Category: Sponsors

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Above Rubies by Jaclyn M. Hawkes

His chivalry was strangling her. He thought he was helping her, and in truth he was. She was in desperate straits. But as honorable as he was, he was also breaking her heart.

Her attraction was drowning him. When World Champion rodeo cowboy Rossen Rockland and his friends rescue a young runaway who has been abused by her foster father and take her home to his parents ranch, he expects her to turn out to be a pain in the neck. And sometimes she is.

It doesn t take him long to figure out that she has way more than her allotment of trouble and far more than her share of gifts. Lovely, talented, and ravingly brilliant, Kit Star is too young, unbelievable humble, and oh so loveable. Knowing that she needs his protection and time to grow into her potential, Rossen also figures out that what she really is, is a pain in the heart.

Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and any number of pets. (It was never boring!) She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, the out of doors, the youth and hearing her children laugh. She and her fine husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.

Hidden in the Heart by Roseanne E. Wilkins

Cathee is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has suffered from severe post traumatic stress disorder for several years.

During a vacation with her four year old daughter to Topeka, Kansas, she meets Garrett, a therapist. He hopes Cathee will let him help her work through her issues, but her past has come back to haunt her.

Roseanne Evans Wilkins: was the second oldest of 9 children, so I grew up in a house full of noisy kids. Craig grew up in a house with just 2 quiet kids. Opposites attract lol. Since I’m the one home, we filled the house with kids. I’d go crazy with silence. Craig manages the noise level by traveling all over the U.S. teaching other adults how to audit.

With 5 kids in sports, I keep busy running them to their practices and games. After hectic days running kids everywhere and taking care of three pre-schoolers, I find quiet time after everyone is in bed to write. I hope you enjoy the results .

You can visit Roseanne at her blog, Roseanne’s Spot.

Josette by Danielle Thorne

 Josette Price sees her future in Beddingfield Park. While her brother, George, needlessly pursues a naval career, Josette promises to watch over their beloved parents and the Beddingfield Park estate. Nothing would make Josette happier than to see her sister and her self settled within the palings of Beddingfield. But dark, brooding Captain Carter rides into their lives with news that ruins everything: George has been lost at sea.

Josette must decide between marrying her fickle relation or helping her besotted sister trap him in her stead. Before a decision can be made, will Captain Carter and his delightfully spinsterish relatives stop the Price girls from making a choice that would be the greatest tragedy of all?

Danielle Thorne freelanced for online and print magazines from 1998 through 2001, adding reviewing and editing to her resume. She has published poetry, short fiction and novels. Danielle is the author of sweet romantic adventure books, both historical and contemporary. She won an Honorable Mention in Writer’s Digest’s 2006 annual writing competition and won the 2008 Awe-Struck Short Novel Contest. In 2009, Danielle won Classic Romance Revival’s Work in Progress Contest, which resulted in another contract for her fiction.

Danielle currently writes from south of Atlanta, Georgia. Besides contract editing and writing full time, Danielle has four sons with her husband, Rob. Together they enjoy travel and the outdoors.

Replacing Gentry by Julie N. Ford

When Marlie attends a cadaver ball at Vanderbilt Medical School, she did not expect to actually see any cadavers. Or, that a strange apparition would issue her such a chilling message. Despite the cadaver’s warning, a year later Marlie is married to Tennessee State Senator, Daniel Cannon, and living in a plantation-style mansion with two step sons. Add to the mix her growing suspicion that something is amiss with the death of Daniel’s first wife, Gentry, and newlywed Marlie is definitely in over her pretty Yankee head.

What begins as an innocent inquiry into her new husband’s clouded past, ends with Marlie facing a dangerous conspiracy. A modern twist on the classic Gothic romance novels like Rebecca and Jane Eyre, Replacing Gentry follows Marlie’s precarious journey as she seeks to learn the truth about the man she married.

Julie N. Ford has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in English Literature from San Diego State University. In addition, she earned a Masters in Social Work from the University of Alabama. She has worked in teaching, childbirth education and family therapy and hopes to re-enter the Social Work field someday.

She is the author of four women’s fiction novels, The Woman He Married (March 2011) and No Holly for Christmas (November 2011), published by Whiskey Creek Press. Whitney Award Finalist, Count Down to Love (July 2011), published by Bonneville Books. And Replacing Gentry to be released April 2013.

Currently, she lives in Nashville, TN with her husband, two daughters and baby hedgehog, Wallace.

The Return of Cassandra Todd by Darrell Nelson

When the popular girl whose friends bullied him in high school suddenly re-enters his life, little son in tow, Turner Caldwell must put the past behind him if they are to survive.

Turner Caldwell works at a local motel as a handyman while attending college full-time. On his way to class one day, he is shocked to see Cassandra Todd and her young son in town. The sight of her brings back powerful memories of being bullied in high school—she was the popular head cheerleader and he the target of her friends’ mean-spirited pranks.

When Cassandra and her son check into the motel where he works and she asks for his help in eluding her abusive husband, he finds himself entangled in a dangerous drama that will require him to forgive and draw on every skill he has if they are to survive.

Darrel Nelson: I am a schoolteacher by profession and taught school for thirty-seven years. I retired in June 2012 so that I could write full time. I have always loved to write. I started writing stories before I was old enough to realize I was writing stories. It seemed a natural thing to pick up a pencil and paper and create a world simply by using words—worlds of adventure in steaming jungles (Tarzan was an early influence on me) or realms of adventure in outer space (Buck Rogers). But as I have grown older, I have discovered that the real inspiration for me is exploring the theme of love and how it can make such a difference in the world.

Published works include The Anniversary Waltz and The Return of Cassandra Todd. I am currently working on my third novel, FOLLOWING RAIN, which deals with the saving power of truth and love.

Timeless Conflict by Ute Perkins

Some 5,000 years ago an ancient race of immortal beings brought humanity into existence by pulling them from their grass huts and caves and into a modernistic society along the Nile river valleys. For centuries, mankind flourished under the tutelage of these immortals until a group of men became conscious of the power their living gods possessed and plotted to eliminate them… the group, the Masons, nearly succeeded.

Since the decimation of his people Warren Alexander has roamed throughout the world feeding on humans in order to conceal his true identity. As one of the few survivors of their ancient immortal race he now walks undetected amongst the humans while he hunts the members of the group of men that killed his family and virtually eliminated his people. When Warren meets the step-daughter of a direct descendant and participating member of these Masons he draws the girl close, in an effort to reach her step-father and access to the Mason organization. Not expecting to, Warren begins to fall in love with the girl as they race to avoid the FBI and the secret Masonic guard that has been trained to capture and eliminate the immortal threat.

Now, Warren must not only fight to save his own life, but the life of the girl he has grown to love.

Ute Perkins: I grew up in a small southern Nevada town on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Just after graduation from high school I served in the U.S. Army for 5 years during which I participated in Operation Desert Storm. Upon completion of my military obligation, I earned my bachelors degree from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tn. Later, after a move to south central Pennsylvania, I completed my MBA from Eastern University in Harrisburg, Pa. I have traveled a great deal for my job and enjoy traveling and spending time with my wife and family.

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Gaze Into Heaven by Marlene Bateman Sullivan

What is life beyond the veil? Many authors have recounted their near-death expereinces in modern memoirs, but such experiences are not limited to this day and age. Gaze Into Heaven is a compilation of fifty documented near-death experiences of life beyond the veil, drawn from the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Filled with insight and inspiration, this book melds engrossing personal experiences with perceptive commentary, scripture, and quotes from latter-day Prophets. After reading this book, you won’t ever think of life—or death—the same way.

Marlene Bateman Sullivan grew up in Sandy, Utah. She attended Dixie College and Utah State University, and graduated from the University of Utah, with a Bachelor’s degree in English. She is married to Kelly R. Sullivan and has seven children. Her hobbies are gardening, camping, and reading.

Marlene writes inspirational non-fiction (including Latter-day Saint Heroes and Heroines) and clean, uplifting novels (Light on Fire Island). Gaze Into Heaven is her eighth book.

The Orchard by Krista Lynne Jensen

On the idyllic shores of Flathead Lake, Montana, Alisen Embry finds purpose and comfort tending her late mother’s cherry orchard adjacent to the family’s beloved lake house. Though pained by the loss of her mother and her father’s estrangement, it is Derick Whitney, the man she fell in love with four years earlier, who truly influences Alisen’s view of her future.

Derick and Alisen wanted nothing more than to spend eternity together; however, intolerance and secrets forced Alisen to make a shattering choice between her family and the man she loved. But destiny always has a way of setting things right.

Now the Embry family has found themselves hopelessly in debt, and they realize renting the lake house is the only hope of saving the cherished orchard and family home. When Alisen discovers the new tenants have a connection to her past, her life takes an unexpected turn. Will fate find a way to reconnect what was broken so many years before?

Krista Lynne Jensen grew up in Washington State, lived in Oregon for many years, and now lives in northwestern Wyoming with her husband and four children, surrounded by mountains, rivers, and deer that eat eat her garden.

With a passion for words, Krista places her characters in the settings she loves and challenges them to dig deeper and fight for what they want, which is usually love. Though her family keeps her busy, she keeps up with the stories playing out in her head—while trying to ignore the dishes and laundry.

Krista blogs at www.kristalynnejensen.blogspot.com.

Parenting with Spiritual Power by Julie K. Nelson

I wish children came with an instruction manual!

How many times have we heard this lament by a frustrated or overwhelmed parent? Perhaps we have said these words ourselves. There are “how-to” manuals for practically anything: installing a new faucet, building a remote control car, baking an apple pie, refinishing an antique chair… Is there a formula or a perfect manual for raising children? Yes! The scriptures.

Julie Nelson examines the lives of mothers and fathers in the scriptures (the best instruction manual) and the parenting principles we can learn from them. Discover powerful parenting examples and suggestions for personal application in this essential book.

 Julie K. Nelson is a wife and mother of five children, raising them in Illinois and now Utah. She received a bachelor’s degree in education from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree from Utah State University in marriage, family and human development. Her scholarly research and creative writing have been published in journals and anthologies, and she has won numerous state and national awards for her writing. Julie has enjoyed teaching children in public and private schools and currently teaches at Utah Valley University.

Peace River by Jaclyn M. Hawkes

The police didn’t understand the danger—but she did.

Her father had always been abusive, but now, with a ten million dollar Thoroughbred farm on the line, and a powerful bookie leaning on him, her father had become out of control. But how do you get away and take a world famous stallion with you? Carrie was getting desperate when a handsome and honorable but thoroughly cynical rodeo cowboy from Wyoming happened to show up with a horse trailer. He didn’t ride a white horse, but he was definitely a knight in shining armor.

He’ll protect her from the mob, but can she survive falling in love with a bull rider?

Jaclyn M. Hawkes grew up in Utah with 6 sisters, 4 brothers and any number of pets. (It was never boring!) She got a bachelor’s degree, had a career and traveled extensively before settling down to her life’s work of being the mother of four magnificent and sometimes challenging children. She loves shellfish, the out of doors, the youth and hearing her children laugh. She and her fine husband, their family, and their sometimes very large pets, now live in a mountain valley in northern Utah, where it smells like heaven and kids still move sprinkler pipe.

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

The Book of Jer3miah: Premonition by Luisa Perkins and Jared Adair

When college freshman Jeremiah Whitney accepts the charge of a mysterious Mesoamerican box, it makes him the target of a terrifying conspiracy. As he tries to uncover the truth about the box, more questions arise and the stakes get higher.

From the murder of his parents to the revelation of his own adoption, Jeremiah discovers that the more he learns about the box, the less he knows about himself.

Will he be able to discover the secret of the box before more people die?

Or will he be the next to disappear?

It is a race against time…

Luisa M. Perkins graduated from Brigham Young University, and is the author of several short stories and essays. She has been a member of the Whitney Awards Committee for the past two years. She also served a French-speaking mission in Montreal. She and her husband, Patrick, live with their six children in New York’s Hudson Highlands.

Jared Adair is a pseudonymous conspiracy theorist, hacker, and corporate whistleblower. He is the unofficial leader of the anti-GDT movement, The Davenport Papers, a community committed to “bringing the truth to light by exposing the atrocities committed by multinational conglomerate Gainsborough Dahl Transglobal.” Little else is known about Adair beyond his online presence and his associations with the missing Dr. Calbert Davenport.

Braving the Blaze by Cindy A. Christiansen

Single-minded Dean Harward is going to become a veterinarian if it kills him. He’s worked summers as a volunteer wildfire fighter to earn money for college. Just his luck, a pyrophobic woman gets assigned to his team. He’s certain she’ll get him killed before he can graduate.

Ginger Warby is a walking firestorm as accidents continually spark around her. Or are they accidents?

Can Dean keep the flames of desire he reluctantly feels for her under control long enough to keep them and his Golden Labrador alive?

Cindy A. Christiansen writes sweet romance with comedy, suspense…and dogs! She is a member of National Romance Writers of America, the on-line Kiss of Death chapter and The League of Utah Writers. Cindy lives in Utah with her supportive husband, two very special autistic boys and two rowdy dogs. All of her books include dogs because life wouldn’t be life without them. She is currently working on another novel and hopes she can be an inspiration to other challenged writers to live their dreams. She donates both time and money to organizations that support abused and abandoned dogs.

Winner of this book will also receive a PDF copy of Christiansen’s book, Stolen Horses, Stolen Hearts.

Echoes of Issel by Diann Thornley Read

Book two of the Sergey Chronicals and the sequel to Ganwold’s Child.

Tristan is now a soldier reunited with his family. Tristan and Lujan Sergey, commander of the Special Forces and the father Tristan has never known, try to find some common ground on which to build a relationship.

The universe is just opening up for Tristan when a new crisis occurs and he is pressed to volunteer for hazardous return to service. The alien masuk slavers are about to attack the Issel system and only Tristan, once held captive there, knows the planetary defenses.

Diann Thornley Read: Originally from Smithfield, Utah, Diann  wrote her first story at the age of five and never stopped writing. She taught herself to type on her father’s ancient manual typewriter at the age of six because it was faster than pushing a pencil. Ganwold’s Child, her first science fiction novel, took seven years and countless revisions to complete, due to entering the U.S. Air Force. Diann retired from the Air Force in June 2009 to return to her writing career. She is now working on a military space fantasy series called The Seventh Shaman.

Isabelle Webb: The Grecian Princess by N.C. Allen

The sun burns brightly over the ancient isle of Greece as former Pinkerton spy Isabelle Webb returns for her most rousing adventure yet.

Legend has it that the location of a fantastic treasure is revealed only when three mystical jewels are united. In an effort to locate the elusive trove and the power it promises, shadowy organizations and greedy men have tirelessly pursued the three hidden stones for centuries. Isabelle and her trusted companions — including her dashing fianceé, James Ashby — are in possession of one of these legendary jewels, while nefarious treasure hunter Thaddeus Sparks retains another. The third stone, the Jewel of Hades, is rumored to be concealed on the rocky shores of Greece.

As good and evil converge on this fiery island, the final battle for possession of the jewels — and their anciently protected secret — begins. When events take a deadly turn, Isabelle must rely on her keen instincts and indomitable spirit as dastardly forces threaten to make her first Greek expedition her last.

Nancy Campbell Allen has a total of eleven published novels, including her popular Faith of Our Fathers series and the Isabelle Webb series. She has a degree in Elementary Ed and is the mother of three.

Second Chances by Melanie Jacobson

After walking out of a thankless job at a prestigious marketing firm, feisty California entrepreneur Louisa Gibson is going into business for herself. Lou’s pioneering venture, The Mormon Bachelor, is a reality dating web series sure to be fabulous advertising for her new marketing firm. And as a bonus, she can solve a problem close to home: while Huntington Beach is crawling with eligible, sun-bronzed Saints, they’ve forgotten the vital skill of dating. Lou hopes the reality show will finally inspire this group of hangout enthusiasts to pair off. But shortly before filming begins, the unthinkable happens—Trentyn, a.k.a. The Bachelor, gets a girlfriend. And Lou needs a new leading man—fast.

