Tag: midwifery

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Storm Clouds Ahead for the Village Midwife: A gorgeous romance to escape with

ABOUT THE BOOK

As the sun crests the indigo Lake District hills and blossom froths in the trees, midwife Zoe Padbury reaches for her boyfriend’s hand. Her life, at this moment, feels perfect. She has no idea of the storm clouds that lie ahead…

The villagers of Thimblebury know that midwife Zoe Padbury loves babies and now that she’s settled at Hilltop Farm with her boyfriend Alex, they can’t resist wondering when she’s going to start a family of her own. Yet it doesn’t feel like quite the right time. Alex is so busy and Zoe has her hands full with all her new mums to look after. Still, she has hopes for the future…

But what she doesn’t expect is to walk into her cosy kitchen and find Alex’s glamorous ex-girlfriend sitting at the scrubbed pine kitchen table. Virginia claims to be helping Alex with work but as she looks Zoe up and down and offers her a perfectly manicured hand to shake, Zoe can’t ignore a shiver of foreboding. What will this mean for her and Alex?

Zoe tries to quash the pangs of jealousy that wash over her, but with Virginia around what feels like all hours of the day, she and Alex end up in a devastating argument. And when she receives some news that changes everything, she doesn’t know if she can share her troubles… Can they find their way back to each other? Or will these storm clouds break their bond forever?

MY THOUGHTS

This is book four in The Village Midwife series. I’m really hoping it’ll continue after this one.
Zoe Padbury is getting settled into Hilltop Farm with her boyfriend Alex. She’s around babies all of the time but the couple can’t help wondering how it’d be with their own little one when the time is right. That time never seems to come, she’s busy all the time midwifing and he’s starting up a new business plus his daughter lives with them as well. They have plenty of time though, right?
When some concerning health problems keep popping up for Zoe, she’s scared and though she’s in the medical field she doesn’t want to seek a diagnosis but finally does with crushing results.
Everything seems well until the stress of the diagnosis, busy life and let’s not forget Alex’s ex is back in town again and they seem to be getting on a little too well for Zoe’s comfort.
Will the storm clouds roll away and sunny skies appear again? Or are things just too much for this couple to handle? Enjoying the series a lot.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

About the author

Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop assistant, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing. She wrote a novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and hasn’t stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor.

Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. In 2016 she signed to the hugely successful Bookouture and is currently working on her thirtieth Tilly Tennant novel. Christmas bestseller A Very Vintage Christmas was recently made into a movie for Lifetime Channel and she has had many of her books translated for readers all over Europe.

Tilly also writes young adult fiction as Sharon Sant. Follow her on Instagram to keep up with the latest news, or find the link to join her mailing list in the back of all her books.

Smile and become someone’s sunshine.

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The Frozen River: Rural Maine Historical fiction, a midwife, the frozen Kennebec River and a murder trial

432 pages Doubleday publisher December 5,2023 publish date

ABOUT THE BOOK

Maine, 1789: When the Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine cause of death. As a midwife and healer, she is privy to much of what goes on behind closed doors in Hallowell. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, crime and debacle that unfolds in the close-knit community. Months earlier, Martha documented the details of an alleged rape committed by two of the town’s most respected gentlemen—one of whom has now been found dead in the ice. But when a local physician undermines her conclusion, declaring the death to be an accident, Martha is forced to investigate the shocking murder on her own.

Over the course of one winter, as the trial nears, and whispers and prejudices mount, Martha doggedly pursues the truth. Her diary soon lands at the center of the scandal, implicating those she loves, and compelling Martha to decide where her own loyalties lie.

Clever, layered, and subversive, Ariel Lawhon’s newest offering introduces an unsung heroine who refused to accept anything less than justice at a time when women were considered best seen and not heard. The Frozen River is a thrilling, tense, and tender story about a remarkable woman who left an unparalleled legacy yet remains nearly forgotten to this day.

