Book Blast: The Missing Piece (Inspirational Love Story) by Carol McCormick - Plus $25 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway!

Title: The Missing Piece (Inspirational Love Story) By Carol McCormick

About the Book:

"Fresh dialogue, realistic characters, a powerful message," The Romance Readers Connection How does a man pick up the pieces when his world crashes around him? Misplaced priorities shattered his marriage. Problems almost crushed him. Love motivated him to mend the damage, once he found all the pieces. After only a few months of marriage, Lorraine left Dylan on a wintry night after he'd spent one too many nights out with the guys. Unable to cope with the loss, Dylan escapes the painful feelings by drinking them away. This decision costs him a year-and-a-half of his life after he stops in a little mountain town and ends up in the local jail. When he's released, he returns home in search of a job to get his life--and his wife back. THE MISSING PIECE is not only a love story about a man who loves a woman, but is also a love story about a merciful God who loves mankind, even when he falls. The novel is an emotionally-charged journey of hope and redemption with a touch of spunk, a hint of humor, and a few twists along the way. "Inspiring and encouraging. Anyone who desires a restoration to their spirit should read THE MISSING PIECE," Myshelf.com "A wonderful, heartwarming Christian romance. This is definitely a story that I recommend to all lovers of Christian romance," Escape to Romance

Download on Kindle | Purchase Paperback

Carol McCormick Carol began writing years ago after reading a ten-page story her grandmother wrote about growing up in the early 1900s. It was then that she began to write down her own stories to share with her daughters someday. Later, she began to write as a way to draw herself and other people closer to the Lord. Carol writes for Christians to encourage them in their faith. She also writes for those who are unaware of God's grace, to show them how to connect to Him in order to experience His love and goodness. Her writing is applicable to life with its direct, yet sensitive, and oftentimes humorous messages and lessons. Carol has been a speaker for Christian Women's Connection (Stonecroft Ministries International) for over fifteen years. She is also an international bestselling author who has appeared on regional and Christian television programs and has been a guest on over fifty Christian and secular radio stations.
Follow Carol McCormick Website | Facebook | Twitter

Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Enter below to enter a $25 amazon gift card, sponsored by author Carol McCormick!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

CrossReads Launch Party

“Encourage each other daily”

Introducing

a new place to meet, read, and fellowship…
Find books that uplift, authors that inspire, and a whole community of
fellow Christians who are looking to encourage and be encouraged.
Join the Community today, and
be entered to win one of 169 prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blast: Winter's End by Rebekah Lyn - Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Title: Winter's End (Seasons of Faith)

By Rebekah Lyn

Book Two of the Seasons of Faith Series

Musician Michelle Burton just had the best night of her life. Her band Tangled Web opened for Wonderland in downtown Orlando and the crowd loved them. Too excited to sleep she makes a fateful decision to go to work early. The best night of her life turns into the worst day of her life.

Nearby, at boutique Hotel Lago, Stephen Longbottom, acting concierge manager, is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the board of directors for Silken Pleasures, a multimillion dollar company based in New York and specializing in high end cosmetics, fragrances and lingerie. Their incessant demands before they even arrive are driving him to distraction. Meanwhile Lizzie Reynolds, his boss is on a romantic ski trip in Vermont leaving him to manage his first solo event.

Hope, forgiveness and love are an integral message throughout the book and like a fine tapestry the threads of God’s master plan for the character’s lives are woven into a fabric of great storytelling, conflict and humor.

Readers who came to know and love the characters of Summer Storms will enjoy catching up with Lizzie, Stephen, Michelle, Jeffrey and Ian.



Kindle | Paperback



Rebekah Lyn
Rebekah is a Christian with a heart for new beginnings. She is a Florida native and a graduate of Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Fl. A love of history, research and journaling led naturally to a passion for writing. She enjoys travel and has traveled extensively across the United States and Canada as well as Europe and the Caribbean. Her reading taste run from the classics to light fiction. When she is not working or writing, she enjoys cooking,baking and sharing recipes on her blog, http://rebekahlynskitchen.wordpress.com

Her current works include, Summer Storms and Winter's End, books one and two in The Seasons of Faith series, and Julianne the first book in The Coastal Chronicle series. She is currently working on the, as yet untitled, second book in the Coastal Chronicles set in coastal Florida during the early years of the space program.

Rebekah currently resides in Florida along with her "attack" cat, Mia. They would enjoy meeting with you on her Facebook page.



Follow Rebekah Lyn
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Enter to Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Enter below to enter a $25 amazon gift card, sponsored by author Rebekah Lyn! a Rafflecopter giveaway

This book blast is hosted by Crossreads.

