Friday, August 28, 2020

Celebrate Lit Blog Tour and Giveaway: Joy After Noon by Debra Coleman Jeter

Book: Joy After Noon
Author: Debra Coleman Jeter
Genre: Romance, Women’s Fiction
Release Date: February 26, 2019

Joy marries a widowed bank executive caught in an ethical dilemma and misreads his obvious frustration while struggling to integrate into her new family. This novel explores the challenges of second marriages and dealing with step-children during the crucial years of puberty and teenage angst. A college professor coming up shortly for the huge tenure decision, Joy finds herself falling apart as her career and her home issues deteriorate and collide.

Click here to get your copy!

Joy After Noon is Book 1 in the new Sugar Sand series by Debra Coleman Jeter. The title of this book is PERFECT for the storyline.

Joy is the main character of the book. She recently married Ray, a Widowed man with 2 Teenage daughters. Joy is trying to settle in to her new life, although she is not finding this an easy transition. Becoming Step Mom to 2 Teen girls isn't easy. She also discovers that her new husband may not have been truthful about his relationship with his deceased wife. She is feeling her life is spinning out of control between her job as a College Professor having issues and her home-life having difficulties. Will Joy find a Joyful life in the midst of the difficulties?

I really enjoyed this book as though it is Fiction, the difficulties addressed in the book: Job issues, Step Parenting, New Marriage are all things that are real life. The author did a GREAT job of telling the story of the family. The book had a few twists and turns and it seemed it wasn't going to be a "Happily Ever After" . Joy After Noon seems really fitting as the title as some have to struggle in order to find Joy later in life! GREAT BOOK!

Debra Coleman Jeter has published both fiction and nonfiction in popular magazines, including Working Woman, New Woman, Self, Home Life, Savvy, Christian Woman, and American Baby. Her first novel, The Ticket, was a finalist for a Selah Award, as well as for Jerry Jenkins’ Operation First Novel. Her story, “Recovery,” was awarded first prize in a short story competition sponsored by Christian Woman; and her nonfiction book “Pshaw, It’s Me Grandson”: Tales of a Young Actor was a finalist in the USA Book News Awards. She is a co-writer of the screenplay for Jess + Moss, a feature film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, screened at nearly forty film festivals around the world, and captured several domestic and international awards. Joy After Noon is the first novel in her Sugar Sands series. She has taught at Murray State University, Austin Peay State University, and Vanderbilt University, where she is currently a Professor Emerita. She lives in Clarksville, Tennessee, with her husband.

More from Debra

Joy After Noon
With most of my novels, several forces come together to compel me to tell the story. This is definitely true of Joy After Noon. I thought I’d share a few of those.
Carl Jung says: “The afternoon of life is just as full of meaning as the morning; only, its meaning and purpose are different.”Jung goes on to describe life’s afternoon as the time when we begin to shift away from the ego being the dominant force in our life and move toward a journey that has real meaning.
I also like the following quote: In the afternoon of your life, you don’t do life. You do what resonates with the callings of your soul. When does the afternoon of life begin? I don’t believe the afternoon of life begins at a particular age, or even stage of life. In JOY AFTER NOON, Ray has been pursuing career success and material acquisitions, and experiences a significant change of direction. Some fairly disastrous events in his workplace precipitate the change—events that threaten not only his financial stability but the core of who he is.
When I was a kid, I watched a movie called Joy in the Morning, starring Richard Chamberlain and Yvette Mimieux. This movie was about a young married couple, and the memory of it stayed with me for years. I remember thinking that whereas a typical romance ended when the couple got together or married, the really interesting story starts there. When I wrote Joy After Noon, I decided to focus on a couple that marry a bit later in life. He’s a widower with two teenage daughters. She’s an insecure college professor who has never been seriously romanced.
Initially, the idea for Sugar Sands Book 1 and the title of the novel, Joy After Noon, was that Joy’s life has been lonely (and joy has been elusive) since her parents died when she was sixteen, and she has about given up on finding love when she meets Ray. She comes into his ready-made family and, for a time, this seems like a mistake. However, in the afternoon of her life, she finds love and joy.
What inspired my characters:
There’s always a bit of myself in each of my characters from the least likable to the most. Here’s how I relate to some of the characters in Joy After Noon.

