Friday, November 15, 2013

Friday Freebie

Today's Friday Freebie is one I can whole-heartedly recommend.  I loved this story, I loved the stories that followed it, and I know if you like snarky spy stories with a Canadian setting (which was really well done) then this is the book for you!  It's Mr. Nice Spy by Jordan McCollum.



Here is the back copy:

Canada is probably the last place you’d expect to find an American spy. CIA operative Elliott Monteith has made it work, just like he’s made things work with his longtime fiancée Shanna. Until Shanna lays out an ultimatum: move forward or move on. Meanwhile, Elliott and his best friend and fellow operative, Talia Reynolds, try to track an elusive leak at the American embassy.

But something changes between Elliott and Talia as they close in on the man selling out his country. Professional and personal lines blur and Elliott has to choose—his fiancée or his best friend.
Click here to download the novella






The best news is that the first full length novel in the series is only 99 cents and it is well worth your time and for such a great price, how can you pass it up?

Here is the back copy:

Canada is probably the last place you’d expect to find an American spy. But even idyllic Ottawa has its deadly secrets—and so does CIA operative Talia Reynolds. She can climb through ventilation shafts, blend in at the occasional diplomatic function, even scale buildings (small ones). But there’s one thing she can’t do: tell her aerospace engineer boyfriend Danny about her Top Secret occupation.

It worked for a year, keeping Danny in the dark, keeping him away from danger, keeping her secrets. And then Talia finally catches a hot case: Fyodor Timofeyev. Russian. Aerospace executive. Possible spy?

She can make this work, too—until Danny needs her at the same time her country does. And when Fyodor targets Danny? Suddenly her schedule isn’t the only thing suffering. Now to save her secrets and her country, Talia must sacrifice the man she loves.

Click here to download the first book in the series for only 99 cents!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

A Thank You & the Grand Prize Winners!

The Facebook and Twitter launch party on Tuesday was quite the success! Jordan and I had a lot of fun commenting and giving away our generously donated prizes. We want to thank our friends who donated:

Cindy Hogan
Emily Gray Clawson
Ilyan Lavanway
Stephanie Fowers
Monique Bucheger
Christy Dorrity
Cami Checketts
Rachael Anderson
Ranee` S. Clark
Heather Moore
Stacy Carroll
Lynn Hubbard
Jaleta Clegg
Konstanz Silverbow
Anna del C. Dye
Rebecca Shelley
Christy Hayes
Joyce DiPastena
Taunya Butler


THANK YOU!!

And I'm happy to announce the GRAND PRIZE WINNERS!

We had almost 400 entries on our Rafflecopter giveaway, and our winners, chosen at random, are:

Alison Rogers Spelman: Spy Another Day books 1 and 2
Necia Monroe: Spy-on-the-fly kit
Cohlina Mae: Book lover’s basket
Thomas Edward Ticknor: Hostage Negotation Series books 1-3

Congratulations! Cohlina and Thomas please send me your mailing address to juliecoulterbellon (at) gmail.com

Thanks to everyone who entered, commented, tweeted and played along! And thanks once again to all our sponsors, and especially to Jordan McCollum who had the great idea to do a joint book launch in the first place. I definitely couldn't have done it without you!

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Word Count Wednesday

Well, it's a good thing I'm not doing NaNo because in just this past week I did a presentation at a writer's conference, taught Gospel Doctrine, sewed all my son's cub scout awards on an Arrow of Light award, launched a new book, took all the kids and myself to the optometrist for a checkup, made sure the kids were fed, dressed, and where they needed to be with basketball, earning merit badges, piano lessons, dance lessons, etc., and today I am getting ready for my dad's visit. (It's okay to lie down on the couch to visit, right?) Thank goodness he is bringing a care package of Canadian chocolate with him from my mom because a visit from my dad and good chocolate always helps everything.

So long story short, my word count was zero this week.  And it probably will be zero for a few days yet. That's okay, though, because family always comes first for me and my novella isn't going anywhere.  I won't be here for a word sprint tonight, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it).  I'll be hiding from my kids to eat amazing chocolate all by myself. (And probably visiting with my dad. Maybe at the same time. Ha!)   

How did you do this week?

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

It's Launch Day for My New Book!

Today is launch day to celebrate the release of my new novel, Pocket Full of Posies---and my fellow author Jordan McCollum's book Spy for a Spy! (And just FYI all of our books are on sale TODAY ONLY!)




So join us TODAY on Facebook (at Jordan's page and  my page) and Twitter (follow Julie and Jordan) for drawings from 9 AM MST until 5:30 PM MST, and enter to win more fabulous prizes here!!

This is going to be fun! What are you waiting for?


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Monday, November 11, 2013

Book Review and a Giveaway!

