Dan Walsh's Blog, page 27

Do I Write Women’s Fiction?

Image courtesy VintageHolidayCrafts.com

Since my post today comes nearest to Valentine’s Day on Saturday, thought I’d take a look at a somewhat-related writing theme.

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Let’s jump in with this.

Since the publishing of my first indie novel, When Night Comes, I’ve become part of a fairly active Facebook group called, Christian Indie Authors (CIA). Yesterday, another fairly active discussion took place that I got drawn into, discussing a blog post. The post was called: “Women’s Fiction vs. Romance: A Tale of Two Genres.” You can read it, if you’d like, just click on the link.

The post tries to define the difference between Women’s Fiction, as a category or genre, with Romantic Fiction. I got drawn into the discussion because it is assumed, rightly so I suppose, that most of my books fall within these categories. Some people wanted to know what I thought about this. It got me to thinking how I viewed myself, and my own writing style.

Do I write Women’s Fiction? Do I write Romance Novels? I don’t know, do I?

I’m a guy, for crying out loud. I grew up playing basketball and baseball and surfing. I had girlfriends. I liked girls. I married a girl. I liked watching thriller movies. I liked reading action, adventure and suspense novels.

But it’s also true that I can get pretty emotional. I want to have thick skin, but I can get hurt by things people say. Sometimes deeply. I like to watch romantic comedies and Jane Austen movies with my wife (I’ve probably seen all of them multiple times). I like Downtown Abbey. I cry after Budweiser beer commercials that include puppies and Clydesdales.

It’s also fair to say, taking stock of all my published novels, that while I haven’t been deliberately trying to write women’s fiction, maybe I’ve been writing it just the same. Especially if it’s defined, as it is in this article by Jane Heller, “as novels written with any relationship at the core of the plot.”

In many interviews over the years, when asked what kind of novels I write, I have said I write “relationally-driven stories.” Many magazine and blog reviewers have referred to me as a man who writes romance novels. Several have called me the “Nicholas Sparks of Christian Fiction.” I’ve never defined myself as a romance writer. But I almost always include a strong romantic thread in my books, mainly because romance is a part of real life and real relationships. 

I love stories–even suspense stories–where the relationships of the characters is a serious, if not dominant layer. Still, I haven’t thought of my writing as women’s fiction, or see myself mainly focused on “women’s issues.” I’d say I include women‘s issues because I take them seriously in real life, and did so even as a pastor (“If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy“). My wife’s opinion has mattered to me more than anyone’s for all but the first 5 years of our 38 years together (the first 5 years, I was a total moron).

But in my books, I’ve also wanted to help ladies understand men better, too. Not all men are beer-drinking, football-loving, clock-in-clock-out guys, high-fiving (or fist bumping) all the time. Even some of those guys have very complex layers going on beneath the surface. They’re just terrible at expressing them. So…I help them, and other types of guys, in my books. By letting my women readers hopefully gain some insight into what guys really think (in those moments when they are actually thinking). I guess I try to be an equal-opportunity author, genderly-speaking (not a word, I know).

Does that make me a Women’s Fiction author? Or a romance author? What are your thoughts?

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This last bit is totally off the subject. I’m finishing up a new devotional I’ve been working on off and on over the past few years. In true indie fashion, I’m also taking a stab at designing the cover. Here’s a pic showing where it’s at now. I’d love to hear your thoughts, opinions and any suggestions, too.

2015 – Not Just New But a Big New Year

I’m not one who puts a lot of stock on celebrating New Year’s. I’m more of a Christmas guy. New Year’s seems anti-climactic to me by comparison. My wife and I typically stay-at-home, watch the new year role in on one of the TV shows.

As I look forward, I can almost become overwhelmed at all the big things happening in 2015. Moving in some new directions this year, both in my writing and non-writing life. My tendency is to overthink things, but with all these changes I can already see this is a season where I need to be more childlike in my walk.

My son holding our newest grandddaughter

But the New Year’s holiday does have some benefit to me. Almost involuntarily, it causes me to take stock. To look back over the year that’s finishing up, and look forward to the year ahead.

