Margaret Anscombe

My novel Snow in August is now available on Kindle for free until 29 July. Be sure to pick up a copy if you like sweet Catholic Romance Novels!

My new novel, Snow in August , is available on Kindle for $2.99. It is a sweet, contemporary, Catholic romance. If you read it and like it, make sure to share it with your friends!

Blue Bear: or the Impossibility of Anonymity by Joseph Grady My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. I would say that the cover does not accurately convey the genre. The novel is a mystery novel narrated for the most part by a blue bear who acts as Lucy's, the main character's, spirit guide. The story was intriguing and enjoyable to read. I was interested in how it would turn out. The characterization was strong. I especially enjoyed the blue bear himself when he was very clearly narrating. He had a strong voice and his perspective on things was fun. Lucy was also a fascinating character. The dialogue in the story was usually strong and believable. Some of the dialogue was in Italian and my only complaint there was that it was not all translated. (Most of it was in footnotes.) There was also a funny part in Italian where one character mishears 'Czech' as 'blind,' but that wasn't explained in English. I wo...

Emergency Response by Susan Sleeman My rating: 1 of 5 stars I did not really care about the main characters somehow. They didn't really seem like real people to me and I had trouble believing that they would get over their emotional baggage as quickly as they did in the end. Some things were left unresolved in the story. For example, the hero, Noah, had a child he'd abandoned years before whose life he now wanted to be a part of. He never even got to interact with his son, let alone make progress towards his goal of being a part of his son's life. Since this book is part of a series, I suppose she may intend to resolve that issue later, but it was still unsatisfying to be left hanging. The was one major implausibility near the end of the story. *Spoiler alert if you care about such things.* Throughout most of the book, the heroine, Darcie, had gang members who kept trying to murder her by strangling her, shooting at her, etc. They didn't care ho...

One Step Closer: 40 Doses of Motivation, Hacks, and Experiences to Share with Millennial Catholics by Anthony Freeman My rating: 3 of 5 stars I found this book a bit disappointing. There was no real depth to it and hardly any real spiritual insights. If anything this book is definitely milk and not solid food, but it wasn't even very much milk. Reading it felt equivalent to drinking milk by the teaspoon. Each of the entries was short and said very little. He did have some material on how to work on getting rid of your vices that seemed helpful, but other than that, I did not feel like I gained any insight from it. This book could also have used an editor. There were various mistakes throughout, the most memorable being a reference to something "stumping" your growth rather than "stunting" it. I really wanted to like this book. Anthony Freeman seemed like a great guy and it is sad that he died so suddenly before he had a chance to become a p...

Beyond East and West by John C.H. Wu My rating: 5 of 5 stars I thought it was fascinating to read about life in China during the first half of the twentieth century. Wu's upbringing was so different from anything I'd ever read about. He was raised my his father's first wife because his father's second wife, Wu's biological mother, died when he was four, and Wu's father also died when Wu was young. Already that seemed different from most people's upbringings, but I was very surprised that his stepmother showered love on him and he adored her back. It was refreshing to read about, since it's so different from what you might have expected, especially since the stepmother was jealous of Wu's biological mother. He was also betrothed to be married at the age of six and didn't meet his wife until the day of their wedding. I loved how when someone asked him how he could love his wife if he didn't choose her he said something along...

Their Second Chance Love by Kat Brookes My rating: 3 of 5 stars Warning: Spoilers ahead, if that bothers you. This is the only Christian Romance novel I've ever made it all the way through, so I think Kat Brookes deserves a lot of credit for writing an engaging story. I liked the characters in the story, especially the hero, Logan, and I was happy that things worked out. I'd love to read the other novels in the series in any case. However, I did think this particular story could have been improved. Logan and Hope were a couple when they were teenagers and they had been planning to get married, but Hope dumped Logan when she found out from her doctor that she was infertile and would never be able to give Logan the many children he'd always wanted. Instead of telling him this, Hope lied and said she didn't love him when she ended things. Fast forward nine years later. Hope's father's health problems end up throwing Logan and Hope together. Th...