Monday, July 15, 2013

'Dawning', a debut novel by Olivia Stocum



Historical Romance set in the Scottish Highlands --- available through Amazon on Kindle or in paperback.

Scotland, 1599 . . .   

He abandoned her. She had failed to be enough for him. The empty space he left behind hollowed out her heart, and she wondered what to do with the rest of her life. 

When Ronan leaves the clan to seek his fortune, Triona fears she will never see him again. Four years later, a threat against her life forces her to depend on a mysterious, cloaked rogue known as Blackhawk. 

She knows he is capable of protecting her, but what is he hiding? Why does he refuse to show his face?   



Visit Olivia's website: 
www.theclaymoreandsurcoat.com

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Kathy Boyd Fellure's Children's Books


1) When the Birdies Came to Tea  ~ Book 1

The oldest Blake sisters ~ Susannah and Katie, who are the same age one week every year, are celebrating their fifth and sixth birthdays in a most unusual way. Nana has planned a tea party but asks the girls to give gifts instead of receiving them, to new friends she has invited.
Katie is confused about this undesirable concept and tries to discover who these kids are and why they want to ruin the party.
She is certain it is the Stink Boys from down the road, until the new friends begin flying in...



2) Mr. Snowman Ate Our Picnic Lunch  ~ Book 2

The youngest Blake sisters, Kelsey and Sharon, are left behind at the grandparent's cabin after their parents take the four older sisters on a ski trip. They soon forget their disappointment when Nana and Papa suggest they build their first snowman.
So the fun begins with hot cocoa and gingerbread cookies, a snowball fight, and chasing a doe and her fawn around the cabin.
The girls picnic lunch disappears and the youngest sister thinks the snowman ate it because he's holding a half-sandwich with a bite missing in his pine-cone-thumb and pine-branch-finger hand. The older sister disagrees. Then who did?



Bear Cub Adventure ~ Book 3

The middle Blake sisters, Marsha and Becky, get to go on a camping trip to Sugar Pine Point State Park, ALONE with their parents! Unfortunately they are surprised to find out the cub scout, Stinky Boys are going on the hike with them. Why would the girls parents leave their sisters behind and invite the neighbors?
Trek along with the trail with these two families and meet the critters they encounter along the way, including a mama bear and her cub, and learn a few lessons every camper should know.
(Wonderful illustrations of a porcupine, beaver, skunk, raccoons, owl, deer, fish, and one more bear cub than expected)


Nana's Tin of Buttons ~ Book 4

The six Blake sisters are once again visiting their grandparent's Lake Tahoe cabin while waiting for their new sibling to be born.
What can the bored girls do for fun on a rainy day?
Nana suggests they make button necklaces and tells them the story behind the buttons in her tin. At first the sisters aren't thrilled but they soon have a change of heart and each girl designs her own personalized necklace.
The sun comes out the next day so Papa piles everyone in the car for a drive around Lake Tahoe while they continue to wait for news about the baby.
Will the baby be a brother or another sister?
The girls visit their favorite Tahoe sites and return to a wonderful surprise.

 ******************

Kathy Boyd Fellure is the second born of eight daughters in a writing family.
Her parents began reading to their girls and never stopped, continually adding books to children's bookcase even the wee ones were free to explore.
Kathy began writing stories in elementary school and continued through high school and college. Her first published words were in the non-fiction genre; slice of life, freelance newspaper reporting, and church columns.
After dabbling in poetry and song lyrics while stationed for three years in England with her military husband, she dipped her toes in the fiction genre and dove into the deep waters for a long swim.

The Blake Sisters Lake Tahoe Adventure Stories are beautifully illustrated children's story books for ages 4 - 8, or to 100 as her faithful readers proclaim. These historical accounts of Tahoe, California from 1959 - 1969, are rich in family values and honest sibling interactions. A teaching page ends each story with fun and interesting facts to learn and share.

