Showing posts with label Author Guest Post. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Author Guest Post. Show all posts

3.23.2020

Guest Post from Author Bonnie Leon with Book Spotlight

Today Blooming with Books is hosting author Bonnie Leon.

Enjoy this guest post from her:


Do you ever feel as if you can’t do one more thing? That life is just too much? It’s too hard? You’re too busy? You’re overwhelmed? In these trying times, my guess is that many of us find ourselves in such a place.

Writers often feel this way, even in the best of times. And when life throws something awful our way the weight of it all can feel too heavy, be too great a burden.

Writing books is a solitary endeavor, usually. Most of us don’t mind that. In fact, being a novelist in today’s publishing world forces many of us out of our comfortable dens.

There was a time when novelists “just” wrote. Mostly.

Today writers are also now advertising experts, bloggers, publishers,
researchers, secretaries, bookkeepers, speakers, social media experts ...
and they are also mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, caretakers. Writers
work other jobs and serve in their churches and communities. They have
families that need them and long to-do lists that have nothing to do with
writing.

Yet, at the end of our very long days we are expected to have minds that
can think creatively and if we hope to craft a novel we need the energy to
labor through the hours that make up the months required to get to the
place where we write The End.

I’m certain God called me to write, but I’m also convinced that he didn’t
expect me to kill myself doing it. We as writers need to realize that none of
us are required to work ourselves into the ground.

I long to write great novels, to lose myself in unique and interesting tales,
and to get caught up in the lives of characters that I care about. But that
doesn’t always happen. The blaring horn of the world distracts me.

I cannot ignore the hubbub. So much of it matters too. The diversions,
mysteries, heartaches, and the fun are also part of life. If we anchor
ourselves to our desks and skip those pieces we really aren’t living at all.

We need time of quiet to listen to the hush of the forest or the humming
noise of the city, time with friends and family, time to take in the moments
with a child that will never come again—laughter and tears—we need to live
it all, no matter what job we are called to.

I marvel at those who live quietly in the ebb and flow of life. Those who
don’t fight the tide, but allow it to carry them out to sea and then rest when
washed into a quiet pool. Can I find my way to such a place, in the quiet
presence of the lord or in the friendship of someone who comes alongside,
and in the confidence of releasing a pursuit and learning not to strive so
hard?

And what about all the writerly things I need to do? I’m still sorting that out.
I can’t do it all and instinctively know that I should focus on what comes
naturally, to do the things I enjoy and to write what I feel passionate about.
If I do that, the tasks are not a burden, but an opportunity to create.

As part of God’s family, we need to encourage and uplift one another. As a
writer, I need to hear from fellow writers and from readers. Words of
understanding and encouragement can brighten a dark day.

Only in the presence of God can we truly find contentment and gratitude
about who we are, where we are and what we do. It’s good to be in the
place God plants us. He knows our hearts like no other, and in Him we are
able to find peace and rest. And are able to write another day.


More about Bonnie Leon:
Bonnie Leon is the author of twenty-two novels, including the recently released One
Hundred Valleys, the popular Alaskan Skies and bestselling The Journey of Eleven Moons.

Bonnie’s books are being read internationally and she hears from readers in Australia,
Europe, Poland, and even Africa. She enjoys speaking for women’s groups and mentoring up
and coming authors.

Bonnie and her husband, Greg, live in Southern Oregon. They have three grown children

and seven grandchildren.

Unveiling Truth Through Fiction

Now Available for purchase: One Hundred Valleys

After the death of her mother, Emmalin Hammond discovers she is not the heiress she’d always
assumed she’d be. The revelation exposes her fiancĂ©’s true intentions when he withdraws his
marriage proposal, leaving Emmalin heartbroken and humiliated. When she discovers the father she believed to be dead is still alive and living in the Oregon Territory she decides it is time to meet the man who has been hidden from her all of her life.

