Saturday, May 4, 2019

"Gone Too Soon" by Melody Carlson Book Tour and GiveAway

Gone Too Soon FB Banner

About the Book

Book: Gone Too Soon
Author: Melody Carlson
Genre: Young Adult
Release Date: November 15, 2018
Gone Too SoonAn icy road. A car crash.
A family changed forever.
Hannah Josephson had always been the “perfect” daughter. Kiera couldn’t live up to her before, and she certainly can’t now that her older sister has died in a car accident. But the image she carried resentfully of Hannah is challenged when she finds her dead sister’s diary and begins to read. Apparently Hannah’s final year wasn’t as perfect as everyone thought.
Caught in a pattern of blaming each other, the Josephson family is falling apart. Their father has left, their mother is mixing opiates and alcohol, little sister Maddie has been shipped off to spend the whole summer with their grandmother, and Kiera feels utterly alone with her grief and anger. A summer job helping at a park in a poor section of town provides a friend and a purpose.
But it’s Hannah’s diary that fills her thoughts. For the first time in years, she feels close to the sister she’s lost. But can the knowledge she gleans about her possibly help her patch back together the family that seems determined to implode?
Click here to purchase your copy.
"Gone Too Soon"  by Melody Carlson is a book that is really a good book but one that really deals with a really hard topics. The topics of death and alcohol and drug addiction and suicidal thoughts and an attempt. 

This book really makes a reader think about life after death. 

This book is not a feel good book nor one to be taken light hearted but it another one that is "real life" fiction.

This book really makes me think about not wanting to read for awhile but that is not the book's fault it just hits too close to home, I have been dealing with my mom and dad's death.  Yesterday was a year ago that we put mom on hospice and she died 5 days later and my dad died in January and I have had struggled with depression so this book was more than fiction for me. But, even with saying all that I do recommend this book to other readers that like Christian reads, I really appreciate the fact that the author points out that those in Christ never ready die and that their witness outlives there earthly lives.

And I am not going to quit reading because at the end of the book there is a reason to keep going on because this reader realizes that even with all that is wrong with life there is hope and things are going to be better and if the  Josephson family can come together and mend, then we all can.

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

About the Author

Melody CarlsonMelody Carlson has written more than 200 books (with sales around 6.5 million) for teens, women, and children. That’s a lot of books, but mostly she considers herself a “storyteller.” Her young adult novels (Diary of a Teenage Girl, True Colors etc.) appeal to teenage girls around the world. Her annual Christmas novellas become more popular each year. She’s won a number of awards (including RT’s Career Achievement Award, the Rita, and the Gold medallion) and some of her books have been optioned for film/TV. Carlson has two grown sons and makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and yellow Lab dog.

More from Melody

I think I’ve written about a hundred or more teen novels, but Gone Too Soon, a rather serious story, is a bit different. There’s no denying I’ve covered a bunch of gritty issues—everything from self-harm to suicide to murder—but I’ve never written a novel quite like this one. For starters, I wrote it from two viewpoints. Both the teenage daughter and her mother express themselves in this story. And because the premise involves an untimely death, the family is torn apart. As a result, there’s a lot of guilt and blame and confusion going around. They’re all in pain.
I’ve been asked several times what “inspired” this story. And I’m sad to say that it’s simply a case of “art imitating life.” I live in a small community where too many young people have died “too soon.” These untimely deaths—for a variety of random and unexplainable reasons—are devastating. I know more than a dozen families (some very close friends) who have tragically lost a child. So I’ve seen up close how it can tear a family apart. It’s truly heartbreaking, often leaving friends and family without words of comfort or explanation.
But that’s not the only reason I wrote this story. My hope is that teens (who often feel invincible) will be reminded that they are mortal and that this earthly life is temporary. Hard as it sounds, death is inevitable. And it’s not that I want everyone to be obsessed about dying, but we do live in a culture that practices denial about the end of a life. No one really wants to talk about it. My hope is that readers will take a hard, honest look, peel back some layers, and face death for what it is—a part of earthly life. And I hope readers will close the book with a little more understanding . . . and hope.

