Another Side to the Ladies of Love Inspired Romance

You may not know, but many of the  Ladies of Love Inspired Romance write books other than Love Inspired Romances. So we're taking the last Monday of each month to tell you about those projects — starting here, now, with the release tomorrow (May 23) of my novella "A Match Made in Williamstown" in The Matchmakers anthology.

The Matchmakers started as a response to a publisher's call for novellas for a series of anthologies it was planning to release. I wanted to give it a shot and posted on a couple of Christian author online loops/groups for co-authors to join me. That connected me with Lisa Belcastro (who I knew slightly) and Terri Weldon. We clicked, and we went to work. But because of other commitments, we weren't able to meet the publisher's submission deadline. So we prayed on it and forged ahead on the project as an indie release. We had such a good time working together that we're planning to do a Valentine's Day anthology.

 Ellie Alexander is in love. And the only thing sweeter would be if Libby, Natalie, and Stephanie, her three unmarried, unattached granddaughters, could find the same happiness. Maybe with a little help from her and her beau Blake Parker . . .

A Match Made in Williamstown by Lady of Love Inspired Romance Jean C. Gordon — Libby Schuyler has avoided dating since her break-up with college-sweetheart Jack Parker. Out of nowhere, Jack shows up claiming Ellie is swindling his grandfather, Blake, through a travel agency partnership they’ve formed. Libby and Jack team up to protect their grandparents and get to the bottom of Ellie and Blake’s business and romantic relationship. While Libby and Jack fight their reignited attraction, Ellie and Blake conspire to bring the two together.

A Match Made in Sheffield by Terri Weldon— Natalie Benton bounced from one foster home to another until she landed on Ellie Alexander’s doorstep. Natalie’s vagabond childhood caused her to yearn for a secure life, which led to Natalie’s five-year plan: complete her law degree, marry the perfect man, become a partner at Montgomery, Haynes, and Preston, and produce one child. Getting arrested wasn’t in Natalie’s plan. Needing a public defender wasn’t in her plan. Falling for Grady Hunter, her public defender, definitely wasn’t in her plan. Can Grady convince Natalie there is more to life than her five-year plan? Is Ellie the only one who sees a future for Natalie and Grady?

A Match Made in Freedom by Lisa Belcastro — Stephanie Gould loves life on Martha’s Vineyard . . . until she runs into Kay and Tim, her former business partner and her ex-fiancé, who just returned from their honeymoon. Surprised by the heartache she thought was gone, Stephanie heads to the Berkshires to visit family and friends. Arriving in Stockbridge, Stephanie meets Captain Henry Lewis. Little does Stephanie know, her grandmother has already met Henry, and Ellie thinks Henry is perfect. Stephanie has no interest in dating, Henry included. If only Henry didn’t turn up everywhere Stephanie goes. When he walks up beside her at the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stephanie can’t deny her attraction, but she’ll do her best to fight it.

Amazon Kindle (release date May 23) and Print (available now)
Nook, iBooks & Kobo (release date May 23)
Barnes & Noble Print (available now)

And you can keep up with all of my future releases by following me on my Amazon Author Page, BookBub, or signing up for my Readers Group Newsletter.

Let's Take a Cruise! by Christine Johnson

Have you ever been on a cruise? Years ago, I was fortunate to take a short 3 day cruise to the Bahamas.

Though we often think of cruises to the Caribbean or Alaska or through the Panama Canal, they’re available in many other places, including the Great Lakes. When I was first married, I worked on an old passenger ship, the Canadian Pacific Railway steamship, S.S. Keewatin, that operated on the Great Lakes between 1908 and 1965. For many years, the only way to reach some areas was by ship (usually called boats on the Great Lakes…don’t ask why). The Keewatin was initially put in service to complete the rail route, because tracks had not been laid north of Lake Superior. By the time I worked on the ship, it didn’t run anymore and had been turned into a museum.

Here’s a photo of the ship.

I was even married aboard. Check out the wedding photo. My, do we look young!

During the years of homesteading and immigration, ships carried people deep into the Great Lakes.

In my current release, Mail Order Mix-Up, Pearl and her friend Amanda take a steamship from Chicago to the lumbering town of Singapore, Michigan. Their boat would have been less elegant than the S.S. Keewatin, but it would have seemed grand to two orphans from New York.

Where have you cruised, where would you like to take a cruise, or do you prefer land-based transportation?

Christine Johnson

Mail Order Mix-Up (LIH, April 2016)

Honor Redeemed (Revell, July 2016)

Mail Order Mommy (LIH, Nov. 2016)

http://christineelizabethjohnson.com

http://www.facebook.com/ChristineJohnsonAuthor

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall – Does the Season Matter?

 by Jean C. Gordon

Do you what September is? September is National Chicken Month. Thank you Little Gray, Yellow, Brown, and Yellow Spot for posing. 

It's also the beginning of Fall, my favorite season, ushered in at 10:29 last night. My birthday is in September. Our wedding anniversary is in September. We're blessed with beautiful fall foliage. And school starts. I was enough of a geek that I always looked forward to going back to school.

Which brings me to a question: Does the season a book is set in influence your book choices? Aside from holiday-month books — I love holiday books — I never gave much thought to the season in which a book was set, either in my reading or my writing, until my ninth book, Small-Town Mom. The season only came to my attention then when we were at the cover stage. The story takes place in the dead of a frigid Adirondack Mountains winter. But the book came out in June, and initially, the cover had no snow and looked like spring, not winter. The dusting of snow was added to bring it into season.

With the books I've written since then, I've thought about when it will be published and tried to mesh the story's season with the publication season (or close). And, just for fun, I checked the seasons my books are set in. Four are set in the fall, one in the winter, and the rest take place in the summer.