Remembrancy

I am about halfway through this book and love the historical Nashville setting. As a transplant to the area, I’m feeling like I’m learning a little of Nashville’s history through a great story. Learn what Tamara Alexander’s inspiration for writing A Beauty So Rare was.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVV1ESQ9Cb8&feature=youtu.be

I am excited to be reviewing the latest book from Tamera Alexander soon. Here’s a special sneak peek for you as well!!!!

A Beauty So Rare by Tamera Alexander excerpt

I’ve been a fan of Terri Blackstock’s work for years. I started with her Newpointe 911 and Suncoast Chronicles series. In the second book of her Moonlighter’s series, Distortion, our three sisters return for some more PI work, and once again, it’s personal. The action gets started on the very first page and had me turning pages until I reached the end.

Juliet Cole has an ideal life. A husband who loves her, two little boys and two sisters and a brother she is close to. Her world falls apart when she watches her husband get gunned down right in front of her. What’s even more disturbing is that the man she has lived with and loved for the past fifteen years was not the man she thought he was. As Juliet and her sisters, Cathy and Holly, along with their PI boss, Michael Hogan, search for answers, Juliet’s world is turned upside down. While Juliet struggles with this new knowledge about her husband, her faith and how much to tell her children as well as keeping them safe, Cathy and Michael struggle with the possibility of coming face to face with the man who murdered someone they each loved.

Distortion was definitely a page-turner that kept you reading until the end. You want to know what the truth behind Juliet’s husbands secrets is and you want Cathy and Michael to get their man. Blackstock does a good job of switching between several viewpoints so the reader gets the whole story. Book two is a stand-alone book, but you will get more character development and a little more understanding for this family if you read book one, Truth Stained Lies, first.

****Zondervan Publishing and BookLook Bloggers provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I was not compensated in any way for either a positive or a negative review.

I like a good mystery. Over the past few years I’ve found both the Sherlock and Elementary television shows to be a couple of my favorites. It’s fun to watch how someone pieces a puzzle together to figure out who the murderer or criminal is. In Juliana Deering’s second Drew Farthering mystery, Death by the Book, readers will be delighted to see so many favorites return from book one.

Drew Farthering is once again around when a murder happens. Detective Birdsong agrees to let him help out with the investigation as long as he doesn’t get in the way. When more murders occur, getting closer and closer to Drew, he, his best friend, Nick and girlfriend, Madeline all scramble to figure out who is behind the murders. Throw in Madeline’s Aunt Ruth who has arrived from America and has strong opinions about everything, including Drew and Madeline’s relationship, and Drew has a lot on his hands.

While I was reading these books, I thought I had a handle on who the murder was, but my opinion kept shifting, and I was actually a little surprised by who it actually was in the end. What I liked about the whole thing was that Drew’s opinions kept shifting too. He was never really certain of who the murder was until the very end of the book. It is a realistic outcome for an amateur detective. I’m looking forward to book three in this series as well.

***Bethany House publishing provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I was not compensated in any way for either a negative or a positive review.

If you’ve been my friend on Facebook, followed me or Twitter or added me to your Goodreads list of friends, you are aware that I love to read. What you may not have known about me is that I also like to write. I actually moved to Nashville sixteen years ago to work in the publishing industry (editing, though, not writing). I did write a little bit.

When I was in college I had a class where all we did was write and share our stories with other people. That story was put away for years. When a friend encouraged me to join NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) last November, I pulled the story back out. I still had a good concept of where I wanted the story to go and I had a good base with what I had already written. Although I had to re-write a lot of it. I’d like to believe I’ve become a better writer in the eighteen or nineteen years it’s been since I took that class.

Today it became real when the paperback version of my book became available on Amazon (the Kindle version is also available). It was an interesting experience self-publishing. I had written the book and given it to a few people to read through. A friend encouraged me to use an editor before publishing, so I submitted it to a copy editor (I have to throw this in here because there are still some errors in the book). It took the copy editor a month to get the changes made. This was a challenge for me because I do not like waiting for things. Once I made all of the edit changes, it was time to submit the document for approve from the self-publishing website. They approved it and I ordered the proof copy (more waiting). When that arrived, I went through it and found some formatting errors that had to be made and then waited some more. Finally, I was able to submit the book for publishing.

So, here we are. Remembrance, book One of the Remembrance Series has been published. Yes, I said book one. When I started writing in November, I didn’t stop. At this point, I’ve written four books for this series. The others are in various stages of writing and editing. I am aiming to release book two Fall/Winter 2014.

So, here’s a brief synopsis of book one for anyone interested. These books are Christian fiction romances.

Leah Waters enjoys her career as a high school teacher. For the most part she loves her students and spending her time with them but she misses having close relationships with family and friends. When she stumbles upon the Graham family and their church she starts to build the relationships she’s longed for and maybe more.

Mark Graham is hurting from wounds from his past when Leah shows up at his mother’s house. After a rocky start, he finds they have a lot in common and they become friends. Can he let go of his past enough for more?

If you read the book, please leave a review on Amazon. If you enjoy the book, please share with friends. Share this blog entry on Facebook or Twitter and leave a comment here telling me you did on or before March 31, and you will be entered to win one of two copies of Remembrance. Winners will be determined by random drawing.