Gahome2mom please email me your mailing info at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com. Be sure to have “Blue Like Play Dough Winner” in the subject line so I know which giveaway this is. No PO Box #’s and US addresses only.
This giveaway is closed: Winner is Nancye Davis. Congratulations!!!
For Freebie Friday I usually try to pick a book that has something to do with the season we are in, or current world happenings… but today… well today… I chose this book because it is a good read and I have an extra copy that needs a good home. 🙂
Todays Freebie Friday is The Memory Keepers daughter by Kim Edwards.
his stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to deliver his own twins.
His son, born first, is perfectly healthy, but the doctor immediately recognizes that his daughter has Down syndrome. For motives he tells himself are good, he makes a split-second decision that will haunt all their lives forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline, to take the baby away to an institution. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child as her own. Compulsively readable and deeply moving, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a brilliantly crafted story of parallel lives, familial secrets, and the redemptive power of love.
This weeks giveaway starts right now! To enter:
1. Leave a comment here about how the above information on this book makes you feel. If you have read this book and if you have not, the above paragraph is quite powerful and really sets the mood for this book to begin…
2. For a bonus entry, blog or tweet about this giveaway and on a separate comment, leave the link here.
Thats it! US entrants only please and be sure I have a way to contact you if you are the winner. No PO boxes may be used for delivery.
A high-profile lawsuit erupts into chaos, revealing its place in a larger
Blog Tour
spree of violence in this scandalous tale of lust, lies, and vengeance. A brazen gunman is targeting prominent African American men on the streets of Los Angeles, and police are completely baffled. At the same time, savvy big-firm attorney Vernetta Henderson and her outrageous sidekick, Special, lead the charge for revenge against a man whose deceit caused his fianceé’s death. For Special, hauling the man into court and suing him for wrongful death just isn’t good enough. While she exacts her own brand of justice, a shocking revelation connects the contentious lawsuit and the puzzling murders.
Meet Pamela Samuels Young,
author of Murder on the Down Low
Pamela Samuels Young is a practicing attorney and author of the legal thrillers, Murder on the Down Low, In Firm Pursuit, Every Reasonable Doubt, and the forthcoming, Buying Time, A desire to see women and people of color represented in today’s legal fiction prompted Pamela to start writing despite a busy career as an attorney. The former journalist and Compton native is a graduate of USC, Northwestern University and UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. Pamela is the fiction writing expert for BizyMoms.com and is on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America.
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Master your craft! Take the time to study writing the same way you would study any other profession. Also, read like a writer. When you read a book you enjoy, study the author’s writing style and the book’s story structure. Ask yourself why the book was a great read. One of the most helpful things I did as a new writer was outline John Grisham’s The Firm and examine the story structure. It helped me tremendously in learning how to build suspense.
Pamela is the Fiction Writing Expert for BizyMoms.com. Her bi-monthly articles cover a range of topics on fiction writing. Here’s a link to Pamela’s article Keep your Readers Turning the Pages.
My thoughts: Not my normal style of read yet I dug in and found the book to quickly grab my attention and take me to a level of suspense that didnt really let go until the last page.
I enjoyed reading out of my genre style and found I was not disappointed.
Please leave a comment to be eligible to win an autographed book and a 25 dollar gift card from Pamela Samuels Young. One winner will be chosen each day of this Blog Tour for a total of FIVE winners.
(Be sure I have a way to email you if you are a winner and US entries only please)
I received this book from Tywebbin Creations
I would rate this book a PG13 rating for some sexual content
I was out of town this weekend and my Freebie Friday book giveaway for The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory ended on Friday. I used random.org from my hotel room and sent a message to the winner, but have not had time to post it until now.
So – with no further adieu – whatsoever…. I bring to you, the one and only winner of The Constant Princess:
Congratulations AMY!!!
** Freebie Fridays will resume this coming Friday! Be sure to stop back to see what book will be on the giveaway!
This giveaway is closed. The winner is DEBB 🙂 Thank you to all entrants!
Summary for The Friends We Keep
During a particularly painful time in her life, Sarah Zacharias Davis learned how delightful–and wounding–women can be in friendship. She saw how some friendships end badly, others die slow deaths, and how a chance acquaintance can become that enduring friend you need.
