It is November 1st, time for the FIRST Day Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and his/her latest book’s FIRST chapter!
This month’s feature author is:
and her book:
Hollywood Nobody Th1nk Books (August 30, 2007)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 
Lisa Samson is the author of twenty books, including the Christy Award-winning Songbird. Apples of Gold was her first novel for teens. Visit Lisa at http://www.lisasamson.com/These days, she’s working on Quaker Summer, volunteering at Kentucky Refugee Ministries, raising children and trying to be supportive of a husband in seminary. (Trying . . . some days she’s downright awful. It’s a good thing he’s such a fabulous cook!) She can tell you one thing, it’s never dull around there. 
Other Novels by Lisa: Straight Up, , Club Sandwich, Songbird, Tiger Lillie, The Church Ladies, Women’s Intuition: A Novel, Songbird, The Living End AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER: 
Hollywood Nobody: April 1 Happy April Fool’s Day! What better day to start a blog about Hollywood than today? Okay, I’ve been around film sets my whole life. Indie films, yeah, and that’s all I’m saying about it here for anonymity’s sake. But trust me, I’ve had my share of embarrassing moments. Like outgrowing Tom Cruise by the age of twelve — in more ways than one, with the way he’s gotten crazier than thong underwear and low-rise jeans. Thankfully that fashion disaster has run for cover. Underwear showing? Not a good idea. Fact: I don’t know of a single girl who doesn’t wish the show-itall boxer-shorts phenomenon would go away as well. Guys, we just don’t want to see your underwear. Truthfully, we believe that there is a direct correlation between how much underwear you show and how much you’ve got upstairs, if you know what I mean. I’ve seen the stars at their best and at their worst. And believe me, the worst is really, really bad. Big clue: you’d look just as pretty as they do if you went to such lengths. As you might guess, some of them are really nice and some of them are total jerks, and there’s a lot of blah in-betweeners. Like real life, pretty much, only the extremes are more extreme sometimes. I mean honestly, how many people under twenty do you know who have had more than one plastic surgery? So you’ll have to forgive me if I’m a little hard on these folks. But if it was all sunshine and cheerleading, I doubt you’d read this blog for long, right? Today’s Rant: Straightening irons. We’ve had enough of them, Little Stars, okay? It was bad on Helen Hunt at the Oscars, worse on Demi, yet worse on Madonna, and it’s still ridiculous. Especially on those women who are trying to hold onto their youth like Gollum holds onto that ring. Ladies, there’s a reason for keeping your hair at or above your shoulders once you hit forty, and ever after. Think Annette Bening. Now she’s got it going on. And can’t you just see why Warren Beatty settled down for her? Love her! According to The Early Show this morning, curls are back, and Little Me ain’t going to tell why I’m so glad about that! Today’s Kudo: Aretha Franklin. Big, bold, beautiful, and the best. Her image is her excellence. Man, that woman can sing! She has a prayer chain too. I’m not very religious myself, but you got to respect people who back up what they say they believe. Unless it’s male Scientologists and “silent birth.” Yeah, right. Easy for them to say. Today’s News: I saw a young actor last summer at a Shakespeare festival in New England. Seth Haas. Seth Hot is more like it. I heard a rumor he’s reading scripts for consideration. Yes, he’s that hot. Check him out here. Tell all your friends about him. And look here on Hollywood Nobody for the first, the hottest news on this hottie. Girls, he’s only nineteen! Fair game for at least a decade-and-a-half span of ages. I don’t know about you, but following the antics of new teen rock star Violette Dillinger is something I’m looking forward to. Her first album, released to much hype, hit Billboard’s no. 12 spot its third week out. And don’t you love her hit single “Love Comes Knocking on My Door”? This is going to be fun. A new celeb. Uncharted territory. Will Violette, who