by Roseanna White | Mar 1, 2011 | Uncategorized
I’m a little late posting today thanks to another round of sickness, but I figure y’all will enjoy hearing about this book, so I’ll offer a very informal review. =)
Love Amid the Ashes is the story of Job like you’ve never heard it before. In a wonderful glimpse at the true time line of the Old Testament and some logical deduction and a little imagination, Mesu weaves this story of trial and tribulation and faithfulness with that of another Biblical character we hear only a little about–Dinah, the violated daughter of Jacob, whose brothers slaughter a whole city on her behalf.
After the death of her beloved Grandfather Isaac, Dinah, always the outcast, finds herself promised in marriage to Job’s eldest son. But when Job’s world comes crashing down the very day they reach Uz, she finds herself drawn to the faith and compassion of this great man brought low–and caught in the web of desperate deceit of his wife, Sitis.
I’m not quite done yet, but I can tell you now that this is a book of amazing faith, unexpected love, and tender emotions that result in characters that feel incredibly realistic. Mesu does an expert job of painting a vivid setting, and the Old Testament comes to life under her expert hand.
I could go on–and probably will once I’m done, and well again (grrr, sickness!)–but for now let it suffice to say that this is Biblical novel I’m ecstatic to add to my shelf and an author I’m going to be watching closely. =)
by Roseanna White | Feb 28, 2011 | Word of the Week
Perhaps I ought to start with a pronunciation guide of this one, eh? š
Schadenfreude (SHAHD-en-FROY-de) is something we’ve all probably felt, and felt the sting of. Loosely defined, it’s a noun meaning ‘malicious satisfaction taken at the misfortune of others.’
When I discovered this word, I got quite a kick out of it, because a joke between David (then fiance) and my family was “It’s funny when it happens to somebody else.” Though schadenfreude is on the negative side of that, it was nevertheless a perfect one-word way to say the same thing. =)
There, see, you learned a fun new word today. (Unless you already knew it, but . . .)
Happy Monday, everyone!
by Roseanna White | Feb 25, 2011 | Uncategorized
Today I’m pleased to welcome Susan Page Davis to my blog to chat about some of her many new releases. She’ll be back this spring with another, but for now we’re going to focus on her 3-in-1 collection,
Alaska Weddings.
Susan has been generous enough to offer a copy of Alaska Weddings to one lucky reader, so please leave your comment below for a chance to enter, along with an email address where I can reach you if you win. And remember to click “Follow” if you haven’t already!
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About Alaska Weddings
Love comes looking for the Holland family of Alaska, but new challenges to their faith lie around every bend.
Secrets from the past and dangers involved in their duties as members of the Coast Guard threaten Caddie Lyle and Aven Hollandās budding romance. Is a longterm relationship possible when they struggle to have faith to get through today?
When Robyn Hollandās sled dog kennel is threatened by financial woes and theft, she turns to veterinarian Rick Baker for help. As she works to organize the Fire and Ice race, some of her best dogs are stolen. Will Robyn and Rick trust God to lead them to the answers they seek?
Widow Cheryl Holland thought sheād never love againāand certainly not someone as different from her as animal scientist Oz Thormond. But when he arrives as the new vet at the clinic where she works, she canāt deny her sudden interest in polar bear studies. But is this just a temporary magnetic attraction?
Will the chance for love be swallowed by wilderness dangers, or will God reveal a bright future in the last great frontier?
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About Susan
Susan Page Davis is the author of more than thirty published novels in the romance, historical, mystery and suspense genres. Sheās the mother of six and grandmother of six. A Maine native, she now lives in western Kentucky.
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What’s your latest book?
Alaska Weddings and Pieces of the Past both released in January. Alaska Weddings is a 3-book anthology from Barbour, featuring contemporary romances set in Alaska.
Pieces of the Past is a cozy mystery from Guideposts. Itās number 6 in the Patchwork Mysteries series, where each book is written by a different author.
How exciting to have so many releases to celebrate at once! But let’s focus on Alaska. =) What’s your favorite part of the story?
In Alaska Weddings, I love the part where Cheryl and Oz are off on a snowmobile observing polar bears, and they spot a huge bear closer than theyād realized. Did you know bears like ham sandwiches?
Hmm, can’t say as I did. Though I think I assumed they like ANY food, LOL. What was the hardest part to write?
The first story, Almost Ready, is about a young woman who is an officer is the Coast Guard. Since Iāve never served in the military, this was a challenge. But my brother, who was a career officer in the Coast Guard, helped me a lot. He also put me in touch with his former captain in Alaska and a friend still on active duty. Both answered a lot of my questions.
Ah, I love it when the connections are in place! Definitely makes that research easier. Is there any one thing or reference you keep handy when writing? Anything you kept around for this particular book?
For this book (actually three shorter books) I built quite a Library. Over and over I referred to The Civilianās Guide to the U.S. Military, the latest edition of The Coast Guardsmanās Manual, several books on dog sledding, several others on polar bears, and a multitude of general Alaska resources, including books, Alaska magazine, and my notes from my trip to Alaska. I also kept handy the email addresses and phone numbers of my āexpertsā who helped me so much on this book.
What are you writing right now?
Iām working on two historicalsā
Lady Anneās Quest is the second in my Prairie Dreams series, for Barbour. In it, an English noblewoman goes West in 1855 (yes, weāre talking wagon train west) in search of her uncle, who doesnāt yet know heās the new Earl of Stoneford.
