SWEPT AWAY - Cindy Loven - One Free Book

Dear Readers, here’s another debut author.

Welcome Cindy. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

In Swept Away, I do see characteristics of myself in Sari (Grandma) she loves the things I love, but she was truthfully patterned off a combination of both of my grandmothers.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

Got married at a quarter to midnight by the county judge AFTER  buying the marriage license at 10:30 pm the same evening.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

I have been making up and telling stories for years, while working with children in Sunday School and children's church. I began writing book reviews six years ago, but I have always written in a journal since I was a teen.

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

Suspense and mystery are my favorite, contemporary is next. The only books I do not read much of are sci-fi and fantasy novels.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

I am not sure I do some days, but there comes a time when you just have to slow down and stop.  Saying no and being choosy about the things I volunteer to do, helps keep the insanity at a manageable level.

How do you choose your characters’ names?

I just go with names I like. For Swept Away, I chose the town I wanted my characters to live near, and then chose a form of that name as their last name (Morgantown, Morgan)

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

Wow, just one. I think I have to say that I am proud of homeschooling my son through graduation.

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

A cat, it is all about the attitude.

What is your favorite food?

Chicken, I love it, could eat chicken every day and not get tired of it.  

My husband and I eat a lot of chicken, too. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

For me personally, grammar is my enemy, and the rules of writing, and I am pretty positive I have not overcame it.  

Tell us about the featured book.

He survived a life-altering event. She is facing one.

Sara Jane Morgan is trying to balance teaching with caring for her grandmother who doesn’t want to be cared for. When school lets out for the summer, the plans are for Grandma to teach Sara Jane to quilt as they finish up the Appalachian Ballad quilt Grandma started as a teenager. But things don’t always go as planned.

Andrew Stevenson is hiding from his past—and his future. He works as a handyman to pay the bills, but also as an artisan, designing homemade brooms. When Sara Jane’s grandmother hires him to renovate her home, sparks fly between him and his new employer’s granddaughter.

It doesn’t take Sara Jane long to see Drew isn’t what he seems. Questions arise, and she starts online researching him. What she discovers could change her life—and her heart—forever.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Sara Jane Morgan gasped for breath, scanning the crowded pathways. Everyone showed up for the Heritage Festival, which was good for the artists and vendors, but bad for her.

Especially considering . . .

No. She couldn’t voice her concerns. At least not yet. But losing a loved one in this mob would cause anyone to panic. This was why mothers kept their toddlers locked securely in strollers and older children attached to harnesses with straps.

But one couldn’t exactly fasten a grandmother to a leash. And Sara Jane, being a grown woman, shouldn’t be having a panic attack.

She pulled in a shaking breath and forced herself to calm down. She could handle this. Stepping to the side of the paved walkway, she let a woman pushing a double stroller pass, then a man driving a motorized wheelchair. She feigned interest in the open-air tent beside her. A display of corncob dolls. People still made them?

Well, this was the Appalachians. There were tourists here from all over the country who expected to find mountain handcrafts for sale.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/authorcindyloven

Twitter handle: @cndloven

Blog: http://cindylovenwrites.blogspot.com

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/cndloven/

Amazon Page: http://www.amazon.com/Cindy-Loven/e/B00J54NEQY/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Thank you, Cindy, for sharing your book with us today.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Swept Away - Christianbook.com
Swept Away: Quilts of Love Series - Amazon
Swept Away: Quilts of Love Series - Kindle

Christian Book Store

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

SWEPT AWAY - Mary Connealy - One Free Book

Bio: Mary Connealy writes romantic comedy with cowboys. She is a Carol Award winner, and a Rita and Christy and Inspirational Reader's Choice finalist. She is the author of bestselling Kincaid Brides Series: Out of Control, In Too Deep, Over the Edge, Lassoed in Texas Trilogy, Montana Marriages Trilogy and Sophie's Daughters Trilogy. Mary is married to a Nebraska rancher and has four grown daughters and two spectacular grandchildren.

Welcome back, Mary. Let’s do some fun questions first. What song most closely resembles your life?

