June McCrary Jacobs's Blog: ~ Author June McCrary Jacobs ~, page 85

~ BLOG TOUR STOP CROSS MY HEART ~

~ BLOG TOUR STOP ~ --  'CROSS MY HEART'  -- AUTHOR ROBIN LEE HATCHER~Post Includes:  Book Spotlight, AuthorBio, Unique Guest Post & Giveaway~



Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for Cross My Heart by Robin Lee Hatcher, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK Title: Cross My Heart Series: Legacy of Faith #2 Author: Robin Lee Hatcher  Publisher: Thomas Nelson Release Date: June 25, 2019  Genre: Contemporary Romance/Split Timeline
Can two broken paths lead toward God’s redemption?

When Ashley Showalter and Ben Henning meet on Ashley’s horse rescue farm, they quickly discover how much they have in common. Both were raised by single moms. Both want to help where they see a need. And both work with horses in the Boise valley. Ben needs Ashley’s help and expertise after starting an equine therapy barn on his great-great-grandfather’s farm—and the more time they spend together, both Ashley and Ben have the feeling that there could be something more between them.

They also carry the burden of past experiences that may drive them apart if the truth is ever revealed. Ben is a recovering alcoholic with five years of sobriety behind him, while Ashley’s brother is an opioid addict residing in court-ordered rehab. Holding fast to the belief that addicts can never be cured, Ashley has promised herself she will never walk knowingly into the chaos created by addiction. Ben knows that with God, all things are possible—but will Ashley find it within herself to give love a chance? Or will her brother’s mistakes and the pain of her past jeopardize her future with Ben?

Cross My Heart threads together a contemporary love story with the heartwarming tale of Ben’s great-great-grandfather, Andrew Henning—reminding us that God’s Word is timeless and that His promises are new every morning.


PURCHASE LINKS*:  Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | ChristianBookABOUT THE AUTHOR 
Robin Lee Hatcher is the author of 80 novels and novellas with over five million copies of her books in print. She is known for her heartwarming and emotionally charged stories of faith, courage, and love.

Her numerous awards include the RITA® Award, the Carol Award, the Christy Award, the HOLT Medallion, the National Reader’s Choice Award, and the Faith, Hope & Love Reader’s Choice Award. Robin is also the recipient of prestigious Lifetime Achievement Awards from both American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America®.

When not writing, she enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, Bible art journaling, reading books that make her cry, watching romantic movies, and decorative planning. Robin makes her home on the outskirts of Boise, sharing it with a demanding Papillon dog and a persnickety tuxedo cat.


GUEST POST: 
Please share with us what types of research you performed regarding equine care and horse rescue organizations/facilities as you wrote or prepared to write this novel:
FROM THE AUTHOR: While I have always loved horses and have owned quite a few in my life, equine therapy and equine rescue were new topics for me to explore.

I read a number of wonderful books about equine therapy, in addition to doing lots of Internet research on various rescue organizations around the country. But my favorite research came from in-person visits. I spent a couple of hours at a local area equine therapy barn called Ride for Joy, a wonderful facility that provides riding programs for those with disabilities, including one specifically for veterans. And because my granddaughter has been involved in equine rescues, providing temporary housing to rescued horses before they find a forever home, I also went to see her and peppered her with lots of questions. CONNECT WITH ROBIN: Website | Facebook | Twitter
TOUR GIVEAWAY(1) winner will receive Book 1 & 2 of Robin Lee Hatcher's LEGACY OF FAITH series (US only) - Who I Am With You & Cross My Heart
Copy the following phrase to claim your bonus entries for this stop:
John 1:1 -- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Each host on the tour (excluding the launch pages) has a "timeless" verse or phrase for you to enter on the Rafflecopter form for bonus entries!
Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight June 21, 2019 and last through 11:59 PM EST on June 28, 2019. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
a Rafflecopter giveaway 
 
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.

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~ MMGM DOLPHINS STRANGE WONDERFUL ~

~ MARVELOUS MIDDLE-GRADE
MONDAY OCEANOGRAPHY
FEATURE ~ 
--  'DOLPHINS!  STRANGE AND WONDERFUL'  --
AUTHOR LAURENCE PRINGLE
ILLUSTRATOR MERYL HENDERSON

 LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS


ABOUT THE BOOK {from Goodreads}: Introduces readers to dolphin species -- from the well-known bottlenose dolphin to several species of "blackfish" (including orcas) that most people believe are whales. Author Laurence Pringle's clear, informative text describes dolphins' habitats, physiology, communication, intelligence, parenting, what and how they eat, and much more. The book also discusses conservation and how dolphins can be protected from hunting, pollution, and other threats.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR {from his website}: How I Became an Author
As a kid I never consciously wanted to be a writer, but some factors in my life helped lead me in that direction. I grew up in an isolated country home, and had few nearby playmates. So I read a lot and had a rich interior life (lots of daydreaming, imagining, and entertaining myself without people around). Alone, but not feeling lonely--a valuable characteristic for a writer!

