June McCrary Jacobs's Blog: ~ Author June McCrary Jacobs ~, page 99
August 23, 2018
~ BLOG TOUR HOMESPUN ~
~ FRIDAY BOOK FEATURE ~
-- HOMESPUN: AMISH &
MENNONITE WOMEN IN
THEIR OWN WORDS -- Edited by: Lorilee Craker~Post Includes: Book Spotlight,Editor Bio & Excerpt ~
Story makes the world go ‘round
The stories of Amish and Mennonite women in their own words
ABOUT THE BOOK: Harrisonburg, VA — Behind Amish romance novels, tourist spots and “reality” TV shows stand real people, with longings and loves just like the rest of us. Every Amish and Mennonite woman has a story. What would it be like to be welcomed into their homes and share those stories over a cup of coffee?
In the pages of Homespun: Amish and Mennonite Women in Their Own Words (Herald Press/ August 7, 2018/ISBN: 978-1-5138-0316-6/$15.99), Amish and Plain Mennonite women swap stories and spin yarns while the reader sits in. The book’s editor, Lorilee Craker, bestselling author of Money Secrets of the Amish, collected these personal writings and authentic perspectives on life, hospitality, home, grief, joy, and walks with God from Anabaptist women’s periodicals. Among the stories shared are essays penned by well-loved Amish and Mennonite writers such as Sherry Gore, Linda Byler, Lovina Eicher, Dorcas Smucker, and Sheila Petre.
Craker, who describes herself as a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies, grew up in Manitoba where the Mennonite community was large. Her mother’s family came from Ukraine in the 1870s and were pioneers who homesteaded on the prairies. Her father’s family arrived in Canada after World War II when they fled Stalin and his holocaust. She knew from early on there were lots of different kinds of Mennonite stories, but she never realized there was anything “different” about the way she grew up until she arrived in Chicago for college. “Everyone seemed to think that being Amish or Old Order Mennonite and being my kind of Mennonite were one and the same. This assumption led to lots of explanations on my part about the difference between my modern Mennonite upbringing (‘like Baptist, with a German accent and special foods’) and those other related subcultures.”
Explaining the differences would eventually lead to Craker to writing her first book on the Amish where she learned for all the differences, there were many more similarities than she expected there to be. While visiting the Amish, she found a peace and gentleness that reminded her of home. As she compiled the stories for Homespun, those same feelings and many more came to the surface.
“These narratives stirred different emotions in me. My heart ached for Ervina Yoder as she described what it was like for her to be the mother of a longed-for but stillborn baby. I was inspired and encouraged by Danielle Beiler’s trust in God as her provider, and I giggled at Mary Yoder’s secondhand testimony of an Amish man whose pants were just too stretchy. Other essays enthused my soul, and I came away feeling as if I had just been to church. My cup had been filled.”
Craker hopes that readers will enjoy the stories as much as she did. “You don’t have to be a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies to do so. All you need to do is open your heart and let the homespun words of these women enlarge your worldview, extend your heart, and increase your friendship with the Creator of all good and gut things.”
ABOUT THE EDITOR:
Lorilee Craker is the editor of Homespun: Amish and Mennonite Women in Their Own Words. She describes herself as a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies and didn’t know there was anything “peculiar” about being Mennonite until she moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Chicago, Illinois for college. It was then that she realized most people outside of Mennonite communities assumed she had come from buggy-driving, bonnet-wearing, butter-churning folk. Everyone seemed to think that being Amish or Old Order Mennonite and being her kind of Mennonite were one and the same. The experience of explaining the differences led her to writing the book, Money Secrets of the Amish (an Audie Awards finalist which she also narrated).
A freelance journalist, blogger and speaker, Craker was an entertainment writer for The Grand Rapids Press for seventeen years. She has been featured in many media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Time and People. She is the author of fifteen books, including Anne of Green Gables, My Daughter, and Me, My Journey to Heaven with Marv Besteman, and the New York Times bestseller Through the Story with Lynne Spears.
The proud founder of a writing day camp for middle-schoolers, Craker lives in Grand Rapids, MI with her husband and their three children.
Learn more about Lorilee Craker online at lorileecraker.com. You can also find her on Facebook (@LorileeCraker), Twitter (@lorileecraker) and Instagram (@thebooksellersdaughter).
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK:
“A revealing and wide ranging resource. . . . This eclectic book will interest any reader who’s curious about the plain lifestyle."
~ Publishers Weekly
“Homespun reads like a leisurely visit with an old friend. It starts off with light, chatty topics before settling into the-deep-part-of-the-heart experiences, such as a young mom recovering from the stillborn birth of her little boy. At times charming and humorous, at other times profound and heavy, this collection of true stories will linger in your mind long after you close the book.”
~ Suzanne Woods Fisher, bestselling author of Amish Peace
EXCERPT:
Introduction from Homespun: Amish and Mennonite Women in Their Own Words
Lorilee Craker, editor
Excerpt ©2018 by Herald Press
I’m just a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies.
This is what I tell people, and it’s true. As a two-week-old adopted infant, I was brought to the home of my Mennonite parents, Abe and Linda Reimer, on a slushy April day in 1968. From that moment on, I was their daughter, grafted into the family tree and over four hundred years of Mennonite history.
On my mom’s side, we are country folk, descendants of Mennonite pioneers who traveled from Ukraine in the 1870s, carrying scoops of hearty winter wheat from the Old Country to plant in the New. The Loewens and the Brandts of Rosenort, Manitoba, still speak Low German (Plattdeutsch) and partake of Faspa (a late afternoon lunch) on any given Sunday. The ties of language, food, and culture that bind them to their pioneer great-great-grandparents are startlingly durable. The Isaacs and Abrams and Sarahs and Lydias of old, who lugged steamer trunks halfway across Canada on Red River carts and abided in sod huts, would be so proud.
My dad was born in 1937, in a Mennonite colony in Ukraine. He was born into a holocaust waged by Stalin against his own people. By the time my dad was ten months old, he had lost his twin sister, Anna, to starvation. At age six, he fled with thousands of other refugees across Ukraine by foot, fleeing Stalin. He arrived by boat in Canada in 1947, a ten-year-old immigrant Mennonite boy.
You see, I knew from early on that there were lots of different kinds of Mennonite stories.
But I didn’t know until I went away to college in Chicago at the age of nineteen that there was anything peculiar about being Mennonite. Hey, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where I was raised, you can’t throw a Fleisch Perishky (meat bun) without beaming another Menno on the head. Upon arrival in Chicago, I quickly realized, much to my surprise, that most people outside of Mennonite communities assumed I had come from buggy-driving, bonnet-wearing, butter-churning folk. Everyone seemed to think that being Amish or Old Order Mennonite and being my kind of Mennonite were one and the same.
This assumption led to lots of explanations on my part about the difference between my modern Mennonite upbringing (“like Baptist, with a German accent and special foods”) and those other related subcultures. It also led to me writing a whole book about the Amish, who I came to realize were more closely tied to me and my upbringing than I had ever dreamed.
As I visited Amish homes and barns in Michigan and Pennsylvania for my 2011 book, Money Secrets of the Amish, I recognized bits of their dialect, Deitsch (Pennsylvania German), from my spotty grasp of Low German. The Amish women’s hair buns and long skirts, not to mention the tantalizing aromas of fruit strudels (Platz, to me) baking in their ovens, reminded me of my beloved grandma Loewen. I recalled my little dynamo of an Oma (grandmother) tsk-tsk-ing me about the length of my skirt. She always had a twinkle in her eye as she chided me, but I still made sure to go for full coverage as I interviewed the Amish.
Among the Amish, there was a feeling of welcome, of peace and simplicity. I felt oddly at home among my spiritual and cultural cousins. Both Amish and Mennonites are Anabaptists, a Christian group that began during the 1500s and continues in a variety of forms today.
These combined elements in my background prepared me well to curate this book you hold in your hands. I was excited to cross those hospitable Anabaptist thresholds again, if only through the writers’ words. I knew I would find a gentle spirit in the writings of my Mennonite and Amish sisters, and I was right.
Even though some of these writers drive cars and hold jobs like the rest of us in the world, their rootedness in their Anabaptist heritage sets them apart from that world. In these writings, most of which are drawn from two Anabaptist women’s periodicals (Daughters of Promise and Ladies’ Journal), I found a sisterhood of women with shared values. As I read dozens of essays and devotional pieces and true stories, all written by women, some themes arose.
Welcome. A deep sense of hospitality is fundamental to these women. Yet it’s not hospitality in the HGTV, your-house-needs-to-be-perfect kind of way. “It is easy to overthink hosting,” writes Vicki Kaufman. “There’s no formula for the perfect menu, the perfect conversation, the perfect music playlist. Our Lord Jesus made it look quite simple, and his hosting style can be described in one word: love.” Abide. Hospitality is sacred and spiritual, but it doesn’t mean these writers don’t want to have an appealing home space in which to dwell. They want to abide in an abode, if you will, that nurtures them and feeds their spirit. “Keep it simple but significant,” says Bethany Hege in “White Space.” The writers here expound beautifully on what home means to them. Testimony. Story makes the world go round. When we hear the stories—the testimonies—of others, we are better able to understand our own story and our place in the world. These narratives stirred different emotions in me. My heart ached for Ervina Yoder as she described what it was like for her to be the mother of a longed-for but stillborn baby: “I go grocery shopping and no one knows I’m a mommy,” she writes, from a to-the-bone level of honesty. I was inspired and encouraged by Danielle Beiler’s trust in God as her provider. “If God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, he can take care of my needs.” And I giggled at Mary Yoder’s secondhand testimony of an Amish man whose pants were just too stretchy. Poor guy was definitely in a “ferhoodled” state of mind! Wonder. The blazing faith of early Anabaptists is evident in the openness of these writers to all things wondrous. This short-but-sweet section easily could have been filed under “Testimony,” as the four pieces are true stories of miracles, phenomenal happenings that don’t make sense from a human perspective. But these tales deserve their own section, as they highlight the possibility of the miraculous happening all around us, in big ways and small. Kindred. A core value of both Mennonites and Amish is the preeminence of family—kinfolk, whether they be kindred or not. I grew up with dozens of cousins between two close-knit families, and I thought that’s how it was for everyone. Our kin shape us in ways both known and unknown, good and bad. These essays and stories speak to the tremendous influence of family, from our great-grandparents to our children. Writing about family trees, Gert Slabach offers this pearl of wisdom: “Whether we’re part of the tree from our beginning or whether we were grafted in, we belong. We not only belong to the tree; the tree is a part of us. Those knots and gnarled limbs? There’s a story behind them.” Beloved. As I sifted through these essays, I was struck by the faith shining through. More than once, tears came to my eyes, and I lay down the piece I was reading to meditate on it a bit. These essays enthused my soul, and I came away feeling as if I had just been to church. My cup had been filled. There is something wonderfully elemental and childlike about the devotion expressed here, devotion even in doubt. These pieces drew me closer to the One who calls all his daughters “beloved.” In closing, my wish for you as you read these wunderful gut pieces of writing is that you will enjoy them as much as I did. You don’t have to be a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies to do so. All you need to do is open your heart and let the homespun words of these women enlarge your worldview, extend your heart, and increase your friendship with the Creator of all good and gut things.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':-- Monday, August 27th: My Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday feature will highlight a biography of an amazing German woman who was an artist and scientist back in the 17th century. Please return to learn more about this pioneer in science and her illustrious career.
