Coming Soon - On the Pineapple Express - Book 2 Pure Genius Series

On the Pineapple Express - a romantic thriller set on the Olympic Peninsula

Hidden somewhere in the vast 3,600 square miles of the rugged Olympic Peninsula, human traffickers are holding girls to sell to international clients. When brilliant, NSA researcher Jennifer Akihara intercepts a mysterious cell call and hears the desperate cries of a girl calling for help, she is obsessed with finding the holding location. Lacking enough evidence to engage the FBI, she enlists the help of her fiancé, Lee Brandt, a meteorologist. With a deadly storm and international criminals bearing down on them while the clock ticks toward the sale of the captives, can Jennifer and Lee survive the bullets and the elements to find the girls? Will the beautiful Jennifer survive to see her wedding day…or it’s antithesis?

Patty Froese - Eye of the Beholder

The Weather Scribe welcomes Patty Froese today. She has a new release, Eye of the Beholder, from Pelican Book Group.

Eye of the Beholder

by Patty Froese

How beautiful are you? If you were to rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, where would you land?

I don't think anyone is terribly comfortable with that exercise. We've been trained by the media to criticize ourselves. A droop, a sag, a blemish... Those are inexcusable. Actresses are publicly mocked for having gained a little weight or having some "cottage cheese cellulite" on their thighs, exposed by the prying lenses of unwelcome cameras.

Women have babies and are judged by their "bounce back" time, ridiculous as that may be.

A woman's value is not based on something as fickle as Hollywood ideals, but the constant battery of messages coming from the media would have us believe something else. Companies want us to believe that tubes and vials will make us beautiful, that certain styles will help us maintain our youth, that dyes will make us feel lovely. From diets to exercise machines, clothing lines to skin creams, the woman in this modern age is bombarded by messages that she just isn't enough, and she needs some help. Big time.

So when we look at ourselves in the mirror, what do we see? I always joke that it isn't fair to judge me only on my looks, because when you add in my personality, I get at least a three point lift on that number. And while I'm only joking around when I talk like that, there is truth under the laughter.

Beauty is more than skin deep.

But how much more?

Would you still feel beautiful if you had to wear unflattering clothing? Would you feel beautiful if all your hair fell out? Would you feel beautiful if scars covered your face and distorted your smile?

And if you stopped feeling beautiful, would you feel loved?

Where does our beauty come from?

In Eye of the Beholder, my heroine loses her looks in a freak accident. She goes from stunningly beautiful, capturing the admiration of everyone around her, to scarred and pitied. Doors no longer fly open for her, and the face in the mirror seems to belong to a stranger. When she goes up to the autumn woods to try to make peace with what she cannot change, she's faced with more than the reality of her new looks--she's faced with a man from her past who lost more than she ever knew.

When a woman loses her looks, what is there left to love?

 

Tricia Hunter was an extraordinary beauty...before a horrible bus accident left her irreparably scarred. In an effort to accept the things she cannot change, she heads to her uncle's cabin for some time alone.

Forest ranger Jesse Reynolds recognizes Tricia the minute he sees her, but nothing flickers in her eyes. That's fine by him. The same accident that stole her good looks killed his fiance, and he simply can't bring himself to feel sorry for Tricia like everyone else in her life seems to do.

Thrown together in the autumn woods, they are faced with the past, an uncertain future, and a struggle to find out why God allows terrible things to happen.


Buy Eye of the Beholder:

Pelican Book Group:
Amazon:

What do you think true beauty is and where does beauty reside? How do you reconcile the evil, pain, and suffering in the world with the existence of an all-powerful, all knowing and good God? Two questions that raise some deep issues. Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, and answers.

-- The Weather Scribe

Covers Books 2 & 3 Pure Genius Series

Hide and Seek, Book 1, Pure Genius Series released February 1, 2013 from Harbourlight Books (Pelican Book Group). Books 2 & 3 are also contracted, and I just received the covers for these 2 books. Both covers were designed by Nicola Martinez, the EIC of Pelican Book Group. This post is primarily to show off the book covers. Hopefully the accompanying blurbs will also pique your interest a bit. Release dates for the two books below are still TBD

Book 2: On the Pineapple Express - a thriller set on the Olympic Peninsula

Hidden somewhere in the vast 3,600 square miles of the rugged Olympic Peninsula, human traffickers are holding girls to sell to international clients. When brilliant, NSA researcher Jennifer Akihara intercepts a mysterious cell call and hears the desperate cries of a girl calling for help, she is obsessed with finding the holding location. Lacking enough evidence to engage the FBI, she enlists the help of her fiancé, Lee Brandt, a meteorologist. With a deadly storm and international criminals bearing down on them while the clock ticks toward the sale of the captives, can Jennifer and Lee survive the bullets and the elements to find the girls? Will the beautiful Jennifer survive to see her wedding day…or it’s antithesis?



 






Book 3: Moon over Maalaea Bay - a thriller set entirely on Maui 

In an instant the honeymoon of Lee's dreams morphs to a nightmare when Jennifer disappears on their wedding night in Maui. The trafficking ring Jennifer crippled wants revenge by selling her into slavery. But a more sinister organization wants to buy Jennifer for other purposes.

With the clock ticking toward Jennifer's impending sale, Lee, accompanied by their fifteen-year-old foster daughter, Katie, and Jennifer's grandfather, begins his own search for her. As the search by Lee and the authorities intensifies, beautiful Katie ends up in the cross hairs of the traffickers.

Can Lee save both his bride and his future daughter? What if he has to make a choice between them? If Jennifer is sold, could she kill herself to avoid a life filled with degradation and unspeakable horror? If she did, would God forgive her?

New Release from Suspense Sister, Nancy Mehl

Nancy Mehl's latest book, Unbreakable, released from Bethany House this week. If you read romantic suspense or mysteries, you probably know about the Suspense Sisters Blog and have almost certainly read books by this talented group of authors. Here's a bit about the book.

Unbreakable: Book Two in the Road to Kingdom Series
Nancy Mehl

Gentle and unassuming Hope Kauffman has never been one to question or try to make changes. She quietly helps her father run Kingdom Quilts and has agreed to the betrothal her father arranged for her with the devout but shy Ebbie Miller.

Despite Hope's and other Kingdom residents' attempts to maintain the status quo, changes have already begun to stir in the small Mennonite town. The handsome and charismatic Jonathon Wiese is the leader of the move to reform, and when one of Kingdom's own is threatened by a mysterious outsider, Jonathon is one of the first to push for the town to arm itself. Hope's fiance, Ebbie, is at the forefront of those demanding the town stay true to its traditions of nonviolence.

When strange incidents around town result in outright attacks on several townspeople, Hope can't help but question what she's always been taught. As the town that's always stood so strong together is torn apart at the seams, Hope is caught between opposing sides, both represented by those she has come to care for. With tensions high and lives endangered by an unknown threat, Hope fears Kingdom can never survive in one piece.
You can read more about her and her books on her author's web site:
www.nancymehl.com
or on facebook
And meet the Suspense Sisters at their blog:
www.suspensesisters.blogspot.com

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

HeidiGlick invited me to the Next Big Thing Blog Hop. She’s blogging about her debut novel, Dog Tags.  

Thanks for stopping by. 

Today, I'm blogging about my debut novel, Hide and Seek. So let’s answer some questions about that book with all of the binary numbers and flames on the cover.

WHAT IS YOUR WORKING TITLE OF YOUR BOOK (OR STORY)?

My book is titled Hide and Seek, and it's releasing on Feb 1.

WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR THE BOOK COME FROM?

Ideas for this book came from incidents I saw and/or investigated during my work.

WHAT GENRE DOES YOUR BOOK FALL UNDER?

My publisher calls Hide and Seek an espionage thriller. If it was a recognized genre, I would call it a romantic thriller.

WHICH ACTORS WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY YOUR MAIN CHARACTERS IN A MOVIE RENDITION?

My main man, Lee Brandt, would probably be played by someone like Kirk Cameron, although he's about ten years too old now. My heroine looks like a young singer/actress, Yuna Ito. You may not have heard of her. She's Asian-Hawaiian like Jennifer Akihara, my heroine. Yuna Ito has a great voice. I wanted to use her photo for my book cover, but if I had talked to her agent about permission, I would have been in way over my head in legalese and legalities.

GIVE A ONE-SENTENCE SYNOPSIS OF YOUR BOOK?

Hideand Seek is an espionage thriller about an ingenious plot to neutralize several critical U.S. military weapons systems using cyber-warfare.

WILL YOUR BOOK BE SELF-PUBLISHED OR REPRESENTED BY AN AGENCY?

This book is contracted with a growing publishing company, Pelican Book Group, under their Harbourlight imprint.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE THE FIRST DRAFT OF YOUR MANUSCRIPT?

The first draft took less than four weeks. The second draft took about seven weeks, during which I was enrolled in a writing workshop to learn what I should have known before undertaking the first draft. The third draft took another month, and it brought me my first book contract.

WHAT OTHER BOOKS WOULD YOU COMPARE THIS STORY TO WITHIN YOUR GENRE?

