The Christmas Prayer {Celebrate Lit Review}

September 20, 2018 by Dana

About the Book

Book Title: The Christmas Prayer

Author: Wanda E. Brunstetter

Genre: Historical Christmas Romance

Release date: September, 2018

Beloved, bestselling author of Amish fiction, Wanda E. Brunstetter takes readers on a journey in 1850 along the California Trail.

Only the brave—or foolhardy—would attempt a cross-country journey late in the season. Three wagons meet up in Independence, Missouri, in April 1850, and their owners decide to keep forging ahead despite many setbacks and delays. December finds them in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when a sudden snowstorm traps them, obscuring the trail.

Cynthia Cooper is traveling with her mother and the man she has promised to marry. But as Christmas is upon them and they are hunkered down in a small cabin, she is forced to reevaluate her reasons for planning to marry fellow-traveler Walter Prentice. When a widowed father heading to a California ranch and a gold prospector both show an interest in Cynthia, she weighs her dreams for marriage alongside her responsibility to care for her mother. Can love win over her timid heart?

Click here to purchase your copy!

About the Author

New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Wanda E. Brunstetter is one of the founders of the Amish fiction genre. She has written close to 90 books translated in four languages. With over 10 million copies sold, Wanda’s stories consistently earn spots on the nations most prestigious bestseller lists and have received numerous awards.

Wanda’s ancestors were part of the Anabaptist faith, and her novels are based on personal research intended to accurately portray the Amish way of life. Her books are well-read and trusted by many Amish, who credit her for giving readers a deeper understanding of the people and their customs.

When Wanda visits her Amish friends, she finds herself drawn to their peaceful lifestyle, sincerity, and close family ties. Wanda enjoys photography, ventriloquism, gardening, bird-watching, beachcombing, and spending time with her family. She and her husband, Richard, have been blessed with two grown children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

To learn more about Wanda, visit her website at www.wandabrunstetter.com.

Guest Post from Wanda

A cross-country journey in 1850 leads to high mountain danger—and romance.

Find out in The Christmas Prayer from NY Times bestselling author Wanda E. Brunstetter.

Try this Exclusive Bonus Recipe Found Inside the Book!

Cynthia’s Fried Apples

Instructions:

Without peeling, quarter as many tart apples as you would like. Lay apples close together, skin side down, in frying pan with salt pork fat or butter. Cover until well steamed then uncover and brown both sides, turning and watching closely to prevent burning.

Blog Stops

Blog Stops
Among the Reads, September 18

The Avid Reader, September 18

The Power of Words, September 18

Lighthouse Academy, September 18

Just Commonly, September 19

Carpe Diem, September 19

A Baker’s Perspective, September 19

Blossoms and Blessings, September 20

Britt Reads Fiction, September 20

Random Thoughts From a Bookworm, September 20

Connie’s History Classroom, September 21

Luv’N Lambert Life, September 21

Not Enough Time for Books, September 21

D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, September 22

Lis Loves Reading, September 22

Literary Reflections Book Blog, September 22

Babs Book Bistro, September 23

Jeanette’s Thoughts, September 23

Janices book reviews, September 23

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, September 24

Mary Hake, September 24

Two Points of Interest, September 24

Inspiration Clothesline, September 25

Inklings and notions, September 25

Ashley’s Bookshelf, September 25

Fiction, Faith, and Fun, September 26

Girls in White Dresses, September 26

Book by Book, September 26

Splashes of Joy, September 27

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, September 27

The Morning Chapter, September 27

The Mimosa Blossom, September 28

Pause for Tales, September 28

Have A Wonderful Day, September 28

Miss Tina’s Amish Book Reviews, September 29

To Everything A Season, September 29

Cafinated Reads, September 29

Bibliophile Reviews, September 29

Quiet Quilter, September 30

Southern Gal Loves to Read, September 30

proud to be an autism mom, September 30

Texas Book-aholic, October 1

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 1

Bigreadersite, October 1

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Wanda is giving away a grand prize of a $25 Amazon Gift Card and a free copy of The Christmas Prayer with an autographed book plate inside!!

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/d297/the-christmas-prayer-celebration-tour-giveaway

My Review:
Wanda E. Brunstetter is one of the best authors I have ever read. Her stories are so intriguing that even my Mother, who has never been a fan of Fiction story books, has started to read her stories. She is a true storyteller who creates story-lines that truly speak to your heart.

