Available from Champagne Books in ebook format. Print soon to be available.
You Gotta Read Reviews.
Title: When the Ocotillo Bloom
Author: Linda LaRoque
Publisher: Champagne Press
Rating: You Need to Read
Reviewed by: MarthaE
"I really enjoyed the way lessons of respect, responsibility, kindness, courage and more are presented with incidents between the children and employees. Ohh – there is a friendly, sweet Lab that is a bit of a character too! The setting descriptions are rich and the ending is very warm and beautiful.
"A true romance to savor and enjoy!"
Long and Short Romance Reviews.
When The Ocotillo Bloom by Linda LaRoque
Publisher: Champagne Books
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full (245 pages)
Heat: Sweet
Rating: 4.5 Books
Reviewed by Fennel
"Linda LaRoque works with a huge cast of characters in this book, but none of them overshadow Lynn and Seth, although all play an integral part in the personal journeys of discovery.
"This is a book that all readers of romance will enjoy."
The Romance Studio Review.
When the Ocotillo Bloom Linda LaRoque Contemporary romance Available from Wings ePress ISBN: 978-1-59705-235-3 January 2007
Sensuality rating: Sweet Reviewer: Brenda Talley
May 17, 2007 4 1/2 Hearts
"Linda LaRoque has done an exceptional job with this story! She shows how two people who start out at such diabolical ends of the spectrum can actually belong together. They each had thoughts on how to conduct themselves and Ms. LaRoque allowed their personalities to merge into a relationship which worked exceedingly well. The supporting characters were many and varied; each played a wonderful part in the overall plot of this book. The interactions with the many children helped mold many actions they found impossible to resist. I found that this unique story was so interesting that I read it straight through. I absolutely could not stop reading until the very end and then wanted to see it continue. I loved this book and recommend it highly!"
Conger Books Reviews.
Genre: Long Contemporary
[Inspirational]??
Title: WHEN THE OCOTILLO
BLOOM
Author: Linda LaRoque
Review Rating: 5
Reviewer: JoEllen Conger
Review: "This is a wonderfully warm story about trust, realizations, and revelations. Every page is wonderfully paced. The characters come alive through this writer's wonderful voice. "
"A Great Read."
Author Comments:
WHEN THE OCOTILLO BLOOM by Linda LaRoque is a sweet relationship story set in west Texas where Lynn Devry goes to work at Seth Williams’s summer camp for troubled teens and finds a whole new way of life. In this sweet contemporary romance, the two learn to discover a love that heals the pains of their past relationships and vow to begin anew. I loved how Lynn thought she was going to work in a relaxed atmosphere at a Dude Ranch, but ends up having to deal with a stern taskmaster at a camp for troubled teens instead. Plenty of conflict and tension to keep the reader reading until the very end!
Terry Spear, Author of WINNING THE HIGHLANDER’S HEART & HEART OF THE WOLF Champagne Books
Investment of the Heart
Widow Hallie Barron wants to see her daughter happily married to a young rancher, raise her son, and continue with her uncomplicated existence. When Simon Cole enters her life, her heart and body remind her she’s a woman. She yearns for a love like she once had, but she fears putting her heart at risk.
Due to his conniving ex sister-in-law, Simon Cole is prejudiced against city women and doesn’t believe they belong on a working ranch. He’s set to prove his nephew’s fiancée is a mistake. Yet when he meets the young woman’s mother, he finds himself wishing there was a place for her in his life.
On a ranch in the Hill Country of Texas, love is recognized, lost, and found.
You Gotta Read Review:
Title: Investment Of The Heart
Author: Linda LaRoque
Publisher: Champagne Books
Rating: You Gotta Read
Reviewed by: Roberta
"This is not just your everyday western romance love story. The author has touched on issues that a lot of authors run from such as, death of a spouse, forgiveness, blended families, and a few more issues you can discover on your own. She has created characters with love, compassion, strength, stubbornness, and humor. There are characters you will love, and some you will love to hate. By the time you get to the end of this story, you will be searching for other books by this author. You will not be disappointed in this story." Night Owl RomanceReview.
"Author Linda LaRoque has written a thoroughly enjoyable western romance. She obviously cares for her characters as she has developed them into people with strong, realistic feelings and opinions.
"Ms. LaRoque ably sets the stage for the two-week visit to the ranch, providing enough information to carry the reader along without giving away the plot twist ahead. Well-developed secondary characters add charm and flavor.
