Wednesday, May 22, 2019

The Printed Letter Bookshop by " Katherine Reay BookStore and GiveAway

The Painted Letter Bookshop FB Banner

About the Book

Book: The Printed Letter Bookshop
Author: Katherine Reay
Genre: Women’s fiction, romance
Release Date: May 14, 2019
The Printed Letter Bookshop CoverAmid literature and lattes, three women come together and find that sharing one’s journey with best friends makes life richer.
When attorney Madeline Carter inherits her aunt’s bookstore in a small town north of Chicago, she plans to sell it and add the proceeds to her nonexistent “investment portfolio.” But plans change when Madeline discovers the store isn’t making money and she gets passed over for promotion at her firm. She quits in protest, takes the train north, and decides to work at the store to prep it for sale. Madeline soon finds herself at odds with employees Jessica and Courney; when she also finds herself attracted to an affianced man, it only confuses the entire situation.
After blowing up her marriage two years earlier, Jessica has found solace working at the bookstore and a kindred spirit within its owner, Maddie Cullen. But when Maddie dies and her niece, Madeline, barges in like a bulldozer, Jessica pushes at the new owner in every way-until she trips over common ground. Soon the women are delving into online dating and fashion makeovers, and Jessica feels the pull to rediscover her art, a love she thought long behind her.
After a night of bad decisions leaves the store in peril, Courtney arrives and tries to save the day. While she, too, found sanctuary in the little bookstore, she knows it’s under-insured, in the red, and will never survive. When she discovers her teenage daughter has played a part in vandalizing the store, Courtney taps into strength she didn’t know existed-or had long forgotten. The quietest of the three, she steps up and finds a way to save her family, the store, and the precious friendships that have grown within it.
The Printed Letter Bookshop is the story of friends who find each other-and themselves-in a place none of them ever expected.

Click here to purchase your copy.
"The Printed Letter Bookshop by " Katherine Reay is a book that I  really wanted to like, but I have to say that I didn't till the last half of the book. When I finally starting liking the book, I was telling myself this is really a book that is more than a story.

This is a story of finding what really matters to you and it is also a story of forgiveness.

I did like the references to actual books as part of this novel. 

I would really like a  follow novel to this book, I would like to know how things process in these character's life as there are relationships are that beginning to heal. 

I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a novel that has drama and isn't your typical everything is fine along and where the characters have to do deep soul searching  and grow as loving and accepts their own faults and makes amends for them.

I also like that the fact that this story takes place in Chicago, Illinois. I think that is because that is somewhere I have been and a story is more enjoyable when  you  know the setting is a real place.  

I would really like to be friends with these characters in this novel. I think this book would be a great book for older mature teens as well as I think they could identify with Bethany and her struggle to fit in.

 I was given a complimentary copy by the author and Celebrate Lit. These opinions are my own.

About the Author

Reay KatherineKatherine Reay is the national bestselling and award-winning author of Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy and Jane, The Brontë Plot, A Portrait of Emily Price, The Austen Escape, and The Printed Letter Bookshop. All Katherine’s novels are contemporary stories with a bit of classical flair. Katherine holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and isa wife, mother, former marketer, and avid chocolate consumer. After living all across the country and a few stops in Europe, Katherine now happily resides outside Chicago, IL. You can meet her at www.katherinereay.com; Facebook: KatherineReayBooks; Twitter: @katherine_reay; or Instagram: @katherinereay.

