Beyond the Ashes - The #Friday56 and #BookBeginnings on Friday

     In Beyond the Ashes, Karen Barnett takes her readers to San Francisco after the great earthquake of 1906. The city is rebuilding, and young widow Ruby Marshall decides to leave her home in Sacramento to join her brother in his medical work in San Francisco. She finds more challenges than she expected!
     What I enjoyed most about this novel was the way the author immersed me in the era. Her descriptions of the social expectations, clothing, medical practices, and day-to-day life of that time brought the book to life. She created a vivid, believable character in Ruby Marshall.
     FYI: I met Karen Barnett at the Pierce County (WA) Sumner library during its Write in The Valley event. Karen was one of the authors on the panel. I enjoyed her presentation and her candid answers to the audience's questions. Lucky me, I received a hardback copy of this book as a prize for correctly answering a question. Beyond the Ashes is Book Two in The Golden Gate Chronicles, but it stands alone.

Book Beginning:
Sacramento, California
July 6, 1906
     "I refuse to attend another wedding. I'm through." Ruby King Marshall juggled two glasses of punch in her gloved hand as she shepherded her blind cousin through the overcrowded ballroom. Each doting couple waltzing around the polished floor reminded Ruby of her loss, like a needle thrust into her heart. Widows and weddings - shouldn't it be bad luck?

Friday 56 (from Page 56 in my hardback copy):
"Why must men drive so recklessly? You think you are invincible and nothing can happen. You're all alike."

Genre: Historical Christian Romance
Book Length: 320 Pages (hardback edition)
Amazon Link: Beyond the Ashes
Author Website: Karen Barnett Books

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
Where better to rebuild and face one's fears than in 1906 San Francisco, a city rising from the ashes? Ruby Marshall, a young widow, is certain she'll discover new purpose assisting her brother Robert with his cancer research, but she doesn't anticipate finding new love. Dr. Gerald Larkspur dreams of filling his empty home with family, but he'd always hoped it would be a wife and children. In the aftermath of the great earthquake, the rooms are overflowing with extended family and friends left homeless by the disaster. When Robert's widowed sister arrives, the close quarters seem close indeed. Ruby and Gerald's fledgling romance is put at risk when Gerald develops symptoms of the very disease they're striving to cure. Together they must ask--is it worth a second chance at love when time might be short?

                

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reads) 
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Nobody's Cuter Than You - Teaser Tuesday and First Paragraph / First Chapter

Nobody's Cuter Than You: A Memoir About the Beauty of Friendship arrived in the mail as a surprise gift from my good friend Sandra Allen, co-author of I.O.U. Sex, and I've just started reading it. So far, it's sweet and funny, and I've seen lots of passages that I can identify with. The book is a memoir about friendship, especially the author's friendship with Amy Gulley. It's classified as "Christian Living" on its Amazon page, but it isn't preachy so far. Thanks for a delightful gift, Sandra! 
      Here's how the memoir starts (after an introduction):

First Paragraph:
      I dropped off my daughter, Caroline, at camp for the first time ever yesterday and am in the midst of what can only be described as an emotional hangover. Perry and I helped her get her room for the week all set up, and then I hugged her good-bye as her little eyes filled with tears. At that point I basically had to sprint down the hallway without daring to cast a look back over my shoulder lest I be like Lot's wife and dissolve into a pillar of salt. Or maybe just tears. 

Teaser Tuesday (from Page 29 - trade paperback):
(FYI: Melanie has started a new school in seventh grade.)
Junior high girls aren't generally known for their kind and welcoming ways, and my experience proved to be no exception to this rule. These are the years that are a bad cocktail of insecurity, hormones, and believing you know all there is to know about life while you incessantly worry about whether your boobs are ever going to show up. 

Genre: Memoir / Christian Living
Length: 200 Pages (plus Appendices)
Amazon Link: Nobody's Cuter Than You
Melanie Shankle's Blog: Big Mama


Synopsis (from Amazon):
There is nothing as precious in life as a friend who knows you and loves you in spite of yourself. Yet over the last couple of decades, we’ve substituted the joy of real friendship with cheap imitations. We settle for “community” on Facebook and Twitter and a series of text messages that allow us to communicate with someone without the commitment. We like each other’s beautifully filtered photos on Instagram and delude ourselves into believing we have a community. But real friendship requires effort. It’s showing up, laughing loud, and crying hard. It’s forgiving and loving and giving the benefit of the doubt. It’s making a casserole, doing a carpool pickup, and making sure she knows those cute shoes are 50 percent off. Written in the same comedic style as the New York Times bestsellers Sparkly Green Earrings and The Antelope in the Living Room, Nobody’s Cuter than You is a laugh-out-loud look at the special bond that exists between friends and a poignant celebration of all the extraordinary people God had the good sense to bring into our lives at exactly the right moments. From the friendships we develop over a lifetime to the ones that wounded us and the ones that taught us to love better, Melanie Shankle reveals the influence our friends have on who we were, who we are, and who we will become. And on a day when our jeans feel too tight, our chins have decided to embrace hormone-related acne reminiscent of our teen years, and our kids have tested the limits of our sanity, they are the ones who will look at us and say, “Nobody’s cuter than you!”

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

Something About Maudy - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

     Pastor Maudy is a down-to-earth Porsche-driving Methodist minister. She isn't at all what I expected! Maudy handles every challenge (and there are many) with common sense and a sense of humor, trying her best to do the right thing for the aging congregation of her small church. There's plenty of humor in this story (her cat is named John Wesley) and an element of romance for Maudy, too. The book kept me entertained from beginning to end. 
     Something About Maudy doesn't preach or teach Bible lessons. 
     I enjoyed the story's small-town Puget Sound, WA, setting and had a great time getting to know Maudy in this delightful book.


