Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Great New Book from a Friend

I just wanted to let you know about a terrific new book from my friend, Linda Goodnight. Linda and I got to know each other because we both write for Love Inspired, and although our writing and lives only allow us to see each other once a year or so, I never want to miss a chance to remind others of her wonderful books.

Linda has broken through into a new level of her beautiful, emotional story telling with her current book, "The Memory House." Here's a bit about her story:





New York Times bestselling author Linda Goodnight welcomes you to Honey Ridge, Tennessee, and a house that's rich with secrets and brimming with sweet possibilities 

Memories of motherhood and marriage are fresh for Julia Presley—though tragedy took away both years ago. Finding comfort in the routine of running the Peach Orchard Inn, she lets the historic, mysterious place fill the voids of love and family. No more pleasure of a man's gentle kiss. No more joy in hearing a child call her Mommy. Life is calm, unchanging…until a stranger with a young boy and soul-deep secrets shows up in her Tennessee town and disrupts the loneliness of her world. 

Julia suspects there's more to Eli Donovan's past than his motherless son, Alex. There's a reason he's chasing redemption and bent on earning it with a new beginning in Honey Ridge. Offering the guarded man work renovating the inn, she glimpses someone who—like her—has a heart in need of restoration. But with the chance discovery of a dusty stack of love letters buried within the lining of an old trunk, the long-dead ghosts of a Civil War romance envelop Julia and Eli, connecting them to the inn's violent history and challenging them both to risk facing yesterday's darkness for a future bright with hope and healing.

Grab your copy of "The Memory House" today online or at your favorite bookstore!

Monday, April 20, 2015

Book Covers

Can you really tell a book by its cover? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I've made the mistake a time or two of buying a book because the cover drew me in, only to discover that the story didn't live up to the artwork! And sometimes books in a series have such similar covers that I'm not sure whether I've read them or not. But usually, a book cover that speaks to me will at least make me read the cover copy and perhaps the first page or two.

Get any group of writers together, and they'll be happy to exchange cover stories--usually about the ones that were so far from the story they wrote that they'll think the covers got on by mistake! I've had a few covers in the last 58 books that had what I thought were glaring errors, but also a number that were exactly right, and a few that took my breath away because they were so perfect.

In the misfits, there was the cover that gave my blond, blue-eyed hero black hair and dark eyes. And the one in which my husband pointed out that the windmill was in the wrong place on the farm scene. And one in which my mother of three looked about fourteen, and another where a clothesline seemed suspended in space!

But then there were the great ones, like the cover Berkley has given to my upcoming June book, THE RESCUED, Book two in the Keepers of the Promise series. The initial art, without the printing and folding, is so lovely that I want to hang it on the wall.
Isn't that lovely?

And here's how it looks once it was transformed into the actual book cover.


So what do you think? Does the cover lure you into buying the book? I hope so!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Books in Series

There's something about collecting books that makes a person a little nutty, I'm afraid. At least, it's true for me. (Oops, maybe I'm the only one!) But from the time I started collecting Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden and the Dana Girls, I loved having those matching covers lined up on my book shelf. There's just something about a series that makes me happy. Maybe it's the sense that when I've finished one book, there's another waiting to plunge me into that same world again.

As a matter of fact, some of those books are still on my crowded bookshelves. I have a bunch of Nancy Drews with the orange silhouette of Nancy with the magnifying glass. Please tell me someone else is old enough to remember those! And the Dana Girls, too--I wanted to go to boarding school with them and solve mysteries. The Trixie Belden books were the first I collected that had the bright, colorful covers from Whitman that gave a sense of the story within. Unfortunately, those covers didn't last very well, although better than paper covers, so my remaining books now have plastic wrap around them to protect them.

So given the love I have for books in series with that special "look" I'm especially pleased to see HQN doing something similar for my current Amish suspense series of books. I just received the cover for Book 2, which will be out in October, and I love the way they've created a new scene which echoes the sense of the first book.

Here they are. Let me know what you think.

           

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Easter Dessert

I always feel that the dessert I serve for Easter dinner ought to be something cool and springlike, no matter what the weather looks like outside. And I don't know about you, but we had snow flurries on Easter Saturday!

With that in mind, I present my take on Cherry Cream Cheese Pie. Everyone seems to have a recipe for this old favorite, and most of them involve sweetened condensed milk. Mine, preserved in my recipe box in my mother-in-law's handwriting, is a different version. I make it using light cream cheese and light Cool Whip, and if I ignore the sugar, I can pretend it's not so unhealthy after all!

Mom Greta's Cherry Cream Cheese Pie
Make or buy a graham cracker crust for a nine-inch pie plate.
Whip together 12 ounces of light cream cheese, an 8 ounce container of Cool Whip, and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Beat until light and fluffy and pile into the graham crust. Chill.
Once the pie is set, spread with cherry pie filling, serve, and enjoy a cool, light treat.