-- Wednesday, August 29th: Blog Tour for 'The Patriot Bride'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity Tours.
# # # # #
MENNONITE WOMEN IN
THEIR OWN WORDS -- Edited by: Lorilee Craker~Post Includes: Book Spotlight,Editor Bio & Excerpt ~
Story makes the world go ‘round
The stories of Amish and Mennonite women in their own words
ABOUT THE BOOK: Harrisonburg, VA — Behind Amish romance novels, tourist spots and “reality” TV shows stand real people, with longings and loves just like the rest of us. Every Amish and Mennonite woman has a story. What would it be like to be welcomed into their homes and share those stories over a cup of coffee?
In the pages of Homespun: Amish and Mennonite Women in Their Own Words (Herald Press/ August 7, 2018/ISBN: 978-1-5138-0316-6/$15.99), Amish and Plain Mennonite women swap stories and spin yarns while the reader sits in. The book’s editor, Lorilee Craker, bestselling author of Money Secrets of the Amish, collected these personal writings and authentic perspectives on life, hospitality, home, grief, joy, and walks with God from Anabaptist women’s periodicals. Among the stories shared are essays penned by well-loved Amish and Mennonite writers such as Sherry Gore, Linda Byler, Lovina Eicher, Dorcas Smucker, and Sheila Petre.
Craker, who describes herself as a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies, grew up in Manitoba where the Mennonite community was large. Her mother’s family came from Ukraine in the 1870s and were pioneers who homesteaded on the prairies. Her father’s family arrived in Canada after World War II when they fled Stalin and his holocaust. She knew from early on there were lots of different kinds of Mennonite stories, but she never realized there was anything “different” about the way she grew up until she arrived in Chicago for college. “Everyone seemed to think that being Amish or Old Order Mennonite and being my kind of Mennonite were one and the same. This assumption led to lots of explanations on my part about the difference between my modern Mennonite upbringing (‘like Baptist, with a German accent and special foods’) and those other related subcultures.”
Explaining the differences would eventually lead to Craker to writing her first book on the Amish where she learned for all the differences, there were many more similarities than she expected there to be. While visiting the Amish, she found a peace and gentleness that reminded her of home. As she compiled the stories for Homespun, those same feelings and many more came to the surface.
“These narratives stirred different emotions in me. My heart ached for Ervina Yoder as she described what it was like for her to be the mother of a longed-for but stillborn baby. I was inspired and encouraged by Danielle Beiler’s trust in God as her provider, and I giggled at Mary Yoder’s secondhand testimony of an Amish man whose pants were just too stretchy. Other essays enthused my soul, and I came away feeling as if I had just been to church. My cup had been filled.”
Craker hopes that readers will enjoy the stories as much as she did. “You don’t have to be a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies to do so. All you need to do is open your heart and let the homespun words of these women enlarge your worldview, extend your heart, and increase your friendship with the Creator of all good and gut things.”
ABOUT THE EDITOR:
Lorilee Craker is the editor of Homespun: Amish and Mennonite Women in Their Own Words. She describes herself as a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies and didn’t know there was anything “peculiar” about being Mennonite until she moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Chicago, Illinois for college. It was then that she realized most people outside of Mennonite communities assumed she had come from buggy-driving, bonnet-wearing, butter-churning folk. Everyone seemed to think that being Amish or Old Order Mennonite and being her kind of Mennonite were one and the same. The experience of explaining the differences led her to writing the book, Money Secrets of the Amish (an Audie Awards finalist which she also narrated).
A freelance journalist, blogger and speaker, Craker was an entertainment writer for The Grand Rapids Press for seventeen years. She has been featured in many media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Time and People. She is the author of fifteen books, including Anne of Green Gables, My Daughter, and Me, My Journey to Heaven with Marv Besteman, and the New York Times bestseller Through the Story with Lynne Spears.
The proud founder of a writing day camp for middle-schoolers, Craker lives in Grand Rapids, MI with her husband and their three children.
Learn more about Lorilee Craker online at lorileecraker.com. You can also find her on Facebook (@LorileeCraker), Twitter (@lorileecraker) and Instagram (@thebooksellersdaughter).
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK:
“A revealing and wide ranging resource. . . . This eclectic book will interest any reader who’s curious about the plain lifestyle."
~ Publishers Weekly
“Homespun reads like a leisurely visit with an old friend. It starts off with light, chatty topics before settling into the-deep-part-of-the-heart experiences, such as a young mom recovering from the stillborn birth of her little boy. At times charming and humorous, at other times profound and heavy, this collection of true stories will linger in your mind long after you close the book.”
~ Suzanne Woods Fisher, bestselling author of Amish Peace
EXCERPT:
Introduction from Homespun: Amish and Mennonite Women in Their Own Words
Lorilee Craker, editor
Excerpt ©2018 by Herald Press
I’m just a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies.
This is what I tell people, and it’s true. As a two-week-old adopted infant, I was brought to the home of my Mennonite parents, Abe and Linda Reimer, on a slushy April day in 1968. From that moment on, I was their daughter, grafted into the family tree and over four hundred years of Mennonite history.
On my mom’s side, we are country folk, descendants of Mennonite pioneers who traveled from Ukraine in the 1870s, carrying scoops of hearty winter wheat from the Old Country to plant in the New. The Loewens and the Brandts of Rosenort, Manitoba, still speak Low German (Plattdeutsch) and partake of Faspa (a late afternoon lunch) on any given Sunday. The ties of language, food, and culture that bind them to their pioneer great-great-grandparents are startlingly durable. The Isaacs and Abrams and Sarahs and Lydias of old, who lugged steamer trunks halfway across Canada on Red River carts and abided in sod huts, would be so proud.
My dad was born in 1937, in a Mennonite colony in Ukraine. He was born into a holocaust waged by Stalin against his own people. By the time my dad was ten months old, he had lost his twin sister, Anna, to starvation. At age six, he fled with thousands of other refugees across Ukraine by foot, fleeing Stalin. He arrived by boat in Canada in 1947, a ten-year-old immigrant Mennonite boy.
You see, I knew from early on that there were lots of different kinds of Mennonite stories.
But I didn’t know until I went away to college in Chicago at the age of nineteen that there was anything peculiar about being Mennonite. Hey, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where I was raised, you can’t throw a Fleisch Perishky (meat bun) without beaming another Menno on the head. Upon arrival in Chicago, I quickly realized, much to my surprise, that most people outside of Mennonite communities assumed I had come from buggy-driving, bonnet-wearing, butter-churning folk. Everyone seemed to think that being Amish or Old Order Mennonite and being my kind of Mennonite were one and the same.
This assumption led to lots of explanations on my part about the difference between my modern Mennonite upbringing (“like Baptist, with a German accent and special foods”) and those other related subcultures. It also led to me writing a whole book about the Amish, who I came to realize were more closely tied to me and my upbringing than I had ever dreamed.
As I visited Amish homes and barns in Michigan and Pennsylvania for my 2011 book, Money Secrets of the Amish, I recognized bits of their dialect, Deitsch (Pennsylvania German), from my spotty grasp of Low German. The Amish women’s hair buns and long skirts, not to mention the tantalizing aromas of fruit strudels (Platz, to me) baking in their ovens, reminded me of my beloved grandma Loewen. I recalled my little dynamo of an Oma (grandmother) tsk-tsk-ing me about the length of my skirt. She always had a twinkle in her eye as she chided me, but I still made sure to go for full coverage as I interviewed the Amish.
Among the Amish, there was a feeling of welcome, of peace and simplicity. I felt oddly at home among my spiritual and cultural cousins. Both Amish and Mennonites are Anabaptists, a Christian group that began during the 1500s and continues in a variety of forms today.
These combined elements in my background prepared me well to curate this book you hold in your hands. I was excited to cross those hospitable Anabaptist thresholds again, if only through the writers’ words. I knew I would find a gentle spirit in the writings of my Mennonite and Amish sisters, and I was right.
Even though some of these writers drive cars and hold jobs like the rest of us in the world, their rootedness in their Anabaptist heritage sets them apart from that world. In these writings, most of which are drawn from two Anabaptist women’s periodicals (Daughters of Promise and Ladies’ Journal), I found a sisterhood of women with shared values. As I read dozens of essays and devotional pieces and true stories, all written by women, some themes arose.
Welcome. A deep sense of hospitality is fundamental to these women. Yet it’s not hospitality in the HGTV, your-house-needs-to-be-perfect kind of way. “It is easy to overthink hosting,” writes Vicki Kaufman. “There’s no formula for the perfect menu, the perfect conversation, the perfect music playlist. Our Lord Jesus made it look quite simple, and his hosting style can be described in one word: love.” Abide. Hospitality is sacred and spiritual, but it doesn’t mean these writers don’t want to have an appealing home space in which to dwell. They want to abide in an abode, if you will, that nurtures them and feeds their spirit. “Keep it simple but significant,” says Bethany Hege in “White Space.” The writers here expound beautifully on what home means to them. Testimony. Story makes the world go round. When we hear the stories—the testimonies—of others, we are better able to understand our own story and our place in the world. These narratives stirred different emotions in me. My heart ached for Ervina Yoder as she described what it was like for her to be the mother of a longed-for but stillborn baby: “I go grocery shopping and no one knows I’m a mommy,” she writes, from a to-the-bone level of honesty. I was inspired and encouraged by Danielle Beiler’s trust in God as her provider. “If God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, he can take care of my needs.” And I giggled at Mary Yoder’s secondhand testimony of an Amish man whose pants were just too stretchy. Poor guy was definitely in a “ferhoodled” state of mind! Wonder. The blazing faith of early Anabaptists is evident in the openness of these writers to all things wondrous. This short-but-sweet section easily could have been filed under “Testimony,” as the four pieces are true stories of miracles, phenomenal happenings that don’t make sense from a human perspective. But these tales deserve their own section, as they highlight the possibility of the miraculous happening all around us, in big ways and small. Kindred. A core value of both Mennonites and Amish is the preeminence of family—kinfolk, whether they be kindred or not. I grew up with dozens of cousins between two close-knit families, and I thought that’s how it was for everyone. Our kin shape us in ways both known and unknown, good and bad. These essays and stories speak to the tremendous influence of family, from our great-grandparents to our children. Writing about family trees, Gert Slabach offers this pearl of wisdom: “Whether we’re part of the tree from our beginning or whether we were grafted in, we belong. We not only belong to the tree; the tree is a part of us. Those knots and gnarled limbs? There’s a story behind them.” Beloved. As I sifted through these essays, I was struck by the faith shining through. More than once, tears came to my eyes, and I lay down the piece I was reading to meditate on it a bit. These essays enthused my soul, and I came away feeling as if I had just been to church. My cup had been filled. There is something wonderfully elemental and childlike about the devotion expressed here, devotion even in doubt. These pieces drew me closer to the One who calls all his daughters “beloved.” In closing, my wish for you as you read these wunderful gut pieces of writing is that you will enjoy them as much as I did. You don’t have to be a simple Mennonite girl from the prairies to do so. All you need to do is open your heart and let the homespun words of these women enlarge your worldview, extend your heart, and increase your friendship with the Creator of all good and gut things.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':-- Monday, August 27th: My Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday feature will highlight a biography of an amazing German woman who was an artist and scientist back in the 17th century. Please return to learn more about this pioneer in science and her illustrious career.
