GREAT SUMMER READS COUNTDOWN - DAY 5

E. C. Jackson began her writing career with the full-length play Pajama Party. For three and a half years she published the Confidence in Life newsletter for Alpha Production Ministries, in addition to writing tracts and devotionals. 

Teaching a women’s Bible study at her church for eleven years naturally led to her current endeavor of writing inspirational romance novels and teen and young adult fiction. Her mission: spiritual maturity in the body of Christ through fiction.

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Love at first sight. It’s every girl’s dream. 

But Tara Simpkins is finding out it’s not as easy as it seems. Is this truly the man God sent to be her husband, or is she just desperate to escape her loneliness? The recent loss of both parents has left her reeling, and close friends don’t think she’s in any position to make major life decisions. 

She and her new-found love are convinced they can live happily ever after in the home of their dreams. His family thinks he’s moving way too fast and might disappoint the kind-hearted woman he’s fallen head over heels for. And then there’s Leah. Leah is supposed to be part of his past, but what if she decides she’s his future? 

Tara’s match made in Heaven may be over before it truly begins.

~ Universal Amazon Link ~ 

Snippet:

Her whispery
voice sounded breathless.

“Andy . . .”

It happened in a
snap. The man’s titillating smile vanished.

Tara struggled to
sit up in bed. Wide awake, she sighed into the silence. Confusion settled
around her. Her hands slid up and down her arms. She stared around the darkened
room.

“It was a dream
all along. Life, please, imitate my dreams.” 

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GREAT SUMMER READS COUNTDOWN - DAY 4

Through a crazy twist of fate, Caroline Clemmons
was not born on a Texas ranch. To compensate for this illogical error, she
writes about handsome cowboys, feisty ranch women, and scheming villains in a
tiny office her family calls her pink cave. She and her Hero live in North
Central Texas cowboy country where they ride herd on their three rescued indoor
cats as well as providing nourishment outdoors for squirrels, birds, four feral
cats, a fox, a raccoon, and two possums. 

The books she creates in her pink cave have made her an Amazon bestselling
author and won several awards. She writes sweet to sensual romances about the
West, both historical and contemporary as well as time travel and mystery. Her
series include the Kincaids, McClintocks, Stone Mountain Texas, Bride Brigade,
Texas Time Travel, Texas Caprock Tales, Pearson Grove, and Loving A Rancher as
well as numerous single titles and contributions to multi-author sets. When
she’s not writing, she loves spending time with her family, reading her friends’
books, lunching with friends, browsing antique malls, checking Facebook, and
taking the occasional nap.

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A destitute widow; a reformed con man;
the danger that links them…

Betsie Galloway Hirsch has escaped
Memphis with her son. Her gambling husband tricked the wrong people and they’re
demanding Betsie pay his debts—or else. She’s come to Kincaid Springs to stay
with her mother and seek a safe place for her son. Being so far from her former
home, she feels secure. That is, until danger confronts her.

After 34 years alone, Michael “Monk”
Magonagle is falling in love with Betsie and is fond of her son. Monk is
certain she is not free of the men her late husband cheated. Although he is not
a violent man by nature, Monk is willing to fight for Betsie’s safety. He and
the men of the Kincaid family prepare to meet the enemy.

How can Betsie and Liam be protected
from the approaching danger? Will she and Monk be able to forge a love that
endures or will one of them be silenced forever? What toll will the enemy exact? 

  

~ Universal Amazon Link ~ 
   

Snippet:

They were at the Kincaid front
door. She hated their time together was over.

Monk put his hands on her
shoulders. “Betsie, may I kiss you goodnight?”

Inside she was yelling yes!, but
she pretended to be demure. She certainly didn’t want him to think she was a
hoyden. “I think that would be all right.”

He removed his hat and pulled her
into an embrace. She’d thought he meant a kiss on the cheek, but that wasn’t
the case. His lips sought hers softly at first, then as if he would consume
her. Without conscious thought her arms went around him, pulling him closer.

When he broke the kiss, it was as
if she’d been deprived of a part of herself. Each of them panted with ragged
breaths. He held her a few minutes longer, his forehead against hers.

“I apologize for getting carried
away.”

“Please don’t. I was hanging on to
you as if I was drowning and you were a life preserver.”

He brushed an errant curl from her
face. “Then you’re not sorry?”

“Not a bit. I have to admit I was
carried away, too. Perhaps it’s not proper to admit, but I enjoyed your
kisses.”

Her admission brought a wide smile
to his face. “Goodnight, Betsie. I’ll be by to escort you to Mass in the
morning. I hope I may call again soon.”

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GREAT SUMMER READS COUNTDOWN - DAY 3

My name is Robyn Echols. Zina Abbott is the pen I use for my historical novels. I’m a member of Women Writing the West and Western Writers of America. I currently live with my husband in California’s central valley near the “Gateway to Yosemite.”


