See what happy clients are saying about Affordable Novel Critique Service.

For several months I’ve been accepting non-fiction and fiction projects, and it’s time my business name showed that. So Affordable Novel Critique Service will be the fiction side of Bradley Writing and Editing Services. Whether you need a manuscript edited,  a proposal critiqued, a document proofread, or copy created for your business, Bradley Writing and Editing Services is here to help.

I’m in the process of updating details on services offered. In the meantime, feel free to contact me if you have any questions. My email is on the Affordable Novel Critique Service page.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Ghostwriter

FaithWords (May 28, 2009)

by

Travis Thrasher

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

It was during third grade after a teacher encouraged him in his writing and as he read through The Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis that Travis decided he wanted to be a writer. The dream never left him, and allowed him to fulfill that dream of writing fulltime in 2007.

Travis Thrasher is the author of numerous works of fiction, including his most personal and perhaps his deepest work, Sky Blue, that was published in summer of 2007. This year he has to novels published, Out of the Devil’s Mouth, and a supernatural thriller, Isolation.

Travis is married to Sharon and they are the proud parents of Kylie, born in November, 2006, and Hailey, a Shih-Tzu that looks like an Ewok. They live in suburban Chicago.

Stop by and visit Travis at his Blog where you can sign up to follow him on Facebook and Twitter!

Also check out the radio interview with Travis on Monday June 8th at BlogTalkRadio/FaithWords

ABOUT THE BOOK

For years Dennis Shore has thrilled readers with his spooky bestselling novels. Now a widower, Dennis is finally alone in his house, his daughter attending college out of state. When he’s stricken by a paralyzing case of writer’s block and a looming deadline, Dennis becomes desperate. Against better judgment, he claims someone else’s writing as his own, accepting undeserved accolades for the stolen work. He thinks he’s gotten away with it . . . until he’s greeted by a young man named Cillian Reed–the true author of the stolen manuscript.

What begins as a minor case of harassment quickly spirals out of control. As Cillian’s threats escalate, Dennis finds himself on the brink of losing his career, his sanity, and even his life. The horror he’s spent years writing about has arrived on his doorstep, and Dennis has nowhere to run.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Ghostwriter, go HERE

Sally Says: I just finished Ghostwriter a week ago, and it was an interesting read.

I picked it up thinking it was suspense. I’ve read a number of Thrasher’s books, and my favorites of his, Blinded and Admission, were more suspense stories than anything else.

But it didn’t take long before I realized Ghostwriter went beyond suspense — into horror. I’m not a fan of horror. I hate scary movies and gore and stuff like that, and I’d heard about the Christian horror genre and wondered how that could be. Now I get it.

Despite falling into the category of horror, this was a Christian novel. Our hero Dennis struggles with the idea of God. He struggles with why his wonderful wife died far too young. There were other issues in the book that I would have loved to seen explored more, like what happened with Dennis’s deceased wife who was a believer. We know that she had a crisis of faith after the death of her unborn child. And that intrigued me. It didn’t sound like she necessarily recovered from that, and I wanted to know more.

As for the story overall, it’s very well-written and gripping. Thrasher is a talented writer. The one thing, other than the violence I don’t like, that bothered me throughout the book was that there were a number of times where the hero received  or read something and reacted to it and we readers were never let in on exactly what it was he saw or read. That made those scenes fall a bit flat since we readers didn’t know what to react to and therefore couldn’t react or sympathize with our heroine. Some of the time it was a movie reference that was wasted on me since I hadn’t seen the movie, but that could go back to me not being the right audience .

But as for you, if you like Stephen King, Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti — any writer along those lines — I’m pretty sure you’ll find Ghostwriter an enjoyable read.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Rose House

WaterBrook Press (May 5, 2009)

by

Tina Ann Forkner

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tina Ann Forkner writes contemporary fiction that challenges and inspires. She grew up in Oklahoma and graduated with honors from CSU Sacramento before settling in Wyoming. She lives with her husband, their three bright children and their dog and stays busy serving on the Laramie County Library Foundation Board of Directors. She is the author of Ruby Among Us, her debut novel, and Rose House, which recently released from Waterbrook Press/Random House.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A vivid story of a private grief, a secret painting, and one woman’s search for hope

Still mourning the loss of her family in a tragic accident, Lillian Diamon finds herself drawn back to the Rose House, a quiet cottage where four years earlier she had poured out her anguish among its fragrant blossoms.

She returns to the rolling hills and lush vineyards of the Sonoma Valley in search of something she can’t quite name. But then Lillian stumbles onto an unexpected discovery: displayed in the La Rosaleda Gallery is a painting that captures every detail of her most private moment of misery, from the sorrow etched across her face to the sandals on her feet.

What kind of artist would dare to intrude on such a personal scene, and how did he happen to witness Lillian’s pain? As the mystery surrounding the portrait becomes entangled with the accident that claimed the lives of her husband and children, Lillian is forced to rethink her assumptions about what really happened that day.

A captivating novel rich with detail, Rose House explores how the brushstrokes of pain can illuminate the true beauty of life.

If you would like to read an excerpt from Rose House, go HERE

Sally Says: I really dislike having to give bad reviews. In fact, I’d rather not, but CFBA makes us post our take on a book whether we like it or not. (Passing the buck, I know.)

