New Book by Lana Kruse' : Broken Cups Hold Love

 

Four Canasta-playing friends from the Greatest Generation mold Boomers with their tales of wobbly marriages, a World War, a soldier’s love story, a polio epidemic, a straying from faith, and more, even a murder mystery. The four pals embrace poignant moments and douse life with humor and lavish love.

    Broken Cups Hold Love demonstrates the power of friendship     and that every life is valuable, no matter how it’s lived because      a holy God created and breathed life into each flawed person.        Broken lives teach valuable, hard lessons. 

(Although a murder is mentioned, it is not bloody.)

       Lana's Bio:

Hi, I’m Lana Newman Kruse—last name pronounced KRUZEY. I love God, family, friends, and a good story. I live in McKinney, Texas, and am a former Bible Study Fellowship, Community Bible Study, and home Bible study group leader, and have facilitated discussions in the gathering Simply Social. I’m a member of ACFW, Wildwood Writers, and a new podcast, Wevegotbooks33@gmail.com. My writing targets women over 50. My life verse is Ephesians 3:20, “Now all glory to God, Who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” NLT    Lana's Pen

Here's a treat! An interview with one of Lana's characters!

Interview with Canasta buddy, Camilla, aka, Cam, Camilla-Dilla, or Dilly:

Hi, y’all, out there in Literary Land! We’re going to interview one of our lead characters from Lana Newman Kruse’s Broken Cups Hold Love – Our dear and adorable Camilla Lancaster. I’m your interviewer, Marge Frickey. Hello, Mrs. Lancaster.

Cam Lancaster: Oh, please, call me Cam, or call me what my Canasta buddies do—Camilla-Dilla, or just plain ol’ Dilly, cuz, I am one, Hon. A real dilly!

Interviewer Marge: Okay, Camilla-Dilla, or Dilly. A pleasure. Your loyal fans want to get to know you better. Where are you from?

Cam: All over the Deep South really, honey lamb. We moved a lot because of Mother’s asthma, until we lighted here in San Antonio, Texas. She could breathe here so we stayed. Then I met my true love, so another good reason to stay.

Marge smiled: Good logic. Now, please tell us what are some of your favorite things to do?

Cam: Well, I love parties—givin’ and goin’. I love cookin’ too—I fry everything, then cover it in gravy. I love to tell jokes and play cards, especially Canasta. My gal pals and I started playin’ Canasta umpteenth years ago, and we’re still goin’ strong.

Marge: I’ve heard about your Canasta games and that you four ladies laugh real loud, have barrels of fun, and even have nicknames.

Cam: Yes, darlin’ ya wanna hear our nicknames?

Marge: Absolutely!

Cam: Now, my sister-in-law, Hortense is Hy or Hy-fidelity. Her partner is my cousin by marriage and best friend, Betty or Bitty Betty, cuz she’s the smallest, (Cam whispers … but she may be the mightiest). Then my partner is Bitty’s sister Sophie, or affectionately called Sassy…and she has a different hair color ever week. And you know, I’m Dilly.

Marge: So, dear Camilla, how did you get the nickname, Dilly?

Cam: I guess cuz I act the silliest, tell jokes, and cuz I like to write little ditties for fun. Would ya like to hear one of my poems, darlin’?

Marge: I’d be honored.

Cam: Here’s my latest: Memememe.

“Such great friends I’ve never had before

You make me laugh till my sides are sore.

We giggle until we cry and get woozy

Yes, every inch of you is a dear, delicate doozy.

No matter who wins or loses, no one flips her lid

To me you are God’s gift that He Himself outdid.”

Marge: I love your ditty. It’s fun but poignant. I think I love your friends and you already.

Cam smiling: Thank you, They’re a great group of girls.

Marge: You mentioned you like jokes. May we end our interview with a quick one?

Cam: Sure, Honey. Here’s an excerpt from our last crazy Canasta party:

“Say, girls, did y’all read in the Gazette’s Lost and Found asking if anyone lost a wad of hundred-dollar bills wrapped in a big rubber band?”

Betty hollered, waving her right hand: “They found my money?”

Cam: “They found your rubber band!”

Marge chuckling: For more fun and more stories, check out Broken Cups Hold Love by Lana Newman Kruse on Amazon.com.

Meet J. Carol Nemeth and her new book Battlefield of Deceit

 A diary on loan to the museum.

An old Civil War house on the edge of the battlefield.

Could these two things be connected?

Gettysburg National Military Park historian, Chloe Rogers, begins her research into both: to prepare for a donor event and to discover if it can be restored for public viewing. Chloe and her fellow historian, Clifford Weston, discover a virtual Pandora’s box in the cellar beneath the house revealing more questions than answers. Park policeman, Blake Hunter, becomes embroiled in the old house mystery but gives Chloe cause for concern when her widowed heart responds to his attentions. She’s simply not ready to move on. Is she? When unwelcome things begin to occur, they realize they have to discover who’s behind them and soon. Will Chloe find the answers in a packet of old letters discovered in the cellar? Then there are the unexplained footsteps….

