Janna's 7th Most Entertaining Book of 2008

Cara here: I love Claudia's book, too. She has a great voice, and her characters are a delight to read. Be sure to enter this contest here:

The 7th
Most Entertaining Book of 2008 is "Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man" by Claudia Mair Burney

This book is a laugh out loud, mystery that will keep you going from beginning to end. I love the characters, the dialogue is absolutely brilliant and this book and it's sequel "Death, Deceit and Some Smooth Jazz" are fantastic. You start with a single 30 something forensic psyshologist who has never actually been to a bad crime scene, her 40 something sister who is a medical examiner and then throw in a good looking, tall drink of water named Jazz who just happens to be a homicide detective. Mix that up at a crime scene and come away with Amanda Bell Brown starting in on an investigation dealing with cult leaders and their influence over people while crushing on some Jazz. There is some deep insight into some dark stuff while some amazing flirtation and sweet nothings between Bell and Jazz and her sister Carly is there to protect her. What a great book!

The description reads:

Amanda Bell Brown knows that life as a forensic psychologist isn't quite as cool as it looks on prime-time TV. But when she turns thirty-five with no husband or baby on the horizon, she decides she's gotta get out and paint the town -- in her drop-dead red birthday dress. Instead, she finds herself at the scene of a crime -- and she just may know who the killer is. She needs to spill her guts, but not on the handsome lead detective's alligator shoes -- especially if she wants him to ask her out. A complicated murder investigation unearths not just a killer but a closet full of skeletons Amanda thought were long gone. Murder, mayhem, and a fine man are wreaking havoc on her birthday, but will her sleuthing leave her alive to see past thirty-five?

Now let's meet Claudia...


1) I was blown away when I read "Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man", I have never laughed out loud so much while reading a book - ever! I had to keep stopping and reading sections out loud to my husband so he'd know why I was giddy. Who did you base this fantastic character on? And are they really that funny or is that you coming through?

Thanks for your kind words, Janna. I love to imagine readers cracking up when they read my books. They actually ended up much funnier than I intended them to be, but what can you do? Murder, Mayhem, and a Fine Man was my first book, and the opportunity came to me very quickly. I so cheated and gave Amanda the name of my great-grandmother, and as far as character goes, she was essentially me! Life is very funny for me, even when I don't want it to be.

2) Now lest my readers get the wrong idea and think that these are just funny "ha-ha" books, I should clarify that the dialogue is hilarious, but the situations - not so much. The first book deals with cults and how the leaders gain control over others, that was some pretty heavy stuff. How did you research that?

It wasn't that hard. Just as I built the character of Amanda after me, I gave her my background of abuse. I've experienced some pretty tough situations, Janna, and I modeled some of the "bad guys" after people I've been involved with, including a man who had very cult leader type behavior, including a penchant for polygamy. From there I read my old college text books about the personality disorders in religious people. I also bought forensic science books designed for writers. I have a whole collection of them.

3) I love the secondary characters that round the book out - Amanda's sister and Jazz, the detective. Some of the scenarios they are dealing with are pretty interesting - like Jazz's ex-wife. This leads to some theological discussion (Can you remarry after divorcing...) that made me think. Do you find it difficult to show both sides in a discussion like that?

Jazz and Carly were absolutely built on people I know. Carly is my sister, Carly. As for Jazz, the way he looks and talks is like a certain fine man in my life, but the Catholic thing was something I added, I had no idea why at the time. I guess I just wanted to write about someone with a different take on spirituality, because so much Christian fiction is the same old, same old. I wish I knew more about the subject of Catholic teaching on divorce and remarriage when I broached it in those books. I never meant to have that thread. In my original story, Jazz was still married but separated from Kate, and fell in love with Amanda by mistake. Couldn't sell the book like that, so I made him divorced, but it changed the nature of the conflict considerably. I hadn't expected that. I also wrote a Catholic character without knowing a great deal about Catholics at the time. I did too much assuming, I'm sad to say. Divorce isn't the unpardonable sin, and remarriage doesn't doom one's soul, but marriage is a sacrament. Not to be taken lightly, just like Jesus taught. There is healing, and forgiveness, and circumstances that genuinely merit divorce, but yes, devout Catholics would feel very strongly about that. Any Christian should.
4) I've recently read "Wounded" and it is in a whole different vein than the Amanda Bell Brown books. How did that book come about?

For some reason, the phenomenon of stigmata fascinated me. It both drew and repelled me. I didn't understand this bloody, bizarre way to share in Christ's suffering. I didn't understand sharing in Christ's suffering, but I wanted, no, I needed to explore it. Like Gina Merritt, I'm bipolar, with constant pain from fibromyalgia and chronic pain syndrome. I wanted to deal with the fact that God wasn't healing me, but rather, loving me in my affliction. I wanted to let people know it was okay if they were suffering. It didn't mean they lacked faith.

5) Did I read somewhere that I have another Amanda Bell Brown book to look forward to?

Yes! The third in the series picks up six weeks after the second left off. We see Rocky reaching out to reconcile to Bell, and unwittingly plunging her into what my great-grandmother would call, "a world of trouble." We get a very different kind of villain in this, and you get to see if Amanda gets her man or not.

6) What other projects can we look forward to from you?

I have two more books in my Exorsistah series coming out, and I'll be writing my first non-fiction book, a fun book about the teachings of Teresa of Avila. I may have comic books in my future. A long shot, but anything is possible, right? Some things are in the works. That's really all I can say about it right now.

7) Where can readers find you online?

My net home is my blog, http://ragamuffindiva.blogspot.com, but if you don't want "too much information" you probably shouldn't go there. It gets pretty personal. I do have a dot com, simply claudiamairburney.com. You can find some info about my books there, and my book blog, http://claudiamairburneybooks.blogspot.com
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If you would like to win a copy of "Murder, Mayhem and a Fine Man" from Claudia then leave me a comment (with your email address or way to reach you) telling me what book has made you laugh recently and you will have 1 entry in the drawing!
If you tell someone else (especially your best friend) about this interview with Claudia and they enter and put your name in the comment then you will have 3 extra entries, if you link to this interview from your own blog then you will get 2 extra entries - Good luck! And to sweeten the pot - we will have a 2nd drawing for the other book we talked about in the interview "Wounded" so there will be 2 winners!

"Havah" First Chapter

It is time to play a Wild Card! Every now and then, a book that I have chosen to read is going to pop up as a FIRST Wild Card Tour. Get dealt into the game! (Just click the button!) Wild Card Tours feature an author and his/her book's FIRST chapter!



You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Tosca Lee

and the book:

Havah: The Story of Eve

NavPress Publishing Group (October 10, 2008)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tosca Lee is the author of the critically acclaimed Demon: A Memoir (2007), a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Silver Award winner, American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year nominee, and Christy award finalist. Her eagerly-awaited second novel, Havah: The Story of Eve, released October 2008 to high praise, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly.



