Merry Christmas

“Hark the herald angels sing, “Glory to the new-born king.” Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!

May You and Your Family Have a Blessed and Very Merry Christmas!

Pearl Girls 4th Annual 12 Pearls of Christmas Giveaway - A Teenage Pregnancy by Robin Jones Gunn

Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!

Merry Christmas from Pearl Girls™! We hope you enjoy these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom” from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you’ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.

We’re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items from the contributors! Enter now below. The winner will be announced on January 2, 2014, at the Pearl Girls blog.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Mother of Pearl, Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace, or one of the Pearl Girls products (all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

***

A Teenage Pregnancy by Robin Jones Gunn

It was early, early morning, that delicate time of day just before sunrise when it seems as if all of creation is still asleep.

In the cold, gray light she gazed at the infant in her arms. He was less than an hour old and so, so small. Instinct prompted her to draw her newborn close that he might feel the rhythm of her heart. He curled his tiny hand around her finger and she smiled. His eyes closed, and with feathered breath he gave way to the blessed sleep that follows such a long journey.

In weary awe she studied his face, his ears, his nose. He was here. He had come at last.

A single tear fell from her eye and rolled across his cheek. She kissed the tear away but could not kiss away the memories that came with the tears; memories of the day she found out she was pregnant. How exhilarated she felt and yet how terrified. She was young, and there was much she didn’t understand.

Trying to justify her condition to her parents proved more difficult than she’d hoped. But the most excruciating memory was the moment she stood guileless before the man she hoped to one day marry. She had no words to make him understand the awful truth—the child she carried was not his.

Leaving seemed to be her only option. A gracious aunt took her in and welcomed her with open arms. From the moment she arrived she was showered with motherly words of hope and sisterly touches of love. Week by week, month by month, the child inside her grew.

Was it a miracle when she returned home, her belly round, her face flushed, and found him there?

What prompted this man to take her back and make her his bride? Did he now believe what she had tried to explain all along, that none of this was her own doing?

When the time was right they left their small town together, as husband and wife, with her due date rapidly approaching. The labor began—tightening her abdomen with a force she had never before imagined. Perspiration streamed from her forehead. The contractions multiplied with a frenzied urgency until the need to push overwhelmed her young body, and the baby was born.

Nothing of the past mattered anymore. He was here. Naked, perfect, quivering in her arms. With a thrill of hope, she believed that her life, her world, would never be the same.

Now as the first silver streaks of dawn pierced through the cracks in the stable, she tenderly wrapped her sleeping babe in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger.

***

Robin Jones Gunn, bestselling author of the much-loved Christy Miller Series and the award-winning Sisterchicks® series, has had more than 4.5 million copies of her books sold worldwide. Her frequent speaking engagements have taken her around the globe. Robin and her husband live in Hawaii and have a grown son and daughter. You can learn more at Robin's website. 

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Pearl Girls 4th Annual 12 Pearls of Christmas Giveaway - Do You Hear What I Hear? by Cynthia Ruchti

Welcome to the 12 Pearls of Christmas blog series!

Merry Christmas from Pearl Girls™! We hope you enjoy these Christmas “Pearls of Wisdom” from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you’ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.

We’re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items from the contributors! Enter now below! The winner will be announced on January 2, 2014, at the Pearl Girls blog.

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls™, please visit www.pearlgirls.info and see what we’re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of Mother of Pearl, Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace, or one of the Pearl Girls products (all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.

***

Do You Hear What I Hear? by Cynthia Ruchti

To shepherds? Really, God? You crafted a birth announcement that was delivered first to shepherds? The story’s become so familiar to us, so easy for us to visualize because of all the Christmas pageants we’ve witnessed over the years—all the fourth-grade boys in plaid robes with a homemade shepherd staff, carrying a cloth lamb from the toy department that plays “Jesus Loves Me” if you pull the ring where an umbilical cord should be.

Theologians speculate the reason for shepherds as the audience for the holy pronouncement could be as intricate as a genetic retracing of the Baby’s heritage back through history to King David, who started his career as a shepherd.

Or it could have been simpler than that. Maybe shepherds were the only ones listening that night.

“Nearby shepherds were living in the fields, guarding their sheep at night,” Luke 2:8, CEB. The biblical story tells us that the shepherds weren’t sleeping but were on guard, watching, when the news about Jesus came to them.

Distractions were few. Hills, sheep, other shepherds, a low fire, and a wide expanse of sky overhead—a dark sky that held the same stars night after night, until this one.