So with that introduction, I must say that I did not care for The Rose House. I wish I had; it has a beautiful cover and the back cover piqued my interest, but I felt the story didn’t quite deliver. The quality of the story wasn’t up there. The characters weren’t three dimensional, and the plot was a bit unbelievable at times with characters already being in love when they’d only known each other a few days.

Maybe I wasn’t the right reader for the story; it felt more like a genre romance than the women’s fiction it was portrayed to be. If you love genre romance, then you may enjoy the book. But if you like what I like, :), then this may not be the book for you.

This is one of those books I wanted to like from the second I saw the cover. And I did. Jillian Dare is a modern take on the classic Jane Eyre, and it’s a very fun escape novel, whether or not you like Jane Eyre.

Jillian is a likable heroine. She’s grown up in foster homes and has been fortunate to have lived with a good family for the last few years. Now she’s a very mature young adult on her own and she’s landed a job working for wealthy Caden Remington as a nanny for his young daughter.

If you’re familiar with the story of Jane Eyre, then you’re going to be somewhat familiar with what will happen to Jillian. But even knowing the plot of Jane Eyre (I like the novel Jane Eyre more than the novel Pride and Prejudice), I still read on, eager to see what would happen to Jillian. This is a great escape book because it takes you to worlds the vast majority of people will never see — a Virginia mansion and English castle with anything needed on hand. And we see it through Jillian’s eyes who appreciates it and is blown away by it as much as anyone else would be.

The one flaw I saw in the book was that the language was sometimes too formal, almost like something you would read in Jane Eyre. I don’t know if that was done on purpose to be a reflection on Jane Eyre or not, but at times it made Jillian seem a bit unreal in a modern-day story. To me, it would have been better if Jillian hadn’t been quite so formal.

Either way, I still enjoyed Jillian Dare. And it made me want to go back and read that classic story again. But from now on I think I’m going to have to read Jane Eyre and Jillian Dare together. Both are stories I’ll be reading again and again.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

According To Their Deeds

Bethany House (March 1, 2009)

by

Paul Robertson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Paul Robertson is a computer programming consultant, part-time high-school math and science teacher, and the author of The Heir. He is also a former Christian bookstore owner (for 15 years), who lives with his family in Blacksburg, Virginia.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A Deadly Game of Justice Versus Mercy

Charles Beale lives outside the shadow of Washington, D.C. Politics and power matter only when a client crosses the Potomac to visit his Alexandria Rare Books shop.

But that all changes when a former client–a man deeply connected in the Justice Department–is found murdered after a break-in gone bad. When Charles reclaims at auction the books he’d once sold, he quickly discovers he’s bought more trouble than he could have ever imagined.

Inside one volume are secrets. A collection of sins that, if revealed, could destroy reputations, careers–even lives. Charles soon learns he isn’t the only who knows. Going to the police means ruining a multitude of lives. But staying silent puts a target on his shop, his wife–and himself. Charles must decide: Should one mistake really cost you everything?

If you would like to read the first chapter of According To Their Deeds, go HERE

Sally Says: When I read the back cover copy on this book, I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to read it. It sounded like it was a political novel — which I’m not fond of –  but the idea of secrets in rare books (and did I mention secrets?) intrigued me. So I thought I’d give a new author a try.

Paul Robertson is now on my automatic read list.

First, this isn’t a political novel, even though some of the characters are politicians. Charles Beale runs a rare book bookstore, and he stumbles upon secret papers when he buys back rare books he sold a client who’s been murdered in what seems to be a home break-in. Charles is a really well done character with a wonderful dry sense of humor. Each time he leaves the store, he asks one of his employees if they’ve sold anything. She tells him the latest book they’ve sold, and the rest of the scene, sometimes the day, plays off that book.

My favorite example was when they sold the Tom Swift books.

“Have we sold anything?” he asked Alice.

“The whole set of Tom Swift books.”

Two feet of shelf was empty. “What a large space,” he said hollowly.

“It is,” she said, broadly.

“Have Morgan order a new set,” he said, commandingly.

“I did it right away,” she said, quickly.”

Gotta love writing humor. :)

According to Their Deeds is a unique book because while it is described as a murder mystery/suspense, it’s a light-hearted and fun murder mystery/suspense. I think this book will have a broad audience — fans of mysteries, suspense, general fiction, humor — and especially readers who love the English language and appreciate the beauty of thoughtful, well-written prose.

This book shouldn’t be limited to readers of Christian fiction. While Charles and his lovely wife are Christians, the story doesn’t have a strong spiritual message. It’s just a really, really good read. It’s a book you can recommend to anyone, regardless of whether they read secular or Christian fiction.

There’s some good techniques in this book for writers to study too. Robertson uses a more distant POV with Charles, but it works really well because the plot is so good and there’s always something happening. Also, he knows how to not give back story in order to intrigue the reader. Charles and his wife are dealing with a past tragedy throughout the book, and we don’t know the details of that until much later in the book. But we’re never lost or confused.

So there it is, my first must-read of 2009. I can’t wait to get my hands on Robertson’s first two books.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Nothing But Trouble

Tyndale House Publishers (May 1, 2009)

by

Susan May Warren

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Susan grew up in Wayzata, a suburb of Minneapolis, and became an avid camper from an early age. Her favorite fir-lined spot is the north shore of Minnesota is where she met her husband, honeymooned and dreamed of living.

The north woods easily became the foundation for her first series, The Deep Haven series, based on a little tourist town along the shores of Lake Superior. Her first full-length book, Happily Ever After, became a Christy Award Finalist published in 2004 with Tyndale/Heartquest.