Book Beginning:
Maude
I've always considered carpets, if I thought about them at all, to be rather boring. I'm talking about rugs here - not the most exciting objects in the world. We can all continue to learn, and I learned something about carpets one Monday at City People's Nursery in Seattle when a rug decided to change the course of my life and became animate.

Friday 56 excerpt (from 56% on my Kindle):
Your daddy got hurt. He had an infection in his brain. He would never have done what he did if he hadn't been hurt. 

Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance
Length: 318 Pages
Amazon Link: Something About Maudy
Other Books by This Author: Delinda McCann

Synopsis from Goodreads:
To My Congregation: This first year as your pastor at Blackfish United Methodist Church has been a wild ride. In the beginning, I thought the bishop was crazy when he appointed me to your church. He knew something had to change or the doors would close for good. He also knew I needed direction in my life. Perhaps the bishop was crazy, crazy like a fox. . You never had a woman pastor, let alone one who had once been an actress. You barely tolerated my Porsche, my dress, my makeup, and my style of ministering. You didn't trust my son, and couldn't understand why I didn't want you letting yourself into the parsonage when I wasn't home. But somehow we managed. . While I was learning to appreciate all of you, I met the man who was to give me a whole new outlook on life. It couldn't have come at a better time. It was his love that gave me the inspiration and courage to serve all of you. Love has a way of changing us like that. . This is an account of what happened in my first year at Blackfish UMC. It includes a flood, attempted murder of a young woman, a cheating husband, several natural deaths, two divorces, and so much more. I'm still amazed at all that has happened, but even more at how it drew us together. Truly love conquers all. I wonder what the next year will bring. God bless all of you, Pastor Maudy.

                 

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Read) Click HERE to join other Friday 56 bloggers (sponsored by Freda's Voice)

Christmas Calling - Teaser Tuesday

Does this cover look familiar? Maybe that's because last week I featured a teaser from the first of two novellas that make up CHRISTMAS CALLING. This week I've selected my Teaser from the second story, Christmas Snow by Birdie L. Etchison. This sweet contemporary romance will put you in the Christmas spirit!

TEASER (from about Page 6):
Her mother decorated anything that stood still. The bathroom had snowflake toilet tissue; snowmen filled every corner of the house. 

Genre: Christian Romance / Fiction
Number of Pages: 156 (both novellas)
Amazon Link: Christmas Calling
More books and stories by Birdie L. Etchison: Birdie's Books

Synopsis:
Janie Montgomery leaves Seattle to escape sad memories and spend Christmas with her aunt in Spokane. On the way her car is stranded in a ditch, surrounded by a mountain of snow. EMT Greg Kincaid comes to her rescue in an SUV, like a knight in snowy armor. It is the beginning of a love story as mystifying as a white-out, as gentle as falling snow, as colorful as Christmas decorations, and as sweet as homemade cookies. Only by the grace of God can Janie and Greg weather the storms and find true love.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away -- you don't want to ruin the book for others)
• Share the title and author too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers
• Leave a comment on MizB's Teaser Tuesday post (HERE) and include your link so everyone can find your post.

Christmas Calling - Teaser Tuesday

With Christmas only a few weeks away, it seems like the right time to feature CHRISTMAS CALLING on Teaser Tuesday. Two novellas make up this charming book. Colleen Reece's story (Christmas Challenge) is set in Montana during the 1880s. Birdie Etchison's (Christmas Snow) is contemporary and takes place in the Spokane, Washington, area. Both are Christian romances.  

My Teaser is from Christmas Challenge.

TEASER:
Forty-five minutes later Valerie stared into the steely gray eyes of the man who held her future in his ink-stained hands. She swallowed the flutter in her throat and gave him back glance for glance. Danny O'Shea's daughter bowed to no man.
(I stretched the Teaser to three sentences this time. It's from 5% on my Kindle)

Genre: Christian Romance / Fiction
Number of Pages: 156
Amazon Link: Christmas Calling
More books by Colleen L. Reece: Colleen's Books

Amazon Synopsis:
      After the death of her guardian, Valerie Shannon O’Shea feels as adrift as a boat torn free of its moorings on Lake Michigan. She prays about her future and finds a challenge in the newspaper. IS THE PIONEER SPIRIT STILL ALIVE AND WELL? A skeptical financier doubts women in the late 1880s can live the hard life of their ancestors. He is offering train fare to Montana and a substantial cash prize to a young woman courageous enough to live in an abandoned one-room schoolhouse for a full year without help from anyone. 
      The schoolhouse is near Whitewind, where Valerie and her father lived ten years earlier. Danny O’Shea was then convicted of a crime he swore he did not commit. There is little to connect Valerie Shannon, as she signs her paintings, with the gawky fourteen-year-old known as Shannon O’Shea. What if she can meet the newspaper challenge, paint the Montana landscape, and carry out her long held vow to clear her father’s name? 
      The long train trip across country brings back bittersweet memories. Many are of eighteen-year-old Locke Stuart, son of the judge who sent Valerie’s father to prison. Locke had stolen Valerie’s heart but never answered her letters. She wonders if he ever thinks of the girl he fiercely championed in spite of his father’s opposition.    
      Valerie and Locke must ride tangled trails and learn to heed the everlasting whisper, Trust Me, before they can find happiness. 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here's the link to join in: Teaser Tuesday