Mostly when I look back, it’s about focusing on the things I’m thankful for, the things God has done that make me very glad He is in charge of my life. When I do take time to do this, it’s not hard to come up with a number of things to rejoice about. Probably topping the list, for me, was seeing my son get engaged to a wonderful girl we really love, and my daughter giving birth to our second grandchild (who, at 6 months of age, gives away the most beautiful smiles for free).

In my writing, I will likely have 5 books coming out. The most I’ve ever had. Two of them will be the final 2 books written this past year under contract with Revell. The 4th and final book in the Restoration series with Gary Smalley, called The Legacy (releasing in April). And a new Christmas novel coming out in Sept, called Keeping Christmas (featuring an empty nest couple facing their first Christmas alone). 

I also plan to release 3 new indie books in 2015. The sequel to my newest suspense novel, When Night Comes, and the first 2 books of a new fiction trilogy that will be in the same genre as all my other novels (Nicholas Sparks-type books). I’m writing the first one now, called Rescuing Finley (Finley is a dog).

I’ll also be working on something pretty exciting. That is, helping the writer/director who is adapting my novel, The Reunion, into a screenplay. He’s working on it right now and plans to start production early in 2016. This year will be all kinds of behind-the-scenes movie stuff.

And finally in my non-writing life…after being out of pastoral ministry for 5 years, I’ll be moving into an increasing role in my local church this year, leading a ministry to disciple new converts.

Well, that’s what I’ve got coming up in 2015. Let’s hear what’s going on with you in the New Year!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

It’s not my favorite Christmas song, but close to it. And it’s not my favorite Christmas movie, but close to it. I’m talking about, “White Christmas.” Whenever I hear this on the radio, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know…” it puts a smile my face. Especially if it’s sung by Bing Crosby with that super-smooth baritone voice.

This is a pic of me and my wife a couple of nights ago during a recent snowfall in a little storybook town near Disneyworld, called Celebration. Of course, it’s not real snow, not in central Florida. Every night in December they close down main street to cars and, once every hour, they turn on these snow machines that blow white sudsy snowflakes all over. We were there with our kids and grandkids and made a great memory.

It also brought back a fond memory of one of my favorite Christmases as a child…

 At the end of my 5th grade year, our family moved south to Florida so my Dad could work on the Apollo Space Program. I’ve lived there pretty much ever since. But that year was special. It was the year I experienced my last Christmas with snow (real snow this time).

We lived near Philadelphia. For fans of my first novel, The Unfinished Gift, the neighborhood closely resembles what I described in the book. We could always count on it being cold at Christmas, and that it would snow at least a few times during the winter. But getting those two things to connect at the same time? That was pretty rare. When it does, it’s magic.

It did, that very last year in 5th grade.

I remember my little sister on that Christmas Eve (who is now a grandmother), screaming as she looked out the window of our living room. “It’s snowing! It’s really snowing!” We all ran to look.

Behind us, the Christmas tree stood sparkling in the corner, surrounded by tempting presents. The stockings were hung, thumbtacked to the stairway (we didn’t have a fireplace). Sugar cookies and egg nog were set out on the coffee table. But none of that mattered now. My big brother opened the front door, and we all ran outside, spinning around with our mouths open, trying to catch the snowflakes on our tongues.

“Kids, get in here. You’ll catch colds,” our mother yelled, to no avail. Still twirling, I looked back at her. She stood there smiling in the doorway (she’s with the Lord now, has been for several years).

We eventually did come inside and finished our Christmas Eve traditions. But every few moments, one of us would get up and check on the snow’s progress. Every time we did, it was still snowing.

And it kept snowing, all night.

We awoke on Christmas Day not to just the delightful scene we expected to find in our living room, but to a Winter Wonderland outside. A full two feet of snow had fallen, with drifts of four to five feet in some places. I’ve yet to see a Christmas card that matches the beauty that lingers in my mind, even now as I recall that moment.

