Thursday, August 21, 2025

A Spinster for the Viscount by Jackie Killelea

 

About the Book

Book: A Spinster for the Viscount

Author: Jackie Killelea

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: August 5, 2025

A guarded wallflower. A charming viscount with a past. Can their fragile bond withstand a treasure hunt filled with secrets and a cunning rival’s schemes?

After five failed seasons and one humiliating heartbreak, Jane Talbot has accepted her fate as a spinster. She agrees to attend Lord Sperrin’s country house party to escape society’s scrutiny, but the promise of discovering the legendary jewel of Parcathia adds unexpected intrigue and draws her into the path of the far too charming Henry Lendin, Viscount Harroway.

Henry wears a smiling mask for society while grieving his father and bearing the burden of his duty. As the hunt for the jewel unfolds and he finds himself repeatedly in the company of the overlooked Miss Talbot, her quiet wit and warmth begin to break through his defenses. Could he finally have found a woman who sees beyond his title?

As they unravel clues amidst whispered secrets and lies, a rival emerges with both the jewel and Jane in his sights. With danger looming and love on the line, will Jane and Henry find the courage to claim the greatest treasure of all?

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

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A Spinster for the Viscount "by Jackie Killelea was a fun read and kept me turning the pages. I really liked Aunt Agnes and Jane and Henry. There is plenty of humor on the pages. I know we aren't supposed to hate but the bad guys were easy to hate, and since the characters are fictional it is okay to hate them Right?   
I really felt for Jane as she struggles with understanding her self-worth. If you like Christian romances with a lit bit of suspense I recommend this book. 
I received a complimentary copy from the author and Celibate Lit and these opinions on my own. 





About the Author

Jackie Killelea is a born and raised small-town girl from Connecticut with a degree in English and Creative Writing. She started off her writing journey with poetry, soon shifting into novels and becoming hooked. On days when she’s not busy with her nose in a book, she can be found typing away with a cup of tea at her side.

 

 

 

 

More from Jackie

Hi all! I want to thank you so much for your interest in my book. Since reading it, perhaps you’ve wondered about a few things. Maybe one of those things is if I have a penchant for strawberries. After all, they come up in the novel often enough and are Henry’s favorite fruit. I must confess, dear reader, that they are mine, as well…
My mouth was watering when I was writing the strawberry-picking scene and I simply love the idea of a good strawberry tart. Therefore, I decided to take the basics for one and bend them to my preferences. And Henry’s. I do hope you’ll like them as much as I do! Note: The recipe is OLD FASHIONED. I MEAN IT. BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE ODD TASTE.
*Recipe for Henry’s Strawberry Tarts*
Ingredients
*Crust:*
– 1/2 Pound Butter(Cold)
– 1/2 Cup Ice Water/Cold Water
– 1/2 Tbsp. Salt
– 3 Cups Flour
Before beginning, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. This is important, I tell you! At least, if you like to save time, like me.
In a medium/large bowl, add flour and salt. Stir. Cut cold butter into small cubes, then add to flour mixture, cutting the cubes in with a pastry cutter until fine crumbs form. Once this has occurred, add water one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each tablespoon. After all water is
incorporated, if the mixture is too sticky to roll, add more flour until it can be. If the mixture is too dry and won’t form into a ball, add one teaspoon of white vinegar and knead the dough(only a little). If still too dry, continue to add water by the tablespoon until the dough forms into a ball.
Once the dough is formed into a ball in the bowl and doesn’t stick to your hands when touched, set it out on a floured surface and roll it with a rolling pin to about a quarter of an inch in thickness. From here, it can be cut into circles and each circle can be placed into a mini tart pan. You can crimp the edges, if you’re feeling especially fancy. ðŸ™‚ If you don’t have a tart pan on hand, you can use a cupcake pan and line the bottom half of each reservoir with pastry dough. The edges won’t be as pretty, but it will work in a pinch. Conversely, a full-sized tart pan will
do just fine.
It is at this point, once your dough is in its pans, that you can place it in the preheated oven to let it cook for about 10-15 minutes in order to set. Make sure it doesn’t overcook, though. This setting process will prevent the bottom of the pastry from getting soggy from the filling, later
on. Just like with babies, soggy bottoms on pies and tarts are a big downer.
While that’s cooking, it’s time to make the filling.

