Book Review: Unholy by Kathryn Amurra

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Unholy is the third and final book in the “Heart’s True Desire” series by Kathryn Amurra. The books in this series are all very unique, and the one thing that ties them together is a very unusual necklace.

Unholy is a Vampire Romance. However, the vampire is the most unique vampire character I have ever encountered, and the story is the most unique Vampire Romance story I have ever read. The main character is Beth D’Angelo, who is a college student. She is striving to get her thermodynamics experiment to work so that she can graduate. She is working with another college student, and she has a boyfriend. Beth has strong beliefs she lives by.

Between Beth’s frustrations with her experiment and the issues between her and her boyfriend, Beth is quite stressed. Then, one evening as she’s driving, she is certain that she has hit someone with her car, adding to her stress levels.

When she meets, Thomas, a very attractive man, who takes an interest in her, she finds herself drawn to him. Thomas, who is actually a centuries old vampire, finds Beth’s sweet nature a challenge to corrupt her. However, it isn’t long before Thomas finds that Beth has something that he craves more than blood.

What happens between Beth and Thomas, and Beth and her boyfriend, makes for a very interesting twist in Unholy. It’s been years since I have even considered reading a vampire story, but I found that once I started reading Unholy, I couldn’t put it down. The uniqueness of several characters and the story line held my attention.

Ms. Amurra created deep, interesting characters that she developed so well from the beginning of the book and throughout the story. Even the vampire was realistic. Ms. Amurra produced such a unique story line that I was intrigued and captivated until the very end.

I will say that there is some profanity in this book, but it is spread throughout and not overwhelming. There are two scenes that may be problematic for sensitive readers. However, there are no scenes that include a lot of graphic violence, blood, and gore.

I highly recommend this book to adult readers who crave unique stories, as well as those who enjoy vampire stories. I will also say that, after reading Unholy by Kathryn Amurra, I believe Thomas will forever be my favorite vampire.

Although I have read most of Kathryn Amurra’s books, after reading Unholy, I have truly become a dedicated fan and cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

Unholy is truly worthy of 5 stars.

Fun and Successful Author Event

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Thursday evening, October 2, 2025, I participated in an Author Reception at my friend, Becky’s, beautiful artisan shop, Pebbles & Lace. This is me at the table I shared with my friend and fellow author, C.S. Wachter, ready to start greeting readers.

Here are some of the wonderful authors who participated. The cute little dog is the character in her mommy’s books, and she even co-signs the books her mommy sells. Her name is Charlamay. We had such a great turnout that I didn’t have enough time to meet and talk to all of the authors. I think I spoke to the majority of shoppers, though.

I have known this dear young lady since she was a young child. It was such a blessing to have her, her mom, and several of her siblings come out. I enjoyed seeing them. It was a blessing to have this young lady so excited and happy to purchase my book! She said she had waited a whole year to get it, and she had. She saw me just a month or two before I published it. She was the first to purchase my book at this event.

The young lady in the blue dress standing next to me came out for this event to promote her Literary Magazine the evening before its release! I was very intrigued because there aren’t very many literary magazines around anymore, since so many things are on the internet. Her magazine is called “The Drowsy Dragon”. It’s a small magazine of short stories by this young lady and a few other people. I was excited to purchase one and take it along home to read.

This author reception was definitely the most fun and most successful event I have attended as an author so far. Thank you to all of you who came out to support us authors! And thank you, Becky, for hosting this wonderful event!

I wish all of the author attendees blessings, and I hope to see you all again.

A Poem by a Gifted Young Man

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I chose the photo to go with this poem, but the poem was written by a friend of one of my sons. I met him a couple times. I saw this poem posted on another blog, and I liked the poem so much. However, I felt like the blog I saw it on disrespected the poet by including personal thoughts, feelings, and convictions about the poem in the post, therefore taking away from the poem, and possibly, influencing a negative attitude toward the poem in some readers. I wanted to present the poem just as the young man wrote it to allow readers to ponder it and come to their own interpretations and conclusions, the way poetry is meant to be.

Therefore, I contacted the young man and asked his permission to share the poem, and he granted me permission. I hope you will enjoy this poem as much as I do.

I do apologize that it is not properly typed in stanzas. I tried to do that and attempted to correct it several times to no avail.

Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

Elara’s Path by Tristen

Elara was a dreamer, with stars in her eyes,

Chasing whispers of wonder beneath twilight skies.

A world beyond the meadows, where shadows softly call,

She stepped through velvet curtains, where dreams and dangers fall.

Oh, Elara, sweet Elara, don’t stray too far from home,

The forest hums with secrets, where wild things freely roam.

Hold tight to what you know, dear, don’t trust the fleeting light,

For beauty hides the thorns that bloom beneath the starless night.

The trees began to shimmer, with voices soft and sweet,

“Come dance within our circle, where time and magic meet.”

Their laughter wove a tapestry of silver, gold, and flame,

Each step pulled Elara deeper, forgetting her own name.

Oh, Elara, brave Elara, the path is not your friend,

The rivers sing of freedom, but lead to bitter ends.

Turn back before the shadows claim the heart you hold so dear,

The world you chase is hungry, it feeds on hope and fear.

The moonlight carved a doorway, through mist and tangled vines,

Where spirits whispered promises in soft, hypnotic rhymes.

“Stay here, we’ll crown you queen,” they sang with honeyed breath,

But Elara saw the flicker—cold eyes that spoke of death.

Oh, Elara, wise Elara, you’ve seen the truth unfold,

The stories that they weave are not the ones you’re told.

Run fast, the dawn is breaking, the light will guide you home,

Through forests full of peril, where wild things call you home.

With courage in her heartbeat, she tore through night’s embrace,

The thorns reached out to hold her, but none could slow her pace.

Back to the world she knew so well, where love and safety lay,

Elara left the shadows, to greet the break of day.

Oh, Elara, strong Elara, you’ve walked where few return,

The fire in your spirit, forever it will burn.

No forest can contain you, no dream can chain your soul,

For Elara’s heart is boundless, and now she’s finally whole.

“Practicing the Art of Poetry”

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Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash

I have been a member of Lancaster Christian Writers for about thirteen years. I have learned a lot about writing through their monthly meetings and annual Writers’ Conferences and continue to do so. I have also made some wonderful friends and valuable contacts through this group and continue to do so.

This past Saturday, one of the friends I met through the group taught a workshop on “Practicing the Art of Poetry”. She shared “why all writers should practice the art of poetry”. She shared things I never really thought about. She also shared some poems. Then she instructed us to do two writing exercises. She didn’t stress all of the mechanics, techniques, and different types of poems. She didn’t even tell us our poems had to have structure or to rhyme.

Her main point was: a poem doesn’t have to take a lot of time. It is easier to finish than an article or a story. Not to perfect it, but to finish it.

The first writing exercise she instructed us to do was to write a poem about Grace.

I don’t know where the idea came from, but I got an idea as soon as she said the word “Grace”. The following is my poem about Grace:

Grace is a little girl in pigtails picking dandelions in a field in the sunshine. Sitting on a stoop and giggling as a puppy licks her nose. Dancing in the rain and skipping barefoot through puddles. Singing “Jesus Loves Me” when she is scared, and praying “God is great, God is good” before taking a bite of food. Grace is not only her name, but something in her innocence.

The second exercise she assigned us to do was to take something we’re working on — a novel, devotional, article — and turn a piece of it into a poem. So, this next attempt at a poem is from one of the character’s problems and emotions from my current Work in Progress (WIP). But don’t look for it in the book when it comes out, because I don’t think it’s going to make it into the book.

Was she really rejecting him? The look in her eyes and tone of her voice started a fizzure in his heart, but her words spread and deepend the fizzure into many cracks. Her final declaration that she would not go to Boston with him drove his mind to its knees and he turned to leave.

I enjoyed this workshop and dabbling in poetry for a little while.

Book Review: A Break in the Weather by Roy Wood

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Back Cover Book Blurb:

Sixteen-year-old Alley Price just wants her autistic classmate, Ben Sanders, to shut up because he won’t stop babbling about a blizzard that’s being predicted. But when the Great Blizzard of 1978 slams into Ohio, and Alley finds herself stranded in a garage with her would-be rapist, she turns to Ben for help in the middle of the night. The events that unfold change her attitude toward people with disabilities and reheat her relationship with Jesus.

My Thoughts:

As a Book Reviewer, I received a copy of A Break in the Weather. However, I was not required to write a positive review or any review. These are my honest opinions of the book.