Joy Hancock
Joy is a college professor who has never been in love … until she meets the gorgeous widower Ray Jenkins. In the novel Joy struggles to adapt to her new family at the same time that she’s coming up for tenure as a college professor. I’ve been through the tenure process (with a husband and two kids at home), and I’ve seen a number of others struggle to balance career and family during this stressful process.

Ray Jenkins
Ray, seemingly successful banker, finds himself facing ethical dilemmas as his associates negotiate a dubious merger and then try to hide the undesirable financial consequences. I’ve taught bankers, and I have coauthored a textbook on mergers and acquisitions. I’ve also seen former students caught in ethical crises at work.
Marianne Jenkins
Marianne has aspired all her life to please her demanding perfectionist mother, even after that mother’s death. She cannot live up to her own standards of perfectionism, either as a ballerina or as a cheerleader longing for popularity. I have not studied dance or cheerleading, but I remember being a perfectionist as a child taking piano lessons. I wanted to play a piece with no errors, and I almost never succeeded.

Jenny Jenkins
Jenny, the younger daughter, knows she could never come near to the example set by Marianne, so why try? Jenny plays clarinet in band. As she practices for tryouts, she has a loose pad, causing her horn to squeak rather than play properly. I was a clarinet player, and had this exact experience myself. Jenny becomes friends with a wild girl named Claudia, who leads her to trouble. I had a similar friend as a teenager, and she was even named Claudia. Claudia is a tragic figure in the novel, but not an unsympathetic one.
Although Joy After Noon is part of a series, each book in the series stands alone.
Song of Sugar Sands
Sugar Sands Book 2, Song of Sugar Sands, has recently been announced as a Finalist in the Christian Fiction category in the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

For Him and My Family, August 17
lakesidelivingsite, August 18
Splashes of Joy, August 19 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, August 20
Artistic Nobody, August 21 (Guest Review from Joni Truex)
Inklings and notions, August 22
Simple Harvest Reads, August 23 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 24
Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, August 25
Ashley’s Bookshelf, August 26
Tell Tale Book Reviews, August 27 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 28
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, August 29 (Author Interview)
deb’s Book Review, August 29
Texas Book-aholic, August 30

To celebrate her tour, Debra is giving away the grand prize package of a $20 Starbucks gift card and a signed copy of the book!!

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/ff18/joy-after-noon-celebration-tour-giveaway

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Celebrate Lit Blog Tour and Giveaway: Rose in the Desert by K.M. Daughters

Book: Rose in the Desert
Author: K.M. Daughters
Genre: Christian Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: July 2020

Anna Babic Robbins, dubbed “The Rose Of The Adriatic” by pilgrims to her village, leaves her home bound for America. She is to deliver secrets concerning the fate of the world to a Chicago priest who will shepherd mankind to prepare to hear God speak.

Four women travel to Las Vegas, and while there, snow begins to fall during triple digit heat. They soon learn that the non-accumulating snowfall is a worldwide phenomenon—a universal sign from God preceding the gift of a permanent sign inexplicable by earthly standards.

With the culmination of these miraculous events, all their paths intersect, and God will reveal His plans to each soul on earth.

Will mankind listen?

Click here to get your copy!

I had conflicting feelings when I began reading the book. The beginning of the book has a weak storyline, but by the second chapter I was more comfortable with reading the book and continued on reading it.

The main character, Anna, gets a message from God to travel to Chicago and she heads off to Chicago. She delivers a message to a Chicago Priest that God gave her in regards to the state of the World. Another part of the story is set in Las Vegas, where 4 woman where they witness a Snowfall in the midst of 100 degree temps. The stories told in the book are all leading up God's revelation of miracles and God plans for ManKind. I did like that there were ever changing stories and that it flowed well. Though it is a Fiction Book, it read almost like real life!

