Joyce DiPastena's Blog, page 58

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with "cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I've borrowed it from LDS Women's Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare at least two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!
I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's my second teaser from  King John :
'Do you know,' says the biographer of William Marshal, 'why King John was unable to keep the love of his people? It was because Lupescar maltreated them, and pillaged them as though he were in enemy territory.' This was no mere idle gossip. It is easy to understand how the Normans felt when the abbess of Caen can be seen offering the king 40 marks for protection against Lupescar and for having him restore what had been taken from herself and from the tenants of the abbey's estates.
From  King John , by W.L. Warren, p 91
(Yes, I'm reading this book very slowly. That's because I'm stopping to make research notes in nearly all the margins!)
If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading.

Get to Know the Author: Danielle Thorne

Welcome to Danielle Thorne! Danielle is an author of sweet romances, both historical and contemporary. (And I hear through the grapevine she might even be working on a fantasy. Talk about versatility!)
JDP: Thank you for joining us today, Danielle. Did your mother read to you as a child?
Danielle: I don't remember my mother reading to me, but she always supplied me with the best books. Even in my teen years she made sure I was exposed to Wuthering Heights and other classics. She loved to show me old movies based on fiction.
JDP: Do you remember a favorite book from your childhood?
Danielle: My favorite childhood memory is of enjoying The Great Brain series by John Fitzgerald. I dearly loved those books.
JDP: Whoa! I thought you said The Great Britain series there for a moment. I got really excited to find out what that was! LOL! The Great Brain sounds intriguing, too. I'll have to check that out. Name a favorite author as an adult.
Danielle: Patrick O'Brian of the Master and Commander series. He was a genius.
JDP: And clearly had no little influence on your choice of writing subgenre. J Share a book you've read multiple times.
Danielle: It sounds cliché, but Pride and Prejudice stays in my room. I read it a few times a year. It's like going home to me. A sweet familiar escape when I am feeling blue.
JDP: Oh, I love those kinds of books that feel like "home" when you read them! Now, a very important question: Kindle, Nook, or good old hard copy?
Danielle: Sony eReader! But I'd love to have a Kindle.
JDP: Looks like I need to widen that question a bit to include Sony eReaders! What's your favorite place to read?
Danielle: Curled up on the couch and on road trips. (I don't get car sick. Freak of nature.)
JDP: My sister was a freak of nature like that. I was always jealous. What are your three favorite reading genres.
Danielle: Romance, Historical, Adventure/Espionage
JDP: What's the last book you read?
Danielle: One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagan. It's a YA Paranormal, and it was super.
JDP: What are you're reading now?
Danielle: Echoes the Drum by Nancy Lindley-Gauthier.
JDP: What's next on your reading list?
Danielle: I just bought these books: Sabotage by Anne Patrick; Texas Promise by Celia Yeary; No Other by Shawna Williams; Final Deception by PI Barrington. Next on my list are two books: Loyalty's Web by Yours Truly (JDP: Uh-oh!); Lab Partners by Larry Hammersley
JDP: What you would like to read more of? (author, genre, etc)
Danielle: Honestly I love many genres. I just wish I had more time to read. I've yet to sit down with Georgette Heyer's collection.
JDP: Ooo, ooo, ooo! Georgette Heyer! (Jumping up and down.) You're in for a treat when you read her books! :-) Share a favorite book that you've read in the last 12 months.
Danielle: I really enjoyed Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It's a brilliant play on YA fantasy. I want to have fun when I read. The Percy Jackson series is fun!
More about Danielle! : Danielle Thorne freelanced for online and print magazines from 1998 through 2001, adding reviewing and editing to her resume. She has published poetry, short fiction and novels. She is the author of sweet romantic adventure books, both historical and contemporary.
Danielle currently writes from south of Atlanta, Georgia. She was the 2009-2010 Co-Chair for the New Voices Competition for young writers, is active with online author groups such as Classic Romance Revival and EPIC and moderates for The Sweetest Romance Authors at the Coffee Time Romance boards. Danielle reviews for online review sites and edits for two publishing houses and Romance Junkies. She has four sons with her husband, Rob. Together they enjoy travel and the outdoors. Learn more about Danielle by visiting her website, blog, or Facebook.
Books by Danielle Thorne:
By Heart and Compass Turtle SoupJosette (New)Summary of The Privateer: The reign of piracy is over in the Caribbean, or so it's believed until diamonds are discovered in Brazil. Despite the cover-up, Captain Julius Bertrand begins to hear whispers. The Spanish guardacostas are dumping log books, and a new French pirate is on the prowl. Distracted by an avaricious woman he could never love, and the beautiful Kate O'Connell who doesn't need him, he tries to untangle the web of mysterious cargo someone in the New World wants kept secret. When Bertrand's pirating past returns with the explosive force of a sweeping broadside, he finds he must sacrifice everything his respectable life has brought him, in order to save what matters most.