And like a Christmas gift that keeps giving…the next day, the snow plows came through, piling up two equal mountains of snow on opposite sides of the street. Our street was filled with kids (kids who played like the Leave It To Beaver era). The plows had made perfect snow forts. So all week long, it was our side against their side of the street.

We had some of the most amazing snowball fights in kid history.

Let’s hear some of your favorite Christmas memories as a child.

Some Exciting Book Stuff

During this past week, all kinds of exciting book stuff happened. Hard to know where to start. Maybe the biggest one has to do with my 4th novel (and 2nd Christmas book) called, Remembering Christmas.

Remembering Christmas Hits #1 on Amazon

For 1 day, my publisher offered the book for free, and on that day it shot up in Amazon’s rankings to #1 overall in the Kindle Store. I don’t mean #1 in Christmas books or any other category, but #1 over every other book in the Amazon Free Store. Here’s a composite pic of that moment:

It’s continuing to rank very high almost a week later, even after it’s back to its regular price of $3.99 (which to me is still an amazing deal). In the next few days, 35 new customer reviews came in, almost all of them 5-Stars (bringing the total to 253). Here’s a few of the recent comments:

“Lovely, touching fast-paced. The perfect book for Christmas.”

“Mr Walsh has woven a tale of Christmas magic.”

“A hard book to close before the last page is read.”

“The storyline was captivating and the characters drew me in.”

Click Here if you’d like to check it out.

 

What Follows After in National Woman’s Magazine

Also this week, my fairly recent novel with Revell, What Follows After, (released in April) made the Editor’s Picks page in FIRST For Women magazine. My daughter called me from Target after seeing a copy on the checkout stand. They also gave it a very good review. Here’s a pic of the cover and the review:

FIRST has a 1.3 million circulation. Hopefully, a lot of potentially new readers read the review. It was the only one listed for Christian Fiction. Click Here to check it out.

 

When Night Comes Wins Book-of-the-Month

My newest novel, When Night Comes, just released on Nov 1st. This is both my first suspense novel and first independently published novel. I just found out that it won Book Fun Magazine’s Book of the Month award for Fiction. Books are selected by readers voting for their favorites.

This means it is eligible for Book of the Year for 2014. Would you please Click Here and vote for it? (on the right side, scroll down toward the bottom to vote).

They’ve asked me to do a feature article in the January issue (look for it under “Reader’s Choice Awards”). When Night Comes sold almost 1,400 copies in its first month out. Not bad for a project being operated on a shoestring budget. It’s also received 35 customer reviews (22 of them 5-star). I’ve definitely decided to write a sequel (already have the basic story idea roughed out).

Click Here to order your copy. Only $4.99 on Kindle.

 

Author Chat This Thurs – Other Fun Updates

Come join me THIS THURSDAY EVENING for a Live “Spotlight Author Chat” on Facebook, hosted by a wonderful site for fiction lovers, Soul Inspirationz. It’s to celebrate the release of my new suspense novel, When Night Comes (but you can ask Qs about any of my other books, if you like). We’ll be giving away Spot prizes throughout the 90-min chat, including copies of my new book. It’s this Thursday night at 7pm Central time, 8pm Eastern time. Here’s the link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/553668061432088/

There’s one other cool thing Soul Inspirationz is doing to help promote my new book. They’ve created an entire page about it on their website, including a fun behind-the-scenes interview with me. You can win a free signed copy of the book by leaving a comment after the interview by Dec 5th (just scroll down).

CLICK HERE to check it out.

Get The Unfinished Gift for 99 Cents

I found out my publisher, Revell, decided to do a 99 Cent Sale on my very 1st novel, The Unfinished Gift from Thanksgiving Day through Tues, Dec 2nd. So THERE’S STILL TIME to grab a copy if. It’s only available on Kindle and Nook for that price. CLICK HERE to go to Amazon.

And this was fun to see…after the 1st Day, I snapped this screenshot from Amazon. The book shot up to #1 in 3 Amazon Categories.

