Sunday, December 18, 2022

Take my Hand by Kristen Hogrefe Parnell

About the Book

Book: Take My Hand

Author: Kristen Hogrefe Parnell

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release date: December 5, 2022

Don’t find us. We’ll find you.

Trauma therapist Kaley Colbert needs a vacation from her job, and a ski trip with her church singles’ group seems like the perfect way to unplug. But while in the mountains, she learns that her last client was murdered hours after their meeting, and she wonders if the notes she’s receiving from a possible stalker hold a more sinister warning.

On the trip, ex-boyfriend and entrepreneur Reef Mitchell wants to give their relationship another chance, but Kaley questions if his past and priorities could ever mesh with her life. When her client’s underworld connections catch up with her, she has no choice but trust Reef to help her stay alive, solve her client’s mystery, and bring the killers to justice.

Click here to get your copy!

My Review:

Fantastic suspense with a story that kept me engaged. It's a well done first in a series that's made me look forward to reading more. Take My Hand is great with romantic suspense, making it a really nice read for me in this cold weather! There's nothing like a church group trip with your ex going along to, is there? Faith wasn't left out, and I enjoyed the suspense and mystery, and the ending.

5 Stars

About the Author

Kristen Hogrefe Parnell writes suspenseful fiction from a faith perspective for women and young adults. Her own suspense story involved waiting on God into her thirties to meet her husband, and she desires to keep embracing God’s plan for her life when it’s not what she expects. Kristen’s books have won the Selah Award and the Grace Award, among others. An educator at heart, she also teaches English online and enjoys being a podcast guest. Kristen lives in Florida with her husband and baby boy. Visit her online at KristenHogrefeParnell.com.

More from Kristen

Real-Life Inspiration for Fictional Suspense

Mark Twain said, “Write what you know.” I certainly took his advice with the setting of my romantic suspense novel, Take My Hand. Beech Mountain, North Carolina is part of my own story in a special way. While my husband James and I were dating, our church group planned a ski trip to Beech Mountain, much like the one Reef and Kaley embark on in my story. Born and raised in Florida, I had never seen fresh snow fall, let alone attempt to ski in it. Writing Kaley’s frustration with the learning curve is something I came by honestly.

James taught the other new skiers and me the basics, and I felt so special to be his girlfriend and have such a thoughtful date. Later, when my writing imagination kicked in, I began to wonder, “What if James and I hadn’t been dating but had broken up? How awkward would that experience have been?” Awkward on steroids. Then the suspense lover in me began to spin the story of Kaley and Reef as well as a celebrity villain that no one would suspect. And so, this story was born.

But my experience with Beech Mountain didn’t stop with a ski trip. After James and I had been dating for just over a year, he planned a surprise engagement trip to—you guessed it—Beech Mountain. Since my Sunshine State doesn’t offer fall foliage, James invited some friends and me on a fall hiking trip. Though I wondered if he might pop the big question, I wasn’t sure, and my best friend wasn’t budging with any clues. One of our late afternoon hikes took us to Wiseman’s View, a stunning overlook of the mountains and canyon below. I was cold, craving hot chocolate, and ready to head back to our cabin, but James wanted to show me one more vista and “get a picture.” With my best friend recording the moment, James dropped down on one knee, spoke the sweetest words, and asked me to marry him—to which I happily said yes!

Now, Beech Mountain is one of our favorite road trip destinations as a married couple. With the arrival of our baby boy this summer, we are anticipating future family trips which will no doubt provide new inspiration for writing material. I look forward to sharing more stories in this series that revolve around Beech Mountain and the friends who come together and grow in their faith as they face life’s dangers and adventures.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, December 8

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 9

Texas Book-aholic, December 10

deb’s Book Review, December 11

Inklings and notions, December 12

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, December 13

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 14

For Him and My Family, December 14

Betti Mace, December 15

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 16

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, December 17

Blogging With Carol, December 18

Lily’s Book Reviews, December 19

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 20

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, December 21 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, December 21

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Kristen is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card with 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/23056/take-my-hand-celebration-tour-giveaway