Blog Stops

The Avid Reader, April 25
Emily Yager, April 26
Moments, April 26
Hallie Reads, April 27
Mary Hake, April 28
SusanLovesBooks, April 29
amandainpa, May 4
Remembrancy, May 6

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Melody is giving away a grand prize of paperback copy of Gone Too Soon and a matching journal!!
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/dfa9/gone-too-soon-celebration-tour-giveaway
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Thursday, May 2, 2019

"The Memory House" by Rachel Hauck Book Tour and GiveAway

The Memory House FB banner

About the Book

The Memory HouseBook: The Memory House
Author: Rachel Hauck
Genre: Christian Romance
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Embracing the future means remembering the past . . . When Beck Holiday lost her father in the North Tower on 9/11, she also lost her memories of him. Eighteen years later, she’s a tough New York City cop burdened with a damaging secret, suspended for misconduct, and struggling to get her life in order. Meanwhile a mysterious letter arrives informing her she’s inherited a house along Florida’s northern coast, and what she discovers there will change her life forever. Matters of the heart only become more complicated when she runs into handsome Bruno Endicott, a driven sports agent who fondly recalls the connection they shared as teenagers. But Beck doesn’t remember that, either. Decades earlier, widow Everleigh Applegate lives a steady, uneventful life with her widowed mother after a tornado ripped through Waco, Texas, and destroyed her new, young married life. When she runs into old high school friend Don Callahan, she begins to yearn for change. Yet no matter how much she longs to love again, she is hindered by a secret she can never share. Fifty years separate the women but through the power of love and miracle of faith, they each find healing in a beautiful Victorian known affectionately as The Memory House.
Click here to purchase your copy.


"The Memory House" by  Rachel Hauck is a story that pulls at the heart strings.  It brings the past and the future together.  This story has scenes that makes readers appreciated what love they have in their own lives and makes them realized that they have it better than some. Yes, I know these characters are fictional, but once again an author has penned a novel that makes this reader believe they should have a genre called "real life fiction".

Rachel Hauck has written a novel with characters that could be our neighbors and friends.

The love and forgiveness in this book really shows what real  love is capable of and what can be forgiven when placed in Jesus's hands.

This is a "Beauty From The Ashes" type of story.

If you want a story that is really deep and not light but one that makes you ponder if there really is life after facing the different storms of life than I definitely recommend "The Memory House" by  Rachel Hauck.

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


About the Author
Rachel Hauck_headshotRachel Hauck is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY bestselling author of The Wedding Dress, which was also named Inspirational Novel of the Year by Romantic Times and was a RITA finalist. Rachel lives in central Florida with her husband and pet and writes from her ivory tower. Visit her online at RachelHauck.com; Facebook: RachelHauck; Twitter: @RachelHauck; Instagram: @rachelhauc

Excerpt from The Memory House

When Mama Applegate spoke as if Everleigh were a guest rather than a family member, she embraced it with grace. Because at the end of the day, she was Rhett’s wife. She alone shared his dreams, his heart, his life.
And at night, when she couldn’t sleep, his soft breathing was her lullaby.
“Listen, mister, I have to get back to work or I won’t make it home in time for our dinner.” She tugged at his shirt collar. “So are you going to tell me why you’re here?”
“I was going to wait until tonight, but I got so excited . . .” Rhett stepped over to the desk in front of Everleigh’s and retrieved a long white canister. “Here. Open it. I feel like a kid at Christmas.”
“Rhett, what have you done?” She pried away the cap and slipped out a set of drawings.
“Here, let me.” Rhett unrolled a rendering of a cozy house with a wraparound porch nestled between two cottonwoods. “Our house, Ev. I took those sketches you made after we were married and gave
them to the architect. What do you think?”
“Th-this is our house?” She wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning against his thick arm as she studied the drawing.
“It’s our house, darling.”
Everleigh studied the drawing. It was just like she imagined. “Are you sure?” She gazed up at her husband. “I didn’t think we’d saved enough money.”
“We’ve saved every penny of your salary, and I finally sold the stud bull to Jacob Marshall. He’s been after me for a year . . .” Rhett held her with one hand while flipping through the drawing with the other. “I bought the ten acres by the stream. You know, the one with the trees we loved. Dad wanted to give it to us, but I said no strings.
I wanted to buy it so he can’t hold it over me. Not that he would, but family business can get tricky.” Everleigh leaned to see the name of the road. Memory Lane.
“Darling, the section right off Memory Lane? The spot I wanted?”
Rhett’s grandmother had named the dirt road years ago, when she imagined a large family with lots of grandkids running around.
She envisioned an Applegate community.
But her sons, Melvin and Earl, went to war. Only Earl—nicknamed Spike—returned home the fall of 1918. He inherited the ranch, married Mama Applegate, and fathered Rhett, an only child. Grandma’s two daughters married and moved away.
“Your granny would be proud, darling,” Everleigh said. “We’re beginning her dream.”
“Sh-she would.” Rhett cleared his throat, pressing his fist over his cough. “So, w-what do you think?”
…
Tell him! The timing could not have been more perfect.
“Rhett, sweetheart—”
He jerked his wrist up, checking his watch. “Oh, Ev, sorry, darling, but I promised Dad I’d pick him up from the hardware store thirty minutes ago.” He gave her a quick, passing kiss. “I’d planned to show you these tonight, but I just couldn’t wait.” He rolled up the drawings and tucked them into the canister. “What is it you wanted to say?” On reflex, he checked his watch again.
“Nothing,” she said, smiling. “I’ll see you later. We can talk then. I have work to do anyway.”
“You sure?”
Everleigh fell into him and pressed her cheek against his chest.
“You make my dreams come true, Rhett Applegate.”
He kissed her one more time, then held her at arm’s length.
“Distraction, girl, you are one beautiful distraction.”