A sought-after speaker and first runner-up to Mrs. United States 1998, Tosca works as a Senior Consultant for the Gallup Organization. She received her B.A. in English and International Relations from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She also studied at Oxford University.

In her spare time, Tosca enjoys travel, cooking, history and theology. She currently resides in Nebraska.

Visit the author's website and blog.

Product Details:

List Price: $ 14.99

Paperback: 368 pages

Publisher: NavPress Publishing Group (October 10, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1600061249

ISBN-13: 978-1600061240




AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Prologue



I have seen paradise and ruin. I have known bliss and terror.



I have walked with God.



And I know that God made the heart the most fragile and resilient of organs, that a lifetime of joy and pain might be encased in one mortal chamber.



I still recall my first moment of consciousness—an awareness I’ve never seen in the eyes of any of my own children at birth: the sheer ignorance and genius of consciousness, when we know nothing and accept everything.



Of course, the memory of that waking moment is fainter now, like the smell of the soil of that garden, like the leaves of the fig tree in Eden after dawn—dew and leaf green. It fades with that sense of something once tasted on the tip of the tongue, savored now in memory, replaced by the taste of something similar but never quite the same.



His breath a lost sough, the scent of earth and leaf mold that was his sweaty skin has faded too quickly. So like an Eden dawn—dew on fig leaves.



His eyes were blue, my Adam’s.



How I celebrated that color, shrouded now in shriveled eyelids—he who was never intended to have even a wrinkle! But even as I bend to smooth his cheek, my hair has become a white waterfall upon his Eden—flesh and loins that gave life to so many.



I think for a moment that I hear the One and that he is weeping. It is the first time I have heard him in so long, and my heart cries out: He is dead! My father, my brother, my love!



I envy the earth that envelopes him. I envy the dust that comes of him and my children who sow and eat of it.



This language of Adam’s—the word that meant merely “man” before it was his name—given him by God himself, is now mine. And this is my love song. I will craft these words into the likeness of the man before I, too, return to the earth of Adam’s bosom.



My story has been told in only the barest of terms. It is time you heard it all. It is my testament to the strength of the heart, which has such capacity for joy, such space for sorrow, like a vessel that fills and fills without bursting.



My seasons are nearly as many as a thousand. So now listen, sons, and hear me, daughters. I, Havah, fashioned by God of Adam say this:



In the beginning, there was God . . .



But for me, there was Adam.









The Garden









Chapter 1



A whisper in my ear: Wake!



Blue. A sea awash with nothing but a drifting bit of down, flotsam on an invisible current. I closed my eyes. Light illuminated the thin tissues of my eyelids.



A bird trilled. Near my ear: the percussive buzz of an insect. Overhead, tree boughs stirred in the warming air.



I lay on a soft bed of herbs and grass that tickled my cheek, my shoulders, and the arch of my foot, whispering sibilant secrets up to the trees.



From here, I felt the thrum of the sap in the stem; the pulsing veins of the vine; the beat of my heart in euphony with hundreds more around me; the movement of the earth a thousand miles beneath.



I sighed as one returning to sleep, to retreat to the place I had been before, the realm of silence and bliss—wherever that is.



Wake!



I opened my eyes again upon the milling blue, saw it spliced by the flight of a bird, chevron in the sky.



This time, the voice came not to my ear, but directly to my stirring mind: Wake!



There was amusement in it.



I knew nothing of where or what I was, did not understand the polyphony around me or the wide expanse like a blue eternity before me.



But I woke and knew I was alive.



A rustle, a groan practically in my ear. I twitched at a stirring against my hip. A moment later, a touch drifted across a belly I did not yet know I owned, soft as a leaf skittering along the ground.



A face obscured my vision. I screamed. Not with fear—I was no acquaintance of fear—nor with startlement, because I had been aware of the presence already, but because it was the only statement that came to lips as artless as mine.



The face disappeared and returned, blinking into my own, the blue above captured in twin pools . Then, like a gush of water from a rock, gladness thrilled my heart. But its source was not me.



At last! It came, unspoken—a different source than the voice before—the words thrust jubilantly to the sky: “At last!”



He was up on legs like the trunks of sturdy saplings, beating at the earth with his feet. He thumped his chest and shouted to the sun and clapped his hands. “At last!” he cried, his laughter like warm clay between the toes. He shook his shoulders and stomped the grass, slapping his chest as he shouted again and again. Though I did not understand the utterance, I knew its meaning at once: joy and exultation at something longed for suddenly found.



I tried to mimic his sound; it came out as a squawk and then a panting laugh. Overhead, a lark chattered an extravagant address. I squeaked a shrill reply. The face lowered to mine, and the man’s arms wrapped, womb-tight, around me.



“Flesh of my flesh,” he whispered, hot against my ear. His fingers drifted from my hair to my body, roaming like the goat on the hills of the Sacred Mount. I sighed, expelling the last remnants of that first air from my lungs—the last of the breath in them not drawn by me alone.



He was high-cheeked, this adam, his lower lip dipping down like a folded leaf that drips sweet water to thirsty mouths. His brow was a hawk, soaring above the high cliffs, his eyes blue lusters beneath the fan of his lashes. But it was his mouth that I always came back to, where my eyes liked best to fasten after taking in the shock of those eyes. Shadow ran along his jaw, obsidian dust clinging to the curve of it, drawing my eye to the plush flesh of his lips, again, again, again.



He touched my face and traced my mouth. I bit his finger. He gathered my hands and studied them, turning them over and back. He smelled my hair and lingered at my breasts and gazed curiously at the rest of me. When he was finished, he began all over again, tasting my cheek and the salt of my neck, tracing the instep of my foot with a fingertip.



Finally, he gathered me up, and my vision tilted to involve an altogether new realm: the earth and my brown legs upon it. I clutched at him. I seemed a giant, towering above the earth—a giant as tall as he. My first steps stuttered across the ground as the deer in the hour of its birth, but then I pushed his hands away. My legs, coltish and lean, found their vigor as he urged me, walking far too fast, to keep up. He made for the orchard, and I bolted after him with a surge of strength and another of my squawking sounds. Then we were running—through grasses and over fledgling sloes, the dark wool of my hair flying behind me.



We raced across the valley floor, and my new world blurred around me: hyssop and poppy, anemone, narcissus, and lily. Roses grew on the foothills amidst the caper and myrtle.



A blur beside me: the long-bodied great cat. I slowed, distracted by her fluidity, the smooth curve of her head as she tilted it to my outstretched hand. I fell to the ground, twining my arms around her, fingers sliding along her pelt. Her tongue was rough—unlike the adam’s—and she rumbled as she rolled against me.



Far ahead, the adam called. Overhead, a hawk circled for a closer look. The fallow deer at a nearby stream lifted her head.