More from Katherine

Don’t you love bookshops?
Every time I walk into a bookstore, it feels like a rainbow cracked open and rained a kaleidoscope of light, life and possibilities before me. I find worlds within the world and a call to adventure.
Each bookshop tells a different story. It tells of its loyal beloved customer base. It reflects the personality of its owner and staff. It carries the aura of the stories it offers to us.
And it was the perfect place to dig into lives, hearts and book loves of Janet, Claire and Madeline. These three women, at different stages in life, meet at the Printed Letter Bookshop, with all the romance and wonder it holds, and learn to work through their challenges together. They become the friends that each didn’t know she was missing.
There is also a fourth woman I loved spending time with in the Printed Letter Bookshop — its original owner, Maddie Carter. Maddie doesn’t step onto the stage even once, but her presence, her love and her guiding hand are apparent from page one as Janet, Claire, and Madeline grow in friendship and in faith.
The Printed Letter Bookshop is a love letter to books, a testament to the beauty of new beginnings and a sweet reminder of the power of friendship. I hope you savor your time with these three women — And, book lovers rejoice, there is a list of all the books they allude to in the back of the book!

Blog Stops

Bigreadersite, May 16
By The Book, May 16
Emily Yager, May 18
Simple Harvest Reads, May 26 (Guest post from Mindy Houng)
amandainpa, May 27

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Katherine is giving away a paperback copy of The Printed Letter Bookshop to one lucky winner!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e4f1/the-printed-letter-bookshop-celebration-tour-giveaway
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Monday, May 20, 2019

"More to Love" by Robin Helm Book Tour and GiveAway


About the Book
More to Love  
Author: Robin Helm  
Genre: Christian Historical Sweet Romance  
Release Date: February 12, 2019

“She is tolerable, I suppose, but there is rather too much of her to tempt me.” Overhearing Mr. Darcy’s rude dismissal of her shocks and mortifies Elizabeth Bennet to the core. She is living her worst fear, and it galvanizes her into action. Soon, the gentleman cannot keep his eyes from her, but can she forgive his thoughtless judgment of her appearance and character? Especially since he faces a worthy competitor for her attention? Who will win the lady’s hand, along with the right to love her through thick or thin?

Click here to purchase your copy.

 I really enjoyed reading "More to Love" by Robin Helm. To be perfectly honest I am surprised I did because at first I was thinking "Oh No", another rewrite of a Jane Austin book which is it but I truly loved this one.

I think this book was more to my liking then others because I was able to relate to the characters because they just felt more realistic to me. My favorite character was Elizabeth because I felt her pain  when others criticized her size.

I think this story shows that when you love someone and someone loves you, your weight doesn't matter.

All I can really say is this book keep me reading not just because I was  supposed to read it for the blog tour but I really wanted to and I am glad I did.

I really like when the title comes into the story. I hope I make you curious to see how this came into being.

I recommend this story to anyone that likes love stories and rewrites of "Pride and Prejudice".

I was given a complementary copy by the author and Celebrate Lit. These opinions are my own.



About the Author


Robin Helm’s books reflect her love of music, as well as her fascination with the paranormal and science fiction. Previously published works include The Guardian Trilogy: Guardian, SoulFire, and Legacy (Christian paranormal romance); the Yours by Design series: Accidentally Yours, Sincerely Yours, and Forever Yours ( ChristianTime Swap romance), and Understanding Elizabeth (Christian Regency romance). She contributed to A Very Austen Christmas: Austen Anthologies, Book 1, an anthology featuring like-minded authors, in 2017, and A Very Austen Valentine: Austen Anthologies, Book 2, in 2018. New releases for 2019 include More to Love, a stand-alone Christian historical sweet romance dealing with body image; Lawfully Innocent, a Christian historical U.S. Marshal romance book in the Lawkeepers series; Maestro, a Christian historical sweet romance featuring a brilliant musician and his student; and A Very Austen Romance: Austen Anthologies, Book 3. She lives in sunny South Carolina where she teaches piano and adores her one husband, two married daughters, and three grandchildren.

More from Robin

Have you ever been judged on the basis of your appearance – what you weigh, how you dress, how you wear your hair or do your makeup? I am a professional dieter, and I have been on all of them. I lose, and I gain it back. I know the lengths a woman will go to after she overhears remarks about how she looks, so I relate to Elizabeth in More to Love in a way that’s a bit beyond my comfort zone. Another aspect of this book which is personal is that I chose to base a supporting character on a wonderful, Christian lady at my church (with her permission). Mrs. Donna Bailey has been a constant encouragement to me in regards to my writing. She often gives me beautiful sugar cookies she painstakingly decorates with holiday themes. Mrs. Bailey is the housekeeper and dessert cook at Longbourn, and she helps Elizabeth through thick and thin, so to speak.

