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Author Feature
Welcome to the Blog Tour for A Novel-Tea Evening with Authors including Lynn Austin, Susie Finkbeiner, Jocelyn Green, Laura Frantz, Kate Breslin, Amanda Barratt, and Joanna Davidson Politano, sponsored by JustRead Publicity Tours!
You are Invited
A Novel-Tea Evening with Authors
September 2, 2023 at 7 p.m.
Palmer House Hilton Hotel, Chicago
Join us at 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 2, at Chicago’s historic Palmer House Hilton Hotel for a tasteful evening with tea and talk of books, writing, history, and the power of story. Emceed by Chris Jager of Baker Book House, seven novelists will share what inspires them, tales from the research files, what they’ve learned on the journey, and their hope for readers.
Learn More about A Novel-Tea Evening with Authors
About the Authors
Purchase Tickets to Attend A Novel-Tea Evening with Authors
Excerpt:
I looked up at him, and he leaned nearer, those familiar crescent-shaped eyes and clean-shaven chin, and laid his forehead on mine.I ran my tongue over my lips that had gone dry and met his gaze. “So, now what?”His hand lifted to my cheek and stroked it. “Everything’s different now, isn’t it?” A gentle smile. “What will you do with your life?”I closed my eyes. “Oh, I have a few ideas.”His finger came down the side of my face and teased my lips.“Anything that includes me?”“Perhaps.” I looked up. “How are you at handling horses? I’ve been meaning to hire a driver.”His look was amused and sympathetic all at once. Oh, how I adored this man. “Better than handling certain redheads.”I smacked his arm, and somehow it relieved the night’s tension.Filled the cracks with a bit of joy.“I bet I can guess your plans.” He leaned back. “After your mourning period, you’ll go out and continue to perform, maybe even better than before, and with a newfound joy that no one will truly understand. You’ll appear in concert hall after concert hall all over the Continent and amaze your audiences . . . then come home to a quiet house and live the simple, uncomplicated life you were always meant to have. One you fully deserve.”I gave a polite smile but said nothing to contradict him. I’d known for years what I’d do with myself when I finally possessed freedom, but I dared not shock Richard with it. Not yet. I’d at least let him kiss me first.“You’ll have your pianoforte shop, perhaps a few students, and your friends. Modest and simple and delightfully musical, a life of high quality is what fits you best.”Few people actually knew me, as it turned out. I was a Chopin nocturne—surprising, complex, and impossible to master.Many tried. I’m happy to report that they had all failed.Well, nearly.
Joanna Davidson Politano, The Lost Melody
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2022. Used by permission.
Blog Tour: Where Wild Roses Bloom by Angela K. Couch Guest Post from Angela Couch (JustRead Tour & Giveaway)
March 16, 2022
Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for Where Wild Roses Bloom by Angela K. Couch, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Where Wild Roses Bloom
Series: Heart of a Mountie #1
Author: Angela K. Couch
Publisher: Smitten Historical Romance
Release Date: March 15, 2022
Genre: Historical Romance, Christian
When Lenora Perry’s dream of becoming an acclaimed singer dies a painful death, she attempts to escape her mistakes by fleeing north—directly into the path of an all-too-dashing Mountie. Though the man in scarlet appears eager to be rid of her, his home provides security, and his sister offers friendship—two things Lenora is desperate for after discovering her pregnancy. With the past dogging her footsteps and her future uncertain, dare she consider new dreams?Upholding the law makes up the fabric of Constable Edmond Bryce’s existence. As his five years of service draw to an end, he must decide whether or not to continue in his father’s footsteps—an increasingly difficult decision now that Miss Perry has infiltrated his life. Though she’s the daughter of a parson and a close friend to his sister, Edmond can’t push aside the feeling that Lenora hides more than she tells. But duty calls, leaving little time for matters of the heart.
