Book Review: Deliverance (The Moses Chronicles) And A Giveaway!

Today's review is of H.B. Moore's epic continuation of Moses's story, Deliverance.  I really enjoyed the first book in the series, Bondage, (you can see what I thought of it here) and couldn't wait to read this one. Moore has a writing style that completely draws me in to the time period and the characters' lives and this one was no different.

The book opens with Moses taking stock of his scars both emotionally and physically. His entire world has been turned upside down and he's feeling the consequences of what he's done and finding out his true identity. I love how Moore brings Moses to life in such a realistic way. The attention to detail is incredible and it felt like I was there with Moses every step of the way---when he's with the nomads, finding and falling in love with Zipporah, and when he finds out that God has a mission for him.

The author brings in other possibilities and another perspective to Moses's story with so much emotion and angst, combined with just enough reference to known events, that readers will be turning pages to see what happens even when they know the ending! This book is uplifting and full of adventure.  I can't wait for the third book in the series.

Be sure to scroll all the way down and enter the giveaway!

Here's the back copy:

Experience the life of Moses as never before, following his journey from fugitive of Egypt to prophet of God. In this exhilarating follow-up to H.B. Moore’s biblical drama The Moses Chronicles: Bondage, the account of Moses’s flight from Egypt continues. Moses’s life as he knew it is over. He has chosen to stand for his beliefs at the cost of being cast out of his royal home and family. He is free of the wickedness of Egypt, but peace is not to be found, for Moses is as much an aimless wanderer as those in the nomadic tribe he encounters in the wilderness.

Exhausted by long weeks of travel, he nevertheless jumps to action when he observes a group of young women accosted by a band of Badrayan men at a communal well. These lovely daughters of Jethro are grateful for his help, and their Midianite tribe welcomes Moses with open arms. As he learns the ways of the Midianites, his kinship with Jethro grows—as does his admiration of one of Jethro’s daughters, Zipporah. But when Moses suddenly receives a burning call to free the very people he has long oppressed, will he have the courage to return to the land from which he has been exiled?

You can buy your Kindle copy here for $9.99

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here are the other stops on the blog tour!

*March 7th:
http://www.rockinbookreviews.com/,
https://joyinthemoments.wordpress.com/,
http://literarytimeout.blogspot.com/

*March 8th:
http://heidi-reads.blogspot.com/,
 http://www.iamareader.com/,
http://empowermoms.net/ 

*March 9th:
 http://mybookaday.blogspot.com/,
 http://melsshelves.blogspot.com/

*March 10th:
 http://ldsandlovinit.blogspot.com/,
http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspot.com/,
 http://minreadsandreviews.blogspot.com/,
http://www.ldswomensbookreview.com/wordpress/

*March 11th:
http://katiescleanbookcollection.blogspot.com/,
 http://gettingyourreadonaimeebrown.blogspot.com/,
 http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com/

Friday Freebie

Today's Friday Freebie is Revitalizing Jane by Jenni James. From what I can gather, it's a story about a divorced woman getting on her feet again. It's billed to be uplifting, so if that's your mood for your weekend read, then this is the book for you!

Here's the back copy:

It’s only been a year since her divorce, so why would Jane Adamson do something as stupid as attempt to date again? Wasn’t her marriage scarring enough? The answer was simple—her kids. They worried about her and wanted to see her happy again.

She needed to be happy . She needed to learn to trust again and feel pretty again and human again.

As a mom of five, it was too easy to hide herself away and focus just on her kids. Who needs men, anyway?

Join Jane in part one of a six-part journey of self-discovery, conquering the past, understanding love, and most importantly … healing, as she finds the woman she once was.

You can download your free Kindle copy here 

Creating Shareable Content For Your Book

Today I've been working on creating some shareable media. These days, pictures, memes, teasers, are all important in building buzz for your book. The problem is I'm not very tech-savvy and doing things like this are hard for me.

I put aside my pre-conceived notions of whether I can do this or not and just got down to business. I worked with Canva, DesignFeed, and Picasa and some other programs designed to make things easier for people like me and the more I tried, the more I thought, hey I can do this!

Here's one of the things I created today with DesignFeed. Yeah, it's basic, but I have to say I'm pretty proud of it. I did that. By myself! And it looks good.

I got to share it on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook and since other people could potentially share it as well, I felt good about the professional look of it.

So, the moral of this story is, even if you're not tech-savvy like me, you can still learn. You can still do something awesome. And isn't that the way with writing, painting, or anything where you are creating? You can learn the craft. You can create something amazing. You just have to stick with it and keep trying.

