From City to Country, Beverly Varnado Lives Her Best Creative Life

 This week, we welcome Beverly Varnado to The Diamond Mine. Here is her official introduction:

Award winning Southern writer, Beverly Varnado, is a novelist, screenwriter, and blogger who writes to give readers hope in the redemptive purposes of God.

She has written a nonfiction memoir as well as several novels and screenplays, one of which was a finalist for the prestigious Kairos Prize in Screenwriting. The novella, A Season for Everything, is the third work in a series set in Worthville, Georgia. Previous novels set there are A Key to Everything and A Plan for Everything. Her work is also included in several anthologies and periodicals. As an artist, her work was recently chosen for exhibit at a State University.

She lives in Georgia with her husband, Jerry, and their chocolate Aussiedor who is outnumbered by several cats. Beverly is Mom to three children and Mimi to two grandchildren.

Readers may find me at One Ringing Bell, peals of words on faith, living, writing, and art at oneringingbell.blogspot.com. 

Also at www.BeverlyVarnado.com , on my Facebook author page https://www.facebook.com/BeverlyVarnadoAuthor, Twitter @VarnadoBeverly, or @ Beverly Varnado on Instagram. 

SW: Thank you for joining us, Beverly, we’re so grateful to have you stop in this week this week and share more about yourself. Let's get started with a couple “would you rather” questions.

Would you rather write in a rooftop garden surrounded by city noises — or in a quiet studio with cows as your neighbors? 

BV: I’m conflicted on that one, because I like both. In another career I spent much time in New York City, and I love the hustle and bustle and somehow can tune it out when necessary. But currently, my husband is pastor of a rural church which is surrounded by pastures and many cows and I love the setting. It’s a toss up.

SW: There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to either setting. Would you rather read a book with no page numbers or no chapter numbers?

BV: I think I could live with no chapter numbers, bit I’d have to have page numbers. 

SW: I agree with you. Alright, that’s enough of those. Tell us a little about you—family, hobbies, day job, or whatever you’d like to share that’s not in your bio. 

BV: I spend much time writing and painting in a little studio in our backyard.  I have also been a church musician since I was twelve years old, so the piano is big for me, and I sing with a symphony chorus.

For many years, my husband and I were involved in prison ministry, and we’ve traveled internationally on mission trips.

SW: You have a lot on your hands, but doing what you find joy in sure makes it all worthwhile, doesn't it? What are three books on your tbr?  

BV: My interests are varied. I’m looking forward to reading Ann Voskamp’s new book, Waymaker, a biography of Winston Churchill, and rereading Elizabeth Mussers’s classic, Swan House.

SW: I'm a fan of Elizabeth Musser. What does your writing space look like? 

BV: Though I have an office inside in a lovely sunroom, when the weather permits, I do prefer to be in my little studio in the backyard. I need ventilation when I paint so it works perfectly for that, and when I write, I have fewer interruptions. Here are a few shots.  My blog is called One Ringing Bell, so I love that vintage bell given to me by a neighbor. 

SW: What an inspiring space! Thank you for sharing the photos with us. Would you share with us a little about your road to publication?

BV: My passion for writing began at eight when I published my first magazine, which I sold door to door for a nickel. I also received a long awaited present of a journal for my birthday that year. The magazine folded in the first week, but the journal writing continues to the present day. 

So, though I’ve written since I was a child, it wasn’t until about twenty years ago, I began to sense God wanted me to devote more time to my writing and seek publication. I initially worked in non-fiction, but God led me to write a novel, which at the time, felt a bit like walking on water since I had always thought of writing fiction as doing the impossible. But somehow, through a lot of prayer and God’s help, I did it. 