Review: The Calling by Rachelle Dekker (Blog Tour)
March 8, 2016
Author: Rachelle Dekker
Publisher: Tyndale House
Pages: 317
ISBN: 978-1-4964-0227-1
Published: March 8th, 2016
Synopsis:
Remko Brant had never been so sure of anything as escaping the Authority City with Carrington Hale. But bravado comes easy when you have nothing to lose. Now a husband, father, and the tactical leader of the Seers, Remko has never had so much at risk.Review:
As he and his team execute increasingly dangerous rescue missions inside the city, they face growing peril from a new enemy. Recently appointed Authority President Damien Gold claims to be guiding a city shaken by rebellion into a peaceful, harmonious future. But appearances can be deceiving. In order to achieve his dangerous ambitions, Gold knows he must do more than catch the rebels―he must destroy the hope their message represents . . . from the inside out.
With dissension in his own camp―and the CityWatch soldiers closing in―Remko feels control slipping through his fingers. To protect those he loves, he must conquer his fears and defeat Gold . . . before one of them becomes his undoing.
I have been anticipating The Calling since the end of The Choose, Rachelle Dekker's first book in this Seer series. The wait was worth it!
We were introduced to Remko in The Choosing. And through Carrington's eyes, I wasn't sure what to make of him. I had an inking by the end of the book and The Calling there were no more questions to who he was.
I enjoyed having his perspective. Most dystopian stories focus on one perspective, here, the view is expanded, and through that, the world that we are diving into is opened up to far more avenues. The world in The Calling opened up far more, it offered an even bigger picture of the this way of living. The way that fear is control and control is power. To live, fear is apart of life in some aspect or another. Carrington showed us what fear was like with her whole world changing in first book. Here, Remko is showing what fear is like from someone who works for the government, to help keep order over the ones he watches out for and for his higher ups to keep him in line.
As you read, you can relate to this. You can relate to fear. Everyone has experienced fear in some form or fashion, and that is what draws you further into the pages. The suspense. The wanting to know.
Rachelle Dekker has an amazing talent for crafting such an intricate world and making it feel real and a bit terrifying. She is able to draw you in and keep you in her story till the last page. It is a fresh and fast paced story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I can't wait to what will happen in the next book!
About the Author:
Author Q&A:
-Remko struggles with his anger often throughout the book. Is this expression of anger connected to his fears? If so, how?
Anger is just a natural reaction to the circumstances Remko faces. Sometimes being afraid can stir up anger because it makes us feel weak or out of control. This is definitely true for Remko in The Calling.
-Do you think men and women express and handle fear differently? If so, how?
I believe people handle fear differently, and that gender doesn’t always play a role. I believe more often than not we are all the same, and that we should be encouraged that we never really face anything alone.
-Do you relate to any of the characters in The Calling in terms of how you’ve faced and handled fear in your life? How so?
Of course, every character I write ends up having some reflections of things I’ve faced personally. You can only write what you know, as they say. I, very much like Remko, have the tendency to be in “my head” too much when faced with fear, and I struggle to let go of the need for control and simply surrender. That’s one of the main reasons I decided to write this story.-What can readers expect in the final book of the series?
Characters they know and some new ones I hope they’ll love! More questions of identity, and fear, but the characters will also be looking at forgiveness and letting go. I’m really happy with the way the final book played out, and I’m hoping readers will be as well.
Thank you to the Tyndale Blog Network, I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
Today I'm happy to feature an author who I have admired for a long time. I've read several of the books that she has coauthored with her husband and have enjoyed them immensely! I've been apart of her and her husband's book group as well and it has been a blessing in my life.
Janet Bly has recently released a new book and it is an honor for me to share it with y'all today.
Author: Janet Chester Bly
Pages: 320
Publication Date: November 20th, 2014
Synopsis:
It’s 1991. Reba Cahill loves ranching with Grandma Pearl in north central Idaho. But there’s a lot of work and only two of them. Reba decides she needs a husband to help her run the ranch. But she finds few prospects in the small town of Road’s End.Author's Story:
But Reba is also missing something else: her mother. Deserted by her at three-years-old and never knowing her dad, she feels a sense of longing and loss. And bitterness.
When elderly, quirky Road’s End citizen Maidie Fortress dies, Uncle Seth presents Reba Cahill with an expensive piece of jewelry that turns Reba’s world upside down and leads her down unexpected paths and toward unsuspected admirers. Will the facts also ruin all hope for romance?
