Her award-winning novel, “What I Would Tell You” is 72% off for the print edition. “What I Promise You” has a 25% off coupon, and “What I Left for You” has a guaranteed pre-release price that’s 25% off list. Don’t miss out on these deals! https://loom.ly/HbJvOLg
#BlackFriday #LizTolsma #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout @LizTolsma #EchoesOfThePast
A surprise homecoming tests the bonds of sisterhood as a hidden past comes to light . . .
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Book: A Token of Love
Author: Carrie Turansky
Genre: Fiction, Historical Romance
Release date: September 3, 2024
Separated by centuries, the lives of two women intertwine through their shared pursuit of love, truth, and justice.
In 1885 London, Lillian Freemont embarks on a treacherous journey to reunite with her long-lost niece, Alice, who was abandoned at the Foundling Hospital eight years ago. Fueled by her sister’s plea and armed with the gold token that identifies her niece, Lillian teams up with investigative reporter Matthew McGivern to expose the grim reality of the shadowed streets of London. As Lillian and Matthew unravel the mystery of Alice’s disappearance, their partnership blossoms into one of shared purpose and undeniable attraction.
In present-day London, Janelle Spencer finds herself unexpectedly running the Foundling Museum. When filmmaker Jonas Conrad arrives to document the museum’s history, their collaboration takes a surprising turn as they uncover articles from the past that shed light on a haunting connection to the present. As Janelle becomes caught between exposing the truth and protecting the museum’s reputation, she must decide if she can risk everything for what she believes.
Click here to get your copy!
Carrie Turansky is the award-winning author of twenty-one inspirational novels and novellas and a winner of the Carol Award, the International Digital Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She loves traveling to England to research her Edwardian novels, including No Journey Too Far, No Ocean Too Wide, Across the Blue, and the Edwardian Brides series. Her novels have been translated into several languages and have received starred reviews from Christianbook.com and Library Journal.
Come with me to London!
My latest novel, A Token of Love, is a dual-time story set in London during the late Victorian Era and present day. That prompted my husband and I to take a trip to London earlier this year. We were especially delighted to visit the Foundling Museum which tells the story of the Foundling Hospital, the first children’s charity home in England. The Foundling Hospital and Foundling Museum tie the historical and contemporary plots together in A Token of Love.
Thousands of children were taken in by the Foundling Hospital when their mothers could no longer care for them. Some of the mothers left small items such as coins, thimbles, and pieces of jewelry with their infants as identifiers in the hope that if their situation changed, they might be able to return and reclaim their child. Those items were called tokens, and we saw several of them on display at the Foundling Museum.
Each token is unique and represents a mother’s love and desire to be reunited with her child. It was very moving to view them on display and think of all the heartache and hope behind each token.
More than two years ago, I saw an image of the tokens on Pinterest. That sparked my curiosity, and I followed the research trail to learn more about them. That led to the Foundling Museum’s website, which offers a treasure trove of information and personal stories about the mothers and children connected by those tokens. What I discovered helped me develop the characters and plot for A Token of Love. The story highlights one mother who gave her daughter into their care, then eight years later tries to reclaim her. But her daughter is missing, and that sets off a series of events that stirs all of London. Family drama, romance, inspiration, and a touch of mystery will make the story meaningful for readers.
If you like stories based on true events in history that will touch your heart and lift your spirit, then I think you will enjoy reading A Token of Love!
If you’d like to see more photos from my research trip to London and the Foundling Museum, I hope you’ll visit my website photo page!
To celebrate her tour, Carrie is giving away the grand prize of a $15 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of A Token of Love!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf5461/
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I just love collections like this. Each a good long story and when it ends another immediately ready to continue. Each is quite different from the others, so not a continuance of the previous story. These are some of the very best authors, so you know you're getting engrossing original stories, and there's always something to learn or understand about the time or setting they're in. Wonderfully long read!
I received this book free from the author, publisher and CelebrateLit book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
#OnceUponACourtship #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #CelebrateLit #ChristianHistoricalFiction #ForgetMeNotRomances
Book: Once upon a Courtship
Authors: Kit Morgan, Chautona Havig, Tricia Goyer, Marylu Tyndall, Regina Scott, Marlene Bierworth, Linore Rose Burkard, Camille Elliot, Louise M. Goudge, Lisa M. Prysock, Teresa Slack, Marilyn Turk
Genre: Historical Christian Fiction
Release date: October 22, 2024
Once Upon a Courtship: A Sweet Historical Romance Collection
A Limited-Time Collection of 12 books from 12 beloved Christian authors spanning rustic landscapes, elegant ballrooms, rugged cowboys, enigmatic spies, and daring pirates! Delight your romantic heart with Colonial, Regency, Victorian, Western, and Gilded Age Romance and preorder your copy today!
Mail-Order Millie by USA Today Bestselling Author Kit Morgan
Imagine mail-order bride Millie’s surprise when she finds out her so-called husband is really a spy working for the president.
Courting Miss Darling by USA Today Bestselling Author Chautona Havig
Muriel Darling thought her heart rode off with a cowboy, but when his boss writes letters, maybe romance is in Miss Darling’s future after all.
The Privateer’s Prize by Christy Award Finalist Author MaryLu Tyndall
Left at the altar, a woman must rely on the man who broke her heart to deliver a message to change the course of the Revolutionary War.
Grace in the Storm by USA Today Bestselling Author Tricia Goyer
As hurricane winds howl, a feisty pirate and a captivating tavern owner find their destinies changed by the storm’s fury.
Leftover Mail-Order Bride by Publisher’s Weekly Bestselling Author Regina Scott
When mail-order bride Victoria’s groom left her at the altar, she vows to find love, but meets Jack, seeking help on the ranch, love optional.
Clara’s Compassion by Critically Acclaimed Author Marlene Bierworth
Clara’s compassion for workers on the frontier of the Canadian Rockies proves conflicting for railroad boss, Graham, in matters of the heart.
Miss Spencer Meets Her Match by Multi-Award-winning Author Linore Rose Burkard
Miss Spencer attends a Cinderella Ball unwillingly, not knowing the “prince” is in disguise.
Lissa and the Spy by USA Today Bestselling Author Camille Elliot
Seeking a marriage of convenience, plain Lissa becomes entangled with enigmatic Lord Stoude and a secret mission for the Crown.
Abiding Faith, Freedom’s Call by Multi-Award-Winning Author Louise M. Gouge
A pacifist Quaker widow and a prisoner of war officer risk their lives. Will the gap between peace and the American Revolution be a chasm too wide?
Jory’s Story by USA Today Bestselling Author Lisa M. Prysock
When a spy and local adversaries descend, can a governess protect the duke’s children and her heart?
Priscilla’s Promise by Award-Winning Author Teresa Slack
Priscilla Channing wants to honor her father by marrying the man he chose. But he’s not the same man, nor she, the same woman.
The Gilding of Minnie Tucker by Multi-Award-Winning Author Marilyn Turk
A Biltmore maid opens the wrong door and stumbles into a guest whose mutual attraction could be their doom.
Click here to get your copy!
Twelve authors bring you stories that span from the Colonial era, through Regency, Victorian, Western, and into Edwardian and the Gilded Age.Have you ever wondered what it’s like to write historical fiction? Here’s a “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” version that sorta shows how it can go.
If you give an author a historical assignment, she’ll want to choose an era for it. If she chooses Colonial, she’ll need to research what that period included.
She’ll research it and discover that there were lots of places colonized by lots of countries.
She’ll pick one. If she picks American, she may discover how big of a role ships played in that period. A pirate might appear.
If a pirate appears, she’ll jump the Colonial ship for a swashbuckling one and buy an eyepatch—just to get into character.
While learning of how lawless the open sea could be, pictures of a lawless Old West with cowboys and sheriffs might tempt her to leave rolling sea waves for waving prairie seas.
