Silencing the Siren Pre-order

 

Andrew Grayson thought he had everything… until he met her.

The indulged son of wealthy parents, Andrew has always gotten whatever he wanted almost before he knew he wanted it—clothes, gadgets… even a car! What more could a young man desire?

Enter Annabel Thompson. Freakshow mermaid extraordinaire… in a wheelchair!

Of course, her beauty attracts him. How could it not? Add to that a kind heart, and Andrew can’t help but fall for her.

Annabel’s connection with the freakshow repels his parents and their society friends. They want him to sever all ties with her and his new friends. Oh, and marry the “right” girl with the “right connections.” But he won’t do it. He’ll defy them and marry his little mermaid.

When Annabel turns up missing, declared dead, things don’t add up, Andrew begins asking some difficult questions, the most important being, “What happened to the little mermaid of the Coney Island freak show?”

Find out in this next book in the Ever After Mysteries, combining beloved fairy tales and mysteries. Silencing the Siren offers a retelling of “The Little Mermaid” that will keep you gripped to the edge of your seat as you watch the story unfold.

Silencing the Siren by Denise L. Barela is coming out on January 4! Be sure to preorder yours now to receive a special discounted pre-order price and a special pre-order bonus! Go here to pre-order. This post contains an affiliate link.

A Shadow on the Snow

 

Nineteen-year-old Rae Riley can barely believe her gamble paid off. After spending seven months investigating the identity of her father and whether he tried to murder her mother, Rae has been accepted by her dad, Sheriff Walter “Mal” Malinowski IV, and his immediate family with open hearts. And for the first time in her life, Rae is making friends, jamming with three cute cops who play outlaw country music.

But someone is leaving Rae threatening notes, reminding her of her late mother’s notorious past when Bella Rydell wrecked homes and lives during the few years she lived in rural Marlin County, Ohio. Fearing the threats will make Mal and his family reject her, Rae investigates the mystery on her own. But her amateur sleuthing may cost her the father she’s always wanted when the stalker changes targets and takes dead aim at Mal.

 My thoughts: I enjoyed this fast paced, suspenseful Christian read! Rae is a fun character who has figured out who her father is and is seeking to connect with him and his family. But, not everyone wants her around, and someone is bent on holding her mother's sins against her.
I thought that the author did a wonderful job of keeping the story and the suspense going! I enjoyed getting to know Rae and her newfound family. This is a delightful mystery to pick up and try out!

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

Click here to get your copy! This post contains affiliate links.

 

About the Author

JPC Allen started her writing career in second grade with an homage to Scooby Doo. She’s been tracking down mysteries ever since and has written mystery short stories for Mt. Zion Ridge Press. Her Christmas mystery short story, “A Rose from the Ashes”, was a Selah-finalist at the Blue Ridge Mountains Writers Conference in 2020. Online, she offers tips and prompts to ignite the creative spark in every kind of writer. She also leads workshops for tweens, teens, and adults, encouraging them to discover the adventure of writing. A lifelong Buckeye, she has deep roots in the Mountain State.  A Shadow on the Snow is her first novel.

 

More from JPC Allen

“Write what you know.”

 

This piece of advice is given to a lot of beginning writers. But many writers are successful concocting stories in fantasy worlds or researching 18th century Russia and writing brilliant historical fiction. I’ve never been comfortable in any genre but mystery, and the more I’ve written, the more I’ve come to write what I know. There’s only one me, and if I pull from my experiences, I hope to give my mysteries a unique touch.

 

A Shadow on the Snow is set in southeast, or Appalachian, Ohio, because that’s where I grew up. I based Wellesville on St. Clairsville, the town I lived in as a kid. The library my main character Rae Riley works in looks like the library there, and the courthouse is right across Main Street, just like in my novel.

 

Until I was thirty, my mom’s parents lived out in the country on a ridge between St. Clairsville and the Ohio River. Their home was my favorite place on the planet, so when I needed a farmhouse for Rae’s family, I modeled it on Grandpa and Grandma’s house. I’m sure when my sisters and cousins read about the breezeway that runs between the house and the garage and the steps that lead from it to the outside door to the walkout basement, they’ll instantly know where I got my inspiration.

 

None of the characters are exact copies of real people I know, but I do use traits of real people to bring my characters to life. Aaron has my oldest child’s enthusiasm for science. Jeanine shares qualities with my youngest sister. Jason Carlisle is based on a man I saw once at my youngest child’s soccer game. All the other dads who coached wore baggy t-shirts and shorts. This man looked like he’d stepped off a yacht with perfectly styled hair, a navy blue windbreaker, and tailored white shorts. In my fictional Marlin County, where most men consider a plaid shirt without a tear to be formal attire, I thought a man who is fashionable would be an interesting contrast to the other characters.

