Book Review – For Such a Time as This by Ginny Aiken


Eli Whitman, president of the Bank of Bountiful has two problems – his children Luke and Miranda - they’re out of control. Olivia Moore has a problem. She’s been praying for a way to help her family through the drought that threatens to take everything her parents have worked for.
Releases in August, 2012
Eli and Olivia’s paths cross when Luke “borrows” a neighbor’s pig and chases it and several girls down Main Street. Olivia takes control of the situation perfectly. Could Olivia be the nanny that Eli needs? Could Eli be the answer to Miranda’s prayers? Perhaps God has a greater plan at work in throwing these two together.  Perhaps He has brought Olivia into the Whitman household for such a time as this.

Inspired by the biblical story of Esther author, Ginny Aiken writes a delightful story of love, healing and God working in our lives to bring about His greater purposes.

I loved this story! The characters were delightful from Cooky, the feisty cook and housekeeper in the Whitman home to the rambunctious Luke. Throw in the to-old-for-her-age, Miranda and Olivia Moore has her work cut out for her. The one thing she didn’t count on was the handsome, Eli Whitman.
This is the first book I’ve read by Ginny Aiken, but you can bet it won’t be my last!

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If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends using the Facebook, Twitter and other share buttons below. Thanks! (Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Used Book Nook - Crossroads Books and Coffee

In case you haven't guessed, one of my favorite places is Crossroads Books and Coffee. You'll often find me browsing through the used book nook for my favorite author's books at a great price.  Today I picked up the Nosy in Nebraska Trilogy by Mary Connealy for just $4.00! This is an older romance mystery series by Mary, who usually writes western Christian romance with lots of humor.

Used book nook at Crossroads Books and Coffee.
(That's the clearance table in the foreground - bargains!)

Book 1 - Of Mice and Murder
Book 2 - Pride and Pestilence
Book 3 - The Mice Man Cometh

Can't wait to read them, but they're gonna have to go on my too-be-read stack. Right now I'm reading "For Such A Time As This" by Ginny Aiken, which is scheduled to be released mid-August. Lovin' it so far.

(You might want to pre-order this one!)

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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Free Coffee - is there anything better?

Spent the morning blogging with the Fellowship of Christian Bloggers at Crossroads Books and Coffee. What a fun morning!

Look, I earned a free drink...



Guess that means I need to go back tomorrow to redeem it, right?


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If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends using the Facebook, Twitter and other share buttons below. Thanks! (Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

From Recovery to Freedom

Had fun with another One-Minute Writer prompt today.

Prompt was:

Have you ever been a member of a support group? If not, what type of support group do you think would benefit you?
I wrote:

Yes, but the problem with support groups is that according to them you are always in recovery. If I had an operation and they never let me out of recovery, I’d be miffed! I’d rather go to God and let Him set me free permanently, wouldn’t you?

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If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends using the Facebook, Twitter and other share buttons below. Thanks! (Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/

Loved Montana Rose!

Just finished reading Montana Rose by Mary Connealy. I can't get enough of this gal's writing! 


Montana Rose is my favorite so far. Of course, I say that about whichever of Mary's books I've just read, but honestly. I loved the main characters in this one. Cassie and Red Dawson are wonderfully created and I'll tell you what...if I met a man like Red Dawson, I'd fall head over heals in love with him. (If I weren't already married to the most wonderful man in the world, that is.) 

Do yourself a favor and pick up this book. It's the first in the Montana Marriages series and joy of joys, a little sweetheart named Carol sent me a surprise package, which arrived yesterday and guess what was in it...the next two books in the series - The Husband Tree and Wildflower Bride!

Seems like i'm doing more reading than writing these days (except on my blogs), but that's okay. I call it research. I mean, really...how can you become a good writer unless you read good writing?

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Thanks! (Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

2314 - Love that number!

The prompt for today on the One-Minute Writer was...

"Is there a number that holds special meaning for you?"

I set the timer for one minute and this is what came out...

2314 Howard Lane - That’s where I grew up. Grandpa built the house, lots of relatives have been in and out of that house. Loved the lilacs that bordered the property and the big old oak tree I'd climb and sit reading Trixie Belden books for hours.

