Thursday, March 25, 2021

My Story BEFORE The Story ~ Meredith Jaynes ~ Borrowed Lives ~ by ~ Carol McClain

Introducing ~ Meredith Jaynes

Rosemary lay on my belly and stared at me with her big blue eyes. On the top of her misshapen noggin, a shock of red hair stood up in spikes accenting the hematoma the doctors assured me would go away in a few days.

Blood smeared her forehead. Cheesy white vernix dotted her blotchy skin.

My daughter. The most beautiful child ever born.

“Our baby.” John leaned his head near mine. He ran his finger over our newborn’s fingers. The huskiness of his voice conveyed his awe and wonder.

Never had we been so in love—and don’t tell my mother or my sister they were right about forgetting the pangs of childbirth once Rosemary entered the world. I’d never hear the end of their “I told you so’s.”

I learned this from over twenty years of experience. And most recently, they nagged the grace of God out of me when I dropped out of college and married John. Fortunately, this little one waited a year after our nuptials to arrive, or else I’d be accused of a shotgun wedding.

Warm lips caressed my forehead. “Were we worth the forfeit of your dreams?"

I tore my gaze from my child and found John’s warm, brown eyes. Dark lashes and brows made everything about him safe and warm and heaven. I laid my finger on his lips. “I have no regrets.”

His smile?

Oh, melt my heart!

“Besides, we’ll have plenty of time for me to complete my studies after a million babies and an eternal honeymoon.”

The nurse scooped up my daughter for her last Apgar assessment. Losing her heft from my belly left me chilled. I studied every movement the nurse made. Having Rosemary gone this brief moment felt like a lifetime.

I’m glad I didn’t know then what I know now.

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Carol will be gifting a single EBOOK to one who comments between 
Thursday 4am Eastern~March 25 to Wednesday 6pm Eastern~March 31st
Drawing to be held after 6pm

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My Story Title:   Borrowed Lives
   Book 1 of the Treasured Lives
My Story Genre:  Contemporary

My Story Has Released:   Is on sale NOW!

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The Author of My Story:    Carol McClain




 Carol McClain is the award-winning author of four novels dealing with real people facing real problems. She is a consummate encourager, and no matter what your faith might look like, you will find compassion, humor and wisdom in her complexly layered, but ultimately readable work. Aside from writing, she’s a skilled stained-glass artist, an avid hiker and photographer. She lives in East Tennessee with her husband and two pint-sized goats, Peanut and Buttercup, who must be bottle fed. 

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Thursday, March 18, 2021

My Story BEFORE The Story ~ Ruth Becker ~ In ~ THE STARS IN APRIL ~ by ~ Peggy Wirgau

Ruth Becker

I love my life here in India. My parents are missionaries, and they came all the way from America to our village of Guntur before I was born. Born in 1900, I’m now twelve years old, and I have a four-year-old sister and a little brother, who’s almost two. My father, Reverend Becker, is the director of the mission orphanage, and without that position I have no idea how I would have met my best friend, Sajni. Papa found her wandering the streets when she was six and I was four, and we’ve been friends ever since. Mother cares for us at home and likes to complain about India’s heat, the food, the customs, and the reptiles—all the things I love the most.

But now that the doctors have told Mother to take my brother back to America so he can get well, I think she sees it as her chance of escape. When Papa told me the news that we’d all be going and he had to stay behind, I tried to get him to let me stay as well. The Spring Festival is coming soon, and I was to play a violin solo! How can he make me give that up, not to mention leave him and Sajni and all I hold dear?

It doesn’t matter that he splurged on second-class tickets for us on a brand-new luxury liner called Titanic. That is, if we ever reach England. And it doesn’t matter that Papa and I will continue our recording of the night skies from our different vantage points in our Sky Reports. How can he let me go?

Tomorrow, we have a stifling train ride to endure and then a four-week voyage from India while I do nothing but babysit my siblings. I miss Papa and India already! How will I ever survive?

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Author, Peggy Wirgau, is generously offering a single signed copy of
THE STARS IN APRIL
 to someone who leaves a comment (US ONLY)
Drawing is to take place on Wednesday evening ~ March 24, 2021

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         My Story Title:   THE STARS IN APRIL

             
         My Story Genre:  Historical
 

          My Story Releases:   March 27, 2021

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                The Author of My Story:    Peggy Wirgau

              

  Peggy Wirgau is a Michigan native and now lives in Delray Beach, Florida. She loves bringing history to life for readers.

Peggy has written for Appleseeds, Insight, Learning Through History, and contributed to Why? Titanic Moments by Yvonne Lehman. Her blog features in-depth Titanic stories, and her followers include descendants of the ship’s real-life victims and survivors.

A graduate of Michigan State University and George Mason University, Peggy is an active member of ACFW, SCBWI, Historical Novel Society, and Great Lakes Titanic Connection. She loves to travel, especially to New York City and Mackinac Island, Michigan, where she explores historical sites. Peggy is also a Registered Nurse. She and her husband have two adult children.

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Thursday, March 11, 2021

Our Story BEFORE The Story ~ Melody Carmichael and Zeke Solomon ~ Mishaps Off the Mainland ~ by ~ Tabitha Bouldin

My name is Melody Carmichael, but everyone calls me Mel. I grew up on the Independence Islands, and there’s no other place I’d rather live. We have our own version of paradise here. I own a mobile pet grooming business called Zoomin’ Groomer. It’s a dream come true, getting to spend my days grooming pets. My truck’s a bit of a klunker though. I’m impulsive and I bought it because a friend was selling out and offered me a sweet deal. I had to call Zeke just the other day and ask him to come help me fix the generator. I’m worried I made a mistake, taking all this on. I thought the truck was God’s way of saying this is what I should do, but now I’m not so sure. On the days when it seems like everything is going wrong, I keep reminding myself that this is what I’ve always wanted. There’s nothing better than helping pets and their owners. I have a soft spot for the strays, and I spent several years working at the animal shelter, grooming animals to help them get adopted faster.