Melanie Bennett Jacobson is an avid reader, amateur cook, and champion shopper. She consumes astonishing amounts of chocolate, chick flicks, and romance novels. After meeting her husband online, she is now living happily married in Southern California with her growing family and a series of doomed houseplants. Melanie is a former English teacher and a popular speaker who loves to laugh and make others laugh. In her down time (ha!), she writes romantic comedies for Covenant and maintains her humorous slice-of-life blog.

Where the River Once Flowed by Jennie Hansen

New Mexico, 1879—The Sebastian Hacienda is a lucrative and coveted ranch deep in the fertile wilderness of New Mexico, a property held for generations by the powerful Sebastian family. After the death of his son and heir, proud and formidable Don Sebastian has only one hope for the preservation of his land: his beautiful young granddaughter, Iliana. Desperate, he makes a shocking deal—the property will be sold to Ross Adams, an American cowboy, on the condition that he marry the stunning young Iliana and bequeath the land to her sons. A bargain is struck, but not everyone is pleased with the outcome. Neighboring rancher Ben Purdy has his eye on pretty Iliana—and on ownership of the Sebastian Ranch. In his ruthlessness, Purdy is willing to go to terrible lengths to acquire them both, even if it means destroying everything in his path . . . Utah Territory, 1891—Travis Telford was born to be a cowboy. He left his family to chase the dream of someday owning his own ranch, but years of nomadic living as a ranch hand have proven taxing. After several seasons of horse trading with the American owner of the Sebastian Ranch, Travis finds his life dramatically altered by a routine stop at the property. He finds the ranch in chaos and the rancher’s beautiful widow Iliana in the midst of a turbulent land battle. His instinct to protect Iliana is undeniable, and as the danger mounts, only their reliance upon each other has the power to save them.

Jennie Hansen was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She lived in many farming and ranching communities in Idaho and Montana. Her family moved more than 20 times as she grew up. Born the fifth of eight children, Jennie had a ready supply of playmates during her childhood. Her brothers and sisters are still among her closest friends. She married Boyd Hansen of Rexburg, Idaho, and over the next ten years they became the parents of five children. They have made their home in Utah since their marriage.

Jennie graduated from Ricks College in Idaho then continued her education at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has been a receptionist, a model, a Utah House page, freelance magazine writer, newspaper reporter, editor, library circulation specialist, mother and grandmother. She has over twenty published books to her credit. Jennie also writes a monthly review column for Meridian Magazine.

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

A Night on Moon Hill by Tanya Parker Mills

Swimming is Daphne’s one refuge until the night she finds a body in her pool.

University professor and renowned author Daphne Lessing has never felt at ease in society. But a disturbing occurrence in her once calm and controlled existence suddenly unearths events from her past and thrusts an unusual child into her life.

Ten-year-old Eric has Asperger’s syndrome and is obsessed with fishing and angels. Soon, Daphne finds herself attached to him and faced with a choice: Does she leave him and return to her solitary, ordered life, trusting others to do right by him, or does she allow this bright child to draw her into the world she has tried to shun?

Tanya Parker Mills is the author of A Night on Moon Hill and The Reckoning. The latter was the 2010 Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Book Award Winner for Mainstream/Literary Fiction, 2009 Indie Book Award Winner for Multicultural Fiction, and 2008 Whitney Finalist in two categories.

Tanya was born in Libya, grew up in the Middle East, and has lived in Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Italy, and several US states. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest. You can learn more about Tanya at her website: www.tanyaparkermillls.com.

Baked Alaska by Josi S. Kilpack

An Alaskan cruise is the setting for amateur detective Sadie Hoffmiller’s latest adventure. Sadie plans to spend time relaxing with her two grown children, Breanna and Shawn, and her boyfriend, Pete, while enjoying the luxury and cuisine of an elegant cruise ship and helping to plan her daughters upcoming wedding. But even as the crew prepares to leave port, Sadie has suspicions about the voyage ahead and the relationship between her normally easy-going son and a mysterious female passenger he obviously knows but refuses to discuss.

When the woman is discovered unconscious during the second night at sea, Sadie’s apprehension escalates. Over the last few years, Sadie has developed an extreme dislike for secrets and it would seem her son is keeping one from her.

Josi S. Kilpack loves to read and write, is the author of seventeen novels, the baker of many a delicious confection, and the hobby farmer of a varying number of unfortunate chickens. In her spare time she likes to overwhelm herself a multitude of projects and then complain that she never has any spare time; in this way she is rather masochistic. She also enjoys traveling, cheering on her children, and sleeping in when the occasion presents itself.

Josi is best known for her Sadie Hoffmiller culinary mystery series and The Newport Ladies Book Club series.

Coming Home by Annette Lyon

Five women became fast friends when their husbands were deployed to Afghanistan. But as they welcome the soldiers home, what should be a joyful time soon becomes painful.

Kim, who had a baby while her husband was away, knows how to be a mother but has forgotten how to be a wife. Nora, accustomed to taking care of herself during the long years of her husband’s absence, resents having to forfeit her independence. Jess’s already troubled marriage turns dangerous, while Brenda struggles to manage her husband’s psychological trauma. And Marianne faces her crushing loss, compounded with worry over wayward children.

Each woman must draw upon her bond of friendship and faith to find the strength, courage, and insight needed to move forward, proving that even the hardest of trials cannot break this loyal band of sisters.

Annette Lyon has been writing ever since second grade, when she piled pillows on a chair to reach her mother’s typewriter. A cum laude graduate from BYU with a degree in English, she has had success as a professional editor and doing newspaper, magazine, and business writing, but her first love is creating fiction. She’s perhaps best known for her historical novels centered around the four old Utah temples, but she also authored a very successful cookbook, Chocolate Never Faileth, the Band of Sisters series about five women who come together during their husbands’ deployment to Afghanistan, and is one of the authors of  The Newport Ladies Book Club series.

Learn more about Annette at her website, www.annettelyon.com, and her blog, The Lyon’s Tale at www.blog.annetlyon.com.

The Dark Eagles: First Flight by David R. Smith

Kief loves exploring the rugged mountains on his horse, Natch, with his best friend Tarc.

But when he receives a mysterious map on his birthday, left behind for him by his dead grandfather, Kief is thrown into an adventure beyond even his imagination.

Leaving home to pursue his childhood dream of attending the merchant academy on the coast, extraordinary events unfold propelling Kief, along with his friends and his map, toward the same perilous destiny.

David R. Smith was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and spent most of his childhood on a farm in Heber City, located in the Wasatch Mountains. There David fell in love with horses and the mountains. He spent much of his free time exploring the mountains on his horse and finding adventures to follow. He attended the University of Utah earning a Bachelors in Engineering. Realizing that it’s never too late to follow your dream. So David set off to write an epic adventure of a boy and his horse and created a story of freedom, adventure, love, courage and sacrifice. When he’s not writing, David enjoys outdoor activities with his family, and especially loves surfing with his three boys in Southern California where he resides.

Follow the Prophets: 52 FHE Lessons From Latter-day Prophets by Rebecca Irvine

Do you find yourself in a family night rut? Get the whole gang excited about family home evening with this engaging series of lessons and activities. From finger puppets to flannel board illustrations, each of the included fifty two lessons incorporates interactive tools and games designed to teach valuable principles, such as The importance of journal writing from the teachings of Wilford Woodruff Signs of the Second Coming from the works of Joseph Fielding Smith A review of the Six Be’s presented by Gordon B.Hinckley As you explore the incredible real-life stories and teachings of our latter-day prophets in this outstanding compilation, your family will eagerly anticipate family home evenings the whole year round.

Rebecca Irvine is an author of three books and a communications professor at Mesa Community College. She is married and the mother of three fabulous kids. Reading, blogging (rebeccairvine.blogspot.com), and going to Zumba class are some of her favorite hobbies. Other books by Irvine include ‘Adventures with the Word of God’ (Horizon/CFI 2008) and ‘Family Home Evening Adventures’ (Horizon/CFI 2009).

Nobody’s Damsel by E.M. Tippetts

Sequel to Someone Else’s Fairy Tale.

Chloe is now a forensic scientist and her first case is a crime against a child.

Jason’s star continues to rise and hordes of fans want to see him single again.

Together they must find their way past all the popping flashbulbs and through the dark maze of a criminal investigation to discover whether they can balance their professional goals with the demands of a celebrity marriage.

The odds are entirely against them.

E.M. Tippetts: I write chick lit as E.M. Tippetts and science fiction as Emily Mah. I got my start in writing at the Clarion West Writer’s Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy.

I am originally from New Mexico,  have a bachelors in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University, and a juris doctorate in business law from UCLA. I also design jewelry (and no, that doesn’t fit in with any of the other stuff I’ve listed here.) Currently, I live in London while my husband does his PhD.

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

I was so busy fa-la-la-ing that I forgot to connect with potential sponsors for this month, so there are only three. But they are awesome! A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

A Little Hair of the Dog by Jane McBride

The little adventure of a Mormon girl and her big dog…

Ann Bixby was born and raised as an only child in a small village on the banks of the Erie Canal. When she was 15 years old, the unthinkable happened. Her mother died. Deciding that living in that town without his beloved wife was more than he could bear, Ann’s father moves his teen-aged daughter to Eastern Oregon.

When 27 year old Mormon Ann Bixby returns to the small town of her childhood after the death of her father, she has no idea that she is about to become a mother—to a 180 pound Great Dane—and a lifeline to a reclusive and bitter young man.

Jane McBride was born in Rochester, New York and grew up in a small town called Medina in Western New York in an old farm house. The house, barn and yard allowed for a constant flow and supply of all kinds of different animals who were cherished and loved to the elderly ends of their long lives. She joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1986 and served a mission to Oregon from 1990-1991. She met her husband during that time and they now live in Taylorsville, UT with their two little boys and a whole bunch of animals. She has always had a thing for writing and A Little Hair of the Dog is her first novel.

Case File 13: Zombie Kid by J. Scott Savage

You hold in your hands a very dangerous record.

I have collected every side of the story and every piece of evidence on case number 13. Now, in this file, you will find all you need to follow the dark adventures of Nick, Carter, and Angelo, three boys who possess an unhealthy obsession with monsters, in a town so grisly, so horrific—

Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re telling it all wrong, dude. You make it sound like it’s a scary story.

Ahem. Well, Nick, it is a scary story. In this volume alone, there are voodoo queens, graveyards—even the dreaded Zombie King himself.

Yeah, but there’s also the part where Angie gets mashed potatoes all in her face, and the part where I use my cool zombie powers to—

All right, point taken. Now, if you don’t mind . . .

You hold in your hands a very dangerous, very funny record, detailing the hilarious adventures of three boys who have an awesome obsession with monsters. This is the first volume. Read on if you dare. . . .

J. Scott Savage is the author of the Farworld fantasy series (Air Keep releasing 02/26/13) and this new Case File 13 series. He also writes The Fourth Nephite series and the Shandra Covington mystery series as Jeffrey S. Savage. In addition,  he has a horror book, Dark Memories, coming out later this month. You can visit his personal blog at www.jscottsavage.com. Or e-mail him at jsavage at jeffreysavage.com. He does school visits, firesides and book clubs.

Standing on the Promises: One More River to Cross by Margaret Blair Young & Darius Aidan Gray

Born into slavery, Elijah Abel was destined to become one of the few Saints of African descent to receive the priesthood before the policy concerning Negroes was in place. In fact, Elijah was ordained to the priesthood by Joseph Smith himself. He served three missions for the Church and remained an active member of the Third Quorum of the Seventy until his death.

Jane Manning James was born free but was still subject to mistreatment at the hands of a white minister in her youth before converting to the Church under miraculous circumstances. It became her privilege to live among prophets. She resided with Joseph and Emma Smith and later with Brigham Young. When she died, Joseph F. Smith delivered a stirring tribute at her funeral.

These and other remarkable stories, until now lost to history, are brought forth in this sweeping saga–Standing on the Promises. From marvelous beginnings, through nearly unendurable hardships, to the bursting forth of more light with the revelation on the priesthood in 1978, the story of African-American Latter-day Saints is deeply affecting, one that will resonate with members of the Church everywhere.

Margaret Blair Young teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. An accomplished author, she has won numerous awards from the Utah Arts Council, including Best Short Story Collection for Elegies and Love Songs (which also captured Best Short Story Collection of the Year from the Association of Mormon Letters); Best Novel of the Year in 1992 for Salvador, and Best Novel of the Year in 1995 for Merry’s Daughters.

She has also written three plays, two of which have been produced at BYU, including Dear Stone and I Am Jane. Margaret also teaches at the Spanish Institute at BYU.

Margaret and her husband, Bruce, a professor of English at BYU, are the parents of four children and live in Provo, Utah.

Darius Aidan Gray has a Bachelor of Sciences degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Utah, and has completed programs with the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University sponsored by the Ford Foundation, ABC, and CBS (a professional program equivalent to earning a Master’s Degree without the thesis).

A skilled communicator and writer, he was senior staff reporter and chief photographer at the CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City. He also worked as an assistant to a U.S. Senator on African Affairs. He’s also an independent business consultant, and a small business owner dealing with the automobile after market.

Darius presides over the Genesis Group, an official arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized in 1971 to support Church members of African descent. His grandfather James Louis Gray was born a slave; his great-grandfather Louis Gray was a slave near Independence, Missouri, and appears in Standing on the Promises: One More River to Cross.

Mr. Gray and his wife Leslee live in Salt Lake City with their son, Darius Aidan Gray II.

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Aura by Rebecca Talley

Everything in Crystal Scott’s life finally seems perfect—until a demon thirsts for her Light.

Vincent Crandall, the human host for a powerful demon, discovers that Crystal possesses the power to disrupt the connection between demons and their hosts.

On prom night, Vincent sends in operatives from his demon army to neutralize Crystal, and she is suddenly thrust into battle.

With help from a mysterious young man, Crystal must learn to control the Light within her before Vincent kills her parents and harnesses her power for himself.

Rebecca Talley grew up in Santa Barbara, CA. She now lives in rural CO on a small ranch with a dog, a spoiled horse, too many cats, and a herd of goats. She and her husband, Del, are the proud parents of ten multi-talented and wildly-creative children. Rebecca is the author of a children’s picture book “Grasshopper Pie” (WindRiver 2003), three novels, “Heaven Scent” (CFI 2008), “Altared Plans” (CFI 2009), and “The Upside of Down” (CFI 2011), and numerous magazine stories and articles. You can visit her blog at www.rebeccatalleywrites.blogspot.com.

For What It’s Worth by Karey White

Twenty-four year-old, Abby Benson has dreams of owning her own wedding cake shop. An inheritance from her aunt gives her the ability to make those dreams come true. She hires Dane, a handsome contractor, to help her get the bakery up and running and soon they’re moving toward their own happy ending.

Unsure what to charge for her cakes, Abby has a crazy idea to let the customers decide what they think their cake is worth. This plan has its ups and downs, but the novelty of the idea makes her a local celebrity. When she is interviewed on television about the unusual idea, business booms and Abby has cake adventures she never dreamed possible. But as her fame grows, Abby is swept up in a whirlwind that threatens everything she values. With the challenges that face her, will she be able to determine what is worth the most?

Karey White was born in Provo, Utah. As the oldest of eleven children, her life has been full of useful and often ridiculous experiences. She attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University.

She endures housework; enjoys traveling, reading, and baking treats; and loves spending time with family and friends. She lives in Cedar Hills, Utah, with her very funny husband, Travis, and their four clever children. She is currently working on her next book.

Gift of the Phoenix by Donna Cook

A prince is murdered.

An island sinks into the sea.

A thousand-year-old ritual foretells great evil.

A nation’s fate rests in the hands of three strangers, thrust together by their common destiny to protect the Phoenix, and their world, from destruction. The Three must learn to unite in spite of what separates them, and unlock the magic of three stones that seem to harm as much as they help.

Their journey leads through unexpected doors. Along the way they encounter a cursed people, a haunting vision, a woman on the run.

It all begins and ends with the gift of the Phoenix.

