Weekly Giveaway Link-up #4

Welcome to Weekly Giveaway Link-up hosted by Crystal @ Just Another Book Lovin' Girl and me. This is a linky where you can submit your blog's Christian book and book-related giveaways and find other giveaways. A new link-up will be posted every Monday.

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3-Year Blogoversary Party ~ Interview with Kathleen Y'Barbo and Giveaway!!

Welcome to Christian Bookshelf Reviews, Kathleen! Thanks for celebrating my blog's 3-Year Blogoversary with us! Will you tell us a little about yourself? 

I’m a wife, mother, lover of Christ, and a writer. I’ve won awards for my writing, and I’ve written a lot of books. My bio tells more about me than that, of course, so you might want to go take a peek at www.kathleenybarbo.com to get the details. That pretty much sums it up!

What is your current series, The Secret Lives of Will Tucker, about and what inspired it?

The Secret Lives of Will Tucker is about taking chances and learning to wait on God. Three different women think they’ve found the solution to problems only to discover that the Lord had His own plans and did not need their help. I didn’t have to look any further than my own life to find inspiration for that. Waiting on God? Great in theory but very difficult in reality.

To add a little more detail on this series, the central character is Will Tucker, a charming and intelligent con man who is more than happy to court but never quite makes good on his claims. I will say that readers who have met him in FLORA’S WISH (Feb 2013) and MILLIE’S TREASURE (Aug 2013) will be surprised to see what Will does in SADIE’S SECRETS (Feb 2014). Actually, it’s an action that I never saw coming—and I’m the writer!

What is something the average reader wouldn't know about you?
I was once proficient at the Indonesian language of Bahasa Indonesia thanks to 5 years living in Jakarta. However, my skills are quite rusty now.

What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
Oh my…truly I have a difficult time deciding that anything about me is interesting. However, I think those who live with me would say that my inability to work in a messy environment is probably the most pronounced issue I have in my writing life. Always I straighten up before I write, sometimes because it’s truly bothering me to write in a mess and other times because I’m either procrastinating or plotting. Either way, the result is the same, I suppose.

Where do you like to write?

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3-Year Blogoversary Party ~ Interview with Karen Barnett and Giveaway!

Welcome to Christian Bookshelf Reviews, Karen! Thanks for celebrating my blog's 3-Year Blogoversary with us! Will you tell us a little about yourself?

I’d love to, Melanie. My husband Steve and I live in Oregon with our two kids (ages 14 and 11). I write historical romance and romantic suspense, usually set during the early part of the twentieth century. Before I became a mom and a writer, I worked as a park ranger in both national and state parks.

What is your novel, Mistaken, about?

Mistaken is a 1920s-era romantic suspense set in the rugged beauty of Washington State. Since booze and Prohibition have made criminals out of every man in her world, Laurie Burke resolves to find at least one honorable man to fill her life. Convinced that handsome newcomer Daniel Shepherd is connected with her brother’s rumrunning gang, Laurie quickly scratches his name off her list. Federal agent Samuel Brown might be more to her liking—or he might be her worst nightmare.

What was your favorite part about writing Mistaken? What was the hardest?

My favorite part was researching life in the 1920s. Hair, clothing, automobiles, technology, music, pastimes, movies—there was so much fun stuff to discover. And then there were specific details to the plot: Prohibition law, rumrunning, telephone switchboards, old-time pharmacy—fascinating! Learning new things always makes me a little giddy. And researching soda fountains? Yum! 

Of course, this also led to the hardest part of writing Mistaken, as well—the fear of getting the details wrong. There were areas I had to rely on my imagination to fill in the details, and I’m still fretting over the possibility of mistakes. 

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

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3-Year Blogoversary Party ~ Interview with Ace Collins and Giveaway!

What is your book, The Cutting Edge, about?

Leslie Rhoads grew up in a small town, but is on the verge of becoming a supermodel in the Big Apple, when the 24-year-old is chosen to grace the cover of Style magazine and star in the controversial Passion Nights’ perfume ads everything changes. But before she can step into the spotlight, Leslie is assaulted by a drug gang and disfigured with a broken scotch bottle. Without her perfect face, she is lost and no amount of surgery can ever make her what she once was. Now trying to hide her face from the world, Leslie encounters more trouble as she seeks to rebuild her life: unrequited love, thoughts of suicide, and her assailant unknowingly stalking her. Little does she know that a young girl named Angel will turn it all around, showing Leslie the joy and potential in life and the fact that love truly is blind. When I think about it this book is where values meet Hitchcock style suspense.

What was your favorite part about writing The Cutting Edge? What was the hardest?

The favorite part was dealing with a complex lead character. Leslie had to go through a full range of emotions from fear to anguish to rage to insecurity and on and on. That gave me a chance to really get into her fiber as a person. The hardest part to write was the attack and Leslie fighting to stay alive alone and forgotten in an alley.

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

The kind of things I collect make me a bit different. I have a 1934 Auburn sedan and a 1965 Mustang Fastback, I have two Wurlitzer jukeboxes, a 1949 Coke machine, Hollywood movie stuff from the 1930s and we have a room in our house that looks like a diner from the early 1960s.

What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

A lot of my books are outlined on the back of church bulletins. That might explain why seem to think I am taking notes on sermons during church.

Where do you like to write?

I have an office on a hill overlooking Timber Ridge here in Arkadelphia, so I open the shades and write there. But I get a lot of ideas when I am driving around.

What is the best and/or worst part about being a writer? 

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