WORD GETS AROUND - Julie B Cosgrove - One Free Book

As an author, I know it takes a lot of people to birth each book. Who were the people involved in the birthing of this book, and what were their contributions? Of course, Marji Lane, Editor in Chief of Write Integrity Press leads the pack. Not only did she design the cover but also helped in edits, as did Sherry Crowder.

In the Wordplay Mysteries, I began naming some of the characters in town after people who have supported my writing. It is my small way to thank them for their prayers and kudos over the years.

If you teach or speak. What’s coming up on your calendar?

Due to COVID, I have not been speaking at all. Perhaps God is closing that door. Events scheduled then canceled. I mostly speak at church women’s groups and writer groups and public gatherings continue to be discouraged, so it is not feasible, especially with a spike again due to the delta strain.

COVID has really affected my speaking, but I’ve started doing ZOOM speaking and have a larger field available. If you had to completely start over in another place, where would you move, and why? I had to completely start over so many times when my husband was alive due to his career in structural steel, and it tore my heart each time to say goodbye to new friends. I am so thankful God has allowed me to set down deep roots into Fort Worth. I don’t want to move, unless of course God tells me it’s time. One thing I do know, I am always with family in church so that is where I always headed, sometime before I even found a grocery store!

If I had the funds though, I would love to spend six months in England letting (that is what they call renting) a holiday cottage in a small village. I was blessed to spend two weeks there embedded with a family while on a mission trip.

If you could only tell aspiring novelists one thing, what would it be? Any craft has to be perfected, so toughen your skin, learn from seasoned authors, and never let your pride thwart your talent.

You’ve been asked to be in charge of a celebrity cruise. Who would you ask to take part, and why? (As in what program, singers, etc. [it doesn’t have to be writing related]) I have absolutely no desire to go on a cruise. I get motion sickness too easily. However, if I only had to plan the thing, I’d have for entertainment worship bands such as Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, and Third Day―if they’d come out of retirement. Oh, and Michael Card. He is a true minstrel. For speakers, I’d book Max Lucado and Priscilla Shirer because they speak to me personally, not only because they are fellow Texans.

I might risk constant nausea for that cruise!

I’d be the first to sign up for that cruise. I love all of those. And they have some amazing anti-motion sickness things now. You could be there with me. Tell us about the featured book. Word Gets Around is the second of six contracted books in the Wordplay Mysteries set in fictitious Scrub Oak, Texas. In the series, widowed Wanda Warner has lived there most of her life and possesses a deep sense of community. When crime begins to creep in, she organizes a neighborhood watch program. Now her nephew, Todd, is on the police force and Wanda wants his badge to shine, so she uses her community position, keen mind, and natural curiosity to help solve crimes. Each book reflects her love for word games.

In Word Gets Around, someone leaves one-word notes on the windshields of cars around town at the same time a rising star reporter goes missing. Wanda is convinced the two events are related, but can she decipher the message in time to help locate this reporter? And does she seriously want to get involved after words on Scrabble board games led her to the discovery of several murders in Book 1, Word Has It.

Please give us the first page of the book.

It had been three months since Wanda Lee Warner had dared to open the box. She’d stuffed it into the top shelf of her bedroom closet. Didn’t matter. She knew it lurked there.

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she’d roll over in bed, stare at the closed door, and envision it, beckoning her to lift the lid and begin the mystery.

“You’re overreacting, Aunt Wanda.” Todd Martin peered at her over his mug of coffee. He sat at her kitchen table the way he always did on Thursday mornings, his day off as a patrol officer for the Scrub Oak Police Department. “It’s been weeks, no months, since the Scrabble board held clues to solving the murders at the Ferguson Mansion.”

“I know. And I used to love playing the word game with you.”

“You used to love playing it with anyone who walked through the door.” He reached for the creamer. “This stuff is awful. Another one of Priscilla’s latest and greatest blends?”

“It is. Ugandan Supreme. I think that’s what she calls it.”

“Thought so. I could smell it before I opened the door.”

“That bad, huh?” She plopped down across from him and took a sip of the new flavor featured at the Coffee Bean. She had hated to disappoint Priscilla Tucker, who ran the bistro inside the Grocery Mart. So, she’d bought a bag. Like most of the selections, it tasted too strong, too bitter, and too pungent.

The java roast assaulted her taste buds, sending a shiver through her torso. “Ugh. You’re right. This wins the prize for the nastiest one yet.”

Wanda grabbed his mug. She dumped its contents into the sink along with hers. She rinsed out the dispenser and waved goodbye to the grounds swirling down the disposal drain. Then she plopped some good old-fashioned, lighter-blend American coffee pods in the brewer. Within a few seconds she returned the mugs to the table. “There. Less of a hassle anyway.”

Todd kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Aunt Wanda. Now where is the box?”

Where can we find you on the Internet?

My website is www.juliebcosgrove.com. I have also had an inspirational blog for the past 11 years. It is www.wheredidyoufindgod.com   

I am on Facebook in three places. My personal Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/juliebcosgrove.tx. My author page is https://www.facebook.com/juliebcosgrove.  Then I have a new one strictly for my cozy mysteries  https://www.facebook.com/mysterieswithmessage where I hope other faith-based mystery writes will start to contribute as well so Christian fictions fans who love mysteries will know where to find clean, safe, and appropriate ones.

Thank you, Julie, for sharing this book with my blog readers and me. I love word puzzles.

Readers, here are links to the book.

http://ow.ly/TLuM50FGrKO

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, 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

'TIL DICE DO US PART - Julie B Cosgrove - One Free Book

Welcome back, Julie. Why did you become an author? 

Being shy, I always found it easier to express myself on paper. Perhaps being from an “attorney-laden” family trained me because we were always encouraged to build our case before presenting our arguments in family “discussions.” In high school, I was picked to take an advanced class in creative writing and several of my works won awards. But then college, marriage, and life hit. Even so, I would spend months developing plots and characters as I waited in traffic or did laundry. When God opened the door for me to make money at freelance writing, the story bug began to nibble at my mind again. Eleven years ago, a friend told me of a Christian writing group. At the time, I had no idea there were Christian fiction authors out there. The first meeting pierced my heart with a renewed desire to become one, and twelve books later—with three more under contract—God has been faithful to fulfill it.