The adam called again, wordlessly: longing and exuberance. I got up and began to run, the lioness at my heels. I was fast—nearly as fast as she. Exhilaration rose from my lungs in quick pants—in laughter. Then, with a burst, she was beyond me.



She was gone by the time the adam caught me up in his arms. His hands stroked my back, his lips, my shoulder. I marveled at his skin—how smooth, how very warm it was.



“You are magnificent,” he said, burying his face against me. “Ah, Isha—woman, taken from man!”



I said nothing; although I understood his meaning, I did not know his words. I knew with certainty and no notion of conceit, though, that he was right.



At the river he showed me how he cupped his hands to drink, and then cupped them again for me. I lowered my head and drank as a carp peered baldy from the shallows up at me.



We entered the water. I gasped as it tickled the backs of my knees and hot hairs under my arms, swirling about my waist as though around a staunch rock as our toes skimmed a multitude of pebbles. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders.



“All of this: water,” he said, grunting a little bit as he swam toward the middle of the river where it widened into a broad swath across the valley floor. “Here—the current.”



“Water,” I said, understanding in the moment I spoke it the element in all its forms—from the lake fed by the river to the high springs that flow from the abyss of the Mount. I felt the pull of it as though it had a gravity all its own—as though it could sweep me out to the cold depths of the lake and lull me by the tides of the moon.



From the river I could see the high walls of our cradle: the great southern Mount rising to heaven, and to the north, the foothills that became the long spine of a range that arched toward the great lake to the west.



I knew even then that this was a place set apart from the unseen lands to the north, the alluvial plain to the south, the great waters to the east and far to the west.



It was set apart solely because we dwelt in it.



But we were not alone. I could see them, after a time, even as we left the river and lay upon its banks. I saw them in sidelong glances when I looked at something else: a sunspot caught in the eye, a ripple in the air, a shock of light where there should be only shadow. And so I knew there were other beings, too.



The adam, who studied me, said nothing. We did not know their names.



The first voice I heard urging me to wake had not been the man’s. Now I felt the presence of it near me, closer than the air, than even the adam’s arms around me.



I returned the man’s strange amazement, taken by his smooth, dark skin, the narrowness of his hips, his strange sex. He was warmer than I, as though he had absorbed the heat of the sun, and I laid my cheek against his flat breasts and listened to the changeling beat of his heart. My limbs, so fresh to me, grew heavy. As languor overtook me, I retreated from the sight of my lovely, alien world.



Perhaps in closing my eyes, I would return to the place I had been before.



For the first time since waking, I hoped not.



I slept to the familiar thrum of his heart as insects made sounds like sleepy twitches through the waning day.



When I woke, his cheek was resting against the top of my head. Emotion streamed from his heart, though his lips were silent.



Gratitude.



I am the treasure mined from the rock, the gem prized from the mount.



He stirred only when I did and released me with great reluctance. By then the sun had moved along the length of our valley. My stomach murmured.



He led me to the orchard and fed me the firm flesh of plums, biting carefully around the pits and feeding the pieces to me until juice ran down our chins and bees came to sample it. He kissed my fingers and hands and laid his cheek against my palms.



That evening we lay in a bower of hyssop and rushes—a bower, I realized, that he must have made it on a day before this one.



A day before I existed.



We observed together the changing sky as it cooled gold and russet and purple, finally anointing the clay earth red.



Taken from me. Flesh of my flesh. At last. I heard the timbre of his voice in my head in my last waking moment. Marvel and wonder were upon his lips as he kissed my closing eyes.



I knew then he would do anything for me.



That night I dreamed of blackness. Black, greater than the depths of the river or the great abyss beneath the lake.



From within that nothingness there came a voice that was not a voice, that was neither sound nor word but volition and command and genesis. And from the voice, a word that was no word but the language of power and genesis and fruition.



There! A mote spark—a light first so small as the tip of a pine needle. It exploded past the periphery of my dreaming vision, obliterating the dark. The heavens were vast in an instant, stretching without cease to the edges of eternity.



I careened past new bodies that tugged me in every direction; even the tiniest particles possessed their own gravity. From each of them came the same concert, that symphony of energy and light.



I came to stand upon the earth. It was a great welter of water, the surface of it ablaze with the refracted light of heavens upon heavens. It shook my every fiber, like a string that is plucked and allowed to resonate forever.



I was galvanized, made anew, thrumming that inaugural sound: the yawning of eternity.



Amidst it all came the unmistakable command:



Wake!

Janna's 7th Most Life Changing Book of 2008

I'm currently reading Demon, Tosca's first book, and engrossed. I can't wait to read Havah. That's at the top of my list of ever growing TBR books. As always, be sure to go to Janna's blog for the chance to win this book. Happy New Year!

The 7th
Most Life Changing Book of 2008 is
"Havah, the story of Eve"
by Tosca Lee

I thought that "Havah" would be this nice little historical fiction book about Eve and I was looking forward to it. I had no idea what I was getting into...WOW! The scope of this project was huge - we are talking covering about 900 years where we have a little fact in Genesis and a lot of speculation. Tosca manages to take all of that and make Eve a real woman who engineered the downfall of man, birthed the world of man, helped form civilization, went from paradise to life as we have never known it and yet dealt with many of the issues we still deal with today. Tosca makes Eve real in a way that I have never thought of her. The hard thing is that like most Biblical fiction books - it can become hard to separate truth from fiction in our heads, but most importantly this book will make you want to go back and reread Genesis and figure it out. It is beautifully written and will make you think about your real roots.

Now let's meet Tosca..

1) "Havah" is an amazing book. I can't even imagine how many hours of research it took. Did you have any idea of the scope this project would take when you started it?

No! Not at all. Or I’d probably have chickened out. I just had no idea of the scope of research alone—let alone the writing--at the time I proposed the book with my single page prologue.

2) What led you to undertake Eve as your leading lady?

Several years ago, I was contemplating Eve’s experience and what her voice might sound like—Eve, as an old woman, retelling her story. I put it away for a few years until I sold my first book and my publisher (NavPress) asked me what else I had, and then frantically dug it out. It was really the only other idea I had to offer them at the time.

3) Reading Havah made me want to go back and read the book of Genesis again to try and determine fact vs. fiction. Does it feel weird to know that a lot of people will start taking things you wrote as fact like we readers often do when we read a fictional account of a Bible story?

That’s definitely weird, and I hope that people won’t accept my version as fact, but examine the scriptures for themselves. The good thing that happened to me in writing it is that I had to ponder a bunch of tough, tough questions.* And I wish that for everyone, even if it’s not for a project like a novel, but only for their own contemplation. Unfortunately, the Adam and Eve story is one most of us know so well that it’s become a clichéd part of our culture. So if people revisit Genesis after reading Havah, I’m glad for that.

