Bicentennial Eve by Julie Jacob review

 

Bicentennial Eve: A Wisconsin Novella is a gentle, slice-of-life tale of a family on the eve of America’s 200th birthday. As the cast of characters go about their day, each struggles with their own hopes, dreams, and regrets. From Grandma Kitty’s quest for some adventure to young Skylar’s search for a taste of first love, each family member is looking for a little independence of their own against the backdrop of a changing country.

232 pages, Paperback, $18; $9.99 Ebook

Freshwater Press, May 19, 2026

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Review:

Bicentennial Eve is like spending the day with your best friends. There’s a picnic later, and watching the fireworks together. It should be nice and quiet this year without the snooty crowd from Chicago. You know them well – Joe and Claire – and their daughters. Skylar is a new teen, tall and self-consciously awkward, enduring her first crush. Grace is in college now, doing who knows what, but Claire trusts her. Joe’s brother Rob lives a few blocks away. His perpetually unhappy wife Amy is good. Probably for good, but Rob, a school teacher, needs to face reality, like Joe who was laid off and drives too far every day to a crummy job. Claire’s sister will be there, too. But Grandma Kitty is secretly taking off on a cross-country trip with her girlfriend to visit the places she’s always wanted to see.

Told in moment-by-moment fashion from each family member’s point of view, readers will be enchanted as this family shares their day with you. In 1976, the bicentennial, American culture was growing up, just as women were beginning to have careers of their own, divorce was becoming more acceptable, the losses of soldier sons killed in the war wrenched hearts, and the travel bug bit.

As a bonus, Jacob moves the family into the future, twenty-five and fifty years, so we can glimpse how the events of that day in 1976 played out.

Well done with lovingly drawn characters that any reader can identify with in all walks of life at all ages. Each have desires, needs, and dreams and go for life.

New Regency from Susan Baganz

Lord Phillip’s Folly

Susan M Baganz

Christian Regency

November 2017

Pelican Ventures

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Ebook $5.99

About the Book:

No good deed goes unpunished. Lord Phillip Westcombe is a younger son and sufficiently independent. He has no need upset his tidy life with the messiness of love, but when he comes to the rescue of the lovely Lady Elizabeth Follett, and the two are found in a compromising position, his life takes an unexpected turn. Barely knowing each other, they are forced to wed. Embarking on a new life they must learn to trust God as they face an evil which threatens their lives and the security of the British Empire. Will the minions of the Black Diamond--the bounder who owns the soul of Elizabeth's father--succeed in their evil plans? Will Phillip and Elizabeth's new love and faith survive the test that awaits them? Or will they all fall to the Black Diamond?

My Review:

The undercurrents of Regency England are fraught with a plot to aid the enemy, and forces of evil influence the vulnerable. As the second son of an earl, Phillip’s older brother has the title and privileges thereof all wrapped up. Phillip will not inherit a title or much responsibility and earns a reputation as a reckless young buck in Regency England. When he does inherit a small country estate and turns his life around, his parents don’t believe he could change and set their hearts and minds to bear him from a distance. When he makes another reckless decision during his sister’s coming out ball and rescues a fair damsel in distress, he further inherits a boatload of trouble.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale of plots with its twists of creepiness. A young lord who turns his life around takes responsibility for a young lady who’s been victimized for most of her life. As devastating as Elizabeth’s life has been, she is in possession of a fine spirit and courage to beg rescue from a handsome stranger. I would think a woman who’s been through the terror hinted at might be more leery of strange men and wifely duties, but this young couple’s growing faith and mutual love for each other was clearly portrayed.

Sir Phillip’s Folly is another fine addition to the wily Black Diamond series. Characters intertwine and add to each other’s stories, but each book stands as a story on its own. Recommended for those who enjoy inspirational Regency romances. Told in multiple viewpoints with flair and drama and good period accuracy.

About the Author:

Susan M. Baganz chases after three Hobbits and is a native of Wisconsin. She is an Acquisitions Editor with Pelican Ventures LLC specializing in bringing great romance novels and novellas to publication. Susan writes adventurous historical and contemporary romances with a biblical world-view. Website: www.susanbaganz.com

Contemporary romantic Fiction from Susan Baganz

Root Beer and Roadblocks, book 4 of the Orchard Hill series

Susan M Baganz

Read an interview with the author here

February, Prism Book Group, an imprint of Pelican Ventures LLC

$4.99 eBook

$15.99 Print

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About the Book

When God strips away all your hopes and dreams can you trust Him to give you something better?

Johnny Marshall's cancer is back . . . and so is the girl who broke his heart seven years ago. As Johnny struggles to find the will to live and fights his second round with the disease, he finds that hope comes in small packages with an energetic little boy named David.

Having bought in to her parents' narrow view of finding a man worthy of her, years ago, Katie abandoned the one man she'd ever loved. In all the years since, no one has ever compared to Johnny. Now as a single mom of a young boy, she wonders if their reunion right on time or is it too late for a future together?

My review

The stories coming from Orchard Hill just keep getting better and better, if you can call dealing with a lot of illness in various fashion “better.” Lots of emotion and a whirl of events help a young couple reunite under the most difficult circumstances.

Secrets come out of the closet in Root Beer and Roadblocks. Return of cancer for a member of a popular praise band puts Johnny in a funk. Even with the return of the woman of his dreams, he has a hard time willing a desire to grab life. Katie is just discovering who she is…or isn’t, in her opinion. When she realizes she’s turned herself “off,” so to speak, just to deal with being alive and handling devastating circumstances within a classically dysfunctional family, revelations of the stuff of nightmares aren’t as much of a shock. Together Katie and Johnny know they can win any obstacle course, especially with the fruit of their first love, David, and love for another child who comes into their lives and needs them, Khloe.

There’s a lot of ups and downs, tears all around, hugs and passion in this story of forgiveness and grace, and future uncertainties. Told in multiple viewpoints, old friends from the past stories haunt the pages in a good way, and it truly come around to needing a village to make life a good one for each other and our children. Nicely done, occasionally tear-jerking. Recommended for readers of contemporary romantic stories and couples learning to deal with the realities after the “I do.”

Areas in the Milwaukee metroplex, Horicon, Fond du Lac, and a couple of hours in Chicago make up the setting