FINDING SARAH, FINDING ME - Christine Lindsay - One Free Book

Welcome back, Christine. How did you come up with the idea for this book?

Finding Sarah, Finding Me is the true-life story that started my writing career in the first place, way back in the year 2000. It was shortly after the reunion with my birth-daughter, the child I relinquished to adoption in 1979. We were reunited when she was an adult in 1999. But the reunion that I had prayed for, for 20 years, was nothing like the actual reunion. Coming face to face with the daughter I relinquished to adoption reunited me with all the original loss of her as my child---even though it was better for her at the time because I was a young unmarried woman. But finding my daughter Sarah turned me inside out emotionally and, for a few years, I struggled with a great many issues. As time passed though, the Lord brought healing to me, and it was through the journey of searching for my birth-daughter that I discovered my true identity in Christ. This is our story, and the foundation of all I write on and speak on. 

I know the book is awesome. I can hardly wait for my copy to arrive. If you were planning a party with Christian authors of contemporary fiction, what people would you invite and why?

Rachel Moore, because she is my critique partner, and I don’t get to see her enough in person, and she is an excellent writer with the awards and nominations to prove it. Linda Nichols, Susan Meissner, due to excellent writing and going deep. I love fiction that is realistic without being too edgy.  

Now let’s do that for a party for Christian authors of historical fiction, what six people would you invite and why?

I read both ABA fiction and CBA fiction, so my favorite historical authors as follows: ABA: Kate Morton, Suzanna Kearsley, and an older author, MM Kaye simply because they are excellent writers. In CBA my favorite authors are: Sandra Byrd, Kim Vogel Sawyer, and Bodie and Brock Thoene. I’d like to chat with them simply because I enjoy their writing style.

Many times, people (and other authors) think you have it made with so many books published. What is your most difficult problem with writing at this time in your career?

Finding the time to be a good author, but squeezing in the time to promote my work. I love to write, but I hate promotion, and finding the time to do all this and still remain a mother, grandmother, wife, and friend to the people in my life.

I so understand. Tell us about the featured book.

Finding Sarah, Finding Me is a the weaving of three strands. Each chapter takes the reader through my search for my birth-daughter during the late ’90’s, with a second strand that also takes the reader through my pregnancy and relinquishing of Sarah in the late ’70’s. Each chapter also has a separate story from other adoptions and reunions.

Sometimes it is only through giving up our hearts that we learn to trust the Lord.

Adoption. It’s something that touches one in three people today, a word that will conjure different emotions in those people touched by it. A word that might represent the greatest hope … the greatest question … the greatest sacrifice. But most of all, it’s a word that represents God’s immense love for his people.

Join birth mother Christine Lindsay as she shares the heartaches, hopes, and epiphanies of her journey to reunion with the daughter she gave up ... and to understanding her true identity in Christ along the way.

Through her story and glimpses into the lives of other families in the adoption triad, readers will see the beauty of our broken families, broken hearts, and broken dreams when we entrust them to our loving God.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Do Not Be Afraid

Christine, February 1999 Two months before the reunion

The clandestine nature of my trip paints a picture of me I don’t want to look at too closely. As I drive from Maple Ridge to Abbotsford twenty miles away, I wonder if I am one heartbeat away from being a stalker.

I find the high school after several wrong turns. Squelching down the fear of getting caught, I park in the school lot and drum up the nerve to walk in the front doors. I repeat under my breath, “It’s no different than walking into Lana’s high school at home in Maple Ridge. It’s no different at all.”

I’m an ordinary person just like any ordinary parent in the Fraser Valley, the Bible Belt of British Columbia. I’m a Sunday school teacher, a bonded bank teller, a woman of forty-one, hair lightened blond, dressed like any nice mom in jeans, casual shirt, running shoes, my bag slung over my shoulder. I am David’s wife, mom to seventeen-year-old Lana, fifteen-year-old Kyle, and ten-year-old Robert.

I am also the woman who wrote in her journal last night, “For twenty years I’ve comforted myself that this time would come, that my birth-daughter and I could legally be reunited. And now I am afraid of her.”

I, I, I, yes I am all of the above. I hate my self-centered focus. Am I also obsessive? And dear God—am I stalking my firstborn?

There’s still time to turn around, get back in my car, forget this whole crazy escapade. Instead, coldness grips my spine as I stride past the office, praying none of the staff will stop me and ask why I’m here, like a criminal.

I’m only coming to Sarah’s former school just this once, not driving past her house like a real stalker, although I have the address. At least I’ve held myself back from that temptation. This one look—in a public place—I’ll allow myself. But I shudder.

Who can understand my hunger to know, to see? My husband and my mother understand, but do I deserve their pity? Close friends can relate yet aren’t able to hold back their trepidation. Those in any adoption triad who search for that missing biological connection will understand. I’ve heard plenty of their wild stories at the adoption support group. Certainly the militant ones with agendas of their own, if they knew what I was up to today, would urge me to barge forward despite my qualms. The average person though? Would they understand this slipping over the edge into a gray area that frightens the daylights out of me?

