Her Restless Heart by Barbara Cameron

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Her Restless Heart

(Abingdon Press - April 2012)
by
Barbara Cameron

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Barbara Cameron is the author of more than 30 fiction and nonfiction books, three nationally televised movies (HBO-Cinemax), and the winner of the first Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Award. Her two novellas won the 2nd and 3rd place in the Inspirational Readers Choice Contest from the Faith, Love, and Hope chapter of RWA. Both were finalists for the novella category of the Carol Award of the American Christian Writers Award (ACFW).

When a relative took her to visit the Amish community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, she felt led to write about the spiritual values and simple joys she witnessed there. She currently resides in Edgewater, FL.


ABOUT THE BOOK:

Mary Katherine is caught between the traditions of her faith and the pull of a different life. When Daniel, an Amish man living in Florida, arrives and shares her restlessness, Mary Katherine feels drawn to him and curious about the life he leads away from Lancaster County.

But her longtime friend Jacob has been in love with her for years. He’s discouraged that she’s never viewed him as anything but a friend and despairs that he is about to lose Mary Katherine to this outsider.

Will the conflicted Mary Katherine be lost to the English world, or to Daniel, who might take her away to Florida? Or will she embrace her Amish faith and recognize Jacob as the man she should marry and build a life with?

MY THOUGHTS:

This is the first Barbara Cameron book that I've read...and it won't be my last. I really enjoyed her storytelling and how she really drew me into the conflict facing Mary Katherine. Another part of the story that I enjoyed was the way Mary Katherine and her cousins got along...each with their own unique personalities and reactions to circumstances. I look forward to reading more about them in future books.

My thanks to CFBA and Abingdon Press for providing a copy for review.

If you want to read the first chapter of Her Restless Heart, go HERE.

2012 Christy Award Nominees

Congratulations to all the Christy Award nominees for 2012.

The nominees will be recognized and winners of the 13th annual Christy Awards for Excellence in Christian fiction announced at a dinner to be held at 7:00 p.m. on July 16, 2012.

Contemporary Standalone



Dry as Rain - Gina Holmes (Tyndale House)
Promises to Keep - Ann Tatlock (Bethany House)
Words - Ginny Yttrup (B&H)

Find out more on the web:
Gina Holmes
Ann Tatlock
Ginny Yttrup

Contemporary Romance



My Foolish Heart - Susan May Warren (Tyndale House)
Larkspur Cove - Lisa Wingate (Bethany House)
Wolfsbane - Ronie Kendig (Barbour)

Susan May Warren
Lisa Wingate
Ronie Kendig

Contemporary Series/Sequel/Novella



The Amish Midwife - Mindy Starns Clark/Leslie Gould (Harvest House)
Dancing on Glass - Pamela Binnings Ewen (B&H)
The Touch - Randall Wallace (Tyndale House)

Mindy Starns Clark
Leslie Gould
Pamela Binnings Ewen
Randall Wallace

First Novel




An Eye for Glory - Karl Bacon (Zondervan)
Southern Fried Sushi - Jennifer Rogers Spinola (Barbour)
Words - Ginny Yttrup (B&H)

Karl Bacon
Jennifer Rogers Spinola
Ginny Yttrup

Historical



Forsaking All Others - Allison Pittman (Tyndale House)
Mine is the Night - Liz Curtis Higgs (Waterbrook Multnomah)
Wonderland Creek - Lynn Austin (Bethany House)

Allison Pittman
Liz Curtis Higgs
Lynn Austin

Historical Romance



A Lasting Impression - Tamera Alexander (Bethany House)
The Maid of Fairbourne Hall - Julie Klassen (Bethany House)
To Die For - Sandra Byrd (Howard)

Tamera Alexander
Julie Klassen
Sandra Byrd

Suspense



Over the Edge - Brandilyn Collins (B&H)
The Queen - Steven James (Revell)
Pattern of Wounds - J. Mark Bertrand (Bethany House)

Brandilyn Collins
Steven James
J. Mark Bertrand

Visionary


The Chair - James Rubart (B&H)
Forbidden - Ted Dekker/Tosca Lee (Center Street)
Veiled Rose -Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Bethany House)

James Rubart
Ted Dekker
Tosca Lee
Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Young Adult



How Huge the Night - Heather Munn/Lydia Munn (Kregel)
The Merchant's Daughter - Melanie Dickerson (Zondervan)
Waterfall - Lisa T. Bergren (David C. Cook)

Heather Munn/Lydia Munn
Melanie Dickerson
Lisa T. Bergren

Find out more on the web:
Christy Awards
B&H Publishing
Barbour Publishing
Bethany House - A Division of Baker Publishing
Center Street - A Division of Hachette Publishing
David C Cook Publishing
Harvest House Publishing
Howard Books - A Division of Simon & Schuster
Kregel Publishing
Revell Books
Tyndale House Publishers
WaterBrook Multnomah Press
Zondervan Publishing

The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
The Fiddler
(Bethany House Publishers - April 10, 2012)
by
Beverly Lewis

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Beverly's first venture into adult fiction is the best-selling trilogy, The Heritage of Lancaster County, including The Shunning, a suspenseful saga of Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman drawn to the modern world by secrets from her past. The book is loosely based on the author's maternal grandmother, Ada Ranck Buchwalter, who left her Old Order Mennonite upbringing to marry a Bible College student. One Amish-country newspaper claimed Beverly's work to be "a primer on Lancaster County folklore" and offers "an insider's view of Amish life."