Kathy's contemporary women's novels, On the Water's Edge, are represented by Wendy Lawton of Books & Such Literary Agency. The first novel is completed and presently being shopped, the work-in-progress is at a 50,000 word count, and Kathy plans to start the third this fall. These are also Lake Tahoe stories with a hint of romance, and struggles that lead to searching for the only One that can bring truth and salvation to overcome fear, unforgivness, and abandonment.

You can contact Kathy at the websites listed below and on Facebook and Twitter.
Kathy serves as the Distribution Editor for Manzanita Writer's Press, she is the founder of Amador Writer's Critique Group, (which hosts an annual literary read and is listed in the Jerry B. Jenkins 2013 Christian Writer's Marker Guide) and a member of ACFW and Inspire Christian Writer's. She teaches children's writing workshops for conferences and is available for guest speaking at retreats and writing seminars in both the children's and novel genres.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kathy-Boyd-Fellure-Author-Novelist-Photographer/175372235871102

https://twitter.com/KathBoydFellure

www.kathyboydfellure.com

    
      

Monday, June 24, 2013

Two new novels by Kathi Macias



The Moses Quilt is a contemporary novel that bridges racial and generational divides. With a realistic and compassionate look into a twenty-first-century dilemma, multiple award-winning author Kathi Macias introduces readers to a confused and apprehensive young woman, Mazie Hartford. 

Facing major decisions about the love of her life and her future, she must also wrestle with a nagging question about her family’s past. She finds the answer to her questions in a most unexpected way—her great-grandmother’s Moses quilt. 

As her great-grandmother begins to explain how each patch represents a story of courage and freedom, Mazie must decide if she has the courage and freedom to overcome her own personal fears and prejudices.

 
 Welcome to Bloomfield, where life is simple, love is real, and stories are shared. Lynn Myers is still reeling from losing her husband of thirty-five years when word comes that her only sibling, an older brother, has also died. With no one else to settle the estate, she must return to her small hometown of Bloomfield, however briefly, to settle his affairs.

Lynn’s daughter, Rachel, has just graduated from Bible college and with no other commitments comes along to sort through her uncle’s huge old home, right next to the local cemetery.

It isn't long before Rachel has two men -- a handsome CPA and the youth pastor -- seriously vying for her attention. At the same time, Lynn's attention is drawn to a set of journals her brother has left behind detailing a long-standing Bloomfield mystery. As they pursue solving this mystery, Rachel must make some personal decisions about her future, while Lynn is forced to face unexpected issues from her own past.



 Kathi's Amazon page: http://tinyurl.com/n85fecj



 Visit Kathi's website:  http://kathimacias.com/

Monday, June 17, 2013

Laughing with Lily by Eileen Hinkle Rife

A long-buried secret. An unexpected encounter. A quest for answers. Celeste Tatem, a special-education teacher at The Brighton Center in Schreiber, Indiana, couldn't be more in love with her husband, Joe. But the memory of one day in the past haunts her, threatening their relationship. When Joe dies in a factory explosion, she sinks into depression. It will take the arrival of a new student, Lily, and her delightful honesty, laughter, and joy at life's little things to awaken Celeste to hope.

When Don, an old flame from college, reenters Celeste's world, the flickers of love stir once again, and startling questions arise. Questions that threaten to rip the veneer off of her carefully guarded secret. Then the most unexpected thing of all happens.... A story of love and forgiveness in the most unexpected places.