seems grounded and talented, be like her predecessors and fall into the “great defiling show-business machine” only to be spit out as a half-naked bimbo? We’ll see, won’t we? Keep your fingers crossed that the real artist survives. Today’s Quote: “Being thought of as ‘a beautiful woman’ has spared me nothing in life. No heartache, no trouble. Beauty is essentially meaningless.” Halle Berry Later! Friday, April 2 I knew it was coming soon. We’d been camped out in the middle of a cornfield, mind you, for two weeks. That poke on my shoulder in the middle of the night means only one thing. Time to move on. “What, Charley?” “Let’s head ’em on out, Scotty. We’ve got to be at a shoot in North Carolina tomorrow afternoon. I’ve got food to prepare, so you have to drive.” “I’m still only fifteen.” “It’s okay. You’re a good driver, baby.” My mom, Charley Dawn, doesn’t understand that laws exist for a reason, say, keeping large vehicles out of the hands of children. But as a food stylist, she fakes things all the time. Her boundaries are blurred. What can I say? Charley looks like she succumbed to the peer pressure of plastic surgery, but she hasn’t. I know this because I’m with her almost all the time. I think it’s the bleached-blond fountain of long hair she’s worn ever since I can remember. Or maybe the hand-dyed sarongs and shirts from Africa, India, or Bangladesh add to the overall appearance of youth. I have no idea. But it really makes me mad when anybody mistakes us as sisters. I mean, come on! She had me when she was forty! My theory: a lot of people are running around with bad eyesight and just don’t know it. I throw the covers to my left. If I sling them to my right, they’d land on the dinette in our “home,” to use the term in a fashion less meaningful than a Hollywood “I do.” I grew up in this old Travco RV I call the Y. As in Y do I have to live in this mobile home? Y do I have to have such an oddball food stylist for a mother? Y must we travel all year long? Y will we never live anyplace long enough for me to go to the real Y and take aerobics, yoga, Pilates or — shoot — run around the track for a while, maybe swim laps in the pool? And Y oh Y must Charley be a vegan? More on that later. And Y do I know more about Hollywood than I should, or even want to? Everybody’s an actor in Hollywood, and I mean that literally. Sometimes I wonder if any of them even know who they are deep down in that corner room nobody else is allowed into. But I wonder the same thing about myself. “You’re not asking me to drive while you’re in the kitchen trailer, are you, Charley?” “No. I can cook in here. And it’s a pretty flat drive. I’ll be fine.” I’m not actually worried about her. I’m thinking about how many charges the cops can slap on me. Driving without a license. Driving without a seat belt on the passenger. Speeding, because knowing Charley, we’re late already. Driving without registration. Charley figured out years ago how to lift current stickers off of license plates. She loves “sticking it to the man.” Or so she says. I kid you not. Oh, the travails of a teenager with an old hippie for a mother. Charley is oblivious as usual as I continue my recollection of past infractions thankfully undetected by the state troopers: Driving while someone’s in the trailer. It’s a great trailer, don’t get me wrong, a mini industrial kitchen we rigged up a couple of years ago to make her job easier. Six-range burner, A/C, and an exhaust fan that sucks up more air than Joan Rivers schmoozing on the red carpet. But it’s illegal for her to go cooking while we’re in motion. “All right. Can I at least get dressed?” “Why? You’re always in your pj’s anyway.” “Great, Mom.” “It’s Charley, baby. You know how I feel about social hierarchy.” “But didn’t you just give me an order to drive without a license? What if I say no?” She reaches into the kitchen cupboard without comment and tips down a bottle of cooking oil. Charley’s as tall as a twelve-year-old. “I mean, let’s be real, Charley. You do, in the ultimate end of things, call the shots.” I reach back for my glasses on the small shelf I installed in the side of the loft. It holds whatever book I’m reading and my journal. I