-- Wednesday, August 29th: Blog Tour for 'The Patriot Bride'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity Tours.
# # # # #
August 22, 2018
~ BOOK TOUR FOR 'WORKS OF CHRIST' ~
~ BOOK TOUR ~
-- 'THE WORKS OF CHRIST' --
An Inspirational Book of Poetryand Faith Written byAuthor Edward King~Post Includes: Author Bio, BookSpotlight & Excerpt~
Genre: Christian, Poetry, Inspirational PaperbackISBN: 9781498464451
************* Meet Edward
Edward King is a positive-writing author, who tells us about how to look at things in a positive perspective. With his inspirational writings, he has come a long way from being at on verge of death to being able to inspire many people with both his life and his writings. With his quick healing from the death-defying car accident, Edward King goes through everyday looking to God for all of his answers and finds so much inspiration. He writes to show everyone the God he knows. ************
About The Book
In August 2010, Edward King was in a traumatic car accident that nearly ended his young life. From this accident, he had an incredible out-of-body experience. This is his story along with a collection of simple poetry designed to help one come closer to Christ.Click on logo to purchase a copy
Connect socially
Facebook
Sometimes we lose vision, and we're blinded by our desires,but the Lord always cares about us, and he always inspiresa servant of his to show each of us some cluesthat he will always love us, and his guidance, we'll never lose.From our birth to our death, he will always be thereto cleanse us of our sins and enable us to careand love every one of our brothers and sisters in his name,for he loves us so much, he totally cleansed everyone's shame.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':-- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun' including a book spotlight and excerpt. Tour organized by Read with Audra Publicity.
-- Monday, August 27th: My Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday feature will highlight a biography of an amazing German woman who was an artist and scientist back in the 17th century. Please return to learn more about this pioneer in science and her illustrious career.
-- Wednesday, August 29th: Blog Tour for 'The Patriot Bride'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity Tours.
# # # # #
Genre: Christian, Poetry, Inspirational PaperbackISBN: 9781498464451
************* Meet Edward
Edward King is a positive-writing author, who tells us about how to look at things in a positive perspective. With his inspirational writings, he has come a long way from being at on verge of death to being able to inspire many people with both his life and his writings. With his quick healing from the death-defying car accident, Edward King goes through everyday looking to God for all of his answers and finds so much inspiration. He writes to show everyone the God he knows. ************
About The Book
In August 2010, Edward King was in a traumatic car accident that nearly ended his young life. From this accident, he had an incredible out-of-body experience. This is his story along with a collection of simple poetry designed to help one come closer to Christ.Click on logo to purchase a copy
Connect socially
Facebook
Sometimes we lose vision, and we're blinded by our desires,but the Lord always cares about us, and he always inspiresa servant of his to show each of us some cluesthat he will always love us, and his guidance, we'll never lose.From our birth to our death, he will always be thereto cleanse us of our sins and enable us to careand love every one of our brothers and sisters in his name,for he loves us so much, he totally cleansed everyone's shame.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':-- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun' including a book spotlight and excerpt. Tour organized by Read with Audra Publicity.
-- Monday, August 27th: My Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday feature will highlight a biography of an amazing German woman who was an artist and scientist back in the 17th century. Please return to learn more about this pioneer in science and her illustrious career.
-- Wednesday, August 29th: Blog Tour for 'The Patriot Bride'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity Tours.
# # # # #
August 21, 2018
~ BLOG TOUR MOURNING DOVE ~
~ BLOG TOUR STOP ~
-- 'MOURNING DOVE' --
AUTHOR CLAIRE FULLERTON~Post Includes: Book Spotlight, Author Bio & Giveaway~
Welcome to the blog tour & giveaway for Mourning Dove by Claire Fullerton, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Mourning Dove
Author: Claire Fullerton
Publisher: Firefly Southern Fiction
Release Date: June 29, 2018
Genre: Southern Fiction, Family Life
"An accurate and heart-wrenching picture of the sensibilities of the American South." Kirkus Book Reviews
The heart has a home when it has an ally.
If Millie Crossan doesn't know anything else, she knows this one truth simply because her brother Finley grew up beside her. Charismatic Finley, eighteen months her senior, becomes Millie's guide when their mother Posey leaves their father and moves her children from Minnesota to Memphis shortly after Millie's tenth birthday.
Memphis is a world foreign to Millie and Finley. This is the 1970s Memphis, the genteel world of their mother's upbringing and vastly different from anything they've ever known. Here they are the outsiders. Here, they only have each other. And here, as the years fold over themselves, they mature in a manicured Southern culture where they learn firsthand that much of what glitters isn't gold. Nuance, tradition, and Southern eccentrics flavor Millie and Finley's world as they find their way to belonging.
But what hidden variables take their shared history to leave both brother and sister at such disparate ends?
PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claire Fullerton grew up in Memphis, TN and now lives in Malibu, CA. She is the author of contemporary fiction, “Dancing to an Irish Reel,” set in Connemara, Ireland, where she once lived. Dancing to an Irish Reel is a finalist in the 2016 Kindle Book Review Awards, and a 2016 Readers’ Favorite. Claire is the author of “A Portal in Time,” a paranormal mystery that unfolds in two time periods, set on California’s hauntingly beautiful Monterey Peninsula, in a village called Carmel-by-the-Sea. Both of those novels are published by Vinspire Publishing. Her third novel, Mourning Dove, is a Southern family saga, published in June 2018 by Firefly Southern Fiction. She is one of four contributors to the book, A Southern Season, with her novella, Through an Autumn Window, to be published in November 2018 by Firefly Southern Fiction.
CONNECT WITH CLAIRE: website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram
TOUR GIVEAWAYClaire Fullerton is giving away:
1 audiobook of Mourning Dove (US only)Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight August 21, 2018 and last through 11:59pm August 28, 2018. US only. Winners will be notified within a week 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 giveaway Follow along with the tour at JustRead for a full list of stops!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Thursday, August 23rd: Book Blast for an inspirational/Christian poetry book, 'The Works of Christ'. Post includes a book spotlight and excerpt. Book Blast organized by Write Now Literary Tours.
-- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun' book spotlight and excerpt. Blog Tour organized by Read with Audra Publicity.# # # # #
Welcome to the blog tour & giveaway for Mourning Dove by Claire Fullerton, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Mourning Dove Author: Claire Fullerton
Publisher: Firefly Southern Fiction
Release Date: June 29, 2018
Genre: Southern Fiction, Family Life
"An accurate and heart-wrenching picture of the sensibilities of the American South." Kirkus Book Reviews
The heart has a home when it has an ally.
If Millie Crossan doesn't know anything else, she knows this one truth simply because her brother Finley grew up beside her. Charismatic Finley, eighteen months her senior, becomes Millie's guide when their mother Posey leaves their father and moves her children from Minnesota to Memphis shortly after Millie's tenth birthday.
Memphis is a world foreign to Millie and Finley. This is the 1970s Memphis, the genteel world of their mother's upbringing and vastly different from anything they've ever known. Here they are the outsiders. Here, they only have each other. And here, as the years fold over themselves, they mature in a manicured Southern culture where they learn firsthand that much of what glitters isn't gold. Nuance, tradition, and Southern eccentrics flavor Millie and Finley's world as they find their way to belonging.
But what hidden variables take their shared history to leave both brother and sister at such disparate ends?
PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claire Fullerton grew up in Memphis, TN and now lives in Malibu, CA. She is the author of contemporary fiction, “Dancing to an Irish Reel,” set in Connemara, Ireland, where she once lived. Dancing to an Irish Reel is a finalist in the 2016 Kindle Book Review Awards, and a 2016 Readers’ Favorite. Claire is the author of “A Portal in Time,” a paranormal mystery that unfolds in two time periods, set on California’s hauntingly beautiful Monterey Peninsula, in a village called Carmel-by-the-Sea. Both of those novels are published by Vinspire Publishing. Her third novel, Mourning Dove, is a Southern family saga, published in June 2018 by Firefly Southern Fiction. She is one of four contributors to the book, A Southern Season, with her novella, Through an Autumn Window, to be published in November 2018 by Firefly Southern Fiction.
CONNECT WITH CLAIRE: website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram
TOUR GIVEAWAYClaire Fullerton is giving away:
1 audiobook of Mourning Dove (US only)Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight August 21, 2018 and last through 11:59pm August 28, 2018. US only. Winners will be notified within a week 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 giveaway Follow along with the tour at JustRead for a full list of stops!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Thursday, August 23rd: Book Blast for an inspirational/Christian poetry book, 'The Works of Christ'. Post includes a book spotlight and excerpt. Book Blast organized by Write Now Literary Tours.
-- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun' book spotlight and excerpt. Blog Tour organized by Read with Audra Publicity.# # # # #
August 20, 2018
~ COVER REVEAL AT FIRST GLANCE ~
~ COVER REVEAL ~
-- 'AT FIRST GLANCE' --
AUTHOR SUSAN L. TUTTLE 
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: At First GlanceAuthor: Susan L. TuttlePublisher: Lighthouse Publishing (Blink)Release Date: November, 2018Genre: Contemporary RomanceLinks: Goodreads | Amazon
When it comes to love and matters of the heart, she's got a lot to learn.