* A sample of many of them is on my blog at: http://toscamoon.blogspot.com/2008/10/endless-questions.html

4) The beginning of the book really through me for a loop, it took me a little while to wrap my head around those opening chapters because it seemed so abstract - the more I thought about it the more I realized that was perfect though - how else would you write the realization that someone has of coming into existence when they don't know language? How crazy was it to write the beginning of Havah?

That was one of those first points (of many) where I thought, “What have I done? What have I taken on?” I was overwhelmed at the thought of describing waking to life, perfection, the absence of language, communion with God, the first human error and its ramifications. The scope of the story horrified me. In the end, I could only close my eyes and imagine, and write, and study, and imagine some more—and pray. I prayed on my knees many mornings before starting. I had to.

5) Where did you get the idea for what the mark of Cain actually was, because that was mind blowing in and of itself - what else would keep people from killing Cain - it is kind of like Jesus saying, "Any of you who are without sin can cast the first stone..."

Yes! Thank you for picking up on that. The mark of Cain was one of many questions that plagued me through the telling of this story. We just aren’t told what it is. Some believe it might have been a brand, but that didn’t seem like it, in and of itself, would keep away relatives bent on blood vengeance. Some said it was something like a dog, or that Cain’s skin color changed. That was intriguing to me, but I wasn’t sure it seemed like enough to do more than set him apart, or even frighten others—which might incite violence against him. But the idea of seeing your own guilt in a mark that is like a mirror… no one wants to look at that. We stop persecuting others when we realize our own guilt. So that was the thing that made sense to me.

6) What is your next project that you are working on and when can we as your readers look forward to seeing it in stores (I know, I know, this one has just come out... but still...)?

I’m taking a break right now, but will probably have something in the works by spring. I spent much of this last year exhausted between my consulting job, writing deadlines, publicity, and some changing life circumstances. Also, you face a lot of spiritual opposition in undertaking endeavors like this. So I have really needed this rest.

I haven’t been one of those authors who can knock books out every six months, but I’ve had the fortune of being received by the most loyal and patient readers. It is a privilege to write for them. As soon as I begin the next book, (whatever it is—I’m still contemplating), I will do my best to write a story that is hopefully worth the wait.

7) How can readers find you online?

I can be reached at tosca@toscalee.com. My websites are: toscalee.com, demonamemoir.com, and havahstoryofeve.com. I’m also on Facebook, Shoutlife, and MySpace.

Instructions from Janna: Dear readers, do not miss out on this book. For a chance to win a copy from Tosca do this:
leave me a comment (with your email address or way to reach you) telling me what your favorite Bible story is and you will have 1 entry in the drawing! If you tell someone else about this interview with Tosca and they enter and put your name in the comment then you will have 3 extra entries, if you link to this interview from your own blog then you will get 2 extra entries - Good luck!

Also be sure to leave a comment here to learn about her 6th most life changing book and get the chance to win it.

Janna's 8th Most Life Changing Book of 2008

I totally agree with Janna's pick. When it comes to her most life-changing, I haven't read all of them, but this book was amazing! Sharon Souza totally impressed me with Every Good and Perfect Gift. You can read my review of this book here. As before, leave a comment on Janna's blog to be entered to win a copy of the book.

The 8th

Most Life Changing Book of 2008 is
"Every Good & Perfect Gift"
Sharon K. Souza

I was thrilled to get to read this book, it is what I would categorize as women's fiction and is Sharon's debut novel. Based on this book I am anxious to see what she will accomplish for her 2nd novel. "Every Good & Perfect Gift" is a great book that draws on real life experiences and deals with some heavy issues such as infertility, illness, friendship and faith. Sharon manages to take these heavy issues and infuse them with humor and feeling. It is not a usual thing for me to find a book that grabs me from the first paragraph and doesn't let me go until the last page (as I'm bawling). This book does that, and its not a mystery or a suspense - usually I think of women's fiction as being a slowly developing work in character development and a continuously, unraveling plot line - Sharon's book breaks that mold in the manner of jumping right in with both feet. You will meet Gabby and DeeDee and follow their path with them as they show that true friendship breaks all conventional stereotypes and is truly a blessing from God.

Now let's meet Sharon...

1) One of the best opening lines in a book of 2008 was in "Every Good & Perfect Gift" - "Gabby, I want a baby." Before page 3 I was completely hooked and into the story. What was your inspiration for this book?

I wanted to write a story about extreme friendship between two women, and came up with what I thought was the best way to express that, using the issue of infertility. But that was just the springboard to bring awareness of an illness that a very close friend was diagnosed with a few years before I wrote the book. I didn't know such a thing existed until the diagnosis came back for Evie.

2) Not enough women have the kind of friendships in their lives that this book shows us. I believe that God made women to need other women in their lives to fill a place that husbands often times can't (just because of the way we are wired). Do you have this kind of friendship in your life?

I totally agree that women need friends, and that they fill a place husbands can't fill. Young married women especially are so busy raising a family and all that entails that friendships tend to get put on the back burner. I understand the dynamics of that, having been a wife and mother with 3 children, 3 years apart. It was a busy, busy time. I lost contact with the friends I'd had in high school, and didn't have time to cultivate new ones. I went through a period of time when I didn't have one single close friend, and didn't even realize how much I was missing until the Lord brought new friends into my life. By then I'd come to understand the value of friendship, and those friends have been very important in my life. The beautiful thing is that our husbands were also close friends, and so were our children.

I've recently reconnected with my three best friends from high school. The connection has been marginal with one, a little better with another. But the third friend, whom I only reconnected with a few weeks ago, was as thrilled as I was to be in communication again. I believe the Holy Spirit prompted me in all three cases to get in touch, and I hope to minister in each of their lives as the Lord leads.

3) You bring some heavy issues into this book, but handle them incredibly well... infertility, choosing not to have children, Alzheimer's and of course stress in marriage among other things. Yet this book is not heavy and depressing, but rather uplifting and inspirational - how did you strike such a balance?

I try to keep in mind as I write that reading a novel is a luxury for many women today. They take some of their precious time to spend in the pages of my books. I want to make that experience worth their while. I want them to enjoy the story, the characters, and to take something away from the book. But I don't want to burden them in the process. Adding humor to a heavy topic makes the topic more palatable. And bringing inspiration to the situation is what my writing is all about. The reader may not be dealing with the exact same issue, but they can still find the hope they need to get through whatever issue they are facing.

4) I re-read the last chapter to refresh my memory since it's been over 6 months and 100 books since I read "Every Good & Perfect Gift", and it pulled me right back in and made me teary-eyed all over again. That is masterful. What would you like readers to take away with them after reading this book?

