Sunday, November 20, 2022

Keeping Christmas Volume II by Celebrate Lit Authors

About the Book

Book: Keeping Christmas Volume II

Authors: Chautona Havig, Tabitha Bouldin, Susan K. Beatty, Jennifer Sienes, Melissa Wardwell, and Stacy T. Simmons.

Genre: Christian Christmas Romance

Release date: October 18, 2022

In castles far and near, long ago and yesterday, find happily-ever-afters wrapped in love and tied with Christmas joy.

Escape to Greenaway (by Chautona Havig): She just wanted to escape another holly, jolly family holiday. Because snowbound in a castle B&B with one of Santa’s elves (or as good as) is so much better. With the help of the castle’s owner, Tonya plays matchmaker in a bid to get that Christmas-loving girl out of her hair.

The King’s Promise (by Tabitha Bouldin): In a world of airships and kings, a prince makes a promise that tears him away from his love. An ordinary baker’s daughter finds herself caught in the middle of a game where the winner earns the queen’s crown. They both want what they can’t have as they struggle toward a seemingly impossible happily ever after.

A Castle for Christmas (by Susan K. Beatty): Sadie Foster abhors wealth. Will Randolph, on the other hand, works for the uber-wealthy owner of an over-the-top castle on the California coast–Sadie’s father. When Christopher Foster leaves the castle to her, Sadie doesn’t want anything to do with it or his money. But what if Sadie and Will use the castle and her inheritance for the good of others—together?

An Irish Christmas Heart (by Jennifer Sienes): Will she choose love or an arranged marriage? In the midst of post-famine unrest, Eleanor Blake, daughter of an English nobleman, is thrown into a maelstrom of emotions. How will she escape the duty for which she was born and the confines of the ill-fated Menlo Castle of Galway, Ireland to find her true love?

Christmas at Curwood’s Castle (by Melissa Wardwell): A Christmas party at Curwood Castle should have been Angel Davis’ Cinderella moment. Especially when her dear friend Jimmy arrives. Instead, one obstacle after another threatens to break any chance at a happily-ever-after.

Christmas in the Cotswolds (by Stacy T. Simmons): She’s a paleontologist and ardent Jane Austen fan. He’s enmeshed in the exactitude of mathematics, can they find common ground? Do opposites attract, will the romantic castle, and dashing duke be the undoing of Victoria’s plans?

Grab a mug of something hot and delicious and curl up somewhere comfy. Your literary chariots await to take you on a journey from an early twentieth-century castle in the San Gabriel Mountains of California all the way across the pond to the beautiful Cotswolds of England. These six novellas, all set in castles real and fictional, celebrate the heart and joy of Christmas in this second volume of castle Christmas novellas.

Click here to get your copy!

My Review:

There's something for most of us in this collection. Warm, bright, full of light and hope to fight the darkness. Christmas and Christ along with characters to fall in love with. You will travel, you will laugh and feel sorrow. It's a lovely collection that goes perfectly with hot coffee, hot chocolate, or hot tea. It's very hard to pick favorite story, so just read the entire collection and tell me what you though!

5 Stars

About the Authors

USA Today Bestselling author of Aggie and Past Forward series, Chautona Haviglives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

Jennifer Sienes holds a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in education, but discovered life-experience is the best teacher. She loves Jesus, romance and writing—and puts it altogether in inspirational contemporary fiction. Her daughter’s TBI and brother’s suicide inspired two of her three novels. Although fiction writing is her real love, she’s had several non-fiction pieces published in anthologies including several in Chicken Soup for the Soul. She has two grown children and one very spoiled Maltese. California born and raised, she recently took a step of faith with her real-life hero and relocated to Tennessee.

Tabitha Bouldin is a student at Southern New Hampshire University, where she is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s in Creative Writing. As a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), she works with critique groups and provides endorsements for other authors. Tabitha’s genre of choice is Contemporary Christian Romance which she describes as: Adventure with heart. Tabitha spent ten years working as a Medical Assistant before God opened the door which allowed her to become a stay-at-home-homeschooling-mom and author.

Melissa Wardwell resides in Owosso, Michigan with her husband and three teen-aged children.She doesn’t mind alternating between the world of writing and the reality of being a mother, but she would rather sit with a good book or a good friend and a cup of coffee. When she isn’t penning works of fiction, she is busy reviewing books for her blog, Back Porch Reads. To see more from Melissa Wardwell, visit www.melissawardwell.com

Who says you can’t begin a new career after middle age? Certainly not Susan K. Beatty. She is passionate about writing about finding courage through faith and grit, particularly through the trials of breast cancer and other life trials. Her daughter is a metastatic breast cancer “thriver” and has been an inspiration for her writing. Susan’s first novel, Faces of Courage, debuted May 2021, as part of the Faces of Courage series, including several novelettes. She is also the author of An Introduction to Home Education (AKA California Homeschool Manual). Susan is a professional writer/journalist and is active in the writer community. She is proof you can begin a fiction writing career at any age.

