The Winner of Do the Hard Thing Is....

WindyCindy!

Thanks to all who entered! Next giveway is later this week!

Blessings!

Janis

Winter Haven by Athol Dickson

About the Book:

Boys who never age, giants lost in time, mist that never rises, questions never asked...

on the most remote of islands off the coast of Maine, history haunts the present and Vera Gamble wrestles with a past that will not yield. Will she find refuge there, or will her ghosts prevail on...Winter Haven

Eleven years ago, Vera Gamble's brother left their house never to be seen again. Until the day Vera gets a phone call that his body has been found...washed ashore in the tiny island town of Winter Haven, Maine. His only surviving kin, Vera travels north to claim the body...and finds herself tumbling into a tangled mystery. Her brother hasn't aged a day since last she saw him.

Determined to uncover what happened in those lost years, Vera soon discovers there are other secrets lurking in this isolated town. But Winter Haven's murky past now seems bound to come to light as one woman seeks the undeniable and flooding light of truth.

About the Author:

Athol Dickson's university-level training in painting, sculpture, and architecture was followed by a long career as an architect then his decision several years ago to devote full time to writing.

Athol Dickson’s writing has been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler(Publisher’s Weekly), Daphne du Maurier (Cindy Crosby, FaithfulReader.com) and FlanneryO’Connor (The New York Times).

His They Shall See God was a Christy Award finalist and his River Rising was a Christy Award winner, selected as one of the Booklist Top Ten Christian Novels of 2006 and a finalist for Christianity Today's Best Novel of 2006.He and his wife, Sue, live in Southern California. Visit AtholDickson.com for more information.

To check out this book for yourself, click here.

Be Blessed! Janis

A Mending At the Edge by Jane Kirkpatrick

Let me tell you how much I love the writing of Jane Kirkpatrick. Historical fiction is my favorite and she writes this so well! The Change and Cherish series that this book is part of is full of stories of God's love. I have so enjoyed reading each one of these books and am looking forward to more!

*****Guess what? Yes, it is ANOTHER giveaway! This giveaway is for the 1st and 3rd books in the series! Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite type of fiction is and you will be put into the running for these books! Drawing will be on Cinco de Mayo (May 5th). Don't miss a chance for free books! Other giveaways are in progress now, so check the earlier posts!

About the Change and Cherish Series:

A Clearing in the Wild
Spirited young Emma Wagner chafes at the constraints of her 1850s religious community, which values conformity over independent thought, especially in women. Skeptical of the colony’s growing emphasis on preparing for “the last days,” Emma clashes with their increasingly autocratic leader—and faces the unexpected consequences of pursuing independence.

A Tendering in the Storm
This lyrical novel, based on an historical figure of the 1800s, follows the spirited and intelligent Emma Giesy, who achieves her goal of separating her family from the repressive religious community in which she grew up. But unexpected and dire consequences leave her family—and her faith—struggling to survive.

A Mending at the Edge
This richly textured novel, the third in the acclaimed Change and Cherish series, follows the historical figure of Emma Wagner Giesy, who chafes under the restrictions of her 1860s religious colony. When her bid to belong in her unique way unravels her most precious relationships, she seeks new ways to stitch meaning into her life.

About Jane:

Jane Kirkpatrick is the best-selling author of two nonfiction books and fourteen historical novels, including the popular Kinship and Courage series. Her award-winning writing has appeared in more than fifty publications, including Sports Afield and Decision. She’s won the coveted Western Heritage Wrangler Award, an honor shared by such writers as Larry McMurtry and Barbara Kingsolver. Jane is a licensed clinical social worker as well as an internationally recognized speaker. She and her husband, Jerry, ranch 160 acres in eastern Oregon.

To win this book, see the above instructions. If you would rather purchase it than try to get it for free (are you sure?) or if you just cannot wait to begin this wonderful series, then click here!