For me, the sense of accomplishment alone was worth the work today. Have you ever done something you didn't think you could do? How did you feel when you did it?

What Am I Doing Wednesday

I know this is usually What Am I Reading Wednesday, but I did something SO COOL last night!

I got to go to the premiere of the new movie Singing With Angels. I am going to give a full review next week, but I just had to tell you how amazing it was. It hit me in all the feels! I cried at least five times. But it was so good and I'm going to take my family and all my friends to it.

I also got to walk the red carpet. Here I am before the screening all smiley and happy.

I got to interview the writer and some cast members and I can't wait to tell you what they said! I also got a secret selfie with someone I really admire and think is amazing. I won't tell you who it is until next week, but here is one of my attempts. (I don't think they noticed, but, you know, my secret-selfie-taking-ninja-skills might not be as good as I think.)

Yeah, I'm not so good with the selfie thing, but I'll keep working on it!  

But the movie opens March 11th. Go see it!

Here's the official trailer:

Castle and the Immigration Ep Recap and Review

Last night's Castle had some good moments, but also was more than a little confusing!

It starts out with a guy feeding reptiles *shiver* when one of them gets out. He puts the lizard back in and gets bludgeoned to death by a shadowy figure. The killer then puts the body IN THE SNAKE cage. (Do they call it a cage? A pit? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't want my body in one whatever it's called!)

Cut to Castle yelling at Mr. Cursor. Oh man, I laughed at that because, as a writer, Mr. Cursor has mocked me many times. Very realistic and funny. Beckett gets called to a murder, but says she can't take Castle because, you know, LokSat might be watching. But if he was watching, wouldn't he see her in the loft, pretty much back with Castle anyway? Well, we'll just hope no LokSat people were looking.

The team figures out that the guy in the snake pit (cage?) is Eddie and he's a former El Salvadoran cop. He also went to an ESL class, but when Espo and Ryan go to question the class, no one will talk to them. Well, guess who they call in to go undercover? Yep, you guessed it! Castle. Um, why would you call in a famous author who has been on the news and talk shows to go undercover? And is LokSat just not watching anymore while they work together and live together? What's the point of pretending anymore?

Anyway, the students in the ESL class open up a bit to Castle and his French Canadian chef persona and the team is able to figure out that Eddie was protecting and helping them. He helped the lady from Senegal get the money back that had been extorted from her. (And he beat up the extortionists and trashed their place, too.) He was helping Achmed track down a missing neighbor named Anita when things got dicey, though. Ryan and Espo start to investigate Anita's disappearance as well and fingerprints lead them to a guy named Marco. He shoots at them, but our fearless duo bring him in! He has a key on him and when Ryan and Espo find the locker it goes to, they are thrown on the floor and cuffed by the FBI. Of course the FBI team leader is a jerk (quel surprise! No stereotypes here) and won't cooperate with Beckett. She tries to reach out to her FBI contacts but gets nothing. My question, sometimes Beckett acts like a captain and sometimes she's still a detective. I wish they would figure it out and make her one or the other because it seems odd when Beckett is fulfilling dual roles. I miss Montgomery.

Of course our other new person has to have a cameo somewhere, so Vikram pops up to save the day when he tracks Anita to a detention center in Texas. Surprisingly, all leads are pointing to a Judge Caldwell. He signs the deportation orders and gets paid for every bed he fills in the Texas detention center. Marco is his helper in finding the undocumented immigrants, making them pay until there's no more money, and then getting them to the deportation center.

Castle and his ESL friends distract the judge as he's heading to work and it was cute, but when the final confrontation comes to a head, the judge figures out it's a setup and doesn't confess, merely gives a clue. And this is where it gets confusing.  The judge flew in Eddie's old enemy from El Salvador. Apparently Eddie had a hand in the guy's brother's murder. But the guy's brother wasn't really murdered and Eddie was protecting him. So, the guy went to the zoo, but didn't kill Eddie. Um, why did he come then? Just to chat? It made no sense to me except to have the red herring.

The team starts to wonder how the judge knew about Eddie being enemies with the guy, though, and of course Castle figures it all out and finally gets to say "j'accuse." (His French accent for his undercover gig wasn't bad, really! Nathan Fillion is amazing as always.) They go back to the ESL class and arrest the teacher. I totally called that one. The teacher helps figure out who is undocumented in the class and of course a lot of his students have ended up in the Texas detention center once he give their info to the judge and his cronies. Sad, really.