Captive Trail is set in north-central Texas. Itās second in the Texas Trails series for Moody. In this series, authors Darlene Franklin, Vickie McDonough and I will take turns on the books. Darleneās Lone Star Trail and my Captive Trail appear first, in August and September. My book is about a stagecoach driver who finds an unconscious white woman lying on the trail, dressed in Comanche clothing.
They sound so interesting! Any upcoming releases we should keep our eye out for?
Oh, yes! Love Finds You in Prince Edward Island, Canada comes out April 1. Donāt miss this fun historical romance. Queen Victoriaās son, the Prince of Wales, is a major character.
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That sounds awesome, Susan! And thanks so much for visiting today. Readers, check out her website at www.susanpagedavis.com, and look for Alaska Weddings at Amazon and ChristianBooks.
Void where prohibited. Entry into the contest is considered verification of eligibility based on your local laws. Chance of winning depends on number of entries. Contest ends 3/4/11. Winner will have two weeks to claim prize.
by Roseanna White | Feb 24, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
In the course of writing my Annapolis story, I read through a lot of Poor Richard’s Almanack, filled with fun proverbs by Ben Franklin. I had a secondary character who quoted him constantly, and it was a ton of fun to try to weave in my favorites of his adages through the story.
One that I liked best, and which it was tricky to find a place for, was “Clean your finger, before you point at my spots.” Love that–such a clever way of saying the “clear the plank from you own eye before you point out the speck in mine” sort of thing.
Not long after I found a way to fit it in, my prayer time brought another scripture to mind that dealt with something similiar–you know the one, it says something about how God doesn’t want our sacrifices so long as we bear a grudge against our brother. To go first and settle things with him, then come back to Him.
These two things really got me thinking. How often do we ask God for something, while we’re holding a grudge against a brother or sister? How often do we not understand why something isn’t working out, yet we refuse to see our own blame? Assuming I’m not alone in the world, the answer is A LOT.
Am I jealous over others’ successes, when I ought to be rejoicing with them? If so, why should God give success to me? Am I bitter over a slight or false accusation some made against me or mine? Then why should God iron out the situation? Am I determined to find the flaws in my spouse so that I can better “understand” how I’ve been injured over the years? Then why should God strengthen my marriage?
Something I realize anew a couple times a year is that I can’t change anyone else–but I can, with God, change ME. I can’t snap my fingers and have success. But I can pray and rejoice with my friends when they do, and be a good steward of what I’m given. I can’t make people treat me fairly. But I can love them when they don’t, and work to keep relationships solid so that if a break does come, it’s not through fault and blame. I can’t make my husband do every little thing I want him to do, and if I look for things to complain about, no doubt I’d find some. But instead I can love him and ask the Lord to change me and my outlook on things. Stop resenting my honey for not getting up early with the kids, for example, and instead ask the Lord to give me the energy to do so and recognize the why of this stuff–that unlike me, my hubby doesn’t often sleep well at night.
Get what I’m saying? It’s easy to blame others. Very easy. But that’s not what God wants us to do. He instead wants us to be aware of our own flaws so that we can seek His strength in our weakness. He wants us to cleanse ourselves until we’re blameless–that way, if He does ask us to address the blemishes of others, we do it out of love, not with a filthy finger that will just make things worse when we go poking them in the chest in accusation.
This is perhaps one of the hardest things God regularly asks of me, but I can’t deny its importance. Letting Him work on me is an ongoing task . . . but one that has helped me see it’s not about what is going on in my life, but about how I react to it. It’s not about the spots of others–it’s about how clean I am.
by Roseanna White | Feb 23, 2011 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
Okay, not really. But one of the interesting things from wars of centuries gone by is that officers captured in battle were often sent, not to a prisoner-of-war camp or any other detention center as we think of them, but to a parole town.
A what, you ask? (Or I did, anyway, when I first heard of them, LOL.) A parole town. A town authorized to hold these higher-ranking enemies in semi-freedom until such a time as they were brought to trial, traded for officers held by the other side, or released. Interesting, eh?
The prisoners in these parole towns would have enjoyed a far better life than ones kept in prisons or camps. They were men who were either very high profile, respected, wealthy, or otherwise trustworthy. (Keep in mind this was back in the day when war, on some levels at least, was gentlemanly.) But if they left the town . . . well, then things got bad for them, and they were sent straight to prison.
And what did the townspeople think of all this, you ask? Well, let’s just say that there are quite a number of tales of young folk putting pretty girls up to luring the prisoners to a meeting place just past the border they were supposed to honor, and then having the authorities waiting for them. Poor saps. Thought they were getting a kiss and instead got sent straight to jail without collecting their $200. š
Down near Annapolis, there’s a portion of town (once its own town) called Parole. I never understood it until some research I did for a college brochure explained the idea of a parole town and that Parole was formed for just this purpose during the Civil War.
It came up again when I was researching where to set a Regency idea I had, and I realized that the town I liked best was in fact a parole town during the war then going on with France. Pretty nifty. =) I fully intend to make my hero tell horror stories of the French soldiers to my heroine, just to make her jumpy. Oh yes. He’s that type, LOL.
Happy Wednesday, everyone!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, sheās homeschooling her two kids, editing, 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. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her booksā¦to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.