A Boatload of Freebies!

So sorry I didn't post these this past Friday. There were a couple of promising books that I (and therefore you) missed out on. So sorry . . . but I think there are enough here to make up for it. As of last night all of these were available for FREE on ChristianBook.com, Barnes&Noble, and Amazon.

A Daughter's Inheritance

by Tracie Peterson & Judith Miller

A Hope Undaunted

by Julie Lessman

The Applause of Heaven

by Max Lucado

My Heart Remembers 

by Kim Vogel Sawyer

No Place for a Lady

by Maggie Brendan

Powerful Prayers for Troubled Times

by Stormie Omartian

Soon

by Jerry Jenkins

Stars Collide 

by Janice Thompson

 The Choice

by Suzanne Woods Fisher

The Preacher's Bride

by Jody Hedlund

 Thunder in the Morning Calm

by Don Brown

 The Oak Leaves

by Maureen Lang

Award-Winning

You are now reading an award-winning blog. :)

Crystal at Just Another Book Lovin' Girl was kind enough to pass along the Liebster Blog Award to me. I am super-late in posting this, but thank you so much! I love reading your blog, too, Crystal! (Please forgive me in my tardiness in posting this!)

The Liebster is awarded to bloggers with less than 200 followers. It is an opportunity to shine the light on great blogs and their authors in an effort to build readership.

Here's the deal ...
- Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them.
- Give the Liebster Blog Award to five bloggers and let them know in a comment on their blog.
- Copy and paste the award on your blog.
- Have faith your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
- Have blogging fun!

To be honest, I don't follow a ton of book bloggers (shame on me!), but here are a couple of friends who also review. Check them out. I think you'll love their reviews and everything else they have to say!
- Angie at Go and Make Disciples (Thanks for getting me started!)
- Debra at Alabama Hoosiers

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly post hosted by MizB on her blog Should Be Reading.

It's easy! Just pick up your current read (or one of them!), open to a random page, and choose a couple of sentences on the page to post as a teaser. No spoilers please! Make sure to tell which book you pulled the quote from so others can check it out if they're interested.

This week's teaser is from Fairer than Morning by Rosslyn Elliott ... absolutely loved it!!!

Ann awoke. It was quiet in her room. An odd quiet, as if the house held its breath. She did not know what had awakened her or why she lay still, afraid to move. Tap, tap, tap. At her window. Her heartbeat quickened. Should she open the shutter? One of the girls might have wandered out. (p. 237)

More from Sarah Sundin

The other day I posted a review for Sarah Sundin's Blue Skies Tomorrow.

In case you didn't read the review . . . I LOVED the book!

Definite must-read.

Anyway. I read a really fun post by Sarah on Lifeway's fiction blog and wanted to pass it along.

Why on earth would a suburban soccer mom be thrilled—ecstatic even—to read the pilot’s manual for the B-17 Flying Fortress?

A story.

The idea for A Distant Melody, the first book in the Wings of Glory series, came to me while I was busy writing contemporary romances. What if a man and woman met at an event, really clicked, but parted before exchanging contact information? Wouldn’t it be romantic if he went through great lengths to find her? It wouldn’t work in a contemporary setting—he’d Google her—but it made a sweet concept for a historical.

I picked World War II. That time period has always fascinated me, and I enjoyed reading fiction set during the war. Also, I thought it would be easy to research because I knew people who lived during the war and I did well in high school history. Please don’t laugh.

That's just the first bit . . . keep reading here.

I may be the last one . . .

I may be the last person to jump on The Help bandwagon. I mean, seriously, I think everyone that I know has either read the book or seen the movie. I'm reading the book right now . . . before I go see the movie. I've gotta get crackin'!

Mom read this book last year. She's not really much of a reader. She reads a couple of books per year in addition to whatever Bible studies she's going through. But at the recommendation of a friend, she read The Help . . . and loved it! So of course, that got me curious. Then when I heard they were making it into a move . . . even more curious. I ordered it from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and started reading as soon as I could come up for air from some other obligations.

Only a few pages in, I can see what all the fuss is about. It's fantastic! Can't wait to see if the movie does the book justice!

Here's a little teaser for you in case you are one of the few (like me) who haven't read it yet.

I pick up a coffee cup, start drying it real good with my cloth. 

"Do you ever wish you could . . . change things?" she asks. 

And I can't help myself. I look at her head-on. She got a confused, disgusted look on her face, like she done salted her coffee instead a sugared it. 

I turn back to my washing, so she don't see me rolling my eyes. "Oh no, ma'am, everything's fine."

The Help, p. 12

Again, I'm only a few pages in, but already I can tell that Kathryn Stockett is a phenomenal writer. Using the dialect of black maids in the south in the 60s and the dialect of prissy white society women as well. Switching between three voices to tell the story. And ultimately telling a somewhat-based-on-truth story that people haven't really talked about before. Throw in the fact that this is her DEBUT novel ... what talent!

What did you think about The Help?

Blog Tour: Blue Skies Tomorrow by Sarah Sundin

I've seen Sarah Sundin's name floating around on bookshelves and been intrigued by her books, but I've never read any of her books. Now that I've read Blue Skies Tomorrow, let me just say, "WOW!" I was intrigued from the beginning. World War II. A soldier with something to prove. A widow hiding her relief. Overbearing in-laws. And a God big enough to redeem it all. Sundin masterfully weaves together a story that is hard to put down. Ray and Helen quickly felt like friends to me. At times I caught myself wanting to talk back to the characters ... a true test of how "into" a book I am. In addition, the book was well-researched. It takes talent to detail flying a bomber during an airstrike into a romance novel and not lose my interest. Sarah Sundin definitely has a new fan ... I can't wait to go back and read the first two books in this series!

I received a free copy of this book from LitFuse Publicity in exchange for my fair and honest review.

About the Book
Lt. Raymond Novak prefers the pulpit to the cockpit, but at least his stateside job training B-17 pilots allows him the luxury of a personal life. As he courts Helen Carlisle, a young war widow and mother who conceals her pain under a frenzy of volunteer work, the sparks of their romance set a fire that flings them both into peril. After Ray leaves to fly a combat mission at the peak of the air war over Europe, Helen takes a job in a dangerous munitions yard and confronts an even graver menace in her own home. Will they find the courage to face their challenges? And can their young love survive until blue skies return?

About the Author
Sarah Sundin received the 2011 Writer of the Year Award from the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, and her second novel A Memory Between Us is a finalist for an Inspirational Readers' Choice Award. Her stories are inspired by her great-uncle who flew with the U.S. Eighth Air Force in England during World War II. Sarah lives in California with her husband and three children. Visit with Sarah online at www.sarahsundin.com.

To celebrate the release of Blue Skies Tomorrow, the final installment of the Wings of Glory series, Sarah is giving one lucky winner A Vintage Kindle Prize Package! 

Read what the reviewers are saying here.

One winner will receive:
* Kindle with Wi-Fi
* Handmade vintage apron for you and a friend (see a photo here)
* Blue Skies Tomorrow (for Kindle)

To enter just click one of the icons below. But, hurry, giveaway ends on 9/10. Winner will be announced on 9/12 at Sarah Sundin's blog. Details and official rules can be found when entering the contest.

For All People

This year is flying by so quickly! It seems nearly impossible that it is already September. (Do I say this every month? Regardless, it's how I feel . . .)

The beginning of September means that it's time for a new memory verse. We've been studying 1 Timothy at church so I'm choosing my verses from the text from this past week's sermon. I have been convicted about my prayer life - as you can probably tell from other recent posts - so this really hit me.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

1 Timothy 2: 1-2, ESV