First of all, I want to tell you that tomorrow is the official online book launch of Pocket Full of Posies!  I am doing a joint book launch with Jordan McCollum and we have TONS of great prizes.  It's going to be fun and we'll be announcing winners all day long on Facebook and Twitter so I hope you'll join me.  You can get a jump start on entering for the grand prizes below.  Go do it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Today's book review is so pertinent to the day.  Since today is Veteran's Day (Remembrance Day for my fellow Canadians) and I always feel tender toward those who sacrifice for our safety and freedom, this book My Name Used to be Muhammad really spoke to me.  Tito Momen was born in Nigeria and was raised a strict Muslim.  This book is the story of his journey in finding Christianity and losing his freedom and it is phenomenal.

He doesn't pull any punches.  He talks about his childhood and what his father expected of his son who was destined to become an imam.  He talks about how women were treated, especially his mother, and how difficult life was for her.  The story follows him as Tito goes to boarding school, then college, falls in love, and starts to see more of the world around him.  He has brushes with the Muslim brotherhood and with western culture.  His impressions are starkly portrayed and I was completely drawn in.  When he embraces Christianity and is reported, he ends up sentenced to life in an Egyptian prison.  As we go through his prison experience with him, I was amazed at this man and so very grateful for the freedom of religion that I have.

This is a book you don't want to miss. It has an easy style to it and the story is riveting.

Here's the back copy:

The True Story of a Muslim Who Became a Christian.

Tito Momen was raised Muhammad Momen. He was born in Nigeria and was taught to observe the strict teachings of Islam. At age five he woke at 4:45 every morning to attend the mosque and perform dawn prayer with the other men in his village. Training to memorize the Qur’an began at age six. It was at this same age that he began copying the entire Qur’an word for word. He was being raised to emerge as a leader among clerics, capable of leading a jihad, or holy struggle, to convert nonbelievers to Islam. However, Tito’s path took an unexpected turn when he was introduced to Christianity. His decision to believe in Jesus Christ cost him his family and his freedom. Tito thought he would spend his remaining days enduring a life sentence in an uncivilized Egyptian prison. For fifteen years he suffered and waited and prayed. Tito said, “I never gave up hope. I never stopped believing.” Although he was falsely imprisoned, beaten, and ridiculed, Tito’s remarkable true story is one of faith, forgiveness, and testimony that God does hear and answer prayers.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

My Review of Hawaii Five-O and an Announcement

So, I'm really excited to announce that I am launching my new novel, Pocket Full of Posies, in a joint online Facebook and Twitter launch, with spy novelist Jordan McCollum.  We'll be online Tuesday, November 12th, with tons of prizes including a Book Lover's basket and sets of our books.  Don't miss it!

Last night's Hawaii Five-O was adorable and a showcase of the many sides of Steve McGarrett.  We started off with Catherine getting ready to bait Sato's man by going undercover to a casino.  Steve isn't sure he's okay with it and is concerned about her getting compromised.  She assures him she'll be fine and he gives her a Five-O badge just in case.  Awww.  I love this "boyfriend" side of Steve.

We head into the casino with Catherine with James Bond type of music playing in the background. She gets Sato's man's attention and leads him downstairs where she has one of the most epic bathroom fights I've seen on television.  She was awesome and came away with the suspect, boxing him in the "blue room" for Sato's whereabouts.

Steve's case was also underway with an undercover ATF agent being killed and the team trying to uncover who had access to his information and possibly compromised him, or if the undercover agent was really dirty.  There were a few things I didn't like about the case, like the fact that Steve was walking a fine line with one of the gun runners, using force and threats to try to get information out of him when they weren't really sure who the players were yet.  Then, he talked with Danny about Matt being an agent while still on the gun runner's property.  Twice.  I was thinking, you know, you might not want to say that too loud since I'm sure this guy has guards and surveillance around.  And was ATF mad about that since Steve was wrecking their case they'd been working on for three years?  We'll never know, I guess.  But that was another side of Steve who does what he wants or what he thinks is best, no matter what.

But this time, Grover calls him on it.  Steve gets a location on the people who have been robbing the gun runners and instead of waiting for SWAT he goes in with just Chin---and they get pinned down because the suspects have a lot of guns.  Grover is completely annoyed with Steve and when the third suspect gets away tells McGarrett in a totally disgusted voice, "Exemplary work, McGarrett."  I love the tension between these two and am interested to see where they take it.  I also thought Grover brought up some great points to Chin when Chin is having breakfast and texting Leilani.  (I hope they go somewhere with those two.) Grover doesn't want to talk to McGarrett because he's not a cop and doesn't think like one.  But as I was thinking over what he said, I decided that that's what makes Five-O great---they have Kono, Danny, and Chin who were trained as cops and think like cops and then Steve who thinks outside the box, but still has the training and discipline of the U.S. military.  It's generally a good combination, in my opinion.

