Book Nook Review: "THE LOST KING" by H. B. Moore

This fast-paced sequel to Moore’s “Finding Sheba” delivers two exciting reads in one. H.B. Moore uses her mastery of the Middle East and its culture to take readers on two heart-pounding, interwoven adventures.

Undercover agent Omar Zagouri is called in when a prominent Egyptologist is murdered and priceless scrolls are stolen that may upend the religious world. But Omar has his own concerns. His love interest, Mia Golding, is missing, and torn between duty and love, he bends and breaks rules to find Mia and the scrolls.

Another dramatic turn occurs when two prominent scholars—Farrah Samra, a professor of Egyptology, and handsome royal-blooded Dr. Kale Naji—are kidnapped. Kale has old history with Omar and Mia, and it isn’t good, but the heat turns us between he and his kidnapped colleague, and that is very good.

Woven through the book is the story of Hatshepsut, the female Pharoah who authored the missing scrolls. Torn between dual loves—power and the future pharaoh, Thut, who stands in her way—hers is s story of great love, squandered opportunities, and regret. Moore brings different but equal passion to both story lines, weaving them seamlessly.

The pacing is different between the stories, and that back and forth accentuates each. Moore’s writing style puts the reader in the action. You are breathless as you rip through pages with no break until Hatshepsut’s next chapter begins, and then your heart pounds through scenes of passion and power.

Moore’s research, as always, is first-rate. I always leave her books feeling enriched and enlightened. I’m awed by the detail, particularly in Hatshepsut’s world. Ancient Egypt comes alive and you are there.

I didn’t read “Finding Sheba” before picking up “The Lost King,” but H.B. Moore brings new readers up to speed quickly and in a satisfying way. But after reading “The Lost King,” you’ll long for more of Moore, so pick up “Finding Sheba” first.

You can get it here.

INTERVIEW with AWARD_WINNING AUTHOR SARAH CREVISTON LEE

Sarah Creviston Lee is one of the very talented authors I get to brainstorm with in my critique group. Her debut novel, "The War between Us," is historical fiction with a most unique take on World War II. Sarah won the very prestigious Historical Novel Society's Editor's Choice Award.

Sarah is a woman of many talents, but today we'll focus on her writing. So Sarah, have you always wanted to be a writer?

Pretty much! I distinctly remember deciding that in first grade. As a prize for our writing, we earned these blank, white hardback books to write in and my imagination took flight. I was in love!

Tell us a little bit about your new book, and what inspired it?

The War Between Us, is set in WWII six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It’s the story of a Korean American young man from California who gets stranded in a Midwestern town on his way to DC to live with his uncle. He faces a lot of prejudice and violence because most people believe him to be Japanese. He’s befriended by a local girl whom he eventually falls in love with. The story delves not only into the Korean American wartime experience, but the consequences of a cross-cultural relationship.

My book was inspired by a couple things. I enjoy watching Korean dramas and I love studying about WWII. Eventually, my mind met in the middle, and I wondered what Korean Americans did during the war. Research didn’t take long at first, because there wasn’t much to find. As a historian, this was really thrilling. It’s so hard to find a topic in WWII that hasn’t been written about. As I had already fallen in love with the Korean culture, knowing that their story had yet to be told in historical fiction form was just the motivation I needed to write their story.
A further inspiration were the lives of my Great Aunt Elaine and Uncle Harry Chan. Aunt Elaine married a Chinese man, Harry Chan, in the 1930s and doing research on them and their unique relationship brought a lot of emotional depth to my story.  I am so grateful to have had that as a muse. 

Tell us about your other projects.

The War Between Us is my only published work at this time, but I’m currently working on four other stories! One is a modern-day paranormal romance, one is a modern sci-fi/fantasy, another is a historical fiction/fantasy, and the final one is a sequel of sorts to The War Between Us, though the main characters will be different. 

You're a busy wife and mom. What inspires you, and motivates you to write?

A lot of things in life inspire me. Sometimes it’s as basic as something I’m curious about, a strange situation, or an interesting way of seeing the world. What motivates me to write is my own deep desire to express myself and to communicate with others. I love being able to share my thoughts with the hope of inspiring others or getting them to think about something in a different way. Plus, it’s a lot of fun!

Is there an established writer you admire and emulate in your writing? Do you have a writing mentor?