Blog Stops

The Avid Reader, April 22
Wishful Endings, April 22
Worthy2Read, April 23
C Jane Read, April 25
Carpe Diem, April 26
Mary Hake, April 27
EmpowerMoms, April 27
Bigreadersite, April 28
Pause for Tales, April 28
Quiet Quilter, April 30
Moments, May 5
Simple Harvest Reads, May 5 (Guest post from Mindy Houng)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Rachel is giving away a grand prize of a copy of The Memory House!!
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/e2aa/the-memory-house-celebration-tour-giveaway
Posted by at 1 comment:

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

"Rock Of Ages " Blog Tour and Give Away


All he wanted was his father’s approval
Chileab is born to privilege as the second-born of King David, but he still feels like an outcast. His crooked foot make it hard for him to do anything and although he enjoys being an advisor for his abba, he never feels like King David approves of him.
Born with unnaturally light hair, Rina loves helping her mother heal people around their small village. One day, her life is turned upside down when she is kidnapped by two Amalekites bent on using her for her healing powers to make them rich.
When Chileab hears of the little girl who had been kidnapped, he goes off to find her, even though five years have passed.  He makes his way into the desert by himself. Can he find Rina? Will he learn that Adonai’s approval is all he needs? Will he learn to rely on more than just himself?
A Rapunzel reimagining set during the time of King David


(Feel free to do a jigsaw of the book cover here: https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=3c9cd83c70d4)
About the Author



 Faith Blum is a small-town Wisconsin girl. She has independently published over 25 books in over five years. Most of her books are Christian Historical Fiction with an emphasis on Westerns. During an eBook sale, she was #1 in Christian Westerns and Christian Western Anthologies on Amazon. During that sale, she sold over 3,000 copies.

Faith currently resides in Central Wisconsin with her husband and their cat, Smokey. When not writing, you can find her cooking food from scratch due to food allergies, doing dishes, knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, or spending time with her husband. She loves to hear from her readers, so feel free to contact her on her website: https://faithblum.com. 

Author Interview
1. How did you come up with using song titles  as the titles for your books?
I titled my first book A Mighty Fortress, and when I decided to make the book into a series of books, decided to title the series Hymns of the West. This required hymn titles, obviously. Since that went over so well, I decided to make that part of my brand.

2. And what is your favorite Hymn? 
This is hard. I’d have to say a newer one, In Christ Alone.

3. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
How to play poker. *hides* In my WWI novel I’m working on right now, my character plays poker and instead of just saying “He played poker,” I decided to actually learn it a bit. Just enough to describe one round of playing, though.

4. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Probably that I can’t write easily in coffee shops. Lots of writers love writing in coffee shops, but I find it distracting.

5.  Who is your favorite author and what is your favorite book and why?
What’s with all the hard questions? Oh boy. Favorite author: Amanda Tero. Favorite book: The Secret Slipper by Amanda Tero.

6. What is the first book that made you cry?
When I started reading this question, I had no idea, but then somehow I remembered. I’m pretty sure the first book to make me cry was Where the Red Fern Grows.

7 . How do you select the names of your characters?
Most of them are from the Bible. Otherwise I just think of a name that would fit the person it’s for. I do sometimes use a baby name website as well.

8. If you didn’t write, what would you do for work?
Probably as a secretary or some position similar to that.

9.  Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
Not usually. I did for a while, but then came across one that really hurt me and decided not to read them any more. But then yesterday (April 21st, I did read some of the reviews on my short story. Even the 1 and 2 star reviews for that one were pretty good. Not that this means I’ll read more. How do I deal with the bad ones? I stop reading all the reviews except those that are done for my blog tour.

10. Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?
Not intentionally.