*The Filling:*

– 1 1/2 Cups of strawberries, rinsed and dried.
– 1/3 Cup White Granulated Sugar
– 4 Eggs + 1 Yolk
– Unseasoned Breadcrumbs (Optional)

Take your strawberries and remove their tops. Attempt to keep as much of the red fruit as you can. We want as much of the good stuff as we can get. In a medium/large bowl, crush them(a potato masher can come in handy for this part, or even pop them in the blender. We want them super crushed) and set aside. The mixture will be liquidy(yes, I’m aware liquidy is not a
word).
In a separate bowl, whisk your eggs and the extra yolk. Once they’re well-beaten and a light yellow color, add the egg mixture a little at a time to the strawberry liquid, stirring after each addition. It is at this point that you may also add breadcrumbs and stir them in. They’ll make the consistency of the tarts a bit thicker. If you do choose to add them, I recommend adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Make sure they’re unseasoned! No one wants Italian-spice-flavored strawberry tarts. I don’t imagine so, anyway.

TAKE OUT YOUR CRUST BEFORE IT BURNS. THOSE TART CRUSTS ARE GETTING TAN IN
THERE. Ok, now that you’ve read that reminder, let’s continue.

You may spoon, ladle, pour, etc., your tart filling into your tarts, now. Make sure only to fill them 3/4 of the way to the top, for you don’t want to spill that goodness over the edge. Once your crust/crusts is/are filled, you can shove them into the oven. They’ll have to cook for twenty minutes. If you have a full-sized tart, it will likely have to cook for more. Examine it for doneness like you would a pumpkin pie; When you wiggle the pan, the middle should only jiggle a very little bit, not like there’s a bunch of liquid beneath. More like a jello wiggle. Not a water
balloon. Add more time or take time away, depending on how the filling moves when you wiggle it. ðŸ™‚

Jello Wiggle = Yes
Water Balloon Wiggle = No

Once the tarts are done, take them out and let them cool for a while. The filling needs to set a bit more. Put the pan in the fridge, even, once it’s cool enough, if that’s what you’d like to do. When the tarts are sufficiently cooled(they can still be a little warm), you can remove them from their pans and decorate them with sweetened whipped cream and cut strawberries/fruits. Or leave them plain. Your choice.
They’ll look very cute, regardless of what you cooked them in. A fair warning before you try them, however: This recipe is a very old one that I’ve only changed a little. Therefore, don’t be surprised if the results are not what you’re expecting. This dessert is certainly not like those artificial, too-sweet, abominations we have today. Neither is it like the refined, well-spiced, classic treats we’ve come to love.
Bake at your own risk…And tag me on social media if you decide to make them. I’d love to see what you think! ðŸ™‚

Love to all and happy baking,

Jackie Killelea

Blog Stops

Madi’s Musings, August 19

Pens Pages & Pulses, August 19

She Lives to Read, August 20

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 21

Texas Book-aholic, August 22

Blossoms and Blessings, August 22

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 23

Book Looks by Lisa, August 24

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, August 25

For Him and My Family, August 26

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 27

Pause for Tales, August 27

Stories By Gina, August 28 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, August 28

Devoted To Hope, August 29

Devoted Steps, August 30

Jodie Wolfe, August 30

Simple Harvest Reads, August 31 (Guest Review from Donna)

Holly’s Book Corner, September 1

Romances of the Cross, September 1

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Jackie is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54281

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

The Engineered Engagement by Erica Vetsch

 

About the Book

Book: The Engineered Engagement

Author: Erica Vetsch

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: July 8, 2025

A hidden genius, an ambitious shipbuilder, and a daring deception—can she prove her worth without losing her heart?

Eli Kennebrae plans to revolutionize cargo transportation on the Great Lakes. But his grandfather’s meddling obligates him to an arranged engagement. Though Josie Zahn is kindhearted and strikes his interest, Eli needs an engineer for his ship, not a fiancée.

Josie has admired Eli for years, but to him, she’s just “one of the Zahn girls.” Worse, society expects her to marry, not pursue her passion for mathematics and engineering. If she could only get Eli’s attention, she could help him achieve his goals.