love my glasses, horn-rimmed “cat glasses” as Charley calls them. Vintage 1961. Makes me want to do the twist and wear penny loafers. “Can I at least pull my hair back?” She huffs. “Oh, all right, Scotty! Why do you have to be so difficult?” Charley has no clue as to how difficult teenagers can actually be. Here I am, schooling myself on the road, no wild friends. No friends at all, actually, because I hate Internet friendships. I mean, how lame, right? No boyfriend, no drugs. No alcohol either, unless you count cold syrup, because the Y gets so cold during the winter and Charley’s a huge conservationist. (Big surprise there.) I should be thankful, though. At least she stopped wearing leather fringe a couple of years ago. I slide down from the loft, gather my circus hair into a ponytail, and slip into the driver’s seat. Charley reupholstered it last year with rainbow fabric. I asked her where the unicorns were and she just rolled her eyes. “Okay, let’s go. How long is it going to take?” “Oh.” She looks down, picks up a red pepper and hides behind it. I turn on her. “You didn’t Google Map it?” “You’re the computer person, not me.” She peers above the stem. “I’m sorry?” She shrugs. Man, I hate it when she’s so cute. “Really sorry?” “Charley, we’re in Wilmore, Kentucky. As in Ken-Tuck-EEE . As in the middle of nowhere.” I climb out of my seat. “What part of North Carolina are we going to? It’s a wide state.” “Toledo Island. Something like that. Near Ocracoke Island. Does that sound familiar?” “The Outer Banks?” “Are they in North Carolina?” Are you kidding me? “Let me log on. This is crazy, Charley. I don’t know why you do this to me all the time.” “Sorry.” She says it so Valley Girl-like. I really thought I’d be above TME: Teenage Mom Embarrassment. But no. Now, most kids don’t have mothers who dress like Stevie Nicks and took a little too much LSD back in the DAY. It doesn’t take ESP to realize who the adult in this setup is. And she had me, PDQ, out of the bonds of holy matrimony I might add, when she was forty (yes, I already told you that, but it’s still just as true), and that’s OLD to be caught in such an inconvenient situation, don’t you think? The woman had no excuse for such behavior, FYI. My theory: Charley’s a widow and it’s too painful to talk about my father. I mean, it’s plausible, right? The problem is, I can remember back to when I was at least four, and I definitely do not remember a man in the picture. Except for Jeremy. More on him later too. I flip up my laptop. I have a great satellite Internet setup in the Y. I rigged it myself because I’m a lonely geek with nothing better to do with her time than figure out this kind of stuff. I type in the info and wait for the directions. Satellite is slower than DSL, but it’s better than nothing. “Charley! It’s seventeen hours away!” I scan the list of twists and turns between here and there. “We have to take a ferry to Ocracoke, and then Toledo Island’s off of there.” “Groovy!” “Groovy died with platform shoes and midis.” “Whatever, Scotty.” Only she says it all sunny. She’s a morning person. “That phrase should be dead.” Honestly, I’m not big on lingo. I’ve never been good at it, which is fine by me. Who am I going to impress with cool-speak anyway? Uma Thurman? Yeah, right. “Okay, let’s go.” “We can go as long as possible and break camp on the way, you know?” Charley. I climb back into the rainbow chair, throw the Y into drive, pull the brake, and we’re moving on down the road. Again.
Sample from Hollywood Nobody / ISBN: 1-60006-091-9 Copyright © 2006 NavPress Publishing. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to www.navpress.com.
This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Allianceis introducing
(Thomas Nelson November 6, 2007)
by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Denise lives in Indiana with her husband Kevin and their three sons. In 1996, Denise began her first book, a Christian romance novel, writing while her children napped.
Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her books often contain a strong romantic element, and her husband Kevin says he provides all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!