How about you? What would you have written? Please feel free to leave a comment and share what you write.
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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Boobage

http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/
I love writing from prompts, so I'm always on the look-out for web sites that post them.  Today I visited The One-Minute Writer.

They post a daily prompt and even have a timer on the site that counts down the one minute for you.

Today's prompt was: Write about a wardrobe choice that leads you to make a snap judgment about the wearer.

My one-minute response was: Low-cut blouse, push-up bra.  What are you saying about yourself? Seriously, I don’t want to see those things. Keep them in your shirt. I’m much more apt to get to know you if I don’t have them staring me in the face!

It's amazing what will come out when you really don't have time to think about it.

 Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth (keyboard) speaks! (Luke 6:45)

What would you have written?

Feel free to post it in a comment below.

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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Writing perfectly the first time - NOT!

Cassie wanted to scream, Put down that shovel!

As if yelling at the red-headed gravedigger would bring Griff back to life. A gust of wind blew Cassie Griffin's dark hair across her face, blinding her.

For one sightless moment it was as if the wind showed her perfectly what the future held for her.

Darkness.
I picked up my brand new copy of Montana Rose by Mary Connealy and read the first few lines from chapter one. That's all it took - I'm hooked!

Immediately I thought, Wow, she writes so well. I could never write like this. (I often think like this when reading a really well-written book. Every word fits into place perfectly, every scene, every piece of dialogue, every chapter moves the story along. No filler, nothing to pull me away from the page and back into the real world.

But this morning I realized something amazing. The finished work I'm holding in my hand was not the way the book was originally written! (Duh)  There was a first draft, lots of editing, lots of cutting and lots of tweaking. There was probably a second draft, more editing, more tweaking and who knows, maybe even a third draft.  I don't think anyone can sit down and write a book perfectly the first time.

Now, this is something I should have realized a long time ago...and to tell the truth, I have read about the process of writing many, many times. I knew all about editing and revising, but this morning, it all clicked.

It's a process. One step at a time. I'll learn as I go. I'll develop my own "voice" and I'll edit and tweak until one day someone will pick up one of my novels and be hooked after reading just the first few lines.

It will happen!
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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

15 Habits of Great Writers Challenge

I'm participating in the 15 Habits of Great Writer's Challenge Just found out about it this evening and they're already on day 3, so I'm playing catch up.

Day 1 - Declare (that you are a writer).

Hey, I am a writer! I have a God-given ability to communicate through the written word, which also means that I have a responsibility to use that God-given talent for His glory.  So, there...I've said it...I am a writer!

Day 2 - Believe (that you're a writer) - I believe it. I really do! Oh, and the challenge says we have to get up

Day 3 - Uh, oh. I was supposed to get up 2 hours earlier this morning and WRITE. Hey, this is gettin' serious! I guess I'll just have to do that tomorrow morning.



Y'all better pray for me. I am NOT a morning person!

~Jan

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If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it with your friends using the Facebook, Twitter and other share buttons below. Thanks! (Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Sharpshooter in Petticoats Review

Just finished reading Sharpshooter in Petticoats by Mary Connealy. Loved it!

Once again Mary has created unique characters that jump right off the page and into your heart. Mandy (Lady Gray) is a fiesty little gal whose aim and speed with a Winchester would make a gunslinger green with envy, but she's on the right side of the law. Her only concern is keeping herself alive and protecting her children and those closest to her, even if that means she must never see them again.

Tom Linscott, a rugged rancher has his sites set on making Mandy his wife, but he'll have to scale a mountain, kidnap her children, help her find the gold and fight off a clan of no-account Cooters in the process.

Sharpshooter in Petticoats is the last in a series called Sophie's Daughters and a great stand alone book, but to get the whole story and hours of reading enjoyment, you'll want to go back to the beginning with Petticoat Ranch. You'll meet Sophie, Mandy's mother and her sisters, Beth and Sally when the girls were just little.

Lucky for you, the Lassoed in Texas series is now available as a trilogy - all three books in one volume, followed up by the recently released trilogy, Sophie's Daughters.

If you like it real, if you like it funny, if you like it exciting, these books are for you!

Happy Reading!



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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Taking back the garden!