I found the book has a lean towards Catholic theology, which I am not familiar with, so that is what made this book a bit difficult to read. I think that having to really focus and dig deep, made this book a good read. I did like that there were ever changing stories and that it flowed well. Good Book!

K.M. Daughters is the penname for team writers and sisters, Pat Casiello and Kathie Clare. The penname is dedicated to the memory of their parents, “K”ay and “M”ickey Lynch. K.M. Daughters is the author of 15 award winning romance genre, women’s fiction and Christian fiction novels. The “Daughters” are wives, mothers and grandmothers residing in the Chicago suburbs and on the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Visitors are most welcome at http://www.kmdaughters.com

More from K.M. Daughters

In our first book in the Gospa series, Jewel of the Adriatic, on April 7^th, 1992, rose petals rained on three teenagers walking past a craggy hill in their village, Valselo, near the Adriatic coast. The deluge stopped, and high on this hill, they saw a remarkably beautiful young woman with a child in her arms. They immediately thought that she was Jesus’ mother. She didn’t say anything to them but gestured for them to come closer. They were scared and ran. These three children were Anna, Elizabeta and Josip, who despite their fear, returned to the hill and were rewarded with another visitation by the mother of God, lovingly referred to as Our Lady of the Roses. Daily apparitions continued for decades as the visionaries became adults, guided by the heavenly visitor to pray, open their hearts fully to the salvation of Christ and carry her messages to the world in discipleship. Josip became a priest, instructed to pray for vocations. Elizabeta became a wife and mother, dedicated to praying for unbelievers. And Anna, also a wife and mother, was given the role of divulging secrets concerning all of mankind to an ordained priest, three days before the predicted events occur. In Rose of the Desert, we meet the “Belles of St. Mary’s”, lifelong girlfriends who have shared everything with each other since they met in grammar school. Or have they? When experiencing the all-knowing, forgiveness of God’s presence, will they change so they never have anything to hide again? The Belles’ lives intersect with Anna Babic’s when Anna travels to the United States to fulfill her heavenly appointed mission. Now the time has come.

Texas Book-aholic, August 15
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 16
A Baker’s Perspective, August 17 (Author Interview)
Inklings and notions, August 18
For Him and My Family, August 19
Vicky Sluiter, August 20 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake, August 20
deb’s Book Review, August 21
Locks, Hooks and Books, August 22
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, August 23 (Author Interview)
Artistic Nobody, August 24 (Guest Review from Joni Truex)
Ashley’s Bookshelf, August 25
SusanK. Beatty, Author, August 26 (Author Interview)
Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, August 27
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 28

To celebrate their tour, K.M. Daughters is giving away the grand prize of a beautiful necklace!! (Pictured Above)

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/fee6/rose-in-the-desert-celebration-tour-giveaway

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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Celebrate Lit Blog Tour and Giveaway: The Sinner in Mississippi by D.L. Lane

Book: The Sinner in Mississippi
Author: D.L. Lane
Genre: Historical Fiction, Inspirational Romance
Release Date: May 1, 2020

Not expecting me to live, the midwife cleaned me up, wrapped me in an old tea towel, and placed me in a knitting basket beside the wood-burning stove. According to Mama, the storm raged until morning, but I never made one sound. So, hours later, when they peeked in at me, they were surprised to see me sucking my thumb, staring up at them with eyes the color of bluebells.

Mama told me, that’s when she cried.

See, she hadn’t shed a single tear during the harsh pain of giving birth or out of fear of the horrible storm taking the house and her with it, but she sobbed when she saw me. To her, it would have been better for all of us if I’d passed on in the night, carried off on the wings of angels, never to suffer the evils of this world. And sometimes, I wondered if she hadn’t been right.

–Mississippi Singleton

Click here to get your copy!

WOW, just WOW. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, as the synopsis was a bit sad. D.L. Lane is also a new to me author. Let me just say I am blown away at how beautiful this book is. Great Storyline and the writing style is very easy to read and beautiful.

