State Secrets: A Novella in Cherry Blossom Capers w/giveaway

 

Food: One Thing That Brings Us Together, by Lynette Sowell

About the Author

Lynette Sowell is the award-winning author of five novels and six novellas for Barbour Publishing. When Lynette's not writing, she divides her time between editing medical reports and writing a column for her local newspaper. Lynette was born in Massachusetts, raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, but makes her home on the doorstep of the Texas hill country with her husband and a herd of cats who have them well-trained. She loves reading, cooking, watching movies, and is always up for a Texas road trip.

About the Book

Tara Whitley, an assistant White House chef, doesn’t expect to become an amateur investigator. Then old flame and FBI operative Jack Courtland steps back into her life and recruits her to help uncover a plot to sabotage the next State Dinner. But she doesn’t expect Jack to uncover feelings for him she thought had long since died. Can she trust him with her safety, and her heart?

 

 

Now, let’s hear from the author

When my coauthors and I first started brainstorming Cherry Blossom Capers, I knew right away where I'd like to set my story: in the White House, with my heroine as a White House chef. Every year the White House is featured in a show that's a behind-the-scenes look at the Executive Mansion at Christmas time. I've always enjoyed seeing the party planning that goes on in the kitchen for State dinners and other events.

If there's anything that cooks know, whether it's your grandmother or a top executive chef, food brings people together. In a place that's a political hotbed like Washington, D.C., food can be a stabilizing factor. I think that's also true just about everywhere. Food relaxes us, draws out conversation between friends and family, and helps break the ice when we sit down with new friends.

In Cherry Blossom Capers, my heroine Tara Whitley loves participating in history being made in the halls of the White House. Away from work, she enjoys the warmth of Cherry Blossom Estates. She also uses her friends as guinea pigs for her new appetizer recipes when they gather for classic movie nights. However, Tara doesn't expect the FBI to arrive at the White House, and one of the agents to be an old flame that left her with a broken heart years ago. Then the FBI shows up at her townhouse at Cherry Blossom Estates and she finds herself under their microscope.

One of the things I loved most while writing this novella (besides my research) was seeing our four neighbors develop their own personalities and how they all came together. I hope readers enjoy visiting with all four of our characters during their dangerous journeys to love.

Links

• Cherry Blossom Capers Blog http://cherryblossomcapers.blogspot.com/
• Lynette on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynettesowellauthor

About the Giveaway

Open to Lower US and Canada only. To be eligible, you must answer the question: How many cats does Lynette have? Locate the correct answer and come back here to post it. BE SURE to include your name and email information so you can be notified promptly if you win.

Giveaway ends Wednesday, February 1 at Midnight Pacific Time. Winner’s name will be drawn on Thursday, February 2 and notified via email.

Thanks, Lynette, for taking part in BookBites. It’s been a pleasure having you here.

Unhallowed Ground, a book review

UNHALLOWED GROUND, by Mel Starr, the fourth chronicle of Hugh de Singleton, surgeon, from Monarch Books, a UK division of Kregel Publications, 2011

I must admit I’m drawn to almost anything medieval, which is why I requested this book for touring on my blog.

I also must confess that I have NOT read the previous three offerings in the series.
But the concept of a 13th Century Surgeon cum Detective intrigued me, not to mention an endorsement from Davis Bunn, whose writing I really enjoy.

Okay, here’s the back cover blurb:

Thomas atte Bridge, a man no one likes, is found hanging from a tree near Cow-leys Corner. All assume he has taken his own life, but Master Hugh finds evidence that this may not be so.
Many in the town had been harmed by Thomas, and Hugh is not eager to send one of them to the gallows. Then he discovers that the worldly and corrupt priest John Kellet had been covertly in Bampton at the time atte Bridge died.
Master Hugh is convinced that Kellet has murdered atte Bridge—one rouge slaughtering another. Searching for proof he sets out for Exeter, where Kellet now works. But there he finds that the priest is an emaciated skeleton of a man, who mourns the folly of his past life.
Hugh must return to Bampton—and discover which of his friends has murdered his enemy . . .

Yes, this further tickled my interest. But . . . the plot is good. Love the characters , and the setting, location and time period captured me. (It’s my heritage) I also believe the author did an impeccable job with research, and presented his story with solidity and knowledge of his subject. Kudos!

Alas, the forward motion was . . . uh . . . a tortoise. It eventually got there, but plodded in too many places that tempted me to flip pages or set the book down. Not good.

Perhaps that’s why most publishers limit series to just three. Having the same characters reappear through four+ books, the only thing that changes is the plot . . . again, not good. I have to say I’m disappointed.

I don’t give “stars” on this blog. If you want to know how I rated it, check Amazon.com and others in the next few days for my final answer.

I’m giving away my review copy to one person who leaves a comment WITH email contact information. Ends one week from today.



Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Kregel Publications, and was asked to give my unbiased feedback on the book.

My First Interview Online

I'm so excited!

