Ethan and his friends are back in a brand-new adventure! With inherited powers they don’t understand and can’t quite control, they head back to Crater Lake to rescue their friend Jacob, train for an epic battle, and join forces with a powerful ally—the Mystic Gray. Filled with action, adventure, and mystery, this book is a thrilling addition to the Crater Lake series!

 

My Review:

I don’t really know whole lot about the middle-grade fantasy genre, so I’m probably not the best reader to say whether Return of the Mystic Gray was good or not. All I can say is that I genuinely enjoyed reading this book. And that if my girls were still young enough for me to read to, I would have loved reading this story aloud to them.

This book has everything middle-school boys and girls might want. Woven into the action and adventure is a touching story of friendship, loyalty and survival. The characters are vivid and relatable. My favorite is Brady. I love that he is so cocky about his invincibility, that he is willing to run headlong into any and all dangerous situations as long as he can show off his gift, and how he conveniently keeps losing his shirt so everyone can gape as his chiseled physique. Characters who possess a shallow/depth, in my opinion, make the story.

In book one, the five main characters inherited special powers, which they use in this installment to save one of their own while ushering in the final battle against evil. There are also vicious battles between shape-shifting Native Americans, a death-defying dive to the depths of the lake, and a girl who can shoot flames, among other elements, from her mouth (I found this ability mildly disconcerting but I think kids will love it).

I like too that this story holds a very important message. Sometimes we do the right things for the wrong reasons. Sometimes we do wrong things for the right reasons. The point of growing and learning is that one day, if our intentions are genuine, we can become pure in our motives and learn to focus on the needs of the many instead of our own.

Return of the Mystic Gray is the second in the Westover’s Crater Lake series. I didn’t read the first installment, Battle for Wizard Island, but I wish I would have. And I recommend that readers who are considering reading Mystic Gray go back and read Wizard Island first. You don’t have to read the first to know what is going on in Mystic Gray, I just think that if the first is as good as the second, it would be well worth readers time to start at the beginning.

Enjoy!

I’m excited to announce the start of my blog tour for Replacing Gentry! Follow the tour for reviews, interviews, fun posts and giveaways!

March 8th
I Am A Reader, Not A Writer - Kick Off

March 11th
Literary Time Out - Review

March 13th
My Book A Day - Review

March 15th
Min Reads and Reviews - Review

March 19th
Jinky is Reading - Review

March 21st
My Devotional Thoughts - Review & Guest Post or Tens List

March 26th
New Adult Fiction - Review & Guest Post or Tens List

March 28th
Reader Girls - Review & Guest Post/Tens List

April 1st
Curling up with a Good Book - Review & Guest Post or Tens List

April 3rd
Karey White - Review

April 9th

Book Blast

April 10th
Rachael Renee Anderson - Review
Crafty Zoo with Monkeys - Guest Post or Tens List

April 11th
Vonnie’s Reading Corner - Review
Getting Your Read On - Review
What’s Beyond Forks - Review & Interview

April 12th
Free eBooks Daily - Interview
Maureen’s Musing - Review
Bookworm Lisa - Review

April 13th
White Sky Project - Guest Post or Tens List

April 14th
OMFG!Books - Guest Post or Tens List

April 15th
Books, Books the Magical Fruit - Interview

April 16th
3Ps in a Pod - Guest Post or Tens List
Fire & Ice - Review

April 17th
Indie Author How-to - Interview
Rachelle Christensen

April 18th
Ever and Ever Sight - Review
The Muse Unleashed - Review

April 19th
Books and Needlepoint - Review
Amethyst Daydreams - Review

Why Not? Because I Said So! - Review

April 20th

Laurie’s Thoughts & Reviews - Review & Character Interview

April 23rd

MK McClintock - Review & Guest Post

I’m very excited to be a part of debut author, Jadie Jones, first YA novel, Moonlit, cover reveal.

Eighteen-year-old Tanzy Hightower knows horses, has grown up with them on Wildwood Farm. She also knows not to venture beyond the trees that line the pasture. Things happen out there that can’t be explained. Or undone. Worse, no one but she and the horses can see what lurks in the shadows of the woods.

When a moonlit ride turns into a terrifying chase, Tanzy is left to question everything, from the freak accident that killed her father to the very blood in her veins. Broken and confused, she turns to Lucas, a scarred, beautiful stranger, and to Vanessa, a charming new friend who has everything Tanzy doesn’t.

But why do they seem to know more about her than she knows herself?

 

Release for this novel is Mid-April. To pre-order today at a reduced price go to Amazon or Widow.

To learn more about  Jadie, visit her Blog, Twitter, Pintrest, Facebook, Goodreads.

A Seasonal Message

This post was taken from my first published online magazine article: FamilyHow.com  They made a few changes to make it more denominational neutral. But I like my original version better.

In a nation of Christians, many of whom are avidly engaged in preserving this country’s Christian heritage, why do we often feel so desperate during the holidays to invent creative ways of feeling closer to Christ? It’s almost as if the sudden appearance of twinkling evergreen boughs, brightly wrapped packages and a jolly, present-wielding elf suddenly clutters the mind, veiling from our hearts the “reason for the season.”

As Christians we believe that having faith in Christ will free us from the worries of this earthly existence. Through His sacrifice we can find peace. So during the season when we celebrate the Savior’s birth, why do we feel the most exhausted, troubled, and find ourselves searching aimlessly for the one eternal being we wish to celebrate?

Kennedy Carter has the perfect life. It includes an engagement to an NHL celebrity all-star, a Vera Wang wedding dress, and more money than she could ever spend. But when Kennedy learns that her fiance Todd is cheating on her, she decides to leave the glamour and glitz behind.

