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Bloomfield #1
Take the Trophy and Run
In the charming town of Bloomfield (akin to Lake Wobegon or Mitford), the theft of a craft store ownerOCOs prized garden gnome is big news; the truth behind its disappearance is even bigger!
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- GenresChristian Fiction
302 pages, Paperback
First published May 27, 2014
4 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Gail Sattler
72 books38 followersGail Sattler is the author of numerous novels, novellas, gift books, cookbooks and devotions. She is a longstanding member of East Ridge Community Fellowship, a Mennonite Brethren church. She lives and writes in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Gail is a wife, mother, writer, and musician, and the order of those things will depend on what day it is. She leads a busy life, with music affiliations in a jazz band and string orchestra, as well as writing, which is her passion. She wrote her first book back in middle school on a clackety old manual typewriter. Her writing has changed a lot since then. Now Gail writes romantic comedy, and most of the books she's written in the last few years are part of a series. Gail loves to continue a story, to make a new book with the story of a minor character from a previous story.
When Gail isn't writing, she loves to take pictures. Her primary targets, err, volunteers, are usually her family, pets, friends, and bandmates.
Gail is a wife, mother, writer, and musician, and the order of those things will depend on what day it is. She leads a busy life, with music affiliations in a jazz band and string orchestra, as well as writing, which is her passion. She wrote her first book back in middle school on a clackety old manual typewriter. Her writing has changed a lot since then. Now Gail writes romantic comedy, and most of the books she's written in the last few years are part of a series. Gail loves to continue a story, to make a new book with the story of a minor character from a previous story.
When Gail isn't writing, she loves to take pictures. Her primary targets, err, volunteers, are usually her family, pets, friends, and bandmates.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 8, 2017
a cute story
January 18, 2014
Title: TAKE THE TROPHY & RUN
AUTHOR: Gail Sattler
Publisher: B&H Books
November 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4336-7729-8
Genre: women’s fiction
Like Mitford and Lake Wobegon before that, Bloomfield is a place we could all call home. Here, the residents enjoy a splash fountain in the town square, dine at the “Fancy Schmantsy” on tree-lined Main Street, and dream of reaching the 10,000 population mark -- only 22 more folks to go!
The Bloomfield Garden Club, an all-ages group of lovable oddballs that will stop at nothing to make everything beautiful, maintains this piece of heaven on earth. But even such idyllic places as this have their share of
dramatic characters and stories to be told.
Take, for instance, craft store owner Amber Weathersby. She wants to be a member of the garden club but has never received the blessing of a green thumb. Her friend, Stan the mechanic, has helped as much as he can -- even adding a timed sprinkler system to Amber’s garden -- but the results never live up to the club’s expectations.
Her only claim to fame with that gang is her semi-famous garden gnome, Gnorman, who gets to hold the prized trophy each year in the Bloomfield Spring Fling contest’s winning garden.
But this year, instead of being the life of the party, her little star is gnomegnapped, and worse, the club’s irreplaceable trophy has gone missing with him. While Amber is chasing the gnome around town trying to win the trophy, Stan is chasing Amber, trying to win her heart.
TAKE THE TROPHY & RUN is the first book in Ms. Sattler’s new series A Bloomfield novel. There is a romance in it, but it is mainly about the garden club and her “kidnapped” gnome and trying to solve the mystery of who-dun-it and why. While not a scary mystery with a death, this book has everyone in the garden club in a dither trying to find the missing gnome and the kidnapper.
Who would kidnap a garden gnome and why? Is someone sinister a member of the garden club?
There are a lot of characters in this story which makes it confusing at time and it isn’t the best written book I’ve read—but Ms. Sattler’s trade-mark humor is out in full force. There are a lot of deliberately misspelled words – like gnaturally (at the end of the book) with the keeping of the gnome theme. Fans of Ms. Sattler, cozy mysteries (without bodies and murderers) and humor will likely enjoy this book. 320 pages $14.99.
AUTHOR: Gail Sattler
Publisher: B&H Books
November 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4336-7729-8
Genre: women’s fiction
Like Mitford and Lake Wobegon before that, Bloomfield is a place we could all call home. Here, the residents enjoy a splash fountain in the town square, dine at the “Fancy Schmantsy” on tree-lined Main Street, and dream of reaching the 10,000 population mark -- only 22 more folks to go!
