CONFESSIONS OF A BOY CRAZY GIRL

Does this sound familiar?

1. You spot a cute boy (we'll call him Boy A).

2. You dream about Boy A.

3. You do whatever it takes to make Boy A notice you.

4. Even though Boy A doesn't pursue you, you hang on to your dream of Boy A until he (a) moves to the North Pole with no access to a cell phone or computer, (b) dies and is buried or cremated, or (c) begins dating another girl.

5. You mend your broken heart by hating Boy A and finding another cute boy (Boy B). You replace Boy A with Boy B and begin all over again...

Paula has gone through an entire alphabet-and more-of boys over the years.

As she shares her journal entries and stories-the good, the bad, and the ugly-you'll be encouraged to trust God with your love life and buckle up for the ride!

My thoughts...

Paula Hendricks pours out her heart in this book about searching for love. Girls need to be admired and loved. If only they would allow God to show them His love and to trust Him to bring the perfect man into their lives so much heartache could be avoided.

This is a wonderful book for parents and grandparents to understand how girls look for love, and for girls to understand a parent's love as well as the influences it has on their lives. What a beautiful story Paula has penned!

I received a copy of this book free from Moody Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

UNDER A BLACKBERRY MOON by Serena B. Miller

Just a few days after she gave birth alone in the northwoods, a recently widowed young Chippewa woman stumbled into a nearby lumber camp in search of refuge from the winter snows. Come summer, it is clear that Moon Song cannot stay among the rough-and-tumble world of white lumbermen, and so the camp owner sends Skypilot, his most trusted friend, to accompany her on the long and treacherous journey back to her people.

But when tragedy strikes off the shore of Lake Superior, Moon Song and Skypilot must depend on each other for survival. With every step they take into the forbidding woods, they are drawn closer together, until it seems the unanswerable questions must be asked. Can she leave her culture to enter his? Can he leave his world to enter hers? Or will they simply walk away from a love that seems too complicated to last?

Get swept into a wild realm where beauty masks danger and only the truly courageous survive in a story that will grip your heart and your imagination.

My thoughts...

Seeking refuge from the harsh winter weather Moon Song and her newborn baby stumble into a lumber camp where has been taken under the wings of the campers. Now it's time to return to her people. Accompanied by Skypilot, one of the men in the camp, they begin their journey. Shortly after boarding the train a tragedy occurs and they find themselves in the wilderness struggling to survive.

Along the way Skypilot reveals his love for Moon Song, although she is in love with him she refuses to let him know. Having been betrayed by a white man previously she won't take a chance with Skypilot.

Their journey is one that will touch your heart with tender moments, Moon Song's marriage to a white man, the maltreatment her people endure, Skypilot's broken heart, and the fact that they are of different faiths. This is a really good story, well written, entertaining.

I received a copy of this book free from Revell in exchange for an honest review.

"Available October 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group."

MISTLETOE MEMORIES

Spend a heartfelt Christmas on Schooley’s Mountain as four generations make a house a home. Carpenter Stephan Yost vows to build a precocious spinster a home by Christmas. Civil War widow Mary Ann Plum learns the greatest peace on earth comes from giving and receiving love.

Olympia Paris must protect the orphanage she grew up in from a man intending to play Father Christmas to most of the town. Joy Benucci turns to a modern-day Scrooge to save a transitional home for foster kids. Will Christmas be a season of miracles in their lives?

My thoughts...

Who wouldn't like a Christmas story? They leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. These are no exception and will touch your heart in a different way. They are not only a romance but a story about a child.

TIS THE SEASON

The year is 1820, Annaleise meets Stephan when he comes to her rescue after her horses are spooked. The two get stuck in town during a big snowstorm and a romance begins. Such a sweet story! Rory is a young boy that has come to town searching for the Annaleise's father, the town doctor. His uncle is sick.

MERCY MILD

Deputy Sheriff Zeke Norcross is delivering 5 orphans to some of Schooley's Mountain families. Polly has living relatives so Zeke has to locate them to see if they will take this child. Meanwhile she is placed with widow Marianne Plum. He has feelings for her and hopes she will allow him into her life. A delightful tale!

MIDNIGHT CLEAR

Olympia Paris runs an orphanage that is in dire need of finances to pay back taxes and help with the operating expenses. She learns someone wants to turn the orphanage into a hotel to bring visitors to the mineral springs area. Olympia is shocked to learn her old friend Teddy is that someone and not only does he want the building he wants her as well. Very good storyline!