Estate planner Penny Thornton loves dusting off items others gloss over, especially since she relates to feeling tossed aside for the "bright and shiny". When her younger sister’s approaching wedding launches Penny back into the throes of her dysfunctional family, she decides to use the festivities to close the gap in their relationships—even if it means appeasing them and finally losing the few pounds they’ve hounded her about for years. But she doesn’t expect to meet two very different men in the process. East Fisher, the personal trainer who personifies everything she believes she could never attain, and Jonah Black, a man who reminds her so much of herself. Both men are more than they appear at first glance, and both seem interested in her romantically. As Penny uncovers their hidden layers, she discovers when it comes to love and matters of the heart, she’s got a lot to learn about estimating value.
TO PURCHASE A COPY*Goodreads | Amazon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan L. Tuttle lives in the Mitten State where she’s a homeschooling mom of three and happily married to her best friend. Between raising her teens and leading the women’s ministry at church, she finds time to write. She’s firmly convinced that letters were meant for words, not math, and loves stringing them together into stories that inspire and encourage. Romance, laughter, and cookies are three of her favorite things, though not always in that order. Connect with Susan at www.susanltuttle.com.
CONNECT WITH SUSAN: Website | Facebook | TwitterTOUR GIVEAWAY
(1) Winner will win a $15 Amazon Gift Card (open internationally), courtesy of the author.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway will begin at midnight August 20, 2018 and last through 11:59 PM EST on August 27, 2018. Winner will be notified within a week of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Open to US mailing addresses only. For our giveaway rules and policy, click HERE.
Be sure to stop at a stop each day for extra entries!
TOUR SCHEDULE
For the full tour schedule, click on either of the launch pages below.(All stops expected to post by 12:00 NOON EST)
Launch Post @JustReadTours
Launch Post @JustCommonly
*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':-- Wednesday, August 22nd: Blog Tour Stop for 'Mourning Dove'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Thursday, August 23rd: Book Blast for an inspirational/Christian poetry book, 'The Works of Christ'. Post includes a book spotlight and excerpt. Book Blast organized by Write Now Literary Tours.
-- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun' book spotlight and excerpt. Blog Tour organized by Read with Audra Publicity.# # # # #
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: At First GlanceAuthor: Susan L. TuttlePublisher: Lighthouse Publishing (Blink)Release Date: November, 2018Genre: Contemporary RomanceLinks: Goodreads | AmazonWhen it comes to love and matters of the heart, she's got a lot to learn.
Estate planner Penny Thornton loves dusting off items others gloss over, especially since she relates to feeling tossed aside for the "bright and shiny". When her younger sister’s approaching wedding launches Penny back into the throes of her dysfunctional family, she decides to use the festivities to close the gap in their relationships—even if it means appeasing them and finally losing the few pounds they’ve hounded her about for years. But she doesn’t expect to meet two very different men in the process. East Fisher, the personal trainer who personifies everything she believes she could never attain, and Jonah Black, a man who reminds her so much of herself. Both men are more than they appear at first glance, and both seem interested in her romantically. As Penny uncovers their hidden layers, she discovers when it comes to love and matters of the heart, she’s got a lot to learn about estimating value.
TO PURCHASE A COPY*Goodreads | Amazon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Susan L. Tuttle lives in the Mitten State where she’s a homeschooling mom of three and happily married to her best friend. Between raising her teens and leading the women’s ministry at church, she finds time to write. She’s firmly convinced that letters were meant for words, not math, and loves stringing them together into stories that inspire and encourage. Romance, laughter, and cookies are three of her favorite things, though not always in that order. Connect with Susan at www.susanltuttle.com.CONNECT WITH SUSAN: Website | Facebook | TwitterTOUR GIVEAWAY
(1) Winner will win a $15 Amazon Gift Card (open internationally), courtesy of the author.a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway will begin at midnight August 20, 2018 and last through 11:59 PM EST on August 27, 2018. Winner will be notified within a week of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Open to US mailing addresses only. For our giveaway rules and policy, click HERE.
Be sure to stop at a stop each day for extra entries!
TOUR SCHEDULE
For the full tour schedule, click on either of the launch pages below.(All stops expected to post by 12:00 NOON EST)Launch Post @JustReadTours
Launch Post @JustCommonly
*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':-- Wednesday, August 22nd: Blog Tour Stop for 'Mourning Dove'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Thursday, August 23rd: Book Blast for an inspirational/Christian poetry book, 'The Works of Christ'. Post includes a book spotlight and excerpt. Book Blast organized by Write Now Literary Tours.
-- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun' book spotlight and excerpt. Blog Tour organized by Read with Audra Publicity.# # # # #
August 19, 2018
~ MMGM RETRO FICTION BEVERLY CLEARY ~
~ Marvelous Middle-Grade MondayRetro Fiction Feature ~
-- 'BEEZUS AND RAMONA' &
'RAMONA THE PEST' --
AUTHOR BEVERLY CLEARYPost Includes: Book Spotlights, Author Bio &My Thoughts
ABOUT THE AUTHOR {from Goodreads}:
Beverly Cleary (born April 12, 1916) is the author of over 30 books for young adults and children. Her characters are normal children facing challenges that many of us face growing up, and her stories are liberally laced with humour. Some of her best known and loved characters are Ramona Quimby and her sister Beatrice ("Beezus"), Henry Huggins, and Ralph S. Mouse.
Beverly Cleary was born Beverly Atlee Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon. When she was 6, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where she went to grammar and high school. She was slow in learning to read, due partly to her dissatisfaction with the books she was required to read and partly to an unpleasant first grade teacher. It wasn't until she was in third grade that she found enjoyment from books, when she started reading The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins. Thereafter, she was a frequent visitor to the library, though she rarely found the books she most wanted to read — those about children like herself.
She moved to California to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and after graduation with a B.A in English in 1938, studied at the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she earned a degree in librarianship in 1939. Her first job was as a librarian in Yakima, Washington, where she met many children who were searching for the same books that she had always hoped to find as a child herself. In response, she wrote her first book, Henry Huggins, which was published in 1950. Beezus and Ramona, Cleary's first novel to feature the Quimby sisters as the central focus of the story, was published in 1955, although Beezus and Ramona made frequent appearances in the Henry Huggins series as supporting characters.
In 1940 she married Clarence T. Cleary and they moved to Oakland, California. The Clearys became parents to a set of twins, Marianne Elisabeth and Malcolm James, in 1955. Clarence Cleary died in 2004. Beverly Cleary currently lives in Carmel, California.
She has also written two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet.
ABOUT THE BOOKS {from Goodreads}:
LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS
Ramona Quimby is the youngest of all the famous characters in Mrs. Cleary's wonderful Henry Huggins stories. She is also far and away the most deadly. Readers of the earlier books will remember that Ramona has always been a menace to Beezus, her older sister, to Henry, and to his dog Ribsy. It is not that Ramona deliberately sets out to make trouble for other people. She simply has more imagination than is healthy for any one person.
* * * * * * * * * *
LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS
This is the second title in the hugely popular series about Ramona Quimby. Ramona doesn't think she's a pest - she knows that she isn't a pest on purpose. So how in the world does Ramona get in trouble? Why does Davy run away whenever Ramona comes near him? And how does she manage to disrupt the whole kindergarten class during their rest time? Beverly Cleary is one of America's most popular authors and has won many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.
* * * * * * * * * *
MY THOUGHTS:I adored Beverly Cleary's books as a middle-grade student. I remember one of my favorite teachers reading each of these two books to us after lunch. She also read many other good books such as 'The Boxcar Children' and 'My Side of the Mountain'. We were expected to read on our own, but the daily time she set aside to read aloud to the entire class was treasured by me.
As a teacher, I read to my students after lunchtime each day, every day of the school year. When I taught fourth grade I read 'My Side of the Mountain' to my class and was thrilled when they experienced the same sense of wonder I had experienced when my teacher read the book aloud. When I taught first grade, I began the school year by reading picture books each day. As the students matured and their attention spans lengthened, I gradually changed up the stories to chapter books and non-fiction picture books.
Without fail, every school year, I began finding favorite books on my desk with little notes stuck inside saying, "Please read this to us again, Mrs. Jacobs!" or "We love this story. Read it again, please!"
People, including other teachers, used to ask me why I was reading aloud to ten-year-olds when they were capable of reading to themselves. How do you impress upon someone that there is just something magical about an adult or older student/sibling reading aloud to a child? The listener is carried away into a different time and place. Cares about peer pressure and being cool are long forgotten, instead those concerns are replaced with enjoyment and engagement with the characters and the events in the story.
I recently reread the above two 'Ramona Quimby' books in preparation for this Retro Fiction feature. I must say that with the exception of Christian Wild West Romance author Mary Connealy's books and Amish fiction author Jennifer Beckstrand's books, I have not laughed more or louder in the past few years or so than I did while reading about Ramona's antics.
Ramona is a headstrong, imaginative, curious little sister who loves to be in control of every situation in which she is involved. Family life at the Quimby's home revolves around making Ramona happy-- because if the family doesn't, she revolts and causes misery for her parents and big sister, Beezus. In Kindergarten {'Ramona the Pest'}, Ramona wants to be her teacher's favorite. She yearns to be the student her teacher feels has hung the moon and the stars in the sky.
I found the characterizations of children in the books to be age-appropriate and accurate with the time period in which the books were written, 1955 for 'Beezus and Ramona' and 1968 for 'Ramona the Pest'. A majority of American mothers stayed at home to take care of the house and children while father spent his days away at his job. Children as young as Kindergarten were allowed to walk to school alone. Teachers were considered to be the authority and were respected by students and their parents.
The singular element which makes these stories stand up to the test of time is the author. Plain and simple--Beverly Cleary understood children. She was a master at humor, physical comedy, and kids' feelings about themselves and the world around them. She got the fact that sometimes it's all right for a child to be the center of attention--when she/he wants it. Mrs. Cleary also understood the fact that there are times when it is not appropriate for a child to be the center of attention because of a child's embarrassment, shyness, fear, etc.
I will close with another personal story. I went to school in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; Mrs. Cleary lived nearby in the Oakland/Berkeley area at that time. After our teacher had read these two books aloud to us, she told us that this author loved receiving letters from children and that Mrs. Cleary had the reputation for personally responding to letters from her readers.
So each of us wrote a letter to Mrs. Beverly Cleary. Several weeks later our class received a letter from Mrs. Cleary. She apologized for not having the time to write individual replies to each student, but she wrote a letter of thanks to our entire class. Hearing back from this woman meant the world our entire class. Just another reason I consider this author to be in a class of her own.