Get Battlefield of Deceit here!

I asked Carol, "What made you have to write this particular book?"

 This is the fifth and final book in my Faith in the Parks series, a series that takes place in National Parks here in the US. This book is set at Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, PA. 

I've visited this park on many occasions and now live only an hour and a half from it. I've always been interested in it and particularly the stories of the people involved in this terrible battle. 

When the opportunity presented itself to add a book to my romantic suspense series set at this park, I didn't hesitate. It makes a great finale to the series, especially the ending (no spoilers here).

Ken's book: Devotions with a Friend

 

My husband, Ken Tatum, is an aerospace engineer retiree. He began working on a book of devotions when he was off work for 6 weeks in 2019 during the pandemic. One of his retirement projects has come to fruition as witnessed by this box of books. Devotions with a Friend, available on Amazon using the hyperlink, came about after 43 years of teaching Bible Study with adults. The idea of the book is to sit down with your Bible and a cup of coffee to meet God using one of the devotions. Two people on the cover suggests that sitting together with a friend can be an enjoyable time of sharing that coffee and God's insights with another.

Bonita Y. McCoy's Family Twist

Amy Kate Anderson is Southern trouble in high heels.

A skeleton—

The town legend in a coma—

A gun pointed at her—

She never dreamed a family reunion could be so dangerous!

Book shop owner and amateur detective, Amy Kate Anderson, agrees to help her best friend with the upcoming Jacobs’ family reunion, but once a skeleton is discovered on the edge of Cyrus Jacob’s property, the family reunion takes a dark turn, putting Amy Kate in the center of a thirty-year-old murder and on the hunt for a stack of missing letters that might hold the key to it all.

Can Amy Kate find the killer and prove Cyrus’s innocence before someone else gets hurt? Or will her blooming relationship with the handsome Lieutenant Gabe Cooper be the stumbling block to her pursuit of the truth?

In this delightful whodunnit the people of Pine Lake, Alabama will welcome you with open arms to their small town, but be careful, mystery, murder, and Amy Kate’s trouble magnet lurk around each corner. 

Find it here on Amazon!

Meet Bonita!

Bonita Y. McCoy hails from the Great State of Alabama where she lives on a five-acre farm with three dogs, two cows, two cats, and one husband who she’s had for over thirty years.

She is a mother to three grown sons and a beautiful daughter-in-law, who joined the family from Japan.

 She loves God, and she loves to write. Her articles, devotions, and novels are an expression of both these passions.

On any given day, you can find her photographing flowers, reading a sweet romance or a cozy mystery, or chilling on her front porch swing.

She is an active member of both American Christian Fiction Writers and Word Weavers International. 

Drop her a line at bonitaymccoy@yahoo.com or sign up for her newsletter at www.bonitaymccoy.com. 

Deborah Maxey's new book: The Endling

The Endling begins in Emerson Grace’s Blue Ridge Mountains, involves her dear relationships with her neighbors, her deceased grandfather’s influence, the mob, and a hit man. As an Endling, she is the last of her tribe and people. After her grandfather’s death, she is alone in her grandfather’s cabin when she discovers that a mob boss has put out a contract on her for something she never saw. How will she survive and protect her small community of mountain people and artists?

Deborah paints an exquisite picture of Emerson Grace, the mountains, as well as the characters that people the artist colony below Emerson’s mountain. The stirrings of the spiritual arise in nature just as her grandfather taught her to hear God and teaches the reader as well. Finding God among all the chaos is not so difficult after all.

 Available May 13, 2021!

I was given an advanced reading copy of The Endling.

Welcome Fellow Author!

Welcome to the blog, J. Carol Nemeth, fellow Forget Me Not Romance author!

A native North Carolinian, Carol always loved reading since childhood and making up stories since junior high school. She worked in the National Park Service and served in the US Army where she was stationed in Italy. While there, she met the love of her life, Mark Nemeth, also an Army veteran. After they married, they lived in various locations including North Yorkshire, England. They now live in West Virginia, where in their spare time, Mark and Carol enjoy RVing and sightseeing. They are active in our church and enjoy their   grown son, daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren. Carol’s latest release is The Peaceful Valley Wounded Soldiers Anthology

Welcome to Peaceful Valley Rehab Center where wounded soldiers come to rehabilitate. Dr. Alex Hunter, a disabled veteran himself, returns home after years away serving in the military. Turning his family inheritance into a rehabilitation center, he gives these war-weary men and women the help they need to heal. Along the way, not only does Alex find love, but love comes calling for others too. This faith-filled short story series will keep you turning pages to find out what happens next.

Check out J. Carol Nemeth at

https://www.jcarolnemeth.com/

Oxford Fairy Tale in boxed set Romancing the Billionaire!

That's right.

Oxford Fairy Tale is part of a special edition boxed set Romancing the Billionaire! It's also available at a special price until Christmas. With five books to read, including Oxford Fairy Tale, it's more romantic fun reads altogether. Like any Winged Publication books, all are clean, sweet, romantic reads.

You can still purchase Oxford Fairy Tale from me or Amazon.