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Please drop by Christine’s website www.ChristineLindsay.org or follow her on Amazon on Twitter. Subscribe to her quarterly newsletter, and be her friend on Pinterest , Facebook, and  Goodreads

Thank you, Christine, for sharing this book with us. As the mother of a daughter who was told by a pastor to give up her baby for adoption, so she had to think about that, but she chose to keep him, I can understand a lot of the emotional trauma.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.

Finding Sarah, Finding Me: A Birth Mother's Story - Paperback
Finding Sarah, Finding Me: A Birth Mother's Story - Kindle

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

SOFI'S BRIDGE - Christine Lindsay - One Free Book

Welcome back, Christine. Tell us about your salvation experience.

My great aunt Wilma told me about the Lord when I was about 8 or 9, and when I was 13, I attended a youth convention and heard again that Jesus died to wash away my sins. At 13, I had begun to realize that I was a sinner, so I believed in Christ that night as my savior. But it wasn’t until after I’d backslidden a number of years later, when I became pregnant with a child out of wedlock, that I realized I had to stop sitting on the fence. I either went all the way with Christ, or continue to mess up my life with poor decisions. From that point on I chose to obey Christ as my Savior and my Lord. 

You’re planning a writing retreat where you can only have four other authors. Who would they be and why?

Since this is fictional I’d like to invite an author that has already gone to heaven. But the first author I’d invite is my critique partner Rachel Phifer since she and I not only work together on all our books but also have our own writing blog Novel Renaissance. If we’re going to sit down with some great authors then I’d want to share that moment with not only a phenomenal writer but my dearest writing friend.

Next on my guest list would be Oswald Chambers. I find such depth in Chambers’ devotional book My Utmost for His Highest, and many of his thoughts have inspired my strongest greatest Christian characters. I’m thinking especially of Eshana in my historical trilogy set in British India. Eshana’s experience of being forced to wear the funeral clothes of a Hindu widow when she wants to live her life as a joyful Christian was inspired by Chambers’ thought that we all must wear funeral clothes when we “die” to our own desires and ambitions to allow Christ full reign in our lives.

Guest # 3 would be Linda Nicols. She hasn’t written much lately and I can’t find much about her one the web, but I LOVE her contemporary novels. She had such a way with language and stories that gripped my heart. I would love to learn from her.

And lastly but certainly not least, Dale Cramer, who is also an expert with elegant prose and characters of great depth.

Do you have a speaking ministry? If so, tell us about that.

My speaking ministry began over 10 years ago, shortly after the reunion with my birth daughter Sarah. She is the baby girl I gave birth too out of wedlock. Giving my baby up for adoption was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and that heartache shaped me in so many ways. Our reunion 20 years later broke my heart again as it brought back all the original loss of her as my child. My speaking and my writing are shaped by the fact that God can truly turn our broken hearts into our greatest joys. My life verse is Isaiah 49:15,16a, “Can a woman forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you (says the Lord). See…I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”

I love that scripture. That the God of the universe has each of us engraved on the palms of His hands blew me away a few years ago. What a concept to hold close in troubled times. What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you and how did you handle it?

Lots of embarrassing things happen to me all the time especially when I’m speaking. One that comes to mind is, when I was at a ladies’ church event my high heel stuck in a crack on the stage and I couldn’t move. I did what I usually do in that sort of goofy situation, I laughed at myself and said something to the audience like, “Well, if there’s a hole anywhere an Irishman (meaning me) is likely to fall into it.” I got a good laugh while I extricated my heel and carried on with my speech.

People are always telling me that they’d like to write a book someday. I’m sure they do to you, too. What would you tell someone who came up to you and said that?

Aspiring writers need encouragement, so I often share that the most important thing they need is PERSEVERANCE. The writing apprenticeship is not a quick and easy thing. It took 9 years of writing before my debut novel was released in 2009. Don’t skip the training, take the courses, join a professional writers’ association like ACFW or RWA or Canada’s The Word Guild. Work at it, and give your dream over to God, let Him be your agent, your muse, your editor.

Tell us about the featured book.

Sofi’s Bridge is my latest release, a historical romance.

Seattle Debutant Sofi Andersson will do everything in her power to protect her sister who is suffering from delayed shock over their father’s drowning. Charles the family busy-body threatens to place her sister in a sanatorium, a whitewashed term for an insane asylum.

Like she has always done, Sofi will rescue her little sister, even if it means running away to the Cascade Mountains with only the new gardener Neil Macpherson, a handsome immigrant from Ireland, to protect them.

But in a hidden cabin high in the Cascades, just as Sofi has her secrets, she recognizes her gardener does too. Can she trust this man whose gentle manner brings such peace to her traumatized sister, and such tumult to her own emotions?

And can their gardener, Neil, continue to hide from Sofi that he is really Dr. Neil Galloway, wanted for murder and on the run from the British police?

Wow. I’m eager for my copy to arrive. Please give us the first page of the book.

Seattle Washington, June 1913

A blur of white raced along the grounds to the beach. Sofi froze at the second story window. Set against the tattered sky of an incoming squall, her sister’s nightgown billowed in the dark. For the past six weeksTrina kept as much distance as she could from the sight and sound of the surf. Sofi raised a shaking hand to her throat, turned and tore along the upper hall. “Mattie, she’s outside.”