Accompanied by her Uncle Jonathon, she sets out for the Oregon Territory in search of answers and hoping for a renewed relationship with her father. When tragedy strikes, she confronts the terrifying challenge of completing her quest alone. Faced with few options, she entrusts her life to a mountain man named Jacob Landon who agrees to transport her to a small settlement in Southern Oregon called Deer Creek, a place also known as the Land of One Hundred Valleys.

Emmalin is not prepared for the hardships of life in the Oregon wilderness. Each day presents a new challenge. Newfound friends, including the reserved Jacob Landon, who unexpectedly stirs her heart, come alongside to help her adapt. Yet she feels out of place. Should she brave the arduous journey back to Philadelphia for the life she once knew or remain and hope for something better in the Oregon wilderness?

Other titles by Bonnie Leon:

              The Journey of Eleven Moons  
              Return to the Misty Shore
              In the Land of White Nights, book two in the Northern Lights series.
              To Dance With Dolphins

11.14.2019

The Duke's Second Chance Blog Hop ~ Snippet with Guest Post and Giveaway



About the Book:
Series: Lords for the Sisters of Sussex
Genre:  Adult, Historical, Regency, Romance
Publisher: Indie
Publication date: October 8, 2019

Second chances often come from surprising places. 
Will the Duke find another chance at love when 
everything seems to be combining against him?

Gerald feels as though he’s lost everything when his wife takes her last breath.
Amelia’s world turns upside down when the Duke of Granbury steps into her tea shop and leaves with her heart.
But when a secret from Amelia’s past unveils possibilities, will the duke get a second chance at love from an unexpected source?
Buy this first book in a Regency romance series for a taste of deep loyal friendship, beautiful second chances, and the path to heal a heart.
Look for the other books in the series:
The Earl’s Winning Wager
Her Lady’s Whims and Fancies
Suitors for the Proper Miss
Pining for Lord Lockhart
The Foibles and Follies of Miss Grace

About the Author:

jen johnson headshot
An award-winning author, including the GOLD in Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, Jen Geigle Johnson discovered her passion for England while kayaking on the Thames near London as a young teenager.

She once greeted an ancient turtle under the water by grabbing her fin. She knows all about the sound a water-ski makes on glassy water and how to fall down steep moguls with grace. During a study break date in college, she sat on top of a jeep’s roll bars up in the mountains and fell in love.

Now, she loves to share bits of history that might otherwise be forgotten. Whether in Regency England, the French Revolution, or Colonial America, her romance novels are much like life is supposed to be: full of adventure.

Guest Post:

Why did I write a romance that begins with such sadness?
If you did feel sad at the beginning of my book, I apologize. But I’m also so honored that you would immerse yourself enough in the characters and their lives that they should matter. I am creating a family, a set of characters that we can stick with for a year or more as I write the books of more of these characters. As I considered the Duke and his second chance, I just didn’t think it would be possible to appreciate what he was going through unless we experienced a bit of it with him. Telling you the poor man had lost a wife whom he loved dearly doesn’t have the same impact as seeing him cradle her in his arms. And while I can’t think of the moment without my own tears forming, his second chance is sweeter because of that sadness.

Amelia’s situation hasn’t been easy either. We don’t experience the trials her parents went through as her mother ran off with a baker. We don’t see the shunning, the hiding, and the hopes they all felt when setting up a new establishment, the tea shoppe. We don’t see the years of feeling as though she were less important than all the many nobles she served every day. We just see a good souled woman who is willing to help a man in his grief.

In the beginning, they could never have formed any kind of relationship. But as he continued to look to her for help, as his lodestone, a relationship can develop. How beautiful that her moment of realization, that her father’s need for someone to take care of his daughter, should all come about when the duke too, was ready for his second chance. Do you believe that life is sometimes orchestrated in just such a way? That our very happiness can at times be in the hands of someone who takes care in the way things work out?