Photo courtest  al71,
 rgbstock.com
It's 3:43 AM and I can't sleep, so of course, I'm on my computer. It's a great time to catch up on reading blogs that I follow. One of my favorites is Christian Blog Devotionals, written by Debra Torres. This morning's devotional was about the snakes in her garden and how they almost chased her out of the berry patch until she remembered the truth about dealing with things that frighten us.

She then drew an artful correlation between dealing with those snakes and dealing with Satan, the lies he tells us and how the truth of God will set us free from those lies and the fear they instill in us.

Debra tells it much better than I, so do yourself a favor and pop over to her blog and read this wonderfully written devotional. I loved it and I think you will, too, but while reading it, I thought of another analogy, so here I sit, in the wee hours of the morning blogging about snakes in the garden.

I'm with Deb. As much as I love strawberries, if I saw snakes in the berry patch, I'd probably want to run the other way and leave all those luscious strawberries to the snakes. What a shame that would be. I love strawberries!

It reminded me of when I first discovered the internet. I was intrigued by the fact that I could sit in my house and converse with someone halfway around the world. Someone I'd probably never meet in person. And I loved the fact that people seemed much more open to speaking freely about spiritual matters over the internet. I immediately saw the 'net as a tool to be used for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God with those who might never have heard it.

I almost couldn't contain my excitement. I remember gushing to my aunt about this new (to me) technology only to hear her say, "The internet is a tool of the devil and Christians should stay out of it."

I thought about that later. About how Christians tend to shy away from technology because them consider them "tools of the devil."  That's how folks thought about radio, television and movies  years ago. "Real" Christians didn't have them in their homes or visit the Cinema..

I wondered...if Christians had gotten involved from the very start and produced quality, family programing with godly values, would television and Hollywood look the same as it does today? I certainly can't argue that most of what the entertainment industry is cranking out these days reflects more of Satan's influence than God's influence, but why did we give this whole technology over to the secular world rather than recognize it as a means to effective evangelism.

That's how I see the internet. Sure it's riddled with pornography, scams and ungodly influence. The devil will invade the "garden" every chance he gets, but it's also ripe with Christian web sites, blogs and resources for those who are seeking the truth about God and those who want to share it. And it's bearing fruit. People are getting saved every day because someone shared the truth with them over the internet. Should we just turn it all over to the devil?

Snakes like a garden because it's easy to hide in the dark undergrowth of vines and leaves of the fruits and vegetables we plant. I say we stand our ground, weed our gardens to expose their dark hiding places, expose them to the light and chase them away. Then we can enjoy the fruits of our labors. We're not going to be frightened away.

There's a world out there that needs to know that God loves them. That He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for the sin that separates them from a relationship with their Heavenly Father. There are Christians around the world that need encouragement and support and there are believers who have been gifted with communication skills that need a way to use those skills to share the Good News with others.

We have it!

It's the internet. It's affordable and it reaches around the world in an instant. It's a great tool for ministering to others. It can be used to reach and teach those you may never meet and those who are closest to you.

Blogging is the easiest, least expensive way I know to share Christ with the world...and that's why I'm blogging in the middle of the night...well, that and the fact that I can't sleep.

If you would like to start a blog of your own, it's easy. Just hop on over to Blogger and start a free blog and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I love to help others share their faith over the internet.

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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)

Stretching Your Faith

Photo courtesy  Zela, rgbstock.com 
I read an excellent article by Rick Warren this morning on setting goals and how not setting a goal is really setting a goal by default. This part really spoke to me...

See how this works –
  • When I ask you what's your goal for your health in 2011? If you say, ‘I don't have one,’ then your goal is to stay the same.
  • When I ask you what's your goal in your relationships? If you say, ‘I don't have one,’ then your goal is for them not to get any better.
  • When I ask you what's your goal for your finances and getting out of debt? If you say, ‘I don't have one,’ then your goal is to stay in debt.
  • When I ask you what's your goal for your business career? If you say, ‘I don't have one,’ then your goal is to just drift along.

Pretty powerful, huh?

After reading this, I know I need to spend some time in prayer and set some goals for myself, because I believe God wants me to grow - to stretch my faith - to believe that He can take me further than I can ever imagine if I will just believe Him for bigger things. (Not talking about material things, here, but things that will help me to be all that He created me to be.)

One area I want to be sure to address is my writing. How about you? What are your writing goals for the second half of 2012?
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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)