I love to hear stories of how God has moved in an author’s life. If you weren’t an author, what would be your dream job?

Well, I have that job, too. I am a digital missionary with CRU’s The Life Project. My freelance writing and editing skills landed me on staff, and aside from editing for a few Christian authors on the side, it is my occupation.

Our websites’ articles and devotionals touched over 600,000 souls last year, which opened the door for one of our websites to become available in India, South America, and the Middle East! I am the content editor over 24 devotional writers as well and I love to see how God writes through them, and me, to meet people’s needs. We live in such an exciting time. Through the internet, we can truly fulfill Christ’s command to “go into all nations.” Our motto is, “The World is on the Internet. We help them know Jesus.” It is humbling, awe-inspiring work to be a part of bringing someone, whom I’ll probably never meet face to face on the other side of the city, state, country, or world, into the Kingdom.

If you could have lived at another time in history, what would it be and why?

My more modern, women’s lib sister always would roll her eyes and say I was too Victorian. In other words, old-fashioned, highly moral, and traditional in gender attributes. At least, in the society of that time, there were set rules of conduct. Men honored and cherished women. I personally don’t mind a door being opened for me. Or men protecting my virtue. I don’t think a woman should ever lose that, no matter her age or how many children she has had. It’s our power, privilege, and blessing.

What place in the United States have you not visited that you would like to?

I have never been to the northwest, like Oregon and Washington State. I would like to see that section of the country. But then again, leaf peeping throughout Vermont in the autumn would be awesome as well.

How about a foreign country you hope to visit?

I was blessed to go on a mission trip to England and was embedded with a family in a village for two weeks. I would love to return. Actually, my dream is to spend six months there in a holiday so I can travel, meet people, and write. As a widow with a grown son who is still single, I have few obligations, and my digital ministry allows me to write from anywhere, so I could possibly do it if my health and finances allowed. But I’d miss my cats.

What lesson has the Lord taught you recently?

I am not in control. Health issues, which has left me mostly unable to drive or leave the house much for the past eighteen months, has forced me to rely on people to help me. It has been very humbling. But it has been a huge growth period for me spiritually.

Tell us about the featured book.

Oh, I am happy to do that! ’Til Dice Do Us Part is the fourth book in the Bunco Biddies cozy mystery series.  The Bunco Biddies’ ring leader is Janie, the widow of a renowned big city detective who often bounced his cases off her brain for a fresh angle. Now her son-in-law is chief detective in the small town near her 55-plus community, Sunset Acres. As crime begins to seep in, Janie and her Bunco-playing friends start to snoop. After all, they know just about everyone.

In this book, one of them, Ethel, has a tumble while decorating for a friend’s wedding shower and ends up in the ER. She believes she overhears a crime being discussed. When people begin to go missing, including the groom-to-be from the waiting room, Janie decides something dicey is definitely going on at Mercy Memorial.

Please give us the first page of the book.

“Look out!” Janie Manson waved her arms over her head. “The ladder is wobbling.”

Ethel spun toward the direction of her friend’s shrill voice, streamer in one hand, and dispenser of cellophane tape looped over her finger. As her heel swiveled, it caught on the seventh rung.

The next two seconds dragged in slo-mo for Janie as she screamed―half a room away.

Mildred turned as she swooshed a plastic pink cover, etched with doves and bells, over the rectangular gift table. Her hands froze in mid-air.

Babs let loose a tray of white and black disposable salt and pepper shakers, which rolled across the floor like tiny nuns tumbling down a hill.  

Annie Schmidt, sporting her new Florida tan, squealed with her palms slapped to her cheeks.

Janie dashed to the ladder, arms extended…a second too late.

Ethel’s leg flipped into the air and, in a half-twist somersault which would’ve scored a 9.5 in an Olympic diving competition, landed shoulder first on the tiled surface. She plopped onto her back and became very, very still. Only the silver-gray curls on her forehead moved in the breeze generated from the ceiling fan’s soft whirs.

Everyone halted, as if afraid to breathe.

“Is she…?” Betsy Ann whimpered, fist to mouth, as the idea of wearing black in the morning and white in the afternoon in four days’ time sunk in. The Bunco Biddies had gathered to decorate the recreation hall at Sunset Acres Retirement Community for her wedding shower.

“I‘m not sure.” Janie knelt by Ethel and pressed two fingers on the carotid artery in her neck.

About that time Ethel groaned. “Ow. I see stars.” She clasped her hand to her shoulder. “Is it out of joint?”

Janie rocked back on her knees. “I’m not sure. It is kinda angled funny.”

Ethel jerked to a half-sitting position, propped with her good arm. “Don’t you dare pull on it, Janie Manson.” Her face paled as her eyes rolled into her forehead. A long moan escaped from her lips. She melted to the floor like a marshmallow off a stick over a campfire.

I shouldn’t laugh at such a serious event, but your writing is so hilarious. How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website is www.juliebcosgrove.com.  There you can preview all of my novels, including my suspense and romance ones, and my non-fiction works. You can also find out more about my digital ministry and link to my blog, Where Did You Find God Today with readership in 52 countries.

I am on Facebook as juliebcosgrove.tx, and you can also review my Amazon author page.

Thank you, Julie, for sharing this new book with me and my blog readers. I’m sure they’ll be eager as I am to read it.

Readers, here are links to the book.

'Til Dice Do Us Part (Bunco Biddies)  -  Paperback
'Til Dice Do Us Part (Bunco Biddies Mystery Book 4) - 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

BABY BUNCO - Julie B Cosgrove - One Free Book

Dear Readers, Julie Cosgrove is my friend and a fellow Texas author. And her books are wonderful.

Welcome back, Julie. How did you come up with the idea for this story?

