Sorry to be out of the blogosphere for so long. With the end of school year activities and a Florida vacation coming on the heels of the last day of school, blogging dropped to a low priority (as did reading.) Since reading fiction is mental therapy for me, I loaded a bag with several novels to take to the beach. Over the next few days I’ll share the different stories I read while my feet soaked in white sands and soft surf of South Walton Beach, so that if you have a trip in your future (even if its just in your armchair) you can enjoy the ride with a good book. A writing friend of mine (she’s also a college professor and an editor) wrote a historical romance novel for Steeple Hill (the Christian imprint offered by Harlequin.) Louise M. Gouge has several books to her credit, but this is the first I’ve read with Steeple Hill. She takes a very interesting time period (early east Florida colonial settlements) throws in a huge conflict (Revolutionary War events) and mixes it all with a dash of British versus American sympathies. Just to keep things interesting the two main characters also come from different classes in social hierarchy (he’s a British landowner, she’s a shop keeper’s daughter.) Without spoiling the plot, I’ll just say there’s a rocky road for these two heroes. I love the way Louise gives the character, Rachel, huge opportunities to show her mettle: from intervening in a fight over a stolen chicken, to rescuing people from fires, to intercepting spies, to steering a ship. All in a day’s work for those colonist women. It’s well-written book and a great journey through a segment of history I’d never really considered –outside of a trip to St. Augustine several years ago. You can find this and many other great Steeple Hill novels in Target, Wal-Mart and even your local grocery store! Or, to speed up the process you can order online.