Building Hearts by Julie Arduini

 Building Hearts: A Clean and Wholesome Small-Town Romance with Christian Surrender Issues like Belonging/Acceptance, Grief, Secrets (Surrendering Hearts)

Building Hearts (Buy Now)

Julie Arduini

Kindle and paperback

274 pages 

September 19, 2025

Surrendered Scribe Media

 

Can one reality show rebuild a home and two hearts?

Evan Hart has always felt the odd one out in a family of thriving siblings. When his reality show pitch is greenlit and he's named co-producer, Evan sees a chance to finally belong within his family and the world watching them. Building with the Harts promises new beginnings and second chances until the network adds a wildcard: Shea Madden, a brooding co-producer with secrets of her own.

Shea Madden walked away from reality TV after a contestant's public humiliation led to tragedy, and she took the fall. The Renovation Channel offers her a shot at redemption with a show built on authenticity and hope. Working alongside insecure but earnest Evan Hart begins to heal old wounds until Shea's past resurfaces, threatening her future, the show's success, and the Hart family.

In this clean and wholesome small-town romance, Book 3 of 6 in the Surrendering Hearts series, featuring the Christian surrender issues of belonging, grief, and forgiveness, discover how faith, trust, and unexpected love can rise from the rubble.

Reviewer's comments:                          

Evan Hart pitched a new show for television, and like everyone’s dream, they accepted his idea and named him co-producer. It has all the drama, problems, and conflict that you’d expect of a how-to reality show like this: personality clashes. Big egos. Behind the camera conflict. And problems. At odds with his family, he’s finally given the chance at a new beginning. Shea Madden was picked by Entertainment Now to co-produce with Evan. Shea, too, earns a second chance to prove herself and her skills after a previous failed show. The story is about finding where you belong and forgiveness.

 Coming from a famous family of sextuplets, Evan has insecurities about being overshadowed by his famous family, and he feels he must prove himself. The story has delightful banter and a behind-the-scenes look at Building Hearts. And who doesn’t have the urge to peek behind the cameras on set to see what’s really going on behind the scenes? Now you have your chance to do just that. A thoroughly delightful book you’re sure to enjoy. 

Meet the Author:                                                      

Julie’s books are always winners. She is probably the most underrated author. Her storylines are well developed, and characters are enjoyable” —Amazon review, Anchored Hearts

Julie Arduini writes small-town romances with Christian surrender issues and chocolate mentions. She’s the author of the Surrendering Hearts series (Anchored hearts, Repairing Hearts) where the sic Hart multiples discover their identity and try to find a love like their parents shared. Arduini has another romance series, Surrendering Time (Entrusted, Entangled, and Engaged).

Her stand-alone romances include the Christian novella Match Made in Heaven and the inspirational novella, Restoring Christmas.

Arduini also wrote a series with her daughter for tween and teen girls, as well as women of all ages. Surrendering Stinkin’ Thinkin’ (You’re Beautiful, You’re Amazing, and You’re Brilliant). They feature a chapter from a mentor’s journey, and then a chapter from the younger female, both believing the same lie about themselves. “This belongs in every church, school, and library.” —Amazon review.

Vying for A Groom (Love, Most Ardently Book 2) by Sophie Leigh Fox

 

A lady’s companion and a Royal Navy captain are secretly involved…but not with each other.

Vying for a Groom  (Buy now) 

Sophie Leigh Fox

Kindle and paperback

Mellow & Mayhem Publishing

September 23, 2025

Alarmed after receiving news of her adoptive parents’ perilous missionary assignment to India, Cassandra Lawton leaves her position as a companion to seek solace with her only remaining family in Surrey. At Heighbury Manor, the dutiful Cassandra reconnects with her childhood friend, now a ruggedly handsome groom. Their difference in class forces them to conceal a budding romance. As she struggles to navigate these new feelings, Cassandra’s hopes are challenged when an unexpected rival appears.

After Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, Royal Navy Captain Sir Raleigh Burgess returns home ready to settle down and marry. But the woman to whom he was forced to become engaged after being caught in an intimate embrace refuses to announce their plans to wed formally. After receiving a stark warning that casts doubts on her character, Raleigh’s misgivings about his betrothed further complicate his future.

