Monday, February 4, 2019

Blitz: The Woman With No Name by Kelly Nelson






Kelly Nelson graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree. She worked in public accounting for four years before starting a horse-boarding business so she could be more involved in raising her family. As an avid book lover, she later decided to pursue a career in writing. Her published works include The Keeper’s Saga, a young adult fiction series, Love’s Deception, an LDS romance, and The Woman with No Name. Her newest novel was selected as a finalist in the romance category for the 2018 writing contest of the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association. She resides Cornelius, Oregon with her husband, four children, and a herd of horses.





Losing her memory might lead to finding happily ever after.

Sworn bachelor Colton Murdock gets more than he bargained for on the elk hunt when he finds an injured woman in Utah’s high country. She must have a history, but she wakes up to towering pines and the clap of a thunderstorm with no recollection of her name or how she came to be there. Colt brings her to the safety of his camp, trying to ignore the first stirrings of his heart since the tragic death of his fiancée six years ago.

The young woman can’t help falling for her ruggedly handsome rescuer, who calls her Skye for her blue eyes. But her life goes into a tailspin when she is recognized as Lily Vanasche, fiancée of a popular TV news anchorman, and Colt is arrested for a series of crimes—including her abduction. After the real kidnapper leaves a death threat in Lily’s ransacked house, the clock starts ticking. Can she remember her past before it catches up with her?

Praise for The Woman with No Name:
Kelly Nelson writes sweet romance that tugs at your heartstrings. —Susan Hatler, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author 




Top Ten List:

·         I lived in a pole barn style shop with no flush toilets while we built our new house. So basically, I lived 9 months in a port-a-potty. I’m thinking about writing a book about that one. Might be my first non-fiction—titled Nine Months in a Port-a-potty.
·         The most amazing place I have visited is Egypt. So much ancient history buried near the sands of the Sahara.
·         A little wager on whether I could hit a quarter with a 22-rifle triggered my first kiss. To this day I still have the deformed quarter as proof.
·         My YA books have been in Portland area Costco stores six different times
·         The most books I have ever sold at a single book signing is 96—that is a lot of signatures. By the time I finished I was dropping an l from Kelly and Nelson had deteriorated to a squiggly line. My signature has never quite recovered.
·         I tried to go through customs in the Caribbean wearing camo shorts. Evidently on that island it is against the law for anyone other than military to wear camo. The officer was so stern, I thought he would make me strip down right there in the line.
·         I love rodeos. I always dreamed of being a rodeo queen, but never had the opportunity.
·         Once I rode a horse through the canyons to the temple where they filmed the final scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to The Treasury or Al Khazneh in Petra, Jordan.
·         Until last year when my favorite horse passed away, I had known her longer than I knew my husband. He says now that she is gone, he can finally take the top spot.

·         While I worked as a licensed CPA and my college degree was in accounting, my passion is creative writing.





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Friday, January 4, 2019

Book Tour: In the Midst of Winter by Danice Hope





In the Midst of Winter shares ways to cope for those suffering from misunderstood chronic illnesses, and a glimpse into our daily lives for those who wish to understand. It also testifies of the Savior’s ability to reach into each heart and bring hope and renewal.


At age fourteen, Danice Hope started having troubles functioning during the winter months. Each year, the fatigue and depression grew worse. During the summers, her health would improve, and she learned to fit as much joy into life as possible before winter returned. After six years, she was finally diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder. Over time, she realized that there was also beauty in winter. She found a poster with flowers growing out of the snow that said, “In the midst of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”

In the mid 1990’s, Danice moved south to Arizona with the hope of improving her health enough to have a better life. While the SAD improved, she found herself developing new health problems. The biggest surprise was that she could be sitting slumped over in a wheelchair in the emergency room, barely able to speak or move, and doctor after doctor told her that she wasn’t ill, or that it was “just anxiety”. After going to twenty-four different doctors in the next year, she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Stunned at the loss of her hopes and dreams, she gradually learned to see in new ways, to balance her health, to reshape her dreams, and to look to Christ. She learned that flowers can grow not only in the snow, but also in the desert sun.