In high school I was not good at sports, was not one of the "in" crowd, and read a lot. At 16 I had a short nonfiction piece published in a boy's magazine. And was paid $5 for it! (This was long ago, $5 then would be like $25 these days.) However, this didn't make me feel that I was on a path toward being an author. Nevertheless, a thin thread of writing, and wanting to be a writer, ran through my life. For college I considered majoring in either journalism or wildlife biology. I chose the latter.
 
At Cornell University I took a course in writing for magazines. Then, and later, as a graduate student, I submitted nonfiction articles to magazines. A few were published. (Some of the magazines didn't even pay, but they had readers and I was getting published!) A key turning point occurred when I dropped out of a Ph.D. program, giving up my dream of being a wildlife researcher or professor. This felt like disaster--for a while. But it was just a turning point that sent me in a wonderful direction. I took some journalism courses and learned enough to earn a job as a rookie editor at Nature and Science, a children's magazine published at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
 
This was extraordinary serendipity (I love that word!). I had never written for young readers but the magazine was for kids. Eager for ANY writing job, I landed one that just happened to involve writing for young people. I began to learn about that kind of writing. The magazine ceased publication after seven years, but by then I had begun to write books. And by then I was inspired because I believed that writing for children is more important than writing for adults.

That's my story. You might find it fun to ask other published writers about their paths to becoming authors.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR {from Simon and Schuster's Website}: Meryl Henderson is a graduate of Syracuse University. In 1974, she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. For the past 44 years, she has been working as a freelance illustrator, specializing in artwork for children. She has illustrated more than a hundred books and has contributed illustrations to countless magazines and educational books. She currently lives in Catskill, New York.
MY THOUGHTS:
I usually write about the text of a book first and then discuss the illustrations. I'm going to break with tradition on this review because from the moment I opened this book, I was entranced by the illustrations! The artist, Meryl Henderson, has done a beautiful job of capturing the different kinds of dolphins presented by the author. Her scientific diagrams of their bodies and the interior of their heads are detailed and realistic. The underwater scenes are true-to-life and interesting.

This picture book presents an unbelievable amount of information in its thirty pages of text plus two pages of back matter. The author begins by sharing what the life of a young dolphin is like. This really draws in the reader. He moves on to scientific facts about dolphins and compares the species to whales and propoises. There are illustrations comparing these mammals which are labelled with the name and body length of each example. I loved this visual as it gave me a realistic idea of how these sea mammals compare to each other in size and appearance.

The author shares details about how the dolphins swim, dive, breach, eat, breath, and sleep. He does a fine job of explaining echolocation, which I found to be an amazing feature of dolphins. A section about dolphins as predators is eye-opening as it discusses how a school of hunting dolphins works together as a team in several ways to capture/conquer their prey. 

Finally, the social aspects of the dolphin community and their amazing communcation skills are explained. Examples are given regarding the intelligence of these animals and how scientists use their observations to learn about how dolphins and other animals are smart. 

I found the section on how dolphins are hunted by humans for meat and are negatively affected by fishing nets, water and air pollution, and heavy boat traffic to be poignant. This would be a great opportunity for a discussion about how and why these things happen and what man can do to change these dangers.

The back matter includes a thorough Glossary; a To Learn More section listing books, periodicals, websites, and sources; and an Index.

Highly-recommended to fans of oceanography, science, teachers/libarians, youth/scout/church groups, and learners of any age interested in reading more about this fascinating species!

I borrowed this book from the non-fiction shelves in the children's collection of the local public library.

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Learn about more great middle-grade reads by visiting Greg Pattridge's 'Always in the Middle' blog to find the links to other blog posts celebrating Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday!  # # # # #





  

~ FRIDAY FICTION FEATURE HOMETOWN HOPE ~

~ FRIDAY FICTION FEATURE ~
BLOG TOUR STOP FOR:
-- 'HOMETOWN HOPE' --
AUTHOR LAUREL BLOUNT
~Post Includes: Book Spotlight,
Excerpt, Author Bio, Unique Author
Guest Post & Giveaway~ 
Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for  Hometown Hope by Laurel Blount, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Hometown Hope Author: Laurel Blount  Publisher: Love Inspired Release Date: June 18, 2019 (print), July 1, 2019 (ebook)  Genre: Inspirational Contemporary Romance
He’ll do anything for his daughter…

Even fight to regain an old classmate’s broken trust.

In the three years since her mother’s death, widower Hoyt Bradley’s daughter, Jess, hasn’t spoken—until she suddenly begs him to save her favorite bookstore from closing.

Hoyt is desperate to hear his daughter’s voice again, but he and the bookstore’s pretty owner, Anna Delaney, share a less-than-friendly past.

Working together is complicated enough…but can they avoid falling in love?