China shattered as Matilda, their housekeeper, dropped a supper tray. At the staircase, Sofi hiked up her black silk skirts and pounded downwards. Matilda followed close behind.

Ten minutes ago, Trina had been in the nursery, huddling on the window seat. Though nearly grown she was always in the nursery since that night when. . .Trina even slept in the nursery instead of her bedroom, crying for Papa, with Sofi holding her close.

Matilda huffed. “I only left Trina to collect her supper.”

A yelping Odin found Sofi at the kitchen hallway. The Springer Spaniel bounded, his cold nose nudging her hand. Thank goodness one thing in this house had stayed the same. With Odin barking, she pushed through the green baize door. The dog darted past her. Inga, their cook, swung around to face her. Frida, the housemaid, dropped whatever she held in her hand. A man Sofi could swear she’d never seen before sat at the table and shot to his feet as she hurtled through the kitchen.

She reached the outer door when the man—the gardener, she remembered now—pushed past her and flung the door wide. He charged across the lawn. The dog yowled and leapt after him. With Inga, Frida, and Matilda running behind, Sofi fled in the wake of the gardener down the trail to the beach.

Now I know it will go to the top of my to-be-read pile when it arrives. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Please drop by Christine’s website www.ChristineLindsay.org or follow her on Amazon on Twitter. Subscribe to her quarterly newsletter, and be her friend on Pinterest , Facebook, and Goodreads

Thank you, Christine, for sharing this new book with my readers and me. It's always a pleasure to host you.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Sofi's Bridge - Paperback
Sofi's Bridge - Kindle

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

VEILED AT MIDNIGHT - Christine Lindsay - One Free Book

Welcome back, Christine. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?

Because my father, brother, and sister are all alcoholics, and because I also relinquished my first child to adoption, I’ve had my share of suffering. We all suffer, and God uses pain to draw us closer to Him. I write stories about people in really tough situations, and through the plot and characters show my readers that they can trust God implicitly to save them and help them through their lives

.

Healing from childhood sadness is a biggy for me. Often how we’ve been treated in our youth affects the choices we make as adults.

But I love to write about the new person those characters become after they have yielded to Christ. All my characters are flawed and often at the beginning of a book you want to clobber that character over the head. Such as the case with my Captain Cam Fraser in Veiled at Midnight.

The Lord is in the business of changing people, though, to make them like His son, Jesus Christ. I’ve seen this in my brother’s life two years ago when he gave his life to Christ and chose sobriety.

I love showing those changes in my characters in the hope of inspiring a reader to hear the gospel of Christ and surrender to that loving call.

Showing that there is great light and hope for those who put their hand in Christ’s.

What other books of yours are coming out soon?

I have two books coming out this 2015. One is from Pelican Book Group called Sofi’s Bridge, a light historical romance set in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State in 1913. The spiritual theme of this book is that we cannot save the ones we love—only Christ can do that.

The other book I am currently finishing is a non-fiction book about the relinquishment of my child to adoption, and about our painful reunion twenty years later. This story will be entwined with other adoption reunion stories, good and bad, to show a balanced view, but most importantly to illustrate the El Shaddai love of our Heavenly Father.

If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?

I would love to spend an evening with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. As a British immigrant to Canada, I consider her as the royal sovereign of Canada even though we rule ourselves. But the present Queen has always struck me as a very decent woman. Did you know that she claims to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and often refers to Him during her Christmas messages?

But she’s also so down to earth, when she gets a chance to put aside her royal duties. She loves animals and takes an avid interest in gardening.

Her Majesty has served Britain well these past 60 years, and was set a wonderful example by her parents during WW2 during the Blitz. She is one of my true-life heroes.

I loved her entrance into the last Olympics in London. It  revealed her whimsical nature. What historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?

Dr. Ida Scudder, that great American missionary to India. She built the largest private hospital that is still in existence today in the south of India. When I was in India in 2010 for a short missions’ trip, I was in her area. While on trains traveling past emerald green rice paddies and banana plantations, I kept feeling as though I was walking in her shoes. I feature the true-life figure of Dr. Ida Scudder briefly in Captured by Moonlight Book 2 in my trilogy.

How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

You must realize from the start that becoming a published writer takes a long, long, long, long, time—for most of us anyway. I started writing in 1999, my first book wasn’t published until 2011 even though it won the ACFW Genesis. And even though my books receive critical acclaim in awards they don’t sell as much as others because I’m with a small press. Here I am on book 6 and I’m still not selling a lot.

But I wouldn’t change a thing. God has been so good to me in this journey. Each time I want to give up, He does something to encourage me to keep going. Like I said, here I am looking forward to the publishing of my sixth novel this year. That’s progress—slow progress, but still wonderful progress. Hang in there. Keep working, but always, always, always, put the Lord and your family before your writing.

Tell us about the featured book.

To me, Veiled at Midnight is a historical about a terrible time in British/Indian history, but what I also call a Big Love Story. My historicals are not in the romance genre, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some delicious romance in them.