Danice Hope has been married to the same loving, supportive husband for 26 years. They live in the deserts of the American Southwest, where the winters are mild. Their two lovable cats keep them busy.

Danice loved to roam the mountains of Utah in her younger years, and to see the variety of wildflowers each spring. She has enjoyed writing since she was old enough to write. She takes solace in reading the scriptures and other good books. She is grateful for God’s care and guidance through the distresses of life.



~ Website ~
   

Snippet #4
After my mission, I lived with my grandparents for a while. Peace can come for brief times even in the darkest part of winter. Sometimes I wondered if peace would ever come, I was in so much emotional pain. But then, during a quiet moment, it would enter gently in.
January 20, 1989
There’s a light fog outside. All the trees are white-frosted, as well as the chain-link fence. It’s peaceful here inside. The sound of the heater and the tick of the clock are soothing. Grandma’s toy cat looks so content as it sits sleeping on the back of the green love-seat.


Snippet #5
By the summer of 1989, I had been through another winter. I won’t go into that. Rather, I want to tell of the season of tremendous peace that finally came. I worked as a cook at Camp Kinnyon again. I rejoiced in the ability to work, after not being able to work for so long. I rejoiced in the beauty of the mountains around me. I rejoiced in the healing that was coming gradually. At times I would cry, as the peace would fill my heart.
July 13, 1989
Joy is being able to work.
Joy is a dew-soaked morning, the sound of a stream, the song of a bird, soft light bathing the clouds at dawn.
Peace is sitting on the porch with the cat in my lap and watching the evening shadows grow.
Beauty is the mountains, the trees.
Tears, humility, gratitude come as a result.
Fulfill the measure of my creation. Have joy therein.
This is what I have hoped for. This is what I’ve got. I desire to share my joy, it overflows within me. I’ve got much more peace within me. I am so grateful, so humbled. My Father will continue to guide me, my trust grows. Christ paid the price so I could have this. I am glad.







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Saturday, December 29, 2018

Blitz: Head Case by Niki Cluff





Niki Cluff lives in Northern Arizona with her husband, three children, and Great Dane who also doubles as a pony. For the last four years, she has worked as a literary intern sorting through queries while writing her own books. When she isn't writing or watching BIGBANG and EXO videos, she's sketching, playing video games (Legend of Zelda is her favorite), crocheting, and cooking. Copycat recipes are her specialty. She's also a massive anime fan (Sailor Moon forever!) and hopes to visit Tokyo some day.


Twitter ~ Blog ~
Amazon ~




Allyson has been in a coma for the last nine months. What’s worse, she can hear everything the doctors say. She knows they’re keeping her in a coma and that she’s at the mercy of the hospital's First-in-Human trial—a VR system implanted in her brain for a second chance at life.

Attached to the VR, Ally discovers worlds unlike home. She can do whatever she wants, but she misses her parents. With help from Harrison, a rabbit-eared boy, they work together to free themselves from Aishwarya, the mad queen of the world. 

But when Harrison wakes up and doesn’t come for Ally, she’ll split her soul to the brink of death to save herself.





Snippet:

Darkness. My eyes are shut. With my eyes closed, I can’t see the doctor or the hospital room. I can’t see my parents’ faces. Nine months that I’ve been confined to the corners of my own mind. When I first came in, I managed to open my eyes long enough to see the sterile white walls, bright lights, and puke-green curtains that divided the room into threes. After that, a cooling sensation flowed through the veins of my left arm and my eyes, heavy with the weight of sleep, closed again. I haven’t been able to open them since. 

“What does this mean?” Dad asks. His voice is tight, a grunt thick with tears. He’s crying too. I swallow back a lump, one of the only movements I can manage. But without an Adam’s apple, no one notices the small shift in the muscles of my throat. They aren’t paying enough attention. The backs of my eyes are on fire, but I know tears won’t come. I’m cried out. 

“It means that until she wakes up, she’s stuck on life support, sort of. She is breathing on her own. Most of the machines are here to monitor her in case she does wake up,” Doctor Zain says. His voice holds a shrug. This is no big deal to him. Why should it be? It’s not his sorry butt lying in a hospital bed day after day. Mom sobs. It’s a howling sound and I imagine her clinging to Dad in a struggle to stay upright. My mind works that way now. Visions of what life must be like instead of what life is. 

