Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.
Announcements
Yea!! Three book winners for September. They will receive their choice of either: Pirate’s Prize, Never Say Never, or A Daughter’s Quest. They are Lisa Glidewell, and Eleanor Wyatt of Carthage, Tennessee, and Kelly McNamara of Adams Basin, New York. Click on the View Complete Profile link in the right hand column to find a link to my email. Send me your mailing address.
Readers, if you want a chance to win one of my free books, please sign my Guest Book on my website - http://www.lenanelsondooley.com/ . The winners are chosen from those who do. But remember to check back in the next month’s newsletter to see if you won. You can sign up at the top of the right hand column of this blog for Feedblitz. Then the newsletter will feed into your Inbox. I will only post a newsletter once a month with occasional other posts.
Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws. You will have 6 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.
Want more free books. We also give away a minimum of 12 free books a month on my blog: http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com/. Most months we give away more than that. This month I’ll be interviewing these authors:
Leann Harris – Guarded Secrets
Tricia Goyer – The Sunflower Serenade
Beth Shriver – Love at First Flight
Cheryl Wyatt – Soldier Daddy
Sara Mills – Miss Match
Loree Lough – Love Finds You in North Pose, Alaska
Ruth Axtel Morrison – A Bride of Honor
Beth Shriver – A Case of the Heart
Beth Wiseman – Plain Promise
Tricia Goyer – The Swiss Courier
Lori Copeland - Three Times Blessed
Sam Batterman – Wayback
Maggie Brendan – The Jewel of His Heart
Susan May Warren – The Great Christmas Bowl
Robin Lee Hatcher – Fit to be Tied
Mark Mynheir – The Night Watchman
You can find all kinds of information about my books on my Fan page on Facebook:
http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Lena-Nelson-Dooley/42960748768?ref=ts
I’d love for you to come over and become a fan.
Calendar of Events
October 10 - DFW Ready Writers - Colleyville, TX - 11:00 am
October 20 – Booksigning with Amanda Cabot – Mardel Plano, Coit Road & Park – 6:00 pm
October 24 – Booksigning with Leanna Ellis – Mardel Hurst, Hurstview & Grapevine Highway – 1:00 pm
April 3, 2010 – ACFW Tulsa (WIN) – Taking Settings to the Next Level – a hands-on workshop
May 2010 – Release of Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico
May 5, 2010 – ACFW The Woodlands (Writers on the Storm) – Two workshops “Painting Historicals With Authenticity” & “Taking Settings to the Next Level”
Book Reviews
I really didn’t read many books in September, because of my conferences and writing my own book. I’ll do better this month.
Love Finds You in Paradise, Pennsylvania
By Loree Lough
ISBN 978-1-934770-66-5
Summerside Press
Contemporary Romance
Back Cover Copy:
For as long as anyone can remember, tourists have flocked to the quaint town of Paradise, Pennsylvania, where Amish buggies are as common as shops selling hand-crafted goods. But to attorney Julia Spencer, this town is anything but a paradise. Raised in foster homes, Julia has succeeded in life only through steely determination and independence. The close-knit Amish people are a mystery to her. But local veterinarian Simon Thomas knows them well and is fiercely protective of their simple ways, which are increasingly threatened by the outside world. When Julia agrees to defend a local teenager charged in a case involving an Amish boy, she and Simon find themselves on opposite sides of an intense and emotional legal battle. Just when it seems they will never understand one another, God has something to teach them both about the power of forgiveness. . .and the joys to be found in Paradise.
My Review:
I've loved reading books by Loree Lough for a long time. And I believe this is her best one yet. Her melding the the friendships between an Amish family and two non-Amish people is tender and stirring.
The characters are realistic and multi-layered. Their hopes and fears universal. And the way, Loree used the various settings to impact the story is emotional and satisfying.
You won't want to miss this book.
Blood Bayou
By Karen Young
ISBN 978-1-4165-8750-0
Howard Books
Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Back Cover Copy:
To Save a Victim, Camille St. James May Have to Become One Herself.
Seven years ago, tragedy ended the troubled marriage of Camille and Jack Vermillion. Now, as head of the Truth Project, her life safe and orderly, she focuses her lawyerly skills on freeing wrongly incarcerated individuals on death row.
Jack paid a bitter price for his mistakes. No longer a high-powered corporate attorney, he's now pastor of a small church in Blood Bayou. Unsure of her own beliefs, Camille is highly skeptical of the conversion of this man she hasn't seen in seven years.
Then tragedy strikes again. Jack's sister is murdered, apparently by a prisoner Camille has set free. To prove his innocence, Camille must return to Blood Bayou. But that means facing the hostility of the town--and Jack.
And as She Works to Find the Real Killer, Someone Is Determined to Stop her. . .by Any Means.
My Review:
A friend loaned me her copy of the book to read on a return flight from the American Christian Fiction Writers national conference in Denver. The first page grabbed me and the book held me spellbound until we landed in DFW. I had to keep the book until I finished reading it.
Even though she's the author of over 30 books, I'd never heard of this author. She is now on my Must-Read list.
The story is fast-paced and the plot full of twists and turns. And I loved the romantic tension between the formerly married hero and heroine. Their struggles against the forces of evil and their own attraction to each other are a very good lead-in to the spiritual thread, which is strong and believable in today's world.
An altogether wonderful read. You won't want to miss it.
October ACFW Book Releases
Seventeen more releases this month from ACFW members.
1. A Star Curiously Singing, The DarkTrench Saga, Book 1, by Kerry Nietz from Marcher Lord Press. An augmented human programmer is sent to space to solve the mystery of a bot’s destruction.