As an award winning author, Susan returned home in 2004, to her native Minnesota after serving for eight years with her husband and four children as missionaries with SEND International in Far East Russia. She now writes full time from Minnesota’s north woods and the beautiful town that she always dreamed of living in.

You can sample a chapter of each and every one of Susan’s novels, on her website, HERE.

ABOUT THE BOOK

PJ Sugar knows three things for sure:

1) After traveling the country for ten years hoping to shake free from the trail of disaster that’s become her life, she needs a fresh start.

2) The last person she wants to see when she heads home for her sister’s wedding is Boone-her former flame and the reason she left town.

3) Her best friend’s husband absolutely did not commit the first murder Kellogg, Minnesota, has seen in more than a decade.

What PJ doesn’t know is that when she starts digging for evidence, she’ll uncover much more than she bargained for-a deadly conspiracy, a knack for investigation, and maybe, just maybe, that fresh start she’s been longing for.

It’s not fair to say that trouble happens every time PJ Sugar is around, but it feels that way when she returns to her home town, looking for a fresh start. Within a week, her former teacher is murdered and her best friend’s husband is arrested as the number-one suspect. Although the police detective investigating the murder—who also happens to be PJ’s former flame—is convinced it’s an open-and-shut case, PJ’s not so sure. She begins digging for clues in an effort to clear her friend’s husband and ends up reigniting old passions, uncovering an international conspiracy, and solving a murder along the way. She also discovers that maybe God can use a woman who never seems to get it right

If you would like to read the first chapter of Nothing But Trouble, go HERE

Sally Says: Nothing But Trouble is one of those books that makes you want to find a stack of novels and read for a week straight.

PJ Sugar is a lovable heroine who’s funny and hurting. She’s got a messy past she’d love to erase and an overwhelming desire to do things right. But it just doesn’t seem to be in her DNA.

Lucky for us. :)

What I like about the book is that PJ isn’t perfect at all. She seems like someone we’ve met before, and because of that we can relate to her. Except for the Russians in the book. She’s one up on me there.

I’d write more, but the book only arrived in my mailbox a couple of days ago. I’m three-quarters into it and really enjoying it. Whether you like romance, women’s fiction, adventure, or mystery, Nothing But Trouble is a book you’ll enjoy spending time with.

That’s where I’m headed right now.

It’s been quite a while since I did any serious blogging, despite my January goal to do more, but it’s not my fault. Really! My laptop betrayed me right after I listed my goals, and it limped along for almost two months before it finally died in February.

Insert moment of silence.

I had someone look at it to see if it was fixable, but, alas, it was not. I’m just relieved that I backed everything up two hours before the computer froze on me for the last time.

So I spent about two weeks running up to my husband’s office at church to do my editing on his computer. Needless to say, all other online stuff had to wait.

But we have a new laptop now so I’m back! And I thought I’d catch up on a few things that have been banging around in my head for the last month.

1. You all might want to thank my laptop for dying when it did – the day before the news about A-Rod’s flunked steroid test came out. I did several mental blog rants in my head since I couldn’t get to a computer. Lucky you. But I feel better now. And I caught a White Sox preseason game yesterday which they won in the ninth inning. Go Sox.

2. Shelf Life, the story that finaled in the ‘07 Genesis contest, has been simmering and deepening in my mind for the last couple of years. I’ve got a pretty thorough outline, but there was one important bit of info that I couldn’t figure out — why the heroine’s husband had failed as a major league closer. I didn’t want it to be the whole steroid issue (see #1), and I already knew how the book would end, but I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what the guy’s problem was.

I figured it out! And in the weirdest place. My husband gets ESPN the magazine, and I skim through it for whatever looks interesting. There was an article in there about a month ago on fans heckling players, and bam — my answer was right there. What excited me the most was that what happened to one pro player was something I already had as a major issue in my story. So the answer fit perfectly into the story and deepened so much of the novel. I know that’s vague, but I’m pumped.

I really want to enter the Genesis contest again, but I think our two mortgages are going to prevent that. Which stinks because I’d love the feedback on Shelf Life and two other stories. But I’m getting okay with that.

Still . . . rats.

3. I’d love to hear what you all feel about novels that make you read the next book to find out what happens. On my last post, Tina Forkner, who’s a published novelist, left her thoughts on Daisy Chain and its ending. From the reviews I’ve seen, it almost seems like people who are more readers than writers don’t like to be left hanging while people who are writers are fine with it.

I know I’m a writer so I’m not even in line with what I think I’m seeing, but right now I’m looking at it as a reader. I want to get from beginning to end in that book I’m holding because I’m reading for fun. And getting to the end and not finding out what happened isn’t fun.  I wonder if we writers sometimes get caught up in our work as art and forget that our readers are into it for fun, escape, relaxation, etc.

What do you think?

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Daisy Chain

Zondervan (March 1, 2009)

by

Mary DeMuth

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mary E. DeMuth is an expert in Pioneer Parenting. She enables Christian parents to navigate our changing culture when their families left no good faith examples to follow.

Her parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House, 2007), Building the Christian Family You Never Had (WaterBrook, 2006), and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God (Harvest House, 2005).

Mary also inspires people to face their trials through her real-to-life novels, Watching The Tree Limbs
(nominated for a Christy Award) and Wishing On Dandelions (NavPress, 2006).