I love to read, quilt, work with digital images on my photo editing program, and work on my own family history.


I am a blogger. In addition to my own blog, I blog for several group blogs including the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog, which I started and administer.

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Will Virginia’s chosen vocation
fill the empty spaces in her heart?

It is 1858. With both parents dead,
Virginia Atwell lives with her older brother, Jefferson, and his family in
Booneville, Missouri. Under the pseudonym, V. A. Wellington, she secretly has
been submitting articles to a well-respected investigative journal about
controversial topics. To her dismay, she learns her family plans to buy new
farmland in the wilds of central Kansas Territory, making it almost impossible
for her to continue her clandestine article submissions. More importantly,
Virginia is terrified of the prospect of living so close to hostile Indian
tribes and dying by their hands because they resent white Americans moving onto
their traditional buffalo hunting grounds.

Virginia persuades her brothers to
give her a share of their parents’ inheritance so she may attend one of the few
colleges in Ohio that accepts female students. There, she finds Avery Wilson,
one of her professors and fellow boarder at Bettina Calloway’s boarding house,
resentful of female students, conceited and annoying, especially after his
criticism and resentment directed towards the author, V. A. Wellington, whose
articles are published while his submissions are rejected.

Virginia’s publisher insists V. A.
Wellington meet with him in person in St. Louis to discuss a new assignment.
When her landlady insists she cannot travel alone, Avery, curious about
Virginia’s secretive meeting and unable to resist his growing attraction to the
irritating but brilliant student, offers to escort her.

Once the editor discovers his star
contributor is a woman, he refuses to send her to write about conditions on the
Kaw reservation and the proposed treaty the government intends to impose on the
natives. Hoping to favorably impress the editor, Avery offers to pose as
Virginia’s fiancé in order to accompany and protect her on her assignment. Her
heart goes out to the Kaw, but what can fill the empty spaces of her heart?

Virginia’s
Vocation is also part of the author’s Atwell Kin series

~ Universal Amazon Link ~ 
  

Snippet:

…He
then turned to face her while shaking his head in resignation. “All right. Go
try on a few pair to see which fit best. Just be aware, we will expect you to
put those gloves to good use.”

            Of
course. Virginia could not help the
disgruntled directions of her thoughts. Anything
to further the achievement of your goals for the future. If you knew
mine, you would laugh them into the ground.

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GREAT SUMMER READS COUNTDOWN - DAY 2

I am a children’s author, but up until a few years ago, I was a journalist and editor. Something rather unexpected sparked my new career as an author—a family trip to Egypt with my mother and two young nephews. We had a great time and I thought I’d write them a short story as a different kind of souvenir…. Well, one book and a planned book series later, I had changed careers. I have now published Book 3 (The Temple of the Crystal Timekeeper) in my MG adventure series Chronicles of the Stone, with many awards for the first book, The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, and a few for Book 2, The Search for the Stone of Excalibur, and one already for Book 3! I also teach online novel writing for aspiring authors and I find that very satisfying. Relaxation time finds me enjoying something creative or artistic, music, books, theatre or ballet. I love doing research for my book series. I love animals and have written two animal rescue stories. I have two adorable (naughty) little dogs called Chloe and Pumpkin, and a beautiful black cat called Bertie.

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 A
5000-year-old mystery comes to life when a scruffy peddler gives Adam and
Justin Sinclair an old Egyptian scarab on their very first day in Egypt. Only
when the evil Dr. Faisal Khalid shows a particular interest in the cousins and
their scarab, do the boys realise they are in terrible danger. 


Justin and Adam
embark upon the adventure of a lifetime, taking them down the Nile and across
the harsh desert in their search for the legendary tomb of the Scarab King, an
ancient Egyptian ruler. They are plunged into a whirlpool of hazardous and
mysterious events when Dr. Khalid kidnaps them.  With
just their wits, courage, and each other, the boys manage to survive … only to
find that the end of one journey is the beginning of another! 

 This is a must-read for Middle Graders keen on action, adventure, and
Arthurian stories! 

Cousins Adam and Justin Sinclair are
hot on the trail of the second Stone of Power, one of seven ancient stones lost
centuries ago. This stone might be embedded in the hilt of a newly discovered
sword that archeologists believe belonged to King Arthur: Excalibur. 

However,
their long-standing enemy, Dr. Khalid, is following them as they travel to
Scotland to investigate an old castle. Little do they know there is another
deadly force, the Eaters of Poison, who have their own mission to complete.
Time is running out as the confluence of the planets draws closer. Can Justin
and Adam find the second Stone of Power and survive? 

A plane
crash! Lost in the Mexican jungle! Will Adam, Justin, and Kim survive long
enough to find the Third Stone of Power?

