Tag: Darcy Fornier

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A Bookchat about The Wings of Poppy Pendleton with Melanie Dobson.

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About the author

Writing fiction is  Melanie Dobson’s excuse to immerse herself in the past by reading old books, interviewing new friends, and exploring fascinating places around the world. She is the award-winning author of almost thirty historical, time-slip, and romantic suspense novels. 

Melanie received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Liberty University and her master’s degree in communication from Regent University. When she’s not writing, Melanie enjoys teaching at writer’s events and as an adjunct professor.

Melanie Dobsonlives with her husband Jon in the Pacific Northwest. They have two daughters and enjoy traveling, hiking, and serving together in their community.

About the book

In this compelling new time-slip mystery, a little girl goes missing from her family’s castle in the Thousand Islands of New York. Eighty-five years later, a journalist teams up with a woman living on Koster Isle to find out what happened to Poppy.

1907. On the eve of her fifth birthday, Poppy Pendleton is tucked safely in her bed, listening to her parents entertain New York’s gilded society in their Thousand Islands castle; the next morning, she is gone, and her father is found dead in his smoking room.

1992. Though Chloe Ridell lives in the shadows of Poppy’s ruined castle, she has little interest in the mystery that still captivates tourists and locals alike. She is focused on preserving the island she inherited from her grandparents and reviving their vintage candy shop. Until the day a girl named Emma shows up on Chloe’s doorstep, with few possessions, save a tattered scrapbook that connects her to the Pendleton family. When a reporter arrives at Chloe’s store, asking questions about her grandfather, Chloe decides to help him dig into a past she’d thought best left buried. The haunting truth about Poppy, they soon discover, could save Emma’s life. Chloe and Logan must work together to investigate exactly what happened long ago on Koster Isle.

Questions

  1. With autumn bringing the start of football season, as well as baseball’s World Series, I’m wondering if you enjoy watching or playing any sports. (If not at all, feel free to talk about another activity/hobby you enjoy.) 🙂 
  2. Your bio mentions that your professional writing began with journalism. How do you think that influences your fiction writing?
  3. I saw on your website that you were an avid reader as a child. What is a favorite book written for young readers that still sticks with you today (and why)?
  4. Is there anything interesting that you haven’t covered in other interviews that you could share with us, or is there something God has laid on your heart that you would like to share with your readers?
  5. Was your novel inspired by a real-life unsolved disappearance, or did something else spark the idea?
  6. What cool tidbits of history did you discover while looking at New York’s high society in the early twentieth century?
  7. So the blurb gives us a touch of Chloe’s backstory–she’s inherited a candy shop from her grandparents–but all we know of Logan is that he’s a reporter. What brings him to investigate Chloe’s grandfather and the tragedy of Poppy Pendleton?
  8. What is next for you, book-wise?

Connect with Melanie via newsletter, Book Bub, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Instagram.

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A Bookchat about A Million Little Choices with Tamera Alexander

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About the author

Tamera Alexander is a USA Today bestselling novelist and one of today’s most beloved authors of inspirational historical romance. Her works have been awarded numerous industry-leading honors—among them the Christy Award, the RITA Award, the Carol Award, and Library Journal’s top honors—and have earned the distinction of Publisher’s Weekly Starred Reviews. Her deeply drawn characters and thought-provoking plots have earned her devoted readers worldwide, including Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Romania, among others.

Tamera and her husband reside in Nashville, Tennessee, where they live a short distance from Nashville’s Belmont Mansion, Belle Meade Plantation, and Carnton —the settings of Tamera’s #1 CBA bestselling Southern series.

About the book

Two women from different centuries living in the same house share strikingly similar journeys.

Claire Powell’s life is turned upside down when her beloved husband admits to a “near affair.” But when Stephen accepts a partnership with an Atlanta law firm without consulting her and buys a historic Southern home sight-unseeing—it pushes their already-fractured marriage to the breaking point. Claire’s world spirals, and she soon finds herself in a marriage she no longer wants, in a house she never asked for.

In 1863, Charlotte Thursmann, pregnant and trapped in a marriage to an abusive husband, struggles to protect her unborn child and the enslaved members of her household. Desperate, she’s determined to right the evils her husband and others like him commit. But how can one woman put an end to such injustice? Especially if her husband makes good on his threat to kill her?