Oh, and did you notice that Mrs. Cleary turned one-hundred two years old this past April?
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':-- Wednesday, August 22nd: Blog Tour Stop for 'Mourning Dove'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity. -- Thursday, August 23rd: Book Blast for an inspirational/Christian poetry book, 'The Works of Christ'. Post includes a book spotlight and excerpt. Book Blast organized by Write Now Literary Tours. -- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun' book spotlight and excerpt. Blog Tour organized by Read with Audra Publicity.# # # # #
ABOUT THE AUTHOR {from Goodreads}:
Beverly Cleary (born April 12, 1916) is the author of over 30 books for young adults and children. Her characters are normal children facing challenges that many of us face growing up, and her stories are liberally laced with humour. Some of her best known and loved characters are Ramona Quimby and her sister Beatrice ("Beezus"), Henry Huggins, and Ralph S. Mouse.
Beverly Cleary was born Beverly Atlee Bunn in McMinnville, Oregon. When she was 6, her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where she went to grammar and high school. She was slow in learning to read, due partly to her dissatisfaction with the books she was required to read and partly to an unpleasant first grade teacher. It wasn't until she was in third grade that she found enjoyment from books, when she started reading The Dutch Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins. Thereafter, she was a frequent visitor to the library, though she rarely found the books she most wanted to read — those about children like herself.
She moved to California to attend the University of California, Berkeley, and after graduation with a B.A in English in 1938, studied at the School of Librarianship at the University of Washington in Seattle, where she earned a degree in librarianship in 1939. Her first job was as a librarian in Yakima, Washington, where she met many children who were searching for the same books that she had always hoped to find as a child herself. In response, she wrote her first book, Henry Huggins, which was published in 1950. Beezus and Ramona, Cleary's first novel to feature the Quimby sisters as the central focus of the story, was published in 1955, although Beezus and Ramona made frequent appearances in the Henry Huggins series as supporting characters.
In 1940 she married Clarence T. Cleary and they moved to Oakland, California. The Clearys became parents to a set of twins, Marianne Elisabeth and Malcolm James, in 1955. Clarence Cleary died in 2004. Beverly Cleary currently lives in Carmel, California.
She has also written two autobiographies, A Girl from Yamhill and My Own Two Feet.
ABOUT THE BOOKS {from Goodreads}:
LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS Ramona Quimby is the youngest of all the famous characters in Mrs. Cleary's wonderful Henry Huggins stories. She is also far and away the most deadly. Readers of the earlier books will remember that Ramona has always been a menace to Beezus, her older sister, to Henry, and to his dog Ribsy. It is not that Ramona deliberately sets out to make trouble for other people. She simply has more imagination than is healthy for any one person.
* * * * * * * * * *
LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS This is the second title in the hugely popular series about Ramona Quimby. Ramona doesn't think she's a pest - she knows that she isn't a pest on purpose. So how in the world does Ramona get in trouble? Why does Davy run away whenever Ramona comes near him? And how does she manage to disrupt the whole kindergarten class during their rest time? Beverly Cleary is one of America's most popular authors and has won many prestigious awards, including the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.
* * * * * * * * * *
MY THOUGHTS:I adored Beverly Cleary's books as a middle-grade student. I remember one of my favorite teachers reading each of these two books to us after lunch. She also read many other good books such as 'The Boxcar Children' and 'My Side of the Mountain'. We were expected to read on our own, but the daily time she set aside to read aloud to the entire class was treasured by me.
As a teacher, I read to my students after lunchtime each day, every day of the school year. When I taught fourth grade I read 'My Side of the Mountain' to my class and was thrilled when they experienced the same sense of wonder I had experienced when my teacher read the book aloud. When I taught first grade, I began the school year by reading picture books each day. As the students matured and their attention spans lengthened, I gradually changed up the stories to chapter books and non-fiction picture books.
Without fail, every school year, I began finding favorite books on my desk with little notes stuck inside saying, "Please read this to us again, Mrs. Jacobs!" or "We love this story. Read it again, please!"
People, including other teachers, used to ask me why I was reading aloud to ten-year-olds when they were capable of reading to themselves. How do you impress upon someone that there is just something magical about an adult or older student/sibling reading aloud to a child? The listener is carried away into a different time and place. Cares about peer pressure and being cool are long forgotten, instead those concerns are replaced with enjoyment and engagement with the characters and the events in the story.
I recently reread the above two 'Ramona Quimby' books in preparation for this Retro Fiction feature. I must say that with the exception of Christian Wild West Romance author Mary Connealy's books and Amish fiction author Jennifer Beckstrand's books, I have not laughed more or louder in the past few years or so than I did while reading about Ramona's antics.
Ramona is a headstrong, imaginative, curious little sister who loves to be in control of every situation in which she is involved. Family life at the Quimby's home revolves around making Ramona happy-- because if the family doesn't, she revolts and causes misery for her parents and big sister, Beezus. In Kindergarten {'Ramona the Pest'}, Ramona wants to be her teacher's favorite. She yearns to be the student her teacher feels has hung the moon and the stars in the sky.
I found the characterizations of children in the books to be age-appropriate and accurate with the time period in which the books were written, 1955 for 'Beezus and Ramona' and 1968 for 'Ramona the Pest'. A majority of American mothers stayed at home to take care of the house and children while father spent his days away at his job. Children as young as Kindergarten were allowed to walk to school alone. Teachers were considered to be the authority and were respected by students and their parents.
The singular element which makes these stories stand up to the test of time is the author. Plain and simple--Beverly Cleary understood children. She was a master at humor, physical comedy, and kids' feelings about themselves and the world around them. She got the fact that sometimes it's all right for a child to be the center of attention--when she/he wants it. Mrs. Cleary also understood the fact that there are times when it is not appropriate for a child to be the center of attention because of a child's embarrassment, shyness, fear, etc.
I will close with another personal story. I went to school in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; Mrs. Cleary lived nearby in the Oakland/Berkeley area at that time. After our teacher had read these two books aloud to us, she told us that this author loved receiving letters from children and that Mrs. Cleary had the reputation for personally responding to letters from her readers.
So each of us wrote a letter to Mrs. Beverly Cleary. Several weeks later our class received a letter from Mrs. Cleary. She apologized for not having the time to write individual replies to each student, but she wrote a letter of thanks to our entire class. Hearing back from this woman meant the world our entire class. Just another reason I consider this author to be in a class of her own.
Oh, and did you notice that Mrs. Cleary turned one-hundred two years old this past April?
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':-- Wednesday, August 22nd: Blog Tour Stop for 'Mourning Dove'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity. -- Thursday, August 23rd: Book Blast for an inspirational/Christian poetry book, 'The Works of Christ'. Post includes a book spotlight and excerpt. Book Blast organized by Write Now Literary Tours. -- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun' book spotlight and excerpt. Blog Tour organized by Read with Audra Publicity.# # # # #
August 15, 2018
~ COVER BLITZ 'WHEN YOU LOOK AT ME' ~
~ COVER BLITZ ~
-- 'WHEN YOU LOOK AT ME' --
AUTHOR PEPPER BASHAM~Post Includes: Cover Reveal, Book Spotlight, Author Bio & Giveaway~ 
Welcome to the official COVER REVEAL blitz for When You Look at Me by Pepper Basham, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours! When You Look At Me is the 2nd book in the Pleasant Gap Romance series and releases in October 2018.
ABOUT THE BOOK
An unexpected mother-to-be
A romance-leery composer
And a forgotten melody from the past that holds the keys to their futures.
When Julia Jenkins’ great aunt dies and leaves her a Victorian mansion with decades of secrets, Julia never expects to unearth a World War 2 espionage mystery. Struggling with her own past since an assault left her pregnant, her future as a solo parent leaves her dreams uncertain. The inheritance from her great aunt gives Julia the ability to take a step back into her future, but also sends her into the discovery of a love story she’d never anticipated. Following her aunt’s cryptic journal, Julia uncovers some oddly written piano music with a musical code she can’t decipher on her own. Not to worry, introverted Englishman and composer, Henry Wright, is thrust on the scene by a pair of homespun matchmakers who know the ‘right’ man for Julia’s wounded heart.
Henry arrives in Pleasant Gap with the task of composing the soundtrack for his best mate’s newest film. The Jenkins’ family’s southern welcome and gregarious personalities set his reticent nature on edge, but he’s inexplicably drawn to his gentle and music-loving hostess, Julia. Uncertain how to build a friendship with the wounded woman, and rather hopeless in communicating well through words, the bond of music becomes a bridge between her uncertainty and his awkwardness.
But her broken past and his families’ expectations build a wall much greater than the cultures that separate them. As they work together to solve a musical mystery from the grave, will an unlikely romance from the past inspire their hearts to trust in a God who’s written the perfect melody for their lives?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes historical and contemporary romance novels with grace, humor, and culture clashes. She’s a Blue Ridge Mountain native and an anglophile who enjoys combining her two loves to create memorable stories of hope. Pepper is also a mom of five, a speech-language pathologist, and a lover of Jesus and chocolate. She resides in Asheville, North Carolina with her family.
CONNECT: website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | InstagramReady…...
.
.Set…...
.
.Reveal!!
Yay!! Isn't it pretty?!? Is it October yet??
Preorder Now!
GOODREADS | AMAZON
TOUR GIVEAWAYEnter for your chance to win:
print copy of Just the Way You Are (book #1 in the series)a cute 'Britallachian' mug - "We go together like tea and biscuits"Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight August 15, 2018, and last through 11:59pm August 22, 2018. US only. Winners will be notified within a week 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 giveaway Follow along with the tour at JustRead for a full list of stops!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Monday, August 20th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday Retro Fiction feature on some of my favorite Beverly Cleary books from the 1950s and 1960s.
-- Wednesday, August 22nd: Blog Tour Stop for 'Mourning Dove'. Post includes book spotlight and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun'. Stop includes book spotlight and excerpt. Tour organized by Reading With Audra Publicity.
# # # # #
Welcome to the official COVER REVEAL blitz for When You Look at Me by Pepper Basham, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours! When You Look At Me is the 2nd book in the Pleasant Gap Romance series and releases in October 2018.
ABOUT THE BOOK
An unexpected mother-to-be
A romance-leery composer
And a forgotten melody from the past that holds the keys to their futures.
When Julia Jenkins’ great aunt dies and leaves her a Victorian mansion with decades of secrets, Julia never expects to unearth a World War 2 espionage mystery. Struggling with her own past since an assault left her pregnant, her future as a solo parent leaves her dreams uncertain. The inheritance from her great aunt gives Julia the ability to take a step back into her future, but also sends her into the discovery of a love story she’d never anticipated. Following her aunt’s cryptic journal, Julia uncovers some oddly written piano music with a musical code she can’t decipher on her own. Not to worry, introverted Englishman and composer, Henry Wright, is thrust on the scene by a pair of homespun matchmakers who know the ‘right’ man for Julia’s wounded heart.
