For a limited time, you can download Susan May Warren’s, Take a Chance on Me, a Christiansen Family novel, for $3.99! This offer ends on 5/25/13.

What’s it about?  When Ivy Madison bids on Derek Christiansen at a charity bachelor auction, she has no idea she is bidding on a widower for whose wife’s death Ivy is indirectly responsible. All Ivy knows is that the Christiansen family could be the family she’s always dreamed about.

Who should read it?  People who would like to move to Deep Haven, people who like romantic stories, people who might just have that ABBA song stuck in their heads

What should you read when you’re done with this? For another story set in Deep Haven, check out Susan May Warren’s My Foolish Heart. If you’re looking for another contemporary romance, check out Gina Holmes’ Dry as Rain.

Select your favorite vendor below to purchase the book:

Click here to see all our current ebook deals!

For a limited time, you can download the first book in Mel Odom’s Called to Serve series, Deployed for free! This offer ends on 5/25/13.

What’s it about? Single mom Bekah joins the Marine reserves to support herself and her son. To defeat terrorists and bring peace, Bekah must convince a successful Somalian businessman that they’re on the same side.

Who should read it?  People who like fast-paced military stories, people who are interested in peace-keeping missions, people who like strong female characters

What should you read when you’re done with this? Read the true-life story of a soldier, read SEAL of God, former Navy SEAL Chad William’s memoir of is life in the service. For more by Mel Odom, check out his series about military crime-scene investigators, Military NCIS, and watch out for book 2 in the Called to Serve series, Renegade, out in July.

Select your favorite vendor below to purchase the book:

Click here to see all our current ebook deals!

~*~

Are those coffee rings on your magazines? Cookie crumbs in your paperback? And wait . . . Is that really a Cool Ranch Doritos thumbprint on your Kindle screen?

Ah yes, an obvious case of Food and Books.

No worries, I’m not calling the Bibliophile Forensic Team. I’m simply proving a point: reading gives us the munchies.

So does writing—ask any author with a jar of M&M’s on her desk. And for me, this food-book connection goes further: writing urges me to cook. To push away from the keyboard, don my favorite apron, brandish a whisk, and happily sprinkle herbs and freshly grated Parmesan instead of metaphors and similes.

Though I’m called the author of the “medical hope opera,” readers who follow me on Facebook and Twitter know I’m also a passionate foodie who tackles new recipes and shares tips (and bloopers!) while snapping pictures of the process. I post a lot of photos. I’ll never forget the time I ran into a bestselling author at the ACFW conference. I was starstruck. Then stunned as she admitted with a laugh, “We’ve never met, Candace, but I know what you had for dinner three out of five days last week—you always make me hungry!”

With book deadlines looming and fast food an ever-present option, why choose to spend so much time in my kitchen? Why do words like simmer, sauté, and caramelize stir my senses like poetry? Maybe it’s because of my time in the trenches of ER. Those three decades in scrubs, jogging down the corridors—stethoscope bouncing around my neck—to the wail of sirens. All the twelve-hour Thanksgiving shifts when cold pizza and stale coffee substituted for roast turkey, and I had to wolf it down “stat” between crises. Maybe the someday dream of writing extended to culinary creativity too. And now God’s blessed me with the opportunity for both.

My readers know that the food-book connection goes the other way too. My books have scenes in which food plays a role. Sometimes these provide comic relief from intense, adrenaline-infused medical drama. Many times the meal scenes add imagery native to the story’s setting, or occasionally lead to romance. Like in the following scene snippet from my newly released novel, Rescue Team, a story of forgiveness and grace. In this lighter moment, search-and-rescue hero Wes Tanner introduces nurse Kate Callison to the quirky Austin, Texas, food scene. They eat their meal standing up because our heroine is pathetically saddle sore.

***

Wes watched with amusement as Kate devoured her meal. Or tried to. “How you doin’ with your first taste of SoCo trailer food?”

