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This very pleasant romantic novel by Mary H Collins makes for a very comfortable and pleasant reading. The story revolves around Erika Thomson, recently divorced and living her life alone for the first time, taking the reader on her journey that centres on her love for Kevin, a relationship that gets off to a bad start when her younger sister unfortunately gets him first. Broken hearted, she starts over again and finds comfort in getting closer to her daughter and becoming friends with her ex-husband and his new wife while they face huge problems after a serious accident.

All the ups and downs of her life are described here as Erika boldly struggles on, always making sacrifices for others but never for herself. It reminded me of an old novel “The Thorn Birds”, with its inherent drama though maybe not quite as dramatic and certainly lacking the romantic geographical setting. Overall, I highly recommend this book if you like romance novels. My only criticism would be that the characters in the book were not developed enough for my tastes. They were always too busy doing things in the book but I never felt that I understood what made them do these things or why they did them. For example, I never felt satisfied with why Kevin, the love of Erika’s life, ended up with her younger sister at the beginning of the story. But perhaps this was a deliberate ploy to get the story moving along and that is not a negative attribute but in this case did make for a good reading experience overall.

Reviewed by Roger Gerald Scott, Award Winning Published Author and Debra L Hartmann, Published Author, Professional Editor and daily Blogger

Link to Mary H Collins website, stop by and check out all of the other books she has published as well!  http://www.maryhcollins.weebly.com

This review is also being published on http://rogerrgeraldscott.blogspot.no/

Drop a line to mrsdlhartmann@gmail.com to get your book on the review list and be sure to ask about the Author Interviews on my Radio Talk Show with NO Radio…you have to read an Author Interview on my blog to understand!

Debra: Hi, KC so glad you could join me today!

kc sprayberry picKC: I’m glad to be here, I know you have been really busy since I follow your blog and you are posting daily.  How do you find time to write too?

Debra: <laughs> This is fun stuff for me, I have to find time to read as it is an enjoyable and relaxing past time and writing a review afterwards just doesn’t take that long in the big picture. It will take longer to do our interview today than it did to write the last review and get it posted!  Thanks though, I know as an Author and mother to a teenager yourself, you are very busy too so I appreciate you taking some time for this.  Let’s get started then, shall we?

KC: Ok, but I’m a little nervous, so take it easy on me!  <laughs>

Debra: Oh, relax, this will be fun, just us girls chatting!  So, when you first started writing, how did you write (typewriter, iPad, laptop, pen, pencil)?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW ON THE DEDICATED PAGE – EXCLUSIVELY ON DLHBOOKREVIEWS!

HIke up Devils mountain - new coverThis 26 page novella written for the middle grade reader was so adorable and I am thrilled Penny asked me to review it.  Andy, Jason and Danny are such believable kids, reminding me of my own son at that age and the trouble he would get into.  A lovely switch from the normal reads for me, I have to recommend this for your middle grader or even if you just want to slip into an easy read and a fantastical adventure peaking in on the boys as they adventure their way to the top of Devil’s Mountain.  The author used her wonderfully descriptive writing style to easily draw pictures in my imagination and I followed along as an excited observer!

As you read you can feel each of the characters’ regret for disobeying his mother and their fear at each close call as the elements intervene in a mysterious and exciting way to keep them from making it to their destination.  Along the way the boys learn to help each other and start to turn their rivalry into friendship. Lesson filled with a great surprise ending this read is very age appropriate for kids age 10-14.

Reviewed by Debra L Hartmann, Published Author, Blogger and Professional Editor www.dlhbookreviews.wordpress.com