By Pamela Griffin & Vickie McDonough
Back Cover:

Can Two Grooms be lassoed in time for Christmas?

Hearts are forever changed when retired Texas Rangers try their hands at matchmaking in by-gone days. Will any of their absurd schemes work out as planned?

Erik Olson is shocked when Anna Campbell arrives in town with two small orphans in tow and declares they are his brother's children. Will Erik prove her claims false and see her gone by Christmas?

Travis McCoy is a nomadic photographer with no time to put down roots, find a wife, and raise a family. But when he enters Cut Corners, the temptations to change are strong, and he has to keep reminding himself of his goal to leave by Christmas.

How far will the schemers of Cut Corners go to make sure four wild hearts are corralled by love and tamed by faith in time for Christmas?

A PENNY FOR MY THOUGHTS:

In this sequel, the meddlesome founders of Cut Corners are at it again! They decide that there should be 2 more weddings in Cut Corners, and Christmas seems to be the time to get it done. The only thing missing are the Brides.

Erik is Positive the Children are not his brother's, For he was 99% sure his brother was dead long before the Children were born...But when they look just like him, will he be able to say no? And when he starts to fall in love w/their Temporary Guardian, Will he send them packing or take them in as his own, all before Christmas?

Travis McCoy, Wasn't even going to give her the time of day, because he didn't want a family, but when his uncle Tricks him into taking her out...His thoughts begin to change. Vivian has watched year after year Women getting married by Christmas, And wonders if this year is her turn?

They are great stories! And You fall in love with those old schemers, But not only do you read about new matches you also get to find out what happened to the other two from Texas Christmas Brides. I figured one more Christmas Book wouldn't hurt! :) So Enjoy!

~Rae~

A Friend of mine just started a Christian Book review Blog, Check out Julianna's Blog...One Rainy Afternoon

The wonderful story of how our Savior came to earth to die for our sins!

The Christmas Story can be Found in Luke 2:

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; because (he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have a Wonderful Christmas!!!
~Rae ~

Not the Marrying Kind By: Kathleen Y'Barbo:

From When Peony Potter firsts steps off the Train, she causes nothing but trouble for Rafe Wilson. But when Rafe and her want to give the Founding Fathers of Cut Corners a lesson, They end up giving on to Rafe instead.

Here Cooks the Bride by: Cathy Marie Hake:
Aunt Millie Broke her arm, so when her niece Lacey Mather Shows up to help, everyone wonders if she can cook better than her aunt...who Cookin can Scorch your stomach. When Lacey's First meal comes out, She doesn't have a spare minute to call her own...What with cookin, and turning down Marriage proposal's left and right. But Jeff Wilson (Rafe Wilson's Cousin) Doesn't want to let her get away, but can he come between her plans to teach at a Ladies Finishing School?

Great Book! Helps Put you in the Christmas Mood!

NorthWest by VeraLee Wiggins
Four Inspiring Love Stories from the Rugged and Unspoiled Northwest Territory.


Back Cover:
The Call of the Untamed Northwest Territory was a force many pioneers could not ignore. In this captivating volume featuring four full-length, award winning novels, two families answer that call and forever change the course of their lives.

Rachel Butler and Martha Lawford meet on a wagon train heading west on the Oregon Trail. Rachel is determined not to succumb to the perils of the Heartbreak Trail...But will she be as strong in the face of an even more formidable power-Love?

Matha Lawford, grieving for the family she left behind, plans to stay on her father's land claim in the Washington Territory. The rugged frontier is no place for a single woman, but who will be willing to take on this proud loner and call her, Martha My Own?

To survive the harsh wilderness, Martha enters a marriage of convenience. Abe Nobel's Love for Martha is real, yet their agreement denies such feelings. Will Martha ever say the words her husband longs to hear...Abram,My Love?

When God reunites Martha and Rachel, Rachel has a beautiful family but Martha is waiting to see what God has Planned for her. Could it be the gift of A New Love?

As the Characters of NorthWest experience God's grace on their journeys their stories of triumph ring through the years to offer new hope for today.

