Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Writer Goal Wednesday and MORE PRIZES!

photo credit: plnaugle via photopin cc 



I hope you all are having fun at the Blogaversary party so far! There are some awesome prizes and a really good chance you could win!  Click here for the link if you haven't entered yet.

One of last week's goals was to have a great time at the party and I will mark that box CHECKED!

I also wanted to get ten pages done on my new novella. I did five and I'm super happy with that.  I love this story and can't stop thinking about the characters!

I was going to work on my On the Edge revision, but I didn't do that. It's on my list of things for next week. Again.  That poor goal is so neglected.

I did get a new interior for Pocket Full of Posies and a new cover for Ribbon of Darkness, though, so there were a few fun writerly things going on.

How did you do with your goals this week?

Have you seen the prizes available in the Blogaversary Giveaway? I spotlighted six of them yesterday (go look! I'll wait)  and have six more to tell you about today!  Woohoo!



1.  The first one is Rough Around the Edges by Rachael Anderson.  I loved this one!  Here's the back copy:

For Noah Mackie, life is finally back on track. He has a great support system, a promised promotion is on its way, and he's finally getting the hang of this single father thing. But when the job falls through and his neighbor's matchmaking efforts become more aggressive, Noah is in for yet another unwanted detour. With his career and two spirited daughters to worry about, he doesn't have time for dating—especially not someone like Cassie Ellis, his girls' beautiful and sophisticated dance instructor, who is about as open and approachable as a brick wall.

Rough around the Edges Meets Refined is about two people who think they know exactly what they want but who have no idea what they really need. It's about learning that people aren't always what they seem and that sometimes life’s detours take you exactly where you need to go.



2.  The second one is a historical masterpiece, The Last Waltz by GG Vandagriff.  Here's the back copy:

The Year is 1914. Austrian socialite, Amalia Faulhaber, stands on the cusp of womanhood while the world stands on the brink of the worst war it has ever known. Which of the three men in her life will she choose to marry?
The Prussian officer with his Teutonic ideals?
The charming Polish doctor with dreams he dare not utter?
Or the Austrian baron who is determined to guide his country on a course away from fascism and another war?
How will the Great War and the ensuing years shape Amalia,and how will she shape the lives of the men who love her?

Thus begins the tale of a heroine of extraordinary background and resource who develops into a woman who would be extraordinary in any age.

The men in her life—a German officer in World War I, a patriotic Polish doctor, and an Austrian Baron, all shape her, but more remarkably she shapes them. Her utopian socialist uncle has raised her with ideas outside those of the upper classes, imparting to her a more complete picture of the day than possessed by the other men in her life. This quality causes her to champion the Austrian Democratic Experiment and to especially mourn its demise.

The Last Waltz is full of little known history of a land that was, in 1913, the apex of the worlds of science, medicine, art, and music. The speed with which the five-hundred year old empire fell, and the reasons behind that failure carry many warnings for the world we live in today.




3.  The third one is Snowed Inn by Kate Palmer. I wish I could enter to win this one, it looks good! Here's the back copy:

A woman rancher hitches the community’s dreams to her sleigh ride business and ropes in a heap of trouble for them and her heart.

Jayne Gardner turned her family’s ranch into the successful Snowed Inn Lodge and Restaurant. After she learns the community has one month to earn funds needed for a grant, she donates her company’s sleigh rides for a community fundraiser.

When Jayne’s new volunteer sleigh driver turns out to be Forrest Hunsaker, the man who left her three years ago, Jayne sets up three rules to maintain a professional distance and protect her heart.

When vandals strike Snowed Inn, Jayne must team up with Forrest to prevent a fundraiser fail. Now Jayne must decide if breaking all her rules will break her heart. Again.

 


4.  The fourth one is another amazing historical book, The Lady and the Minstrel by Joyce DiPastena. I loved this one!  Here's the back copy:

A forbidden love and a past they can’t leave behind . . .

In King John's England, Robert Marcel chafes against the law that holds him bound as a villein on his lord’s manor. He tries to make a daring escape and is nearly caught by his cruel master, but a young girl helps him slip away.

Years pass and Robert takes up trade as a minstrel. Invited to play at a banquet for the notorious Earl of Saxton, he is stunned to come face to face with the girl he’s never forgotten—now Lady Marguerite of Winbourne, betrothed to the earl. Her status as a noblewoman puts her completely out of Robert’s reach, but he knows they are meant to be together. He vows to make her his wife no matter what the cost.

Lady Marguerite has often thought of the young man she helped escape. Her tender feelings for him quickly turn into much more when they are brought back into each other’s lives. She longs to be free to marry Robert, the man she loves, but that will require her to sacrifice all she holds dear.

They are tested at every turn by those bent on driving them apart and destroying what they have found together. Can their love truly conquer all?



5.  The fifth one is A Light in Dark Places by Emily Clawson and Jennifer Graves.  This is an inside look into the case of Susan Powell and her husband who was suspected of her murder.  Sobering and captivating. Here's the back copy:

In December, 2009, Susan Cox Powell was reported missing from her home in West Valley City, Utah. As law enforcement tried to piece together what had happened to Susan, her husband, Josh Powell, became the only person of interest in the case.

For Jennifer Graves, Josh’s sister, the nightmare started long before Susan’s disappearance. From her experiences growing up in the Powell family to the terrifying moment when she first started to believe her brother was a killer, she relied on her faith to stay strong. She devoted herself to the safety of Susan’s boys, Charlie and Braden, whom she hoped to be able to raise as her own. When the boys were murdered by their father in February, 2012, Jennifer was more than devastated, but she had to believe there was a reason for it all---including the deaths of her beloved nephews.

In A Light In Dark Places, Jennifer shares her struggles and her triumphs. In coming to terms with such tragedy she finally was able to embrace the truth that we all have the power to choose our own path---and there is always hope, no matter how dark things may seem.




6.  The last one I'm spotlighting today is A Haunting Love by Cheri Chesley.  This one looks like something I don't want to read in the dark! Here's the back copy: 

When her fiancé, Drew, suggests having their wedding at his family home in the Highlands of Scotland, Alita only thinks about the beauty and romance awaiting her. She’s unprepared for the frosty greeting she and her sister receive from each member of his family, particularly his domineering mother. But nothing shocks Alita more than the odd, menacing dreams she begins to have her first night at MacColum House. Over and over again she dreams of a grisly murder—with herself as the victim!

So, if you would like to win any one of these, just click the link at the top of the post! And be sure to see the ones I spotlighted yesterday. 

 *gets out party hats*  Let's get the party started!!

3 comments:

Debra Erfert said...

I already have a couple of these books, but I want the other ones, too!!! I'll wait until the end of the blogaversary before I buy anything, just in case I might win. :)

Debra Erfert said...

Just so you know, you are my inspiration. You may not obtain all your goals every week, but you still reach for them. And you have so many goals that I don't see how you can possibly achieve them all, but you try--and never give up. I want to be just like you!

Julie Coulter Bellon said...

Debra, you are amazing. Thank you so much for being such a great friend and loyal reader!