Blog Stops

Giveaway


 
To celebrate her tour, Robin is giving away
Grand Prize: a $25 Amazon gift card
1st Place: An autographed paperback of A Very Austen Valentine: Austen Anthologies, Book 2
2nd Place: An autographed paperback of More to Love
3rd Place: A set of three eBooks – Reader’s Choice of any three of my books!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e270/more-to-love-celebration-tour-giveaway


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"Moments We Forget" by Beth Vogt Book Tour and Give Away





About the Book

 Moments We Forget  

Author: Beth Vogt  
Genre: Contemporary fiction, woman’s fiction  
Release Date: May 7, 2019

Jillian Thatcher has spent most of her life playing the family peacemaker, caught in the middle between her driven, talented older sister and her younger, spotlight-stealing twin sisters. Then on the night of her engagement party, a cancer diagnosis threatens to once again steal her chance to shine. Now, Jillian’s on the road to recovery after finally finishing chemo and radiation, but residual effects of the treatment keep her from reclaiming her life as she’d hoped. And just when her dreams might be falling into place, a life-altering revelation from her husband sends her reeling again. Will Jillian ever achieve her own dreams, or will she always be “just Jillian,” the less-than Thatcher sister? Can she count on her sisters as she tries to step into a stronger place, or are they stuck in their childhood roles forever?

Click here to purchase your copy.









"Moments We Forget" by Beth Vogt is a book that really shows what life is like for sisters. It is the second book in the series and I think a reader would enjoy it without reading the first but I strongly recommend reading the first so you have all the info because I think  the story is better if you have read "Things I Never Told You" so you have all the info.







These books has the reader feeling all the emotions, sadness, joy and disbelief. Yes, I meant to type disbelief, because one set of parents refusing to take about family members who ran away and who had died. Ok , enough of that because I don't want to give a spoiled alert.







I really could feel each sister pain as they go through their struggles and I really like how the sisters learn to tolerate each other and to just be who they are.







This is another book that could categorize as "real life fiction". 







I like the fact that the characters search for God and some of them found out who He is and not everyone comes to be a Christian. Let me explain that last sentence, I want everyone to be saved but we all know that isn't going to happen so that makes this book more realistic, and even through a book is fiction, I want to think the story could happen. "Moments We Forget"does me think this story could happen or did happen just the way it was written.







I recommend this book to anyone that likes love stories with real life and drama.







I received a complimentary copy by the author and Celebrate Lit. These opinions are my own.
















About the Author









Beth K. Vogt is a nonfiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” A women’s fiction novelist, Beth’s first novel for Tyndale House Publishers, Things I Never Told You, released May 2018.





Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner, a 2016 ACFW Carol Award winner, and a 2015 RITA® finalist. Her 2014 novel, Somebody Like You, was one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. A November Bride was part of the Year of Wedding series by Zondervan. Having authored nine contemporary romance novels or novellas, Beth believes there’s more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us.



An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Novel Rocket and also enjoys speaking to writers’ groups and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband, Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories. Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.



More from Beth



“A sister is like yourself in a different movie, a movie that stars you in a different life.”



Deborah Tannen (1945-), sociologist



I’m launching Moments We Forget, book two in the Thatcher Sisters series, and I’ve just turned in the final book in the series. I’d love to share book three’s title with you, but I don’t know what it is. (Of course, book three might have a final title by the time you read this—that’s part of the fun of prerelease deadlines.)



One thing I do know: the theme of “Little Women gone wrong” is woven through all of the books . . . thanks to the Thatcher sisters: Payton, Pepper, Jillian, and Johanna.



Sisters, be they real or imaginary, can be complicated.