A PENNY FOR MY THOUGHTS?
I was looking through the Library, for some books to read, and When I don't have any in particular that I want to check out, I just go through looking for the sticker on the spine that says, 'Christian' or 'Christian Fiction'...And this is one of those. Great 4 Story Book, They all tie together, and the last Story was the Last 'Book' VeraLee Wiggins ever wrote! This book was put together in memory of her, by her Husband...She was a great writer! I love the book, and it kept me turning the pages...The first story is about Rachel, but Martha is in it as well. You become apart of this wagon train, when heartache strikes, it seems like it's happening to you, and not just the Characters in the story. When reading it, I felt like I was in the time period written about.
Rachel Butler, is a girl who loves her way of life, and doesn't want to give it up, but when her father decides to head west, Life ceases as she knows it. No more Restaurants, no more fancy Stores or gowns...No More parties, and No more beau's...so she thinks. She is determined to have an awful time, and not enjoy it one bit, but when she becomes friends with sweet tempered Martha, that all changes. She sees Martha rubbing off on her, and can it be? She starts enjoying the trip!
Martha Lawford, the sweet-tempered girl of 17, loves the idea of heading west with her whole family. But when tragedy strikes her wagon, can she stay her sweet self? And when she has to head on alone, can she make it with only her Dog and her God?
Abe Nobel, A man in his late Twenties, Having already been in the Army, Thinks that the Washington Territory is the most beautiful in the land. When he meets Martha, he starts taking care of her, but when her family fails to catch up like she thinks, and with winter setting in, Can They make a go of a Marriage of Convience?
Read through the four stories, and see how these two friends get split up, and then reunited! A great read, and one I recommend to be added to your collection!

Buy it through Amazon.com...Click here

~Rae~

A Promise For Ellie by Lauraine Snelling
314 wonderful, pages
#1 in the Daughters of Blessing Series


Lauraine Snelling is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! Her books just grab you and pull you into the story! It kept me turning the pages to find out what happened next.

Back Cover:
Ellie Wold can't wait to graduate. She and Andrew Bjorkland have been waiting to get married since...well, since forever, and in June they will finally wed. When Andrew announces they have to postpone the wedding, she's disappointed but takes it in stride-there must be a good reason, or Andrew's pa wouldn't ask it of them.

But Andrew is angry and can't understand why Ellie isn't upset too, especially when they'd been planning to 'marry up' ever since they were in grade school. Disgruntled, he works out his frustration with stubborn determination to finish building their barn and mail-order house, working himself to exhaustion. But just when the new house is nearly finished, an unthinkable tragedy occurs. Throwing aside the vow he made to Ellie, Andrew seeks revenge...

As their plans unravel, it looks as if their love may not survive. Is this the end of their dream?

A PENNY FOR MY THOUGHTS?

This is Lauraine's 3rd series using the Red River Valley...Red River of the North (6 books) Return to Red River (3 books) and then Daughters of Blessing.
In A Promise for Ellie, Andrew is waiting in Blessing for the day of Graduation, when Ellie will return to Blessing to Graduate with her friends, istead of in the city, where her family moved to when the Valley was hindering her father's Furniture Buisness. But One night, Andrew's Father asks him to postpone the Wedding, Because the barn isn't finished, and the mail-order house is two-weeks late. When Andrew tells Ellie about it, she's upset, but understands that Father Bjorklund wouldn't ask it of them, if he didn't have a good reason. So Ellie heads back to the city with her parents, to collect her things, to move back to Blessing to work until the wedding.
When the wedding is upon them, Ellie and her girlfriends, decide to Stay the night at the new house. But a tradgedy occurs, that may keep Andrew and Ellie apart for the rest of their lives.

I picked this one up at the Library when looking for Opal from the series Dakotah Treasures, but when they didn't have it, I decided to get this one instead. I can't wait to go back and get the next one in the series!

Buy it now for $4.49 @ Amazon.com...CLICK HERE
Check out Lauraine's Website...click here

~Rae Byuel(by.u.el)~

League of Superheroes by Steve Rice, instead of doing a Review, I decided to do an interview this month. So sit back and enjoy! Don't forget to read a way to win a free copy!

Welcome to Caffeine & Romance's interview 'room', Today we have Steve Rice with us, the Author of League of Superheroes, Thanks for coming Steve.
Good evening, supheroes and supervillains! I just flew in from Colorado, and boy, is my suit tired!