Baby Bunco is the second novel in the Bunco Biddies Mysteries series. Each book has a “Buncos theme,” which is a dice game twelve of the senior citizens in their retirement community gather to play every Thursday. A baby Bunco is when a player rolls three of the same number, but not the number in the round. In other words, if you are in the round where everyone is trying to roll as many fours as they can, and you roll three twos, that is a baby bunco, worth five points. If you rolled three fours that round, that would be a regular bunco worth twenty-one points.

So I used that point system to develop a plot involving someone leaving a newborn infant in a bathtub of an abandoned garden home. The unique thing is the home is in Sunset Acres, the retirement community where the Bunco Biddies live. Not exactly an everyday occurrence.

If you were planning a party with Christian authors of contemporary fiction, what six people would you invite and why?

Probably Marji Lane, Cynthia Hickey, Lisa Lickel, Sharon McGregor, Vicki Caine, and Nancy Mehl because they all write mysteries and we could brainstorm plot twists.

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

(Julie’s cheeks turn crimson.) I know you write that Lena, and I have read a few of your westerns, so you are invited anytime. Maybe Anne Greene as well, since she is in our American Christian Fiction Writers Dallas area group. She writes Regency and Victorian novels. Penelope Marquez writes stories set in Revolutionary times, and Rachel James, who lives in England, writes about very early Medieval Anglo-Saxon times. Charlene Havel and Sharon Faucheux teamed up to write Biblical fiction. That would be an interesting group because their writing spans almost all of our human history, don’t you think?

Yes. That would be a good group. 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?

Marketing them! Often times, I feel as if I am yelling into the wind. There are so many wonderful Christian authors publishing novels out there, I can hardly keep up. No wonder our readers can’t. I hope I can appeal to the group who like cozies. Plus, my cozy mysteries, though faith-based, can cross over to secular reading audiences. One renowned Christian reviewer applauded this series because she said I didn’t awkwardly stick in a sermon in the midst of a car chase. Of course she was exaggerating, but her point was my characters live out their faith. It is a natural part of their personalities so Christianity flows through the plot like a deep underground current in a river.

Tell us about the featured book.

In Baby Bunco, the Biddies have just helped to solve a murder case that happened in their retirement community of Sunset Acres (as featured in Book One - Dumpster Dicing.) Janie, their ring leader, suffers from what her paperback mystery aficionado friend, Ethel, describes as mystery-itis. She has become addicted to sleuthing. So when a baby is found abandoned in a vacant home’s bathtub, and a young girl is found dead behind the convenience store across the highway on the same day, Janie immediately suspects it is the birth of a new crime wave in Alamoville. Now if only she can convince her son-in-law, who is the chief detective who is the case—no pun intended.

Please give us the first page of the book.

“Did you say she found a baby?” Janie stopped mid-roll, the pink and white dice warming in her clutched fist. “Here in Sunset Acres, a retirement community?”

Babs, seated to her left at the Bunco table, nodded. “That’s what Mildred told me as we were walking up to your front stoop tonight. Right, Mildred?”

“I went to collect a few more of my things since I’m staying with Ethel, and no more than three minutes later the leasing agent pounded on my door. ‘Come see,’ she motioned to me. Her eyes grew as wide as those mega donuts at the Crusty Baker.” She thumped her pencil against her score pad and groaned. “It took every ounce of gumption to follow her into that—ugh!—place next door.” She quivered her shoulders.

Janie shifted her gaze to the woman sitting across from her. “Ethel, you knew about this?”

“I did.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” Her voice elevated to echo-off –the-ceiling volume. She humphed and pivoted to face the storyteller. “Mildred. What happened?”

The other eight ladies halted their Bunco round. Each swiveled to listen in, their eyes fixated on the first card table.

Mildred leaned. “I paused at the steps, determined to not go inside. Only peek in from the front door. Then high-pitched, frantic cries came from the direction of the bathroom. Well, I had to rush to its aid. Every motherly fiber in my being dictated it.”

Murmurs and head bobs filtered through Janie’s living room.

Mildred sniffled. “Poor little thing. Alone, scared and red as a beet from wailing so hard. That house is cursed, I tell you.”

Janie patted her hand. “Now, dear. Just because someone murdered Edwin soon after he moved in there doesn’t mean...”

Mildred shot from her seat and paced, her arms flaying in circles, resembling the duck windmill on top of the antiques barn down the road. “Ever since I relocated into Sunset Acres, it’s been one thing after another. Edwin murdered, then my nephew Bobby arrested, and now an abandoned newborn in a bathtub? This is supposed to be a quiet retirement community.”

“Maybe because you live on Solar Boulevard.” Annie huffed. “Nothing weird ever happens on my street, Sunrise Court, except for an occasional stray golf ball. Then again, if you kept your nose out of everyone’s business...” Her voice trailed off with a smug cock of her head.

“My nose?”

The other ladies mumbled to each other.

Ethel blew a whistle through her teeth. “Okay, everyone calm down. We all lived through the ruckus of one of our neighbor’s brutal murder last month. It’s not Mildred’s fault. Nor mine or Janie’s that this happened...”

Betsy Ann raised her hand, as if her legs once again dangled from under her desk in Ms. Everett’s kindergarten classroom.

Janie rolled her eyes. “What?”

“Well, it is sort of our fault.” She pointed to Janie, Ethel and herself. “We helped solve the case and Bobby did wind up in the middle of all of the commotion. That’s why he threatened you and tried to break into your house.” She folded her hands and gazed down at them. “I’m just saying...”

“Duly noted.” Janie felt the healing, pinkish wound on her neck where his knife grazed her skin. “I must add, my dear son-in-law, Chief Detective Blake Johnson, appreciated all of our...” her hands encircled the room “…research, sleuthing and cunningness. He told me so.” A smile curled along the edges of her mouth. “Besides, it did beat back the doldrums a while, right?”

A few silvery head bounced in agreement as the condo sprinkled with giggles. Annie crossed her arms and harumphed.

Janie eased over to Mildred and led her back to her designated chair. She patted her on the shoulders and scanned the room, making certain every slightly glaucoma-pressed or cataract-corrected eye fixated on her. “Now we must figure out who placed a newborn baby in a vacant garden home bathtub and why?”

