Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Review - The Haven

The Haven
By: Suzanne Woods FisherAmish, Christian, romance,
Publisher: Revell
ISBN: 978-0800719883
Pub Date: August 1, 2012
Pages: 314
Blog Tours: http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/13530005/thehaven
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/cRvlK


Sadie Lapp had spent the winter in Ohio helping her sister and brother-in-law get settled into their new home. While she was there she spent time with an elderly Old Older Amish woman, Deborah Yoder, who is known as a great healer. For some odd reason, Sadie had a feeling that she should return home to Stoney Ridge. On the way home, she found an abandoned baby at a bus station, not knowing exactly what to do, she takes the baby home with her.

When she arrives at her home, there is a swarm of cars and a media circus as s rare pair of American peregrine falcons have made a nest on the family farm. A young college student, Will Stoltz, had been kicked out his school for the semester, plus his family is having legal problems. He is now staying on the Lapp farm to protect the falcons.

Gideon Smucker, the local schoolteacher, has patiently been waiting for Sadie's return and hopes to make her his bride.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The Autobiography of Tally Francis



Hi, I’m Tally Francis, the main female lead in No Remorse. I’d like to tell you a little about myself.

I’m probably more comfortable with computers than people, and in some areas I’m a little obsessive compulsive. My friends are mostly work buddies, because I’m employed in a secret organization known as ASTA––the Agency for Seizure of Terrorist Assets––which is part of the CIA but operates out of Montreal to reduce US Government oversight.

I’ve got an eidetic memory. I found when I was eight I could remember just about anything I read or was told. My dad gave me a book by Isaac Asimov, The Realm of Numbers. I used to read it every day. I realized one day I could recite it, word for word. I could visualize every number, equation, problem solution and pattern. Rubik’s Cube takes me less than a minute. It’s strange, ‘cause I don’t really understand why other people aren’t the same as me. When I was eleven, my high school math teacher, Mr. Eddie, got me into programming. By the time I was fifteen, I was maintaining the school’s website and doing jobs for local businesses—databases, online stores, websites, security... that sort of stuff.

Review - Over the Edge

Over the Edge
The Kincaid Brides Book 3
By: Marry Connealy
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN: 978-0764209130
Pub Date: August 1, 2012
Pages: 336
Blog Tour Links: http://litfusegroup.com/blogtours/13525530/overtheedge
Buy Link: http://ow.ly/cPxuv




The third book in The Kincaid Brides series focuses on the mysterious Seth Kincaid. He had survived the Civil War and also survived a fire in a cave, which had put him on an edge so to speak. He witnessed many terrible things during the years he spent away from Rawhide and some of those things he has blocked out of his mind, including marring Callie.

After not hearing from her husband, Callie traveled by stagecoach to Rawhide in search of what happened to him. Seth is surprised to learn that he has a wife and he is even more surprised to learn that he has an eight-month-old son. Seth wants to live up to his vow (even though he doesn't remember taking a vow) to provide for his new wife and child. To make their marriage work, they must deal with their differences and Seth must finally deal with his past.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Guest Post with author Don McNair



I’m sitting here in my home office fifty years after my first published work, after a lifetime of writing for others and having ten books published, wondering just what was that spark? The answer’s lurking in the cobwebs of my mind, hard to focus on.

I think, though, the first glimmer came when I was in grade school, and the teacher asked us to write a story about Mother’s day. She liked my story so much she read it aloud to the class the next day, and a pretty little girl approached me afterwards and said “I loved your story, Donnie.” That launched both my writing career and my fear of pretty little girls.

In high school I was determined to be the world’s greatest cartoonist. I took a practical general business class in college, but continued my interest in creative things, becoming the school paper’s cartoonist. After college I joined a trade magazine’s editorial staff, started my forty-year career of writing for others: eleven years at the magazines, six as a public relations professional, and twenty-one as head of my own commercial editing and writing business, McNair Marketing Communications. Along the way I wrote three published “how-to” books on my own.

Review - The Brain That Changes Everything

The Brain That Changes Everything
By: Shaahin Cheyene
Publisher: Accelerated Intelligence Inc.
ASIN: B007HRABY4
Pub Date: March 5, 2012
Pages: 75

The author, Shaahin Cheyene, is an herbalist and the creator of Excelerol, has written the short non-fiction book titled The Brain That Changes Everything, in which he explains the benefits of using natural herbals to increase your memory, concentration and Alertness. Of course taking a supplement alone can't help you as you must have an excellent diet and frequent exercise routine to give that extra boost that your brain desires.

You'll learn about how important nutrition is in your diet and how it will reduce your cortisol release and maintain your blood sugar. What is a cortisol? Well, it is a stress hormone and it can negatively impact your overall brain and body function.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Review - Bicoastal Babe

Bicoastal Babe
By: Cynthia Langston
Edition Pub Date: March 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615608099
Pages: 324
Buy Link: Amazon.com
Author Website: http://www.cynthialangston.net

Twenty-eight-year-old Lindsey Miller has had a streak of bad luck, from losing her job, catching the flu that later turned into pneumonia, received two bruised ribs from coughing, and she pulled a muscle in her back. She also embarrassed herself in front of her ex-boyfriend when she backed into a parked car while somewhat stalking him. She has officially hit rock bottom.

Thanks to her friend Danielle, she now has a job interview at the largest advertising company in Chicago - Gordon-Taylor. She ends up getting a job predicting trends for the company's newsletter, The Pulse, which is sent out to all their clients. There are a few catches to the job. It requires her to fly back and forth between New York and L.A. She also has to work with Jen Savage on the project. While Lindsey is in New York, Jen is in L.A. and vice versa.

Lindsey soon finds out that New York is a whole different place than Chicago. Asking random people to do a questionnaire is not as easy as it looks on television as some people are really rude. Even getting into a new shopping store is a challenge for her. Everything seems to be a complete disaster until she meets a Wall Street Broker, Victor Ragsdale.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

When Characters Collide By Gretchen Johnson

            I am a MinnTexan, a woman who spent her first twenty-three years living in Minnesota and the last nine in Texas. Being a MinnTexan means I have lived on the edges of both extremes – from snow to sweat, from liberal to conservative, from mild to spicy, from alternative rock to country western, from Pepsi to Coke, and from environmentalism to pollution. These extremes have taught me countless lessons about the complex connections (and often disconnections) between people, and it is this duality of experiencing life in two very different regions that has served as an inspiration for much of my writing.

           My book, The Joy of Deception and Other Stories, uses these extremes often. I enjoy crafting stories in which characters who are opposites come together. Some of the most authentic and interesting moments of my life have occurred when I struggled against someone who was fundamentally different from me, and some of the most challenging phases of my life happened when I was forced to decide which of my own desires to satisfy. My book’s title story deals with this kind of internal struggle. It features a young woman trying to decide if she wants to stay with a dependable but somewhat predictable fiancé or leave him for an exciting but emotionally dangerous man. Just like most of us, she struggles with her own dual desires, the desire to settle down and have security versus the desire to embrace the temporariness of life and live for the now.