Against the Odds Ebook

I hope everyone one had an amazing Christmas. Our house was full and it was pretty awesome. May we all have a great New Year's day!

I'm kicking off the new year by introducing Against the Odds, my emotion-driven, heart-tugging contemporary romance on ebook. At $4.95, you can't beat the price.

The Book

What happens when a black fashion model from the city meets a cowboy from the country?

Tired if dealing with an unfaithful husband after seven years of marriage, Raine Edmunds finally gets a divorce. Wanting to start over, she leaves her successful modeling career behind and goes to a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico to stay with her best friend. The ranch is the perfect place for her to take stock of her life and all she's accomplished.

Then Raine meets Hayden, her friend's brother-in-law, and the opposite of all the other men she has ever known. As their friendship blossoms, so does her love of ranch life. She discovers that what she wants most-what her heart truly desires-is right in front of her.

Everything about Raine and Hayden's love is against the odds. Now they must prove to each other and to themselves that no matter what trials assail them, their love will be strong enough to overcome any obstacle.

Stop by jadamsnovels.com today and order your copy of this uplifting multi-cultural romance!

Merry Christmas!

We have a family Christmas tradition in my home. We have our annual Adams Family Christmas program on Christmas Eve and everyone participates, whether it be reading or telling a story, singing a song, or anything else fun we can come up with. I write a new Christmas story for my family every year and I usually read it during our program. We finish with my husband reading the nativity story from the Bible. Afterward, we chow down on hoagies and all kinds of Christmas goodies. It's always a fun evening.

This year I would like to share the new story I wrote with my blog readers. It's called Simeon'sHands and is the story of a woodcarver who finally comes to understand his worth.

If you would like me to send you an ecopy, email me your request at jewela40@gmail.com and I will send one right out to ya! I only asked that you do not distribute copies of this story, as it is copywritten.

I'm so grateful for you guys and your continued support. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

A Talk With L. C. Lewis

Last week I had the privilege of reading Dawn's Early Light, book 3 of the Free Men and Dreamers historical series by L. C. Lewis. Even though this novel is part of a series, it was also written as a stand-alone book, and having not read the first two, the story great from the very beginning and I was able to get right into it. I love reading novels about historical events, especially when the author has thoroughly researched the events, and L. C. Lewis has really done well.

The Book
This third volume of LC Lewis’s War of 1812 historical fiction epic, Free Men and Dreamers, covers the British offensive against Washington D.C. Once Napoleon is subdued, and despite the commencement of peace negotiations, Britain unleashes her triumphant European conquerors on America. And their primary target? Washington. While attentions turn to the defense of the Capital, mercenaries threaten the Winding Willows and White Oak plantations, forcing enemies to become allies, fighting side-by-side with freed slaves to defend their homes and families. Mere miles away, the Capital’s defense now rests predominantly upon citizen soldiers and a most unlikely naval force—a rag-tag fleet called the Chesapeake flotilla—and the men who built it. But Britain’s house is also divided over the war, as the cost mounts in blood and money. Experience the pain and passion of five families—American, slave and British—as they endure the three darkest days of American history—the week when Washington burned.

L. C. Lewis (Laurie) was kind enough to answer a few questions about herself and her writing.

Me: Laurie, thanks so much for taking the time to visit.

Laurie: Thanks for this opportunity, Jewel! I’m delighted to meet your readers.

Me: Tell us a little about yourself.

Laurie: I like to say that I’m a 50-something, craft-challenged, LDS wife, mother and grandmother from Maryland. My husband and I have been married for 33 years now, and we have four kids and four grandkids. Though I always loved to write, my original vocation plan was to be a singer. For about ten years I performed quite a bit, but now I only sing in the car, the choir, or to my grandchildren.

Me: Sounds fun. You're just full of talent. What got you into writing?

Laurie: When I was about ten I began writing TV episodes. They were just for my entertainment, but I would dream about starring in them with my favorite male leads—Donnie Osmond, Bobby Sherman or Davy Jones, (wow . . . I’m really dating myself here!) I entered a few writing contests and won, but it was a Creative Writing teacher who made me feel I had promise. For years I wrote short stories and poems as gifts, and I authored some plays for Church use. When my children started leaving home, I began my first novel, “Unspoken,” a story about a husband and wife who are unable to forgive one another. I submitted it to Covenant in 2003 and it was accepted and published in 2004.

Me: Tell us how you came about writing this series.