EXCERPT:
She was going to blow this. She just knew it.

“Miss Anna?” Jess wiggled insistent fingers in her direction. The little girl was already holding Hoyt’s hand, but she wanted Anna’s, as well. “Let’s go get some pizza!”

She took Jess’s hand, feeling the little girl’s slightly sticky fingers twine trustingly around her own. Hoyt’s eyes met hers, and he grinned.

That grin had the butterflies in Anna’s stomach multiplying like rabbits. She knew why Hoyt was smiling. Jess was talking. That warm light in his eyes was all about his daughter. It had nothing to do with Anna.

But for a second, standing there, feeling tiny fingers in hers and seeing Hoyt’s face soften in that smile, it sure felt more . . . personal.

It felt like family.


PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | ChristianBookABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Laurel Blount lives on a small farm in middle Georgia with her husband, their four children, a milk cow, dairy goats, assorted chickens and ducks, four spoiled cats and one bossy goose with serious boundary issues. She divides her time between farm chores, baking, homeschooling and writing. She's busy, but she's never bored!  

HOMETOWN HOPE is Laurel’s third Love Inspired romance. Her debut Love Inspired novel A FAMILY FOR THE FARMER was the recipient of the 2017 Maggie Award for Excellence in the Romance with Religious or Spiritual Elements category. This book also received two 2017 Holt Awards of Merit and was a finalist in the 2017 Carol Awards. A BABY FOR THE MINISTER, her second Love Inspired, was released in September of 2018.

Whenever she's not working, you can find Laurel with a cup of tea at her elbow, a cat in her lap and a good book in her hand. She loves to hear from readers! Drop her an email at laurelblountwrites@gmail.com or visit her website: www.laurelblountbooks.com and be sure to sign up for her monthly newsletter!

GUEST POST SHARED BY THIS AUTHOR:

HOMETOWN HOPE is both my third book for Love Inspired and the third book I’ve set in the fictional town of Pine Valley, Georgia. It’s been tons of fun--and a huge privilege to share these stories with readers, and I’d love to tell you how it all came about.
Back in early 2015, I found out about a contest being sponsored by Harlequin’s Love Inspired imprint. The contest was called “Blurb 2 Book”--and the idea was that you submitted your first page and a blurb for your story. If the editors were interested, you passed to the next round and provided three chapters and a synopsis. If you kept their interest, you went to the third round--submission of a full manuscript.
I thought the idea sounded intriguing. I loved these sweet, contemporary Christian romances so I--and over 300 other writers--gave it a shot. When it came to choosing a setting for my story, I decided to follow that age-old advice to “write what you know.”  I know Georgia--I’ve lived here all my life--and I know small southern towns inside and out.
So I created Pine Valley, Georgia, and as my first book A FAMILY FOR THE FARMER progressed through the contest, I peopled my new hometown with a cast of interesting characters. I had such fun developing their personalities--maybe a little too much fun! In late August it happened--I got “the call.” Love Inspired wanted to buy my book! One of the revisions my editor requested was for me to pare down the additional characters to keep the focus on the hero and the heroine.
“But,” she added, “that pastor in the story--Jacob Stone. He’d make a great hero. Why don’t you write your next book about him?” So I did. A BABY FOR THE MINISTER came out in September of 2018. By that time, another potential hero in Pine Valley had caught my imagination--big-hearted, blue-collar widower Hoyt Bradley deserved his own story. I mixed him up with shy, scholarly bookstore owner Anna Delaney, and HOMETOWN HOPE was born!
I’ve dearly loved spending time in this little Georgia town, and I’m looking forward to one last trip. A RANCHER TO TRUST, my final story set in Pine Valley, will be released in January 2020.  Organic grocer Bailey Quinn was a secondary character in A FAMILY FOR THE FARMER and now she finally gets her very own happily-ever-after!
I’ve spent some happy years getting to know this little town, and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye. On the other hand, I’m looking forward to new adventures! I’m already exploring backroads looking for a promising new setting for my upcoming stories. So tell me, where would you like to see a story set? Up in the mountains? On a working farm? Another small town with its own unique personality? I’d love to hear!
CONNECT WITH LAUREL: Website | Facebook | Twitter
TOUR GIVEAWAY
(1) winner will receive an autographed copy of Hometown Hope, a $10 Starbucks gift card, a travel coffee mug, and a bar of Milltown soap--which is produced in author's hometown (Dough bowl is not included.)
Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight June 17, 2019 and last through 11:59 PM EST on June 24, 2019. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
a Rafflecopter giveaway 
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops! 
*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.

MMGM BIOGRAPHY WHO WAS NORMAN ROCKWELL?