Mary has spoken at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, the ACFW Conference, the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, and at various churches and church planting ministries. Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, and planting a church.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The abrupt disappearance of young Daisy Chance from a small Texas town in 1973 spins three lives out of control—Jed, whose guilt over not protecting his friend Daisy strangles him; Emory Chance, who blames her own choices for her daughter’s demise; and Ouisie Pepper, who is plagued by headaches while pierced by the shattered pieces of a family in crisis.

In this first book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, fourteen-year-old Jed Pepper has a sickening secret: He’s convinced it’s his fault his best friend Daisy went missing. Jed’s pain sends him on a quest for answers to mysteries woven through the fabric of his own life and the lives of the families of Defiance, Texas. When he finally confronts the terrible truths he’s been denying all his life, Jed must choose between rebellion and love, anger and freedom.

Daisy Chain is an achingly beautiful southern coming-of-age story crafted by a bright new literary talent. It offers a haunting yet hopeful backdrop for human depravity and beauty, for terrible secrets and God’s surprising redemption.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Daisy Chain, go HERE

Sally Says:

This is a hard review to write. In fact, I went to a number of other CFBA blogs to see what others thought about the book.

First, I loved Mary DeMuth’s debut series, Watching the Tree Limbs and Wishing on Dandelions. Mary’s a talented writer who doesn’t shy away from the painful parts of life but uses them to point the reader to hope.

And in Daisy Chain those painful bits of life are here again. Jed Pepper, the book’s hero, is the son of a pastor who is brutal to his children and wife. As I read, I found myself getting very angry with Jed’s dad and reading faster and faster, just waiting for someone to catch Hap in his violence and rescue his family. I found myself getting angry with his wife for letting it continue. And I found myself angry with the church members who fell for Hap’s hypocrisy.

And then of course there’s the question of what happened to Jed’s friend Daisy. Jed feels responsible for her disappearance since he didn’t see her safely home the evening she vanished.

What bothered me about the story was the way the book ended. I knew this was the first in a trilogy, but I didn’t expect to reach the end of the book without a single plot question answered. Not one! I actually went back and reread a few pages, thinking I’d read too fast and missed something.

That being said, Daisy Chain is still a great book. Mary has a melodic way with words. She knows how to create real people out of nothing more than letters, and I will be reading the second (and probably third) book to find out what happens.

But I do wish something had been resolved at the end of the book. I wish we hadn’t been left hanging as badly as we were.

So do I recommend you read Daisy Chain? I do. Just take a deep breath and be prepared to wait a few months to find out what comes next.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Word Gets Around

Bethany House (February 1, 2009)

by

Lisa Wingate

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa Wingate lives in central Texas where she is a popular inspirational speaker, magazine columnist, and national bestselling author of several books. Her novel, Tending Roses, received dozens of five-star reviews, sold out ten printings for New York publisher, Penguin Putnam, and went on to become a national bestselling book. Tending Roses was a selection of the Readers Club of America, and is currently in its tenth printing.

The Tending Roses series continued with Good Hope Road, The Language of Sycamores, Drenched In Light, and A Thousand Voices. In 2003, Lisa’s Texas Hill Country series began with Texas Cooking, and continued with Lone Star Café, which was awarded a gold medal by RT BOOKCLUB magazine and was hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as “A charmingly nostalgic treat.” The series concluded with Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner.

Lisa is now working on a new set of small-town Texas novels for Bethany House Publishers. The series debuted with Talk of The Town and continued with Word Gets Around. A new series is also underway for Penguin Group NAL, beginning with A Month of Summer (July 2008), and continuing with The Summer Kitchen in July, 2009. Lisa’s works have been featured by the National Reader’s Club of America, AOL Book Picks, Doubleday Book Club, The Literary Guild, American Profiles, and have been chosen for the LORIES best Published Fiction Award.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When Romance Is In the Air, Word Gets Around Lauren Eldridge thought she’d wiped the dust of Daily, Texas, off her boots forever. Screenwriter Nate Heath thought he was out of second chances. Life’s never that predictable, though. Cajoled by her father, Lauren is back in town helping train a skittish race horse set to star in a Hollywood film. But the handsome screenwriter gives her more trouble than the horse. And Nate is realizing there’s a spark of magic in the project–and in the eyes of the girl who is so good with horses. Daily, Texas, has a way of offering hope, healing, and a little romance just when folks need it most.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Word Gets Around, go HERE

What people are saying:

“Lisa Wingate writes engaging stories that strike the heart. God has gifted her with a marvelous talent and I, for one, am most grateful.”
—Debbie Macomber, New York Times #1 bestselling author

Sally Says: One of the most fun things about reading fiction is discovering new authors. This past summer I read A Month of Summer, mainly because it had a beautiful cover.  (Yes,  I’m a sucker for a good cover.)

But it was an incredibly well-written novel. In fact, I know I referred at least one editing client to it as an example of well-done character-driven novel with a strong plot. So when I saw Lisa Wingate’s name on the CFBA reading list, I didn’t even pay attention to what the book was about. I knew I’d read more books by her.

And I’ve enjoyed Word Gets Around. It’s very different from A Month of Summer, which I didn’t expect. The one thing that’s the same is Wingate’s ability to create realistic, intriguing characters. The people in Word Gets Around are just plain fun — Aunt Netta, Imogene, and Lucy, Nate and his take on Hollywood people (of which he is one), and of course the heroine, Lauren Lee.