Amazon in ebook and paperback: http://tinyurl.com/kcwyojk

Visit Eileen's website:  http://www.eileenrife.com/

Monday, June 10, 2013

McKenna's Daughters Series by Lena Nelson Dooley


Maggie's Journey ~ book 1

Near her eighteenth birthday, Margaret Lenora Caine finds a chest hidden in the attic containing proof that she was adopted. The daughter of wealthy merchants in Seattle, she feels betrayed both by her real parents and by the ones who raised her.
Maggie desires a place where she belongs. But her mother’s constant criticism and reminders that she doesn't fit the mold of a young woman of their social standing have already created tension in their home. With the discovery of the family secret, all sense of her identity is lost.
When Maggie asks to visit her grandmother in Arkansas, her father agrees on the condition that she take her Aunt Georgia as a chaperone and his young partner, Charles Stanton, as protection on the journey. Will she discover who she really is and, more importantly, what truly matters most in life?
 Mary’s Blessing ~ book 2
When her mother dies, Mary Lenora must grow up quickly to take care of her brothers and sisters. Can love help her to shoulder the burden?
Mary Lenora Murray knows she is adopted. As she was growing up, her mother called her “God’s blessing.” But now that she’s gone, Mary no longer feels like any kind of blessing. Her father, in his grief, has cut himself off from the family, leaving the running of the home entirely in Mary’s hands.
As she nears her eighteenth birthday, Mary can’t see anything in her future but drudgery. Then her childhood friend Daniel begins to court her, promising her a life of riches and ease. But her fairy-tale dreams turn to dust when her family becomes too much for Daniel, and he abandons her in her time of deepest need.
Will Daniel come to grips with God’s plan for him? And if he does return, can Mary trust that this time he will really follow through?
Catherine's Pursuit ~ book 3
Raised by her father, Catherine McKenna has never lacked for anything, surrounded by people to take care of her every need. On her eighteenth birthday she discovers that not only did her mother die when she was born, but she has two identical sisters. Although her father vowed not to look for his daughters, Catherine made no such promise. Setting out on her own with one clue and her maid in tow, she's determined to find her sisters.
Collin Elliott has seen better days. After losing his ship to a violent and unexpected storm, he is trying to recover--physically and emotionally. When Angus McKenna sends him to find, follow, and protect his daughter, he wants nothing more than to finish his task and return home. Can he help her find her sisters?
And will the discoveries they make along the way teach them both what's most important in life?
 
Lena Nelson Dooley is an award-winning author with more than 650,000 books in print. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers—where she received the Mentor of the Year award in 2006—DFW Ready Writers, and Christian Authors Network. She lives in Hurst, Texas, with her husband of over 45 years.

Monday, June 3, 2013

The Chamomile by Susan F. Craft



 Lilyan joins Patriot spies in British-occupied Charlestown, SC, to rescue her brother from a notorious prison ship. She'll lie, steal, kill or be killed she promises Nicholas Xanthakos, a scout with Francis Marion's partisans, who leads the mission. In Nicholas' arms she discovers enduring love...a home. But that home is a long time coming. Her journey requires she save the life of one British officer but kill another to protect her Cherokee friend Elizabeth. In escaping bounty hunters, she treks miles of wilderness and very nearly loses everything before finally reuniting with her true love.

 A history lover, Susan F. Craft researches for her novels with the same excitement as Alan Quartermain hunting for King Solomon's Mines and with the persistence of Lewis and Clark. She enjoys the chase when a clue leads her from one "treasure" to the next, to the next.

A South Carolinian, Susan has a degree in Broadcast Journalism. Her 40-year career includes working for SC Educational Television, the SC Department of Mental Health, the SC College of Pharmacy, and currently for the SC Senate. The Chamomile, published by Ingalls Publishing Group, was released in November 2011 and is the fourth book she has authored. The first two were S.C. State Library award-winning professional works in the field of mental health, and the third, self-published in 2006, is A Perfect Tempest, a historical fiction set in Columbia during the Civil War.

Susan is a member of Romance Writers of America, the American Christian Fiction Writers, The Historical Novel Society, the S.C. Writers Workshop, the SC Historical Society, the Robert Burns Society, the Colonial American Christian Writers, and the Inkplots, a writers' critique group. Her short stories have been published in four of the group's collections.

The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance selected The Chamomile as a Fall 2011 Okra Pick, recognizing it as a top novel of the season.


Susan's Website: http://www.susanfcraft.com/