More Than a Promise by Ruth Logan Herne {Spotlight, Tens List, and Giveaway}

Genre: Christian, Contemporary, Romance Publisher: Franciscan Media Publication date: February 23, 2016 Number of pages: 292 "My Three Sons"... Naughty sons, at that!... meets "Sarah, Plain and Tall" in this delightful marriage of convenience story that shows how amazingly inconvenient love... and life... can be! Widower Matt Wilmot is in trouble. His boys are causing chaos and wreaking havoc, his former mother-in-law is threatening to sue for custody, his father just had heart surgery and their family company is liable for a huge balloon payment on a loan his father took out to expand the business the previous year. But rain and illness took their toll, and Matt is having a rough time spinning multiple plates in the air.

​ But when he discovers Elle Drake next door, a woman with a wonderful hand at managing errant boys, cranky relatives, and frustrated men... Matt's world suddenly tips back into a more normal orbit. And when drastic measures are required, it's the girl next door who's there to save the day.

Elle Drake wanted nothing more than to create beautiful pottery and have a family, but when her millionaire husband publicly dumped the renowned artist for another woman, Elle moves back to Cedar Mills to start anew, the spinster artist with her big potting shed. But when her to-die-for good-looking neighbor thinks marriage is a good idea, Elle figures he's either crazy, desperate or right.

But a marriage of convenience can become its own conundrum, and when life takes sudden turns, can this marriage become all that they bargained for? And maybe more than a promise?

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​ Multi-published, bestselling author Ruth Logan Herne loves God, her family, her country, dogs, chocolate and coffee! A country gal with a heart for the big city, Ruthy likes nothing more than to write the kind of books she loves to read, and she's even more happy that now she gets paid to do it! She's been married for a Very Long Time and she and her husband Dave live on a small farm in upstate New York where lake effect snow buries them on a regular basis in winter. But that's all right... it gives her more time to write!

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Favorite book:  Christy by Catherine Marshal and “Sweet Hush” by Deb Smith

Favorite soda: Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash!!!!!

Favorite ice cream: Abbott’s Frozen Custard, I am in love with their recipe!!!!

Favorite candy: Sponge candy, but really, anything chocolate (as she hits the Easter basket AGAIN…)


Favorite season: Fall. Gorgeous up here, and I love the busyness of pumpkin season and veggies and fall colors!


Favorite T.V. series: NCIS (there is really no other answer that should be considered, is there? I mean, GIBBS??? HELLO???????)

Favorite country you want to visit: Ireland

Favorite comic book character: Snoopy. He’s such an in-your-face brat dog, he and I would get along just fine!


Favorite author: Tooooo many! Karen White, Lisa Wingate, Catherine Marshall, all of the Seekers, Deb Smith, Herman Wouk, James Michener, James Herriot, and so many others… Katherine Patterson (YA books)

Favorite holiday: Easter, we haven’t commercialized it yet, I love it!

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The Case of the Clever Secret Club by Cindy Vincent {Blog Tour Spotlight, Tens List, and Giveaway}

Genre: Fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Children's Publisher: Whodunit Press Publication date: October 14, 2015 Number of pages: 223 ​Buckley and Bogey, Cat Detectives, find their next big case with the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Agency to be their most difficult yet. It all starts one hot summer day, when the boys are sitting in the front window of their Mom’s antique store. That’s when they see a big, black limo crawling up the street and going right through downtown St. Gertrude. So who is in that long, black car? None other than famous movie star, Steele Bronson! And his surprise arrival sends the entire town into a tizzy! Especially when he announces his plans to shoot his next movie right there at the St. Gertrude Library, housed in a historic four-story mansion. And wouldn’t you know it, but it all happens just Gracie, the boys’ human sister, is a finalist in the town’s Fourth of July essay contest. Holy Catnip!

But it isn’t long before Buckley and Bogey realize there is something very wrong with the whole picture . . . including the one that Steele Bronson is filming. Because it soon becomes very clear that the guy is after much more than just an Academy Award. And when the drama turns to danger for the boys and their family, that’s when Buckley and Bogey jump into the scene. Because this is one case that has it all — from Fourth of July festivities to tales of the American Revolution, and from a secret code to a hidden key! And unless Buckley and Bogey want to see this movie turn into a tragedy, it’ll be up to them to crack the case . . . as well as the secret code . . . Holy Mackerel! ​ 

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Cindy Vincent, M.A. Ed., was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and has lived all around the US and Canada. She is the creator of the Mysteries by Vincent murder mystery party games and the Daisy Diamond Detective Series games for girls. She is also the award-winning author of the Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Caper novels, and the Daisy Diamond Detective book series. She lives in Houston, TX with her husband and an assortment of fantastic felines. Cindy is a self-professed “Christmas-a-holic,” and starts planning and preparing for her ever-expanding, “extreme” Christmas lights display every year, sometime in the early Spring . . .