I won a book deal in a writing competition for Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees, which was a semi-finalist for Jerry Jenkin’s Operation First Novel. My script for this story was a Kairos Prize finalist and was optioned for a film. I then indie-published Home to Currahee―a novel I wanted to dedicate to my father. He was in declining health, but blessedly, he saw it in print a short time before he died. Five years ago, a publisher contracted for a non-fiction book, Faith in the Fashion District, and at the same time I received a contract from Anaiah Press for The Key to Everything followed by A Plan for Everything and then the Christmas novella, A Season for Everything. I also have a blog, One Ringing Bell which has over 1000 posts, and I write for various print and online publications, as well.

SW: I love hearing how God led people to where they are in their writing journeys. Tell us more about your latest release.

BV: It is a Christmas novella, a sequel to the two other small town romances set in Worthville, Georgia that are  mentioned above. During these challenging times, I hope the readers of A Season for Everything take away hope and joy. My characters, Catherine and Collin, have recently faced major difficulties and wrestle with finding a new season in their life. The world is in such an upheaval at present, it’s sometimes difficult to imagine that life can look differently than it does now, but we have to keep up our hope. 

SW: Wonderful. Readers, there is more about A Season for Everything below. Which of your male characters (including works in progress) would you most like to go on a date with and which of them would you most like as your best friend?

BV: Most of my lead characters have at least one trait from my husband in each one, and he is also my best friend, so I don’t think I can answer that tricky question. 

SW: What are you currently working on?

BV: I’ve just finished an historical young reader that is under consideration and I’m also halfway through another romantic comedy that is a sequel to the Worthville smalltown romances. 

SW: We appreciate you taking time to share with us. Before we leave, how can we pray for you?

BV: Thank you for asking. Please pray that I would be faithful to use all that God has given me for His glory. 

Despite the glowing gas lights, festive wreaths, and holiday cheer that covers the town of Worthville, Catherine Todd is far from being in the Christmas spirit. She continues to wrestle with the losses that shattered her heart two years earlier, and while shopping for her kids, her overreaction to a disappointment confirms what she already knows―she’s stuck in her grief.

Children’s book author Collin Donnelly shows up in Worthville for a signing, but when an abrupt first interaction with local resident, Catherine, doesn’t go well, he wonders if he made a mistake coming to this small town. Eager to make amends, he soon learns they share a common interest in birding, and he invites her on an adventure that turns out to be filled with unexpected wonder for both of them. 

They soon find themselves working together to save an endangered bird, and the more time they spend together, the more Catherine is drawn to Collin. But there are forces mounting against them having a relationship, including Catherine’s reluctance to embrace the future, a difficult secret in Collin’s past, and an alliance Collin has with his agent, who clearly doesn’t want to remain his former girlfriend. 

Can they trust that, through God, there really is a season for everything?

Purchase your copy or any of Beverly's other books at AMAZON.

Marriage, Melodies, and Rewritten Conclusions Spotlight and International Giveaway!

Kaylee McGrurd feels like life has left her behind. Her best friends have all moved out, married, or are in the process of matrimony. Meanwhile, she's lost another job, and her daily diet consists of noodles that are better suited as packing material.

Then Kaylee's ex, Gabe Sanders, enters the equation.

Gabe walked out on Kaylee without warning or explanation nine years earlier, but now he's been brought back to the area for the unforeseen future. And he's in need of a new lead vocalist for his wedding band.

A dwindling account balance calls for desperate measures, and Kaylee reluctantly accepts Gabe's offer. While the former couple works together in the midst of happy marriages and heartfelt melodies, secrets and the need for forgiveness highlight the strife between them...and the hope that maybe God's rewriting the conclusion to their story.

Read a sample HERE!

Available now from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, and WhiteFire Publishing's READ Store!

Find Marriage, Melodies, and Rewritten Conclusions on Goodreads and BookBub!

Interview Question ~

"What message do you hope to convey to your readers?"

I like to ask this question when I interview other authors, so I wanted to share my own answer in light of Marriage, Melodies, and Rewritten Conclusions' release this week!