The Bloomfield Garden Club, an all-ages group of lovable oddballs that will stop at nothing to make everything beautiful, maintains this piece of heaven on earth. But even such idyllic places as this have their share of
dramatic characters and stories to be told.
Take, for instance, craft store owner Amber Weathersby. She wants to be a member of the garden club but has never received the blessing of a green thumb. Her friend, Stan the mechanic, has helped as much as he can -- even adding a timed sprinkler system to Amber’s garden -- but the results never live up to the club’s expectations.
Her only claim to fame with that gang is her semi-famous garden gnome, Gnorman, who gets to hold the prized trophy each year in the Bloomfield Spring Fling contest’s winning garden.
But this year, instead of being the life of the party, her little star is gnomegnapped, and worse, the club’s irreplaceable trophy has gone missing with him. While Amber is chasing the gnome around town trying to win the trophy, Stan is chasing Amber, trying to win her heart.
TAKE THE TROPHY & RUN is the first book in Ms. Sattler’s new series A Bloomfield novel. There is a romance in it, but it is mainly about the garden club and her “kidnapped” gnome and trying to solve the mystery of who-dun-it and why. While not a scary mystery with a death, this book has everyone in the garden club in a dither trying to find the missing gnome and the kidnapper.
Who would kidnap a garden gnome and why? Is someone sinister a member of the garden club?
There are a lot of characters in this story which makes it confusing at time and it isn’t the best written book I’ve read—but Ms. Sattler’s trade-mark humor is out in full force. There are a lot of deliberately misspelled words – like gnaturally (at the end of the book) with the keeping of the gnome theme. Fans of Ms. Sattler, cozy mysteries (without bodies and murderers) and humor will likely enjoy this book. 320 pages $14.99.
November 11, 2012
Amber Weathersby is an unlikely member of the Bloomfield Garden Club. So far, she’s managed to kill pretty much everything she’s tried to grow outside her house. If it weren’t for her best-firend-since-childhood, Stan, who installed an automatic sprinkler and told her never to touch it, there would be no hope of even a patch of green, let alone multi-colored flowers.
Still, Amber is a crafter with a little shop where many of the club members pick up their garden ornaments. Her most famous is Gnorman the Gnome, whose job it is to hold the trophy when the winner of the Spring Fling garden contest is announced. Only this year, Gnorman–and more importantly, that precious trophy–have gone missing.
A note with words cut from the newspaper appears, leading Amber, with Stan hot on her trail, to Gnorman, who’s wearing a new funky costume. The note tells her not to move Gnorman or she’ll never find the trophy. For several weeks Amber and Stan follow these clues around Bloomfield and try to figure out who is behind the gnome-gnapping and where the trophy is.
Stan is stunned to find he’s fallen in love with his very best friend, but what’s holding Amber back? Why is she so panicked out about the annual garden club membership review? And. . .is it possible she’s fallen for him, too, and just won’t admit it?
Take the Trophy and Run is an entertaining romp around the town of Bloomfield. If you enjoy some chuckles with your romantic reading, give this read (and series) a try. It’s hard to pull a new story out of this trope, I think–the one where a man and a woman have been friends forever and don’t see each other as marriage material, and don’t want to ruin the friendship they have established. The author found a new twist or two to pull this tale together.
Bloomfield is a series about a fictional town created by a team of authors contracted by B&H Publishing.
Still, Amber is a crafter with a little shop where many of the club members pick up their garden ornaments. Her most famous is Gnorman the Gnome, whose job it is to hold the trophy when the winner of the Spring Fling garden contest is announced. Only this year, Gnorman–and more importantly, that precious trophy–have gone missing.
A note with words cut from the newspaper appears, leading Amber, with Stan hot on her trail, to Gnorman, who’s wearing a new funky costume. The note tells her not to move Gnorman or she’ll never find the trophy. For several weeks Amber and Stan follow these clues around Bloomfield and try to figure out who is behind the gnome-gnapping and where the trophy is.