Both Claire and Charlotte discover truths about themselves they never realized, along with secrets long hidden that hold the power to bring God’s restoration—if only they choose to let it.

Questions

  1. If you could travel back in time for a vacation, would you rather visit the remote setting of your Timber Ridge Reflections series (Colorado Territory) or the Reconstruction-era South setting of your Belmont Mansion series?
  2. You have written three series set in the post-Civil War South. How do you approach writing in such a politically charged and emotionally heavy time period?
  3. And now we have a fan-submitted question: Out of all your many novels and novellas, over all the series and standalones you’ve written, who is your favorite heroine and why?
  4. As far as the historical side goes, you’ve moved from writing about after the Civil War to setting your story smack in the middle of the conflict. Did that make a difference for your writing, or did it feel like a natural transition?
  5. As mentioned, this is your first time venturing into a contemporary setting, which is super exciting. Other than the old house, what ties these two storylines together?
  6. What’s next for your writing?

Listeners, Tamera is offering a copy of  A Million Little Choices. To enter, check out the giveaway page on our website Historical Bookworm dot com. You also find the giveaway link in the show notes for this episode. 

Connect with Tamera: website, newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

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A Bookchat about The Peasant King with Tessa Afshar

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Tessa Afshar joins us for a chat about King Darius of the Bible, writing historical fiction, and her latest release The Peasant King. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book!   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tessa Afshar is the Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of biblical and inspirational historical fiction, including Land of Silence, which won an INSPY Award and was voted by Library Journal as one of the top five Christian fiction titles of 2016, and Harvest of Gold, which won a Christy Award in the Historical Romance category.

Tessa was born in the Middle East and lived there for the first fourteen years of her life. She then moved to England, where she survived boarding school for girls and fell in love with Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, before moving to the United States permanently.

Her conversion to Christianity in her twenties changed the course of her life forever. Tessa holds a Master of Divinity from Yale, and she served in women and prayer ministries for twenty years before becoming a full-time writer and speaker.

Tessa is a devoted wife, an enthusiastic cook, and a mediocre gardener. But that has not cured her from being exceptionally fond of chocolate.

Questions

Let’s start with something fun.

  1. I love how on your website you welcome readers in true Middle Eastern style. What would you say is your favorite part of Middle Eastern culture that you still carry with you today?
  2. If you could have tea with anyone from history, who would it be?
  3. What is a common piece of life advice you hear that you disagree with (and why)?
  4. Is there anything interesting that you haven’t covered in other interviews that you could share with us, or is there something God has laid on your heart that you would like to share with your readers?

ABOUT THE BOOK

Jemmah has always thought of herself as perfectly ordinary . . . until she faces extraordinary circumstances.

When her mother, the Persian king’s famous senior scribe, is kidnapped, Jemmah and her sister must sneak undetected into enemy territory to rescue her. But infiltrating their adversary’s lands proves easier than escaping them. Fleeing through dangerous mountain passes, their survival depends on the skills of a stranger they free from prison: a mysterious prince named Asher.

Despite his royal blood, he has had to climb his way out of poverty to forge success from nothing. A manufacturer of some of the best weaponry in the East, Asher has only one goal: to destroy his father. But following his escape from prison, Asher is irresistibly drawn to Jemmah, unaware that she guards her own secret.

Jemmah must convince Asher to give up everything he has worked for, all for the sake of a higher purpose he’s not sure he believes in. The fate of the Persian empire—and possibly the Judean people—hang in the balance, and in the persuasive power of one ordinary woman.

A prince living as a peasant and an ordinary girl trying to free her mother – sounds like a great Medieval set up, but this is biblical times fiction!

  1. Do any famous Bible figures appear in this story?
  2. I love the theme of an ordinary young woman accomplishing extraordinary things. Could you tell us a little more about who Jemmah is? She basically answered this 
  3. Did you learn anything surprising about ancient weaponry and warfare while researching Asher’s trade? (Or share some interesting tidbit you researched especially for this story.) 🙂
  4. What is next for you with your writing?