Donna Cook’s passion for writing began at a tender age and has persisted throughout her life. As a reader, she enjoys a wide range of fiction from the classics to modern tales. Her criteria for a good book has less to do with genre and more to do with the quality of the writing.

After graduating college in 1995 with a strong literary background and a creative writing degree, she discovered fantasy in 2002 when the popularity of the Harry Potter books was too much for her to ignore. She fell in love with the whimsy and adventure of the genre and began working on Gift of the Phoenix shortly thereafter. Some traumatic events in her personal life pushed writing to the background for several years, but Gift of the Phoenix finally released in 2012.

She’s currently working on the sequel to Gift of the Phoenix, as well as a standalone fantasy titled The Crossroads. After that she plans to return to her literary roots with a novel tentatively titled The Lost River.

She is an Arizona native recently transplanted to Boise, Idaho, where she is delighting in the change of scenery. When she’s not writing she spends her time chasing the kids, exploring delicious eateries downtown, and dancing with her talented husband.

Gold Clash by Steve Westover

When legend becomes reality, no one is safe…

When Jimmy agreed to lead a youth activity through the historic Missouri countryside, he had no idea what he was getting into. Now he and his friends Paul and Emily must race to recover a long-lost treasure and rescue two teenage hostages before the conflict tears an entire town apart.

Gold Clash is a sequel to Defensive Tactics.

Steve Westover lives in a small rural town in Missouri. He has a wife, four children, and lots of chickens, cows, kittens and a dog. He started writing as an experiment—just to see if he could do it. Apparently, he can.

Steve is the author of three novels: Defensive Tactics, Crater Lake: A Battle for Wizard Island, and Gold Clash (the sequel to Defensive Tactics). The sequel to Crater Lake will be released in April 2013, and a new YA dystopian novel will be released in September 2013.

Iced Romance by Whitney Boyd

Kennedy Carter has the perfect life. It includes an engagement to an NHL celebrity all-star, a Vera Wang wedding dress, and more money than she could ever spend. But when Kennedy learns that her fiance Todd is cheating on her, she decides to leave the glamour and glitz behind.

She escapes to Orlando, Florida with a plan to rebuild her life while staying hidden from a country obsessed with celebrity scandals. The real world however, is tougher than she expected. Suddenly Kennedy has to deal with cockroaches, creepy alarm salesmen, and waiting tables… along with David, a gorgeous new love interest.

But what happens when the past refuses to stay hidden? When the truth of her background catches up to her, Kennedy must finally decide who she is, what she wants and where she really belongs.

Whitney Boyd: I was born and raised in Alberta, Canada. After graduating high school I lived in various parts of the United States, including Florida, Utah and Idaho. I got married in 2009 to the love of my life and graduated from the University of Calgary in 2010 with my Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Spanish. (Hola!)

These days I enjoy writing, running for both fun and in competitions, and cooking. That’s me!

Whitney is also the author of Tanned, Toned, and Totally Faking It .

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

All Fall Down by Julie Coulter Bellon

Ring around the rosy, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes we all fall down . . .

That simple rhyme turns negotiator Claire Michaels’ current hostage situation into an international incident. Claire just wants to help get everyone out safely, but she’s dealing with an al-Qaeda operative who has the means to become another bin Laden. Time is slipping away as negotiations break down. Can she overcome her scars of the past in order to get the hostage out alive and possibly stop an assault on U.S. national security?

Navy SEAL Rafe Kelly is on leave to recover from a knee injury he suffered during his tour in Afghanistan and he doesn’t expect to be fighting terrorists on his home turf. But when he is taken hostage and his brother is kidnapped, Rafe teams up with a hostage negotiator in order to stay alive and get his brother back. The terrorist is always one step ahead of them, however, and the situation quickly turns from desperate to deadly. Will Rafe be able to save himself and his country without anyone he loves getting caught in the crossfire?

Julie Coulter Bellon loves to write international romantic suspense novels because she gets to travel to distant lands to do research and add an authentic feel to all of her books. Her favorite cities so far are Athens, Paris, Ottawa, and London. She’s learning to play the bagpipes and though she has yet to master the instrument, she’s working on it.

Julie earned a Secondary Education, English teaching degree from Brigham Young University and she currently teaches a journalism course, which keeps her on the cutting edge of current events and world news. You can follow Julie’s acclaimed writing, her moose-like bagpiping and her take on everything from family to world-shaping events at her website www.juliebellon.com or her blog http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com.

Athena by Heather B. Moore

Self-proclaimed bachelorette Athena Di Jasper is at the top of her game. Her online magazine is thriving, and she’s in a comfortably static relationship, free of the kind of commitment that could lead to marriage—she’s seen her parents’ rocky union, and it’s not for her. When her on-again, off-again boyfriend Karl wants to move their relationship to the next commitment level, Athena’s obvious dismay leads him to challenge her workaholic tendencies. His accusation is true: she hasn’t even paused to read a novel in years. Determined to prove Karl wrong, Athena takes a break from her hectic schedule to peruse a used bookstore, where she meets Grey, the intriguing—and single—propietor. Her quest for change and her desire to see more of Grey leads Athena to stray from her to-do list and join the Newport Ladies Book Club.

When Athena’s world is turned upside down by a family tragedy, she’s left to care for her terminally ill father. Juggling the demands of attending to an ailing parent and running her business, Athena comes to value the friendships of the book-club members, and she find herself relying more and more on Grey’s support. When she stumbles across an old shoebox in her mother’s closet, she’s stunned by its contents, which hold unexpected truths about her parents’ relationship. As Athena delves into a past that defies her judgment about her parents’ marriage, she is forced to reevaluate her views on life and love.

Heather B. Moore is the award-winning author of several historical novels which are set in Ancient Arabia and Mesoamerica. She is not old and doesn’t remember the time period, so google.com has become a great friend. Although she has spent several years living in the Middle East, she prefers to forget the smells. Heather writes under the pen name H.B. Moore so that men will buy her books. She is also the author of one non-fiction book, which took her much too long to research and write, so she is back to novel writing.

Heather graduated from Brigham Young University with a major in Fashion Merchandising and minor in Business Management—which has absolutely nothing to do with writing novels. But at least she can balance a mean checkbook and color-coordinate her kids’ school clothes.

The Candy Cane Queen by Janice A. Sperry

Susan Winters has a secret.

Every year at Christmastime, she abandons her solitary lifestyle and anonymously spreads the joy and spirit of Christmas as The Candy Cane Queen.

But this year, something’s about to change…

The Candy Cane Queen is a 16 page short story and comes in booklet format from Cedar Fort.

Janice Sperry was born in Murray, Utah. She attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City where she earned her Bachelors degree. She is married to Jason Sperry and began her adventures in parenting in 1999. She uses her children, Spencer, Alena, and Calton, as an inspiration for writing.

In addition to this The Candy Cane Queen, Janice also has a short story in both Stolen Christmas (vol. 1) and Checkin’ It Twice (vol. 2).

Checkin’ It Twice by Various LDS Authors

Can Santa learn a lesson from the Savior?

Can a foreign exchange student help you see Christmas a little more clearly?

Do things really look better from a distance?

And just how many holiday ornaments does one woman need?

Get in the Christmas Spirit with Volume 2 of award-winning stories from LDS Publisher’s 2010 and 2011 Christmas Story Contests! Sixteen short stories from popular LDS authors to help you remember the reason for the season!

Featuring LDS Authors: Brenda J. Anderson, Amie Borst, Weston Elliott, Kasey Eyre, Gussie Fick, Angie Lofthouse, Teresa G. Osgood, Brian C. Ricks, Jennifer Ricks, LeeAnn Setzer, Jennifer Carson Shelton, Rob Smales, Janice Sperry, LisaAnn Turner, and Michael Young. Learn more about these authors at checkinittwice.blogspot.com.

Winner’s Choice: Print or eBook.

Click here to see Release Day Bonus Goodies!

The Guy Next Door by Kate Palmer

On the surface, Eva Black’s life seems practically perfect. The small-town kindergarten teacher is set to wed ambitious lawyer Sean Langley, and their plans for a dream wedding are well underway. Eva accepts that she will soon live life in the spotlight as a member of the prestigious Langley family, but can she overlook her fiance’s tendency to dominate the details of her life and push the limits of her standards?

Mere weeks before the wedding, Eva is thrown into a traumatic, life-changing event that changes her view of family commitment and creates a sharp contrast between her ideals and Sean’s. With her engagement to Sean in jeopardy, Eva finds herself relying on the support and encouragement of Peter, her kind and attentive next-door neighbor. Faced with a choice between her penitent fiance and the increasingly mysterious Peter, Eva is unprepared for the consequences—and peril—that come with her decision.

Kate Palmer began her career as an elementary school teacher, but was soon promoted to fulltime mom. She is the mother of six living in the country. Her husband is trying to teach her to be a farm girl. She can’t saddle a horse, but she knows how to butcher a chicken. After a day of chasing children, cooking meals, and doing laundry, she likes to escape into a good book.

Stolen Christmas by Various LDS Authors

What happens when you’re so poor you have to steal your Christmas presents?

Or have you ever taken a punch in the face as your Christmas gift to the girl you love?

Or saved Christmas while hunting were-weevils?

These award-winning Christmas stories are the best of the best from the 2007–2009 LDS Publisher Christmas Story Contests. From Christmases past, to present to future; from sweet and inspirational to zany and delightful—there’s a story for everyone in this eclectic collection.

Featuring LDS Authors: Roger Bonner, Don Carey, Laura Craner, Joyce DiPastena, Sarah M. Eden, L.T. Elliot, Gussie Fick, Melanie Goldmund, M. Gray, Taegan Hutchinson, Angie Lofthouse, Lori Nawyn, Tristi Pinkston, Brian C. Ricks, Sandra Sorenson, Janice Sperry, and Christine Thackeray. Learn more about these authors at www.stolenchristmasanthology.blogspot.com. [Print and ebook versions available November 15th!]

Winner’s Choice: Print or eBook.

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Dialogue Dynamics by Tristi Pinkston

Good dialogue is crucial to a good novel.

Learn how to write dialogue that is realistic without being sappy and how to punctuate it, present it, and polish it to show your characters to their best advantage.

Dialogue Dynamics is volume one of The Write It Right Series.

With her crisp writing style and attention to detail, Tristi Pinkston pulls her readers into the pages of history and helps them feel the emotions that fueled the events of that time. She has been hailed as one of the most talented historical fiction writers currently on the market.

Tristi is the Silver Quill Award-winning author of Secret Sisters, as well as thirteen other novels and self-help books. She has also penned over two thousand articles for the Internet. Her work as a freelance editor allows her to do something she loves—mentor writers on their journey to publication. She is the mother of four amazing children and the wife of one incredible husband, and loves spending her free time trying recipes no one will eat, scrapbooking, and taking really, really long naps.

In addition to being a prolific author, Tristi also provides a variety of author services, including editing and online writing instruction. You can visit her at www.tristipinkston.blogspot.com or her website at www.tristipinkston.com.

Dispirited by Luisa M. Perkins

Cathy sees things that are invisible to everyone else. Her new stepbrother’s bizarre behavior. A ghostly little boy. An abandoned house in the woods.

But she doesn’t see how they’re all connected. And what she doesn’t see might just kill her.

Luisa M. Perkins writes speculative fiction, specifically contemporary dark-ish fantasy. She is the author of Dispirited, published by Zarahemla Books in March 2012, and co-author of the novel The Book of Jer3miah, forthcoming from Shadow Mountain in August 2012. Past publications include the cookbook Comfortably Yum and the LDS YA novel Shannon’s Mirror. She has had numerous short stories and essays published in print and online. She has been a member of the Whitney Awards Committee for the past two years.

Luisa has been married for 22 years to Patrick, an absolute prince of a man. They live with their six lovely children and an insane cat in a tiny town on the east bank of the Hudson River. Her passions include reading, gardening, knitting, cooking, eating, and musicking.

Lighting Candles in the Snow by Karen Jones Gowen

Newly divorced Karoline London needs to heal and find her normal again, as older sister Suzie keeps reminding her. But what does Suzie know about divorce? She has the perfect husband and seven gorgeous children, while Karoline had six years married to a man tormented by addictions.

When Karoline meets handsome Zac Kline, things just might be looking up. Until she learns about a tragic event in ex-husband Jeremy s childhood that explains old complications, while creating new ones complications that threaten to further obstruct Karoline s difficult path back to herself.

Lighting Candles in the Snow is a novel of hope and redemption, about new beginnings and fresh starts. It is about the weak finding courage, and how shared grief in times of loss can create unbreakable bonds within families.

Karen Gowen: Born and raised in central Illinois, the daughter of a second-generation Methodist minister, I now live in South Jordan, Utah with my husband and three of our ten children. We have a back yard overgrown with fruit trees, vegetable garden and wildflowers, as well as a pond full of koi. I love to read, knit and watch Woody Allen movies. I graduated from BYU with a degree in English and American Literature. I’ve been writing for most of my life, published a few newspaper articles and sold a few stories to the Friend. The past few years I have finally been able to devote more time to writing.

Shadowed by Stephanie Black

Gifted musician Catherine Clayton was born into a life of wealth and privilege. Following the death of her father, she makes a bold decision to use the family money to establish a music school and offer free lessons to the underprivileged in Riley, New York.

Hit hard by the economic downturn, Riley personifies economic hardship. But the damage runs much deeper than Catherine first realizes. Two years ago, Riley was rocked by weeks of vandalism followed by the brutal murder of beautiful elementary school secretary Olivia Perry. Though the murder remains unsolved, Catherine receives ominous warnings that one of these men, Adam Becket, is responsible for one girl’s death. Unimpressed by the lack of evidence against him, Catherine is drawn to the shy but endearing Adam. Could he really have been involved in Olivia’s murder?

Just as Catherine is settling in and getting to know Adam, a vandal strikes again, and it’s eerily reminiscent of the events surrounding Olivia’s murder. The death threats splashed on the walls prove that killer is back—and this time, it’s Catherine who wonders if she’s come to the wrong place at the wrong time.

Stephanie Black: I’ve enjoyed making up stories since I was a child, when my sisters and I would play long, strange Barbie games or write and direct plays for ourselves and younger siblings. I took a creative writing class in high school, but my stories stunk, since I hadn’t yet figured out that a story needs a plot. But I finally got a fun idea, and an encouraging comment from the teacher got me rolling.

After a few years of writing random scenes, I decided to try writing a novel start to finish, but that led to a failed unfinished manuscript and the realization that there was a lot more to writing fiction than I’d ever understood. I began reading books about fiction technique and started over with my novel project.

Stephanie’s contemporary suspense novels have won the Whitney Award for Best Mystery/Suspense four years in a row.

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Now that the Summer Book Trek is over, it’s time to get back to our usual monthly prizes.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Castles on the Sand by E.M. Tippetts

John Britton has been praying for fifteen years to find the sister he lost in his parents’ divorce. She is beautiful, talented, and makes kindness a fine art.

When John and Madison cross paths, he recognizes her at once, but Madison is certain that he’s got it all wrong. Even if she is his long-lost sister, she can’t possibly be the exceptional, amazing girl he thinks she is, can she?

E.M. Tippetts: I write chick lit as E.M. Tippetts and science fiction as Emily Mah. I got my start in writing at the Clarion West Writer’s Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy.

I am originally from New Mexico,  have a bachelors in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University, and a juris doctorate in business law from UCLA. I also design jewelry (and no, that doesn’t fit in with any of the other stuff I’ve listed here.) Currently, I live in London while my husband does his PhD.

The Guy Next Door by Kate Palmer

On the surface, Eva Black’s life seems practically perfect. The small-town kindergarten teacher is set to wed ambitious lawyer Sean Langley, and their plans for a dream wedding are well underway. Eva accepts that she will soon live life in the spotlight as a member of the prestigious Langley family, but can she overlook her fiance’s tendency to dominate the details of her life and push the limits of her standards?

