About the Book
Book: Aiming for Love
Author: Mary Connealy
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release Date: October 2, 2019
Josephine Nordegren is one of three sisters who grew up
nearly wild in southwestern Colorado. She has the archery skills of Robin Hood and the curiosity of the Little Mermaid, fascinated by but locked away from the forbidden outside world–a world she’s been raised to believe killed her parents. When David Warden, a rancher, brings in a herd much too close to the girls’ secret home, her older sister is especially frightened, but Jo is too interested to stay away.
David’s parents follow soon on his heels, escaping bandits at their ranch. But his father is wounded and needs shelter. Josephine and her sisters have the only cabin on the mountain. Do they risk stepping into the world to help those in need? Or do they remain separated but safe in the peaks of Hope Mountain?
Click here to get your copy!
My Review
Do you like reading about a society existing outside the known world? Well, Connealy has given the reader such a place with vibrant characters living tucked away from civilization and the advances made in the recent years. I was so excited to meet three sisters secluded in the mountains of Colorado in 1873. I question if I could have survived in the rugged terrain with only the knowledge taught by my grandmother and grandfather.
As exciting as that might sound to live away from the problems of society such as disease, finances, war, and expectations of others, community brings love, hope, help, and meaning to life. I learned a few lessons from reading this novel. One has to do with what I teach my children and grandchildren about God. I need to be diligent that my words speak the truth. Also, I want to appreciate my family members to the degree that I want them to thrive in their surroundings and callings.
Connealy gives me much to think about as she carries her characters through the collision of two worlds. I look forward to other installments of the Brides of Hope Mountain.
About the Author
Mary Connealy writes “romantic comedies with cowboys” 
and is celebrated for her fun, zany, action-packed style. She has more than half a million books in print. She is the author of the popular series Wild at Heart, Kincaid Brides, Trouble in Texas, Lassoed in Texas, Sophie’s Daughters, and many other books. Mary lives on a ranch in eastern Nebraska with her very own romantic cowboy hero. Learn more at www.maryconnealy.com.
More from Mary
What would it do to someone to run wild from nearly their earliest memory?
What if three young girls had the basic skills to survive a rugged life but no adults to guide them?
Would they grow up to be a completely odd and untamed version of themselves, or the truest, in some ways most honest version?
I wanted to explore that idea: wild children, tough young women, afraid of the invading world, but lonely, too. So I created the plot for my Brides of Hope Mountain series by mixing the three little girls who’d grown up wild on the top of a mountain with some fairy tale ideas.
Book one, Aiming for Love, is Josephine Nordegren’s story. I had this vision of Ariel the mermaid seeing a man for the first time when strangers invade the high valley she lives in with only her two sisters. Curiosity is her besetting sin, or so she’s always been told. She has wilderness skills, mainly in the form of owning a bow and arrow and understanding wild animals, but for the first time, she is drawn to a man.
Jo needs to be tamed, or Dave, the man she can’t stop watching from in the woods, needs to learn the ways of the wild, because they’re out of place in each other’s worlds.
Blog Stops
Hallie Reads, October 31
Connect in Fiction, October 31
Christian Bookshelf Reviews, October 31
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess , November 1
To Everything There Is A Season, November 1
Daysong Reflections, November 1
Splashes of Joy, November 1
Moments, November 2
Simple Harvest Reads, November 2
Batya’s Bits, November 2
She Lives To Read, November 2
EmpowerMoms, November 3
Seasons of Opportunities, November 3
Remembrancy, November 3
Blessed & Bookish, November 4
For the Love of Literature, November 4
Through the Fire Blogs, November 4
Tell Tale Book Reviews, November 4
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, November 5
Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, November 5
Locks, Hooks and Books, November 5
Pause for Tales , November 5
Texas Book-aholic, November 6
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 6
janicesbookreviews, November 6
A Reader’s Brain, November 7
Inklings and notions , November 7
Leona J. Atkinson, November 7
Lukewarm Tea, November 7
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Mary is giving away a grand prize package of a $20 Amazon gift card, a copy of Aiming for Love, and a copy of Fairy Tales from Around the World!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/ed95/aiming-for-love-celebration-tour-giveaway
I look forward to your comments here.
tale of art and secrets long buried in England.
bestselling debut The Butterfly and the Violin, and an author of Bible studies, including the Verse Mapping series. She’s a Women’s Ministry Leader at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY, and a passionate storyteller who travels to speak at events across the country, encouraging women to experience a deeper life in the Word through verse mapping. Her work has been named to Publishers Weekly Religion & Spirituality TOP 10, Library Journal Reviews’ Best Books, RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards, and received 2015 & 2017 INSPY Award nominations. Kristy holds a degree in Art History/Research Writing, and has 15 years of experience in education and leadership development for a Fortune-100 Corporation, working with such companies as the Disney Institute, IBM/Kenexa, and Gallup. She lives in Indiana with her husband and three sons, and can probably be bribed with a coconut mocha latte and a good read.