Castle throws a party for the ESL class and Martha waxes poetic about the country being founded on immigrants. Alexis stands up to say she will finish teaching their ESL class.

So, all's well that end's well. The show is still trying to find a spot for Hayley and had her come in to help with questioning a suspect who was a Geordie so the guys couldn't understand a word he said. She's also helping to run Castle's PI business. But really, there's not a lot for her to do.

This episode also had Castle remembering some things from his "missing time" and he figured out he was in Korea Town in L.A. Of course he's going to go there and investigate. Part of me was hoping they'd let that missing time thing go because it hasn't made a lot of sense from the get-go, but hey, when the missing time storyline is better than the LokSat mess, well, we'll just go with it.

Best part of the episode was Ryan saying they'd had an exciting day and he hoped they didn't have anything else happen that shift and right after they were thrown to the ground and handcuffed. Second best part was Castle's French accent and attempt to waylay the judge with his new ESL friends. Third best was Perlmutter trying to set up Beckett with his twin brother. Ha!

So, a cute episode with an immigration message and a case that was so twisty that sometimes it didn't make sense with the plot holes. Did you watch? What did you think?  

Book Review: Mail Order Brides and a Giveaway!

I am really excited to be part of the blog tour for the Timeless Romance Anthology Mail Order Bride Collection. It has several of my favorite authors and a few new ones and none of them disappointed!

The first one, Written In Her Heart by Stacy Henrie was a sedate romance of a woman who decides to put out a notice to be a mail order bride, but the man she works with and has loved for years finally seems to be coming to grips with his true feelings for her. Or is he? A charming story.

The second one, Wanted: Midwife Bride was probably my favorite. I haven't read anything else by Kristin Holt, but I will need to start! Dr. Naomi Thornton has been doing her best to survive in a man's world of medicine, but when she is betrayed she flees west to answer an advertisment for a mail order bride. Dr. Chandler just needs a helpmate, but when Naomi walks into his office while he's digging a bullet out of someone and doesn't even flinch, he knows he's found much more. Their love story was riveting for me and I was turning pages when I should have been making dinner just to see how her secret would come out! I really enjoyed this one.

The third one, The Sound of Home by Annette Lyon had a similar storyline to the previous novella where the woman is nearly forced through circumstances to flee to the West, but that's where the similarities ended. Marilyn is expecting something very different when she gets off the train. The man who sent for her isn't actually capable of marrying since he had an accident years ago and his mental capacity is quite diminished. His brother that takes care of him tries to take care of the Marilyn situation, but their feelings for each other surprise them both.  A nice story of healing and family and what it means to truly love and serve others.

The fourth one, For Better or Worse, by Sarah Eden has her trademark humor in it.  Gerald sends away for a mail order bride only to get a woman that he is already very familiar with---and doesn't like. How could he ever make a marriage work with Mary, the teenager he dubbed The Plague because she was such a ginormous pest? But all is not as it seems, and the more Gerald puts his prejudice aside and really tries to get to know her, the more she is able to trust him with her secrets. Poignant and sweet, this one will stay with you for a while.

The fifth one, The Inconvenient Bride, by Heather Moore starts out when Carmela finds her brother about to marry a woman that she knows she could never live with. Desperate to find her own way, she answers an ad to be a mail order bride and heads to Colorado.  Unfortunately, her intended groom dies before she can get there and the next train doesn't arrive for a while. Her intended's brother steps up to help her and is such a sigh-worthy hero. Their feelings begin to grow into something more, but can they make a true connection before the train comes to take Carmela away?

The sixth one, The Price of Silver, by Sian Ann Bessey, has Katie heading to Idaho to be Jake's mail-order bride, but the fortune seeking Jake is already gone when she gets there. Caleb, Jake's brother, invites her to stay at the cabin with him and his mother until Jake's return, but the more Caleb realizes how easily Katie fits into his life and with his family, the more he envies his brother. Fighting their feelings, they anxiously await word as to what Jake's plans are. Is there a future for them after all?

Each story had a satisfying ending, so even though they are novellas, I loved that they all had fleshed out characters and a solid storyline that left me with a smile. They are the perfect size for a snack of romance and still feel like you've eaten an entire course!

You can buy your copy here for $4.99

Be sure to scroll all the way down and enter the giveaway!

Here's the back copy:

**Amazon #1 Bestselling series in Clean Romance**

Six Award-Winning Authors have contributed new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Mail Order Bride Collection. Six historical romance novellas set in the Old West.

