Review of The Frontiersman's Daughter by Laura Frantz

I really loved this book and it isn't my usual fare. I'm not into really Christian books, but this one caught my eye partly because it was a free read and partly because it was advertised as a romance and I'm a huge romance fan. I'm so glad that I picked it up. It's one of my favorite books so far this year.

The Frontiersman's Daughter is set during the frontier/pioneer days of log cabins and Indian wars. The story has a strong "Little House books" feel to it. It's less a romance or a Christian novel than an anthropologically correct historical fiction with some basis in fact.

The religious nature of the book was no more than you would expect for the time period and the romance, while prevalent, was so incredibly mild as to seem merely hoped for and almost not quite existent. While this may sound like it's not your cup of tea, I highly recommend giving it a try. There are no sultry or sexy scenes, nothing more than a few kisses and the romance is sweet with a pure feel. The book had so little romance in it, I'm not quite sure I'd even call it a romance until the very end, but it was still wonderful.

If you're a fan of the Little House books or if you like detailed historical novels on how people lived in past times, give this one a go. You won't be disappointed. I'll definitely be reading this one again.

Rape Culture in YA Romance

Lately, I have been very disturbed by the high number of YA romance books (especially in the paranormal genre) that center around obsessive, abusive and unhealthy relationships. Many readers describe this as being part of the current "rape culture."

Young women and girls are often fed stories with dubious male characters that mistreat their partners which are labeled and sold as "romance." Personally, I've had enough of these Stockholm Syndrome stories.

Haunt begins like any typical YA paranormal romance: girl meets freaky guy, girl thinks she's "falling in love" with creepy dude. The similarities end there. In Haunt, the main character actually begins to realize that these not-quite-right qualities in the guy are not healthy. The story develops into another type of romance and ends on a more positive note.

The book also deals with other situations many young women face such as sex, pregnancy and abstinence based on respect rather than religious reasons for those who are not religious but still choose to abstain. The main character is portrayed as neither strong nor weak, but on equal-footing with the guy she ends up with.

I wanted young women, who may have little or no experience with relationships, to be able to read about a heroine who chooses a positive relationship over a negative one.

For more in-depth reading about YA and rape culture, check out these articles:

Bad Romance (or, YA & Rape Culture)
Problem With Society in YA Books
Why YA Romance Needs to Change

"Haunt" Debut Release

I am proud to announce the release of my debut novel, Haunt.

Haunt is a paranormal romance geared toward young adult readers.

Summary: Artist Megan Nelson has never lived anywhere but the tiny Texas town in which she grew up. There is one bus, one corner store and everybody knows everybody. So when a stranger shows up, Megan is more than curious.

Adam is more than he seems: beautiful and strange. Megan soon finds herself falling in love with him as she learns who he is and where he comes from.

But being with Adam comes with a price. The closer Megan gets to Adam, the more she realizes he holds a dark secret which threatens to tear apart everything she has ever known.

On top of it, Megan is plagued with guilt over her best friend, Tony. As her new love life puts a strain on their old friendship, Megan learns how love can help her overcome her terrifying circumstances and change the rest of her life.

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Haunt can now be purchased to read on any device through Smashwords.com and Amazon.com. The current list price is only 99 cents, so get it while it's hot!

Review: Blind Sided by Cheryl Leigh

I wanted to take a moment to review Blind Sided by Cheryl Leigh, an LDS romance I recently purchased for Kindle. While I'm not Mormon, I still really enjoyed the story. You can download the book now for only 99 cents!

Delightfully well-written for a self-pub novel (almost all of which tend to disappoint me), Blind Sided has a little bit of everything including humor, drama and, of course, plenty of romance.

Jenna Rainey loses her mother and her eyesight when a drunk driver plows into their car. Blinded and broken-hearted, she learns to live and love again with friends and family as she heals. Along the way, she meets Rick Bentley, a professional swimmer. Jenna couldn't be less interested, but Rick has had his eye on her for a while and her sour attitude isn't quite enough to throw him off. Though their romance has a rocky start, Jenna and Rick discover the importance of forgiveness and love.

I found Blind Sided to be a nice, comfortable read and really enjoyed the good, clean romance. If you're trying to avoid romance novels that sell themselves with sex, I recommend it. I had a hard time putting it down. Jenna and Rick's sweet romance was a refreshing change from stories with characters that were hung up on a physical relationship. The storyline has plenty of variety to keep the reader's interest. The characters were both lovable and memorable and I found myself consistently surprised by the unpredictable nature of the story.

Blind Sided read like a mini series with ups and downs, smaller stories within the larger story and sub-plots that will keep you entertained even if you are like me and don't have long stretches of time in which to read. If you're from the South like I am, there will be some laugh-out-loud moments. Well worth it, especially at this awesome price!

Borrow Kindle Books Online for Free!

Another great resource for free reading is available at BookLending.com. Since Kindle made ebooks available to borrow, you can now join and read almost anything available on the website. Click and search through thousands of titles or search for a specific title or author. BookLending.com is in beta format and is free to join for book sharing.

Once you approve lending your book, the borrower has 7 days to accept the offer. Once accepted, they then have fourteen days to finish reading. A book cannot be loaned to the same person twice. Once the reader is finished at the end of the three week period, the book then becomes available to the owner again. It's a fantastic way to borrow that special book you have been waiting for without having to wait for a friend to buy it.

Free Kindle Books

I'm so excited to share a website that I recently discovered called Kindle Nation Daily. Want to keep up with all of the new FREE ebook listings on Amazon and find some great new authors? No problem! KND updates their list regularly with all of the newly-added books, absolutely free of charge. You can even search by genre. Each listing shows the rating as well as mouse-over story summaries. Check it out!

Scroll, click, download, enjoy. It's that easy.