Wow, Lena. This is a hard question. I’ve got a book to write you know? The song that comes to mind is one of my all time favorites by Rich Mullins called “If I Stand”.

The chorus:

So if I stand let me stand on the promise That you will pull me through
And if I can't, let me fall on the grace That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man Who is longing for his home

I just love that, stand on His promise, fall on His grace. That’s how we should all live and how I’ve had to live, plenty of falling on His Grace in my life.

A very good choice, Mary. Do you have a favorite Bible verse? And why is it a favorite?

I’ve got so many that have touched me at different times but one I love and use a lot, whether outwardly or just the attitude, in my books is Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

It just seems to me that if we could remember that, cling to that, God is with us, whom shall I fear, we would live lives of incredible peace and happiness.

What is the one thing you wish you could go back and change in your life?

Okay, you can’t tell because typing on Word documents can’t be carbon dated, but I’ve been stumped by this for a long, long time. I wish I could change a lot of things about myself. I wish I could have been a better mom, a better housekeeper, I wished I’d kept up with the sit-ups. But you know what? My kids are great, in spite of me probably rather than because of me. My house is a mess but we haven’t died of dust inhalation. The sit-ups, well, I don’t think this belly was going to go away quietly so why spend time in regrets, huh? So I’m going to say nothing. I like where I am right now and I guess I needed to do all the things I did to get to where I am.

What you said is so true for me, too. What is the most important characteristic for a good friend to have?

You are now speaking to an almost utterly friendless person. And most of my really good friends are authors. So, based on that, I’d say the best characteristic, if you want to stay good friend with me, is to live five states away. Apparently, up close, I wear on people.

Or maybe it’s just that writing is such a solitary endeavor and only writers really understand. I'm your friend, and I only live three states away. What extracurricular activities did you participate in when you were in school?

I was in everything. Sports, speech, music. I was one of THOSE kids who joined every group. Not saying I was any good at any of that stuff, but I had fun.

That’s probably why you’re more of a no regrets person. What is your favorite movie of all times?

FINALLY an easy question. My favorite movie of all time is While You Were Sleeping, starring Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman. I absolutely love every second of that sweet romantic comedy.

James and I love that movie, too. Of course, we are really into Sandra Bullock movies. Tell us about why you wrote this book.

I got the idea for Swept Away while I was doing research for the Kincaid Brides Series, which is the series I just finished. I found such interesting info about Andersonville Prison and explored the lives of soldiers after they’d gotten out. No CRAZY soldiers like Seth, just regular, decent men who’d bonded in the ugliest place on earth.

I’ve read the book and absolutely loved it, and I love the cover. Please give us the first page of the book for my blog readers.

Swept Away

By Mary Connealy

Chapter One

October 1, 1868

The sharp crack of a cocking pistol brought Lucas Stone’s head around.

“I’ll shoot if you so much as twitch.” The deputy’s badge gleamed in the dim lantern light of the stable and his aim was true.

“What’s the problem here?” Luke straightened away from his horse, his hands spread wide and raised slightly. He hoped this didn’t count as twitching, he didn't want to give the deputy an excuse to flinch.

“Those your saddle bags?” The lawman looked at the bags Luke had just thrown onto his horse and used the gun to point at them. Not a careful man. He looked to be about twenty, and none too bright.

“They are. What’s going on?”

“I got a tip I’d find money in those bags. Money from a stagecoach robbery that happened in these parts last week. Had a man killed.”

A shiver went up Luke’s spine. He’d noticed his saddle bags were moved. He’d left them here with his horse and, since there was nothing worth stealing in them, he hadn’t thought much of someone shoving them to the side, even going through them. Now he had a bad feeling that if he opened those bags, or let the deputy open them, there’d be something tying Luke to robbery and murder.

“You got a tip?” Luke tried to stall for time as he wondered who’d tried to frame him. Only one name came to mind. Flint Greer. A man who had good reason to not want Luke to make it home alive. “From who? I’ve only been in town a few hours. Just passin’ through on my way home to Texas.”

