by Roseanna White | Nov 8, 2011 | Uncategorized
“Stunning in its depth and scope, Love’s Sacred Song is a story of love and
passion, faith and flaws that will haunt you forever. Mesu Andrews crafts characters that will capture your heart with prose that will stir your soul. Masterful.”
~ Roseanna M. White, author of
Jewel of Persia and
Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland
Yes, I’m quoting myself. 😉 That’s a recent endorsement I wrote for Mesu Andrews’s next Biblical love story, set to release in March of 2012. When I realized she had written a book based on Song of Solomon, I was intrigued. And when I began reading it, I was awed.
Young King Solomon knows he has been chosen by God to rule Israel–but how is he to live up to his father David? He is no shepherd-king, he is sure he lacks the strength of soul needed to be a good ruler. And so when God visits him in a dream, he requests wisdom . . . but it seems the wisdom is granted only for political matters, for Solomon cannot seem to understand matters of the heart.
Arielah, a shepherdess from Shunam, has known in her heart for years that she is destined to be Solomon’s wife, and already she loves the man she has never even met. When the northern tribes of Israel threaten an uprising following the shameful treatment of one of their own in the Judean palace, her wise father plans to make peace by offering her as a treaty bride to Solomon.
But can a humble shepherdess ever find a place in the harem of the king, especially when he has put his trust in traitors who hate her? And can a king renowned for wisdom ever learn how to love in the way of a common man?
I can say in all honesty that Arielah is one of my all-time favorite heroines. It’s tough to pull off a character who’s righteous and strong and still make her realistic, but Mesu Andrews does a fabulous job. Her little shepherdess sometimes lacks for confidence, sometimes knows fear, sometimes clings to anger–but the Lord remains always her beacon, and her love remains always strong. I LOVE THAT!! Conflict abounds on every page for lovely Arielah, and her story will twist and squeeze your heart and bring you to tears–yet deliver hope and victory.
Solomon made me want to smack him a few times, which is just as it should be. 😉 I loved how she balanced out the very fallible man with the very wise ruler–powerfully done.
Love’s Sacred Song takes its place among my favorites. If you love Biblical fiction, this book is a MUST. The love story will leave you breathless, the intrigue will have you biting your nails, and the faith of the heroine will inspire you to keep your hands always in the Lord’s.
by Roseanna White | Nov 7, 2011 | Word of the Week
I like the word “kid.” I use it with my children (do you know how hard it was for me to write that sentence without using the word “kid”? LOL), I use it for jests. It’s a standard part of my vocabulary. But I’ll never forget the substitute teacher in high school who said something about how his children were not young goats, so thank you not to use that word. And one of my critique partners recently caught me using it in the joking sense well before it would have been.
It seemed time to look it up. =)
“Kid” entered English with the meaning of “a young goat” round about 1200. It began being applied to children in 1590, though it was still slang at that point. It was accepted usage, however, by 1840 . . . and had in fact been a word used to describe skillful young thieves for 30 years before that. (One I didn’t know!)
The meaning of “playful tease” is from 1839 (which proves that it was a well accepted slang by then) and comes from the idea of “making a kid of, treating as a child.” Though those thieving youngsters used it to mean “coax, wheedle, hoax.”
So there you have it–a brief explanation of why we now kid our kids. 😉
On a side note, many of you know about the amazing author Sandi Rog and her battle with cancer this past year. If you haven’t heard yet about the fundraiser put together for her, please check it out at
www.FundraiserForSandiRog.blogspot.com. It’s a really fun raffle with lots of prize “baskets” you can bid on with your donations, and you’ll find two that I helped put together, one of which is featured on the blog now,
here. (The other isn’t up on the site yet, but keep tuned in for updates!)
Please check this out and tell all your friends about it–it’s not only a fun chance to win some great prizes, but most of all it’s a way to help a wonderful woman who needs your prayers and support.
by Roseanna White | Nov 4, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today I thought I’d try out the New Living Translation as we continue in our online study of I Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 4
1 So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. 2 Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful. 3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.
5 So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.
6 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures,[b] you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another. 7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
8 You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. 9 Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.
10 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. 11 Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. 12 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. 13 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.
14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. 16 So I urge you to imitate me.
