Lyn Cote's Blog, page 79
July 8, 2012
Author Bonnie Leon & Her Real Inheritance
Author Bonnie Leon guests today and shares a story of an amazing woman, her mother. Bonnie also has a new book out, Joy Takes Flight. And she will be giving away a copy to a commenter. Here’s Bonnie:
“My mother is strong and brave. You wouldn’t know it to look at her. She’s small, quiet and unassuming.
Mom is an Alaskan—Aleut. Throughout much of her youth she was ridiculed because of her native blood. The barbs thrown were unjust and they left scars, but Mom never allowed the injustices to taint her view of the world. Instead, others’ prejudices strengthened her conviction to treat all people with kindness and respect.
When Mom was a teen-ager, she contracted rheumatic fever. The illness kept her in a hospital bed for months. Doctors told her the damage done to her heart would prevent her from living a normal life. Mom wasn’t about to let anyone else decide what kind of life she was going to live, very much like my character Kate. Mom resumed doing what she always had. And like Kate, she proved the naysayers wrong.
My mother is now eighty-seven years old. She’s lived a good long life, but the heart valve that was damaged during her bout with rheumatic fever finally gave out. In October of 2011 she had open heart surgery to replace it. She could have quietly let go and died, but that wasn’t Mom’s way. When she went into surgery she didn’t know if she’d wake up on this earth or in heaven, either way was okay with her. All that mattered is that she’d tried hard.
She survived the surgery and all looked good—she was on the road to recovery, or so we thought. A germ called staph found its way into her wound and did all it could to end her life.
For many months my mother battled the terrible infection. On more than one occasion I thought we were saying our final farewells. Each time she pulled through, dredging up the strength and courage to go on. A terrible blow came one day before she was to be released from the nursing home where she’d been rehabbing. Her husband of thirty-four years died suddenly.
My husband and I raced up the freeway to Washington to be with Mom. We found her in the hallway of the nursing home, slumped over in her wheel chair. I didn’t recognize her at first. She’d given up, but who would blame her. She was weary, heart sick and ready to go home.
Somehow Mom rallied. I still don’t know how she did it. God’s power and her courage, I guess.
She buried her husband, left her home and moved to Southern Oregon, close to family. She’s made a new life for herself in our community and though she is in a weakened physical condition her spirit is strong. She doesn’t complain. Instead gratitude is on her lips every day.
I don’t know how many weeks, months or years we’ve been given, but I’m grateful for the moments. I’m thankful for the example she’s been to me and my family. She’s strong and full of grace, good humor, compassion and gratitude.
I’m proud of my mother who lives rather than simply exists. She regrets that she’s using up her childrens’ inheritance by living so long. Every time she mentions it, I tell her that we want her to use up every penny because the real inheritance she’s leaving has nothing to do with worldly riches.”–Bonnie
To purchase, click here. Joy Takes Flight: A Novel (Alaskan Skies)
BLURB:
Kate Evans and Paul Anderson are finally married, settling in, and starting a family. They rejoice when Kate finds she is pregnant, but soon it is clear that there are hurdles ahead. Should she continue in her dangerous profession as an Alaskan bush pilot? Can she really fall into the role of a wife? Then tragedy strikes, life begins to unravel, and Kate fears she may have lost Paul for good.
Chock-full of high-flying adventure, romance, and the drama of life, Joy Takes Flight is the exciting conclusion to Bonnie Leon’s Alaskan Skies series.
I’m in the middle of reading this book. I love it!–Lyn
Questions: PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER THE DRAWING.
Have you ever flown in a small private airplane?
What is the best thing (physical or otherwise) your mother left you?
July 7, 2012
Last Week’s Winner & What’s Coming This Week!
LyndeeH won the autographed copy of Maureen Lang’s Bees in the Butterfly Garden!
This coming week two authors, Bonnie Leon and Rachel Hauck will share stories and their books with us. Don’t miss two more books giveaways!
BTW, if you’ve read my EBOOK Summer’s End and liked it, email me at l(dot)cote(at)juno(dot)com and I have a deal for you.
