Sensational September 2012 Releases

For most of us around the country, Fall is in the air. In Southern California we're still seeing temps in the 90s, but hey--I say Autumn is a state of mind. And I'm ready for comfy sofas, hot cider, and a great new book to curl up with. Oh, and chocolate! Maybe a cat purring nearby. George Winston playing in the background. But the main thing I need is the book.

So, I've been searching through the titles released last month, including a long list that YOU guys recommended to me through our survey (thank you very much), and I've come up with a list of FIVE. Now I want to hear from you. Which of these most appeals to you? Which will be highest on your to-be-read pile this month? Take a look at the cover and the summary, then cast your vote. Polls will remain through Wednesday, closing on Halloween night (oooeeeooo) at midnight PST. (Yep, when I'm the hostess you get a few extra hours to vote because, well, once in a while it only seems fair to go by West Coast time. Right?)

All of the books below captured my attention for one reason or another. I'm sure they'll capture you as well. After voting, I invite you to click over to Amazon and purchase one or more of these puppies!

The Road to Mercy by Kathy Harris

Bethany and Josh Harrison are faced with a decision that could cost her life--and the life of their unborn child; Dr. Ben Abrams is lost without a heritage of faith. Can Bethany’s choice save them both?
~~~

The Shadow on the Quilt (The Quilt Chronicles) by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Juliana Sutton's life looks perfect-from the outside. Until her husband's untimely death reveals a devastating truth. Will the shadow of her dead husband's name stand between Juliana and Cass, or will Juliana choose a love she never thought possible?
~~~

Deadly Additive by Donn Taylor 

Soldier-of-fortune Jeb Sledge’s rescue of kidnapped journalist Kristin Halvorsen from Colombian guerrillas reveals a hidden threat to the global balance of power. Jeb and Kristin must also learn that virtuous lives without a spiritual dimension remain incomplete.
~~~

Restored Heart by Jennifer A. Davids

Anne Kirby and Peter McCord are both determined to hide their pasts. But they soon discover that love – and God – has a way of revealing everything.
~~~