Stan is stunned to find he’s fallen in love with his very best friend, but what’s holding Amber back? Why is she so panicked out about the annual garden club membership review? And. . .is it possible she’s fallen for him, too, and just won’t admit it?
Take the Trophy and Run is an entertaining romp around the town of Bloomfield. If you enjoy some chuckles with your romantic reading, give this read (and series) a try. It’s hard to pull a new story out of this trope, I think–the one where a man and a woman have been friends forever and don’t see each other as marriage material, and don’t want to ruin the friendship they have established. The author found a new twist or two to pull this tale together.
Bloomfield is a series about a fictional town created by a team of authors contracted by B&H Publishing.
November 9, 2012
Amber Weathersby owns the Gardens and Gifts Galore. Each year, she places a gnome in the garden that wins the Bloomfield Garden Club prize. Except this year, Gnormon (with a silent ‘g’) the gnome has gone missing, along with the trophy. She soon finds a clue, a poem comprised of letters cut out of the local paper, and this leads her and her best friend, Stan Wilson, to the gnome. But no trophy. And then Gnormon disappears, and so starts the chase to find Gnormon’s next location, and hopefully the trophy.
As he works with Amber, Stan discovers that Amber isn’t just the girl he grew up with, his oldest, closest friend. He’s in love with her. And she seems to be drawing away from him. He doesn’t know that Amber is also struggling with financial issues. Her parents are dead, and her uncle is pressuring her to repay his business loan, on which he has doubled the interest payments (not exactly sure how he could do that with a written contract, but never mind).
I found Take the Trophy and Run difficult to get into, although I usually enjoy cozy mysteries and I have a real soft spot for friends-to-lovers plots (this is Christian fiction, so lovers in the Victorian sense, not the modern sense). The style of writing didn’t really work for me, although there was nothing I could pinpoint as why. I think my main problem was that I was more interested in the relationship between Amber and Stan than in the mystery of the missing gnome or Amber’s financial issues. And even this has been done better, particularly in the Smart Chick Mysteries by Mindy Starns Clark. Take the Trophy and Run wasn’t bad, it just didn’t grab me until about three-quarters of the way through, and that wasn’t enough to make up for the weaker start.
Thanks to B&H Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
As he works with Amber, Stan discovers that Amber isn’t just the girl he grew up with, his oldest, closest friend. He’s in love with her. And she seems to be drawing away from him. He doesn’t know that Amber is also struggling with financial issues. Her parents are dead, and her uncle is pressuring her to repay his business loan, on which he has doubled the interest payments (not exactly sure how he could do that with a written contract, but never mind).
I found Take the Trophy and Run difficult to get into, although I usually enjoy cozy mysteries and I have a real soft spot for friends-to-lovers plots (this is Christian fiction, so lovers in the Victorian sense, not the modern sense). The style of writing didn’t really work for me, although there was nothing I could pinpoint as why. I think my main problem was that I was more interested in the relationship between Amber and Stan than in the mystery of the missing gnome or Amber’s financial issues. And even this has been done better, particularly in the Smart Chick Mysteries by Mindy Starns Clark. Take the Trophy and Run wasn’t bad, it just didn’t grab me until about three-quarters of the way through, and that wasn’t enough to make up for the weaker start.
Thanks to B&H Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
December 3, 2012
Clues to a day contain elements of surprise.
Amber Weathersby, craft store owner is also owner of the prestigious garden gnome, Gnorman. Gnorman can be often seen gracing the gardens of the winners of the Garden Club contest The Spring Fling Early Bloomer.
Stan has known Amber all of his life and when the invitation arose to join the Garden Club with his best friend, he couldn't think of a better way to spend his time.
When Gnorman disappears from sight Amber and Stan try to stay one step ahead of the napper, but are finding that strange clues are a commonplace to the hunt.
Will Gnorman be recovered?
Will the town of Bloomfield capture a heart for romance?
Promising creative characters, picturesque scenery, and progressive plot will provide entertaining hours. A delightful and fun novel with mystery, romance and a bit of comedy (loved reading the clues), that will surely occupy a special place in a readers library. As a gardener and one who enjoys a cozy mystery, I will certainly recommend this inspiring entertaining book to others. 4 Stars! Thanks to B&H Publishing Group for the complimentary copy from the blog.