 Excerpts
#1
Rina flitted from plant to plant in her garden. Each one had a different use, though some healed in similar ways. Her mother would be happy to know that the one plant she needed most had decided to grow longer this season than it usually did. Rina made sure she picked every little bit of hyssop she could find.
As she picked, she hummed to herself. A habit her abba didn’t particularly care for, but which Ema never complained about it. She was nearly a woman, though still only ten, and her abba seemed to never think she would grow up.
The wind tugged at her skirts, and she tightened her grip on the basket, closing her hand on the leaves inside to keep them from blowing out. The leaves were too light to keep the basket from flying away if the wind grew too strong.
She smiled as she picked the last leaf. Now to return home with her bounty.
A hand came out of nowhere and covered her mouth. She tried to scream, but only the faintest squeal came out. She struggled to get away from the strong arms surrounding her.
The basket fell out of her hands and Rina’s first thought was of all the precious hyssop that would be wasted. Then a gruff voice hissed into her ear as he grabbed her waist with his free arm. “Be quiet, girl. Be quiet, and no harm will come to you.”
Rina’s heart raced, and she nodded. She stopped struggling in case that was part of being quiet. Her breath came in short gasps through her nose and her eyes stayed as wide as they could be.


#2

Chileab forced himself to not storm out of the room. His father had made him and four of his brothers advisors to the throne. But how could they be expected to advise the king when they weren’t even old enough to serve in the army or be married? Chileab had initially felt honored to be allowed to join them, but he took the privilege seriously. His brothers did not. Ever since his brothers had become counselors to their abba, they had gone around as if they were someone special. They weren’t. True, they were sons of the king of Israel, but that didn’t make them any more special than anyone else. 
Someone hit his shoulder. “I spoke eloquently, did I not?”
Chileab grimaced inwardly. His brothers had caught up with him again. He had hoped they would linger in the hall so he could reach home without having to talk to them. “As always, Amnon.”
Amnon grinned. “And you always have something dull and unpoetic to say. Why is that? Perhaps because you cannot fight with a sword? Or maybe because even a slingshot won’t fly straight for you.” He laughed and Absalom, Adonijah, Shephatiah, and Ithream joined in.
Chileab ground his teeth together. “It is the rock that doesn’t fly straight, not the slingshot. But I won’t belabor the point. Excuse me, please. I need to get home.”
“Aww!” Amnon said with the biggest fake pout Chileab had seen that day. “Poor boy needs to go to his ema and lick his wounds. Maybe then he can survive until tomorrow. After all, no one wants to miss the big debates at King David’s council.”

#3

“I know you don’t want me to go,” Chileab said, “but I want to help someone. I need to do something worthwhile.”
Abigail’s smile faded, but she nodded. “I know you think that. It is dangerous out there, though.”
“Ema, I am a grown man. I know this journey will be dangerous, but there is little for me here.”
Abigail pulled him into a tight hug. “You are an advisor to your father. And you will always have me.”
“I know, Ema, and I appreciate that, but helping the king is more frustrating than anything else. I need more than that. I need to do something. I can’t go with Abba into battle and my brothers refuse to be around me. This is something I need to do alone and at my own pace.”
“Alone? Can’t you bring someone with you?”
“No.”
Abigail looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Why not?”
Chileab pulled away from her and paced around the room. “I don’t want anyone rushing me to do things or telling me to go faster or anything like that. I need to do it alone.”
“But—”
He faced her. “Ema, please don’t argue. I know it is safer with more people, but when I’m one of those people, all I do is slow them down. Even if they say it is okay to go slow, I know they chafe against it.”
“No, they don’t.”
Chileab smiled and reached down to touch her shoulders. “Ema, they may think they don’t or say they don’t, but I can tell that they do. There is no need to protect me from it. I have known it all my life.”
Abigail leaned her head on his chest. “I wish I could have shielded you from it more.”
“You did everything you could, Ema. I couldn’t have asked for more. Will you help me prepare to leave?”
“Yes, of course.”

Giveaway



  • Lavender Lip Balm
  • Paperback of book
  • 2 mini-book keychains (Trust & Obey and Lo, How a Rose)

Enter here: https://kingsumo.com/g/s8rpjn/rock-of-ages-us
  • eBook versions of the entire Tales of the East series so far, Trust and Obey, Lo, How a Rose, and Rock of Ages



Tour Schedule

April 26
Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections – Intro to the Blog tour
Losing the Busyness – Book Review
Becky – Book Review

April 27
The Dramatic Bookworm – Author Interview

April 29

April 30
Kaylee's Kind Of Writes – Book Review

May 1
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations – Author Interview

May 2
A Brighter Destiny – Author Interview

May 3

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