Then “Professor Josephson,” a brilliant mathematical mind, provides the analyses to make Eli’s ship design a reality. As Eli finds unexpected kinship in the professor’s work, he remains unaware of the truth—Josie is the genius behind the numbers. When deception and ambition collide, will Eli see Josie for who she truly is before it’s too late?

 

Click here to get your copy!

"The Engineered Engagement" by Erica Vetsch is the third book in the series. This is Eli's turn to get married according to Grandfather and like the other two brothers he's not liking the plan at all. And I'm not sure that I like Grandpa but I guess in the timeline of this story prearranged marriages are made by parents and in this case grandparents, This is a sweet romance  with betrayal brought on by greed, And yes I suppose you could enjoy this story as a standalone but I recommend reading them in order and I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series. The title really fits this story. This is also a story of being true to oneself.

I received a complementally copy from the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own. 

 

 

About the Author

Best-selling, award-winning author of The Debutante’s Code, first in the Thorndike & Swann Regency Mystery Series, Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum.

 

 

 

 

More from Erica

One of the most frequently asked questions an author gets is “Where do your ideas come from?” The truth is…all over! But for me, the main place that story ideas start is in a museum. I see an artifact or object or hear a story as I wander a museum, and I begin to wonder about the people who used the object or survived the events that led to their story being in a museum.

The Engineered Engagement was inspired by a tour of the Great Lakes cargo ship the Meteor. The Meteor is a whaleback and is on display in Superior, WI, just across the harbor from Duluth, MN where the story is set.

I first toured the Meteor when I was eleven years old…awhile ago now. But many years later my husband and I took our kids to tour this amazing piece of engineering. The design, which is characterized by low rounded hulls, decks, and deckhouses looks decidedly odd and different from other ships. This design minimized the wind and water resistance encountered in more traditional hull shapes. The creator/design engineer of the whaleback was a Scotsman named Alexander McDougall who was a ship master and seaman on the Great Lakes.

The first whaleback hit the lakes in 1887, and over the next 11 years, 43 more joined her. One of the largest whalebacks was the steamer named the Frank Rockefeller. This ship was later renamed the SS Meteor. The Meteor hauled iron ore and sand for much of her career, and she is the only whaleback that remains.

As I toured the ship, learning nautical terms and all but feeling the rolling of the deck beneath my feet, I couldn’t help but admire Alexander McDougall for ignoring the critics, the snide remarks, and the jeers that always accompany a design pioneer and creating anyway. Looking for a better way to make something or do a task should be admired. He was tenacious, and I wanted to imbue my characters, Eli Kennebrae and Josie Zahn, with that same tenacity.

The Engineered Engagement involves ship building and hydrodynamics. Now, I know nothing about either of these disciplines, but I did glean some information, hopefully enough to make my characters, Eli and Josie, sound like they do. Ah, the joys of writing fiction! And while Eli and Josie are loaded with brains and tenacity, I also wanted them to have real emotions, to care about each other. One of the joys of writing fiction is getting to live through the eyes/hearts of your characters and feel what they feel. The Engineered Engagement was a joy to write.

If you are interested in Great Lakes shipping, I highly recommend the Duluth Canal Camera, https://www.duluthharborcam.com/p/canal-park-cams.html

And if you are interested in learning more about the SS Meteor, I recommend this site: https://superiorpublicmuseums.org/ss-meteor/

Blog Stops

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 20

Worthy2Read, August 20

Melissa’s Bookshelf, August 21

Texas Book-aholic, August 21

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 22

Devoted To Hope, August 22

Artistic Nobody, August 23 (Guest Review from Marilyn)

Simple Harvest Reads, August 23 (Guest Review from Mindy)

For Him and My Family, August 24

Books You Can Feel Good About, August 24

Inkwell Inspirations, August 25

Pens Pages & Pulses, August 25

Stories By Gina, August 26 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, August 26