Amber Weathersby, craft store owner is also owner of the prestigious garden gnome, Gnorman. Gnorman can be often seen gracing the gardens of the winners of the Garden Club contest The Spring Fling Early Bloomer.
Stan has known Amber all of his life and when the invitation arose to join the Garden Club with his best friend, he couldn't think of a better way to spend his time.
When Gnorman disappears from sight Amber and Stan try to stay one step ahead of the napper, but are finding that strange clues are a commonplace to the hunt.
Will Gnorman be recovered?
Will the town of Bloomfield capture a heart for romance?
Promising creative characters, picturesque scenery, and progressive plot will provide entertaining hours. A delightful and fun novel with mystery, romance and a bit of comedy (loved reading the clues), that will surely occupy a special place in a readers library. As a gardener and one who enjoys a cozy mystery, I will certainly recommend this inspiring entertaining book to others. 4 Stars! Thanks to B&H Publishing Group for the complimentary copy from the blog.
December 17, 2014
A Neighborhood "Who-Done-It"
Amber owns a garden shop & provides the garden gnome (named Gnorman) to hold the trophy for the Garden of the Year award. But before the gnome could be placed in the winning garden, he disappears. Every four days he shows up in various places, with a note or clue on where he may show up next. Amber is concerned about the whereabouts & who is responsible because she depends on the members of the garden club for her business..
Her long time friend Stan, helps Amber on this quest - of who is playing this game with Gnorman. When Gnorman finally shows up with the trophy, Stan & Amber are more than a little surprised -- there's a hidden agenda.
Easy reading but a lot of fun.
Amber owns a garden shop & provides the garden gnome (named Gnorman) to hold the trophy for the Garden of the Year award. But before the gnome could be placed in the winning garden, he disappears. Every four days he shows up in various places, with a note or clue on where he may show up next. Amber is concerned about the whereabouts & who is responsible because she depends on the members of the garden club for her business..
Her long time friend Stan, helps Amber on this quest - of who is playing this game with Gnorman. When Gnorman finally shows up with the trophy, Stan & Amber are more than a little surprised -- there's a hidden agenda.
Easy reading but a lot of fun.
September 21, 2012
This is the story of a kidnapped Gnome and the pursuit of the owner, Amber, along with Stan, her best friend since childhood, to find it. You see, the gnome held a trophy in its hand that was to be awarded to the Garden Club's winner. Ransom notes (without a ransom) appear all over town.
I have to say the reason for the kidnapped gnome is surprising, I enjoyed this humorous story and the relationship that grew during the hunt for the kidnapper. The characters are charming, the storyline is wonderful. A must read if you need a break from more serious books! 5 out of 5 stars!
I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I have to say the reason for the kidnapped gnome is surprising, I enjoyed this humorous story and the relationship that grew during the hunt for the kidnapper. The characters are charming, the storyline is wonderful. A must read if you need a break from more serious books! 5 out of 5 stars!
I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
January 30, 2013
"Take the trophy and run" by Gail Sattler is a quirky easy read. The story is about the small town of Bloomsfield, which has a thriving Gardening club that Amber is barely in. Her business which sells gardening goods, is in jeopardy if she is kicked out of the garden club. When the gnome trophy disappears Amber and her best friend Stan try to find out the culprit.Who wants Amber kicked out of the garden club? And why is Stan treating her different?
This was a quirky, interesting read, but I thought the characters could of been a bit better developed and the mystery a bit better developed. Overall it was a clean, interesting read.
This was a quirky, interesting read, but I thought the characters could of been a bit better developed and the mystery a bit better developed. Overall it was a clean, interesting read.
June 17, 2012
Wonder story or love building since childhood. Whole town helps them along with a gnome search. Great for all ages.
February 25, 2013
The first print book in the Bloomfield series. The descriptions of the characters and town of Bloomfield make you feel right at home.
August 13, 2013
A charming quick CLEAN romantic read. One of a series of non-sequential books set in Bloomfield. Fun and sweet.
March 4, 2014
I couldn't finish it. I was enjoying the story but then it felt like it was dragging a bit so I skimmed the last few chapters to see how it ended. Cute story but needs to move a little faster.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews