Monday, March 31, 2008

Fudge-Laced Felonies

Got my galleys today. Very exciting. Now, I've got to read the book, again, to do a final check for errors. I can't wait to hold this baby in my hands.

Now, if I could only get people to visit my blog!

Friday, March 28, 2008

A Matter of Wife and Death



Pastors’ wives are real people. Real women dealing with temptation, self-esteem, child-rearing, child-bearing, and rocky marriages. Often these women feel alone, unworthy of the path God has called them to. In A Matter of Wife & Death, (Secrets from Lulu’s Café Series), Ginger Kolbaba & Christy Scannell craft a story of five such women, sisters in Christ and fellow pastors’ wives of Red River.

On a retreat for the wives, a bickering session rises up and one of the women end up dead, another accused, and the others left questioning their friendship and right and wrong. The reader is taken in small part on a mystery. On a larger scale, the reader is taken along as these women discover what is really important in their walk as the wives of pastors, and the mothers of preachers kids.

As we read of their struggles, we realize how normal these women are who are often placed on pedestals. We laugh with them, cry with them, and pray with them. We rejoice as they triumph.

I thought at first I’d have trouble keeping up with and associating with five main characters, but as I read, I had no trouble at all and joined in with the women’s friendship group. Good job.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Delia Latham's Goldeneyes Release




There's a lot of buzz about Delia Latham's new release Goldeneyes. Now available in stores.

Delia Latham is a former newspaper Staff Writer and a frequent contributor to her hometown’s regional publication, Bakersfield Magazine. She also writes greeting card verse, short stories, articles, and songs. Her editing and proofing skills have been utilized by numerous authors, including Dr. Chuck Wall, founder of the Random Acts of Kindness movement.
A debut novel, Almost Like a Song, was released in June 2006; Goldeneyes will be released in March 2008 by Vintage Romance Publishing. Delia’s work is included in an upcoming short story anthology, The Shortstack: 20 Stories to Fill You Up.
The author lives in Bakersfield, California with her husband, Johnny, a Pentecostal minister. Her four adult children and four “beautiful, absolutely perfect” grandchildren daily light up her life. She loves to hear from her readers. Contact her through her website (http://www.delialatham.com/) or her blog (http://themelodywithin.blogspot.com/.)



Q. Who is Delia Latham?
A: I’m a Christian wife, married to a Pentecostal minister. My husband is the assistant pastor at our church, and I’m involved in the music ministry. I play piano and sing. I have four grown children and four beautiful, absolutely perfect granchildren – no, really, they are! We all live in Bakersfield, California. I was born here and have resided in or around this desert town my entire life.

Q: What books are on your nightstand right now?
A: Too many. I write reviews, so there’s always plenty of reading material in my room. Right now, I’m looking at Rainbow’s End by Irene Hannon, Veil of Fire by Marlo Schalesky, Abandoned Identity by Tamara Tilley – that’s just a few of the unread books. I just finished Loving Liza Jane by Sharlene MacLaren and – a little detour from the usual – The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz.

Q: Your novel, Goldeneyes, is scheduled for release in March. What is it about?
A: It’s an historical romance about a depression-era man who does something horrible to satisy his alcohol addiction, and the ripple effect his action causes in the lives of two families over twenty years later.

Q: What inspired you to write Goldeneyes?
A: I grew up in Weedpatch, the little farming community where Part One of Goldeneyes is set. I’ve always wanted to write something using that location as a backdrop. This story has been brewing in my mind for several years, but it was hard for me to get past the reality of Weedpatch in my own life and get on with turning it into a fictional tale. I prayed a lot! Once God gave me the go-ahead, He also gave me the inspiration, and I’m very pleased with the completed product.

Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: Ahhh … the question every writer gets asked most often - and for me, quite possibly the hardest, because I’m not always sure. Sometimes I get ideas from little snippets of history; a few of my stories are major exaggerations of tiny occurrences in my own life or the lives of people I know; and sometimes I sit down to write with absolutely no idea what I’m going to write about. Oddly enough, those are the times I usually wind up being happiest with the results, maybe because I’m most open for God to take my writing wherever He wants to.