“Ah . . .” Her expression was a comic mix of bliss and frustration. Coleslaw dribbled from a tortilla stuffed with chicken and fried avocado and shoved sideways into a paper snow-cone cup. She brushed at a sprinkle of crumbs on her clingy navy-blue cardigan. “This is fabulous. The chicken’s coated in sesame seeds, almonds, cornflakes, and . . . chili powder, I think.” She raised her voice to compete with a boisterous group of college students at a nearby table and lively bluegrass fiddling from somewhere across the street. “Messy, but incredible.”

“And merciful.” Wes pointed at the rails along the large mobile food cart, providing holes to hold the cones for diners who preferred to stand. “I kept my promise.”

The Mighty Cone, one of many trendy food carts on South Congress, also offered red-painted picnic tables and strings of globe bulbs to add light and romance—to a gravel parking lot with construction-zone ambience. Upscale food, no frills. He’d gotten a kick out of seeing Kate’s reaction to the fleet of carts and trailers boasting names like Wurst Tex, Coat and Thai, and Austin Frigid Frog. And the girlish delight on her face when she spotted Hey Cupcake!, a shiny aluminum Airstream with a huge pink cupcake hoisted atop. Kate had nearly squealed; apparently pink frosting was a counterbalance for her natural tendency toward prickly. Wes was determined to find more ways to make that happen.

***

Recently, I started a blog: “Authors’ Galley: Manuscripts & Wooden Spoons.” A cyberkitchen where (to my great delight) I host other writers and publishing professionals, asking that simmering question: “What’s cooking?” There is food talk, recipes, lively interaction with readers, and giveaways, too. It’s an opportunity to share ourselves the way we do when we write a story, cook a meal for family, friends, or a neighbor—or when we offer compassionate care in the trenches of ER. It’s a simple blog about food and books, but mostly it’s about connection and hospitality, always a wonderful blessing.

And a good enough excuse to celebrate crumbs in your paperback. You see, I’m on your side.

 I love how you use food to really bring out the settings of your stories, Candace. This scene not only makes me hungry but convinces me I must travel there and try the dish myself! Can’t wait to stop by your blog  and share in some great recipes!

Interested in Candace’s writing? Don’t miss out on her great food themed book giveaway! 

For Candace Calvert, writing and cooking go hand in hand. What about you, readers? What hobbies do you enjoy? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Read the first chapter of Rescue Team by clicking here. 

To Celebrate the release of Rescut Team Candance Calvert is giving away a special Grace Medical themed gift basket!

Here’s what you can win:

1 Grand prize winner will win the gift basket which includes:

Stainless steel kitchen colander with:

Autographed GOT BOOKS? apron

GOT BOOKS? tile coaster

Rescue Team

Trauma Plan

6-pack of Starbucks Via coffee

2 coffee-cup print dish towels

4 dish cloths

Multi-color set of measuring spoons

Fancy print cupcake papers

Hearts & Flowers cupcake sprinkles

5 Runners-up will win a copy of Rescue Team

To enter, fill out the form below. Winners will be chosen at random on Friday May 31st.

For a limited time, you can download the newest book in Janice Cantore’s Pacific Coast Justice series, Avenged for free! This offer ends on 5/18/13.

What’s it about? 

Who should read it? 

What should you read when you’re done with this? Start from the beginning with book 1 of the Pacific Coast Justice series, Accused, or try Jerry Jenkins’s series, Precinct 11, about Chicago cops trying to subdue corruption in the city.

Select your favorite vendor below to purchase the book:

Click here to see all our current ebook deals!

We’re giving away 5 copies of Sarah Arthur’s devotional for new moms – Mommy Time.