Mere weeks before the wedding, Eva is thrown into a traumatic, life-changing event that changes her view of family commitment and creates a sharp contrast between her ideals and Sean’s. With her engagement to Sean in jeopardy, Eva finds herself relying on the support and encouragement of Peter, her kind and attentive next-door neighbor. Faced with a choice between her penitent fiance and the increasingly mysterious Peter, Eva is unprepared for the consequences—and peril—that come with her decision.

Kate Palmer began her career as an elementary school teacher, but was soon promoted to fulltime mom. She is the mother of six living in the country. Her husband is trying to teach her to be a farm girl. She can’t saddle a horse, but she knows how to butcher a chicken. After a day of chasing children, cooking meals, and doing laundry, she likes to escape into a good book.

To enter to win one of these books, simply leave a “thoughtful” comment on any post on this site.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Beyond the Wood by Michael J. Roueche

Romance has faded, and shame has weakened resolve. Mystery has shrouded the truth, and pride has matured into a world enveloped by rage and war. . . . And the only constant is betrayal—and at times he is your sole companion. Yet, hope still lingers . . .

Hank, a soldier for the Union, refuses retreat from his first bloodied action without proof he has been there, and he takes it from a dying enemy. Fed by the compassion he finds in the Confederate’s last letter and his own unsettled dreams and troubling memories, Hank imagines a romance that drives him relentlessly toward an impossible rendezvous. All the while, Elizabeth, the widow, struggles with burdens left by her husband, even as her neighbors conspire against her. And what is she to make of this Union soldier, this enemy, so set on coming to her?

Michael J. Roueche grew up in Virginia and spent most of his life in the Old Dominion. Always a romantic, only in more recent years did he discover the Civil War that always had surrounded him, thanks to Bruce Catton books from his father’s library and a good friend who gave him a copy of Michael Schaara’s Killer Angels. He and his wife of 34 years now live in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking and exploring the High Plains and Rocky Mountains, with their alpine vistas, aspen groves and evergreen forests, and amazing wildlife. They have five children and several grandchildren.

The Kindling by Braden Bell

Loud shrieks sliced the air, followed by the smell of burning cloth. Conner looked over in time to see Geoffrey jumping up and down, yelling and shrieking. Smoke poured from the seat of his shorts while blue and yellow sparks snap-crackle-and-popped all around the heater.

All thirteen-year-old Connor Dell wants to do is pass pre-algebra, play lacrosse, and possibly kiss Melanie Stephens. He didn’t mean to set anyone’s gym shorts on fire or make school lunches explode. But now that the strange powers inside him have been ignited, Connor’s normal teenage life is about to go up in flames!

***

Homework? Of course. Crushes? Sure. But who knew seventh grade included superpowers?

Braden Bell earned  a Ph.D. in educational theatre from New York University. He and his family live on a quiet, wooded lot in Tennessee, where he teaches theatre and music at a private middle school–the world described in The Kindling (whether his evenings and weekends are spent fighting evil is something he cannot disclose). An experienced performer, Braden enjoys singing, acting, reading, gardening, and long walks with the dog.

Braden enjoys interacting with readers on his blog or Facebook page. He’s available for schools assemblies, classroom visits, and book clubs in person or via Skype. You can contact him by leaving a message here.

Left to Love by Jolene B Perry

Leigh’s life is shaping up to be pretty perfect.

She married the father of a little boy she fell in love with. They live in a nice house, on a quiet street, and her hobby of a sewing business is keeping her busier than she ever imagined. She’s back in touch with her brother who she hasn’t seen since she was a child, and her new husband has an “in” for his dream job when he graduates in the spring.

But when her small symptoms begin to lead up to something big – she has to face the shattering realization that her cancer is back.

Leigh struggles with her new marriage, her faith, her desire to adopt the little boy who calls her mom, and the strength to keep fighting for her life.

Jolene Perry is an enigmatic figure. She is most often seen behind her laptop, staring at the words flying onto the screen with reckless abandon.

She survived growing up in rural Alaska, driving like a lunatic, and her husband’s careers in the military, as a perpetual student, and an Alaska State Prosecutor. She also survived as a middle school math teacher using her degree of Political Science and French.

One day Jolene was playing her guitar (probably some-thing juvenile for her kids) when she wondered what it would be like to write a song for a rockstar, and her first book was born. (that book is shelved)

She now lives a very glamorous life as a stay at home mom, elbow deep in dirty dishes and peanut butter sandwiches. She doens’t even attempt to keep up with the laundry because non-writing time is precious, and her family is sorta awesome.

Millstone City by S.P. Bailey

Elder Carson works in Olinda, an ancient city on the northeastern coast of Brazil. It is lush green, full of old churches and white-sand beaches and drug traffickers protecting their turf.

One night, Carson is homesick and wide awake. The midnight hour is humid and hot. It is February, and carnaval is in full swing. Carson gets up. He goes out alone. He finds a phone and calls his girlfriend back in Utah.

Things happen that night—bad things—before Carson can make it back to his apartment. The next thing Carson knows, he’s a suspect in a murder investigation. And not only that—gangsters, extremely dangerous men, have taken a sudden interest in Elder Carson . . .

S. P. Bailey is a recovering humanities nerd, a former English major who exclusively pursued unmarketable knowledge until the day he applied to law school. That decision felt like giving up on becoming a writer, but it was the culmination of an honest assessment of what he lacked. A wealthy patron, for example. Now a young trial attorney with student loans and a mortgage, he reads and writes endless reams of arid legal prose and the occasional ribbon of literary fiction or poetry.

To enter to win one of these books, CLICK HERE .

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

There are new (as of THIS MONTH!) guidelines and entry requirements for winning one of these books. Please take a look at the updated Official Rules.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Altercation by Tamara Heiner

The FBI promises Jacinta Rivera and her friends that they are safe. Jaci wants desperately to believe them but weeks of hiding from their kidnapper, alias “The Hand”, have left her wary. Hidden from the public eye in an FBI safe house, Jaci must reconcile both her father’s mysterious disappearance and the murder of her best friend.

A betrayal lands Jaci back in the grasp of The Hand, shattering her ability to trust and leaving her to wonder if she will ever piece together her broken life.

About Tamara Hart Heiner: I live in Arkansas with my husband and three children. I graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English. I teach English in the mornings and spend the rest of the day avoiding laundry and other chores, all in the name of parenting. Sometimes I get to sit down in front of the computer and write for a few hours. And if my husband’s lucky, I make something for dinner besides macaroni and cheese.

Change of Heart by Roseanne Evans Wilkins

Roseanne Evans Wilkins: was the second oldest of 9 children, so I grew up in a house full of noisy kids. Craig grew up in a house with just 2 quiet kids. Opposites attract lol. Since I’m the one home, we filled the house with kids. I’d go crazy with silence. Craig manages the noise level by traveling all over the U.S. teaching other adults how to audit.

With 5 kids in sports, I keep busy running them to their practices and games. After hectic days running kids everywhere and taking care of three pre-schoolers, I find quiet time after everyone is in bed to write. I hope you enjoy the results .

You can visit Roseanne at her blog, Roseanne’s Spot.

Gifts and Consequences by Daniel Coleman

When multi-millionaire Jonathan Wheeler’s wife contracts a debilitating illness, it transforms both of their lives. No longer concerned with business and finance, Jonathan turns his attention to giving. But no gift comes without a price, and those unwilling to pay the price learn that no gift comes without a consequence.

The recipients of these gifts vary as greatly as the terms of Jonathan’s unusual contracts. From the high school Senior who gets sold-out concert tickets, and the food addict who receives tuition to a weight loss program, to the man who is given the chance to walk to the ends of the earth to save his true love’s life.

Each accepts the gift with the understanding that there’s always a catch, and anyone who agrees to Jonathan’s terms risks losing even more than they stand to gain.

Daniel Coleman spends his time back and forth between two worlds – the fantastic world of Writing where happy endings are common, and the very real- life world of Firefighting where the outcomes are as varied as the emergencies.A small farming town in northern Utah is his home, where he resides with his wife, 3 kids and an ever-changing menagerie.

Daniel got his start in writing the same place he started reading–Fantasy (See Jabberwocky and Hatter). But other projects demanded their due and Gifts and Consequences resulted. He is currently working on follow-up books as well as polishing a science-based Urban Fantasy novel, New Phoenix Rising, which recently won First Place in the League of Utah Writers Contest!

With All My Love, Misty by Misty Covington

He comes from a dysfunctional home where the brothers were involved with violence and drug use. She comes from a supportive, loving family environment. Both are Mormons. Both served missions for their church. She works in a drug rehab facility as a counselor. He comes to the facility on a court-ordered drug rehab program. It is where they meet: Dino DiLello, the charismatic and natural leader, too often on the wrong side of the law and Misty Squire, the pretty blonde social worker eighteen years his junior, who has a firm commitment to doing what s right.

Dino and Misty are drawn together in a powerful love that surprises them both. They are married and face a bright and hopeful future. Dino has left his lawless past behind him. Or has he? The night that changes everything brings up troubling questions.

As Misty comes to terms with her worst fears, she must also decide at what cost to pursue the truth behind that night. And somehow she must learn to live with a grief that seems to break her heart beyond all healing.

Misty Covington is a story teller of life.  Some sad. Some funny.  Most teach. All true.  When she is not telling the stories of life, she’s living them by trying to help the world as a social worker and public speaker, to be the best wicked step-mother in the history of wicked step-mothers, by being the last and best wife to her husband, and trying anything new as long as there is an ice cream treat afterwards.

When I changed the way I had you enter to win books, my comments dropped dramatically. So we’re trying something new: RAFFLECOPTER!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One entry per comment per day! One extra entry for “liking” LDS Publisher on Facebook. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Limited to U.S. residents. Deadline to enter: June 30, 2012, midnight, Eastern Time. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. CLICK HERE to read the Official Rules.

*P.S. The first time you leave a comment on the blog, I have to approve it/you. I had to do this because of all the spam this site has been attracting lately. After that first approval, your comments go live immediately. You don’t have to wait for approval to enter your name in Rafflecopter.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

There are new guidelines and entry requirements for winning one of these books. Please take a look at the updated Official Rules.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Daisy by Josi S. Kilpack

Motherhood is not for the faint of heart. And no one knows that better than Daisy. Raising two kids as a divorced, single mom, Daisy has faced each and every one of the obstacles in her life with courage and determination.

Now with her oldest daughter ready to have a baby of her own, her youngest daughter ready to graduate from high school, and her new husband, Paul, ready to embrace the life of an empty-nester, Daisy feels like she might finally be able to check “motherhood” off her list of things to do.

Except life often has a mind of its own. When, at the age of forty-six, Daisy suddenly finds herself facing a very different future than the one she had planned—and an uncomfortable evaluation of the past she thought she understood—she realizes that there is still some growing up she needs to do.

Looking for a distraction to escape the growing tension at home, Daisy joins the Newport Ladies Book Club, where she meets Paige, Athena, and Olivia—unlikely friends who offer encouragement and support when Daisy’s perfectly crafted life is turned upside-down.

Josi S. Kilpack loves to read and write, is the author of sixteen novels, the baker of many a delicious confection, and the hobby farmer of a varying number of unfortunate chickens. In her spare time she likes to overwhelm herself a multitude of projects and then complain that she never has any spare time; in this way she is rather masochistic. She also enjoys traveling, cheering on her children, and sleeping in when the occasion presents itself.

Josi is best known for her Sadie Hoffmiller culinary mystery series.

Dead Running by Cami Checketts

Cassidy Christensen is running.

Running from the mercenaries who killed her parents. Running from a scheming redhead intent on making her life miserable. Running from painful memories that sabotage her dreams of happiness.

With two very tempting men competing for her attention, she hopes she’ll finally have someone to run to, but can she trust either of them?

When secrets from her past threaten her family, Cassidy decides to stop running and fight for her future.

Cami Checketts is a part-time author, part-time exercise consultant, part-time housekeeper, full-time wife, and overtime mother of four adorable boys. Sleep and relaxation are fond memories.

She’s never been happier.

Hearts of Courage by John Tippets

No greater saga of the Northland was ever recounted than the experiences of the survivors of the Gillam plane crash.

On January 5, 1943, famed Alaska bush pilot Harold Gillam left Seattle, WA, on a flight to Alaska.  The plane crashed in the Alaska wilderness about 30 miles from his intended refueling stop at Annette Island.  Gillam and his five passengers all survived the crash.  Four of the six persons survived 29 days in the wilderness before being rescued.

Hearts of Courage was written by the son of one of those passengers, Joe Tippets. This is a survival story that is truly amazing.

John M. Tippets is a graduate of UCLA (where he also received an MBA).  He served a 42+ year career with American Airlines entities including the last 17 years as the President/CEO of American Airlines Credit Union prior to his 2008 retirement.  John is presently living and working in southern California.

John’s father is Joseph Tippets who,in the ‘60s, was the FAA’s highly respected Western Region Director.  John is the author of “Hearts of Courage” and shares his father’s story with interested aviation and other groups.

My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend by Elodia Strain

Unlucky-in-love Jesse finds herself thrown back into the dating game when she meets Ethan—a cute, struggling writer who seems perfect for her. Things get complicated fast, though, when only moments later she meets Troy—a confident, successful advertising exec who seems…just plain perfect. But everyone is keeping a secret, and Jesse soon learns that things aren’t always what they seem.

My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend is a classic love story turned upside down, a romantic comedy that blends warm sincerity with fresh storytelling…and some big surprises.

Elodia Strain: I was born in Alaska and grew up in California. I guess that explains why my ideal day would start with playing in the snow and end with playing in the water. I love jogging on the treadmill, dancing in the living room, and playing Scrabble pretty much anywhere.

What I love most about being a writer: The people who read my books!

Protected by Cindy M. Hogan

She has the guy.

The terrorists have been taken care of.

She has a shot at becoming popular.

Life is great!

Until they find her.

Now she must run and leave behind everything she knows, including herself.

Protected is the sequel to Watched: Murder was Just the Beginning.

 Cindy M. Hogan graduated with a secondary education teaching degree and enjoys spending time with unpredictable teenagers. More than anything she loves the time she has with her own teenage daughters and wishes she could freeze them at this fun age. If she’s not reading or writing, you’ll find her snuggled up with the love of her life watching a great movie or planning their next party. She loves to bake, garden and be outdoors doing a myriad of activities.

Tanned, Toned and Totally Faking It by Whitney Boyd

Mikayla: Cute Canadian college girl turned world-famous, super- sexy pop-star practically overnight. And still figuring out if she belongs in this celebrity wonderland.

Jordan: The only genuine guy in all of L.A. Law student, and extremely attractive. Also happens to hate the Hollywood celebrity scene.

Matt: Stupid, lying, money-loving ex-boyfriend trying to get back into Mikayla’s life and ruin every hope she has with Jordan.

Kurt: Personal trainer, confidant and only true friend Mikayla has in her new life. Questionable fashion sense included.

Cheryl: Completely psychotic manager.

The next three months? Happily ever after with Jordan. Or social and career ruin with no hope of ever finding true love…

Whitney Boyd: I was born and raised in Alberta, Canada. After graduating high school I lived in various parts of the United States, including Florida, Utah and Idaho. I got married in 2009 to the love of my life and graduated from the University of Calgary in 2010 with my Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Spanish. (Hola!)

These days I enjoy writing, running for both fun and in competitions, and cooking. That’s me!

Tanned, Toned, and Totally Faking It is my first commercial fiction novel. For more information feel free to email me at wj.olson@gmail.com.

To enter to win one of these books, CLICK HERE . One entry per person per month. NO
PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Limited to
U.S. residents. Deadline to enter: April 30, 2012, midnight, Mountain
Time. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. CLICK HERE to read the Official Rules.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

There are new guidelines and entry requirements for winning one of these books. Please take a look at the updated Official Rules.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Defenders of the Covenant by Angie Lofthouse
Hannah and her friends have been warned about the danger lurking outside of their secret refuge from the alien invaders who devastated the Earth years before. Their leaders have raised them in the Latter-day Saint faith, teaching them to trust God, but when McKenzie and her rebellious boyfriend, Jeremy, decide to run away, Hannah and Derek follow, determined to bring their friends home.

