Congratulations to Rebecca for winning Lena Nelson Dooley’s Maggie’s Journey, to Jennifer for winning Lisa Jordan’s Lakeside Reunion, to Merry for winning Noelle Marchard’s Unlawfully Wedded Bride, and to Laura for winning Lynda Schab’s Mind Over Madi.
This week I’m hosting Tamera Alexander with A Lasting Impression, Janet Tronstad with Christmas Stars for Dry Creek from Mail Order Christmas Brides and K. Dawn Byrd with This Time For Keeps (an ebook). If you want to enter the drawings for the books (not Tamera Alexander’s), please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. Tamera’s book is not in a drawing at this blog, but there is a giveaway on Bethany House’s Facebook on November 10th. Details here:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=303072793038524 . I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (November 13th) evening.
Bio for Tamera Alexander:
Tamera Alexander is a bestselling novelist whose works have been awarded or nominated for numerous honors, including the Christy Award, the RITA Award, and the Carol Award. After seventeen years in Colorado, Tamera and her husband have returned to their native South and live in Tennessee, where they enjoy spending time with their two grown children.
Tamera invites you to visit her at:
Her Web site www.tameraalexander.com
Her blog www.tameraalexander.blogspot.com
Twitter www.twitter.com/tameraalexander
Facebook www.facebook.com/tamera.alexander
Book Blurb for A Lasting Impression:
When I first stepped foot across the threshold of the Belmont Mansion in Nashville, TN, and learned about Adelicia Acklen––the born-before-her-time woman who built Belmont––and her “tough as nails” personality and extraordinary life, I knew I wanted to write a story that included her, her magnificent home, and this crucial time in our nation’s history.
But when I “met” Sutton Monroe and Claire Laurent while visiting the mansion one afternoon, or more rightly, when they shoved their way into my imagination and met each other, I knew I had to write their story. And I knew exactly what the setting would be too. The historic Belmont Mansion. After over two years of research and writing, A Lasting Impression is the culmination of that “chance meeting.”
A Lasting Impression is about being authentic in one’s life and relationships, and in one’s faith. It’s a love story about a nation mending after war, the redemption of those wounded, and the courage of a man and woman to see themselves––and each other––for who they really are.
Bio for Janet Tronstad:
One of Janet Tronstad’s favorite childhood memories is of borrowing Zane Gray novels from her grandfather’s book shelf.
“There probably weren’t more than fifty titles there,” she recalls. “It was only a shelf of old books in the back bedroom. But it was the call to adventure for me. I still remember what it felt like to start reading a new book. It’s the same excitement I feel today when I start writing a new book.”
Janet, one of five children, grew up on a family farm near Fort Shaw, Montana, a small town with a population less than 200. This small town and the thriving church she attended have been an inspiration for her popular Dry Creek series of books published by Steeple Hill.
“People respond to the characters I have in my Dry Creek series,” says Janet. “And a lot of that is because of the sense of community the characters in Dry Creek share, especially in the local church. I think we all hunger to be in a place where people know us and accept us.”
Janet likes to write books that show people struggling with issues in their life and in their faith. “We all struggle,” she says. “That’s why we like to read about other people who are facing problems.”
In addition to the Dry Creek series, Janet is also currently writing books that are set in urban locations.
“The rural-urban switch is one I’ve been conscious of in my own life since I grew up on a farm and then, with graduate school and various jobs, lived in several large cities before settling in Pasadena, California,” says Janet. “I often have a character that grew up in a small town and just moved to a big city or the other way around.”
Several of these urban-based books form the basis for “The Sisterhood of the Dropped Stitches,” a series about four young cancer survivors who are determined to take their lives back. These books are coming out as Café titles in the Love Inspired series by Steeple Hill.
In another upcoming novel, “Going to the Chapel,” Janet writes about a young woman who grew up in the relatively small town of Blythe, California and then moved to Hollywood, hoping to find not only an exciting job but also the respect of her family. This book has a scheduled June 2007 release.
Janet holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin and published in various national magazines before starting to write novels.
Blurb for Christmas Stars for Dry Creek by Janet Tronstad in Mail Order Christmas Brides:
Eleanor McBride’s outgrown her dreams of romance—but not her wishes for motherhood. Wedding Sergeant Adam Martin will give her a daughter to cherish. Yet it’s not just shy, sweet Hannah who’s captured her affections. And Eleanor’s arrival in Dry Creek could be the start of a journey to true love.…
Bio for K. Dawn Byrd:
K. Dawn Byrd is an author of inspirational romance and romantic suspense with four books published through Desert Breeze Publishing so far. Recently, she tried her hand at young adult fiction and found that she really enjoyed writing it. Four new young adult releases are scheduled for 2012. Three books are part of a new college-age mystery/romance series, scheduled to release January, June, and December. The fourth is Shattered Identity, the sequel to Mistaken Identity, and will release in April.
K. Dawn Byrd is an avid blogger and gives away several books per week on her blog at www.kdawnbyrd.blogspot.com, most of which are signed by the authors. She’s also the moderator of the popular facebook Christian Fiction Gathering group at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=128209963444.
When not reading or writing, K. Dawn Byrd enjoys spending time with her husband of 16 years while walking their dogs beside a gorgeous lake near her home and plotting the next story waiting to be told.
Blurb for This Time for Keeps:
India McGuire’s peaceful life is shattered when on the night of her engagement to David Richards, she comes face to face with Chase Porter, a long lost love. India must come to terms with her overpowering feelings for Chase and choose between David, the neighbor who says he loves her, and Chase, the man who broke her heart.
Chase’s plans of leaving quietly turn to disaster when he finds that it’s impossible to disappear without seeing India one last time. Feelings begin to surface that he believed buried forever and he finds himself fighting to win her back even as David struggles to hold onto her.
India longs to follow her heart, but she’s been hurt too deeply. Who will she choose? The neighbor who can provide stability or the man she vowed to love forever who may once again heed to the call of the open road?