Henry arrives in Pleasant Gap with the task of composing the soundtrack for his best mate’s newest film. The Jenkins’ family’s southern welcome and gregarious personalities set his reticent nature on edge, but he’s inexplicably drawn to his gentle and music-loving hostess, Julia. Uncertain how to build a friendship with the wounded woman, and rather hopeless in communicating well through words, the bond of music becomes a bridge between her uncertainty and his awkwardness.
But her broken past and his families’ expectations build a wall much greater than the cultures that separate them. As they work together to solve a musical mystery from the grave, will an unlikely romance from the past inspire their hearts to trust in a God who’s written the perfect melody for their lives?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes historical and contemporary romance novels with grace, humor, and culture clashes. She’s a Blue Ridge Mountain native and an anglophile who enjoys combining her two loves to create memorable stories of hope. Pepper is also a mom of five, a speech-language pathologist, and a lover of Jesus and chocolate. She resides in Asheville, North Carolina with her family.
CONNECT: website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | InstagramReady…...
.
.Set…...
.
.Reveal!!
Yay!! Isn't it pretty?!? Is it October yet??
Preorder Now!
GOODREADS | AMAZON
TOUR GIVEAWAYEnter for your chance to win:
print copy of Just the Way You Are (book #1 in the series)a cute 'Britallachian' mug - "We go together like tea and biscuits"Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight August 15, 2018, and last through 11:59pm August 22, 2018. US only. Winners will be notified within a week 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 giveaway Follow along with the tour at JustRead for a full list of stops!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Monday, August 20th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday Retro Fiction feature on some of my favorite Beverly Cleary books from the 1950s and 1960s.
-- Wednesday, August 22nd: Blog Tour Stop for 'Mourning Dove'. Post includes book spotlight and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Friday, August 24th: Blog Tour Stop for 'Amish Homespun'. Stop includes book spotlight and excerpt. Tour organized by Reading With Audra Publicity.
# # # # #
August 12, 2018
~ MMGM S.T.E.A.M. FEATURE ON 3-D ART ADVENTURES ~
~ MARVELOUS MIDDLE-GRADE
MONDAY S.T.E.A.M. FEATURE ~
-- THREE-DIMENSIONAL ART
ADVENTURES --
AUTHORS MAJA PITAMIC & JILL LAIDLAW
LEARN MORE ON GOODREADS ABOUT THE BOOK {from Goodreads}: Three-dimensional art is bold, tactile, and fun—in other words, perfect for children who love to get their hands dirty.
Three-Dimensional Art Adventures introduces young artists, ages 6 and up, to groundbreaking masterpieces and fresh techniques, then lets them loose. Children will:
- Weave a tapestry using yarn and a shoebox loom
- Use found and recycled materials to assemble a still-life collage
- Tie-dye a T-shirt using several pattern-creation techniques
- Design and build a shadow box on a personal theme
- Use modeling clay and pipe cleaners to create a spider sculpture
- Create a colorful flower arrangement using wire, tissue paper, and other materials
- Fold and cut paper, cardboard, and magazine photos to build an elaborate street scene
- Carve a portrait into a clay slab and paint the raised surfaces to enhance the image
- and 28 other engaging, hands-on projects.
Authors and educators Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw also explore the stories and meanings behind 18 well-known works of three-dimensional art as inspiration for these kid-tested, exciting, and creative projects. No prior knowledge of three-dimensional art is required—just enthusiasm for the subject and a willingness to discover.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS {from the Publisher's website}:
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AUTHORS AND THIS SERIES
Maja Pitamic is the coauthor of Modern Art Adventures and Three-Dimensional Art Adventures. She has over 20 years' experience teaching young children, and holds degrees in art history and Montessori teacher training. Jill Laidlaw has been writing and editing children's and adult nonfiction since 1990, including Modern Art Adventures and Three-Dimensional Art Adventures. She has a degree in art history from the University of St. Andrews.
MY REVIEW:
I found this book in the local library's online catalog when I searched for art books for children. It is part of a series published by Chicago Review Press.
After having read many art books for children over the years I found this book to be unique in one aspect. Within each chapter, these authors featured one or more piece of art and included details about when it was made and by whom, the significance of the artist and his/her style/accomplishments, and a 'what's the story?' blurb about the particular piece of art. In the back matter of the book an informative biography of each artist is included.
Six forms of art are covered in the book: Early Sculpture, Modern Sculpture, Installation Art, Ceramics, Collage, and Textiles. Basically, there is something for every reader to enjoy in this book.
As mentioned above, each chapter has several projects for children to make to practice the highlighted technique. The projects are colorful, appealing, and make use of easy-to-access materials. Some even use recyclable 'stuff' found around the house or classroom. The stepped-out instructions and photographs for each project are excellent and user friendly. Each project includes a 'Top Tip' in the sidebar with useful information such as, " . . . don't allow the clay to dry out, or you won't be able to . . . "
There is so much to admire about this book, but one of my favorite sections is the 'Woman with a Flowery Hat' spotlight on the ceramic piece created by Pablo Picasso in 1964. Here students will learn about why Picasso took a break from painting to begin working with clay during the summers beginning in 1946. Cubism is briefly introduced here and a broader explanation of the style is included in Picasso's biography in the back matter. His 'Woman with a Flowery Hat' was inspired by Greek Mythology--another subject of high interest to most middle-grade students.
Other outstanding projects include:
-- 'A Trick Hand' where readers are taught to draw three-dimensional objects to create an optical illusion.
-- 'Craft Storage Box' where learners are instructed how to use small cardboard boxes and tubes 'installed' within a shoebox or other small cardboard box to make a functional piece of art wherein they may store their art supplies.
-- 'Lilies in a Vase' in the 'Textiles' chapter encourages children to make a wall-hanging using felt, fabric, etc., to make a three-dimensional of flowers in a vase.
-- 'Cubist-Inspired Tapestry' teaches readers to make a simple loom using a shoebox lid and string. Directions are included on how to weave a tapestry in the Cubist style using scraps of yarn, fabric strips, ribbon, cellophane, etc.
The back matter also includes an in-depth Glossary, a list of Where to See the Art in this Book, and a list of Tools of the Trade with tips such as ". . . cover up in an old T-shirt or apron before things get messy."
Highly-recommended for art and classroom teachers, scout/youth group/child care leaders, and parents/grandparents who enjoy working on DIY projects with their youngsters. Also recommended for fans of art history and various art techniqes--such as I!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Wednesday, August 15th: Cover Reveal Blitz for 'When You Look at Me'. Blitz organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Monday, August 20th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday Retro Fiction feature on some of my favorite Beverly Cleary books from the 1950s and 1960s.
# # # # #
August 9, 2018
~ BLOG TOUR STOP 'DARKWATER SECRETS' ~
~ FRIDAY FICTION FEATURE ~
-- 'DARKWATER SECRETS' --
AUTHOR ROBIN CAROLL~Post Includes: Author Interview, BookSpotlight, Author Bio & Giveaway~
Welcome to the blog tour & giveaway for Darkwater Secrets by Robin Caroll, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Darkwater Secrets
Author: Robin Caroll
Publisher: Gilead Publishing
Release Date: July 17, 2018
Genre: Inspirational Romantic Suspense
A murder investigation uncovers sordid secrets and haunting mistakes
The Darkwater Inn stands tall and proud in the French Quarter, the hub of New Orleans. Bourbon Street is bustling, and General Manager Adelaide Fountaine has her hands full with a hotel at capacity. She, along with everyone else, is shocked when a body is found: a hotel guest stabbed with a kitchen knife.
Detective Beau Savoie, Adelaide’s childhood friend, is on the case. As Beau digs into the victim’s past, he unearths a shocking connection between Adelaide and the murdered guest. Beau is hurt that his friend—the woman he’s quietly loved for years—kept the truth from him. To make matters worse, the stress of the investigation has sent Adelaide right into the comforting arms of her coworker Dimitri. But Beau can’t press Adelaide too hard . . . he’s keeping secrets of his own.
Can Adelaide and Beau afford to hide from the truth with a killer on the loose?
PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | CBD | Book Depository
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“I love boxing. I love Hallmark movies. I love fishing. I love scrapbooking. Nope, I’ve never fit into the boxes people have wanted to put me in.” ~Robin Caroll is definitely a contradiction, but one that beckons you to get to know her better.
Born and raised in Louisiana, Robin is a southerner through and through. Her passion has always been to tell stories to entertain others.
When she isn’t writing, Robin spends time with her husband of twenty-five-plus years, her three beautiful daughters and two handsome grandsons, and their character-filled pets at home—in the South, where else?
She serves the writing community as Executive Director/Conference Director for ACFW. Her twenty-five books have finaled/placed in such contests as the Carol Award, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, Bookseller’s Best, and Book of the Year.
CONNECT WITH ROBIN: website| Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
************************************ EXCLUSIVE AUTHOR INTERVIEW:
June: Welcome to 'Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic', Robin. As I visited your website and Amazon and Goodreads Author Pages, I was struck by your versatility and success as an author. Twenty-eight published books and so many awards!
Robin: Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to visit with you and your followers!
June: Please tell us how you created your setting and developed the characters for this book, 'Darkwater Secrets'.
Robin: I’m a Louisiana gal, born and raised, and I love writing about my home state. There are so many unique qualities about Louisiana—the food, Cajun customs, parishes, interesting laws still on the books—that make it a perfect setting for this series. For this series, in particular, I was at a brainstorming retreat with several other authors and I wanted to do something different—I wanted to write a series in which the same main characters remain the focal point for the whole series. With a romance thread, that’s not the easiest thing to do, but it really pushed me as a writer. And no, I don’t know who she’ll end up with yet. LOL
June: Who is your favorite character in the story? Why is this person your favorite? Is there anyone in the story who you do not like? Why not?
Robin: Well, this one is a tough question because it IS a trilogy and I don’t want to give too much of a spoiler. I will say this… a little piece of my heart belongs to Beau and to Dimitri. I took the qualities from my husband and shared with both of them. One that I don’t like? Hmm. Well, that would be a spoiler for book two! LOL
June: You have written a YA series, 'Samantha Sanderson/Faith Girlz', in addition to your adult mystery/suspense books. If you were not writing in those two genres, what other fictional genre might you try? Would you ever consider writing non-fiction? If so, what subject(s) would you like to write about?
