REVIEW: The Real Thing by Tina Ann Forker

The Real Thing by Tina Ann Forkner is a very touching story about loss, love, and healing. It deals with the weighty subjects of alzhiemer’s disease, miscarriage, and infidelity. This is a story that really makes you think. I loved the characters in this story, and they way that they dealt with the issues that faced them was a testament to the power of their love for each other.

Manda Marshall has lost a lot in her life. She and her twin sister lost their mother at a young age, she has lost several babies and she lost her first husband when he cheated on her. But now she has her very own cowboy, Keith Black, who comes with two children and she finally feels like she has her own family.

All Mandy and Keith know about his ex wife is that she ran off , sending divorce papers to Keith and giving up all rights to the kids. But when a chance encounter with a lady at the rodeo brings to light what really happened to Violet, Mandy will need to stand and support the man that she loves and the children who have come to mean the world to her.

This story will take you on an emotional journey. You can feel the pain from Keith’s daughter who only wants to know what happened to her mom. You feel the pain from Keith who was left in he dark, but when things came to light, he would have stood by Violet no matter what. You feel the confusion and the love that Mandy had for all of them as she tries to help her new family come to terms with what they now face and finds a little joy of her own in the form of a very unexpected surprise.

I really don’t want to give away the story, so I am not going to go into details, but with this story, there is heartache, there is love, there is hope and in some ways, finally the closure that everyone needed. This is an amazing journey that will leave the reader smiling.

Book Info:

Publication: Published April 7th 2016 | Tule Publishing Group |

Sometimes you have to don a pair of cowgirl boots…

Manda Marshall is ready to leave heartache behind when she marries Keith Black, a champion saddle bronc cowboy and man of her dreams. But going from the serenity of small town Tennessee to the exhilaration of the rodeo, nothing can prepare her for being a cowboy’s wife. Becoming the new stepmom to Keith’s little boy and teenaged daughter has Manda relying on her deep sense of longing for a family and budding love for her stepchildren to strengthen their bond.

Manda’s desire of being a rodeo cowboy’s wife begins to take second place as she works to reinvent a life for herself and new family, but when mysterious phone calls from Keith’s missing ex-wife dredge up the past, Manda finds her marriage and family in an unusual and heart wrenching dilemma. The life she had worked so hard to build is suddenly redefined and her commitment to her husband and family is tested.

What Manda discovers has the power to heal or break her family in this emotional tale of cowboys, rodeo queens, and what it really means to ride beside a cowboy and his family, no matter the risk.