LEMON-THYME BREAD

Here's Rosemary's special bread recipe, from When the Heart Heals:

1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cups flour
2 Tbsp. minced fresh thyme (or 1 Tbsp. dried, crushed before adding)
1 Tbsp. grated lemon peel
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Powdered sugar, if desired.

(All of these ingredients would have been available to Rosemary in 1868. In fact, her sour cream was probably the real thing!)

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan.

 In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine buttermilk and sour cream, set aside. Combine the flour, thyme, lemon peel, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, blending well after each addition.
 Transfer to a greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan. Bake on bottom shelf of oven at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack. Cool completely, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

 This bread is delicious with your morning cup of tea or coffee. It’s also great as an afternoon treat. Try it with a cup of chamomile tea.

 Be sure to let me know how you like the bread after you’ve tried it!

Lemon-Thyme Bread Recipe and photo by Taste of Home

SHATTERED, by Dani Pettrey

 Piper McKenna is overjoyed when her prodigal brother returns to Yancey, Alaska, but her joy turns to shock when she sees he's covered in blood. His arrest for murder quickly follows. Because of his reputation, the only person who refuses to believe the overwhelming evidence against him is his sister, Piper.
 Deputy Landon Grainger is a long time McKenna family friend, but he's sworn to uphold the law. For him, the evidence is all that matters. Only when Piper steps into danger in her quest for proof to free her brother does Landon realize she needs to be protected from herself. At the same time, he privately acknowledges that his feelings for Piper have changed from friendship to attraction.
 As the two of them, and eventually the other McKenna siblings, follow clues, they venture into a deep web of intrigue. Their quest takes them to locations in British Columbia, California, and Oregon at an ever-increasing pace.
 Pettrey doesn’t relax the tension for a moment. Shattered kept me awake late at night as I kept reading just "one more chapter."
 If you enjoy suspense mixed with a good portion of romance, you’ll love Shattered.  I certainly did!

 Thanks to the author and Bethany House for my review copy.