Anyway, the case was a bit weak and I called the culprit the first time we're introduced to her.  But the case really didn't matter because of how CUTE it was to see Steve, Danny, and Chin with Mary's baby.

Mary, Steve's sister, shows up on his doorstep with her newly adopted daughter.  Steve isn't exactly thrilled and says what we're all thinking, "Mary you can't manage your own life, how are you going to parent her?"  Mary calls him a buzzkill, but then, in the middle of Steve's homicide investigation, she gets hospitalized for salmonella and has to ask Steve to take care of baby Joan for her.  Steve says no, but relents when she calls him a bad uncle.

Steve takes the baby to work and Danny is cackling like an old woman at the sight of it, amused to see Steve on diaper duty.  Chin comes out to ask why Steve has a baby attached to his chest and then gets put on babysitting duty while Steve and Danny go out to investigate.  That baby is adorable and her facial expressions when she looked at the team were too cute.  I wish I could screencap because Steve holding her hand and playing with her was, again, adorable.  Danny gets put on babysitting duty later on and he tells the little girl this story of the handsome prince with a black stallion that he never gets to ride since the hairy greedy ogre won't let him because of his control issues.  Oh man, I laughed so hard at that story.

Daryl Hannah guest starred as the real estate agent who seemed drunk or on drugs, but it was a funny scene because Danny had the baby with him and kept talking to her about what was going on.  Steve meets them there, making sure the baby properly has her sun hat on and in general just being so concerned about his little niece's well-being.

When the case is over (after one more confrontation with Grover, and then Steve getting the transcriber and her boyfriend in the blue room) Mary comes to pick up the baby and you can see the guys are totally attached to her.  Steve reaches for her hand and they all wave as Mary takes her to storytime.  I'll say it again, it was so, so cute.

Then Catherine comes in with a location on Sato, surveillance package, movements on his servants, the whole nine yards.  Everyone seems impressed and when she tries to give back the Five-O badge Steve loaned her he tells her to keep it, that she needs a job and they need help.  Danny says Steve needs all the help he can get, Chin tells her not to think about it, just to say yes, and she does.  Steve tells her welcome to Five-O.

Love, love, love that Catherine is joining the team by proving her worth and doing it on her own.  I also love that she's helping Kono. I think those two could be great partners when Kono is back.

This episode had softie Steve, concerned and worried Steve, and kick-butt Steve.  With all the supporting cast of adorable Danny, some great Chin moments, and amazing Catherine scenes, it was another episode that was well-done overall in my opinion.  Can't wait to see the confrontation with Steve and Grover next week!

Friday, November 8, 2013

Friday Freebie--A Three Book Series is Free Today!

Angela Morrison's Taken By Storm three book series is free today.

Book One
Taken By Storm

Mormon girl Leesie has life figured out until devastated Michael lands in her small town high school. He needs her like no one has before. A rare journey into a faithful LDS teen’s intimate struggle.

All new reformatted ebook! Now with a bonus, never-before-published, scene that comes after Taken by Storm and before Unbroken Connection!

“Passion, pace, pizzazz and a perfect finish.” – Boston Globe-Horn Book Winner, Tim Wynne-Jones (Blink and Caution)

“There are moments of yearning and transcendence that took my breath away.” – Susan Fletcher (Ancient, Strange, and Lovely)

“Morrison’s distinctive mix of poetry and modern dialogue bring the subjects of peer pressure, religion, and grief to the forefront in an accessible and dramatic way.” – Deseret News

Book Two
Unbroken Connection

Against all odds, the couple that swept you away in TAKEN BY STORM is back. Michael is in Thailand diving his dream. Leesie is at BYU living hers.

And they just can't leave each other alone.

Their romance rekindles, deeper than before. They grow desperate to see one another again. To hold one another again. Michael decides there is only one direction their relationship can go and asks Leesie the ultimate question. Her answer challenges everything Michael is and wants to be.

Can she change for him?

Can he change for her?

Enough?


Book Three
Cayman Summer

In Morrison's debut young adult novel, TAKEN BY STORM, Michael faces incredible loss, but he finds Leesie. UNBROKEN CONNECTION is Leesie's story. By the final page, she is broken and battered--physically and spiritually. Morrison vowed to her readers not to leave her that way. CAYMAN SUMMER recounts Michael and Leesie's final journey.

Michael takes Leesie to the Cayman Islands to heal. Time, sunshine, and Michael's devotion free her of physical pain, but grief and guilt haunt her. Michael will do anything to find the old Leesie who prayed, spoke of visions, and kept the rules. For Leesie, that girl is lost forever. Rules? What's the point now? She's ready to break every one.


Click here if you're interested in your free copy of these Kindle books!