Being in a coma is a lot like suffering from sleep paralysis. Sometimes I’m awake and alert. I can hear and see everything in my mind's eye. But I can’t move. I don’t scream even though my voice shouts in my head as loud as my lungs can manage. Every muscle in my body burns as I struggle to make them work, but they’re so heavy. No matter how hard I try, I can’t lift my arms or legs. I can’t even make my fingers work. Not even a pinky. Other days, a wrinkled hag sits in the corner of the room. Her eyes are dark, empty. She’s haggard like death has taken her more than once. Some days she hovers over my bed. She wants me to come with her. Beckons me to follow, but I won’t. I don’t like the idea of where her world ends. It sends a tremor through my entire body and I’m paralyzed with fear as I watch her. Waiting.




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Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Christmas Blitz: The Billionaire's Blue Christmas by Jennifer Griffith



Jennifer lives in Arizona where she writes escapist fiction she calls "Cotton Candy for the Soul."






He needs this job to honor his late wife.
 She needs to complete her late fiancé’s bucket list to be free.

Former action-movie star Chet has counted the days since he lost his wife last New Year’s Eve almost a year ago. When he’s given a shot at starring in a reboot of her favorite TV show, he jumps at it. But there’s a catch: the producers won’t hire him unless he can prove he’s regained emotional stability—by bringing a steady girlfriend to his five auditions.

Which means: five mandatory dates for this bereft widower.

Social worker Holly lost her fiancé to war. With his good life snuffed out too soon, she feels compelled to finish his bucket list of unselfish deeds. But four years later, several remain, and they’re ridiculously impossible. Until she accomplishes her soldier’s dreams, she can’t even consider moving on with her life.

When they meet on the beach at Getaway Bay, what she doesn’t know is homeless-looking mourner Chet is actually Colt Winchester, screen star and fashion icon. What he doesn’t know is that he’s a means to an end.

When their walls start to crumble on their Christmas season dates, can these two find love again, or will they forever be chasing ghosts?"



Snippet:

The sun dipped behind the horizon, and purple twilight replaced the sunset’s glare.
Holly extended her hand, still confused—until the first stranger lifted his sunglasses. Those green eyes gazed at her.
Chet?
This guy, with the cleaned-up clothes and the nicely trimmed beard—and still those eyes—was the guy from the beach? Holly’s date? His eyes held her captive a moment, their verdant color infusing her.
Ho, ho, ho, merry Christmas to me.

“Hi, I’m Holly.” She took the slick guy’s hand, tearing her gaze away from Chet’s green eyes.





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Christmas Blitz: Jacob T Marley by R William Bennett






R. William (Bill) Bennett is the author of Jacob T. Marley, The Christmas Gift, and a new Christmas novel being published by a major publisher for Christmas, 2019



 ~ Website ~
  




"Marley was dead to begin with . . . "

These chillingly familiar words begin the classic Christmas tale of remorse and redemption in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. 


But, what about Jacob Marley?  And why hadn't he been given the same final chance of redemption as Ebenezer Scrooge?



Or had he?









Snippet:

-Regarding when Marley began his journey to become the wicked old man.  A teacher had just complimented him on his arithmetic skills: 

“Young Marley,” said the schoolteacher, apparently not having felt he had achieved the desired effect with his compliment, “you are, without a doubt, the single best mathematician I have ever taught.” Of those thirteen words, there was one that held Jacob’s attention. He knew them all and had used the sum of them in sentences for many years. But it was the particular arrangement of the thirteen, specifically in the way this one word would betray the other twelve. The word was best. Marley had been no stranger to compliments, having been a boy of greater than average character. He had shown virtues in many areas, which is not to say he did not suffer at times the foibles of youth. Yet this word, this word! “Best!” Though it seems quite unlikely, Jacob had never thought of his own accomplishments in relation to those of his peers. He had only considered what ought to have been done and whether he did it well. But now he was given a yardstick with which to measure himself against others. And in the first taking of that measure, he was found by this revered teacher to be unequaled. He was the best—and he liked it very much. 





To view our blog schedule and follow along with this tour visit our Official Event page