"Guardian" by Cathy McCrumb -- Author Interview

 

About the Book

Book: Guardian

Author: Cathy McCrumb

Genre: Science Fiction

Release Date: February 20, 2024

The Recorder’s fate has been sealed, but the Consortium is not the only enemy.

Labeled an aberration by the Consortium, the Recorder is not yet free. Time is running out as an engineered bioweapon wreaks havoc on friend and foe alike.

Stopping both the biological agent and the people who created it is no easy task, especially since the Recorder and her friends are trapped on a research station infested with behemoth insects. Without Consortium technology, the probability of neutralizing the threat falls to nothing. In order to save her allies, the Recorder must activate a drone, but her success might destroy any hope for freedom, a future, and a name.

 

Click here to get your copy!

Author Interview 

1. Do you set a plot or prefer going wherever an idea takes you?

I tend to have a general idea of where I want the story to go or a thematic element I want
to explore, but really? I just watch my characters do things (and sometimes argue with
them) and let the story develop on its own.

2. What, according to you, is the hardest thing about writing?

Finding time is the hardest thing for me, but if you mean the writing itself, then the
hardest thing about writing is probably saying silly, easy sounding things. I’ve stared at
the screen for ages, wondering how to say something like, “She turned around.”

3. What would you say is the easiest aspect of writing?

The easiest aspect of writing is character and dialogue. When the characters feel alive in
my mind, then writing what they do is as natural as breathing.

4. Do you pen down revelations and ideas as you get them, right then and there?

Usually not, since ideas come to me at inconvenient times (like driving or scrubbing
something) but I do my best! (lol!)

5. Do bits of yourself/friends show up in your characters?

There are parts of me in every character I write, even the characters that I don’t love. I
don’t base characters on people I know (with one exception) but sometimes lines are
echoes of things people say.

About the Author

Cathy McCrumb graduated from Biola University with a degree in English Literature and a love for stories. She and her husband, whom she met while writing letters to soldiers, have five children and currently live within the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. While writing is one of her favorite things to do, she also enjoys reading, long hikes and long naps, gluten-free brownies and raspberries, and crocheting while watching science fiction movies with friends and family.

 

 

 

More from Cathy

Someone asked me recently why I wrote Guardian.  My answer was that the whole Children of the Consortium trilogy is my love song to people who feel left out.

In the first novel, the Recorder—a young woman with no name, no family, and no friends—doesn’t see her life as valuable. As she discovers friendship and love, however, she realizes that every person in the system is unique, and this by definition must include her, too.

How often do we doubt our own value and that of the people around us? In a world that prioritizes youth, beauty, health, and success, many people are on the outside, looking in. I suspect that deep down, a lot of us wrestle with who we are and how we fall short of this external measuring tape.

The truth, however, is very, very different from the lie of worthlessness. While we have names (and don’t usually encounter two-meter insects, for which I am extremely thankful), we frequently forget that as humans, even though we are fallen, we are made in God’s image. Furthermore, as Christians, we have been both called and adopted.

Zephaniah 3:17 says that the Lord is with us. He takes “great delight” in us and rejoices over us. What an amazing, beautiful, and comforting image. The One who formed the stars, who breathed life into every human on the planet rejoices over YOU.

My prayer is that you find hope and joy in the midst of darkness, whether or not you find friends in the pages of these novels. Look to the Lord and hold fast to the fact that you are unique and valuable. Because even when you feel like you’re on the outside looking in, you are never alone.

Blog Stops

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 7

Through the Fire Blogs, March 8 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, March 9

Splashes of Joy, March 10 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 11

Artistic Nobody, March 12 (Author Interview)

Guild Master, March 13 (Author Interview)

A Reader’s Brain, March 14 (Author Interview)

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, March 15 (Author Interview)

Wishful Endings, March 15

Simple Harvest Reads, March 16 (Author Interview)

Blossoms and Blessings, March 17 (Author Interview)

The Lofty Pages, March 17

Fiction Book Lover, March 18 (Author Interview)

Blogging With Carol , March 19

Vicky Sluiter, March 20 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Cathy is giving away the grand prize of a copy of Guardian!!