1. What inspired you to write this story?

I've written some superhero fiction before--I wrote a short story in the eighth grade about some engineers' kids who put together something like a Titan suit--it even had a character named Charlie, though he was very different then. I brought them back in the twelfth grade, only now the story was narrated by a language geek and involved creating a robot that became a kind of superhero. [I go into some of this at http://ansric.blogspot.com/2008/09/league-of-superheroes-opening-day.html ] But a lot of the incidental material arose because I would see some effect misrepresented in fiction. I do try to get the physics right.

The precise circumstances were odd, though: In January 2004, I found myself staying as a guest with some people I knew from a new church. I had moved to Colorado from Alaska in late July 2003 to help my mother, who was moving there. I had no job, no contacts, and no skills appropriate to the area. I did have my computer, and I kept my sanity in part by reading e-books I had stored there.

I'm a seat-of-the-pants writer, but I usually have a really good idea of my main characters and the general direction of the story before I begin. In fact, I usually know the ending scene before I start. In this case, I suddenly had the opening scene and the mysterious girl in the chat room. I knew who and what she was, but that was about it. But I started writing, and I finished the story in a couple weeks. The plot line and characters changed considerably during that time.

2. Who is your favorite character and why?

That's almost impossible to answer. I have to love my characters to write about them, though it doesn't always happen immediately. I didn't care for Tom initially--it wasn't until he did his power dive over the cliff that I truly began to like him. Rod is mostly comic relief, but he is more important to the series than most people would imagine. Charlie leads from behind and keeps things from exploding. Allen is between Charlie and Tom in maturity--and age, for that matter. Clarice was supposed to be a flat nuisance-sibling character, but Tom will eventually say more than once that she was the best superhero in the group. And Uncle and Genie are both tragic figures, trying for salvation, but on their own terms.

3. How have your personal faith and beliefs influenced your story?

There are always echoes of C. S. Lewis in my writing, and _League of Superheroes_ echoes certain points from _The Abolition of Man_, _That Hideous Strength_, and other books. It also reflects my belief in Literary Lifestyle Evangelism: instead of having the characters preach at the reader, they simply live out their faith before the reader. They try to figure out (usually with God's help) what is right, though they aren't perfect. And the really important jobs are accomplished by faith and the power of God, not by even Genie's incredibly advanced technology. That becomes more pronounced in later stories.

4. What was the hardest part of writing this book?

Certain of Tom's quirks were a bit annoying. In particular, he's trying to recapture how he felt and what he thought at the time--he's writing this well after the fact--so there are places where he's nearly lying: he knows better now, but he will state that something was so, even though he will eventually admit otherwise. He misrepresents Rod, for example, I think out of envy and even a little fear. On the other hand, he sometimes comments on matters from a future viewpoint because he can't help it, as when he calls himself a fool for putting down Clarice's prayerful approach to Genie's technology. It's because he still blames himself (I think unreasonably) for almost getting her killed a few stories down the line as a result of his attitude. So fielding Tom's quirks is sometimes hard.

5. What was easiest?

The story itself came easily: I really did just sit down and write it, and there weren't any major blocks along the way. Some of the sequels weren't that easy, but this one flowed.

6. What's next for you?

Assuming this sells reasonably well, the next book is _Genie At Large_, which introduces the series villain and properly sets up the spiritual conflict. I also have some unrelated projects, such as _Galatea_, which I hope to publish through Lulu in the near future.

7. What's your Life Verse?

I usually cite Proverbs 25:2--"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings." But a better verse for the series would probably be Proverbs 21:30--"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD." God has a plan for Genie, and he cannot be stopped.
I Love hearing the different verses people quote as their Life Verse

8.What would you like people to take away from your story, after they read it?
I suppose the idea of thinking and living like a Christian rather than just drifting with popular culture (even supposedly Christian popular culture). Don't be a robot; know and follow God.

Well Thanks for Coming! Any CLosing Remarks?
Hello, I must be going!
I cannot stay;
I came to say
I must be going!
I'm glad I came,
But just the same
I must be going...

-Rufus T. Firefly

A Little Blurb about League of Superhero's:
The League of Superheroes

Four teenage boys and one little sister discover someone in a chat room who claims to be a little girl named Genie, but whose scientific knowledge and technology are a few centuries ahead of anyone else.

Who or what is Genie? The most intelligent mortal in history—an integral part of the most powerful force mankind has ever unleashed. And she does not consider herself subject to the laws of God or man.