VEILED AT MIDNIGHT—Explosive and Passionate Finale to the series Twilight of the British Raj

As the British Empire comes to an end, millions flee to the roads. Caught up in the turbulent wake is Captain Cam Fraser, his sister Miriam, and the beautiful Indian Dassah.

Cam has never been able to put Dassah from his mind, ever since the days when he played with the orphans at the mission as a boy. But a British officer and the aide to the last viceroy cannot marry a poor Indian woman, can he?

As this becomes clear to Dassah, she has no option but to run. Cam may hold her heart—but she cannot let him break it again.

  

Miriam rails against the separation of the land of her birth, but is Lieutenant Colonel Jack Sunderland her soulmate or a distraction from what God has called her to do?

The 1947 Partition has separated the country these three love … but can they find their true homes before it separates them forever?

Please give us the first page of the book.

Calcutta, August 15, 1946

The last arrow of sunlight shot back from the train’s brass trim, blinding Cam Fraser. As he narrowed his eyes, he recognized a face at the edge of his vision. A train whistle shrieked, steam hissed. A young woman in a green sari mingled within a crowd of Indian passengers. In an instant, his legs felt encased in steel. Out of that teeming mass on the platform, she stared back. Her skin the color of milky tea, her hair a thick braid of silk over one shoulder. The fast sinking sun set her awash in a glow of apricot. Then crimson. She’d been looking straight at him. Then in the descending dark she was gone.

“Hadassah.”

His sister, Miriam, gripped him by the elbow. “Hadassah? Cam, you said Dassah.”

“I thought I saw her.” He shook his head, the pain nearly splitting it in two. He squinted to see into the crowd as the rapid Indian dusk fell. Ten long years….

With her hand on his shoulder to steady herself, Miriam strained on her tiptoes to see over the throng. “It’s been simply ages! Cam, are you sure? Where’d you see her?”

At that moment, whistles blew, and conductors ushered passengers aboard the night train bound for New Delhi. Miriam sent a pleading look over her shoulder. “Find her, Cam, before the train leaves.”

He didn’t need any goading from his sister, and while the steward urged Miriam up the steps of their carriage, he dodged passengers along the side of the train. Hundreds scrambled to their seats, more well-to-do Indians to first and second class. At least that injustice had been corrected somewhat since his childhood. The plush elegance of first class was no longer assigned to the British alone. Still, hoards of poor mashed into the cattle-like carriages called fourth. But it wasn’t fourth he’d seen Dassah standing outside of.

For as long as he could remember, Dassah as a scrawny little girl tagged after him when he visited the mission. He and Miriam had played with the muddle of orphans—Hari, Ameera, Zakir—to name a few—enjoying the usual sort of games, soccer, rugby, marbles. But the last time he’d seen Dassah she’d been anything but scrawny. Nor had she been a little girl.

Intriguing. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Please drop by my website http://www.christinelindsay.com/

join me on Twitter

be my pal on Pinterest

“Like” my Facebook Page,

Or follow me on Goodreads

My latest book Veiled at Midnight can be found at the following sites.

VEILED AT MIDNIGHT Amazon

VEILED AT MIDNIGHT Barnes & Noble

VEILED AT MIDNIGHT Christian Books.com

Readers, leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

LONDONDERRY DREAMING - Christine Lindsay - One Free Ebook

Welcome back, Christine. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?

At the moment I am letting readers know about Londonderry Dreaming, my first strictly romance novel with Pelican Books. But also this year will be the release of Veiled at Midnight Book 3 in my historical series, Twilight of the British Raj. WhiteFire Publishing has also offered me the contract to write my non-fiction account of my experience as a birthmom—a woman who relinquishes her child to adoption—and my reunion with my birthdaughter 20 years later. Sometimes I get a little breathless thinking about it all.

Tell us a little about your family.

Like a lot of families these days, mine is a bit complex. My husband and I have three grown children and three grandsons. But we also have a wonderful relationship with my birthdaughter, Sarah. It’s so exciting right now. Sarah is 35 and has just had her first child, a little boy. So now I have 4 grandsons. It broke my heart to give Sarah up as a baby, but it was best for her at the time, since I was not married. I didn’t meet my dear husband until a year after I gave Sarah up. But God is so good. These days Sarah and I have a warm relationship as birthmom and birthdaughter. The best way I can describe it, it’s a bit like favorite aunt and favorite niece.

Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

Writing is such time-consuming work, so that I rarely get to read just for fun. I’m either doing research for my novels, or reading for review. Not much opportunity to just kick back in a hammock and fall asleep with a good book in my hands.

What are you working on right now?

Veiled at Midnight, Book 3 of my historical series set in exotic India. The hero and heroine in this book were just children in the first book, Shadowed in Silk. Now Cam and Dassah are grown, and in love. However, there is a lot against this couple being together. Cam is an English officer in the British army, and Dassah is a beautiful young Indian woman. As a mixed-race couple in 1947, they have much to keep them apart. Add to that, Cam’s struggle with alcoholism, misunderstandings, and treachery around them as Indian is about to be brutally parted in two. This is an explosive era, the end of British Colonialism. The historical figure of Lord Louis Mountbatten features in this story as the last Viceroy to India. Talk about pomp!