In addition to Surrender Bay, the second Nantucket book releases in April 2008. The title is The Convenient Groom and features Kate Lawrence, a relationship advice columnist, whose groom dumps her on her wedding day. Denise is currently at work on the third Nantucket book (Oct 2008) which is untitled so far.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
When Sam’s estranged step-father dies, she inherits his ocean-front cottage in Nantucket–not because he kindly bequeathed it to her, but because he neglected to ever create a will. Sam returns to the island she left 11 years ago with her daughter Caden to fix up the house and sell it, but she isn’t counting on is the fact that Landon Reed still lives two doors down from her childhood home.
As their long-dormant romance begins to bud again, Sam must face the fact that Landon still doesn’t know why she really left the island. Will the secrets she’s hidden all these years tear them apart? Or is Landon’s love really as unconditional as he claims?
“I’ve always thought Denise Hunter was an amazing writer but this wonderful story sets her firmly at the forefront of compelling love stories. How Landon breaks down Samantha’s determination that she is unworthy of love kept me glued to the pages. An amazing story!”
–Colleen Coble, author of Fire Dancer (Smoke Jumper Series)
Readers have come to love the eccentric characters from Skary, Indiana, in Rene Gutteridge’s popular Boo! series. Now, in Boo, Humbug! they’re back – and they’re stirring up a large amount of holiday havoc.
It’s Christmastime in Skary, and the town is planning an original production of A Christmas Carol with a horror spin. As showtime approaches, things go very awry for director Lois Stepaphanopolis. She panics when she discovers that her marketing director loathes Christmas and that the audience has been promised not Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, but the real Christmas story. Can the actors pull off the improv of all improvs and convince their community to embrace the true meaning of the Christmas season?
Boo, Humbug! offers readers a delightful glimpse into small town, community life with heartwarming humor and winsome characters. And in the end, the true meaning of Christmas shines out bright and clear, in a decidedly un-Skary way.
Rene Gutteridge is the author of 10 novels, including the Boo series, the Storm series, The Occupational Hazards series and My Life as a Doormat, a Women of Faith selection for 2006. She has been published over 30 times as a playwright, and holds a degree in screenwriting, graduating magna cum laude from Oklahoma State University. Rene is married to Sean, a musician, and they have two young children. They make their home in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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Trish’s Take
On my recent trip to Wyoming, Boo, Humbug! was my comapnion. I had a delightful time on several airplanes and a 2 hour lay-over in Denver reading this book. Boo, Humbug! is the first of Rene Gutteride book’s I’ve read, although I have several of her books on my book shelf (waiting patiently for me to read them).
The little town of Skary, Indiana, if full of interesting characters. There’s the author who moved to Skary in order to live a blissfully happy married life, his publicist who followed him but isn’t sure about living in a small town full time, the lady with a very eccentric interpretation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and all of the townspeople who are helping to put that very eccentric interpretation of A Christmas Carol on the stage. Things get a little mixed up and crazy when the publicist goes out to tell the surrounding towns about the play and gives them the impression the play will be THE Christmas story. From there the story gets even more raucous, and hilarious.
Rene Gutteridge’s Boo, Humbug! is a fun, funny, and charming story. I was able to read the entire book during my time on airplanes and in airports. My attention was held and time flew by as I read about the goings-on in Skary, Indiana. If you’re looking for a cute, short read that is entertaining and funny, pick up a copy of Boo, Humbug! You won’t be disappointed.
Our Blogger Friends School from Training Hearts this week is to share anything related to pumpkins. We are not big fans of pumpkins around here ~ none of my family cares for pumpkin foods. We do have one soup that we will eat occasionally, so here I will share the recipe with you.
Pumpkin Curry Soup
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2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
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1 Cup (1 small) chopped onion
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2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
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1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
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3 Cups chicken broth
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1 can (15oz) Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin
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1 can (12 fl. oz.) Carnation Evaporated Milk
Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in curry powder, salt and pepper; cook for 1 minute.
Add broth and pumpkin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in evaporated milk. Transfer mixture to food processor or blender (in batches, if necessary); cover. Blend until smooth. Serve warm.
Notes: Serve with hot, crusty bread and a pear and walnut salad ~ yum!