The premise of the book is the often-done small-town girl forced back to her roots, but it’s done in a fresh, interesting way that fits the characters and the story. I had trouble in the beginning with the way she spelled out some of the Texans’s hard core accents, but I got used to it, and it gave a unique voice to the characters that I wouldn’t have been able to hear, otherwise. I recommend Word Gets Around and Lisa Wingate for whenever you’re looking for that fun, relaxing read.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

The Red Siren

Barbour Publishing, Inc (January 2009)

by

M.L. Tyndall

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

M. L. (MARYLU) TYNDALL grew up on the beaches of South Florida loving the sea and the warm tropics. But despite the beauty around her, she always felt an ache in her soul–a longing for something more.

After college, she married and moved to California where she had two children and settled into a job at a local computer company. Although she had done everything the world expected, she was still miserable. She hated her job and her marriage was falling apart.

Still searching for purpose, adventure and true love, she spent her late twenties and early thirties doing all the things the world told her would make her happy, and after years, her children suffered, her second marriage suffered, and she was still miserable.

One day, she picked up her old Bible, dusted it off, and began to read. Somewhere in the middle, God opened her hardened heart to see that He was real, that He still loved her, and that He had a purpose for her life, if she’d only give her heart to Him completely.

Her current releases in the Legacy of The Kings Pirates series include:The Restitution, The Reliance, and The Redemption and The Falcon And The Sparrow

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lady Faith Westcott has turned her back on God and on man. Having witnessed the hypocrisy in the Church of England, her older sister’s abuse at the hand of her husband, and her own mother’s untimely
death in childbirth, Faith has determined never to marry and to gain enough wealth so she and her two sisters will never have to depend on man or God again.

To that end, though a lady by day, she becomes a pirate by night and begins her sordid career off Portsmouth when she attacks and plunders a merchant ship commanded by the young Dajon Waite. Humiliated at being defeated by a pirate and a woman no less, Dajon returns home without cargo and ship, and his father expels him from the family merchant business.

After a brief sojourn into debased society, Dajon rejoins the Royal Navy, where he finds comfort in the strict rules and redemption through his service to others. Three years later, he is sent to the frontier outpost of Charles Town, South Carolina to deal with the pirate problem. There, he connects with his mentor and old friend, Admiral Westcott, who has just arrived with his three daughters.

Much to Dajon’s utter dismay, Admiral Westcott, who is being called away to Spain, asks Dajon to be temporary guardian of his three lovely daughters. One of the ladies seems familiar to him, a striking redhead who immediately sends his heart thumping.

Faith recognizes Captain Waite as the buffoon whose ship she plundered off Portsmouth. Yet, he appears no longer the fool, but instead a tall, handsome and commanding naval officer. Despite her immediate attraction to him, she labels him the enemy, but sparks are guaranteed to fly during the next few months when independent, headstrong and rebellious Faith falls in love with God-fearing honorable, rule-following Dajon-especially when Faith continues her pirating off the Carolina coast while her father is away.

Will Dajon catch her? And what will this man of honor and duty do when he does?

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Red Siren, go HERE

Sally Says: MaryLu Tyndall’s books are just plain fun. There’s always adventure and romance, and The Red Siren delivers.

The heroes of the story, Faith and Dajon, captured my attention because of their conflicting goals — Faith’s a female pirate (how unique is that?) who’s got a bit of Robin Hood in her while Dajon is the naval commander sent to rid the Carolina seas of pirates, particularly the female pirate who’s rumored to frequent the area.

Since the book’s a romance, we assume they get together in the end, but the big question that kept me turning pages was how they’d get together. After all, Dajon’s an honest Christian man who’s committed to doing right. So I read wondering what he’d do when he discovered that Faith was the pirate he’d been searching for or if Faith might change and leave her pirating ways behind, despite the necessity of it to protect herself and her sisters.

The Red Siren is a real page turner with action and suspense on almost every page. If you’re looking for a light, fun read, this book is it.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

The Centurion’s Wife

Bethany House Publishers (January 1, 2009)

by

Davis Bunn and Janette Oke

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Davis Bunn is an internationally acclaimed author who has sold more than six million books in fifteen languages. His audiences span reading genres from high drama and action thrillers to heartwarming relationship stories, in both contemporary and historical settings.

Honored with three Christy Awards for excellence in historical and suspense fiction, his bestsellers include My Soul To Keep, and Full Circle. A sought-after lecturer in the art of writing, Bunn was named Novelist in Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University.

He and his wife, Isabella, make their home in Florida for some of each year, and spend the rest near Oxford, England, where they each teach and write.

Her first novel, a prairie love story titled Love Comes Softly, was published by Bethany House in 1979. This book was followed by more than 75 others.

After Love Comes Softly was published, Oke found her readers asking for more. That book led to a series of eight others in her Love Comes Softly series. She has written multiple fiction series, including The Canadian West, Seasons of the Heart and Women of the West. Her most recent releases include a beautiful children’s picture book, I Wonder…Did Jesus Have a Pet Lamb and The Song of Acadia series, co-written with T. Davis Bunn.

Janette Oke’s warm writing style has won the hearts of millions of readers. She has received numerous awards, including the Gold Medallion Award, The Christy Award of Excellence, the 1992 President’s Award for her significant contribution to the category of Christian fiction from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, and in 1999 the Life Impact Award from the Christian Booksellers Association International. Beloved worldwide, her books have been translated into fourteen languages.