Booksellers across the country, and around the world, have spread the word of Beverly's tender tales of Plain country life. A clerk in a Virginia bookstore wrote, "Beverly's books have a compelling freshness and spark. You just don't run across writing like that every day. I hope she'll keep writing stories about the Plain people for a long, long time."

A member of the National League of American Pen Women, as well as a Distinguished Alumnus of Evangel University, Lewis has written over 80 books for children, youth, and adults, many of them award-winning. She and her husband, David, make their home in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, and spending time with their family. They are also avid musicians and fiction "book worms."

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Come home to Hickory Hollow, Pennsylvania--the beloved setting where Beverly Lewis's celebrated Amish novels began--with new characters and new stories of drama, romance, and the ties that draw people together.

A wrong turn in a rainstorm leads Englisher Amelia Devries to Michael Hostetler--and the young Amishman's charming Old Order community of Hickory Hollow. Despite their very different backgrounds, Amelia and Michael both feel hemmed in by the expectations of others and struggle with how to find room for their own hopes. And what first seems to be a chance encounter might just change their lives forever.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Fiddler, go HERE.

Watch the book video:

Always the Designer, Never the Bride by Sandra D Bricker

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Always The Designer, Never The Bride
(Abingdon Press - April 2012)
by
Sandra D. Bricker

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

For more than a decade, Sandra D. Bricker lived in Los Angeles. While honing her chosen craft of screenwriting in every spare moment, she worked as a personal assistant and publicist to some of daytime television's hottest stars. When her mother became ill in Florida, she walked away from that segment of her life and moved across the country to take on a new role: Caregiver.

The Big 5-OH! was released by Abingdon Press in the Spring of 2010, and the novel was very well-received, garnering a couple of nibbles from Hollywood.

Always the Baker, Never the Bride was released by Abingdon Press in September 2010. With its phenomenal reviews, the novel spawned a series of three more books based on the popular cast of characters at The Tanglewood Inn, a wedding destination hotel in historic Roswell, Georgia. The series cemented Sandie's spot in publishing as a flagship author of Laugh-Out-Loud romantic comedy for the inspirational market.

"Being allowed to combine my faith and my humor with my writing dream," says Bricker, "well, that's the best of all worlds, as far as I'm concerned!"

ABOUT THE BOOK:

It’s taken Audrey Regan years to establish herself as a wedding dress designer, and to date she’s been roped into creating dresses for nine of her girlfriends. Request #10 follows her vow to “Just say no!” and comes from her very best friend. She can hardly turn Carly down!

Audrey arrives in Atlanta early to perform all of her maid-of-honor duties along with final fittings for a one-of-a-kind dress. But Carly’s wedding is nothing short of an event, complete with Prince Charming, and the festivities make Audrey question whether there’s a prince of her own anywhere in her future.

Enter the groom’s brother and best man. Shaggy-haired, tattooed bad boy J.R. Hunt couldn’t be any more different from Prince Charming if he rode in on a Harley Davidson. Oh, wait. He actually did ride in on a Harley!

MY THOUGHTS:

Let me just start by saying I *absolutely* love Romantic Comedy. I have read a few of Sandra's other books, and she definitely ranks high as one of my favorite Rom-Com authors. Sandra has such a natural touch with the humor in Always the Designer, Never the Bride...and the romance has more spark than the plugs on JR's Harley! So, if you're looking for a book that is a seamless creation of romantic sizzle accessorized with chuckles and grins...then this is the book for you! I loved it and highly recommend the whole series.

My thanks to CFBA and Abingdon Press for providing a copy for review.

If you would like to read an excerpt of the first chapter of Always The Designer, Never The Bride, go HERE.

Cooking the Books by Bonnie Calhoun

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Cooking The Books
(Abingdon Press - April 2012)
by
Bonnie S. Calhoun

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

As the Owner/Director of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Bonnie has helped use the 220+ blogs of the Alliance to promote many titles on the Christian bestseller list. She also owns and publishes the Christian Fiction Online magazine which is devoted to readers and writers of Christian fiction. She is the Northeast Zone Director for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). At ACFW she was named the ‘Mentor of the Year,’ for 2011, and she is the current President of (CAN) Christian Authors Network. Bonnie is also the Appointment Coordinator for both the Colorado Christian Writers Conference and the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference.

In her spare time she is an avid social media junkie, and teaches Facebook, Twitter, Blogging and HTML as recreational occupations. She also has a novel coming out in the Abingdon Quilts of Love series. Her novel Pieces of the Heart will publish August of 2013.

Bonnie and her husband Bob live in a log cabin on 15 acres in upstate area of Binghamton, New York with a dog and cat who consider the humans as wait-staff.


ABOUT THE BOOK:

After her mother dies from a heart attack, Sloane Templeton goes from Cyber Crimes Unit to bookstore owner before she can blink. She also "inherits" a half-batty store manager; a strange bunch of little old people from the neighborhood who meet at the store once a week, but never read books, called the Granny Oakleys Book Club; and Aunt Verline, who fancies herself an Iron Chef when in reality you need a cast iron stomach to partake of her culinary disasters. And with a group like this you should never ask, “What else can go wrong?”

A lot! Sloane begins to receive cyber threats. While Sloane uses her computer forensic skills to uncover the source of the threats, it is discovered someone is out to kill her. Can her life get more crazy?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Cooking The Books, go HERE.

Watch the book video:

If you'd like to read interviews with Bonnie, try these:
Everbody Needs A Little Romance
A Christian Writers World
Novel Rocket
ACFW - Fiction Finder