"The story flows smoothly and moves quickly to a surprising but inevitable conclusion leaving the reader to wonder how these characters fare in the future. That, to me, is a sign of a good author."
Reviewer: Gail
Long and Short Romance Review:
Investment of the Heart by Linda LaRoque
Publisher: Champagne Books
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Full (217 pages)
Heat: Sweet
Rating: 4 Books
Reviewed by Fennel
"Ms. LaRoque has a wonderful touch for revealing family life in all its aspects, and her main and supporting characters are beautifully depicted. This is a wonderful 'feel-good' book to read when the rest of your world feels as though it's spinning off its axis."
Forever Faithful
Love is like a flame, some days it burns bright and others it dwindles. Faith is the forge upon which love is strengthened to steel.
For four years, Lucas and Gail Johnson have lived the idyllic life. He has his ranch and a loving wife whom he adores. She is an accountant with her eye on a partnership, and her husband is the love of her childhood dreams.
The one thing they want but don’t have is a child created from their love.
On a hot Texas day in June, a carcontaining two skeletons is pulled from nearby Possum Creek, both with bullet holes in their skulls. One is a salesman from Houstonwho disappeared over twenty years ago. The other is unidentified.
Gail attends a conference with her boss, Alex Guthrie whom Lucas despises. Distraught and depressed over her father’s illness, it’s easy for Alex to get her drunk and seduce her. Thus begins a series of events that shatters Lucas’s faith in Gail and drives the two apart.
"Forever Faithful by Linda LaRoque takes an idyllic marriage and adds a strong mixture of murder, betrayal, lies, and deceit into the mix. LaRoque’s vivid, detailed writing further enhances the suspense and emotional depth of this story. Whether the Johnson’s can recover from the onslaught of evil provides a riveting tale of love lost and love found."
Reviewed by Gail
Long and Short Romance Review.
Forever Faithful by Linda LaRoque
Publisher: Champagne Books
Genre: Contemporary; Paranormal
Length: Full (224 pages)
Heat: Spicy
Rating: 4 Books
Reviewed by Tiger Lily
"Ms. LaRoque writes of characters that are very real. They are like people we know and places we go. Their problems are the ones we see in our daily lives. This made it very easy to connect to the reader. Gail is a bit shy and distrusting, but that’s part of her charm. Lucas tries to be the manly man she needs and desires. I loved the supporting characters. They helped to make the story interesting and kept you in.
"Although there is a very dark undercurrent to the story, I found the journey through these people’s lives to be fun and entertaining. It was like being caught up in a soap opera on Main Street USA.
"If you want a sweet story for a long, lazy afternoon, then Forever Faithful is the novel for you. I give this book 4 books." *****************************
Book One of
The Turquoise Legacy
My Heart Will Find Yours
Fated lovers suffer the agony of loss only to be reunited to fulfill a greater plan.
TEXANNA KEITH finds the man who is her fate when she’s thrust into a plot formed by Pearline Thompson, the elderly woman next door. The ninety-two-year-old woman claims to have traveled forward in time from 1876 to 1926. Now she’s discovered the secret to time travel and her antique locket is the key. The wife of ROYCE DYSON, Marshal of Waco, Texas, disappeared in 1876. Now, in 1880 she’s returned to wreak havoc on his life and heart. Is the beautiful woman his wife, or as she claims a look alike from the future sent to deliver a message? As he struggles to learn the truth, Texanna’s mission is to prevent him from being killed in a bank robbery—to change history. Set in the nineteenth century old West, the fate of two people collides to help fulfill a greater plan.
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Time Travel, Action/Adventure, Historical, Western
Length: Full (310 pages)
Heat: Sensual
Rating: 5 Books
Reviewed by Water Lily
"Linda LaRoque’s characters are extremely likeable, multilayered, and faith-filled. The way she plays the past and the present off each other, using one to change the other, makes this story truly unique. My Heart Will Find Yours is fast paced and compelling. I read it in one sitting.
I will definitely be watching for Flames in the Sky, Book Two in LaRoque’s Turquoise Legacy series."
"With My Heart Will Find Yours, Linda LaRoque has written a marvelous story of time-travel between present-day 2008 and life in Waco in 1880. Her story appears to stay true to the times, as she has her heroine smoothly traveling back and forth. Pearl’s story, and therefore Texanna’s, will seem believable even to those unfamiliar with transcendence of time.
