Book gives tips on how to help kids appreciate healthy food

With all the fast food, microwaveables and sugar-laden fare easily available in malls and grocery stores, kids these days might be missing out on both the nutrients and flavors that healthy food brings. Earlier generations benefited from home-cooked meals and the time devoted by homemakers to acquiring fresh ingredients but today’s busy lifestyle sees families turning more towards food that is more convenient than truly nutritious.

In Taste Buds: The Magic and Fun of Sensible Food, author Nicolette Francey Asselin shares food-based wisdom gathered from her childhood memories and her medical practice. This booklet is the fourth installment in a series of health books released by Getwell.org. Among her notable pieces of advice are:

Avoid using dessert as a reward. This implies that the meal already laid on the table is not the best.

Keep meals simple. Time- and effort-intensive dishes for weekday meals are neither practical nor sustainable given today’s busy lifestyle.

Involve the kids. Getting them to participate in meal preparation – such as chopping vegetables or fetching tools or ingredients – will help them develop an appreciation for the effort that goes into getting a good meal on the table.

Asselin also included a few simple recipes of healthy dishes that she grew up with such as roasted vegetables, ratatouille, a basic vinaigrette for salads and muesli, among others, as well as instructions on how to pickle or ferment foodstuffs at home.

This is a short book and I think she could have expounded more on some sections such as how to balance meat, poultry, seafood and produce in the weekly menu or how to enjoy healthy food outside the home through quick and easy meal preparation strategies.

That said, this book can provide an adequate impetus to start cooking and eating healthier.

Taste Buds: The Magic and Fun of Sensible Food, published by CorpWell Publishing, is available in Kindle format on Amazon.com.

Thanks to NetGalley and CorpWell Publishing for the copy of the ebook provided in exchange for an honest review.

This post contains affiliate links.

 

Want to start cooking fresh and healthy? There’s no need to leave home to shop for ingredients.  With Honestbee, just order your groceries online and you’ll get them delivered right at your doorstep at your preferred time. Use this referral link and get Php500 off for a minimum spend of Php2,500.  You can download the Honestbee app on iTunes or Google Play.

If you’re in the US and an Amazon Prime member, sign up for a free trial of Amazon Fresh to get your groceries delivered to you.

Love books and reading? Try Kindle Unlimited on Amazon and read from thousands of ebooks available in the Kindle Unlimited catalog. of Get your first month FREE.

No Kindle device? Download the Kindle App ebook reader for FREE to read your favorite books anytime and anywhere.

No time to read? Listen to your favorite books instead while you drive, run, shop, and more.  Try Audible for free for 30 days and get two free audiobooks.

Country songstress Martina McBride shares recipes close to her heart in upcoming cookbook, Martina’s Kitchen Mix

In her cookbook to be released this fall, Martina’s Kitchen Mix: My Recipe Playlist for Real Life, country superstar Martina McBride shares her passion other than singing: cooking meals for her family and friends to enjoy.

McBride’s recipes reveal her predilection for entertaining and family gatherings centered around good food and great stories.

Having grown up in a Kansas farm, McBride is no stranger to the kitchen; even at an early age, she began helping her mother in preparing meals with fresh-from-the-field ingredients. Over the years, her travels as a country music singer has exposed her to more gastronomic influences, particularly the use of organic foods and healthy diets, which she has applied to her home cooking.

I like the book’s mixture of recipes and family insider stories, particularly the tweaks that McBride does on the recipes which she labeled “Adlibs.” The book is by no means a strict stick-to-the-recipe cookbook – even the author improvises from time to time! It really does welcome the reader to McBride’s kitchen and some aspects of her life. Plus, the food styling on the gorgeous photos that accompany some of the recipes are really superb.

Some of the ingredients may be expensive or hard-to-find here in the Philippines, but home cooks can draw inspiration from the recipes for their own culinary masterpieces.

Martina’s Kitchen Mix: My Recipe Playlist for Real Life, published by Oxmoor House will be released on October 30, 2018. It is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Thanks to NetGalley and Oxmoor House for the advanced copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This post contains affiliate links.

Check our Martina McBride’s other cookbook:

Love books and reading? Try Kindle Unlimited on Amazon and read from thousands of ebooks available in the Kindle Unlimited catalog. of Get your first month FREE.

No Kindle device? Download the Kindle App ebook reader for FREE to read your favorite books anytime and anywhere.

