First Lines of Famous Books Quiz + Giveaway

By Meghan Carver

The first lines of books have an incredibly important role – to pull the reader in and make her want to read more.

If you’ve read a lot (and you probably have since you’re here, reading this), you’ve read a lot of good first lines. Want to test your knowledge?

Better yet, want to win a signed copy of a new 2-in-1 that includes my Love Inspired Suspense novel Amish Country Amnesia and Leigh Bale’s Runaway Amish Bride?

Buy Now on Amazon

The following are the first lines of well-known books. All you need to do is leave a comment with the titles, and the one with the most right wins a book. It’s the honor system, so no peeking at someone else’s answers! 😊 Alternatively, if several have the right answers, I’ll randomly choose a name. (U.S. winners only. Post will be updated at 8:00 tonight with the answers and the winner.)

1. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
2. Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.
3. Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.
4. “Where's Papa going with that axe?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.
5. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids.
6. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
7. Mrs. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies' eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place; it was reputed to be an intricate, headlong brook in its earlier course through those woods, with dark secrets of pool and cascade; but by the time it reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet, well-conducted little stream, for not even a brook could run past Mrs. Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum; it probably was conscious that Mrs. Rachel was sitting at her window, keeping a sharp eye on everything that passed, from brooks and children up, and that if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof.
8. "Tom!" No answer. "Tom!" No answer. "What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You Tom!" No answer.
9. Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay out scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
10. As I walk’d through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a Dream. I dreamed, and behold I saw a Man cloathed with Rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a Book in his hand, and a great Burden upon his back.

This is the honor system. No google! 😊

Have fun, and I'll post a winner at 8:00 tonight!


***UPDATED WITH ANSWERS***
Are you ready for answers?

1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
2. Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
3. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
4. Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
5. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
6. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
7. Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maude Montgomery
8. Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens)
9. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare
10. Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan

{An interesting side note: E.B. White was an English professor who wrote what writers just call “Strunk & White,” a brilliant little book actually titled The Elements of Style.}

And the winner is….

~~ Debbi ~~

Congratulations! Send an email to MeghanCCarver@gmail.com with your mailing address, and I’ll get the book out to you. 😊

Thanks for taking part!

~ Meghan

Sign up for Meghan’s author newsletter HERE.

MeghanCarver.com

Five Things I’ve Learned about the Amish through Reading Fiction

by Meghan Carver

When I pick up a book to read for pleasure, my first goal is usually escape, to be immersed in another world, on a different journey, with other people, to forget where I am and what my current problems are for a time.

I think that’s why most people pick up fiction.

But when I inventory what I’ve been reading recently, I realize I’ve been learning as well. Lurking in between those carefully crafted sentences, the toe-curling scenes of drama and suspense, the creation of other peoples and their worlds, I receive an education.

Here are five things I’ve learned about the Amish through reading fiction ~

(Disclaimer: I have researched for myself all the Amish details in my books. 😊)

The Amish travel and even move sometimes. Because their typical mode of transportation is horse-and-buggy, I always thought the Amish never went far from home. Sure, I knew they would pay a driver sometimes (The Amish Taxi) if they needed a hospital or something a little further away. But travel from state-to-state? And yet, they do. They might pay a driver or, more likely, take a bus or a train, but they visit family and friends in other states. In fact, plenty of Amish have moved, whether it be to find larger areas of land or new job opportunities or to begin a new settlement.

Not all Amish are saved. It’s easy to think that because of the way they look and behave that they are all super-spiritual and close to God. And many are, in fact, wonderful Christians! But just like all churches and denominations, there are many who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. (2 Timothy 3:5)

Church ministers (“preachers”) are chosen by lot. This, in particular, fascinates me, because there are no resumes, no interviews, no checking of references, no degrees from seminary. There is great reliance on God’s leading and the trust that the men in the church are all prepared through their own personal study to be spiritual leaders if the Lord should will it.

The women’s dress bodices (the top part) fasten to the skirt with straight pins…all the time. Every morning, they pin their dresses together. It sounds uncomfortable to me, and I think I’d be nervous all the time that it would come undone, but apparently they have a method that makes them secure and comfy. This means they don’t have to resize or let the waistband out as needed.

Weddings typically take place in November and involve a lot of celery. The bride and groom don’t get to choose a wedding date for the season they prefer or a sentimental reason. Most Amish weddings occur in November, after the harvest. They also eat a lot of celery and use it in decorations such as table centerpieces, at least in the Lancaster County area in Pennsylvania.

Of course, it’s still fiction and authors insert their own details if needed to help the story.

But many facts and tidbits I’ve picked up between the pages of those novels have been the inspiration for my own Amish inspirational romantic suspense novels.