The book is set in the 1930's and the main character is Mississippi Singleton. She was born one month early and even though her mom never admitted it, she believes her early birth was due to Abuse on her mom by her biological father. Mississippi was not expected to survive, but not only did she survive, she thrived. She had to become an adult at an early age, when her mom died when she was 14. She is growing up and

believing she isn't worthy of anyone's love. Then she meets, Thayer Drayton King who is a wealthy business man. He also is a leader in the community with great Morals and Beliefs. He takes Mississippi under his wings and gives her a comfortable home. They begin to spur a romance. Will the romance thrive? Does Mississippi begin to trust others?

The book does have some "trigger" points some readers may find difficult to read about. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, probably one of my favorite this Summer! FANTASTIC Read!

D.L. Lane is a wife, musician, a graduate of Liberty University, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. In 2010 she walked away from the day job and started a writing career using a pen name. As far as the world was concerned, she was very successful writing romances, however, success aside, she knew she wasn’t on the right path but stubbornly kept on going for nine years. Although a Christian and raised in a religious home, D.L went her own way, leaving God out of her choices until He said, “Enough.”
Weary and seeking guidance, she finally listened and left the course she was on as an established novelist to take a new path—putting God first in her life where He always should have been.

More from D.L.

I love writing, and I love to challenge myself as an author, and so I thought, why not write a fictional historical piece. This was a test for me since there are many things to research when writing during a different era, especially when I wasn’t around at that time. But I prayed about it, grabbed my laptop, and started writing about a poor, uneducated girl who grew up in Louisiana during the Great Depression in a motherless home with a group of reprobate males.
Not unlike the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, a boy despised by his brothers who plotted against him, later rose from the depths to become one of the most powerful men in Egypt, facing the very men who had been responsible for the atrocities he’d suffered. Joseph had a choice. Let them die or help the ones who never helped him? This story weaves some of that same treachery with truth, teaching not only the heroine but the hero the ultimate meaning of love.

I wanted to give readers a book demonstrating the fact God will never leave us, even if we have left him for a time. That a personal relationship with Christ is our ultimate source of strength, and with His help, we can be pulled out of the depths of great sorrow, rising to heights we never imagined possible.

Texas Book-aholic, August 22
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 23
Inklings and notions, August 24
Genesis 5020, August 24
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 25
For the Love of Literature, August 26
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, August 27
Maureen’s Musings, August 27
For Him and My Family, August 28
Godly Book Reviews, August 29
Locks, Hooks and Books, August 30
Labor Not in Vain, August 30
deb’s Book Review, August 31
Pause for Tales, September 1
Betti Mace, September 2
Rebecca Tews, September 2
Daysong Reflections, September 3
Connie’s History Classroom, September 4
Jeanette’s Thoughts, September 4

To celebrate her tour, D.L. is giving away the grand prize package of a $10 Amazon eGift Card and a free Audiobook of The Sinner in Mississippi!!

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/ffa5/the-sinner-in-mississippi-celebration-tour-giveaway

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Sunday, August 23, 2020

Book Review and Giveaway: Take Back Your Life by Levi Lusko

A forty-day interactive journey that will help you identify and fight your internal battles—so you can take back your life.

Every person has a mission and a God-given potential to impact the world, whether they recognize it or not. But life presents challenges and traps us in a helpless, hopeless loop of anxiety and fear.

In Take Back Your Life, a blend of bestselling books Through the Eyes of a Lion and I Declare War, join Levi Lusko on an interactive journey to take back your life. With biblical truth and perspective, this step-by-step journaling process will help you:

get out of your own way by learning to think right so you can live right,
find purpose by discovering that God will do great things with your imperfect progress, and
learn that your pain is not an obstacle to being used by God but an opportunity to be used like never before.

This is more than a book; it’s an intimate self-analysis tool that will help you recognize what’s weighing you down or holding you back, and equip you to embrace it head-on as you become the best version of yourself. Start thinking right, so you can live right.