The appealing characters and deft use of honest emotions will draw readers into this captivating page-turner. The reader will be drawn to the love Royce had for Pearl and now, understandably, with Texanna. Although the story line is unusual, it still comes across as believable. This is a must read for any western romance lover. "
Author comments:
This tale swept me away. I immediately fell in love with Texanna and Royce and hated that their story ended. A+ for Linda LaRoque.
T. J. Killian
Linda LaRoque’s My Heart Will Find Yours is a wonderful Western time travel. Her characters are extremely likeable and faith-filled. The way LaRoque plays the past and the present using one to change the other makes this story truly unique. I loved the characters and unexpected plot twists. My Heart Will Find Yours is fast paced and compelling. I read it in one sitting.
Do you believe in the possibility of time travel?Of love ever after?By the time you finish reading My Heart Will Find Yours, you will.
I had the pleasure of reviewing this wonderful story and once I started, I couldn’t put it down until the very end.It will grip your heart and emotions and take you for a ride that will stay with you forever.I laughed, cried, despaired and cheered at everything Texanna and Royce went through in their quest for love.
Linda LaRoque weaves a wonderful story of compassion, loss and triumph.You won’t be disappointed with this story.It’s a keeper on my bookshelf.
Fire, sky, and stone must unite to fulfill an ancient prophecy.
Madison Evans inherits a turquoise locket, travels to New Mexico, and discovers the stone dates back to the Chacoan Anasazi. When she's attacked, parks ranger Lonan Stone, of Chacoan ancestry, fears Madison's turquoise is a missing twin of the revered Fallen Skystone, an egg size piece of turquoise on display in Albuquerque. The mystical stone is missing two slivers – one’s in Madison’s necklace, the others whereabouts unknown, but if united by evil they can destroy.
Madison and Lonan are part of a 1000 year old prophecy to save ChacoCanyon. Thrust back in time, they meet a witch, solve a murder, fall in love, and imprison a 1000 year old evil spirit. Their mission complete, can these two people from different cultures blend their lives as the prophecy predicted?
Excerpt:
Madison felt as if she’d traveled to the Twilight Zone. Lilly’s claims were preposterous, but, she couldn’t deny what she’d seen on the cliff face or the dreams.
“Yes, you need to tell me about the dreams. They started at the time you received the necklace, right?”
Madison nodded. “How did you know?”
“I assumed the ancient Elders would haunt you, but when Lonan called yesterday, I knew so for a fact.” Her smile was sympathetic. “Tell me about them.”
Lilly’s eyes lit with excitement as Madison talked. When she finished, the older woman leaned back and closed her eyes.
Lonan’s brow was furrowed, his mouth pinched. “What did you mean when you said, ‘You are the one.’?”
She pierced him with an intent look. “Did not Madison say you were the very image of the warrior in her dream? The prophecy requires that someone from the past, which is you, son, be chosen to be Madison’s protector.” Lilly turned to Madison.
Oh, no. I don’t think I want to hear this. She held up her hands and shook her head. “No—”
“Yes, Madison, with hair of fire, whether you like it or not, the Gods chose you, someone from the future, to find the third stone and reunite the twins with the mother stone. Together, you two will find a way to consign the evil one to the pit below mother earth where he belongs.”
Author comments:
Flames on the Sky is truly the story I wish I’d thought of first! Ms. LaRoque takes the reader on a compelling, heart-stopping adventure through the magical folklore of an extinct Native American tribe while simultaneously introducing today’s western tribal culture with gripping precision. This novel is chock full of fiery romance, unseen twists and endless intrigue. Flames on the Sky is without a doubt a top shelf keeper! Author Sky Purington
Cross Indiana Jones with THE HAUNTED MESA and you get FLAMES ON THE SKY. I've heard the voices on the wind in ChacoCanyon, felt the unexplainable energy, and formally studied the Anasazi. FLAMES ON THE SKY is truly a magical tale that will keep you guessing until the end. ~Skhye Moncrief; www.skhyemoncrief.com
I was intrigued when Ms. LaRoque asked me to review "Flames on the Sky." I found "Flames on the Sky" to be a thought-provoking journey into the mystery surrounding the Anasazi, experienced through the eyes of Madison, a modern young woman." P. L. Parker ~www.plparker.com
Copyright 2005 Linda LaRoque. All rights reserved.
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