Books and Broomsticks: October 2017

28 October 2017

Character Interview & Giveaway! THE SECRET LIFE OF SARAH HOLLENBECK by Bethany Turner

THE SECRET LIFE OF SARAH HOLLENBECK

BETHANY TURNER

Genre: Contemporary Romantic Comedy

Publisher: Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group

Date of Publication: October 3, 2017

Number of Pages: 304

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Becoming a Christian is the best and worst thing that has ever happened to Sarah Hollenbeck. Best because, well, that’s obvious. Worst because, up to this point, she’s made her very comfortable living as a well-known, bestselling author of steamy romance novels that would leave the members of her new church blushing. Now Sarah is trying to reconcile her past with the future she’s chosen. She’s still under contract with her publisher and on the hook with her enormous fan base for the kind of book she’s not sure she can write anymore. She’s beginning to think that the church might frown on her tithing on royalties from a "scandalous" book. And the fact that she’s falling in love with her pastor doesn’t make things any easier.

With a powerful voice, penetrating insight, and plenty of wit, Bethany Turner explodes onto the scene with a debut that isn’t afraid to deal with the thorny realities of living the Christian life.

“The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck is a rare treat packed with humor, hope, and heart. Sarah’s struggles are real and nearly tangible, and she feels like a friend we’ve all had. I laughed with her and fell in love alongside her and couldn’t wait to hear her whole story. What a charming, delightful book!”

—Liz Johnson, bestselling author of The Red Door Inn

CHARACTER INTERVIEW WITH SARAH HOLLENBECK

From The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck

By Bethany Turner

The name of the book is The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck, so let’s start there. Tell us a little bit about your secret life.

My name is Sarah Hollenbeck, but most of the world probably knows me by my pen name, Raine de Bourgh. Under that pen name, I wrote and published some scandalous little books which, regrettably, went on to become bestsellers. Of course, there is much more to all of that “secret” business than just that, but that’s a big part of it.

You say they “regrettably” went on to become bestsellers. Why is that regrettable?

I suppose that is a strange thing to say, taken at face value. Yes, why would it be a bad thing that these books I worked very hard on took the world by storm? Well, I wrote them before I became a Christ-follower. Now that I have made that commitment, those books go against some things I believe – but because they were such big hits, I just can’t seem to escape them!

What makes Ben Delaney so irresistible?

Oh my goodness! How much time have you got? I mean, he smells really good and he has these gorgeous brown eyes, and in the course of his busy life, he still finds time to go to the gym. (I’m pretty sure I, on the other hand, haven’t been to the gym since around the time the series finale of Lost aired.) But even more than all of that, Ben is irresistible because he’s loyal to the people he loves and passionate in his dedication to Christ. And, you know…also the gym thing.

What are the pros and cons of falling for a pastor?

There are a million pros to falling for Ben Delaney in particular. But for a pastor in general? I don’t know. I mean, I guess for someone like myself, who hasn’t been a Christ-follower for very long, it’s nice to have someone around who can answer my questions about faith and the Bible and such. But beyond that, there are honestly more drawbacks than benefits – at least for me. Any woman involved with the pastor is bound to be subject to scrutiny by the congregation. (And I’m a bit more subject to scrutiny than most as it is already.) And then of course there’s the fact that he is literally always on call. And when you’re super attracted to the guy giving the sermon, sometimes it’s tricky to focus on some of the less enticing plot points in certain Bible stories. You know, such as plagues and beheadings and the like.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want to have with you?

Oh, no. That won’t do at all. I wouldn’t survive ten minutes on an island by myself. I mean, I assume that I have to choose things and not people? If Ben could be there, and my best friend, Piper, maybe I would make it. (If I can choose people, I would also choose Julie Andrews. With Julie there, I’m pretty sure I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.) But since I’m pretty sure you mean actual things, I’ll go with some Diet Coke, popcorn, and my laptop so I could write and watch movies and read books. I could survive on Diet Coke and popcorn for about the same amount of time the battery would last in my laptop, and then I would be ready to go home to Jesus.

If you could go back in time, what would you choose to do differently?

Hmm. My mind goes to any number of things – writing those books, my first marriage, losing touch with Piper for so long, my unfortunate perm phase… But if I’ve learned anything at all, it’s that God works for good through all things. Without the books, without failed relationships, without conflicts and challenges, would any of the good things ever have come along? I just don’t know, so I don’t think it would be worth changing anything. I wouldn’t be willing to take the risk that I would miss out on the good things. Although, with the perm, I’m pretty sure nothing good came from that, so I guess I would take you up on the offer to go back in time – specifically to 1993.

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Bethany Turner is the director of administration for Rock Springs Church in Southwest Colorado. A former VP/operations manager of a commercial bank and a three-time cancer survivor (all before she turned 35), Bethany knows that when God has plans for your life, it doesn’t matter what anyone else has to say. Because of that, she’s chosen to follow his call to write. 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.