Be Blessed! Janis

A Bride So Fair by Carol Cox

As I have been blessed to have reviewed the second book in this series, Fair Game, and enjoyed it, I was really excited about picking up this third book to review. It was just as fun and interesting as book #2. I enjoyed the unique love story of Emily and Stephen and found myself rooting for them until the very last page of the book. Carol is truly talented in creating a story that sucks you in and keeps your interest from the first to the last page. What a gem!

About this Book:

After growing up in an orphanage, Emily Ralston loves being around children and thoroughly enjoys her job at the Children's Building at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. As the receptionist, she helps check in the children and ensures that they are afe and well cared for while their parents view the fair. She could not have known what God had in store for her...

When Columbia Guard, Stephen Bridger, drops off a three-year-old named Adam as a lost child, her life irrevocably changed. While the sparks of attraction are undeniable, Emily tries her best to ignore them as she and her best friend, Lucy, scheme to keep Adam safe and happy, far away from the orphanages they both know too well.

Soon Stephen learns about Adam's mother while both the mystery and his relationship with Emily deepens. As they learn bits of truth, danger and deception now threaten to undermine their growing relationship. Why is a young woman murdered while surrounded by thousands of fairgoers? What secrets could a sweet, abandoned little boy possible hold? Can Emily and Stpeh solve the deadly mystery before time runs out?

About Carol:

Award-winning author of twelve novels and eleven novellas, Carol shares her love of history, mystery, and romance in the books she writes. A pastor's wife, Carol makes her home with her husband and young daughter in Northern Arizona. To learn more about Carol and her books, visit her website at http://www.carolcoxbooks.com/.

To purchase this book for yourself, click here.

Don't forget my two giveaways that are going on! To enter them, scroll down!

Be Blessed! Janis

My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells

From the first page until the last page, I was kept mesmerized by the action of this book. Suspenseful twists and turns will keep you wanting to read. If you have been looking for a fast-paced, action-filled read, then you need look no further!

**Multnomah/RandomHouse has sent me a copy to give away! Don't forget to leave a comment to win your own copy of this wonderful book! Or you can purchase it here.

About this Book:

As nasty as I knew Peter Terry to be, I never expected him to start kidnapping kids. Much less a sweet, funny little boy with nothing to protect him but a few knock-kneed women, two rabbits and a staple gun…It’s psychology professor Dylan Foster’s favorite day of the academic year…graduation day. And her little friend Christine Zocci’s sixth birthday. But the joyful summer afternoon goes south when a little boy is snatched from a neighborhood park, setting off a chain of events that seen to lead nowhere.

The police are baffled, but Christine’s eerie connection with the kidnapped child sends Dylan on a chilling investigation of her own. Is the pasty, elusive stranger Peter Terry to blame? Exploding light bulbs, the deadly buzz of a Texas rattlesnake, and the vivid, disturbing dreams of a little girl are just pieces of a long trail of tantalizing clues leading Dylan in her dogged search for the truth.

About Melanie:

A native of the Texas panhandle and the child of musicians, Melanie Wells attended Southern Methodist University on a music scholarship (she's a fiddle player), and later completed graduate degrees in counseling psychology and Biblical studies at Our Lady of the Lake University and Dallas Theological Seminary.

She has taught at the graduate level at both OLLU and DTS, and has been in private practice as a counselor since 1992. She is the founder and director of LifeWorks counseling associates in Dallas, Texas, a collaborative community of creative therapists.

When the Day of Evil Comes is her first published work of fiction, and the first of a three-book series. The second work, The Soul Hunter was released in May, 2006. Melanie lives and writes in Dallas.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be put into a drawing to win My Soul to Keep. If you don't win, you can purchase it here.

