Ruth Axtell Morren's Blog

This May '12 release from River North (Moody Publishers) sounds like my kind of read: educated women ahead of their time.


Remarkable Talent Threatens To Cloud A Life
The prophet Nehemiah's cousin can speak several languages, keep complex accounts, write on tablets of clay, and solve mysteries. Her accomplishments catapult her into the center of the Persian court—working long hours, rubbing elbows with royalty, and becoming the queen’s favorite scribe.
Not bad for a woman living in a man’s world: so why does Sarah feel like a failure?
A devastating past has left Sarah with two conclusions: that God does not love her, and that her achievements are the measure of her worth—a measure she can never quite live up to.
Darius Pasargadae is accustomed to having his way. A wealthy and admired aristocrat, the last thing he expects is a wife who scorns him.
Can two such different people help one another overcome the idols that bind them?

My first single title in a couple of years will soon be out. Moody Publisher's new River North fiction imprint will release Her Good Name in August.      When an immigrant's daughter lands a job in the town's best neighborhood, she hopes to attract the most eligiblebachelor...only to find that catching his eye is a far cry from capturing hisheart.      Espy Estrada has a lot to learn about love.  In the 1890's thriving coastal town of Holliston, Maine, the leading lumber baron's son, Warren Brentwood, III, returns from his years away at college and traveling to take up his position as heir apparent to his father's business empire.      Esperanza Estrada, daughter of a Portuguese immigrant fisherman and a local woman, lives on the wrong side of town, surrounded by a brood of brothers and sisters and a careworn mother. She is unable to pretend she is anything but "one of those Estradas." When she overhears of a position to clean house at a local high school teacher's home on Elm Street, she jumps at the opportunity—to be able to run into Warren Brentwood now and again, but also to imbibe of the culture and intellectual atmosphere of the Stocktons.     When rumors about Espy and her respected employer begin to circulate, the entire church congregation and then the community pronounce judgment on her behavior.  Warren believes the lie and his loss of faith in her causes Espy to give up without a fight. She leaves her family and hometown for the nearest city with little money and no acquaintances and is forced to spend the night on the street.  A man who heads a mission for the homeless finds Espy and offers her shelter. Espy finds the true love of God while working at the mission. Will she be able to forgive the townspeople and return home?

Come read about the history of Valentine's Day in the regency period.
http://christianregency.com/blog/

  I've just discovered a great blog for lovers of regencies, particularly those with an inspirational bent. Right now there's a vote on for favorite books. Just take a look at all the beautiful covers and vote on your favorite! http://www.christianregency.com/

Trust cats to find the perfecting hiding spots. Here's Crayton, whom we adopted from the local shelter 3 years ago. He's a cream-point mix with beautiful powder blue eyes.
Funny, I haven't had a cat in any of my stories lately. Must make a note to include one...
Here's wishing all our Love Inspired readers a blessed and joyous Christmas season, and a good things in the new year!
Ruth
Ruth Axtell MorrenHometown Cinderella, Love Inspired Historical, February 2012

A Lasting Impression, another strong romance by Tamera Alexander, takes the reader from her Western settings to the war-torn state of Tennessee a year after the Civil War.
Plenty of conflict abounds in this absorbing novel, from the young lawyer who has lost everything from fighting on the wrong side to the young heroine who dreams of painting masterpieces, but who must hide her sordid past of painting forgeries once she begins a new life.
Claire Laurent, the heroine is saved from penury and worse when she gets the job of personal assistant to the wealthy owner of Belmont, where she seems to be given a new chance at life.
Sutton Munroe, the hero, fighting to regain his family's lands and his father's good name, cannot begin rebuilding his life as long as he carries around the guilt of having prevented his father from signing the Oath of Allegiance (to the Union). He is haunted by the knowledge that he caused his father's death and sentence of treason.
As the two hide their growing attraction, Claire knows time is against her. The past finally catches up with her and it is only by coming to the knowledge that God is on her side and cares for her that she is able to own up to it and face the consequences. The spiritual thread is deftly woven into the love story.
I would have enjoyed seeing Claire come clean sooner and read about the developing relationship between Sutton and Claire once he knew the truth than have a relationship built on her hiding so much of her past from him. That said, Alexander writes a powerful story about a young woman whose self-esteem has been badly destroyed by her father and who gradually comes to the knowledge of the Savior's love for her and that her talent is God-given.

Highlights from "A Kiss Is Not Just a Kiss" Workshop at ACFW (St. Louis) by Ruth Axtell Morren and Julie Lessman WITH a BOOK GIVEAWAY!!

I have a feeling Melanie Dickerson will become a new favorite author of mine. I loved this story; it had a wonderful fairytale quality to it, while at the same time sounding up-to-date enough for the contemporary reader. While technically a Young Adult book, it's the kind of romance that will appeal to any age. Dickerson has a heroine who appeals to the reader because she is a mixture of quiet/shy yet feisty. It's that underlying feistiness that catches the prince's eye. It's a medieval tale loosely based on Sleeping Beauty, and has an authentic feel to it. I especially enjoyed the hero and heroine's spiritual journey as each one is forced to grow in their faith. Wonderful ending. Some great *sigh* moments. Can't wait to read the next fairytale! And hope there are many more to come.

Shadowed in Silk will keep you up long past your bedtime—each time you want to put it down, you tell yourself, just one more page, just one more page…

Lindsay has written of two characters, Major Geoff Richards and Abby Fraser, who grab you from the beginning and don't let go until the last page. They are in an impossible situation which only gets more difficult, but the reader roots for them from the moment they meet on board a ship bound for India, he to take up his old post after surviving the horrors of World War I and she to return to her childhood home.

You'll fall in love with Geoff—the strong, silent hero with a tragic past, who proves to be a wonderful surrogate father to Abby's young son, and a quiet protector to Abby when she is faced by more danger than she knows.

And you'll feel for Abby, trying to do what's right when her life seems to have ended before it has a chance to begin and coming finally to that place of acknowledging that she can't do it on her own.

There's a wonderful set of secondary characters, especially those Indian Christians who endure the loss of everything for their newfound faith.

The Indian backdrop with its sights, smells and sounds and the increasing turmoil under the British raj only add to the allure of this story. For those who love The Far Pavilions and The Jewel in the Crown, with the addition of a strong Christian theme and a wonderful romance, this book is for you!

Wonderful story set on the mid-coast of America right before the War of 1812. Eakes knows her historical period as well as sailing. You can just imagine yourself in that time period, feel the spray on your cheeks as you skim the waves on a fishing sailboat.
You also get a good view of what led up to the war from the American side. I'm so used to studying it from the British and French perspectives.
But most of all, you get to read about a wonderfully charming British hero and his growing fascination with a tart, no-nonsense midwife, who, nevertheless, is enough of a free spirit that he finds himself falling in love before he knows it.
But it's a hopeless love as they see it, since he is not from her world, and she can never fit in his. Throw in a mystery plot, which the two join forces to solve, and you have the ingredients of a great suspenseful romance.