Stacy T. Simmons writes uplifting fiction that delights the reader’s romantic sensibilities. Thirty-four years of marital bliss is a great contributor. She is a mom of two grown children, and she and her family have a menagerie of pets she likes to call “Noah’s Ark.” You can find her working on her next manuscript with a piece of dark chocolate and a cup of coffee nearby. Connect with Stacy on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and her blog, Fueled by Faith and Caffeine.

More from Tabitha

Castles near and far. Over time and across worlds both real and fictional. When it came time to write for Keeping Christmas, the world opened up to offer each of us a jewel for our stories. While I chose to base my castle off of a real castle in Romania, others chose a different route. Yet we all came together with a singular mission to write stories about Christmas and to bring the joy of Christ into each and every book. Keeping Christmas is about more than overseeing a holiday. It is looking back through the years of Christmases far and wide, from our real world through fantasy lands some of us dreamed up, and keeping the spirit of the season alive.

Come and keep Christmas with us as we journey across land and sea, through the skies on an airship, and deep into the contemporary halls and towering turrets. Here you’ll meet characters to fall in love with and read stories that span the ages, from a scribe in King Herod’s castle to a paleontologist in the Cotswolds.

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, November 16

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 16

Through the Lens of Scripture, November 17

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, November 18

By the Book, November 18

Inklings and notions, November 19

deb’s Book Review, November 20

Blogging With Carol, November 20

Texas Book-aholic, November 21

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, November 22

For Him and My Family, November 22

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, November 23

Older & Smarter?, November 24

Mary Hake, November 24

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 25

She Lives To Read, November 26

Holly’s Book Corner, November 26

Simple Harvest Reads, November 27 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Splashes of Joy, November 28

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 28

Writing From the Heart Land, November 29

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 29

Giveaway

To celebrate their tour, the Celebrate Lit Authors are giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/22acd/keeping-christmas-volume-two-by-celebration-tour-giveaway

Friday, November 18, 2022

Starlight Inn by Annee Jones

About the Book

Book: Starlight Inn

Author: Annee Jones

Genre: Sweet/ clean Contemporary Romance

Release date: November 4, 2022

Hope Garland is driving home for Christmas. She’s depressed because she caught her fiancé cheating (or he dumped her for her best friend). Tears blurred her vision, she crashes the car….. in reality she gets taken to hospital and is in a coma.

However, in her mind after the crash she’s OK, she gets out of the car but it is totalled & it’s the middle of a snowstorm. Needs a place to stay…. Finds the Starlight Inn, run by the Kringles. Meets other guests, including a handsome stranger. They’ll be snowed-in for Christmas so have to make the best of things…..end up falling in love.

When she wakes from coma on Christmas Day, she finds someone set a snowglobe on the windowsill next to her bed which has a little Victorian inn inside with a sign that says “Starlight Inn”. The doctor comes in (or perhaps it will be the young hospital chaplain) and it’s the same man from her dream that she fell in love with (and there’s promise for them to have a real-life romance).

Click here to get your copy!

My Review:

Starlight Inn feels like a tv movie, in a book. That makes it even better. Hope Garland is in a jam, and thus she leaves cozy Texas for...Chicago? Yikes! Winding up at the Starlight Inn wasn't part of the plan, but it will change her life. With an accident and some twists, and a coma, and things that no one expected, Hope's life becomes a sweet tale that is heartwarming and romantic. It has faith elements and even if it's cliche, it's full of hope.

5 Stars

About the Author

Author Annee Jones loves to write all things romance, fantasy, cozy mystery, & more. She is passionate about writing stories where dreams come true, and love wins in the end!

Professionally, Annee works as a disability counselor where she helps her clients navigate through complex medical and legal systems while rediscovering their wholeness in Spirit.

Subscribe to Annee’s newsletter to stay up to date on new releases, sneak peeks, author parties, and exclusive giveaways: https://www.anneejones.com/newsletter.