Hope you all had a great Independence Day!!!–Lyn
July 4, 2012
July 1, 2012
Author Maureen Lang & Bees in the Butterfly Garden
My guest today is Author Maureen Lang who writes such touching stories. Today she is OFFERING A BOOK GIVEAWAY and going to talk about –Is being strong the same as tough or mean? Here’s Maureen:
“I’m not sure whether this is a universal truth, but some of the strongest women I know are also the toughest. Sometimes—but not always—I include myself in that arena. The tough arena, I mean. There are times when something really gets under my skin and I can stand up for myself or someone else without hesitation. Not just in those rare moments I happen to see injustice, but when something doesn’t make sense to me. Such as being refused coverage for a medical treatment, or reimbursement for an insurance claim. My arguments don’t always sway the side of Big Corporate America, but I usually feel better for having voiced my side.
Does strong always equal tough? My grandmother was one of the strongest women I’ve met. She filed for divorce from a philandering husband back in the day such a thing was unheard of, risking social ostracism and financial ruin. A great-grandmother of mine left everything she knew in Germany to live in America. She was only 19 and jilted in romance, so she set out for a new life in a new world.
But being tough can sometimes be interpreted as . . . well, being mean. I know that’s how I’ve sounded when I’m arguing with a bureaucrat about something that doesn’t seem right to me. I know that’s how my grandmother sounded, at least to my dad, when she filed for divorce from his father. Perhaps my great-grandmother sounded mean to her parents when she refused to remain at home instead of setting out on her own so far away.
Such thoughts may have inspired my Gilded Age heroine in Bees In The Butterfly Garden. Meg Davenport was raised with every possible need fulfilled. Pampered and well educated in a prestigious New England school for girls, she hobnobs with other heiresses in one of American society’s richest neighborhoods: New York’s Fifth Avenue.
But Meg knew she never belonged among society’s so-called finest. Her father had money, but since her pedigree was never mentioned, she assumed it was something to be hidden. Upon his death, she’s shocked to learn her father “earned” his money from gambling and conning. There was a reason she never once felt his love—but not because he didn’t love her. It was because he was too busy loving her in the only way he knew how: by sheltering her from himself and his illegal ways.
Now that it’s too late to rectify, Meg is enraged over having been kept out of her father’s life. His protege, Ian Maguire, is initially no help when she wants to discover everything about her father. Ian would be happy to watch over Meg now that her father is gone, since he always told Ian to watch over her anyway—but from afar. She’s been raised as a lady, and if Meg’s father wasn’t good enough to share her life, then neither was Ian.
Once Meg pries the truth from Ian, she’s determined to prove her father wrong to have shut her out of his life. In fact, she wants to take up his illegal ways. Even though Ian initially refuses, she offers some very tempting targets with an open invitation to visit the wealthiest families on Fifth Avenue. Together they could be quite a pair . . .
But could such a heroine come off mean? Perhaps so, if her ambition remains to con honest people out of their own legally earned money. Not even knowing her heart was broken by an absentee father could justify such selfish and illegal behavior, right?
Meg is, however, one of my strongest heroine’s. And loved by a God willing to offer extraordinary grace. See how that happens in Bees In The Butterfly Garden!”–Maureen
BIO: Maureen Lang writes stories inspired by a love of history and romance. An avid reader herself, she’s figured out a way to write the stories she feels like reading. Maureen’s Inspirationals have earned various writing distinctions as a finalist for the Rita, Christy and Carol Awards. In addition to investigating various eras in history (such as Victorian England, First World War, and America’s Gilded Age) Maureen loves taking research trips to get a feel for the settings of her novels. She lives in the Chicago area with her husband, children, and Labrador retriever.
June 30, 2012
Two Winners in Amish Week! AND A FREE E-BOOK FOR ALL!
I have TWO WINNERS this week thanks to the generosity of two authors I call friends.
Linda (onedesertrose) won Marta Perry’s DANGER IN PLAIN SIGHT!
Judy B (judyjohn2004) won Adina Senft’s THE HIDDEN LIFE!
CONGRATULATIONS!
Two Winners in Amish Week!
I have TWO WINNERS this week thanks to the generosity of two authors I call friends.
Linda (onedesertrose) won Marta Perry’s DANGER IN PLAIN SIGHT!
Judy B (judyjohn2004) won Adina Senft’s THE HIDDEN LIFE!
CONGRATULATIONS!
This upcoming week, Author Maureen Lang will share about being strong or being tough and I will review a book you’ve never heard of.
Lyn
June 27, 2012
Amish Author Marta Perry & What a Mother Can Do!
