Tree Swing Reading

Giving away "Sisters of the Quilt" series!

This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Kitty and Julie Donahue for winning the drawing!

I'm giving away TWO sets of this series by Cindy Woodsmall! Post your comments to win! (You must live in the US to win.) The drawing will be held on December 12.

Here's a description of the books:

When the Heart Cries is book number one.

Hannah Lapp was born and raised in an Old Order Amish home, without electricity, a telephone, or the right to follow her heart. Without her parents' knowledge, she's been in love with Mennonite Paul Waddell for years. When he asks her to marry him, she accepts, even though to do so will cause her family to avoid her for the rest of her life.

Before Hannah and Paul reveal their relationship, tragedy strikes. In one unwelcome encounter, all that Hannah has known and believed is destroyed and she faces losing everything: her family, her fiancé, and even her faith in God.

Tomorrow I'll be posting more about the book--but here's where you sign up to win the drawing.

When the Morning Comes is book two in the series.

Description:

When the Morning Comes is the sequel and continuation of the best-selling novel When the Heart Cries. Her relationship with fiancé Paul Waddell in tatters, Hannah Lapp has fled her secluded Old Order Amish community in hopes of finding a new home in Ohio with her shunned aunt. Hampered by limited education and hiding her true identity, Hannah struggles to navigate the confusing world of the Englischers.

Will the countless opportunities in her new life persuade Hannah that her place is amongst the Englischers—or will she give in to her heart's call to return home and face the past?

Watch for more info on these books over the next days until the drawing on December 12th.

Sign up to win the whole series! Good luck!

Please don't give up on me! Giving away 2 bracelets.

This contest is now closed.  Thanks for entering!

Hi! I know I haven't been posting as much lately, but don't give up on me--I'm just crazy busy getting ready for my craft sale next weekend and when it's over I'll be able to read, read, read again!

As a thank you for your patience with me, you can post a comment to this entry to sign up to win this bracelet:

It is a "Psalm 23" bracelet. Each crystal represents a color that comes from Psalm 23. It comes with a card that explains the meaning.

The cross charm reads "The Lord is my shepherd."

Check out the rest of my crafts at www.creativetree.typepad.com/boutique

Can't wait to read more again soon! In the meantime, post here to win a bracelet

Tami

Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
AURALIA'S COLORS
(WaterBrook Press September 4, 2007)
by
Jeffrey Overstreet

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jeffrey Overstreet lives in two worlds. By day, he writes about movies at LookingCloser.org and in notable publications like Christianity Today, Paste, and Image.

His adventures in cinema are chronicled in his book Through a Screen Darkly. By night, he composes new stories found in fictional worlds of his own. Living in Shoreline, Washington, with his wife, Anne, a poet, he is a senior staff writer for Response Magazine at Seattle Pacific University.

Auralia’s Colors is his first novel. He is now hard at work on many new stories, including three more strands of The Auralia Thread.





ABOUT THE BOOK:
As a baby, she was found in a footprint.

As a girl, she was raised by thieves in a wilderness where savages lurk.

As a young woman, she will risk her life to save the world with the only secret she knows.


When thieves find an abandoned child lying in a monster’s footprint, they have no idea that their wilderness discovery will change the course of history.

Cloaked in mystery, Auralia grows up among criminals outside the walls of House Abascar, where vicious beastmen lurk in shadow. There, she discovers an unsettling–and forbidden–talent for crafting colors that enchant all who behold them, including Abascar’s hard-hearted king, an exiled wizard, and a prince who keeps dangerous secrets.

Auralia’s gift opens doors from the palace to the dungeons, setting the stage for violent and miraculous change in the great houses of the Expanse.

Auralia’s Colors weaves literary fantasy together with poetic prose, a suspenseful plot, adrenaline-rush action, and unpredictable characters sure to enthrall ambitious imaginations.

Visit the Website especially created for the book, Auralia's Colors. On the site, you can read the first chapter and listen to jeffrey's introduction of the book, plus a lit more!