And then at the end of the book, we see an intriguing moment when the duke loses a game of cards on purpose, gifting the properties and the family of sisters into the hands of Morley, his best friend. I can’t wait to see what happens with the beginnings of that story. Here we go friends! Join me as we get to know these beautiful people, their hardships and their joys. 

Snippet:

The duchess’s labor had started in the carriage while returning to their London townhome. Perhaps her pinched face and general malaise during the earlier parts of the day should have clued the duke in that all was not right, but she gave no complaint, and now he was left only to wish she had expressed a word or two of her condition. He’d carried her himself into her room, her gowns wet through. At last on her bed, he was relieved she would be in the hands of someone more experienced than he who knew how to care for her. But as he brushed the hair from her forehead, as he gazed on his beloved’s face, he couldn’t bear to part, not yet, not with her in the utmost misery.
Gerald clasped his wife’s hands in his own, hoping the strength of his love for her would scare away the pain.
Her face pinched, and she doubled over, large drops of sweat falling off her forehead. “Don’t leave!”
“I’m here. Our illustrious midwife will have to unleash her dragon claws on me before I leave.”
That brought a tiny laugh from his wife which gratified Gerald to no end. He tried to keep up a form of banter with Camilla who was clenched in the pains of childbirth, but in truth, if she wasn’t gripping him so tightly, everyone in the room would see the trembling in his own limbs. She cried out. “It’s getting worse. Is this supposed to happen?” Her eyes, wide with terror, made him frantic.
“Someone do something!” He had tried to find his deep barreling voice but the order came out more of a squeak than anything.
The midwife sidled up to him, “Pardon me, Your Grace. If I may?” She attempted to separate their hands, but he and Camilla resisted, gripping tighter. She continued, “She is doing wonderfully. Her body is performing just as we would expect it to. Everything is progressing as it should. Soon you will have a new baby.”
Camilla rolled toward him onto her side, moaning and writhing on the bed.
“If I might?” The midwife gently tried again to pry their fingers apart, but Camilla clung to him. “No.” Her no came out as a long drawn out syllable and he almost stepped back in fear. But her grip on him offered no mercy, and no movement.
“I’m here.” He stated his determination to remain at her side. Though even to himself, his tone sounded less sure.
He hesitated one more moment, then Camilla screamed as though she were on a torture rack and released his hands, clutching instead the soothing cool fingers of their midwife, her cooing tones soothed Gerald as much as Camilla.
Gerald scooted further away. The door opened behind him. “Your Grace. I came as soon as I could.”
Gerald turned. “Dr. Miller. Thank you for coming.”
The doctor held the door open for him. “I’m presuming you were on your way out?”
Gerald nodded. “Yes, quite.” Just for a moment he would step into the hallway.
His wife turned eyes to him, beautiful, shining eyes full of love. “I shall be finished shortly they tell me.” Then her body clenched again and she curled into a ball. “Make it stop. Please make this stop.”
“I love you, Camilla.”
She waved him away, clenched in apparent agony.
The doctor shooed him out the door and before it closed firmly behind him, Gerald heard a quiet, “I love you too.” Gerald leaned up against it, breathing heavily. What a daft thing to do, impregnate his wife. What in the blazes was he thinking doing such a thing to them both? He closed his eyes, her scream audible through the thick door.
