A Prisoner of Versailles by Golden Keyes Parsons

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
A Prisoner of Versailles
(Thomas Nelson - September 1, 2009)
by
Golden Keyes Parsons


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

In her deep plowing of the heart, moving from tears one moment to laughter the next, Golden will touch your heart with her dynamic Bible teaching, combined with her vivid personal examples, moving from tears one moment, to laughter the next, all the while communicating the message that God is faithful--keep trusting Him. She has a passion to communicate the Word of God in such a manner that will lead to godly living.

Golden, and her husband, Blaine, have just retired as pastors at Faith Mountain Fellowship Church in Red River, NM. They have three grown daughters and eight grandchildren. Her testimony and myriad of life experiences lend a touch of authenticity to her teaching. She loves to speak for women's conferences, seminars, luncheons, retreats and Mother/Daughter events.

If deep Bible teaching that brings the Scriptures alive is what you want, Golden is the speaker you need.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Madeleine's faith puts her at odds with an intimidating rival: King Louis XIV.

Having fled their homeland of France because of the persecution by Louis XIV, the Clavell family seeks refuge in Switzerland. However, the king is not about to let the recently widowed Madeleine, his childhood sweetheart, escape that easily. He sends musketeers to kidnap her and her oldest son, Philippe, holding them captive in his opulent palace. King Louis is suspicious that Philippe could be his son, and he's enraged by the growing affection of one of his courtiers for Madeleine.

Will Madeleine escape the king with her life or lose everything that she's fought so hard to keep?

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Prisoner of Versailles , go HERE.

Fit to Be Tied by Robin Lee Hatcher

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Fit to Be Tied
(Zondervan - November 1, 2009)
by
Robin Lee Hatcher


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robin Lee Hatcher discovered her vocation as a novelist after many years of reading everything she could put her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and ketchup bottles. The winner of the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction (Whispers from Yesterday), the RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance (Patterns of Love and The Shepherd's Voice), two RT Career Achievement Awards (Americana Romance and Inspirational Fiction), and the RWA Lifetime Achievement Award, Robin is the author of over 50 novels, including Catching Katie, named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.

Robin enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies. She is passionate about the theater, and several nights every summer, she can be found at the outdoor amphitheater of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, enjoying Shakespeare under the stars. She makes her home outside of Boise, sharing it with Poppet the high-maintenance Papillon.



ABOUT THE BOOK:

Cleo Arlington dresses like a cowboy, is fearless and fun-loving, and can ride, rope, and wrangle a horse as well as any man. In 1916, however, those talents aren’t what most young women aspire to. But Cleo isn’t most women. Twenty-nine years old and single, Cleo loves life on her father’s Idaho ranch. Still, she hopes someday to marry and have children.

Enter Sherwood Statham, an English aristocrat whose father has sentenced him to a year of work in America to “straighten him out.” Sherwood, who expected a desk job at a posh spa, isn’t happy to be stuck on an Idaho ranch. And he has no idea how to handle Cleo, who’s been challenged with transforming this uptight playboy into a down-home cowboy, because he has never encountered a woman succeeding in a “man’s world.”

Just about everything either of them says or does leaves the other, well, fit to be tied. Cleo Arlington knows everything about horses but nothing about men. And though Cleo believes God’s plan for her includes a husband, it couldn’t possibly be Sherwood Statham. Could it?

Their bumpy trot into romance is frustrating, exhilarating, and ultimately heartwarming.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Fit to Be Tied , go HERE.

Watch the book video Trailer:

Fun Fall Fiction: Leaving Carolina by Tamara Leigh

About Leaving Carolina:

Piper Wick left her hometown of Pickwick, North Carolina, twelve years ago, shook the dust off her feet, ditched her drawl and her family name, and made a new life for herself as a high-powered public relations consultant in LA. She’s even “engaged to be engaged” to the picture-perfect U.S. Congressman Grant Spangler.

Now all of Piper’s hard-won happiness is threatened by a reclusive uncle’s bout of conscience. In the wake of a health scare, Uncle Obadiah Pickwick has decided to change his will, leaving money to make amends for four generations’ worth of family misdeeds. But that will reveal all the Pickwicks’ secrets, including Piper’s.

Though Piper arrives in Pickwick primed for battle, she is unprepared for Uncle Obe’s rugged, blue-eyed gardener. So just who is Axel Smith? Why does he think making amends is more than just making restitution? And why, oh why, can’t she stay on task? With the Lord’s help, Piper is about to discover that although good PR might smooth things over, only the truth will set her free.

My thoughts:

Just open the front cover of this book and you're immediately swept into the comedic chaos that is Piper Wick's life. She returns to her childhood hometown of Pickwick, NC, because of an ailing uncle, but encounters conniving cousins, a handsome stranger, a pooch with a piddle problem, and family secrets galore. Piper seeks comfort in a somewhat elusive stash of pickled corn and (albeit reluctantly) her go-anywhere Bible. As she and her uncle work to set past wrongs right, Piper will find out that she's not the only one who has grown up since leaving Carolina.