More honestly, on his way to reclaim his home in Texas. “I just came in from far north. I have a bill of sale dated yesterday that proves I’m new to these parts.” Luke reached for the breast pocket of his brown, broadcloth shirt.

“Don’t move!” The deputy’s gun came up and his finger visibly trembled on the trigger.

“Easy.” Luke wondered how the kid could believe there was a gun hidden in Luke’s shirt pocket, but he slowly moved his hands away from his body. “You want to get the bill of sale yourself?”

Luke hoped he came within grabbing distance.

Nodding, the lawman edged toward Luke.

Luke knew plenty about being tough having grown up in north Texas, a land of stark rock canyons and roving bands of Comanche and Kiowa. That alone was enough, but he’d also spent years fighting in the War Between the States, more time living off the land after the war. And he was boiling with anger as he made his way home to avenge his father’s death. Those things combined to make him a careful, knowing man. A dangerous man.

This deputy was none of those.

Luke was close to home now and Greer, the man who'd killed his father, knew he was coming because Luke had sent a letter, with a legal document, telling Greer to get off Stone land. Greer didn’t want Luke to make it home.

Luke knew a set-up when he saw one. Which meant there was little or no chance he could talk his way out of this. Which left fighting his way out. He braced himself, determined not to hurt a lawman—at least not too bad. But once a jail house door clanked shut, Lucas expected the only way out would be as he was led to a gallows.

How can readers find you on the Internet?
Seekerville Petticoats & Pistols
My Blog
My Website
My Newsletter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maryconnealy
Twitter: http://twitter.com/maryconnealy

Thank you, Mary, for visiting with us today. I know my readers will want to get a copy of Swept Away.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Swept Away (Trouble in Texas) - paperback
Swept Away (Trouble in Texas Book #1) - 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 Google +, 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

SWEPT AWAY - Nicole O'Dell - Free Book

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

Oh, Lena, I don’t even know where to start with this one. I’m so humbled by all that He’s done. I’m still at the beginning of two three-book series that I’m doing for Barbour. With those projects and a few non-fiction things, I’m tied up for a couple of years. What an amazing feeling for a writer—especially these days. I feel so honored and truly humbled that God has decided to funnel His words through me, and I pray that I listen well.

I know what you mean by that, being in the same kind of place. Tell us a little about your family.

Ah, my favorite topic. I’m a slobbery mom. I just love to kiss on my kiddos—the backs of their necks. Their sweet little feet—well, until they turn three. My son Erik is 19, and, believe me, I have nothing to do with his feet. His are clad in military boots as he is off serving his country in the Air Force. Natalie is 13 and Emily is 10. We’re doing a neat book together called Girl Talk, based off an advice column we have on my blog. Readers write in, and my girls and I answer their questions. Next year, those questions and answers will come out in a book.

I also have a set of two-year-old triplets. Oh, my sweet Jesus…those babies are a piece of heaven right here on earth. Logan, Megan, and Ryleigh. Ahhh. You’re making me want to go wake them up for some cuddles.

I would love to feature Girl Talk on this blog. Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

Yes. I read much less. It’s an unfortunate byproduct of the science of division. X amount of hours in the day divided by the tasks on the to-do list = very little free time for Mom. But I do try to read at least two books a month.

What are you working on right now?

I’m continuing on in theDiamond Estates series and the Drama Ensues series. I’m also wondering why I named them both DE? Isn’t that a strange coincidence? They’re very, very different series—I hope you check them both out. Diamond Estates deals with troubled girls in a group home, to state it very simply. Drama Ensues has a different style—quirky, drama club—yet it’s compelling in its coverage of the issues.

What outside interests do you have?

Diapers?

No, seriously, I love what I’m doing. I’m living my dream. I’ve given up a lot of outside things to give more time to my passion. How many people can say that about their work? I’m grateful to God for what he’s given me and I happily give my spare moments to my writing. I do exercise. Sometimes. Oh, and I speak at events, lead a local writing group, and teach a publishing course at the community college.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

I wish I could say it was based on my travels. But it’s more based on the characters. They speak to me. I tried to have Carmen from The Embittered Ruby (coming soon) hail from Virginia. But try as I did, that girl was from New York, no matter how hard I tried to make it otherwise. I love it when that happens!

