A-Z Challenge Day 5 - E

Today is 'E' day and I am going to do something different today.

I am 'shouting out' about some wonderful books with 'E' in their titles, along with some equally wonderful authors with 'E' in their name.



Let me begin with a dear friend and mentor, author Kay Springsteen.  Kay is a prolific author, so I am sharing a link to her Amazon page -http://www.amazon.com/Kay-Springsteen/e/B004RZUWLG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_3/189-2419707-9266059
but in particular I'd like to draw your attention to two of her novels whith 'E' in the titles.

Elusive Echoes can be found here -



http://www.amazon.com/Kay-Springsteen/e/B004RZUWLG/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_3/189-2419707-9266059

and Lifeline Echoes can be found here - http://www.amazon.com/Lifeline-Echoes-Kay-Springsteen/dp/1461091136/ref=lp_B004RZUWLG_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1333620769&sr=1-3

You may be forgiven for assuming someone with such a flowing and apparently gentle writing style will produce stories full of pace, impact, intrigue and emotion that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat, but you'd be wrong.
If you've not come across Kay's books before, then please don't delay, give yourself a special treat.

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I know! I know! Lindsay Downs, does not have an 'E' in it any where, but her wonderful stories about Emily Dahill and Dekota do.

Visit http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Lindsay+Downs+Emily+Dahill and you will find information about three of Lindsay's books here.
What is so special about Lindsay's books?  She writes fast-paced, sharp, tough, miltiary mysteries that will captivate you because her main protagonist is a collie-dog!  Yes, I did say 'collie-dog'!
To assume any story written from the point of view of a dog equalls 'twee' is a massive mistake.  Lindsay Downs is fast making a name for herself and her wonderfully quirky writer's voice.

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Return Engement http://www.amazon.com/Return-Engagement-Elaine-Cantrell/dp/1603139990/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333621489&sr=1-5 
was the fist of Elaine Cantrell's books I read, since then I have enjoyed several more.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Lindsay+Downs+Emily+Dahill#/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Elaine+Cantrell&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3AElaine+Cantrell 

Once again, Elaine is yet another example that tough, sharp, 'on the edge of your seat' stories can still be 'sweet' and/or 'inspirational' as is her latest book,
The Sentence http://www.amazon.com/The-Sentence-ebook/dp/B007ND7F8W/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1333621512&sr=1-3

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I have randomly picked three of my favourite authors to share with you today, I have so many more, too many to include today.  Keep coming back and one day soon I'll share a few more.

There are nearly 1700 participants this year and you'll find a list HERE  

Who is your favourite author and why?

Thanksgiving with an English Mum

Thanksgiving with an English Mum
By Kay Springsteen



The picture is one of my family taking after a Thanksgiving meal...aren't we a happy (ha ha) looking bunch. My mother is front and center, a petite ball of British energy. And I'm in there, too. Can you find me?

There is just something about holidays in America. There are seven main holidays in the United States – meaning most companies offer these days off or offer extra pay for working them. New Year’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. There are a myriad of others that are referred to as “bank holidays” (an outdated term), in which if you work in a government office you will be granted those days off but frankly many people don’t celebrate them, and I’ve run into more people lately who don’t know what these holidays ever are or what they were started for. And there are holidays that are celebrated like crazy but time off and/or overtime never figures in – such as Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween… Add in Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and you have 12 months of Greeting Cards. But also 12 months of fun. 

One of the American holidays I grew up taking for granted is Thanksgiving. As a youngster, it was fun only in the morning when my dad would turn on the TV and we’d all watch the parades together. This was back in the days where the parades were more about the elaborate floats and less about the personalities hosting them or the acts that would stop the parade while they performed. It was simpler, and in my opinion, much more fun to watch. In school for the week or two prior to the holiday, we had learned about fall things, harvests, Pilgrims and Indians – and the specifics of what we learned depended on our ages and grades. But

But I never fully understood that Thanksgiving, from my mom’s perspective, was a non-holiday. Not until I was older and learned that she had emigrated from England in 1947, and that England did not celebrate American Thanksgiving did I “get” that we were not the center of the universe, that other people in other countries had their own celebrations and American Thanksgiving was…well, American. My mom embraced the holiday as one where we would gather as a family, and we had our traditions of turkey and all the embellishments of that meal. The house smelled incredible starting the week before because Mom would bake pies and cookies every day. The lingering scent of sugary treats baking mingled with the savory aroma of roasting meat on Thanksgiving morning, and our stomachs were all growling by midday.