Amish Covert Operation is available online and at your favorite retailer in this month of July.

You can find information about my books as well as buy links on my website. 

Also, if you'd like to keep up on my author news and be automatically entered in a giveaway with each issue, you can sign up for my newsletter HERE.

Q4U: What have you learned in your novel reading?

Sometimes the Suspense is Real

By Meghan Carver

For the past couple of years, I have had the honor of working with a missionary from our connection of churches to write his story of surviving an attack by a Mexican gang.

As you know, I write inspirational suspense, and I often scare myself or become worried over my characters as I plot how to make their story more difficult. {Read to the end to see my new Amish Love Inspired Suspense releasing next month!}

This missionary story, though, just now released, is no suspense novel. This is real. This book will give you goosebumps as you read of God's protection over this family who sacrificed to bring the gospel to Mexico.

In Angels’ Charge is the incredible true survival story of a missionary attacked by a Mexican gang and God’s amazing protection over him as his family journeyed into another culture, suffered spiritual attack, and came within breaths of seeing Heaven.

Here’s a sneak peek from the prologue:

Somewhere in Mexico, October 23, 2009, before sunrise

Blood pulsed out of the large wound in my head. I had a white dress shirt on that morning, and it was so completely saturated with my red blood that you could not tell it had been a white shirt. My pants were covered with blood. The car seat between my legs was pooling with my blood. The steering wheel, the dash, the window, and the console of my Toyota Sequoia were all completely covered with blood. Blood had exploded from my forehead, and even John was sprinkled with droplets of my blood.

The first thing I remember after returning to consciousness was John’s voice tinged with panic, “Oh God, please don’t let Marc die!” In a haze of semi-consciousness, I asked, “What happened?” Even as I write this, John’s next words echo in my memory transporting me back to that terrifying moment: “Marc, you’ve been hit in the head with a rock, and I don’t think you’re going to make it.” There was a trembling tone of fear and resignation in the way he spoke those words to me that morning that I can never dislodge from my memory.

In that moment, in the midst of those dire and surreal circumstances, John grasped the steering wheel from the passenger seat, and I remained incapacitated in the driver’s seat. I had been instantly blinded by the attack, so he was telling me when to brake and when to accelerate –all the time hoping and praying I wouldn’t lose consciousness or worse as he attempted to find someplace where we could get help.

For indeed, in that moment, I was dying.


It was a true blessing to work with Marc, to have the honor of asking him probing questions about his experiences and his faith. I pray you will be blessed by this story!