Be sure you use 100% pumpkin and not pumpkin pie mix ~ there’s a big difference between them , and your soup will be inedible (trust me, I know this from experience).
When the kids were little, we would begin a unit study on Thanksgiving right around this time of year. We don’t do Halloween, which seems to be the biggest focus as far as pumpkins are concerned. So, rather than focus on the “harvest festivals” and such that occur during this time of year, we turned our focus completely on God and how He worked in the lives of the Pilgrims. Our unit study would carry us through the month until Thanksgiving Day. It was a wonderful way to keep our focus on God and build up to a lovely day of thanking Him, worshiping Him, and fellowshiping with others who love Him.
We would make turkeys out of pumpkins ~ brightly colored feathers glued to popsicle sticks and stuck into the pumpkin, and a turkey face with a little black pilgrim hat also on a popsicle stick and stuck into the pumpkin. We made hand turkey name place cards for the table (draw around your hand, color it in like a turkey). This one isn’t pumpkin related, but it’s so cute and fun I wanted to share it. On our wall we would have a large sheet of white butcher paper with a bare tree drawn on it. Throughout the month we would draw and cut out different colored leaves, then write something we were thankful for on it and paste it to the tree. By the time Thanksgiving came along, we would have the funniest looking tree ~ who knew tress could grow leaves out of the bark on their trunk?! We always filled up the branches with leaves and would have to find creative ways to add more leaves ~ on the trunk, on the ground under the tree, even floating down from a branch. We really enjoyed this project. You know, you could draw a couple of pumpkins out of construction paper and place them on the wall under the tree ~ there you go, I included pumpkins in that project!
The verse that popped into my head as I was writing this post is:
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 106
Have a wonderful, blessed week!
Well, I didn’t win The Taste of Home Cookbook in Molly-Coddled’s contest, so I am officially adding it to my Christmas wish list. 
The Urban Homemaker has several items I’ve added to my Christmas list ~ like this, this, and this.
I already have this DVD on making the perfect pizza (although I haven’t had the time to sit down and watch it yet). De’Etta wrote a great post on making homemade pizza here. I figure I should probably have a couple of pizza screens to make my homemade pizzas perfect, so they’re on my list too.
It seems this year my list is made of a lot of cooking accoutrements. When we were first married, I threatened Roger within an inch of his life if he ever bought me appliances or cooking doodads for my birthday, Mother’s Day, our anniversary, Christmas or any other occasion on which he is expected to give me a gift. Appliances are NOT my idea of great gifts, but for some reason this year I’ve decided I actually want a few new play-things.
Poor Roger ~ I am not shy (to say the least) about making my gift wish list known. He complains that I don’t give him the opportunity to buy something for me that HE actually wants to give me. I beg to differ ~ he has in the past bought me some lovely gifts he came up with all on his own (then again, no man can ever go wrong when he buys jewelry!).
This year Roger gets a pass on the “no appliance gifts” rule ~I’m not sure exactly how thrilled he is about that, since the appliances I’m asking for aren’t cheap. They’re probably less expensive than jewelry though!
This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
THE RETURN
(Navpress Publishing Group July 13, 2007)
by
Austin Boyd
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Austin Boyd writes from his experience as a decorated Navy pilot, spacecraft engineer and an astronaut candidate finalist. Austin lives with his wife Cindy and four children in America’s “Rocket City”–Huntsville, Alabama, where he directs business development for a large NASA and defense contractor. His creative talents include inspirational fiction and poetry, finely crafted reproduction colonial furniture, archery and long distance cycling. He serves his community as an advocate for a crisis pregnancy center and as a motivational speaker in the area of lifestyle evangelism.
THE RETURN is part of the Mars Hill Classified Series with The Evidence and The Proof
ABOUT THE BOOK:
IS SEEING BELIEVING?