It's easy to feel forsaken when we go through difficult trials, such as illness, loss, or betrayal. Gabby needed to be reminded that the Lord has promised never to leave nor forsake us, and I know from personal experience that he won't. Romans 8:18 says, "I consider that our present sufferings [no matter how hard they are] are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." I think about that when difficulties come, and I'm encouraged by those words, as it was intended I should be. I want to remind readers that something infinitely better is on the horizon, and we have to keep looking and moving forward. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25 & 26). I do, and it gives me hope I want to pass on to others.

5) You have a new book out, "Lying on Sunday" - tell us a little about that.

Lying on Sunday is the story of Abbie Torrington, a woman who's lived a charmed life right up until the story opens. Then her world is rocked in the most unexpected ways. We follow her journey as she discovers the life she thought she was living turned out to be a lie. We follow as she discovers the real woman beneath the facade recreated in her husband's false image. And we follow as Abbie learns that the truth really does set you free. Lying on Sunday is about betrayal, which comes in many forms. I trust this book will speak to women who have experienced the sting of betrayal, no matter how it was manifested. And I hope it will remind us all that there is indeed life after betrayal. I heard the story of a young woman who was brutally raped, and yet she had such a positive outlook. When asked about it, she replied, "He took an hour of my life; that's all he's getting." What an incredible attitude, and what a beautiful way to keep that man from taking anything more from her. Lying on Sunday is all about breaking free of the shackles that keep us from experiencing life at its fullest. It's another story of extreme friendship, and a story about the intricate and complex relationship between mothers and daughters.

6) What is coming up for you next so we know what to be looking for?

I've just completed a novel entitled Unraveled, and am at work on my next book. I hope to have details very soon as to the release date of Unraveled. You can visit my website for more information.

7) Where can readers find you online?

My web address is http:www.sharonksouza.com. I'm also excited to announce the launch of a new blog I'm participating in called Novel Matters. You can find it at novelmatters.blogspot.com. Novel Matters is the cooperative effort of myself and six other writers. We'll be talking about issues that relate to writers and readers, and what makes good fiction, well, good. I hope you'll check us out.

Instructions from Janna to win a copy of the book on her blog: And readers, look forward to my review of Sharon's newest book "Lying on Sunday" soon - I'm very excited to read it! If you would like to win a copy of "Every Good & Perfect Gift" from Sharon then leave me a comment (with your email address or way to reach you) telling me who your best friend is and you will have 1 entry in the drawing! If you tell someone else (especially your best friend) about this interview with Sharon and they enter and put your name in the comment then you will have 3 extra entries, if you link to this interview from your own blog then you will get 2 extra entries - Good luck!

Janna's Honorable Mention for Most Entertaining Books of 2008

It feels a tad strange, but I'm starting with my books. Sandhill Dreams and Captive Dreams received Honorable Mentions in Janna's countdown of books. Be sure to go to my website if you want to read the first chapters of these books. And leave a comment on Janna's post if you'd like to be entered to win a copy of the series. Or leave a comment here. If there are at least ten comments, I'll pull someone from here to win a copy of the series as well.

Honorable Mention for

Most Entertaining Book of 2008

"Sandhill Dreams" & "Captive Dreams"

by Cara Putman

First up I have the honorable mention for Most Entertaining Book of 2008... maybe I should introduce a historical category, hmmm... Well, anyway - last year her debut novel "Canteen Dreams" was in the Top 7 for Most Entertaining Book of 2007 and just won Book of the Year in the Short Historical Novel category at the American Christian Fiction Writer's Conference! This year she added 3 more books to her library including "Sandhill Dreams" and "Captive Dreams" to complete the Nebraska Dreams trilogy. If you like history you will love these books - Cara has picked out 3 amazing (and almost forgotten) parts of Nebraska WWII history and novelized them.

When I told Cara she was my honorable mention winner in the Most Entertaining Book of 2008 category she wanted to make sure she didn't make the list just because she's my older sister. In a way I suppose maybe she did, after all I might not have read them if I didn't know the author since I'm not a member of HeartSong Presents (the publisher), but the books and the history they exposed me too are why they won. I strongly encourage you to seek these books out - they are inexpensive, packed full of history, driven by wonderful romance threads and currently available at amazon.com and cbd.com (Canteen Dreams and Cara's mystery suspense "Deadly Exposure" are right now anyway).

1) Last year your first book "Canteen Dreams" came out and it just won Book of the Year in the Short Historical Fiction category for American Christian Fiction Writers. What was your reaction to winning?

I was so humbled and blown away -- and I have to say it was AWESOME to share the award with Mary Connealy, since watching her get the contract for that book at the ACFW conference in 2005 gave me so much hope that it could happen to me, too. The Book of the Year is becoming a well-respected award in the industry and to win the award at the same conference where I was awarded the contract two years earlier was pretty amazing. It was also awesome that you and Mom were there to enjoy the moment with me. :-) God continues to humble and amaze me with His gifts.

2) "Sandhill Dreams" and "Captive Dreams" complete the series that "Canteen Dreams" started. Canteen Dreams is set in North Platte, Nebraska during WWII and the canteen that the town set up for the soldiers that came through on trains. Sandhill Dreams takes us to Fort Robinson, Nebraska where the war dogs and horses were trained. Captive Dreams takes us to Holdrege & Kearney, Nebraska where Camp Atlanta (a POW camp) was. These are parts of history that most people are not even aware of. How did you find out about them?

Fort Robinson I knew about from a field trip there as a teen, though, in the oddest twist, the curator assured me I couldn’t possibly have remembered it. I guess it’s a modern mystery! Camp Atlanta I hadn’t heard about until I talked to you and Mom about my need for a third Nebraska based WWII story. It totally fit the bill because it was a little known fact and it completely intrigued me. That’s a key. If I’m not intrigued, it’s very hard to do the research necessary to get the details right and bring that slice of time alive.

3) How do you get into research for WWII historical books like this?

First, I choose WWII because I LOVE that timeperiod. That’s key for me. I love the music – I can get lost on-line watching YouTubes of scenes of folks dancing the jitterbug, finding the songs that topped the charts in 1941 or 1943. I love the movies. I love the clothes. Even the cars are pretty cool.

Then I have to find the event that hooks me. For Canteen Dreams it was the Canteen in North Platte – such a cool example of the lengths people were willing to go then to put others first! I loved the thought that half of the war dogs were trained at Fort Robinson, a hard to reach, little known fort in Nebraska. And the thought of prisoners of war in Nebraska – WOW! It was such a contrast to learn how we treated them and how they fared here… so different from our soldiers imprisoned by the Germans or Japanese. Each historical hook was a little different from the other books, and yet piqued my interest – still do in fact. I’d learn more even if I weren’t writing the book.

I love to go on site and visit the location. I changed the city location in A Promise Kept since I couldn’t get to Canton, Ohio to do research, it’s that important to me. I think I need to set one of these books in Europe!