With all of my stories, I hope readers enjoy the story and cackle with glee! However, my deepest hope is always that God blesses readers through my stories. It's my hope that readers see how completely God's mercy, grace, and forgiveness breaks the chains of shame and past sin. It's my hope that readers experience how the wondrous gift of unconditional love sings of God's freedom. It's my hope that readers see how God's love can rewrite the conclusion to any story that we're living.

This is what I hope is conveyed to the readers of Marriage, Melodies, and Rewritten Conclusions!

Giveaway ~ 

I'm giving away one Marriage, Melodies, and Rewritten Conclusions Ebook! 

Rules, Info, and Such ~ 

1. This is an international giveaway. Void where prohibited by law or logistics. 

2. This giveaway will close on 11/26/20 at 12:00 AM.

3. Winner will be chosen within four days of the close of the giveaway. If the winner does not respond to our e-mails within one week of notification, then a new winner will be drawn in their place.

May the odds be ever in your favor. ;-)

Enter via the handy Rafflecopter here ~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

See you next time, and God bless you guys!!!

Hugs!

~V. Joy Palmer

V. Joy Palmer loves to write romantic and comedic stories that proclaim God’s deep love for us. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and an avid blogger. In her spare time, Joy loves to sing (especially Disney songs), drink large quantities of coffee, and take flowery photos for Bookstagram. When Joy isn’t fighting with fictional people, she’s hanging out with her husband and their adorable little girl. Connect with Joy via www.vjoypalmer.com!

Connect with Joy on her website, personal blog, devotional blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads, and Amazon Author Page!

Any questions? Check out my Disclosures and Policies Page!

Author Interview and Giveaway with Bethany Turner!

Hi guys! V. Joy Palmer here! Since we are all friends here, you guys can call me Joy. ;-) And since we are all friends, one of my favorite things to do is talk with my friends at a charming coffee house. Bonus points if that coffee house has lots of books under its roof. Books and yummy drinks are the perfect combination, after all. So please consider this our virtual coffee house! I'll wait a second for you to get your warm drink and a fuzzy blanket before we chat with today's guest. :-)

We are going to pry into the private life chat with Bethany Turner, author of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck and Wooing Cadie McCaffrey! I've had the pleasure of helping to promote both of Bethany's wonderful books, and you can read my reviews here and here!

Get ready for some epicness!

Bethany Turner is the award-winning author of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck, which was a Christy Award finalist. When she's not writing (and even when she is), she serves as the director of administration for Rock Springs Church in Southwest Colorado. She lives with her husband and their two sons in Colorado, where she writes for a new generation of readers who crave fiction that tackles the thorny issues of life with humor and insight.

Connect with Bethany on her website, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! 

Interview ~

First things first, would you order coffee, tea, or hot chocolate in our virtual coffee house? Something else altogether? This is possibly the most important question... No pressure or anything, LOL! ;-) 

Coffee in the morning, iced tea in the afternoon. And chocolate all day long…but only in solid form!

You are speaking my language! LOL! On to our second most important question: if you could order anything in the world to eat, what would it be?

Oh my goodness, that’s a fabulous question. I had some fresh scallops in Cape Cod about five years ago and I’ve been thinking about them ever since, so I suppose that would be it! Although…one of my bucket list items is to have a chance to try the signature dish of a world-renowned chef, actually prepared by that chef. So if Gordon Ramsay is willing to cook me some beef Wellington, I guess I’ll take that over the scallops.

Surely Gordon Ramsay can make you some beef Wellington with a side of scallops! YUM! Where is your favorite place to write, and why is that your favorite place?

I have a small office space in my bedroom, and in addition to my desk and such, I have a recliner crammed in there. The recliner is my favorite. In the recliner, it doesn’t feel like work.

Recliners for the win! Confession time! Do you have an odd habit that is only explained by your bookish, writer tendencies? Safe space. ;-)

 I’m not sure that it’s a habit so much as a neurosis! I tend to write a lot of dialogue in my novels—primarily because I see them as movies in my mind—and when I’m deep into writing a story, dialogue tags tend to make their way into my mind during real life conversations.