My guest today is Amish author Marta Perry who is a dear friend. I count myself lucky to be able to call her that. Today she is sharing a heartwearming and faith-inspiring story from her family. Here’s Marta:
“My mother-in-law knew something was wrong when she saw her new-born daughter. Unlike her other children, Christine’s skin was not a healthy pink but a pale, almost bluish color. The doctor confirmed what she suspected. Little Christine had been born with a hole in her heart—a condition that was nearly always fatal in the 1940s.
But Greta Johnson was not one to give up easily. A hard-working farm wife, she knew the value of persistence. Doctor after doctor gave her the same advice: take her home and love her for the short time she has.
The only slight ray of hope came from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, where a new surgery was being tried that saved blue babies. The family doctor was not encouraging. The hospital was far away, the surgeons had never performed the surgery on a baby as young as Christine, it would be expensive, there was no guarantee that it would work. Still, Greta persisted, and Christine’s records were sent to Hopkins for consideration. The only thing to do now was wait.
They waited. And waited. And waited. Christine grew worse daily. Hope began to falter.
Early one morning Greta was in the kitchen alone, working and praying for an answer. She heard a voice speak behind her. “Go to Baltimore and talk to the doctors.”
She turned around, shocked and stunned. No one was there. But the voice still seemed to hang in the air.
Greta didn’t hesitate. People came to help with the other children and care for Christine, somehow the money was found for a train ticket. She rode all night on the train, took a taxi to Johns Hopkins and entered the imposing lobby, bustling with people who all seemed to know where they were going and what they were doing. She found her way to the pediatric surgery area. Just as she gave her name to the receptionist, a passing doctor stopped, surprised.
“You’re Christine Johnson’s mother? We were just looking at her case.” The doctor proved to be Helen Taussig, cardiologist, who with surgeon Alfred Blalock and technician Vivien Thomas had developed the procedure.
The words that had guided Greta to this spot bore fruit. Christine was scheduled for surgery, and when she was wheeled back to her waiting parents afterward, Greta knew she was witnessing a miracle—her blue baby was now a beautiful, rosy pink.
Persistence in doing what is right is a quality I’ve always valued. It’s one that often characterizes the heroines in my books, none more so than Libby Morgan in Danger in Plain Sight. Faced with one person after another disregarding her fears, she persists in doing what she believes is right, regardless of the danger, even when it brings it face-to-face with a ruthless killer.
To purchase, click here. Danger in Plain Sight
If you’d like to leave a comment, I’ll be happy to give a copy of Danger in Plain Sight to one entrant. And if you’d like to receive a bookmark and my brochure of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes, just send your mailing address to marta@martaperry.com.”–Marta
Here are two more of Marta’s books–DARK CROSSINGS and HER SURPRISE SISTER–which will come out in a few days in July. Click cover to purchase.
www.martaperry.com,
www.facebook.com/martaperrybooks
So friends, have you ever felt that God spoke to you in some way. It might not be in words, but perhaps in the form of serendipidity or God-incidence. Please leave a reply and be entered into the drawing. Also remember that you can still go back and read and comment on Adina Senft’s posting on Monday to qualify for her drawing too. I’ll announce winners on Sunday as usual.–Lyn
June 24, 2012
Amish Week Begins With Adina Senft & Why the Kapp & Bob?
My guest today is author Adina Senft who will discuss her Amish Quilt trilogy. Adina is a personal friend. We were roomies on a book tour in the summer of 2006. She is a fun, interesting and energetic person. And I love whatever she writes BTW, she’s offering an autorgraphed copy of the Hidden Life for a reader who leaves a comment! Here’s Adina:
“In my travels in Lancaster County researching the Amish Quilt trilogy, I find myself having the occasional blast from the past. I grew up in a plain church—not Amish or Mennonite, but one with strict standards of dress and hair and lifestyle. The sun shines through an Amish woman’s Kapp and I see her “bob,” or bun, tightly coiled at the nape of her neck and secured with hairpins. Not bobby pins, mind you, because those came in in the 20s when women cut their hair, and are considered worldly. No, these are U-shaped, rippled hairpins, just like the ones I used. I see ladies whose hair is thinning on top from the sheer weight of their bun, just as my mother’s once did. I see women in black stockings just like the ones my grandmother had to wear because nude-colored hose were worldly.