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/2a552/guardian-celebration-tour-giveaway

"Forever Free" by Hope Toler Dougherty -- Author Interview

About the Book

Book: Forever Free

Author: Hope Toler Dougherty

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: January 24, 2024

Phoebe Sinclair combines her love of flowers and teaching to nurture a cut flower business on her grandfather’s land. She’s got her hands full growing the farm, growing her customer base, and dealing with her growing attraction to the aloof man who’s volunteered to help make her farming dream come true.

Can she focus on her main job, or will a pair of yearning eyes and a hurting heart divert her worthy goals?

Heath Daniels has resigned himself to a life of singleness as he watches his siblings couple up and set wedding dates. Tracking their happiness, however, is more difficult than he expected. A real struggle, in fact.

Feeling the old troubles from his college years creeping back to tempt him, he’s propelled to volunteer for manual labor, leaving him exhausted, but out of danger, at the end of every day. His additional hours of agri-business, however, lead to different struggles with an intriguing farmer.

Does he have the strength to resist old temptations as well as a beautiful new one too?

 

Click here to get your copy!

Author Interview

1. What, according to you, is the hardest thing about writing? 
The most difficult part about writing for me is the marketing aspect. I love interacting
with readers. I enjoy public speaking, too, but I hate having to make the call to ask people
if they need a speaker. I don’t like trumpeting about my writing. I also have trouble
writing conflict. I want everybody to be happy! 

2. Do you need to be in a specific place or room to write, or you can just
sit in the middle of a café full of people and write? 
I usually write at my desk upstairs in my house. Sometimes if I get bored and the
weather’s nice, I’ll set up on our back porch. Writing in different places usually stokes
my creativity, but I don’t write in coffee shops. I like to people watch, and I’m too
nosy to concentrate on my own writing. 

3. Where do you get your ideas for your books? 
Ideas come from different places for me and usually come first with characters,
then the story. For my only romantic suspense, the idea came while I rode my bike
on some property near my house. I pedaled by the abandoned house and started
wondering what if scenarios about the house. I spooked myself with the questions,
but a few days later when the characters wouldn’t stop talking, I began what
became Rescued Hearts. 

4. What is your work schedule/routine when you write? 
When I’m writing a rough draft, my Monday through Friday writing goal is to write fifteen
hundred words. I use the Scrivener writing program, so it’s easy to set those goals and see my
progress five hundred words at a time. 
 
5. Do bits of yourself/friends show up in your characters? 
I’ve been told many times that I’m Ellen from Irish Encounter, my first novel. Since
then, I’ve tried hard to write against that. The main character in my second book is a
twenty something and is trying to pass the CPA exam. She loves math. I just
shuddered typing that sentence. I may not be the characters, but my fingerprints are on
every page. My mother used to read my books to look for Hope-isms. 

About the Author

Hope Toler Dougherty holds a Master’s degree in English and taught at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, and York Technical College in Rock Hill, SC. Her early novels are Irish Encounter, Mars…With Venus Rising, and Rescued Hearts. Her Forever series includes Forever Music, Forever Home, and the novella, “A Hatteras Surprise,” which is featured in Candy Cane Wishes and Saltwater Dreams.

A chronic volunteer, she’s a member of ACFW, NC Writers’ Network, and Triangle East Writers. She and her husband live in North Carolina and look forward to visits with their two daughters and twin sons.

 

More from Hope

A few years ago, I decided to write a series since readers enjoy reading stories with familiar characters. Four siblings came to mind, perhaps because I have four children, and the Daniels family from Charlotte, North Carolina, burst onto my computer screen.

I’ve loved spending time with Ben, Heath, Sam, and Josie for the past several years and sharing how three of them found their happily ever after.  One, however, always appeared on the fringe of the story, participating, yes, but always a bit set apart from the family.

Heath Daniels is the second oldest sibling, the middle brother between Ben and Sam. Readers will discover him first in Forever Music and then in a larger role in Forever Home, but he never disclosed too much about himself in those stories.

Before I began the series, I didn’t know to plan key plot points and goals for each story as well as the whole series. As a panster, I wrote each story as it came to me or as I needed to like, for instance, the novella, “A Hatteras Surprise.”

When it came time to write Heath’s story, I hardly knew him. I wasn’t sure about his backstory, his occupation, tastes…nothing. He grudgingly released those missing pieces bit by tiny bit.