What outside interests do you have?

I love to garden with my mother who lives with us. And I love to get away in the little travel trailer with my husband. Get outdoors and enjoy God’s masterpiece.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

So far those settings have chosen me. My favorite books were written by the great MM Kaye, who wrote massive epics full of romance, adventure, and action set in Colonial India. I wanted to write books similar to that but from a Christian point of view. As for Londonderry Dreaming, the setting of Northern Ireland was too good to pass up. I was born in Northern Ireland, and I simply had to write this story when Pelican put out the submission call for their Passport to Romance line, and one of the international settings was Londonderry. 

If you could spend an evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?

I would like to meet with Pandita Ramabai, the great Indian Christian woman who did so much for suffering women and children in India. Ramabai died in 1922 but her mission is still in existence today. It’s funny, I think she did more even than Mother Theresa, but she remains fairly unknown in the US. I would be so intimidated to meet this wonderful woman, but she is the inspiration behind the entire series Twilight of the British Raj.

What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

That it would take me, drain me, take 99% of any leisure time I had remaining in my day, but yet be the most exciting way the Lord has used me to share His message of salvation. I’m tired, but it’s worth it, if my stories convey to readers how wonderful the Lord is.

I’ve only read the first book in the Twilight of the British Raj series, and you accomplished your goal in that one. What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?

To not run ahead of Him, but remain in step with Him. The only way to do that is spend time in prayer and listen.

What are the three best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?

Realize it will cost you a great deal—in money perhaps, but mostly in time, but you need to learn how to write. Perseverance is your friend—so keep at it. Write what you are passionate about.

Tell us about the featured book.

In Londonderry Dreaming, Naomi Boyd and Keith Wilson are two American people of Irish ancestry. She is an acclaimed New York artist and he’s a music therapist. Years before, they met in Ireland and fell in love, but Naomi’s grandfather separated them.

There is some secret root of bitterness between Ruth and Keith’s grandparents that has kept Naomi and Keith apart, until both sets of grandparents have passed on. Back in Ireland, a mysterious painting in the attic of Keith’s grandparents’ house brings all those old questions up. The interesting thing about Keith and Naomi is they are more comfortable with the unspoken languages of art and music and must learn to verbally share their hurts and true feelings.

This book is set against the majestic coastline of Northern Ireland.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Keith couldn’t get the old song about marrying a girl like the one Dad married out of his head as he dusted the heavy pewter frame of his grandparents’ wedding photo. His Granda used to sing that song all the time. Keith held the picture up to catch Londonderry’s wintry light streaming through the parlor window, his gaze moving from his grandfather’s face to his grandmother’s. A girl just like ... He cleared the roughness from his voice. Actually, someone like the girl that married his grandfather was more what he was praying for in a wife.

Yeah, his sweet Irish Gran, no woman could even come close to the gal she used to be. The way she used to bang the piano keys when the family this side of the ocean had a good old knees up party with plenty of singing and dancing. But her laughing eyes could turn to scolding as quick as a storm coming off the Irish Sea. And then those eyes melted within moments afterward with a hug, and most likely a chocolate biscuit. Dear Lord, I’m going to miss her and that wild sense of humor she had, not to mention her cooking.

The doorbell rang. Were his cousins back already with more boxes? Garrick and Sandra had left only twenty minutes ago, but they needed a load more containers if he was to ever get started on emptying this house.

He placed the photograph into the box of items he would take back to the States. It would sit in a place of honor on his piano at home in Albany. As for the rest ...

What a royal mess he and his Irish cousins had made of the first floor of this small, red-brick row house. To be fair he’d only just started, but there were two floors and then the attic. Thanks, Gran, for asking me to take care of this for you—me of all people. Now if all this stuff were musical gear he’d know what to do, but what was he to do with his grandmother’s dainty things? She’d been so insistent though, and he could never refuse her anything. She also knew he’d take any opportunity to fly over to Ireland.

I can’t wait for my copy to arrive. How can readers find you on the Internet?

I would love for new friends and followers on my blog www.ChristineLindsay.org,

Facebook,

Twitter,

Pinterest,

Goodreads.

Thank you, Christine, for sharing this new book with us. We must schedule the third book in the Twilight of the British Raj series on the blog, too.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Londonderry Dreaming - Christianbook.com
Londonderry Dreaming (Passport to Romance) - Kindle

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

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CAPTURED BY MOONLIGHT - Christine Lindsay - One Free Book

Why do you write the kind of books you do?

I write books with lots of romance, adventure, danger, suspense, because this is the type of exciting book I like to read. I like a book that takes me away, and leaves me with images to remember for months, if not years later. But at the same time, I must write books that tell about the greatest love of all—that of Christ’s love for us. Nothing is more exciting than that.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

The day my husband David asked me to be his wife, and the consequent days that each of our children were born. Aside from God, my family is my greatest joy.

How has being published changed your life?