Be Blessed! Janis

Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris

As a former youth leader, I have long been concerned with the lack of drive and passion that some teenagers seem to have for God. Not all, but some teenagers take a lacksadaisical approach to every facet of their lives, which leaves them lacking when they hit their adult years. This book is for those kids who fall for the lies of Satan during these very important teenage years. They can turn their teenage years into the beginning of a life filled with Godly purpose and do not have to live as the world lives. This book was written by teenagers for teenagers and would make a great book for youth leaders to give their youth or for parents to read and pass on to their own teenager.

Great News! I have one copy of Do Hard Things to give away! Scroll down to see how you can get put into the drawing!

About this Book:

With over 10 million hits to their website TheRebelution.com, Alex and Brett Harris are leading the charge in a growing movement of Christian young people who are rebelling against the low expectations of their culture by choosing to “do hard things” for the glory of God.

Written when they were 18 years old, Do Hard Things is the Harris twins’ revolutionary message in its purest and most compelling form, giving readers a tangible glimpse of what is possible for teens who actively resist cultural lies that limit their potential. Combating the idea of adolescence as a vacation from responsibility, the authors weave together biblical insights, history, and modern examples to redefine the teen years as the launching pad of life and map a clear trajectory for long-term fulfillment and eternal impact.

Written by teens for teens, Do Hard Things is packed with humorous personal anecdotes, practical examples, and stories of real-life rebelutionaries in action. This rallying cry from the heart of revolution already in progress challenges the next generation to lay claim to a brighter future, starting today.

About the Authors:

Alex and Brett Harris founded TheRebelution.com in August 2005 and today at age 19 are the most popular Christian teen writers on the Web. The twins are frequent contributors to Focus on the Family’s Boundless webzine, serve as the main speakers for the Rebelution Tour conferences, and have been featured in WORLD magazine, Breakaway, The Old Schoolhouse, and the New York Daily News. Sons of homeschool pioneer Gregg Harris and younger brothers of best-selling author Joshua Harris (I Kissed Dating Goodbye), Alex and Brett live near Portland, Oregon.

To purchase this book for yourself or for a teenager that you love, click here.

I have one copy of this book to give away! To win a copy, leave me a comment on this post. Drawing will be on April 30th.

Smiles and Loves! Janis

Trouble the Water by Nicole Seitz

This book was an inspiring read about the love between sisters and friends. I really connected with this book in a real way. Life is not always rosy, but through the power of friendship and God, you can turn your life around. I really loved the message of hope and the message of everyone's life touches other people in this book. It was a wonderful book that I am sure that I will enjoy time and time again.

About this Book:

In the South Carolina Sea Islands lush setting, Nicole Seitz's second novel Trouble the Water is a poignant novel about two middle-aged sisters' journey to self-discovery.

One is seeking to recreate her life yet again and learns to truly live from a group of Gullah nannies she meets on the island. The other thinks she's got it all together until her sister's imminent death from cancer causes her to re-examine her own life and seek the healing and rebirth her troubled sister managed to find on St. Anne's Island.

Strong female protagonists are forced to deal with suicide, wife abuse, cancer, and grief in a realistic way that will ring true for anyone who has ever suffered great loss.

"This is another thing I know for a fact: a woman can't be an island, not really. No, it's the touching we do in other people's lives that matters when all is said and done. The silly things we do for ourselves--shiny new cars and jobs and money--they don't mean a hill of beans. Honor taught me that. My soul sisters on this island taught me that. And this is the story of true sisterhood. It's the story of Honor, come and gone, and how one flawed woman worked miracles in this mixed-up world."

About Nicole:

Nicole Seitz is a South Carolina Lowcountry native and the author of The Spirit of Sweetgrass , as well as a freelance writer/illustrator who has published in numerous low country magazines. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Journalism, she also has a bachelor's degree in illustration from Savannah College of Art & Design. Nicole shows her paintings in the Charleston, South Carolina area, where she owns a web design firm and lives with her husband and two small children. Nicole is also an avid blogger, you can leave her a comment on her blog.