WRITTEN IN HER HEART, a charming novella by Stacy Henrie, Georgeanna is getting desperate. She can’t fund her favorite orphanage unless she marries and secures the rest of her inheritance left by her father. But her father’s financial planner, Clay, can't understand why she's not content with her current situation. Georgie determines to send out a notice as a mail order bride to attract suitors who won’t know her financial situation. Little does she know, Clay takes up the pen and sends her letters of his own under an assumed name. After years of working for Georgie’s father, Clay realizes he isn’t ready to watch her marry another, not when his heart is already claimed by her.

In Kristin Holt’s delightful novella WANTED: MIDWIFE BRIDE Dr. Naomi Thornton thinks she has it all: a beautiful house, a loving husband, and a fulfilling career. But when everything she holds dear is ripped away, Naomi has no choice but to start over. What will she find in the wild and untamed Wyoming Territory? Dr. Joe Chandler has waited years for a wife with the knowledge, skills, and tender heart he yearns for in a medical colleague and lifetime companion. When a midwife arrives with more expertise and secrets than he counted on, Joe quickly discovers there’s more to love and marriage than a simple mail order contract.

In THE SOUND OF HOME, a captivating novella by Annette Lyon, Marilyn is given the choice of either marrying the despicable Victor or being charged with a murder she didn’t commit. Refusing to believe that either is her fate, she finds a third option: she answers a mail order bride advertisement and boards a train to Wyoming to wed a man named Harry. Moments after her arrival, she learns that Harry isn’t who he seemed to be, and the advertisement turns out to be a giant mistake. Harry’s brother Thomas agrees to let her stay until she can figure out what to do next—after all, she simply cannot return to New York—but Marilyn quickly finds herself developing feelings for Thomas.

In Sarah M. Eden’s endearing novella FOR BETTER OR WORSE Gerald Smith, on the advice of his well-meaning neighbors, has decided it’s time to change his lonely existence. Mary Hill, on the advice of her empty pocketbook and non-existent roof over her head, has decided it’s time to secure herself a future. A mail-order marriage, they both realize, is no guarantee of happiness, but it is a risk they are willing to take. However, coming face to face on the train platform, the hapless couple discovers an unexpected truth: marriage to a perfect stranger is sometimes far preferable to the prospect of a lifetime with someone you used to know.

Heather B. Moore’s sweet novella THE INCONVENIENT BRIDE sees Carmela traveling from Boston to Colorado, eager to meet the man she’s been corresponding with and will soon marry. Her brother’s new marriage leaves little room for Carmela in her old life. Upon arrival in Leadville, she faces a rude awakening, and the only one who can understand her predicament is her fiance’s brother, Samuel. But Samuel can’t possibly help her out of an awkward situation, can he? It would be better for all if she returns immediately to Boston and pretends she never traveled to Colorado in the first place.

THE PRICE OF SILVER, an engaging novella by Siân Ann Bessey, Katie leaves New York for Idaho to marry Jake, a man she’s written to a couple of times. But when she steps off the train, his brother Caleb is there to greet her. Jake has gone to take a mining job he couldn’t pass up. Caleb takes Katie back to the family ranch to wait for Jake’s return. The more Caleb gets to know Katie, the more he envies his brother, but he can’t let his heart overrule his head unless Jake changes his mind about his intended bride.

Here's the schedule for the rest of the blog tour. Check them out!

Feb. 29: Heidi Reads / Bookworm Lisa / Bubblebath Books / LDS Writer Mom

March 1: Peggy Urry / Brooklyn Berry Designs

March 2: My Book a Day / Aimee Brown / Mel's Shelves

March 3: Rachel Stark / Katie's Clean Book Collection

March 4: Singing Librarian Books / Why Not? Because I Said So / Wishful Endings 

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

Friday Freebie

Today's Friday Freebie is an historical romance by Marie Higgins called My Heart's Treasure.  Who wants to curl up with a sweet and sweeping historical this weekend?

Here's the back copy:

Ladies' man Anton Romero is smitten with Vivian Wentworth from the very beginning. He wants nothing more than to get to know the stiff Miss Wentworth—and perhaps make her relax so she’s not so uptight—until he learns she's investigating him for a crime he didn't commit.

Innocent and naïve, Vivian is convinced that Anton is the outlaw her superiors have painted him. But her over-zealous determination puts both of them in danger and he is forced to play the honorable rogue.

Sweeping her away to Padre Island off the coast of Spain seemed like a clever idea at the time. But how can he protect them both from his uncle's murderous games when Anton's heart falls victim to a woman as full of independence as she is desire.

You can download your free Kindle copy here