4) You have a new series of Ohio books coming out soon, don't you? What parts of history will they focus on?

With A Promise Kept, the first book in the Ohio series, the hook came from learning that children evacuated from London came to the states. It was an exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in London that Eric and I almost skipped, but I am so glad we followed the prompt to walk through it. It’s title totally misled me! The second book has a top secret project and spy. I’ve loved Ultra, and now it gets to go into this book – I just plotted it and will write it this spring. I’m itching to start. And the third book has the all American girls professional baseball. I know enough to know what I still need to learn, but am already connected with the museum archivist who has access to all the documents I need. I can’t wait to race up to South Bend to explore his records.

Umm, can you tell I’m excited? J

5) You also had a contemporary mystery/suspense book "Deadly Exposure" come out this year. What do you like to write better - contemporary or historical - does one take more research than the other?

Oh, tough question! I love both. Seriously. I love the time period of the historicals. World War Two has fascinated me since I was a teen, so it’s a thrill to get to write about a generation I so admire. But I just wrote the sequel to Deadly Exposure: Trial by Fire. Honestly, I wondered if I could write suspense it had been so long and I’d written three historicals in between. I’ve got to tell you, I LOVED IT. They’re so different – but they both require research. At this point the historicals take more, but I interviewed a fire investigator for Trial by Fire, and loved the research angles.

6) Oh, and let's talk about the law book you just finished - how did that come about? And would you anticipate your regular readers to pick this one up and add it to their home libraries?

I’m sure tons of your readers would love to read the Complete Idiots Guide to Business Law. It’s a great sleep aid if you’re not in law school or taking the business law class somewhere. Seriously though, this book releases in May 2009. I call it my outlier, because fiction is what I see myself writing. But I was emailed by a fellow attorney who writes fiction Ron Benrey last February asking if I might be interested. His agent talked to me – and I honestly thought it was the longest shot ever. I mean, yes, I’m an attorney, clerked for a judge, and teach business law at Purdue, but there have to be others more qualified. But the publisher decided I was what they were looking for. It was a totally different style of writing, but I enjoyed it. And because it’s a Complete Idiots Guide, its as readable and fun as we could make it – though fun is probably a relative term for most. J

7) Where can readers find you online?

They can find me on facebook, twitter, at my blog (http://carasmusings.blogspot.com) and my website: http://www.caraputman.com.

Thanks so much for having me!

****************************************************************

Okay, readers you have a chance to win these great books! Here is what you do... leave me a comment (with your email address or way to reach you) telling me what you like about historical romances and you will have 1 entry in the drawing! If you tell someone else about this interview with Cara and they enter and put your name in the comment then you will have 3 extra entries, if you link to this interview from your own blog then you will get 2 extra entries - We will give away Captive Dreams - when we pass over 25 comments then we will add in Sandhill Dreams and Canteen Dreams and the winner will get ALL 3 books (THE ENTIRE SET!) - Good luck!

Rick Acker Comes to Visit

I'm excited to welcome a new writing friend, Rick Acker, for an interview. He's an attorney in California who manages to find time to write. Here's more from Rick.

Your two latest books are legal thrillers with a technological twist. How did you find the germ of an idea that got you going?

Dead Man’s Rule literally began with a “germ of an idea.” I’d been following news stories about the old Soviet bioweapons program and the carelessness with which it was shut down. Germ warfare factories were simply abandoned when funding ran out, scientists with only one marketable skill suddenly found themselves without jobs or pensions, and so on. So I started talking to people I knew in the intelligence and bioweapons defense fields to explore story ideas. At first, I asked questions like “How hard would it be to breed weapons-grade smallpox in a high school lab?” By the time I finished, my main question was “Why are any of us still alive?” Scary stuff.

I slept much better while writing my second techno-legal thriller, Blood Brothers. This one was inspired in part by the “berserkers” mentioned in ancient Norse sagas. They were wild warriors with incredible strength and speed who were virtually unstoppable in battle. Most historians think they were real, but the secret to their remarkable skills has been lost. The most common theory is that they took a drug made from some unknown plant, so I started wondering what might happen if that plant were rediscovered and a pharmaceutical company began to make drugs out of it. There would be some impressive benefits, of course, but there might also be a few unforeseen side effects . . .

By day you're a deputy attorney general in California. Did that make writing legal thrillers easier or more challenging? Why?

Both easier and more challenging, actually. Easier because I get to work on fascinating investigations and lawsuits that generate at least one book idea per week. Harder because most of the cases are sealed and I can’t actually use any of those ideas until the seal is lifted (if it ever is).

What made you decide it was time to write a novel? And how did you get the ideas for your initial young adult mysteries?

Back in the days before minivans came with DVD players and iPod jacks, I was the designated entertainment on all our long family drives. I can’t sing and my joke repertoire is limited, so that left storytelling. The most popular stories were mysteries and adventures about kids a few years older than mine, so I told a lot of those.

Most of my stories were forgotten five minutes after we got out of the van, but every now and then my wife would say, “You have to write that one down.” So I’d write it down, send it off to publishers, and wait for the rejection letters. Until one day a publisher decided not to reject one of my books after all.

Why do you think people are so fascinated with all things legal? And what keeps you writing them?

It goes back to the first rule all fiction writers learn: Every good story needs a good conflict. In our society, we tend to resolve most major conflicts (and plenty of minor ones) through lawsuits, which makes them natural springboards for all sorts of stories. If a young man retaliates against a bully and kills him, there will probably be a murder or manslaughter trial. If a widow’s evil in-laws try to cheat her out of her inheritance, a suit in probate court will often follow. If a romance collapses on the eve of the couple’s wedding, they may well sue each other—over ownership of the house they had bought together, for example. Pretty much any good story is a good lawsuit waiting to happen, and vice versa.

Note to nonlawyers: We’re exaggerating a little here about how interesting law really is. Anyone who is really “fascinated with all things legal” has never spent a Friday night researching local court rules to figure out whether footnotes in a brief are supposed to be in 12-point or 13-point font.*

*Correct answer in California federal courts: 13-point. And yes, there are judges who really care about this.

Um, the judges aren't quite that picky here in Indiana. If you could write any book you wanted and know it would land on the bestsellers list, what would you write?

Good question. I’d love to write a novel that captures the essence of the law and tells a compelling story of personal courage--like To Kill a Mockingbird or A Man for All Seasons. Except with a romance and a few explosions thrown in to spice things up.

Love the explosions and romance is always nice. As an attorney, I know I sometimes find myself analyzing legal thrillers for accuracy. What's your pet peeve legal mistake in novels?

Overwrought courtroom scenes. I hate those. Writers know that trials are supposed to be dramatic, but they don’t always know how to create drama without breaking fundamental legal rules. So they insert fiery exchanges between lawyers and judges, surprise witnesses, and heartfelt speeches to juries in the middle of trial. That stuff virtually never happens in real courtrooms, and when it does it usually ends with a mistrial and the dramatic lawyer in jail for contempt of court.