Right now, I’d have to say that I really admire Jonathan Stroud and Sarah Sundin. They both write in a way that amazes and inspires me. Stroud has published a fantastic paranormal fantasy series that is so unique and clever which I really seek and hope to emulate in my own creativity. Sarah Sundin is an incredible historical fiction writer who weaves in amazing historical detail that leaves me in awe. I really aspire to that in my own historical fiction, though I have a long way to go!

My writer’s group is my collective mentor. They are a talented bunch of ladies and I really respect their ideas and opinions. I feel lucky to have their expertise to draw from!

Bring us into your home and set the scene for us when you are writing. What does it look like? On the couch, laptop, desk? Is music playing? What surrounds you?

When I wrote as a teenager, I usually wrote in bed, or at a desk in school when I should have been paying attention in class. It hasn’t changed at all! I still write in bed or at a desk at the library when I go out alone a couple nights a week. I always have music playing and that is a big part of my writing research – finding music that sets the mood or speaks to the emotion of the scenes I’m writing. I find it to be a great inspiration and motivator, and besides that, it helps me focus. I’ve found this has a subconscious benefit as well – when I hear those particular songs, I’m immediately placed in my story and the emotion of that moment I was writing. It’s an awesome trigger to kick-start my writing if I’ve been away from it for awhile.

Do you watch television or movies? If so, what are your favorites? Do they inspire your writing?

Oh man, yeah! Some women eat chocolate or ice cream when they’re down, but I watch movies. I love watching a lot of BBC shows or mini-series, historical dramas or Korean dramas. My favorites are North & South, Persuasion, Nicholas Nickelby, My Love From Another Star, Pinnochio, and Rooftop Prince. I’d have to say that the emotions behind the stories are great motivations for me. For instance, ‘Pinnochio’ is a Korean Drama that deals with corruption in journalism as well as the power the ties of family hold. It’s such a gripping story, and I just relish stuff like that! It’s great fuel for my writing.

How has being published changed your life?

Well, it’s made it a bit more stressful! Haha! But in all honesty, it’s a bit surreal. I’ve wanted to be published since I was a girl. To have this finally happen is such a humbling feeling. It makes me so happy to have the privilege of sharing my writing with others and to hear that they enjoy it! I’m naturally an introvert, but being published has helped me open up a little more and have the chance to talk to them about a topic I love and am passionate about. 

Do you have any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that readers might be interested in attending? If so, when and where? Also tell about your blog and website.

Yes! I have a free e-book offer going on from May 27th to May 30th found on Amazon. I have two blogs my author blog: http://sarahcrevistonlee.blogspot.com and my history blog at http://history-preserved.blogspot.com. 


So, my “I’ve made it” dream is when I see someone waiting for a flight, holding my book in their hands, and I walk up and offer to sign their copy. What’s yours?

It’s a bit wild, but my “I’ve made it” dream is to have a book of mine featured in one of Diane Rehms’s book review sections on the radio. It would be awesome if The War Between Us made that happen, because it would be amazing if more people could hear about and discuss Asian American wartime experiences. 

You can pick up a copy of this wonderful book here.

Some News and Some Gifts From My Friends

Thanks for your support during the Kindle Scout campaign for The Dragons of Alsace Farm

The Dragons of Alsace Farm rose to Amazon's

Hot and Trending" list. Thank you so much for voting.

Kindle calls their Scout program "People-Powered Publishing," but one author calls it "the American Idol of books." Your votes are making it likely that "Dragons" get a look by the Kindle Publishing team. Remember that every person who votes for a winning book will get a free e-copy! I hope we all win!

Here's the link if you haven't yet voted. Please share this newsletter, or the link below with a friend so they too can vote and possibly get a free e-copy too. https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/ZJLNGPGSPG54

Visit the link to read sample chapters, and thank you so much for all your support!  

One of the great blessings of writing is having a writing community. I'm blessed to have several talented, award-winning authors in my critique group. 

Elizabeth Petty Bentley is the publisher, editor and/or author of many award-winning LDS novels. She is offering one of her more recent novels free with a coupon code below. 

Sweet romance author, Lisa Swinton's "Vocal Crush" is up for a prestigious RONE award. She is offering to readers for $.99 for a week. 

And debuting historical fiction author, Sarah Lee's "The War Between Us," won the Historical Novel Society's Editor's Choice Award. You can also pick up a copy of this wonderful novel below at no cost for a week. Scroll down.

"A PLENTIFUL RAIN" by award-winning author Elizabeth Petty Bentley. Free if you use coupon code JS79Q at checkout.

Use this link to pick up Sarah Creviston Lee's Award-winning "The War Between Us" for free from May 27th through 31st.

