Virtual Book Tour Review and Giveaway: Moving On: A Prairie Romance by Annette Bower

(A contemporary novella from XOXO Publishing)

This review is done in conjunction with the author's virtual tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. Annette is giving away  a $25 GC to All Romance eBooks to one randomly drawn commenter during her tour, so comment today AND follow the tour (if you click on the tour banner above, it'll take you to a list of her tour stops) -- the more you read and comment, the better your odds of winning. You could be introduced to a great new author AND win a GC!

Anna is a mysterious woman that has just moved to Regina Beach. The residents of the small town know everyone’s business and they are very interested in discovering Anna’s secrets. Nick was a Sergeant in the Canadian Army, doing active duty until a horrific accident sent him home to recover. He helps Anna feel safe and comfortable in her new environment, just as he has always done for his men in strange, dangerous places. Meanwhile, he focuses on preparing for his future physical endurance test to prove that he is capable of returning to active duty.

Anna doesn’t talk about her past, and Nick doesn’t talk about his future therefore she is shocked to discover that his greatest wish is to return to active duty. She won’t love a man who may die on the job again. Intellectually, she knows that all life cycles end, but emotionally, she doesn’t know if she has the strength to support Nick.


This story is got my attention from the very first page. After reading the first couple of paragraphs, I was hooked. I had to know what was going on. Why was the heroine was there, and why she was so sad?  The amount of character building the author did in only a few words was fantastic.

The writing was beautiful and descriptive, and I felt as though I was inside the heroine’s head while she lived through the things that were going on. She was starting a new life and hoping to be happy again someday, and because I was so caught up with her, I wanted the same thing.

The town she moved  to was a small, delightful place, warm and friendly to everyone, including strangers. They took you into their hearts immediately.  It was a place where folks were family.  You mattered.  And even when they butted in to your business, it was only with your best interests at heart.

The hero was a soldier who lived at a B&B and was injured physically and mentally. That they would meet and come together was a given, but it became more than that. They were both wounded spirits. As they spent time together, it was a lovely, warm and fun story. Everyone in the village helped them in their search for life again.

I couldn’t put the story down until I finished it. I wanted the both to be happy again. And although the story ended somewhat abruptly, I was satisfied with the finish. I think anyone looking for a sweet and warm romance will love this story.

4/5 Flowers

Annette Bower lives and writes in Regina, SK Canada. She is an author of many short stories published in anthologies and magazines in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. She explores women in families, women in communities and women at the beginning and end of love and their quest for love. She pursues the writing craft in workshops, conferences, Writing with Style, Banff Centre for the Arts, Victoria School of Writing, Sage Hill Writing Experience, the Surrey International Writing Conferences and the Romance Writing of America Conferences.

When she isn’t writing she walks or bikes around the streets and parks in her neighborhood imagining complex worlds behind seemingly ordinary events.

Her first contemporary romance, Moving On A Prairie Romance is published by XoXo Publishing™ a division of Ninni Group Inc.

Website: http://www.annettebower.com/
Blog: http://www.annettebower.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Annette-Bower-XOXO-Publishing-Author/378438088839629

Recommendations:

I have just been reading MOVING ON on my Kindle. It's lovely... -- a gentle, feel-good book with a nice variety of individualized characters and a positive over-all message. The familiar setting was a treat too. Congratulations! I would recommend it. - Mary Balogh: http://www.marybalogh.com/

“Moving On: A Prairie Romance” by Annette Bower In “Moving On: A Prairie Romance”, Annette Bower explores the redemptive power of affection. When we meet Nick and Anna, the characters at the centre of the novel, both are reeling from devastating personal tragedies, and both are fearful of making a connection that would open them to future pain. In the course of the novel, Nick and Anna slowly but surely learn to trust and to hope. Bower’s warm tale of the coming together of her two very likable protagonists is told with a keen eye and an understanding heart. This lake-side romance is perfect summer reading. ….Gail Bowen, author of the Joanne Kilbourn series. http://www.gailbowen.com/