Guest Post & Giveaway: The Ornament Keeper by Eva Marie Everson

Welcome to the blog tour & giveaway for The Ornament Keeper by Eva Marie Everson, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: The Ornament Keeper  
Author: Eva Marie Everson  
Publisher: New Hope Publishers  
Release Date: September 24, 2018  
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Holiday

Award-winning author Eva Marie Everson wraps up a Christmas story of hope, love, and forgiveness just in time for the holidays.

The Ornament Keeper, a contemporary Christmas novella, features Felicia and Jackson Morgan who are spending their first Christmas apart after twenty years of marriage. But a lifetime of gifted ornaments helps Felicia piece together the story of their marriage and the one mistake of unforgiveness she made before they said, “I do.”

Can these memory-filled ornaments reunite this family before Christmas? Only time will tell.  

PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | CBD | Book Depository

---

GUEST POST

Main Character Bios:

Felicia Stewart Morgan is a woman who is about forty years of age. She is married to Jackson Morgan, a man she has loved since they were high school sweethearts. They have three children--Sara, 19, Travis, 14, and Hank, 7. All three children came as surprises and all three interrupted Felicia's plans for higher education. Still, she loves them dearly--that love is the one thing in life she is sure of. 

Jackson Morgan left UGA midway through a four-year degree after his father dies unexpectedly. Jackson nearly worshipped his father whose business--an auto parts store in a small Georgia town--meant everything to him. Jackson cannot bear the thought of losing both his dad and the family losing the business, so he drops out of school. In time, he makes the business more successful than his father ever dreamed of, including expanding the business to other locations. 

Felicia and Jackson appear to have a rock-solid marriage. He is as handsome as she is beautiful. Their children are thriving, they live in a beautiful home, they both work jobs they enjoy. But underneath the façade, a root of unforgiveness grows in Felicia's heart. And this Christmas, for the Morgan family, is different than the others before … this Christmas, Jackson and Felicia are separated and neither of them can figure out why. 

As Felicia opens up the special ornaments given to her over the years by Jackson, the story of their marriage is revealed and Felicia finds herself coming to understand just how powerful unforgiveness--even over the smallest things--really is. 

Author Holiday Favorites: 

I absolutely adore Christmas! My mother did, too … so having her ornaments and do-dads places here and there in the home brings her all the more closer to me. I put up four trees filled with special ornaments. I also have an antique wooden bowl (that my great-grandmother used for making bread) in the center of the dining room table which is filled with ornaments from my mother's collection (that I couldn't fit on the trees). Placing it on the table is almost a ritual, done with absolute love and care. 

I play a lot of holiday music at Christmas … starting the day after Thanksgiving. And I enjoy hot cups of apple cider. 

One of the most important traditions for me, however, comes during the years when I am able to return to my hometown of Sylvania, Georgia. Shopping in the stores with my best friend, Carla … seeing the sites from my childhood … breathing in the cold air … saying "Merry Christmas" to those who shaped my childhood … but most especially, attending the Christmas Eve candlelight service with my brother. These days are so precious to me, especially as I become older, knowing they are now rare gifts. 

---

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eva Marie Everson is a multiple-award winning author and speaker who hails from the picturesque Southern town of Sylvania, Georgia. She is president of Word Weavers International, director of Florida Christian Writers Conference, Managing Editor at Firefly Southern Fiction, and enjoys coaching new authors through her company, Pen in Hand. She is an avid photographer who enjoys turning her photos into inspiring memes for you to share (with proper attribution). Eva Marie and her husband make their home in Central Florida. They are the parents of three fabulous children who have blessed them with the world's greatest grandchildren.

CONTACT: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

---

TOUR GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive:

• a print copy of The Ornament Keeper, and
• an ornament handpicked by the author

Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight September 17, 2018 and last through 11:59pm September 24, 2018. US only. Winners will be notified within a week of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

---

Follow along at JustReadTours for a full schedule of stops!