At the beginning of Forever Free, Heath feels like the black sheep in the family. In the high achieving Daniels clan, he’s the one who dropped out of college, the one who struggled with substance abuse, the one who feels less than. With all his siblings coupling up, he’s staring at a single future because of old misguided beliefs.

Guilt from an early tragedy along with bad choices play important parts in Heath’s personality. Phoebe Sinclair has her hands full nurturing her cut flower farm, plus she has to deal with a cute, but distant employee, the mysterious Heath.

I enjoyed getting to know Heath and watching his growth from the sullen, misunderstood character to the confident businessperson who wants Phoebe to achieve her dream. I hope you’ll enjoy his story, too.

Here’s a recipe Phoebe bakes for her grandfather in Forever Free. I’m not sure why it’s called Swedish Nut Cake, but I’m sure it’s delicious.

Swedish Nut Cake

Ingredients for cake:                                       Ingredients for icing:
2 C flour                                                          1 8 oz pkg creamed cheese
1 ¾ C sugar                                                     1/2 stick butter
2 eggs                                                              1 t vanilla
2 t baking soda                                                1 ½ C powdered sugar, sifted
1 t vanilla
½ chopped nuts
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple with juice

Directions:
Mix all ingredients for cake and bake in a greased 9×13 pan at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. For icing, mix all ingredients and frost the cooled cake. Store in the refrigerator.

Blog Stops

Pause for Tales, March 6

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, March 7 (Author Interview)

Simple Harvest Reads, March 8 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 8

For the Love of Literature, March 9 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, March 10

Tell Tale Book Reviews, March 11 (Author Interview)

Life on Chickadee Lane, March 12

Blossoms and Blessings, March 13 (Author Interview)

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 14

Artistic Nobody, March 15 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 16

Back Porch Reads, March 17 (Author Interview)

The Lofty Pages, March 17

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 18

Where Crisis & Christ Collide, March 19 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Hope is giving away the grand prize package of a $75 Amazon gift card and a set of the 4-book Forever Series!!

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/2a551/forever-free-celebration-tour-giveaway 

"Protecting the Mountain Man's Treasure" by Misty M. Beller

 

About the Book

Book: Protecting the Mountain Man’s Treasure

Author: Misty M. Beller

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: February 6, 2024

In the wild mountains of the Montana Territory, the Coulter ranch is a place of family, loyalty…and a hidden fortune.

Jude Coulter is far more comfortable in his family’s sapphire mine tucked in the Montana mountains than the bustling streets of New York City where he’s been sent to deliver a shipment of gems. His relief at boarding the train for the first leg of his journey home is short-lived when an accident renders him unconscious.

Angela Larkin worked hard to earn this assignment for the Treasury—an undercover mission to determine the source of the sapphires brought each year for auction in the city. When an accident causes her target to lose his recent memory, Angela jumps at the opportunity to create the ideal ruse. Jude seems surprised to learn the two of them had married and were returning from a glorious wedding trip, but he doesn’t question too strongly.

Yet when an unexpected threat arises, they find themselves dependent on the other to navigate the treacherous journey home. As the danger mounts, so too does an attraction neither of them anticipated. But can this love withstand the revelation of their tangled beginnings?

From a USA Today bestselling author comes a mountain family saga filled with a pretend marriage, amnesia, undercover agents, and a love worth treasuring far more than riches.

My Thoughts

 I enjoyed reading this book. It was fun to be able to spend time with the Coulter brothers again. The story followed Jude and Angela as they travel back to the Montana Territory from New York. There is also a couple chapters featuring Naomi and Jonah who get their story in the next book. I found the book to be well written and easy to read. There was an excellent biblical faith thread and a clear gospel presentation. I look forward to reading more books by Misty M. Beller.

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Misty M. Beller is a USA Today bestselling author of romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love.

Raised on a farm and surrounded by family, Misty developed her love for horses, history, and adventure. These days, her husband and children provide fresh adventure every day, keeping her both grounded and crazy.

Misty’s passion is to create inspiring Christian fiction infused with the grandeur of the mountains, writing historical romance that displays God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters.

Sharing her stories with readers is a dream come true for Misty. She writes from her country home in South Carolina and escapes to the mountains any chance she gets.