“Oh this will not do.” His friend’s voice lessened the strain that wound inside Gerald like a tight net.
Gerald whipped his eyes open, a welcoming smile interrupting the pain of his moment. “Cousin Morley. I’ve ruined her. She’ll never forgive me, I’m certain, and she’s in the most incredible pain.”
Another scream interrupted. The door flung open and a maid ran out, carrying linens and a bucket. The door shut firmly after her.
Morley gripped his shoulder. “Come, man. This is not the place for husbands. Wives always seem just fine after it’s all over.”
“I don’t know. She seemed determined I stay by her. I’m taking a break.” He swallowed.
“No, they say that at first, but what woman wants you to see her like that? It’s only going to get worse. You should have seen my sister’s household. The whole place was in a upheaval, everyone thinking their lady was going to fire them all.”
Morley considered his friend's words. “And when it was over, she was recovered?”
“Certainly. She was in the best of moods, gave them all an increase in pay.” Morley put an arm across his shoulder. “Come. We don’t belong anywhere near her. It’s off to the study with your fine brandy.”
Gerald nodded. “Indeed. That sounds like just the thing.” He hesitated a moment more and then allowed the goodwill of his dearest friend to lead him along to a brighter manner in which to pass the time.
The farther away from her bedroom, the more the fibers of worry lessened, and Gerald told himself his wife was in the best of hands, that women gave birth all the time and that surely she would be well. He pushed away a persistent, niggling worry that something terrible was happening, pushed it as far as he could. For just as his friend said, what more could he do? She would be well soon enough and he could meet his son or daughter. Their lives would continue as before.
Morley made himself comfortable in the study as he always did. Leaning back in his favorite chair, he said, “Remember when we convinced Joe that his cow was about to give birth?”
Gerald snorted, almost losing his mouthful of brandy. “Clueless Joe believed us, with not a bull in sight on their estate.”
Morley laughed and raised his cup in the air. “To Joe.”
“To Joe.”
They downed their cups, and Morley poured two new ones.
“Thanks for being here.”
“Would I miss the best thing you’ve ever done?”
Gerald eyed him with suspicion. “That sounds very sentimental…”
“We hope. If your child is anything like Her Grace, then we’re sure of you doing a service to society…”
“And if the child’s like me?”
“Then we’ve just inflicted society with another Campbell, and I don’t know how I feel about that.”
“Being a Campbell yourself.”
“Precisely. I know what a pox we are on the land.”
Gerald downed his second cup, grateful for a reason to laugh. “Tell me cousin. Will there ever be another Campbell in your life?”
“If my mother has anything to say on the matter.”
“And what say you? Surely someone has caught your eye?”
Morley looked away, his face drawn in an uncharacteristic frown. “I’ve found women to be nothing more than a silly, grappling means of entrapment.” He coughed. “Present wives excluded.”
Gerald sympathized with his friend. Finding a woman to marry should not be so difficult. He felt supremely lucky, blessed, in his marriage to Camilla. They had fallen in love straight away, both of them happy to pursue a courtship, their parents pleased, society approving, but he knew it wasn’t so easy for most people.
“Come, man. I shall devote the next bit of my life to making you the happiest of men.”
Morley held up his hands and shook his head. “Assistance not necessary. In fact, quite unwelcome.”
“Think nothing of it. I want you just as happily situated as I am, for marriage has brought nothing but the best of feelings. Today’s activities aside, naturally.”
A man cleared his throat in the doorway.