Don’t let her kid you. She still spends most of her Saturdays at the shelter. I’m Zeke Solomon, by the way. I grew up in Atlanta but came over to Merriweather Island to visit my grandmother. Well. That’s partially true. I needed to get away from the city for a while. My dad’s a bigwig in the business world. He started his own company when he was my age and now he expects me to join him in the company. That’s not me. The whole office thing. Not my style. I’m planning on opening a carpentry business and staying here on the islands, far away from Dad and the business. He keeps calling me, but I’m avoiding him. Avoiding the confrontation. I know I shouldn’t, but it’s hard to tell him no. I don’t want to disappoint him, but I can’t live that life. So I’m hiding out here on the islands, helping Mel find my grandmother’s dog, since she let it escape.

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Tabitha is offering an autographed copy of Mishaps off the Mainland to one commenter ~ US only ~
Drawing will take place Wednesday evening, March 17, 2021


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  Our Story Title: Mishaps Off the Mainland

    Our Story Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Our Story Released:  November 24, 2020

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The Author of Our Story:   Tabitha Bouldin





Tabitha Bouldin has a bachelor's degree in creative writing/English from Southern New Hampshire University. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and has been writing since 2015. When she's not homeschooling her kids, you'll find her curled up with a book. Tabitha's genre of choice is Contemporary Christian Romance which she describes as: Adventure with heart.


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Thursday, March 04, 2021

Our Story BEFORE The Story ~ Tamar Kaplan & Neelie Visser ~ A Song for her Enemies by Sherri Stewart

Hallo. That’s hello in the Nederlands language, but a lot of people call it Dutch. My name is Tamar Kaplan. I really don’t like to say my name. It seems to evoke the most puzzling reactions. The worst was the time my so-called friends at school burst out laughing at some private joke when someone called out, “Tamar.” I asked my mother about it later that night while she was doing dishes. I said, “Eema, what’s wrong with my name?”

She dried off her hands on a dish towel and took off her apron. “Nothing, sweetie. It’s a lovely name from the Bible.” When I pressed for more information, she waved a dismissive hand and said we’d talk about it when I was older.

Well, I’m older. And I’m facing the biggest challenge of my life in less than an hour. As the understudy for La Traviata’s Violetta, I’ll be playing the lead soprano role, since Margot huffed out of rehearsal when the producer made a comment about her weight.

I’ve been waiting for this night forever. Nerves invade every part of me. The producer doesn’t think I’ve experienced enough angst in my twenty-one years to play the role of a middle-aged courtesan. Angst? Sure I’m young and still live with my parents and brother, Seth, above the family’s jewelry shop in Haarlem, but there’s something about my religion that makes people back away. And I’ve seen the word, Juden, written across shop windows as if it were a terrible thing. And there’s those Nazi soldiers standing on street corners. Papa says not to worry about them. They mean no harm.

Fifteen minutes to curtain. I need to focus on playing Violetta, and I should pray, though it seems God is so distant. Maybe He doesn’t care about Nederland. Still, I will pray for angst, and maybe He will answer my prayer.

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My name is Neelie Visser. Ever since Frans died last year, I’ve been wandering aimlessly around our house on the canal, wishing I had someone to talk to, something worthy to do with my free time. I still chat with Frans as if he were in the room, but my words seem to echo off the walls. Jan comes home once in a while. He’s always in such a rush, but I make him sit for a meal because he’d getting much too thin for a nineteen-year-old college student.

Jan is involved in something dangerous. Mothers know things like that. I’d bet a plate of boterkoeken he’s involved with the Resistance. It doesn’t surprise me since he always had a heart for the underdog, even if he got in trouble for defending them.

There’s talk among the other violinists at the opera that things are going to get worse here in our country. How could they get any worse? The ration card is depleted in a month. And neighbors are afraid to stop for a chat—they just hurry past with their heads down. I’ve seen the debris outside looted shops on the Barteljorisstraat, and nobody does anything. Haarlem has always been a proud and tidy town. Well, I will do something. But what can a forty-two-year-old second-chair violinist do? Maybe Jan will have some ideas when he comes for tea.

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LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE PLACED IN THE DRAWING FOR AN EBOOK
 ANYONE IS ELIGIBLE
DRAWING WILL TAKE PLACE WED EVENING MARCH 10, 2021

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My Story Title:   A Song for her Enemies

My Story Genre:  Historical Romance

My Story Released:   March 1, 2021 
                                   NEW RELEASE

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The Author of My Story:    Sherri Stewart


Sherri Stewart writes historical and contemporary romance and romantic suspense. She’s authored five novellas and a dozen novellas.
Her former careers as principal, French teacher, flight attendant, and immigration attorney have provided many storylines for her books. 
Sherri’s passion is traveling to the settings of her books—Israel, the Netherlands, France, and closer spots around the US. 
A recent widow, she lives in the Orlando area with her strong-willed dog, Lilith, and her son, Joshua, who can fix anything. 
She shares recipes, tidbits of the book’s locations, and pix in her newsletter. Subscribe at http://eepurl.com/gZ-mv9

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