Blog Archives

Debby Giusti: My Old Kentucky Home & Giveaway

10/30/2011

This week we welcome Debby Giusti to Author Memories.

Debby Giusti is a medical technologist who loves working with test tubes and petri dishes almost as much as she loves to write. Growing up as an Army Brat, Debby met and married her husband--then a Captain in the Army--at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Together they traveled the world, raised three Army Brats of their own and have now settled in Atlanta, Georgia, where Debby spins tales of suspense that touch the heart and soul and have garnered several prestigous awards. Debby has also written magazine articles for Southern Lady, Woman’s World, Our Sunday Visitor, and Army and Family.

My Old Kentucky Home
By Debby Giusti

I grew up as an Army brat, which means my dad was in the service. I married a great military guy so I’m also an Army wife. Our son is in the military. You guessed right!
I’m an Army mom, as well.

My Military Investigations Series for Love Inspired Suspense is set in Fort Rickman, Georgia, a fictional Army post I created. Despite the Georgia locale, when the stories play out in my mind, the scenes take place at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

I attended kindergarten at Knox and went to 7th and 8th grades on post. My parents lived there when I was in college, and after graduation, I worked in the hospital on post. It was at Knox that I met and married my husband, said goodbye to my parents and traveled to Fort Bliss, Texas, where hubby and I started our new life together.

My husband was never again stationed at Fort Knox, and I didn’t return to post until our son and daughter-in-law were assigned there a few years ago. The first time we visited, I felt an overwhelming sense of coming home. Seeing signs for Fort Knox, as we neared, filled me with excitement, almost a giddiness I hadn’t expected. Entering post, I had a lump in my throat, and tears stung my eyes. Everywhere I looked was a déjà vu experience.

The United States Bullion Depository (Gold Vault)

The first landmark I spotted was The United States Bullion Depository or Gold Vault as it’s often called. During my kindergarten years, my family lived in quarters nearby, and I often stared out my bedroom window, wondering about the riches stored within that sturdy structure. Later, my father had the opportunity to tour the Vault. He told me about the elevator that took him to the depository where gold bars were kept as well as the precious gems also guarded at the facility.

Fort Knox Main Chapel

Driving on, we passed the Main Post Chapel where hubby and I had been married years earlier. The church predates the post and was built in 1899 for the tiny town of Stithton, Kentucky. When land was used to create Fort Knox, the church was given to the military and has served military personnel since that time.

Fort Knox Quarters

My parents have passed away so seeing the house where I lived before my marriage was bittersweet. The quarters had been built in the early 1930s when Camp Knox became a permanent military installation. I always wished the walls could talk and tell stories about the people who had lived there down through the decades.

When I write my stories, I see the Post Headquarters where my father worked and the parade field where his retirement ceremony was held. The chapel my characters attend is the church in which I was married. Houses play an important role in a number of my stories and are modeled after the brick quarters I lived in long ago.

Thanks for allowing me to share a few of the many memories that are woven into the stories I love to write, and I hope you will enjoy reading.

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Leave a comment with a valid email address by midnight, Nov 6th
to be entered to win a copy of Debby's latest novel,
The Captain’s Mission.
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The Captain's Mission, Love Inspired Suspense, Oct 2011

A Demonstration Turned Deadly

When one of his soldiers is killed by live ammunition during what was supposed to be a simple training exercise, Captain Phil Thibodeaux wants answers. Even if it means working with the Criminal Investigation Division that seems certain to pin the blame on him. But after CID agent Kelly McQueen defends his conduct, Phil realizes that there’s more to the dedicated agent than meets the eye. Maybe she’s someone he can trust, after all. And he’ll need someone to rely on as investigations lead him to doubt everyone else—even his own soldiers.

Read the Excerpt

Military Investigations by Debby Giusti:
Each story stands alone so the books can be read in any order

Book 1 - The Officer's Secret, May 2011 (still available)
Book 2 - The Captain's Mission, Oct 2011
Book 3 - The Colonel's Daughter, Aug 2012

You can find Debby online at:

www.DebbyGiusti.com
www.seekerville.blogspot.com
www.craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com/

Gina Holmes: A Funeral For My Doll Head & Giveaway

10/23/2011

This week we welcome Gina Holmes to Author Memories.

Gina Holmes is the President and founder
of Inspire a Fire and Novel Rocket and award-winning author of Crossing Oceans and Dry as Rain. In 1998, Gina began her career penning articles and short stories. Ten years, and a stack of rejection letters later, she held her first published novel. She holds degrees in science and nursing and currently resides with her husband and children in southern Virginia. She works too hard, laughs too loud, and longs to see others heal from their past and discover their God-given purpose.

A Funeral For My Doll Head
by Gina Holmes

When I was a child, I was so tenderhearted that I couldn’t bear to see anything suffer. Not even inanimate objects. My big sister, Chrissy, and I would fight like there was no tomorrow. Hey, I was a softy but I was no pushover. During one of our knockdown
drag-outs, she broke my doll. Tore it’s head right off and smashed its body.

Gina as a child

Try as I might to repair little Sally, she was unfixable. And so, I carried that doll head around, loving her even more than I did before. I took her head with me wherever I went.

My mother and sister said nothing for a while, thinking I was just either being morbid or trying to make my sister feel bad for what she’d done. After months of this my mom finally asked me to please throw the broken toy away.

I was horrified., “I have to love her. No one else will.”

Now, we can analyze this and draw a lot of nice and somewhat dysfunctional conclusions, which would probably all be true to some degree. That story says a lot about the child I was, and about the woman I would become.

I still can’t stand to see anyone or thing suffer. If I’m being honest, I still feel bad about tossing out broken toys. Through maturity and Christ, I’ve picked up some truths that have made me a little more discerning about fixing my own self and learning when to throw away things that are broken beyond repair. That was a long process that I still struggle with at times.

I think in many ways, I’m the same way with the characters I write in my books. In my debut novel, Crossing Oceans, I tell the story of a young mother who is dying and has to choose between her own personal happiness, spending her last days in the man she love’s arms, and her daughter’s needs.

I had a lot of readers mad at me for what Jenny decides.

In my latest novel, Dry as Rain, I have a couple struggling with the aftermath of infidelity. Not even I knew, until the book was almost written, if that doll head was worth saving. Even as I wrote the last words, I still wondered.

Now, as I write my third novel, I’m telling the story of a woman in an abusive marriage that must find the courage to let go or resign herself and her child to the fate of permanent brokenness.

Letting go has never been easy for me, but I did eventually, tearfully, let my doll head have a funeral. And I’ve learned to do the same with some relationships and characters.

I still kind of miss Sally though.

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Leave a comment with a valid email address by midnight, Oct 30th
to be entered to win a copy of Gina's latest novel, Dry as Rain.
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Dry as Rain, Tyndale, Sep 2011

Behind every broken vow lies a broken heart.

When Eric and Kyra Yoshida first met, they thought their love would last forever. But like many marriages, theirs has gradually crumbled, one thoughtless comment and misunderstanding at a time, until the ultimate betrayal pushes them beyond reconciliation. Though Eric longs to reunite with Kyra, the only woman he has truly loved, he has no idea how to repair the damage that’s been done.

Then a car accident erases part of Kyra’s memory—including her separation from Eric—and a glimmer of hope rises from the wreckage. Is this a precious opportunity for the fresh start Eric has longed for? Does he even deserve the chance to find forgiveness and win back Kyra’s heart . . . or will the truth blow up in his face, shattering their last hope for happiness? A richly engaging story of betrayal and redemption, Dry as Rain illuminates with striking emotional intensity the surprising truth of what it means to forgive.

Read the first Chapter HERE.

Follow Gina on Twitter (Ginawrites)
or on Facebook (Gina Holmes Waters)
and of course, you can always find her
blogging on her award winning writer blog, Novel Rocket.

www.ginaholmes.com

Cheryl St. John: Grandma Stretched the Meal with Noodles & Giveaway

10/16/2011

This week we welcome Cheryl St. John to Author Memories.

Cheryl St.John is the author of almost fifty Harlequin, Silhouette and Love Inspired Historical books for which she has received multiple Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards and four RITA nominations. In describing her stories of second chances and redemption, readers and reviewers use words like, “emotional punch, hometown feel, core values, believable characters and real life situations.” Her motivational gifts of exhortation and encouragement make her a sought-after speaker. She's the worship leader at the fastest growing Word of Faith church in her city, serves on her church's advisory board, and is active in her local RWA chapter, the Heartland Writers Group.

Grandma Stretched the Meal with Noodles
by Cheryl St. John

Most of my best memories from my childhood are of my grandparents, my grandmother in particular. She was a devout Christian woman who raised six children during the depression, and who never had an unkind word to say about anyone.

Grandpa and Grandma

Neither Grandma or my mother ever drove. On Saturday mornings, my grandparents used to pick us up. Grandpa gave me $2 a week for shopping, and it was enough to buy Barbie clothes and accessories. My own clothes were all hand-me-downs from my cousin, but my Barbie had new outfits and was always in style.

In the fall, we’d get in the car and drive out into the country, where we’d all get out on a secluded road and pick up walnuts. Back at home, my mom and Grandma cracked walnuts until their fingers were stained dark.

On Saturday evening Grandma washed her hair and my mom set it in pin curls with bobby pins. My grandfather never attended church, but he drove Grandma every Sunday and stopped to pick me up. She sang in the choir and often sang solos in her sweet soprano voice. Grandma never wore trousers. Even cooking, she wore a dress, with an apron.

Grandma was a great cook, and we had a big dinner every Sunday after church. She made noodles with every meal, even if there were potatoes. Now I realize it was one of the many ways she’d learned to stretch a meal. They had fruit trees, so apple and peach pies were a staple.

She never threw anything away, even reusing bread wrappers and twist ties. If there was a craft to be made, she tried her hand at it: Sewing, doll making, doll clothing. When the church choir got new robes, she’d always bring several home for the costume wardrobe that sat in the basement. My cousins and I spent hours dressing up and putting on plays with those recycled choir robes.

Once during a snowstorm, I was riding with my grandparents, my grandfather driving, when we hit a patch of ice and the car slid and spun. My grandmother said one word: “Jesus!” The car stopped sliding, and we drove safely home. She lived her life as an example of a person who loved her Lord and her family, and who trusted in the power of that mighty name of Jesus. I’m convinced her prayers for me played a big part in the person I am today.

I have a few beloved items that belonged to her and several recipes in her handwriting, but what most reminds me of her are the small moments, like when I’m spending time with my granddaughter, when I tie on an apron—or when I set a bowl of noodles on the table. I treasure those memories as I treasured her.

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Leave a comment with a valid email address by midnight, Oct 23rd
to be entered to win a copy of the Snowflakes and Stetsons anthology
which contains Cheryl's newest release, A Magical Gift at Christmas.

Note: This book is a Harlequin Historical and won't be found in a Christian bookstore. If you don't want to be entered in the draw, say so. Otherwise if you win the book, skip the parts which may offend you. Regardless, it will be an entertaining, heartfelt read.
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Snowflakes and Stetsons, Harlequin Historicals, Oct 2011

The Snowflakes and Stetsons anthology contains:

A Magical Gift at Christmas, a novella by Cheryl St. John

Back cover blurb...

Meredith has always dreamed of a grand life but, stranded on a train in heavy snowfall with two young stowaways, she unexpectedly finds she has everything she needs with just one strong man to protect her.

Cheryl St. John can be found online at

http://www.cherylstjohn.net/

http://cherylstjohn.blogspot.com/

http://petticoatsandpistols.com/

Mary Connealy: The Sweetest Gift & 2 Giveaways

10/9/2011

This week we welcome Mary Connealy to Author Memories.

Mary Connealy writes romantic comedy with cowboys. She is a Carol Award winner, and a Rita and Christy finalist. Mary wrote 20 books over ten years before she got her first book published. She was a stay-at-home mom when she started but during those years her children grew up and she got a job. For the last 5 years, Mary has worked forty hours a week teaching GED.

The Sweetest Gift
by Mary Connealy

The family legend I'd like to tell is about my mom's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Frew.

Theirs was a classic marriage of convenience.

My grandma grew up in Nebraska, not that far from my grandpa but they never met. She was the only child of a judge. She attended college when very few women did. She traveled in Europe and studied there, then went to Columbia University in New York City, and The University of Washington in Washington State to earn a master's degree. She was a spinster who lived with her parents, worked as a librarian and was a wonderfully talented pianist.

My grandma before she married, petting a rabbit.

My grandfather, who dropped out of school after the eighth grade to farm, married her college roommate, another Nebraska girl, but a girl who lived very near him. The only connection between my grandma and grandpa was that woman. When my grandfather's first wife was laboring with her second child something happened and they knew both the baby and mother wouldn't survive. Grandpa's dying wife called him to her bedside and told him she wanted her old college roommate to raise her child. She was dying and she wanted him to promise her, he'd marry her friend.

Grandma and Grandpa on the boat

Grandpa promised and began writing to the woman who would be his next wife. She agreed to marry him. I've always imagined that grandma, so accomplished, so well educated, with a decent job and all that talent, might well have considered herself a failure. In those days, around 1925, to be a spinster was very likely a disgrace.

And my grandpa, a prosperous farmer, might have been a great success.

When he proposed she said yes. He got on a train in Nebraska, rode out to Washington State, they got married and traveled home together, man and wife.

To look at them it seems a huge mismatch. But by all accounts their marriage was a congenial one. They had four children, the first one born fourteen months after the wedding. So whatever difficulties they found in marrying under such strange circumstances, their marriage was real in all ways, after all she was pregnant within five months.

My mom is the one with her arms spread wide.

My mom is the youngest child of four from that marriage. (Photo: Grandma and her 4 kids.)

I am trying right now to write a story, fictionalized, but with the same circumstances as my grandparents. One thing I remember so clearly about my grandparents house…my grandpa died when I was about five years old and I don't remember him…so it was just grandma in that old country farm home….was the grand piano.

There was a grand piano in my grandma's house. I've asked my mom and her sisters and no one remembers a time when it wasn't there. No one remembers talk of when it was purchased. It was huge. It seemed to fill the entire room it was in and nothing else was in that room but the piano.

I like to think that huge, beautiful instrument in that small house was my grandfather giving my grandmother a gift of pure love.

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Leave a comment by midnight, Oct 16th
to be entered to win one of 2 giveaways:
- a copy of Mary's Historical, Out of Control
or
- a copy of Mary's Contemporary Suspense, Ten Plagues
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Out of Control, Bethany House, Aug 2011

Out of Control - Kincaid Brides Book 1

Rafe Kincaid controls everything in his life...
until he meets Julia.

Julia Gilliland has always been interested in the natural world around her. She particularly enjoys studying the fossils and formations in the magnificent cave near her father's house. The cave seems plenty safe--until the day a mysterious intruder steals the rope she uses to climb out.

Rafe Kincaid is a man used to being in control--of himself, his brothers, and his family's ranch. The last thing he expects is to find a woman trapped in the cavern on his land--or to be forced to kiss her!

Rafe is more intrigued by Julia than any woman he's ever known. But when their developing relationship threatens a reconciliation with his brothers, will Rafe have to choose between his family and this new love that could heal his troubled heart and secure his happiness?

Find Mary online at:

Seekerville - http://www.seekerville.net/
Petticoats & Pistols - http://petticoatsandpistols.com/
Mary's Blog -http://mconnealy.blogspot.com/
Mary's Website - http://www.maryconnealy.com/
Mary Nealy's Website - http://marynealy.blogspot.com/

Valerie Hansen: Writin' and Ropin' and 3 Book Giveaway

10/2/2011

This week we welcome Valerie Hansen to Author Memories.

Valerie Hansen has always loved to write.
Her basic nature is to enjoy every day to the fullest – and that includes her writing. She’s always loved stories about people who have successfully met and overcome life’s challenges, as has she. Valerie and her husband now live on an eighty acre farm in northern Arkansas. She loves to hike the rocky, wooded hills behind the picturesque old house they renovated, watch for the wildlife so abundant in the area, and think up new ideas for her many books.

Writin' and Ropin'
by Valerie Hansen

I can’t remember far enough back in my childhood to recall a time when I didn’t want to be someone who lived and worked in the country. Having a writer’s and storyteller’s mind, it was easy for me to imagine that kind of scenario when I had my picture taken on this pony. Even before we found the old photo I was well aware of the event. I had never seen a real horse before and having a chance to actually touch and ride it, even for such a short time, was a dream come true.

My family lived in a big city in Ohio (don’t tell my current AR neighbors that I was born a Yankee, okay?) and the closest I got to animals in those days was the occasional dog or cat.

However, I did have a set of holsters and cap guns that I used to “shoot” anything that moved and a few things that didn’t. I understand that those kinds of working toys are no longer available and it saddens me. I didn’t turn out to be a psychopath ( honest I didn’t) but I did use my mind to create my own world, one in which I rode the open plains with the daring characters of Zane Gray and saved the settlers daily by carrying news to the fort. That is, unless it was my turn to be an Indian, which was fine, too. I had an equal opportunity imagination. Still do, which may be why I actually received letters from American Indians praising my research for some of my historical novels.

Time passed. My husband retired. We left California for the “wilds” of Arkansas – and I came into my own.

Not only am I able to live the life I had fantasized about I can also use the Ozarks as the backdrop for many of my Christian novels for Love Inspired. That has been a double blessing.

In NIGHTWATCH, my October Love Inspired Suspense, I begin to feature CASA, “Court Appointed Special Advocates” for children. These are volunteers who speak for the helpless and defend their rights in court. I’m every bit as proud to tell their story as I would be if I had just galloped my pony into town to warn the settlers of a pending attack.

There are all kinds of heroes and the folks who work for CASA are high on my list.

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Leave a comment by midnight, Oct 9th to be entered to win:
a copy of Valerie's October release, Nightwatch
as well 2 other books of Valerie's choice
for a prize package of 3 books to one reader/winner.
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Nightwatch, Love Inspired Suspense, Oct 2011

Back of the Book

Fire captain Mitch Andrews can't forget the three young children he saved from a fire. A suspicious fire that left them orphans. In the care of foster mother Jill Kirkpatrick, he knows the little ones will be loved. Even if the sweet, strong widow won't let Mitch close to her. But suddenly the kids—and Jill—are in terrible danger…and one of the children is missing. Mitch and Jill will risk everything to find the stolen girl and keep a makeshift family of five together forever.

Read Excerpt

Visit Valerie at www.ValerieHansen.com

Valerie is a member of the www.loveinspiredauthors.com group blog.

Debby Giusti: My Old Kentucky Home & Giveaway

This week we welcome Debby Giusti to Author Memories.

My Old Kentucky Home
By Debby Giusti

The Captain's Mission, Love Inspired Suspense, Oct 2011

Gina Holmes: A Funeral For My Doll Head & Giveaway

This week we welcome Gina Holmes to Author Memories.

A Funeral For My Doll Head
by Gina Holmes

Dry as Rain, Tyndale, Sep 2011

Cheryl St. John: Grandma Stretched the Meal with Noodles & Giveaway

This week we welcome Cheryl St. John to Author Memories.

Grandma Stretched the Meal with Noodles
by Cheryl St. John

Snowflakes and Stetsons, Harlequin Historicals, Oct 2011

Mary Connealy: The Sweetest Gift & 2 Giveaways

This week we welcome Mary Connealy to Author Memories.

The Sweetest Gift
by Mary Connealy

Out of Control, Bethany House, Aug 2011

Valerie Hansen: Writin' and Ropin' and 3 Book Giveaway

This week we welcome Valerie Hansen to Author Memories.

Writin' and Ropin'
by Valerie Hansen

Nightwatch, Love Inspired Suspense, Oct 2011

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Debby Giusti: My Old Kentucky Home & Giveaway

This week we welcome Debby Giusti to Author Memories.

My Old Kentucky HomeBy Debby Giusti

The Captain's Mission, Love Inspired Suspense, Oct 2011

Gina Holmes: A Funeral For My Doll Head & Giveaway

This week we welcome Gina Holmes to Author Memories.

A Funeral For My Doll Headby Gina Holmes

Dry as Rain, Tyndale, Sep 2011

Cheryl St. John: Grandma Stretched the Meal with Noodles & Giveaway

This week we welcome Cheryl St. John to Author Memories.

Grandma Stretched the Meal with Noodlesby Cheryl St. John

Snowflakes and Stetsons, Harlequin Historicals, Oct 2011

Mary Connealy: The Sweetest Gift & 2 Giveaways

This week we welcome Mary Connealy to Author Memories.

The Sweetest Gift by Mary Connealy

Out of Control, Bethany House, Aug 2011

Valerie Hansen: Writin' and Ropin' and 3 Book Giveaway

This week we welcome Valerie Hansen to Author Memories.

Writin' and Ropin'by Valerie Hansen

Nightwatch, Love Inspired Suspense, Oct 2011

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

My Old Kentucky Home
By Debby Giusti

A Funeral For My Doll Head
by Gina Holmes

Grandma Stretched the Meal with Noodles
by Cheryl St. John

The Sweetest Gift
by Mary Connealy

Writin' and Ropin'
by Valerie Hansen