Use this link to pick up a $.99 copy of Lisa Swinton's sweet romance release, "Vocal Crush," through May 22nd. You can also be part of the award process by clicking on this link to vote for Lisa's book through the 22nd. 

Happy rainy day reading!

"The Dragons of Alsace Farm" is in the Kindle Scout Competition!!!

Dear friends,

I could use your help.

After a long hiatus, I’ve returned to publishing. In order to expedite my new book’s release to market, I entered it into the Kindle Scout competition, which one author described as "the American Idol of books."

Like "Idol," this competition rest on two factors--the public's support, and the book's merit. In other words, "Dragons" needs votes to rise in the ranking before Amazon's editors will place it on their "read list." Once it's selected, the rest is up to the book, and to them. If Kindle picks it up, it will be published by them and receive the power of their marketing.

I would be so honored if you would vote for "The Dragons of Alsace Farm." If I win, you do too, because every person who votes for a winning book will get a free e-copy!

You must sign in to your Amazon account and use this link:

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/ZJLNGPGSPG54

It should only take a minute, and there are no further obligations.

If you're inclined, I would be so grateful if you could also help me spread the word through your social media contacts. Feel free to copy this text and tell everyone it's from a grateful friend and author. Again, if they help "Dragons" win, they too will get a free e-copy.

Thank you so much for all your support! Here's the blurb, but visit the link to read sample chapters!

Warmly,

Laurie

Fears and secrets are the dragons we each must face. . .

In need of his own redemption, Noah Carter finally confronts his childhood hero, the once-beloved uncle who betrayed him. Instead of vengeance, he offers forgiveness, also granting Uncle John a most curious request—for Noah to work on the ramshackle farm of Agnes Deveraux Keller, a French WWII survivor with dementia.

Despite all Agnes has lost, she still has much to teach Noah. But the pair’s unique friendship is threatened when Tayte, Agnes’s estranged granddaughter, arrives to claim a woman whose circumstances and abilities are far different from those of the grandmother she once knew.

Items hidden in Agnes’s attic raise painful questions about Tayte’s dead parents, steeling Tayte’s determination to save Agnes, even if it requires her to betray the very woman she came to save, and the secret her proud grandmother has guarded for seventy years.

The issue strains the fragile trust between Tayte and Noah, who now realizes Tayte is fighting her own secrets, her own dragons. Weighed down by past guilt and failures, he feels ill-equipped to help either woman, until he remembers Agnes’s lessons about courage and love. In order to save Agnes, the student must now become the teacher, helping Tayte heal—for Agnes’s sake, and for his.

Be Part of The RONE Book Awards!

Critique groups are a critical tool in an author's box. I happen to have a great critique group--one of the best--and one of my partners is up for an award.

So here's your chance to be part of the awards process. Help popular sweet romance author, Lisa Swinton, nudge her RONE nominated book through the judging. Enter to win a free book, or buy a copy at a great discount. Ready . . . set . . . VOTE!!!!

Vocal Crush is a prestigious RONE nominee!
 

Hi, everyone. I'm Lisa Swinton, a sweet romance author of three delicious novels. My newest book,  Vocal Crush, has already passed the 1^st round of nomination by receiving a 4 star review from InD’Tale Magazine.

Now, I need your help to get it through the 2^nd round, the Fan Vote, May 16-May 22. (You don’t need to have read the book to vote.)

You can vote in 4 easy steps.

1.     Go here to vote: http://www.indtale.com/2016-rone-awards-week-five  

2.      You must be a subscriber to vote. It’s free and quick, only a minute of your time and you can always unsubscribe later. It’s in a box on the right side of the page. 

3.      Vote for Vocal Crush by Lisa Swinton under the Contemporary Sweet category half way down the page. 

4.      Enter the Rafflecopter to win a signed-by-the-author printed copy via my blog or FB Author page. Links:

http://lisaswinton.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLisaSwinton/

That’s it you’re done! 

Haven’t read Vocal Crush but want to? During voting week it’s on sale for $0.99 on Amazon! Be sure to leave an honest review after.J Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Vocal-Crush-Lisa-Swinton-ebook/dp/B015EM7506 

With any luck, Vocal Crush will make it to the 3^rd round, the professional judging. 

Thanks so much for your support!

Lisa Swinton

DESTINATION BILLIONAIRES ROMANCE SERIES BOOK THREE: "ALMOST EVERYTHING," by Taylor Hart

Each of these first three novels has launched with great success on Amazon. I'm at work on mine for a March 2017 release, but in the meantime, I'm pleased to introduce you to. . .