Babs cocked an eyebrow. “We do?”

“Absolutely. Let’s face facts. Someone put the little thing in a home in our community so she would be discovered. Therefore it is our responsibility...”

A fun read so far. How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website is www.juliebcosgrove.com It will link you also to my blog, Where Did You Find God Today.

I have an Amazon author page, as well as a Goodreads author page. I’m also on Linked-In, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Most of my fiction and nonfiction is featured on the Texas Association of Author’s webpage. Just search Julie B Cosgrove and you’ll track me down.

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

Baby Bunco (Bunco Biddies) (Volume 2) - paperback
Baby Bunco (Bunco Biddies Mystery Book 2) - 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

DUMPSTER DICING - Julie B Cosgrove - One Free Book

Welcome back, Julie. This book is very different from your other books I've read. Why do you write the kinds of books you do?

I have always been a mystery buff. I have been reading them since Nancy Drew days, still veg out on Murder She Wrote reruns, and love the British mysteries on PBS. So, my sister challenged me, as she has a tendency to do, to start writing them. Little did I know I’d end up with a three book contract based solely on synopses.

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

That is very hard to say. I guess most would say their wedding day or when their child was born. And those probably top the list. But I think the happiest day of my life was when I realized He used me for a purpose, and my writing actually touched someone enough to bring them to faith.

How has being published changed your life?

It has kept me busy! People think writing is all there is to making a novel. Wrong. Making the novel is like making a baby. Then come up to nine months of development. Endless editing, critiquing, tweaking, cover design pow-wows and marketing.

What are you reading right now?

I read about a novel a week, many from other authors in my own publishing house so I can support them and review their works, or be a second eye in editing and proofing. I wish I read more for pure pleasure, but it is a pleasure to read what my fellow authors write. Some are really great!

What is your current work in progress?

I have three, actually. Baby Bunco, the second cozy in the Bunco Biddies Mysteries is in line edits, and Threes and Sixes, cozy number three, is in the beginning stages of the first draft. I also have a Christmas novella in editing right now called Hill Country Homecoming which will be part of an anthology of A Cowboy Christmas.

What would be your dream vacation?

To return to England, rent a cottage in a small village, and write for three to six months (and take day trips around to other places of course.) I was blessed to go on a church sponsored trip and live with a family for several weeks a few years ago. It whetted my appetite. I am a dyed-in-the-wool Anglophile, since it is my denomination and my heritage.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

I am a Texan, so most of my scenes are set in Texas. The Bunco Biddies live in a retirement community similar to ones I encountered when we lived in Central Texas. They are rambling small cities, really, with everything from independent condos and homes to full-time nursing care. They have golf courses, rec centers, libraries, and even small shops.

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

My grown son. We never get to see each other enough and any day you can hug your child is a stellar one.

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

That is pretty much it. I am a very amateur bird watcher and I love word puzzles. I think I have 27 games of Words With Friends going right now.

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

Can I be honest? It is the endless hours of marketing on social media and the feeling I am only shouting into the wind. That is why I so appreciate successful sites such as yours and your willingness to support other Christian writers.

It’s my pleasure and a great blessing to me. What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Find a wonderful critique group with published authors in it, either online or in person. Then toughen up your skin and take their comments to heart. You will also learn so much more reading and critiquing their genres as well. Everyone grows in the craft together. You may outgrow a particular group, but never the concept of them. Always sit at the feet of someone who is more successful than yourself.

Very good advice. I tell authors they always should have someone they’re learning from and someone they’re mentoring. Tell us about the featured book.

Dumpster Dicing is the first of the Bunco Biddies mysteries. Janie, the widow of an Austin police detective, and her friends in Sunset Acres play Bunco every Thursday evening. Their lives are fairly dull, until one day as she and her friend, Betsy Ann, a retired home and garden reporter for the local newspaper, discover a body in the community dumpster during their daily power walk. It seems the newest resident, Mr. Newman, must have had a dicey past, or how else did he end up in pieces only a few days after he moved in? Now, what would you do if you were Janie and Betsy Ann? Investigate how and why, of course!

Here is the first chapter:

Betsy Ann Hunt huffed up the hill, breathing in time to the slap of her sneakers on the early morning dew-dampened pavement. The lavender, velour-covered backside of her neighbor and Bunco playing buddy, Janie Manson, wobbled ahead of her, her elbows swinging in sync with her steps, no doubt to some early Beatles song on her I-pod. Janie claimed to be one of the privileged few who squealed on the first row of the band’s concert at Sam Houston Coliseum during their first British Invasion tour in April of 1965. But Janie bragged about a lot of things, such as her physical stamina—which appeared to be ebbing at the moment as a result of the sultry Texas humidity.

Betsy Ann urged her sore calves to accelerate on the incline. With every ounce of gumption mustered in her quivering ligaments, she edged alongside Janie. Exhaling a slight wheeze, she tapped her friend on the shoulder. “Can we slow down?”

 “Huh?” Janie pulled out the left ear bud. She waited at the top of the lane near the entrance to the club house parking lot in their fifty-five-plus community of Sunset Acres. The rumble of the sanitation truck on its Tuesday morning rounds to empty the dumpsters drowned out Betsy Ann’s breathless response. “What did you say?” Janie jogged in place as she leaned closer.

“Have...to...stop.” Betsy Ann raised a hand with fingers spread and then pressed it to her thigh as she bent over. Her ample breasts bounced with each chest heave under her fuchsia zip-up jogging jacket.

“Okay, all you had to do was say so.” Janie clicked off her music. “It’s only been three weeks since you slipped on your tailbone, Betsy Ann. I realize you gained six pounds lying around, but are you sure you should be power walking so soon? Dr. Pearson gave me strict orders about exercising when I chipped my hip bone two years ago.”