She and her husband live nearby in Alberta, Canada.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Janette Oke has dreamed for years of retelling a story in a biblical time frame from a female protagonist’s perspective, and Davis Bunn is elated to be working with her again on this sweeping saga of the dramatic events surrounding the birth of Christianity…and the very personal story of Leah, a young Jewess of mixed heritage trapped in a vortex of competing political agendas and private trauma.

Caught up in the maelstrom following the death of an obscure rabbi in the Roman backwater of first-century Palestine, Leah finds herself also engulfed in her own turmoil–facing the prospect of an arranged marriage to a Roman soldier, Alban, who seems to care for nothing but his own ambitions.

Head of the garrison near Galilee, he has been assigned by Palestine’s governor to ferret out the truth behind rumors of a political execution gone awry. Leah’s mistress, the governor’s wife, secretly commissions Leah also to discover what really has become of this man whose death–and missing body–is causing such furor.

This epic drama is threaded with the tale of an unlikely romance and framed with dangers and betrayals from unexpected sources. At its core, the story unfolds the testing of loyalties–between two young people whose inner searchings they cannot express, between their irreconcilable heritages, and ultimately between their humanity and the Divine they yearn to encounter.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Centurion’s Wife, go HERE

Sally Says: Apologetics is always an interesting topic. How do we prove that Jesus lived? How do we prove that He died and rose again? How do we take centuries old evidence and weigh it today?

Davis Bunn and Janette Oke have written a novel that deals with apologetics as it would have been in the weeks after Jesus died, and it’s a very interesting read. The two main characters are forced to investigate what really happened to this rabbi who died and whose body is now missing. The story feels kind of like a suspense novel, except you already know what they’ll find. They hunt down eye witnesses to the death of the rabbi, soldiers in charge of the crucifixion and tomb duty, the men who handled the cold body and buried him, and the women who say they saw him later — alive.

It’s really an interesting and unique read. The book isn’t fast-paced, partly because we know what happens, but I found the book just as easy to pick up as it was to set down. And halfway through the book, the stakes are upped for one of the characters, and that made the story more entertaining.

The spine says this is book one in the Acts of Faith series, and I do think I’ll be picking up the following books. There was one major Biblical event that I knew would happen at some point in the book, and I enjoyed how they handled it so I’m eager to see how they might fictionalize other events in Acts. The Centurion’s Wife really gave me a feel for the culture of Jews and Romans of the day and even brought up some struggles new believers might have dealt with that I had never thought about. While this isn’t't one of my favorite reads, it made me think and kept my attention. If you like Biblical, historical, or romantic fiction, you’ll enjoy The Centurion’s Wife.

So this blog is really not about my family. Not at all.

But I just downloaded a bunch of pictures of my kiddos and loved this one of our littlest guy.

Now someone convince my older kids that baby drool isn’t gross.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Sweetwater Gap

Thomas Nelson (December 16, 2008)

by

Denise Hunter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Denise lives in Indiana with her husband Kevin and their three sons. In 1996, Denise began her first book, a Christian romance novel, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her books often contain a strong romantic element, and her husband Kevin says he provides all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!

ABOUT THE BOOK

A story of new beginnings from best-selling Romance for Good™ author Denise Hunter.
When Josephine’s family insists she come home to help with the harvest, the timing works. But her return isn’t simple benevolence-she plans to persuade the family to sell the failing orchard.

The new manager’s presence is making it difficult. Grady MacKenzie takes an immediate disliking to Josephine and becomes outright cantankerous when she tries talking her family into selling. As she and Grady work side by side in the orchard, she begins to appreciate his devotion and quiet faith. She senses a vulnerability in him that makes her want to delve deeper, but there’s no point letting her heart have its way-he’s tied to the orchard, and she could never stay there.

A brush with death tears down Josephine’s defenses and for the first time in her life, she feels freedom-freedom from the heavy burden of guilt, freedom to live her life the way it was intended, with a heart full of love.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Sweetwater Gap, go HERE

Sally Says: Sweetwater Gap is an easy-to-read romance set in an apple orchard which is a bit of an unusual setting.

I’m not a big fan of straight romance novels, and when I chose to read this book, it was because it came across as women’s fiction. But it has a very typical romance storyline — hero and heroine disagree on a major point and it interferes with their feelings about each other. Of course they eventually overcome their disagreement (which we know will happen), so the story is more about the journey than wondering how it will end.

There were a few parts of the plot that felt underdone, almost underdeveloped, but then again, that could be because this isn’t my most favorite genre. If you’re a romance fan, you’ll probably feel much differently. I have read one of Hunter’s previous books (Finding Faith, I think) and did enjoy it, so I plan on reading more of her books. I even have Surrender Bay in my TBR pile, and people have raved about that one.

If you’ve read Sweetwater Gap, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear your take on it.

In recent years, I’ve learned the importance of setting goals for the coming year. Call them New Year’s resolutions if you want; I prefer goals.

Last year, with the prospect of going back to work fulltime, I didn’t set any goals (getting dinner on the table and laundry done was goal enough), but what I didn’t expect was the amount of free time I had and the way I frittered it away. No goal, no plan, no results.