PRAISE

"Film critic and author Overstreet (Through a Screen Darkly) offers a powerful myth for his first foray into fiction. Overstreet’s writing is precise and beautiful, and the story is masterfully told. Readers will be hungry for the next installment."
--Publishers Weekly

“Through word, image, and color Jeffrey Overstreet has crafted a work of art. From first to final page this original fantasy is sure to draw readers in. Auralia's Colors sparkles.”
-–Janet Lee Carey, award-winning author of The Beast of
Noor and Dragon's Keep

“Jeffrey Overstreet’s first fantasy, Auralia’s Colors, and its heroine’s cloak of wonders take their power from a vision of art that is auroral, looking to the return of beauty, and that intends to restore spirit and and mystery to the world. The book achieves its ends by the creation of a rich, complex universe and a series of dramatic, explosive events.”
-–Marly Youmans, author of Ingledove and The
Curse of the Raven Mocker

MY REVIEW: Coming soon!

Winner of "Between Sundays"

Congrats to Christy H. winner of this week's drawing for Between Sundays by Karen Kingsbury!

Christy, please email me your address info!

Next week's drawing to be announced tomorrow!

Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Decked Out by Neta Jackson

The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Decked Out by Neta Jackson

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing
THE YADA YADA PRAYER GROUP GETS DECKED OUT

Thomas Nelson (October 2, 2007)
by
Neta Jackson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Neta Jackson Neta Jackson's award-winning Yada books have sold more than 350,000 copies and are spawning prayer groups across the country. She and her husband, Dave, are also an award-winning husband/wife writing team, best known for the Trailblazer Books--a 40-volume series of historical fiction about great Christian heroes with 1.8 million in sales--and Hero Tales: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes (vols 1-4).

Dave and Neta live in Evanston, Illinois, where for twenty-seven years they were part of Reba Place Church, a Christian church community. They are now members of the Chicago Tabernacle, a multi-racial congregation that is a daughter church of the well-known Brooklyn Tabernacle.




ABOUT THE BOOK:
Turkey dinners, tree trimming, and decking the halls--it's that time of year again! And I Jodi Baxter, can't wait to celebrate. My kids are coming home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then all of us Yadas are getting decked out for a big New Year's party.

But God's idea of "decked out" might just change the nature of our party plans. A perplexing encounter with a former student, a crime that literally knocks me off my feet, a hurry-up wedding, and a child who will forever change our family...it's times like these that I really need my prayer sisters.

This holiday season, we Yada Yadas are learning that no one can out celebrate God. So let's get this party started!

THE YADA YADA PRAYER GROUP GETS DECKED OUT is a festive novella featuring America's favorite prayer group, the Yada Yadas!

Sometimes dubbed "chick-lit" for their bright covers and catchy titles, this series provides far more depth than witty banter and wacky situations. Inspired by a prayer group of real women, each book will have you laughing, crying, and perhaps praying anew.

In this highly anticipated installment, the Yada Yada sisters-a group of multi-cultural friends-and their families prepare for the event of the season.

But yes, eager readers, this novella—which picks up a year and a half after the end of book #6 The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Rolling concludes the series with some twists and turns that will amaze and encourage you. Plus, it sets the stage for Neta’s new series with new characters and new situations but also occasional roles for the beloved Yada Yada sisters in familiar Chicago neighborhoods with all their cultural richness.

MY REVIEW:

I'm in the middle of book 6 right now and hope to finish book 6 and 7 and post my review by this weekend!

Winner of "Finding Father Christmas"

Congrats to Brittanie! Winner of Finding Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn. My five-year-old drew your name!

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing!

Giving away "Between Sundays" by Karen Kingsbury

This drawing is now closed. Thanks for entering!

I'm giving away a copy of this book! If you live in the US and want to be entered to win a copy of this book, please leave a comment on this post by next Monday, November 26, 2007.

Good luck!