Always knows everything. With gritted teeth to keep her from speaking her mind, Betsy Ann straightened upright in slow motion as she counted to ten. But the sincere concern on Janie’s apple-cheeked face dissolved her angst. She edged up to her friend’s ear and spoke louder to compensate for the trash vehicle’s droning engine. “I’m fine, really. Just need a breather for a moment or two.” A whiff of three-day-old, fermented garbage combined with diesel fumes left her a tad lightheaded. She waved a hand over her nose. “Whew, away from that monster.”

 “Oh, okay.”

The two widows eased to a bench under one of the many sprawling live oak trees dotting the community. Their eyes followed the commercial dumpster as it rose in the air. The sanitation lorry’s built-in forklift maneuvered the box up and over the cab. “Amazing how they lift and dump, isn’t it? The dumpster must weigh several tons.”

Janie nodded. “Hydraulics, no doubt. My brother became a mechanical engineer, you know. Explained them to me one Thanksgiving, oh, back in 1972...”

Betsy Ann’s eyes glazed over. Janie exhibited the epitome of a walking encyclopedia. Her mind, even though encased in seventy-two-year-old wrinkles, still resembled a sharpened pencil lead. Her attention left her jogging mate’s diatribe on modern mechanics and turned to the labored whir of the metal arms grasping the garbage container. Black plastic sacks, white ones, and various cartons tumbled into the truck’s receptacle like upturned chocolate-covered mints into a wide open mouth. Then, something long and blue-jean colored caught Betsy Ann’s eye. She jolted to her feet. “Oh, my word. A leg! With an orthopedic shoe attached.”

“Dear, I thought you quit taking oxycodone for pain.” Janie pushed a sweat-dampened silver curl off her brow.

“I’m serious. Look.” Janie’s gaze followed her friend’s finger.

“Oh, my heavens. It is!” She jumped up as she waved her hands over her head. “Stop. Stop.” Her words didn’t reach the city worker’s ears over the automatic grinds and thunks.

Betsy Ann dashed in front and proceeded to slam her hands onto the driver’s door. A middle-aged man knitted his thick black eyebrows. He jerked the lift to stop and rolled down the window. “What?”

The community’s trash receptacle dangled at a precarious angle. The senior citizens sputtered in unison. “Stop. There’s a body.”

The man shook his head in confusion. Betsy Ann motioned to the back.

 “A body. Get it? Dead person.”

The man shut down the engine. “¿Muerto?”

 “Yes. Uh, sí.” She bobbed her cropped, reddish-blonde hair.

The worker crawled down from his seat and walked to the back of the sanitation truck, which rumbled and spewed more putrid fumes. The dumpster tilted down at a forty-five-degree angle. Suspended in time clung numerous trash bags, pizza boxes, a broken lawn chair and...an arm?

“Blessed Mary, Mother of God.” The man crossed himself and dug a cell phone from his back pocket. He punched in a number and began sputtering Spanish rapid fire like a machine gun from a 1940’s film noir movie. The two spinsters edged around to peer up into the dumpster’s contents, their cupped palms shading their eyes from the morning sun’s rays. Janie scrunched her mouth to one side. “If I am not mistaken, it’s Edwin Newman in there.”

“Who?” Betsy Ann swiveled her torso towards her sprinting partner.

 “You know. The old grouch who moved down the street into the Williams’ old condo last Friday.”

“Oh, yes. The Williams transferred to the assisted living units, didn’t they? He developed advancing Alzheimer’s and she’s recovering from double hip replacements. Or a knee and a hip? Oh, dear, I get fuddled sometimes about all that medical stuff. So many of us are losing body parts and getting titanium joints...”

“Betsy Ann!” Janie hissed. “Body. Dumpster. Remember?”

“Yes. My, aren’t we testy?” She brushed her jacket with the palm of her hand. “Why do you think those belong to... What did you say his name was?”

“Newman. Edwin Newman. He chewed out Mildred Fletcher because her Yorkie barked at him. Threw a coffee mug at the poor animal. Whack! Right on the nose. It left a raw, sore spot.”

 “He did?”

Janie gave her a quick nod. “Mildred must apply a special salve on him three times a day. Says it cost her $22.95.”

“On Mr. Newman?”

Janie scoffed into her velour v-neck. “No, the Yorkie.”

Betsy Ann’s lips formed an “O.”

Janie pointed to the dumpster. “Mr. Newman’s in there all right.”

 “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” Janie bent to Betsy Ann’s ear. “I see his head.”

How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website is www.juiebcosgrove.com. You can preview all my books there, fiction and non-fiction as well as view trailers.

I also have an inspirational blog, http://wheredidyoufindgodtoday.com and write devotionals for several web-based publications including Thoughts About God, the Life.com, Heartwings Blog, and Faith-Filled Family Magazine.

I am on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/juliebcosgrove.tx and also on Twitter, but not as often: Twitter@JulieBCosgrove. I am delving more and more into Pinterest.

All of my books are available on Goodreads and Amazon, and most are on Barnes and Noble.

Thank you, Julie, for sharing this new book with us. I'm eager to read it.

Readers, 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

FREED TO FORGIVE - Julie B Cosgrove - One Free Book

Dear Readers, I was privileged to read this book for endorsement. You won’t want to miss this book. The way Julie deals with the need for forgiveness, and how terribly hard it is sometimes, is masterful. And the suspense in the story will keep your heart beating double time.

Bio: Julie B Cosgrove is widowed and lives in Fort Worth, Texas, with two cats, lovingly dubbed her “beastie boys.” She is a part-time church secretary, professional public speaker, faith-based freelance writer, and award-winning author. Julie writes regularly for six Christian devotional and inspirational magazines and websites, and has her own blog, Where Did You Find God Today? She has published six non-fiction and four fiction works, with five more under contract. A native Texan, she grew up in the Texas Hill Country and is a true “river rat” who enjoys people watching, word games, and mystery novels/movies, especially British ones. She is active in the prayer and outreach ministries in her church and president over the women of her denomination in three states. Julie is also a representative for Women at Risk International, a missionary group who rescues women and children from sex slavery in thirty countries, and she speaks to civic and church groups about how to thwart human trafficking in their communities.