Report on My Own 99-Cent Thanksgiving Sale

This past week I tried something different. Of course, this whole new indie adventure with my new novel brings something different every day. From everything I’ve read, it’s fairly normal to do short-term .99 cent sales to help promote your book. There are all kinds of new ebook sites that have created free, daily mailing lists to booklovers (like BookBub, EReaders News Today, etc.). You simply check off the kind of books you love, and they’ll send you an email once a day of 4-5 book choices, temporarily marked down to somewhere between free and 2.99.

So, I offered When Night Comes for 5-days at this 99 cent price, which ended on Thanksgiving Day. Time will tell if it proved to be worth it. Monetarily, it was somewhat successful. At 99 cents, I’m only able to make .35/copy. I sold a total of 700 books during the sale. 370 of them during the 2-Days I used one of these ebook email services (ENT).

Certainly not getting rich with these numbers but, supposedly, the idea is really more about attracting new readers to your book. If they like it at .99 cents, they’ll be willing to pay the regular price for others. Let’s hope that proves true.  It did result in the book climbing Amazon’s bestseller list very quickly all week, which certainly didn’t hurt.

Great Reviews for When Night Comes

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about this part.

It’s always a little unnerving for an author to await those first, early book reviews. You spend from 6 months to a year working on a book, pouring your heart and soul into its pages. Then you put it out there to be examined and reviewed by people who LOVE to read fiction and do it all the time. A lot of these reviewers are writers themselves, so they know how to say what they think in print.

For the most part, reviewers have been kind to me (with my other 11 novels in print). When Night Comes is different. It’s a rule-breaker. It’s a suspense novel, not my typical genre, and it’s an indie-published book (not put out by a traditional publisher). None of the editors and art dept folks from my other books were involved with this one.

So, I was even a little more nervous awaiting the reviews after the book released a few weeks ago.

Thankfully, I am breathing a lot easier now. People seem to really like the book, even fans of my other books. Some are admitting it is different but, for the most part, the difference isn’t affecting their opinion in a negative way.

As of now, there are 24 Customer reviews on Amazon, 17 of them are 5 Stars (avg is 4.7 Stars). Here’s a few of my favorite examples:

“With When Night Comes, Dan has successfully blended his signature love story with a Cussler-style thriller, complete with time travel, chase scenes, and unexpected turns. I see a series developing around Jack Turner. Two thumbs up, Dan.” – Cork Hutson

“When Night Comes is an incredible, fascinating book. This is a different kind of book than the kind Dan Walsh usually writes and I think this is his best one yet. I just love the whole idea of the book. Can’t wait for Book 2.” – Trinity Rose

“In a change from his romance novels, award-winning author Dan Walsh turns his strong character-driven narrative writing to a page-turning nail-biting suspense thriller combined with accurate historical fiction. As well written as any novelist currently writing…Walsh shows himself to be a master storyteller regardless of genre.” – Jorja Davis

Surprise From RT Reviews

I received another pleasant surprise recently for the book. RT Book Reviews magazine, the premier review magazine in the US, published a great review of When Night Comes in their most recent issue (see the pic), giving it 4.5 Stars.

This is an extremely favorable review when you consider their rating system (check out where the red arrow is pointing). If you click on the pic, it will get big enough to read the review.

Needless to say, I’m very encouraged by this promising beginning. Several readers have expressed a hope that this might be the first book in a series.

I think that’s a very distinct possibility. I’ve already begun to develop Book #2.

When Night Comes – Available Now

My new suspense novel, When Night Comes, releases TODAY (Nov 1st). It’s available on Kindle, Nook and Koble (ebooks) for only $4.99. The printed edition should be available in a day or two. I’ve already gotten a copy, and it turned out great.

Kindle – Click Here

Nook – Click Here

Kobo – Click Here

As you can see, the cover looks a little different from all my other novels. When Night Comes is a true suspense novel. It still features strong characters and even a romantic thread, but you won’t be reaching for the tissue box with this one (maybe biting your nails a few times).

If you enjoyed either The Discovery or What Follows After, you should enjoy When Night Comes.

