The Colony by Cami Checketts: Book Blast and a Giveaway!

The Colony by Cami Checketts
Paperback, 238 pages
Published December 4th 2013 by Createspace
Kindle Edition, 202 pages
Published December 7th 2013 by Birch River Publishing

To protect her sons from the mistakes of her past, Brinlee Trapper escapes to a secluded mountain home. But there are dangers lurking in the mountains she has never encountered. The little family is saved from injury by Jed, a mysterious hunter. Brinlee is drawn to him, but she worries about his involvement with a peaceful commune hidden deep in the mountains behind her property.

Lance, Brinlee’s attentive neighbor, has his own troubled history. Between his obvious attraction to Brinlee and his developing love for her children, Brinlee finds it more than difficult to guard her heart against this tender intrusion.

While Jed offers a life of excitement and freedom, Lance holds the key to the family Brinlee always wanted. When it comes time to choose, she learns that both men have secrets that could shatter her fledgling trust in men and the wrong decision could leave more than her heart exposed to danger.

Praise

"Cami Checketts is a genius! She writes about topics that aren't widely discussed, in and out of books, and she does such a brilliant job of crafting these things into wonderful stories that touch your heart and remain with you for days afterwards." ~Myra, Reviewer, Pieces of Whimsy

Grab your copy for just $2.99!

Tour Schedule

Download a FREE copy of The Broken Path by Cami Checketts!

From January 7th to 11th The Broken Path is available for FREE on Amazon

Download your FREE Kindle copy of The Broken Path today!

Author Cami Checketts

Cami Checketts is married and the proud mother of four future WWF champions. Sometimes between being a human horse, cleaning up magic potions, and reading Bernstein Bears, she gets the chance to write fiction.

Cami graduated from Utah State University with a degree in Exercise Science. Cami teaches strength training classes at her local rec and shares healthy living tips on her fitness blog: http://fitnessformom.blogspot.com.

Cami and her family live in the beautiful Cache Valley of Northern Utah. During the two months of the year it isn't’t snowing, she enjoys swimming, biking, running, and water-skiing.

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Fitness Blog

Book Blast Giveaway

$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 1/31/14

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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On Tour: Jubilee's Journey by Bette Lee Crosby, a Guest Post and a Giveaway!

Jubilee's Journey by Bette Lee Crosby
Series: Wyattsville #2
Paperback, 300 pages
Published October 15th 2013 by Bent Pine Publishing

When tragedy strikes a West Virginia coal mining family, two children start out on a trek that they hope will lead them to a new life. Before a day passes, the children are separated and the boy is caught up in a robbery not of his making. If his sister can find him, she may be able to save him. The problem is she’s only seven years old, and who’s going to believe a kid?

Jubilee’s Journey is Book Two in the Wyattsville Series. This story of discovering lost family and finding love reconnects readers with Ethan Allen and the other heart-warming characters of the bestselling novel Spare Change.

My thoughts about Jubilee's Journey ~~

Oh my, another book by Bette that I just loved. Jubilee's Journey is book 2 in the Wyattsville Series so I got to go back to that wonderful world of Wyattsville to spend time with the people I came to know and love from Spare Change. What an enjoyable visit.

Jubilee is born full of spunk and spunk is what helps her get through the trauma of her parents dying and being kicked out her home at the age of 7. She and her brother head to the city to find an aunt who they hope will take them in. Things don't go well and she is separated from her brother. Along comes Ethan Allen, who is the main character in Spare Change. He takes her under his wing and stands by her while they try to work things out. So once again, we become a part of the wonderful world of Ethan Allen and all those great characters who were there to help him, when he needed it.

I love Grandma Olivia, who is such a great character and has such a kind, caring network of friends who are always there to help her, even when their methods might be just a little questionable. I would love to meet Olivia and to be able to call her a friend. That's how real Bette's characters became to me, the reader.

Bette's writes so beautifully and creates a world that feels so warm and inviting. Her books are ones to savor and enjoy! And she writes great passages that are just so amazing. I want to share a few that I marked.

'He pulled his baby sister to his chest and held her there for such a long time their heartbeats mingled and bonded them one to the other for the rest of their lives - however long or short that time night be.'

********************

' "Where's hope when I need it?'

"It's probably right where you left it," Clara replied.

"Right where I left it?"

"Uh-huh." Clara nodded. "Hope don't leave. People just forget it's there." '

********************

' "Then he'll be back," she answered flatly. A thin shell of resolve crusted over the outside of who she was. Inside there were a million broken pieces, fragments of things taken from her life - a mother, a father, a brother, a place to call home, friends, familiar roads, a garden - the shell kept all those things from spilling out like handfulls of Cheerios.'