And what’s the point of all these peculiarities of dress, you ask? The simple answer is: They’re signs of submission. In the Amish church, the Ordnung, or unwritten order, dictates (among other things) the appearance of the people. In my church, the “standard” was also unwritten, but it was still plain as day. You grew up learning it and knowing it—and you also grew up knowing how hard it was to keep it. You see, it takes inner strength to submit your will to a rule that you believe is scriptural, especially when it’s natural to want to appear attractive—to cut your hair to flatter your face shape, to emphasize the eyes with makeup, to correct skin flaws with foundation.
In my Amish Quilt trilogy, this submission is a daily battle for my Amish characters. In The Hidden Life, Emma Stolzfus has a talent that she could use to make her living. But it’s a public talent–and Amish women have no public voice. Part of the story involves her struggle to submit to this, and to try to keep her talent hidden so that she doesn’t get into trouble. As one character says, “Obedience is a choice you make every day.” You might think it’s easier to make that choice if everyone around you is doing it, and that might be true to a certain extent. But it still comes down to “Will I submit or won’t I?” and for the Amish, the answer is evident in their dress and how they relate to the outside world.
It’s not easy. In many eyes, it’s not even necessary. But these strong Amish women depend on God’s strength to do it, and that’s the important thing.”–Adina
June 20, 2012
Lyn Cote’s Latest EBOOK Release-For Sophia’s Heart Goes Free!
So what do you think of my latest cover? I think she’s lovely, a pretty girl in the 1890′s. But life wasn’t easy for her or a certain young man. Here’s the blurb:
A penniless but pretty girl…a wealthy young man on his way to war–what could draw them into a marriage of convenience?
In April 1898, Sophia Schiffler boards a train and meets Gannon Moore, both on their way to Chicago. Gannon is going to withdraw from the university to enlist in the Spanish American War. Teddy Roosevelt is gathering his rough riders to invade Cuba. And Gannon is ready to join the fight against Spain to gain Cuba’s freedom. Mourning the recent loss of his sister, Gannon is shocked when Sophia reveals she is going to marry a man she’s never met. When this suitor doesn’t meet Sophia at Union Station, Gannon accompanies her to the man’s address. What they discover there catapults Sophia into a situation she could never have imagined.
Soon she is living in Chicago and frequenting Jane Addams’ famous Hull House. Gannon trains in Florida and prepares for combat in Cuba. He and Sophia exchange letters written from their hearts. In the fall, Gannon returns from war, a changed man. The course of true love never runs smooth. And life has a way of turning tables on two young people in love. Their springtime love endured separation and a war. Will it survive a winter of reality?
Free on Kindle Friday June 22 through Sunday June 24, 2012
Lyn Cote Latest EBOOK Release-For Sophia’s Heart Goes Free!
So what do you think of my latest cover? I think she’s lovely, a pretty girl in the 1890′s. But life wasn’t easy for her or a certain young man. Here’s the blurb”
A penniless but pretty girl…a wealthy young man on his way to war–what could draw them into a marriage of convenience?
In April 1898, Sophia Schiffler boards a train and meets Gannon Moore, both on their way to Chicago. Gannon is going to withdraw from the university to enlist in the Spanish American War. Teddy Roosevelt is gathering his rough riders to invade Cuba. And Gannon is ready to join the fight against Spain to gain Cuba’s freedom. Mourning the recent loss of his sister, Gannon is shocked when Sophia reveals she is going to marry a man she’s never met. When this suitor doesn’t meet Sophia at Union Station, Gannon accompanies her to the man’s address. What they discover there catapults Sophia into a situation she could never have imagined.
Soon she is living in Chicago and frequenting Jane Addams’ famous Hull House. Gannon trains in Florida and prepares for combat in Cuba. He and Sophia exchange letters written from their hearts. In the fall, Gannon returns from war, a changed man. The course of true love never runs smooth. And life has a way of turning tables on two young people in love. Their springtime love endured separation and a war. Will it survive a winter of reality?
Free on Kindle Friday June 22 through Sunday June 24, 2012
Also on sale those days, one of my full length historicals, La Belle Christiane.
Normally 4.99. On sale for $1.49– Three days ONLY!
I hope you will spread the word. This is a novella, so it’s a short novel. If you don’t have an ereader, you can still download this for free to your computer. Just click this