No time to read? Listen to your favorite books instead while you drive, run, shop, and more.  Try Audible for free for 30 days and get two free audiobooks.

Poignant recollections of the Holocaust in My Real Name Is Hanna by Tara Lynn Masih

In 1941, a family of Jews live comfortably in northern Ukraine town of Kwasova, integrated with neighbors of other faiths. The eldest girl, Hanna Slivka, has just turned fourteen when the Germans invaded then Soviet-occupied Ukraine, determined to rid the shtetl of Jews. She, together with her family and other Jewish friends, were forced into hiding, first in the forests that surround their town, and second in underground caves believed to harbor evil spirits.

Inspired by real events that occured during the Holocaust, the story in My Real Name is Hanna is a retelling of Hanna’s childhood to her daughter. Being a recollection of memories of one of the most terrifying real-life events in history, it has a poignant tone that imbue the narrative with emotion and tension. The narrative is further interspersed with both Ukrainian and Jewish folklore – the making of Easter pysanky eggs, using wax to scry for one’s future husband, and the giving of birthday gifts to ward off evil for the year – making the story even more personal and grounded in that location and within their community.

In her debut novel, Tara Lynn Masih chronicles the intensifying hardships of Hanna’s family in particular and the Jews in general. It starts with restrictions on the food they can buy, the businesses they can engage in, until later, Jews are seized and made to travel north to the work camps. Some Jewish Romaninan prisoners, as revealed by the family’s informants, were made to cross a deep river and were either drowned or shot in the back when they made it to the banks, all while classical music is being played on the Gestapo’s gramophone.

Masih’s novel couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time: today, there are voices spewing words of hate about other groups of people, and the appeal to intellect and rationality has given way to emotional outbursts over real and imagined slights.  The author explains that given her young adult audience, she did leave out “some of the more nightmarish events.”  But what she did leave in are heart-wrenching enough.

Even more heart-wrenching are the actions of the people who helped Hanna’s family despite great personal danger: from the neighbor who gives them crosses to place on their door to hide their Jewishness during a raid, to the people who served as their contact to the outside world while they were in hiding.

As the novel ends, the family survived but to get their visas and be on their way to freedom in a new country, they needed to change their names.  This is why the retelling to her daughter begins and ends with her real name, and with it, the acceptance of what has happened before and since.

Masih’s story is brilliantly told with a relatable and sympathetic narrator.  The events described are grounded in history, and all the more horrifying because of it.

My Real Name is Hanna, published by Mandel Vilar Press, will be released on September 15, 2018. It is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mandel Vilar Press for the advanced read.

This post contains affiliate links.

Love books and reading? Try Kindle Unlimited on Amazon and read from thousands of books available in the Kindle Unlimited catalog. Get your first month FREE.

No Kindle device? Download the Kindle App for FREE to read your favorite books anytime and anywhere.

No time to read? Listen to your favorite books instead while you drive, run, shop, and more.  Try Audible for free for 30 days and get two free audiobooks.

Recipe: Thai Peanut Sauce

I admit: I did have my doubts about the Smoke & Fire Peanut Butter that Fix & Fogg sent me to try out. I was intrigued at the concept of a smokey and spicy peanut butter ever since I heard about it; I just didn’t know what to do with this variant.

Fix & Fogg is a maker of small batch peanut butter based in Wellington, New Zealand. Its peanut butter variants have just become available in the Philippines, stocked in retail outlets like All Day Supermarkets, Cartel Deli, Earth Origins Marketplace and Power Plant Market, as well as distributed online via websites such as Beauty MNL, Gerald.PH and the Green Grocer.

While I have recently grown to appreciate some spicy food, thanks in large part to my passion for Korean dishes, I usually shy away from these as my palate gravitates more towards sweet and/or salty food.

Fortunately, my daughter, #ExhibitA, was feeling adventurous and volunteered to cook dinner while incorporating this peanut butter into the recipe. So, last Friday night, after a long day at the office, I came home to a culinary masterpiece courtesy of my darling baby girl.

She basically pan-fried a half-kilo of porkchops seasoned with salt and pepper in olive oil. Then, she set about making a Thai peanut sauce based on a recipe from Epicurious, adjusted due to availability of ingredients and to taste.

Fix and Fogg

Ingredients:

Procedure:

  • With the motor running, drop the ginger and garlic clove into your blender. Blend until the ingredients are finely chopped.
  • Add the peanut butter, soy sauce, lemon juice, sugar and water, then blend until smooth. Add in more water by tablespoonfuls to thin the mixture.