Tell us more about Blood Brothers. What surprised you most as you wrote this book? And what did you learn from your characters?

I was surprised by how much my characters wanted to talk. I had conceived of Blood Brothers as a fast-paced thriller with lots of twists and turns, some hard-hitting courtroom scenes, and a final surprise on the last page. The published book has all those elements, but it also has more character-driven scenes than I anticipated. I’m glad it turned out that way; the story wound up having more depth and resonance than I had expected.

As I got to know the characters better over the course of the book, I realized that most of them were facing the same questions: What do you want more than anything else? What are you willing to do—and sacrifice—to get it? Jesus’ answer to the first question was simple: To love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. His answer to the second was even simpler: Everything. As I pondered how my characters would answer those same questions, I became uncomfortably aware of just how often my own answers differ from Christ’s.

Thanks so much for joining us, Rick! Here's more about Rick:

Rick Acker writes his novels while commuting to and from his "real job" as a Deputy Attorney General in the California Department of Justice. His most recent novel, Blood Brothers, is an intense sequel to the legal thriller Dead Man's Rule. Christy award-winning author Randy Ingermanson calls Blood Brothers "an excellent legal suspense novel, with a strong biotech backdrop. It reminded me of Michael Crichton's latest novel, Next, except that Blood Brothers is better." Rick is also the author of the well reviewed Davis Detective Mysteries, a series of adventure/mystery novels for "tweens."

Rick is a transplanted Chicagoan who spent thirty-five years in the Midwest before finally trading the certainty of winter and mosquitoes for the risk of earthquakes. He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Anette, their four children, and two cats.

Happy New Year Giveaways

Good morning, y'all.

My sister, Janna Ryan, is running for best books of 2008 this week and next. Just like last year I will repost some of the interviews here. But until then, I wanted to point you to her blog so that you can participate in the giveaways. Many of the authors, including yours truly, are giving away copies of their books. So hie thee to her site and join in on the fun!

Cara

ACFW tool for Readers

ACFW has developed a wonderful new tool for readers. Check here to see what it's all about.

If you follow the link, you will see a new section for readers. It has three basic components right now, but we fully expect those to expand in the next year.

1) Genre list. This tool was unveiled in paper at the Mall of America signing. My sister Janna Ryan, who many of you met at the conference or know from her blog, put lots of hours into this project for us! This list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a great place to start if you are looking for new authors to try.

2) There is also an author list/database. This allows you to enter an author's name and get a short sentence about what they write as well as a link to their website and shoutlife page.

3) There is a list of books divided by social issue. Looking for a book that deals with abortion, divorce, etc.? Then look here. Deborah Raney has kindly allowed us to post her list that has been developed over time, and ACFW will add to it over time.

So if you're looking for new authors to try or new books to read, check out this resource!

Living Rich for Less Review and Giveaway

Just in time for the New Year and all good intentions to get finances in order, here's a book that incredibly readable and filled with practical tips. In Living Rich for Less, Ellie breaks the book into three areas: giving, saving and spending smart. Each section is loaded with tips you can turn around and use tomorrow. When this book arrived, I flipped it open to get a feel for it. An hour later I surfaced. It was that easy to read and helpful. So if you're looking for a book that will give you the tips and strategies you need to pull your finances into shape, give this book a try. I have three copies of this book to give away between my blog, facebook page, and shoutlife, so be sure to leave a comment!

You really can be rich in every way, every day.

So you want to own the home you love, make memories on wonderful vacations with family or friends, finance college educations, and help others too?

You can—starting here and now.

With lively humor, proven know-how, and practical principles for financial health, Living Rich for Less helps you stretch your dollars to realize the lifestyle of your dreams. Ellie Kay’s entertaining and enlightening examples show you simple steps to save, spend, and give smart, and her three main principles are undergirded by dozens of effective rules and hundreds of Cha-Ching Factor™ tips that keep or put money in your pocket.

Ellie knows what it’s like to be financially-strapped or struggling, wanting to be the Joneses but feeling as poor in spirit as in pocketbook. She went, within two and a half years, from being a new wife and mom with $40,000 in consumer debt and seven children (and college educations) to support, to being completely debt-free and within fifteen years able to pay cash for eleven different cars, give away three of those cars, buy two five-bedroom houses (moving from one to the other) and nicely furnish each, take wonderful vacations, dress her family in fine fashion; and support more than thirty non-profit organizations in more than a dozen different countries, giving away more than $100,000.

Isn’t that the kind of transformation to a rich life that you want?

Living Rich for Less helps anyone get there in our taxed-out, maxed-out times. Because financial security doesn’t mean just genuine prosperity, but being able to live luxuriously, give generously, and care for yourself as well as the others around you.

Why keep up with the Joneses when you can be them?

For Fun: Which Austen Heroine are you?

Take the Quiz here!

You are Emma Woodhouse of Emma! You like being the queen of your social circle (small and provincial as it may be), and feel it's your duty to help those less influential than you. You often meddle in the affairs of others, though you do it with a pure heart. You are often deluded in your flights of fancy, but your good intentions and creative spirit make you someone anyone could like.

Here's the funny thing -- I have no idea who this is! I read a couple of Jane Austen's books as a teenager -- I know Pride & Prejudice and I think Sense & Sensibility. So help a girl out. Who is this character? And if I had to pick an Austen to read, which should it be? Maybe I'll pick a comment to win a non-Austen book :-)

Angela Hunt comes to Visit

This week, I’m delighted to be joined by Angela Hunt. Her full bio is at the end of this interview, but I’ll summarize by saying she has written over one hundred books and sold millions of copies. Angela’s books have won awards like the Christy and one has been made into a Hallmark Movie. She teaches at many writers conferences and her readers have come to expect the unexpected when they pick up one of her books.

You may wonder why I’m interviewing her when I’m focused on novelists who’ve written legal suspense. Well, next year one of her titles is set in the legal environment. I am delighted to welcome Angela today.

Angela, you're known for telling readers to expect the unexpected. Why step into the legal arena?

Several reasons--first, I've never done a legal book, and the subject fascinates me. Second, I found myself involved in a legal situation, and since I was cramming like mad to learn all about it, I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone. Third, the seminal idea lent itself to a courtroom trial. So I suppose it was the conjunction of all those events.

You're stepping into the legal arena with one of your next books. What was the most challenging part of researching and writing that book? What can you tell us about this book?
I can give you the thumbnail synopsis of LET DARKNESS COME: Briley Lester is worried about her first capital trial—the prosecution has an airtight case and her client has no alibi. She plans on a mitigating defense—one that might get her client’s sentence reduced from first-degree murder to manslaughter—until she stumbles onto evidence that could prove her client’s innocence. In her struggle to achieve true justice, Briley must venture outside her self-protective boundaries to defeat an experienced prosecutor and the forces that are determined to destroy her client at any cost.

