Congratulations to Kimberly for winning Renee Ryan’s Mistaken Bride, to Jo for winning Lacy Williams’ The Homesteader’s Sweetheart and to Karin for winning Cynthia Ruchti’s His Grace Is Sufficient…Decaf Is Not.
This week I’m hosting Lena Nelson Dooley with Mary’s Blessings, Rhonda Gibson with The Marshal’s Promise, Allie Pleiter with Homefront Hero, and Tessa Afshar with Harvest of Rubies. If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on one of the post during the week with your email address. 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 (May 27th) evening.
Bio for Lena Nelson Dooley:
Award-winning author, Lena Nelson Dooley, has more than 690,000 books in print.
Lena loves James, her children, grandchildren, and great grandson. She loves spending time with friends. Travel is always on her horizon. Cruising, Galveston, the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, Mexico. One day it will be Hawaii and Australia, but probably not the same year. Helping other authors become published really floats her boat, with eighteen signing their first book contract after her mentoring. Three of her books have been awarded the Carol Award silver pins, and she has received the ACFW Mentor of the Year award. The high point of her day is receiving feedback from her readers, especially people whose lives have been changed by her books.
Her 2010 release, Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico, was given the Will Rogers Medallion Award for excellence in publishing Western literature. Lena is currently under two 3-book contracts with Charisma House/Realms. The first book, Maggie’s Journey, released in October 2011 and one reviewer put it on her Top Books of 2011 list, and the second, Mary’s Blessing just released this month.
In addition to her writing, Lena is a frequent speaker at women’s groups, writers groups, and at both regional and national conferences. She has spoken in six states and internationally. She is also one of the co-hosts of the Gate Beautiful blog radio show.
Lena has an active web presence on Shoutlife, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, Linkedin and with her internationally connected blog where she interviews other authors and promotes their books.
Book blurb for Mary’s Blessings:
When her mother dies, Mary Lenora must grow up quickly to take care of her brothers and sisters. Can love help her to shoulder the burden?
Mary Lenora Caine knows she is adopted. As she was growing up, her mother called her “God’s blessing.” But now that she’s gone, Mary no longer feels like any kind of blessing. Her father, in his grief, has cut himself off from the family, leaving the running of the home entirely in Mary’s hands.
As she nears her eighteenth birthday, Mary can’t see anything in her future but drudgery. Then her childhood friend Daniel begins to court her, promising her a life of riches and ease. But her fairy-tale dreams turn to dust when her family becomes too much for Daniel, and he abandons her in her time of deepest need.
Will Daniel come to grips with God’s plan for him? And if he does return, can Mary trust that this time he will really follow through?
Bio for Rhonda Gibson:
Rhonda Gibson and her husband, James live in the beautiful state of New Mexico. They have two grown children and two grandbabies.
God has blessed Rhonda with published romance books at this time: One historical novel a Heartsong Presents titled, To Trust An Outlaw and three contemporary romantic novellas from Barbour, Love Of A Lifetime, Stealing Home, and Stuck on You, Rhonda has two historical novella’s coming out titled, A Honey of A Christmas and The Midwife’s Apprentice also from Barbour Books.
To Trust An Outlaw was voted favorite Historical Romance for 2007 by the readers of the Heartsong Presents book club and was a finalist in the Book Of The Year contest hosted by the American Christian Fiction Writers organization. Stuck on You, won Book of the Year 2009 hosted by the American Christian Fiction Writers.
You can pick up her books in any Christian bookstore, Hastings, Waldenbooks, pretty much anywhere books are sold and online at www.cbd.com, www.amazon.com, or contact Rhonda at rgib2001@yahoo.com.
Rhonda enjoys speaking to writers groups and women’s groups about various topics. Visit her at her website www.rhondagibson.com and her blog at www.rhondagibson.blogspot.com
Blurb for The Marshal’s Promise:
Mail-order bride Rebecca Ramsey arrives in the New Mexico territory full of dreams—but they’re shattered when she discovers her intended husband has been killed. If it weren’t for U.S. marshal Seth Billings’s housekeeping job offer, she’d have nowhere to go. Rebecca loves tending to Seth’s home, but the strong and silent lawman is harder to figure out. What secret is he hiding?
Caring for Jesse Cole’s would-be bride is the least Seth can do. If it weren’t for him, the young man would still be alive. Seth had promised to look after Rebecca—and to keep her safe from Jesse’s enemies. Now if only he can keep his heart safe, as well….
Bio for Allie Pleiter:
An avid knitter, coffee junkie, and devoted chocoholic, Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction. The enthusiastic but slightly untidy mother of two, Allie spends her days writing books, buying yarn, and finding new ways to avoid housework. Allie hails from Connecticut, moved to the midwest to attend Northwestern University, and currently lives outside Chicago, Illinois. The “dare from a friend” to begin writing has produced two parenting books, fourteen novels, and various national speaking engagements on faith, women’s issues, and writing. Visit her website at www.alliepleiter.com or her knitting blog at www.DestiKNITions.blogspot.com
Dashing and valiantly wounded, Captain John Gallows could have stepped straight out of an army recruitment poster. Leanne Sample can’t help being impressed—although the lovely Red Cross nurse tries to hide it. She knows better than to get attached to the daring captain who is only home to heal and help rally support for the war’s final push. As soon as he’s well enough, he’ll rush back to Europe, back to war—and far away from South Carolina and Leanne. But when an epidemic strikes close to home, John comes to realize what it truly means to be a hero—Leanne’s hero.
Bio for Tessa Afshar:
TESSA AFSHAR was born in a nominally Muslim family in Iran and lived there for the first fourteen years of her life. She survived English boarding school for girls before moving to the United States permanently. Her conversion to Christianity in her mid-twenties changed the course of her life forever. Tessa holds an MDIV from Yale University where she served as co-Chair of the Evangelical Fellowship at the Divinity School. She has spent the last twelve years in full and part-time Christian work and currently serves as the leader of Women’s and Prayer ministries at a church in New England.
The prophet Nehemiah’s cousin can speak numerous languages, keep complex accounts, write on rolls of parchment and tablets of clay, and solve great mysteries. There is only one problem: she is a woman.
In her early childhood years, Sarah experienced the death of her mother and her father’s subsequent emotional distance and she came to two conclusions: that God does not care about her, and that her accomplishments are the measure of her worth – the measure of her self.
Sarah, the talented scribe and cousin to Nehemiah, is catapulted into the center of the Persian court, working too many hours, rubbing elbows with royalty, and solving intrigues for the Queen. Ironically, it isn’t failure but success that causes Sarah to lose her only source of external validation.
Sarah soon learns that she has something of worth to offer beyond her ability with languages and sums – her very being proves to be a blessing to others.