This recipe yields 2 cups of the peanut sauce, equivalent to 8 servings, with approximately 47 calories per serving.

You can make this sauce ahead of time. Place in a container with a lid then chill. It will keep for 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

It went well with the pork chops, adding a citrusy zing and a spicy bite to the viand. The sauce may also be used as a salad dressing or as an accompaniment to lettuce wrapped minced chicken.

Want to try this recipe today? There’s no need to leave home to shop for ingredients.  With Honestbee, just order your groceries online and you’ll get them delivered right at your doorstep at your preferred time. Use this referral link and get Php500 off for a minimum spend of Php2,500.  You can download the Honestbee app on iTunes or Google Play.

If you’re in the US and an Amazon Prime member, sign up for a free trial of Amazon Fresh to get your groceries delivered to you.

Disclosure: Fix & Fogg provided product samples for me to review.  Reactions and opinions about the product are my own.

Recipe: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Breakfast Balls

It is a cliche already but breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It fires up your metabolism and gets you going for the rest of the day.

However, in the rush of morning chores and preparations to leave for work or school, family members seldom have the time to prepare and eat breakfast. Fortunately, I came across some recipes for Oatmeal Peanut Butter Breakfast Balls on Pinterest that seem easy to prepare in advance over the weekend and just take out and serve for a quick breakfast before leaving the house.

Another lucky break for me is getting a Super Crunchy Peanut Butter among the sampler jars that Fix & Fogg sent for me to try out.

Fix & Fogg is a maker of small batch peanut butter based in Wellington, New Zealand. Its peanut butter variants have just become available in the Philippines, stocked in retail outlets like All Day Supermarkets, Cartel Deli, Earth Origins Marketplace and Power Plant Market, as well as distributed online via websites such as Beauty MNL, Gerald.PH and the Green Grocer.

I tweaked the original recipe: substituting instant for rolled oats, replacing walnuts with some chopped cashew nuts that I bought from Antipolo, using semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the regular ones and taking out raisins (because I’m not too wild about them).

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup instant oats
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup Fix & Fogg Super Crunchy Peanut Butter
  • 1/2 cup chopped cashew nuts
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Procedure:

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop up the mixture to form domes. (I had to firmly pat down the mixture into the scoop to get some properly shaped domes. If the mixture is not tightly packed, it will easily crumble once you take it off the scoop.)
  3. Freeze for an hour or until the balls are firm.
  4. Store in airtight resealable bags inside the chiller.
  5. Take out the balls you plan to have for breakfast a few minutes before serving (like while you’re still making your coffee).

Recipe yields 22 breakfast balls. Each ball has approximately 87 calories.

My little boy tried one and he immediately wanted another!

Want to try this recipe today? There’s no need to leave home to shop for ingredients.  With Honestbee, just order your groceries online and you’ll get them delivered right at your doorstep at your preferred time. Use this referral link and get Php500 off for a minimum spend of Php2,500.  You can download the Honestbee app on iTunes or Google Play.

If you’re in the US and an Amazon Prime member, sign up for a free trial of Amazon Fresh to get your groceries delivered to you.

Disclosure: Fix & Fogg provided product samples for me to review.  Reactions and opinions about the product are my own.

Recipe: Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red velvet cakes are characterized by its bright red hue, due in part to the food coloring used and to the reaction of the vinegar and baking soda with the cocoa powder.

Red velvet cupcakes have grown popular over the years, particularly during Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

Here’s a variation on the recipe I found on Pinterest, adjusted due to availability of ingredients.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup buttlermilk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp white vinegar
  • Red food coloring
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/2 c all purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 c sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder

Procedure:

  • Pre-heat oven to 175-deg C and line muffin tins with paper cups.
  • In a large bowl, beat together oil, buttermilk, eggs, vinegar and vanilla extract. Add in a few drops of food coloring until you get a bright red color.
  • In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.
  • Add the dry to the wet ingredients 1/2 cup at a time, mixing between each addition to avoid any lumps in the batter.
  • Using a regular 12-cup muffin pan, fill each cup 2/3 of the way with batter and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack.

For the cream cheese frosting, double the recipe used in my Carrot Cupcakes post.

Recipe yields 24 cupcakes.

Now available: Goju Natural Fruit Infusion Drinks

Fruit infusion drinks are a growing trend, particularly among the health-conscious, and are often cited as a weight-loss or detox secret. Proponents of this trend report feeling healthier and more invigorated after including this type of beverage in their diet.