The Friends We Keep is Sarah’s thoughtful account of her own story and the stories of other women about navigating friendship. Her revealing discoveries tackle the questions every woman asks:
• Why do we long so for women friends?
• Do we need friends like we need air or food or water?
• What causes cattiness, competition, and co-dependency in too many friendships?
• Why do some friendships last forever and others only a season?
• How do I foster friendship?
• When is it time to let a friend go, and how do I do so?
With heartfelt, intelligent writing, Sarah explores these questions and more with personal stories, cultural references and history, faith, and grace. In the process, she delivers wisdom for navigating the challenges, mysteries, and delights of friendship: why we need friendships with other women, what it means to be safe in relationship, and how to embrace what a friend has to offer, whether meager or generous.
Summary for 40 Minute Bible Studies
The 40 MinuteBible Studyseries from beloved Bible teacher Kay Arthur and the teaching staff of Precept Ministries tackles important issues in brief, easy-to-grasp lessons you can use personally or for small-group discussion. Each book in the series includes six 40-minute studies designed to draw you into God’s Word through basic inductive Bible study. There are 16 titles in the series, with topics ranging from fasting and forgiveness to prayer and worship. With no homework required, everyone in the group can work through the lesson together at the same time. Let these respected Bible teachers lead you in a study that will transform your thinking—and your life.
Titles Include:
•The Essentials of Effective Prayer
•Being a Disciple: Counting the Cost
•Building a Marriage That Really Works
•Discovering What the Future Holds
•Forgiveness: Breaking the Power of the Past
•Having a Real Relationship with God
•How Do You Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk?
•Living a Life of Real Worship
•How to Make Choices You Won’t Regret
•Living Victoriously in Difficult Times
•Money & Possessions: The Quest for Contentment
•Rising to the Call of Leadership
•How Do You Know God’s Your Father?
•Key Principles of Biblical Fasting
•A Man’s Strategy for Conquering Temptation
•What Does the Bible Say About Sex?
My Thoughts: Friends We Keep is the type of book that spoke to me. I love my women friendships. I have always cherished the coffee meet ups and occasional dinners that are just catch up time. In Sarah’s book she discusses how to be a better friend not only to other women but also to yourself.
The book is a light read with easy chapters that have topics like the roles we play (the different “friend types” in this section I could put names to!) This book is a wonderful read about friendships and would work well in a small group setting to be discussed. Discussion Guide in back of the book.
Author Bios:
Sarah Zacharias Davis is a senior advancement officer at Pepperdine University, having joined the university after working as vice president of marketing and development for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and in strategic marketing for CNN. The daughter of best-selling writer Ravi Zacharias, Davis is the author of the critically-acclaimed Confessions from an Honest Wife and Transparent: Getting Honest About Who We are and Who We Want to Be. She graduated from Covenant College with a degree in education and lives in Los Angeles, California.
Kay Arthur, executive vice president and cofounder of Precept Ministries International has worked with her teaching staff to create the powerful 40-Minute Bible Studies series. Kay is known around the world as a Bible teacher, author, conference speaker, and host of national radio and television programs.
Ashley Boyer from Random House has given me an extra copy of this book to give away. To enter:
1. Leave a comment here with the answer to what qualities do you appreciate most in a friend?
2. For a “Bonus” chance, tweet or blog about this giveaway and on a separate commment, leave the link here
3. Comment on any non giveaway post and receive a third chance
USA addresses only please. No PO box numbers. This giveaway will end September 1.
Good Luck!
This book and the giveaway were given to me for review by Ashely Boyer at Random House
This giveaway is closed – congratulations winner! 🙂
Over this past weekend Al and I were traveling to a nearby town and on the side of the road an Amish woman was selling items with her horse cart parked behind her. It was such a beautiful site and I wished I could stop and take a picture. It reminded me of the warm feeling I got when I read The Hope of Refuge. ~ Sheila
Blog Tour
Raised in foster care and now the widowed mother of a little girl, Cara Moore struggles against poverty, fear, and a relentless stalker. When a trail of memories leads Cara and Lori out of New York City toward an Amish community, she follows every lead, eager for answers and a fresh start. She discovers that long-held secrets about her family history ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. But one Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God–“Be me to her”– despite how it threatens his way of life.
Completely opposite of the hard, untrusting Cara, Ephraim’s sister Deborah also finds her dreams crumbling when the man she has pledged to build a life with begins withdrawing from Deborah and his community, including his mother, Ada Stoltzfus. Can the run-down house that Ada envisions transforming unite them toward a common purpose–or push Mahlon away forever? While Ephraim is trying to do what he believes is right, will he be shunned and lose everything–including the guarded single mother who simply longs for a better life?
I really enjoy reading about other cultures. In The Hope of Refuge, I get a chance to walk among the Amish and the way they do life. This book is really about two women – Cara, trying hard to find a safe life for herself and her daughter, and then Deborah who has waited a long time to be with the love of her life, finds he is changing and it is out of her power to bring him back…
An enjoyable read. I love the flow of the words and the writing around the Amish community. I felt from this book I had a good sense of what that community life was like for them. Wonderfully developed characters and I found myself really thinking about the message Ephram had believed he had received from God about Cara, “Be Me, to her.”
Author Bio:
Cindy Woodsmall is the author of When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and The New York Times Best-Seller When the Soul Mends. Her ability to authentically capture the heart of her characters comes from her real-life connections with Amish Mennonite and Old Order Amish families. A mother of three sons and two daughters-in-law, Cindy lives in Georgia with her husband of thirty-one years.
This is one of those giveaways I would love to extend. I was hoping to have this book read by the time of the giveaway but it is still waiting patiently as I finish up with a few others…. I am so close though!!! Cant wait to review it!
Today was the final day for our signed copy of this book and using Random.org our winner is:
D O TTI E!!!
Congratulations girl!
Please email me your shipping info and I will get that heading your way!
This giveaway is closed – the winner was drawn on August 14: The winner is AMY
Thank you! 🙂
Seems like I have seen something about Philippa Gregory all over the blogs lately. With her new release coming soon of The White Queen, I thought it would be fun to offer this weeks Freebie Friday as another great read from her:
The Constant Princess
As youngest daughter to the Spanish monarchs and crusaders King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Catalina, princess of Wales and of Spain, was promised to the English Prince Arthur when she was three. She leaves Spain at 15 to fulfill her destiny as queen of England, where she finds true love with Arthur (after some initial sourness) as they plot the future of their kingdom together. Arthur dies young, however, leaving Catalina a widow and ineligible for the throne. Before his death, he extracts a promise from his wife to marry his younger brother Henry in order to become queen anyway, have children and rule as they had planned, a situation that can only be if Catalina denies that Arthur was ever her lover.
How can you enter?
1. Leave a comment here and your favorite historical person
2. Tweet or blog about this giveaway and put the link in your separate comment
3. Follow this blog (RSS is upper left) and leave me a comment saying you do.
Congratulations!!! 
Congratulations Darcy! Please email me your mailing info as soon as possible and I can notify Donna to mail you the book!
his stunning novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry to 
deliver his own twins.
A high-profile lawsuit erupts into chaos, revealing its place in a larger
on the Down Low, In Firm Pursuit, Every Reasonable Doubt, and the forthcoming, Buying Time, A desire to see women and people of color represented in today’s legal fiction prompted Pamela to start writing despite a busy career as an attorney. The former journalist and Compton native is a graduate of USC, Northwestern University and UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. Pamela is the fiction writing expert for BizyMoms.com and is on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America.
Congratulations AMY!!!
During a particularly painful time in her life, Sarah Zacharias Davis learned how delightful–and wounding–women can be in friendship. She saw how some friendships end badly, others die slow deaths, and how a chance acquaintance can become that enduring friend you need.
relentless stalker. When a trail of memories leads Cara and Lori out of New York City toward an Amish community, she follows every lead, eager for answers and a fresh start. She discovers that long-held secrets about her family history ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. But one Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God–“Be me to her”– despite how it threatens his way of life.
Cindy Woodsmall is the author of When the Heart Cries, When the Morning Comes, and The New York Times Best-Seller When the Soul Mends. Her ability to authentically capture the heart of her characters comes from her real-life connections with Amish Mennonite and Old Order Amish families. A mother of three sons and two daughters-in-law, Cindy lives in Georgia with her husband of thirty-one years. 
Please email me your shipping info and I will get that heading your way!
Book Journey 