Robin: I don’t think I could write a book without mystery/suspense. It’s what I love to read, so that’s what I write. I grew up reading Trixie Belden and I still have the entire original books of the series. And I’ll leave the non-fiction books to experts.
June: I loved the old Trixie Belden series. I reread some of them a few years ago and enjoyed them so much. In fact, I credit Trixie and her pals with sparking my interest in mysteries and suspense, too.
June: What or who inspired you to become an author?
Robin: As long as I can remember, I’ve been making up stories to entertain people. My mother will tell you I did so as a very young child. I think the most vivid memory I have of really deciding I wanted to be a writer was in 3rd grade, when my teacher, Ms. Jocelyn Sams, told my mother I had a natural bent to storytelling. Along the way, there have been so many people who’ve been inspirations to me…my husband, my best friend, Colleen Coble, my kids, my parents…the list goes on and on. I’m very blessed.
June: In your bio you state you do not like reading historicals. Since historical fiction is my favorite genre as a reader, please tell us why that genre is not on your TBR list.
Robin: I take a lot of flak for not liking historicals. LOL My mother is a genealogist, so from the time I was young, history has been huge in my life. Our vacations were planned around research trips, and while I have great memories, I also realized I have no desire to continue to visit the past. LOL
June: Your bio also states one of your 'loves' is boxing. You mention fishing, scrapbooking, and Hallmark movies as your other interests. Since I'm not a fan of pugilism, I am very curious to know--what exactly is it that you like about boxing?
Robin: For me, boxing is an art. The boxers are such athletes. Their dedication to their art form with their stamina and training amazes me. It’s a person deciding they want to pursue the sport, and following their path to attain their goals is very motivating to me. To push themselves the way they do…it’s pure drive and dedication and I have the utmost respect for anyone who gets into the ring. And on a personal note, there is something SO satisfying about putting on gloves and taking frustrations out on a bag! lol
June: Thank you so much for sharing with us today, Robin. I appreciate your taking a few moments out of your busy schedule to visit with us. Wishing you continued success in your writing endeavors!
TOUR GIVEAWAYEnter for your chance to win:
print copy of Darkwater Secretsyour own key to the Darkwater Inna soy-based, French Quarter candleEnter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight August 6, 2018 and last through 11:59pm August 13, 2018. US only. Winners will be notified within a week 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 the full schedule & more chances to win!
YOU'RE INVITED TO A FACEBOOK RELEASE PARTY FOR THIS BOOK!
Gilead Publishing is hosting a Darkwater Secrets Mystery Party on Facebook August 14th from 7-9pm CST: https://www.facebook.com/events/220942041956118/
Co-hosts include: Colleen Coble, DiAnn Mills, Cara Putnam, Carrie Stuart Parks, and of course, Robin Caroll.
Giveaways open for 24 hours after the event, if you can't attend for all the action!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Monday, August 13th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday S.T.E.A.M. Education post featuring a 3-D art book for middle-graders.
-- Wednesday, August 15th: Cover Reveal Blitz for 'When You Look at Me'. Blitz organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Monday, August 20th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday Retro Fiction feature on some of my favorite Beverly Cleary books from the 1950s and 1960s.
# # # # #
Welcome to the blog tour & giveaway for Darkwater Secrets by Robin Caroll, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Darkwater SecretsAuthor: Robin Caroll
Publisher: Gilead Publishing
Release Date: July 17, 2018
Genre: Inspirational Romantic Suspense
A murder investigation uncovers sordid secrets and haunting mistakes
The Darkwater Inn stands tall and proud in the French Quarter, the hub of New Orleans. Bourbon Street is bustling, and General Manager Adelaide Fountaine has her hands full with a hotel at capacity. She, along with everyone else, is shocked when a body is found: a hotel guest stabbed with a kitchen knife.
Detective Beau Savoie, Adelaide’s childhood friend, is on the case. As Beau digs into the victim’s past, he unearths a shocking connection between Adelaide and the murdered guest. Beau is hurt that his friend—the woman he’s quietly loved for years—kept the truth from him. To make matters worse, the stress of the investigation has sent Adelaide right into the comforting arms of her coworker Dimitri. But Beau can’t press Adelaide too hard . . . he’s keeping secrets of his own.
Can Adelaide and Beau afford to hide from the truth with a killer on the loose?
PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | CBD | Book Depository
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“I love boxing. I love Hallmark movies. I love fishing. I love scrapbooking. Nope, I’ve never fit into the boxes people have wanted to put me in.” ~Robin Caroll is definitely a contradiction, but one that beckons you to get to know her better.
Born and raised in Louisiana, Robin is a southerner through and through. Her passion has always been to tell stories to entertain others.
When she isn’t writing, Robin spends time with her husband of twenty-five-plus years, her three beautiful daughters and two handsome grandsons, and their character-filled pets at home—in the South, where else?
She serves the writing community as Executive Director/Conference Director for ACFW. Her twenty-five books have finaled/placed in such contests as the Carol Award, Holt Medallion, Daphne du Maurier, RT Reviewer’s Choice Award, Bookseller’s Best, and Book of the Year.
CONNECT WITH ROBIN: website| Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
************************************ EXCLUSIVE AUTHOR INTERVIEW:
June: Welcome to 'Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic', Robin. As I visited your website and Amazon and Goodreads Author Pages, I was struck by your versatility and success as an author. Twenty-eight published books and so many awards!
Robin: Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to visit with you and your followers!
June: Please tell us how you created your setting and developed the characters for this book, 'Darkwater Secrets'.
Robin: I’m a Louisiana gal, born and raised, and I love writing about my home state. There are so many unique qualities about Louisiana—the food, Cajun customs, parishes, interesting laws still on the books—that make it a perfect setting for this series. For this series, in particular, I was at a brainstorming retreat with several other authors and I wanted to do something different—I wanted to write a series in which the same main characters remain the focal point for the whole series. With a romance thread, that’s not the easiest thing to do, but it really pushed me as a writer. And no, I don’t know who she’ll end up with yet. LOL
June: Who is your favorite character in the story? Why is this person your favorite? Is there anyone in the story who you do not like? Why not?
Robin: Well, this one is a tough question because it IS a trilogy and I don’t want to give too much of a spoiler. I will say this… a little piece of my heart belongs to Beau and to Dimitri. I took the qualities from my husband and shared with both of them. One that I don’t like? Hmm. Well, that would be a spoiler for book two! LOL
June: You have written a YA series, 'Samantha Sanderson/Faith Girlz', in addition to your adult mystery/suspense books. If you were not writing in those two genres, what other fictional genre might you try? Would you ever consider writing non-fiction? If so, what subject(s) would you like to write about?
Robin: I don’t think I could write a book without mystery/suspense. It’s what I love to read, so that’s what I write. I grew up reading Trixie Belden and I still have the entire original books of the series. And I’ll leave the non-fiction books to experts.
June: I loved the old Trixie Belden series. I reread some of them a few years ago and enjoyed them so much. In fact, I credit Trixie and her pals with sparking my interest in mysteries and suspense, too.
June: What or who inspired you to become an author?
Robin: As long as I can remember, I’ve been making up stories to entertain people. My mother will tell you I did so as a very young child. I think the most vivid memory I have of really deciding I wanted to be a writer was in 3rd grade, when my teacher, Ms. Jocelyn Sams, told my mother I had a natural bent to storytelling. Along the way, there have been so many people who’ve been inspirations to me…my husband, my best friend, Colleen Coble, my kids, my parents…the list goes on and on. I’m very blessed.
June: In your bio you state you do not like reading historicals. Since historical fiction is my favorite genre as a reader, please tell us why that genre is not on your TBR list.
Robin: I take a lot of flak for not liking historicals. LOL My mother is a genealogist, so from the time I was young, history has been huge in my life. Our vacations were planned around research trips, and while I have great memories, I also realized I have no desire to continue to visit the past. LOL
June: Your bio also states one of your 'loves' is boxing. You mention fishing, scrapbooking, and Hallmark movies as your other interests. Since I'm not a fan of pugilism, I am very curious to know--what exactly is it that you like about boxing?
Robin: For me, boxing is an art. The boxers are such athletes. Their dedication to their art form with their stamina and training amazes me. It’s a person deciding they want to pursue the sport, and following their path to attain their goals is very motivating to me. To push themselves the way they do…it’s pure drive and dedication and I have the utmost respect for anyone who gets into the ring. And on a personal note, there is something SO satisfying about putting on gloves and taking frustrations out on a bag! lol
June: Thank you so much for sharing with us today, Robin. I appreciate your taking a few moments out of your busy schedule to visit with us. Wishing you continued success in your writing endeavors!
TOUR GIVEAWAYEnter for your chance to win:
print copy of Darkwater Secretsyour own key to the Darkwater Inna soy-based, French Quarter candleEnter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight August 6, 2018 and last through 11:59pm August 13, 2018. US only. Winners will be notified within a week 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 the full schedule & more chances to win!
YOU'RE INVITED TO A FACEBOOK RELEASE PARTY FOR THIS BOOK!
Gilead Publishing is hosting a Darkwater Secrets Mystery Party on Facebook August 14th from 7-9pm CST: https://www.facebook.com/events/220942041956118/
Co-hosts include: Colleen Coble, DiAnn Mills, Cara Putnam, Carrie Stuart Parks, and of course, Robin Caroll.
Giveaways open for 24 hours after the event, if you can't attend for all the action!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Monday, August 13th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday S.T.E.A.M. Education post featuring a 3-D art book for middle-graders.
-- Wednesday, August 15th: Cover Reveal Blitz for 'When You Look at Me'. Blitz organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Monday, August 20th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday Retro Fiction feature on some of my favorite Beverly Cleary books from the 1950s and 1960s.
# # # # #
August 8, 2018
~ FAITHFULLY YOURS SERIES BLITZ ~
~ 'FAITHFULLY YOURS' SERIES BLITZ ~-- AUTHOR ANNE CAROL --Post Includes: Spotlight on Book One: 'Never Let Go',
Author Bio & Giveaway
Welcome to the blitz & giveaway for the FAITHFULLY YOURS series by Anne Carol, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Never Let Go (Faithfully Yours #1)
Author: Anne Carol
Release Date: November 25, 2014
Genre: Christian Fiction, Contemporary Romance
* * * * * * * Is it possible to find your soul mate on the other side of the world?Beth Johnson is an ambitious high school senior from suburban California with a secret passion for writing. David Somers is a charming young Englishman who wants nothing more than to play guitar in his up-and-coming rock band. Though worlds apart, when fate brings Beth and David together in London in the summer of 1979, sparks fly. After Beth receives upsetting news from home, she finds herself drawn to David’s warm character, and an all-consuming love develops. Theirs is the kind of love one never forgets, and as Beth’s stay in London nears the end, the young devoted couple must face the inevitable question: will their romance fade with the passing of summer or will they realize their promise of never letting go?