Learn More about the Book: www.takebackbook.com

Kids 4 Day Devotional: http://takebackbook.com/kids

Buy The Book:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785232761?tag=hcads-20

I really like Devotional Books, they seem to give guidance in my daily devotional time. I was really excited to be able to read this one. I can honestly say this Devotional book is encouraging, thought provoking and challenges the reader to really seek God.

I really like the layout and look Take Back Your Life. The book contains 40 Devotionals, one a day for 40 days. Each day contains Scriptures, Encouraging Affirmations, and Questions to make one ponder upon. The section of Breathe, Think and LIVE is a greatpart of the book. It makes the reader really dig deep and apply scripture to your life to bring you closer to God.

Levi Lesko really created a GREAT Devotional for all Christians and new Christians alike. I HIGHLY Recommend Take Back Your Life!

Levi Lusko is the founder and lead pastor of Fresh Life Church located in Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and Utah. He is the bestselling author of Through the Eyes of a Lion, Swipe Right, and I Declare War. Levi also travels the world speaking about Jesus. He and his wife, Jennie, have one son, Lennox, and four daughters: Alivia, Daisy, Clover, and Lenya, who is in heaven.

You can enter to win your own copy of Take Back Your Life by Levi Lesko!

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Celebrate Lit Blog Tour and Giveaway: A Nurse for Jacob by Caryl McAdoo

Book: A Nurse for Jacob
Author: Caryl McAdoo
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release Date: July 2, 2020

Physician heal thyself

While physical wounds heal with time, a special balm is needed to heal those sick of soul. In the Civil War aftermath, two such people’s paths cross. Recent graduate of the Harrow School of Nursing first class in May 1868, Lydia Andrews arrives at the Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, hired on Clara Barton’s endorsement. There she meets Doctor Jacob Johnston, and both soon learn that love is the salve to soothe wounded souls.

Click here to get your copy!

I have read several of Caryl McAdoo's book and each one is very enjoyable. A Nurse for Jacob is Book 4 in the Nursing the Heart series. I really enjoy books from Series and reading them in order. I missed Book 2 in this series, but each book reads well as a Stand Alone book as each book is done by a different author.

A Nurse for Jacob is a short and sweet Novella set in 1868, right after the Civil War. Lydia Andrews is fresh out of Nursing School and arrives for her first job in New Orleans. It is there she meets Dr. Jacob Johnston. Dr. Jacob is quite impressed with Lydia's Nursing Skills and he is smitten for her. The other nurses try to warn Lydia that Jacob has some issues, but Lydia's sweet heart is falling for Jacob. She discovers the issues with Jacob, and instead of giving up on him, she begins to pray for him and lift him up. Will Jacob overcome things and will their romance bloom?

Ohhhh, so much to tell in such a short book! I read this book while sitting on my Patio one afternoon, it was a quick Read! I really enjoyed this book and enjoy Caryl McAdoo's writing! QUICK READ and GREAT book!

Award-winning author Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and her best-selling stories—over fifty published—delight Christian readers around the world. The prolific writer also enjoys singing the new songs the Lord gives her; you may listen at YouTube. Sharing four children and nineteen grandsugars with Ron, her high-school-sweetheart-husband of over fifty years, she lives in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas. The McAdoos wait expectantly for God to open the next door.

More from Caryl

From the get-go, the idea about writing a story with a nurse heroine intrigued me; I haven’t had one before. My niece is a nurse and I have several friends and readers who serve. I believe nursing is a divine calling and admire the many who choose to be a medical servant.
The connection in the multi-author Nursing the Heart Collection is that the first class of nurses recently graduated from the Harrows’s School of Nursing are placed across the country through the friends and acquaintances of Clara Barton, who teaches at the school.
So I joined the project and started my research of medical practices in the post-Civil War years. It was a time where many medical breakthroughs occurred, and older instruments were greatly improved. I so enjoyed learning how healthcare practices have changed.
I think you’ll enjoy all that to as an integral part of this historical romance. This Texas author hopes readers will love my two medical servants, Lydia Andrews and the older Doctor Jacob Johnston, and I’m always “Praying my story gives God glory!”