Once outside, the four teens soon realize they cannot return to the refuge without endangering everyone there. Captured, enslaved, and separated, Hannah, Derek, and McKenzie each learn the unique role they must play in liberating the Earth. The friends must battle with android soldiers and attack vessels, and face their own inner struggles to overcome the invaders. After all, not even an alien invasion can stop the work of God.

Angie Lofthouse has published a dozen sci-fi and fantasy short stories in such publications as NFG, AlienSkin, Amazing Journeys, The Sword Review, Dragons, Knights and Angels, Irreantum, and Unparalleled Journeys. She is an editor for Mindflights Magazine.

Her sci-fi adventure novel, Defenders of the Covenant, will be out in March 2012.

She lives in a little canyon in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains with her family of writers, artists, singers, composers, illustrators and musicians.

 
Dispirited by Luisa Perkins
Cathy sees things that are invisible to everyone else. Her new stepbrother’s bizarre behavior. A ghostly little boy. An abandoned house in the woods. But she doesn’t see how they’re all connected. And what she doesn’t see might just kill her.

Luisa M. Perkins writes speculative fiction, specifically contemporary dark-ish fantasy. She is the author of Dispirited, published by Zarahemla Books in March 2012, and co-author of the novel The Book of Jer3miah, forthcoming from Shadow Mountain in August 2012. Past publications include the cookbook Comfortably Yum and the LDS YA novel Shannon’s Mirror. She has had numerous short stories and essays published in print and online. She has been a member of the Whitney Awards Committee for the past two years.

Luisa has been married for 22 years to Patrick, an absolute prince of a man. They live with their six lovely children and an insane cat in a tiny town on the east bank of the Hudson River. Her passions include reading, gardening, knitting, cooking, eating, and musicking.

In the Mirror by Ann Best

When Ann Carbine marries Larry Best in the Salt Lake temple in 1961, she’s certain their marriage will last forever. Eleven years later, she learns that he’s been having affairs with men. She wants to help him. She wants to save their marriage.

However, powerful emotions pull Larry away from his family, just as AIDS is beginning its relentless march through the gay community. As a single parent, Ann is faced with four grieving children who don’t want to leave their father and their home in Utah.

But Ann needs to start a new life in a new place. In the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, she at last makes peace with the past.

Ann Best: At age 71 (May 2011) I published my first memoir, In the Mirror: A Memoir of Shattered Secrets that’s selling well on Kindle. One of the “characters” in it is my brain-injured daughter who can’t walk. I’ve been her full-time caregiver for 25 years. But she’s easy-going, and with the help of an aide I have lots of time to write. I just self-published a novelette for the Kindle: Imprisoned: Svetlana Garetova’s Memoir, the story of a Russian woman who came to Utah to visit a friend, not knowing that she and her young son would be like a prisoner in his house. I also self-published a short story: An Ozark Memory of Grace Votaw Duniven. I have three other children and seven grandchildren. I grew up in Salt City, Utah but have settled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Over the years, I’ve taught literature at the college level, been a proofreader, tutor, and editor, and have published and won awards for stories, poems, and essays.

No Angel by Theresa Sneed
Jonathan is an angel with an attitude. He’s not at all happy about having to return to earth as a guardian angel, but it’s required of all post-mortal spirits to fulfill at least one angel guardianship. Fortunately, on the Guardians Unlimited application, he had the good sense to request a client with Early Marked Death status, so he believes that while his stay on earth will be most unpleasant, at least it will be short. What he doesn’t know is that a spirit with an Early Marked Death status can choose his or her time of death! Jonathan’s client, Celeste Knight, has a mind of her own and refuses death at every turn, leaving him stuck as her guardian angel―in a place he only wanted to forget.

Theresa Sneed: Growing up in the woodlands of Maine and spending most of her time climbing trees and looking for snakes under rocks, author Theresa Sneed has a wealth of childhood experiences and a lively imagination from which she creates her magical stories. As a mother of six, a grandmother of four and an elementary school teacher, she enjoys weaving stories of fantasy and adventure that bring about moments of wonder and reflection.

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson

Jessie Taylor is furious when her roommate secretly posts her picture on the dating website LDS Lookup — furious, that is, until she spends all night instant messaging Ben Bratton. Their first date is a smashing success (literally), but Ben’s overall awesomeness can’t save Jessie from having to deal with Craig, her competitive coworker.

Jessie spends long office hours finishing projects and putting out fires, but while her performance wows her boss, it only makes Ben skittish— after a failed engagement to an up-and-coming lawyer, he’s not about to pair up with someone who’s married to her job.

Will Jessie figure out how to be true to herself and take her big chance at love before it’s gone with a click of the mouse?

Melanie Bennett Jacobson is an avid reader, amateur cook, and champion shopper. She consumes astonishing amounts of chocolate, chick flicks, and romance novels. After meeting her husband online, she is now living happily married in Southern California with her growing family and a series of doomed houseplants. Melanie is a former English teacher and a popular speaker who loves to laugh and make others laugh. In her down time (ha!), she writes romantic comedies for Covenant and maintains her humorous slice-of-life blog. Her third novel, Twitterpated, hits shelves in March.

To enter to win one of these books, CLICK HERE . One entry per person per month. NO
PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Limited to
U.S. residents. Deadline to enter: April 30, 2012, midnight, Mountain
Time. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. CLICK HERE to read the Official Rules.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

There are new guidelines and entry requirements for winning one of these books. Please take a look at the updated Official Rules.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Arizona Guy by Raymond Spitzer

He didn’t know he was an Arizona guy until someone called him a California guy.

Ted White, a high school band director comes to Ajo to house sit for his aunt and uncle, and to get far away from a broken engagement. But the relatives are missing.

In the process of unraveling the mystery of their disappearance, this small desert town comes to mean more to Ted than he ever could have imagined.

Raymond Spitzer was born in California and resided in Japan and Montana before his parents saw the light and brought him to Arizona. He grew up in Nogales from the age of three and completed high school and college in Tucson. He taught school in Ajo and Gila Bend for sixteen years before becoming a public safety telecommunicator with Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Ajo.

Arizona Guy is his first published book, but Spitzer is hard at work on the next book in the series.

The Frozen Trail by Lisa Dayley

Based on a true story THE FROZEN TRAIL details Emma Girdlestone’s 1856 trek across the United States with the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company. It tells of a remarkable young woman of faith, who endured a journey wrought with peril to join her fellow Latter-day Saints in the Salt Lake Valley of the Utah desert.

The Mormon pioneers moved across the Great Plains in wagon trains and pulling handcarts to seek a new home safe from persecution. THE FROZEN TRAIL is the story of one woman, eighteen-year-old Emma Girdlestone who, along with her fellow travelers, faced starvation, frostbite, and death on the trail to Zion.

This work of historical fiction is dedicated to the members of the Willie Handcart Company. These courageous pioneers showed heroism and devotion in the face of unbelievably harsh and brutal conditions. It is especially dedicated to Willie Handcart member Emma Girdlestone who left behind a legacy of bravery, fortitude, and faith; and who, 155 years later, managed to change the life of her great-great-granddaughter Lisa Dayley, the author of this book.

Lisa Dayley graduated from the Metropolitan State College of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications and Creative Writing. An award-winning writer and photographer, she has written for both newspapers and magazines. Dayley lives in Burley, Idaho with her husband Darrell. They have three children and one grandson. You can read more about her in an interview with Karen Jones Gowen.

The Heirs of Southbridge by Jennie Hansen

When tragedy strikes Southbridge plantation, young Clayton and his brother, Travis, are forced from the only home they’ve ever known. Fleeing the drunken rage of their grandfather, with bounty hunters and horse thieves thick on their trail, the boys and their father try to eke out a lonely life as fugitives and cowboys.

As Clayton nears adulthood, his greatest desire is for a strong and stable family, but his father’s death and his brother’s departure leave him more alone than ever. Seeking for roots, Clayton visits Southbridge en route to college and kneels on his mother’s grave, only to be accosted by a gun-wielding girl named Lucy, whose father will stop at nothing to make the plantation his own.

Can Clayton realize his deepest desires of marrying the woman he loves, having a family, and reclaiming the plantation that is his rightful heritage?

Jennie Hansen was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She lived in many farming and ranching communities in Idaho and Montana. Her family moved more than 20 times as she grew up. Born the fifth of eight children, Jennie had a ready
supply of playmates during her childhood. Her brothers and sisters are still among her closest friends. She married Boyd Hansen of Rexburg, Idaho, and over the next ten years they became the parents of five
children. They have made their home in Utah since their marriage.

Jennie graduated from Ricks College in Idaho then continued her education at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has been a receptionist, a model, a Utah House page, freelance magazine writer, newspaper reporter, editor, library circulation specialist, mother and grandmother. She has over twenty published books to her credit. Jennie also writes a monthly review column for Meridian Magazine.

Identity by Betsy Love

While vacationing in Mexico, two similar-looking young women find themselves caught in a chain reaction of mistaken identities.Amelia is a wealthy heiress and business owner, and Savannah is a sweet Mormon girl deciding whether or not to serve a mission.

When they end up on the same flight to Phoenix, Savannah and Amelia unravel the sequence of events that wreaked havoc on their trips, and they make plans to resolve the subsequent misunderstandings. But their flight is cut short when the plane crashes, killing one of the young women and plunging the other
into a world of intrigue and deceit where identity means everything.

Betsy Love: Writing has been a passion since I was a little girl. I first discovered the art of pen to paper watching my mother make out her grocery list. It did not take long for me to discover that those indecipherable squiggles meant words, and words have power. What joy I experienced as a first grader learning to write my name. Now the stories dancing in my head would find a home on paper. I hope you will follow me in my journey to share what I have written.

The Keeper’s Calling by Kelly Nelson

They come from two different worlds. One fateful discovery will bring them together. Neither of their lives will ever be the same.

Chase Harper’s to-do list for senior year never included fall in love and fight for your life, but things rarely go as planned. Tarnished gold and resembling a pocket watch, the counter he finds in a cave during the summer of 2011 will forever change the course of his life, leading him to the beautiful Ellie Williams and unlocking a power beyond his wildest imagination.

In 1863, Ellie Williams completes school in Boston and returns to the Utah Territory only to discover that her grandfather and his counter, a treasured family heirloom, are missing. When Ellie is abducted and told she must produce the counter or die, an unexpected rescuer comes to her aid.

Kelly Nelson was raised in Orem, Utah, and now resides in Cornelius, Oregon, in the heart of the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She enjoys life on a ten-acre horse property with her husband, four children, and, of course, lots of horses. Kelly has a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. She worked as a certified public accountant for several years before opting to stay home and raise a family. As a young girl, she was an avid reader and had a passion for creative writing. Her travels to England, France, Egypt, Israel, West Indies, Mexico, and across the United States sparked a love of history, adventure, and exotic places. This led to the inspiration behind her debut novel, The Keeper’s Calling, the first book in The Keeper’s Saga.

 
Northanger Alibi by  Jenni James

Sometimes a guy is even better than you imagined…

The Russo family and Seattle, Washington, are no match for Claire Hart and her savvy knowledge of all things vampire-related. Thanks to her obsession with the Twilight series, if there is anyone who would know a vampire when she saw one, it’s Claire. And she’s positive totally hot Tony Russo is a vampire – she just has to prove it!

In this modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, follow Claire’s hilarious journey on her first summer adventure away from home, where she learns everything isn’t what is seems, and that in some instances, reality is way better than anything she’d ever find in a book.

Jenni James: I’m married to a totally hot, redheaded Air Force Recruiter, named Mark. Together we have 10 kiddos (7 ours, 3 fostered). We have just moved back to the States after living 9 awesome years in the Azores Islands of Portugal and England! Our kids love the USA!

When I’m not writing up a storm, I enjoy reading, acting, portrait painting, directing plays, cooking, planning eleborate parties and chasing my kids around the house. Oh, and before you ask–I haven’t been to college, YET! But I’ve always been able to write one mean essay when I needed to. *wink*

Learn more about Jenni and her upcoming books at her website.

Someone Else’s Fairytale by E.M. Tippetts

Jason Vanderholt is the hottest actor under thirty with legions of screaming fans. 

Chloe Winters is a college student who hasn’t gotten around to watching most of his movies and doesn’t follow Hollywood gossip. 

When they meet by chance, he is smitten and she becomes the woman every other woman in America is dying to be, but it just isn’t her fairytale.

E.M. Tippetts: I write chick lit as E.M. Tippetts and science fiction as Emily Mah. I got my start in writing at the Clarion West Writer’s Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy.

I am originally from New Mexico,  have a bachelors in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University, and a juris doctorate in business law from UCLA. I also design jewelry (and no, that doesn’t fit in with any of the other stuff I’ve listed here.) Currently, I live in London while my husband does his PhD.

Targets In Ties  by Tristi Pinkston

Secret Sisters Mystery #4!

After two long years, Ren’s mission is finally over, and it’s time for Ida Mae, Arlette, and Tansy to travel to Mexico to pick him up. They have their itinerary all planned out visiting the ruins in the Yucatan, shopping, playing in the sand and surf and then they’ll head to Ren’s mission home and be reunited with that dear boy.

But a wanted antiquities thief crosses their path, and soon the ladies find themselves tangled up in a web of lies, intrigue, and costly jewelry. Held hostage by men desperate for riches, they do what only they can do keep their heads about them, plan their escape, and discuss the proper making of tortillas.

Will they survive their most harrowing adventure yet?

With her crisp writing style and attention to detail, Tristi Pinkston pulls her readers into the pages of history and helps them feel the emotions that fueled the events of that time. She has been hailed as one of the most talented historical fiction writers currently on the market.

Jeff Needle’s review for AML, said, “This kind of writing can only come about when the author has thoroughly researched her subject and worked very hard to put herself in the place of her protagonist.”

Targets in Ties is Tristi’s ninth book.

To enter to win one of these books,
use the form in the sidebar. One entry per person per month. NO
PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Limited to
U.S. residents. Deadline to enter: March 31, 2012, midnight, Mountain
Time. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. CLICK HERE to read the Official Rules.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

There are new guidelines and entry requirements for winning one of these books. Please take a look at the updated Official Rules.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Cold River by Liz Adair

Mandy Steenburg thinks her doctorate in education has prepared her to run any school district—until she tangles with the moonshine-making, coon-dog-owning denizens of a tiny district in Pacific Northwest timber country.

She’s determined to make a difference, but the local populace still looks to the former superintendent for leadership. When Mandy lands in the middle of an old feud and someone keeps trying to kill her, instinct tells her to run. And though she has to literally swim through perilous waters, she finds a reason to stay and chance the odds.

Liz Adair: Born in southern New Mexico, Liz attended school in small towns in New Mexico, Wyoming, Alaska, Utah, and Arizona where she graduated from Fredonia High and NAU (then Arizona State College).

Books by Liz Adair include the Spider Latham Mystery Series, consisting of The Lodger, After Goliath and Snakewater Affair and Mist of Quarry Harbor. Liz is also the co-editor (with her daughters Terry Gifford and Ruth Lavine) of Lucy Shook’s Letters from Afghanistan. Her book Counting the Cost, a novel based on family history, won the 2009 Whitney Award and was a finalist for the Willa Award and Arizona Publisher Association’s Glyph Award. Liz is active in American Night Writers Association and LDStorymakers and belongs to the Skagit Valley Writer’s League. Cold River is Liz’s eighth book.

Visit Liz at  her blog, sezlizadair.blogspot.com.

Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena

Her father has been accused of stealing from the king, an allegation that has reduced her family to poverty. She has one chance to find and marry a man who can help her prove her father’s innocence. Lord Therri, heir to a rich barony, has the wealth and connections Mathilde needs to delve into the mysteries of her father’s past. Furthermore, Therri embodies all her romantic dreams.

Etienne, the younger son of a disgraced family, has neither wealth nor connections, but is smitten with Mathilde at a glance. She finds the knight intriguing, but believes he is only out to seduce her. While she seeks for a way to win Therri’s attention, Etienne tricks her into granting him her favor, an embroidered white ribbon, for a tournament, setting in motion a dangerous chain reaction of events. Can Etienne save Mathilde from a nightmare from her past and prove himself the true hero of her dreams?

