Showing posts with label God's plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's plan. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

GIVEAWAY ~ Ryan's CROSSING ~ Crossing series #2 by Carrie Daws

About Book

After ten years, Ryan’s parents found his runaway sister, Amber. Now, as he drives to meet up with her and his parents before her wedding, his mind fills with the changes coming. Besides figuring out where she will fit into his life, a job change is on the horizon for him. But should he stick with small town life? Or should he move to Portland, Oregon? Meeting the family his sister is marrying into only brings more questions. Maybe moving to nearby Portland is the better choice.  But something about the town of Crossing calls to him. Is it the friendly people who openly accept him as Amber’s brother or the cute brunette who happens to be sister of the groom? As Ryan weighs the pros and cons, He decides to put God to the test. Will He answer? Will He let him know which choices to make? And what if Ryan doesn’t like the answer?

A 7-day Devotional for "Crossing" series here.

Published by Ambassador International
ISBN: 9781620201022
176 pages
Where to buy: Amazon, Barnes&Noble

About Carrie Daws

Over the years, God rewrote Carrie’s dreams to include being a stay-at-home mom and a writer. Originally writing weekly devotions as a way to share what she learned with women from various military bases, Carrie decided to enroll in the Christian Writer’s Guild. While there, seeds were planted and cultivated. After almost ten years in the military, Carrie’s husband medically retired and they now live in central North Carolina with their three children. She stays busy with homeschooling all three and driving them to field trips and extra-curricular activities. Besides writing fiction novels, Carrie works part time in her church’s office and volunteers within two military ministries.

You can also learn more at CarrieDaws.com, facebook.com/CarrieDaws or Twitter.com/CarrieDaws.  


Q & A with CARRIE DAWS


Q. Your background is in writing online devotionals. Why did you decide to enter the world of fiction writing? 

A. Well, truthfully, I never thought I’d want to write fiction. But I took a course by the Christian Writer’s Guild that included lessons on several different kinds of writing outside of my comfort zone. I found I loved creating fiction.


Q. Who do you think readers will relate to most in this book? 

A. Ryan’s Crossing includes fairly ‘normal’ characters. No one is really in crisis, no one’s life is falling apart. Life is just happening and causing people to consider some new opportunities because of it. While I think many people will want to think of themselves more as Brittany – stable in her life, solid in her relationships and career – I hope many will also consider where Ryan is, including having a blind spot or two they may need to let God work on.


Q. Courting and purity are addressed in this book. Why did you decide to include those topics? 

A. Courting and purity seem like such old-fashioned ideas, yet to me it makes a lot of sense. Protecting my children’s hearts takes as high a priority as protecting their bodies. If true love waits for the marriage bed, then why shouldn’t the heart also wait until the person is ready to be married?


Q. How does the main character Ryan feel about courting? 

A. Courting, as well as the concept of not being in a closed space with someone of the opposite gender who is not related by blood or marriage, are new ideas to Ryan, but it’s important to the girl who has caught his attention so decides to play along.


Q. Do you have plans for additional books in the “Crossing” series? 

A. Two more books are coming for Crossing! Romancing Melody will be out in the spring of 2013. It will focus on a military wife trying to survive the Army and a catastrophe while her husband is deployed. About halfway through the book, she makes a journey to Crossing where she is loved on by Ryan, Brittany and the entire Yager/Griffin family. The final book will be Crossing’s Redemption, which will tell more of the life of Mrs. Guire – Melody’s aunt and Crossing’s town hotrod. Amber will also come full circle and deal with a bit more of the pain in her past.

CARRIE, THANK YOU FOR SHARING WITH US 
ABOUT YOUR "CROSSING" SERIES!!!


