Lyn Cote's Blog, page 50
March 10, 2015
March 8, 2015
Author Kimberly Rose Johnson & I Wish Valentine’s Day Didn’t Exist
My guest today is a new author to me and maybe to you? Kimberly Rose Johnson. Kimberly is offering a copy of her latest book A Valentine for Kayla (US Only) so be sure to leave a comment to be entered into a drawing. Here’s Kimberly:
How much I wish that day didn’t exist
“Last Valentine’s Day I sat down at my computer to write, but I didn’t end up working on what I expected. Instead, all I could think about was that it was another Valentine’s Day and how much I wish that day didn’t exist. As I stared at my computer inspiration struck, and I took off with a new story.
A Valentine for Kayla was born out of my dislike of the day, so of course I had to pass that trait on to my heroine. ?
Expectations that few men can live up to
Kayla Russell owns a flower shop with her best friend. She decided to go into the florist business because she is a romantic at heart and loves flowers, but as far as she is concerned, there is little if anything romantic about a holiday filled with expectations that few men can live up to.
Kayla’s biggest challenge
is one she created. When she was a teenager she came up with a list of qualifications a guy must have in order to be considered husband material. As she grew up, the list changed, but she clung to this list as though it was from God—big mistake.
To purchase, click here. A Valentine for Kayla (Heartsong Presents)
Kayla has about given up on love, then a handsome deliveryman walks into the shop and suddenly she must examine what is truly important.”–Kimberly
A florist who doesn’t like Valentine’s Day–now that’s interesting. Remember to leave a comment. QUESTION: What ideas have you had to delete or change in your life?–Lyn
For more online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyRoseJohnson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kimberlyrosejoh
PS-Jackie Wisherd won my copy of THE DANDELION FIELD. Congrats!
Send to Kindle 
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March 3, 2015
March 1, 2015
Author Susan Page Davis & The Outlaw Takes a Bride
My guest today is author Susan Page Davis who’s an author of Western romance, enjoyable ones. Susan is offering a copy of her latest The Outlaw Takes a Bride to a commenter. Here’s Susan:
Sally Golding Finds Strength
My heroine, Sally Golding, has come through a lot. She’s lived as the wife of an abusive man, miscarried two babies, and been widowed and poverty stricken. But she sees something better in her future.
I wanted to write the story of a woman who leaves a bad situation and finds herself in a different one, equally bad or at least questionable.
Mail-order bride for a Texas rancher
Sally thinks her new life, as a mail-order bride for a Texas rancher, can only be better than what she’s leaving behind in St. Louis. Everything seems good and right—until she meets her future husband. She can’t quite name it, but something isn’t the way it should be.
Her struggles in dealing with her new marriage come to a head when she decides she must leave her husband if he won’t tell her the truth. But what she learns if far bigger than she imagined.
Something many women face
Sally’s drive to overcome her past mistakes and perceived weakness leaves her in a dilemma. Does she need to be strong and power through until things are set right, or does she need to bend with the gale and let God do the straightening? It’s something many women face, thought their circumstances vary.
When is it time to take a stand and not budge another inch, and when is it time to lie down and let the storm sweep over you? I hope Sally’s story will encourage women who have trouble distinguishing between meekness and weakness.
To purchase, click here. The Outlaw Takes a Bride
Visit Susan Page Davis at her website: www.susanpagedavis.com
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/susanpagedavisauthor
An interesting question, Susan.
QUESTION: How do we distinguishing between meekness and weakness?
Be sure to leave a comment to be entered into the drawing for a copy of The Outlaw Takes a Bride.–Lyn
PS-The winners from last week:
Mary D Ellsworth won Elizabeth Goddard’s BURIED.
Lori P won Kellie Coates Gilbert’s book. Congrats!
Send to Kindle 
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February 24, 2015
Author Elizabeth Goddard & Mimi’s Cornbread Dressing
My guest today is author Elizabeth Goddard. She is sharing a family recipe and offering a giveaway of her latest Love Inspired Suspense too. Here’s Elizabeth:
We are well beyond the holidays now,
but when I consider recipes that have been in my family for a long time, favorite recipes, my thoughts go to the holidays, primarily Thanksgiving. We all love my grandmother’s corn bread dressing, and we can only get that once a year. She’s gone now. Lived to reach nine-one! We still make her recipe every year, and in fact, the cooks in the family never veer from any of the recipes for the holidays. In that way, the recipes are heirloom recipes. I’m sure many outside our family use this same corn bread dressing recipe, but what is it about my grandmother’s touch that made it so delicious? Perhaps she put in just the right amount of love and meticulous care.
I thought of my grandmother
when I created Katie Warren, the grandmother in my Mountain Cove series. She’s warm and loving and is always baking or cooking—her love language—and represents safety and security. In each story, my characters have the chance to meet her and even stay in her home where they have a reprieve from life and death situations. Her home is the eye-of-the-storm in the Mountain Cove romantic suspense novels, at least the ones with a Warren sibling main character. And as I’m writing this, it occurs to me I should have Katie Warren make the dressing in my Christmas story that I just turned in! (There is still time for edits)
Mimi’s Corn Bread Dressing
½ cup butter or margarine
6 cups cornbread
6 cups bread crumbs
½ c cooking oil
1 ½ c diced celery
1 onion
½ tsp. pepper
2 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. poultry seasoning
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ cup broth—can of chicken of bouillon cubes
Sage to taste
Add liquid to texture preference
Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour
To purchase, click here. Buried (Mountain Cove)
Start the Mountain Cove adventure with BURIED.
NOWHERE TO HIDE
Fleeing to Alaska is the only option for Leah Marks after witnessing a murder. Afraid for her life, the legal investigator hopes a remote cabin will be a safe shelter. But the killer has tracked her to Mountain Cove. As he chases her into snow-packed Dead Falls Canyon, an avalanche buries them both. Saved by daring search and rescue specialist Cade Warren, Leah longs to tell him the truth. But how can she, without bringing even more danger into Cade’s life? Especially when they discover the killer is very much alive and waiting to take them both down.”–Elizabeth
Mountain Cove: In the Alaskan wilderness, love and danger collide
Elizabeth, thanks for sharing your grandmother’s recipe. I plan to try it this year. I love cornbread stuffing! I was surprised to see bread crumbs along with the cornbread. Interesting.
NOW on to the QUESTION: Have you been to Alaska? When? Which part? If not, do you want to go there? Leave a comment and be entered into a drawing for a copy of BURIED.–Lyn
More online at http://elizabethgoddard.com
http://facebook.com/elizabethgoddardauthor
http://twitter.com/bethgoddard
Send to Kindle 
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February 22, 2015
Lyn Interviews Author Kellie Coates Gilbert
I am interviewing author Kellie Coates Gilbert today. She is a new author to me and maybe to you too. She is offering a book giveaway (US only) so be sure to leave a comment to enter the drawing. Here’s Kellie.
Where Rivers Part
What is the premise of your new novel, Where Rivers Part?
This is the second release in the Texas Gold Collection from Baker/Revell. Each of these books is set in a metropolitan city of Texas. WHERE RIVERS PART takes place in San Antonio and tells the story of Dr. Juliet Ryan who has devoted her scientific acumen to corporate America, providing safe drinking water for millions—and affording her plenty of perks along the way. Then, without warning, a fast-moving disaster sweeps Juliet into a whirlpool of corporate scandal and places lives at risk. As she scrambles to find answers, Juliet must face her deepest wounds and join forces with her father to expose a far-reaching conspiracy. Underneath it all, she struggles to forgive those who betrayed her trust—not least of all her own father.
What sparked your idea for this story?
Years back, I worked on a legal case involving an outbreak of foodborne illness resulting from undercooked hamburger. The outbreak sickened many and nearly toppled a multi-million dollar corporation.
During a key deposition of the executive who was in charge of quality control, the plaintiff’s attorney posed questions meant to vilify him and suggest his lack of oversight caused the death of four children. As you might expect, several hours of this took its toll. But, none of us in that room that day anticipated the moment the man buried his head in his hands and fell to tears.
I knew there was a story behind those tears and I wanted to tell it . . . even if only in my imagination.
Please tell us a little about your main character, Dr. Juliet Ryan.
Dr. Ryan is a driven and very accomplished food scientist, yet inside she’s still the little girl hurt by her father’s marital indiscretions and the pain it caused her mother. Like many of us, she tries to fill her emotional emptiness with the façade of professional success. But in an instant, her life is ripped apart and she discovers no amount of achievement is enough to weather the storm.
Literal water is at the center of this plot. How is water also an appropriate theme of the book?
While forming the plot of this book, a favorite scripture kept finding its way into my mind.
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you . . .
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior” Isaiah 43:2-3
I think readers will enjoy seeing all the references to water and how the truth of this scripture plays out in the story (especially key scenes set at the famed Riverwalk in San Antonio) While this beautiful city is located in an arid environment, underneath is the Edwards Aquifer, a unique groundwater system and one of the most prolific artesian aquifers in the world, serving the diverse agricultural, industrial, recreational, and domestic needs of almost two million users in south central Texas—such an amazing picture of Jesus, who is often referred to in the Bible as our Living Water, the one who quenches our arid places.”–Kellie
To purchase, click here. Where Rivers Part: A Texas Gold Novel (Texas Gold Collection)
What a fascinating story, Kellie. You’ve piqued my interest. I have fond memories of San Antonio. My dh and I visited there when I was doing my research for my Texas Star of Destiny series.
Now for the QUESTION: I’ve lived around different bodies of water all my life. What bodies of water do you live near or enjoy visiting and why? Leave a comment to enter the drawing (US only.)
For more online:
February 17, 2015
Author Faith Simone & Mama’s Famous Mexican Lasagna
My guest today is a brand new author Faith Simone. She is going to share her Mama’s Famous Mexican Lasagna recipe and tell us about a great giveaway! Here’s Faith:
About 15 years ago
My mother first made her famous Mexican lasagna about 15 years ago. We were looking for a new recipe to try for Christmas dinner because we weren’t in the mood for traditional turkey with all the trimmings. My family loves spicy food, and I was raised in Southern California, so I grew up sampling traditional Mexican food as well. Mama stumbled across a lasagna recipe with a twist. She made Mexican lasagna and we fell in love! It is now a family tradition for us to have it either on Christmas or New Years. I have a huge extended family so the following recipe is meant to feed about 25 people. Feel free to scale it back; it will still be just as delicious!
Mama’s Famous Mexican Lasagna
(3) Pounds ground turkey
(2) Boxes of pre-cooked lasagna noodles
(3) Jars of traditional spaghetti sauce
(2) 16 oz. packages of shredded Mexican blend cheese
(2) 16 oz. packages of shredded mozzarella cheese
(2) 4 oz. cans of chopped or sliced jalapenos
(2) 8 oz. cans of drained sliced black olives
(2) Bunches of fresh cilantro
(2) Stalks of fresh green onions
(1) Whole white onion
Disposable aluminum foil deep dish lasagna/casserole pan
Aluminum foil
***
Preheat oven to temperature given on packaged lasagna noodles.
Finely chop the cilantro and onions.
In large sauce pan brown ground turkey. Add chopped vegetables and all other ingredients EXCEPT cheese. For less spicy lasagna drain juice from jalapenos. Cover and simmer on low for 20 minutes (or longer).
Assembling lasagna: ladle meat sauce in bottom of aluminum pan, top with pre-cooked dry noodles, add sauce, and sprinkle with equal parts of both kinds of cheese. Add noodles, sauce, and then cheese. Repeat until you have reached the top of the pan and/or run out of noodles. End last layer with remaining cheese. Tent with aluminum foil and bake to specifications given on noodle box directions. Remove foil and allow cheese to brown. Remove lasagna from oven, allow to rest and enjoy! Serve with garden salad and Texas toast or black bean salad.
This recipe serves either 15 extremely greedy people or 25 moderately greedy people. It’s perfect for freezing leftovers as well.
This recipe carries over into my very first book When the Real Thing Comes Along.
In ‘When the Real Thing Comes Along’ Jacelynn’s mother invites her over for dinner to discuss her ex-boyfriend coming back into town. She cooks in an attempt to numb her daughter’s shock with comfort food. They talk, pray and argue over plates of this Mexican lasagna. The good food doesn’t make it any easier for Jacelynn to come to terms with the fact that her first love is back and demanding a second chance with her. Her love life is about to get as complicated and spicy as her mother’s cooking and she’s not ready for it!
About the Book
She loved and lost…Will faith give her the courage she needs to love again?
Jacelynn appears to have it all together: a great relationship with her boyfriend Jason who is truly a man after God’s own heart, a decent career and the love of family and friends. But when an unwelcome reminder from her past shows up, her previously uncomplicated world is turned upside down. Will she jeopardize what she has with Jason in an attempt to rewrite the mistakes of her past?
They say you never forget your first love, no matter how hard you try. So far, Jacelynn has done a pretty good job of forgetting Taylor, the boy who had her heart first. When Taylor returns several years later as a man requesting a second chance, what’s a girl to do…Especially when she already has a new man?
The hidden issues of Jacelynn’s heart come to light and she’s forced take a hard look in the mirror while making choices that will change her future forever. Will she be able to reconcile who she was then, with who she is in Christ now?
Living and loving in faith isn’t always easy, but it’s always worth it. That’s what happens…
When the Real Thing Comes Along
Buy Links
Amazon: http://amzn.com/1507735650
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-the-real-thing-comes-along-faith-simone-faith-simone/1121214744?ean=2940150070400
About the Author
Faith Simone is a poet, playwright and novelist. She is also an active blogger, sharing her personal thoughts, book reviews and tips for writers on her website FaithSimone.com. Simone is passionate about using her gift of writing as a tool to help promote humanity, understanding and compassion.
Website: booksbylyncote.com.
February 15, 2015
Amish Author Olivia Newport & Her Mother’s Family Tree
My guest today is Amish author Olivia Newport, someone new to me. She’s going to give us a peek into her mother’s family tree. BTW, she’s offering a giveaway (US only) Here’s Olivia.
I first became interested in writing about Amish history when I discovered a branch of my mother’s family tree traces back to the earliest Amish to settle in Pennsylvania. In my first Amish stories, the Valley of Choice series, I tinkered with how a historical story thread at the time of my own ancestors parallels the choices modern characters make about values and faith.
Now, with the Amish Turns of Time series,
I plunged full-on into Amish history.
The task I took on is exploring some true historical episodes in Amish history and looking at how Amish history took a turn because of what happened. In Meek and Mild, I put my heroine, Clara Kuhn, alongside historical figures as they face the circumstances that led to break-off of the Beachy Amish.
More than a hundred years ago, along the border of Pennsylvania and Maryland, an Amish district experienced a parting of the ways. Some members dabbled in more “Protestant” ways, such as new hymns or Sunday school classes for children. Others thought the old ways were better. The more traditional group became known as the Old Order.
Because the district straddled the state border,
members agreed that Pennsylvania would host the Old Order, and Maryland would host the “Conservative Amish,” and the two groups began to meet separately. It seemed like an amicable separation. Friends and family crossed the border fluidly for visiting and worship and employment in an “agree to disagree” manner.
However, division festered—for decades. Pressure points gave way periodically, stirring up new troubles. Finally the Old Order bishop put his foot down: members were required to shun the “Marylanders,” as the only slightly more progressive group came to be called. Now crossing the border was also crossing allegiance.
To purchase, click here. Meek and Mild: (Amish Turns of Time)
This is the true-to-history context of Meek and Mild,
book 2 of Amish Turns of Time. The swirl of harsh emotions complicates Clara Kuhn’s life. Her father holds to the Pennsylvania Old Order. Her aunt and cousins are Marylanders. Her stepmother seems determined to push Clara out of the house. Clara’s own gift for telling Bible stories to children puts her at odds with her beloved church. Long-held fears hold her back from marrying the man who patiently waits for her.
When crises strike the church and her extended family, Clara faces the question of whether she is strong enough to make the choices she has postponed, to respond in love without weighing the consequences, and to find the forgiveness and faith that can free her from the past.
I would love for you to find me at www.olivianewport.com, on Twitter @OliviaNewport, and my Facebook author page at www.facebook.com/OliviaNewport.
That’s really interesting, Olivia. Never had heard of that–though I had heard of Beachy Amish. Now for the question to win a copy of Olivia’s book. (US only)
QUESTION: Has anything ever split your family? If so, was the break healed? (Don’t give all the gory details, just who the break was between.)–Lyn
PS: Kim Edifier1 won Cecilia Dowdy’s ebook RASPBERRY KISSES! Congrats!
Send to Kindle 
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February 10, 2015
Author Cecelia Dowdy & Her Grandmother’s Lemon Pound Cake
My guest today is a longtime friend author Cecelia Dowdy. She is offering an ebook copy of her latest book Raspberry Kisses for one commenter so be sure to look for today’s QUESTION. Here’s Cecelia:
My grandmother had to feed her large family on a shoestring budget. Smart and savvy, she fed her clan, making cheap nutritious meals.
When I was ten, my family visited her in Michigan. She made us a lemon pound cake. It was delicious! She made an extra one for us to take home. My sisters and I argued over that cake during the drive home, grabbing pieces. I was afraid my older sister would eat all of it. My dad threatened to throw the cake out the window if we didn’t get quiet.
I often tried to replicate the recipe, but, mine never tasted as good as hers. I’d wanted to ask her for the recipe, but, family members cautioned that she may not give me her secret pound cake recipe.
I thought about the cake often over the years, and sometimes, I’d get excited when it was my father’s birthday. Why? Well, my grandmother would send a lemon pound cake in the mail for my dad’s birthday.
Finally when she was 97, I asked her for the pound cake recipe. She chuckled and agreed to send it to me in the mail. So, in her squiggly, spidery, writing, she gave me the recipe. Several people told me that it’s the best pound cake they’ve ever tasted.
I honestly don’t know the history behind this recipe. I don’t know the first time it was made. I’m not sure if my grandmother created this recipe, or, if it was handed down to her from her mother. I just know that whenever I eat a slice of this cake, I think of my grandmother in the kitchen, making desserts for her large family.
Since the love of baking runs in my family, I made my heroine in Raspberry Kisses a strong, passionate baker.
Lemon Pound Cake
1 ½ cups butter (3 sticks)
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup evaporated milk
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Grease and flour 10-inch tube pan. Beat butter in large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugar ½ cup at a time, creaming well after each addition. Stir in vanilla, lemon extract, juice and rind. Add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir thoroughly after each addition. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 70 to 80 minutes. If cake is not done after 70-80 minutes, bake longer, until wooden pick comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes; remove from pan.
GLAZE: Sift one cup of confectioners’ sugar into a bowl. Squeeze juice of one lemon into a separate bowl. Remove seeds from the lemon juice. Mix lemon juice with confectioners’ sugar and drizzle over cooled cake.
As Cecelia mentioned, she also has a new book out–a very sweet one!
To purchase, click here. Raspberry Kisses (The Bakery Romance Series Book 1)
Blurb:
Facing eviction, Rhea Morrison, a young grieving widow, must save her failing bakery. Her
recently-injured twin sister, Raven, loans her money – stipulating Rhea attend a singles retreat to spy on Martin Lane, Raven’s new love interest. Disgruntled, Rhea attends the retreat and is attracted to Martin. She discovers that Martin can help save her bakery.
Rhea feels torn about her attraction to Martin – he’s a pastor, and after her husband’s death, she vowed to never get involved with another pastor. Plus, her twin sister, Raven, has strong feelings for Martin. Can Rhea let herself have romantic feelings for Martin – knowing it would hurt her sister?
Can Martin and Rhea overcome their past so that they’re free to love again?
Sounds like a romance fraught with conflict–with a sweet ending. QUESTION: Do you share recipes or try to keep them a secret? Anbody recall Esther Bolek’s Orange Marmalade Cake recipe that she kept secret in Jan Karon’s books? 
Leave a comment to enter drawing for a ebook copy of Raspberry Kisses!–Lyn
For more online:
https://twitter.com/cdnovelist
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cecelia-Dowdy-Christian-Fiction-Author/313045159788?ref=ts
Purchase links:
Kindle: http://amzn.to/1w735Bb
Nook: http://bit.ly/1sFZSHt
Ibooks: http://bit.ly/1wfSVrQ
Kobo: http://bit.ly/14HOVtn
Send to Kindle 
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February 8, 2015
New Flash Fiction #1 The Northwoods Story Begins!
Today I’m offering another original flash fiction. I’m using this to help me work on a new novella, set in my home state, Wisconsin. It follows my novella, “For Sophia’s Heart.” So consider as this scene one…or thereabouts. What do you think?
New Face in the Logging Camp
by Lyn Cote
“He’s just a boy,” Beau Moore objected mildly. “He can’t lift that log. It must be near two feet across.”
Surrounded by towering pines, oaks and maples, the logging crew was working deep in the heart of the snowy far northwoods of Wisconsin in the year of our Lord 1903. In bright sunshine from a true-blue sky, the cold temperature nipped Beau’s nose. But after swinging the axe for an hour, he’d already shed his wool jacket and hung it on a low branch.
The crew boss had just ordered one of the young logging camp boys who did odd jobs to pick up one of the seasoned firewood logs on the wagon and split it for the cookfire.
“If the kid can’t do the job, he can go back to where he came from,” the crew boss growled back at Beau, then turned away.
The boy looked scared.
“Come with me, boy.” Beau hefted the log onto his shoulder and strode over toward the wagon where the cook was keeping coffee hot for the men and making venison stew for their noon meal.
“Thanks,” the boy said, running beside him to keep up with Beau’s long legs.
“You’re new. What’s your name?” Beau asked, setting the log on end, positioning it for cutting.
“Delaney.”
The boy’s voice hadn’t even changed yet.
“Thanks,” the boy mumbled, facing the log to split. He picked up a smaller ax and took aim at the log. He sunk the ax in but couldn’t draw it out again.
Beau turned back. Without a word, he stepped behind the kid and put an arm on both sides of the boy’s. He closed his hands over the boy’s smaller ones and wrenched the ax from the log. Then he lifted the ax, still with the boy’s hands within his, and slammed the ax blade through the log, splitting it in two.
“Thanks,” Delaney said again, shying away from Beau. “I can do it by myself now.”
The boy’s insistence and pride amused Beau. “I know you can. That was a big one though.”
“Yes, sir.” Delaney reset the log and deftly split the half log into two.
“You don’t need to call me sir. I’m just Beau.”
The boy bobbed his head and pushed one strand of his too long dirty blond hair around his ear.
“Hurry up, boy,” the cook said. “Don’t want this fire to go out.”
Hearing the boss bellowing his name in the distance, Beau strode away, not worried about the man’s temper. The crew boss knew the secret of who Beau was and he wouldn’t fire him.
Then something came to mind–the way the boy had tucked that strand of hair behind his ear. Why did that make Beau think of his sister Anne?
copyright 2015 Lyn Cote All Rights Reserved.
****************
So the story begins! What did you think? Did I catch your interest?–Lyn
PS-Crazybooklover won Jessica Keller’s THE FIREMAN’S SECRET! And Deanna S won my copy of Robin Lee Hatcher’s Love Without End. Congrats!
Here’s more about the early logging history of Wisconsin if you’re interested.
For more booksbylyncote.com.