COMFORT AND JOY

Joy runs a transition house for foster children who have aged out of the system and need help and guidance in moving into the real world. The owner of her house dies and the new owner wants her evicted. Attorney Evan Lancaster soon discovers Joy is someone he would rather get to know on a personal level than try to get her out of the house! A fun tale of falling in love with the enemy.

Jennifer AlLee, Carla Olson Gade, Lisa Karon Richardson, and Gina Welborn are the authors of these four entertaining novellas that will get you in the Christmas mood!

I received a copy of this book free from Barbour Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Enter The Treasures of Norway Sweepstakes!

In An Untamed Heart, the latest novel by bestselling author Lauraine Snelling, twenty-year-old Ingeborg Strand is certain she is destined to be an old maid.

When tragedy strikes, and the future looks bleaker than ever, Ingeborg considers leaving Norway to start afresh in America. But how will she accomplish that with little money and no one to accompany her?

Then she meets Roald Bjorklund, a widower who plans to go to America with his young son. He’s a good man, a hard-working man–and his son desperately needs a mother. But is he the answer to her prayers? Could love grow between two people whose hearts are filled with grief? And can Ingeborg leave her treasured Norway for such an uncertain future?

To celebrate the novel, author Lauraine Snelling and Bethany House Publishers are pleased to present the TREASURES OF NORWAY Sweepstakes, and your chance to win one of three spectacular prizes, all closely connected to the story.

HOW TO ENTER:

http://www.laurainesnelling.com/html/giveaways.html

This giveaway starts October 5, 2013 and ends October 24, 2013 @ 11:59 pm (PST). Entry is open to US residents only, age 18 and over. Winners will be selected Friday, October 25, 2013, and announced at laurainesnelling.com.

GRAND PRIZE:

HAPPY HOUSECLEANER PRIZE PACK

In An Untamed Heart, young Ingeborg Strand is tasked with cleaning her Onkel Frode's house, an ominous task indeed! But Ingeborg never backs down from tough tasks, and the result is a house so clean, any woman in Norway would be proud to call it home.

We might not have the luxury of a housecleaning visit from Ingeborg, but our Grand Prize winner will win the next best thing: a $200 housecleaning gift card to Maids.com, plus a handmade Tokheim Fjordhorse Mug and a bag of Ingebretsen's Viking Coffee so you can brew a cuppa, sit back, and relax while your house is transformed.



SECOND PRIZE:

GUNLAUG'S GOURMET PRIZE PACK

Ingeborg and her cousin Gunlaug are some of the best cooks in the in the mountain village of Valdres, Norway. Cookies, cheeses, flatbreads, jams...their cooking and baking is a culinary-lover's dream!

Our Second Prize winner will have Gunlaug's and Ingeborg's favorite Norwegian foods delivered right to their door with this $120 Norwegian gourmet prize pack.

This package includes fresh Norwegian lefse, cheeses, flatbread, Nordic butter, jelly, Romme Grot cream porridge, Gjende shortbread, Uff Da chips, Fattigman cookies, and Norwegian chocolate.



THIRD PRIZE:

CHRISTMAS IN NORWAY PRIZE PACK

Ingeborg and the Strand family prepare for Christmas with music and handmade decorations, while secretly weaving and carving special gifts to give each other in celebration of Gott Jul.

Our Third Prize winner will have the chance to bring Gott Jul to their home this holiday season, with this $100 Christmas In Norway prize pack.

This prize includes a Norwegian Christmas CD, a set of 2 Norwegian wood spool candle holders, and a woven, 14" wide x 43" long, Åttebladrose Christmas table runner, perfect for dressing your dining table in the warm colors of Norway.

HONEST HEART

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Honest Heart B&H Books (October 15, 2013) by Kaye Dacus

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Humor, Hope, and Happily Ever Afters! Kaye Dacus is the author of humorous, hope-filled contemporary and historical romances with Barbour Publishing, Harvest House Publishers, and B&H Publishing. She holds a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.

Kaye Dacus (KAY DAY-cuss) is an author and educator who has been writing fiction for more than twenty years. A former Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kaye enjoys being an active ACFW member and the fellowship and community of hundreds of other writers from across the country and around the world that she finds there. She currently serves as President of Middle Tennessee Christian Writers, which she co-founded in 2003 with three other writers. Each month, she teaches a two-hour workshop on an aspect of the craft of writing at the MTCW monthly meeting. Kaye lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she is an academic advisor and English Composition instructor for Bethel University.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Set during the Industrial Revolution and the Great Exhibition of 1851, An Honest Heart is a “sitting-room romance” with the feel of a Regency-era novel but the fashions and technological advances of the mid-Victorian age.