I’ll still be writing my “Nicholas-Sparks-type” novels. In fact, I’m writing one now called Rescuing Finley (first of a trilogy). And I have 2 more on-brand novels coming out in 2015 (Apr & Sept). My hope is, if things go well with When Night Comes, I’d like to be able to write both kinds of novels in the future.

What Readers Are Already Saying

Several bloggers and book reviewers have recently read the book. Here’s an excerpt from some of their comments:

“While this book does deviate from Dan Walsh’s typical style, it’s still an amazing read…It was a page turner and I could have easily finished it in a day if I didn’t have other things to tend to like….kids.” – Living, Laughing, Loving Blog – Melinda Joy

“Dan Walsh’s unique plot twists keep the surprises coming at breath-taking speed. When Night Comes had me in suspense with every turn of the page.  There’s much I’d like to add to this review, but I don’t want to post any spoilers. When Night Comes is a must-read for suspense lovers.” — Author, Ann Shorey

“In a change from his romance novels, award-winning author Dan Walsh turns his strong character-driven narrative writing to a page-turning nail-biting suspense thriller combined with accurate historical fiction. As well written as any novelist currently writing…Walsh shows himself to be a master storyteller regardless of genre.” – Writing Truth Blog -Jorja Davis

Check out 2 Online Magazine Interviews

I guess after writing a dozen novels one way, then writing a new novel that is both suspense (different genre) and published as an indie (not through a traditional publisher) got some folks a little curious. You can read 2 online interviews about this, plus get some fun behind-the-scenes glimpses in the November issues of both BookFun Magazine and Family Fiction’s Edge magazine.

BookFun – A full 10 Pages (including 4 pgs of pics), starting at pg 138. Bestselling suspense author Brandilyn Collins interviews me about the new book and where things might be going in my writing future. BookFun is a paid-subscription mag, but I’m telling you, it’s SO worth it. Only $9.50/year for a monthly magazine with over 200 pgs in each issue (like a small book it’s got so much going on). Or just $1.50 for a single issue. Over 400,000 readers.

Family Fiction – A 2-Page interview (pg 88-89) discussing my inspiration for the book and my “secrets” to writing a page-turner. I believe this magazine is free, and it’s really 2 magazines in 1. First you have the main Family Fiction magazine, followed by The Edge (the suspense version).

5 Chapter Dare

I just learned that the book sample on Kindle is 5 chapters long. If you’d like to take a FREE 5-chapter glimpse of When Night Comes, just scroll up to the top of this post and Click on the Kindle link, then on the Book cover.

Let’s see if I can hook you in 5 chapters.

Final Word of Thanks

Thanks to all those who’ve pre-ordered your copy and to those who plan to get the book. Could you do me a HUGE favor? If you like it, take an extra few minutes to leave a review on Amazon? Since this is an indie, I don’t have much of a budget to promote the book on my own. The good news is…the most powerful promotional tool in the world is word-of-mouth advertising. And it’s the most effective.

My New Suspense Novel – Pre-order Now

I’m excited to announce my newest book, a suspense novel called When Night Comes, is available for pre-order NOW on Amazon. The special pre-order price through Nov 1st is only $3.99. For now, the book is only available on Kindle, but it will be available in print and other Ebook formats on Nov 1st, in all the online stores.

A Suspense Novel?

For fans of my “Nicholas Sparks type” novels (like The Unfinished Gift, The Discovery, The Reunion), you might be wondering…what’s up with this book? Am I going in a totally new direction? Am I writing suspense novels from now on?

The short answer is “No,” it’s not the end of my other kinds of novels (love stories and family life dramas). In fact, I’ve just started another one recently, called Rescuing Finley. But the truth is…I really love suspense novels (that’s why I include so much suspense in all my novels) and, if possible, I’d like to be able to write both kinds of books. I take a little more time to explain my thoughts HERE.

What is When Night Comes About?

Maybe the best way to answer this is to share what will appear on the back cover of the print edition:

Jack Turner comes back to Culpepper to give a series of lectures for his old history professor. Within days, he starts having bizarre experiences at night. Like he’s traveling back in time, experiencing the epic events in his lectures firsthand. He has no control over these experiences and can’t make them stop.