A Christmas Prayer is just one of many of these stories that we have come to love so much. This story is set in 1850 in the Winter, of course, across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Cynthia Cooper, her mother and the man who she’s pledged her hand in marriage to, head through the mountains to find hope in a new place. Only Cynthia isn’t so sure this is what she’s meant to have in her life and a widowed stranger leaves her questioning her choices on this path as she trudges ahead. A surprise twist leaves Cynthia confused but able to follow her heart in the end, bringing forth a simple Christmas miracle and a love that will last all time.

This is a smaller sized book with a shorter story filling the pages. It’s just a simple, warm read for the chilly Winter days. Grab yourself a hot cup of cocoa and enjoy!

Life is hard…

September 20, 2018 by Dana

I’m sitting here, trying my best to write, to catch up on reviews that I’m seriously behind on and I can’t focus… my heart aches. This week has been hard and today is one of the hardest of those days.

You see, my friend’s daughter passed away today. She was 15 and a shining light to all who knew her. She had a smile that I cannot even begin to describe and a laugh that brought forth joy to all who heard it.

15 is such a short life, not nearly long enough for all the things one should accomplish. She did though. She took this world by storm and showed so many how to look past everything and just enough every minute.

She loved and she was deeply loved by all who met her. She had AT and Cancer. Yes, that dreaded “C” word that takes so many loved ones away. That is one monster I pray daily we never have to face.

But even through her pain, this gorgeous sweet girl always always smiled. She always laughed. She always showed so much joy.

My heart is broken for her Momma and all of her family. I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that we will no longer see her beautiful smile here on Earth, though my heart rejoices that she is free and healthy and dancing with her Grandmother now in Heaven.

This is the fear I face every day. We don’t know what tomorrow brings. We don’t know how long anyone has. Money, success, a degree – these are the least of my concerns every day because I know in the end of my life, in the dark days that come tomorrow, only memories and love matter in the end.

Please pray for my dear friend and her family as she says goodbye to her baby girl wayyyyy too soon in this life. I know she’s smiling down on us all from Heaven.

One Night Advent {FrontGate Media Review}

September 20, 2018 by Dana

We were sent a beautiful calendar to use for Advent this year. The One Night Advent Calendar is exceptionally beautiful in design. This is one calendar you will want to use again and again.

This calendar is currently ONLY available through Kickstarter but they are hopeful to have this available in stores by next Christmas (2019). However, you CAN receive one for your family by joining in on the Kickstarter campaign right now to order your own via the Kickstarter campaign website. I can tell you, it is well worth it for this beautiful product!

The One Night Advent calendar itself is huge! It’s completely hardback so it is durable enough to be used over and over for a lifetime. The cover opens like doors which also helps you to stand it for easy viewing as you go through the days leading up to Christ’s birth. And being hardback with a coating, it allows you to wipe candy off the cover as well from little hands as they learn using this gorgeous product.

Inside, the imagery is outstanding. It shows the City of Bethleham, complete with the countryside. The story is of two Brothers, the shephards who came to see Christ in the days following His birth.

There are 24 flaps that you will lift for each day of Advent, each sharing a different part of the story. The flaps are each designed to match the rest of the calendar, and include a part of the story as you follow along. Gorgeous does not even begin to describe this calendar.

The story of Christ’s birth have changed lives of people for centuries and this calendar truly helps to bring that story to life for you and your family. This calendar would look amazing beside your tree, ready to share the story of Christ’s birth and the Shepherds journey with all of those who are ready to follow along. Be sure to grab your copy through the Kickstarter campaign today!

Be sure to also view the video about One Night Advent calendar on the Kickstarter Campaign page as well!

My Heart Aches…

September 17, 2018 by Dana

I grew up in a small town in South Carolina, less than an hour from Myrtle Beach, which bordered the North Carolina state line. This town is “home” to me and will always be “home” no matter how near or far I am from there. It is the epitome of small town living at it’s best.

My first wedding happened in my parent’s backyard, my childhood home in this town. My children were born in this town. My entire life is wrapped up in this little piece of Earth and I spent 26 years of my life in this town beginning to be the person I am today.