2. Double Take, by Jenness Walker from Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense. When a stalker becomes obsessed with a woman, the key to stopping him lies in a best-selling thriller…until he stops going by the book.
3. Dreaming of Home, by Glenna Kaye from Steeple Hill Love Inspired Two wounded hearts must learn to trust that God's dreams for them far exceed any they may have for themselves.
4. Eternity Falls - A Rick Macey Cyberthriller, Book 1 of the Rick Macey Cyberthriller series, by Kirk Outerbridge from Marcher Lord Press. A cyber-enhanced detective must stop a religious zealot from destroying a serum for eternal life.
5. Gripped By Fear, Chicago Warrior Thriller Series, 2nd book, by John M. Wills from Total Recall. Chgo Detectives hunt a serial rapist in the mean streets of Chicago in the midst of personal struggles.
6. Leaving Yesterday, by Kathryn Cushman from Bethany House. A mother rejoices at the return of her prodigal, but is faced with an impossible decision as evidence from his past refuses to stay buried.
7. Loves Finds You in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, by Lauralee Bliss from Summerside Press. Set in the Guilded Age within the beauty of New Hampshire's White Mountains, successful artist Tom Haskins and penniless Sara McGee discover through their circumstances that the most precious gifts of life and love don't always come as they're expected.
8. Love Finds You in North Pole, Alaska, by Loree Lough from Summerside Press. A story that's sure to warm your heart, despite the icy Alaskan setting!
9. Love is a Battlefield, Book One in the Walk in the Park series, by Annalisa Daughety from Barbour Publishing. War rages again at Shiloh, but this time it’s a battle of the heart.
10. Seaside Letters, by Denise Hunter from Thomas Nelson. Sabrina Kincaid didn't intend to fall for Nantucket native Tucker McCabe, the man she serves coffee to every morning-a man tied deeply to a past she deeply regrets. But she has. And she's fallen hard. But she's kept this a secret from her handsome customer. And now Tucker wants to hire Sabrina to help locate his friend "Sweetpea"-the mysterious woman he's falling in love with online. Sabrina is not inclined to help, but if Tucker hires someone else, it could spell disaster. Because if someone else sifts through the emails and figures out the truth-then Tucker will discover that the person he's trying to find is . . . her.
11. Soldier Daddy, Wings of Refuge Series-book 5-all standalones, by Cheryl Wyatt from Steeple Hill. A USAF Pararescue Jumper searches for a nanny for his twins and instead finds a future with a woman harboring a secret tied to his past.
12. The Case of the Mystified M.D., Book 2, Bouncing Grandma Mysteries, by A.K. Arenz from Sheaf House. First a foot, now a hand--what body part is next?
13. The Christmas Journey, by Winnie Griggs from Steeple Hill Love Inspired.
14. The Jewel of his Heart, Heart of the West Series, by Maggie Brendan from Revell. Discover the classic struggle between the world's wealth and the lure of eternal love in this Western story of elegance and survival.
15. The Matchmaking Pact, After the Storm #4 , by Carolyn Aarsen from Steeple Hill Love Inspired. A single father and a single mother have to deal with matchmaking children.
16. Thirsty, by Tracey Bateman from Waterbrook. “Deep, cutting, an intoxicating blend of human and supernatural, of characters scarred by the past, drained by life. This is the book I’ve waited for.”
17. Trial By Fire, by Cara Putman from Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense. When an arsonist targets her family, Tricia has to find him before harm is done without losing her heart to a fireman.
Happy Reading!
Musings
A lot has happened since my last newsletter. The North Texas Christian Writers Conference was very interesting. I enjoyed teaching, taking appointments, and meeting new people. A couple of unexpected things happened. Remember this is the year of the unexpected in my life.
One woman took my workshop, who had also taken it when I taught it at ACFW national conference in Minneapolis last year. That was totally unexpected.
My table was always full at break and meal times. Lots of people wanted to talk to me, and I enjoyed it immensely.
One of the other speakers, for non-fiction, told me I was like a 25 year old—because I knew so much about the Internet and Social networking and the technical aspects of it and because I had a lot of energy. When the faculty went out to eat at the end of the conference, he told my husband the same thing. Then he asked James what I was like when I was 25. James said, “You don’t want to know.” I’m not sure whether that’s good or not.
Then the ACFW national conference in Denver was wonderful. Several people from my critique group flew up a day early. Others drove up and arrived about the same time. We had a lot of time for reconnecting with friends that evening.
For the first time, I have a publicist. Summerside Press had hired one of the best firms in the business. And I met with my publicist to plan the publicity for my next book release in May. That was a special time.
Summerside Press also hosted a dessert buffet after the first evening session for their authors. If was on the outside terrace with a large fire pit. Very enjoyable and good desserts. They also gave us a gift bag.
Barbour Publishing hosted a party on the same terrace the next evening. Lots of good food, including a chocolate fountain (my favorite). They gave us two books as well.
The teaching sessions were extremely professional and helped all of us move forward no matter at what stage of our writing career we were. Debbie Macomber was the keynote speaker.
We had a very good book signing, with authors spread across three areas of the atrium and lobbies.
Ted Dekker is a recent new member of ACFW, but he didn’t come to the conference itself. But he did come on one evening and hung out in the lobby.
I put a slideshow of pictures from the conference on this blog, but when the slideshow was on the blog, not all the picture showed. If you want to see the pictures better go to this site:
http://www.slide.com/r/ThDLSFFi6j_iY-m1fgS3NmsegeFDUB-Z
After I came home and got back writing my novel, everything came together so I can finish writing it quickly.