She Lives To Read, August 27

Inklings and notions, August 27

Bizwings Book Blog, August 28

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 28

Little Homeschool on the Prairie, August 29

Locks, Hooks and Books, August 29

An Author’s Take, August 30

Books Less Travelled, August 30

Book Looks by Lisa, August 31

Blossoms and Blessings, August 31

Holly’s Book Corner, September 1

Pause for Tales, September 1

Devoted Steps, September 2

Life on Chickadee Lane, September 2

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Erica is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54282

Monday, August 18, 2025

Dangerous Detour by Gail Pallota

 

About the Book

Book: Dangerous Detour (Discipleship Series, Book 2)

Author: Gail Pallotta

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

Release Date: March 11, 2025

Four people face a winter storm in the wilderness. Two have lost their way. One has lost his purpose and one has lost his soul.

Headed home for Christmas vacation, Ruthie, a quiet professor, crosses paths with Moose, a football coach, on an icy, blocked road in Western North Carolina. Amid a winter storm, they unknowingly take shelter in a killer’s hideout.

Escaping under fire, they flee into a frozen, snow-covered forest. Trying to find their way out and shake the murderer, they dodge bullets each day until the temperature drops and the world turns quiet. Then, they set up camps to survive in the wilderness. Even though they grow attracted to each other, neither admits it until each of them suffers a frightening injury. Finally, they head to a house Ruthie sees in the distance.

Will they meet a new friend, or a foe?

 

Click here to get your copy!

This is a suspenseful novel.  It all starts out on a night that is icy and snowy. two strangers meet and decide did they need to stay together to survive, but then meet up with criminal. The peaches kept me turning because I really had to know what was going to happen next. The ending was kind of surprised because I can't tell you because that would be a spoiler alert. If a reader likes a little bit of romance and suspense, and I recommend this book. This book is also about one character learning to stand up for himself and still honoring his parents. 

I received a complimently copy from the author and Celebrate  Lit and these opinions are my own.

About the Author

Award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. She’s a 2017 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards winner and a TopShelf 2020 Book Awards Finalist. She recently received a Top Author Certificate for her new book, Hidden Danger. She’s published seven books, poems, short stories and two-hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums.

 

 

More from Gail

People often refer to modern times as the post-Christian era. We’re blessed with wonderful ministers, missionaries and other Christian leaders. Unfortunately, many people never attend a church or any Christian gathering. Yet church goers see others on a daily basis—in a long line in the grocery, at a restaurant, a company or organizational meeting. How can we, Christians who have no formal ministerial training, help spread the Gospel?

Some clergy say unchurched neighbors who watch Christians get up and go to church every Sunday grow curious about Christianity. A man (I’ll call him Joe) recently wandered in a store looking at the merchandise and humming a hymn. A stranger asked Joe about the song. Joe ended up talking to the man about his faith and his church. Another person was asked how he and his wife had stayed married for so many years. He said, “We go to church together.” That’s a loaded statement with so many churches going in different directions. However, the conversation led to a discussion of a Jesus-centered church. The teaching and sermons there apply what Jesus taught about living a godly life rather than re-shaping his Gospel to suit our advantage in worldly situations. It’s often little opportunities we take advantage of that speak to a person. All of the above stayed on my mind for a long time. Usually, when something nags me, I write about it. Thus, a Discipleship Series began. Dangerous Detour is book two.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, August 16

Bizwings Book Blog, August 16

Simple Harvest Reads, August 17 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, August 17

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 18

Texas Book-aholic, August 19

Artistic Nobody, August 20 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 21

Betti Mace, August 22

Maureen’s Musings, August 23

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 24

Lily’s Corner, August 25

Leslie’s Library Escape, August 26

Fiction Book Lover, August 27 (Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, August 28

Life on Chickadee Lane, August 29

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Gail is giving away the grand prize of a $30 Amazon Gift Card and a print copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54279

Sunday, August 17, 2025

Cruise to Death by Sara L. Jameson


About the Book

Book: Cruise to Death

Author: Sara L. Jameson

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Release Date: June 1, 2021

When opera singer Riley Williams agrees to sub as a musical-theater performer on a luxury Rhine/Moselle riverboat cruise, she gets more than she bargained for. Not only must she come up with 250 Broadway songs, she is required to dance with the male passengers. Dance—the subject she nearly failed in her Conservatory courses, and the cause of her recent flop in a European Opera House. To make matters worse, she overhears two terrorists at a café in Antwerp, Belgium, discussing the transfer of deadly agent X to the highest bioterrorist bidders.