Win a copy of "Loyalty's Web"!

The lovely EnglishRose has posted a review of Loyalty's Web on her Clean Romance Reviews blog AND is sponsoring a giveaway for a copy of the same title. 


Enter by midnight CST May 6. 


Click here for her review. 


Click here for the giveaway.

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with "cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I've borrowed it from LDS Women's Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current readOpen to a random pageShare at least two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!
I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's a teaser from King John :
Richard (I) made the campaigning season an anachronism of an amateurish past. Several of his vassals, when he was Count of Poitou, had defied him in the autumn, fully expecting to have the winter months to rally their kinsmen and friends, but had been shocked to find him hammering at their gates as soon as he could get there. There was no "close season" for Richard: he fought all the year round.
From  King John , by W.L. Warren, p 60
If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading.

What Am I Reading Now?

I read King John , by W.L. Warren 30-some years ago when I was first researching background information for The Lady and the Minstrel . Now that I'm reworking the story, I had planned to just skim through King John again for the specific information I needed, but instead of skipping ahead to the year 1214, I read the first couple of pages and instantly got sucked in to re-reading the whole book. I should have known. That's what happens when I read a biography written by W.L. Warren. (Sadly, he only wrote two that I know of: King John and Henry II . Although I don't often re-read Henry II from cover to cover – 630 pp! – I do derive great delight in re-reading sections of it over and over again.) Biographers could take more than a few lessons from W.L. Warren on how to write a good, readable biography!
Here's the back cover blurb for King John :
King John is a study of a king and of his time. The early thirteenth century was a period of profound social and political change, and of unprecedented insecurity. Warren explores the king's personality so distorted by the accounts of such chroniclers as Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris, through his achievements and his failures, but considers him also against the background of his predecessors, of the society in which he lived and of problems independent of his making. The result is a fair-minded, revealing and readable account which analyses the disputed succession, the conflict with France, the clash with Pope Innocent III, and the events leading to Magna Carta. Warren is unsparing in his criticism of King John's failings, but acknowledges the decisive impact of his remarkable personal qualities.
Stop by on Tuesday to read a Tuesday Teaser from King John . 

Winner! : Autism Awareness Giveaway Hop

Congratulations to infertilenanny, winner of the JDP NEWS stop on the Autism Awareness Giveaway Hop! She has chosen Ten Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew, by Ellen Notbohm, for her prize. 


Thank you to everyone who entered! (And forgive me for this belated announcement. My modem died and I just got a new one set up.)

Get to Know the Author: Valerie J. Steimle

Today's Get to Know You interview is with Valerie J. Steimle. Valerie writes a wide array of personal non-fiction, covering areas such as home schooling, being a single in a family-oriented church, and memoirs on being a single parent.
JDP: Welcome, Valerie! Did your mother read to you as a child? Interesting question.  
Valerie: Yes, my mother read to me as a very young child but I did not like to read in school and growing up. (Even with weekly visits to the library)  I think that difficulty was due to poor learning in public school in my early years but I have since recovered.  I love to read.
JDP: Do you remember a favorite book from your childhood?  
Valerie: Yes, it's called  The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton,  which I still own.
JDP: Name a favorite author as an adult. 
Valerie: James Harriet of the All Creatures Great and Small series
JDP: Share a book you've read multiple times.
Valerie: I don't normally read books over again.  Once I read it, that is it unless I use something for research.  I'm weird that way.
JDP: Kindle, Nook, or good old hard copy?
Valerie: Good old hard copy.
JDP: What's your favorite place to read?
Valerie: Curled up in bed.
JDP: What are your three favorite reading genres. 
Valerie: Non-fiction, clean romance and action adventure.
JDP: What's the last book you read? 
Valerie: Just finished Dressing Your Truth by Carol Tuttle---it's fascinating. 
JDP: What are you reading now?
Valerie: The Waterfall Concept by Roger Stark for a review I need to do.
JDP: What's next on your reading list?
Valerie: I have Freemen and Dreamers by LC. Lewis lined up and Hometown Girl by Michele Ashman Bell
JDP: What you would like to read more of? (author, genre, etc)  
Valerie: I have several Glenn Beck books that I want to get to as well as other non-fiction books about how we can improve our country.  So many books....not enough time.
JDP: Share a favorite book that you've read in the last 12 months  
Valerie: By far this non-fiction book that has opened my eyes.  Stand For The Family by Sharon Slater has been a Godsend to me in the way of information and how I can use her facts to improve the weekly editorial writing I do for a local paper.  Ms. Slater has incredible experiences and the book is fantastic.
JDP: Thank you so much for joining us today, Valerie!