Have you ever tried to juggle? I tried to juggle three balls at once when I was a child, but I believe I quickly gave up the trick finding something else to master. Now, as an adult, I feel I juggle all the time. How I wish it were only three harmless balls. If a ball happens to fly out of my control, it bounces away causing no harm or significance. Well, who knows what will happen if one of my juggling pieces falls. Sometimes it crashes and leaves many pieces to put back together.
We have many areas of life that we all have to juggle. They fit into our schedules and we do the best we can allotting time, money, and energy to each one. Some area I give attention to are family, job, meals, meetings, projects, and church. But lately, the juggling act has become a challenge when certain items are competing for a limited amount of time. Something has to give. What do you do when all the balls in the air cannot keep momentum?
Yet, in a week I will have finished my edit and can pick up my writing again. The cycle can be broken without harm, at least in my situation. I don’t want anyone in my life to suffer because of my clumsy or mismanaged juggling skills. Family, meals, job, and spiritual need to run as smoothly as possible. The other items have their time and place.
town in the Montana Territory, she never could have anticipated a terrible accident would leave her alone and badly injured in the wilderness. Rescue comes in the form of a mysterious mountain man who tends her injuries, but she’s hesitant to put her trust in this man who seems to have wounds of his own.
now the author of fourteen independently published Christian historical romance novels. Raised on a farm in South Carolina, she combines her love for Christian fiction and the simpler ranch life by writing historical novels that display God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters. She lives outside Charlotte, North Carolina, is an active member of ACFW, and teaches regularly at conferences and writing groups on effective book marketing.
in Shawnee, Oklahoma, promises her father to be part of a political movement to change the world. By 1932, the timing to fulfill that promise seems right. Her life consists of fashionable clothes, cruising in a Model T, and dancing every weekend at the local speakeasy.
loves connecting to people individually and through retreats and conferences.
Marguerite Gray’s Book News
tales.
romance. All offer an element of her own brand of humor. And all are a tribute to God. Besides writing, she loves spending time with her family, quilting, going to car shows, and driving around in her 1968 Barracuda convertible. Andrea lives with her husband, Tommy, and at least a couple of cats in York County, SC. Visit her at 
(retired) wife. When she isn’t writing about faith, fun, and forever, she is obsessively scouring Pinterest (with coffee in hand!) for wedding ideas for her characters.
Toni Shiloh Author
Mexico. Jaycee writes contemporary Christian romance with lifelike characters in everyday situations who always get their happy ending. Visit her at 
One of the joys of membership is going to the annual conference in different large cities. I don’t go every year but often enough to sharpen my skills and stay on top of new ideas in the writing and publishing world. Last week I traveled to San Antonio, Texas, one of my favorite cities, for a three-day conference. I really needed the break and the chance to mingle with other authors.
The conference speaker was Frank Peretti–yes, the author of This Present Darkness. His life experiences and insights made for colorful speeches. I attended worship services with praise music and prayer that surely could be heard from the Hyatt down to the river walk. Awesome!
As always, I enjoyed meeting or even just seeing successful authors such as Misty Beller, Carrie Turansky, Sarah Ladd, Angela Hunt, Frank Peretti, Rachel Hauck, and James Scott Bell. Yet, I found the time I had around a table with new friends to have a lasting quality as we will now correspond, share, and follow each other from year to year.
Do I have a civic duty to my country, my state, my local community? I think I do. As a teacher in the public school system, I see part of my job is to help the students become valuable citizens. As a civilian, there are many ways to volunteer to better the community. That can take the form of a few hours or a major commitment of years.
The desire to be good, productive citizens spans the centuries. There’s a part of the human soul that wants peace, camaraderie, and beauty. Sometimes the cost is great, as in time of war. In my Revolutionary Faith series, the citizens of Charles Town, South Carolina in the 1770s joined groups like the Sons of Liberty, the Daughters of Liberty, and even the South Carolina militia. The other projects such as the theater, music hall, museum, college, and library, though important, took a second seat to the war.
Oh, the decisions they had to make. Here is a brief conversation between Louis and Elizabeth from Hold Me Close.
Connect in Fiction with Marguerite Gray 