CFBA: A Tailor-Made Bride by Karen Witemeyer

Song Stuck on the Brain: Never Say Never by Justin Beiber and Jaden Smith. Theme song to the new Karate Kid movie. Which was awesome by the way. Great movie and music.

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:



A Tailor-Made Bride Bethany House (June 1, 2010)



by



Karen Witemeyer






MY TAKE:

I loved this book. Karen has used a very popular genre to put perspective on something that is common to every woman despite the era. How many of us have grown up hearing the proverb of the virtuous woman? And how many of us have debated on how to be that woman?

Hannah and Jericho's relationship is so much fun to follow, and the laughs are abundant. But it also made me THINK. That is a real mark of a writer's artistry. Make the reader enjoy the ride and come out at the end realizing that they learned something about themselves as well. Great story. I highly recommend this one.



ABOUT THE BOOK:

When a dressmaker who values beauty tangles with a liveryman who condemns vanity, the sparks begin to fly!

Jericho "J.T." Tucker wants nothing to do with the new dressmaker in Coventry, Texas. He's all too familiar with her kind--shallow women more devoted to fashion than true beauty. Yet, except for her well-tailored clothes, this seamstress is not at all what he expected.

Hannah Richards is confounded by the man who runs the livery. The unsmiling fellow riles her with his arrogant assumptions and gruff manner, while at the same time stirring her heart with unexpected acts of kindness. Which side of Jericho Tucker reflects the real man?

When Hannah decides to help Jericho's sister catch a beau--leading to consequences neither could have foreseen--will Jericho and Hannah find a way to bridge the gap between them?

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Tailor-Made Bride , go HERE.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Karen Witemeyer is a deacon's wife and mother of three who believes the world needs more happily-ever-afters. To that end, she combines her love of bygone eras with her passion for helping women mature in Christ to craft historical romance novels that lift the spirit and nurture the soul.

After growing up in California, Karen moved to Texas to attend Abilene Christian University where she earned bachelor and master's degrees in Psychology. It was also there that she met and married her own Texas hero. He roped her in good, for she has lived in Texas ever since. In fact, she fell so in love with this rugged land of sweeping sunsets and enduring pioneer spirit, that she incorporates it into the pages of her novels, setting her stories in the small towns of a state that burgeoned into greatness in the mid-to-late 1800s.

In January, 2009, Karen signed a contract with Bethany House Publishers for three inspirational historical romance novels, and she is thrilled to announce that her first book, A TAILOR-MADE BRIDE has released this month. For an inside look into the background and quirks of some of the major players in this upcoming story, click over to Character Corner

CFBA: Seeds of Summer by Deborah Vogts

Song Stuck on the Brain: It Matters to Me by Jason Castro

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:


Seeds of SummerZondervan (May 25, 2010)


by


Deborah Vogts



MY TAKE:

Deborah has a gift for making us take a deeper look at our own lives. It made me remember the times I gave up a dream to pursue a responsibility, only to have God show me He had something bigger and better in mind. Natalie's journey is one that's easy to fall right into, and you can't help but cheer and cry the whole trip.





ABOUT THE BOOK:

When opposites attract, sparks fly--like an electrical malfunction. That's what happens when former rodeo queen, Natalie Adams meets the new pastor in Diamond Falls.

Upon the death of her father, Natalie returns to the Flint Hills to raise her two half-siblings and run the family ranch, giving up her dreams for the future. She soon realizes her time in college and as Miss Rodeo Kansas is not enough to break the bonds that held her as a girl.

Jared Logan, a new pastor in Diamond Falls, is set on making a good impression to his first congregation, but finds that change doesn't come easy for some people. In fact, most in his congregation are set against it. Natalie and her troubled family provide an outlet for his energy and soon become his personal mission project.


Having raised her stepbrother and sister from an early youth, Natalie's self-sufficient nature isn't inclined to accept help, especially from a city-boy do-gooder like Jared Logen. Though attracted to him, there's no way she'd ever consider being a pastor's wife. Bible studies and bake sales just aren't her thing.