Joyce DiPastena: Joyce fell in love with the Middle Ages when she first read Thomas B. Costain’s The Conquering Family in high school. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a degree specializing in medieval history.Joyce lives in Arizona with her two cats, Clio and Glinka Rimsky-Korsokov. Dangerous Favor is her third novel.

Visit Joyce at her website, www.joyce-dipastena.com,  and her blog, jdp-news.blogspot.com.

No Escape by Anna Jones Buttimore

Hoping to escape his grief over the loss of his beautiful wife Heather, Michael Boyd leaves behind his New York precinct and his gun to embark on a police-exchange program. As a police officer in rural North Wales, he is struck by the tenacity and resourcefulness of Catrin Pritchard, a single mother with a frightening past. It appears that her brother Seth is involved in drug dealing and something much bigger.

After Seth’s sudden death, Michael is forced to overcome Catrin’s hostility and her wariness to trust anyone, especially a man. Michael vows to protect her and her young daughter from the unknown assailants trying to silence them, and he and Catrin must decipher the meaning of the mysterious code etched on the back of a valuable oil painting.

As the threats and terror escalate, Michael finds himself betrayed by those closest to him even the Heather he remembers and realizes Catrin was right not to trust anyone. But when they find themselves trapped in an underground cave with the tide rising, one of those people is their only hope for escape.

Anna Jones Buttimore was born and brought up in the South of England, but educated in Wales where she lived for the next 20 years. She is now living back in the village where she grew up with her daughters Gwenllian, Angharad and Ceridwen, and husband Roderic. Anna serves as Public Affairs Specialist in her ward.

Anna works part time from home for a legal charity, and has always loved writing in her spare time. She is the author of  Haven and A World Away under the name Anna Jones, and  Easterfield and Honeymoon Heist. Anna enjoys rock music, her computer, cross-stitch, swimming, and science fiction. She is determined to get into scrapbooking and family history one day when she can find the time. No Escape is her fifth novel.

Visit Anna at www.annajonesbuttimore.com

Roxanne in La La Land by L.A. DeVaul

“Love and success, isn’t that what every girl wants? At eighteen, I moved to Southern California, hoping to find it. And I did, eventually…but nothing like I expected.”

New to Los Angeles, Roxanne Donally spends her days dressing indecent mannequins, and her nights drawing pictures of her cat, Danny Boy. Definitely the wrong way to find stardom, or Prince Charming either, for that matter . . . .

“But forget love, I am pursuing my dream to become a famous movie star. I moved to L.A. to be successful, and be successful I will. I m just not getting any parts yet. Which totally sucks. Success is the only thing I really want in life. Besides love. Success and love. Sigh…”

L.A. DeVaul: I have spent my life wondering where I belonged. When I write and film my shows, I no longer wonder.

Most of my stories, long or short, involve quirky characters in bizarre situations. Pretending to be someone else is a habit I can’t break.

When I was eight-years-old and assigned to make lunch for my siblings, I couldn’t do it without a pad of paper, chewing gum, and a Brooklyn accent. “Whadya want?” Chomp. Chomp. That obsession has never stopped. Writing and filming The L.A. DeVaul Show allows me to give stories and lives to all the fake people living in my head. I guess it’s true that many of us never grow up, we just get older.

Visit L.A. DeVaul at her website, ladevaul.weebly.com.

Secrets After Dark by Marie Higgins

Hannah Forester is determined to find her father’s killer, but is shocked to discover the one man who can help her is not completely human. Forced to work with the mysterious Morgan Thornton to break the curse that turns him into a wolf whenever he desires a woman, Hannah stumbles across dangerous secrets surrounding the manor and Morgan’s family. In search for the truth, Hannah finds not only her father’s killer, but also a hidden strength and the only man she could ever give her heart to. 

Morgan Thornton is determined to protect Hannah from his family secrets, but he can’t stop wanting to hold her and become a man again instead of the beast the witch’s curse turned him into. Now the witch wants Hannah because of what she knows, and Morgan will do anything to save her, even if it means destroying the witch and condemning himself to live with the curse forever. Morgan discovers more than just the answers to his family’s secrets … he finds true love.

Marie Higgins is a multi-published author of romance; from refined bad-boy heroes who makes your heart melt to the feisty heroines who somehow manage to love them regardless of their faults.

Since Marie Higgins was a little girl playing Barbies with her sister, Stacey, she has loved the adventure of making up romantic stories. Marie was only eighteen years old when she wrote her first skit, which won an award for Funniest Skit. A little later in life, after she’d married and had children, Marie wrote Church roadshows that were judged as Funniest and Best Written. From there, she branched out to write full-length novels based on her dreams. (Yes, she says, her dreams really are that silly)

Marie has been married for twenty-six years to a wonderful man. Together, they have three loving daughters and several beautiful grandchildren. Marie works full time for the state of Utah, where she has lived her entire life. Marie plans to keep writing, because the characters in her head won’t shut up. But her husband smiles and pretends this is normal.

Visit Marie at  mariehiggins84302.blogspot.com.

Super Cowboy Rides by Daris Howard

Meet six-year-old Tommy Johnson, Super Cowboy and Super Story-teller. In SUPER COWBOY RIDES, Daris Howard captures boyhood in rural America, as seen through the eyes of his precocious, adventurous narrator.

Want to build a box to capture wild cats that roam the farm? How about tips on catching a greased pig at the fair, or teaching a stubborn lamb to avoid being trampled by angry milk cows? From the first paragraph, when Tommy explains why a boy needs a dog for a pet instead of a cat, he wins us over with his down-to-earth and humorous view of the world.

But once Tommy starts school, things get complicated. He cannot learn to read. He gets put in the lowest reading group and told to stay in the back of the classroom coloring. He gets picked on by teachers and mocked by classmates.

And then tragedy strikes, and Tommy has a burden to carry beyond what any first-grader should have to face. In the process of dealing with his grief, Tommy learns the meaning of true friendship.

Daris Howard is an author and playwright who grew up on a farm in rural Idaho. Throughout his life he has associated with many colorful characters including cowboys, farmers, lumberjacks, truck drivers, factory workers, and others while working in these and other industries. He will jokingly say that his best job was working in a fast food establishment, because that was what gave him the motivation to attend college.

Daris and his wife, Donna, have ten children and were foster parents for several years. He has also worked in scouting and cub scouts, at one time having 18 boys in his scout troop. Daris is now a math professor and his classes are well known for the stories he tells to liven up discussion and to help bring across the points he is trying to teach. His plays, musicals, and books build on the characters of those he has associated with, along with his many experiences. He also writes a popular weekly newspaper column called “Life’s Outtakes” that are short stories from his life and the lives of those he has known. His scripts and books are much like his stories, full of humor and real life experiences.

Visit Daris at his website, www.darishoward.com.

To enter to win one of these books, use the form in the sidebar. One entry per person per month. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Limited to U.S. residents. Deadline to enter: February 29, 2012, midnight, Mountain Time. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. CLICK HERE to read the Official Rules.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

There are new guidelines and entry requirements for winning one of these books. Please take a look at the updated Official Rules.

A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Cloak by James Gough

Thirteen-year-old bubble boy Will Tuttle lives a boring, friendless life trapped in a sterile Brooklyn apartment, suffering from mysterious allergies no doctor can explain. Fed up with his pointless existence he breaks free of the sterile bubble to explore New York City, not expecting to return alive. Instead, Will discovers that his countless allergies have a single, bizarre source.

Suddenly Will is a target. When he’s chased through Central Park by a cloaked assailant, a misfit team of bodyguards shows up to keep Will Tuttle alive. . . . And teach him how to blend into a society that isn’t supposed to exist.

James Gough was born in the Rockies, raised in the Dakotas, schooled in a mountain desert, trained south of the border and wooed by the big apple. He now lives in a forest near a great lake with three bright daughters, a brilliant wife and a dim-witted dog.

James has been an actor, an artist, an athlete and an advertiser. He’s thrilled to add author to his list. Besides writing, he loves to teach, is obsessed with strange foods and has always been an avid people-watcher.

House of Diamonds by Karen Jones Gowen

In this sequel to Gowen’s debut novel, Uncut Diamonds, she follows sisters Cindy and Marcie as they reach a crossroads in their lives.

Marcie pursues her dream of becoming a published writer while Cindy faces a terrible tragedy.

Through faith, loss and the transcending nature of sacrifice, Marcie and Cindy must learn the incredible power that comes to families when they pull together to overcome challenges.

Two women, one facing opportunity, the other tragedy. Can their bond endure?

Karen Gowen: Born and raised in central Illinois, the daughter of a second-generation Methodist minister, I now live in South Jordan, Utah with my husband and three of our ten children. We have a back yard overgrown with fruit trees, vegetable garden and wildflowers, as well as a pond full of koi. I love to read, knit and watch Woody Allen movies. I graduated from BYU with a degree in English and American Literature. I’ve been writing for most of my life, published a few newspaper articles and sold a few stories to the Friend. The past few years I have finally been able to devote more time to writing.

The Scholar of Moab by Steven L. Peck

What happens when a two-headed cowboy, a high school dropout who longs to be a scholar, and a poet who claims to have been abducted by aliens come together in 1970’s Moab, Utah? The Scholar of Moab, a dark-comedy perambulating murder, affairs, and cowboy mysteries in the shadow of the La Sal Mountains.

Young Hyrum Thane, unrefined geological surveyor, steals a massive dictionary out of the Grand County library in a midnight raid, startling the people of Moab into believing a nefarious band of Book of Mormon assassins, the Gadianton Robbers, has arisen again.

Making matters worse, Hyrum’s illicit affair with Dora Tanner, a local poet thought to be mad, ends in the delivery of a premature baby boy who vanishes the night of its birth. Righteous Moabites accuse Dora of its murder, but who really killed their child? Did a coyote dingo the baby? Was it an alien abduction as Dora claims? Was it Hyrum? Or could it have been the only witness to the crime, one of a pair of Oxford-educated conjoined twins who cowboy in the La Sals on sabbatical?

Steven L. Peck is an evolutionary ecologist at Brigham Young University where he teaches the philosophy of biology. His scientific work has appeared in American Naturalist, Newsweek, Evolution, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Biological Theory, Agriculture and Human Values, Biology & Philosophy, and co-edited volume on environmental stewardship. His creative works include a novel: The Gift of the King’s Jeweler (2003 Covenant Communications); His poetry has appeared in Dialogue, Bellowing Ark, Irreantum, Red Rock Review, Glyphs III, Tales of the Talisman, Victorian Violet Press, and other places. He has published a number of science fiction stories. This year, he was nominated for the 2011 Science Fiction Poetry Association’s Rhysling Award. Other awards include the Meyhew Short Story Contest, First Place at Warp and Weave, Honorable Mention in the 2011 Brookie and D.K. Brown Fiction Contest, and Second Place in the Eugene England Memorial Essay Contest.


Two Souls Are Better Than One by Karen E. Hoover

Barely thirteen, Jeremy James Johansen has had more than his share of trouble. His father disappeared without a trace and the police believe he murdered his lab assistant, though his son knows it isn’t true. His dad can’t even handle a knife, let alone a bow and arrow.

A year later Jeremy stumbles across a portal to another world and gets pulled through—but not as himself. Somehow he swaps bodies with the man on the other side before the portal disappears.

Captured by a dragon and a man in black who insists on calling him father, he tries to escape, only to plummet to his death. He awakens in his own bed, believing it was all a bad dream. The problem is there are holes in his memory he can’t fill.

In time, he discovers that the portal holds the answers not only to his forgotten memories, but most importantly, points him down the path to finding his father.

Karen E. Hoover has loved the written word for as long as she can remember. Her favorite memory of her dad is the time he spent with Karen on his lap, telling her stories for hours on end. Her dad promised he would have Karen reading on her own by the time she was four years old … and he very nearly did. Karen took the gift of words her dad gave her and ran with it. Since then, she’s written two novels and reams of poetry. Her head is fairly popping with ideas, so she plans to write until she’s ninety-four or maybe even a hundred and four.

Inspiration is found everywhere, but Karen’s heart is fueled by her husband and two sons, the Rocky Mountains, her chronic addiction to pens and paper, and the smell of her laser printer in the morning.

Wasatch: Mormon Stories and a Novella by Douglas Thayer

Douglas Thayer’s third collection presents a dozen of his career-best stories, including several that have never before appeared in print.

Wasatch is the next chapter in Thayer’s recent literary success, preceded by Hooligan, his landmark memoir about growing up Mormon in Provo, Utah, and by his acclaimed novel The Tree House, about the trials and redemption of missionary and soldier Harris Thatcher.

Douglas Thayer teaches English at Brigham Young University, where he has served as director of composition, chair of creative writing, associate department chair, and associate dean. He has received various awards for his fiction, including the Karl G. Maeser Creative Arts Award. He is the author of the novels Hooligan, Summer Fire and The Conversion of Jeff Williams and two collections of short stories, Mr. Wahlquist in Yellowstone and Under the Cottonwoods and Other Mormon Stories, and he has been published in Colorado Quarterly, Dialogue, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere.

To enter to win one of these books, use the form in the sidebar. One entry per person per month. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Limited to U.S. residents. Deadline to enter: January 31, 2012, midnight, Mountain Time. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. CLICK HERE to read the Official Rules.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

The Death of a Disco Dancer by David Clark

Fire in the Pasture by Tyler Chadwick, ed.

“…the bounty of [this] anthology reminded me of Christ’s generosity in feeding the five thousand. Christ took real substances—a little bread, two small fish—and he created from them…food that nourished the people and made it possible for them to return to their lives both physically and spiritually renewed. Poets take matter (language, emotion, thought, experience) and make of that matter a new creation, a work of art that did not exist before the poet organized it, a work that has the potential (each poet hopes) to nourish—to make readers see what they did not see before, to offer insight, to create empathy, to provoke thought, or to express beauty, soundness, depth. To offer abundance in place of scarcity.” —from the Foreword by Susan Elizabeth Howe

Fire in the Pasture includes works from over 80 poets. See complete list here.

Tyler Chadwick spearheaded the Mormon Poetry Project, collecting works from a wide variety of 21st century LDS poets. Originally from Utah, Chadwick now lives with his wife in Idaho, where he is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Idaho State University.

Latter-day Liberty by Connor Boyack

Individual liberty is a fundamental aspect of the good news of the gospel. But what is liberty exactly, and what role does it play in our lives? Connor Boyack explores these questions and much more in this detailed analysis of historical developments, secular information, and scriptural insights. The war in heaven continues on earth today, and our agency and liberty are under attack.

A fundamental aspect of the good news of the gospel is the message of liberty. As President Joseph F. Smith said, “The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of freedom; the gospel of the Son of God is the gospel of liberty.” Men of God, both ancient and modern, have spoken on this issue repeatedly. Latter-Day Liberty: A Gospel Approach to Government and Politics provides an analysis of what liberty is and how it applies to government and politics, using logic, reason, and secular sources of information, in addition to the abundant scriptures and statements from prophets and apostles which relate to these issues.

Connor Boyack is a web developer, political economist, and social media consultant focused on advancing the cause of liberty. Best known for his blog at www.connorboyack.com, he currently serves as the state coordinator for the Tenth Amendment Center in Utah. He is a frequent guest on radio shows and regularly publishes opinion pieces in a variety of newspapers and websites.

A California native and Brigham Young University graduate, Connor currently resides in Lehi, Utah, with his wife and two children.

Monsters & Mormons by Wm Morris & Theric Jepson, ed.

Thirty Tales of Adventure and Terror.

Run the gamut of battling demons, ghosts, zombie apocalypse, aliens, golems, ninja monkeys, mad scientists, cyborgs and more!

Authors include Nathan Shumate, David J. West, Graham Bradley, Eric James Stone, Dan Wells, and many others.

Click here for a complete list of authors and story titles.