Though I haven't read the book yet, I've heard great things about it!

Description:

Football season becomes a time of realization that life’s most important victories are won off the field. A star running back with much to learn, a younger player with much to give, and a woman with a heart for underprivileged kids - thrown together into a time of self-discovery and a new awareness of the things that matter most.

Winner of "Try Dying"

Congrats to Cindi who won a copy of Try Dying by James Scott Bell!

Yada Yada books 1-4 by Neta Jackson

So I'm finally getting a chance to read the entire Yada Yada series in preparation for the blog tour of the seventh book next week. These books came out when my babies were babies and reading time was tough to get, so I never found a chance to read them then. I am enjoying them and mostly appreciate the way that these books serve as a constant reminder of the importance of taking everything to prayer.  The women of the Yada Yada prayer group certainly have a lot to deal with as problems seem to move from one member of the group to another, but the way that they take care of each other and prayer for each other is a wonderful example for how a small group is supposed to work.

I have to apologize for not having as much time to read lately as I am getting ready for my annual craft sale coming up December 7 and 8. If you want to see what I'm working on, check out my other blog: Creative Tree Designs.

Review of "Try Dying" by James Scott Bell and Giveaway of this book!

To enter the drawing for a free copy of this book go here.

Try Dying by James Scott Bell

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing

TRY DYING
(Center Street October 24, 2007)
by
James Scott Bell

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James Scott Bell is a former trial lawyer who now writes full time. He is also the fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University.

His book on writing, Plot and Structure is one of the most popular writing books available today. The national bestselling author of several novels of suspense, he grew up and still lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next Buchanan thriller.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

On a wet Tuesday morning in December, Ernesto Bonilla, twenty-eight, shot his twenty-three-year-old wife, Alejandra, in the backyard of their West 45th Street home in South Los Angeles. As Alejandra lay bleeding to death, Ernesto drove their Ford Explorer to the westbound Century Freeway connector where it crossed over the Harbor Freeway and pulled to a stop on the shoulder.

Bonilla stepped around the back of the SUV, ignoring the rain and the afternoon drivers on their way to LAX and the west side, placed the barrel of his .38 caliber pistol into his mouth, and fired.

His body fell over the shoulder and plunged one hundred feet, hitting the roof of a Toyota Camry heading northbound on the harbor Freeway. The impact crushed the roof of the Camry. The driver, Jacqueline Dwyer, twenty-seven, an elementary schoolteacher from Reseda, died at the scene.

This would have been simply another dark and strange coincidence, the sort of thing that shows up for a two-minute report on the local news--with live remote from the scene--and maybe gets a follow-up the next day. Eventually the story would go away, fading from the city's collective memory.

But this story did not go away. Not for me. Because Jacqueline Dwyer was the woman I was going to marry.

In Try Dying, this fast-paced thriller, lawyer Ty Buchanan must enter a world of evil to uncover the cause of his fiancee's death--even if hie has to kill for the truth.

"Bell is one of the best writers out there...he creates characters readers care about...a story worth telling."
~Library Review~

My Review:

Another book I couldn't put down! I love this author and the suspense he builds. Ty Buchanan is a wonderful character who is smart. He is grieving the loss of his fiance when he is confronted with the possibility that she was murdered. Out of love for her and the remorse he feels for not showing her more how much he loved her, Ty is determined to find out the truth. And that truth gets him in deeper and deeper trouble right from the start.

I love how Ty ends up getting help from some unusual sorces. He ends up seeking shelter from a priest after he gets beat up a few times, his home is burned down, and he is being charged with a murder of the reporter who was helping him look into his fiance's death! The conversations between the priest and Ty are my favorite dialogues in the book where Ty is looking for deeper meaning amongst the horrible things that are happening to him and the priest is trying to push him to find it, in spite of the injustices served against him as well.

As always with Bell's books, I was hooked on the book until the last page. I hear that there will be more books in this series and I can't wait to read them! I give this book a sunny day rating!