Friday, December 16, 2022

There's No Plan Like No Plan by Steve Searfoss

About the Book

Book: There’s No Plan Like No Plan

Author: Steve Searfoss

Genre: Middle Grade Fiction

Release date: February 23, 2022

Chance & Addie are back for a new adventure. Riding high off of the success of their first business, they decide to launch a new venture, this time shoveling snowy driveways in the winter. They are full of confidence: they have a team of kids, a shed full of shovels, repeat customers, and, best of all, a great plan. But sometimes the perfect plan can get in the way of adapting to something as fickle as the weather. Will they learn to be flexible and figure how to make this new venture work? They’re losing money fast as new challenges pile up faster than the falling snow. Perhaps a curious new partner can show them the way.

KidVenture stories are business adventures where kids figure out how to market their company, understand risk, and negotiate. Each chapter ends with a challenge, including business decisions, ethical dilemmas and interpersonal conflict for young readers to wrestle with. As the story progresses, the characters track revenue, costs, profit margin, and other key metrics which are explained in simple, fun ways that tie into the story.

Click here to get your copy!

My Review:

I simply love this series. It's so much fun and so educational. It's time for more adventures with Chance and Addie. They are going to make so much money, shoveling snowy drives. When things don't go as planned, what do young business owners do to keep their business going and their incomes coming in? Find out in this story that's full of ethical teachings, and morals, and making good choices. The characters are getting strong and stronger and I'm completely addicted to this series. It's excellent for kids and good for teens and adults!

5 Stars

About the Author

I wrote my first KidVenture book after years of making up stories to teach my kids about business and economics. Whenever they’d ask how something works or why things were a certain way, I would say, “Let’s pretend you have a business that sells…” and off we’d go. What would start as a simple hypothetical to explain a concept would become an adventure spanning several days as my kids would come back with new questions which would spawn more plot twists. Rather than give them quick answers, I tried to create cliffhangers to get them to really think through an idea and make the experience as interactive as possible.

I try to bring that same spirit of fun, curiosity and challenge to each KidVenture book. That’s why every chapter ends with a dilemma and a set of questions. KidVenture books are fun for kids to read alone, and even more fun to read together and discuss. There are plenty of books where kids learn about being doctors and astronauts and firefighters. There are hardly any where they learn what it’s like to run small business. KidVenture is different. The companies the kids start are modest and simple, but the themes are serious and important.

I’m an entrepreneur who has started a half dozen or so businesses and have had my share of failures. My dad was an entrepreneur and as a kid I used to love asking him about his business and learning the ins and outs of what to do and not do. Mistakes make the best stories — and the best lessons. I wanted to write a business book that was realistic, where you get to see the characters stumble and wander and reset, the way entrepreneurs do in real life. Unlike most books and movies where business is portrayed as easy, where all you need is one good idea and the desire to be successful, the characters in KidVenture find that every day brings new problems to solve.

More from Steve

My kids are very curious and are always asking how things work. Whenever they’d ask about something related to business or economics, I’d create imaginary scenarios where they were the business owner so they could understand better what was going on. For example: why one business would partner with another; why they would choose to sell a product at a loss; why the price of something changes; and so on.

And then one day it occurred to me to write one of these scenarios down as a story. And that’s how KidVenture started. When I was working on the first draft, whenever I told someone I was writing a book for kids to teach them about business, they would frequetnlty tell me it was something that is needed.

There aren’t a lot of books out there for kids about being an entrepreneur and running your own business; and yet, it’s something that kids like learning about because they have a sense it’s important. Not everyone is going to grow up to be a farmer or doctor or airline pilot, but knowing how to manage money and negotiate is something most kids understand they should know more about because they see it every day.

I hope kids who read KidVenture books feel inspired to be more entrepreneurial. It doesn’t necessarily mean they start their own little business. It could mean they feel empowered to negotiate, to not reflexively take the first offer they’re given. I noticed that after reading the book with them, my kids started negotiating a whole lot more. Sometimes that would drive me crazy, but even as it did, I was proud of them for advocating for themselves.