Six years after completing a manned mission to the Red Planet, Admiral John Wells is set to make another journey to Mars. But this time his crew is not alone, as John’s team encounters a secret colony comprised of individuals pursuing John Raines’ strange religion, the "Father Race."
While John begins to uncover a web of lies on Mars, his wife and daughter are struggling for survival on earth. Now John must survive his dangerous mission and find a way back home, even as a shocking plan begins to unfold millions of miles away on earth.
Austin Boyd is back with his third thrilling novel in the Mars Hill Classified series, full of high-tech intrigue, memorable characters, and adventure that transports readers to another world.
From the Back Cover:
With nothing left for him on Earth, Rear Admiral John Wells didn’t hesitate to lead a third NASA team to Mars, but he never dreamed that one day they’d look out their laboratory module into the lights of a slow-moving vehicle not their own. In the third installment of the Mars Hill Classified series, life on Mars becomes increasingly more unpredictable as the past collides with the future and nothing, not even the dead, is as it seems.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, the fate of hundreds, including John Wells’ family–presumed dead these last six years–rests precariously in the hands of Malcolm Raines, self-proclaimed Guardian of the Mother Seed and Principal Cleric of Saint Michael’s Remnant, and his insidious plans for the Father Race.
Wells will find himself in a race against time and all odds to expose the truth: about Mars, about Malcolm Raines, and, if he’s very brave, about himself.
"Austin Boyd is one of the brightest new voices in Christian fiction. His long association with the space program lends authenticity as he reveals the turmoil in the minds and hearts of those who are willing to risk everything by making that journey. In The Return, we learn that both human emotions and God’s presence reach far beyond the pull of Earth’s gravity."
–Richard L Mabry, author of The Tender Scar
The bad news is that the Colorado Rockies lost in the World Series against the Boston Red Sox. The good news (#1) is that the Red Sox won the World Series! I know, I know ~ it’s a contradiction of the bad news, but honestly I didn’t know who to root for! So, I guess part (b) of the first good news is that I no longer have to agonize over who is going to win the World Series.
Good news #2 is that the weather here is absolutely gorgeous. Sunny days, highs right around 70 degrees and lows in the 40′s. Perfect.
The great news is that we’re going to have visitors this week. Long-time friends of ours are passing through on their way to Colorado, and they’re going to stop and spend a day or two with us. Our friends, Brian and Cheri, are driving from North Carolina where Brian is stationed in the Army, to Colorado where their family live. Brian has an assignment to Germany, and the Army was kind enough to give him a couple of weeks of leave before they have to head overseas. We haven’t seen them since 2002, so it will be great to have them here! Cheri and I fully plan on getting next to zero sleep since we’ll be up all night talking. I can’t wait to see her, Brian, and their two kids!
This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Illuminated(Thomas Nelson August 7, 2007)by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Matt Bronleewe is a recognized producer, songwriter and author. The former member of the band Jars of Clay, has earned numerous awards producing and co-writing albums that have sold a combined total of over 20 million copies. His songs have recently been recorded by Disney pop sensations Aly & AJ, American Idol finalist Kimberley Locke, and more. Bronleewe has worked with Grammy Award-winning artists such as Michael W. Smith, International pop singer Natalie Imbruglia and Heroes star Hayden Panettiere.
Born in Dallas, Texas, Bronleewe was raised on a farm in Kansas, where he lived until he left for college in 1992. At Greenville College in Illinois, Bronleewe formed the band Jars of Clay with his dorm roommate and two neighbors, and the group soon found success. Though Bronleewe opted to leave Jars of Clay early on to pursue an academic career, he soon found himself in Nashville, co-writing, producing, and playing music professionally.
To add to his list of accomplishments, Bronleewe has expanded his love of story telling beyond music into authorship. He is currently penning a 5 book series for Thomas Nelson Fiction. Illuminated, in stores now, begins the adventurous series about rare manuscripts and the mysteries within.
