Ring of Secrets Author: Roseanna White Publisher: Harvest House
This romantic spy novel from Roseanna M. White combines fascinating
cloak-and-dagger secrets with a tale of love and intrigue during the
Revolutionary War. Winter Reeves is an aristocratic Patriot forced
to hide her heart amid the Loyalists of the City of New York. She has
learned to keep her ears open so she can pass information on British
movements to Robbie Townsend, her childhood friend, and his spy ring. If
she's caught, if she's hung for espionage...well, she won't be. Robbie
has taught her the tools of the trade: the wonders of invisible ink,
drop locations and, most importantly, a good cover. Bennet Lane
returns to New York from his Yale professorship with one goal: to find
General Washington's spy hidden among the ranks of the elite. Searching
for a wife was supposed to be nothing more than a convenient cover story
for his mission, but when he meets Winter, with her too-intelligent
eyes in her too-blank face, he finds a mystery that can't be ignored. Both
believers...and both committed to a separate cause. Will their faith in
God lead them to a shared destiny or lives lived apart?
Author of Ring of Secrets: Roseanna White
If you'd like to be in a drawing for a beautiful basket giveaway that includes Roseanna's book, Ring of Secrets, please leave a comment on her site: www.roseannawhite.com
If you are stopping in to check out these books, please leave a comment and I will put you in a drawing for a lovely Currier and Ives print (11" x 17") The Farmers Home - Summer; suitable for framing.
NON-FICTION:
The Other Side of the Tapestry Author: Maureen Longnecker Publisher: Winepress
The
Other Side of the Tapestry:Choosing to
Trust God When Life Hurts, by Maureen
Longnecker
....recounts God’s
faithful love to the author as she wrestled with the intense emotions and
theological questions of her physical, mental, and spiritual journey through
her parents’ suicides, disappointment, shattered dreams, chronic health
problems, depression, grief, and loss.Offering no simple answers, Maureen weaves Scriptural truth with personal
experience that offers hope and encouragement to those who are hurting.
“Maureen’s story is more than a firsthand account of tragedy, trials,
and turmoil.Immersed in Scripture, it
is the story of a family’s agonizing journey and God’s unending faithfulness in
life’s darkest hours.Maureen reminds us
that a broken heart is not healed by explanations – it’s healed by God’s love
and the promises in His Word.” -
Jennifer Sands, author, speaker, and 9/11 widow
Author Maureen Longnecker
Maureen Longnecker graduated from Washington
Bible College
in Lanham, MD.After briefly serving as missionaries in Grenada,
West Indies, her family returned to the USA because of health reasons.Maureen has been published in magazines,
newspapers, and online.She’s a homeschool
mother and enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, writing,
speaking at women’s retreats and other events, nature, photography, and
fishing.She is married to her high
school sweetheart, Eric.They have three
children and one daughter-in-love.Their
first grandchild is due in mid-August, Lord-willing!
When Sarah’s husband Jamie drowns, her young life if
shattered and takes a turn that she never expected. Pregnant and now widowed,
she reaches out to Jamie’s family for help but they are unwilling. Instead they
devise a plan to have her kidnapped and taken to the Colonies to live a life of
servitude for seven years.
She is deceived
and taken aboard a ship headed for the Colonies to be sold, bound to
unspeakable hardship and forced into the same world she left.
Caught
in the talons of servitude, she falls in love with a young
conscientious doctor, Alex Hutton, who has arrived in Virginia to care
for his widowed sister in law and two young nieces. Called back to serve
in Washington’s
army, he promises he will return for her, gain her freedom and wed her.
Other
plans were made for Sarah when her owner finds himself bankrupt and
sells her
the first chance he gets. She’s taken out into the frontier, captured by
Indians, and faces unbearable hardship.
When the
mistress of River Run along the Potomac encounters Sarah’s plight after she has
escaped, Eliza Morgan pities her, and a way is made for Sarah to remain with
her and care for Eliza’s young daughter, Darcy. Revolution has ignited in
America, and together they endure many hardships which bring them together in
friendship. But when Sarah learns that Zachary Halston, a local landowner, has
seduced Eliza, she is troubled about what to do.
Grateful for
Eliza’s kindness, Sarah is forever bound to keep silent. She promises Eliza to
never reveal the secret that Ilene is Eliza’s child, even at the risk of living
a life in shame if her master should ever discover the truth upon his return.
Trapped in
Eliza and Hayward’s troubled lives, Sarah flees River Run. Will she make her
way back to Alex and freedom as he searches the wilderness for her? Or will her
hopes be crushed at the hands of the man who deceived her long ago in Cornwall
when she faced destitution?
Praise for 'Beyond the Valley'.