KidVenture hopefully teaches kids to be problem solvers and inspires them to learn from experience. The characters in the story have a lot of learning to do, but it’s not book learning. It’s more…adventurous than that. They learn from trial and error. By making offers and counter-offers. By making a decision and then observing what happens. And they learn by talking to customers and picking their brains. It’s the way you learn as an entrepreneur: by doing. And failing. And trying again.

One thing I really love about the story is the relationship the main character, Chance, has with his parents. Now that I’m a parent, I wanted to write a story that, first of all, my kids could relate to, and second, that was edifying. There are plenty of books and movies about dysfunctional families. KidVenture is different.

I love that at key junctures in the story, Chance turns to his parents for advice. And their style is very different. The dad in the story is playful and sarcastic and doesn’t just give Chance the answers right away. It’s more like he gives him clues to follow. There is a dynamic where the son at times wants to impress, and even best, his father; and at other times, he turns to his dad for advice when he hits a dead end.

But while there’s a competitiveness to his interactions with his dad, there is a sweetness to Chance’s relationship with his mom. He’s able to be vulnerable with her, so when he faces an ethical dilemma in the story, he turns to her. And she’s very savvy and gentle in how she asks questions that get Chance talking and reasoning through the solution himself.

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 5

Texas Book-aholic, December 6

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 7

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, December 8

SK Bell, December 8

Vicky Sluiter, December 9

Cover Lover Book Review, December 10

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, December 11

deb’s Book Review, December 12

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

Lots of Helpers, December 14

Inklings and notions, December 15

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 16

Blogging With Carol, December 17

Mary Hake, December 17

For Him and My Family, December 18

Bookzone Reviews, December 18

Giveaway

To celebrate his tour, Steven is giving away the grand prize 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/22ec9/there-s-no-plan-like-no-plan-celebration-tour-giveaway

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

What I Would Tell You Epic Book Launch!

What I Would Tell You Epic Book Launch

About the Book

Book: What I Would Tell You

Author: Liz Tolsma

Genre: Christian Fiction / Romance / Historical Fiction

Release date: January 1, 2023

DNA Test Unlocks a Family Mystery

Sephardic Jew Mathilda Nissim watches in horror as the Germans invade her beloved city of Salonika, Greece. What angers her most is the lack of resistance her people put up to their captors. In secret and at great risk to her life, she continues to publish her newspaper, calling her people to action. She doesn’t trust God to help them. When she and her husband find out they are expecting a child, Mathilda may have to resort to desperate measures to ensure her daughter’s survival.

Three generations later, college student Riley Payson and her cousin take a popular DNA test only to discover they don’t share any common ancestors. In fact, the test shows Riley is a Sephardic Jew from Greece. This revelation shakes Riley’s tenuous faith and sends her on a journey to discover what happened to her great-grandmother and how all this relates to her faith and her life today.

BOOK EXCERPT

What I Would Tell You Excerpt 5
Asher stroked her cheek. “How did I manage to marry someone so wise and brave?”
“You will let me keep writing then?”
He gave a single nod. That was enough for her. “I will concede that I can’t continue to publish in the open as I have, butwe don’t have to destroy everything. We can hide it. Take it out only at night. We have to become clandestine.”
Asher gave a deep, long sigh. “Then I’ll help you, come what may. But I’ll fret about this and lose sleep. I’m so afraid for your safety. What would become of me if I lost you?”
“Let’s not worry about what may or may not happen, things that are out of our control. Right now, we have to find a hiding place for everything.”
Asher nodded, a dark lock of hair falling over his high forehead. She itched to reach out and stroke it into place, butthere was no time for that. As Salonika was an important port city, the Germans would arrive here sooner rather than later.
Together, which was how they worked best, they searched for a spot to hide her equipment. She entered the bedroom, Asher following. A big bed covered with a red chenille spread in the middle of the room and a large wardrobe in the corner engulfed the small space.

Asher motioned for her. “In here. This is the perfect spot.” He went to the wardrobe and pushed aside a few dresses andsome of his slacks.