Almost Everything

 book three in the "Destination Billionaire Series"by Bestselling Author 

Taylor Hart

Billionaire Montana Crew, country music superstar, thought he’d put the cheating best friend and ex-fiancé in the past. When the ex appears backstage bearing the news of his friend’s death and thrusting an envelope in his hands, he’s shocked and a little annoyed. 

Lily Ray Gold, L.R. Gold to her associates at the law firm, doesn’t want to deliver the envelope with her best friend’s last wishes. Nothing could have convinced her to look the ‘King of Country’ in the eye again…except Jason. She’d do it and she wouldn’t lie, telling Montana she was finally done with him would feel awesome! 

When Montana shows up at Lily’s law firm and extorts her into helping him figure out what Jason wants him to do, neither of them would have expected getting caught up doing their high school bucket list by surfing in Hawaii, riding in a hot air balloon, and climbing Devil’s Tower. 

They both agree to finish the list for their friend, but when Montana proposes, Lily has to make a choice—tell the truth or never have almost everything she’s ever truly wanted. 

Available now!

Book Nook Review: MAGNIFICENT WORLD OF SPIRITS

Magnificent World of Spirits: 

Eyewitness Accounts of Where We Go When We Die

by

Marlene  Bateman Sullivan 

Some books entertain us. Some books teach us. Some books change us. Marlene Bateman Sullivan’s Magnificent World of Spirits: Eyewitness Accounts of Where We Go When We Die, does all three.

Bateman has written extensively on the Spirit World and angelic visitations as recorded in the journals of early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In Magnificent World of Spirits, she offers carefully researched accounts of Latter-day Saints who visited the Spirit World through dreams and visions. These accounts are almost identical to the experiences of people who actually crossed the veil, visited the Spirit World, and returned, which she chronicled in her first book on the subject, Gaze Into Heaven; Near-death Experiences in Early Church History. Both books remind us where we came from, why we’re here on earth, what really matters, and why we want to make it Home.

The Magnificent World of Spirits: Eyewitness Accounts of Where We Go When We Die is a well-documented, fascinating read that’s hard to put down. Sullivan’s research has earned her accolades from other respected LDS scholars. The book opens with an acknowledgment by Lee Nelson (Beyond the Veil Series.) The extensive foreword was written by Duane S. Crowther, the prolific and highly respected author of over fifty LDS titles.

Adding to the veracity of these accounts is the era in which they were give. Before our media-driven days, these stories were personally recorded in private journals, and initially shared with family and ecclesiastical leaders to strengthen and teach, Sullivan supports the context of the accounts by interspersing correlating scriptural content and passages from modern revelation, adding further substance until the overall effect is powerful, convincing, and educational.

She explained that while researching the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for another book, LDS Heroes and Heroines, she came across touching accounts of people who had visited the Spirit World. After completing that book, she returned to the LDS libraries to search for similar accounts and found scores of them. 

Though each experience shared is unique to the individual, the personal accounts contain many similarities—concourses of people dressed primarily in brilliant white, feelings of love, a sense of familiarity, a longing to stay in Heaven, the sense of freedom from the burden of the body, acute awareness of the separation between the co-existing worlds of spirits and mortals.

Most touching to me was the reminder that mortality is a time to prepare for eternity where what matters most are our relationships—to God, and to others—further reminding us that matters most in heaven should be the primary subject of our concern here on earth.

Though the accounts are from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the messages are universal. There is peace in these pages. The Magnificent World of Spirits:Eyewitness Accounts of Where We Go When We Die is a comfort to those who have lost someone, to those suffering through illness, and to anyone who wonders whether Heavenly Father and Jesus are real. 

As a family reference book, it would be a source of easy devotionals, scriptural dessert before bed, a gift for peace for those providing bedside comfort to the ailing, and a source of beautiful stories to support favorite scriptural passages. 

For me, it provides a challenge to keep eternity close, like a ruler by which we measure the way we use this precious time. I can highly recommend any of Marlene Bateman Sullivan’s books, but The Magnificent World of Spirits: Eyewitness Accounts of Where We Go When We Die is a resource every family would return to many times.

Marlene is offering a free, personalized copy to one of my readers. Please leave a comment below to enter the giveaway. The winner will be chosen May 6th. In the meantime, please visit other stops on the Magnificent World of Spirits blog tour, available by visiting www.marlenebateman.info.