Of course, there are sisters who have close relationships. They “get” each other and love doing life together.



But then there are the sister relationships that are like mismatched socks. Or those expensive jeans you loved in the store, but when you bring them home, they never quite live up to those moments in the dressing room.



Such are the Thatcher sisters. Johanna, Jillian, Payton, and Pepper grew up in the same family. They’re all tall. They love Broncos football and board games. But in so many ways their lives are like different movies because they each made different choices. Choices that changed and separated them. Moments We Forget continues to explore whether the Thatcher sisters can find a way to understand each other enough to bridge the distance between them.



Blog Stops





Livin’ Lit, May 7






Carpe Diem, May 8






Simple Harvest Reads, May 10 (Guest post from Mindy Houng)



Remembrancy, May 10









Genesis 5020, May 13



By The Book, May 13



Bigreadersite, May 14






Moments, May 15














Hallie Reads, May 19





Giveaway











 





To celebrate her tour, Beth is giving away a grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card plus a softcover copy of Moments We Forget!!



Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e26d/moments-we-forget-celebration-tour-giveaway














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Sunday, May 19, 2019


          

        










"Past Forward"  by Chautona Havig Book Tour and GiveAway






















About the Book









Book: Past Forward

 

Author: Chautona Havig

 

Genre: Christian Fiction, Romance, Suspense

 

Release Date: April 19, 2017



Alone without friends or family to comfort her after the death of her mother, Willow Finley’s idyllic life is over—and just beginning.

The Finley women’s lives, while rich and full, aren’t easy. rejecting electricity and many other modern conveniences, they live purposefully and intentionally–alone and isolated from the world around them.

When Willow Finley awakes on a hot summer morning, she is unprepared for the grief that awaits her. Jerked from a life of isolation with her mother, Willow learns what alone really means when she finds her mother dead.

From the moment Willow arrives in the police station with her startling announcement, Chad Tesdall fights the friendship he knows he can’t avoid.

The Past Forward series opens with Willow’s life-changing discovery and gently guides the reader through aspects of her life–the past weaving through the present and into the future. Experience her first morning in church, her first movie, and the culture shock of her first trips to the city. A birthday party and a street faire add welcome diversion from butchering, canning, and the beating of area rugs. Disaster strikes. Will she choose to continue her simple life, or will an offer in the city change it all? Find out in this first volume.






Click here to purchase your copy.









"Past Forward"by Chautona Havig is a collection of six books and it is really a fantastic read. Without a doubt, this is my favorite of Chautona Havig's books that I have read. 







I was hooked from the first chapter when Willow walks into the police station to report that her mother had died. These books have it all, a mother and daughter living a life of their own, very little  electricity, heartache, love, misunderstandings , friendships. This collection touches on rape, accidental murder, miscarriages and adoption and humor and mistaken identify.







This collection is one that readers will really love or hate because it is really intense and you can really feel yourself wanting to be friends and neighbors to these characters. These stories had me laughing and crying.  







I felt like the characters were telling me the story instead of me reading it. I really would love to see this series made into a mini series on tv. I would definitely watch it many times.







I was given a complimentary copy by the author and Celebrate Lit. These are my own opinions.






About the Author









Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her on the web and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.




More from Chautona



How Did My Weird High School Years Inspire This Book?

December 1985. The time had finally come. After two months of living in a run-down motel in Rosamond, California, we were finally moving to our own place. Seventeen miles away.

Just off Highway 58, outside Mojave, California (about the place that Alton Gansky’s, Distant Memory opens), a huge billboard loomed. For the curious, it’s still there today. Aqueduct City.

For the record, there was no city. There still isn’t. Just a dirt road or three. Oh, and the aqueduct. In fact, that’s eventually how we got our water—stole it from the California aqueduct.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

At the edge of all those parcels lay our new land. Twenty-two acres of desert sand, creosote, sage, and a tiny, baby Joshua tree at the end of our long, U-shaped dirt driveway.