Giveaway

TDSC Blog Hop Giveaway
Enter the giveaway HERE.
Giveaway ends November 18 at 11:59pm MT.

Giveaway is subject to policies HERE.

Tour Schedule

Check out the tour schedule HERE.

9.03.2019

Fatal Memories ~ Review with Author Guest Post and Giveaway

WELCOME TO THE FATAL MEMORIES Blog Tour 
hosted by SLB Tours



Fatal Memories
Fatal Memories
By Tanya Stowe

Jocelyn (Joss) Walker can't remember anything. Her name is gone. Her friends, not a clue who they are. And her brother, she doesn't even know she had one. And worse she was found in a suspected drug-running tunnel with a large supply of drugs. Is she guilty? Or is she being set-up?

DEA Agent Dylan Murphy is determined to discover the truth. And Joss's behavior over the last few days has him convinced that she was hiding something. But is it relevant to the case that he was sent from Washington to handle? Could Joss be a traitor in their midsts? He'll find out and if that means using her vulnerability to trigger a memory he'll do it. He'll just have to tread carefully so as to protect himself and his heart after all he is one a mission to bring down those who caused his sister's death.


Fatal Memories is an action-packed read that you'll want to read more than once. Do you love mysteries, suspense, and romance that is clean reading? Well, Fatal Memories is all of that and a page-turner to keep you reading on the promise of  "Just one more chapter." So find a favorite cozy corner to snuggle into with a pot of tea nearby and get lost between the pages for a few hours of delightful reading. 


Before this book, I was unfamiliar with Tanya Stowe's work and I can say with all honesty she's an author I will be checking out in the future. This book is a standalone so if you don't want to be drawn into a series this is a great intro to an author you too may be unfamiliar with.


I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by the author with no expectations or requirements - all thoughts expressed are my honest opinion and thoughts.


About the Book:
Series: Love Inspires Suspense
Genre: Christian, Inspirational, Romance, Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Publication date: September 1, 2019

 She was framed! Or was she? 
If only she could remember...

Border patrol agent Jocelyn Walker has no memory of how she turned up unconscious with a cache of drugs—or why a gang is dead set on killing her. With evidence stacking up against her, Joss takes refuge with driven DEA agent Dylan Murphy, who guards—and suspects— her. But will finally trusting each other lead them into a trap they’ll never escape?

About the Author

Bio Pic -Tanya Stowe
Tanya Stowe is an author of Christian Fiction with an unexpected edge. She fills her stories with the unusual…mysteries and exotic adventures, even a murder or two. No matter where Tanya takes you…on a trip to foreign lands or a suspenseful journey filled with danger…be prepared for the extraordinary.

Author Guest Post

Race to the Finish

I love to travel and experience new things. My husband and I lived in the Middle East for two years and we traveled through Oman, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Italy. I loved every minute of our time abroad. I’m also a pretty competitive person. I played tennis and now that I’m older, I play pickleball so a “race to the finish” is a phrase I know well. Writing action and adventure comes easy to me. So, when I first began to write romantic suspense, I thought it would be a quick transition to “race to survive.” 

At first it was fairly simple…until I began to write for the Love Inspired Suspense line. Suspense at LIS means danger and action on every page…starting on page one! Even this “race to the finish” gal had to step up her game. 

I had to learn how to insert that sense of “danger lurking around the corner” in every scene, even the quiet romantic scenes of love’s first kiss or the heartbreaking moments of a faith-filled confession. Those tender touching parts are why we read romance, but in a romantic suspense, there must still be that sense of the “ticking clock,” that feeling that if they don’t work together, they will both lose the ultimate race and their lives.

In Fatal MemoriesI found a very unique tool to keep us, (yes, myself included) on the edge of our seats. My heroine, Joss Walker has amnesia. When she wakes for her coma, the hero, Dylan Murphy is right there, holding her hand and supporting her. When a drug gang attempts to kill Joss, Dylan becomes the anchor in her life. But right from the beginning, Dylan believes Joss has betrayed her duty and is guilty of a crime. The closer Joss and Dylan came to danger, the closer Joss comes to finding out that Dylan never trusted her. 

Talk about a ticking clock! Between the attempts on Joss’ life, her faith crisis and doubts about Dylan, I had more than enough suspense to carry me through to the end. I hope you think so too!

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Giveaway

Fatal Memories Tour Giveaway
Enter the giveaway HERE.
Giveaway ends September 7 at 11:59pm MT.
 Giveaway is subject to policies HERE.
Enter the giveaway HERE.


Tour Schedule

September 2 
Heidi Reads…
Pause for Tales
September 3 
Remembrancy
Jorie Loves A Story
Blooming with Books
Kat's Corner Books
September 4 
Tell Tale Book Reviews
By The Book
Edits and Reviews by Leslie
September 5 
Mindy Houng
Hallie Reads
Red Headed Book Lady
September 6 
Life Is What It’s Called
Reading Is My SuperPower

Check out the tour schedule and links HERE.

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