Book Monday-Robin Lee Hatcher's When Love Blooms

It's my pleasure to feature the latest release of a longtime friend. (Notice I didn't say OLD friend--I'm learning!) Robin always writes a rich and emotionally satisfying story.
Here's the scoop:

WHEN LOVE BLOOMS

by Robin Lee Hatcher

Zondervan, February 2009

She could say what she wanted. Emily Harris didn't belong in the hard life of the Blakes. She would wilt there like a rose without water. He'd be sending her back to Boise before the first snows. He'd be willing to bet on it.

From the moment Gavin Blake set eyes on Emily Harris, he knew she would never make it in the rugged high country where backbreaking work and constant hardship were commonplace. Beautiful and refined, she was accustomed to the best life had to offer. Heaven only knew why she wanted to leave Boise to teach two young girls on a ranch miles from nowhere. He'd wager it had to do with a man. It always did when a beautiful woman was involved.

Emily wanted to make some sort of mark on the world before marriage. She wanted to be more than just a society wife. Though she had plenty of opportunities back East, she had come to the Idaho high country looking to make a difference. Gavin’s resistance to her presence made her even more determined to prove herself. Perhaps changing the heart of just one man may make the greatest difference of all.

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REVIEWS:

Penned with the descriptive nibs of all the five senses, Robin Lee Hatcher transports the reader to the magnificent high country of Idaho in a thoroughly engaging tale of love and wounded heroes. When Love Blooms is layered with appealing characters, and I was so at home with the story's cast, I felt like I was like viewing my own family history. I have yet to read a Hatcher novel that didn't entrance me from the first page, and with a unique plot for a romance, When Love Blooms is no exception. Novel Reviews and I give it a high recommendation.
— Novel Reviews

Christy Award winner Hatcher's (Wagered Heart; Catching Katie) latest novel is a historical romance set in the rugged high country of Idaho in the late 1800s... Populated with lively characters, this delightful title deserves a place in [Christian Fiction] and historical romance collections and will appeal to those who enjoy Lori Wick or Lori Copeland. Recommended for Public Libraries.
— Library Journal

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robin Lee Hatcher discovered her vocation as a novelist after many years of reading everything she could put her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and ketchup bottles. The winner of the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction (Whispers from Yesterday), the RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance (Patterns of Love and The Shepherd's Voice), two RT Career Achievement Awards (Americana Romance and Inspirational Fiction), and the RWA Lifetime Achievement Award, Robin is the author of over 60 novels, including Catching Katie, named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.

Robin enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies. She is passionate about the theater, and several nights every summer, she can be found at the outdoor amphitheater of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, enjoying Shakespeare under the stars. She makes her home on the outskirts of Boise, sharing it with Poppet the high-maintenance Papillon.

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Link to Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310259282/novelistrobinlee

Link to Christianbook.com:

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?event=AFF&p=1138486&item_no=259282

Link to book trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usnuoJNuBdE

Becky Melby-Her Gutsy Grandmother & a Skinny Angel

Today, we hear from Becky Melby and Oku-san. Becky:


In 1924 my grandparents, Harold and Alice Foght, traveled to Japan. My grandfather, a professor, was there to study Japanese education and give lectures. My grandmother wanted to come along as “excess baggage” and to “cheer and encourage” her husband. It had to have been a heart-wrenching decision, as they left behind a three-year-old—my father.
My grandmother’s--Oku-san’s--determination to go everywhere her husband--Foto-san--visited, caused no small stir in a culture where a woman’s place was in the home. When she appeared at male-only gatherings in her fashionable American sleeveless dresses, she was immediately offered shawls. After realizing that bare arms were considered immodest, she sewed sleeves on all her garments. Another culture shock was the ricksha. My grandmother was not a tiny woman, and, besides feeling silly, was in great fear that rickety-looking vehicles would collapse under her “Western avoirdupois.” Another custom that surprised them was the furo, or common bath, attended by nesans eager to help one disrobe!
On many occasions, this prim and proper white woman ventured out bravely her own. In Tokyo, determined to see the flowers of Sheba Park, she passed women openly nursing babies and workers using the ditches as toilets, and then found that beautiful Sheba Park was crowded with huts of refugees from the recent earthquake. She soon found herself in Zogoji Temple where she reported being “quite overcome by the atmosphere” and would have bowed in reverence to her own God, but “true Anglo-Saxon reticence” stopped her.
Overall, Oku-san left an impression that may have paved the way for a bit of freedom for some of her Japanese sisters. In time, their male companions “confessed somewhat reluctantly to new light on the position of women in Japan.” They wrote the book Unfathomed Japan upon their return.