Joe Boyd thought he’d left big city crime back in Pittsburgh when he took a detective job in Culpepper, Georgia, a sleepy southern college town. His peaceful life ends when two students turn up dead in two weeks. The coroner is saying natural causes, but something doesn’t add up.

Rachel Cook, a teaching assistant at Culpepper, can’t believe Jack is back in her life again. She’s had a crush on him since she was fourteen, but Jack never knew. He instantly seems attracted to her, but she can tell…something is deeply troubling him. 

Watching all this from a distance is Nigel Avery. He’s certain this experiment is about to unravel. It’ll be his job to tie up all the loose ends when it does. 

Click Here to pre-order your copy now! And if you’re a fan, would you help me spread the word and share this link with your friends?

The Reunion Becoming a Full-length Movie

Some other great news happened this week.

The Reunion is my 2nd highest-reviewed book on Amazon (258 5-Star reviews as of now). Many readers cite it as their favorite. Among other things, this novel is a moving tribute to military veterans (especially Vietnam vets).

If you’ve been following my career for a few years, you might be aware The Reunion was optioned for a movie deal by a Hallmark producer 2 years ago.  So, this announcement might seem like old news.

It’s not. This is a completely new thing.

The problem with the Hallmark deal was…nothing happened. The producer still loves the book and still wants to make it into a movie. But a year went by, then two. The movie option ran out and wasn’t renewed. I learned there was still no commitment from Hallmark going into 2015.

Just over a month ago, I received an email, then several phone calls from another movie producer/director who had just finished reading The Reunion and loved it. He and the partners in his production company want to make The Reunion into a full-length feature movie. And they’re ready to do it now. They want to make it their next movie project.

I’ve just signed a new option contract, and the book is being adapted into a screenplay right now. When it’s completed, they’ll start raising the money for the production and hope to start filming sometime in 2015. Even if it takes a little longer, it’s very obvious to me, with this production team The Reunion will become a movie soon.

I’d appreciate your prayers for this project. Dustin Rikert (the producer/director working on this project) wants to capture in his screenplay the essence of the novel and hopes to make a movie that the faith-based community can really get behind. But also a movie that will reach out and touch the hearts of millions of military families, and those who support them, throughout the world.

Going Indie on My Next Novel

Kind of a big deal going on in my writing life these days. After writing 13 novels under traditional publishing contracts, I’m going indie for Novel # 14. It will be called, When Night Comes. It’s already finished. In fact, we’re just doing the final edits now.

One of the nice things about publishing independently is that readers won’t have to wait very long to get the book once it’s written. With my traditional novels, it takes a full year for the publisher to release the novel. I plan on releasing When Night Comes in less than two months, on Nov 1st. Oddly enough, this means my 14th book will come out before Books #12 and #13 (due out in April and September, 2015).

Another nice thing about going indie is having creative control over things like the book covers and titles. My publishers always asked what I thought but only went with my ideas about half the time. We liked most of what they picked out but, to be honest, there were a few we didn’t like and wished we could change.

The cover shown here is not the final version for When Night Comes, but it’s close. We still have some tweaking to do. I hope to share the final version within a week. Shortly after that, we’ll make the book available for preorder on Amazon and other online stores.That’s another thing about going indie…the books won’t be available in retail bookstores. They aren’t open to selling indie books on their ever-decreasing shelf space. But the book will be available on all the major online stores like Amazon and B&N, in both print and Ebook versions.

The print books will cost about the same, but I’ll be able to offer the e-book editions brand-new for only $4.99. That’s half the price of my traditionally pubbed books. At least the newer ones (they don’t mark them down until 1-2 years after they’re released).

You can probably tell something else from the book cover. When Night Comes, will be a little different from my other novels. It will still have strong characters and a romantic thread, but it will be more of a true suspense novel. A fun, entertaining read, more than a strong emotional story.

So what’s the book about? Here’s the back cover blurb:

Jack Turner has come back to Culpepper, Georgia to give a series of lectures for his old history professor. Within days, he starts having bizarre experiences at night. Like he’s traveling back in time, experiencing the epic events in his lectures firsthand. He has no control over these experiences and can’t make them stop.