17 That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. 19 But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. 20 For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. 21 Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?
by Roseanna White | Nov 3, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Yesterday was a fun day. After the first chunk of home school, the kids and I went to the market (not the fun part). When we pulled back in at the house, my hubby was out on the porch, inspecting three large boxes that must have been delivered while I was gone and he at work in his basement office.
Now, we get deliveries regularly. But those looked like book boxes, and I knew for a fact we hadn’t ordered any more books (though not long ago we got several similar-looking deliveries for our WhiteFire titles). So I yell to my hubby, “Is it
Annapolis??!!”
He looked up at me with that crooked smile that said, “Do I have x-ray vision all of a sudden?” and replied, “If I were to guess.”
Torn between frozens and the first glimpse of my book, I did what any author-woman would do. I asked David to pretty-please carry the books into the house and made a mad dash for the second (and last) load of groceries. Then promptly abandoned the food and dug the scissors out of the drawer.
Yeah, I was a little giddy as I opened it up, pulled out a mountain of white packing paper, and lifted my book out. The cover has a matte finish, just so ya know, and is even prettier than the online image. =) My biblicals both have glossy finishes, so at once this felt different. Not to mention the
Joy of being surprised with it–I always knew when my WhiteFire books were coming.
Reality took all of 30 seconds to intrude as my kids said, “Yeah, great, Mommy. Can we have lunch now?” LOL. And so the day went on. More school. Writing. Dishes. Ballet. Peeling wallpaper off the walls at our new church. The glamor. 😉 But I kept one of those books on the table beside me, rest assured!
On our way back in at 7 last night, as we were coming yet again onto our porch, Rowyn (who had announced himself afraid of the dark five minutes earlier in the church parking lot) told me, “I’m brave in the dark now, Mommy. The light helps me be brave in the dark.”
I laughed and made a note to post that one on Facebook. But it also really hit home. So often when we’re going through life, we feel like we’re in the dark. No idea where our path might take us, sometimes not even sure we’re on the right one. It’s scary. It’s hard. It can be discouraging.
But it’s crucial that we realize we’re not in full dark. Even when the night surrounds us, there’s always a lamp there to make sure we don’t stumble–so long as we stay in its protective circle.
I can’t tell you how many times on this journey to publication I’ve felt like I’m standing alone in a vast, dark parking lot, with nothing but an ocean of blackness around me. But the Lord has shone that porch light on me through the years, guiding me where I needed to go. And when I followed, he then led me to a warm, bright kitchen. Filled with books with my name on their covers. =)
I know the journey’s not over. I’ll have to go back out in the night. Have to worry with sales numbers and new projects. Scary stuff! But I intend to emulate my wee one in this, and be brave in the dark.
Thanks to the Light that shines through the blackest night.
by Roseanna White | Nov 2, 2011 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Last week a friend of mine from Colonial Quills made mention of “brick tea.” Now, I had no idea what in the world she was talking about. Until this arrived in the mail yesterday:
The moment I withdrew this brick from its bag, the scent of tea wafted up to me. My daughter, who runs to the kitchen the moment she senses a package being opened, rushed out just then, saw the brown-paper-wrapped block, and said, “What’s that?” My answer was to hold it out and say, “Smell.”
You should have seen her eyes light up with delight and disbelief as she squealed, “Tea?!”
Tea has been a staple of many societies for centuries. But loose leaf tea is hard to transport, so back in the days of the silk road in Asia, the Chinese discovered that if they use forms to press the tea into standard sized bricks, they can transport them with ease, and the tea lasts through the journey.
This became such a standard that tea bricks could be used as currency, and this was the way most tea was transported for hundreds of years, all the way into the 19th century. So the tea tossed into Boston Harbor during the Boston tea party? That was bricks.
Naturally, when something is used so long, for so many purposes, there comes to be a rhyme and reason to each part of it.
I don’t know if you can read the label on this, but if you do, you’ll find its “translation”–what each part of it means.
The front of this particular brick has details that let buyers know that this tea comes from a company managed by more than one person, and is manufactured by Enterprise Company Tea and the Chinese Lee family.
The back of the brick is separated into squares that can be used as currency. One square, for instance, might equal the price of a chicken
In addition to being brewed, the tea traditionally pressed into bricks can also be eaten. I don’t intend to try that, gotta say, but I am looking forward to separating some, putting it into my tea ball, and brewing myself a nice cup of fine black tea . . . with history.
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.