In Angels’ Charge is available now for kindle. You can find it on Amazon HERE.

~~~~~

My next Amish Love Inspired Suspense releases next month!

After Amish widow Katie Schwartz’s search for her reclusive brother results in a shooting and her finding a cryptic message, she must rely on federal agent Adam Troyer to shield her. But, undercover as a Plain man, can Adam save her brother’s life and protect Katie? Trusting the handsome Englisch agent is already dangerous…but falling for him could risk everything Katie holds dear.

You can pre-order Amish Covert Operation HERE.

Meghan Carver is a homeschooling mother of six, writer of faith-filled romantic suspense, unabashed bibliophile, and law school graduate. She has four books published with Love Inspired Suspense (Under Duress, Deadly Disclosure, Amish Country Amnesia, and Amish Covert Operation). You can connect with her on her author Facebook page or sign up for her author newsletter and find links to buy her books at meghancarver.com.

Changes

Hello friends!

I am so happy to join you on this wonderful Friday! I don't know about you, but this year, Easter was very poignant for me. I keep thinking of a comment the reverend at my church said. He was talking about the fact that even though we tend to read the same Scripture passages and celebrate the same holidays each year, they shouldn't feel the same. Why? Because we should be growing in our relationship with God, which means that the Scriptures always have something new to teach us.

To grow means that something has to change. Change is often a scary word. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not always thrilled with the changes I see. Such as my kids getting ready to graduate and move on with their lives. That's a hard change. Or when I see yet another strand of gray hair in the mirror.

Aren't they beautiful? As much as I struggle with letting go, I love the people that they are becoming and that God is in control of their lives. The changes happening in their lives are enough to fill my heart and soul with gratitude and joy. Even while my mother's heart wants to worry and fret.
This year, however, I am trying to embrace the changes and to see God's purpose in them. How is He asking me to grow and change so that our relationship will become stronger?

One of the changes I have implemented is called Morning Pages. Since I have dabbled with journaling in the past, it seemed like a good fit for me.  Simply put, it's a stream of consciousness journal. Except I do it as a prayer journal. So before I look at my phone, before I start my day, I have a free flowing conversation with God. I bring my praise, my prayers, and my intentions and I put them all there in my journal. Then I pray about my priorities for the day. I try to do my planner at the same time. My goal is to allow my day to start with God and to allow Him to plan what is the most important in my day.

My journaling doesn't happen every day. Sometimes life gets busy. But my goal is to let Christ be the center of my day, and of my life.

I am so grateful for the many blessings He has poured out upon me. One thing that constantly amazes me is that I get to write books and share them with readers. It never gets old seeing a new cover or holding a book in my hand that I wrote. In June, my 9th book with Love Inspired Suspense will release.

An Amish witness to murder
Another riveting Amish Country Justice book

On the way to deliver a baby, Amish midwife Lizzy Miller witnesses her driver’s murder—and now someone plans to silence her. Lizzy knows better than to trust strangers, but she must depend on former Amish turned Englisch police officer Isaac Yoder. And there’s nowhere safe to hide…unless Isaac reconnects with the Amish community he left behind to protect the woman he’s falling for.

I am very excited about this book. My characters have to do some changing and growing before they can get their happy-ever-after, but it's worth it in the end.

Thanks for joining me today!

Blessings,

Dana R. Lynn

About Dana R. Lynn

Dana R. Lynn believes the power of God can transcend any circumstance.  She is a bestselling, award winning author of fifteen books and views her writing as a ministry to show His love can bring healing and peace. She writes romantic suspense for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense line. She has been on Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller lists three times, and her 2017 title Plain Target won both the first place for her category and the overall Grand Prize winner in the New England Reader’s Choice Awards. She is a 2019 Selah Awards finalist. Dana is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America), ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers and Sisters in Crime. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Literary Agency. In 1996, Dana met her husband at a wedding and told her parents she’d met the man she was going to marry. Nineteen months later, they were married. Today, they live in rural northwestern Pennsylvania with enough animals to start a petting zoo. In addition to writing, she works as a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing and is involved in several ministries in her church.

Our Family’s Favorite Easter Resources + Love Inspired Suspense Cover Reveal

by Meghan Carver

When I was a child, Easter was a special time…of sorts.

My mother would usually make me a new dress. That was about the only time of the year she completed a sewing project, so it was extra special. J

We would usually spend the weekend at my grandparents’ house about two hours away. My grandmother would hide jelly beans all over her house for an egg hunt on Sunday morning…including in our shoes. Candy of any kind was such a rare treat for my brother and me that I apparently didn’t notice the slight taste of feet. J At my grandparents’ church, we would sit on the front pew. I don’t remember any of the sermons, but I remember my grandmother’s hats.

While these are nice memories, my husband (who didn’t have any Jesus in his childhood Easters) and I have decided to take advantage of the many resources available today to get more Jesus in our family’s Easter. Over the years, we’ve collected several books and videos…and a couple other things as well.

Books

Cute drawings and the basic story any child can understand.

 

Super adorable drawings and rhyming text.

 

We actually purchased this as an Abeka book for our homeschool curriculum, but I found it available for Kindle on Amazon. My two oldest girls have read it and thought it really brought the Bible to life, although the ending for Titus was surprising and sad. The story of the character Titus is fiction, but the setting, the society, and Jesus are based on the truth of the Bible. This one is shooting to the top of my to-be-read list, and in fact, I found two others by the same author on Amazon, a trilogy called Comrades of the Cross -- Stephen: A Soldier of the Cross and The Cross Triumphant.

Videos

Provides an entertaining contrast between plastic eggs and the resurrection. Try watching it and not singing about mechanical chickens. J

 

What an emotional experience! A couple of years ago, we let our older children watch it with us. We thought the two oldest were mature enough and knowledgeable enough to handle it. The visuals definitely made what they had only read about more real. In regard to your children, use your discretion.

Radio Theatre Drama

 

Specifically The Easter Story – Digger Digwillow travels back in the Imagination Station to witness the last week of Jesus’ life. The cover looks like it's just for children, but don't be fooled. Our teens and my husband and I love Adventures in Odyssey!

And don’t forget….

 

We always have a little egg hunt for our children at home after church. Scavenger hunts are just fun, and we take the opportunity to insert a little more teaching through the Resurrection Eggs. Our children usually end up competing to see who can find the most of these special eggs.

Isn't the cover of this adult coloring book fun and whimsical? So, my last item isn't terribly spiritual, but it can be stress-relieving.

What are your go-to resources for Easter?

~~~~~

Before you leave, may I share the cover of my Love Inspired Suspense coming this July? I love how pretty…worried the heroine looks!

Sign up for my author newsletter and be automatically entered into a giveaway with each issue. Soon, I’ll be giving away advance copies of Amish Covert Operation! You can sign up HERE, and thank you!