My first ever interview as a published author is up on Amber Stockton's blog, "A Fictional Life" -- If you get a chance, I'd love for you to visit and leave a comment. You can even read the first chapter. I'm giving away a copy of my debut book TO SEE THE SUN. Just go here: http://bit.ly/x8E9Ib

Please take a moment to visit, leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a free copy of my book, either in print or e-book.

And thank you very much!

Amelia’s Journey, by Martha Rogers: BookBites w/giveaway

Amelia's Journey: A prequel to the Winds Across the Prairie series

Amelia’s Journey, my second release for January came about because readers wanted to know more about the aunt and uncle who were Lucy’s guardians in Becoming Lucy. Because they played major roles in all the books that followed, people were curious about the backgrounds of Ben and Mellie Haynes.

I had fun going back and telling their story. Amelia Carlyle lived the life of a young woman growing up with Boston’s socially elite. Ben Haynes’ father and mother chose to leave Boston and their society friends to strike out on their own in an adventure to the prairies of Kansas. The Haynes family and the Carlyle family remain friends and when Ben and his family return to Boston for the wedding of Amelia’s older sister, sparks fly between the two young people and love blooms.

The road to their marriage is everything but smooth with objections from her father and Ben’s return to Kansas. Two events, one in each family, serve as catalysts to bring the two closer to one another, but they still must overcome Mr. Carlyle’s proclamation that the relationship must end.

The biggest surprise to me with this book came with the change in Mr. Carlyle’s attitude. I planned for him to object to the very end and all but create a scene before the wedding and disinherit Amelia, but he wouldn’t let me do that. So, I had to go another route with him and it turned out to be a rewarding experience.

I’ve heard other writers talk about how their characters talk to them and tell the author to change things because a character doesn’t like a particular plot development. When I say that one of my characters “told” me something, my friends look askance and wait for me to explain. They have a difficult time believing I listen to imaginary people in my head.

As a SOTP, I find this happens more frequently than not. No matter what I plan ahead of time, it’s going to change along the way. Those chapter outlines become mere guidelines with what happens as the characters interact becoming the final story.

I hope you enjoy reading about Amelia’s journey from Boston socialite to Kansas rancher’s wife, and if you’ve read Finding Becky, you’ll see how Becky inherited some of her mother’s personality traits.

 

Blurb for Amelia’s Journey:

Once childhood friends, Amelia Carlyle and Ben Haynes, meet again at her sister’s wedding and love blooms between the two. Despite objections from her father, the two grow closer, but his living in Kansas on a ranch and her entrance into Boston’s society threaten the relationship. Will their love survive despite the objections and losses they experience along the way?

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and the author of the Winds Across the Prairie series as well as the novella,Key to Her Heart in River Walk Christmas. Summer Dream, Autumn Song, and Winter Promise, the first three books in her new series, Seasons of the Heart are now available. She was named Writer of the Year at the Texas Christian Writers Conference in 2009 and writes a weekly devotional for ACFW. Martha and her husband live in Houston. In addition to her works of fiction, Martha has stories in a number of compilations as well as devotional contributions to several anthologies and writes the weekly Verse of the Week for the ACFW Loop. She is a retired teacher and lives in Houston with her husband, Rex where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren and attending football, baseball, and basketball games when one of them is playing.

Martha can be found at:

• www.marthawrogers.com
• www.marthasbooks.blogspot.com
• www.justthewritecharisma.blogspot.com

Get Amelia’s Journey at:

• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Christianbook.com

The Giveaway: I’d love to send a copy of this book to one of you. All you have to do is go to my Website and come back here and answer this question:

Find the “where and when” I’ll be speaking/teaching in 2012 and tell us in your comment what I’ll be teaching in February.

Giveaway ends Sunday, January 29, 2012 at Midnight, Pacific Time. Winner will be drawn through Random.org and notified on Monday, January 31via email. So be sure to leave your email contact information to be eligible to enter.

Thank you so much, Martha, for sharing your book with us here. God Bless you.

I’ve got to share!

The following is a copy of a post on my Facebook wall that appeared last Thursday, January 19, regarding my newly released book, TO SEE THE SUN.

The book is dedicated to my sister, my parents and my brother, all four members of my family that have “gone ahead of me to see the SON. And, in the back of the book, in the acknowledgements, I gave special recognition to my sister as one of my earliest readers, as well as her being the inspiration for  Magie*, one of my secondary characters.

Okay, that’s the setup for what follows:

 

I LOVE IT!!! ") Got it yesterday around 3 and read all day into the night around midnight - got about 1/4 left to go . . . RIVETING and exQUISitely written - I am SO impressed, Auntie!! And, of course, I'm LOVIN the subtle references to Mother you've woven into the story ~ BRAVO! ") ") ") Hope you had a happy birthday, too ~

Of course, this is from my niece, my sister's #2 daughter. Still, it’s pretty special. I’ve never known her to “gush” like that, even for her Auntie. And, you may have picked up that my birthday was the day before she sent this.

Think I should put her in charge of my “fan club”?

*No, that’s not a typo. You’ll have to read the book to find out why it’s spelled like that.