~ MARVELOUS MIDDLE-GRADEMONDAY BIOGRAPHY FEATURE ~ --  'WHO WAS NORMAN ROCKWELL?'  -- AUTHOR SARAH FABINYILLUSTRATOR GREGORY COPELAND

   LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS
ABOUT THE BOOK {from Goodreads}:

Brush up on your knowledge on popular American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell with this exciting Who Was? title.
Norman Rockwell often painted what he saw around him in nostalgic and humorous ways. After hearing President Franklin Roosevelt's address to Congress in 1943, he was inspired to create paintings that described the principles for universal rights: four paintings that portray iconic images of the American experience. Over the course of his lifetime, he painted 322 covers for the Saturday Evening Post. Of his work, he has said: "Maybe as I grew up and found the world wasn't the perfect place I thought it to be, I consciously decided that if it wasn't an ideal world, it should be, and so painted only the ideal aspects of it."
MY THOUGHTS:I have thoroughly enjoyed the half dozen or so of these WhoHQ Penguin Workshop biographies published by Penguin Random House LLC that I've read in the past couple of years. This volume is no exception.

When I hear the name, Norman Rockwell, I think Americana. This prolific and talented painter contributed paintings to The Saturday Evening Post from 1916 until 1963. The book includes background information on the history of and the importance of this magazine in American culture.

I was pleased that the author included some information about Norman's childhood so young readers can relate to his struggles. Apparently, Norman was skinny and uncoordinated, so unlike his brother--Jarvis--he was not chosen to play in the neighborhood games. 

However, from a young age Norman exhibited talent as an artist. He liked to draw pictures from magazines. When his father read aloud to the family at night, Norman would draw pictures of the characters in his sketch book. 

Unfortunately, Norman's mother was sickly and his father's attention was given to the care of his wife. Mr. Rockwell did not pay much attention to Norman and Jarvis. Apparently, the loneliness and lack of love Norman felt from his parents affected him his entire life. I worked with lots of children who were in the same situation, and I think this book may inspire them when they learn that a talented artist of great fame experienced the same things in his home life as a child.

As a middle-grader, Norman worked at several jobs to earn money for art lessons. He mowed lawns, taught drawing to an actress, and delivered mail. At age seventeen Norman dropped out of high school so he could enroll full time in the Art Students League school in New York City. He studied there for the next three years. 

He spent every spare moment working on his art. He did not go out on the town or party like the other students in his classes. Norman placed himself on a very strict regime. He did not skip lunch, and he never worked all night. 

Norman later became associated with the Boy Scouts of America as an illustrator for their first handbook. He was hired to become the art editor of Boys' Life Magazine, the Boy Scout magazine. Over the next sixty years Norman painted many covers for the annual Boy Scout calendar too.

In addition, Norman illustrated advertisements for socks, cereal, toothpaste, and cough medicine. He had a dream of painting a cover for The Saturday Evening Post. When he intitially met with the magazine's editor and art editor they bought two covers and one additional sketch idea and three future covers. Norman was on his way!

The book chronicles his U.S. Navy service during World War I. His Four Freedoms covers on The Saturday Evening Post, published in 1943, helped to sell over $132 million worth of government bonds to help the World War II effort. 

After a tragic fire in which his entire studio burned down, Norman Rockwell decided to paint the present rather than paint historical scenes and portraits. This change of focus spurred him on to paint Rosie the Riveter for the May 29, 1943, cover of the Post. 

In an effort to increase the popularity of the magazine during the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Post commissioned Rockwell to paint portraits of US politicians Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, and John F. Kennedy. Norman also traveled around the world to sketch portraits of world leaders. This was not the type of work Rockwell wanted to be doing. He wanted to paint covers that told a story. After 323 covers, he retired from the Post at age sixty-nine.

He continued to work through the 1960s and early 1970s by painting what he saw happening in America. Desegregation of neighborhoods and schools, the Civil Rights Act, and the Apollo 11 moon landing were among his most famous works. 

In 1976, Norman Rockwell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford. However, Rockwell was too frail to attend the ceremony; so his son, Jarvis, accepted the medal on his behalf. He died at the age of 84 in November, 1978.

The back matter includes a section on where Norman Rockwell's work can be found, timelines of Norman Rockwell's life and the world, and a Bibliography.

Highly-recommended for fans of art history, American heroes, US history, and biographies of famous Americans.

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Learn about more great middle-grade reads by visiting Greg Pattridge's 'Always in the Middle' blog to find the links to other blog posts celebrating Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday!  # # # # #
 

~ MMGM HISTORICAL ADVENTURE PENNY ~

~ MARVELOUS MIDDLE-GRADEMONDAY HISTORICAL ADVENTURE FEATURE ~ --  'PENNY'  {HORSE DIARIES #16}  -- AUTHOR WHITNEY SANDERSONILLUSTRATOR RUTH SANDERSON


LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS
ABOUT THE BOOK {from Goodreads}:

For all lovers of horses and history! In the latest book in the Horse Diaries series, meet Penny, a blue-eyed palomino paint mare who grows up in the Wild West of California during the Gold Rush!