Seitz's writing style recalls that of Southern authors like Kaye Gibbons, Anne Rivers Siddons, and Sue Monk Kidd, and this new novel, which the publisher compares to Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, surely joins the ranks of strong fiction that highlights the complicated relationships between women. Highly recommended, especially for Southern libraries.

To purchase this book for yourself, click here.

Be blessed!

Outcasts of Skagaray by Andrew Clarke

The author of this book, Andrew Clarke, contacted me to to see if I would like to review his book, Outcasts of Skagaray. I enjoyed reading this book. The universal struggle between good and evil is seen in this fantasy fiction book very clearly. The fast paced action kept my interest and the meaning behind the story captured my heart. In this world, it is sometimes necessary to step out and make a stand for what you believe in. Tarran, the hero, is making a stand against centuries of beliefs of the Skagaray people. When he makes his stand, he finds that others join him in several different ways. This book is great for high schoolers or for adults with its exciting story and impactful message. To purchase this book for yourself, click here.

About this Book:
The world of Skagaray is dark and bleak but there is the possibility of beauty and goodness too. The people of Skagaray respect strength, and hardness, and make gods in their own image to please themselves. They reject those they consider weak, or unworthy, and make outcasts of them. But one among them rejects their cruelty, and will not take part in the brutality they call their Proving.

About the Author:
Andrew Clarke was born in Malta in 1953 of an Australian father and British mother. He lived in England and Australia and had several jobs before he served in the Australian Army Reserve. He then studied for four years at the University of New England and taught English and History in New South Wales high schools for twenty five years. Always a lover of books and stories, Clarke began writing at the age of seven. Outcasts of Skagaray was written in response to what he loved about reading the history of peoples like the Spartans, Romans, and Vikings. Clarke and his wife Elizabeth have five children and live in Inverell, New South Wales.

Smiles and Loves! Janis

Amber Morn by Brandilyn Collins

I have long loved the writing of Brandilyn Collins and was very excited to get to review her latest book. This book is full of twists and turns, as well as God moments, that will have you enthralled from beginning to end. You will be delighted with this book that signals the end of the Kanner Lake series. If you love books with excitement and action, then you will want to read this book and check out the other writings of Brandilyn.

About this Book:

The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than sixty seconds.

Bailey hung on to the counter, dazed.

If she let go, she’d collapse—and the twitching fingers of the gunman would pull the trigger.

The rest of her group huddled in frozen shock.

Dear God, help us!

Tell me this is a dream . . .

The shooter’s teeth clenched. “ Anybody who moves is dead.”On a beautiful Saturday morning the nationally read “Scenes and Beans” bloggers gather at Java Joint for a special celebration. Chaos erupts when three gunmen burst in and take them all hostage. One person is shot and dumped outside.Police Chief Vince Edwards must negotiate with the desperate trio. The gunmen insist on communicating through the “comments” section of the blog—so all the world can hear their story. What they demand, Vince can’t possibly provide. But if he doesn’t, over a dozen beloved Kanner Lake citizens will die...

Amber Morn is the climactic finale to Collins’ widely read Kanner Lake series. All first three titles in the series, Violet Dawn, Coral Moon, and Crimson Eve, were bestsellers. Library Journal placed Crimson Eve on its Best Books of 2007 list, and hailed it the “Best Christian suspense of 2007.”

About Brandilyn:

Brandilyn Collins is a best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense™. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline

“Don’t forget to b r e a t h e …®”

Brandilyn writes for Zondervan, the Christian division of HarperCollins Publishers, and is currently at work on her 19th book. Her first, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows. She’s also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons), and often teaches at writers conferences. Brandilyn blogs at Forensics and Faith. Visit her Website to read the first chapters of all her books.

To purchase this book for yourself, click here.

Have a blessed day! Janis

When Zeffie Got A Clue by Peggy Darty

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun read that had me guessing until the end. If you like fun mysteries then you need look no further!