Meet Sophie:                              

Sophie Leigh Fox is a clean romance writer from the South. She is indie publishing under Mellow & Mayhem, named after her two beloved dogs. Mayhem crossed the rainbow bridge in 2023.

She is an active member of JASNA, Faith, Hope and Love Christian Writers, and Regency Fiction Writers.

She is a 2021 ACFW Genesis Semifinalist.

She lives in North Georgia with her husband and two dogs. When she’s not writing (or reading!), she’s out running trails or hiking with her fur kid family.

Unexpected: A Sweet Gilded Age Romance by Kimberly Keagan

 Unexpected: A Sweet Gilded Age Romance by Kimberly Keagan 

on sale for $ 0.99 for a limited time.

Zella Capp has built her life on independence and a carefully guarded secret. When she’s offered the chance to lead an ambitious new publication for Denwall Department Stores, Zella's thrust into the world of Philadelphia’s high society, where reputations can shatter with a mere whisper.

As she juggles chaotic production deadlines and dazzling social events, Zella finds herself drawn to Bert Walraven, an executive who prefers numbers to people.

In a world obsessed with appearances, can they risk everything for a love that’s real?

 

                                                                                                             

Meet Kimberly:

Kimberly Keagan discovered her love for romance novels at thirteen, often choosing a book over chores. She believes there's nothing like being transported to another time and place to find a happily ever after.

Kimberly is blessed to have her own handsome hero husband and two wonderful children. After earning a degree in accounting, she enjoyed a career in investor relations, writing financial reports and press releases—terrific jobs, though not very romantic.

Now, she's pursuing her dream of writing historical romance. Her short stories have been published in Spark Flash Fiction and Short Fiction Break. Kimberly's debut novel will release in 2025.

When not reading or writing, Kimberly enjoys baking, gardening, watching sports, and researching her family tree.

New Release: THE BOYFRIEND LIST by Nicole Lam

The Boyfriend List: A Closed Door, Friends to Lovers Romance (Love in L.A. Book 2)

The Boyfriend List by Nicole Lam (Buy Now)

Independently Published

295 pages

Paperback & Kindle

Kindle release: August 8, 2025

Clean & Wholesome Romance

Only 99 cents until release day!

The first rule of being a lawyer: always have a plan. So I’m applying the same principle to my love life.

Step one: List everything I want in a boyfriend.

Step two: Find a man who checks all my boxes.

Step three: Get married and live happily ever after.

My plan does NOT involve all my dates turning into disasters. Or my best friend, London, betting on my love life.

He bets there’s no way I’ll meet someone who satisfies all my requirements in two months. If he wins, I have to be his date to his sister’s wedding.

There’s no way I’ll lose. But as the two-month deadline approaches, I’m less worried that I won’t meet the perfect man… and more worried that London might be the perfect man for me.

Because I want marriage and children. Meanwhile, he has zero interest in relationships, starting a family, or any relationship that might end up like his parents’ toxic marriage.

So why is he checking off the boxes on my boyfriend list?

The Boyfriend List is a closed-door, friends to lovers, workplace romance that can be read as a standalone. Dive into this romcom filled with laugh out loud moments, witty banter, and plenty of heartwarming moments that will make you swoon and sigh!

 

 

My comments:

I love strong, spunky woman lawyer books, so I already have this one preordered. It promises a terrific romcom read you, too, won’t want to miss. Hurry and order! It’s ONLY 99 CENTS for Kindle but ONLY until release day, August 8, 2025.

About the Author:

Nicole Lam is a romance author who loves nothing more than, well, love. In her books, you’ll find emotional twists, heart-rending drama, and two broken people who find each other and choose happily ever after in spite of their problems. Her books feature heartwarming, relatable characters, swoony kisses, and no explicit scenes. When she’s not writing, you can find her staying in her house for three-quarters of the year to avoid the Canadian winter, curling up with a good book, or learning yet another language.

You can find her on Instagram @nicole_lam_author or on her website, www.nicolelamauthor.com

Review: Heart's Promise by Linda Hoover

 

Heart's Promise (Heart's Desire: Book Three): Gilded Age Romance

Heart's Promise (Buy now)

Linda Hoover

Linda Hoover Books

Kindle and paperback

382 pages

June 23, 2025

 

Welcome back to Jacob and Julia's Iowa farm.