I wonder if any of the shepherds brought their families to the fields. I wonder if in the tent was a hardworking woman nearing the end of an exhausting day. She’d barely gotten the evening meal cleaned up when she had to start thinking about what her family and the other shepherds would need for breakfast. Soak the grains. Check the progress on the sheep’s milk cheese. And try to get those kids to settle down.

“Stop annoying your brother. Caleb! Last warning. Josh, get your fingers out of your sister’s ears. Turn down that video game. You can’t listen to the radio and watch TV at the same time. Turn one of them off. Better yet, both of them! Who’s singing? What’s that sound? Do you hear what I hear?”

What noise do I need to turn off in my life in order to hear the first notes of the angel’s song?

Another noisy Christmas party. Another trip to the department store for stocking stuffers. Another round of Christmas CDs. Another Christmas special on TV. Another Facebook post to share—the true meaning of Christmas. A text about the practice time for the Christmas program at church. Another phone call about travel plans. Brain waves clanking into each other, making a cacophony of noise.

Shutting down one layer at a time. Unplugging. Keeping even "Silent Night" low so I can silence my night and hear the downbeat of “Glory to God in the highest.”

***

Cynthia Ruchti is an author and speaker who tells stories of Hope-that-glows-in-the-dark through her novels and novellas, devotions, nonfiction, and through speaking events for women and writers. Of seven books on the shelves currently, her latest releases are the novel When the Morning Glory Blooms (Abingdon Press Fiction), the nonfiction Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People’s Choices (Abingdon Press Christian Living), and several dozen of the devotions in Mornings With Jesus 2014 (Guideposts). Spring of 2014 will see the release of another novel—All My Belongings, also from Abingdon Press Fiction. You can connect with her at www.cynthiaruchti.com or on Facebook.

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Book Review for Diner Impossible (Rose Strickland Mystery, Book 3) by Terri L. Austin

Diner Impossible

By Terri L. Austin

Rose Strickland Mysteries, Book 3

Publisher: Henery Press

Release Date: November 12, 2013

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Length: 286 Pages

ISBN: 978-1938383762

ASIN: B00GJYBY10

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About the book:

After shunning her overbearing parents' wealthy lifestyle, waitress and part-time college student, Rose Strickland, is drawn back into their world when she tries to prove the impossible: the innocence of the town's crooked police chief. He's suspected in the gruesome death of Delia Cummings, his secretary and mistress, and all the evidence points to him. 

While she tracks down clues with the aid of her anime-loving bestie, Rose's pal, Axton, and his Klingon gang are feuding with their Starfleet rivals. Things get hairier than a pile of well-fed Tribbles, so Rose gets involved. In between interrogating Trekkies and quizzing socialites at high tea, she discovers the secrets Delia Cummings took to her grave. 

Suspects abound, but when Chief Mathers threatens to bring down Rose's criminally mischievous and maybe boyfriend, Sullivan, she makes it her mission to find the real killer before Sullivan finds himself in prison. 

Buy Links:  Amazon     Barnes & Noble

Having proved herself as an amateur detective in Diners, Dives & Dead Ends and Last Diner Standing, waitress and part time college student Rose Strickland once again finds her skills on demand in Diner Impossible, the third installment in Terri Austin’s Rose Strickland Mystery series.  Although she's rejected her parent’s affluent lifestyle, and chosen to make it on her own, Rose gets dragged back into their high society world when crooked Police Chief Martin Mathers becomes the prime suspect in the gruesome murder of his secretary and mistress, Delia Cummings.  While Rose could say no to officer Andre Thomas’ (aka Officer Hard Ass) request for help, she can’t say no to Barbara Strickland, her mother, who’s determined to prove her friend’s husbands innocence.  

Meanwhile back at the diner, fellow waitress and best friend Roxy Block is angry and hurt over being dumped by her last boyfriend and Ma has decided to join Rose’s pal Ax and the rest of the Klingon Alliance of Warriors (Star Trek fans) on their annual laser tag battle with the SPURTS, a rival gang of Star Trek fans.  When the rivalry between the two Star Trek fan groups gets ugly, and a prized “Star Trek Uniform” goes missing. Ax, Ma and the rest of Ax's friends beg Rose and Roxy to locate the missing item and help negotiate peace between the two groups.

Ms. Austin does a wonderful job with all of the characters as this series continues.  It was a hoot watching Rose deal with her bossy, waspish mother and sister, and all of the high society functions she was forced to attend in order to get clues about Delia’s life, while at the same time trying to remain true to the person she’s become.  I particularly enjoyed the scene in Rose’s sister’s closet, when Rose realizes she needs to get some new and sexier underwear to add a little more sizzle to her almost relationship with Sullivan, her criminal would be boyfriend.  I also enjoyed watching Rose be there for Roxy and help her realize that she’s too awesome to wait for some loser ex to get a clue.  Helping Roxy want to move on was really well done.  