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

Whether fiction or nonfiction, I write about people finding God in their everyday lives and Him meeting them where they are. So often people wonder where He is    moving in their lives, but they are so focused on themselves and their conflicts, they can’t see His fingerprints on the situation. 

What other books of yours are coming out soon?

So glad you asked because I am giddy about it. I have been a mystery aficionado forever, so I finally got up the gumption to write one. Bam - I just signed a three-book contract for a cozy mystery series called The Bunco Biddies Mysteries about twelve women in a retirement community who gather for Bunco and solve crimes as they toss the dice. Book One, Dumpster Dicing, will be out the summer of 2016, book two, Baby Bunco, will be out in the winter of 2016 and Threes and Sixes will be out the summer of 2017.Yes, the series is humorous as well as faith-based and heart-felt.

I also have two romance novellas, Navy Blues and Greener Grasses which will launch in 2016 as part of an anthology of fifteen works with fourteen other authors based on 1Corinthians 13.

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

I’d really like to spend the evening with Joyce Meyer. When I was at a real low point in my faith years ago, her TV program lifted me. I saw her once in person as well. I have seen her talks lift other women as well, plus she is a hoot, right? It would not be a dull evening.

James and I have enjoyed her for years. We were in the studio audience when she was on James Robison’s show. What historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?

Sam Houston. Any man who nails studs to the banister of the brand new Texas Governor’s Mansion main stair railing to keep his kids from sliding down it during dignitary visits is worth meeting. He must have been a bigger-than-life sort of man to fight with the Texicans, be the first president of a brand new country and then lobby for it to become a part of the United States and take on being the first governor.

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

If they are truly serious about their craft, I encourage them to never give up. Keep writing and learning. Like many things, it takes time, effort and dedication to develop your talents. Find a supportive critique group with published authors who will mentor you and take their advice to heart. Finally, purchase Autocrit. Take the time to put one of o your rejections through it and go through the editing process. It is an amazing tutor.

Tell us about the featured book.

(Author sucks in her breath.) Freed to Forgive is about forgiving those who hurt us so we can heal and move on. God commands us to do that in the Lord’s Prayer and it is the hardest and most uplifting thing we can do on our faith journey besides initially accepting the fact we need a Savior.

           

That being said, it does come with a disclaimer. Though faith-based, this novel does contain veiled and delicately-worded abusive scenes necessary for the plot, and unfortunately, all too common in human trafficking.

           

This is a not a fluffy romance. It is a story of a young of girl’s journey from trafficked to triumph. I researched and conferenced for hours and hours with legislators, social workers, immigration counselors and missionaries before I wrote it to make sure I’d tell the story accurately.

           

Jesus met people where they were—in the middle of their sins—and then healed them and lifted them out of it into redemption. Thus, I felt I had to take the reader through the whole journey. But there is a happy ending, and the reader can see God’s purpose and movement in her life, even though Marisol doesn’t see it at the time.

Juxtaposed to Marisol’s journey is that of a young pastor as well as the protagonists from the first two novels, Hush in the Storm and Legitimate Lies, who will cross her life several times. But I purposely added scenes not revealed in the first two in this series and only referenced to scenes elaborated upon in the first two, so hopefully the reader doesn’t feel like they are in the middle of a rerun if they have read them or feel lost if they have not.

           

It’s my favorite of the trilogy and I am blessed that Prism Book Group has taken the “leap of faith” to support me in this effort and publish it. And I thank you, Lena, for endorsing it and encouraging me.

Please give us the first page of the book for my readers.

San Antonio, Summer, 2023  

Marisol Hernández did a double take. An icy tingle slithered down her arms. She recognized  the woman’s face. One she never thought she’d see again. Jen Westlaw. Except now her name read Wilson?

She back-stepped a few paces to peer into Jen’s pixelated bluish-green eyes displayed on the Abundant Life Church’s marquee as it flashed the latest posts from their social media site. The face beckoned her—once again. Yes, definitely the same woman.

They met in 2013. The year Marisol’s life changed. Hadn’t the news reported she’d disappeared without a trace and was presumed dead years ago? Yet there she gleamed in 3D color.

A man with a handsome smile stood next to Jen in the photo. Tom, it read. She’d never learned his name, but she recognized him all right. He’d helped Jen escape. He appeared again at the shelter on that horrid day—held Marisol’s hand, whispered she could trust him. She had, and part of her still regretted the decision.

Vivid memories flooded her thoughts, pressing against the emotional dam which she’d carefully constructed over the past decade. The hurt, once pooled deep inside, rushed from its stagnant state through cracks in her psyche. Waves of her secret torment rolled and crashed within the walls of her heart, threatening to drag her under. She gasped for breath.

“Watch it. Other people use this sidewalk.” A sharp male voice jolted Marisol back to the present. She’d absent-mindedly edged into the passenger’s path.

She dashed her gaze to the concrete. An old habit. Never look a man in the eyes. That had been pounded into her brain. And her back. Her last jefé once beat her with a belt for doing it. Ten lashes. Obey, or suffer. A tough lesson learned for a spirited, angry teenager who’d fought so hard to survive. She twitched her shoulder blade, the old pain jabbing her once again. Some scars never heal.

In a low voice she apologized to the stranger. “Lo siento. Um, sorry.”

“Yeah. Well, this isn’t Mexico.” Disgust vibrated through his words. “Give them some help and they think they deserve the world.” His grumbling faded with his footsteps.

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

My website is www.juliebcosgrove.com. I also have a devotional blog, because I write devotions for several publications as well as Bible studies.

You can also find my books on Amazon, Goodreads, and Barnes and Noble, and seek me on Facebook - juliebcosgrove_texas, Twitter@JulieBCosgrove, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Thank you, Julie, for sharing this new book with us. I know my readers are eager to find out how Marisol's story ends.

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

Freed to Forgive - paperback
Freed to Forgive - 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.

