Some Interesting New Titles

You might want to check out some of these new releases:

Sweet Caroline

By Rachel Hauck

When a Southern waitress inherits the Lowcountry cafe where she works,
she suddenly has to balance more than just her next food order.

Caroline Sweeney has always done the right thing--the responsible,
dependable thing--unlike her mother who abandoned her family. But when
her best friend challenges her to accept an exciting job adventure in
Barcelona, Spain, Caroline says "yes" to destiny.

Then, without warning, ownership of the run-down cafe where she's been
waitressing falls right into Caroline's lap. While she's trying to
determine the cafe's future, handsome Deputy Sherriff J.D. Rand captures
Caroline's heart.

But when her first love, Mitch O'Neal, comes back to town, fresh from
the heat of his newly-found fame as a country music singer in Nashville,
Caroline must make some hard choices about love and the pursuit of the
sweet life.

"Hauck's adorable novel contains the multi-layered characters
readers have come to expect from her books. The enjoyable story and
unpredictable ending entertains and offers much to think about." -
4.5 Stars, Melissa Parcel, Romantic Times Book Club

Every Secret Thing

by Ann Tatlock

Every Secret Thing is the story of a woman who returns home after many
years away. Beth Gunnar hasn't lived in Delaware since high school
graduation, but when she's offered a teaching job at Seaton
Preparatory School--her alma mater--she accepts. Once there, she's
faced with an unresolved loss that she and her friends experienced
during their senior year. She realizes that the suicide of a favorite
teacher has haunted her all her life, and she wants to find out the
truth about what happened that night. There's a little bit of
mystery and a little bit of romance, and ultimately it's a story of
faith and reconciliation.

"Intelligent, introspective, and beautifully, hauntingly
written…."

- Tom Morrisey, author of In High Place

Halfway Point! Yippee!

Yesterday, I reached the halfway point in my current WIP. Ahead of schedule! What a good feeling. I've been whipping along, since I've had a lot of alone time in the last couple of weeks. Amazing what a difference that makes.

I've also given myself the freedom to write garbage. I told myself, relax, this is only the first draft. Just let the words flow, write what comes into your head, there'll be time enough later to sort out the chaff from the wheat.

I've also realized with this manuscript number, let's see...14th (not all published) that this is the most special time of my story, when it's the first time for my characters & me. I used to think the 2nd or 3rd rewrite was the best time to enjoy my characters. Their most obvious flaws were being smoothed out by then. By the time I get the published book, my heart is into other characters and I've read their story once too often in final edits & proofings to enjoy it as I once did.

But with my current manuscript, I'm beginning to understand that this virgin territory I'm treading is the most special time. The hero & heroine's words are being spoken for the first time. Their angst is my angst. Ohhhh. Will he win her? Will she succeed in breaking down those emotional barriers he's built up???

Stay tuned.

Contest to Resume

Just to let you know, we will resume our Scavenger Hunt at a later date (hopefully, in a week or so). Our coordinator just had a baby, so has her hands a little full right now!
Blessings to Mommy & son.

It’s a Historical Scavenger Hunt!

Playing is easy. Get the list of clues at www.ChristianReviewofBooks.com. Then visit the links below to learn about the authors and their books—you’ll find the answers to the clues in the Q&A posted there! Once you have all 18 answers, send an email to review@ChristianReviewofBooks.com to be entered to win:

Six autographed books!

A Whisper of Freedom by Tricia Goyer

The Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julie Klassen

A Passion Most Pure by Julie Lessman

The Sovereign’s Daughter by Susan K. Downs & Susan May Warren

The Rogue’s Redemption by Ruth Axtell Morren

On Sparrow Hill by Maureen Lang

***

My own story:

Tell us a little about your road to publication.

It was a long road! I started to write a historical romance (the kind of book I liked to read) way back in my 20s with a college friend. The writing team kind of petered out, but I kept writing and completed the manuscript. About that time, I discovered RWA and began learning the craft. Needless to say, that first manuscript was rejected, but my second placed in the 1994 Golden Heart contest. I was ecstatic, thinking this is it!

By that time, my husband I had moved overseas to Holland and begun a family. I felt really out of the loop, not being able to join writers’ groups or have critique partners. But I kept plugging away, between having babies, and managed to complete 3 manuscripts. Which kept getting rejected!

Six years after we’d moved to Holland, we decided to move back to the U.S. The Lord also started dealing with me then on a spiritual level. I began developing a deeper hunger for Him and gradually began receiving a conviction to write Christian romances.

We moved to Maine, and I wrote my first full-length inspirational historical romance. In the meantime, however, the Lord was asking something of me far more difficult than just writing Christian fiction.

Was I willing to put my writing on the “altar,” and hand this desire of mine completely over to Him, even if it meant never pursuing publication again? I received a clear answer to put aside all writing, even researching ideas, for two years.

At the end of those two years, though, I woke up with a dream, which became the inspiration for my first published book, Winter Is Past. After researching and writing that historical romance, which took another 2 years, and entering it in a couple of contests, I got a call from the conference coordinator of the second contest, telling me Melissa Endlich, the judge, was interested in seeing the entire manuscript because she thought it might fit the new line of women’s fiction they were starting up.

A few weeks later, I was offered a 3-book contract, and the rest is history!

Where did you get the idea for this book?

While I was writing the book before it, Dawn in my Heart, I had a bad guy. In one of the last scenes of the book, I suddenly realized this guy, Garrit, whom I hadn’t paid much attention to beforehand, other than making him a schmuck, was redeemable. I suddenly wanted to tell his story.

Visit these sites for the rest of the clues!

www.triciagoyer.blogspot.com
www.novelinspirations.com/blog
www.julielessman.com
http://sovereignsdaughter.blogspot.com
http://ruthaxtellmorren.blogspot.com
www.maureenlang.com