It got a lot busier, but also brought a lot of people into my life, people I consider friends, like our very dear Lena Nelson Dooley. How wonderful to go to a writers’ conference and find lovely fellow writers such as Lena and receive a big hug. It’s so wonderful to work in tangent with quality writers like this, who only want the same thing—to share Christ with others through the telling of stories.

And then there are all the really neat people I get to meet when they contact me after reading my books. I wish more readers would email me at Christine.Lindsay.Writer@gmail.com I love to meet them. It all boils down to relationships with others. Such a great feeling to get to know people.

I so agree Christine. I love getting to know other authors, and hearing from readers really makes my day. What are you reading right now?

Band of Sisters by Cathy Gohlke, and really loving it.

I loved that book as well. What is your current work in progress?

I’m working on a romance novella set in England, and then I have to start writing the third and final book to my series, Twilight of the British Raj, which will be called Veiled at Midnight and released by WhiteFire in 2014.

We need to schedule that book on my blog. What would be your dream vacation?

Oh my goodness, anywhere tropical where I can sit on a beach, look at turquoise water, sip a nice fruit juice and read a great book. With my hubby beside me. Although I did hear about this wonderful horse-drawn sleigh-ride that you can book at Christmas time up at Lake Louise in Canada. I would love to do that for a winter  vacation.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

The settings always come with the character that takes my heart. In my India series, it started out with my British Cavalry Major, Geoff Richards, who was the fictionalized version of my great, great, great—or something like that—great grandfather. And so that series was permanently set in British Colonial India—an extremely exotic place, terrific for danger and romance.

Because I’m Irish born, a lot of my characters tend to be of British or Irish stock, so often that sets my books in the British Isles. But British history fascinates me. Hence their colonies do which used to take up a large segment of the map. 

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

I’d love to sit down and have tea with Queen Elizabeth. Being born in British owned Northern Ireland, and a citizen of Canada which is part of the British Commonwealth, Elizabeth the Second is my queen. In my opinion she is a royal that is deserving of great honor. She’s kept her promise to her subjects and served her people well.

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

I’m chuckling to myself. There isn’t much time for anything else, although I love my garden. I just saw some of my daffodils have poked up in the front by the driveway. 

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

Fitting everything into a tight schedule. There is so much more to being a published writer than writing books. Getting the word out about our books is a tough job. It’s hard to talk about yourself, when as a writer—especially a Christian writer—we are much happier shining the light on Christ or on our characters.

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

If you find great joy in crafting words on a page, then do it. Keep at it, because it is not an easy climb. But along the way you will make many friends, and most of all come to rely more and more upon Christ, and you will be what God wired you to be—a writer.

Tell us about the featured book.

Captured by Moonlight is the continuing story of Eshana and of Nursing Matron Laine Harkness from Shadowed in Silk. These two feisty women from Book 1 practically demanded that I tell their story.

Due to their desire to help young girls who are being sexually abused in the north of India, Eshana and Laine find the police on their heels. As they both escape to the south of India, they are each captured by their respective pasts.

Laine goes to a new position as nurse in a clinic that is thick in the jungle, only to discover the owner of the plantation is her former fiancé who broke her heart during the war. Laine is determined that Adam will never again crush her like he did when he sent her that Dear Jane letter.

Unknown to Laine, Eshana is caught and imprisoned by her traditional Hindu uncle who is angry that she is living as a Christian. He secretly imprisons Eshana in a house hidden in the jungle where she discovers friendship with a little girl who is also engaged to be married, though she is only six.

Eshana wonders if she will ever see freedom again, or is she to wear the funeral garb of a Hindu widow for the rest of her life? She is also saddened that she may never again see Dr. Jai Kaur, a Sikh man whom she has become great friends with.

Captured by Moonlight has two romances within its story, and I believe it will capture the heart of any Christian romance reader. At the same time I try to gently tackle a serious issue that is still current today—young children being used as sex slaves.

Here is the book trailer.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Amritsar, Northern India, Late October, 1921

If the head woman from the temple looked in her direction, Laine Harkness wouldn’t give two

squashed mangoes for her life, or Eshana’s. Laine could never be confused for an Indian, but with the tail end of this cotton sari covering half her face, and her brown eyes peeking over, she simply had to blend in. Still, any minute now that hatchet-faced female standing guard to the girls’ quarters could let out a pulse-freezing yell.

A sudden blare of a conch shell from within the Hindu temple stretched Laine’s nerves. She and

Eshana must be mad to risk this exploit again. The Principal Matron at Laine’s hospital would give her a severe reprimand if she ever found out. More likely sack her. If either she or Eshana had any sense at all, they’d turn around, go back to the mission, and mind their own business.

But a line from Wordsworth, one of Adam’s favorites, ran through her mind...little, nameless,

unremembered acts of kindness and of love...

Blast! She wouldn’t call what she and Eshana were about to do little, but please let it be

unremembered. Unnoticed would be better still.