She’ll buy a covered wagon. If she buys that wagon, her HOA will demand she get it out of her front yard. She’ll settle for spurs. The cat will not be amused.
If her cat protests too much, she’ll decide to get him a girlfriend. She’ll go online and order one. That will remind her of mail-order brides. She’ll begin researching. The idea of dip pens and beautiful paper and wax seals will make a serious hit to her budget. She’ll justify it as “research.” If she goes overboard, she might start a story-by-mail service with a new letter sent each week. Reams of paper fill her front yard. The HOA will send a sternly-written letter.
But the deadlines loom on the horizon. She’ll pray for help. Thinking about prayer will remind her that her (not-as-yet-to-be-put-on-paper) fictional town needs a church. And some civilizing. If she prays and all that happens… she’ll research more.
While researching, she’ll remember she meant to do a story from earlier in the century. She’ll buy a ball gown—Regency style. What’s a ball gown with nowhere to wear it? She needs a ball!
If she wants to go to a ball, she’ll need to know how to dance. She’ll sign up for English country dance lessons and learn that the waltz of that time is very different from ours.
She’ll research how it evolved. If she studies well, she’ll learn how scandalized folks were and decides to move her story forward. She likes the waltz. To prove it, she’ll buy vinyl albums of Strauss’ waltzes and play them nonstop.
If she plays the music too late, her neighbors will call in a noise complaint. The HOA will call an emergency meeting. She’ll miss it. She’s too busy deciding between that mail-order bride and an antebellum miss (and stuffing a thousand envelopes to mail tomorrow).
Pictures of waltzes at balls with hoopskirts and satin prompts her to order her own. If she puts it on, it threatens to get stuck when she tries to walk out the front door.
If she gets stuck, she’ll shimmy out of the dress (good thing it was a little big) and lets it sit there as décor.
The HOA comes armed with pitchforks and scissors. Fascinated, she wonders where they got the pitchforks. The gown does not survive.
Her indignation prompts her to reconsider and write something more Gilded Age—the long, close-fitting gowns (except for bustles as big as those hoopskirts!). If she puts one of those on and walks out the front door, she’ll find a man there. Gaping. She may think she looks stunning. If she thinks that, he might pull out a stungun—along with a court order to appear and pay a fine.
When she sees that fine, she may swoon (or it could be she didn’t know how to lace the corset correctly). He’ll catch her and help her to her couch (it’s not a fainting couch).
When he brings her a drink, she may tell him the whole story.
And if she tells him the whole story, he might suggest writing Sci-Fi would be safer.
After a long nap and a weird dream, she decides he’s right. She’ll write about people in space. And chances are, if she researches writing about people in space, she’ll discover that it’s just another Colonial story.
(Oh, and she’ll need a new home. She had to sell hers to pay the HOA fines. Anyone want to subscribe to her story letters?)
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf5441
A lovely laughing out loud story to keep you company as well as any friend. Wonderfully endearing characters. Camilla has taken on more than she realized when she agrees to help Owen. After an attempted kidnapping she travels to his home in Virginia and his not-so-formal family. A lady of the Four Hundred meets a family still in touch with its roots, and learns a bit along the way. Fabulous read!!
I received this book free from the author, publisher and NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
#MeetingHerMatch #JenTurano #BethanyHousePublishers #BooksYouCanFeelGoodAbout #FiveStarNovel #ChristianHistoricalFiction #ChristianHistoricalRomance
Description: Miss Camilla Pierpont, a renowned matchmaker and influential member of the New York Four Hundred, has vowed never to marry after suffering a devastating heartbreak during her debut years ago. However, when she is nearly abducted along the Hudson River, she finds herself rescued by an annoyingly outspoken, albeit fascinating, gentleman who challenges her in a manner she wasn't expecting.
Book: Texas Forsaken
Author: Sherry Shindelar
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release date: May 21, 2024
The man who destroyed her life may be the only one who can save it.