Laurie: I visited Williamsburg, Virginia and I just felt such a strong spirit there. I was fascinated and awed by the industry and ingenuity of the people, and I decided to write a book set in a historic period. I was afraid to set it in the early 1800’s because I didn’t feel qualified to handle the Restoration, so I set the book in the 1850’s, but my editor advised me to rework the manuscript and expand the story. I set it aside for quite a while, and then I was asked to teach a year of Church History in Early Morning Seminary. I read whatever I could find on Joseph Smith’s life during that year, and I realized that the generation that would receive the Restoration was the first generation of American-born citizens. Their peers were the children of the Founding Fathers. I also became drawn by the many correlations between America’s history and the events affecting Joseph Smith’s family. When you lay American history over the Joseph Smith story, the hand of the Lord in this nation’s creation is so evident. After making these discoveries, I felt I was ready to move the book back a generation picking up the wonderful War of 1812 history in my own backyard, and the early Smith history.

Me: Well, after reading Dawn's Early Light, I loved the characters so much, I'm going to have to read the first two books;-) Are you currently working on any other projects?

Laurie: I hope to have book four, “The Morning Breaks” on the shelves by next Christmas, and I have a literary novel I’m shopping around. I also have a suspense/romance I’m really excited about. It’s in the early stages, but the plot-line is fascinating. I hope I can get that manuscript finished next year.

Me: I hope so, too. I look forward to reading your future books. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to get to know you:-)

To learn more about Laurie and her books, visit her blog at laurielclewis.blogspot.com

Leave a comment and you will be automatically entered in a drawing to receive a copy of Dawn's Early Light!

Be sure and download your free copy of The Journey and Place In This World by clicking on the links to the right. And visit my blog to learn about my other books!
jadamsnovels.com

Tender Mercies: One of Life's Great Lessons

Have you ever had times when you've needed a friend and one was sent right when you needed it most?
Have you ever been down and someone calls or stops by or sends a card just to let you know you are in their thoughts and brighten your day?
Have you ever needed something and found that need filled through another person?
Have you ever been desperately in need of comfort, and received that comfort from your spouse or one of your children?
Have you ever prayed to make it through a trial to find years later that you not only made it through, but you were stronger because of it?

I'm sure we all have had these moments, but do we recognize those tender mercies when they come? If you are like me, you don't truly recognize them until they have passed.

I've received many mercies in my life, far too many to count. Some of them I didn't recognize until years later when I've taken a moment to truly think about them.
I remember many things about my childhood. Some I have chosen to lock away, and others remain at the forefront of my mind, and each and every one of these memories was accompanied by a tender mercy I could not recognize at the time.
There is one memory in particular that will forever stay with me because it testifies with absolute certainty of God's love for me, of His love and mindfulness of all of us.

I was nine years old. I had gotten off the school bus and slowly walked home. Because of the things I witnessed in my home on a daily basis, it was never a place where one could find comfort. I walked through the door and immediately heard the very familiar screams and cries of my mother. Walking down the hallway, I stopped at her open bedroom door. My stepfather was administering one of his daily beatings, only this one looked far worse. He yelled at me to go to my room, which I immediately did.
I closed my door, stood looking out my window for a few moments, then got on my bed and pulled a pillow over my head. I cried and tried to muffle out the cries of my mother but couldn't. I began to rock back and forth, talking to my invisible friend, and prayed for it to be over. I don't know how long I did this. I just remember continually rocking with the pillow over my head and praying for comfort.

And comfort did come. Because the next thing I knew, I was waking up to go and eat dinner and it was over.

After the birth of my youngest son, I was again dealing with bouts of major depression. There were times that I would lie on my side in bed and rock back and forth, praying for it to be over.
And once again, comfort did come.

Do I wish I had not had to deal with these things?

Absolutely not!

Because look at the lessons learned! They were priceless!

God has given me so many tender mercies in my life and I promised myself I would always strive to recognize each and every one.
Of course, I'm still a work in progress:-)
I pray we can all recognize the tender mercies that come to us, as well as the lessons learned from each trial.

Suggested Reading

Book: Grace
Author: Richard Paul Evans

The Book
She was my first kiss. My first love. She was a little match girl who could see the future in the flame of a candle. She was a runaway who taught me more about life than anyone has before or since. And when she was gone my innocence left with her.

As I begin to write, a part of me feels as if I am awakening something best left dead and buried, or at least buried. We can bury the past, but it never really dies. The experience of that winter has grown on my soul like ivy climbing the outside of a home, growing until it begins to tear and tug at the brick and mortar.

I pray I can still get the story right. My memory, like my eyesight, has waned with age. Still, there are things that become clearer to me as I grow older. This much I know: too many things were kept secret in those days. Things that never should have been hidden. And things that should have.