“What are we having for dinner?” her teenaged son asked, his stomach growling.

“I thought we might order a pizza,” his mother replied, her guilt at having lost track of time manifesting itself as bribery.

That sort of thing. Thankfully it usually goes away when I’m not facing a deadline!

That. Is. Hilarious! LOVE IT! What inspired you to write Wooing Cadie McCaffrey?

 I was on a plane and there was this family in front of me—the husband with one of their children, right in front of me, and the wife with the other child, in the row in front of them. Every once in a while the parents would start to talk to each other, and then their attention was always pulled away by one of the kids. None of it was bad. It was just life. But a couple times I saw this look pass between the husband and wife. A look that somehow captured lifelong love and commitment, and an affection for the life they had built together, but it also somehow said, “We’ll find time for us again someday.” It was so real, and I knew I wanted to write the story of a couple for whom love is never the problem. The problem is life, and the struggle to carve out time for each other. It morphed and grew a lot from there, but that was the beginning.

That is such an awesome story nugget! My romantic heart is all mushy! *happy sigh* What led you to write in this genre?

The truth is I wrote the story that was on my heart with absolutely no consideration of what genre it fell into. That was The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck. I honestly knew very little about the Christian book market, and had no idea where that book would end up landing. But once I got in, I saw the need for more books like what I most loved to write anyway—books that perhaps can get away with going where some other books couldn’t or shouldn’t, because the journey is accompanied by laughter.

That is so awesome! I absolutely love that we are seeing more and more of these wonderful stories (like yours!!) appearing in the Christian Fiction market! What message do you hope to convey to your readers in Wooing Cadie McCaffrey?

That love is more than a feeling. Love is an action. Love takes effort. And I’m not just talking about the love between Cadie and Will—although…definitely. With Cadie and Will, their love for the other person was never in question, but they got complacent. And the same goes with each of their relationships with God. Their faith was secure, but they became as complacent in their faith, and in their relationships with God, as they became in their relationship with each other. Love is worth fighting for, and sometimes it’s not about fighting another person, or any outside source, really. Sometime the fight really happens within.

YES and AMEN to everything you said! Can you tell us a little about your next project?

 A very little bit! I just turned in the first draft of a story that will be published by Revell in 2020, and my manuscripts tend to get turned on their heads during edits. But it’s the story of two polar-opposite celebrity chefs who share a very public, very career-altering heated exchange, and then are forced to play nice with each other down the road. I look forward to sharing more soon!

Man, I need a time machine because I am SO EXCITED FOR THIS STORY!!!! Ahem. Sorry...I'm just...um, very excited... ;-) Do you have a favorite Bible verse or story that inspires you on a soul level?

Ephesians 3:20. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Time after time I have thought I knew what needed to happen. I thought I had the plan all sorted out. But then God did what He knew was best, and He has a way of blowing all of my feeble dreams out of the water.

Love this truth! <3 What are you currently reading? Inquiring minds -- mine -- want to know! LOL! ;-)

I have a couple reads going. I’m just starting to dive in to Lincee Ray’s new release, It’s a Love Story. That girl is hilarious, and speaks such truth! And then I’m listening to the audiobook of Fosse, which is an in-depth biography of the dancer/choreographer/director Bob Fosse.

Those sound like awesome reads! *adds more books to the TBR that would take Methuselah a couple lifetimes to read* 

Thank you so much for hanging out with us and for answering all of my prying questions, Bethany!

Giveaway ~

Bethany has generously offered one paperback copy of Wooing Cadie McCaffrey to one worldwide winner!

"Romantics everywhere will sigh happily at the perfect ending."--Colleen Coble, USA Today bestselling author

After four years with her boyfriend, Cadie McCaffrey is thinking of ending things. Convinced Will doesn't love her in the "forever" way she loves him, Cadie believes it's time for her to let him go before life passes her by. When a misunderstanding leads to a mistake, leaving her hurt, disappointed, and full of regret, she finally sends him packing.

