Weekend Wrap-Up & Blogoversary Winners!!

Weekend Wrap-up is where I share what I read this past week, am currently reading, and hope to read this coming week, and (when applicable) the current giveaways/giveaway winners. Occasionally I'll post some other stuff as well.

Feel free to join along and post your own Weekend Wrap-up on your blog/site (if you do, please leave the link in a comment so I can stop by) or, in a comment, share what you've accomplished (reading-wise) this past week. :)

 What I've read this week:



Loved Don't Look Back! Mixed feelings about The Apothecary's Daughter... will post review later.

What I'm currently reading:

About a third of the way done with When the Heart Heals, 53% done with Code Blue, and almost halfway done with Temptation.

  What I hope to read next week:

Excited to read all of these! Hope to start at least three of them this week. :)

Reviews posted this week:

A Royal Marriage by Rachelle McCalla

Eyes Wide Open by Ted Dekker

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

Too Close to Home by Lynette Eason

Current Giveaways!

Enter to win an eBook copy of The Random Acts of Cupid by Amanda Tru - Kindle or Nook format. Open Internationally! Ends 2/28.

Enter to win a copy of The Aristocrat's Lady or Beauty in Disguise by Mary Moore! Two winners will each receive a book! Open Internationally! Ends 3/5

Blogoversary Winners!!

Set one:

The winner is...

Mia (meme_braddock@...)!*

Set two:

The winner is...

Robin (coramdeo540@...)!+

The winners of a copy of Shattered by Dani Pettrey along with a keepsake bookmark are...

Merry (worthworthy2bpraised@...)!*

&

Amy (campbellamyd@...)!*

The winner of a copy of Swept Away by Mary Connealy is...

Bonnie (bonnieroof60@...)!*

The winner of a copy of To Die For and The Secret Keeper by Sandra Byrd plus a bar of Anne Boleyn Essence of Oakmoss soap is...

Lu Ann (worley.la@...)!*

The winner of their choice of one of Laura Frantz's books is...

Jasmine (montanamade@...)!*

The winner of a copy of Placebo by Steven James is...

Elizabeth (elizabeth@...)!*

The winner of a copy of A Bride Opens Shop in El Dorado, California by Keli Gwyn is...

Lu Ann (worley.la@...)!*

The winner of their choice of one of the River of Time books by Lisa T. Bergren is...

Nicole (elocin9-10@...)!+

*Winner has claimed their prize
+Winner has been contacted and has until 2/25 to claim their prize, otherwise another winner will be chosen.

Congrats to all the winners! Thanks to everyone that stopped by my blogoversary celebration - I hope you enjoyed the party, even if you didn't win a prize. :)

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2-Year Blogoversary Celebration: Day Eight ~ Lisa T. Bergren!!

Today's the last day of Christian Bookshelf Reviews' 2-Year Blogoversary Celebration and what better way to end it than with an interview from Lisa T. Bergren! I hope you've enjoyed the party!!

Welcome back, Lisa, and thank you for celebrating Christian Bookshelf Reviews' 2-Year Blogoversary with us! For those who aren't familiar with you and your books, will you tell us a little about yourself?

I'm a wife to Tim for over 20 years, mom to three (17, 14 and 9) and walker of one little, white Westie. On occasion, I get to write. And those occasions have led to over forty published books, which makes me shake my head. God is good about opening doors if we simply walk through the first.

As many people here already know, your River of Time series is one of my all-time favs! What inspired you to write it?

My teen girls. Neither of them were avid readers. I wanted to write a fast-paced, romantic, irresistible series that would draw them in. I knew if I could nab them, I might be able to nab other readers too.

When you first started the series did you ever expect to write more that just the first three?

Nope. Passion from the River Tribe inspired me to continue on. I love how invested readers are with these characters. It gets me all the more excited about them too.

Why did you decide to write more after book three?

The River Tribe wanted to know SO MUCH MORE about what happened to the characters. And I did too. I couldn't get them out of my mind.

I was super excited to hear that you plan on writing a fifth River of Time novel, why did you decide to do this and will it be the end or might you one day come back to Toscana, Italy?

DELUGE will be the fifth and final installment of the series. I'm writing another teen series called REMNANTS, so I need to invest there. But I think there will be additional stories in the future in Italy. I'm in love with the country.

Where do you like to write?

The library. I can't seem to get anything of consequence done at home. Too distracting.

What's your favorite party food?

Manchego cheese and crackers.

Do you have a favorite birthday/party memory you'd like to share?

For my 40th, we were in Italy with my kids and parents. We went to my favorite trattoria, Il Latina, in Firenze (don't tell the Forellis!) and we had an amazing, memorable meal. I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with my closest loved ones and in a place as inspiring as Italia.

What are your top three favorite songs?

That changes every month! I mostly listen to Christian pop.

A few this-or-that questions:

Chocolate or vanilla?

Are you kidding? CHOCOLATE.

Tea or coffee?

Coffee.

Call or Text?

Text. I'm not a big phone chatterer.

Cats or Dogs?

Dogs. Allergic to the kitties.

Early bird or night owl?

Neither. Middle of the Day person. :-)

DVD or movie theater?

Love the big, cinematic movies in the theater. The rest, I prefer to watch on DVD at home.

Facebook or Twitter?

Both, baby! Facebook.com/RiverofTimeSeries; Facebook.com/RemnantsSeries; Facebook.com/LisaTBergren; @LisaTBergren

Thank you so much for being here! Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers and where can we find you on the web?

Happy blogoversary, friend! If peeps want to know more, find me at LisaBergren.com

Giveaway!

Enter to win your choice of one of the River of Time books! Open Internationally, but only a winner from the US can choose a print copy of Bourne&Tributary. 

Enter via the Rafflecopter below.

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2-Year Blogoversary Celebration: Day Seven ~ Keli Gwyn!

5 Reasons Book Reviewers Rock

by Keli Gwyn

Do you post reviews of books you read? If so, you’ve made many an author’s day.

As a debut novelist whose book released last year, I learned what an important role book reviewers play. I know they write reviews. What I didn’t know was how much that entails and how many other things they do.

As I reflected on the many things book reviewers did for me, I came up with five major ways they serve authors.

Book reviewers are promotion pros.

Even in today’s hi-tech world, the best form of advertising is still word-of-mouth. When it comes to creating buzz, book reviewers are masters.

• They shout out news about cover sightings.
• They share blurbs for upcoming releases.
• They share previews and sample chapters.
• They hold online release parties.
• They interview authors so readers can meet them.
• They spread the word on Facebook.
• They post reviews on booksellers’ sites.
• They post reviews on Goodreads.
• They post reviews on their blogs.
• They tweet links to their reviews.
• They hold contests, helping get books in readers’ hands.

Book reviewers are insightful readers.

When I read reviews, I’m impressed by how deeply reviewers delve into a story. They’ve made observations about elements in my story I hadn’t even noticed. It’s evident how much thought they put into their reviews, doing many of the following.

• They evaluate the plot.
• They assess believability issues.
• They reveal key conflicts.
• They analyze the characters.
• They discuss how well the setting is depicted.
• They scrutinize the historical details of stories taking place in the past.
• They highlight interesting aspects of a story.
• They explore themes and underlying messages.
• They state whether or not a story meets expectations.
• They use labels that help readers, e.g. sweet, gripping, or funny.
• They make comparisons to other books or authors’ styles.
• They offer cautions, as needed.

Book reviewers are encouragers.

As an author, I know firsthand how uplifting it is to read reviews, especially those from readers who enjoy our work. Sure, there will be some readers who don’t care for our stories, but what I’ve found is that while they might point out what didn’t work for them, they’re quick to note what they liked as well. And, oh, how we love it when they ask us to keep the books coming.