Wm Morris blogs at A Motley Vision, where he keeps an eye on the world of Mormon arts and culture. He is a PR professional working at a nonprofit, private technical college in Minneapolis. Neither the 19th century socialist poet, artist and designer nor the leviathan talent agency, but he has a foot in both of the worlds they represent.

Theric Jepson, another AMV blogger, has been blogging since 2005, but he’s been a gadfly-in-the-making for much, much longer. Most of his professional publications have been under his legal name, Eric W Jepson, but online he is better known by a variety of monikers beginning with the digraph th. You can read his personal blog at Thmazing’s Thutopia.

CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

Hidden in the Heart by Roseanne E. Wilkins

Cathee is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has suffered from severe post traumatic stress disorder for several years.

During a vacation with her four year old daughter to Topeka, Kansas, she meets Garrett, a therapist. He hopes Cathee will let him help her work through her issues, but her past has come back to haunt her.

Roseanne Evans Wilkins: was the second oldest of 9 children, so I grew up in a house full of noisy kids. Craig grew up in a house with just 2 quiet kids. Opposites attract lol. Since I’m the one home, we filled the house with kids. I’d go crazy with silence. Craig manages the noise level by traveling all over the U.S. teaching other adults how to audit.

With 5 kids in sports, I keep busy running them to their practices and games. After hectic days running kids everywhere and taking care of three pre-schoolers, I find quiet time after everyone is in bed to write. I hope you enjoy the results :).

You can visit Roseanne at her blog, Roseanne’s Spot.

NYC: Murder Brooklyn Style by Loraine Scott

Book 2 in the Summer Winter mystery series.

Sister Winter wants to leave a small token of her regard to the recently deceased Raul French, but when she returns to the viewing room she is started to find that his arm has been moved. Then she notices that the gold wedding band she and Elder Winter had forced onto Raul’s corpulent pinkie is missing. Where could it be? Had the bratwurst arm they had so tenderly folded across Raul’s chest moved on its own?

Unthinkable.

Mustering her courage, Sister Winter hefts up the sleeve of the borrowed suit. Not willing to trust what she sees, Sister Winter looks again. Yep, still there—another arm. In life, Raul French had only the customary two arms. Now, it seems, there are at least three!

Loraine Scott: I began writing 16 years ago while helping my husband complete a class he’d been assigned to take by the BART Police Department. Reading was never my husband’s forte. It was, however, mine. We struck a deal. We both read the books – all regarding leadership principles – we’d discuss the ideas, and then I’d write the reports. Happy to say he got all A’s on his papers and I was hooked on writing.

Two years after I was convinced I had what it takes to be a writer, I was hired as a Community Service Officer with the police department. I was very good at my job: burglary stakeouts, security patrols, guarding prisoners—just to name a few. I did not ever investigate a murder, although I believe I would have been good at it.

Retiring in 2004, we moved to Alpine, Utah. In 2005, we left for New York City to serve a twenty-three month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One day, while sitting at my laptop in the mission office, where we worked part-time, my son called to tell me that he’d had a dream where two Senior Missionaries (namely, us) had found a dead body in the mission office and we had to solve the crime.

Voila! Summer Winter was born.

Pride and Popularity by Jenni James

Chloe Elizabeth Hart despises the conceited antics of the popular crowd, or more importantly, one very annoying self-possessed guy, Taylor Anderson, who seems determined to make her the president of his fan club!

As if!

Every girl in the whole city of Farmington, New Mexico, is in love with him, but he seems to be only interested in Chloe.

This modern high school adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is a battle of wits as Chloe desperately tries to remain the only girl who can avoid the inevitable falling for Taylor.

Jenni James: I’m married to a totally hot, redheaded Air Force Recruiter, named Mark. Together we have 10 kiddos (7 ours, 3 fostered). We have just moved back to the States after living 9 awesome years in the Azores Islands of Portugal and England! Our kids love the USA!

When I’m not writing up a storm, I enjoy reading, acting, portrait painting, directing plays, cooking, planning eleborate parties and chasing my kids around the house. Oh, and before you ask–I haven’t been to college, YET! But I’ve always been able to write one mean essay when I needed to. *wink*

Learn more about Jenni and her upcoming books at her website.

Rearview Mirror by Stephanie Black

On a rainy night eight years ago, Fiona Claridge lost control of her car and crashed, injuring herself and killing her roommate, Mia Hardy. Now, she strives to keep the painful past at bay by staying burrowed beneath the demands of her job as a college professor in a small New England town. But when someone starts leaving her gift-wrapped boxes containing malicious reminders of Mia’s death, Fiona’s guilt and grief come flooding back.

She assumes her stalker is Kimberly Bailey, a disgruntled student, and enlists the help of fellow professor James Hampton. But when Fiona encounters the angry wife of an old flame, it becomes clear her student isn’t the only one with an eye for revenge. Cruel messages escalate to danger, then murder. As past and present become horribly entangled, Fiona struggles to unravel the truth about a determined killer—before she becomes the next victim.

Stephanie Black: I’ve enjoyed making up stories since I was a child, when my sisters and I would play long, strange Barbie games or write and direct plays for ourselves and younger siblings. I took a creative writing class in high school, but my stories stunk, since I hadn’t yet figured out that a story needs a plot. But I finally got a fun idea, and an encouraging comment from the teacher got me rolling.

After a few years of writing random scenes, I decided to try writing a novel start to finish, but that led to a failed unfinished manuscript and the realization that there was a lot more to writing fiction than I’d ever understood. I began reading books about fiction technique and started over with my novel project.

After many years of reading technique books, writing, rewriting, more rewriting, submitting, and then—when I thought I was finished—major rewriting, my first novel, a futuristic thriller called The Believer, was published by Covenant Communications in January 2005. I then turned to writing contemporary suspense, and Fool Me Twice was released in 2008, followed by Methods of Madness (2009) and Cold as Ice (2010). Fool Me Twice and Methods of Madness are both Whitney Award winners for Best Mystery/Suspense.

CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

Please take a moment to learn more about this month’s wonderfully generous sponsors.

The Alias by Mandi Tucker Slack

Jacey Grayson is an average, young, divorced mother struggling to build a new life for her son, Blaze. After a long and difficult divorce, Jacey thinks the worst is over. But when the FBI discloses some disturbing information about her ex-husband, Jacey’s life becomes anything but average.

At the risk of losing her identity, her future, and her heart, Jacey and Blaze flee to Utah, hoping to hide and start over once again. But no matter how far she runs or who she pretends to be, her past is always lurking nearby, bringing old fears with it.

*The Alias for Kindle is currently marked down to $3.99

Mandi Tucker Slack: I am the mother of three wonderful children. I grew up in Orangeville, UT, where my dad worked as a coal miner for eighteen years. I love the outdoors and spending time exploring new, exciting places with my family. I was a very imaginative child and that love of imagination carried into my adulthood. I love writing novels, especially romance and suspense.

Visit Mandi at her official website or her blog, Mudrock and Pink Nail Polish. Or send her an email.

The Armor of Light by Karen E. Hoover

Sequel to The Sapphire Flute

Ember has been accepted into the mage academy, but not without cost. She has gained a new enemy whose entire purpose is to destroy all white magic and her along with it. After nearly losing her life in a brutal attack, DeMunth is assigned her guardian, and the keystone he wears, The Armor of Light, begins the transition that will make it a true power.

Kayla has lost most everything of importance to her—the people, the prestige, and all she fought for the past ten years. With nothing left to lose, she continues her search for the birthplace of The Sapphire Flute and the Wolfchild she believes to be its player.

In a showdown full of betrayal and heroic loss, Ember and Kayla finally meet on the battlefield, fighting a war on two fronts—against C’Tan and her people, and the mysterious enemy bent on destroying all magic—the shadow weavers.

Karen E. Hoover has loved the written word for as long as she can remember. Her favorite memory of her dad is the time he spent with Karen on his lap, telling her stories for hours on end. Her dad promised he would have Karen reading on her own by the time she was four years old … and he did it.

Karen took the gift of words her dad gave her and ran with it. Since then, she’s written two novels and reams of poetry. Her head is fairly popping with ideas, so she plans to write until she’s ninety-four or maybe even a hundred and four.

Inspiration is found everywhere, but Karen’s heart is fueled by her husband and two sons, the Rocky Mountains, her chronic addiction to pens and paper, and the smell of her laser printer in the morning.

The Next Door Boys by Jolene B. Perry

Leigh Tressman has been known as a lot of things – the girl who sings, the girl who sews, Jaron’s little sister, and last year, the girl with cancer. With her body still recovering from the cancer treatments, she’s determined to be independent and convinces her parents to let her follow her overprotective brother, Jaron, to BYU.

With an ever expanding line of young men ready to be in love with her–not to mention physical frustrations, and spiritual dilemmas–Leigh almost misses the opportunity to be with the man who has been quietly falling in love with her since they met. The Next Door Boys proves that even with (or maybe in spite of) independence, love can be found in comfortable, but delightful places.

Jolene B. Perry: I write almost nothing but love stories. I think it’s because I enjoy my own so much. My husband made a suggestion one day when I mentioned always wanting to write and never taking the time – why don’t you just get an idea down. Just for fun. I did. A few months later I had a whole novel. Wow, I thought. That was pretty awesome. I can write a whole book. The next one went faster. I now get to sit down in front of my computer, live in a story, and call it “work.”

Visit Jolene at her blog or send her an email.

The Outer Edge of Heaven by Jaclyn Hawkes

Montana truly is heavenly. Especially those handsome cowboys.

Tangled Hearts by Roseanne Evans Wilkins

Serra Lanning, known as the Chaste Mormon Model Kara Kukaanei, grew up in Salina, Kansas. She is living a lonely life. Her parents have died and her sister, Brooke, hasn’t spoken to her in years. When Brooke shows up with her son in tow and asks Serra to watch him while she and her husband go on vacation to France, Serra’s whole life is turned upside down.

Serra’s decision to hide from Brooke’s in-law’s create problems she doesn’t anticipate. When the tires to her new SUV are slashed, she knows she has more to fear than having her nephew taken.

Roseanne Evans Wilkins: was the second oldest of 9 children, so I grew up in a house full of noisy kids. Craig grew up in a house with just 2 quiet kids. Opposites attract lol. Since I’m the one home, we filled the house with kids. I’d go crazy with silence. Craig manages the noise level by traveling all over the U.S. teaching other adults how to audit.

With 5 kids in sports, I keep busy running them to their practices and games. After hectic days running kids everywhere and taking care of three pre-schoolers, I find quiet time after everyone is in bed to write. I hope you enjoy the results :).

You can visit Roseanne at her blog, Roseanne’s Spot.

The Upside of Down by Rebecca Talley

Natalie Drake certainly has her hands full raising a large family, dealing with her difficult mother, and maintaining a relationship with her rebellious teenager. Just when things seem to be going smoothly, she finds out another unexpected surprise—she’s going to have a baby. Faced with so many challenges, Natalie must learn to trust in a plan that isn’t what she imagined and discover that every situation has an upside.

Beloved author Rebecca Talley carefully creates this touching and heartfelt story that is sure to inspire you. With true-to-life characters and situations, The Upside of Down will reignite your faith and remind you of the importance of family.

Rebecca Talley grew up in Santa Barbara, California and now lives on a ranch in Colorado with her amazing husband, 8 of her 10 creative children, horses, goats, and a llama named Tina. She is the author of a children’s picture book, Grasshopper Pie. Her stories have been published in Story Friends, Our Little Friend, The Friend, and Stories for Children. Cedar Fort released her YA novel, Heaven Scent, in spring 2008.

Besides writing, Rebecca enjoys eating chocolate by the pound, dancing to disco music while she cleans all the messes that seem to multiply and replenish her house, and contemplating all the craft projects that still need to be completed. You can find Rebecca at www.rebeccatalley.com.

CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

It’s September and we’re back to the blog! A new month, a new group of great sponsors!

Please take a moment to learn more about our wonderfully generous sponsors.

Double Deceit by Stephanie Humphreys

As a young widow, all Elaina Bryant wants is a fresh start. Determined to put ten painful years behind her, she returns to her hometown and moves in with her sister, Natalie. Elaina soon accepts a job working at a small bookstore owned by the handsome Ryan Hill and his mother. Despite her reluctance to become romantically involved with anyone, she is drawn to Ryan and finds herself falling in love.

But someone isn’t happy with Elaina s new life and is watching her every move. Elaina’s plans for a new start are crashing down around her. She knows she will have to find the answers on her own before she can ever overcome the past and enjoy love and happiness again. But how can she protect those she loves when she doesn’t know whom to trust?

Stephanie Humphreys was born in Utah, to an American mother and Canadian father. The family moved often when she was young and by the time she celebrated her thirtieth birthday, she had moved thirty times. All those different locations gave her ample opportunity to observe people and discover interesting characters for her stories. At an early age, Stephanie discovered the joy of the written word. Her biggest dream was to be a novelist.

She and her husband Rick have a combined family of six children. She still stays involved with the theatre by serving on her community’s cultural arts board, and she supports literacy by serving on the public library board. She has always used books to escape the pressures of life, explore far-away places, and learn new things. When she isn’t writing she loves to spend time with her family, sew, embroidery and read. Stephanie lives in Alberta, Canada.

Hang ‘Em High by Tristi Pinkston

Book #3 in the Secret Sisters Cozy Mystery series!

When Ida Mae Babbitt receives an invitation to visit her son Keith’s dude ranch in Montana, she’s excited to mend their broken relationship, but not so excited about spending time with cows. Arlette and Tansy go along with her, ready to take a vacation that does not involve dead bodies or mysteries of any sort—one must have a break from time to time.

But it seems a no-good scoundrel has moseyed into Dodge City and is bent on causing all sorts of trouble for the ranch. Unable to keep her curiosity in check—especially when it seems her own son is the most likely culprit—Ida Mae decides to investigate.

Can she lasso the varmint and get him to the sheriff in time?

With her crisp writing style and attention to detail, Tristi Pinkston pulls her readers into the pages of history and helps them feel the emotions that fueled the events of that time. She has been hailed as one of the most talented historical fiction writers currently on the market.

Jeff Needle’s review for AML, said, “This kind of writing can only come about when the author has thoroughly researched her subject and worked very hard to put herself in the place of her protagonist.”

Hang ‘Em High is Tristi’s seventh book.

Pumpkin Roll by Josi S. Kilpack

Book #6 in the Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery series!

Sadie Hoffmiller is in Boston, Massachusetts, with her favorite leading man, Pete Cunningham, as they babysit his three young grandsons. When the boys insist that Mrs. Wapple, the woman who lives across the street, is a witch, Sadie and Pete are anxious to distract the boys from such Halloween-induced ideas. However, it gets harder and harder to explain the strange things that keep happening, particularly after Sadie learns the eccentric Mrs. Wapple has been attacked in her home.

As the unexplained occurrences escalate, Sadie finds herself embroiled in yet another mystery with life-or-death consequences. Can Sadie discover whoever—or whatever—is behind the mystery before anyone else gets hurt? Or will this be Sadie’s last case?

Josi S. Kilpack loves to read and write, is the author of fourteen novels, the baker of many a delicious confection, and the hobby farmer of a varying number of unfortunate chickens. In her spare time she likes to overwhelm herself a multitude of projects and then complain that she never has any spare time; in this way she is rather masochistic. She also enjoys traveling, cheering on her children, and sleeping in when the occasion presents itself.

Josi and her publisher, Shadow Mountain, are giving away an iPad2 as part of the launch of Pumpkin Roll. For details on how to enter to win, visit Josi’s website, www.josiskilpack.com. Entry deadline is November 1, 2011.

Ribbon of Darkness by Julie Coulter Bellon

A split-second decision could change the world’s darkest hour to one of triumph—but who is willing to pay the price?

Kennedy Campbell has been running away for a long time, using her position as an international journalist to escape the ghosts of her family’s past. She finds some solace working in an Afghan refugee camp, until the Taliban attacks them and Kennedy is forced to flee. She is pulled into a terrorist’s realm of darkness as she fights to save those around her, but will it come at the expense of her own life?

