ChristianFictionQueen's Xanga

The move is official...

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:01:13 GMT

In case anyone was wondering, I've officially moved to my blogging activity to blogger...so please follow me there! I will still keep this account up but will only be checking in to Xanga very sporadically...here's the new blog address:

http://booktalkandmore.blogspot.com

Love Finds You In Bridal Veil, Oregon by Miralee Ferrell

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 23:16:21 GMT

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Love Finds You in Bridal Veil, Oregon

Summerside Press (January 1, 2010) by

Miralee Ferrell

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 will release in April 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.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Against a backdrop of thievery and murder in Bridal Veil Falls, Oregon, a historic logging community, a schoolteacher is torn between the memories of a distant love and the man who could be her future.

Sixteen-year-old Margaret Garvey had given her heart to Nathaniel Cooper the night he disappeared from town. Four years later, just as she's giving love a second chance with Andrew, a handsome logger, Nathaniel suddenly returns. He steams back into Bridal Veil on a riverboat to work at the nearby sawmill to town with a devastating secret.

While grappling with the betrayal of those she trusted most, Margaret risks her reputation and position by harboring two troubled runaways who might be involved in the murder of a local man.

When disaster strikes the town and threatens the welfare of its citizens, Margaret will be faced with the most important choice of her life.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Love Finds You in Bridal Veil, Oregon, go HERE

new blogs

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:05:29 GMT

There's a ton of new blogs over at Booktalk & More (reviews of the first two PJ Sugar novels by Susan May Warren, a review of Songs of Deliverance by Marilynn Griffith, and reviews of the first two parts of Emma from Masterpiece Classic). So come on over and check 'em out! :)

Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:52:45 GMT

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Beguiled

(Bethany House March 1, 2007)

by

Deeanne Gist

and J. Mark Bertrand

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Deeanne Gist, the bestselling author of A Bride Most Begrudging and The Measure of a Lady, has a background in education and journalism. Her credits include People magazine, Parents, and Parenting. With a line of parenting products called "I Did It!® Productions" and a degree from Texas A&M, she continues her writing and speaking. She and her family live in Houston, Texas.

J. Mark Bertrand has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston. After one hurricane too many, he left Houston and relocated with his wife Laurie to the plains of South Dakota.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the shadows of Charleston, someone is watching her... Rylee Monroe, a dogwalker in Charleston's wealthiest neighborhood, never feared the streets at night. But now a thief is terrorizing the area and worse, someone seems to be targeting her.

Reporter Logan Woods is covering the break-ins with the hope of publishing them as a true-crime book. The more he digs, the more he realizes this beguiling dogwalker seems to be at the center of everything. As danger draws ever closer, Logan must choose: Chase the girl, the story, or plunge into the shadows after the villain who threatens everything?

If you'd like to read the first chapter of Beguiled, go HERE

Check out their video:

New blogs...

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:05:51 GMT

Reviews of Return to Cranford, part one and part two.

Reivew of The Sea of Monsters, book two in the Percy Jackson series.

Becca By the Book by Laura Jensen Walker

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:36:09 GMT

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Becca By The Book

Zondervan (January 1, 2010)

by

Laura Jensen Walker

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Jensen Walker is an award-winning writer, popular speaker, and breast-cancer survivor who loves to touch readers and audiences with the healing power of laughter.

Born in Racine, Wisconsin (home of Western Printing and Johnson’s Wax—maker of your favorite floor care products) Laura moved to Phoenix, Arizona when she was in high school. But not being a fan of blazing heat and knowing that Uncle Sam was looking for a few good women, she enlisted in the United States Air Force shortly after graduation and spent the next five years flying a typewriter through Europe.

Her lifelong dream of writing fiction came true in Spring 2005 with the release of her first chick lit novel, Dreaming in Black & White which won the Contemporary Fiction Book of the Year from American Christian Fiction Writers. Her sophomore novel, Dreaming in Technicolor was published in Fall 2005.