Featuring dual romance stories, the main plot involves seamstress Caddy Bainbridge and the choice she must make between two men: one from the aristocracy, the other from the working class. Award-nominated author Kaye Dacus pinpoints the theme of honesty—both men in this love triangle have deep secrets to hide, and Caddy’s choice will be based on which of them can be honest with her.

Courtship . . . cunning . . . candor. Who possesses an honest heart?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Honest Heart, go HERE

My thoughts...

Caddy is a seamstress with a successful shop at the edge of town, making dresses for the elite as well as the lower class. She teaches sewing to the less fortunate and also cares for her elderly mother. She meets handsome Oliver while visiting one of her clients, he is immediately attracted to her and determines to get to know her.

Neal is the local doctor and meets Caddy when he brings her mother to the shop after a fainting spell. He finds Caddy very attractive and though he had told himself he wouldn't get involved with anyone here he is drawn to her. Caddy's mother sees Neal as a perfect husband for her daughter and plots to help them see their need for each other.

A wonderfully written novel with amazing characters and very interesting twists. There's another story in the book that's just as fun. Edith Buchanan is an upstanding woman looking for a husband of wealth and importance. Edith must get the man her sister is interested in to fall in love with herself because she and Oliver had agreed if neither are married by the end of the Great Exhibition they will marry each other and Edith (nor Oliver) want that. An entertaining story that left me wanting to read more of this author's books.

I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

DARK JUSTICE by Brandilyn Collins

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Dark Justice B&H Books (October 1, 2013) by Brandilyn Collins

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brandilyn Collins is a best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline "Don't forget to b r e a t h e . . ."® Brandilyn's first book, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows. Brandilyn's awards for her novels include the ACFW Carol Award (three times), Inspirational Readers' Choice, and Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice.

Brandilyn is also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons). The Writer magazine named Getting into Character one of the best books on writing published in 2002.

When she's not writing, Brandilyn can be found teaching the craft of fiction at writers' conferences.

ABOUT THE BOOK

If I’d had any idea what those words would mean to me, to my mother and daughter, I’d have fled California without looking back.

While driving a rural road, Hannah Shire and her aging mother, who suffers from dementia, stop to help a man at the scene of a car accident. The man whispers mysterious words in Hannah’s ear. Soon people want to kill Hannah and her mother for what they “know.” Even law enforcement may be involved.

The two women must flee for their lives. But how does Hannah hide her confused mother? Carol just wants to listen to her pop music, wear her favorite purple hat, and go home. And if they turn to Hannah’s twentyseven- year-old daughter, Emily, for help, will she fall into danger as well?

Pressed on all sides, Hannah must keep all three generations of women in her family alive. Only then does she learn the threat is not just to her loved ones, but the entire country . . .

If you'd like to read the first chapter of Dark Justice, HERE.

My thoughts...

What a chilling tale of terrorism and how easily cyber attacks can take place and the damage that can be done. This book is so realistic, the characters are the best. Hannah and her mother are on their way home after a few days of relaxing in Raleigh when they come upon an accident. While trying to help the elderly gentleman he keeps telling them things they don't understand except for "don't tell anyone". Hannah's mother is in a confused state, suffering from dementia yet ends up being a help.

Arriving home Hannah discovers a flash drive in her pocket that doesn't belong to her. While looking at the images on the computer two FBI Agents show up at her door asking questions. Uneasy, she asks them to leave, Later she will learn that they are not FBI and that her life as well as her mother's is in danger.

This is one of Collins' best books, she is a very talented suspense writer. Her writing style puts you right in the middle of all the action!

I received a copy of this book free from B&H Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

MURDER BY SYLLABUB by Kathleen Delaney

Murder by Syllabub

by Kathleen Delaney

on Tour September - October, 2013

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Mystery Published by: Camel Press Publication Date: July 1, 2013 Number of Pages: 298 ISBN: 978-1-60381-957-2 Purchase Links:

Synopsis:

A ghost in Colonial dress has been wreaking havoc at an old plantation house in Virginia. The house is owned by Elizabeth Smithwood, the best friend of Ellen McKenzie’s Aunt Mary. Mary is determined to fly to the rescue, and Ellen has no choice but to leave her real estate business and new husband to accompany her. Who else will keep the old girl out of trouble? When Ellen and Aunt Mary arrive, they find that Elizabeth’s “house” comprises three sprawling buildings containing all manner of secret entrances and passages, not to mention slave cabins. But who owns what and who owned whom? After Monty—the so-called ghost and stepson of Elizabeth’s dead husband—turns up dead in Elizabeth’s house, suspicion falls on her. Especially when the cause of death is a poisoned glass of syllabub taken from a batch of the sweet, creamy after-dinner drink sitting in Elizabeth’s refrigerator. Monty had enemies to spare. Why was he roaming the old house? What was he searching for? To find the truth, Ellen and her Aunt Mary will have to do much more than rummage through stacks of old crates; they will have to expose two hundred years of grudges and vendettas. The spirits they disturb are far deadlier than the one who brought them to Virginia. Murder by Syllabub is the fifth book of the Ellen McKenzie Mystery series.

My thoughts...

Ever heard of murder by syllabub? I hadn't either until reading this book. Syllabub is an after dinner drink from back in Colonial days. This drink was allegedly prepared (and poisoned) by Ellen McKenzie who has accompanied her aunt Mary to help out her old friend Elizabeth living in VA. Elizabeth has seen a ghost and needs the help of amateur detective Ellen.

The characters are wonderful, Aunt Mary is delightfully quirky, the storyline is fun and I could go on and on. This is a fun read filled with interesting historical facts and a ...... dead ghost!

I received a copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Read an excerpt:

Mildred leaned back against the drain board, as if she needed it to prop her up. “Do you think he’ll be back?” I set the dish on the drain board along with the other rinsed dishes. “You mean the murderer?” Mildred nodded. I’d wondered the same thing. “I think it was Monty prowling around upstairs, looking for something. Why he was dressed like that, I can’t imagine, but I don’t think he found whatever it was he was looking for. The only reason I can think of for both Monty and whoever slipped him the poison to be here is they were looking for the same thing. I don’t think they found it. So, yes, I think whoever it is will be back.” Mildred nodded. “I think so, too. That crate was no accident.” She paused before going on, her voice filled with apprehension. “You know, McMann isn’t going to buy the mysterious prowler story. He’s going to take the easy way out. Elizabeth fed Monty the poison before she left for the airport and we’re protecting her.” She sighed deeply and turned to the dishwasher. “Might as well load this. Can you hand me that bowl?” She opened the door, pulled out the top rack and froze. “How did that get in here?” “What’s the matter? Oh no.” We stood, frozen, staring at the immaculately clean crystal glass, sitting on the top rack in solitary splendor. “That’s one of the old syllabub glasses.” Mildred turned around to look at the glasses on the hutch and returned her gaze to the dishwasher. She pulled the rack out all the way but the dishwasher was empty, except for the one glass. I’d had a close enough look at the glass next to Monty to know this was from the same set. “It’s the missing syllabub glass.” “Missing?” Mildred’s hand went out to touch it, but she quickly withdrew. “Where are the others? Cora Lee and I packed these away years ago. There were eight of them. How did this one get in here?” “Noah didn’t tell you?” “That boy only tells me what he wants me to know. What was it he should have told me?” “The set of these glasses were on the sideboard in the dining room where Monty was killed. Six of them. One was beside Monty with the remains of a sticky drink in it. That made seven. One was missing. The one the murderer used.” We stared at each other then back into the dishwasher. “That’s got to be the missing one, right there.” Mildred took a better look. “It’s clean. Someone’s trying to frame Elizabeth.”

Author Bio:

Kathleen Delaney has written four previous Ellen McKenzie Real Estate mysteries, but has never before transported her characters out of California. A number of years ago she visited Colonial Williamsburg and fell in love. Long fascinated with our country’s history, especially the formation years, she knew she wanted to set a story there. Another trip with her brother and sister-in-law solidified the idea that had been rolling around in her head but she needed more information. A phone call to the nice people at Colonial Williamsburg provided her with appointments to visit the kitchen at the Payton Randolph house, where she got her first lesson in hearth cooking and a meeting with the people who manage the almost extinct animal breeds the foundation is working to preserve. A number of books purchased at the wonderful bookstore at the visitor’s center gave her the additional information she needed and the story that was to become Murder by Syllabub came into being. Kathleen lived most of her life in California but now resides in Georgia. She is close to many historical sites, which she has eagerly visited, not only as research for this book but because the east is rich in monuments to the history of our country. Luckily, her grandchildren are more than willing to accompany her on their tours of exploration. You can find Kathleen on the Web at delaney.camelpress.com.

Catch Up With the Author:

Tour Participants