiction, she’s unable to care for herself and her son. The day that Nate Hardy takes a stool beside her at the bar, is the day her life might change.

Nate is not a stranger to addiction and has been battling with it himself for five years. His job is to find servicemen and women and bring them back to Rise Again Warrior for help.

Behind the wire, a fragile relationship will grow. Nate will help Gianna find the courage to face sobriety, but will it be at the cost of his own?

Join us for another emotional, intense, heartbreaking, and realistic story of hope, despair, addiction, and PTSD inside the wire of the Rise Again Warrior Complex.

Sparkling Like Snow by Katharine E. Smith

November 15, 2021 By Book Review Matchmaker Leave a Comment

Sparkling Like Snow by Katharine E. Smith

Christmas is coming, and the goose is not the only thing feeling a little heavier than it used to be.

Alongside the countdown to the festivities, and one of the busiest times of the year, Alice is now well into her second pregnancy, and ticking off the days until she can finally stop work for a little while, and prepare to welcome her baby into the world.
While two-year-old Ben is dreaming of a white Christmas, Alice is floored by the news from her midwife that she is not as well as she might be. Her nerves are set further on edge by a trip to a hidden cove with Lizzie, where she learns the story of a young woman whose baby was lost at sea, and whose ghost is now said to haunt the sands. With some unsettling dreams, and strange goings-on at home and at work, Alice begins to fear for her health and her sanity. Is she being targeted by some unseen force, or might she actually be losing her mind?
[Read more…] about Sparkling Like Snow by Katharine E. Smith