Bronleewe currently resides in Brentwood, Tenn., with his wife and three children. He continues to write and produce music, and he also volunteers through his church to help disadvantaged youth in the community. Bronleewe enjoys reading, taste-testing good food and watching sports, as well as indulging his interests in art, architecture, design and science.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
IT’S BEEN 500 YEARS IN THE MAKING…PREPARE TO BE ILLUMINATED…
August Adams has failed his family before. He’s sacrificed relationships in pursuit of adventure, fame, and money. Now the very lives of those he loves depend on his ability to decipher a centuries-old puzzle encrypted in the colorful hand-painted illuminations that adorn three rare Gutenberg Bibles.
It’s a secret that could yield unimaginable wealth, undermine two major religions, and change the course of Western civilization. Two ruthless, ancient organizations are willing to do anything to get their hands on it. And August has the span of one transatlantic flight to figure it out.
If he fails, those he holds most dear will die. If he succeeds, he’ll destroy a national treasure.
The clock ticks, the suspense mounts, and the body count rises as August pits his knowledge and his love for his family against the clock, secret societies, and even Johannes Gutenberg himself.
"…this rare breed of suspense thriller combines mysterious hidden clues, secret societies, buried treasure, double agents, and the Knights Templar…if you turned National Treasure into international treasure, traded DaVinci codes for Gutenberg Bibles, married it to Indiana Jones, and added the pacing of 24 you’d be in the neighborhood of Illuminated…on a scale of one to 10, this one goes to 11."
-Aspiring Retail Magazine
This week, theChristian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
CRIMSON EVE(Zondervan October 30, 2007)by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brandilyn Collins is a 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…® ” She’s so well known in the industry there’s actually a club for her non-readers. That’s right. The Big Honkin’ Chickens Club (BHCC) members are proud of the fact that they’re too wimpy to read Brandilyn’s intense fiction. Now and then one of them tries. Bribing works pretty well. (Just ask Deb Raney.) Somehow they live to tell the tale.
Brandilyn writes for Zondervan, the Christian division of HarperCollins Publishers, and is currently at work on her 17th book. Her 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.
She’s also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons), and often teaches at writers conferences. Brandilyn blogs at Forensics and Faith.
Visit her website to read the first chapters of all her books.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Carla stared at the gun and David Thornby—or whatever his name was. Her mind split in two, one side pleading this was some sick joke, the other screaming it was all too real.
“Please. You must have the wrong person. There’s no reason for someone to want me dead. I don’t have any enemies.”
“Then you’d best rethink your friends.”
Realtor Carla Radling shows an “English gentleman” a lakeside estate—and finds herself facing a gun. Who has hired this assassin to kill her, and why?
Forced on the run, Carla must uncover the scathing secrets of her past. Secrets that could destroy some very powerful people…
Brandilyn Collins fans and reviewers are saying Crimson Eve is her best book yet:
“Collins tops herself by creating a suspenseful nonstop thrill ride … Truly the best Christian Fiction suspense title so far this year.”
– Library Journal, starred review
“Crimson Eve is Collins at her very best. It left me feeling as if I’d climbed Mount Everest without oxygen … I didn’t think Brandilyn could outdo herself after reading Coral Moon. She did.”
–TitleTrakk.com
“I’ve never edited a more tightly crafted, deftly woven, compellingly written book.” –a Crimson Eve editor, with 20 years experience
“This is your best book! I could not stop reading!” – one of many readers with similar responses
Read about Violet Dawn and Coral Moon, books one and two in the Kanner Lake series.
Do you know someone who’s never read a Brandilyn Collins novel? Surely no such person exists. However, should you scrounge up such a friend—someone who enjoys suspense—here’s a special offer from Brandilyn. Be among the first 50 people between now and October 21, 2007 to e-mail her assistant at gayle.brandilyncollins@gmail.com with the person’s name, e-mail address and street address. (Due to exorbitant overseas mailing costs, United States residents only, please).