CALIFORNIA, 1850. Penny is a blue-eyed palomino paint mare with a taste for adventure! She and a boy named Jesse search for gold in the hills of Northern California. After striking it rich and then losing everything, Jesse and Penny join the Pony Express. The job is a tough one, but Penny loves a challenge! Here is Penny's story . . . in her own words.

Love horses and history? Don't miss the stories of Elska, Bell's Star, Calvino, Lily, and more in the Horse Diaries series!

MY THOUGHTS:
As a middle-grade reader, I adored horse stories. Some of my favorites were by famed author Marguerite Henry:  Misty of Chincoteague; Stormy: Misty's Foal; Brighty of the Grand Canyon; and King of the Wind. When I saw this book, Penny, which combines my love of California history with a story about a horse, I was sold.

This book covers many years and many events in California's history. The narrator of the story is a Palomino mare owned by the main character, Jesse, and his grandfather, Buckeye Jack. The story opens in 1853 when the three of them arrive in the Sierra Nevada foothills after they split off from their wagon train. Jesse is a nine-year-old orphan whose parents died of cholera on the wagon train trail a few months ago.

At this point in the story, the horse has no name. Buckeye Jack encourages Jesse to choose a name for their new horse. Jesse tries out the names of Buttercup, Duchess, and Sunshine, but none of them sound right to him. Later on in the story Jesse christens the mare 'Penny' when she saves them from an undesirable situation.

Jesse and Buckeye Jack work in the gold fields and are swindled by the merchants selling supplies and by a gambler who comes into their camp one evening to play cards with the grandfather. Unfortunately, Buckeye Jack loses the mare in a card game. Jesse is understandably upset, but things work out in the end.

Penny makes her way back to the two gold miners. Jesse's historical adventures continue when he joins the Pony Express in 1860 at age sixteen. This part of the book was filled with action and was really fun to read.

When the Pony Express closes in late 1861, Jesse and Penny join the railroad and work laying track for the Transcontinental Railroad over the Sierra Nevada mountains. The author's description of the back-breaking work and rough working conditions for men and their horses is a real eye-opener.

Once the railroad is completed, Jesse moves back to California and opens his own business driving passengers from the railroad station to their lodgings in black carriage. Of course, his trusty side-kick, Penny, is the one pulling the carriage. 

Jesse is now an adult and the rest of the story is about his marriage and eventual life as a father to two middle-grade children of his own. Jesse and his family live in Omaha, Nebraska, his wife's hometown. Penny is the family horse and enjoys her job as the transporter in charge of carrying the children to school each day.  

But wait! There is one more adventure in store for Jesse, his family, and Penny. This adventure involves 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show' featuring Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill Cody. This final section of the book is great fun and will delight readers of all ages.

The Appendix is thorough and includes detailed information about the American Paint Horse {Penny}, The California Gold Rush, The Pony Express, and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. 

I studied California history in grade school, high school, and college. I still enjoy visiting history museums and historical sites throughout the Northern California region. I found the author's depiction of life in California during the above time period to be accurate and realistic.

Highly-recommended for readers of all ages who are fans of California history, horse fiction, historical fiction, Gold Rush history, Pony Express history, Wild West history, and historical adventures.

I borrowed this book from the local public library.

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Learn about more great middle-grade reads by visiting Greg Pattridge's 'Always in the Middle' blog to find the links to other blog posts celebrating Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday!  # # # # #

~ FRIDAY FICTION FEATURE THE NUMBER OF LOVE ~

~ FRIDAY FICTION FEATURE ~BLOG TOUR STOP FOR --  'THE NUMBER OF LOVE'  -- AUTHOR ROSEANNA M. WHITE~Post Includes:  Book Spotlight, Author Bio, Excerpt, Unique Guest Post Sharedby the Author & Giveaway~ 
 
Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for The Number of Love by Roseanna M. White with JustRead Publicity Tours! Follow along with the tour for a special inside peek at how The Number of Love is connected to the author's previous book from another series, A Song Unheard.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: The Number of Love  
Series: Codebreakers #1  
Author: Roseanna M. White  
Publisher: Bethany House  
Release Date: June 4, 2019  
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance/Intrigue

Three years into the Great War, England’s greatest asset is their intelligence network—field agents risking their lives to gather information, and codebreakers able to crack every German telegram. Margot De Wilde thrives in the environment of the secretive Room 40, where she spends her days deciphering intercepted messages. But when her world is turned upside down by an unexpected loss, for the first time in her life numbers aren’t enough.

Drake Elton returns wounded from the field, followed by an enemy that just won’t give up. He’s smitten quickly by the too-intelligent Margot, but how to convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that sometimes life’s answers lie in the heart?

Amidst biological warfare, encrypted letters, and a German spy who wants to destroy not just them, but others they love, Margot and Drake will have to work together to save them all from the very secrets that brought them together.


PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | ChristianBook

EXCERPT FROM 'THE NUMBER OF LOVE':

A snapshot slid out as he unfolded the letter. He picked it up and sucked in a breath.
He didn’t even glance at his sister’s image, smiling from the right side of the photo. He was too busy looking at the figure on the left.The dark-eyed nameless girl.
She stared up at him with an intensity that a camera should not have been able to capture so well. Her lips didn’t smile, exactly, but they didn’t not either. The corners were turned up just the slightest bit, in a way that put Mona Lisa to shame.
The black-and-white image couldn’t reveal details like eye color or the shade of suit she wore, but his memory supplied the image’s lack. Deepest brown eyes, so dark they were nearly black. The day he’d seen her, she’d been in dark blue—he couldn’t have said whether this skirt and jacket were exactly the same or not, but he imagined them as such.
Just as he imagined the snap of her wit ready to trip off her tongue.
* * *
Title: A Song Unheard
Series: Shadows Over England #2 
Author: Roseanna M. White  
Publisher: Bethany House  
Release Date: January 2, 2018  
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance/Intrigue

Willa Forsythe is both a violin prodigy and top-notch thief, which make her the perfect choice for a crucial task at the outset of World War I—to steal a cypher from a famous violinist currently in Wales.

Lukas De Wilde has enjoyed the life of fame he's won—until now, when being recognized nearly gets him killed. Everyone wants the key to his father's work as a cryptologist. And Lukas fears that his mother and sister, who have vanished in the wake of the German invasion of Belgium, will pay the price. The only light he finds is in meeting the intriguing Willa Forsythe.

But danger presses in from every side, and Willa knows what Lukas doesn't—that she must betray him and find that cypher, or her own family will pay the price as surely as his has.


PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | ChristianBookABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she's homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books...to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.

CONNECT WITH ROSEANNA: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

GUEST POST SHARED BY THE AUTHOR, ROSEANNA M. WHITE:


Margot De Wilde, my heroine in The Number of Love , is a mathematician working as a codebreaker in England’s Room 40 during the Great War. So she’s fond of numbers. Like, crazy fond. The girl totally baffles me with the way she thinks and views the world in mathematical concepts—in a highly entertaining way, of course. (And let’s not get into how an author can be baffled by her own characters. It happens, okay? More often than we’d like to admit…)
So Margot is all about numbering things—hence why she and I thought it would be great fun to share a numbered list. So allow me to introduce
Seven things you might not know about The Number of Love:
The number “18” appears 62 times in the manuscript (honestly, I thought it would be more, LOL.) Or maybe 63, if you count the one on the cover!
Characters from four other books make “guest” appearances in these pages, including: Brook and her father from The Lost Heiress (Justin is mentioned but not on-page); Rosemary from A Name Unknown; Willa and Lukas from A Song Unheard; and Barclay and Evalina (and, honestly, quite a few other “family” members) from An Hour Unspent.
When a character named Camden is introduced, the conversation he has with our hero, Drake, made me rewrite Cam’s entire history, which I thought I already had figured out—I thought his mother had died when he was a kid, but no. She had to be alive solely so that Drake could make a joke about her sending him a tin of biscuits for helping Camden out of a scrape. (Turns out, this was a great thing, since his mother had a pretty important role in book two, On Wings of Devotion, when Camden takes center stage…)
This book has phrases from 3 other languages in it—French, which is Margot’s native tongue; Spanish, which Drake learned from his mother’s family in Bilbao, Spain; and German, spoken by our antagonist. (Yeah…I speak English. A little French. This was, um, challenging.)
The bad guy goes by “Das Gespenst,” German for “The Ghost.” When I decided I wanted this to be his name, I emailed my foreign-exchange-student brother (he lived with our family for a year when I was 12) who is German and asked him which of the many “ghost” words in German would work best. He not only gave me the vocabulary lesson, he also made sure I knew where the hyphen should go between syllables if it was ever broken up between lines in the manuscript. Thank you, Sascha! (Also, just try to say “Das Gespenst” without pitching your voice low and sounding all threatening. You can’t do it. You just can’t!)
One of the books that inspired the character of Margot was Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan, an amazing middle grade book I read with my homeschool class a couple years ago.
Some of my searches while writing included: prosthetic limbs in WW1, symptoms of anthrax poisoning, air raids of London in 1917, history of tungsten (wolfram), popular Spanish literature in the 1910s, Belgian poets, and Einstein’s 1917 essays (including page numbers in the journal they were published in). Yep. Never a dull moment when you’re a historical writer!
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TOUR GIVEAWAY
Grand Prize: Shadows Over England series, The Number of Love, and the Decrypto board game, plus "Mi Alma" necklace (Necklace is 24" chain with a 1" pendant that says "Mi Alma" Spanish for "My Soul". A term of endearment used throughout the book. Handmade by Bookworm Mama)
(3) additional winners of The Number of Love.
Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight June 3, 2019 and last through 11:59 pm June 17, 2019. US only. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
a Rafflecopter giveawayFollow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!# # # # # 