I took out that sucker with my first attempt at backing down the drive. It looked like a snake had slithered back and forth across the sandy strip of cleared dirt, and somehow I managed to run over the foot-high tree. It wasn’t often I managed to shock my mother speechless. That was one time. I now have mad back-upping skills. Thought you oughtta know.




On that land, my parents put an 18’ travel trailer.

We hauled in water in 55-gallon drum barrels—first from a friend’s house and later from that aqueduct. It was several miles closer. One of those barrels ended up on top of the trailer for showers. The water pressure depended on how full that sucker was. Navy showers? Ever had one? It goes like so:



    

  • Turn on water.
    • 

  • Make one slow turn under the water to get all wet.
    • 

  • Turn it off.
    • 

  • Lather up.
    • 

  • Shampoo hair.
    • 

  • Turn on water.
    • 

  • Turn off.
    • 

  • Work conditioner into hair.
    • 

  • Turn on water.
    • 

  • Turn off.
    • 

  • Get out.
    • 

  • Try to stop your teeth from chattering.
    • 


For the record, that chattering is no joke. When it’s twenty degrees out there, water gets cold. And we had no way to heat it.

Our plumbing also included a shovel. For… um… other plumbing needs. Winter was the worst and the best time for the call of nature. Worst because, well, 40 mph winds and twenty-degree weather. Best, because no snakes.

We used Coleman propane lanterns, a propane refrigerator (that sat outside our door), and eventually, a gas-powered generator. Once a week, Dad would fire that thing up so I could iron my church clothes. #darkages




For the curious, summer was blistering hot.

No fans (except for stiff cardboard we used arm-power to operate). No air conditioner. Not even a swamp cooler. Mom and I would go into town and read at the library when we just couldn’t take another minute in 112-degree desert heat. She’d drive me to Lancaster so I could go sit in an air-conditioned movie theater and watch another movie. If it came out in 1986 or 1987 and wasn’t pure smut, I probably saw it. Out of self-preservation.

Before long, I’d been relegated to the “porch.” That consisted of a redwood lattice “patio” enclosure in front of the trailer door. (For those who haven’t figured it out yet, I was the dictionary definition of “trailer trash” in some people’s books.) That space was eight feet wide and sixteen feet long.

I had a twin bed out there. When winter came, dad made sleeping out there more bearable by heating huge rocks in one of those 55-gallon drum barrels and wrapping them in old quilts. That went at the foot of my bed to keep my feet warm.

If only the wind hadn’t blown sand into my hair every night…




What does all of this have to do with Past Forward?

Just this. People have often asked why Willow would choose to live without electricity. Some have said you couldn’t live only five miles outside of town and be so isolated and reclusive.

I disagree.

We did it. By choice. Because it’s who my father is. And of all of my characters, Kari Finley, Willow’s mother, is the most like my father. The way Kari taught Willow? That’s exactly how Dad used to teach me—by making it a natural part of life.

I didn’t know it when I wrote the series, but Past Forward really does show exactly what kind of life my father would have chosen to live if he’d ever really considered it. The self-sustaining work, the emphasis on beauty, the isolation—all of it shows the kind of man I call Dad.

If you’d asked me as a kid what I thought of living out there in Mojave, I would have said I hated it. Not only that, I would have believed myself. But if you’d talked to me for a while, you would have figured out that I said that because I was expected to. No one thinks you’ll like living with almost nothing, in the middle of nowhere, especially as a teenager.

Looking back, though, I actually I liked it. Dad. Mom. Me. And Boozer, our dog. I’d tell you about her, but that’s a story for another day. Yeah, I liked my life there “out on the property,” as we called it.

Except for the Mojave green rattlesnakes. Not a fan of those. Not then or today.

Just sayin’.




Blog Stops




















To celebrate her tour, Chautona is giving away a grand prize that includes a complete paperback set of Past Forward & a custom Past Forward Lavender Lemonade candle!!



Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/e319/past-forward-celebration-tour-giveaway












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