A Break in the Weather is Roy Wood’s debut novel. It is YA. The story starts with tension between Alley Price and her mom’s boyfriend, and that tension and the situation continue to build until a snow blizzard. During the blizzard, the situation between Alley and her mom’s boyfriend escalates until Alley runs out in the blizzard, afraid for her safety.

Alley becomes a hero of the story through all the events that take place during the blizzard, but as she is stuck in a garage and not sure how to survive the blizzard, she reaches out to a boy she knows from school, who has Autism. She knows he’s very smart when it comes to science related things, so she calls him on the phone in the middle of the night, despite the fact that she ordinarily finds him quite annoying, and he quickly becomes a hero in the story as well.

Also, as Alley faces all of the events during the blizzard, she begins to think about Jesus. She hasn’t given him much time or attention in years, despite the fact that her best friend is a Christian, and Alley’s grandmother talked to her about Jesus a lot, until her grandmother passed away.

I found this story suspenseful and exciting, but the suspense and excitement slows down in the middle as the author focuses on events at school. However, just because the suspense and excitement slows down, this story, in no way, gets boring. Mr. Wood did a great job of developing his characters and expressing their very different personalities and how they react and respond to one another. Mr. Wood also did a great job in portraying how the characters learned to make good decisions, accept one another, work together, help one another, and encourage one another.

In the last third of the story, the tension and suspense build again, but not quite to the level they did in the first third, but readers who crave tension and suspense won’t be disappointed.

I really enjoyed this story and its characters. I also liked how Mr. Wood ended with an epilogue that gives the reader a glimpse into the Alley’s future as an adult.

Although this story includes a very awkward uncomfortable relationship that leads to revealing a character as a child predator and there is some violence, this is a clean story — no explicit sexual scenes and no profanity. Also, the child predator story line is brought to a satisfactory conclusion without being extremely traumatic or difficult to read.

There were just two places in the book, where I found a couple of scenes to be a bit confusing, but, they didn’t keep me from disliking the story or finishing the book.

I recommend A Break in the Weather by Roy Wood to readers ages 16 and up, who enjoy well-written, exciting YA stories that include a positive message or two.

I give A Break in the Weather by Roy Wood 5 stars.

Book Review: You Can Hide by Melissa Roos

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You Can Hide is Melissa Roos debut novel. She has written several novels since this one, and though they are all stand alone stories, I like to at least read an author’s first book before reading later ones. Ms. Roos books are Mystery/Romance stories.

Back Cover Blurb:

Jayde Walker is left for dead. Somehow she survives, and is the only witness to the murder of her best friend, Carrie. Fighting amnesia, she tries to get on with her life with the killer still on the loose. Then one night she remembers. The truth terrifies her and breaks her heart. She has to run. She has to hide. Leave behind everything. And everyone.

She runs with no clear direction in mind. Halfway across the country, lost in the Midwest, she makes a wrong turn, down a dead end road. She ends up in a ditch, unable to remember how or why she got there. The only thing she knows is she needs to disappear. The tall, lush green cornstalks of the vast fields call to her. Without hesitation Jayde steps in and disappears.

She’s lost, but found. Who can save her? Her fiance she left behind? The detective she trusted, or the farmer that found her? Who can she trust with her life? And her heart?

NOTE: I have made some punctuation corrections in the Back Cover Blurb. However, I have left the writing as written, even though as an editor, I see things I would suggest be corrected.

My Thoughts on the Book:

I like the characters in You Can Hide. Miss Roos did a great job creating and developing her characters. The plot is filled with tension and suspense. It’s one of those stories that made me want to keep turning the pages, but not because I wanted to find out who the murderer was. I was more interesed in finding out how the romance in the story was going to turn out because I really liked the relationship between Jayde and the farmer who found her, and I was fairly certain I knew who the murderer was.

For me, I felt like the murderer was revealed near the beginning of the story. There was one point in the story that I thought it might be someone else, but as I looked back to the beginning of the book, there wasn’t any other character identified that it could have been. However, the way that the murderer sought after Jayde and all the tension that caused and built to the climax definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be reading any more books written by Melissa Roos because I wasn’t expecting a lot of profanity in this book, and when it first started appearing, it was mild and the words were few and far between. However, when I reached page 175 and found the Lord’s name taken in vain, I was shocked and taken aback. Then on page 176 the “f” word was used. There were only a few mild words up until that point, and even after those two pages, there weren’t too many profane words. However, in the last fourth of the books, the profanity became something that regularly came out of the characters’ mouths.