In my book Dream Chasers, my heroine April Douglas is very open about her fears, especially the two biggest--heights and storms. I have no idea what my grandmother's fears were, but I have to believe that being the first white woman to set foot in many rural areas of Japan was a set-up for some anxiety attacks. The one thing both of these women have in common is their determination to put themselves in risky situations in order to experience life to the full.
Lyn-- I am a third generation author. My father's sister, Thelma Foght Jones, wrote a book about her family called Skinny Angel in honor of Grandma Foght who loved her homemade biscuits and always said that in heaven she'd be a "skinny angel."
I also want to let you know your blog has started something! I'm reading, really savoring Unfathomed Japan as if I were sitting down to tea with my grandparents. My own mother never read it because she thought it was a dry old history book. So here I am, a grandmother myself, finding out that my father's parents were witty, creative, funny, and wonderful writers! There just may be a historical fiction novel in this someday.
My middle name came from my grandmother and I now share it with our youngest grandchild, Lillyanne Alice, who was born on Christmas Eve. I can’t wait to tell her stories of her gutsy great-great-grandma.

Thanks for sharing that with us, Becky. It's quite a heritage that you have from the strong women who have gone before you!

Stephanie Grace Whitson's Inspiration

Stephanie Grace Whitson has written both contemporary and historical novels for Bethany House. Her latest is the book above.
Here's my friend Stephanie:

"Strong women made me a writer. It was in the early 1990's and in our home school we were learning the history of our home state, Nebraska. It's no secret that the average history textbook doesn't make for very exciting reading. One day I decided on a more "hands on" approach to the lesson, and we walked up the road and into an abandoned pioneer cemetery near our country home. The children began gathering facts about who was buried there, and during the process I began asking them questions about how those pioneer lives were different from ours. Where did this mother go for help when her child was sick? What did they eat for dinner? How did that family cope with losing all those children (one row of graves were five children from the same family)?

As "history" became real to my children, the lives of the pioneer women of Nebraska began to speak to me. I began to read about the women who crossed the Oregon trail, and the ones who eventually settled in Nebraska, and I met amazing women--many of them nameless. Women who buried five children and carried on. Women who braved prairie fires and blizzards and carried on. Women who wrote of terrible things happening, and yet also wrote, "God knew best." Women who had a strong faith in a personal God and who found Him sufficient even in the face of trials and difficulty I could never imagine.

I began "playing with an imaginary friend" who would become Jesse King, the heroine in my first novel. Since that day, I've had the incredible privilege of being inspired by dozens of mighty women who lived quietly in the past and who have been largely forgotten. Their stories are retold in a fictional way in my books, the latest of which is A Claim of Her Own, about a single woman prospecting for gold in Deadwood, South Dakota. Mattie faces down an ugly past and risks everything to find happiness.

Not long after I began the journey into learning about pioneer women of the west, my husband was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer. Those pioneer women from the past encouraged me. Their tough times gave me perspective and helped me endure. During that time I began to hand quilt a small unfinished crib quilt left behind by a mother some time around 1870. Why didn't she finish her quilt? Probably because her baby didn't survive. As I sat with my husband during chemotherapy sessions, I was again reminded that the women who have gone before me have experienced the same kinds of trials and the same kinds of challenges I. They endured. . . so can I. Their faith was strong. . .and it reached out across the years and reminded me that God walks with us through our valleys and He does give us the strength to endure.

Someday in heaven I hope to meet the mighty women who have inspired my historical fiction and learn their names as we rejoice together at the goodness of the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Thanks for sharing that, Stephanie. Your entrance into writing by identifying with the lives of American women who went before is intriguing as well as uplifting.
Her new book will be released the first week of April. I'm looking forward to it!

Drop by her website: http://www.stephaniewhitson.com/

Book Monday-Daniel's Den by Brandt Dodson

I'm so happy to feature Brandt Dodson's Daniels Den today. He has also written a touching account of his grandmother's faith during the Great Depression which will be featured here on March 30th. Don't miss it. And his book sounds like a page-turner--my favorite kind of book.

Daniel's Den

In this fast–paced thriller by popular author Brandt Dodson, a young government accountant learns to trust God when his life begins to fall apart and unseen enemies pursue him with relentless zeal.

Daniel Borden is a thirty–year–old government accountant who lives a quiet life and plays by the rules.
But when events transpire that shatter his orderly world and a team of assassins mark him for death, Daniel must flee for his life.

While on the run, Daniel encounters Laura Traynor. Carefree and easygoing, Laura is everything that Daniel isn’t. But when the killers assigned to eliminate Daniel find him at Laura’s bed–and–breakfast, gunfire erupts and the two set out on the run once again.

As they try to unravel the mystery that confronts them, they discover how tenuous life can be and how their very existence depends on the God who will never abandon them.