More about Valerie! : Valerie J. Steimle was born in Brooklyn , NY , to a close-knit Jewish family. Her mother searched for many years to find what was missing in their lives. When Valerie was 9 years old she was baptized, along with her parents, sister and brother, into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It had brought an incredible change in her life but her parents would not tell the rest of the family for 10 years which made for an interesting life.
Valerie graduated from Ricks College in 1979 and attended Brigham Young University from 1979 to 1982, where she met Robert Steimle. They married and had nine children. Though she grew up in New Jersey , she found southern Alabama to her liking and has lived there for the past 17 years with her family.  Her husband of 25 years passed away suddenly which left her to raise her youngest five children on her own until she met James Foy two years later.  They happily reside in southern Alabama.
While she was raising her children, Valerie felt compelled to write about the family and started with a newspaper column in the local paper. She then published her first book, called Home Is Where The Heart Is, which is a collection of those articles. Her next book, Home Is Where The Learning Is: Homeschool Lifestyles from Homeschool Moms, includes seven other homeschool moms contributing their story in understanding the lifestyle of a homeschool family.  Her third book is Of One Heart: Being Single in the LDS World which was written to help all those single and belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. Besides writing and reading, Valerie loves to spend time with her family, watches movies, embroiders, and gardens.
Learn more about Valerie on her website, Strengthen Your Home, and blog, Blessings of Family Life
Books by Valerie J. Steimle (available from her website or Amazon.com)
Home Is Where the Heart IsHome Is Where the Learning Is: Homeschool Lifestyles from Homeschool MomsOf One Heart: Being Single in the LDS WorldDogs, Blogs and Hobbits; Writings from a Widow's Perspective
Summary of Dogs, Blogs and Hobbits: Writings from a Widow's Perspective :
Becoming a widow at the early age of 46 was not what Valerie J. Steimle expected. She still had five of her nine children at home in her care with aspirations of a fullfilling life with her husband. After she buried her husband she went to work and wrote every day for three years. This collection of 60 articles is part of that work. Ms. Steimle writes about everything from dating jerks to the power of positive thinking. Her outlook on life is inspiring and she writes about what is really important in life.

Autism Awareness Giveaway Hop

April is Autism Awareness Month, and four lovely bloggers--Lindsey @ Just Another Book Addict, Heather @ Fire and Ice Photo, Pixie @ Page Turners, and Kathy @ I Am a Reader, Not a Writer--are sponsoring an Autism Awareness Giveaway Hop to help spread the word about Autism.

Before I announce my giveaway prizes, I asked a dear friend of mine, Danyelle Ferguson, to share a guest blog with my readers. Danyelle is the mother of an autistic child and the author of a brand new book about special needs children, and has some wonderful, oh-so-simple advice for us! Please read on:


"Be Aware. Be Understanding."

This is my very favorite quote. Autism awareness is so important to me, other parents, and individuals with autism. I have met many parents who have struggled with their kids at a park or store and received comments from people passing by about their child's lack of manners or the parent's lack of discipline. While these comments can be thought of as rude, really they are a result of 1) not being aware of the full situation, and 2) not being kind and understanding.

Even though there's a lot of publicity about autism these days, I often meet people who don't really understand what autism is. Well, guess what? I'm a parent of a child with autism and I still don't understand what autism is! Autism just isn't that simple. There's no easy definition or description because it affects each individual differently. You can't just look at someone and say, "Hey, he has autism." If you don't interact with someone who has autism on a daily basis, you will most likely miss any cues that might make you think of autism.

So how can you help if it's not easy to tell if someone has autism? Just be a good community member. The key to making parents and individuals with autism feel comfortable - no matter the circumstances - is to be kind and understanding. 