 

Rae has a lot of me in her. She works at a library, which I did for ten years, but I was a children’s librarian, instead of a check-out clerk. She’s interested in photography and horses like I am. Both of us are shy, don’t like to inconvenience people, and worry what others think of us. However, I have never had the courage or the nerve to set a trap for a stalker, and that experience, as well as the most heart-pounding scenes in my book, are pure inventions. There’s a limit to writing what you know, and as a mystery writer, I’m very glad I can write about crimes without having to experience them!

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, December 18

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 18

Nancy E Wood, December 19

Texas Book-aholic, December 20

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 21

Inklings and notions, December 22

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, December 23

Bigreadersite, December 23

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, December 24 (Author Interview)

Vicarious Living, December 25

For Him and My Family, December 26

deb’s Book Review, December 27

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 28

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, December 28

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, December 29

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, December 30 (Spotlight)

Blogging With Carol, December 30

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, December 31

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, JPC is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card, a signed copy of Christmas Fiction Off the Beaten Path, a signed copy of A Shadow on the Snow, and a bookmark based on the artwork of an Ohio artist!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/14f21/a-shadow-on-the-snow-celebration-tour

The Lost Dutchman

 

There’s a deadly secret in them thar hills—and gold, or so they say.

Deeply in debt to a wealthy local, Charles Sinclair, Dorothy Hodges’ father finally promises she’ll pay and in gold, no less. If only Dorothy could take to take the promises he spins out of thin air and turn them into that gold, all would be well.

With the help of a strange, rumpled man, Dorothy does manage to bring payment to one of Sinclair’s sons only to discover it won’t pay off the debt. Will the next payment be enough?  The next?

When Charles Sinclair ends up dead, Dorothy is the obvious prime suspect, but Sinclair’s son isn’t so certain. Together they work to clear her name and find the real murderer of the Superstitions, but will they find the answers buried in those hills?

Find out in this next book in the Ever After Mysteries, combining beloved fairy tales and mysteries. The Lost Dutchman’s Secret offers a retelling of “Rumplestilskin” that requires more digging than a miner searching for The Lost Dutchman Mine.

 My thoughts: This series has been a fun way to see the fairy tales with new eyes, and with the addition of a mystery to each story! I enjoyed this retelling of Rumplestilskin. Dorothy is forced into a tough situation when her father leaves her to handle a mess on her own. Overall, I enjoyed reading this fairy tale retelling, though there were a few times that I felt like the characters over thought things too much, while I was ready to get on with the story. 

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review

Click here to get your copy! This post contains affiliate links.

 

About the Author

Rebekah Jones is first and foremost a follower of the Living God. She started writing as a little girl, seeking to glorify her King with her books and stories.
Rebekah is an old soul in a young body (she’s not 12 —honest!) While her exact age is classified, her interests are not. Among them are reading a variety of books, singing, playing, and composing music, studying all manner of subjects, nannying an adventurous group of youngsters, and, of course, writing her books, poems, articles, and short stories. She writes a wide range of books from gentle children’s adventures to family sagas to murder mysteries.

 

More from Rebekah

“They say that no one had ever seen gold ore like it before, neither have they ever since. Except in the possession of Jacob Waltz. His mine had ore of higher value and higher potency than any other mine found in Arizona…”

 

What if the Miller’s daughter from the tale of Rumpelstiltskin didn’t have to spin gold, but pay it? And because of an enormous debt – that she had no way of knowing the value? And her father wasn’t a miller, but an old miner with a penchant for carving animals while living in the Arizona desert? And what if, for her pains, she found herself mixed up in a murder?

 

And what if, somehow intermixed with this poor young woman and her troubles, came the legend of the Lost Dutchman’s Goldmine?

 

If you don’t know about the legend of that lost mine, you should. Or I think that you should. It’s a real legend as old as the 1860’s. Except, it wasn’t lost when Jacob Waltz went bragging about it. That came later.

 

The mountains that house the legend are magnificent. When a friend of mine came to visit me, she and I went to explore the area around the Superstition Mountains, as well as a part of the mountains themselves. Standing in a forest of cacti and brush, the jagged rocks and sharp peaks towered above my head, while a critter skittered unseen. Beautiful isn’t quite a strong enough word to describe it. As we hiked up the mountain, making our way through a myriad of desert plant life, rocks of so many shapes and sizes, and tiny critters, I could picture Dorothy, the miner’s daughter.

 

The modern structures and buildings in sight, faded in my mind’s eye, and I could imagine the young woman partway up the mountain in 1929, wearing her old, faded dress, and staring out across the valley. We plotted out where her father’s shack would have stood, and I made note of a perfect crevice of rock where she might have sat to think or read. I rather found myself wishing I could live out there myself, even if living in a shack in the heat of the Arizona summer doesn’t wholly appeal to me.