Infusing water with fruit also has the added benefit of adding flavor and zing to the otherwise plain ole’ H20 which is great for foodies like me who would gravitate more towards improvement in taste. Besides, any trend that will get one to drink more water should be good, hmmm?

Fruit-flavored or -infused water can be DIY-ed by immersing pieces of fruit into cold water for a period of time using specially designed water bottles and pitchers. However, some people do not have the time to scour the markets for fresh produce, obtain the necessary equipment and prepare their fruit infusion drinks.

Fortunately, Vida Nutriscience, the beauty, slimming and wellness company behind Snow Caps, My Slim, Crystal White and Snow Skin brands, is entering the ready-to-drink market with its new brand, Goju Natural Fruit Infusion.

Taking its name from the combination of “Go” and “Juice”, the new product line consists of five fruit juice concoctions packaged in brightly colored 330ml cans, each with its own unique taste, identity and health benefits.

  • Lemonade: A blend of natural lemons and packed with vitamin C, it helps in boosting energy, cleansing the kidneys and the urinary tract, losing weight and boosting the body’s defense system.
  • Mango and Orange: A blend of orange, mango, passion fruit, lemon and vitamin C, it helps in boosting immunity, improving digestion, losing weight and beautifying one’s skin.
  • Raspberry Lemonade.  A mixture of raspberry and lemonade, it helps in improving blood circulation, fighting inflammation, boosting energy and maintaining kidney health.
  • White Peach Passion Fruit. A concoction of natural white peach, passion fruit, pineapple, lemon and vitamin C, it helps in improving digestion, circulation and bone health and rehydrating one’s skin.
  • Orange. The old fashioned freshly squeezed orange juice now in a can, it helps in boosting the immune system and maintaining blood pressure levels.

I was given ten cans of Goju to sample so I shared the wealth and got my family and friends to try it out with various meals throughout the day.

I don’t like heavy breakfasts so I paired my Goju Mango Orange with some hopiang baboy for a light and energizing start to my workday.

A friend paired her Goju Lemonade with her packed veggie lunch, adding a burst of sweetness to her already healthy meal.  Meanwhile, while lunching out with officemates, I partnered our Goju Orange and Goju Raspberry Lemonade with our smoked pork ribs.

I treated myself to a snack of siopao asado while sipping on my Goju Orange.

Another friend brought home her Goju Lemonade and paired it with her homemade pizza dinner prepared by her kids.

My daughter, on the other hand, snacked on a GoJu Raspberry Lemonade to energize her while she’s doing her homework.

Our consensus on this new drink product as a whole are:

  • It gives a fresh (and currently relevant) twist on the traditional ready-to-drink beverage.
  • It has a fresh and natural flavor, similar to how a freshly made juice drink will taste.
  • It can be paired with various kinds of food, at different times of the day, making it a highly flexible and adaptable beverage.
  • It has a cool aesthetic as well, very Instagrammable and fun to look at.

To maximize your enjoyment of your own Goju Natural Fruit Infusion, remember the following:

  • Shake the can well before opening.
  • Keep it refrigerated as it is best served when chilled.
  • Avoid exposing the can to high temperature.
  • The drink contains natural ingredients so some sediments may appear.

Goju Natural Fruit Infusion is available at Landmark and Anson’s in Metro Manila and at CSI Supermarket in North Luzon.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Vida Nutriscience who also provided product samples for me to review.  Product details are provided by the company as well.

This post contains affiliate links.

A silent Biblical character was given voice in Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent

The story of Jacob’s daughter Dinah is problematic for many Bible readers. The chapter in the book of Genesis in which she appeared is often referred to as the “rape of Dinah.”  After her abduction by the prince of Shechem and her subsequent marriage to him, her brothers Levi and Simeon carried out the murder of her husband and all the menfolk in the land, citing the dishonor done to their family.  After this narrative, Dinah was never heard of again.

Similar to most female characters in the Bible, Dinah is silent.  Other then the notation of her birth in an earlier chapter, what is written about her spans the thirty-one short verses in Genesis 34, none of which are direct quotations from her.