But for Will, the end of their relationship is only the beginning of his quest to figure out how to be the man Cadie wanted him to be. With the dubious guidance of his former pro-athlete work friends and tactics drawn from Cadie's favorite romantic comedies, Will attempts to win her back. It's a foolproof plan. What could possibly go wrong?

"I've found my new go-to author for rom-com with heart."--Carla Laureano, RITA Award-winning author of The Saturday Night Supper Club and Brunch at Bittersweet Café

"A modern, messy love story not to be missed."--Nicole Deese, Carol Award-winning and RITA-nominated author

"Playfully fresh."--Rachel McMillan, author of the Van Buren and DeLuca series

Rules, Info, and Such ~

The author is giving away one paperback copy of Wooing Cadie McCaffrey! 

This giveaway is open worldwide!

This giveaway will close on August 28th, 2019, at 12:00 A.M. for all the night owls.

A winner will be drawn within four days of close of giveaway. If the winner does not respond to our e-mails within one week of notification, then a new winner will be drawn in their place.

May the odds be ever in your favor. ;-)

Enter using the handy Rafflecopter here ~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by, my writerly, bookish friends! <3 See you next time!

Hugs,

V. Joy Palmer 

V. Joy Palmer is the author of Love, Lace, and Minor Alterations and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She is also an avid blogger and co-founder of Snack Time Devotions. In her spare time, Joy is an unprofessional chocolate connoisseur/binger, and she loves acting crazy and drinking coffee with the teens she mentors. When Joy isn’t urging the elves that live in her computer to write, she’s hanging out with her husband, their adorable baby girl, and their socially awkward pets.

Connect with Joy on her website, personal blog, devotional blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Author Interview and GIVEAWAY with Mikal Dawn!!!

Hi guys! V. Joy Palmer here! Since we are all friends here, you guys can call me Joy. ; ) And since we are all friends, one of my favorite things to do is talk with my friends, family, the teens I mentor, and everyone else at coffee shops/bookstores. Books and yummy drinks are the perfect combination, after all. So, consider this our virtual coffee shop. I’ll wait a second for you to get your warm drink and a fuzzy blanket before we chat with today’s guest. ; )

Today, I am very excited for you guys to meet Mikal Dawn! I just started reading her debut novel, Count Me In. Loving it!!!

Mikal Dawn is an inspirational romance author, wedding enthusiast, and proud military wife. By day, she works as an administrative assistant for an international ministry, serves in her church’s library, runs her kids to all their sports, and drinks lots of coffee. By night, she talks to figments of her imagination as she attempts to write while dinner is burning. And drinks lots of coffee. When she isn’t writing about faith, fun, and forever, she is obsessively scouring Pinterest (with coffee in hand, of course!) for wedding ideas for her characters.
 

Originally from Vancouver, Canada, Mikal now lives in Nebraska with her husband, their three children, and one ferocious feline. Connect with Mikal on mikaldawn.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

INTERVIEW ~

Thank you so much for having me!!! I’m thrilled to be here! <3

 

Thank you, Mikal! I’m so excited to ask you a bunch of prying questions! LOL! First things first, would you order coffee, tea, or hot chocolate in our virtual coffee shop? Something else altogether? This is possibly the most important question…

 

I don’t think you could have started off with an easier question. If anyone knows anything about me whatsoever, they know the answer to this one: COFFEE! (It is lifeblood.)

It is! It so is! On to our second most important question, if you could order anything in the world to eat, what would it be?

 

Can this “anything” be calorie-free? And would I have to pay for it? Because I’m cheap, but I have expensive taste. Basically, my “anything” would be dessert. Specifically, the Fortress Stilt Fisherman Indulgence (at The Fortress Resort and Spa in Sri Lanka)—and at $14,500 per dessert, I would definitely need someone to buy it for me…but it comes with an 80-carat aquamarine! I might also have to order a Cro at Dum Dum Donutterie in London. It’s cheap by comparison at only £1,500, but ohmygoodness, it sounds divine!!! And to top it all off, because who doesn’t need coffee, I would order the £15 cappucino at the Emirates Palace Hotel.