Nudging Eshana in the side and closing her mind to the writhing creatures in the burlap bags

they carried, she hissed into Eshana’s ear. “Well off you go. You’ve got yours to dispose of, and I’ve got mine. Just please keep that guard distracted.” Laine jutted her chin toward the obese head woman waddling around in a sari stained down the front with betel juice. Every once in a while she would take her long wooden club and rap on the doors of the hovels.

Eshana hurried through the narrow alleyway toward the guardian of the temple girls, carrying a

similar burlap sack to Laine’s.

On the opposite side of the bazaar, the globelike spires of a temple devoted to a Hindu goddess

poked above nearby rooftops. Like a multi-tiered cake decorated in a variety of colored icings—pinks, blues, orange—the temple enticed like a sugary concoction.

But from there the loveliness ended. In these alleyways behind the temple, the pervasive scent

of incense and stale flowers mixed with the reek of human misery. Girls who should still be playing with toys, and some a little older, chatted with each other. Many of the paint-chipped doors were closed, imprisoning within those adolescent girls forced into ritual marriages to a Hindu deity.

Laine flattened herself against the peeling plaster wall to watch Eshana shake out the contents

of her sack at the base of a cluster of clay pots. Now she waved her hands about, talking in rapid Hindi to the older woman. Good girl, Eshana, that’s the ticket. Laine’s stomach writhed in rhythm to the creature in the bag she carried. She strengthened her grip at the top of the sack though the drawstring had been tightly pulled.

Sure enough the head woman stomped off with Eshana and began to clatter around the pots

with her club, giving Laine the moment she waited for. Sixth door from the end on this side, Eshana had told her. Eshana had been visiting the inhabitants of this alley on a regular basis in an attempt to give them some sort of medical aid.

How exciting. How can readers find you on the Internet?

I would love readers to drop by and leave me a message on www.christinelindsay.com

Thank you, Christine, for sharing your book with us.

Readers, here’s a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
Captured by Moonlight


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

SHADOWED IN SILK - Christine Lindsay - Free Book

I'm thrilled to feature this author and this book on my blog. I was blessed to be able to read it for an endorsement. Welcome, Christine. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

Life is tough. As a kid, mine certainly was, so I write a great deal of myself or of others close to me in my stories, changing the circumstances of course. But much of my character’s emotional and spiritual journey’s are taken from what I’ve observed up close or experienced.

I grew up in an unstable home. My father was an alcoholic who physically abused my mother. Right there—tons of fodder for stories. I understand how a woman can feel unseen and unloved. Like my mother, my character Abby Fraser grew up feeling invisible. But also like my mother, Abby refuses to submit to abuse.

When I was a young woman I became pregnant outside of marriage and relinquished my first child to adoption. There again, tons of emotional experiences to draw from—moral failure, but also courage. Because of closed adoptions back then, as the years passed I felt invisible to this child I had named Sarah. Though I continued to love and pray for her every day along with my other children that came later after I met my wonderful husband.

None of us have to look far for authentic sadness or trauma in our lives. What’s wonderful is seeing the redemptive hand of God bringing us through those hard times.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

I thought I’d like to learn how to fly a small plane, but after the first free lesson I decided I really wasn’t that brave. Chicken is more like it.  J

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

As a child I used to sit on the kitchen floor and draw pictures on my blackboard, and tell myself stories. In college I recognized my ‘knack’ for writing, but I never paid any attention to it . . . that is until the reunion with my birthdaughter, Sarah.

God was very good to me. When Sarah was 20 she and are were reunited as birthmother and birthdaughter. But at our reunion I began to relive the loss of relinquishing her in the first place.

Months later my husband found me sitting on the couch, crying. He went out and bought me a brand new pen and journal, and said, “Write it.”

My words flowed, and that was the beginning of a 12 year apprenticeship in writing. Not long afterward I felt the Lord urge me to put the emotional healing I had received into fictional stories to help others.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

Big, fat historicals with plenty of adventure and romance, and always a happy ending. Life is too harsh to read sad endings. So MM Kaye with her Far Pavilions is a top favorite. Tricia Goyer, Bodie Thoene, Jack Cavanagh’s Songs in the Night series . . .

But I also love gritty murder mysteries—the British kind by authors like PD James. And I also read a lot of non-fiction, especially history.

And contemporary Christian women’s or romantic fiction—I adore Linda Nichol’s At the Scent of Water and Not a Sparrow Falls. I’m a huge fan of Debra Raney’s and also of Lena Nelson Dooley. A good debut novel I just read was by Cathy West, Yesterday’s Tomorrow, set during the Vietnam War.

Thank you for including me in your list. How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

To be honest, I’m not sure I am all that sane with the pace I’ve been keeping lately.

Seriously though, I start each day quietly with the Lord. Read a chapter from the Old and New Testament, and in His presence relinquish all of who I am, and all my ambitions. I love to write, but whatever I love, I hold out to Him to either take away or leave in my open hands. If God wants me to stop pursuing a writing ministry and teach Sunday School, or clean toilets, or go wherever—I will. It’s obeying Him that matters.

How do you choose your characters’ names?

Sometimes in non-fiction from the era I’m studying. That’s where I found Geoff’s name, short for Geoffrey.