Guest Post & Giveaway: Falling for the Cowgirl by Tina Radcliffe

Welcome to my stop on the JustRead Publicity Tour's BLOG TOUR for Falling for the Cowgirl by Tina Radcliffe!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: Falling for the Cowgirl
Series: Big Heart Ranch, Book 2
Author: Tina Radcliffe
Publisher: Love Inspired
Release Date: June 19, 2018 (Print) July 1, 2018 (Ebook)
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Western
Links: Goodreads l Book Bub

Traveling for Book Research

By Tina Radcliffe

Confession time! I the only place I have ever traveled for research is to the deep and scary recesses 
of my mind.

I’ve lived in many places, which is a plus when deciding where to set a book. I’m from Western New 
York, mere blocks from Lake Erie. I’ve lived many years in Oklahoma, Colorado and now Arizona. 
During my time in the Army, I temporarily called Alabama, Massachusetts, and Germany home.

I first learned to appreciate the unique attributes of each home when I was in Germany. The barracks 
I lived in originally housed the German Luftwaffe. I can remember hanging out the window one 
evening and looking at the Gablingen Kaserne (my base) and thinking, I may never pass this way again. 
(Okay, yes, Seals & Crofts did inspire that thought).

There are distinctly unique locale memories from every place I have lived. The key is to layer the details 
in to enrich your story, not to create a travelogue.

Western New York: Picking grapes in summer, building snow forts in winter.

Alabama: Red ants. During basic training, I sat on a hill which turned out to be red ants.

Massachusetts: I’ll never forget visiting Walden Pond, and Author’s Ridge, a section of Sleepy Hollow 
Cemetery in Concord.

Oklahoma: Too many wonderful memories. I lived there for nearly two decades, which is why I’ve set 
six Love Inspired books here.

Colorado: I called home for 17 years. My favorite local. I have set 4 Love Inspired books there.

Arizona: My current home. Is it time for an Arizona series?

My favorite writer’s trick is to create a fictional town based on a real town. This allows me the structure 
I need for planning distance, evaluating the weather and flora. It also allows me use my past to bring the 
story to life. The other plus is that using a fictional town allows you artistic license. There will be no 
reader letters to advise you that the Denny’s on the corner of Main and State Street is now closed.

As a contemporary fiction writer are many ways to enhance and update my memory.

Google Earth- This tool provides a 3D map of the earth and the street 
view. I used this to explore Del Norte, Colorado the fictional setting for 
my Paradise books and to get the layout for Pawhuska, Oklahoma for 
Big Heart Ranch series.

YouTube videos- We all know the value of YouTube for learning a new 
skill. I’ve used it to watch recordings of tornados (though I have been 
in several) and to view a road trip my hero and heroine would take.

Online forums- Online tourist forums and the comments on popular 
sites like Yelp are hugely helpful to discover nuggets of information 
about local eateries and traditions.

Chamber of Commerce- Don’t forget to contact the chamber for your 
fictional or real location. They can send booklets and brochures that 
can trigger story ideas. I’ve called and talked to them to verify facts.

Interviews- It goes without saying that interviews are a great way to make sure you have the correct 
information. I called and spoke to a local sheriff for one of my Paradise series books and have spoken 
to quite a few experts on the phone for my Big Heart series. A few simple questions answered by an 
expert can untangle a plot issue.

To me, it’s as much fun to layout a fictional town as it is to create compelling characters. Some authors 
would argue that a well build fictional world is as much a character as the hero or heroine. I agree.

What do you think? Do you enjoy fictional towns? Or do you prefer authors set books in real location?

She won the job… Can he win her heart?

Hiring Amanda “AJ” McAlester as his assistant at the Big Heart Ranch isn’t foreman Travis Maxwell’s first choice—but his sisters insist she’s perfect for the job. And AJ’s determined to prove she’s just as qualified as any man. But with money on the line, AJ and her innovative ideas could put him at risk of losing everything…including his heart.

LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | iTunes | CBD | Book Depository | BAM! | Barnes & Noble

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Originally from Western, N.Y., Tina Radcliffe left home for a tour of duty with the Army Security Agency stationed in Augsburg, Germany and ended up in Tulsa Oklahoma. While living in Tulsa she spent ten years as a Certified Oncology R.N. Her move to Colorado led to a career as a library cataloger. A freelance writer for over twenty years, Tina is a two-time RWA Golden Heart finalist, two-time Carol Award finalist, and a 2014 ACFW Carol Award winner. She currently resides in Arizona where she writes fun, heartwarming romance.