Beyond the Valley is a delightful
escape of adventure and romance and a sweeping saga of tragedy and hope that
you won’t want to miss! (5 Stars) MaryLu Tyndall, author of the Surrender to Destiny Series
Rita Gerlach
Review in RT Book Reviews Magazine - 4 stars
(Creating characters with intense realism and compassion is one of
Gerlach's gifts. Her books typically involve dramatic situations, giving
her characters a chance to rise above their
adversity. Beyond the Valley is a shining example of that, reminding us
that we are never forsaken. This is the third in the Daughters of the
Potomac series. Sarah's character was introduced in the first novel,
Before the Scarlet Dawn, and now she has her own heart-wrenching story
that takes us from England to Virginia and Maryland. The historic
setting is vividly descriptive, bringing the story to life, almost
becoming a character unto itself. You may shed some tears, but you'll
come away with deep contentment and satisfaction of a story well told.)
Book 3 in the Daughters of the Potomac series, Beyond the Valley, will be released February 1 and is available for pre-order from online bookstores. In ebook upon release. Available in all fine bookstores.
Giveaway for Beyond the Valley:
15" Colonial Doll
....and will also include a Currier & Ives print suitable for framing, a silk fan, scented candle and peppermint tea.
Rita would welcome comments too at: http://ritagerlach.blogspot.com/
Forsaken Dreams, Book One in the
exciting new Escape to Paradise fiction series
by MaryLu Tyndall
Embark on a seafaring adventure as a
disillusioned colonel and a hopeful widow seek a fresh start on the shores of Brazil. Colonel
Grant Wallace cannot leave his once precious Southern homeland fast enough.
After witnessing the death and destruction of the Civil War, he charters a ship
and sets sail for the pristine shores of Brazil, eager to start afresh in a
new land. Widow Eliza Crawford boards the ship NewHope harboring a dirty
secret and a blossoming hope within her heart for a new life away from old
memories. But once at sea, troubles abound. Will Grant overcome his demons of
bitterness and rage? Can Eliza find the peace she longs for?
Author MaryLu Tyndall MaryLu Tyndall, a Christy
Award Finalist, and best-selling author of the Legacy of the King’s Pirates
series is known for her adventurous historical romances filled with deep
spiritual themes. She holds a degree in Math and worked as a software engineer
for fifteen years before testing the waters as a writer. MaryLu currently
writes full time and makes her home on the California coast with her husband, six kids,
and four cats. Her passion is to write page-turning, romantic adventures that not
only entertain but open people's eyes to their God-given potential. MaryLu is a
member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America.
Marylu has graciously taken time out of her busy schedule to answer a number of questions for us concerning her just-released first book in her latest series Escape to Paradise.
~ How would you describe your new series, MaryLu?
An adventurous, romantic tale about a group of Confederates, wounded in
both body and soul, who flee the destruction of the South after the Civil War
for greener pastures in Brazil, but who find much more than they bargained for,
both on the trip there and once they arrive.
~ What inspired the storyline for this series?
History. Nearly three million
Southerners migrated from the devastation of the South following the Civil War.
Close to twenty thousand of them went to Brazil where the Emperor welcomed
them with open arms, the farm land was plentiful, and the temperate climate
mimicked their own weather back home. Though most ended up returning home,
several thousand remained, and their descendants still live there today. Their
struggles to create a new Southern Utopia in the heart of Brazil make for
a fascinating story!
~ How is it different from your previous series?
Escape to Paradise
is like nothing I’ve ever written before. The six main characters, the hero and
heroine in each book, have a huge presence in each of the three books, so by
the end of the series, the reader will know them all really well, as well as
several of the secondary characters. Secondly, and more importantly, this
series contains a lot of supernatural elements—curses, angels, visions, demonic
battles—which I have not put in any of my other books.
~ What type of research did you have to
do for Forsaken Dreams?
Surprisingly, not much has
been written about this particular historic event. I did find a couple of great
books on Amazon. I was also able to locate some original source material, which
is a researcher’s dream: three journals written by actual Confederates who
traveled to Brazil.
Then of course I studied the flora, fauna, cuisine, customs, religion, climate,
topography, and history of Brazil
and Rio de Janeiro.
I tried to talk myhusband into funding
a trip to Rio (For purely research purposes,
of course) but he wasn’t buying it! J I also studied the Civil War,
clothing and customs of the time period, and, in particular, of the South.
~ What are the most interesting facts that
you learned while researching and writing Forsaken
Dreams? There is a
city in Brazil called Americana, which was
founded by migrant confederates in the late 19th century.To this day, the inhabitants still speak a
mixture of English and Portuguese and celebrate American holidays by playing “Dixie”, while some of the local women dress in
big-bustled skirts for dancing.President Carter visited the city in 1972, after discovering its little
known history, and he was reportedly brought to tears by the American
influences he found there.