 

When I finally got in front of my manuscript again, I could see Dorothy’s world so clearly, I can only hope I managed to capture it in the book itself. I doubt if I could have captured the beauty of those mountains in words, the sight of them as they changed colors in the sunset, or the glowing starry sky above them after dark.

 

As for the Lost Dutchman’s Goldmine, I would be lying if I said I didn’t entertain fantasies about exploring the mountains to discover it, but we certainly did not go that far into the mountains. Besides, it was June in the Arizona desert. One does not blindly venture into the mountains on such an errand in such a time of year, unless one has a death wish. It’s rather fun to imagine though. Perhaps one day, I can go on a search – though I confess, I doubt it.

 

As for the book, I won’t say whether that lost goldmine is discovered or not. I’ll leave that for a reader to discover for themselves.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, December 17

An Author’s Take, December 17

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 18

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 18

Texas Book-aholic, December 19

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, December 20

Genesis 5020, December 20

Inklings and notions, December 21

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 21

For Him and My Family, December 22

For the Love of Literature, December 22

deb’s Book Review, December 23

Simple Harvest Reads, December 23 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Blogging With Carol, December 24

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, December 25 (Author Interview)

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 26

Vicarious Living, December 26

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, December 27

Connect in Fiction, December 27

Connie’s History Classroom, December 28

Mary Hake, December 28

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, December 29

Back Porch Reads, December 29

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, December 30

Through the Fire blogs, December 30

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Rebekah is giving away the grand prize package of $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/14f1b/the-lost-dutchman-s-secret-celebration-tour-giveaway

Eat God's Food

 

Kids have strong opinions about food. Some foods they love and others they don’t. Eat God’s Food teaches them early to love the right kinds of food, preparing them for a lifetime of eating and living the way God intended.

 

 My thoughts: With one picky eater in the house, I was thrilled to get this book to look through with him and discuss all the healthy foods there are out there. This is a fun, colorful book that was perfect for our family! I loved the beautiful illustrations and how it approaches food and establishing eating a balanced diet. This is a wonderful resource to have for kids!

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

Click here to get your copy! This post contains affiliate links.

 

 

About the Author

Susan Neal RN, MBA, MHS teaches both adults and children healthy nutritional guidelines. She is the author of eight healthy living books. Susan helped thousands improve their health and weight with her award-winning bestseller, 7 Steps to Get Off Sugar and Carbohydrates. Now she’s educating children about developing wholesome eating habits. You can find Susan on SusanUNeal.com.

 

More from Susan

How to Persuade Kids to Eat Healthy

Did you know God created over 100 vegetables and 50 fruits? Most kids probably don’t know this either. Have you eaten all of those produce items? Wouldn’t it be fun to try each one with your children? God created humans, and he knew exactly what we needed to eat. That’s why he created double the amount of vegetables than fruits. Fruits are God’s dessert and vegetables are his staple. So how do we get kids to eat them? You’ve got to make it fun.

Each week, ask your child to choose one produce item for the family to try. Take your kids to the produce section of the grocery store on a scavenger hunt to find the colors for each vegetable and fruit. Take photos of interesting items and when you get home, ask your kid to draw them.

Try a new recipe each week with your children. The new picture book, Eat God’s Food, provides a recipe for parents to do with their child for each of the following food groups: vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, grains, and meat.

Create snack bags with your youngsters that include their favorite nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. Put a half cup in each bag and place them in your pantry. The next time you’re running out the door for an athletic event, your kids can grab a healthy snack.

Educate your children about the health benefits of consuming vegetables, fruits, whole grains (not processed), nuts, seeds, and meat. Have them determine the vitamins in different foods. Help them figure out what produce item might improve their vision or give them more energy.

Teach your children to read food labels. When I took my kids to the grocery store, we had the rule that we couldn’t buy any item with over 10 grams of sugar. They would grab the package, find the sugar level, and tell me, “Mom, it has 24 grams of sugar in one granola bar.” So we wouldn’t buy it. They understood why and would look for another snack. Many times they found an item with 12 grams of sugar, and that was close enough, so we got it.

I taught my kids to read labels to see if it included hydrogenated oil, because that ingredient causes health problems. A couple years later, all foods in the United States had to be labeled if it included this ingredient. Mama knew what she was talking about.

Teach your kids that products made from white flour have been stripped of their nutrients. In fact, they may cause a child to grow wider instead of taller. Explain how food manufacturers want consumers to buy more of their products, so they add sugar, salt, and fats to get them hooked. Food manufacturers want to make a profit, and sometimes that profit comes at the consumers’ expense.

Check the Environmental Working Group’s findings that showed that almost all oat-based cereal products marketed to children contained the carcinogen residue from glyphosate. Check the list in this article for the level of glyphosate found in your child’s favorite cereal. Therefore, you should buy organic oat products.