Connect with Tessa Afshar: Newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

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A Bookchat about This Is Where It Ends with Cindy K. Sproles 

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Cindy K. Sproles joins us for a chat about her favorite southern, comfort food, writing fiction and nonfiction, and her latest release This Is Where It Ends. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book! 

In This is Where it Ends, Widow Minerva Jenkins has lived alone in her small mountain home for 40 years where she has guarded her husband’s deathbed request. When a young reporter comes calling and inquires about a rumored box of gold on her property, an unlikely friendship forms. Will she go to her grave with her husband’s secret, or will the weight of it be the death of her?

Connect with Cindy K. Sproles: Newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

Cindy is the author of What Momma Left Behind and the cofounder of Christian Devotions Ministries. A popular speaker, Cindy teaches at writers conferences across the country and directs the Asheville Christian Writers Conference in North Carolina. She is the executive editor of ChristianDevotions.us and freelance editor for Iron Stream Media. Cindy has a BA in business and journalism and lives in the mountains of East Tennessee with her family.

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A Bookchat about Yesterday’s Tides with Roseanna M. White

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About the author

Today we are talking with Roseanna M. White about her spring release Yesterday’s Tides. Rosanna is a bestselling, Christy Award–winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself.

To start us off, I ran across an interesting bookish conundrum on Facebook the other day that I thought would be fun to ask.

  1. Would you rather never be able to finish reading a series, or never be able to reread a favorite novel?
  2. Readers debate all the time about the benefits of not finishing a book that doesn’t capture your interest. Have you ever read a book (or author) you disliked at first but grew to enjoy?
  3. Which of your books cost you the most emotionally to write, and why?
  4. Is there anything especially interesting that you haven’t covered in other interviews that you could share with us or perhaps there is something God has laid on your heart that you would like to share with your readers? 

About the book: Yesterday’s Tides

In 1942, Evie Farrow is used to life on Ocracoke Island, where every day is the same—until the German U-boats haunting their waters begin to wreak havoc. And when special agent Sterling Bertrand is washed ashore at Evie’s inn, her life is turned upside down. While Sterling’s injuries keep him inn-bound for weeks, making him even more anxious about the man he’s tracking, he becomes increasingly intrigued by Evie, who seems to be hiding secrets of her own. 

Decades earlier, in 1914, Englishman Remington Culbreth arrives at the Ocracoke Inn for the summer, but he doesn’t count on falling in love with Louisa Adair, the innkeeper’s daughter. When war breaks out in Europe, and their relationship is put in jeopardy, will their love survive?

As Evie and Sterling work to track down an elusive German agent, they unravel mysteries that go back a generation. The ripples from the Great War are still rocking their lives, and it seems yesterday’s tides may sweep them all into danger again today.

Both World Wars in the same novel, plus two romances and intertwined intrigue. This is quite a premise!

  1. What inspired you to write a novel with timelines in both world wars?
  2. Yesterday’s Tides addresses themes such as giving up and reclaiming your dreams. Can you tell us a little more about how this idea comes into play in the lives of your two female protagonists, Louisa and Evie?
  3. Who is your favorite secondary character in this story and why? (Share one from each timeline if you like!) 😀
  4. What are you working on next?

Connect with Roseanna: Newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

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A Book about A Brighter Dawn by Leslie Gould

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Leslie Gould joins us for a chat about Amish and Mennonite History, WW2, beloved readers, and her novel A Brighter Dawn. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book!

About Leslie

My strongest memories from childhood include stories of hope and grace—and how those stories connected me to family and friends. I also soaked up stories of redemption in the small-town churches we attended.

I’ve written a large collection of dual-time, Amish, and contemporary novels, set in a variety of places—from the Pacific Northwest to Amish Country to France to Vietnam.

My husband, Peter, and I have been married forty years and have four adult children and one grandchild. We live in Portland, Oregon and enjoy traveling, urban hikes, and hanging out with family and friends!