In The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, however, Dinah’s role, and those of the other women in the narrative, are greatly expanded.  Jacob’s wives, Leah and Rachel, evolved from sisters competing for the love of one man: they became leaders of the women in their tribe, guardians of women’s secret and sacred traditions.  Their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, transformed from slave girls and concubines, to sisters and co-mothers of the Jacob’s wives.  Dinah, as the only girl among a brood of boys, became the cherished daughter of four mothers, the vessel of their hopes and dreams.

Much of the secret lives of these women took place in the red tent: it was the place where, under ancient law, women go into seclusion during menstruation or after childbirth.  It was here where their bonds are formed and strengthened, where they were bolstered by the encouragement and support of the other women in the tribe.

Dinah’s idyllic relationship with her family came to an end when she entered into her ill-fated marriage with Shalem, resulting into his murder at the hands of her brothers.

Cursing her father and brothers, she fled together with Shalem’s mother to Egypt where her mother-in-law raised her son among her family of scribes.

In the years that followed, Dinah built a life for herself: she became known for her skills in midwifery, she developed a close friendship with a fellow midwife, Meryt and was welcomed into her family, and she found new love in Benia, a woodworker in the Valley of Kings.

She would then encounter her long-lost brother, Joseph, who has risen high to become the Grand Vizier of Egypt, and who proposed to bring her back to her father’s camp to see him before he dies.

In this retelling of the Biblical tale, Diamant sheds light on the secret lives of women in ancient times. Their stories and traditions are passed down from mother to daughter, sister to sisters. Their bodies are celebrated and consecrated to their goddesses. Their roles within the tribes are shown as vital: they are caretakers, nurturers and healers, not just of their own children but of the whole community.

Diamant also calls attention to the weakness of men: how Jacob’s negligence of his sons resulted in the murder of Shalem and Joseph’s slavery in Egypt; how the malice of Simeon and Levi tore their family apart; and how Shalem’s love for Dinah made him agree to her brothers’ demands which resulted to the destruction of his people.

The novel is also one of hope: in the Bible, Dinah disappears from the narrative after the prince’s murder while in The Red Tent, she was able to forge her own path away from the protection of her family.

It also paints Egyptians, particularly the common people, in a new light, very far from depictions of oppressive slave-drivers towards Hebrews. Here, they are regular folks – midwives, scribes, carpenters and bakers – who are all simply living their lives.

The Red Tent is an important work, not just as a retelling of a Biblical tale, but as a depiction of the secret lives of women in ancient times. While Dinah, Leah, Rachel and their ilk were given minor roles in the Holy Book, in this novel, their lives and their stories are front and center.

I highly recommend this book to fans of Biblical fiction.

Click here to buy this book on Amazon.com.

In 2014, The Red Tent was adapted into a two-part miniseries starring Rebecca Ferguson (“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, ” “The White Queen“) as Dinah, Minnie Driver (“Sleepers,” “Grosse Pointe Blank“) as Leah, Morena Baccarin (“Deadpool,” “Gotham“) as Rachel and Iain Glenn (“Game of Thrones“) as Jacob. Click here to watch the The Red Tent on Amazon Prime.  Watch it for free when you sign up for your 30-day trial.

Love books and reading? Try Kindle Unlimited on Amazon. Get your first month FREE.

No Kindle device? Download the Kindle App for FREE to read your favorite books anytime and anywhere.

No time to read? Listen to your favorite books instead while you drive, run, shop, and more.  Try Audible for free for 30 days and get two free audiobooks.

Baguio Trip Basics: How to do what you want to do in the City of Pines

Much has been said and written about what to do during a sojourn to Baguio City. From the places to visit, food to eat and stuff to buy, it really is a challenge to be able to tick off all the stuff in your Baguio itinerary. So for this post, I’ll focus on the how, the strategies you can use to make the most out of your trip.

During the fam’s recent trip to the City of Pines, we discovered that, as with most things, especially travelling, planning is key:

Know your priorities. For example, prior to setting out for this trip, we determined that the highlight for this trip is a visit to the BenCab Museum. With this as a priority, we were able to carve out most of our second day for this activity: from eating breakfast at the Cafe Sabel within the museum’s grounds, exploring the museum’s galleries, even getting notebooks that feature BenCab’s artworks from the souvenir shop.