 

Yes. I did Google. LOL!

 

I love how you wholeheartedly embraced the anything part! LOL! I hope those desserts are made from chocolate from Heaven! *looks up the desserts in new web tab and drools* I need to distract myself from this beautiful, haunting dessert… Where is your favorite place to write? And why is that your favorite place?

I actually prefer writing at my desk, but I don’t have a proper desk chair right now, so that leaves me to my couch. I tend to write with my back against the arm and my legs stretched out in front of me with my computer on my lap. As I am right at this moment. It’s just comfortable. 😊 But the day is coming when I will get my chair!! And I can’t wait.

 

Actually, the day is coming when my oldest gets married. As soon as he moves out, his bedroom will become my writing office. I plan on buying a chaise that I can sit in to write…and maybe read, too. 😉

 

I’ve been “suggesting” to my husband that we should get a chaise for the last few months. I totally get it. 😊 Do you have an odd habit that is only explained by your bookish, writer tendencies?

 

I refuse to answer this question on the grounds it might scare off readers!!! HA! But in all honesty, I probably have many! But I wouldn’t be able to tell you what’s odd but explained by my bookish, writer tendencies, and what’s odd just because. LOL! (My husband would just call me odd, period. No explanations whatsoever. But hey…he’s the one who asked me to marry him, so who’s the oddest?!) 

 

*snort* I’m inclined to agree with your logic. There’s no arguing with it. 😉 What inspired you to write Count Me In? 

A homework assignment. No, really! I was in an American Christian Fiction Writer’s course and the assignment was to write a sentence or two for different parts of a story (inciting incident, denouement, etc.). We were given a name and, I believe, an occupation. I wrote a few sentences to fulfill the assignment, had a couple of classmates email me saying they’d love to read it, and lo and behold! Count Me In was born.  

Such a fun story! I love how inspiration can strike in the most bizarre ways! What led you to write in this genre?

 

This is a pretty interesting question. I struggled quite a bit with writing inspirational romantic comedy. Not because I don’t love this genre—I do!—but because I had grand dreams of writing the stuff that would make readers cry, teach them deep lessons, and give them book hangovers. (Who doesn’t want to have a book hangover?!) Basically, the kind of story that will stay with a reader for a very long time, if not forever. So I fought. I started other stories and couldn’t finish them. I fought some more. And when the ACFW course happened, I met with some other authors at a coffee shop and told them how I was struggling. One, Jennifer Slattery—a fabulous author, if you haven’t read her novels!—punched me (she packs a hard punch for such a tiny woman!), and said (paraphrasing here) that readers need all kinds of books, from the deep, hard reads, to the light, funny escapes. She then went on to remind me that those who are in hard spots in life sometimes just need something to take their minds off what they’re going through. I felt such a sense of freedom at her words, like God was saying, “Yes! This is what I’ve been telling you, you stubborn child.”

 

I went on to write Count Me In, my first attempt at rom-com. 

 

 

I also write romantic comedy, so I really love the truth that God spoke to you. <3 SO TRUE! What message do you hope to convey to your readers?
 

Having said what I just did in the question above, there are takeaways in Count Me In. In that story, I want readers to examine how they think of fear and God and trusting the Lord. I struggle in that area in a big way, so writing the story was therapy for me. I have two characters who both have fears but approach it from different angles. But it all comes down to trusting the Lord. My prayer is that readers will be reminded that God is in every moment of their lives, that His perfect love casts out all fear. 

 

 

Yes. This. Love it. <3 Can you tell us a little about your next project?