Seven years ago, Maggie Logan (Eyes-Like-Sky) lost everything she knew when a raid on a wagon train tore her from her family. As the memories of her past faded to nothing more than vague shadows, Maggie adapted—marrying a Comanche warrior, having a baby, and rebuilding her life. But in one terrible battle, the U.S. Cavalry destroys that life, and she is taken captive again, this time by those who call themselves her people. Forced into a world she wants nothing to do with, Eyes-Like-Sky’s only hope of protecting her child may be an engagement to the man who killed her husband.
Enrolled in West Point to escape his overbearing father, Captain Garret Ramsey has graduated and finds himself assigned to the Texas frontier, witnessing the brutal Indian War in which both sides commit atrocities. Plagued by guilt for his own role, Garret seeks redemption by taking responsibility for the woman he widowed and her baby. Though he is determined to do whatever it takes to protect them, is he willing to risk everything for a woman whose heart is buried in a grave? Or is there hope she might heal to love once more?
Click here to get your copy!
Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. She is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. When she is not busy writing, she is an English professor working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is an award-winning writer: 2023 Genesis finalist, Maggie finalist, and Crown finalist. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of thirty-eight years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.
The story of Cynthia Anne Parker, the most famous captive of the nineteenth century, haunted my heart for a couple of decades. Abducted from one world, adopted into another, and then stolen back, Cynthia Ann’s story of love and unrepairable loss captured my heart. All the more so since it was fact, not fiction.
I longed to give her a second chance. So I developed a character who was similar to Cynthia, started the narrative at the moment of crisis, and wrote a different trajectory. I couldn’t give Cynthia a happy ending, but I could give Eyes-Like-Sky a story of love and hope taking root in the midst of devastating loss.
Cynthia was taken captive by Comanches at age nine during an attack on her family’s fort in the Texas frontier in 1836. Her father and several extended family members were killed, and her brother John, her cousin Rachel, and a couple other family members were captured along with her.
Her Aunt Elizabeth was rescued a couple months after the attack. Her cousin Rachel, who had been badly abused by the tribe, was ransomed a couple of years later and died within a year of her return. John adopted the Comanche lifestyle and lived with the tribe for years before eventually leaving the tribe to farm in Mexico. But Cynthia became Comanche and became an integral part of the tribe for over twenty-four years.
She married an influential war chief, Peta Nocona, and had three children with him, including Quanah Parker, who eventually became a powerful Comanche chief. Several times over the years, Indian agents and traders attempted to ransom her, but she refused to go, and the tribe rejected their offers.
In December 1860, Texas Rangers, along with U.S. Cavalry troops, attacked her village and captured her and her baby girl, Prairie Flower (Topsanah), killing everyone else in the camp. (There has been significant historical debate about whether her husband was present at the time. Some accounts claim he died fighting to protect her. Other evidence points to him having been away on a hunting trip at the time of the attack and dying a couple years later from an old battle wound.)
Eventually, one of Cynthia’s relatives claimed her and took her to live with family, but she refused to accept this new life that was being forced upon her. Repeatedly, she tried to escape to the open plains, desperate to find her husband and her sons. One of her uncles eventually agreed to help her look for her people, but they’d have to wait until the Civil War ended.
Prairie Flower died, word came that Cynthia’s son Pecos had passed away, as well, and the Civil War dragged on. Cynthia lost hope of ever being reunited with the two remaining members of her beloved family, Nocona and Quanah. Overcome by sadness and longing, she sank into a deep depression and died of a broken heart.
Cynthia Ann’s story, the story of a woman torn between cultures, perplexed, intrigued, and haunted me. My heart ached for her loss, and questions flooded my mind. Some stories are like that. They stay with you, and this one was all the more indelible because it was true and filled with unknowns.
As I put pen to paper to begin Texas Forsaken, I sought to create an indelible story of heart-wrenching trials, forgiveness, and second chances. A story of love and hope born anew. A story of redemption.
To celebrate her tour, Sherry is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/2c06b/texas-forsaken-celebration-tour-giveaway