Description from Tyndale.com:

Every new mom experiences a myriad of emotions—joy, love, the frightening, yet terrific reality that you are now responsible for a tiny little dependent. And in the midst of all these emotions—and burpings, feedings, diaper changes, and quick naps—moms need to be reminded of God’s awesomeness. In this gift-like book, new mom and best-selling author Sarah Arthur writes about how delivering her son three weeks early reminds her of God’s timing, how her trip home from the hospital with her newborn son tucked away in his car seat points to God being in control even when she is fearful, and how a mom’s concern over friendly strangers touching her young child in the grocery store also reminds her that people are sent to help. In a fresh and contemplative style, Arthur sits alongside Mom and helps her understand that God is in control . . . even when her life feels drastically out of control. This devotional will be a great companion for Mom during the small amount of time she gets to sit and be still and think of the truths of God’s word, while relating it to her new favorite subject—her baby.

Read a sample – click here.

Fill out the form below to enter. We’ll pick five winners on May 23rd!

For a limited time, you can download Maureen Lang’s novel All in Good Time for free! Hurry, this offer ends on 5/18/13.

What’s it about? Dessa Caldwell wants to fulfill her dream of opening a shelter for former prostitutes, but has exhausted all charitable donations. She’s forced to turn to Henry Caldwell, the banker with the secret past.

Who should read it? people who are interested in America’s Gilded Age, people who like romantic historical fiction

What should you read when you’re done with this? Try Maureen Lang’s Great War series, beginning with Look to the East. For another historical novel about church workers , check out Allison Pittman’s All for a Story.

Select your favorite vendor below to purchase the book:

Click here to see all our current ebook deals!

~*~

As I write this, my eldest son is on his way home from college, having finished his last classes, preparing for finals . . . and then graduation.

It seems like yesterday that I was holding him in my arms, hoping and praying so much for him, longing that he never make my mistakes, that he have an amazing, love-filled life. But it never works out quite that way, does it? Because on the way to adulthood, children make mistakes, break our hearts, and the challenge is when to reach out to catch them and when to let them fall. Being a parent is dangerously wonderful, breathtaking and terrifying.

As I wrote Take a Chance on Me, and as I’m working on the rest of the collection, I realized the thread that weaves through these stories is the hope Ingrid Christiansen has for each of her children. Her hope—and belief—in her children is written in a letter at the beginning of each book. It’s a prayer, really. The words she longs to speak to her son, even though he can’t hear her.

~*~

My dearest Darek,

Even as I write this letter, I know I’ll tuck it away; the words on it are more of a prayer, meant for the Lord more than you. Or maybe, in the scribbling upon this journal page, the words might somehow find your heart, a cry that extends across the bond of mother and child.

The firstborn child is always the one who solves the mystery of parenthood. Before I had you, I watched other mothers and wondered at the bond between a child and a parent, the strength of it, the power to mold a woman, making her put all hopes and wishes into this tiny bundle of life that she had the responsibility to raise.

It’s an awe-filled, wonderful, terrifying act to have a child, for you suddenly wear your heart on the outside of your body. You risk a little more each day as he wanders from your arms into the world. You, Darek, were no protector of my heart. You were born with a willfulness, a courage, and a bent toward adventure that would bring me to the edge of my faith and keep me on my knees. The day I first saw you swinging from that too-enticing oak tree into the lake should have told me that I would be tested.

Your brothers shortened your name to Dare, and you took it to heart. I was never so terrified as the day you came home from Montana, fresh from your first year as a hotshot, feeling your own strength. I knew your future would take you far from Evergreen Lake. I feared it would take you far, also, from your legacy of faith.

Watching your son leave your arms has no comparison to watching him leave God’s. You never seemed to question the beliefs your father and I taught you. Perhaps that is what unsettled me the most, because without questioning, I wondered how there could be true understanding. I held my breath against the day when it would happen—life would shatter you and leave your faith bereft.

And then it did.

It brought you home, in presence if not soul. If it hadn’t been for your son, I might have done the unthinkable—stand in our gravel driveway and bar you from returning, from hiding.