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

FOCUSED - Julie B Cosgrove - One Free Book

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

Only a haze. God made me near-sighted for a reason. If He shows me what His plans are too far out, I have a tendency to either get antsy or try to find a quicker route. I will keep writing fiction as long as God deems and publishers contract with me. I will also continue to offer devotionals for the eight websites and publications for which I regularly write, until God shuts those doors. Hopefully neither will end anytime soon.

Tell us a little about your family.

I am a widow and lives with two spoiled house cats whim I dub my “beastie boys,” since they are both males. I have a grown son who is still single. I am the fifth and youngest in my original family, but two of my siblings passed away before I was born. My brother lives in Austin and my sister in our hometown of San Antonio. They each have a daughter. My sister’s daughter lives about an hour away in Dallas, and she had three girls.

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

Has it ever, in two ways. First I am reading five times as much as I ever did, but then again widowhood may play a factor in that. But mostly it is due to the fact I have come to know so many wonderful Christian writers, and I read to endorse or review their works. Which segues into the second reason … I confess with a sigh. I have succumbed to the digital age. These works are all downloaded on my e-reader. I love it because my library now travels with me wherever I go and when I am on the road lecturing and leading retreats, it is handy to have.

What are you working on right now?

I am working on a cozy mystery trilogy and also have had requests to combine my blog entries into a book format. I have completed the second book about Christina, Jeff, and their son, Josh, the main characters in Focused. It’s called Grounded and I plan to write a third entitled Rooted, but am still seeking a publisher to pick them up.

My third novel in the anti-human trafficking series, Freed to Forgive, releases in October, and I have two novellas in the editing process. Navy Blues and Greener Grasses.

What outside interests do you have?

Hi, my name is Julie and I am a word-a-holic. I play Scrabble with the computer, have at least sixteen Words with Friends games going at any one time and love word searches and find-the words puzzles. I also dabble in graphic design, am a very amateur birdwatcher, and a weather bug. Most of all I enjoy lecturing and leading faith-based women’s weekends. These are fun, teary, enlightening, tender, and I always eat way too much and sleep way too little.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

I am a Texan so my books are set in Texas. Fortunately I have lived all over the state, so there is lots of fodder as far as scene settings. Focused is set in the Texas Hill Country where I am blessed to co-own about five acres along the Guadalupe River with my extended family on my mother’s side. The second in the anti-human trafficking series, Legitimate Lies, is partially set in Southern England where I spent two weeks with a church sponsored group embedded in a small village called Tefont.

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

That is a tough one. Of course the historical Jesus tops the list. I’d have loved to have heard the Sermon on the Mount first hand and then watch the sun set over the plains beyond Capernaum. Katherine Hepburn was such an elegant lady and marvelous actress. High tea with her would be memorable, don’t you agree?

Oh, yes. What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

Auto Crit. The world’s best editing aid. It is worth the money to me, and even though editing by it is tedious, you can learn so much about wordsmithing, what your pet and overused phrases tend to be, and how to truly enhance your style. Your manuscripts end up so polished they sparkle. What publisher would not want that?

What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?

Patience truly is a virtue. I am in such a better place relying on His perfect timing. He is also teaching me to listen more in my prayer time.

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

1. Write a hook at the end of each chapter that makes your readers want to keep reading.

2. There is always room for humor and a short “catch your breath” moment here and there in the plot, even in thrillers and suspense.

3. Do your best, and help others to do the same. Leave the rest to God.

Tell us about the featured book.

Focused came about because there didn’t seem to be a lot of middle-age, empty-nest stories out there in the fiction world. I read a statistic which said 80% of marriages that end after the seven year itch do so because of the inability of one or both spouses to adjust to empty nest syndrome or the death of a parent. So I decided to write about a couple who go through both scenarios, and with the help of a few well-meaning church friends, begin to realize why they married in the first place. It is a heart-felt, but also humorous in places, romance. I have had several husbands read it and thank me because they now “get” their wives.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Prologue - The Litmus Test

 Prelude, 1985

Oh, why did I insist on coming here?

Christina’s hands dripped with anxiety. The heirloom serving dish slipped out of her grasp and clunked onto the cedar log table. The take-out fried chicken wobbled as the sound ricocheted against the wooden walls of the summer cabin where her ancestors once ate, slept, and loved. She raised her shoulders to her ears and grimaced.

Her mother scowled. “Must you be so clumsy? I don’t want your grandmother’s china platter chipped.”

Must you always criticize me? She clamped her lips into a taut line and swallowed her true response, just as she did every time. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Christina watched her mother scoop the carton of coleslaw into a lead crystal bowl. It seemed appropriate. She felt as if she’d been born for a plastic tub life but shoved into crystal from the get-go. She never did quite fit into her mother’s idea of what a daughter should be. As a child, she’d often wondered if she’d been adopted.

Ticks from the old mantle clock perched on the rock fireplace vibrated into the kitchen and pounded in her ears. Finally, her mother’s voice broke the stifled hush that hung between them.

“So, Christina, how long have you known this Jeff of yours?” One eyebrow arched as she clumsily dried a dinner plate. A two-carat diamond ring bulged under her yellow Playtex glove. She always insisted on the dishes from the cabin’s kitchen being washed before using them. Pity her latest maid-cook didn’t accompany them this trip. Christina sighed and dunked her bare, ring-less hands into the hot suds. They were used to it. Her apartment had no dishwasher.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website is www.juliebcsogrove.com.

My blog is http://wheredidyoufindgodtoday.com.

My fiction and nonfiction books can be found on Amazon, Goodreads, or Barnes and Noble.

I am also on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and dabbling with Pintrest. Just search for Julie B Cosgrove.

Thank you, Julie, for sharing this book with us.

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

Focused - paperback
Focused - 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.

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

LEGITIMATE LIES - Julie B Cosgrove - One Free Book

Welcome back, Julie. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

The answer may sound glib, but I feel God calls me to write them, be it a suspense romance novel or another Bible study. He truly is my inspiration. I think at heart we are all story-tellers, and as Christians we are called to tell our story (and His) so others can be led to Christ. As a writer, I have the humbled honor of taking that a step further.