As to the most challenging part? Learning courtroom procedure; learning that you can't lead on a direct examination, but you're expected to lead on the cross. I had to learn a condensed version of what a trial lawyer would know, and learn it quickly. Fortunately, I had marvelous help from fantastic friends.

You've written over 100 books that are spread over a wonderful array of topics and issues. How do the ideas for your books come to you? How do you find a fresh angle for each?
Ideas just come--usually through things I read. I'll notice something and let it go, but when I notice it again in another source, that's when I latch onto it. I figure the Lord's bringing it to my attention for a good reason. As to the fresh angle--well, every story is different, but every story also has common characteristics. I usually always feature an intelligent woman in an unusual situation with a unique problem.

If you could write any book you wanted and know it would land on the bestsellers list, what would you write?

Talking dreams here, are we? Well . . . if I could KNOW that it'd be read by tens of thousands, I'd want it to be something that reveals the Father's love.

Take a moment to tell us about one of your current novels. What excites you about this one?
THE FACE is my latest release, and it reveals the Father's love . . . in a metaphorical way. I'm excited about this one because it's high concept and it combines a lot of issues that fascinate me--beauty, faces, the CIA, female relationships, computer science, and psychology. And spying. I love spy stuff.

Last question: If you could go anywhere in the world and take anyone, where would you go and who would you take?
I've really been hankering to go on an African safari, and my husband would never forgive me if I didn't take him. :-)

Well, if he won't join you, feel free to invite me :-). Thanks again, Angela.
------
With over three million copies of her books sold worldwide, Angela Hunt is the best-selling author of The Tale of Three Trees (sales of over one million), Don’t Bet Against Me, with Deanna Favre (sales of over 195,000), The Note (sales of over 130,000), and The Nativity Story.
Hunt began her writing career in 1983. After five years of honing her craft and writing for magazines, she published her first book in 1988. Since then, she has written over one hundred books in fiction and nonfiction, for children and adults. In 2007, her nonfiction book Don’t Bet Against Me, written with Deanna Favre, spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Eight of her novels have won Angel Awards from Excellence in Media. Hunt has also won four medals from ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Award (for The Novelist, The Justice, The Canopy, and Unspoken), and a Christy Award for By Dawn’s Early Light. Her novel The Note was filmed as a Hallmark Christmas movie in 2007, and her books The Elevator and Uncharted have also been optioned by production companies. Romantic Times Book Club presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

In 2006, Angela completed her Master of Biblical Studies in Theology degree and in 2008 she completed her doctorate in the same field. To keep in touch with her readers, Angela maintains a vibrant web presence through her website and blog.

She and her husband make their home in Florida with mastiffs. In 2001, one of her dogs was featured on Live with Regis and Kelly as the second-largest dog in America. Web page: www.angelahuntbooks.com

Christmas Idea I received today

I got this in an email ... read to the bottom for my twist.

"We don't want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let's mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your Christmas presents, but that's just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

"There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they're easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves. Stockpile children's books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they'll be cheaper after Christmas) and buy many, many books."

Cara again: I love my local bookstores...Carpenter's Son in Lafayette and Bible Supplies in North Platte carry all of my books. You can get two from Amazon and CBD.com, but you can get all of them from these two stores. So here's the thing. If you're looking for a great, small present, think about contacting either of these stores and buying my books. If you do and let me know you did, I'll send you an autographed copy of Canteen Dreams, the 2008 ACFW short historical Book of the Year, as my thank you for supporting these great stores!

You can reach Bible Supplies at 308-532-4199 and Carpenter's Son at 765-448-6434. But even if you don't want to give my books as gifts (LOL), check through the reviews I've posted this year for other wonderful ideas. Then go to your local Christian bookstore and buy them. Books are a great gift!

Engaging Father Christmas

Today I want to mention a book that I read this week that is a delightful novella. Usually, I stay away from novellas because it's hard to imagine a story that short that has depth and meaning. However, last year I read Finding Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn and thoroughly enjoyed it. This week I picked up Engaging Father Christmas after turning in the proposal (which has already been accepted!) for the second Ohio book. I needed a break and change of pace, and this book fit the bill.

Engaging Father Christmas is a book that I savored. The language is delightful -- so wonderful that I can't bear to part with the book. I want to read it again and soak in the beautiful way that Robin writes. It's the second book, but Robin does a great job of weaving in the details you need to know to understand what's happening.

In Engaging Father Christmas, Miranda returns to Carlton Heath and her newly discovered family. This trip is a sharp contrast to the year before because now she belongs. Yet many of her dreams still await fulfillment. The story weaves beautifully between events to a fulfillment --but hopefully not the end.

One phrase sums up the book. Miranda is standing in a cottage, overwhelmed by everything that is happening. Ian says "I'll tell you everything soon enough. Just drink in the moment." I had to stop and reread that a couple times. It struck me as so like God. I'll stand there with dreams being fulfilled -- dreams I thought were dead or impossible, and suddenly God hands it to me. I sit there jaw on the ground, questioning how it could happen, and God simply whispers, Drink it in and enjoy."

Those are the types of pearls buried in this wonderful book. It's a perfect Christmas gift or a small escape in the midst of the season.

Engaging Father Christmas
Robin Jones GunnABOUT THE BOOK

Miranda Carson can't wait to return to England for Christmas and to be with her boyfriend, Ian. She has spent a lifetime yearning for a place to call home, and she's sure Carlton Heath will be it, especially when a hinted-at engagement ring slips into the conversation.

But Miranda's high hopes for a jolly Christmas with the small circle of people she has come to love are toppled when Ian's father is hospitalized and the matriarch of the Whitcombe family withholds her blessing from Miranda. Questions run rampant in Miranda's mind about whether she really belongs in this cheery corner of the world. Then, when her true identity threatens all her relationships in unanticipated ways, Miranda is certain all is lost.

And yet...maybe Father Christmas has special gifts in store for her after all.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Engaging Father Christmas, go HERE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robin grew up in Orange County, California and has lived in all kinds of interesting places, including Reno and Hawai’i.

She and her husband currently live near Portland, Oregon and have been married for 30 years. They spent their first 22 years of marriage working together in youth ministry, and enjoying life with their son and daughter who are now both grown.

As a frequent speaker at local and international events, one of Robin’s favorite topics is how God is the Relentless Lover and we are His first love. She delights in telling stories of how God uses fiction to change lives.

Robin is the recipient of the Christy Award, the Mt. Hermon Pacesetter Award, the Sherwood E. Wirt Award and is a Gold Medallion Finalist. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Media Associates International and the Board of Directors for Jerry Jenkins’ Christian Writers’ Guild.