We would like to send out a special THANK YOU to all of the CrossReads book blast bloggers!

Telling the Stories

The Grammy nominations have been announced. When society celebrates movies, Broadway plays, TV series, and even news programs, society is celebrating the telling of stories. This storytelling has fascinated me this Christmas season. Think about the stories told at Christmas. Not only do we celebrate the Nativity, but we also tell Dickens’s Christmas Carol (in a variety of formats and actors), Clemens’s T’was the Night before Christmas, Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Charlie Brown, and more.

The stories make us who we are. They influence our culture, they make our core values, and they change our ideas.

Stories are part of our being from the time we are born. Some doctors would also say that we hear stories while in utero. Regardless, parents read to their children at bedtime and for entertainment. Even the videos and TV children watch are couched in story form. We study the classic stories in school – Romeo and Juliet, A Tale of Two Cities, for example. When we study history, we are studying the story of our ancestors and heroes. We read, we watch, we study stories.

As I attempt to write the stories that God places into my mind, I need to remember that the story is first. It’s the story that teaches, entertains, and changes us. It’s the story that we celebrate and tell and retell.

Meet Jo Huddleston and That Summer

Win a copy of That Summer! Leave your name and email to win!

 

Jo Huddleston is a multi-published author of books, articles, and short stories. Her debut novel, That Summer released this month as the first book in The Caney Creek Series. Book 2 in the series is scheduled for release in April 2013 and book 3 is scheduled for release in September 2013.
Jo tells us how That Summer came to be:

The setting of That Summer is the Southern Appalachians of East Tennessee where my ancestors and I were raised. I’ve listened to the older generations tell their stories at family reunions about time before telephones and automobiles. Their stories fascinated me and caused me to want to write about a time before I was born.

This story percolated in my mind in the late 1990s. I’m what writers call a panster type of writer. I don’t outline my plot on paper. My entire plot and characters simmer in my mind before I write a word. Many times I don’t know the ending but I know how to get there. Of course, sometimes characters surprise me by going this way when I intended them to go another way. I love how my stories many times work themselves out as I write.

While this story still rumbled around in my mind, in 2001 I received a life altering health diagnosis with a negative prognosis. My first symptom was the loss of penmanship that nobody, even I, could read. Then I began to have involuntary muscle spasms that prevented me from holding my fingers on the home keys of a keyboard. I couldn’t write and couldn’t type—this was before speak-to-type.

I thought my writing career had vanished. I cleaned out my files—even trashed all my rejection letters I’d been saving. Now I wish I’d kept them to prove that I really am a writer. I gave away most of my writing craft books.

My mind was still intact but my body wouldn’t do what it was told. My balance while walking started to diminish and I quit going to writing conferences. My doctor advised me not to drive. I was dependent on my family to even get to my doctor’s appointments and still am.

In 2008, I began to improve. My hands were steadier and I could get my story started. The biggest aggravation when I write anything is the time I have to leave my story to research the facts. When the story starts pouring out of my mind I want to write. I write continuously, not indicating chapters but I do indicate scene and POV changes. After I finish that first draft I go back and do those things.

I have outlived my doctor’s prognosis by over a year and a half. I’m writing the second of a 3-book contract and feel fine other than fatigue when I don’t stop to rest now and then. Fatigue does bring on more unsteadiness in my hands and legs.

From 2001 to 2008 I had a lot of time to meditate. A relative marvels that I’ve never questioned God, why me? I have not become bitter because of the health issues. I think God just gave me time to understand a lot of things when I was inactive. I’m a more peaceful, patient, and faithful me.

This is the way That Summer came to be: hibernated for seven years, and then became a story on paper.

Thank you so much for hosting me, Diane. It's my pleasure to spend time with you and your readers.

 Leave your name and email here at Diane's blog. I'll give away a copy of That Summer at each blog.

Jo Huddleston
Author of the forthcoming Southern historical, That Summer
Website/blog http://www.johuddleston.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jo.huddleston.hope
Offering spiritual tonic and hope

Launch of Elaine Cooper's The Legacy of Deer Run

 The Legacy of Deer Run is Elaine Marie Cooper’s third book in the Deer Run Saga. This book is another set in Colonial America and based on the lives of her ancesters. She will be offering free gifts to those that purchase this book at Amazon on Tuesday, December 4 when they go to her page at http://www.DeerRunSaga.com. Be sure to save your receipt number from your Amazon purchase in order to obtain the free gifts offered!

The Legacy of Deer Run

By Elaine Marie Cooper

 The Year is 1800.

 

A young man makes weapons for the defense of America, still a fledgling nation. He also protects his heart from the allure of a young woman who seems so far above his station in life that he cannot win her.