Laura’s third novel, Reconstructing Natalie, chosen as the Women of Faith Novel of the Year for 2006, is the funny and poignant story of a young, single woman who gets breast cancer and how her life is reconstructed as a result. This book was born out of Laura’s cancer speaking engagements where she started meeting younger and younger women stricken with this disease—some whose husbands had left them, and others who wondered what breast cancer would do to their dating life. She wanted to write a novel that would give voice to those women. Something real. And honest. And funny.

Because although cancer isn’t funny, humor is healing.

To learn more about Laura’s latest novels, please check out her Books page.

A popular speaker and teacher at writing conferences, Laura has also been a guest on hundreds of radio and TV shows around the country including the ABC Weekend News, The 700 Club, and The Jay Thomas Morning Show.

She lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband Michael, and Gracie, their piano playing dog.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sales clerk, barista, telemarketer, sign waver...

At twenty-five, free-spirited Becca Daniels is still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. What Becca doesn’t want to be is bored. She craves the rush of a new experience, whether it’s an extreme sport, a shocking hair color, or a new guy. That’s why she quit her bookstore job, used her last bit of credit to go skydiving, and broke her leg.

And that’s why, grounded and grumpy, Becca bristles when teased by friends for being commitment-phobic. In response, Becca issues an outrageous wager—that she can sustain a three-month or twenty-five date relationship with the next guy who asks her out. When the guy turns out to be “churchy” Ben—definitely not Becca’s type—she gamely embarks on a hilarious series of dates that plunge her purple-haired, free-speaking, commitment-phobic self into the alien world of church potlucks and prayer meetings.

This irrepressible Getaway Girl will have you cheering her on as she “suffers” through her dates, gains perspective on her life’s purpose, and ultimately begins her greatest adventure of all.

If you'd like to read the first chapter of Becca By The Book, go HERE

New blogs at Booktalk & more...

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:40:15 GMT

I finally reviewed the final two episodes of BBC's Robin Hood:

Something Worth Fighting For, part 1

Something Worth Fighting For, part 2

And a review of the first Percy Jackson novel, The Lightning Thief.

new blogs at Booktalk & more...

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:25:02 GMT

Masterpiece Classic returns and a review of the new movie Leap Year.

Review: Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:47:48 GMT

Silent on the Moor (A Lady Julia Grey Novel #3)
By: Deanna Raybourn
Publisher: MIRA
ISBN: 978-0-7783-2614-4

About the book:

Despite his admonitions to stay away, Lady Julia arrives in Yorkshire to find Brisbane as remote and maddeningly attractive as ever. Cloistered together, they share the moldering house with the proud but impoverished remnants of an ancient family: the sort that keeps their bloodline pure and their secrets close. Lady Allenby and her daughters, dependent upon Brisbane and devastated by their fall in society, seem adrift on the moor winds, powerless to change their fortunes. But poison does not discriminate between the classes…

A mystery unfolds from the rotten heart of Grimsgrave, one Lady Julia may have to solve alone, as Brisbane appears inextricably tangled in its heinous twists and turns. But blood will out, and before spring touches the craggy northern landscape, Lady Julia will have uncovered a long-buried legacy of malevolence and evil.

Review:

How is it possible that Deanna Raybourn’s third Julia Grey novel is even better and more thoroughly enjoyable than the first two in the series? The mind boggles at the possibility, but it’s true – in my book Raybourn has achieved the rare feat of crafting characters and stories so engaging that each installment is more enthralling and satisfying than the last. Where the second book in the series, Silent in the Sanctuary, gave readers a more self-assured Lady Julia, now more than ever she wants and isn’t afraid to flout every convention society holds dear in order to live life on her own terms. Having reached the tipping point in her maddening on again, off again romance with Nicholas Brisbane, Julia decides to take matters into her own hands and force a resolution or walk away from him forever. Accompanied by siblings Portia and Valerius, she descends on Brisbane’s newly-acquired estate, appalled to find Grimsgrave in disrepair, the house occupied by the mysterious Allenby ladies with ties to Brisbane’s past, and Brisbane himself shockingly cold towards her. Never one to take no for an answer, Julia settles in for the duration, determined to break through the barriers Brisbane’s installed around his heart. What she doesn’t bargain on is the revelation of Nicholas's painful past, coupled with the discovery of horrifying secrets Grimsgrave manor has sheltered for years.