 

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1.  Two of my real life cats, Buckley and Bogey, were the inspiration for this book and for the series.  We had adopted Bogey from a local animal shelter when he was a kitten, and he joined our household of three much older female cats.  Of course, Bogey wanted to play 24/7, but the older girls had no intention of playing with him.  And Bogey, having come from a litter of five boys, liked to wrestle and roughhouse.  So it wasn’t long before we realized that Bogey needed a brother.  After a little searching for the right cat, we adopted Buckley from another animal rescue agency, and the two boys became best friends within five minutes of meeting each other.  They’ve been inseparable ever since.

Shortly after we brought them together, I noticed they explored our house every night in sort of a pattern, almost like security guards making their rounds.  My husband and I joked about them "running surveillance," to make sure the place was secure.  That's when the idea hit me — Buckley and Bogey Cat Detectives.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.  Especially when I realized how very different the boys were.  While they're both black cats with gold eyes, Bogey is sleek and wiry, whereas Buckley is huge and fluffy.  Bogey is laid back and fearless, and Buckley is anxious about pretty much everything.  Bogey is the expert and Buckley is the rookie.  Together their personalities play off each other beautifully, much like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.  Or Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe.  Only at a children's level, and well, at a really adorable level, as both boys are such a joy, and happy to cuddle and purr at a moment's notice.

2.  So many people have asked me about the exercise wheel that Buckley and Bogey use in a chase scene in the book, and if there might be a “real life” story behind it.  Well, the answer is yes, there is.  My husband once had a week off work and decided to build an exercise wheel for the cats.  He had visions of them running in it every day, getting lots of good exercise and having a great time.  And while he’s pretty good with woodworking, he’d never made a wheel before.  So he went to the lumber store, got supplies and then got to work.  Before long, I could see the outline of a nice wheel starting to take shape.

But getting the wheel to actually turn on a base was another ballgame.  Pretty soon this project required a daily trip to the store, (they actually know him by name now), and more and more adjustments and, well, more and more added materials.

Finally, in the end, we had a working wheel that turned on its base.  At least, it did for a few revolutions.  Unfortunately, the wheel was just slightly lopsided and one side was about a quarter of an inch longer than the other.  As it turns out, (no pun intended) in the world of cat exercise wheels, a quarter of an inch might as well have been five feet.  For when that wheel ran along its base, it quickly started to wobble and went rolling off and right onto the floor.  Every single time, no matter how much he tried to adjust it.  On top of that, with all the added materials, the whole thing weighed a ton — much more than any cat could ever manage to get started and keep rolling.  So . . . the wheel turned out to be a wonderful, thoughtful idea that never quite worked out.

Still, it gave me a fantastic idea for an addition to a Buckley and Bogey book.  So if nothing else, it served as the basis for some pretty funny scenes.  The wheel now sits on my side of the garage, just in front of the place where I park my car, and it rolls slowly back and forth, as though it has a mind of its own.  (This after trying to donate it to two different places that refused to take it . . .)  In any case, I’d rather be married to a man who attempts to do something nice for the feline members of the household, even if it didn’t quite go the way he planned.  The cats all know they have a wonderful dad, with or without a wheel.

3.  I always include three of my other cats in the Buckley and Bogey books, too — Miss Mokie, aka The Wise One;  Libby, aka Lil Bits;  and Lexie, aka Princess Alexandra.  I wrote them into the first three books in the series, and sadly, not long after I’d started this fourth book, Miss Mokie and Libby passed away within a month and a half of each other.  They were 21 and 20 years old, which is remarkably old for cats.  Funny, but somehow I had the idea that losing an older cat might be easier, considering they’d had a nice long life and weren’t in the best shape near the end anyway.  But oddly enough, I found it was even harder to lose a couple of feline friends who’d been part of my life for a couple of decades.  I went through a very rough grieving process.  And even though they’re gone, I decided to write them into this fourth book and all subsequent books anyway.  Hence, it was bittersweet as I tearfully wrote their scenes and immortalized my two precious kitties within the pages of my books.

4.  I sometimes write friends’ cats into my books as well.  For instance, Ranger, a Tonkinese kitty who is in two of the books, belongs to my friend who spends most of the year traveling in an RV with her husband, and takes Ranger with them.  She once sent me a picture of Ranger going nose-to-nose with an Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park, so Ranger quickly became an adventurer in the books.  And Luke, the church cat in one book and mentioned in another, is the late cat of an online friend who plays piano at her church.  His real name was Ebony, and he is also forever immortalized in my books.