In 1893, their son Justin is eleven, and daughter Annaliese is ten. When Jacob and Julia adopted Annaliese as an infant, they were told God had a special plan for her. As Annaliese grows up, she wonders if her purpose will be world-changing.

Julia's old friend, Edward Harrington, comes to visit from England, along with his wife and son, Robbie. Their time at the farm is the beginning of a like/hate relationship and later something more between Robbie and Annaliese. When the families traveled to San Francisco in 1900, a shocking revelation from Edward's wife could change everything, beginning with taking Annaliese to England.

If this is God's plan, Annaliese is disappointed. It's nothing like she imagined, and her heart's desire is to go to veterinary college. This could mean a very different future for her.

 

Reviewer’s comment:

Julie and Jacob Anderson adopt Annaliese and watch her grow into a level-headed young woman on their farm. She helps them with tending the animals and enjoying farm life in a small Iowa community. Later, family friends, Edward Harrington, his wife and son Robbie, come from England to visit the Anderson family. The Harringtons are polite but used to the cultured ways of high society. Julia’s family hailed from the Bostonian elite society, but Julia shed that class distinction for a simpler life with Jacob in Iowa. As Annaliese grew, she became a sympathizer of the Suffrage Movement, believing women were as capable and just as smart as the men. Annaliese soon learns in her relationship with Robbie that American culture and English refined culture were very different. And although she and Robbie were friends, their cultures drive a wedge between them when they try to converse and find themselves on opposite sides of the fence.

Annaliese's dream is to attend Veterinary College, but a trip to England gives her a taste of the refined life and family she’d never known before. While there, she gets to know Robbie better, and as their relationship grows into something more, they still have opposite views on issues, like a lady’s place in society. From different backgrounds, their courtship is stormy. As Annaliese’s progressive ideas hold firm, she returns to America. But will being a progressive woman win out over love and a straitlaced English gentleman? I’ll let the reader decide when they read this delightful, gilded age romance. The historical events lend a pleasant aspect to this well-written, adorable novel. Highly recommended.     

About the Author:

Linda lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. She earned a degree in psychology from Anderson University where she learned the voices in her head were actually characters from stories waiting to be told.

Linda has been writing since childhood, but her publishing career started with writing columns and a middle grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. A retired librarian, she now enjoys being a fulltime author in her home office.

You are invited to visit her website, Linda Hoover Books, to find out more about her and her books. You can stay in touch when you subscribe to her newsletter, and as a thank you, you’ll receive a novella.

https://www.lindahooverbooks.com

Love's True Measure by Lori DeJong

Love’s True Measure

(True Calling – Book 3)

Love's True Measure (Preorder or Buy)

Lori DeJong

Scrivenings Press LLC

June 10, 2025

Kindle & Paperback

376 pages

Shannon Trent has dedicated her life to ministering to teens, even as she hides secrets from her past that haunt her. Born into privilege but starved for unconditional love and acceptance, she’s built a simpler life away from the expectations of her influential family. Shannon is content on her own, believing that opening her heart would mean unearthing her deepest shame. But when her charming neighbor stirs feelings, she’s never allowed herself to entertain. His lack of faith provides the perfect excuse to keep her distance.

Hunter Kavanaugh has spent years chasing his dream of becoming the youngest partner at his prestigious Fort Worth law firm. But when his mother’s sudden death leaves him the sole guardian of his teenage sister, his carefully curated world crumbles. Struggling with grief, anger at God, and the demands of his career, Hunter is surprised when Shannon’s unwavering faith resonates with him—and her ability to connect with his sister draws him closer.

As Hunter and Shannon navigate their growing bond, unexpected challenges force them to confront their fears and priorities. Both must either choose to trust that God’s plan is far greater than their own—or risk losing the love of a lifetime.

About the Author

Lori DeJong (pronounced DeeYung) is a contemporary Christian romance author who enjoys penning stories full of grace and the redemptive power of God’s love that inspire others to hope regardless of circumstance, find joy in the moment, and grow in their faith.

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Lori arrived in Texas in 2005 and dug those roots right in. She currently resides in beautiful Georgetown, north of Austin, with her husband of thirty years. Other than their two fur-babies, their nest is empty, as their daughter graduated from college and settled in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, where she is thriving in her faith and career.