Tamara Leigh doesn't disappoint with this engaging story of forgiveness and truth, mixed with her trademark humor and romance. Leaving Carolina also has some really great secondary characters (Devyn and Trinity come to mind) and I am definitely looking forward to Maggie and Devyn's story in the next book.


Review copy was generously provided by Multnomah Publishers.

Find out more on the web:
Tamara Leigh
Multnomah Publishers
Coming May 2010 - Nowhere, Carolina

One Fine Season by Michael Sheehan

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
One Fine Season
(AuthorHouse - November 25, 2008)
by
Michael Sheehan


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Michael Sheehan is CEO and founder of BioResource, a company that distributes natural remedies including the popular INFLAMYAR ointment for sports injuries. He wrote One Fine Season to honor the memories of two childhood friends who died young, before they could realize their dreams.

One Fine Season is true to life. It draws on Sheehan’s religious education at a Catholic seminary and his experience as a high school baseball and collegiate soccer player. A graduate of Santa Clara University, Sheehan also earned a master’s degree in science journalism from Boston University. He lives in Northern California.


ABOUT THE BOOK:

ONE FINE SEASON tells the story of a promising young athlete who must rise from the ashes of devastating personal loss to fulfill a pact made years earlier with his best friend.

Best friends Pete O’Brien and Danny Grace are gifted college athletes, both hoping for careers as professional baseball players. When tragedy strikes, Danny struggles to cope with his overwhelming grief and fulfill a pact the young men made years earlier: to play in the World Series.

Events unexpectedly thrust Danny into the spotlight with the new expansion team in Sacramento. Three guides – an aging catcher, spiritual centerfielder and wise manager – plus a beautiful woman lead him on a healing journey, revealing that even death cannot break the bonds of true friendship.

If you would like to read an excerpt from the first chapter of One Fine Season, go HERE.

My thoughts:

I was really looking forward to this book, as I love books about sports. Unfortunately I could not even finish this book. Why? Barely into chapter two, profanity shows up; and into chapter four, some not so Biblical theology. Mr. Sheehan's writing this story in memory of childhood friends is a noble task, and highly commendable, but while this book does have a spiritual element, the part that I read does not ascribe to tenets of the Christian faith as I understand and believe them to be.

I also want to share this review from Mocha with Linda. She is much more eloquent than I, and she did a wonderful job at giving a balanced Biblical review of this book. Please check it out.

The Christy Awards Reading Challenge

If you've been around Christian Fiction long enough, you have to have heard of the Christy Awards...the awards for the best of the best in Christian Fiction.

The Christy Awards Reading Challenge is reading challenge that spotlights Christian Fiction and the nominees and winners of the prestigious Christy Award. Amy and Deborah are the hosts for the challenge and have put in a lot of time and effort so the rest of us can join in. You can read as many or as few books as you like, and you've got just a little over a year to do it. Feel free to join in at any of the levels listed here.

Total Christian Fiction Newbie:

This is only for those who have read no Christian fiction before...the challenge is to read one book from any of the Christy Awards Winners!

Baby Steps

1st Tier - 2009 Favorite Category Read All Nominated Books 3-4 books
2nd Tier - Any ONE Years Favorite Category - 3-4 Books or mix 3-4 winners from any category

It's All in the Winners

3rd Tier- 2009 Winners - 9
4th Tier- Any ONE Year's Winners 7-9 or mix'n'match 7-9 winners

Dedicated

5th Tier - Read 2009/or ANY Year All Books 36-40 Books

Hardcore

6rd Tier - Read all the nominees in your favorite category
7th Tier - Read all of the winners in every category

The Christy Challenge--Perpetual Challenge
Read all of the books nominated and awarded the Christy challenge throughout the course of your lifetime.

You can browse the list of 2000-2009 Winners and Nominees here before you make the decision on which level you'd like to challenge yourself.

I'm planning on joining in at the 4th tier - with the mix & match option - however, I'm not going to list the books I'm going to read beforehand as I sometimes have to be in the mood to read a certain book. I'll just work in one of the winners about every 6 weeks or so and update the list as each book is completed.

You can find our hosts online:
Deborah blogs at Books, Movies, and Chinese Food
Amy blogs at My Friend Amy

A Slow Burn by Mary E. DeMuth

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
A Slow Burn
(Zondervan - October 1, 2009)
by
Mary DeMuth


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mary E. DeMuth is an expert in Pioneer Parenting. She enables Christian parents to navigate our changing culture when their families left no good faith examples to follow.

Her parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House, 2007), Building the Christian Family You Never Had (WaterBrook, 2006), and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God (Harvest House, 2005).

Mary also inspires people to face their trials through her real-to-life novels, Watching The Tree Limbs (nominated for a Christy Award) and Wishing On Dandelions (NavPress, 2006).

Mary has spoken at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, the ACFW Conference, the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, and at various churches and church planting ministries. She's also taught in Germany, Austria, Monaco, Italy, France, and the United States. Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, and planting a church.



ABOUT THE BOOK

She touched Daisy’s shoulder. So cold. So hard. So unlike Daisy.

Yet so much like herself it made Emory shudder.