MY THOUGHTS

It’s a beautiful thing, to go back in time with authors as they bring back to life important people from the past so we can hear their story.
Taking place in Maine in the late 1700’s when the Kennebec River is frozen.

Martha Ballard is a married, lifelong midwife. She has ushered in hundreds of lives, not many of the women in this rural area have access to a doctor. Many of the women fall pregnant before a marriage takes place. Martha is privy to this information, and quite a lot of other personal information like who the father is but she keeps this information to herself. Margaret keeps a daily diary with personal information about her clients.

The judicial system, if you could even call it that is so different than today. Quite a bit of the book involves a rape trial of a woman accusing the town’s judge and another man. Where is the justice? It reminds me of Reba’s song, The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia. There’s a similarity there. There is also a spectacular murder trial.


As the author says this work of fiction is what could have happened in Martha Ballard’s life and not a biography. The book is inspired by real events. I like realistic books, and this is written like a biography. If I can learn something from the historical fiction, I read I am all for it, may it be a person, place or event I am here for it. This book has inspired me to start reading biographies again in the new year.

I do need to add some non-fiction back into my reading selections and this would be a great way to start. The book is compelling, and it leaves me to wonder how many other fascinating people from the past I have yet to meet through books to hear their story.

Pub Date 05 Dec 2023
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ariel Lawhon is a critically acclaimed, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. She is the author of THE WIFE THE MAID AND THE MISTRESS, FLIGHT OF DREAMS, I WAS ANASTASIA and CODE NAME HELENE. Her books have been translated into numerous languages and have been Library Reads, Indie Next, One Book One County, Amazon Spotlight, Costco, and Book of the Month Club selections. She lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and four sons. She splits her time between the grocery store and the baseball field.

Have you read this book? Let me know your thoughts if you do. Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping in.

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Historical western romance, The Last Chance Cowboy (Colorado Cowboys #5) by Jody Hedlund

Series Colorado Cowboys 352 pages Bethany House publishers February 14, 2023 publish date

About The Book

With danger drawing ever closer, their only hope of saving their futures lies in each other.

As a midwife, Catherine Remington is successful in bringing new life into the world, but she’s failed one too many times in finding true love. When she’s accused of a murder she didn’t commit, she’s forced to flee to Colorado to honor a patient’s dying wish by delivering a newborn infant to his father.

The repentant prodigal Dylan McQuaid is finally back in Fairplay. As sheriff, he’s doing his best to prove to the town he’s a changed man and worthy of their trust. When a woman shows up with an infant son he didn’t know he had, Dylan is left with only complicated choices on what to do next.

Having grown attached to Dylan’s son, Catherine doesn’t want to part ways with the infant, but what she doesn’t bargain for is how easily she’ll fall for the charming sheriff, or how quickly the past will catch up with her and put their love and lives in danger.

Buy it here

My Thoughts

This is one author that I absolutely cannot pass up her books. She has such talent that she writes in several genres as well. Each equally good.
This is the last book in the Colorado Cowboys series, and I have loved each book in this series. Please, don’t ask me to pick a favorite in this series because I simply couldn’t do it. Each story is different than the others but yet has some of the same threads running through it.
In this one there is deception, death, running from the law, being framed, an unexpected baby, and the past not staying there, in the past.
I loved midwife, Catherine Remington’s character, she is an upstanding woman given some bad breaks and who goes through a mistaken identity.
I also enjoyed Dylan McQuaid’s character, despite him being the prodigal son he is now back in the family fold trying to make things right. He hopes to prove his new and trustworthy self by becoming the sheriff of Fairplay. Furthering the showing of how mature he’s become when he is presented with the proof of something in his past that has caught up with him, he admits to his past and willingly makes things right.
Though most of the story focused on Catherine and Dylan we also are treated to Dylans brothers, sister and nieces and nephews in the book. I love the characters in this big happy family, and you better believe they have each other’s backs, but they also expect each other to play fair as well and to do their part.
I can’t wait to read more by this author.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

What makes you want to read The Last Chance Cowboy?

Enjoy your day. Keep on smiling.