So here are my goals for this year:

1. Read my One Year Chronological Bible — in one year.
2. Get back to my prepregnancy weight and a bit beyond. This means I need to lose 15 pounds. I’m not completely sure how I’ll do this with a baby who still demands a lot of time, but I’ll work on it.
3. Revamp my blog. It needs a bit of a face lift from someone who knows what they’re doing, don’t you think?
4. Organize my home. When we moved in August of ‘07, we basically threw stuff in the house and jumped into a busy hectic life. So there are certain areas that are very unorganized and a number of things still in the boxes. I’d like to get some order back.
5. I have a goal for my editing income each month, but of course I won’t share that. :) I’m also planning on getting into some of the social network sites out there to promote my writing and editing.
6. This one I’m really struggling with — I’d love to finish Shelf Life this year. I’ve got about 10K done on it, and I like what I’ve got so far, but we’ll be homeschooling starting in January. (Oh, wait, it is January.) We’ve pulled our kids out of the Christian school they were in because we have the joy of two mortgages. Anyone want a vacation home in the Chicago suburbs? So next week I start homeschooling while I take care of an almost four-month old plus my editing and two other small jobs I have. So there isn’t much time for writing. But I’d love, love, love to get back to my own stuff.

And that’s about it. My next job is to break these down into doable tasks. I’ve got my Franklin Planner pages for the year, and I’m going to be using them much more than I did last year. I know I get a lot more done when I use them, and I enjoy my work a lot more too.

So what about you? What New Year’s resolutions or goals are you working on for 2009?

Last year this time I worked as a shelf stocker at Barnes & Noble. My job was to put books on shelves, not necessarily help people find what they were looking for, but every now and then someone would stop me and ask for help. So I thought I’d share with you the one book I handsold.

A man asked me for a book on personal finance, and I showed him Dave Ramsey’s book Financial Peace Revisited. I had discovered the book recently and loved it. Dave Ramsey is a personal finance guru who teaches old-fashioned, common sense money advice, and the book goes from showing how people get into financial trouble to how to get out of that trouble to how to save for your future, how to retire with dignity as he puts it.

With the economy scaring people, I know many are looking for ways to shrink their budgets and stretch their money. Having financial troubles can put a horrible stress on a marriage. Whether you fit any of those scenarios or are in good shape but would like to pick someone’s brain, Financial Peace Revisited is where you need to go. The book is one of the most helpful, encouraging, and fun books on money. It’s well worth your time and money.

Well, that’s probably the only non-fiction book I’ll ever review here. Now back to our regularly schedule fiction.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We’ve done something we’ve never done before.

We Chicagoans-turned-semirural-Kansans have — hit an animal with our vehicle.

Where do I begin?

It was a dark and stormy — oh, sorry.

Although it was a dark night. That was the first problem. My oldest two kids had their school Christmas program Thursday night, the night where we were either going to have a small ice storm or thunderstorm, depending on how far north the warm Southern air decided to come.

As we set out to school, my husband decided to take it nice and slow. The road we were on had no street lights, was mostly rural with a few set back homes, there was low, dense cloud cover, and visibility wasn’t much past the front of our car.

Or rather wasn’t much past the possum a couple yards in front of our car.

As long and tall as a house cat, the possum was super plump. All white and gray. And about to get it.

It’s amazing how much you can think in less time than it takes you to open your mouth. I analyzed what part of our car was going to hit the possum and what part of its body would take it. And I realized that the tire I was sitting behind would hit it, probably right in the poor animal’s midsection. I had time to say, “Oh — !” and the thing disappeared in front of us.

And then –

Thabump. The tire hit the possum and rolled right over it.

Thabump. I still shudder thinking about it. It was the nastiest feeling, the nastiest sound. The poor animal. We poor Bradleys.

This is one of those firsts you never want to reach, you know? We’ve never, ever hit an animal, not even a squirrel or chipmunk. Okay, maybe an ant. Oh, yes, and lots of bugs.

But no animal. Ugh.

A moment of silence . . .

In case you’re about to dig through your recipe files, I do not need any possum stew recipes. No, I don’t have one I prefer. It’s just another first I refuse to do.

Now may I never have to write a post about the first time someone slipped me possum stew . . .

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Dark Pursuit

Zondervan (December 1, 2008)

by

Brandilyn Collins

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brandilyn Collins is known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. She is currently working on her 20th book. For chances to win free copies of her work, join her Fan Club on Facebook. Here’s what Brandilyn has to say about why she wrote Dark Pursuit:

In John Milton’s Paradise Lost Satan’s followers, kicked out of heaven, boast about storming the gates and reclaiming their territory. Beelzebub scoffs at their boasting as merely “hatching vain empires” and suggests a different revengeful scheme: seduce mankind away from God. So Satan visits the Garden of Eden to teach humans the very thing he and his cohorts have learned to be futile—the dark pursuit of hatching their own vain empires instead of following God. He presented man with this “gift” of death, disguised as life. And man fell for it.

Upon this theme of man’s fall and spiritual blindness, I created the characters and events in Dark Pursuit. The story clips along at a fast pace, with much symbolism running underneath.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Dark Pursuit—A twisting story of murder, betrayal, and eternal choices

Novelist Darell Brooke lived for his title as King of Suspense—until an auto accident left him unable to concentrate. Two years later, reclusive and bitter, he wants one thing: to plot a new novel and regain his reputation.

Kaitlan Sering, his twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, once lived for drugs. After she stole from Darell, he cut her off. Now she’s rebuilding her life. But in Kaitlan’s town two women have been murdered, and she’s about to discover a third. She’s even more shocked to realize the culprit—her boyfriend, Craig, the police chief’s son.