She escapes to Orlando, Florida with a plan to rebuild her life while staying hidden from a country obsessed with celebrity scandals. The real world however, is tougher than she expected. Suddenly Kennedy has to deal with cockroaches, creepy alarm salesmen, and waiting tables… along with David, a gorgeous new love interest.

But what happens when the past refuses to stay hidden? When the truth of her background catches up to her, Kennedy must finally decide who she is, what she wants and where she really belongs.

As a past reader and even writer of the chick-lit genre, lately I’ve sort of been slowly moving on to other genres. I haven’t been interested in reading chick-lit—don’t want to write it. When Whitney asked me to read and review her novel I agreed without knowing what kind of books she writes. She emailed me the PDF and it came one evening while I was finishing up preparing supper. My daughter was still out for her run so I decided to download the galley on my iPad and maybe read the first page or two to see if I thought I was going to like the book. Did I like it? Okay, so I ended up reading the entire first chapter while standing in the kitchen. Then I couldn’t wait to get back to the story again later in the evening.

In a world where elves are only slaves, one boy is determined to make things right. With the elves’ help, Kris decides to begin with the children. But can a pile of gifts on Christmas Eve really change anything? This enchanting story is sure to captivate kids of all ages. An instant holiday classic you’ll want to read again and again!

The Night Before Christmas meets The Help.

Though I read this novel in September, there was a point in the story toward the end when I felt a little chill that was lit with the spirit of Christmas—a welcome taste of the season to come.

I really love Christmas novels and so it was no surprise that I jumped at the opportunity to review this one. Written from the POV of Rebecca, wife to Kris Kringle, this story begins when Rebecca meets, Kris, the cousin of a friend visiting from out of town. In the world Tolley created, elves are second classed citizens hired by the human class as domestics and laborers. And are discriminated against in every way possible. It’s truly heartbreaking. But Kris sees the elves’ unique qualities and fights for their rights, doing so, of course, with a twinkle in his eye. I loved his tenacious assertiveness and the way he refused to back down even though he seemed to be the only human able to see the elves’ true potential. When Kris moves to town permanently, he’s already set his sights on Rebecca, and she quickly learns to see the elves through his eyes.

And the rest is, as they say, “history.”

Kris Kringle’s Magic is a fun and poignant story of tolerance and looking past societal prejudice to see the potential, and magic, in everyone.

This novel is great for both adults and children. Or, for adults to read with their children.

My recommendation: cuddle up with your loved ones next to a roaring fire with a mug of hot chocolate and read this book by the light of the Christmas tree.

Enjoy!

Every now and then I’ll hear a writer—generally an unpublished author—say that plotting is his/her least favorite part about writing a novel. Okay first of all, “novel” and “plot” are nearly synonymous. Without a plot, there is no novel, no story. So technically, if a writer doesn’t like to “plot,” said writer probably shouldn’t be wasting his/her time writing a novel. In my opinion, just because a person enjoys writing doesn’t mean he/she must become a novelist. There are so many other ways one can express his/her self through the written word—columns, editorials, poetry, blogging, etc.

And second, maybe the reason so many writers have a hard time plotting is because we as a society have become too dependent on technology doing our thinking for us. We don’t memorize phone numbers any more because all of our contacts are stored in our cell phones. We don’t have to think about how to spell because Word and even our phones do that for us as well. I’m showing my age here but I remember when telephones still had party-lines and TVs were black and white. *Gasp* Viewers had to actually get up and turn a knob to change channels. (Currently, I don’t even know where the on and off switch is on my TV much less how to change channels without the remote.) And when I started college, students were still using typewriters for term papers and libraries to do research. Ah, I do miss the days of riffling through the card catalog . . .

In celebration of Count Down to Love’s first anniversary and being a Whitney Award Finalist, I’ve decided take the book out for another tour. So stop by one or all of these blogs between now and September to read a review, a clever guest post by me, or peruse an interview and you just might end up winning a copy of the book along the way.

So hang on y’all and enjoy the ride!

I’m very excited to announce that Count Down to Love was chosen as a Whitney Award Finalist!

Click here to view all of the Whitney Award Finalist.

Count Down to Love was also mentioned in an article at Dawning of a Brighter Day.

Check back in May for a list of the winners. Fingers crossed Count Down to Love is among them.

Recently, I received some feedback on my latest novel (Count Down to Love). First, the editor complemented me on my characters and dialogue, which was nice, but then she went on to categorizing me as the kind of author who tends to “tell” instead of “show.” Now I will admit that I did incorporate the occasional flashback and introspective, some of which I agree needs to be reworked, but when did it become a crime to write a novel with a nice balance of dialogue and narration. And it wasn’t as if I didn’t know what I was doing when I wrote the offensive telling. If my dialogue was “enjoyable” and my characters “interesting” then obviously I know how to “show.” I wasn’t suffering from some sort of multiple personality writing disorder that caused my writing style to shift from showing to telling and then back again without my knowledge.

But then if such a disorder did exist maybe psychotherapists could come up with a Cognitive Therapy to treat it? Something like an annoying alarm that sounds whenever an author writes a paragraph containing more than four sentences, followed by a voice reminding the writer that it’s best to dial-down the narration—more people will read the book if the author uses fewer words. The goal of the therapy being that, over time, the author is able to move past the “irrational” idea that good literature is about plot and characterization. And instead, adopt the “rational” idea that the pace in which a reader can sprint to the last page determines the value of the work.