I’ll admit that I’m struggling with writing at the moment. Up next is Story and Bo’s novel, and while I love the premise and characters, I’ve been having such a hard time writing it. So before I tell you about it, can I ask you all to pray for me, please? Writing is hard. Much harder than I ever thought, especially after a debut release and now having expectations. 😊

 

So, about Story and Bo. This is a very rough back cover copy! So rough, in fact, that I’m about to write it here for the first time. 😉 So here’s the (not final!) blurb for On the Edge:

 

A Cold Front Is Moving In…

 

Story Humphries has lived and loved the bohemian life. Never to stay in one place, her parents moved her around and touted the lifestyle as one of absolute freedom. Despite that, she found true love in figure skating, and no matter where they ended up, she always found a rink to fly across. Now, when she isn’t coaching, Story spends every minute practicing with her own coach with far-flung hopes of breaking back into competitive skating.

 

Bo Dixon has pushed and pushed to succeed, first as a left-wing in the NHL and then as a coach for his alma matter. But a coach’s job is never guaranteed and Bo goes back to Seattle, wishing he could take a slapshot to the face rather than see his ex-girlfriend again.

Story and Bo have a history off the ice. But with Bo’s unexpected return, it looks like they may have a future on the ice…whether they want it or not.

 

OHMYGOSH! There’s such a The Cutting Edge vibe. I love it!!! Count me in for this sequel! And yes, I did that on purpose. 😉 What is your favorite Bible verse or story that inspires you on a soul level?

 

Oh wow, there are so many!!! But I’ll narrow it down. Kind of. Ha!!

 

My first favorite is Hebrews 6:19a: “We have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul…”

I also LOVE Romans 8:38-39: For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Those both speak to me on a soul-deep level. The verse that inspires my writing, however, is Psalm 102:18: “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.” With instructions like that, how could I not write?

 

LOVE Romans 8:38-39 and I’m always finding awesome, new life verses in Psalms. Your writing verse is epic!!! So what are you currently reading? Inquiring minds (mine) want to know. 😉

 So. Many. Books. LOL!! Actually, I’m proud of myself: I only have two on the go right now! I’m re-reading Dead Reckoning by Ronie Kendig. It’s the first book of hers I ever read and the one that made me a perma-fan. The one I’m reading is actually her recently re-released version with some new scenes and other rewrites. It’s been a long while, so it’s like reading a brand-new book for me! I’m also reading Firstborn by Tosca Lee. This is The Progeny duology, and I ADORE IT. It isn’t normally my thing—the genre, the tense, and the point of view narrative—but the first book hooked me right from the first sentence, and this second book is no different. 😊

Oooo! I discovered Ronie Kendig this past year, and I have become a committed fan! And I’ve been jonesing to read Tosca Lee’s new books. *muffles squeal of bookish frustration*

Thank you so much for joining us today, Mikal! I know I’ve had a blast chatting with you!


GIVEAWAY ~


Mikal has generously offered to giveaway 1 Kindle copy of her novel, Count Me In.

 

 

 

Allegra Spencer has been living a careful life.  Her safe job as an accountant is bookended by going to church and the gym. Okay, sometimes the gym. Fine. She goes to church. And the coffee shop. She avoids risk at all cost, preferring to stay safe in her cozy condo. Until her accounting firm goes belly up and she's out of a job.

 

 

 Tyler Hawk had a glorious career as a star NFL tight end. He retired on a high note and now lives a second dream of owning his own business and leading others on extreme outdoor adventures. But he needs help with his books—and his heart. When Allegra takes the job, sparks fly. 

It’s a case of safety zone versus danger zone, and in their minds, never the two shall meet.

 

 

Buy it on Amazon!

 

Rules, Info, and Such ~


The author is giving away 1 Kindle copy of Count Me In. This giveaway is open worldwide, and it closes on August 30th, 2017, at 12:00 A.M. for all the night owls out there. 

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Enter using the handy Rafflecopter here ~


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for stopping by my writerly, bookish friends! <3 See you next time!

Hugs,

V. Joy Palmer