More from Annee

Angel Cookies

½ C. brown sugar

½ C. granulated sugar

½ C. shortening

1 stick butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 C. sifted flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp soda

½ tsp salt

Instructions:

Cream sugars, shortening, and butter together. Add egg and vanilla. Add other ingredients. Form into balls about the size of walnuts. Dip half of ball into water, then in granulated sugar. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 10

Holly’s Book Corner, November 10

Texas Book-aholic, November 11

Inklings and notions, November 12

Jeanette’s Thoughts, November 12

deb’s Book Review, November 13

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 14

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, November 15

Bizwings Blog, November 15

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 16

An Author’s Take, November 17

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, November 18

Blogging With Carol, November 18

She Lives to Read, November 19

For Him and My Family, November 20

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, November 21

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, November 22

Mary Hake, November 22

Cats in the Cradle Blog, November 23

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Annee is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 gift card and copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/228a0/starlight-inn-celebration-tour-giveaway

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Deep End of the Lake by Carol Grace Stratton

About the Book

Book: Deep End of the Lake

Author: Carol Grace Stratton

Genre: Women’s Contemporary Inspirational Fiction

Release date: March, 2021

Life looks great for Ally Cervantes. She has a gig with the paper in Lake Surrender, two adorable kids, and is marrying camp director Will Grainger in a few months. What could go wrong? Her optimistic side assures her she can juggle it all, especially her new custom cake business.

But typical, Ally bites off more than she can chew. Her dream job as a reporter is turning into the treadmill she left when downsized from a prestigious publishing company in Northern California. Now she covers everything from a contentious school board meeting to the new dog food store in town. Oh to have a day off. But she is bound to prove her worth as a writer even as Janice, the know-it-all office manager, scrutinizes her every move.

Her home front isn’t much better. Benjie, a 7-year old on the spectrum has a penchant for squirrels, tantrums and running off at school. But Will has a way with him and can already see changes in Benjie as he bonds with the boy.

Kylie, her precocious thirteen year old is another story She’s trying to wedge herself in-between Will and her mother, obvious she doesn’t want her mother to remarry. And worse still, she’s discovered boys – the kind that drive cars.

When Will hints at Kylie’s resistance to the upcoming marriage, Ally blows him off. Will, being a camp director, hears things about Kylie but Ally is in no mood to listen. When he confronts her on Kylie’s doings around town, Ally takes offense. Blending this family together is like mixing half dried cement. The tension builds between them as he seeks out God’s will for his life. Has he taken on too much? A side of him reminisces about his ex-fiancé. Sarah, a quiet, calm woman doesn’t have a tangled mess for a life.

It’s only through a near tragedy and coming close to losing Will, that Ally, a new believer, realizes what it means to trust God for her future. Her aunt reminds her “When you’re swimming in the deep end of the lake you’d better know how to swim.”

Click here to get your copy!

My Review:

This is my first book by this author. Ally is like many of us. She's working, raising her kids, looking forward to her happily ever after, and then it starts coming apart. Could her soon to be husband know more about her own young teenaged daughter than she does herself? Can she get her special needs son to thrive and be okay? Has she taken on one project, one job, one challenge too many? I sure can relate that to that! While Will tries to decide if his upcoming marriage to Ally will work with all the issues popping up they are both going to have to trust God more than they ever have before. Not wonder it's called the "deep end" because it is swim, sink, or drown time.

It's a second book in the series and I didn't read the first one. It still stood on it's own. I found it to be engaging and very realistic with a strong faith filled message.

5 Stars

About the Author

Carol has published three books through Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas: Changing Zip Codes, Lake Surrender and Deep End of the Lake. Her first novel, Lake Surrender, won a 2016 Illumination Award Medal for Inspirational/Romance Fiction and was chosen as one of the top favorite books for Prismatic Prospects blog in 2015 as well as being a finalist for Serious Writer’s Book of the Decade.

Her work has appeared in a Guideposts book anthology, with credits from Focus on the Family online, CBN online, the MOPs website, In Touch and Your Church magazines. Carol was a reporter for the Mooresville Weekly for two and a half years with over 500 articles to her credit. She speaks to MOPS groups, has taught at writing conferences, and has had a blog for twelve years (carolgstratton.com).

Although born on the West Coast, she lived in the Midwest for years and now lives with her literary muse husband in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where she diddles around on a mandolin, plays with eight grand kids and encourages new writers. Her most recent book, Deep End of the Lake, is a sequel to Lake Surrender and is a Golden Scroll winner.

More from Carol

Camps are in my blood.

I committed my life to Christ at a Young Life camp, kissed my husband-to-be (for the first time) at Mt. Hermon and worked at two summer camps as a college student. Experiences like standing under a giant California redwood tree in the rain or hiking in the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains with a backpack shaped my early life and unleashed in me a love for God and His creation.

The tradition continued with all four of my children attending Bair Lake Bible Camp in Michigan when they were growing up. Experiencing camp helped them grow in their Christian life while having a blast water skiing, hiking and boating. They still talk about the experiences.

Now my grandchildren have discovered camp life. Fresh from their first experience, my grandsons shared stories of the 48 foot tall, (“Not just forty but forty-eight feet, Gammi.” they corrected me) climbing wall and the WATER BLOB a camper could jump onto to catapult their friend into the lake. So when I hunted a setting for my story, a summer camp seemed the perfect fit. Why, of course, send Ally Cervantes to work at a camp.