On a whim, Genie transforms her new friends into the League of Superheroes:

Titan—a walking and flying tank—is Rod Davies, a klutzy, diplomacy-impaired beanpole who is also a certified genius in math and physics;
Darklight—an invisible spy—is the narrator, Tom Reilly, a scientifically inclined polyglot;
Tachyon—able to speed or slow time in his area—is Allen Peters, super-hacker; and
Micromegas—a size-changer—is Charlie Taylor, who hopes someday to be a medical missionary.
And then there are Clarice Peters, Allen’s little sister and perhaps Genie’s best friend, and "Uncle," the mysterious elderly man who was the first to treat Genie like a human being…

But can even superheroes save her (and the world) from her so-called creators—and from Genie herself?

~~WIN a FREE copy of League of Superheroes, By Leaving a comment
with your e-mail address.~~

OTHER INFO ABOUT LoS:
Want to read about the other books in this series? LoS

Buy it now @ Amazon: CLICK HERE!!



~Rae Byuel (by.u.el)~

Check out these other member blogs this week for more info.

Kiss the Bride/Cook By Kristy Dykes , Aisha Ford , Vickie McDonough , Carrie Turansky
Four Great Novels, Revolving around: Food,Love, and 1 appron!

Back Cover:



A PENNY FOR MY THOUGHTS?
Four young women meet at a restaurant owners conference:Angel from Florida, Monica from Missouri, Haley from Oklahoma, and Allison from New Jersey,and discover they share the same faiths, fears, and hopes, including a lack of a love story in their lives. They vow to keep in touch, pray for one another, and meet again at next years conference. What happens in between is an absolute smorgasbord of changed lives, challenged faiths, new dedications and directions, and romantic twists that turn next years conference reunion plans into reservations for eight.
This is the description that amazon gives the book. Here's a tad more indepth version.
These four women meet at a Restaurant Owner's conference, and Angel finds an appron with the words "Kiss the Cook" on it. And like in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, they dicide to share the appron, they pass it on when something happens to them. As it gets passed around, the Girls each sign their names, along with their Fiances/Husbands, that come along. But when it gets to Allison (her being the last one to have it) Her Fiance crosses out the word cook, and Writes 'Bride'. Its a great combination of stories, and authors.

A Friend of mine loaned it to me...Julianna, visit her Blog, Acceptable In Thy Sight

To Buy this Book, For only $6.97 CLICK HERE

I got this book, for a Christmas Present, a couple of years ago. And after I read it, I feel in Love with the Author, Series, and Characters!

Rekindled By Tamera Alexander
334 pages
# 1 in the Fountain Creek Chronicles

Back Cover:

At a Different Time, in a Different place, Under Different Circumstances... Could two people fall in love once AGAIN?

TEN YEARS AGO KATHRYN JENNINGS MADE A VOW. For better or worse. And that promise still holds true, even though her marriage has not turned out as she expected. When her husband fails to return home one stormy winter night, she struggles to keep their ranch, but her efforts are blocked at every turn. After a shocking glimpse inter her husband's past, Kathryn uncovers a hidden truth. What she wouldn't give to turn back time and be able to love her husband for the man that he was, not for the man she had always wanted him to be.

Larson Jennings has spent his entire life running from a broken past, unable to trust, reluctant to try again. One fateful night, his life takes an unexpected twist, and soon he is forced to make a choice. Whatever he chooses, his decision may cost him his life.

A PENNY FOR MY THOUGHTS:
This is one of my favorites in my Personal Library...I got it for Christmas, and its autographed, along w/the sequel...Revealed. It takes place in the 1870's, and Tamera does a great job writing in this era. Kathryn Loves her husband, but because of past events, he isn't trust worthy. So Kathryn is always having to explain herself to Larson, But when Larson goes missing, she finds out that their farm is going under, not to mention she finds out she's pregnant, all without Larson. But when they find a body with Larson's Jacket on him, She thinks her husband is dead.
One Day a man covered in Burns from a fire shows up in town, named Jacob. Jacob finds himself drawn to the pregnant widow...but could she ever love a man that looked like him? Would she ever see past his scares?
When Kathryn Finds herself falling for Jacob, she feels like she is betraying Larson...Will God help her over come this?? Or will she go through the rest of her life as a Single Mother?
Tamera Alexander did a wonderful job writing this story, it keeps your attention and those pages turning!

~Rae Byuel~