Stay in the center of the action. It’s a good thing that the place where my family stayed during our vacay – Summerlin Appartelle, available on AirBnB – is conveniently located along Gibraltar Road: a stone’s throw away from The Good Shepherd Convent (where we shopped for pasalubongs for the folks back home including that famous Ube Jam!), and a short drive away from the Mansion House (where bought raisin breads that rival those from Baguio Country Club) and from Korean Palace (where we planned on pigging out on samgyeopsal and other Korean food favorites). Happily, the appartelle is also just on the adjacent street to where Amare La Cucina is located; this is where we met some of our relatives to catch up over some Baguio’s famously yummy brick oven pizzas. Also, with the traffic congestion and lack of parking spaces in the city, you might want to consider leaving the car where you’re staying and just taking a cab to where you want to go; fortunately, ride-hailing apps like Micab and Grab are already operational in Baguio.

(Not yet on AirBNB? Sign up using my link to get Php1,600 in travel credit.)

Leave some room for the Baguio must-dos. Things like shopping for walis tambo and eating strawberry taho at the Camp 7’s Pasalubong Center along Kennon Road as we were leaving Baguio rounded up the family’s Baguio experience.

Do you have tried-and-tested travel tips? Do share them in the comments!

Got the wanderlust? Check out these books on Amazon.com!

Love books and reading? Try Kindle Unlimited on Amazon. Get your first month FREE.

No Kindle device? Download the Kindle App for FREE to read your favorite books anytime and anywhere.

No time to read? Listen to your favorite books instead while you drive, run, shop, and more.  Try Audible for free for 30 days and get two free audiobooks.

Age of Faith Series by Tamara Leigh presents inspirational romances set in the Middle Ages

The Medieval period (which lasted from the fifth to fifteenth century), also known as the Middle Ages, were also often referred to the Age of Faith.  It was at this time that most of Europe took on a deeply religious aspect, particularly in Christianity.

This is also the setting of Tamara Leigh’s Age of Faith series.  A prime example of the historical inspirational romance genre, the series covers the struggles of siblings belonging to a noble Christian family to find and keep love amidst the upheavals of twelfth century England.

Inspirational romances (or inspies) deal with the growth of the featured characters, their relationships and their spiritual development.  While physical attraction, romantic tension and emotional connection between the hero and heroine are delved into, explicit scenes and language have no place in such stories.

I found the first five books to be compelling reads, with engaging characters and plots.  The leads have a good amount of chemistry, while side characters add variety to the narrative and are sometimes spun off into leads in their own stories in the series.

Book 1: The Unveiling

In the first book of series, Baron Garr Wulfrith takes on a new squire for training, not knowing that the squire is actually Lady Annyn Bretanne in disguise, set on avenging her brother’s death which she blames on the baron.

Book 2: The Yielding

Wulfrith’s younger sister Beatrix fell into a life-altering accident while aiding her sister Gaenor in evading marriage to their family’s enemy.  The same accident also resulted in the death of one of their pursuers, whose brother, Michael D’Arci, is bent on revenge against Beatrix.

The Kindle version of this book is currently FREE on Amazon.com so click on the title or the image above and download today!

Book 3: The Redeeming

Gaenor fled her bethrothed Christian Lavonne, a man she has never met, in fear of potential abuse and recriminations due to her family’s long enmity with the Lavonnes and her recent sin. Christian, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to tend to his lands and people, and end the destruction brought about by his family’s feud with the Wulfriths.

Book 4: The Kindling

The secret illegitimate daughter of the Wulfriths’ longtime enemy, Helene Tippet finds herself put to the task of healing Sir Abel Wulfrith.

Book 5: The Longing

For eleven years, Everard Wulfrith carried the torch for his lost love Judith and blamed her sister-in-law Susannah de Balliol for their separation. Then Susannah reappears in his life along with her nephew who could also be his son.

The next three books, which I have not yet read, expand the scope of the series beyond the original family.  They follow the Wulfriths’ friends and allies and their own search for love.

Book 6: The Vexing

Lady Beata Fauvel is much sought-after among noblemen, being a wealthy heiress. When Sir Durand Marshal is ordered to guard her and ensure she does not wed without their sovereign’s approval, he finds himself drawn to the woman known as the Vestal Widow.

Book 7: The Awakening

Baron Lothaire Soames believes wealthy Lady Laura Middleton betrayed him years ago but he now pursues her as he is need of funds.  He finds himself falling for her again, wondering if he can forgive the one he can’t forget.

Book 8: The Raveling

Sir Elias de Morville sets out to rescue an abducted boy who could be his long lost son, aided by a mysterious woman known only as Honour.

For more details or to buy any of these books on Amazon.com, simply click on the titles.

Check out my other blog posts on my favorite books:

Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash