Happy Book Birthday!

A Small-Town Christmas Challenge releases today! Wahoo!

It's my fifth book with Harlequin, 23rd publication overall. Wow! It's such a celebration for me as I look back on all God has done in my life.

Here's the scoop on the book:

When she inherits a beautiful historic house, nurse Leah Dean knows selling it could solve all her problems. But there’s just one catch—she and co-owner Pastor Benton Hunt must cohost the Gingerbread Gala in the home first. As Christmas approaches, Leah and Benton grow closer, and parting with the house—and each other—is not as easy as they thought…

It's available from your favorite online retailer as well as brick and mortar stores like WalMart and Barnes and Noble. 

Thanks for celebrating with me!

Celebrate Lit Giveaway!

 

Hello Readers!

I am so thankful for you and all your support!

To show you how much, I have partnered up with Celebrate Lit Publicity to do an amazing giveaway where you can win a spectacular prize of over 40 books or a $500 Amazon gift card to buy books you love to build up that TBR pile! 

Look at this amazing selection of books, and it includes my December Love Inspired, A Small-Town Christmas Challenge, which isn't even for sale yet!

Be sure to enter Celebrate Lit's Thankful for our Readers Giveaway going on now through November 13.

Enter here: https://promosimple.com/ps/11e3d/2021-we-are-thankful-for-our-readers

Faith Hope & Love Reader's Choice Finalist!

So excited that A Future for His Twins is a FHL-RCA finalist, short contemporary!

This means so much to me, but considering it's the first contemporary story I ever wrote, I'm still in shock. 

The other finalists, Jill Lynn and Myra Johnson, are AMAZING authors and I loved their books. If you haven't read their books, I urge you to check them out!

 

Coming soon...Christmas in July!

 

The Love Inspired Authors and Readers Group, Christmas in July event is coming to Facebook on Thursday, July 8th, 2021. It's live from 5:30 am EST to 8:30 PM EST, and you can expect:

• Giveaways from some of your favorite LI and LIS authors! (not necessarily Christmas books!)
• Fun interactive posts! 
• Winners galore!

I'm giving away two copies of Seeking Sanctuary at noon, Eastern Time, 9 am Pacific.

To join the fun, you must have a Facebook account and be a member of the Love Inspired Authors and Readers Group. It's easy to join. Follow this link. You must answer the membership question, but it's a formality--it's not hard!

The LI group is so much fun. There are multiple giveaways each week, lots of fun, sharing, and fellowship. All positive and caring posts. 

Hope to see you there!

Seeking Sanctuary is out...plus a recipe!

 

Seeking Sanctuary is out in the world! Wahoo! I'm so excited!

It's the story of Paige, a single mom-to-be trying to figure out her next steps, and bookstore manager Kellan, her brother's army buddy, who's carrying a secret burden.

I had so much fun writing this book. I was able to incorporate:

• a bookstore
• matchmaking octogenarians
• sparkly shoes
• preschoolers
• Iceland poppies
• pickles
• my tuna salad recipe

In case you're curious about my tuna salad recipe, I don't have anything down to exact measurements. It's one of those things I just do, taste, and adapt accordingly. But if you want to try tuna salad like I make (and the characters eat), here's what I do:

1-2 cans of tuna packed in water, drained

mayonnaise, to taste

a squeeze or two of lemon juice

sweet pickle relish

chopped onion, red preferred but white okay

a stalk or two of chopped celery

dry dill weed to taste

There you go! Easy peasy! We have a debate over the pickle relish--my husband and mom far prefer dill pickles to sweet pickles. 

Where do you fall on the debate?

Happy Easter!

 

Holy Week

 

Cover Reveal and Happy News

If you've had the chance to read A Future For His Twins, you'll know it's the first in a new Love Inspired series called Widow's Peak Creek. Today, I'm so excited to share the cover for the second book in the series, Seeking Sanctuary!

It's about Paige, a mom-to-be who finds herself in need of a place to regroup, and what better haven than peaceful Widow's Peak Creek? Her great aunt lives in the retirement village, and Kellan, her deceased brother's old army buddy, runs the bookstore. Maybe he can help her find a job until she can figure out what she should do next.

But when their relatives start a matchmaking campaign, Kellan is forced to grapple with a secret that could change everything.

Every story I write has bits and pieces of me in it: characters' experiences or struggles, details, likes and dislikes... I had a blast setting a story in a bookstore of my own invention, one that smelled like books and wood, with creaky floors and a charming children's section upstairs, where the coffee is always hot for guests.

It was also fun to include Tom, Faith, Nora and Logan from A Future from His Twins. What a joy to see what happens in their lives after the final page of their book!

In other happy news, I'm thrilled to announce there will be three more Widow's Peak Creek books coming in 2021 and 2022. Including a Christmas story featuring Benton, who you'll meet in Seeking Sanctuary. I am so excited to write this book and continue the stories of Widow's Peak Creek!

A Future For His Twins Giveaway!

A Future for His Twins is out in the world, and to celebrate, I'm offering a copy of the book and some other bookish prizes in conjunction with a JustReads tour!

(1) winner will receive a book tote, green spring scarf, scrubby for bath or dishes from CA-made BZBeeMon, a copy of A Future for His Twins and Susanne Dietze bookmarks.

The giveaway ends January 13, 2021. To enter using Rafflecopter, click here!