Lori loves to write about love and romance and all that fun stuff, with a firm foundation of faith. Clean but sassy, sparkly, and even goose-bumpy romance, with God in the middle and characters seeking and learning and changing, couldn’t be more heartwarming or spine-tingly.

Lori’s debut novel, "Love’s True Calling", Book One of her True Calling Series, was the 2020 winner of the Scrivenings Press Novel Starts Contest, the 2022 winner of the ACFW Genesis Award for Romance, was a double finalist in the 2024 Selah Awards, placed second in the 2024 FHL Reader's Choice Awards, and was the Scrivenings Press 2023 Contemporary Book of the Year. "Love’s True Home" was released in June 2024 and was a 2024 Selah finalist. "Love’s True Measure" released in June 2025. Her novella, "Jingle Bell Matchmakers" was released in October 2024 as part of "A Match Made at Christmas, a collection of Christmas romance novellas." 

Heart of Grace

 Hearts of the West Series #13

                                                                                                    Heart of Grace (Buy Now)                                                     

Linda Hoover

Linda Hoover Books 

April 8, 2025

Kindle and Paperback

313 pages

                  

St. Louis

1890
Lydia Bailey grew up with parents who provided housing for missionaries on leave. One summer a young boy named Adam Johnson and his parents stayed with them. Every bug and worm she showed him outside scared him to tears. Lydia had wondered what was wrong with him.

Years later, when Lydia’s father passed away and her mother fell ill for a year, it seemed God had abandoned them, so she signed up to get a teaching certificate to help cover household expenses. When she came home, her mother had cleaned the guest room. The boy who had come ten years ago needed a place to recover from malaria. Would Lydia have to put off getting her certificate to care for him?

Adam finds himself delivered to the home his parents had arranged for him to recover. To his horror, all he can see is the skinny girl with red braids who tormented him when the family stayed here years ago.

Will Lydia open her heart to God’s healing? Can Adam find it in his heart to forgive Lydia? Will both seek God’s plan for their lives?

Reviewer's Comment:

    Lydia Bailey’s dream is to become a teacher and to return to school in the fall, but she worries about her mother, who seems to tire easily these days. And at times, mom seems short of breath, but mom said it was nothing. After father’s death, her mother often opens their home to missionaries, revival ministers or tent meeting preachers, which wear mom out. Now, mom wants to help friends and missionaries, the Johnsons in Botswana, Africa, by letting their son, Adam Johnson, come to her home in the United States to recover from malaria.  

    But mom was also on a mission to find Lydia a husband. If not the pharmacist, then someone else.

    Adam remembers Lydia from childhood as a skinny annoying young girl and is dreading meeting her once again.

    Lydia, remembers Adam as a thin boy with dark hair and huge eyes in his small face. What could he possibly look like now?

    Mom assured Lydia that Adam didn’t require much attention. He only needed rest and relaxation. Lydia fears he might need too much help and would drain her mother of strength and Lydia of time, but Lydia has little to say about the situation already set in motion. And as long as it didn’t hinder Lydia of taking teacher’s classes in the fall or draining mom of strength, then Adam could come and stay as long as he wanted.

     Hearts of Grace by Linda Hoover is an adorable and well-written novel that will appeal to those from 18 to 80 years old. It will draw you into the lives of Lydia and Adam and their individual goals and how love and God can alter the best-laid plan. This story is about a warm, welcoming family that gives you a slice into the 1890’s life in St. Louis, Missouri, and brings you into their home. The story is sure to capture your interest on the first page and hold it until the last. A for sure, must read.

Linda's Bio:                                                                                

                                                                                       

Linda lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. She earned a degree in psychology from Anderson University where she learned the voices in her head were actually characters from stories waiting to be told.

Linda has been writing since childhood, but her publishing career started with writing columns and a middle grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. A retired librarian, she now enjoys being a fulltime author in her home office.

You are invited to visit her website, Linda Hoover Books, to find out more about her and her books. You can stay in touch when you subscribe to her newsletter, and as a thank you, you’ll receive a novella.

https://www.lindahooverbooks.com

This link will take you to all the places you can find Linda. http://linktree/lindahooverbooks