GIVEAWAY
Win a Paperback Copy of 
RYAN'S CROSSING by Carrie Daws
 1 Winner
Just leave a comment with your email.
(I need your email to contact you if you are the winner)
Ends Sunday, January 8th, 2013
Winner announced on Monday, Jan. 9th, 2013


My Thoughts

When Ryan received an invitation to his sister Amber's wedding he did not know what to expect.  He had not seen her since she ran away when she was in her teens. He had also been avoiding his parents and would have some explaining to do about missing so many of the holidays with them.  Being an EMS and also attending school was the excuse he gave them over the years.  In his own way he too has been running away from his family?

When he arrives in Crossing, Oregon his whole family is together and seem to be functioning like a normal happy family and that is not what he expected. He assumed the big change was in thanks to Amber's future in-laws.  


He is introduced to Amber's future in-laws and their extended family which included Allie the grooms sister. After one look at Allie he knew his life was fixing to be turned in a totally different direction than he had planned.  He even started hearing a voices which was either God or an Angel by the name of Matthew.  They seemed to be guiding him on a new path.  


Where was all of this leading him?  It seemed to be a little clinic in Crossing and the beautiful nurse named Allie.  It was slowly becoming clear to him where God wanted him live, work and start a family. But what does Allie want?


This book was as heart wrenching and inspiring as book one. With the visitations of the Angels overseeing the family I would get goosebumps. In both books at first I struggled with their rules on courting but I totally agreed on the rules of purity and how the two are connected. It would be wonderful if more parents would adopt this for their children.


I am ready to read book three.


I highly recommend this book.


I rated this book a 5 out of 5.


Disclosure

I received a free book from Ambassador-Emerald International for review.  I was in no way compensated for this review.  It is my own opinion.

If you found this review helpful vote yes or no here. 


Thursday, September 6, 2012

Giveaway/Review of Mary's Blessing (McKenna's Daughters series #2) by Lena Nelson Dooley

About Book

Mary's Blessing
By Lena Nelson Dooley

Series: McKenna’s Daughters Series, Book 2
ISBN: 978-1-61638-617-7

When her mother dies, Mary Lenora must grow up quickly to take care of her brothers and sisters. Can love help her to shoulder the burden?

Mary Lenora Murray knows she is adopted. As she was growing up, her mother called her “God’s blessing.” But now that she’s gone, Mary no longer feels like any kind of blessing. Her father, in his grief, has cut himself off from the family, leaving the running of the home entirely in Mary’s hands.

As she nears her eighteenth birthday, Mary can’t see anything in her future but drudgery. Then her childhood friend Daniel begins to court her, promising her a life of riches and ease. But her fairy-tale dreams turn to dust when her family becomes too much for Daniel, and he abandons her in her time of deepest need.

Will Daniel come to grips with God’s plan for him? And if he does return, can Mary trust that this time he will really follow through?

Where to buy:  KOBO, Amazon & Kindle, Barnes&Noble & Nook, Sony Reader Store, IndieBound


About Lena

Age: 68

Gender: Female
Industry: Publishing
Occupation: Author
Location: Hurst : Texas : United States

Award-winning author, Lena Nelson Dooley, has more than 675,000 books in print. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers http://www.acfw.com/ and president of the local chapter, DFW Ready Writers. She’s also a member of Christian Authors Network, CROWN Fiction Marketing, and GatewayChurch in Southlake, Texas.

Lena loves James, her children, grandchildren, and great grandson. She loves chocolate, cherries, chocolate-covered cherries, and spending time with friends. Travel is always on her horizon. Cruising, Galveston, the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas,Mexico. One day it will be Hawaii and Australia, but probably not the same year. Helping other authors become published really floats her boat, with fifteen signing their first book contract after her mentoring. Three of her books have been awarded the Carol Award silver pins from American Christian Fiction Writers and she has received the ACFW Mentor of the Year award at their national conference. The high point of her day is receiving feedback from her readers, especially people whose lives have been changed by her books. And she loves chocolate, especially dark chocolate.
 