~ BLOG TOUR A SONG UNHEARD ~

~ BLOG TOUR STOP ~
-- 'THE NUMBER OF LOVE' &
'A SONG UNHEARD' --
AUTHOR ROSEANNA M. WHITE
~Post Includes: Book Spotlights on Both
Novels, Excerpt from 'A Song Unheard',
Author Bio & Giveaway~  
Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for The Number of Love by Roseanna M. White with JustRead Publicity Tours! Follow along with the tour for a special inside peek at how The Number of Love is connected to the author's previous book from another series, A Song Unheard.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: The Number of Love Series: Codebreakers #1  Author: Roseanna M. White  Publisher: Bethany House  Release Date: June 4, 2019  Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance/Intrigue
Three years into the Great War, England’s greatest asset is their intelligence network—field agents risking their lives to gather information, and codebreakers able to crack every German telegram. Margot De Wilde thrives in the environment of the secretive Room 40, where she spends her days deciphering intercepted messages. But when her world is turned upside down by an unexpected loss, for the first time in her life numbers aren’t enough.
Drake Elton returns wounded from the field, followed by an enemy that just won’t give up. He’s smitten quickly by the too-intelligent Margot, but how to convince a girl who lives entirely in her mind that sometimes life’s answers lie in the heart?
Amidst biological warfare, encrypted letters, and a German spy who wants to destroy not just them, but others they love, Margot and Drake will have to work together to save them all from the very secrets that brought them together.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | ChristianBook
Title: A Song Unheard Series: Shadows Over England #2 Author: Roseanna M. White  Publisher: Bethany House  Release Date: January 2, 2018  Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance/Intrigue
Willa Forsythe is both a violin prodigy and top-notch thief, which make her the perfect choice for a crucial task at the outset of World War I—to steal a cypher from a famous violinist currently in Wales.
Lukas De Wilde has enjoyed the life of fame he's won—until now, when being recognized nearly gets him killed. Everyone wants the key to his father's work as a cryptologist. And Lukas fears that his mother and sister, who have vanished in the wake of the German invasion of Belgium, will pay the price. The only light he finds is in meeting the intriguing Willa Forsythe.
But danger presses in from every side, and Willa knows what Lukas doesn't—that she must betray him and find that cypher, or her own family will pay the price as surely as his has.
EXCERPT FROM A SONG UNHEARD : “Some people don’t need to be taught in order to learn.”“Very true.” Was that not what Père had always said about Margot? That it wasn’t like teachingher at all—it was like reminding her of something she already knew but for which she hadn’t quite had the words.He had always thought music similar. That his favorite compositions were capturing something he’d always known existed and putting it to paper. Giving voice, giving words to those soaring notes of joy, the pulsing beats of temper or pain.But it had taken teaching for him to learn how to bring those notes to life on an instrument. For everyone he knew, it was the same. Oh, he had met musicians who played by ear, to be sure. But not like this. “So you began at age twelve. Teaching yourself. And now you can re-create the most challenging pieces after hearing them . . . how many times?”She shifted, glanced at the incredulous Jules again, back to him. Shrugged. “It depends on the piece. Once, sometimes. Twice or thrice always suffices.”Once. Or twice.Jules fell to a seat on a chair. “Incroyable,” he muttered again.Lukas just held that gaze she’d shifted back to him. It was incredible. Unbelievable. “You are a . . . a prodigy.” He’d never met one, not really. Children with talent, certainly. But this talented? Never. Miraculous, his family would say. God-gifted.He’d not given much thought in recent years to gifts from God. And these last few weeks, he wouldn’t have bet God was still even imparting gifts, given the state of the world. But what else could one call this? Her?
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository | ChristianBookABOUT THE AUTHOR
 
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she's homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books...to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
CONNECT WITH ROSEANNA: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
TOUR GIVEAWAY
Grand Prize: Shadows Over England series, The Number of Love, and the Decrypto board game, plus "Mi Alma" necklace (Necklace is 24" chain with a 1" pendant that says "Mi Alma" Spanish for "My Soul". A term of endearment used throughout the book. Handmade by Bookworm Mama)
(3) additional winners of The Number of Love.
Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at Midnight June 3, 2019 and last through 11:59PM June 17, 2019. US only. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
a Rafflecopter giveawayFollow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

~ FREE CLEAN INDIE BOOKS ~

~ FREE CLEAN INDIE READS ~--SHORT STORIES, NOVELLAS& ANTHOLOGIES-- JUNE 3RD - JUNE 5TH, 2019!