5.  The fictitious Mom in the books, Abigail Abernathy, owns an antique store, which is an offshoot of my love of history and antiques.  My husband and I often spend time browsing through antique stores or flea markets.  The junkier the better.  There’s nothing like spotting that “one hidden treasure” is a sea of less interesting items.  I collect vintage glassware, including black amethyst glass and ultramarine swirl glass from 1937.

6.  I write on a desk that was made in the late 1930s or early 1940s.  It’s gorgeous.  Made of mahogany and with a glass top, it has curved legs and a curved cutout in the back.  I feel such a sense of mystery every time I write on it.

7.  When you read this book, you’ll note that much of the action takes place in a very old library.  I’ve always thought libraries were sort of magical places, especially those housed in old buildings.  And I decided to make the St. Gertrude library a four-story building, after a friend of mine told me how she and her sister would get dropped off at the library every Saturday when they were kids, while their mom went grocery shopping.  Apparently the fourth floor of that building was dark and full of musty old books.  It was the perfect place for a child’s imagination to run wild.  And of course, her story made my imagination run wild, too, so I decided to include something similar in my book.

8.  Most of my cats nap in my home office while I write.  I usually have one on my lap, one in a chair and a few on the floor.  It makes for such a cozy atmosphere.  And Buckley, who is the narrator of the series, frequently sits on my desk.  Considering that he’s a huge, Maine Coon Cat, this can make things a bit challenging, especially when he wants to lie on top of the keyboard . . .

9.  Each one of the Buckley and Bogey books features an adoption scene where a homeless cat is given a forever home.  In one episode it was a cat who needed to be rescued from a bad situation, and another time two, “special needs” cats were adopted.  I always get a little emotional when I write this little sideline to my stories, yet my real goal here is to encourage people to adopt cats who need a home, especially shelter cats.

10.  The Buckley and Bogey Cat Detective Capers are set in a fictitious town called St. Gertrude.  Why St. Gertrude?  Because the real St. Gertrude of Nivelles, who lived in the seventh century, was known as the Patron Saint of Cats.

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Revenge by Paula Rose {Spotlight} with Tens List and Giveaway

 Revenge by Paula Rose

Anaiah Romance

Blurb:

As a job coach, it’s up to Olivia Foster to ensure her clients work in a safe environment, understand their positions, and serve their employer’s mission. The death of her brother drives her career choice, and she loves her job. It remains her only focus until one of her autistic clients goes missing. Then Olivia’s employer ends her position and adds her to the suspect list, but she makes plans to bring the missing young man home.

Meanwhile, Detective Lt. Phillip Landon is deep into second-guessing his career choice, but his

well-honed instincts see major flaws inside this missing person’s case. Surprising contacts, mysterious happenings, and threats can turn deadly. Can he keep Olivia safe, protect his heart,

remove the job coach from someone’s target list, and adopt a faith he never knew all while adjusting to the new lives of his old family?

Release Date: December 16, 2014

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Author Bio:

Paula Rose provides inspiration through Christian romantic suspense stories where "average"

families come into extraordinary situations, brushed with life-size strokes of reality and a touch

of humor. Born in Philadelphia, she lives in Southern New Jersey with her husband and rescue

kitty but often plays amateur photographer in both states.

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My name is Paula Rose and I’m here to discuss the 10 Things You Never Knew About Revenge

1) Revenge came about by a single photo having nothing do with the story . . . The photo sparking Revenge

showed only conveyer belts and one worker assisting another! It sparked a theme that came from demonstrated

assistance and made it into a story.

2) While researching character names, I found that Olivia has a connection straight back in time to Shakespeare!

3) Detective Lt. Landon’s first name wasn’t always Phillip. This lead detective was originally named Jeremy but

his name clashed with and was close to my own villain’s name, Jerry. I must have really like the letter J, ugh!

4) The beginning of Revenge was not always the first chapter.  After a rewrite, the second chapter got a promotion

and moved right up to Chapter 1!  Sometimes the beginning isn’t always as it should be.

5) My top editing faux paux inside the manuscript for Revenge was the use of too many exclamation points . . .

can you tell how much I corralled that meddling punctuation from mixing into my writing?

6) Jerry’s motivation was something I knew from the beginning.  Although, what happens to him in the end

surprised even me, and I even re-read it to make sure that’s what really happened.

7) The plot was not a problem while writing Revenge, but my problem became clear in that my plot took over the

driver’s seat.  For example, I hadn’t at all figured someone from Olivia’s employer should die and that the death

would actually have gotten Olivia a guilty placeholder.  However, the muse decided to make an executive

decision and that decision worked out so well, in the end!

8) The second highest noted editing faux paux inside the manuscript for Revenge was using the ellipsis marks too

much . . . well, the use of that is so way down for me . . . right?

9) Sadly, Olivia’s house used in the making of Revenge was totally a figment of my own imagination. 