Hurricane Florence has left my little hometown in a state of disaster. Almost the entire town has flooded. Places that previously have never seen water are covered with it. Friends are being evacuated because of the rising water levels.

I grew up in a brick house on Forest Drive in Loris, South Carolina with my two loving parents taking care of me. That house, my childhood home, is currently under water. It was prone to flooding during storms like this, as we often had water setting in the yard, even when I was a child but this massive amount of water is exceeding anything I have ever seen in this town.

My high school is flooded as well. The town’s original high school which still stands has also suffered damage. And so many other places that I love are feeling the aftermath of the storm as well.

The beautiful town of Conway, South Carolina is flooding as the Waccamaw River overflows her banks. Lumberton, North Carolina had a levee fail and much of the area there is under water. The Lumbee River is also exceeding her banks. The Cape Fear river near Fayetteville, North Carolina is expected to crest at record levels. Highway 17 looks like a river around Wilmington, North Carolina.

This same area is just recovering from Hurricane Matthew only to be hit again with these damaging floods following Hurricane Florence. Friends and family are sharing some of the most devastating photos of the area I’ve ever seen. Water covering cars and most of the houses in the area. Roads are washing out and collapsing as cars ride over them. Lives are being lost as well.

The aftermath of a Hurricane is always the hardest. We never know what to expect and I can say in my lifetime I’ve never seen devastation to the area such as this is. Tornadoes were happening all day yesterday. The storm literally just moved out of the coast after sitting over the area for days now.

And as these rains continue to cross the state, more flooding is to be expected as the rivers flow down to the coast, already overflowing their banks. My heart aches for all those we love in this area right now. My hometown is hurting. Please continue to pray for those in the aftermath of this storm. The end is yet to be seen.

Impending Hurricane

September 13, 2018 by Dana

All week we’ve been watching the news and waiting to see what Hurricane Florence is going to do. It’s scary stuff y’all. Hurricanes are no joke and this girl is a big one!

Florence is almost a large of North and South Carolina combined. Her top speed winds were record high though at this time she’s much less intense. But even with less intensity there will still be a lot of flooding and damage for those who live in the area in which she’s passing through.

Last week, I pondered how many hurricane’s I have lived through living and growing up on the Coast of South Carolina. I was interested in the actual number of storms I’ve experienced there in my lifetime. 22 hurricanes have graced the coast while I was living there.

Hurricane Hugo was the strongest with 130 mph winds when I was just a kid. In 1984, Hurricane Diana hit with 125 mph winds. And in the 90’s we were hit by Fran and Floyd with 115 mph winds. The flooding off of Floyd was terrible and it’s the only storm we left home for.

18 inches of water filled my parent’s home during Floyd and we were thankful we had chosen to leave. We had to wade to the house just to inspect the damage. It was weeks after before we were doing cleaning up the mess it left behind.

Hurricane Matthew was the last storm 2 years ago. The flooding and destruction left behind was unimaginable. The roads caved and washed away in many places and we had no electric for a long while after the storm passed. Even though it was not predicted to be a destructive storm, it was one of the worst storms I’ve seen.

And Florence is predicted to be similar in so many ways. She brings with her a ton of rain which is believed will cause record flooding to an area that holds my heart. And as we wait to see what will come of the events to follow her touching land, we can only hope for the best for South and North Carolina and all of those in her path.

My thoughts are with all who are affected by this storm and with those who live in my favorite place on Earth, my hometown and the area around it.

Gone To Texas {Celebrate Lit Review}

September 12, 2018 by Dana

About the Book

Book Title: Gone to Texas

Author: Caryl McAdoo

Genre: Historical Romance

Release date: September 6, 2018

Can beauty truly come from ashes?

Deception drives seventeen souls to hard choices. Either stay on the land they thought they’d bought or heed the lure of free land in the faraway wilderness of a new Republic. Rife with peril and hardship, three families knit together by blood and friendship head out with a widowed man, daughter, and his slave, gambling everything they own on the prospect of land ownership and working it together. Does friendship pave a way to marriage? Can puppy-love survive through a harrowing journey to blossom into a forever lover? With duress at every turn, can the clan stay together all the way to Texas and accomplish their goals?

Click here to purchase your copy!