More from Misty

In my latest release, the hero and heroine travel up the Missouri River in a steamboat, and I loved the research for that portion of the story!

Traveling on a steamboat in 1869 was an experience like no other, and took about two months to travel from St. Louis, Missouri to Fort Benton in the Montana Territory. Passengers would step aboard these floating palaces to find ornate decorations, plush accommodations, and the promise of new scenery at every bend in the river. Despite the occasional discomforts of travel—such as noisy engines and the ever-present risk of boiler explosions—passengers reveled in the novelty and the relative speed of steamboat travel.

The Missouri was notorious for its shifting channels, snags, and sandbars, which could easily ensnare even the most experienced pilot’s vessel. Navigating this river required an intimate knowledge of its capricious nature, and the river pilots were worth their weight in gold.

River towns along the Missouri thrived thanks to the steamboats. These towns became hotbeds of economic activity, where goods were loaded and unloaded, and stories from faraway places were exchanged. The arrival of a steamboat was an event, often met with fanfare and excitement by the local populace.

I pray you love the peek at steamboat life in Protecting the Mountain Man’s Treasure! J

Blessings!

Misty

Blog Stops

Alena Mentink, March 1

Wishful Endings, March 1

Lighthouse Academy Blog, March 2 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 2

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 3

Splashes of Joy, March 3

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 4

Where Crisis & Christ Collide, March 4

Madi’s Musings, March 5

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, March 5

Texas Book-aholic, March 6

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 6

Betti Mace, March 7

Books You Can Feel Good About, March 7

Devoted To Hope, March 8

For Him and My Family, March 8

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions , March 9

Jeanette’s Thoughts, March 9

Cover Lover Book Review, March 10

Life on Chickadee Lane, March 10

Blossoms and Blessings, March 11

Mary Hake, March 11

lakesidelivingsite, March 12

Melissa’s Bookshelf, March 12

Holly’s Book Corner, March 13

The Lofty Pages, March 13

Lily’s Corner, March 14

Pause for Tales, March 14

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Misty is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

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/2a3d3/protecting-the-mountain-man-s-treasure-celebration-tour-giveaway

I got a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given voluntarily. No compensation was received for my review.

"The Irish Matchmaker" by Jennifer Deibel

About the Book

As daughter of a well-known matchmaker, Catríona Daly is no stranger to the business of love--and sees it as her ticket away from the sleepy village that only comes alive during the annual matchmaking festival. Enter Lord Osborne's son, Andrew, who has returned to the festival after being disappointed by a rival matchmaker's failed setup. Catríona seizes the opportunity to make a better match for the handsome man--and for herself!

Cattle farmer Donal Bunratty is in desperate need of a wife after loss left him to handle the farm and raise his daughter on his own. Shy and lacking the finer social graces, he agrees to attend the matchmaking festival to appease his daughter. But when he arrives, it's not any of the other merrymakers that catch his eye but rather his matchmaker--who clearly has eyes for someone else.

Catríona will have to put all her expertise to work to make a match that could change her life forever. Will her plan succeed? Or will love have its own way?

My Thoughts

I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the characters and found them to be relatable and realistic. I loved Sara and seeing her perspective on the situation. I loved the setting and could hear them in my head speaking with an Irish accent. The work of a matchmaker is interesting and it was fun to see a little into how they work. There was a good biblical faith thread and the characters grew. I look forward to reading more books by Jennifer Deibel. 

About the Author

Jennifer Deibel is the author of A Dance in Donegal (winner of the Kipp Award for Historical Romance), The Lady of Galway Manor, and The Maid of Ballymacool. Her work has appeared on (in)courage, on The Better Mom, in Missions Mosaic magazine, and in other publications. With firsthand immersive experience abroad, Jennifer writes stories that help redefine home through the lens of culture, history, and family. After nearly a decade of living in Ireland and Austria, she now lives in Arizona with her husband and their three children. You can find her online at www.JenniferDeibel.com.

"The Irish Matchmaker" is available in paperback:

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Revell (February 13, 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0800744853
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0800744854
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.49 x 0.84 x 8.51 inches

and in Kindle edition:

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C9RSG1N5
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Revell (February 13, 2024)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 13, 2024
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 7818 KB

I got a free copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own and given voluntarily. No compensation was received for my review.