With
only a young boy, Tukum, as their guide, the kids make their way through the
dense and dangerous jungle to find the lost city of stone gods, where the Stone
of Power might be located. River rafting on a crocodile-infested river and
evading predators are just part of this hazardous task.

Of
course, their old adversary Dr. Khalid is close behind as the kids press on.
But he is not the worst of their problems. This time Adam will clash with a terrible
enemy who adopts the persona of an evil Aztec god, Tezcatlipoca, and is keen to
revive the ancient tradition of human sacrifice.  Will they emerge
alive from the jungle? Will Dr. Khalid find the third Stone of Power before
they do?

~ Book 1 Universal Link ~ 
~ Book 2 Universal Link ~ 

~ Book 3 Universal Link ~

   

Snippet From Book 1:

The snake jerked at the sound of his
voice. It glided closer to the stone sarcophagus. Adam lay back on the pile of
smelly bones and closed his eyes to half-slits. He looked up at the ceiling
where the painted cobra shimmered.

I can’t believe this is happening. I
know it’s after me.

The slithering, scraping sound grew
louder. Then directly in front of him, just at the edge of the stone
sarcophagus, the forked tongue whipping back and forth came into view followed
by the loathsome head, which reared up, its hood spread wide. Then the snake
opened its monstrous jaws, revealing wicked fangs. A clear drop of deadly
poison, glistening like a pearl, trembled on the end of each fang. The reptile
made a hideous hissing as it stared into the stone coffin, hunting for its
prey, waiting for the tiniest movement that would betray his presence. Adam
closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look into the snake’s gleaming black
orbs.

I’m finished, he thought, sliding his hand into his
pocket and feeling the scarab. Somehow, just holding it made him feel calmer.

Then Justin called softly, “I know
how I can distract it.

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GREAT SUMMER READS COUNTDOWN - DAY 1

An avid gardener, artist, musician and writer, Emily-Jane Hills Orford has fond memories and lots of stories that evolved from a childhood growing up in a haunted Victorian mansion. Told she had a ‘vivid imagination’, the author used this talent to create stories in her head to pass tedious hours while sick, waiting in a doctor’s office, listening to a teacher drone on about something she already knew, or enduring the long, stuffy family car rides. The author lived her stories in her head, allowing her imagination to lead her into a different world, one of her own making. 


As the author grew up, these stories, imaginings and fantasies took to the written form and, over the years, she developed a reputation for telling a good story. Emily-Jane can now boast that she is an award-winning author of several books, including Mrs. Murray’s Ghost (Telltale Publishing 2018), Queen Mary’s Daughter (Clean Reads 2018), Gerlinda (CFA 2016) which received an Honorable Mention in the 2016 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, To Be a Duke (CFA 2014) which was named Finalist and Silver Medalist in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and received an Honorable Mention in the 2015 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards and several other books. A retired teacher of music and creative writing, she writes about the extra-ordinary in life and the fantasies of dreams combined with memories. 

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There is a hidden treasure in the
grand old mansion on Piccadilly Street, in a place called London, but not the
real London of English fame. There’s also a lot of mystery and a murder that’s
been unsolved for decades. But it’s the treasure that captures Mary’s interest.

Mary lives in this house along with her family, her Brownie friends and a
ghost. When the ghost reveals her secret about the hidden treasure, there’s no
stopping Mary, her Brownie friends, or her enemies to searching for this
treasure. 

Why the intrigue? Apparently there’s a little bit of magic connected
with this treasure. And so the adventure begins. 

Who will find the treasure
first?

  

~ Universal Amazon Link ~ 
  

Snippet:

Once the house
settled down for the night, Mrs. Murray, the resident ghost, was out on her
nocturnal prowl. Satisfied that the house was safe and secure for the night,
after all the musical vibrations that shook the rafters earlier, she took her
place at the end of Mary’s bed and waited patiently for the girl to stir from
her sleep and take note of her presence.

            “What?”
Mary groaned, pulling her eyes open as she emerged from a deep sleep. “What
now?”

            “We
need to talk.” The wispy figure of what was once a very distinguished looking
lady, sat down at the end of Mary’s bed and looked the girl firmly in the eye.

            “Now?”
Mary groaned. “It’s the middle of the night. What time is it?”

            “What
difference does it make? Sit up and let’s talk.” The ghost was not going to
take ‘no’ for an answer. And, it would appear, feigning sleep would not send
her away either. So, Mary pushed herself into a sitting position and rubbed her
eyes again, hoping to eradicate the sleep that threatened to make them close.

            “Where
are the others? Where’s Brunny?” she asked.

            “Asleep
in their little space. And it’s not a natural sleep either. They’re all in the
deepest of sleeps, all except Elizabeth, who slipped out of the house a few
hours ago, just after the lights went out and your family snuggled in for the
night.” Mrs. Murray slid a little closer to Mary. “She’s still not right, that
Elizabeth. She’s good and well shackled by that witch.”

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