Burying her grief, Emory Chance is determined to find her daughter Daisy’s murderer—a man she saw in a flicker of a vision. But when the investigation hits every dead end, her despair escalates. As questions surrounding Daisy’s death continue to mount, Emory’s safety is shattered by the pursuit of a stranger, and she can’t shake the sickening fear that her own choices contributed to Daisy’s disappearance. Will she ever experience the peace her heart longs for?

The second book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, this suspenseful novel is about courageous love, the burden of regret, and bonds that never break. It is about the beauty and the pain of telling the truth. Most of all, it is about the power of forgiveness and what remains when shame no longer holds us captive.


Watch the video:

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Slow Burn, go HERE

eye of the god by Ariel Allison

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
eye of the god
(Abingdon Press - October 1, 2009)
by
Ariel Allison


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Allison is a published author who lives in a small Texas town with her husband and three young sons. She is the co-author of Daddy Do You Love Me: a Daughter’s Journey of Faith and Restoration (New Leaf Press, 2006). Justin Case, the first of three children’s books will be published by Harvest House in June 2009. Ariel is a weekly contributor to www.ChristianDevotions.us and has written for Today’s Christian Woman. She ponders on life as a mother of all boys at www.themoabclub.blogspot.com and on her thoughts as a redeemed dreamer at www.arielallison.blogspot.com.


From Ariel:
I am the daughter of an acclaimed and eccentric artist, and given my “unconventional” childhood, had ample time to explore the intricacies of story telling. I was raised at the top of the Rocky Mountains with no running water or electricity (think Laura Ingles meets the Hippie Movement), and lived out the books I read while running barefoot through the sagebrush. My mother read to me by the light of a kerosene lantern for well over a decade, long after I could devour an entire novel in the course of a day. Authors such as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, George MacDonald, and L.M. Montgomery were the first to capture my heart and I have grown to love many others since.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

eye of the god takes the fascinating history surrounding the Hope Diamond and weaves it together with a present-day plot to steal the jewel from the Smithsonian Institute.

We follow Alex and Isaac Weld, the most lucrative jewel thieves in the world, in their quest to steal the gem, which according to legend was once the eye of a Hindu idol named Rama Sita. When it was stolen in the 17th century, it is said that the idol cursed all those who would possess it. That won’t stop the brilliant and ruthless Weld brothers.

However, they are not prepared for Dr. Abigail Mitchell, the beautiful Smithsonian Director, who has her own connection to the Hope Diamond and a deadly secret to keep. Abby committed long ago that she would not serve a god made with human hands, and the “eye of the god” is no exception. Her desire is not for wealth, but for wisdom. She seeks not power, but restoration.

When the dust settles over the last great adventure of the Hope Diamond, readers will understand the “curse” that has haunted its legacy is nothing more than the greed of evil men who bring destruction upon themselves. No god chiseled from stone can direct the fates of humankind, nor can it change the course of God’s story.

If you would like to read the prologue and first chapter of eye of the god, go HERE.

A Little Help from My Friends by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
A Little Help from My Friends
(FaithWords - October 15, 2009)
by
Anne Dayton & May Vanderbilt



ABOUT THE AUTHORS:


ANNE DAYTON graduated from Princeton University and is earning her master's degree in English literature at New York University. She works for a New York publishing company and lives in Brooklyn.

MAY VANDERBILT graduated from Baylor University and went on to earn a master's degree in fiction from Johns Hopkins University. She lives in San Francisco, where she writes about food, fashion, and nightlife in the Bay Area.

Together, the two women are the authors of Miracle Girls series.




ABOUT THE BOOK:

Zoe is used to being overlooked. As the youngest and shyest Miracle Girl, she was happy to fade into the background last year. But when she sheds her baby fat and shoots up four inches the summer before her junior year, everything changes. Now she's turning heads at school, and this new attention is beginning to strain her relationship with her sweet, serious boyfriend, Marcus.

Pressure builds when Zoe's assigned partner for history class is Dean Marchese--a handsome New York transplant who isn't afraid to show her how he feels.
Just when she needs her three best friends the most, the Miracle Girls are suffering from boy troubles of their own.

Even Zoe's rock-solid home life begins to shake underneath her when her parents' relationship frays in the face of serious financial burdens. As this uncertain year of growing pains comes to a frenetic head, the quietest Miracle Girl must find her voice at long last and take control of her own destiny . . . with more than a little help from her friends.

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Little Help from My Friends, go HERE.

My thoughts:

I have really enjoyed this series so far as I think May and Anne have such an authentic YA voice in their books...and I love my YA (can a 40 year-old woman say that?). Zoe is the Miracle Girl that I consider to be most like myself, not so much the band geek part (can't play a note!), but the shy, late bloomer, do-something-wild-and-crazy-once-in-a-while part. I hurt for her as she struggled through some losses in the book, and also wanted to "woo-hoo" when other things worked out for her. I'm really looking forward to the next book.

Sorry about the delay...

I was supposed to draw for a winner for a free copy of The Sound of Sleigh Bells last Friday, but with out of town guests, a sick daughter, that same daughter's birthday, as well as a tremendous headache, it got lost in the shuffle. I am finally back with the program and want to congratulate

Debra

on winning. I appreciate all the comments I received.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Blessings!