MISSED ANY EXCERPTS, GO HERE:

Links to All Excerpts:

Excerpt One: https://travelerswife4life.com/book-spotlight-what-i-would-tell-you-by-liz-tolsma/

Excerpt Two: https://janemouttet.wordpress.com/2022/12/13/what-i-would-tell-you-epic-book-launch-excerpt/

Excerpt Three: https://blossomsandblessings.blogspot.com/2022/11/what-i-would-tell-you-by-liz-tolsma.html

Excerpt Four: https://moments-of-beauty.blogspot.com/2022/12/what-i-would-tell-you-epic-book-launch.html

Excerpt Five: https://carolkeen.blogspot.com/2022/12/what-i-would-tell-you-epic-book-launch.html

Excerpt Six: https://www.amoderndayfairytale.net/2022/12/what-i-would-tell-you-epic-book-launch.html

Excerpt Seven: https://storiesbygina.wordpress.com/2022/12/13/what-i-would-tell-you-epic-book-launch-with-celebrate-lit/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liz Tolsma is the author of several WWII novels, romantic suspense novels, prairie romance novellas, and an Amish romance. She is a popular speaker and an editor and resides next to a Wisconsin farm field with her husband and their youngest daughter. Her son is a US Marine, and her oldest daughter is a college student. Liz enjoys reading, walking, working in her large perennial garden, kayaking, and camping. Please visit her website at www.liztolsma.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter (@LizTolsma), Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. She is also the host of the Christian Historical Fiction Talk podcast.

Christmas Crime Cover-Up by Dana Mentink (Desert Justice Book 5)

About the Book

Book: Christmas Crime Cover-Up

Author: Dana Mentink

Genre:Inspy Suspense

Release date: November 29, 2022

From USA TODAY bestselling author Dana Mentink…

A violent attack

Isn’t the homecoming she expected.

When an ATV tries to run her down in Death Valley, animal rescuer Nora Duke knows it’s a sign she never should have returned. Now she’s stuck on Seth Castillo’s ranch until Christmas with a pregnant donkey—and a criminal desperate to silence her. Facing her past is as terrifying as uncovering a killer’s twisted plan. But can Seth convince her to stay…if they live through the holidays?

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

Desert Justice

Book 1: Framed in Death Valley
Book 2: Missing in the Desert
Book 3: Death Valley Double Cross
Book 4: Death Valley Hideout
Book 5: Christmas Crime Cover-Up
Book 6: Targeted in the Desert

Click here to get your copy!

My Review:

I am loving this author's books more and more. This one was just perfect for the season. Two women, a donkey and horse rescue, and explosives. What more could we have? Romance! With a donkey due to birth at any moment, and a killer on the loose this is going to be a Christmas to remember. I found this to be action packed, with plenty of suspense, great characters, and a message that reaches your heart. Themes are forgiveness, and dealing with your past, and that how we see God the Father is so often affected by how we view our Earthly father. Sometimes we have to work with a change of perspective. I loved how included the mystery was with this story, and would actually read it a second time!

5 Stars

About the Author

Dana Mentink is a USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author as well as a two-time American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award winner, and the recipient of a Holt Medallion. She’s written over fifty titles in the suspense, lighthearted romance and mystery genres. She is pleased to write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense, Harlequin Heartwarming and Poisoned Pen Press. You can connect with Dana via her website at danamentink.com, on Facebook, YouTube (Author Dana Mentink) and Instagram (dana_mentink.) Her monthly newsletter features plenty of goodies, gab and giveaways. https://www.subscribepage.com/b8q0y5

More from Dana

Well here we go! Book five in the Desert Justice series features Nora (Chief Jude’s estranged sister), a wild donkey who needs rescuing, and a crime from the past that intrudes into the present. Twisty, right? I was inspired to write this story after visiting Death Valley and learning about the feral donkeys which inhabit the region. They’re cute, visitors love them, but the burros can encounter health problems and cause environmental damage if they aren’t settled into a safe area. It’s amazing to me that wild donkeys are adept at detecting underground water sources. They dig “wells” which can benefit many thirsty animals. Fascinating, right? Hope you’ll enjoy meeting Bubbles the donkey and the helpful humans who rescue her in this novel. God bless and thanks for reading!