About the Author

Top priority is God’s glory, and that’s exactly what Caryl McAdoo prays her stories will bring. To entertain and draw readers into a closer walk with Him is next. A quick check of stars and reviews attest to the success of this award-winning, best-selling author—all by the Father’s faithfulness. Besides writing, she loves singing praises, including the new songs He gives her! Visit her YouTube channel. Ron, her high school sweetheart husband won her heart fifty-two years ago, and they share four children and seventeen grandsugars. Ron and Caryl live on thirty-four acres ‘The Peaceable’ in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas and wait expectantly for God to open the next door.

Guest Post from Caryl

As much as I hated leaving the Buckmeyers, Baylors, and Nightingales and the Red River Valley, I loved starting this fresh Family Saga series with all new characters! GONE TO TEXAS is Book One of the Cross Timber Romances and features three families—the O’Neals, Van Zandts, and Worleys—joined by blood and friendship through Liberty O’Neal. Laud Worley is her little brother and Mallory Van Zandt, her best friend since school days.

Together, they’d traveled south to settle in Tennessee and were about to harvest their first cotton crop that fall in 1840 when they discovered the deed to their land—the land they’d spent all their pooled savings on—was forged and no-good.

The legal owner graciously allows them to stay through harvest, taking his portion of their labor and cottonseed. At the gin, Seve Van Zandt hears rumors of Texas, a new Rebublic out west, offering free land to pioneers willing to tame its wildlands. This first story—book one—is all about their journey to the new country filled with hope and dreams.

A hired widower who with his daughter and slave helped harvest the clan’s cotton asked to join them on their journey, and so, on that faithful September morn, seventeen souls set out after they hung a hand painted sign on one of the cabins they left behind. “Gone to Texas”!

Another very special thing about this novel, one hundred twelve thousand words—about three hundred fifty pages, is that it is also book one in a brand new collection! The Thanksgiving Books and Blessings Collection that includes stories from eight other authors besides me: Lena Nelson Dooly, Heather Blanton, Kristin Holt, Kit Morgan, Suzette Williams, Pauline Creeden, George McVey, and Lynette Sowell!

All nine books will have Thanksgiving Dinner with family around the table, giving thanks to God for all his blessings. I’ve noticed many series launched in December, but Thanksgiving is my favorite. I love giving thanks to the Lord!

And as always, I pray my story gives God glory, and that its readers will be drawn closer to Him through it. He blesses and highly favors me daily. I cannot thank or praise Him enough!

Thank you, too, for reading my stories, reviewing my stories, and participating in the most AWESOME CELEBRATE LIT‘s Blog Tour!!

Blog Stops

Blog Stops
A Baker’s Perspective, September 11

Captive Dreams Window, September 12

proud to be an autism mom, September 12

Inklings and notions, September 13

Luv’N Lambert Life, September 13

cherylbbookblog, September 14

D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, September 14

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 15

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 15

Janices book reviews, September 16

Abba’s prayer warrior princess, September 17

Carpe Diem, September 17

Creating Romance, September 18

Madeline Clark, September 18

Margaret Kazmierczak, September 19

The Mimosa Blossom, September 20

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, September 20

Back Porch Reads, September 21

Bibliophile Reviews, September 22

Texas Book-aholic, September 23

Godly Book Reviews, September 24

Bigreadersite, September 24

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Caryl is giving away

GRAND PRIZE : $50 Amazon Gift Card

1st Prize: THREE Choice-of-Caryl’s Titles (print–US only or eBook)

2nd-4th: ebook of JOHN DAVID’S CALLING

5th-7th: print copy VOW UNBROKEN

8th-10th: $5 Amazon gift cards!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops to earn nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. https://promosimple.com/ps/d1a6/gone-to-texas-celebration-tour-giveaway

My Review:
This book is a part of the Thanksgiving Books and Blessings series which truly brings you stories of thankfulness in times of deep anguish and stress. I love books like this one because they truly speak to my heart. Caryl McAdoo is one of my favorite authors. Her style just speaks to me and so I always find her books enjoyable.

The story is set on a wagon train to Texas and features several families which you will quickly become attached to. The book shares great detail on these characters giving a well-rounded view of their lives and their stories. It is the first of a series of books that are written by different authors. And what a great start it is! This is one book you do not want to miss out on!