About this Book:

It’s an ordinary afternoon in Summer Breeze, Florida, when a young, wide-eyed girl steps into I Saw It First, the trash-to-treasure shop Christy Castleman and her Aunt Bobbie have opened. Clutching a jewelry box, Zeffie Adams tells Christy she needs money to pay her grandmother’s medical bills, prompting Christy to offer this curious visitor more than the jewelry box is worth–or so she thinks.

But complicated questions form when Christy rips out the box’s lining and uncovers a clue to a cold case murder mystery from eight years ago. Despite warnings from her family and handsome boyfriend Dan Brockman, Christy decides to do a little detective work of her own. After all, the infamous murder happened close to her grandmother’s farm. How risky could it be to take the jewelry box back to the Strickland plantation and ask around about it?

Soon Christy finds there is more to the small box than someone wants her to know. A jewelry theft. A mansion murder. Dangerous family secrets buried in history. Can Christy convince others to let go of the past before it’s too late?

About the Author:

Peggy Darty is the award-winning author of twenty-seven books, including two other cozy mysteries set in Summer Breeze, Florida: When the Sandpiper Calls and When Bobbie Sang the Blues. She has worked in film, researched for CBS, and led writing workshops around the country. Darty and her husband call Alabama home but spend a great deal of time in Colorado, Montana, and on Florida’s Emerald Coast.

To purchase this book for yourself, click here.

Smiles and Loves! Janis

A Forgotten Gospel by Mark McGrath

This book was written to those of us for whom evangelizing does not come naturally. The author says that only 10% of us have this gift, which lives 90% of us who struggle with sharing the Word. I am part of that 90%. It has never come very naturally to me. I liked his thoughts regarding what we need to concentrate on when evangelizing. The cross is usually where we start, but that is not how Jesus did it. We need to concentrate more on the resurrection and the hope that came with that. It is important that every Christian learn how to spread the Word. That is what this book is all about. I really enjoyed this book and am even going to reread it to soak more of it in. To learn more about this book or to purchase it, visit http://www.aforgottengospel.com/.

About this Book:

Does the thought of obeying the Great Commission make you feel inadequate, unprepared or just plain nervous? Have you encountered quizzical looks or outright laughter when using words like “God,” “sinfulness” or “salvation” in conversations? Are you uncomfortable about sharing your faith because you don’t want to alienate friends and family from on-going conversations? While all of these issues are common and understandable, even a quick reading of the Book of Acts shows that New Testament believers didn't share these same struggles. What was their secret? While preparing to teach the basics of evangelism to his church, one pastor noticed that today’s popular witnessing techniques were very different from those used by first-century believers. Digging further, he saw that every gospel presentation in the Book of Acts contained the same essential elements and emphasized one central theme. A Forgotten Gospel explains the same easily remembered, New Testament method that’s been taught on university campuses and churches in the U.S. and England. You’ll learn how to use this same flexible approach to effectively communicate the good news. No longer will you wonder what to say or how to say it. By following the conversational approach explained in A Forgotten Gospel, you'll be ready to clearly and confidently share your faith without alienating friends and loved ones.

About the Author:

As a church-planting pastor for 25 years, Mark McGrath has struggled to reach non-believers with the gospel, finding surprising answers to his questions in the gospel presentations made in the Book of Acts. He has started churches in New York, New Jersey and Great Britain, conducted evangelism-training programs for churches around the world, and has run a school of evangelism.

Mark conducts evangelism training with several national Campus ministries at Rutgers University in New Jersey and has launched an updated version of both the weekend and small group evangelism seminars he developed. These seminars will be available to churches across the U.S. An accomplished speaker and trainer, Mark owns a communications skills training company that provides training and coaching in communication, facilitation, listening and meeting leadership skills to executives and professionals.

The Winners Are....

Experiencing the Resurrection goes to Carolynn W.

and

Family Squeeze goes to Carole!

Thank you for all of the entries ladies!

Keep looking for more giveaways coming soon!

Blessings! Janis