Shattered Silence by Margaret Daley has a similar flavor, a mixture of 2 main characters confronting evil and danger together while romance occurs between them. Pursued by Lillian Duncan and Fatal Judgment by Irene Hannon are similar. But stylistically, I write a bit like Tim Downs, just not as well as him.

WHO OR WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THIS BOOK?

Several years ago I thought I was being inspired to write the next great text on Christian Apologetics. After 10 years of study in preparation to write, I found that the real experts were publishing far superior works than what I could have produced. When my thoughts turned to fiction, I realized my 10 years of study would help me to incorporate the basics of the Christian worldview, and its answers to life's questions, into my stories. I began writing my first story and haven’t been able stop writing.

WHAT ELSE ABOUT YOUR BOOK MIGHT PIQUE THE READER'S INTEREST?

Hide and Seek is a high-action story that quickly leaves computers and technology behind as the Lee and Jennifer flee into mountains with rock faces and a system of caves. Also, the heroine, Jennifer, is intriguing. She's a small, stunning, Japanese-Hawaiian beauty with an IQ that's off the scale and a temper to match.

To find out more, you can read a non-spoiling synopsis of Hide and Seek on Linda Rondeau's Writing Across Generations Blog.

 

Please also visit the following other authors on the Next Big Thing Blog Hop:

Anne Greene

Anne will be blogging about her novel, A Texas Christmas Mystery. For a chance to win Anne’s book, please visit http://www.annegreeneauthor.com/Anne_s_Blog.html on February 11.

Anne delights in writing about wounded heroes and gutsy heroines. Her second novel, a Scottish historical, Masquerade Marriage, won numerous writing awards. The sequel, Marriage By Arrangement releases in February. A Texas Christmas Mystery also won awards. In 2014, her World War II novel, Angel With Steel Wings, about WASPs, women test pilots will release. She makes her home in McKinney, Texas. Tim LaHaye led her to the Lord when she was twenty-one and Chuck Swindoll is her Pastor. In 1990, Anne graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Literary Studies from the University of Texas.

View Anne’s other books, her blog, Addicted to Excellence, extensive travel pictures, and art work at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com. Anne is active in ACFW, FHL, Sisters in Crime, The Writer’s View, and the Southwest Chapter of ACFW. Anne loves to speak to book clubs, libraries, and conferences. Her love of sailing, horseback riding, history, and art, as well as her Citizens Plano Policy Academy training, and military life sometime figure in her books. She maintains a web site, two blogs, and judges the Rita, Golden Heart, and Book of the Year, but she’s never too busy to talk with her fans.

Her highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to an awesome new world and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. Buy Anne’s books at http://www.PelicanBookGroup.com. Or at http://www.Amazon.com.

Ada Brownell

A.B. Brownell has been writing for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a daily newspaper reporter. She has a BS degree in Mass Communications and worked most of her career at The Pueblo Chieftain in Colo., where she spent the last seven years as a medical writer. After moving to Springfield, MO in her retirement, she continues to free lance for Christian publications and write non-fiction and fiction books.

The author will post about her upcoming release for teens, Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult on January 27^th at http://www.inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com/.

Joe the Dreamer is an action/adventure that surrounds Joe’s missing parents, a vicious man after Joe, robots, catapults, radicals working to erase Christianity from America, computer chips for the brain, a mental hospital’s juvenile unit, plus a spiritual payload.

 

The Merry-Go-Round Mutiny

How does a 9-year-old change the world? The answer is simple -- a child does it the same way an adult does it, with temerity and truth. The hard part is... well, you might have to plot Mutiny at the Merry-Go-Round. Since merry-go-rounds have been deemed dangerous by modern day standards, maybe you're stuck with Sedition at the Slide.

Check out my post on Geezer Guys & Gals  The Merry-Go-Round Mutiny

Tag Line for My Latest Novel: No Safe Place

I've asked a few people to help me choose a tagline for my latest novel, No Safe Place. That resulted in a no-decision vote. If you'd like to help, read the following blurb and let me know which tagline you prefer.

No Safe Place is a romantic thriller about a young, promising football star whose career-ending injury sent him spiraling downward into the world of drugs and drug dealing. When he hides to break free from a drug cartel, his past endangers both him and the young woman who falls in love with the man she sees he can be …  if he can only forgive himself. Together they find that as long as your past haunts you, there is no safe place.

Tagline # 1:  As long as your past haunts you, there is no safe place.

Tagline # 2: His past brought danger to her present and promised to eliminate their future.

If you've got a moment, let me know what you think -- 1, 2, or something else.