10) Revenge was not crafted as a series, but these secondary characters are practically demanding their own stories. 

What is a writer to do?

Who R U Really? By Margo Kelly {Tens List}

Who R U Really? by Margo Kelly

Thea's overprotective parents are driving her insane. They invade her privacy, ask too many questions, and restrict her online time so severely that Thea feels she has no life at all. When she discovers a new role-playing game online, Thea breaks the rules by staying up late to play. She's living a double life: on one hand, the obedient daughter; on the other, a girl slipping deeper into darkness. In the world of the game, Thea falls under the spell of Kit, an older boy whose smarts and savvy can't defeat his loneliness and near-suicidal despair. As Kit draws soft-hearted Thea into his drama, she creates a full plate of cover stories for her parents and then even her friends. Soon, Thea is all alone in the dark world with Kit, who worries her more and more, but also seems to be the only person who really "gets" her. Is he frightening, the way he seems sometimes, or only terribly sad? Should Thea fear Kit, or pity him? And now, Kit wants to come out of the screen and bring Thea into his real-life world. As much as she suspects that this is wrong, Thea is powerless to resist Kit's allure, and hurtles toward the same dark fate her parents feared most. Ripped from a true-life story of Internet stalking, Who R U Really? will excite you and scare you, as Thea's life spins out of control.

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Praise for the book:
"Kelly's first novel is a suspenseful page-turner with multiple suspects, a little bit of romance, and a strong but not overbearing message." --Kirkus Reviews

"Suspenseful novel that's guaranteed to give readers goosebumps--particularly as events heat up toward the end. A good choice for families to read together." --School Library Journal

"Who R U Really? is a fantastically creepy book that is surprisingly realistic and totally engrossing.... Once I opened it, I couldn't close it. Who R U Really is a satisfyingly unique YA thriller that left me guessing up until almost the very last page.... This book is very realistic and I really enjoyed the writing style." --Tempest Books "Based on actual events, the story should be required reading for all teens." --VOYA Magazine

Excerpt

When Tim’s eyes, bluer than an Idaho sky, met mine, my mind turned to mush. He towered

above everyone else at the bus stop, and on this cold January morning he looked cuter than ever

with his bomber hat and rosy cheeks. He shoved his sidekick, Josh, jokingly, and a cloud of

white air escaped Tim’s mouth.

My best friend, Janie, whacked me on the hip. “Omigosh, Thea. Here they come. Smile.”

Her words bounced in rhythm with her black ringlets. She adjusted her new fluffy snow white

parka, and even though it had a hood, she would never smash her perfect curls simply to stay

warm. The crisp air made the tip of her nose red, but the rest of her face remained alabaster

white. We’d been best friends for years, and at fourteen, having a friend made the ninth grade

bearable.

Janie hoped Josh and Tim would ask us to the Winter Solstice dance, but I just hoped to

speak to Tim without sounding like a complete idiot. Tim walked in our direction with Josh right

on his heels. They stopped in front of us, and everyone else hovered to watch the show.

“Thea,” Tim said. I wanted to reply, but no words came.

Josh approached Janie, and I fidgeted with my favorite fuzzy pink scarf.

“Jan-eee,” Josh said, dragging out the last syllable of her name. He eyed her up and

down. “You look like a giant fat marshmallow.”

Top Ten Places that Margo Kelly Loves

Cozy bed: I love to be snuggled under homemade quilts, reading a great
book!

Kitchen table: I love setting up four Monopoly boards (yes!) and playing a
massive multi-day marathon with my family.


Cruise ship: I love walking the deck of a cruise ship late at night watching
the reflection of the moon on the never-ending ocean.

Sewing machine: I love making new quilts for my bed and for my
children.

Office desk: I love writing a new manuscript at my office desk, which is next
to the window overlooking my garden full of berries: raspberries, strawberries, and
blackberries.

Two Rivers Spa: I love getting a pedicure at Two Rivers Spa in Boise,
Idaho, where they have these huge windows through which I can watch the river pass by while my toes are pampered.

Chocolatier: I love walking into a high quality chocolate shop and taking a
deep breath, and I especially love it when they offer me a free sample!

McCall, Idaho: I love sitting next to a crackling fire while I sip hot
chocolate and stare out the huge picture windows as fat flakes of snow blanket
everything in white.

Church: I love to sit in this sweet setting surrounded by my family.
Grand Jean, Idaho: I love camping in the mountains next to a river with
my two dogs and family.

Author Margo Kelly
Margo Kelly is a native of the Northwest and currently resides in Idaho. A veteran public speaker, she is now actively pursuing her love of writing. Who R U Really? is her first novel. Margo welcomes the opportunities to speak to youth groups, library groups, and book clubs.

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