Book Review: Storm’s Refuge by Nancy M. Bell

Book Review: Storm’s Refuge by Nancy M. Bell

I’ve been a fan of Ms. Bell’s writing for quite awhile now; both her poetry and fiction work. She is one of the best writer’s in Canada. When she gets rolling, her descriptions of the land, sea or sky are incredible and just take you right into the scenery. Her dialogue is natural, full of humour and life. Her characters are real. Nothing seems forced. Her books are always easy to read and never tick me off as an editor. And believe me, that happens.

I decided to reread all her work, starting with the Longview Romance series. When I first read Storm’s Refuge, Nancy was still working with MuseItUp. I notice there are some new things in it since the rewrite, either that or my memory is pretty lousy. (That could be true, too.) I like the new version, though as an editor there are a few typos needing to be fixed. (Sorry, I’m super anal about those things.)

The story is based in Alberta and involves a young lady who’s had a rough breakup the year before. She is an animal lover, horses, dogs, probably anything else needing a home, and finds a stray, very pregnant and injured dog under her porch during a wild and crazy winter storm; hence the name of the dog and the title of the book.
Storm, the dog, becomes her new housemate and there are lots of concerns around her and the about-to-arrive puppies, some of which involve the need for a vet. So, in walks Cale, the new city-slicker vet, or at least that’s what our feisty, the last guy-done-me-wrong-so -I-don’t-trust-any-man heroine, Michelle, thinks he is, and her world turns upside down. His description would turn any girl’s life upside down. I remember my farm days. There were some really cute horse vets out there, and blacksmiths, and cowboys. Sigh. But I digress.

So various things happen and Cale and Michelle enter into a kind of war dance of courting. There’s some stress with the dog, who is sick and needs a leg amputated—don’t worry things work out. Nancy would never kill the dog off—and the rotten ex-fiancé arrives, and there’s a blonde chick who Michelle wants to thump out for looking at Cale, plus a brother who has been a jerk; everything is in there to keep you wanting to read and turn the pages, fast. Once again, I ripped through it in a weekend, unwilling to stop and get a decent sleep two nights in a row. It was like I’d never read it before, although I knew the basics. I’d read it again tomorrow if it wasn’t for the fact I have the second in the series sitting right over there waiting for me to crack it open. Yay!!!

Do I recommend it? Hell, yes! This is five stars all the way!

Here’s the back cover:
“All Michelle wants is peace of mind. The only thing bigger than the storm in her heart is the blizzard raging across the Alberta prairie outside her window. Finding an injured stray dog is the last thing she needs. Add to the mix the handsome new vet who is taking over her beloved Doc’s practice and peace of mind is not in the picture.
Cale Benjamin is too nice to be for real. Michelle is still smarting from being jilted by her highschool sweetheart fiancé and not in the mood to trust any man, let alone one as drop dead gorgeous as Dr. Cale Benjamin DVM. The injured stray, Storm, keeps putting Michelle in Cale’s path whether she likes it or not. She is distressed to find that the handsome young vet is sliding past her carefully erected defences and into her heart. A few well-placed nudges from Doc’s matchmaker wife, Mary, help the young doctor’s cause, but will it be enough to make the lady rancher allow him into her life?”

Now here’s some of those descriptions I was telling you about.

From Chapter Fifteen:
“The morning star paled against the brightening blue of the sky; the sun swung free, climbing the heavens on chains of gold. Long red-gold rays slanted over the undulating landscape, throwing the small depressions into bluish shadows and touching the rolling land with a blush of rose. A high whinny broke the stillness and shook her from the contemplation of the winter sunrise.”

Man, I’d kill to be able to write that. Takes you back to the days of waking up in the country, the sun barely up in the sky, frost and snow everywhere, then going out into the barn, greeting the critters and them greeting you back; horses kicking the stall doors wanting their breakfasts right then! And listening to the sound of munching and nickering as everyone chows down. This whole book really brought back the memories of my country days. I sure miss it. Not getting up with the dawn, no, but all the rest, for sure.

Storm’s Refuge is in hard copy and available at Chapters and also in ebook format, so you can pick it up wherever you like to buy your books from. Personally I like the hard copy. Even though I have a kindle— with more books on it that I could humanly ever read in several lifetimes—plus an I Pad chock full, I still like to hold a real book in my hand.

Nancy is usually at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference every year in October, and I assume this year will be no different. So if you buy her book, you can get it autographed at the Saturday meet and greet the authors. She will also be out in British Columbia sometime in September, I believe, for a event involving a launch of the “Canadian Historical Bride’s” series with Books We Love. I will keep you posted. I’ll be writing a review on her book His Brother’s Bride which is so beautiful and made me cry several times. I look forward to rereading it.

Nancy M. Bell

Nancy M Bell is a proud Canadian and lives near Balzac, Alberta with her husband and various critters. She is a member of The Writers Union of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta. Nancy had numerous writing credits to her name and her work has been recognized and honoured with various awards. Nancy has presented at the Surrey International Writers Conference and the Writers Guild of Alberta Conference. Her publishing credits include poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

Product details
• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Books We Love and Ebound Canada (Sept. 1 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1771454407
• ISBN-13: 978-1771454407

o #8568 in Books > Romance > New Adult & College
o #88012 in Books > Romance > Contemporary
Five ***** stars all the way!