About the Book

Ivy Zimmerman is successfully navigating her life as a young Mennonite woman, one generation removed from her parents’ Old Order Amish upbringing. But when her parents are killed in a tragic accident, Ivy’s way of life is upended. As she deals with her grief, her younger sisters’ needs, the relationship with her boyfriend, and her Dawdi and Mammi’s strict rules, Ivy finds solace in both an upcoming trip to Germany for an international Mennonite youth gathering and in her great-great-aunt’s story about Clare Simons, another young woman who visited Germany in the late 1930s.

As Ivy grows suspicious that her parents’ deaths weren’t, in fact, an accident, she gains courage from what she learns of Clare’s time in pre-World War II Germany. With the encouragement and inspiration of the women who have gone before her, Ivy seeks justice for her parents, her sisters, and herself.

Connect with Leslie

Newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

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Episode 67: A Bookchat about A Match in the Making with Jen Turano

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Jen Turano joins us for a chat about fashion, Gilded Age matchmaking, her writing quirks, and her novel A Match in the Making. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book!

About Jen

Named One of the Funniest Voices in Inspirational Romance by Booklist, Jen Turano is a USA Today Best-Selling Author, known for penning quirky historical romances set in the Gilded Age. Her books have earned Publisher Weekly and Booklist starred reviews, top picks from Romantic Times, and praise from Library Journal. She’s been a finalist twice for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Awards and had two of her books listed in the top 100 romances of the past decade from Booklist. When she’s not writing, she spends her time outside of Denver, Colorado.

About the book

Miss Gwendolyn Brinley accepted a temporary paid companion position for the Newport summer season, believing it would be a lark to spend the summer in America’s most exclusive town. She suddenly finds her summer turning anything but amusing when her employer expects her to take over responsibilities as an assistant matchmaker. Tasked with the daunting prospect of attaining advantageous matches for her clients, Gwendolyn soon finds herself in the company of Mr. Walter Townsend, the catch of the Season, but a gentleman Gwendolyn finds beyond annoying.

Walter is reluctantly in search of a wife for the sake of his unruly motherless children. What he wasn’t expecting was Miss Brinley, who turns his quest for a new wife into a complete and utter debacle.

The more time they spend together throughout the Newport Season, the harder it is for Gwendolyn to find Walter a wife when she realizes his perfect match might be . . . her.

USA Today bestselling author Jen Turano’s trademark wit, sweet romance, and hilarious mischief will keep you turning the pages of this lively Gilded Age tale.

Connect with Jen

Jen’s free novella Gentleman of Her Dreams which was mentioned on the show.  

Connect with  Jen: Newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

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A Bookchat about After the Shadows with Amanda Cabot & a Review of Remember Me by Tracie Peterson

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Amanda Cabot joins us for a chat about her latest release After the Shadows. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book!

For today’s Pinch of the Past, we’re looking at the largest earthquake in California’s recorded history and comparable to the 1906 San Francisco quake.

Today’s Bookworm Review is bought to you by Grace Hitchcock shares her review of Remember Me by Tracie Peterson. (Full review here.)

Connect with Amanda Cabot: Newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, her blog, and BookBub.

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A Bookchat about The Metropolitan Affair with Jocelyn Green & a Review of Fairest of Heart by Karen Witemeyer.

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Jocelyn Green joins us for a chat about her favorite books, Egyptomania, and her latest release The Metropolitan Affair. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book!

For today’s Pinch of the Past, we’re looking at masked heroes of television including Zorro and The Loan Ranger. 

Today’s Bookworm Review features Fairest of Heart by Karen Witemeyer.  (Full review here.)


Connect with Jocelyn Green: her website, Newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

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A Bookchat about Remember Me with Tracie Peterson & a Review of The Blackout Book Club by Amy Lynn Green

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Tracie Peterson joins us for a chat about the World’s Fair, Seattle, historical cameras, and her latest release REMEMBER ME. Don’t forget to enter to win a copy of this great book!

For today’s Pinch of the Past, we’re looking at Houses of Refuge with Crystal Caudill  (You can read the blog version on Crystal’s website www.CrystalCaudill.com.)

Today’s Bookworm Review features The Blackout Book Club by Amy Lynn Green.  “World War II, a plethora of wonderful books, and a diverse cast of characters make up the latest book from Amy Lynn Green known as The Blackout Book Club.” (Full review here.)

Connect with  TRACIE PETERSON: Newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, and Instagram.