Do you remember that rule your parents taught you about - if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all? Live it.

If you encounter a situation where a parent and child are struggling and the groceries go flying or an adult is having a difficult time expressing what he's trying to find in a store and you feel comfortable helping, then do it.  The help could be as simple as picking up the groceries, walking beside the parent to the car, then putting the groceries in the trunk. Something so simple can make a huge impact on a weary parent, whether their child has autism, another disability, or is just a tired kid throwing a tantrum. Do you see how just being a good member of the community can help anyone and make your town a happier place to live? The difference is really just your attitude and being kind.

I challenge you today to make a change, to be more aware of those around you, and to reach out and share a simple act of kindness with just one person. Then do it again tomorrow. Make it a goal each and every day.
Danyelle Ferguson is the author of (dis)Abilities and the Gospel: How to Bring People with Special Needs Closer to Christ. She's the mother of a son with autism and the co-founder of Friends of GIANT Steps, a non-profit that benefits an autism preschool. For more information about Danyelle, please visit her website:  http://www.danyelleferguson.com/
I wanted to offer Danyelle's new book as my giveaway, but it's not quite available yet. (Although it is available for pre-order on Amazon.) So instead, I'm offering the winner's choice of these two books:


Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew , by Ellen Notbohm



OR
Loyalty's Web , by Joyce DiPastena


I'm going to make this giveaway simple. All you  have to do to enter is read Danyelle's guest post then tell me in a comment ONE THING you can do to help a parent with an autistic child. Please include which prize you would like to win and your email address so I can contact you if I draw your name. (Actually, Random.org will do the drawing.) USA entries only, please.
Deadline is April 14, midnight EST.
And after you leave your comment, see the blog hop list below to hop on to the next blog hop stop!