Hidden in the Heart by Catherine West

"You existed before you were adopted."
... Everything Claire wants seems to be beyond her reach ...

~~~

So there you have it! Please make your selection in the Survey Monkey below. And send your friends to cast their votes as well! (good practice for November, right? lol)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

p.s. Are you an aspiring author of Christian Fiction? This is the last week to enter Clash of the Titles' annual contest for unpublished authors, the Olympia. Hurry! Submissions close Friday, November 2nd. 

Living in Harmony, New Amish Fiction!

The Clash of the Titles Blog Alliance is proud to share great August release with its readers.

Ink still damp from the presses, Living in Harmony by Mary Ellis, currently sits on a store shelf near you! Want more good news? It’s the first in a series—perfect time to jump on board.

PURCHASE THE BOOK ON AMAZON

PURCHASE THE BOOK AT B&N

About the book:
Living in Harmony is the first book in bestselling author Mary Ellis's New Beginnings series. It's about fresh starts and love...and how faith in God and His perfect plan for our lives provides us with the peace and joy we desire.

Amy King--young, engaged, and Amish--faces difficult challenges in her life when she suddenly loses both of her parents in a house fire. Her fiancé, John Detweiler, persuades her and her sister Nora to leave Lancaster County and make a new beginning with him in Harmony, Maine, where he has relatives who can help the women in their time of need.

John's brother Thomas and sister-in-law Sally readily open their home to the three newcomers. Wise beyond his years, Thomas, a minister in the district, refuses to marry Amy and John upon their arrival, suggesting instead a period of adjustment and counseling. During this time Amy discovers an aunt who was shunned. She wishes to reconnect with her, but this puts a strain on her relationship with John.

Can John and Amy find a way to live in happily in Harmony before making a lifetime commitment to one another?

For those addicted to Amish stories, you won’t want to miss this one. To everyone else, this might be the book that gets you hooked on this wildfire genre.

Here’s what reviewer Rachel Brand of the Christian Manifesto has to say about Living in Harmony:

Just when you think nothing new and original can come out of the Amish genre, a book like this comes along and proves that you’re completely wrong.

It’s hard to express exactly what I loved so much about Living in Harmony. It’s not just the setting, the new community and the realistic secondary characters that made this novel so refreshing and unique. Mary Ellis crafted her hero and heroine as incredibly relate-able characters, flawed human beings who prove that even the Amish don’t have perfect relationships or marriages.
Each character had their own personality and purpose in the novel, which means that there’s bound to be at least one character that every reader can relate to.
If you need a little bit more realism in your Amish fiction, or just don’t want to read a happily-ever-after romance, then Living in Harmony is the book for you.

About the author:

Mary Ellis grew up near the Amish and fell in love with them. She has now written nine bestselling novels set in their communities. When not writing, she enjoys gardening, bicycling, and swimming. Before "retiring" to write full-time, Mary taught school and worked as a sales rep for Hershey Chocolate. Her debut Christian book, A Widow's Hope, was a finalist for the 2010 ACFW Carols and the Holt Medallion Award of Merit.

You can find Mary at these locations:
www.maryellis.net
blog: www.maryeellis.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mary-Ellis/126995058236

 ,

Living in Harmony, New Amish Fiction!

The Clash of the Titles Blog Alliance is proud to share great August release with its readers.

Ink still damp from the presses, Living in Harmony by Mary Ellis, currently sits on a store shelf near you! Want more good news? It’s the first in a series—perfect time to jump on board.

PURCHASE THE BOOK ON AMAZON

PURCHASE THE BOOK AT B&N

About the book:
Living in Harmony is the first book in bestselling author Mary Ellis's New Beginnings series. It's about fresh starts and love...and how faith in God and His perfect plan for our lives provides us with the peace and joy we desire.

Amy King--young, engaged, and Amish--faces difficult challenges in her life when she suddenly loses both of her parents in a house fire. Her fiancé, John Detweiler, persuades her and her sister Nora to leave Lancaster County and make a new beginning with him in Harmony, Maine, where he has relatives who can help the women in their time of need.

John's brother Thomas and sister-in-law Sally readily open their home to the three newcomers. Wise beyond his years, Thomas, a minister in the district, refuses to marry Amy and John upon their arrival, suggesting instead a period of adjustment and counseling. During this time Amy discovers an aunt who was shunned. She wishes to reconnect with her, but this puts a strain on her relationship with John.

Can John and Amy find a way to live in happily in Harmony before making a lifetime commitment to one another?

For those addicted to Amish stories, you won’t want to miss this one. To everyone else, this might be the book that gets you hooked on this wildfire genre.

Here’s what reviewer Rachel Brand of the Christian Manifesto has to say about Living in Harmony:

Just when you think nothing new and original can come out of the Amish genre, a book like this comes along and proves that you’re completely wrong.

It’s hard to express exactly what I loved so much about Living in Harmony. It’s not just the setting, the new community and the realistic secondary characters that made this novel so refreshing and unique. Mary Ellis crafted her hero and heroine as incredibly relate-able characters, flawed human beings who prove that even the Amish don’t have perfect relationships or marriages.