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

The day my son was born pops into my head, but coming a close second is the day I learned I was under contract with a traditional publisher. What an affirmation! God had just granted me my life-long dream.

How has being published changed your life?

It has humbled me so very much. I tear up thinking about how gracious God is to let me live out this dream of writing. I am more at home in my computer clicking away on the keyboard than I am in an easy chair. I’d keep doing it even if nobody took the gamble to contract me. The fact that I have three novels contracted to publish in 2015 still amazes me. Yet I feel a burden of responsibility as well. I think many of us Christian writers do. We are not writing for ourselves.

What are you reading right now?

A wonderful cozy mystery by Sharon McGregor called Island Charms. She’s also a Prism Book Group author. Then I have three more I want to get to, one by my all-time favorite author Mary Stewart. I have been reading hers since I was in sixth grade. She passed over fifteen years ago, but I discovered one of her last I hadn’t read. Cozy mysteries are my favorite, always have been.

What is your current work in progress?

I have two. I am fine-tuning and editing Freed to Forgive which takes one of the minor characters from Hush in the Storm (released Aug 4, 2014) and Legitimate Lies (released Jan 14, 2015) and tells her story over a ten year period. Then, I am also writing a romance novella called Navy Blues, based on one of the love aspects –“love is not self-serving”— in I Corinthians 13.

What would be your dream vacation?

Returning to England and taking a course at Oxford. Britain is my familial and religious roots. I was blessed to be embedded with a family for ten days there a few summers ago on a church sponsored tour. My other “dream come true.”

How do you choose your settings for each book?

I choose places I have been or want to see. The latter I thoroughly research until I can “walk the streets” in my mind. For almost two years, I wrote for a travel website and researched cyberspace for places and attractions that would appeal to a young family, a pet lover, and a business person, and I believe that training helps me truly visualize my scenes for my readers.

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

Max Lucado or Joyce Meyer. Both of their writings spoke to me at very crucial times in my spiritual life.

They are two of my favorite authors as well. What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

Word puzzles and vegging out on British mysteries and period novels on Netflix. Well, I am a Downton Abbey aficionado as well. Like my main character, Jen, I was weaned on Earl Grey with cream. A pure Anglophile. I also am a professional public speaker and workshop leader. I truly love meeting and leading other women to grow deeper in Christ.

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

Finding the time to zone out everything else. I literally itch to write. When I get that feeling, I know I need to carve out at least a day to “scratch.” But putting a fence around that time now-a-days is hard, isn’t it? My family and close friends are slowly learning I am serious when I say I can’t do something or go somewhere because I need to write. It’s not a lame excuse like, “I need to wash my hair.”

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write until you reach the end, then find a supportive critique group with at least one or two published authors in it and let them help you polish it and grow in the craft. Nothing will please them more, and then someday you will do the same for someone else.

Tell us about the featured book.

Legitimate Lies is a continuation of Hush in the Storm. I didn’t plan it that way, it just sort of happened. The Editor in Chief loved Hush in the Storm so much she encouraged me to write it.

Jen, who has been shoved into witness protection, must learn to live a legitimate lie about who she is. But one secret in her past keeps haunting her, and until she deals with that, she cannot move on with her new life. However, revealing this deep-seated shame may risk her one chance at happiness and love. Will she decide to just live the lie?

Please give us the first page of the book.

​Did I really want this baby? Yes.

Wait…no. Absolutely not.

The barricade of lies I’d droned into my head over the past few months, crumbled the moment little Josh Holder discovered her on the front steps of the Bonita Springs Public Library. She lay on the hard concrete, swaddled in a pink, crocheted throw. Innocent eyes, tucked into chestnut skin, widened as they peered into mine. Thick, straight strands encircled her head in a coal-colored halo.

I knew at once who she was—and that wounded me deeper than I’d ever imagined it could.

“Look. It was taped to her blanket.” Josh teetered on his eight-year-old tiptoes to show me.

My business card—“Sheila Williams-Library Assistant.” What on earth? I tucked a fly-away strand of auburn hair behind my ear. On the back, in a decidedly masculine scrawl, it read, “She’s yours if you want her.”

Mine, if I want her? The card trembled between my fingers. A tumult of emotions swirled inside me like a Dervish dancer. Anguish because she was my now-imprisoned husband, Robert’s, illegitimate child. Anticipation she could be what I secretly desired—a baby of my own. Anger that she existed at all. The inner turmoil mimicked the twirling leaves on the sidewalk in front of the library whipped into a tiny tempest by the tropical storm brewing above us.

Thunder rumbled. Or did my heart thump a warning inside my eardrums? No one from my past in Texas was supposed to know I now lived in Florida—except for Becky, who’d help me settle in my new life. But she wouldn’t tell. Her job depended on that. So who could have dropped off this child?

I scanned the city block. Then, I saw him. Tom. The one man I’d almost trusted. A smile eased across my mouth. He’d kept his promise to Robert after all. He’d made sure the baby lived. Now, Robert’s hold on him was broken. The old Navy buddy debt paid.

Oh, how I envied Tom’s freedom from my husband’s evil vice grip. My thumb rubbed the place where my wedding ring once sat on my finger. My faith told me I remained shackled to Robert—for better or for worse—even though the Feds had changed my identity and my marital status when I entered witness protection.

Tom tipped an imaginary Stetson in my direction. My mouth opened, but no words came out. There was too much to say, and none of it mattered now. So all I did was return the gesture with a slight nod, hoping he’d hear my heart beat for his.

Josh tugged on my sleeve. “Who’s that?”

“Just a man saying hello, I guess.”

But Tom had been so much more.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

My main website is www.juliebcosgrove.com.

I also have a blog: Where Did You Find God Today?  http:wheredidyoufindgodtoday.com.

My books are on Goodreads, Amazon, and most on Barnes and Noble. Hush in the Storm and Legitimate Lies are featured on PrismBookGroup.com. I am also on Facebook as juliebcosgrove-tx.

Thank you, Julie, for sharing this new book with us. I loved Hush in the Storm, and I know I'll love Legitimate Lies. It's up next on my to-be-read pile.

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

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