Friday, January 31, 2014

Scraps of Evidence by Barbara Cameron


When Tess Villanova's best friend, Samantha, is murdered on Senior Prom night, Tess sets her mind and heart to finding her killer. Now, at age 28, she is a detective with the St. Augustine Police department and has just joined forces with a new partner--the handsome Logan McMillan. Logan is new to sunny Florida, so, along with solving a horrific murder, the partners investigate many of the local eateries and take in the sights of the historic town-- St. Augustine actually seemed like one of the characters, with its old world charm and tourist attractions.

Tess' Aunt Susan is more like a mother than an aunt to Tess, owns a quilt shop, and shares her love of the craft of quilting with Tess. Quilting helps Tess unwind from the stress of "the job". Her latest has become something of a "quilt therapy" project to honor her friend Samantha.

Scraps of Evidence falls on the edgier side of the Quilts of Love line published by Abingdon Press. Along with the presence of a serial killer are themes of domestic abuse that lend a darker feel to the series.

Barbara Cameron knows how to put the pieces together in a page turner/romance that fans of detective stories will love.

This is a winner!
For more about Scraps of Evidence and Barbara Cameron read on!



This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Scraps of Evidence

Abingdon Press (January 21, 2014)

by

Barbara Cameron


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


A Word from the author:



CBD, CBA, and ECPA bestselling author of 35 books (including new series upcoming for Abingdon Press in 2011/2012) including fiction and non-fiction books for Abingdon Press, Thomas Nelson, Harlequin, and other publishers.


I sold three films to HBO/Cinemax and am the first winner of the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award.


My two novellas won the 2nd and 3rd place in the Inspirational Readers Choice Contest from the Faith, Love, and Hope chapter of RWA. Both were finalists for the novella category of the Carol Award of the American Christian Writers Award (ACFW).


ABOUT THE BOOK



Tess has taken some ribbing from her fellow officer, Logan, for her quilting hobby. He finds it hard to align the brisk professional officer he patrols with during the day with the one who quilts in her off-time. Besides, he’s been trying to get to know her better and he’d like to be seeing her during those few nights a week she spends with her quilting guild. Then one afternoon Tess and Logan visit her aunt in the nursing home, and the woman acts agitated when Tess covers her with the story quilt. Aunt Susan is attempting to communicate a message to them about Tess’s uncle. There’s a story behind this quilt, they realize, one that may lead them to a serial killer. Will they have a chance to have a future together, or will the killer choose Tess for his next victim before they find him?


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


Friday, January 24, 2014

For the Love of Pete by Debby Mayne


For the love of Pete is a gentle novel in B&H Publishing's Bloomfield series. This one focuses on Bethany Hanahan, a middle aged widow, who returns to her home town after her husband dies of cancer. She is overwhelmed by loss, her overbearing mother, and a boatload of figurines. The clutter in her life reflects her low self esteem and perpetuates an inability to move on with her own life.

Pete is a sweetheart of a guy who has always had a thing for Bethany, and remained single in part because she was his ideal. He is also very organized...

Will Pete and Bethany be able to overcome the meddlers and the clutter in time to see what really matters?

I think that For the Love of Pete would appeal (especially) to empty nesters and women who like books about small town life.

On a personal note, I could relate to Bethany's feelings of insecurity and have been guilty of holding onto things because of sentimental or a perceived "value"... come to think of it, I still struggle with letting go of stuff...

For more information please read the following information from the wonderful people at B&H Publishing. :)




This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

For the Love of Pete

B&H Books (January 15, 2014)

by

Debby Mayne


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:




Debby Mayne is a best-selling author who has published more than 25 books and novellas, 400 short stories and articles, and devotions for women. She has also worked as managing editor of a national health magazine, product information writer for HSN, a creative writing instructor, and a copy editor and proofreader. Her novel, Love Finds You in Treasure Island, Florida received 4-1/2 stars from RT Book Review, and was named a Top Pick for the month of July. She and her husband Wally have two grown daughters, and live in Palm Harbor, Florida.


ABOUT THE BOOK



Widow Bethany Hanahan is trying in vain to fill an empty heart and an empty nest. The result is a home filled to the brim, but something is still missing. That’s when her new gardening club friends come to the rescue, encouraging her to let go of the past as well as the present clutter –emotional, spiritual, and physical. It’s not long before Bethany is finding friends, not bargains, to fill her days. But has her life become too full for someone like Pete Sprockett, a childhood friend, for whom her romantic feelings are beginning to bloom? Join the quirky, loving community of Bloomfield as they do what they do best – poke their well-meaning noses in and intervene in times of need –in author Debby Mayne’s second novel in what has become a five book series about a community where life is simple and love is real.



If you'd like to read the first chapter of For the Love of Pete, go HERE.


Friday, January 10, 2014

Songs of the Shenandoah by Michael K. Reynolds

Songs of the Shenandoah is the third and final book in the Heirs of Ireland series. The series chronicles an Irish family that comes to America to escape the potato famine but find different challenges as America's growing pains threaten the very fabric of their new homeland.

Issues such as slavery and succession inadvertently divide the Hanley family as the North and the South are set on a collision course of destruction and bloodshed.

