K. Dawn Byrd's "Amazing Love"

I'm pleased to announce that Amazing Love is now available in eformat and will be available soon in print!

Amazing Love, the modern-day story of Hosea and Gomer from the Bible, speaks of God's unconditional love, mercy, and grace and how much loving someone that much can cost.

Gabe Knight, a pastor in a small coastal town, finds his life is turned upside down when Dee Dillow arrives and hires him to remodel an estate she's inherited from her aunt. Dee dashes his plans for wedded bless when on a drunken binge, she divulges that she's the highest paid call girl in Nevada and part-owner of the ritziest brothel in the state.

Gabe falls in love with her, but can't believe he's hearing the voice of God when a still, small voice tells him to marry her. After much questioning, they marry and he is deliriously happy. Until, Dee betrays him.

Gabe soon discovers just how hard it is to have the unconditional love God calls him to have for his wife, the kind of love God has for his children. When faced with losing her, Gabe realizes what true love is, how much it hurts, and just how much God loves and is willing to sacrifice for his children.


Read the first chapter of Amazing Love...


Youtube:


Excerpt from my prologue:
Dee signed the letter with a flourish and then read it aloud.

Maggie:
For the longest time, I blamed myself. There must be something terribly wrong with me, something so bad that even a mother couldn't love me. After years of therapy, I've learned that it's not me, it's you, Maggie. You're not capable of loving anyone. That's a terrible thing to say about a mother, but it's true.

Even here at Carpe Diem, I've continued therapy via technology. Today was a hard day because it's my birthday. As was expected, I never heard from you. Like my therapist said, it's not my fault you didn't call. It's a choice you made, Maggie, like so many other bad choices.

I used to dwell often on the things you allowed to happen to me. You had to have known that John was visiting my room almost nightly. You chose to ignore it even though he was your husband. And then, he sold me to his wealthy friends and you stood back and allowed it to happen. Whoever had the most money. That wasn't the life I would have chosen if given a choice. Even now, I long for a life of normalcy. A husband, a couple of children, and a picket fence is just a dream.

There are times I hate you, but I realize you have demons of your own. Something has happened to you to cause you to be so selfish and full of anger. That's why I try to overlook your hostility and lack of love toward me. You need a good therapist.

My therapist recommends that I write letters to you when I'm angry. It helps. This is letter 642. I've kept them all. You'll probably never read them, but they're not really for you. They're for me.

Your daughter, Dee



Amazing Love will be available soon at CBD and other outlets.

Deanna Klingel's "Crack in the Ice"

Title: Cracks in the Ice
Publisher: Write Integrity, October 2012

Cover blurb:
Gina, niece of a mafia don, has dreams of Olympic gold as a figure skater. When crisis destroys her dream she is ill-equipped to cope. She spirals into depression and alcoholism. Two people who love her are able to show her God still loves her and help to restore her identity. She returns to the faith of her childhood and discovers a different kind of victory.

1) How did this story come to you?
Truthfully? I have no idea!

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
This book was easy to write once I researched the history and facts I needed to know. Write Integrity had just announced they were open to receiving YA novels, especially those that crossed over to women’s fiction, so I submitted to them. The editor loved the story, offered a contract and quickly took it to press. The proofreaders say it’s their best one yet! I’m honored and excited to begin selling the book.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I’ve been married for fifty years, for one. For two, I’ve been married for fifty years to the same man, and for three, I’m happy as a clam and yes I would do it all over again.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’ve got three finished manuscripts I hope to find homes for in the next year, I’ve just started writing another historical fiction for YA, and I’ve got a couple of ideas for the future. I’ve got enough ideas to last for the rest of my life!

5) Parting comments?
I love to read and write and love to share my enthusiasm with young readers at schools. Call me if you’d like a school visit.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
My website is www.BooksByDeanna.com. The last page is my schedule, so you can see when I’m in your area and could visit at your school. I blog as a guest a couple times a month, and those can be found by searching my name. I’m also on facebook, linked in, and Pinterest.

Chana Keefer's "The Fall"

We have two giveaways this week. Please scroll down and leave each Title: THE FALL (Rapha Chronicles #1)
Cover blurb: This story has been told—but never like this.

No, Rapha would not strike with physical force this day. But he could not resist goading his enemy just once. Looking up, he fixed the peace of Adonai on Lucifer like a laser, held that malicious gaze for one eternal second—and smiled. A flicker of uncertainty stirred in Lucifer’s eyes.

Rapha opened a single thought to Lucifer as he disappeared with the creature still cradled to his breast:

“You always did hate secrets.”

Rapha, a powerful angel, had seen it all in his countless years of service. At least he thought he had. Then he met Adam.

Lucifer had it all, Adonai’s favor, Rapha’s friendship and unrivalled power throughout creation. But he wanted more.

1) How did this story come to you?
THE FALL was completely spurred on through prayer. I had been praying every morning for at least an hour for three years. It was during a morning prayer time in 2007 that God spoke to my heart, “What do you want?”

After bawling a while and being completely overwhelmed, I realized some of my “beliefs” about God didn’t fit with the fathomless love He was pouring out. I asked a question—and He answered. From there, it was as if I had grasped the tail of a comet. For about 40 days I would wake with a thought, statement or picture in my head. I would take it to prayer then write about that day’s revelation. When my hubby and another author friend saw the 250 pages of notes from that time they both said, “This needs to be a novel.”

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
As C.S. Lewis points out in The Chronicles of Narnia, God is not a tame lion. THE FALL was edgy, a bit shocking and didn’t fit into the careful parameters of most Christian publishers. On the other hand, there was way too much Bible in it for the taste of most secular publishers. I had kind of written myself into no-man’s land, especially as a debut author. I found a self-publishing company whose books reflected keen attention to detail since the person over the publishing process had worked for Simon & Schuster. We decided to work with this company since half of what they offered involved marketing and distribution. THE FALL ended up being excellent in quality and beautiful to boot—but much of what happened after publishing with that company has been a fiasco. Another huge growth curve.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
When I was eighteen, I went to an Engelbert Humperdinck concert with my parents. When I asked if we would get to meet the singer, a guy took me backstage. They thought I was some kind of groupie. Uh. No.

In my early twenties, I helped to smuggle Christian literature into a Communist country.

Also in my early twenties, I was a guest star on “Dallas.” J.R, Sue Ellen, South Fork—the whole nine yards. My twenty seconds of fame.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I’m working to bring my firstborn novel, “One Night With a Rock Star,” to Kindle very soon. Rock Star was the novel I cut my teeth on, so to speak, and I’ve worked on it off-and-on for the past seven years so it’s kinda hard to allow it to leave the nest. After that, I can’t wait to immerse myself in the sequel to THE FALL. At this point, I project three more titles in the Rapha Chronicles series. This next title will deal with Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah.

5) Parting comments?
I can’t recommend highly enough the practice of spending the first hour of every day on your knees before God. You don’t need a PhD and you don’t have to “be good enough” or receive special training to pray. We go to our Heavenly Father, climb up into His lap, and listen to His heartbeat. We simply come to Him as a little child.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
www.chanakeefer.com
FB: The Rapha Chronicles
Twitter: @chanakeefer