Jared repeatedly comes to Natalie's rescue, forcing her to see him with new eyes. At the same time, Jared's plan to plant Christ's word in Natalie's heart backfires when he loses his own heart to this wayward family. When problems arise in his congregation, he must face his greatest fears---of letting down God, his congregation, or those he loves. His time with Natalie has shown him the importance of standing by those you love, a lesson he chose to ignore in order to please his father years ago.

This is put to the test when Natalie faces a battle of custody of her half-siblings against the mother who abandoned them twelve years ago. Natalie's fight for the children turns into a fight for custody of her heart as she learns the true meaning of unconditional love. In turn, Jared must decide which dreams are his own---and whether Natalie is part of those dreams.

If you would like to read the Prologue and first chapter of Seeds of Summer, go

HERE.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A word from Deborah:

If you haven't guessed by now, the books I write are set in the country. I believe my most dedicated readers will be those who live in the country, those who have moved from the country and still hold it in their hearts, or those who have never lived there but long for the simple life it offers. Because of this, I've chosen Country at Heart as my writing brand, which is also the title of my Blog.

On Writing: http://deborahvogts.blogspot.com/

I began my first book when I was in high school. In college I studied English literature and journalism. Then came marriage, kids . . . life. During that time, I piddled with my writing but didn't take it seriously until 2002 when I joined a local writer's group and American Christian Fiction Writers. I also joined a critique group, took online writing workshops, read writing book how-to's and attended writer's conferences. Now I have an agent, Rachelle Gardner, at WordServe Literary and have been contracted with Zondervan for a three-book contemporary romance series.

The Seasons of the Tallgrass series captures the spirit and dreams of ordinary people living in the Flint Hills of Kansas--one of the last tallgrass prairie regions in the world.

The first book, Snow Melts in Spring, is available in stores now. Seeds of Summer released May 2010.

CFBA: Finding Jeena by Miralee Ferrell

Song Stuck on the Brain: Live Like We're Dying by Kris Allen

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:


Finding JeenaKregel Publications (March 8, 2010)


by


Miralee Ferrell


MY TAKE:

Miralee has created a very moving story. Jeena felt real enough to touch. Her story and her redemption had me captured from the begining.





ABOUT THE BOOK:

Jeena Gregory thought she’d made it. She has everything a woman could ask for and a budding career promises more. But when rumors around town cast her boss in a shady light, Jeena starts to question her employer’s integrity. Was she wrong to trust this man and this job?

When the boss disappears, salaries go unpaid, and Jeena overhears several hush-hush phone calls, she realizes her carefully crafted world is crumbling. Shaken to the core at the threat of losing everything, Jeena is suddenly confronted with her prejudices─and with a God she had long forgotten.

If you would like to read an excerpt of Finding Jeena, go HERE.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

In October 2007 Kregel Publications published The Other Daughter with excellent reviews. The Romantic Times Review magazine gave it Four out of Four and a half stars, with a very strong review. Two different major motion picture studios are currently considering the book as a possible family movie, and my second book in the series (Past Shadows) is on my publishers desk being reviewed for a possible contract offer now.

In February of 2009, Love Finds You in Last Chance, California was published by Summerside Press and Finding Jeena released in March 2010 from Kregel Publications.

Miralee Ferrell lives in Washington with Allen, her husband of more than 37 years, ans has two grown children. She serves on staff at her local church ans is actively involved in ministry to women.

CFBA: A Hopeful Heart by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Song Stuck on the Brain: Theme to Quantum Leap

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:



A Hopeful HeartBethany House (June 1, 2010)



byKim Vogel Sawyer


MY TAKE:

A very sweet and endearing prairie love story. Aunt Hattie is a very likable mother figure and the romance between Able and Tressa is very sweet, if not a little frustrating at first. Able is a very stubborn man. Then again, that's part of his charm.

Kim did a very good job of creating tension through not only the romance, but the mystery that was woven throughought. You can't help but empathize with Able when the truth comes out, you've grown to know and love the characters too much to take the ending lightly.

The school for rancher brides was really unique and a lot of fun. I didn't even know such a school existed, too bad there weren't more around at the time, I can only imagine how much heartache that could have prevented.