To me, that’s very sad. I don’t think those words are necessary to make a book realistic nor do I think they add anything to the story.

The other thing I found that distracted me from the story were the things that should have been taken care of in the editing process prior to publishing the book. I know that most professional editors charge a lot of money that most authors cannot afford, but there are some that will edit for a reasonable price. Even participating in a good critique group can help help with a lot of the errors I saw throughout this book.

I can only give this book 3 stars, and I’m not going to post it anywhere but here, (which will also post on my Facebook page), because I know book reviews are important to an author, but they don’t help it they can’t give lots of praise and at least 4 stars.

Book Review: The Beauty of Crows by Claire Sanders

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I just have to say, “I LOVE this cover!

I have been a Claire Sanders fan ever since I read her “The Masons of Brightfield” sweet romance series in 2021. So, I was thrilled to find out that she released a new book, The Beauty of Crows. I was thrilled to receive a copy and asked to write a review, so this is my honest review.

I was intrigued by the title, The Beauty of Crows, because I’ve never thought of crows as beautiful birds. The title was the thing that attracted my attention and made me want to read this book.

I have to say I was very surprised. The Beauty of Crows includes quite a bit more tension than The Masons of Brightfield series. This tension kept me turning pages until past my bedtime every night.

In The Beauty of Crows, Ms. Sanders has created extremely interesting characters who have struggles that many readers have either experienced for themselves, or know someone close to them who has. Her character, Rachel, was raised by a strict father who is the pastor of a church like many churches years ago—churches where pastors preached “hellfire and brimstone”. Her father has kept Rachel on the straight and narrow and she thought her life was fine and she was content.

Alden Fairchild is a rebellious young man, who has grown tired of his father’s attempts to keep him on the straight and narrow because his father criticized him and always found him lacking. So, Alden quickly resorts to a life of seeking after his fleshly desires and pleasures, and there’s nothing he likes better than causing raised eyebrows among people who walk the straight and narrow. Alden’s actions eventually cause him to be blamed for a crime and he has to face the possibility of losing his life.

Rachel’s convictions lead her to committing perjury in an attempt to save the life of someone she really doesn’t like.

Alden’s actions and Rachel’s convictions cause them to cross paths and change both their lives forever.

The Beauty of Crows is a wonderful story with at least two great messages. It is a clean fiction novel with engaging characters and a tense, page-turning plot.

If you like your romance stories on the tense side causing you to wonder about the outcome until near the end of the book, I highly recommend The Beauty of Crows. If you’ve never read a Claire Sanders novel, I highly recommend you start with this one. You won’t be disappointed.

I give The Beauty of Crows 5 stars.

The Harper Chronicles: Harper or Sassy

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Hi Everyone! It’s been a looong time, but I’m back! Since I’m older, Mom doesn’t always know what to write about me, and she doesn’t take quite as many photos of me as she used to.

For today’s post Mom wanted me to share about some of the waggish things I do since I’ve exhibited such behaviors twice this past Monday. 😀

There’s one lady in the neighborhood that Mom talks to more than any other, and this lady has a little dog. I always want to greet this dog when I see her out in her yard. She always comes to the gate, (her entire yard is fenced in), to greet me. She’s the dog “sitting” in the photo below. Her name is Daisy. The body in the photo is her mom. The other dog was in an earlier post here. Her name is also Daisy.

Anyway, I like to play — A LOT! But the Daisy, who is sitting in the yard above, does NOT, especially not with me. Mom encourages me to just run around by myself and let Daisy alone, but I really want a playmate, so I constantly get in Daisy’s face, trying to spark a playful mood in her. Unfortunately, all I accomplish is antagonizing her, and she nips at me. Then her mom scolds her. Well, this is what happened on Monday, and after I tried several times to get Daisy to play, Mom decided it was time to go home. I was very disappointed.

Later that same day, Mom sat on the loveseat and picked up her Bible to read, and I decided I wanted her to play with me. So, I nipped at her Bible. She told me, “No!” I did it again. Mom told me “No” again and tapped me on my nose with her fingertips. So, I tapped her on the arm with my right front paw! Mom couldn’t believe I did that. She said, “I am scolding you. I am in charge. You are not supposed to tap me back!”