Because at camp, magical things happen.

We can make lifelong friends at a camp, commune with nature, and most of all connect with the God of the Universe. At summer camp you and I drop all pretenses of our normal life. Suddenly we find ourselves singing ridiculously silly songs around a campfire, and there’s no other world that exists at that moment besides friends, fresh s’mores, a smoky fire and a lumpy sleeping bag. But in the midst of the fun we mull over life’s important issues while trudging through dusty hiking trails or having a whispered late night conversation on the cabin porch with our new best friend.

Best of all, God shows up, knowing He can get our attention. Suddenly our mind becomes aware there is more to life than getting good grades, finding the right boyfriend, and discovering that perfect career. At camp we shift into slow gear and listen to our Heavenly Father say, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Ah, what a life.

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, November 7

Texas Book-aholic, November 8

Inklings and notions, November 9

Beauty in the Binding, November 10 (Author Interview)

deb’s Book Review, November 10

Locks, Hooks and Books, November 11

She Lives To Read, November 12

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, November 13

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 14

Spoken from the Heart, November 15

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, November 16

Blogging With Carol, November 17

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, November 18 (Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, November 19

Adventures of a Travelers Wife, November 20 (Author Interview)

Mornings at Character Café, November 20

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Carol is givig away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and a copy of Deep End of the Lake!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/22671/deep-end-of-the-lake-celebration-tour

Friday, November 11, 2022

Catching Hope by Kathy Cassel

About the Book

Book: Catching Hope

Author: Kathy Cassel

Genre: YA

Release date: March, 2022

Catching Hope: A pursuit fraught with danger.
Newly adopted Lexi Michaels is taking her first real vacation as she, twin brother Levi, adoptive brother Chad, and new cousin Jen head to Haiti where their dad, a pediatrician, will be volunteering in an island clinic. But who is the man who displays such hatred for the Michaels when they arrive at their resort? Is an attempted burglary as random as it appears? Will Jen ever accept the newcomers to the family? When the four teens set out to explore Haiti’s sights and history on their own, an unexpected encounter and natural disaster plunge them into adventure and danger. With their very survival at stake, can the four teens work together, or will Lexi’s dream of a “forever family” end in tragedy?

Click here to get your copy!

My Review:

Move over teen-agers, because you have to share this book with the "adults"! This story is full of action and suspense and faith. It's set in Haiti, and you will feel like you have been there, but with a lot more of a trip than you'd think. I'm still going "Wow!". I feel like this book and the kidnapping could be a based on a true story type movie. I like the clear message of the characters, to put your hope in God regardless of the situation. It has a lot of drama and a lot of impact with this story.

5 Stars

About the Author

Kathy Cassel is author of more a dozen fiction and non-fiction titles for preteens and teens, including 2021 Selah Award finalist Freerunner and the iParenting award winner Christian Girls Guide series. Kathy has lived on three different continents with her USAF husband, has eight children, five adopted from Haiti and the United States, and six grandchildren. To better relate to her characters, she enjoys learning their skills such as whitewater rafting, scuba diving, and riding a motorcycle, but draws the line at sky diving.

More from Kathy

My Experience with Haiti

Prior to the 2010 catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake that caused immense damage to the country of Haiti, many people would not have been able to tell you that Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the island of Hispaniola just a two hour flight from Miami.

I knew where it was because our family had adopted a child from Haiti in 1997. At the time the earthquake took place, my husband and I were in the process of adopting twins from a different orphanage in Port au Prince Haiti. It had been over three years and our adoption was not yet complete. During those three years I visited the twins at the orphanage five times. Other family members went with me on some of those trips, and at one point, all of our children still living at home went to visit the orphanage.

This was an eye opening experience for my family. In fact, I volunteered us to do the daily wash. That meant hand washing clothes and sheets for 135 orphans using large metal tubs and harsh soap, then rinsing the clothes in other tubs before hand wringing them and hanging them on clotheslines. Once home, my children no longer complained about unloading the dryer!

Cooking was done in large pots over open fires and mainly consisted of rice and beans, or red sauce over rice. The cooks originally prepared the food in a wooden shack, but more than once one of them would get so hot she’d pass out, so an outdoor area was set up for food preparation.

After the earthquake, there was a mountain of paperwork to be done to get refugee status for children in the orphanages who had families waiting for them. Finally the children were brought to the United States, although some of the orphans went to other countries too, to be united with their forever families. Sadly, many were held in the airport for days before being released. For our family, the long wait was over January 25, 2010. Now our family is complete with three birth children and five adopted children, three of whom are from Haiti.

Some of the places mentioned in the book resemble real places in Haiti, although they have been fictionalized. I hope you will not only read Catching Hope, but will also take time to learn more about the country of Haiti.