Four Non-Traditional Valentine’s Day Gifts for Husbands

By Meghan Carver

After twenty-six years of marriage, it can be a little difficult to figure out something interesting and appropriate to give my husband for Valentine’s Day. I know we have many authors on this blog who have been married many more years than I have, so you can either chuckle at my youth, commiserate with my plight, or share your advice in the comments. 😊 

I figure a lot of us who read Love Inspired and Love Inspired Suspense have this same predicament.

With Valentine’s Day later this week, I thought I would share with you all some gift ideas for the man in your life.

The problem is, to be perfectly honest, that for many years we haven’t even given gifts, not in the traditional sense.

So, I went to Google, the source of all answers. {I don’t recommend this….}

That didn’t help.

I’ve been decluttering like crazy, so I know that my husband does NOT need –

•          another power tool
•          a kitchen appliance
•          a red-and-white-striped dish for his popcorn
•          a tee-shirt that labels him as “Hot Stuff”
•          a piece of tree bark with our initials cut into it to sit as a keepsake on our side table in the living room.

I was back at the beginning.

I love words {obviously 😊}, so I went to the dictionary. Here are a few intangible {and free!} items we could give our husbands on Valentine’s Day…and every other day of the year.

•          Love: an intense feeling of deep affection; a great interest and pleasure in something.
•          Respect: a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements; due regard for the feelings, wishes, rights, or traditions of others.
•          Encouragement: the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope.
•          Fun: enjoyment, amusement, or lighthearted pleasure.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

~~~~~

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, do you need a new romance to read…with a little bit of danger thrown in?

Amish Country Amnesia is still available online.

His past is a mystery to everyone…except for the men trying to kill him

When a snowmobile accident leaves a man injured and with no memory, Amish widow Sarah Burkholder and her young daughter rescue him. Even as Sarah’s feelings for him grow, they discover unknown assailants are after him—and Sarah and her little girl for helping him. But if he can remember who he is, he might just save all their lives.

You can order HERE.

And…Sarah’s friend Katie has her own story coming this July, Amish Covert Operation.

She witnessed a crime. Can an agent in disguise keep her safe?

After Amish widow Katie Schwartz’s search for her reclusive brother results in a shooting and her finding a cryptic message, she must rely on federal agent Adam Troyer to shield her. But, undercover as a Plain man, can Adam save her brother’s life and protect Katie? Trusting the handsome Englisch agent is already dangerous…but falling for him could risk everything Katie holds dear.

I can’t reveal the final cover yet, but if you’d like to be the first to know, I’d be honored if you sign up for my author newsletter. I give away books and prizes with every issue!

Sign up for my author newsletter HERE.

You can pre-order Amish Covert Operation HERE.

Thank you for reading! 😊

When God Changes Your Plans

Hi friends. Dana R. Lynn here. As I am typing this post, the temperatures here in northwestern Pennsylvania have dropped to well below zero in what the news reporters are terming an "arctic blast". All the schools in the area have closed. Some have even already decided that they will be closed the next day, as well.  This is the view out my kitchen window. Brrr.

When I first heard all the schools were starting to close, I was still at work in a classroom. I recall looking around at the mound of papers surrounding me that I was working on. My first thoughts were, "But I have meetings planned!"

Silly, right?

But that's the way life is. Sometimes the things we plan are not what God has planned. It's not always an easy lesson to learn. In keeping with my word and resolution for 2019, I decided to react with gratitude, and thanked God for keeping my family safe and that our wood pile was well stocked to heat our home. What else was there to do?

Sometimes the changes that God leads us to can bless us in ways we never expected. When I first began writing, I was all about contemporary romance. Except it soon became apparent that it wasn't my strength. Suspense, although I had never thought about it before, came much easier to me. When my editor at Love Inspired Suspense asked me about adding Amish elements into my stories, my first inclination was, "No, thank you."

The idea wouldn't let me go. For weeks, I tried to plot a story without success. It wasn't until I began to add some Amish secondary characters and scenery that the story began to take shape. Plain Target was plotted. To date, that was the book that was the easiest for me to write. It was joy from the first word.

Guess I should have paid attention sooner, right?

I wrote Plain Target, the first book in my Amish Country Justice series, in 2016 and it released in 2017. I recently completed my tenth book for Love Inspired Suspense, set to release in October of 2019. I can hardly believe it. And just this past week, I received my cover for my June release, Guarding the Amish Midwife. 

Wait, here it is: 

I love this cover. It is absolutely perfect for the story.

I have no idea where God will lead me in the future, either in writing or in life. I do know that His plans may not always feel "convenient". However, I also know that His plans will be for my better, and that if I allow Him to lead the way, I will find true joy.