Each character had their own personality and purpose in the novel, which means that there’s bound to be at least one character that every reader can relate to.
If you need a little bit more realism in your Amish fiction, or just don’t want to read a happily-ever-after romance, then Living in Harmony is the book for you.

About the author:

Mary Ellis grew up near the Amish and fell in love with them. She has now written nine bestselling novels set in their communities. When not writing, she enjoys gardening, bicycling, and swimming. Before "retiring" to write full-time, Mary taught school and worked as a sales rep for Hershey Chocolate. Her debut Christian book, A Widow's Hope, was a finalist for the 2010 ACFW Carols and the Holt Medallion Award of Merit.

You can find Mary at these locations:
www.maryellis.net
blog: www.maryeellis.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mary-Ellis/126995058236

 ,

Creativity Runs in the Family

While I was at the ACFW conference, the fam back at home was having its own good time. Enjoy!!

Clash of the Titles Announces Judges

Clash of the Titles is proud to announce the round three judges for the Olympia Contest!

DEBORAH RANEY,
award-winning author of over 30 books

AMANDA LUEDEKE,
literary Agent of Macgregor Literary

STEVE HUTSON,
literary Agent of WordWise Media

Three privileged Olympia finalists will have their work read by the above judges. The winner will receive recognition on our site and a beautiful plaque similar to this one:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Olympia is currently OPEN for submissions.
If you're an unpublished author, don't miss out on this opportunity to get your work before these industry specialists!

Aspiring authors can visit our submissions guidelines for more information.

Please share the below button on your blog or website to help promote Christian Fiction.

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Delia's Heart (an interview with author Delia Latham)

Hi, Delia! Thank you for visiting and letting me pick your brain on this new book series of yours. Where did the idea for Heart’s Haven come from?

Dare I say it was God-sent?  :-)

Some ideas I have to almost scrape off my poor brain, cell by painful cell. But with Heart’s Haven, it was almost too easy. One moment, the idea wasn’t there, and the next, it was. True stuff!

I got this bright idea for White Rose Publishing to get in on the whole “collection” thing, kinda like Barbour does with their Christmas books. Didn’t want to copycat them, of course, but I thought we could maybe do something similar for Valentine’s Day. Once I arrived at that place in my mind, the Heart’s Haven idea was simply…born. I really don’t know how else to explain it. It was wonderful! (It has never happened to me in exactly that way before, but I sure hope it does again.)

I reached out to three other White Rose Publishing authors, hoping they’d be interested in going along for the ride, and they were. We each came up with our own story ideas, put together a combined proposal, zipped it off to our editor, and…the rest, as they say, is history.

What an awesome experience for a an author to have it all come together like that. I definitely relate more to the scraping ideas off my poor brain! This isn't the first time I've read supernatural elements in your stories and I gotta wonder...have you had personal experience with an angelic/spiritual presence?

I’ve had those odd moments when you just have to wonder…you know, the tingle down the spine, the inexplicable events that can’t be explained. But I’ve never actually seen an angel.

I do believe in them, absolutely and without a doubt. I believe we each have at least one—guarding us, guiding us, helping us get through the ups and downs and highs and lows of life.

Don’t believe it? Well, that’s your call, but please, don’t try to convince me to see things your way. I choose to believe. I want to. I need to believe in my angel.

I love it! Your faith is inspiring to me as it sometimes seems there are fewer Christians these days who believe that the spiritual realm interacts with us. Okay, so on to writing. What advice would you give to budding authors who have published a book and now ask, "What next?"?

Start writing your next one! That said, it’s so important to learn everything you can about marketing a book, because you should be doing that even before yours is released. If you don’t already have a platform of followers/fans, start building one—yesterday! Use as many social networking tools as you can efficiently handle, and work them. If you don’t have a website, get one. This will be crucial to your publicity, and if you can’t afford to have one done professionally, there are numerous free web hosting companies online. Webs.com is a good one. Above all, place your career in the hands of God and follow His lead. He sees the bumps in the road ahead that are not within your line of sight yet, and He knows how to guide you through, around, under or over them…whichever is best for your situation. Trust Him!

Do you have a favorite verse of scripture?

I actually have two, and it’s impossible for me to choose one over the other.

This first one is my daily plea, because I need a new, clean heart every day—and only God can keep my spirit right and steadfast!

Psalm 51:10—Create in me a clean heart, O God,And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

And this one I like to read every morning, because it reminds me where my mind should be channeled. :-)

Philippians 4:8— ⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Those are great! I've always encouraged my kids with Philippians 4:8, whenever they get the "Eeyore syndrome." It's one of my favorites for fighting off depression. Okay, not tell me what’s your favorite part of a day?