~ What surprises do your fans have to
look forward to in your new series?
An exotic locale, powerful
secrets held by each character, a strong spiritual theme that runs through all
three books, cannibals, evil temples, visions, angels, demons, prophecies, and
a supernatural battle. Doesn’t sound like romance novels, does it? Yet, readers
can still expect to find all the adventure and romance they normally enjoy from
one of my books.
~ Do you have a favorite character in this book? Why? Yes. The heroine, Eliza
Crawford. She’s all the things so many of us want to be: Strong, Independent,
Smart, Caring, Selfless. But she has a fatal flaw—one which I can relate to
very much, and one I’m hoping others will relate to as well. She wants to live
life on her own terms. She wants to do things her way and follow her own heart
and will. She doesn’t want to be told what to do by anyone, especially God.
Consequently, she disobeyed her father and ran off to marry a man who was all
wrong for her, an action that cost her and others dearly. Still, she struggles
with an independent spirit that refuses to submit to God, even when she knows
His will is best.Sound familiar? It
does to me!
~ What message would you like your readers
to take from reading Forsaken
Dreams?
There are
several messages woven into Forsaken Dreams. Forgiveness, letting go of
bitterness, running away from God, but I would say the main message is that
submission to God and His will is the only thing that brings true happiness.
~ Most of your stories revolve around
swashbuckling pirates and sea captains.What draws you to write about them? Actually I
only have one pirate series, but a good majority of my books have several
scenes set at sea. Ever since I was a child growing up on the shores of South Florida, I have loved the sea and especially the
tall ships of old. To me, there’s something very romantic and adventurous about
those magnificent sailing ships and the men and women who journeyed on them in
search of new lands.
~ What are some of the challenges you face as an
author?
Meeting
deadlines! I never feel like I can take a break and just relax when there’s a
deadline shouting at me from my computer.Other challenges come in the form of negative reviews and harsh comments,
most of which I’ve learned over the years to ignore.However, the occasional one slips through and
stabs my heart. Then there’s the marketing aspect of being an author, which is
most definitely my weakest skill. I’ve never been very good at selling myself,
or in fact, selling anything, to anyone.
~ What aspects of being a writer do you
enjoy the most? The
writing! Coming up with new stories and settings, and especially great characters.
But my favorite part is putting those characters into impossible situations that
I would never survive personally, but ones in which they must survive!Those hours I
spend at my computer with my head and my heart in a distant land, living life
through my characters, are the happiest moments of my day. What a great job I
have!! I get to live in a fantasy world of my own making. God is good!
~ What clubs or organizations are you
involved with helping with your writing? American
Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. However I receive most of
the help I need from other writers who I’ve grown close to over the years. It’s
so wonderful to have an online support group of people who understand what I’m
going through and who can offer suggestions and help and who can lift me up in
prayer when needed.
~ What new projects are on the horizon? Forsaken Dreams is the first in a
trilogy entitled Escape to Paradise, so I’m
currently working on the last two books in the series. After that, It’ll be in
God’s good favor as to what He wants me to write next.
~ What was your favorite book as a child? Can I have
three?The Last of the Mohicans,The Count of Monte Cristo, and Pride and
Prejudice.
~ What is your greatest achievement? My
children. Although I really can’t take credit for them turning out as well as
they have. That was God. But they are my life and my true loves, and I can’t
imagine my world without them.
~ What do you do to get away from it all? Go to the
beach. Although it’s not as warm here in California as it was in Florida where
I grew up, I love sitting in the sand and gazing out over the foamy waves and
smelling the salty air and feeling the wind on my face. It makes me realize how
big God is and how small I am, yet how much He truly loves me.
~And, finally, where can your readers
find you online? You can
sign up for my e-newsletter on my website at www.marylutyndall.com, and my blog is http://crossandcutlass.blogspot.com
where I post all sorts of things from book giveaways and book information to
articles and devotional thoughts. I have a Facebook group called MaryLu Tyndall
Swashbuckling Romance, and I’m on Twitter: @MaryLuTyndall. Hope to connect with
you all!
Check out MaryLu's blog to learn more about the hero from Forsaken
Dreams, Blake Wallace, and comment for a chance to win a copy of her book and an Ocean Blue giftgiveaway!
Ocean Blue Gift Giveaway includes: A lovely hand-made Victorian doll in a blue gown with lace shawl, a blue silk fan, an 11" X 15" basket of violets print suitable for framing (Feb. flower of the month), Godiva chocolate--and a copy of MaryLu's book Forsaken Dreams.
In order to be in this drawing please leave a comment here, orwhen you visit MaryLu's blog beginningFriday, February 7. You may enter more than once throughout the monthon MaryLu's blog, but only once a week. (Don't forget to leave your e-mail address)