Q: So you don’t always plot or outline your book before you write?
A: How’d you guess? No, I write like I do most other things in my life – totally off the cuff. I’m what the writing community refers to as a SOTP: Seat-of-the-pants writer.

Q: Which authors have most influenced your own writing?
A: Too many to possibly mention here! As a child, I devoured just about every book I could get my hands on: Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, the Bobbsey Twins – even the Hardy Boys; I wasn’t gender specific as to reading material. As I got older, I graduated to romance and found Grace Livingston Hill, Barbara Cartland, Emilie Loring, and oh, yes – I discovered Harlequin Romance (oh, my!). Now some of my favorite writers are Joy Fielding, Lori Wick, Lori Copeland … the list goes on for miles. My favorite book of all time is Swan Song, by Robert McCammon – rather surprising for an inspirational author, I know, but it’s a beautifully written epic account of good vs. evil. Unforgettable!

Q: What other projects are you currently working on?
A: My current work-in-progress is surprising me by actually creating a connection between my debut novel and Goldeneyes, which I wasn’t expecting at all. I’ve also just completed something completely new - at least for me. While it’s still Christian romance, it will fit more easily into the Chick Lit genre, bringing in a touch more humor and lightheartedness than is in my other works.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Delia Latham Blog Tour

Come back on March 20th and spend some time in author, Delia Latham's blog tour. Here are the next scheduled stops.

24. Mar. 19 – Bonnie Winters - http://360.yahoo.com/indianabon
25. Mar. 20 – Cynthia Hickey – http://www.cynthiahickey.blogspot.com
26. Mar. 24 – Pamela James - www.pammer.blogspot.com
27. Mar. 24 – 28 – Tracy Ruckman – www.pixnpens.blogspot.com
28. Mar. 25 – Christa Allen - http://cballan.wordpress.com/
29. Mar. 27 – Melissa Meeks - http://forstrose.blogspot.com/
30. Mar. 31 – Gina Conroy – http://portraitofawriter.ginaconroy.com
31. April 20 – Marian Merritt – http://www.marianmerritt.com
32. April 27 – Margaret Daley – www.margaretdaley.blogspot.com
33. Throughout February and March – David G. Boggs – http://www.freewebs.com/davidgboggs/delialathamsnewbook.htm
www.davidgboggs.blogspot.com

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Murder, Mayhem & a fine man


Claudia Mair Burney has written the ultimate fun book! Lovers of any genre will laugh out loud during the antics of just turned forty, Bell and her blossoming romance with too handsome to walk the streets, Jazz Brown. The tension and interaction between the characters while working to solve the mystery of what appears to be a cult suicide will have the reader flipping the pages fast enough to cause heavy winds.

I had to force myself to slow down so I wouldn't miss anything. Murder, Mayhem and A Fine Man is a must read for readers of any genre. It contains it all: chick lit, suspense, and romance.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

When I'm dead?

Spoke with a daughter I haven't spoken with in a long time, and told her about my two book contracts with Barbour's Heartsong Presents/Mysteries. Her response: "Wow, that's great. You'll be one of those people that when you die, they make a movie about your book."

Isn't that hilarious? Why do I have to wait until I die? Summer Meadows would make a great TV series main character. Anyone listening? I want Mandy Moore to play her.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Leaving November by Deborah Raney




Moving back home is never as easy as it seems. Vienne Kenney thought she had her life planned out. Leave her po-dunk small town life behind her, pass her bar exam, and give everyone back home something to talk about.

She gives them something to talk about, all right. A failed bar exam, and turning her mother’s café into a high faluting coffee shop. One where the overall wearing, manure boot wearing townies are not welcome. And there’s Jackson. The man she had a crush on in high school. But Jackson, too, isn’t what she had planned for her life.

In Leaving November, Deborah Raney shows the reader how what we have planned for our life, may not be God’s plan, and how His plan is the best in the end. Come along for a fun, sweet, thought provoking ride.