That’s where the “Sassy” in the title of today’s post comes in. Because, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts I talk to Mom–interrupting her when she’s working and butting into conversations between her and Dad are two of the examples of “talking to her” that I’m not supposed to do. So, between this and the examples of my behaviors above, Mom said, “If I would’ve waited until now to name Harper, I may have chosen to name her “Sassy” instead of Harper!”

The people she tells this story to think that’s funny. I do not. :/

Book Review: The Complete Virtues and Valor Series by Hallee Bridgeman

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This book is quite thick. It includes eight novellas that are connected by a single story. It also includes historical information about each of the people the main character of each novella is based on. There is also a Translation Key in the back of the book for some of the French and German words, as well as photos and information of vehicles mentioned in the stories from that time period. There are also Discussion Questions at the end of each novella and at the end of the book. You will also find an “Inspired by Real Events” section that gives more real historical information. Therefore, this book would definitely appeal to History Buffs, especially World War II History Buffs.

My Thoughts on the Virtures and Valor Series:

As I’ve said, this story is written as eight novellas. Each novella is based on a different character, and each character is based on a real life person from the WWII time period. I really enjoyed reading about each character and learning about their part in what was happening during the war. Ms. Bridgeman chose to base seven of the eight novellas on real life women and the eighth book on a real life man.

I struggled with the actual “story” in which these characters took part. Since Ms. Bridgeman chose to write the story as novellas and each novella was based on a different character, I didn’t feel like the story flowed well. The characters were well developed, but the story was lacking the build-up, tension, and suspense it might have had as one story. Instead, several scenes were simply repeated from the perspective of different characters. Therefore, I didn’t really enjoy the story and found it getting a bit old by the end of the eighth novella.

However, I very much enjoyed everything about the individual characters, and as someone who loves History, I appreciate all of the hard work and research Ms. Bridgeman obviously put into this series to fill it with actual historical people and events.

With all of that being said, I would highly recommend this book to those who LOVE History and learning about true historical people and events. In my opinion books such as this are of great value because so much “true” history is being distorted or hidden from the general public, which, in my opinion, is gross negligence because I believe it is of the utmost importance to know true history, for that is the only way to prevent repeating the horrors of the past.

Follow-up on the Previously Mentioned Author Event

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I attended the Author’s event at the Intercourse Library on Saturday, July 19, 2025. It was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. — 3:00 p.m. We had a steady trickle of attendees from about 11:30 until 1:10. After that, it was dead. I was able to meet some new people, gain one more sign-up for my newsletter, and connect with a few authors. However, sales were very hard to come by. I have come to the conclusion that Summer is not a great time for an Author event, and location matters. Unfortunately, the Intercourse Library is a bit off the beaten path and has no signage to let people know it’s there.

The above photo shows my friend, Shelleen Weaver, sharing one of her wonderful children’s books from her Fruit Fables Series with three attendees. Each of her fables focuses on one of the Fruits of the Spirit and the illustrations are beautiful!

The above is a photo of Melissa Roos’s table with all of her books. Right after set up, I spoke with her briefly and purchased a copy of You Can Hide, her first book. She mentioned that Tennessee Wishes was available on Amazon Kindle for free that day, so I downloaded it as soon as I got home. I purchased her other books on Kindle today. I love Mystery/Romance and these all sound so good!

Later, when the traffic was slow, I returned to Melissa’s stand to talk to her more. I enjoyed asking her about her writing journey, and we discussed book covers because I really love her covers for The Further I Fall and Cherry Hollow. She encouraged me in regard to designing my own book covers.

When there wasn’t a single “shopper” in the room, other than the owner of these two furry ladies, he mentioned that these girls were waiting outside. So the author he came to purchase a book from and I went out to see them. They are Greyhounds and were quite sweet and friendly, and I found their coats much softer than I expected.

I would say having one of my author friends go on a coffee run and bring back a chai latte for me, meeting the Greyhounds, seeing my friend, Shelleen, sharing a table with my friend, Megan, encouraging a struggling author at the table next to us, and talking with Melissa Roos were the best parts of the day for me. Though this Author event wasn’t what I had hoped, I look forward to the next Author I will be participating in. It will be held at Pebbles & Lace Boutique in East Lampeter on October 2nd. Check out my upcoming events tab for details.