Her latest release is Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico, from Summerside Press which recently won the Will Rogers Medallion Award for excellence in publishing westernfiction. Lena is currently under two 3-book contracts with Charisma House/Realms. 

In addition to her writing, Lena is a frequent speaker at women’s groups, writers groups, and at both regional and national conferences. She has spoken in six states and internationally.

 Lena has an active web presence on Shoutlife, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and with her internationally connected blog where she interviews other authors and promotes their books. You can check out her books and find out more about her on her blog by clicking the tabs across the top.


Her interests include:

Reading, knitting, crochet, travel, spending time with family.
She has ecclectic tastes in music: contemporary Christian, jazz, some classical, some pop, some country.

She reads a lot. Some of my favorite authors are Brandilyn Collins, Pamela Griffin, Lisa Harris, Andrea Boeshaar, Martha Rogers, Colleen Coble, Gail Sattler, Tracey Bateman, Susan May Warren, Kathleen Y'Barbo, Janice Hanna Thompson, Tracie Peterson, Cathy Marie Hake, Deeanne Gist, Margaret Daley, Mary Connealy, James Scott Bell, and many, many more. My list could go on for a long time.



To learn even more about Lena on her website go here.


I loved book one, Maggie's Journey
and book two did not disappoint me.
I am looking forward to book three,
Catherine's Pursuit coming in 2013.









My Thoughts

Ever since Mary Lenora Murray was eleven years old she has been sister, stand-in-mother and care taker of her younger sister and  two young brothers. This was after her mother and two older sisters died.  She has not just been the caretaker of the children but of all the household chores that had been taken care by of her  mother's and older sisters.  

Mary's father has disconnected himself from his family as if he no longer was a father other than the care of the farm and she was at least thankful for that.  But it would nice to have someone to confide in and lean on when it came to the children and the house.  

Mary has always none she was adopted but did not know the circumstances of the adoption or her birth parents.  She knew her adoptive parents loved her deeply.  Although her father grieved  much over the death of his wife and two daughters Mary knew he loved her and her young siblings.  She just would like to here some encouraging words from him.  

When would she ever be able to have a life of her own with all she had in her present life?  Her childhood friendship with Daniel seems to be turning into more than friends.  She just did not know how to meld the two lives together. That of a future with Daniel and the life she had now.

Daniel knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Mary and give her all the things she deserved.  He would prove to her he would be a responsible husband and provider.  He would move her away from the farm and hire someone to care for the beautiful house he planned to buy in town.  

This is how the story goes, this is not a fairy tale this is real life.  The author writes a beautiful yet heart wrenching story of tragedy, responsibility, love and faith in God.  God always has a plan and it is not always what we expect.   Sometimes a tragedy can pull us away from God and sometimes it brings us closer.  Life is not a bowl of cherries.  If it were it would get mighty boring.  This book is definitely not boring.  I had to make myself put the book down so I could do what I needed to do.  

Lena did not disappoint me with book two of Mckenna's Daughters. 

I loved book one, Maggie's Journey, book two was just as good.  

Can't wait to read book three, Catherine's Pursuit coming in 2013.

I highly recommend this book/series.

I rated this book a 5 out of 5.

Disclosure
I purchased this book for my personal reading pleasure.  I was in no way compensated for this review.  It is my own opinion.


If you found this review Helpful Vote yes or no here.




 Now for the giveaway 
 one copy of Mary's Blessings
is provided by 
Giveaway will be from 9/6 until 9/13.

USA entry - print copy
International entry - ebook format 

 1+. All you need to do is leave a comment 
about why you would like to win this book.  
Be sure to leave your email address in the comment
 so I can contact you if you are the winner. 
example of email:  johndoe(at)yahoo(dot)com

  I would like to invite you follow me by
 email, GFC, Linky Follower, Facebook or Twitter 
this is not mandatory for giveaway. 

 The winner will be announced on 
Friday, September 14. 

 GOOD LUCK!