Desperate, Kaitlan flees to her estranged grandfather. For over forty years, Darell Brooke has lived suspense. Surely he’ll devise a plan to trap the cunning Craig.

But can Darell’s muddled mind do it? And—if he tries—with what motivation? For Kaitlan’s plight may be the stunning answer to the elusive plot he seeks…

Read the first chapter of Dark Pursuit, HERE.

Sally Says: Man, Brandilyn Collins is good. I like a gripping suspense novel, and she really knows how to write them. If you’ve read her blog, you’ve heard her say how much she struggles to write, but for Pete’s sake, it never shows in the final product. She’s written so many different suspense novels that you’d think they’d begin to get repetitive, but nope. Not a bit.

And in Dark Pursuit she’s come up with another unique story with realistic characters. If you’re a suspense fan, you must read her latest book. Just a warning, though — don’t start reading late in the day because you won’t be able to put the book down.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

One Perfect Day

FaithWords (October 22, 2008)

by

Lauraine Snelling

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Today, Lauraine Snelling is a member of the more than Two Million Books In Print club, but when she first began, she was a mother of three teenagers with a simple dream to write “horse books for kids.”

All told, she has over 50 books published. She thinks. She’s not sure. She’d rather write them than count them. Lauraine’s work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish and German as well as produced as books on tape.

Awards have followed her dedication to “telling a good story”: the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter.

Helping others reach their writing dream is the reason Lauraine teaches at writer’s conferences across the country. She mentors others through book doctoring and with her humorous and playful Writing Great Fiction tape set. Lauraine also produces material on query letters and other aspects of the writing process.

Her readers clamor for more books more often and Lauraine would like to comply, if only her ever-growing flower gardens didn’t call quite so loudly over the soothing rush of the water fountains in her back yard and if the hummingbirds weren’t quite so entertaining. Lauraine and husband Wayne have two grown sons and a cockatiel named Bidley, who loves to tease their Basset Hound named Chewy.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Two mothers end up more closely connected that they could dream…and yet they are strangers to one another.

The first has two children–twins, a boy and girl, who are seniors in high school. She wants their last Christmas as a family living in the same home to be perfect, but her husband is delayed returning from a business trip abroad. And then there’s an accident–a fatal one involving a drunk driver.

Meanwhile, the other mother has a daughter who needs a new heart, and so the loss of one woman becomes the miracle the other has desperately prayed for. While one mother grieves, and pulls away from her family, the other finds that even miracles aren’t always easy to receive.

If you would like to read the first chapter of One Perfect Day, go HERE

Sally Says: This was my first Lauraine Snelling book, and while the book didn’t wow me, I did enjoy it.

The plot isn’t anything unusual — one person’s death leads to life for another — but I thought Snelling did a good job of showing both sides of the story. One thing she dealt with that I particularly liked is the horrible fear that they’d actually killed their family member by agreeing to donate organs, the whole “What if they would have woken up in another week or two?” thought. I’ve never dealt with this situation so I don’t know any of the medical information needed to make this decision, but when I’ve thought about organ donating, I’ve always wondered, “How do they know that person really is gone?” So I liked that she included that in the story.

The one thing I didn’t like was that the story didn’t seem to have a real ending. I know that when you’re dealing with grief and the loss of a family member, it’s hard to find that Happily Ever After ending, but still, there needs to be something that brings finality to the entire story, and to me it felt like the book just stopped.

While this review obviously isn’t a ringing endorsement for the book, I do think that those who are fans of women’s fiction and tear jerkers will enjoy One Perfect Day. Snelling is a very good writer and I think that most who read the book will enjoy it.

A few Sundays ago, my husband’s church computer started smoking.

That’s not a good thing.

A lady in our church knew of a computer repair guy in town. In fact, only the week before this same repair guy, a man who is not a Christian, had fixed the church office’s hard drive for free. So Steve called him and told him he had another computer that needed work.

Turned out the power supply needed to be replaced. Steve told the man that we didn’t expect another free repair and that we’d pay for his work.

But the man had a better idea. He was the head of the local rotary club and needed a speaker for November’s meeting. Would my husband be willing to come and talk about our church?

Talk about God as payment for repair services?

Um, no problem.

So this week Steve went to the rotary club, got a free lunch, and at the end stood up in front of local business men and women and gave a clear, blunt plan of salvation.

He told them our church held to a literal view of the Bible and that the Bible says we are all sinners, that Jesus is the only way to heaven, regardless of how unpopular that is today. He kept his talk short, but he gave the complete truth in a loving yet uncompromising way. I joked with Steve later that those people hadn’t expected to go to church that Tuesday.

Strange, isn’t it? How do you explain a non-Christian asking Steve to do him this favor and making it clear he wanted Steve to talk about our church? God was in it — God sent that opportunity. We Christians often excuse our lack of witnessing by saying we don’t get chances, but when we do, we often cop out or sugarcoat the Bible. Even my husband said that as he was eating, waiting for his turn to speak, he felt the temptation to gloss over salvation, to maybe skip talking about the gospel altogether. But he knew he couldn’t.

Neither can we.

When opportunity knocks, I want to be bold enough to tell the complete truth without downplaying any aspect of man’s sinfulness or God’s perfection. I want to be bold enough to say that there is no other way but Jesus. I want to be bold enough to be deserving of the opportunities God hands out. I want opportunity to knock, and I want to meet it in a way that makes God smile.