Interpol agent Jacob Coulter, an anti-terrorism desk analyst in Brussels, Belgium, insists on serving as an undercover agent after his best friend Noel is murdered by terrorists from the Brussels cell he infiltrates. Shortly before Noel dies, he manages to tell Jacob snippets of the terrorists’ plans. Plans that seem to involve the same riverboat cruise Riley is on. When Interpol learns of Riley’s encounter with terrorists, Jacob’s supervisor insists he work with her to identify the terrorists and retrieve agent X. But their relationship is fraught with distrust because of Riley’s suspicious past and a romantic attraction neither of them wants.

 

Click here 

"Cruise to Death by Sara L. Jameson" is a suspense novel with some romance. It is the second book in the series. It is a novel of finding out who to trust and betrayal by partners. It keep me turning the pages to learn who the bad guy really was. 

I received a complimentary copy from the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own. 

About the Author

Sara L. Jameson won Scrivenings Press’s grand prize publishing contract in January 2021. They released her debut romantic suspense novel, Cruise to Death, in June 2021. Death in High Places, (Book 2 in the Troubled Waters series), released February 2023, followed by Vengeance in Vienna, July 2024.

In real life, Sara is a multi-published, former university professor who writes non-fiction under her real name and edits book manuscripts for other authors. She also pens WWII historical novels. When not at her computer, she enjoys reading, swimming, cooking, dog-sitting, and spending time with friends.

More from Sara

For someone who loves to swim and enjoys cruising on a ship as long as land is in sight, a European riverboat cruise solved my anxiety. Cruise to Death was conceived during a Uniworld cruise that originated in Antwerp, Belgium, where my family had lived twenty-fives years prior and fallen in love with the country.

But the lack of security on the cruise concerned me. Especially when our ship docked parallel to another cruise line, and all passengers passed through the other boat to disembark and re-embark without staff scrutiny. Perfect place for someone not on your cruise to hide, right?

Perfect fodder for a romantic suspense novel. Add in a pickpocket who craftily robbed a family member, and a budding novelist determined the crime wouldn’t go unremembered. You know those writers’ T-shirts warning you whatever you say and do might end up in a novel—sometimes it’s true.

Part of the fun writing this story was a chance to retrace the stops along the Rhine and Moselle rivers and stay in settings that appear in the novel. If you have a chance to take a riverboat cruise, I highly recommend it!

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions , August 14

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, August 15

Stories By Gina, August 16 (Author Interview)

Pause for Tales, August 16

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 17

Texas Book-aholic, August 18

Simple Harvest Reads, August 19 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 20

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 21

Artistic Nobody, August 22 (Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, August 23

Life on Chickadee Lane, August 24

Guild Master, August 25 (Author Interview)

Becca Hope: Book Obsessed, August 25

Holly’s Book Corner, August 26

Fiction Book Lover, August 27 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Sara is giving away the grand prize of a $75 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54278

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Just a Piece of Stone by MaryAnn Hake

 

About the Book

Book: Just a Piece of Stone

Author: Mary Ann Hake

Genre: Middle Grade Historical Adventure Novel

Release Date: April 29, 2025

A Special Stone—A Family Legacy

Suspense and a Hint of the Supernatural

Travel backward in time as the Goldberg family experiences moments of history—including the Holocaust, meeting Leonardo Da Vinci, castles, knights, battles, and thefts. They also face kidnapping, explore caves, flee as refugees, and live under various conquerors. Just a Piece of Stone begins in the United States and moves to Europe and Asia, with each chapter sharing a story about a different boy in a different time period. From grandfather to grandson for thousands of years, Just a Piece of Stone travels the world. Join the adventure!

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

"Just a Piece of Stone" by MaryAnn Hake is fictional account about one family's history including the holocaust and meeting Leonardo and castles and war battles and thefts and kidnappings and fleeing as refugees. We travel with them to Europe and Asia. Each chapter is about a different boy. If someone wants to understand a little more of what Jews went through, then this book would be a great start. 