Writing Wind in the Wires:
Author’s Story
Janet Chester Bly
My late husband Stephen and I enjoyed
so much researching and creating fiction together. For instance, we
co-authored The Crystal Blake Series mysteries for kids. The
contemporary Hidden West Series with Tony and Price Shadowbrook, a
husband and wife writing team and mystery solving partners. And the
historical cozy mysteries, the Carson City Chronicles, set in the
1880s, with Judge Hollis Kingston and his spunky wife Judith.
For many years I started and even
completed some rambling, stumbling stories of my own. However, other
Bly book projects took precedence and these attempts piled in the
file drawers.
Finally, in 1991 a cowgirl named Reba
emerged in my mind and never quite went away. I knew she had red
hair, loved horses, would go on adventures, and dealt with troubling
family issues. In one version, she lived in the nineteenth century in
England and wrote copious letters. This was in an epistolary format.
In another, she joined her husband on a whaling ship out of
Scotland. One time she lived in modern day Missouri. In another
episode, she dwelled along the coast in California.
As I traveled with Stephen on research
trips for his projects to places like Goldfield, Nevada, I imagined
her taking a trek there too. I even took a side trip by myself to
Tonopah and Silver Peak. I wrote scenes and recorded descriptions as
fast as I could. Then tossed them in the drawer.
Last year I determined as my 2014 New
Year’s resolution, “Just do it!” I would complete at least one
Reba story.
So, I spread out on a large table all
my rabbit trail story lines through the decades. Would they make into
short stories? Or perhaps novellas? Where would I start?
After a number of weeks of reading,
sorting, and thinking them through, I settled Reba in my state of
Idaho, in a small fictional town of Road’s End, much like the one I
live in. At twenty-five and single, she would run a ranch with her
widowed grandmother. But she’d also take a journey to the desert of
Nevada. In 1991. So I could do fun things like use Walkie-Talkies
rather than cell phones. And the old man in a Ford Model T she
traveled with could have lived in Goldfield, Nevada during its gold
rush days.
I began a cut and paste process from
the original scenes and expanded on them. I asked for advice from
some pro editors and mentors like Rachel Hauck and Kathy Ide. I also
enlisted volunteers from among some of our willing fans, to get the
reader’s perspective. Every suggestion was taken to heart, even
when it meant big changes. They helped me decide on the final title
too. The spiritual theme began to flow too.
After a number of months of
persevering, the full story developed. The completed project turned
into a full-length novel of 97,000 words. And there are plenty more
ideas for stories left for a series of at least two more books.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What project of yours has taken years
to complete?
What was the determining factor in
finally getting it finished?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author Bio…
Janet Chester Bly is a city girl with a
country heart. She doesn’t corral horses or mow her own lawn. “I’m
no womba woman,” she says. But she followed her husband
award-winning western author Stephen Bly to the Idaho mountain top
village of Winchester to write books and minister to a small church.
When she lost him, she stayed. She manages the online Bly Books
bookstore, rakes lots of Ponderosa pine needles and cones, and
survives the long winter snows one blizzard at a time.
Janet Chester Bly has authored and
co-authored with Stephen 32 contemporary and historical fiction and
inspirational and family-themed nonfiction books. He also published
100 books of his own. She and her three sons—Russell, Michael and
Aaron--completed her late husband’s last novel, Stuart Brannon’s
Final Shot. The story of that family project can be find on her
website blog under the series topic “Finishing Dad’s Novel”:
http://www.BlyBooks.com/blog/.
Wind in the Wires is Janet’s
first solo adult novel, a contemporary western mystery, a road
adventure with a touch of romance. It’s Cowgirl Lit. Reader's Guide
for Group Discussion included.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway is open to US & Canada residents.
For further information on where to buy Wind in the Wires or any other books by Janet Chester Bly, please check out the links below.
Wind in the Wires, Book 1, A Trails of Reba Cahill Novel
Contemporary Western Mystery.
A road adventure with a touch of romance.It's Cowgirl Lit.
Paperback & eBook: http://amzn.to/1tnpHpr
Blog Tour & Giveaways Info: http://www.blybooks.com/2014/
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