Get to Know the Author: Sarah M. Eden

Today we welcome Regency romance author, Sarah M. Miller, back to JDP NEWS! I have previously interviewed Sarah about her writing and research methods. You can read that interview here. Today we visit with Sarah about her some of her reading preferences.
JDP:  Sarah, did your mother read to you as a child?
Sarah: I didn't realize until I was an adult that there were moms who didn't read to their children. Stories and reading were just part of my childhood and I assumed for a long time they were integral to everyone's early years. Here's yet another way in which I didn't realize what a fabulous mom I have. Makes a girl wanna call her mom and say "Thanks!"
JDP: Do you remember a favorite book from your childhood?
Sarah: One that has always stuck with me is The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss. When I was a wee little girl (even wee-er than I am now), I couldn't get this book out of my head, and not because I loved it that much. It stuck with me because it bothered me so much. This book, you understand, does not have an ending. I knew how I wanted it to end, but that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted to know how it actually ended, not how I imagined it. I don't know if that makes me OCD or just an author. Maybe there's not really a difference between the two.
JDP: Name a favorite author as an adult.
Sarah: Most of my favorite authors are adults. (Just kidding, Joyce.) I love, yes LOVE, Georgette Heyer. I also rather envy her… I have a whole "covet thy favorite author's authorness" thing going on with Georgette Heyer. She is credited with inventing the historical romance genre, which makes her extremely cool. She also had the luxury and ability to write Regency romances in the language of early 19th Century England. Modern readers and publisher won't go for that, so Regency romance authors today have to seriously modernize their word choice. Heyer is my go-to author for a Regency escape. With her, your guaranteed to laugh, to loose yourself in a by-gone era and sigh contentedly at the end.
JDP: As readers of JDP NEWS know (or should by now), Georgette Heyer is one of my all-time favorites, too, and I don't even write Regencies! It's her humor that keeps me coming back and back and back again. Make me laugh as an author and I'm your forever. :-) But back to our 21st Century Regency author guest! Can you share with us a book you've read multiple times?
Sarah: Persuasion, by Jane Austen. Her most famous work is, by far, Pride and Prejudice, but I think Persuasion is her best. It was the last book she finished before her death and was published posthumously. I think it is her most mature work and the heroine, Anne Elliot, and hero, Capt. Frederick Wentworth, are my favorites--they are so carefully crafted and so tenderly portrayed. I have read it over and over again.
JDP: Kindle, Nook, or good old hard copy?
Sarah: I think if I had a Kindle or a Nook I would be more of a fan of ebooks. As things sit now, I do my ebook reading on a teeny, tiny iPhone with a crack in the screen. I wouldn't recommend it. So, for the time being, I choose "good old hard copy."
JDP: What's your favorite place to read?
Sarah: Anywhere my children can't find me.
JDP: What are your three favorite reading genres.
Sarah: 1-Romance; 2-Historical Romance; 3-Regency Romance (Did I mention I like romance?)
JDP: What's the last book you read?
Sarah: Frederica, by Georgette Heyer. That one never disappoints!
JDP: Agreed! What are you're reading now?
Sarah: Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen
JDP: What's next on your reading list?
Sarah: Cross My Heart, Julie Wright -AND- The Legend of Shannonderry, Carole Warburton
JDP: What you would like to read more of? (author, genre, etc)
Sarah: I would just love to have time to read more in general. Life has gone crazy lately and I feel like I don't have enough time to get through the list of books I want to read.
JDP: Share a favorite book that you've read in the last 12 months
Sarah: This is likely not at all what anyone would expect me to say, but here goes. I've been doing some research (something I do a lot of) for an upcoming project and came across a book I absolutely devoured. Scotland: a concise history by Fitzroy Maclean. It was fascinating in a very I'm-a-history-nerd kind of way. I read it three times before the library absolutely insisted I return it.
JDP: As a history nerd myself, I can relate, Sarah! (Well, not to Scotland, but give me a biography on Henry II and I'm off to the races.) Thank you so much for visiting today.
More about Sarah! : At the ripe old age of five, Sarah M. Eden wrote her first book. Entitled "The Sun," this work of literary genius contained such awe inspiring passages as, "The sun is yellow." It was a ground-breaking success among the kindergartens of Roadrunner Elementary. On the heels of this triumph, she went on to write absolutely nothing for many, many years. Now, at the ripe old age of a bit more than five, Sarah has ten historical romances to her name, including Courting Miss Lancaster (2009), The Accidental Wife (2010) and 2008 Whitney Award Finalist, Seeking Persephone.When not reading, writing or researching, Sarah spends her free time avoiding responsible things like cooking dinner, doing laundry and sleeping regularly. She can be found on the web at www.SarahMEden.com, where she makes friends, influences people and entertains herself.
Books published (and currently available):Courting Miss LancasterThe Kiss of a Stranger
Summary of The Kiss of a Stranger: 
When Crispin, Lord Cavratt, thoroughly and scandalously kisses a serving woman in the garden of a country inn, he assumes the encounter will be of no consequence. But he couldn't be more mistaken— the maid is not only a lady of birth, she's the niece of a very large, exceptionally angry gentleman, who claims Crispin has compromised his niece beyond redemption. The dismayed young lord has no choice but to marry Miss Catherine Thorndale, who lacks both money and refinement and assumes all men are as vicious as her guardian uncle. Trapped between an unwanted marriage and a hasty annulment, which would leave his reputation tainted and Catherine's utterly ruined, Crispin begins guiding his wife's transformation from a socially petrified country girl to a lady of society. Their unfolding relationship reveals encouraging surprises for both of them, and privately, each of them wonders if theirs may become a true marriage of the heart. But their hopes are dashed when forces conspire to split asunder what fate has granted, and as a battle of wits escalates into a life-threatening confrontation, will it be possible for Crispin and Catherine to live happily ever after?

Joyce's 2006 trip to Europe

Ahhh. How can I resist sharing this marvelous reproduction of my 2006 trip to Europe with you? (Yes, it's true. I'm not only an author, I'm an artist! These pictures will be famous someday! Okay, well, maybe not.)

A few preliminary notes:

Koshka the cat had diabetes and had to be boarded in Tempe, AZ while I went on my trip. What a fun trip from Kearny to Tempe that was!

Don't get excited about London. We never left the airport.

Torino is a city in Italy where my sister went on a work trip. She left me to my own devices while she was off on business.

From Torino we flew to Spain for more work-related business for my sister. I spent most of my time in the back of a car driving us from city to city to city and archive to archive to archive. (My sister works for the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, BTW.)

My sister allowed me one afternoon of shopping in Valencia, Spain before we flew back to Italy.

In Italy we visited the hometown of my Italian grandmother. (No, she doesn't still live there. She passed away when I was a child.)

Other than that, this reproduction is pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?


(PS I have no idea what prompted me to serialize our trip after the fact. I found this in a pile of papers while "weeding" today and of course, I just had to share it with all of you!)