Book reviewers are sources of inspiration.

Authors can learn a great deal from reviewers. They point out our weaknesses, enabling us to improve in those areas. They identify our strengths, letting us know what’s working well. But they don’t stop there. They might tell us how they would have handled things differently or what they would like to see in future stories. Such feedback can get our creative wheels spinning.

Book reviewers are great friends.

As I’ve interacted with those who reviewed my book, I’ve enjoyed myself immensely. They’re bright, generous, fun people, and I’m happy to have them as new friends.

Questions for You

If you’re a book reviewer, what do you find most rewarding about writing a review?

If you’re a reader, what elements do you find most helpful in a review?

~~

Some places you can find Keli: Her website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads.

Giveaway!! 

Enter to win a copy of A Bride Opens Shop in El Dorado, California! I read this book last year and loved it! Giveaway is only open to the US. 

Enter via the Rafflecopter below.

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2-Year Blogoversary Celebration: Day Six ~ Steven James!!

Welcome back, Steven, and thank you for celebrating Christian Bookshelf Reviews' 2-Year Blogoversary with us! What are your current projects?

Right now I'm working hard on finishing the first draft of Singularity the second book in my new series featuring illusionist and escape artist Jevin Banks. I have several projects on the horizon, but I'm doing my best to focus on just this one—something I don't tend to do very well.

What was the hardest part of writing your latest book?

The toughest challenge in crafting Placebo was researching quantum mechanics and something called quantum entanglement. Honestly, I still don't understand how it all works, but I had to pull off sounding like an expert when I wrote the book. Research can be fun, or it can wear me down. In this case, it just ended up bewildering me.

What books have influenced your life the most?

There's a novel I read a number of years ago entitled The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin, Jr.
It really taught me how to write concisely. I also loved the book Christianity for Modern Pagans by Peter Kreeft.
It made me think about my faith in fresh ways and really impacted my philosophical understanding of the gospel.

I'm a huge fan of The Bowers Files. What inspired you to start the series and what can we expect in The King?

Originally, I wanted to write a detective novel but kept running into the same types of investigation—DNA research and profiling. I wanted something unique and eventually stumbled onto geo-spacial profiling and my FBI agent Patrick Bowers. The King is really a way of keeping promises from previous books, and it includes the climatic encounters of Patrick facing down two of his biggest nemeses—Basque and Valkyrie.

You also have a new series, The Jevin Banks Experience. Is Placebo different than your other thrillers? How many books do you have planned for the series?

We're planning for three books, and they do have a different feel than the Patrick Bowers crime novels. These are more high-concept thrillers than police procedurals. It's been fun to write stories with a slightly different flavor, and I think it's improving my work on the Bowers series by keeping things fresh.

What's your favorite party food?

Cheetos

Do you have a favorite birthday/party memory you'd like to share?

I'm not really one for celebrating my birthday (that's a story for another time). So nothing really pops to mind except a party my wife threw after I won a Christy Award for The Bishop.

What are your top three favorite songs?

My favorite songs tend to change every couple weeks.
Right now one of my favorites is Life Design by The Parlotones.

What's your favorite comfort food?

Mashed Potatoes

What is something the average reader wouldn't know about you?

I write standing up.

Do you have a favorite Bible verse?

Zephaniah 3:17

A few this-or-that questions:

Tea or Coffee? Coffee

Snowstorms or Thunderstorms? Thunderstorms

Facebook or Twitter? FB

Vanilla or Chocolate? Chocolate

Indoors or Outdoors? Outdoors

Early-Bird or Night-Owl? Depends on what I'm working on. I edit better in the mornings; I write first drafts better late at night.

Thank you so much for being here!!

~~

You can find Steven James online at: his website, AskTheAuthor.net, Twitter (@sjamesauthor), Facebook, Goodreads

Giveaway!

Enter to win a copy of Placebo! US only. Enter via the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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