Author's Note: this book has been revised from the original 2014 edition and is now told from a Christian worldview.
PURCHASE: Goodreads | AmazonBOOKS IN THIS SERIES
Series Purchase Links: Goodreads | Amazon
Each day of the blitz spotlights a different book from the series - follow along with the tour to learn about each of the first three books individually!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anne Carol grew up reading, writing, and listening to English rock bands, obsessing over one in particular. Her obsession and endless daydreaming inspired her to write her first romance novel at age twelve. Over twenty years later she decided to re-write the story for publication. Never Let Go, the first book in her Faithfully Yours series, is a story that has been a part of Anne since childhood. When she's not reading or writing, she enjoys traveling, wine tasting, dancing, watching teen dramas, and exploring social media websites. Anne lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons.
CONNECT WITH ANNE: website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
TOUR GIVEAWAYAnne Carol is giving away:
ecopies of all 3 books in the Faithfully Yours series;$10 Amazon gift cardEnter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight August 9, 2018 and last through 11:59pm August 16, 2018. Open internationally, except where prohibited by law. Winners must be able to accept gift card from US Amazon. Winners will be notified within a week 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 giveaway Follow along at JustRead Tours for the full TOUR SCHEDULE!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Friday, August 10th: Blog Tour Stop for Author Robin Caroll's newest Christian suspense/mystery, 'Darkwater Secrets'. Post includes an exclusive author interview and giveaway! Blog tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Monday, August 13th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday S.T.E.A.M. Education post featuring a 3-D art book for middle-graders.
-- Wednesday, August 15th: Cover Reveal Blitz for 'When You Look at Me'. Blitz organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Monday, August 20th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday Retro Fiction feature on some of my favorite Beverly Cleary books from the 1950s and 1960s.
# # # # #
Author Bio & Giveaway
Welcome to the blitz & giveaway for the FAITHFULLY YOURS series by Anne Carol, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Never Let Go (Faithfully Yours #1)
Author: Anne Carol
Release Date: November 25, 2014
Genre: Christian Fiction, Contemporary Romance
* * * * * * * Is it possible to find your soul mate on the other side of the world?Beth Johnson is an ambitious high school senior from suburban California with a secret passion for writing. David Somers is a charming young Englishman who wants nothing more than to play guitar in his up-and-coming rock band. Though worlds apart, when fate brings Beth and David together in London in the summer of 1979, sparks fly. After Beth receives upsetting news from home, she finds herself drawn to David’s warm character, and an all-consuming love develops. Theirs is the kind of love one never forgets, and as Beth’s stay in London nears the end, the young devoted couple must face the inevitable question: will their romance fade with the passing of summer or will they realize their promise of never letting go?
Author's Note: this book has been revised from the original 2014 edition and is now told from a Christian worldview.
PURCHASE: Goodreads | AmazonBOOKS IN THIS SERIES
Series Purchase Links: Goodreads | Amazon
Each day of the blitz spotlights a different book from the series - follow along with the tour to learn about each of the first three books individually!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anne Carol grew up reading, writing, and listening to English rock bands, obsessing over one in particular. Her obsession and endless daydreaming inspired her to write her first romance novel at age twelve. Over twenty years later she decided to re-write the story for publication. Never Let Go, the first book in her Faithfully Yours series, is a story that has been a part of Anne since childhood. When she's not reading or writing, she enjoys traveling, wine tasting, dancing, watching teen dramas, and exploring social media websites. Anne lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons.
CONNECT WITH ANNE: website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest
TOUR GIVEAWAYAnne Carol is giving away:
ecopies of all 3 books in the Faithfully Yours series;$10 Amazon gift cardEnter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight August 9, 2018 and last through 11:59pm August 16, 2018. Open internationally, except where prohibited by law. Winners must be able to accept gift card from US Amazon. Winners will be notified within a week 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 giveaway Follow along at JustRead Tours for the full TOUR SCHEDULE!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Friday, August 10th: Blog Tour Stop for Author Robin Caroll's newest Christian suspense/mystery, 'Darkwater Secrets'. Post includes an exclusive author interview and giveaway! Blog tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Monday, August 13th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday S.T.E.A.M. Education post featuring a 3-D art book for middle-graders.
-- Wednesday, August 15th: Cover Reveal Blitz for 'When You Look at Me'. Blitz organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Monday, August 20th: Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday Retro Fiction feature on some of my favorite Beverly Cleary books from the 1950s and 1960s.
# # # # #
August 6, 2018
~ BOOK TOUR BILLIONAIRE AUCTION ~
~ BOOK TOUR STOP ~
-- 'BILLIONAIRE AUCTION' --
AUTHOR DEBBIE WHITE
Post Includes: Book Spotlight, Author Bio,
Excerpt & Giveaway
NEW RELEASE….
When a single independent woman falls for a single dad, she has to decide if she’s willing to accept the whole package.
Jennifer Palmer is not especially excited about attending the charity event, but because it helps homeless animals and because her best friend and roommate asked her to, she agrees to attend. Besides, it might be sort of fun bidding on an eligible billionaire and just what Jenny needs to move forward after the break up with her loser boyfriend, Brad.
Single dad, Chase Marlow is well-known in the community for his work with disadvantaged women and children. He also loves animals, so when he’s asked to be one of the auctioned billionaires, he steps up to the challenge.
Jenny isn’t planning on bidding, but when Chase enters the stage, all bets are off. After all, it’s just one date.
Can Jenny and Chase get that one date off the ground, or will there be too many obstacles in their way?
Available to buy from...... Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk iBooks Kobo Barnes and Noble
"A wonderful family love story that was very well written with enough creative descriptions to make the reader feel as though they were actually in the setting. Debbie White’s books are very well written, family friendly, and always an easy read."
**Read an excerpt**
About the Author:
Debbie is a USA Today bestselling author. She currently lives in northern California where the beautiful landscapes are often the settings in her books. The jagged coastline, the rolling hills with vineyards and the redwood forest make wonderful backdrops for her romance novels.
When Debbie isn’t writing or traveling to a book signing, she’s visiting her family on the east coast, traveling to other places on her bucket list, enjoying her backyard, hiking with her husband and riding on the back of their motorcycle.
Debbie's books range from sweet to a little spicy. Inspired by true events, Ties That Bind holds a special place in her heart.
As an avid animal lover and parent to two rescue dogs, Debbie donates a portion of her proceeds to animal rescue organizations. When you purchase one of her books, you’re also helping a furry pet with shelter, food and ultimately a new home!
Find the author on the following sites.... Website Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest Goodreads Amazon Author Page Bookbub
More books from the author >>> HERE
Follow the Book Tour:
NOW FOR THE AUTHOR'S GIVEAWAY !!
Win $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash
Ending on Thursday 16th August at 11.59pm ESTOpen Worldwide
Enter Below & Good Luck !!a Rafflecopter giveaway
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Thursday, August 9th: Book Blitz with Spotlight and Excerpt from the title 'Never Let Go' from Anne Carol's 'Faithfully Yours Series'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Friday, August 10th: Blog Tour Stop for the inspirational romantic suspense title, 'Darkwater Secrets', by author Robin Caroll. Post includes a book spotlight and my one-on-one interview with the author along with a giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
# # # # #
Post Includes: Book Spotlight, Author Bio,
Excerpt & Giveaway
NEW RELEASE….When a single independent woman falls for a single dad, she has to decide if she’s willing to accept the whole package.
Jennifer Palmer is not especially excited about attending the charity event, but because it helps homeless animals and because her best friend and roommate asked her to, she agrees to attend. Besides, it might be sort of fun bidding on an eligible billionaire and just what Jenny needs to move forward after the break up with her loser boyfriend, Brad.
Single dad, Chase Marlow is well-known in the community for his work with disadvantaged women and children. He also loves animals, so when he’s asked to be one of the auctioned billionaires, he steps up to the challenge.
Jenny isn’t planning on bidding, but when Chase enters the stage, all bets are off. After all, it’s just one date.
Can Jenny and Chase get that one date off the ground, or will there be too many obstacles in their way?
Available to buy from...... Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk iBooks Kobo Barnes and Noble
"A wonderful family love story that was very well written with enough creative descriptions to make the reader feel as though they were actually in the setting. Debbie White’s books are very well written, family friendly, and always an easy read."
**Read an excerpt**
About the Author:
Debbie is a USA Today bestselling author. She currently lives in northern California where the beautiful landscapes are often the settings in her books. The jagged coastline, the rolling hills with vineyards and the redwood forest make wonderful backdrops for her romance novels.When Debbie isn’t writing or traveling to a book signing, she’s visiting her family on the east coast, traveling to other places on her bucket list, enjoying her backyard, hiking with her husband and riding on the back of their motorcycle.
Debbie's books range from sweet to a little spicy. Inspired by true events, Ties That Bind holds a special place in her heart.
As an avid animal lover and parent to two rescue dogs, Debbie donates a portion of her proceeds to animal rescue organizations. When you purchase one of her books, you’re also helping a furry pet with shelter, food and ultimately a new home!
Find the author on the following sites.... Website Facebook Twitter Google+ Pinterest Goodreads Amazon Author Page Bookbub
More books from the author >>> HERE
Follow the Book Tour:
NOW FOR THE AUTHOR'S GIVEAWAY !!
Win $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal CashEnding on Thursday 16th August at 11.59pm ESTOpen Worldwide
Enter Below & Good Luck !!a Rafflecopter giveaway
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ COMING UP SOON ON 'READING, WRITING & STITCH-METIC':
-- Thursday, August 9th: Book Blitz with Spotlight and Excerpt from the title 'Never Let Go' from Anne Carol's 'Faithfully Yours Series'. Post includes a book spotlight, excerpt, and giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
-- Friday, August 10th: Blog Tour Stop for the inspirational romantic suspense title, 'Darkwater Secrets', by author Robin Caroll. Post includes a book spotlight and my one-on-one interview with the author along with a giveaway. Tour organized by JustRead Publicity.
# # # # #
~ Author June McCrary Jacobs ~
Welcome to my Goodreads blog!
Follow me on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/June-McCrary...
Follow me on Pinterest at: https://www.pinterest.com/junemccrary...
View and subscribe to my 'Reading, Wri ...more
Follow me on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/June-McCrary...
Follow me on Pinterest at: https://www.pinterest.com/junemccrary...
View and subscribe to my 'Reading, Wri ...more
- June McCrary Jacobs's profile
- 153 followers