A perfect suspense tale for readers who love Dee Henderson, James Scott Bell, Brandilyn Collins, and James Patterson.

To purchase: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/search?author=Brandt%20Dodson&detailed_search=1&action=Search

Bio: Brandt Dodson comes from a long line of police officers, spanning several generations, and was employed by the FBI before leaving to pursue his education. A former United States Naval Reserve officer, Brandt is a board Certified Podiatrist and past President of the Indiana Podiatric Medical Association. He is a recipient of the association's highest honor, "The Theodore H. Clark Award".

He currently resides in southwestern Indiana with his wife and two sons and is at work on his next novel.
Author Website: http://www.brandtdodson.com

My great-grandma Dietrich

In my home, I have an early photo of my ancestors, who immigrated from Baden-Baden Germany. I don't know their first names but the family name is Helmuth, a very stern-looking couple. People never smiled much in those early photographs. But perhaps they didn't see life as very cheerful.

We all have a somewhat unrealistic view of the two centuries before ours. People always ask me (since I often write about the past) what period would I like to be transported back to if possible. My answer is always, nothing before 1950. I don't want to live without modern plumbing and antibiotics. Just call me a sissy but life was tough before 1950.

At the beginning of the 20th century, my greatgrandma Louise Fastbinder Dietrich (my maternal grandmother's mother) was left a widow with nine daughters and no means of support. The elders of the local Evangelical Lutheran Church came and asked her if she could run a boarding house if they bought her a furnished house. She said yes and that's what they did. Now that's what I and St. James call true religion.

You would think that a woman with nine daughters would have trouble remarrying, but no, she married again, Mike Dietrich, who was remembered as a loving stepfather by each of his nine stepdaughters. My grandmother was Louise also and I have stories about her too. But I'll save those for later.

March is going to be a busy month for me, so many author friends will be sharing the strong women in their lives and books. Hope February has been a good month for you!

Getting Ready for MEGA MAY, A Celebration of Mothers

This is the Mother's Day Card which is part of my MEGA MAY "A Celebration of Mother's" on this blog.

I will send one to any special woman in your life IF you send me her name and address before April 15th. Drop by my website www.LynCote.net, then click "Meet Lyn" which will bring up the drop down menu with "Contact Lyn."

Click there and send me an email with the information.Of course, I would never give or"sell" anyone's address. I don't like it when that's done to me so feel confident, your information is safe with me. (Unless they put a gun to my head. Then you're on your own!)

The front of the postcard will read

"Happy Mother's Day from Author Lyn Cote, Someone who loves you asked me to send you these loving wishes."
On the back, the message reads "This wish comes to you from _________________."

I will fill your name into the blank and sign the postcard. I have 100 of these for this purpose and would love to send out all 100 of them.

Also during MEGA MAY, a Celebration of Mothers' on this blog, I am
going to feature stories sent to me by readers about the strong women in
their family history and those from other authors.

Already Jane S. has sent me the story of her mother which will be the
first on the blog in May. So send me your story or your mother's, etc.
If you don't want to tell a story, drop by and comment on someone else's
story.

Finally I will be giving away a MEGA basket of goodies and autographed books in a drawing of all of those who have participated during May on my blog.

Don't miss this! I think it's going to deeply meaningful and fun too!

2nd Book Monday-The Desires of Her Heart

Another Book Monday. Usually I will be featuring books by other authors but this year I will let you know four times when one of my new offerings has been released.

First in Lyn Cote's Newest Historical Saga

The Desires of Her Heart. Avon Inspire. (Texas: Star of Destiny, Bk. 1). Feb. 2009. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-06-137341-1. pap. $12.95.

"After gambling away his family's estate, Kilbride decides to pack up and move the family to the new Texas territory, where land is free for the taking. But 25-year-old Dorritt knows her stepfather doesn't have the sense or character to lead them there; instead, she relies on their wagon train's rugged scout to guide them. Dorritt trusts Quinn until she discovers his prior business dealings with Kilbride. Dorritt, who wants to be free of her stepfather so she can live her own dreams, discovers, though, that her dreams may include a man after all. In her new series launch, the RITA Award–winning author (Blessed Assurance, "Women of Ivy Manor" series) demonstrates her skill at creating strong female protagonists in compelling stories that will captivate historical romance readers." Library Journal

I was especially pleased to read the phrase, "...her skill at creating strong female protagonists in compelling stories...." That is what I try to do in all the stories I write.

Please drop by my website: www.LynCote.net to find out more and see the lovely cover art the book received. And as always, my books can be purchased from my website. If you can't afford to buy it yourself, please ask your local librarian or church librarian to get it for you.