********************

'Everything had a price. The price of not loving was an empty and cold existence. It meant a lifetime of wordless evenings and nights where the chill of loneliness rattled in your bones. The price of loving was beyond measure.'

About the author

Award-winning novelist Bette Lee Crosby brings the wit and wisdom of her Southern Mama to works of fiction—the result is a delightful blend of humor, mystery and romance along with a cast of quirky charters who will steal your heart away.

Crosby’s work was first recognized in 2006 when she received The National League of American Pen Women Award for a then unpublished manuscript. Since then, she has gone on to win several more awards, including another NLAPW award, three Royal Palm Literary Awards, and the FPA President’s Book Award Gold Medal.

Her published novels to date are: Cracks in the Sidewalk (2009), Spare Change (2011), The Twelfth Child (2012), Cupid’s Christmas (2012) and What Matters Most (2013). She has also authored “Life in the Land of IS” a memoir of Lani Deauville, a woman the Guinness Book of Records lists as the world’s longest living quadriplegic.

Crosby originally studied art and began her career as a packaging designer. When asked to write a few lines of copy for the back of a pantyhose package, she discovered a love for words that was irrepressible. After years of writing for business, she turned to works of fiction and never looked back. “Storytelling is in my blood,” Crosby laughingly admits, “My mom was not a writer, but she was a captivating storyteller, so I find myself using bits and pieces of her voice in most everything I write.”

Writing Jubilee’s Journey was somewhat of a trip down memory lane, not because of my own memories, but the memories of my mother, who so generously passed them down to me. 

My mom was born in Coal Fork, West Virginia; as was her sister Ruth. They were two in a family of eleven siblings.  Times were hard and the family didn't always have the luxury of living under the same roof. Once the girls were old enough, they were sent to live with relatives who needed house help; the boys went to work in the mines or became farm hands for neighbors.  

When my mom was not yet twenty, she married a city boy from Charleston and moved away. Her sister Ruth married one of the men who worked in the mines. The part of Jubilee’s Journey that tells of life in the mining community is based on the truth of how it was.  

After Ruth was married, she and her new husband moved into a tiny four room house wedged into the side of the coal-mining mountain. Did they own the house? No. Did they rent the house? No. In the little community of Coal Fork, there was no owning or renting; if a house stood empty and you had need of it…you simply moved in. Of course the house was little more than walls and a floor, there was no plumbing, no electricity, just a cast iron coal stove used for both cooking and heat.  But it was a house and it was free. It had a stretch of land suitable for some farming and a well that had a plentiful supply of cold clear water – water far better than anything you've ever tasted. 

In Jubilee’s Journey, Ruth’s husband is named Bartholomew but in real life his name was Clifford. He was a miner who lived a life very similar to Bartholomew’s. He and Ruth had four children, the eldest of which was my cousin Paul. And the Paul I knew was my model for the one I created. He was wise, strong, loyal beyond belief, and filled with love and Faith.  

I spent many summer vacations visiting my cousins and the memories I have are truly treasured ones. Despite the fact that Ruth’s family had very few material possessions, they were wealthy beyond compare. They were rich in the things that no amount of money can buy—love, faith, trust and hope. Like Bartholomew, Clifford hoped his boys would never see the inside of a mine…and they didn't. All four of my cousins earned scholarships and went on to become professionals in the fields of education and ministry.

I have always been inspired by the goodness in the life they led, and that inspiration is what led me to write Jubilee’s Journey. I hope the book inspires others as the truth behind this story has inspired me. 

Bette Lee Crosby

Connect with Bette

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon

Giveaway Time!!

Bette is offering 2 copies of Jubilee's Journey for the giveaway here at The Book Bag. Other stops on the tour have giveaways going on as well. Check them out for more chances to win!

Jubilee's Journey Tour Stops

Thank you so much Bette!!

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Book Spotlight and a Giveaway! And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry

And Then I Found You

And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry

Hardcover, 261 pages

Published April 9th 2013 by St. Martin's Press

Kate Vaughan is no stranger to tough choices.

She’s made them before. Now it's time to do it again.

Kate has a secret, something tucked away in her past. And she's getting on with her life. Her business is thriving. She has a strong relationship with her family, and a devoted boyfriend whom she wants to love with all her heart. If Kate had ever made a list, Rowan would fill the imagined boxes of a perfect mate. But she wants more than the perfect on paper relationship; she wants a real and imperfect love. That's why, when Kate discovers the small velvet box hidden in Rowan's drawer, she panics.