Expand your child’s palate, knowledge, and point of view about healthy foods versus unhealthy foods. If you do, they may grab a grocery store product, read the label, and tell you why it is not healthy. And they may select some fun, interesting fruits and vegetables in the produce aisle. Enjoy exploring all of God’s food with your family.

Blog Stops

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, December 16

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 17

Texas Book-aholic, December 18

For Him and My Family, December 19

Inklings and notions, December 20

The Write Escape, December 20

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 21

Lots of Helpers, December 22

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, December 23

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 24

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, December 25 (Spotlight)

Mary Hake, December 25

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, December 26

SodbusterLiving, December 27

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, December 28

deb’s Book Review, December 29

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Susan is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a print copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/15d5c/eat-god-s-food-celebration-tour-giveaway

Wish Upon A Star

 

Fairy tales and wishing upon stars are for those who still believe in romance.

Sometimes misplaced trust injures more than ourselves, and doesn’t Elaina Hensley know it. When her oldest daughter is left suffering the consequences, Elaina vows to protect her girls at any cost. Nothing, not even her own happiness, will sway her again.

Or will it?

She’s got this protective self-denial down pat–right up to the moment her best friend’s brother arrives on the scene like a fairytale knight, vowing to slay all her dragons. She must—she will resist.

However, when her worst nightmare comes back to haunt her, Elaina has to admit she needs that white knight on her side.

 My thoughts: This story was excellent! I could relate to Elaina, on a small scale, for how hard it can be to trust after being injured by someone else (though, not to the same scale as this story). This book does a wonderful job of exploring how to trust God with our hurts, especially as a parent, and how to keep our hearts from growing hard. I thought that the author did an excellent job with some difficult themes, and I really appreciated the message of this story, since I know I needed to hear it. 

I received this book from Celebrate Lit. This is my honest review.

Click here to get your copy! This post contains affiliate links.

 

About the Author

Jennifer Sienes holds a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in education, but discovered life-experience is the best teacher. She loves Jesus, romance and writing–and puts it altogether in inspirational contemporary fiction. Her daughter’s TBI and brother’s suicide inspired two of her three novels. Although fiction writing is her real love, she’s had several non-fiction pieces published in anthologies–two in Chicken Soup for the Soul. She has two grown children and one very spoiled Maltese. California born and raised, she recently took a step of faith with her real-life hero and relocated to Tennessee.

More from Jennifer

Do you remember what Christmas was like as a child? I do. Some of my fondest memories come that holiday when I was growing up. There was a deep sense of family and tradition that I desperately wanted to instill in my own children. No small part of that was the innocence that came from being protected by the harsh realities of life. I envisioned growing old with the grands and great-grands gathered around a Christmas tree bursting with ornaments and sharing the customary Christmas dinner.

 

My future didn’t quite pan out the way I’d envisioned it. What was it John Lennon said? “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.” Or if you want to keep with the Biblical viewpoint: In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps (Proverbs 16:9)

 

Although my innocence went by the wayside as I became an adult, I held onto that dream until the Christmas morning my first husband announced he was leaving me. It was then I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. He anchored me in the following months along with my full-time teaching job, two teenage children, and a mother who was dying of leukemia. It wasn’t until October rolled around when my then seventeen-year-old son burst into my bedroom early one morning and said, “I just realized, Christmas will never be the same” that it hit me. I wasn’t the only one affected. For him, the dream died much too early. He was right—when splitting time between divorced parents, things get rather disjointed and complicated. Christmas was never the same for any of us.

 

But our God is a God of redemption. He takes our brokenness and disappointments and uses them for our good and His glory. Wish Upon A Star isn’t the traditional Christmas story you might find on the Hallmark channel. It’s about a broken family in need of a merciful Savior, and one woman in need of a white knight.

 

Just like Elaina Hensley, the main character, God had a more perfect plan for my life, too. Without the brokenness we cannot be made whole through Him to be who He calls us to be. In the years since that fateful Christmas morning, He’s given me my own white knight, a godly husband who loves to serve, and the opportunity to follow another childhood dream—to write the stories He’s laid on my heart.

Blog Stops

lakesidelivingsite, December 17

Texas Book-aholic, December 18

Stephanie’s life of Determination, December 18

Inklings and notions, December 19

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 20

For Him and My Family, December 21

deb’s Book Review, December 22

Locks, Hooks and Books, December 23

By the Book, December 24

Splashes of Joy, December 25

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, December 26

Older & Smarter?, December 27

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, December 28

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 28

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, December 29

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, December 30

Genesis 5020, December 30

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Jennifer is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card & a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/14f20/wish-upon-a-star-celebration-tour-giveaway