That first drink of Dr. Pepper of the day—whatever time of day that happens to happen. J It’s sensational! If I have to wait several hours after rising before I get my D.P. fix, I can actually feel the liquid sliding all…the…way…down. (((Sigh))) Like I said…sensational! LOL

Oh my sweet friend, you make me laugh! Now I know what to get you for Christmas! lol (You know, after I had my first child in November 1995, I actually did get a cube of Dr. Pepper under the tree. hehe) Thank you for visiting with me. You are such a treasure! Good luck and blessings on your recent release!

Delia's Bio:

Born and raised in Weedpatch, California, Delia Latham moved to Oklahoma in '08, making her a self-proclaimed California Okie. She loves to read and write in her country home, and gets a kick out of watching her husband play Farmer John. She's a Christian wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend, but especially loves being a princess daughter to the King of Kings. She loves Dr. Pepper and hearing from her readers. Contact her through her website (www.delialatham.net), send an e-mail, or “Like” her on Facebook.

Delia writes inspirational romance and women's fiction, and is currently contracted through White Rose Publishing and Vinspire Publishing.

The Tangled Tale of Hart’s Heaven…er, Heart’s Haven…

From the Column: Falls Facts & Foibles

by Belle Eyre

Angel Falls Trumpet/Staff Writer

Angels? Yes, of course! At least one per person…

Love? Well, rumor has it this place is some kind of mystical “gateway to romance.” No one who lives here is immune…and sometimes even visitors fall under its power, completely unprepared and often unwillingly.

Family legend? Oh, yeah. And a beautiful little quote to keep it living on and on forever.

All that, in one little rental complex, nestled in the shadow of the Angelina National Forest in East Texas? Absolutely—if the rental complex in question is Heart’s Haven.

The place is owned by landlord Andrew Hart. (He doesn’t like cameras, but think Clint Eastwood in his more mature days.) He’s a crusty old bachelor, not big on conversation, but some folks believe he does speak with angels. While Hart doesn’t bother to so much as acknowledge those whispered rumors, neither does he deny them. And more than one reliable witness has seen the man talking to…well, nobody!

Hart lives in a huge old manor that fronts the property. When his grandparents opened a boardinghouse there, back in the 1800s, it was known as Hart House. Andrew and Lily Hart did well at the business, and Lily made the best chicken pot pie—to say nothing of her apple pies!—for miles around. Yet, not a bachelor in the area would allow himself to be tempted by the lady’s culinary expertise, because it seemed every time a man stepped through the door of Hart House, he came back out with a gal on his arm. Truth, folks!

Lily lovingly stitched a tapestry—it still hangs in the big house—with the words, “May love find all who enter here.” The current Andrew had those words carved into lovely wooden signs that hang over the trellised gate of all eight rental cottages. And even today, they seem to have some kind of…I don’t know…love magic? Seriously. Most of the tenants do fall in love while living there—and quite often, they fall for each other. (Good thing most of them aren’t aware of the Heart’s Haven legend before they move in! Chances are, those lovely little apartments would sit empty a great deal of the time. Now that would be doggone shame…!)

Oh, and about the name of this place. You see, Andrew Hart meant to name his little rental community Hart’s Heaven. His name, and his opinion about the heavenly beauty of the area—to say nothing of his stunningly beautiful flower gardens. But when he called someone out to carve the big sign that hangs out front, next to the main highway leading into Angel Falls, something (Someone?) must have had other ideas. You see, the sign maker turned up three sheets to wind, and put the ‘e’ in the wrong word. The result was Heart’s Haven, and old Hart—frustrated and completely out of sorts—never bothered to have it changed.

That’s how four men and four women came to be living in a place called Heart’s Haven. Of course, we can’t let their stories go untold. You can watch them all fall in love, despite themselves, starting October 10^th with Jewels for the Kingdom. Here’s the line-up, for you romance lovers:

            October 10^th—Jewels for the Kingdom (by Delia Latham)
            November 9^th—Operation Breathless (by Marianne Evans)

            December 12^th—Leap of Faith (by Tanya Stowe)

            January 18^th—Dance with Me (by Mary Manners)

In the meantime, it seems old Hart has placed another ad in the Angel Falls Trumpet. With his eight tenants almost certainly becoming just four couples, it looks like he’s going to have some empty cabins pretty soon. They’re inexpensive, spotlessly clean, very comfortable…and tenants are almost guaranteed to never again feel lonely.

Want a tour? I’ll be happy to show you around. Just remember, sometimes the romance touches visitors too…

 Here we are at the first cabin, which just happens to house the newest Heart’s Haven tenant, Pia Peretti. Think she’ll invite us in?

Knock, knock…

Blurb from Jewels for the Kingdom:

Pia Peretti’s past could destroy her future. Thanks to her pre-Christian lifestyle, she can’t marry a believer, and she won’t marry a non-believer. Minister David Myers wants to help Pia release her guilt and trust that God has forgiven her...but the young minister is working through his own trial of faith.

After a failed counseling session with a wounded soul, David's confidence is shaken. He accepts a new pastorate, and moves to Angel Falls to find a haven for his wounded heart.

Is it possible these two hurting hearts are meant to mend each other’s brokenness with some divine intervention?

Come back tomorrow to visit with author Delia Latham!