Because, my courageous, bold oldest son, that is what you are doing. Hiding. Bitter and dark, you have let guilt and regret destroy your foundation, imprison you, and steal your joy. You may believe you are building a future for your son, but without faith, you have nothing to build it on. Evergreen Resort is not just a place. It’s a legacy. A foundation. A belief.

It’s the best of what I have to give you. That, and my unending prayers that somehow God will destroy those walls you’ve constructed around your heart.

Darek, you have become a mystery to me again. I don’t know how to help free you. Or to restore all you’ve lost. But I believe that if you give God a chance, He will heal your heart. He will give you a future. He will truly lead you home.

Lovingly,

Your mother

~*~

As I wrote Ingrid’s letter to Darek in Take a Chance on Me, I thought about the times I couldn’t hear God, and I wondered what God’s letter to me might look like. And then I knew. In fact, I have an entire book of God’s letters to me.

This is one of my favorites:

I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself. (Jeremiah 31:3)

It’s the cry of a parent, reaching out, not giving up. Willing to let me fall but standing near enough for me to reach out to him, near enough to help me up.

I pray this Mother’s Day you feel the love of God in your life, the kind that reaches out even when we can’t hear, the kind of love that is just within arm’s reach.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Susie May Warren

~*~

What is your latest book about?

In Broken Places is a story of healing and overcoming. Shelby is the survivor of childhood violence. Because of that, she’s spent a good part of her life controlling her environment and steering clear of personal risk. But when, under staggering circumstances, she becomes the legal guardian of a four-year-old girl, she discovers that some of life’s most stunning surprises can also hold its greatest joys. She soon discovers that her past and her present need to be explored and confronted head-on if she’s going to reach the future she suddenly desires.

In Broken Places is written in the first person. Is Shelby a fictional version of you?

She and I are alike in some ways. We share cheesecake cravings, chin obsessions, and a tendency to leave people bewildered. I taught at a high school in Germany for 20 years, so the setting of the novel is intimately familiar to me. The fragile part of Shelby is one I’ve viscerally known. I lived many years among the walking wounded before finding strength and healing. But there are differences, too. More than anything, I want Shelby to be a reflection of all women whose various struggles represent a much greater malaise: dissatisfaction with ourselves with the expectations of others and the often maiming vagaries of life. To me, Shelby symbolizes hope—a woman who has suffered, survived, and grown to thrive.

For people who may not be familiar with your work, what would you want them to know about you and the kinds of stories you write?

My writing is character-based and dialogue-driven. As weighty as some of the plot elements are, I try to balance the seriousness with generous servings of wit and levity. I’m an avid student of the human condition, so you’ll gain an intimate understanding of the characters and breathe with them as they grapple with their demons in a gut-honest and often humorous way.

Thanks, Michèle, for sharing some of your writing insight with us!

Does In Broken Places sound like your type of novel? Don’t miss out on a chance to win a free copy! (Five winners will be chosen; giveaway ends this Sunday, May 12.)

If you’re interested in Michèle’s writing, she can be found online . . .

At her website:
www.michelephoenix.com

At her blog:
http://michelephoenix.com/blog/

Stop by the blog at the beginning of every month to hear more on great new inspirational fiction releasing this month.

How’re you doing, readers? Found any new fiction favorites lately? Share your thoughts in the comments!

For a limited time, you can download Hank Hanegraaf and Sigmund Brouer’s novel The Last Disciple for free!

What’s it about? First century Christians endure terrible persecution under the Roman government as an enemy seeks to destroy John’s letter, Revelation. The early Christians must try to decipher the letter and cling to the hope it provides.

Who should read it?  people who enjoy historical fiction, people who want to experience what it was like to be a Christian just after the death of Christ, people who are fans of movies like Gladiator

What should you read when you’re done with this?  Read the next book in the series, The Last Sacrifice, or read another series about first century Christians, Francine Rivers’ The Mark of the Lion.

Select your favorite vendor below to purchase the book:

Click here to see all our current ebook deals!