Ethan Barak leads a double life, helping MI-6 bring down arms dealers all over the world until his father is murdered by an old associate. Ethan makes his next mission a personal vendetta by tracking down the killer to Indonesia. While there, he finds himself in a position to either avenge his father or stop a terrorist attack on the Malacca Strait that will jeopardize innocent lives across the world. Can he look past his father’s murder to save others?

Julie Coulter Bellon loves to write international romantic suspense novels because she gets to travel to distant lands to do research and add an authentic feel to all of her books. Her favorite cities so far are Athens, Paris, Ottawa, and London. She’s learning to play the bagpipes and though she has yet to master the instrument, she’s working on it.

Julie earned a Secondary Education, English teaching degree from Brigham Young University and she currently teaches a journalism course, which keeps her on the cutting edge of current events and world news. You can follow Julie’s acclaimed writing, her moose-like bagpiping and her take on everything from family to world-shaping events at her website www.juliebellon.com or her blog http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com.

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If I Should Die by Jennie Hansen

One morning on a routine jog, Kallene’s running partner, Linda, confides that she’s filing for divorce. The next morning, she’s gone without a trace, leaving behind her frightened young daughter. Since Linda’s enraged husband refuses to notify the police, Kallene steps in to initiate a missing person search, not knowing it would soon become a murder investigation—or that she’d soon fall for the charming lead detective.

With Linda’s handsome brother also on her mind, Kallene must navigate the rapids of a double romance as well as the deepening suspicion in her upscale Utah neighborhood. Intrigue turns to danger as Kallene faces the consequences of hasty judgments. And when startling new evidence casts Linda’s murder as the work of a determined killer, Kallene needs the intervention of unlikely heroes to avoid being the next victim.

Jennie Hansen was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She lived in many farming and ranching communities in Idaho and Montana. Her family moved more than 20 times as she grew up. Born the fifth of eight children, Jennie had a ready supply of playmates during her childhood. Her brothers and sisters are still among her closest friends. She married Boyd Hansen of Rexburg, Idaho, and over the next ten years they became the parents of five children. They have made their home in Utah since their marriage.

Jennie graduated from Ricks College in Idaho then continued her education at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has been a receptionist, a model, a Utah House page, freelance magazine writer, newspaper reporter, editor, library circulation specialist, mother and grandmother.

She has twenty published books to her credit, three stories in compilations, and has two more books currently under contract. Her published books include: Run Away Home, Journey Home, Coming Home, When Tomorrow Comes, Macady, The River Path, Beyond, Summer Dreams, Chance Encounter, All I Hold Dear, Abandoned, Breaking Point, Some Sweet Day, Code Red, High Stakes, Wild Card, The Bracelet, The Emerald, The Topaz, and The Ruby. She is one of three contributors to The Spirit of Christmas along with Betsy Brannon Green and Michele Ashman Bell. Jennie also writes a monthly review column for Meridian Magazine.

Mayan Intrigue by Linda Weaver Clarke

The discovery of a priceless artifact puts Julia’s life in great danger! From valuable artifacts to shady businessmen, the Yucatan Peninsula becomes a dangerous vacation spot for John and Julia Evans. While on assignment for the newspaper, the Evans’ try to enjoy a romantic vacation among the Mayan ruins, but when Julia accidentally comes upon a couple suspicious men exchanging an item, she quickly turns and leaves but it is too late. The men have seen her. As a reporter, Julia does not easily give up and her curiosity gets them in a mess of trouble. Before John and Julia realize what is going on, they are both in danger and find themselves running for their lives through the jungles of the Yucatan.

Linda Weaver Clarke was raised on a farm surrounded by the rolling hills of southern Idaho and has made her home in southern Utah among the beautiful red mountains and desert heat. She is happily married and is the mother of six daughters and several grandchildren. Clarke received her Bachelor of Arts degree at Southern Utah University and travels throughout the United States, teaching a “Family Legacy Workshop,” encouraging others to turn their family history and autobiography into a variety of interesting stories.

Clarke is the author of the historical fiction series, “A Family Saga in Bear Lake, Idaho,” which includes the following novels: Melinda and the Wild West – a semi-finalist for the “Reviewers Choice Award 2007,” Edith and the Mysterious Stranger, Jenny’s Dream, David and the Bear Lake Monster, and Elena, Woman of Courage. She is also the author of the mystery series, The Adventures of John and Julia Evans, which currently includes the following novels : Anasazi Intrigue, Mayan Intrigue, and Montezuma Intrigue.

**Winner may choose either Anasazi Intrigue or Mayan Intrigue.

On the Edge by Julie Coulter Bellon

Dylan Campbell, a Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent, is recovering from a gunshot wound and looking for a new direction in his life. Armed with his newly found testimony in the LDS Church, he soon embarks on a routine fact-finding mission to Africa. While there he befriends Elizabeth Spencer, a beautiful American working to ease the suffering in Uganda. Their relationship is just beginning to deepen when Dylan discovers that a biological weapon has been manufactured in the private hospital where Elizabeth works. He realizes the terrorists plan to infect millions of innocent people across Canada and the United States.

Dylan must catch up with the terrorists in Greece to stop them from taking the weapon to North America. However, he is captured before he can act, and it takes every ounce of Dylan’s physical and spiritual strength to stay alive.

Can Dylan trust his heart and accept Elizabeth’s offer of help? Will he learn the true identities of his enemies in time to stop the biological weapon from being unleashed?

From the wilds of Africa to the ancient ruins of Greece, this book takes you to the edge of civilization and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Julie Bellon and her husband Brian are the parents of eight children. Julie’s greatest joy is being a mother and spending time with her family. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education—English teaching, and she currently teaches a journalism course for BYU Continuing Education. When she’s not busy being a mom, teaching, serving in the community or writing, you will find her browsing through bookstores to add to her book collection, at the library borrowing books, or reading the treasures she’s found.

CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

Please take a moment to learn more about our wonderfully generous sponsors.

Hidden in the Heart by Roseanne E. Wilkins

Cathee is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has suffered from severe post traumatic stress disorder for several years.

During a vacation with her four year old daughter to Topeka, Kansas, she meets Garrett, a therapist. He hopes Cathee will let him help her work through her issues, but her past has come back to haunt her.

Roseanne Evans Wilkins: was the second oldest of 9 children, so I grew up in a house full of noisy kids. Craig grew up in a house with just 2 quiet kids. Opposites attract lol. Since I’m the one home, we filled the house with kids. I’d go crazy with silence. Craig manages the noise level by traveling all over the U.S. teaching other adults how to audit.

With 5 kids in sports, I keep busy running them to their practices and games. After hectic days running kids everywhere and taking care of three pre-schoolers, I find quiet time after everyone is in bed to write. I hope you enjoy the results :).

You can visit Roseanne at her blog, Roseanne’s Spot.

Through Love’s Trials by Julie Coulter Bellon

Kenneth King, a successful Arizona attorney, finds himself facing the most difficult trial of his life—and it’s not in a courtroom. He’s asked to deliver a mysterious disk to Emma James an attorney in Utah, but as soon as Kenneth agrees to it, his life is turned upside down. His home is broken into, he’s shot at, and an attorney at his firm is murdered. Is he next?

Kenneth contacts Emma, and is drawn to her immediately, but she is a strong-willed single mother who doesn’t want anything to do with the disk—or with him. However, when Emma suffers a brutal assault that is possibly linked to the disk, Emma’s father, an agent in the Canadian Security Intelligence Service steps in to help Kenneth protect her and find out who wants them dead.

The tension builds as Kenneth and Emma find themselves in a race against time to stop an attack on North America’s defenses. Will the Canadian government be able to help them before the United States is attacked? Will Kenneth and Emma let down their defenses enough to make it through love’s trials?

Through Love’s Trials has been recently re-released by Encore Editions. Winner may choose either a print copy of the book or an ebook. (Print copy release date is the end of May.)

Julie Bellon and her husband Brian are the parents of eight children. Julie’s greatest joy is being a mother and spending time with her family. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education—English teaching, and she currently teaches a journalism course for BYU Continuing Education. When she’s not busy being a mom, teaching, serving in the community or writing, you will find her browsing through bookstores to add to her book collection, at the library borrowing books, or reading the treasures she’s found.

Veiled by S.B. Niccum

“I have always existed, not just me but all of us, the un-embodied spirits who wait to live.”

Tess is an unborn spirit, who is about to embark on a much awaited journey into mortality to a brand new planet called Earth. She is chosen by the Eternals for an important mission, and is put under a rigorous training by a half-human, half-lion Seraph. This training exposes Tess to some of her darkest fears and insecurities. These experiences force Tess to work on her gift as a discerner of thoughts and reader of auras—thus helping her become one of Heaven’s most powerful angels.

But even angels falter, and deep inside her a gnawing fear is growing. Will she meet her soul mate in life? Will their love be strong enough to overcome the forgetting effects of the Veil? And, is she prepared to take on the responsibility of keeping the most dangerous renegade and leader of the Fallen Angels at bay during mortality?

S.B. Niccum: Silvina B. Niccum was born in Rosario, Argentina and raised in Buenos Aires. Her family immigrated to the US, when she was fourteen. She attended the University of Utah and studied Spanish Literature. Silvina now lives in Dallas, TX. with her husband and her three homeschooled children.

CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.

Last month’s prize winners announced HERE.

Please take a moment to learn more about our wonderfully generous sponsors.

FOB Bible by Eric Jepson, et al

The Fob Bible is a collection of short stories, poetry and drama based on the Old Testament. Some feature classic characters like Solomon and Jonah while others focus on side characters such as Goliath’s mother or Job’s wives. The startling power of some of these works balances with moments of hilarity such as in “A Travel Agent’s Description of Egypt, Circa Moses” and “From the Desk of Baal’s Secretary.” Together they create a thoughtful and provocative volume inspired by the foundational text of our civilization, proof that it continues to inspire and inform us in these latter days.

Contributors: Eric W Jepson, Danny Nelson, Arwen Taylor, Samantha Larsen Hastings, B.G. Christensen, Sarah E. Jenkins, Ryan McIlvains, William C. Bishop

Theric Jepson has been blogging since 2005, but he’s been a gadfly-in-the-making for much, much longer.

Most of his professional publications have been under his legal name, Eric W Jepson, but online he is better known by a variety of monikers beginning with the digraph th.

Theric first published about Mormon literature in Brigham Young University’s now defunct Collegiate Post, a student-run newspaper. That article is (happily) unavailable online as it reveals the tremendous ignorance of the author at that time.

Theric has worked as a reporter for and, briefly, as the editor of the Tehachapi News. His columns from this time (and many other writings of all stripes) are available on his website.

Although he considers himself primarily a fictionist, Theric writes in other forms as well.

Hazzardous Universe by Julie Wright

A guy who works in his grandfather’s magic shop expects weird things to happen. But Hap Hazzard has never had a day like this. First, a freaky old man in a cape who calls himself “Torval” visits the shop and somehow makes a trash can explode. Then Torval delivers an ominous message to Hap’s grandfather, upsetting the old man so badly that he yells at Hap for the first time ever. Next, this girl Tara shows up to apply for a job, and for reasons Hap can’t understand, his cool magic tricks send her away in tears. But that’s nothing compared to what happens next. Under orders to apologize to Tara, Hap searches for the girl. But he can barely say he’s sorry before three spaceships appear, the biggest of the three looking like a burnt slice of pizza.

The weirdness only ramps up as Hap and Tara soon find themselves aboard the pizza-shaped ship piloted by a pair of aliens. Even though they were accidentally abducted, the two humans are now forced to join an out-of-this-world mission that includes razor-toothed multilingual beetles, a psychic queen bee, manic ape frogs, a coveted crystal, and a hundred other bizarre things that just might make sense—if Hap could only remember and understand Torval’s cryptic message. Join Hap and Tara as they begin a fantastic journey into the far reaches of the universe.

Julie Wright: I was raised in Salt Lake City and attended Brighton High School where I met the love of my life. After a few detours at BYU and “dear-Johning” him while he was on his mission to Sweden, he came home, forgave me for being awful, and we got married. We moved to a little town in west central Utah, and opened up the only grocery store. Don’t ask why we did that; we still have no idea. If this is something you’re considering, please write me and I’ll talk you out of it. Not out of moving to the country, but out of opening a business in rural America. There are times when I ponder the sanity in such a move, but walking out on my porch at night and seeing the Milky Way satisfies my claim to mental stability.

Road to Cumorah by R. L. Kane

Nearly a thousand years before the final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites took place at Hill Cumorah, the prophet Nephi saw in vision the fate of his people then living in that future generation.

Road to Cumorah relates to the endless struggle the Nephites had with the Lamanites, their wickedness and final wars that took the two nations all the way from the land south to the land north. Where, as prophesied, the “Great and Tremendous Battle at Cumorah” ended with virtually a complete destruction of the Nephite nation.

Robert Lawrence Kane was born in Idaho in 1923 and is a WWII veteran. This is his first book.

Star Scout Rising by Gary Darby

From the last frontier, Space. A must-have, out of this world adventure!

Star Scout Rising, First Trail by Gary Darby is a thoughtful, awe-inspiring, and spine-tingling Sci-Fi mystery that follows a young man named Del Baldura during his quest for knowledge, truth, and discovery in the distant future of human and alien kind. This story has it all superb background, surprises, mystery, love, futuristic technological possibilities, bizarre life forms, and a hero trying to make sense of his duty and loyalty, his current leadership responsibilities, and his search for truth about part of his and his family’s history.

Gary Darby: Born in Texas in 1949, I grew up in San Antonio, Texas. I graduated from the University of Utah with a BS degree in Political Science and I also hold a Master of Science degree in the Analysis of Strategic Intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College in Washington, D.C. I served in the U.S. military for 20 years.

I met the love of my life, Pamela, in Heidelberg, Germany, and we have been married for 35 years. We have seven great sons, and 9 wonderful grandchildren. We currently split our time between homes in Anchorage, Alaska, and Mapleton, Utah.

Tangled Hearts by Roseanne Evans Wilkins

Serra Lanning, known as the Chaste Mormon Model Kara Kukaanei, grew up in Salina, Kansas. She is living a lonely life. Her parents have died and her sister, Brooke, hasn’t spoken to her in years. When Brooke shows up with her son in tow and asks Serra to watch him while she and her husband go on vacation to France, Serra’s whole life is turned upside down. Serra’s decision to hide from Brooke’s in-law’s create problems she doesn’t anticipate. When the tires to her new SUV are slashed, she knows she has more to fear than having her nephew taken.

Roseanne Evans Wilkins: was the second oldest of 9 children, so I grew up in a house full of noisy kids. Craig grew up in a house with just 2 quiet kids. Opposites attract lol. Since I’m the one home, we filled the house with kids. I’d go crazy with silence. Craig manages the noise level by traveling all over the U.S. teaching other adults how to audit. With 5 kids in sports, I keep busy running them to their practices and games. After hectic days running kids everywhere and taking care of three pre-schoolers, I find quiet time after everyone is in bed to write. I hope you enjoy the results :). You can visit Roseanne at her blog, Roseanne’s Spot.

The Third by Abel Keogh

When Ransom Lawe, a recycler in the Pacific Northwest, finds out his wife is pregnant with their third—and therefore illegal—child, he’s forced to choose between the government who proclaims a desire to save the planet and his hope for a place where his family can live in freedom. But with the Census Bureau Sentinels closing in on his wife and unborn child, Ransom’s choice will either save his family or tear them apart forever.

Abel Keogh offers a stark and haunting look at a not-so-distant future in this chilling new novel. Crossing lines between good and evil, freedom and oppression, and political and environmental responsibility, The Third is a gut-wrenching tale of intense loyalty and unconditional love.

Abel Keogh: Abel is the author of the novel The Third and the memoir Room for Two and numerous short stories and poems. For nearly a decade he has worked as a professional copywriter and composed hundreds of print and online pieces of marketing collateral for technology, real estate, health care, and education organizations—including several Fortune 500 companies. Abel and his wife, Julianna, are the parents of three boys and a girl.

CLICK HERE for details on how to win these books.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.