I watch the credits that go by at the end of every movie and TV show. I found 2 minor character’s names on Midsummer Murders. I think the producer’s name was True-May—so I used that for one of Geoff’s acquaintances.

And I’ll let you in on a secret I haven’t told anyone yet. Geoff’s last name, Richards, is for Cliff Richards. Cliff—if you don’t already know—is a wonderful Christian personality in Britain. As a little kid—a hundred years ago—I thought he was dishy.

I found the name for Eshana, my little Hindu widow, on the web. It means “one having eyes like a deer.”

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

Two-part accomplishment—relinquishing Sarah to another couple who loved her and raised her to be a happy committed Christian . . . and for raising the 3 children God gave my husband and I, to also be happy, committed Christians.

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

Definitely a pussycat. They’re charming, soft, they love to sleep, and purr. They take life simple and fulfill the purpose for which God created them. That’s all I want—to take life simply by being obedient to God, and let Him take care of whatever is supposed to happen, and let me cuddle up and purr on His lap.

What is your favorite food?

I’m Irish—born there—so I love my spuds. Pototoes. So a nice dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy is my comfort food. That, and a good strong cup of tea. 

What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

Finding the time to write because I must contribute to our household income by working outside the home. This takes much time and energy away from my creativity, but I commit to writing for an hour each day, no matter what. On days off, I write all day.

Tell us about the featured book.

Ah, the labor of my heart. Shadowed in Silk deals with—and I think delicately—a tough subject, spousal abuse. Women are often mistreated in eastern cultures as well as western, and neglect or abuse, done in secret, makes the victim feel invisible.

After the 4 long years of The Great War, Abby Fraser returns to India with her small son, where her husband is stationed with the British army. But when she finally catches up with Nick in the north of India, she discovers he’s a cruel stranger. And Nick has secrets, one of them is the woman, Tikah, who isn’t quite a servant in the house. As Abby tries to sort out her marriage difficulties, a Russian spy enters her social circle. Unbeknownst to everyone, this spy is stirring up rebellion in India.

The strong, silent hero is Major Geoff Richards who suffers from shellshock and is broken over the loss of so many of his men in the war. Abby’s little boy, Cam, tugs on Geoff’s heart, but Geoff is afraid to believe there is any joy left in this life. While Geoff is a devoted Christian, he’s angry at how his British peers mistreat the Indian people. And as Geoff befriends Cam he can’t help but notice that Nick Fraser is mistreating Abby.

As an honorable Christian man Geoff can’t do much, but he tries to advise Abby to protect herself and Cam. He also encourages Abby to make friendships with some Indian Christian women he knows, who are former Hindu widows, and who know all about being abused and neglected. Meanwhile Geoff is ordered to search out the Russian spy, throwing him often into Abby’s social circle.

As things get worse for Abby, it becomes clear that she can’t solve all of her problems by herself. She starts to wonder if her little Christian ayah, Eshana, really does have the answers. Maybe there is a way for God to really see her.

This human drama is set against a true historical event that shook the British Empire, setting in motion the Indian independence, and skyrocketing Gandhi to fame.

Please give us the first page of the book.

December, 1918

Abby Fraser gripped the railing of the New Delhi and lifted her chin to defy the solitary expanse of sea. She refused to believe a wife needed an invitation to join her husband. The war was over at last. Nick and she were married, and it was about time he remembered that.

One of the Queen Alexandra nurses escorting the Indian troops home stood beside Abby. With a rustle of starched cotton, Laine Harkness leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Why do you look like you’re headed for the Black Hole of Calcutta and not about to have a passionate reunion with the love of your life?”

Abby ran a hand down her linen skirt and watched the blue line of shore draw closer. What could she possibly say? Instead of replying she cuddled her little son, Cam, nearer to her side. In less than an hour he’d meet his father for the first time. Had she been foolish not to wait for an answer from Nick? So few letters from him in four years.

“I know you’re American,” Laine went on, “but I assure you, the only thing to be afraid of in this part of the British Empire is the wife of your husband’s commanding officer.” She shuddered with drama and grinned maliciously. “Once you’re settled in your shady little army cantonment, the old battle-axe will whip you into shape in no time. Then you’ll be quite the proper memsahib. It’s them that run the colony for us Brits. Don’t you think for a minute it’s the Viceroy or our army—it’s the average colonel’s wife.”

Abby crinkled her nose as she smiled. “You win. Is this better?”

“Much better. You were altogether too peaked for meeting your handsome lieutenant.”

The New Delhi sliced her way through the narrows of Kolaba Point, and the familiar scent of Bombay reached out to Abby. Laine was right. No sense worrying. Tucking a strand of hair into her chignon, she savored a tantalizing whiff of overripe fruit, roses, marigolds and cloves, mingled with the acrid smell of dust . . .

 How can readers find you on the Internet?

Drop by my website for a visit. There you can also read my entire relinquishment to adoption and reunion story. Within that story are chapters written by my birthdaughter’s adoptive mom as well. It’s honest, and it shows the tenderness of God toward the both of us women who hungered for the same little baby.


Thank you for the interesting discussion, Christine.



Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.


Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com