As Rose’s investigation gets deeper and deeper into Huntinford’s high society, and she realizes there are plenty of would be criminals who belong to the country club, she finds herself crossing paths with Chief Mathers, who’s quick to point out that if he goes down for Delia’s murder, he’s more than willing to take every other corrupt person he knows down too, including Sullivan.  Now with more incentive than ever, Rose and her friends are pushed to the limit to find out which of the people that wanted Delia dead had the best opportunity and the best motive.  

Will Rose discover who killed Delia before anyone else is killed in the crossfire?  Will Rose and Sullivan finally decide to make their almost relationship something more?   You’ll have to read Diner Impossible to find out, I think it’s a great addition to the series and can’t wait to see what Ms. Austin has in store for us next.   I just hope we don’t have to wait too long to find out (Yes, I’m greedy that way).

My Rating:  5 out of 5 Crowns

FTC Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.  

Book Review for Last Diner Standing (Rose Strickland Mystery #2) by Terri L. Austin

Last Diner Standing

By Terri L. Austin

Rose Strickland Mysteries, Book 2

Publisher: Henery Press

Release Date: December 3, 2012

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Length: 296 Pages

ISBN: 978-1938383083

ASIN: B00AGLOFOK

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About the book:

Rose Strickland is having a blue Christmas. Her friend is arrested for attempted murder, her sexy bad guy crush is marked by a hit man, and her boss is locked in an epic smackdown with a rival diner. Determined to save those she loves, Rose embarks on an investigation more tangled than a box of last year's tree lights. With her eclectic gang at the ready, Rose stumbles across dead bodies, ex-cons, chop shops, jealous girlfriends, jilted lovers, and a gaggle of strippers in a battle for freedom she might not survive.

Buy Links:  Amazon    Barnes & Noble 

In Diners, Dives & Dead Ends, Terri Austin introduced us to part time diner waitress Rose Strickland, her blue haired anime loving best friend Roxy Block, and to her stoner friend Axton Graystone, a fellow drop out from Huntingford’s social elite.  All are back for a second dose of mystery hijinks in Last Diner Standing, the second book in the Rose Strickland Mystery series.   Further developing her characters, and adding a few more to the mix, Ms. Austin’s series has become an auto buy for me.  If you like cozy mysteries, you’re going to want to add this series to your list so you don’t miss the “awesome sauce” of Ms. Austin’s writing.

When Rose receives an early morning phone call from study partner Janelle, she knows her day is off to a bad start.  Seems Janelle’s been arrested for hitting her ex-husband (aka “Asshat”) and putting him in a comma, and for the murder of his lover (aka Chicken Licker).  Swearing she’s innocent, Janelle begs Rose for her help since they both know the police won’t really bother investigating the case.  After making arrangements to meet Dane Harker (attorney and occasional date) and Janelle later in the day, Rose heads off to “Ma’s Diner” only to find she’s caught in the middle of a “diner” war.  

As Rose and Roxy, fellow waitress, and best friend, attempt to calm Ma down, they learn Rudy Jorgenson of “Rudy’s Roundup Restaurant” has decided to start serving breakfast and is undercutting Ma’s prices in order to steal their clientele.  As Ma and Rudy battle it out with lower prices, new menu items and basically drive their staff insane, Rose is caught between her loyalty to Ma and the reality that the “diner war” is causing both restaurants to lose money and the waitresses to lose tips.

Meanwhile Rose, accompanied by Roxy and Ax, begins  investigating Janelle’s case and becomes entangled in a web full of strippers, chop shops and a couple of mob bosses currently at war.  When Sullivan, the sexy and dangerous criminal Rose met in Diners, Dives & Dead Ends, takes center stage and winds up with a hit man on his tail, Rose realizes that Janelle and Sullivan’s problems are somehow tied together.  Ms. Austin does a wonderful job as she continues to develop Rose’s character and introduces us to Rose’s colorful sidekicks.  The mutual and forbidden attraction between Rose and Sullivan adds just the right touch of heat.   

Will Rose discover who’s behind both crimes?  Will Ma and Rudy agree to settle the “diner” war amicably and go back to serving the meals they both serve best?  You’ll have to read Last Diner Standing to find out. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to see if Rose and Sullivan’s mutual attraction makes it to the relationship stage.

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Crowns

FTC Disclosure:  The review site purchased a copy of this book for review purposes.  No compensation was involved.

