Giveaway: When the Moon Looks Down

The Moon Looked Down is a book I reviewed last year.  I said:
I like romance novels. I like happy endings, easy plotlines, and good feelings. Sometimes I've wished there was a happy medium between bodice-busters with their bedhopping and multiple vivid sex scenes and Christian romance novels that can be just too sweet to be true. Dorothy Garlock delivered such a book with The Moon Looked Down. Set in the 1940's in a small Illinois town, it is the story of Cole, born and raised in the town, and Sophie, a recent immigrant from Germany. The story opens with the local thugs burning Sophie's family's barn, hoping to run the "Nazis" out of town (despite the fact that her family fled Germany because of the Nazis). Cole was just returning to town to teach high school math. He had been in Chicago for college and had worked there for years. He returns, hoping for, among other things, a reconciliation with his father, from whom he had been estranged since his mother's death. Cole has a deformed leg, which causes some people to pity him, and is keeping him out of the army. While most romance novels feature some sort of conflict between the hero and heroine that keeps them apart until the end, the conflict in this book is from the guys who burned the barn, and it ends up drawing Cole and Sophie together.

The book has one sex scene and it happens before marriage. It was reasonably descriptive but more tender than passionate.

The Moon Looked Down is being released in mass-market paperback next month and to celebrate, Anna at Hachette Books is allowing me to give away five copies.  Here is how to enter:
1.  Leave your name and email address in a comment--must do this.  For extra entries,....
2.  Start following me, or tell me that you do, and how
3.  Blog, tweet, facebook, whatever, about this giveaway and give me a link
4.  Find other Hachette books about which I've blogged, and send me an email at ruthjoec@gmail.com telling me which one you'd like to read.
5.  Give a link to another blogger giving away this book (must be one not left by someone who commented before you did)


US and Canada only, no PO boxes.  Contest lasts until March 1 (at which time, if you don't win), you can buy your own copy.

Giveaway: A Black Tie Affair

 Romance novels are perfect mind candy and short romances even more so.  They can be read in a few hours and they leave you smiling, not pondering.  My latest romance read was A Black Tie Affair (read my review)and the nice folks at Hatchette are letting me give away five copies.  Here are the rules:  For one entry, leave me your name and email addresss.  For a second, follow me, or leave a comment saying you do.  For a third entry, post a link to your latest romance read (either on a bookstore site, or a link to a blog review).  For a fourth, blog about this contest and leave me a link.  Contest ends February 8 and is open to US and Canada only, no P.O. boxes.  Good Luck!

My Review: It Happened One Night--With Giveaway

I've said before that it can be hard to find a "middle ground" romance novel. You can read the bodice-busters with their vivid sex scenes or you can read Christian romances where everything is squeaky clean, and probably preachy to boot; what about something in between--something about real people who make real mistakes and yet which doesn't find the need to describe every nuance of every sexual encounter. It Happened One Night is an enjoyable read that really did find that middle ground.

It is the story of Lana and Eli. They have been best friends forever. They had sex once years ago, but she got spooked--childhood issues--and made it clear that friendship was all she wanted from him. They've both dated lots of people through the years, but not seriously. Now he is tired of pretending that friendship is all he wants. One complication is that she is pregnant, but doesn't know how to contact the father. Another complication is that her sister, who means more to her than anyone, is suffering from infertility.

Lana's relationship with her sister Karin and her father Calvert is also explored in this book, making it more than a straight romance novel. Those relationships are a large part of the reason she acts as she does with Eli.

This is mass-market romance with premarital sex. There is one scene in which we get a pretty vivid picture of them undressing each other and laying on the bed, but then it fades to the pillowtalk, we don't get the blow-by-blow of who did what to whom.

Nothing is mentioned about Lana's faith, or lack thereof. Karin however, is a Catholic. The story mentions that she and her husband abstained from sex until two months before their wedding, and that the priest chuckled when she confessed. The story also notes that she used various methods of Natural Family Planning (though it isn't clear if they had used them instead of birth control, or only after they decided to try to conceive). Karin is shown praying in the church several times and takes her marriage vows seriously. She and her husband state that if God doesn't send them a baby naturally, then they aren't going to use artificial methods to conceive.

I liked this book and will look for more from the author, Lisa Dale.

Because I liked the book, I'm happy to be able to tell you that Anna at Hachette books is allowing me to give away five copies of it. Here is what you need to do to enter.

1. Leave a comment with your email address.

2. Find up to three other romance novels I've read. Comment on those posts, saying why you would or wouldn't like to read them. Come back here, leave one comment per book saying which book you commented on. Up to three entries available.

3. Blog about this giveaway, and leave a comment with a link

4. Find up to three other Hachette books I've promoted. Leave comments on those posts saying why you would or wouldn't like to read the book. Then leave one comment here, per book saying which book you commented on. Up to three entries available.

Good luck!

Note: This review is part of Book Review Wednesday