Joe Boyd thought he’d left big city crime back in Pittsburgh when he took a detective job in Culpepper. But his peaceful life ends when two students turn up dead in two weeks. The coroner is saying natural causes, but something doesn’t add up.

Rachel Cook, a teaching assistant at Culpepper, can’t believe Jack Turner is back in her life again. She’s had a crush on him since she was fourteen, but Jack never knew. He instantly seems attracted to her, but she can tell…something is deeply troubling him.

Watching all this from a distance is Nigel Avery. He’s certain this experiment’s about to unravel. It’ll be his job to tie up all the loose ends when it does.

I’ll be sharing some more details about When Night Comes very soon.

The Desire Goes on Tour

Our 3rd book in the Restoration series, written with co-author Gary Smalley, released 3 weeks ago. It’s called, The Desire, and continues the story of the Anderson family. This time we focus on daughter Michele’s story, along with her husband Allan. We also introduce a new character, Christina, who will play a prominent role in this book but even more so in Book 4.

I could tell you more about the book, but I think I’ll let others do that. See, this week The Desire is “travelling” the internet on a Blog Tour. About 2 months ago, dozens of bloggers signed up to read the book in exchange for an honest review on their blog and other places like Amazon or Christianbook.com. The idea is, they all post their reviews in the same week. Quite a few have already posted them. Thankfully, most of them are extremely positive.

I’ll pick one that summarizes the story fairly well, then give you a sampling of what others are saying about the book in general:

Book Summary (from blogger Daysong Reflections):

The Desire is the story of Allan and Michele, a young couple who would like to start a family but have had no success. Michele can think of nothing else and resents that Allan seems to be more interested in his mission trips to Africa than her desire for a child. Obviously tensions in their marriage are escalating. At the same time, a pregnant teen enters the lives of Michele and the Anderson family and it appears that her baby could be the perfect solution to Michele’s problem. In this compelling novel, the reader gains a look into the thoughts and emotions of an infertile young woman as well as an unwed mother. The story also takes us to the mission field in Africa where we get a graphic glimpse of the kind of life that we as Americans cannot even begin to imagine.

 What Other Bloggers Are Saying:

“I love this series, because it takes very deep and relevant issues and sets them in a fiction story that not only entertains but enlightens! This author team is the perfect combo. To me, Gary brings timeless truths to the table and Dan paints the story in vivid color.
I love that this story introduces us to a couple struggling with infertility. This is something that many couples face and I think the authors have tackled this topic with great realism and sensitivity. We first met character Michelle in previous books in the series, but I love that this story is her story. She and her husband Allan seem to be going in opposite directions, each dealing with their trial in different ways. Will they be able to survive this crisis together, or will it tear them apart? You’ll have to read The Desire to find out!!!” — Jo Jo’s Corner

This is another heartwarming, touching novel by two of my favorite authors, continuing The Restoration Series…These authors have a very special way of developing realistic characters who live within you as you read the book. You feel their every desire, hurt and confusion. The plot keeps you engrossed from beginning to end. It is so captivating that I found it very difficult to put down. In fact, the world passed me by , as I read this touching tale. You finish this book realizing that God is truly in charge and always does His best to meet our needs, perhaps not in the way we had dreamed, but in His time and fashion. If you are patient, God will see you thorough. Definitely a five star book! Can hardly wait for the next book by these fabulous authors!” — Karla Hanns (Ontario, Canada)

“I loved spending time with the Anderson family once again. I loved to be ‘updated’ on Jim and Marilyn as well as Jean and Tom. Doug (whom is the focus of the next book) played a more dominant role as well as a friend to Christina, and I loved the side of him that was seen in this book. I also loved that Audrey Windsor still is so close with this family as she was such a vital character in Book 1. This is an excellent series that really addresses real-life issues that families face, and they are a nice refreshing read knowing that we are not alone in our struggles. I highly recommend this book and the series...” — K. Ingerto