Blog Tour & Giveaway for The Viscount's Vow by Collette Cameron

Join authors Collette Cameron on her Virtual Blog Tour for The Viscount’s Vow,  presented by Book Promotions by Literary Nook, from December 2 – December 27, 2013.  Please leave a comment or question below to let Collette know you stopped by.  My review will be posted later today.  You can follow the rest of Collette’s tour here and enter her tour wide giveaway by filling out the Rafflecopter form below

The Viscount’s Vow

By Collette Cameron

A Regency Romance

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing

Release Date: September 3, 2013
Genre: Historical Romance
Length: 292 Pages

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About the Book:

Amidst murder and betrayal, destiny and hearts collide when scandal forces a nobleman and a  gypsy to marry in this Regency Romance.

Half Romani, half English noblewoman, Evangeline Caruthers is the last woman in England Ian Hamilton, the Viscount Warrick, could ever love—an immoral wanton responsible for his brother’s and father’s deaths. She thinks he’s a foul-tempered blackguard, who after setting out to cause her downfall, finds himself forced to marry her—snared in the trap of his own making.

When Vangie learns the marriage ceremony itself may have been a ruse, she flees to her gypsy relatives, declaring herself divorced from Ian under Romani law. He pursues her to the gypsy encampment, and when the handsome gypsy king offers to take Ian’s place in Vangie’s bed, jealousy stirs hot and dangerous.

At last, under a balmy starlit sky, Ian and Vangie breech the chasm separating them. Peril lurks though. Ian’s the last in his line, and his stepmother intends to dispose of the newlyweds so her daughter can inherit his estate. Only by trusting each other can they overcome scandal and murderous betrayal.

Buy Link:  Amazon 

Excerpt

Ian placed a hand on Vangie’s shoulder. “I’m so very sorry.”

Oh, how she needed a comforting touch. But not his. Never again his.

She wrenched away from him.

Her voice ringing with scathing condemnation, she said, “Tell me, Lord Warrick, are you terribly disappointed I’ll not have a distended belly proclaiming to the world I carry your seed before you discard me?”

Vangie heard him suck in a great gulp of air.

“She was lying, Vangie.”

She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sobs demanding release.

Was she? Or was Lucinda telling the truth, and Ian the liar?

When she didn’t respond he pressed, “Lucinda knew you were behind me. Her lies were contrived to cause you pain and grief.”

He laid a hand on her shoulder. “We’re legally married. By all that is holy, I swear it.”

What did he know of holiness?

Vangie struggled to turn over, the weight of the quilt covering her adding to the burden of her grief. She pinned him with a direct look.

“Tell me one thing,” she rasped. “Did you or did you not venture to London for the express purpose of causing my downfall?”

“Vangie. . .”

“Perhaps downfall isn’t accurate. Putting me in my place? Giving me my just due? Ruining me?”

He said nothing. Had guilt rendered him speechless? She searched his face. His handsome features were etched with sorrow, and his eyes . . . was that regret? Or . . . could it be? Were those tears awash in the silvery depths?

Her heart twisted painfully. Blast and damn. No. She’d not feel compassion for him. She was the victim. She would offer him no quarter, no mercy.

“Well, did you?”

“That was before I. . .”

Pain, razor-sharp pierced her heart and left it bleeding. “It’s a simple question, Ian. Yes or no?”   

“It’s not that simple—”

With a doggedness that surprised even her, Vangie persisted. “Yes or no?”

“Sweeting, I’d been told. . .”

Told? Fury whipped anew. She bit out, “Yes. Or. No?”

Absolute, resolute, demanding truth’s validation, either to mend her shattered heart or annihilate it completely, Vangie would have her answer. No more a corked-brained, beguiled miss, blinded by love. Looking through the twin lenses of betrayal and deceit, she could at last see Ian clearly.

His eyes pleaded with her to understand. His voice low and filled with self-condemnation, he uttered but one syllable.

“Yes.”

About Collette Cameron:

Multi-published historical romance author Collette Cameron has a BS in Liberal Studies and a Master's in Teaching. She only teaches part-time so she has time for her greatest passion: writing. Collette’s been married for 30 years, has 3 amazing adult children, and 5 dachshunds. Collette loves a good joke, inspirational quotes, flowers, the beach, trivia, birds, shabby chic, and Cadbury Chocolate. You'll always find dogs, birds, quirky—sometimes naughty—humor, and a dash of inspiration in her novels. Her motto for life? You can’t have too much chocolate, too many hugs, or too many flowers. She’s thinking about adding shoes to that list.

Collette would love hearing from you.

http://collettecameron.com

http://blueroseromance.com

You can also connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads, & Google+.

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