But though she embraced the traditions, my mom admitted to me that she simply didn’t understand the holiday. It was her belief, you see, that every day should have time set aside for giving thanks, not just one day out of a year. With that thought, I saw things more clearly. And yes, I still enjoy the traditions of the holiday. But my mother instilled in me an “attitude of gratitude” that I try to hold onto all year long. Because we shouldn’t remember to only give thanks one day out of the year.

Here is a peek at my latest book, Operation: Christmas Hearts, released tomorrow by Astraea Press, just in time for Christmas

Blurb:
Ashley Torrington never cared all that much about Christmas before. But this year she’s having a particularly blue holiday because Marine Special Operations Team member, Captain Nick Turner got under her skin just before he was deployed to Afghanistan. With Bella, her neighbors’ precocious daughter, volunteering Ashley for a special project at school, and a mysterious white-haired woman named Estelle in town buying gifts from Ashley’s shop, not to mention the odd assortment of presents Ashley’s been receiving from an anonymous source, she shouldn’t have time to worry about her guy. But when he and his team go missing the week before Christmas, she realizes only a Christmas miracle will reunite them.

Nick Turner didn’t back down from challenges—on the battlefield or in his personal life. But he’d never met a challenge like Ashley Torrington, who told him up front she didn’t like being left behind and didn’t want to be anyone’s “girl back home.” Now here he was on the other side of the world, wanting to be anywhere but in Afghanistan for Christmas. About to embark on one of the most dangerous missions of his life, he needed Ashley to know she was so much more than the girl he’d left behind. And he did plan to come home to her. But in the meantime, a little Christmas magic would be appreciated. Little does he know, he’s about to get his wish.

http://kayspringsteen.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/Wordz.n.Pix
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kay-Springsteen-Author-of-Romance/143469035711422


Find Kay Springsteen here: Astraea Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Title: Heartsent
Author: Kay Springsteen
Publisher: Astraea Press
Genre: Mainstream Contemporary Inspirational Romance
Length: Full 264 pages
Heat: Sweet
Rating: 4.5
Review request and book provided by author.





Blurb:
With her strict no-dating-within-the-department rule, Firefighter Lina Standish has a nickname in the Salem Hills Fire Department: Lina “Standoffish”. But Firefighter Kevin Daly has had his eye on Standoffish ever since a locker room incident nearly a year earlier, and now he plans to break all her rules. With the help of his niece and a hot-air balloon, he gets Lina’s attention and she agrees to “hang out” with Kevin as friends off duty, to take it slow and see where things go between them. Then Lina's life is turned upside down by a surprise miracle who doesn't even have a name. Kevin’s ready to step up, but is Lina?

Review:

From the title, to the dedication then on to the final period, this book will grab your heart and squeeze it—hard. This author’s gift of description in every facet of her writing draws the reader in and gives them an almost ‘fly-on-the-wall’ feeling of being right beside her characters.

I have heard some readers say ‘they skip’ the descriptions in a book. This author weaves them in so skilfully they become an integral part of the story.

Do not be misled into assuming this author’s gentle writing style offers a light-hearted, fluffy reading. It doesn’t. In Heartsent, Ms Springsteen deals with the consequences of loss and honouring forgotten promises.

Her heroine, Lina, is no superwoman, and yet she rises to the challenge presented by her author and comes good. More than that, she grows while dealing with the plethora of testing situations she is suddenly confronted with.

Toss in a hero, fellow fire-fighter, work colleague and friend, Kevin, and you have poor Lina not knowing which end is ‘up’. Knowing he has an uphill struggle persuading Lina to change her rules of not dating a fellow worker, Kevin perseveres. He is there for her when her world spins off its axis. Too much so, I thought at one bit. But Ms Springsteen has that covered.

As with all good romances there is ‘that’ moment when true love runs off the rails, but thanks to the wisdom of Kevin’s mother…

There is a plethora of secondary characters, all with specific roles to play, and all moving the plot along fluently. Kevin’s niece, Meely Bug will charm your socks off, so have plenty of tissues at hand.

If I have a nit with Heartsent it is the fact that in the world of e-books and global readers, I didn’t know, and was pulled out of the story for a time, while I tried to work out what a ‘Parkway’ was. I never did, and had to assume my own interpretation was accurate enough for those particular scenes to make sense. From an author whose descriptive skills leave me breathless, this lack was a surprise.

Do not be fooled into thinking because Heartsent is in the sweet, inspirational romance genre that it will lack depth. You would be so very wrong. It is packed with tension, emotion, suspense, and contains a depth that will make it hard to put this book down before the last page is turned.

Ms. Springsteen is an author who’s outstanding output never fails to amaze. Every book she writes is a winner, and this one is no exception.

Visit her site to learn more about Ms Springsteen
Buy Heartsent from Astraea Press and other outlets.