The biggest draw of this series isn’t the mysteries themselves (though I do think those have improved with each successive book), but Raybourn’s unique and engaging characters. It’s been so much fun to watch Julia embrace her unorthodox March family heritage, and grow into an independent, unconventional, wickedly funny and sarcastic heroine. That would perhaps be enough, but Julia’s wonderfully realized family of eccentrics and rebels tips the scales in the character development department from excellent to brilliant. Julia’s relationships with the various members of the March clan play a big role in what makes visiting her world so much fun, and such a sheer joy to read about. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this third Julia Grey novel is that finally, at long last, Raybourn gives us some answers regarding the frustrating yet ever-appealing Nicholas Brisbane’s past. Brisbane's past has always been closely guarded, shrouded in secrecy, but with Julia more determined than ever to break down his defenses we finally get to learn the man's secrets. It's a mark of just how much I love these characters that learning their secrets doesn't make them any less interesting - rather, all the revelations about Nicholas's character make me love him and his relationship with Julia all the more.

The atmosphere of the moor is the perfect setting for a story where long buried family secrets come to light and isolation fosters insane schemes for revenge. The setting seems to owe much inspiration to stories like The Hound of the Baskervilles and most especially, Wuthering Heights (some villagers are even named Earnshaw – loved that!). The mood and the long-festering revenge schemes all put one in mind of Ms. Bronte, only with Raybourn’s own unique and colorful spin. Her books have proven to be highly addictive; the only downside to this is that one tends to read them far too quickly. I find myself wanting to savor my time with Julia and Nicholas and the friends that people their world – but I fly through the pages of Raybourn’s novels at lightspeed (there’s worse problems, right? *wink*). Nicholas and Julia's story has been one of the best romances I've read in recent memory, each scene positively crackling with romantic tension. I only hope this isn't the end of Nicholas and Julia's adventures, as they're one of the most fascinating - and fun - pair of detectives you'd ever hope to come across. Ms. Raybourn's next book release can't come soon enough to suit me!

Click to read my reviews of the first two Julia Grey novels: Silent in the Grave and Silent in the Sanctuary. Oh, and in case you were wondering – after reading this installment of Nicholas and Julia’s romance, the verdict is in – Toby Stephens IS Brisbane in my book, hands down. Now we just need to get the BBC behind the idea of adapting these wonderfully entertaining books... :)

The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:26:30 GMT

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
The Silent Governess
Bethany House; Original edition (January 1, 2010)
by
Julie Klassen

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Julie says: My background is in advertising and marketing, but I am blessed with a dream job—working as an editor of Christian fiction. I have been writing since childhood, but Lady of Milkweed Manor was my first novel. It was a finalist for a Christy Award and won second place in the Inspirational Reader's Choice Awards. My second novel, The Apothecary's Daughter, was a finalist in the ACFW Book of the Year awards. I am currently writing one novel a year.

I graduated from the University of Illinois and enjoy travel, research, BBC period dramas, long hikes, short naps, and coffee with friends.

My husband and I have two sons and live near St. Paul, Minnesota.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Olivia Keene is fleeing her own secret. She never intended to overhear his.

But now that she has, what is Lord Bradley to do with her? He cannot let her go, for were the truth to get out, he would lose everything--his reputation, his inheritance, his very home.

He gives Miss Keene little choice but to accept a post at Brightwell Court, where he can make certain she does not spread what she heard. Keeping an eye on the young woman as she cares for the children, he finds himself drawn to her, even as he struggles against the growing attraction. The clever Miss Keene is definitely hiding something.

Moving, mysterious, and romantic, The Silent Governess takes readers inside the intriguing life of a nineteenth-century governess in an English manor house where all is not as it appears.

If you would like to read the prologue and first chapter of The Silent Governess, go HERE. You can also sign up as a Follower when you get to that page, and get announcements of the first chapters for all the great books we tour!