~ MMGM ART LAB FOR KIDS EXPRESS YOURSELF ~

~ MARVELOUS MIDDLE-GRADEMONDAY NON-FICTION ART FEATURE ~  --  'ART LAB FOR KIDS ~ EXPRESS YOURSELF:  52 CREATIVE ADVENTURES TO FIND YOUR VOICE THROUGH DRAWING, PAINTING, MIXED  MEDIA & SCULPTURE  --
  LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS

ABOUT THE BOOK {from Goodreads}:

Art Lab for Kids, Express Yourself is a fun collection of art activities that encourage children to create freely, using their own thoughts and experiences as a guide.

One of the most important gifts we can give children is to nurture their creativity and allow them to express themselves freely. There's no better way to express yourself than through creative art projects. This is especially true for children because it gives them an outlet to explore their developing interests and strengths.

Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself contains 52 brand new original art projects that will draw out each young artist as they discover their style, document their thoughts, and build confidence in their unique perspective. Each lesson asks questions and offers personal choices while encouraging diverse approaches and creative thinking.

The Colorful Beasts project, which incorporates discussion of endangered animals with the Blue Rider art movement, asks children to use torn colored tissue paper and glue to create an expressive representation of a favorite vulnerable animal. In I Built This City, children imagine and build their own cityscape using columns of newspaper text to make buildings on top of a watercolor painted background, and detailed with marker.

Many projects include varying examples and executions of the activity to illustrate and reinforce the open-ended nature of the labs, inspiring children to embrace and share their own voice.

Give children the great gift of creative self-exploration with Art Lab for Kids, Express Yourself.

The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a year-long curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR {from her website}:
Fine artist and art teacher Susan Schwake is best known for her bold use of color in her nature-inspired abstract paintings and for her playful-process oriented teaching style.

In her own work she is most interested in the role color plays in nature and often alters or amplifies color to uplift the work or draw greater attention to overlooked details. She explores and documents her love of nature in her daily art making practice. Profoundly interested in blurring the lines between reality and dreams her landscapes and larger works on canvas feature specific and composite locations rendered in unexpected color.
Along with exhibiting in New England venues, Susan has also created several large-scale, site-specific public artworks for local municipalities including Overnight Art in Portsmouth NH  and Art Esprit Shoes of Rochester New Hampshire. Her work  has been featured by United Airlines, Editions Boreal, Small Magazine from China, ON Magazine, and others. Her work has been featured online at The Working Proof,Juxtapoz, Poppytalk and Design Sponge. She has written for WhipUp and Illustration Friday Blog about artists, DIY and teaching art. A full list of her gallery exhibitions is under the news section on her site.
Art EducatorHer passion for teaching art and bringing out each student’s personal style has found her working in diverse settings for over 20 years. She has inspired thousands of people in private and public schools, museums and libraries, community organizations, special needs agencies, summer camps, intergenerational facilities, at Plymouth State University and her own little art school, called artstream in Rollinsford, New Hampshire. Susan has also taken her classroom online and offers a series of e-courses that include painting, printmaking and a parent/child class based on her bestselling books.
Author Susan Schwake has written six books about creating art with children (and daring adults). Released in 2016 by Two Little Birds Publishers, Art Camp, is an easy-to-use collection of self-guided, open-ended lessons inspired by contemporary artists and nature. Art for All Seasons features 40 seasonally inspired creative art projects. These two books follow the release of her first three books from Quarto Publishing, the bestselling Art Lab for Kids series, with over 100,000 copies sold in the USA. The series has been translated into nine languages, bringing her teachings to worldwide audience.  Her latest release is Art Lab for Kids: Express Yourself from December 2018. 
MY THOUGHTS:I was impressed with this book on many levels. The 'Getting Started' unit by the author is inspiring and sets the scene for a volume filled with understanding and respecting children's developmental journey through self-expression. Here the author discusses art-making materials and the effective art-making space.

Next she moves on to 'Express Yourself' units on drawing, printing, printmaking, mixed media, and paper. Each unit features eight to twelve projects for children to complete.

Each project, or 'Lab', includes a materials list, a 'What Do You Think?' introduction to the process, stepped-out photos of children working on the project, and stepped-out text instructions for the adult and learner to follow. The photos are color and are close-ups, and I was pleased to see the genuine enthusiasm on the children artists' faces as they worked on their projects.

My favorite projects include: Woven Eye, Art Trophies, Fold Me a Garden, Stars in the Sky, Tape-Stencil T-Shirt, and the Block-Printed T-Shirt. An interesting Gallery of Artists is included in the back matter.

Highly-recommended for teachers, caregivers, youth group/scout/summer camp and 4H leaders, and adults who want to learn some basics about teaching art to children.

I borrowed this book from the New Book shelf in the children's section of the local public library.

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Learn about more great middle-grade reads by visiting Greg Pattridge's 'Always in the Middle' blog to find the links to other blog posts celebrating Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday!

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~ HANDMADE HEARTS IS FREE ON AMAZON! ~