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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

Grand Prize: Copy of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck + a typewriter tote bag + a typewriter notebook + Columbia Jo's coffee + Novel Teas teabags 2nd Prize: Copy of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck + a typewriter hardcover journal + typewriter enamel lapel pin 3rd Prize: Copy of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck + $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card

October 19-October 28, 2017

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CHECK OUT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:

19-Oct	Author Interview	Forgotten Winds
20-Oct	Guest Post #1	Margie's Must Reads
21-Oct	Review	Texan Girl Reads
22-Oct	Deleted Scene	Reading by Moonlight
23-Oct	Review	A Page Before Bedtime
24-Oct	Guest Post #2	Texas Book Lover
25-Oct	Review	Tangled in Text
26-Oct	Playlist	Books in the Garden
27-Oct	Review	StoreyBook Reviews
28-Oct	Character Interview	Books and Broomsticks

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26 October 2017

Author Top 5 & GIVEAWAY! DEATH IN D MINOR by Alexia Gordon

DEATH IN D MINOR

ALEXIA GORDON

Genre: Paranormal Mystery / African American Sleuth

Publisher: Henery Press

Date of Publication: July 11, 2017

Number of Pages: 236

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Gethsemane Brown, African-American musician and expatriate to an Irish village, solved a string of murders and got used to living with a snarky ghost. She can rest easy now. Right? Wrong. The ghost has disappeared, her landlord's about to sell to a developer, and her brother-in-law's come to visit. She scrambles to call her spectral roomie back from beyond and find a way to save the cottage from destruction. But real estate takes a backseat when her brother-in-law is accused of stealing a valuable antique.

Gethsemane strikes a deal with an investigator to go undercover at a charity ball and snoop for evidence of a forgery/theft ring in exchange for the woman's help clearing him. At the party, she accidentally conjures the ghost of an eighteenth-century sea captain, then ends up the prime suspect in the party host’s murder. She races to untangle a web of phony art and stolen antiques to exonerate herself, then the killer targets her. Will she bring a murderer to justice, or will her encore investigation become her swan song?

PRAISE FOR DEATH IN D MINOR:

Gethsemane Brown is everything an amateur sleuth should be: smart, sassy, talented, and witty even when her back is against the wall. In her latest adventure, she's surrounded by a delightful cast, some of whom readers will remember from Gordon's award-winning debut and all of whom they won't forget. Gordon writes characters we want resurrected.

~ Cate Holahan, author of The Widower's

Wife and Lies She Told

Erstwhile ghost conjurer and gifted concert violinist Gethsemane Brown returns in this thoroughly enjoyable follow-up to last year’s Murder in G Major. Facing eviction from the historic seaside cottage she calls home, Gethsemane must clear her brother-in-law’s name - as well as her own - when a priceless artifact goes missing and the wealthy dowager to whom it belonged is “helped” over a high balcony railing. With the help of a spectral sea captain she accidentally summoned, Gethsemane tries to unravel the mystery as the murderer places her squarely in the crosshairs.

~ Daniel J. Hale, Agatha Award-winning author

Author Alexia Gordon’s Top Five Soul Foods

My main character, Gethsemane Brown, and I are both from Virginia. My mother, who did most of the cooking when I was growing up, is from South Carolina. I grew up eating what today is called soul food. Back then, I just called it dinner. Until I went "up north" to college, I didn't realize my mom's style of cooking had a special name or that certain dishes could be prepared any way other than the way she made them. Some of the culinary variations I discovered expanded my outlook and prompted me to be more adventurous with my dietary repertoire. But there are some foods that, to this day, I say if you're not fixing them Mom's way, you're fixing them wrong.

1. Macaroni and cheese. It has to be baked. No goopy, runny sauce made from a processed cheese-like substance, thanks. Baked. With real cheddar. In an oven. Preferably in a Corningware Cornflower Blue casserole dish.

2. Collards. They aren't "winter greens" and they aren't meant to be gussied up with a bunch of nouvelle cuisine nonsense. Toss them in a pot with some fat back and boil them forever or until they're nice and soft, whichever comes first. Serve them with some vinegar or some hot sauce and sop the pot likker up with your…

3. Corn bread. No sugar allowed. It's not a kids' breakfast cereal.

4. Sweet tea. The sugar goes in while the tea is hot. I honestly did not know that "sweet" tea was a thing until I stopped for lunch in a North Carolina restaurant while I was on the medical residency interview circuit (which means I was about 25 years-old) and a waitress asked me if I wanted "sweet or unsweet". I'd always thought "sweet tea" was just "tea". Because why would anyone drink iced tea without sugar?

5. Pecans. Actually, fix these anyway you want. You can't go wrong with pecans. But pronounce the word the right way. "Puh-cahns," not "pee-kans". But don't talk with your mouth full.

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A writer since childhood, I put literary endeavors on hold to finish medical school and Family Medicine residency training. Medical career established, I returned to writing fiction. I completed SMU's Writer’s Path program in Dallas, Texas. Henery Press published my first novel, Murder in G Major, book one of the Gethsemane Brown mysteries, in September 2016. Book two, Death in D Minor, releases July 11, 2017.

Murder in G Major won the Lefty Award for Best Debut Novel, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best New Novel, and was selected one of Suspense Magazine's Best Debuts. I listen to classical music, drink whiskey, and blog at www.missdemeanors.com, voted one of Writers' Digest magazine's 101 best websites for writers, and featured on Femmes Fatales.

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Grand Prize: Copy of Death in D Minor + Swag Pack ($50 value) 2nd Prize: Copy of Death in D Minor

October 25-November 3, 2017