I received a complimentary copy from the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own. 


About the Author

Mary Ann Hake has published hundreds of stories, articles, poems, puzzles, devotions, curricula, and more (for both children and adults) in periodicals and books plus hundreds of book reviews online. Just a Piece of Stone is her first published novel. The first two picture books in her series about a blind girl, The Smells of the Seasons, received the prestigious Mom’s Choice Award and were featured on the Arkansas PBS summer literacy program, Rise and Shine. She has worked in a bookstore and as a librarian and enjoyed reading to children at story times and conducting summer reading programs. She has also taught writing to children and at writers’ conferences. She continues to work as a freelance editor along with her writing. She and her husband live in beautiful Oregon.

 

More from Mary

About eight years ago I had an idea: What would happen if a boy found a stone during the time of Moses during the Israelites wandering in the desert and the stone was handed down from generation to generation? I’m not going to say exactly where the rock came from because that’s part of the suspense in the book as readers try to figure out its origin, which is revealed in the final chapter.

So I looked up the approximate date of the Israelites in the Wilderness after leaving Egypt and then figured out how many generations there might be to the present day and the ages of the boys and the grandfathers in each chapter. I decided the stone would be handed down from grandfather to grandson and they would be blessed with long lives so there wouldn’t be too many chapters in the book. It was like putting a puzzle together. I originally planned fifty chapters then realized in the midst of writing that this would be too long for the age group, so I changed to thirty-five, with Old Testament ancestors summarized in the chapter prior to the finale.

I also chose to start the story in the present day with a boy getting a mysterious stone in the mail then go backward in time all the way to the days of Moses. I came up with a list of character names, gleaned from the Bible and historical info, and looked at timelines to choose dates of interesting historical events and places for the chapters’ settings.

This took years researching time periods and culture, and I learned so much. I read, watched videos, and listened to an oral history by a Holocaust survivor, whose facts I used in the chapter set in Nazi Germany. I saved dozens of pages of notes and pictures. Since the original character who found the stone was a Hebrew, I kept the family Jewish throughout the novel. So, in addition to intriguing historical tidbits and accurate locations for Jewish settlements and refugee situations, I incorporated Jewish culture and customs. I also gave the characters appropriate occupations for the settings. A glossary at the back provides pronunciations and definitions of unfamiliar words.

From chapter 2 on each chapter features the boyhood of the grandfather from the previous chapter as we move continue to move backward through time. In the Kindle version, you can click to go to any chapter you wish. Each chapter offers a separate short story within the entire family saga about the prized stone. Throughout the historical tale, we witness God’s protection and care for His followers. I also tried to model people of diverse backgrounds getting along, except, of course, for the authentic historical incidents and battles included.

Last summer when we visited Oregon’s Painted Hills, I met three generations of a Jewish family on vacation. The son is a rabbi and a mohel from New York. I told them about my story and enjoyed visiting with them. He told me the stone should be sapphire, so I changed its color to blue.

A publisher expressed interest early on, but never followed through. An agent said my writing was beautiful but declined representation. The unpublished manuscript was a finalist in the Cascade Writers Contest in 2020. Children who read the chapters one by one begged for more and for the book to be published. Eventually, Elk Lake Publishing offered me a contract then came rewriting and polishing amid many family crises. It takes much time to write, rewrite, and prepare a book for publication. I love the cover Elk Lake created for Just a Piece of Stone.

The tale is great for homeschoolers and as a teachers’ resource, which could be a launch for students’ history projects. I am working on puzzles and activities to accompany the novel and will make these available on my website and to newsletter subscribers. I am also available for online visits with classes or to teach writing to children.

Blog Stops

Inspired by Fiction, August 13

Blossoms and Blessings, August 14 (Author Interview)

Simple Harvest Reads, August 14 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

By the Book, August 15

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 16

Artistic Nobody, August 17 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 18

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, August 19

Texas Book-aholic, August 20

Leslie’s Library Escape, August 21

Guild Master, August 22 (Author Interview)

Holly’s Book Corner, August 22

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 23

An Author’s Take, August 24

For Him and My Family, August 25

Fiction Book Lover, August 26 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Mary is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54277