I enjoyed the book a great deal. If you enjoy the genre, you're sure to enjoy this one as well.



ABOUT THE BOOK:

Dowryless and desperate, Tressa Neill applies to the inaugural class of Wyatt Herdsman School in Barnett, Kansas, in 1888. The school's one-of-a-kind program teaches young women from the East the skills needed to become a rancher--or the wife of one.

Shy and small for her twenty-two years, Tressa is convinced she'll never have what it takes to survive Hattie Wyatt's hands-on instruction in skills such as milking a cow, branding a calf, riding a horse, and cooking up a mess of grub for hungry ranch hands. But what other options does she have?

Abel Samms wants nothing to do with the group of potential brides his neighbor brought to town. He was smitten with an eastern girl once--and he got his heart broken. But there's something about quiet Tressa and her bumbling ways that makes him take notice.

When Tressa's life is endangered, will Abel risk his own life--and his heart--to help this eastern girl?

If you would like to read the first chapter of A Hopeful Heart, go HERE



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kim Vogel Sawyer is the author of fifteen novels, including several CBA and ECPA bestsellers. Her books have won the ACFW Book of the Year Award, the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, and the Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Kim is active in her church, where she leads women's fellowship and participates in both voice and bell choirs. In her spare time, she enjoys drama, quilting, and calligraphy. Kim and her husband, Don, reside in central Kansas, and have three daughters and six grandchildren.

CFBA: Deceit by Brandilyn Collins

Song Stuck on the Brain: Someday by Me.

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing:


DeceitZondervan (June 18, 2010)


by


Brandilyn Collins




MY TAKE:

Ah, another book by a favorite author. This has been a very good month. :) Brandilyn's books are always a great read. Strong suspense, bold characters with identifiable personalities and traits. I've not read a book yet that I didn't love.

That said, Deceit was not what I expected. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, but the writing style itself threw me off skew a little this time around. Jumping back and forth between Joanne and Melissa's stories took getting used to. The style and tense was slightly jarring. Joanne was a fantastic character, I loved her strength and gutsy determination. Her Jelly Belly habit was fun to start with, but was a little overdone in the end.

All that considered though, I still have to say I really enjoyed the book. Melissa's story had a very interesting twist. And the underlying spiritual message was present without overshadowing the story, leaving me questioning the fine line we all walk in our every day lives.

If your a fan of Brandilyn's like I am, read the book. I think you'll completely enjoy it. Just be prepared that, in my opinion, the style felt a little different and it might take a moment to get the feel.

And of course if you find my opinion was completely wacko, post and let me know what your thoughts are.



ABOUT THE BOOK:

Skip Tracer Joanne Weeks knows Baxter Jackson killed his second wife---and Joanne's best friend---seven years ago. But Jackson, a church elder and beloved member of the town, walks the streets a free man.

The police tell Joanne to leave well enough alone, but Joanne is determined to bring Jackson down. Using her skip tracing skills, she sets out to locate Melissa Harkoff, now twenty-two, who lived in the Jackson home at the time of Linda Jackson's disappearance.

As Joanne drives home on a rainy winter night, a hooded figure darts in front of her car. In her headlight beams she glimpses the half-concealed face of a man, a rivulet of blood jagging down his cheek. She squeals to a stop but clips him with her right fender. Shaking, she gets out of her car in the pouring rain. The man will not let her see his face. Before he limps off into the night he warns her not to talk to police.

As Joanne tries to find Melissa, someone seems to be after her. Who was the man she hit on the road. Is Baxter Jackson out to silence her? Or is some other skip she's traced in the past now out for revenge?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Deceit, go HERE



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brandilyn Collins is an award-winning and best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline "Don't forget to b r e a t h e..."® Brandilyn's first book, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows. Brandilyn is also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons). She is now working on her 20th book.



In addition, Brandilyn’s other latest release is Final Touch, third in The Rayne Tour series—young adult suspense co-written with her daughter, Amberly. The Rayne Tour series features Shaley O’Connor, daughter of a rock star, who just may have it all—until murder crashes her world.