A signed copy of Crimson Eve will be sent to your friend—free—along with an e-mail from Brandilyn announcing the book is on its way, courtesy of you. (Don’t worry. Brandilyn won’t spam these email addresses. She just wants your friend to know who to thank.) No worries that this story is third in the Kanner Lake series. Each book stands alone. Brandilyn is convinced your friend will so love Crimson Eve, he/she will surely reciprocate with expensive chocolate.
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Trish’s Take
What more can I write about Crimson Eve than what has already been written above? I have been a fan of Brandilyn’s Kanner Lake Series since I first read Violet Dawn. Crimson Eve starts out with a situation that grabs you and doesn’t let go until the end of the book! If you haven’t read any of the Kanner Lake Series, let me know. I’ll send Bradilyn’s assistant an email so you can get one of the books for free ~ they’re definitely good reads.
In my quest to be organized and avoid the holiday frenzy, I have been using The 12-Week Holiday Planner for the Christian Family. This week is “Browse Week”. Actually, this “week” ends Wednesday, but we’ll just go with the flow.
Browse week means this week I have been developing gift ideas, thinking about decorations (both Christmas and Thanksgiving), and doing a holiday self-evaluation. The decorations part is a breeze ~ I have what I have, and I’m not planning on adding anything to it this holiday season. I wish I was one of those people who can hit the day-after Christmas sales and buy up Christmas decorations for a song. Alas, I’m not ~ I don’t like the crowds, and the frenzied pace makes my head hurt. As a rule I avoid after-Christmas sales like the plague. That being the situation, my Christmas decorations are a hodge-podge of items I have collected over the years. Some things have been given to me (the beautiful ceramic Christmas tree that lights up that Norma made for her mother and gave to me last Christmas; the Christmas ornaments that adorned the Christmas tree when I was a child, given to me by my mom; the rocking horse and Christmas doll given to me by one of my bosses way back when when I was working outside of my home…….). Others have been picked up here and there when we really felt the need to add Christmas decorations or when we needed to replace something (like the Christmas tree skirt that just completely disintegrated one year while stored in the attic).
Coming up with Christmas gift ideas has been a bit of a stickler. We’re making homemade gifts for our friends and neighbors ~ that’s not too hard. We like to make some sort of homemade gift ~ muffins, a quick bread, cake, flavored butter, etc. ~ with a nice recipe card or gift card that has the instructions for making that gift. It’s the gifts for family members that always get us. Why is it that parents, when faced with the question of what they would like for their birthday or Christmas, always respond with something like, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really need anything.” Or, better yet, “Don’t get me a present. There’s nothing I need or want.” How in the WORLD do you respond to THAT?! It’s a bit frustrating. I mean, if I actually don’t get them anything, because they said not to, their feelings get hurt because they think we forgot them or didn’t care enough to get them something. On the other hand, I don’t want to get them something they don’t like, or even worse, something they stick in a closet somewhere and never use.
So, what do we do? I don’t know ~ Roger and I are still mulling that one over. The thing is, we go through this every single Christmas. You’d think somewhere along the way we’d come up with some ideas!
Next “week” ~ October 17-23 ~ is supplies week. I’m supposed to inventory what I have, make shopping lists, and go shopping for what I need. That should be easy enough as far as the baking and homemade gifts go.
I’m going to continue to browse catalogs and troll online stores until I find good gifts for each of our parents. I like to give gifts that are meaningful and useful to the receiver ~ if worse comes to worst, all of the parents will be getting a box from Harry David’s or Hickory Farms!
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When Sam’s estranged step-father dies, she inherits his ocean-front cottage in Nantucket–not because he kindly bequeathed it to her, but because he neglected to ever create a will. Sam returns to the island she left 11 years ago with her daughter Caden to fix up the house and sell it, but she isn’t counting on is the fact that Landon Reed still lives two doors down from her childhood home.
