Legacy of Lies — written by Desert Breeze author Stephanie McGee — is a contemporary romance with inspirational and speculative elements.

Okay, I'll be candid because this is my blog and I don't know how else to be.  First, I believe I was reading the uncopy-edited version, but if I wasn't, you will find a few grammatical errors here. Second, Stephania is a young author and that shows in how she presents her story. Third, I disagreed with a creative choice that she made near the end of the novel that had my discernment antennae wiggling all over the place.

But let's get on to the good stuff:  A story of young love and a plot that engaged me in the search for truth.  In that sense, the story unfolded in fine fashion, keeping back some elements, weaving in others, revealing bits of history, while giving the hero and heroine activities together to draw them close.

While I didn't always agree with the choices the characters made (who does when someone is messing up his life?), I liked Sarah and Jim for not giving up and for pushing through the rough stuff of life. I liked the believability of two kids trying to make their way together the best way they knew how — when neither had had stellar parenting.

The number of povs in this novel added to the depth of the story and brought it together in the end.

And I always like books set in Montana with cowboys.  Sometimes that in itself is enough for a good read.

Promise Me This is the first book I've read by two-time Christy Award-winning author, Cathy Gohlke.  But from her research details to her easy-reading writing style, I can see why she's received the honors.

Promise Me This is historical fiction that spans from the voyage of the Titanic to the end of World War I.  Sweeping and involved, this story is filled with memorable characters — from the self-sacrificing Owen Allen to the self-centered Aunt Eleanor, each one drove the story to its hard-fought end.

Annie Allen, a girl of fourteen at the book's beginning, has the most spiritual growth while Michael Dunnagan, a scrawny, starving lad of fifteen when he stows away upon the Titanic, grows emotionally into a man worthy of Annie's love.

Delightful secondary characters include Aunt Maggie and Daniel McKenica in America and the Spragues in England, each one showing another facet of God's amazing love.

Long, with one hardship heaped upon the characters after another, the plot climaxes on the French battlefield with Annie and Michael separated once more.  But during that dark separation is when they find the deep truths of God.  Annie (nor any of us) can be salvation for another.  And for Michael, he grasped that the laying down of one's life for another goes even beyond dying that the friend might live. To sacrifice and count it only gain.

I doubt you will find reading this book much of a sacrifice, and I suspect you will gain much through experiencing the lives of these characters.

Thyme for Love is a romantic mystery that is strong on the romance.  The story opens with April Love meeting her ex-fiance after eight years.  She's applying for a job as a chef. Marc Thorne works at the non-profit company she's interviewing at.  He wouldn't be her boss — until the boss turns up dead the next morning.

Ramon Galvez's death is ruled a heart attack, and life goes on for those at the His Helping Hands Ministry.  Except a variety of characters make for good suspects when April begins to question the authority's ruling.  Ramon's ex-girlfriend is top of the list.  But Ramon's gold-digging sister isn't far behind.  Then there are the folks that work at the mission — the maintenance man, the disgruntled accountant, the director of the board, two office workers, and, of course, Marc and Bob Cousins, men who are now vying for Ramon's position.

The romance between April and Marc is stalled because Marc now has a secret he won't share about what happened in the last eight years to derail his oh-so-important agenda of grad school. But as work circumstances and dating opportuntiies keep them together, April begins to see that as a couple they had deeper issues when they were engaged than she'd realized.  Perhaps it was for the best that they had time to grow up separately.

Still, she feels they can't move forward until Marc can trust her with his secrets.  Good thing she has a murder to solve while she's waiting on him.

Clean, straight-forward writing.  Easy to enjoy characters.  Simple romance.  I rarely figure out the killer in mysteries, so that doesn't surprise me.  I'm not sure I followed all the motives, though.  Why don't you give it a read, and we can chat about why the characters did what they did?