It always happens this way. Just when Kate thinks she can love, just when she believes she can conquer the fear, she's filled with dread. And she wants more than anything to make this feeling go away. But how?

When the mistakes have been made and the running is over, it's time to face the truth. Kate knows this. She understands that a woman can never undo what can never be undone. Yet, for the first time in her life she also knows that she won’t fully love until she confronts those from her past. It's time to act.

Can she do it? Can she travel to the place where it all began, to the one who shares her secret? Can the lost ever become found?

And Then I Found You gives new life to the phrase "inspired by a true story." By travelling back to a painful time in her own family's history, the author explores the limits of courage, and the price of a selfless act.

My thoughts about And Then I Found You ~~

Okay, I first have to talk about the cover, that's just what I do. This one is so beautiful, with all the blue, and then it makes me wonder why she is standing outside watching that house in the distance that looks so inviting.

Now about the story. Patti is such a fabulous writer that when I started this book, I did not want to stop reading. In fact, I 'saved' it for a time when I knew I could get some quality reading time in. And I was not disappointed.

'I hope that whatever it is you want that you don't give up just because someone else asks you to do so. Anything you want, Katie, anything, don't let someone else talk you out of it.'

And Then I Found You was an emotional ride with love, heartache, forgiveness, family, separation, laughter, and tears. And it is based on a true story involving the author's family. What courage it must have taken to dig through all these events and feelings and to be able to put all of that emotion down on paper.

'She had tried everything to outrun the pain of losing both Jack and her daughter: moving away, coming home, no dating, too much dating; anything to keep her mind away from the memory. People talked about heartbreak, but in Kate's opinion, hearts don't break, they merely ache and throb until you learn to ignore that same heart all together.'

Thank you Patti for writing such a heartfelt book and for sharing such an intimate part of your life with us. It was an amazing read!

About the author

Patti Callahan Henry is the National Bestselling author of six novels with Penguin/NAL (Losing the Moon, Where the River Runs, When Light Breaks, Betweeen the Tides, The Art of Keeping Secrets, and Driftwood Summer).

Patti is hailed as a fresh new voice in southern fiction. She has been short-listed for the Townsend Prize for Fiction and has been nominated for the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Fiction Novel of the Year. She is a frequent speaker at luncheons, book clubs and women’s groups where she discusses the importance of storytelling and anything else they want to talk about.

Patti grew up as a Minister’s daughter, learning early how storytelling effects our lives. She grew up spending her summers on Cape Cod where she began her love affair with the beach, ocean, tides and nature of the coast. Moving south at the tender age of twelve, she found solace in books and stories. While attending Auburn University, she met a southern boy who later proposed on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, next to a historic lighthouse overlooking the Sound. After earning her Master’s degree in Child Health, Patti worked as a Clinical Nurse Specialist until her first child was born.

Patti is a full time writer, wife and mother living with her husband and three children outside Atlanta on the Chattahoochee River where she is working on her next novel.

Connect with Patti

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter

Giveaway Time!!

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A Look Back at My Reading World of 2013

I love Goodreads! You can create all kinds on montages featuring the books you read or want to read or just about anything having to do with books. 

Featured below are the books I read in 2013. I was able to get 112 books off of my TBR list this past year. But I think I added 3 or 4 times that many to the list. *sigh* 

So many books, so little time! 

So here are the covers of the 112 books I read in 2013. These were some amazing reads! I can't wait to get started on my 2014 list! 

My books-read-in-2013 book montage

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WWW Wednesday January 1, 2014

Happy New Year

to each and every one of you! 

WWW Wednesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading

To play along, just answer the following three questions…

• What are you currently reading?

• What did you recently finish reading?

• What do you think you’ll read next?

Clicking on the book covers will take you to Goodreads for more information about the books listed below.

What are you currently reading?

Let the review-book-reading begin!

Of Dreams and Shadow by D.S. McKnight

I just love this cover. My thoughts will be posted later this month. 

Under the Dome by Stephen King

I am listening to this one and it's something like 34 hours long. It's going to take me awhile to get through it. I love SK! 

What did you recently finish reading?

Quinn by Iris Johansen

(Eve, Quinn and Bonnie #2)

I love the Eve Duncan series and this mini-series of 3 is a nice look at the backgrounds of the main characters.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Loved this one! And I am thinking this one might be worth a re-read.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 
Was a little disappointed in this book after all the hype I had been hearing about it. I liked it okay, just wasn't 'WOW-d' by it.

What do you think you will read next?

The Colony by Cami Checketts

I love Cami's books and can't wait to get to this one. My thoughts will be posted later this month. 

What's on your WWW this week?

Leave me a comment and

I'll stop by to check out your reads.

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