The lady fights her own war against loneliness and grief. Despite her finery and airs, she is drawn to the young armory worker, who is distant yet disarming.

Love is the not the only entanglement. The nation's enemies are afoot. They creep within the very walls where America’s defenses are being forged. Who are they? When will they strike? Who will survive their terrorism?

 
Intrigue of the heart and intrigue of the times are only part of this compelling story—Book 3 of the Deer Run Saga. This series finale is a gripping mix of romance and deception, faith and forgiveness, transgression and trial.

See Diane's review on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1GKJH8FACQ4YY?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cr_pr_pdp .

 

What other readers saying?

This is a stellar read of the early American period. Elaine Cooper is a gifted wordsmith who brings the era to life vividly and leaves you wanting more. Bravo!

 — Laura Frantz, Author, Love’s Reckoning

“A plot to wound the baby nation of America, trusted friends who turn into enemies, death, faith, and life, all blend into a tragic yet beautiful tale of life and passion in 1800.”

— Lisa J. Lickel, Author, The Map Quest

 “It's no wonder Elaine Marie Cooper is an award-winning author. Her writing shines with an artistic flair to blend deep-heart issues with light romance, love and adventure. Danny and Susannah capture the heart with their innocent love, yet honor and faith. Their story resonates with courage, commitment, faith and victory.”

—Janet Perez Eckles, Author, Simply Salsa

Legacy of Deer Run is a truly beautiful, heart-warming tale that will appeal to readers who enjoy historical romantic Christian fiction.

—    Lynn Dove, Author, the Wounded Trilogy

Author Bio:

Elaine Marie Cooper is the author of The Road to Deer Run (Finalist in Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Religious Fiction, Honorable Mention in Romance at 2011 Los Angeles Book Festival) and The Promise of Deer Run (Romance Winner for 2012 Los Angeles Book Festival, Finalist in Religious Fiction for ForeWord Review Book of the Year).

Cooper is also a contributing writer for Fighting Fear: Winning the War at Home by Edie Melson. Look for her upcoming short story, “The Tea Set,” that will appear in a soon-to-be-released Christmas anthology called, I Choose You (Dec. 2012) She is a wife, mom, Grammie to triplets, and a registered nurse.

Contact Info:

http://www.facebook.com/elainemariecooper
http://www.facebook.com/ElaineMarieCooperAuthor
Website: http://DeerRunBooks.com
 

 

 

 

 

NaNoWriMo and Historical Fiction

So, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is 7 days old. I have 5950 words in those days. I'm feeling way behind, BUT I have discovered an important reason for such a problem.

I write historical fiction. DUH! I have to do research while I am writing. For example, in Colonial Dream, my hero and heroine have immigrated to the Colonies in 1773. They are about to celebrate Christmas. Well, I spent 12 years down the road from Colonial Williamsburg. They are all about a big Christmas observance with their Grand Illumination, natural fruit and greenery for wreaths, candles in the windows, etc. However, my story begins in Boston. I thought it would be a good idea to see if Boston traditions at this time were different.

That's when I ran into the big obstacle! If you remember your Thanksgiving lore, you remember that the Massachusetts Bay Colony was settled by Puritans. These Puritans came to America for religious freedom to worship the way they wanted, which they proceeded to force on the all of the members of the colony. One of the tenets of their faith required the NON-celebration of Christmas. In fact, it was illegal to celebrate Christmas in Masschusetts until 1681! Even the changing of the law did not change the cultural beliefs of the area. Citizens were actively discouraged from celebrating Christmas.

Why? As always, all the reasons are probably unknown. One big reason involved the fact that the original celebration of the winter solstice was a pagan event. The greenery and other customs were brought into Christianity and mingled with a birth of Christ holiday. The pagan roots caused the Puritans to shun the celebration. In addition, the Bible does not record a celebration of the birth of Christ, so the "pure" reading of Scripture excluded such observance. In addition, the name of the holiday harkened back to Catholicism since it's meaning is "Christ Mass". Protestant groups rejected much that was tinged with Catholicism. Eventually the Puritans observed the religious significance of the holiday in church services

Another bit of research then concerns how the Welsh celebrated Christmas before coming to America. Some of their traditions included caroling, wassailing, taffy making on Christmas Eve, decorating with greenery (hanging the greens), burning a large yule log, and feasting. It sounds like the 18th century Welsh did it all at Christmas.

I think my characters will have to celebrate a Welsh Christmas behind closed doors. All of this research is quite interesting to read and to share with my readers. But none of it creates word count for NaNoWriMo! Even writing this blog doesn't count, though it does help me to be ready to write this afternoon.