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

My grandfather? I know, you’re probably asking about war figures, past presidents, disciples of Christ. But, really, my grandpa was my hero, and there was no disciple who served their Jesus with any more vigor than my Papaw. I’d just love to be with him for some time.

There is no expected answer for that question. I'm trying to let readers get to know the real you. What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

Honestly, what comes to mind is the one thing I’m glad I didn’t know. I had no idea how difficult the process was supposed to be. I didn’t know about people enduring years of rejection letters. I didn’t know that many writers had unpublished manuscripts gathering dust in the corners of their offices. I hadn’t heard the stories of pitches and near misses. I just had some stuff to write. So I did.

I often wonder if the results—or even my efforts—would have been different if I’d known how rough it was supposed to be? I’m thankful I was protected from both the knowledge and the experience.

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

Be confident – timidity will get you nowhere in this business. Trust God to be your ambassador and let Him shine through you.

Take a chance – nothing is gained by not trying. What do they say? You miss out on 100% of the chance you don’t take.

Be yourself – Don’t try to fit yourself into a mold just so you can have a “brand.” Let that brand develop and evolve organically. Otherwise, it will feel unnatural and contrived to both you and your readers.

Tell us about the featured book.

Well, all three of these releases contain two of my Scenarios for Girls Interactive Fiction books. They each have alternate endings that allow the reader to make an important moral decision for the main character and follow the consequences of her choice.

Dare to be Different contains Scenarios for Girls books one and two: Truth or Dare and All that Glitters.
Risky Business contains Scenarios for Girls books three and four: Magna and Making Waves.
Swept Away contains the never-before released Scenarios for Girls five and six: High Stakes and Essence of Lilly.

Please give us the first page of the book.

This is the first bit of High Stakes, which is one of the two books found in Swept Away, the book I’m offering for giveaway.

“You might have to get out and push.”

Amber groaned and rolled her eyes. “Very funny, Dad. The scary thing is, one of these days, it’s going to be true.”

Dad chuckled. “Ah, she hasn’t failed us yet.” He rubbed the faded steering wheel.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” Amber sulked down in the cracked vinyl seat and covered her eyes with her forearm. Her friends all had fancy new SUVs or expensive sedans. But no, her parents never wanted a car payment or— gasp!—a lease payment. Nothing but a complete waste of money when they already had a perfectly reliable vehicle—or so they said. If she had a dollar for every time they’d explained the horrors of a lease agreement. . .

The brakes squealed as Dad pulled the twelve-year-old Toyota into the garage. He smiled and patted the dashboard. “You did it, girl.” He’d somehow ignored the putt. . .sputter. . .putt sounds the car had made all the way up the driveway.

"Yeah, Dad. We made it home. But what about tomorrow? What about the next day? When will we ever be able to get a new car now that you lost your job?” Amber squeezed her eyes shut, holding back the tears that threatened to spill.

“Now, Amber.”

Amber steeled herself against the coming speech that she knew by heart and caught the sigh before it escaped her mouth.

Dad’s lips moved in what looked like prayer for a few moments. He took a deep breath and turned her chin with his hand until she lifted her watery eyes to meet his. “God has always provided everything we’ve ever needed and much, much more. I have no reason to think He’s going to stop now.” He let go of her face and rubbed her arm. “Sweetie, give Him a chance.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Amber rolled her eyes and fought the urge to point out that God had provided that stuff—which wasn’t excessive, by any means—before He unprovided Dad’s job. She climbed out of the car and paused a moment to give the rusted hood a few little pats—like paying respects at a funeral.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Everything I do is linked through my website http://www.nicoleodell.com/. You can find the archives of Teen Talk Radio, book information, my blog, a link to sign up for my newsletter, my social stuff like facebook and twitter, bookstore…and much more.

Thanks so much for having me here! What a fun interview.

I love having you here, Nicole.
 
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 6 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 to be in the drawing. Here’s a link.

http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/