"A Convenient Risk" by Sara R. Turnquist -- Book Review, Blog Tour, and Giveaway

 About the Book

Book: A Convenient Risk

Author: Sara R. Turnquist

Genre: Clean Historical Romance

Release date: October 26, 2021

He never imagined her heart would be so hard to reach.

Forced into a marriage of convenience after her husband dies, Amanda Haynes is determined she will never love again. Not that it bothers Brandon Miller. He needs her husband’s cattle. She needs financial stability and long-term support for her son and herself. But she never expected to care so much about the running of the ranch.

Butting heads over the decisions of the ranch, only adds to her frustration. Her wellbeing is soon threatened as their lives become entangled with Billy the Kid and his gang.

What has she gotten herself into? What kind of man has she married? Is there any way out?

 

My Thoughts

Overall I found this book to be well written and easy to read.  I did want to shake the characters at times to make them wake up to what was going on. I did like Brandon better than Amanda. She just was a little annoying to me with her constant degrading of herself for no reason. There were twists I didn't expect that kept things interesting. There is off screen intimacy. You don't see it, but you know that they are being husband and wife. I liked the historical inclusion of "Kid Antrim" which set the story as being in 1877, even though it didn't say. This also leads to my complaint about the book which is that Brandon was 'perusing the shelves" of the general store which would not have been possible since that wasn't an option until 1916. Also, his picking up a can of infant food is also doubtful. While commercial formula existed, most mothers, if they didn't breastfeed, used a home made concoction to feed their babies most often and it doesn't seem like a small town would have carried it. It might not be a big deal for most people, but it grates on me when this occurs. I liked the ending of the story.

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Sara is a coffee lovin’, word slinging, clean Historical Romance author whose super power is converting caffeine into novels. She loves those odd little tidbits of history that are stranger than fiction. That’s what inspires her. Well, that and a good love story.

But of all the love stories she knows, hers is her favorite. She lives happily with her own Prince Charming and their gaggle of minions. Three to be exact. They sure know how to distract a writer! But, alas, the stories must be written, even if it must happen in the wee hours of the morning.

Sara is an avid reader and also enjoys reading clean Historical Romance when she’s not traveling. Her books range from the Czech lands to the American Wild West and from ancient Egypt to the early 1900s. Some of her titles include The Lady Bornekova, Hope in Cripple Creek, The General’s Wife, Trail of Fears, and the Convenient Risk Series.

More from Sara

Hello, Readers!

I am always asked about the inspiration behind my work. These tidbits can be wide and varied from one story to the next. But none is so interesting, in my opinion, as the thing that sparked A Convenient Risk. 

It just so happens that one of my good friends, best-selling contemporary romance author Hannah R. Conway, is my conference buddy. We go to writing conferences and retreats together, networking with other writers and learning more about the craft of writing.

And…at one such conference during some down time, Hannah (who is a fellow lover of history) said, “hey, let’s go to the cemetery.” I wasn’t quite so certain about that particular jaunt, but it was daytime and she raved about the history to be mined there, so I was in.

As we walked around, indeed we did look at stones—especially older ones—and thought about the lives of the people based on the era they lived in and whatnot. Just a heyday for our writer brains. We came upon a particular set of stones from the early 1900s. And, according to the little bit information on the stones, we determined that the woman had first married a man who was much older. Then he died. And she married a man closer to her own age. My writer wheels started turning! 

Did her parents arrange a marriage for some sort of benefit? Maybe she was from a poor family and they needed her to have a better circumstance? At any rate, the man died a few years later. Then she married a man closer to her age…perhaps a man she had previously been in love with and had always wanted to marry?

I thought, then, about second marriages after a spouse passes. And how we tend to memorialize loved ones who pass—remember the good times and gloss over the hard, more challenging things. I don’t think this is a conscious thing, more of a way our mind handles grief.

So, if a widow must make a marriage of convenience, how does that affect her ability to develop love for the second husband if she is comparing him to this image of her first spouse in a way he wasn’t actually in real life.

Now, I don’t know for certain…I’ve only been married once (and thank the Lord my Prince Charming is patient enough to stick it out with this writer). But I wanted to work this scenario out within this fictive bubble…play with this concept…see where it led. After mixing that with a bit of history, throwing in a dash of a famous American outlaw, A Convenient Risk was born.

Blog Stops

For Him and My Family, December 1

Boondock Ramblings, December 1

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 2

Texas Book-aholic, December 3

Inklings and notions, December 4

Britt Reads Fiction, December 4

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, December 5

deb’s Book Review, December 6

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 7

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, December 8

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, December 9

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, December 10 (Spotlight)

Cats in the Cradle Blog, December 10

Blossoms and Blessings, December 11

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 12

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 13

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, December 14

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Sara is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and an eBook copy of A Convenient Risk!!

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/1417f/a-convenient-risk-celebration-tour-giveaway

I got a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given voluntarily. No compensation was received for my review.