Clare is the glue that has held the family together, but her husband's New York newspaper is falling apart fast as advertisers pull their support in protest of its stand against slavery.

Seamus and Ashlyn have moved to Ashlyn's abandoned family farm in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, the breadbasket of the Confederacy. Seamus' faith is shaken due to some disasters and feels like a failure.

Youngest brother Davin struck it rich in California, but at what personal cost?

I loved this book. The characters are well drawn and complex. Mr. Reynolds' research helped me to understand another layer of the Civil War. For instance, I was unaware of the exploitation of the Irish--they were given a flag and placed on the front lines. He also explored the reality of good and bad people on both sides of the Mason Dixon line.

This is Christian fiction that anyone could read and enjoy. It would also be a great "stand alone".
For more about Michael K. Reynolds and this book, please read the following information!




This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Songs of the Shenandoah

B&H Books (January 1, 2014)


by

Michael Reynolds


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:



Michael K. Reynolds is a writer with more than two decades of experience in crafting fiction, non-fiction, journalism, copywriting and documentary production. He is the author of a series of Irish historical novels published by B&H Publishing Group. These highly acclaimed books are available in bookstores and libraries across the nation and beyond.

Michael is the writer and producer of an Emmy and Telly award-winning series of documentaries titled, Crystal Darkness. These thirty minute anti-meth films have been heavily promoted and broadcast in cities and states throughout the United States and Mexico. They have been viewed collectedly by more than 10 million people and the message has reached more than 30 million to date.

He also has wide experience as a speaker and on-air personality and has been interviewed on a variety of newspapers, radio stations and televisions networks throughout the nation.

Michael earned his B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of California, San Diego and lives in Reno with his wife and three children. He is active in marketplace, marriage, small group and men’s ministries as a leader and speaker.


ABOUT THE BOOK



At the onset of the Civil War, Seamus heeds his wife’s wishes to return to her beloved family farm in the South, where he takes a post as chaplain for General Stonewall Jackson’s brigade. As Seamus ministers to the troops, his sister Clare ministers in a different way—by being a powerful voice in the Northern cause toward freeing the slaves. All this while their youngest brother Davin, who became wealthy during the Gold Rush, struggles to find love and identity in a fallen world. It’s a clash of loyalties and beliefs that threaten the entire family, each of them trying to hear God’s encouragement in the midst of the tragedy of war. The dramatic conclusion to the acclaimed Heirs of Ireland Series.



If you would like to read the first chapter of Songs of the Shenandoah, go HERE.



Thursday, January 9, 2014

Tempest's Course by Lynette Sowell

Tempest's Course by Lynette Sowell is the reason I love fiction. It's the kind of "bring it on" story that has everything (and I don't think I'm exaggerating here) that I love in a good, cozy, curl up in my chair with my tea kind of book.

Heroine Kelly Frost ended up in the foster care system, abused and adrift, until kindhearted Lottie and her husband Chuck take her into their already overflowing foster home, where Kelly shares Lottie's interest in textiles and sewing. Now grown up, Kelly has made a name for herself as a textile conservator for some well known museums in New England. Her career was on the rise until she was betrayed by someone she loved, leaving her not quite on the verge of ruin, but definitely set back and in need of a job.

She is hired by a mysterious foundation to restore an antique Mariner's Compass quilt in an old sea captain's mansion which hasn't been lived in in about 70 years. There is a handsome but damaged caretaker, named Tom, a lawyer named Chandler, and an old man named Mr.Plummer.

When Kelly finds the journal of Mary Gray, the sea captain's unhappy wife, she realizes that they have similar stories, except that Kelly's is still a work in progress.

Tempest's Course is about new beginnings and making better choices. That it's okay to learn from the past and that the people that have gone before still have much to teach--if we have eyes to see and a mustard seed's worth of faith to hang on to. And maybe, with the restorative power of love, the Mariner's Compass will lead her back to a place she can call home.




This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Tempest's Course

Abingdon Press (December 17, 2013)


by

Lynette Sowell


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:




Lynette Sowell is an award-winning novelist. Her most recent novel, Tempest’s Course, is part of the Quilts of Love line from Abingdon Press. When Lynette’s not writing, she divides her time between editing medical reports and chasing down news stories for the Copperas Cove Leader-Press. Lynette was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland but makes her home in Coppress Cove, Texas, with her husband and a herd of cats who have them well-trained.



ABOUT THE BOOK



Kelly Frost, a textiles conservator, is invited to the Massachusetts coastal city of New Bedford to restore a 150-year-old Mariner's Compass quilt. But there is one stipulation: she must live and work in Gray House, a former whaling captain's home, where the quilt is stored. There she meets Army veteran Tom Pereira, the caretaker of Gray House, whose heart seems as hard as the rocky Massachusetts coastline. Over the long-lit months as Kelly works to restore the quilt, she and Tom grow closer. And as she reads stories in a daily journal penned by Mary Gray, she learns the secrets of the quilt and Mary's own sad tale of regret. Then Tom learns secrets of his own family's past, and both Tom and Kelly learn they are tied to Gray House in ways they never imagined.


If you would like to read the first chapter of Tempest's Course, go HERE.