Stay up to date on all her releases by signing up for her newsletter HERE. (http://bit.ly/2angfWP)

TO CONNECT WITH TINA: website, facebook, twitter, pinterest, instagram, Book Bub

GIVEAWAY

Tina has graciously offered (1) winner an awesome Falling for the Cowgirl prize pack that includes:

• An autographed copy of Falling for the Cowgirl
• Corkcicle Canteen Classic Collection-Water Bottle & Thermos-Triple Insulated Shatterproof Stainless Steel, 9 oz, Gloss Pink
• ESVAN Original Floral Tote Bag Shoulder Bag for Gym Hiking Picnic Travel Beach
• $20.00 Amazon Gift Card

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below.  Complete prize open to US mailing addresses only. If international winner, winner will win the gift card only.

ENTER HERE or use the Entry Form below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway will begin at midnight June 25, 2018 and last through 11:59 PM on July 4, 2018. Winners will be notified within a week of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

Be sure to stop at a stop each day for extra entries!

TOUR SCHEDULE

For the full tour schedule, click on either of the launch pages below.

Launch Page @JustReadTours

Launch Page @JustCommonly

*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.

Book Tour and Guest Post: Author Donna Wichelman of The Waldensian Series



On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Light Out of Darkness

(The Waldensian Series #1)
By Donna Wichelman
Romantic Suspense

Paperback & ebook, 320 pages
April 2nd 2018 by Soujourner's Press

A prestigious art exhibition turns into a horrific spectacle when a murder sends an art curator and a professor on a hunt for a highly coveted stolen painting.

Escaping a painful past in Cleveland, Ohio, Jamie Holbrooke flees to Milan, Italy as an art curator. But her past follows her during an evening stroll along Varenna’s shoreline walk when an assailant, who looks like her dead brother, presses a mysterious riddle into her hand. Still reeling from shock the next day, she discovers her long-time paragon, Dr. Alessandro Marianni, may have a link to the enigmatic riddle. Before she can discover the answers, their colleague falls prey to an assassin’s bullet. Convinced the riddle and murder are connected, Jamie and Alessandro risk their lives to uncover why an obscure painting has caught the attention of art critics and criminals alike. At stake is a two-thousand–year-old drama, unfolding in the contemporary world of the Northern Italian Alps.

Will Jamie and Alessandro stop powerful organized crime figures before the painting is lost forever and with it a secret more valuable than the prized artwork? Will Jamie find the answers to help her reclaim her life again? She will need the courage to face her fears and the persevering faith of Dr. Alessandro Marianni to heal her wounded heart.

Goodreads│Amazon

Undaunted Valor

(The Waldensian Series #2)
By Donna Wichelman
Romantic Suspense

Paperback & ebook, 281 pages
April 4th 2018 by Sojourner's Press

For nature lovers, ski aficionados, travel enthusiasts and history scholars, the French Alps offer some of the most spectacular scenery and outdoor recreation in all Europe with its majestic mountain peaks, cascading waterfalls, unspoiled forests and quaint mountain villages. People come to get away from the daily grind and rejuvenate their spirits.

But when Alessandro Marianni’s grandmother Luciana is kidnapped during a church conference in Chamonix, the same landscape becomes an ominous height to scale, and Jamie Holbrooke and her fiancé Alessandro have difficulty distinguishing between friend and foe on the race to find her. They will have to weather a rainstorm on a mountain trail, negotiate a dangerous waterfall, outmaneuver a car chase, and defy an assassin’s gun in their search.

Will they find their beloved Luciana before it’s too late? Who will die on the way to the finish line? Who can they trust? And where will Jamie find the courage to confront her adversaries?

In this sequel to Light Out of Darkness, the answers will lie in unanticipated places and with unexpected allies and require Jamie to discover what it means to trust God with Undaunted Valor.

Goodreads│Amazon

Guest Post from Author Donna Wichelman

A Series is Born

A number of years ago while my family and I were on vacation in Varenna, Italy and enthralled with the beauty of the Lake District and the Northern Italian Alps, I pictured the place as an enchanting setting for a book. On our return home, I couldn’t get the allure and Old World charm out of my head. Still, I needed a story to make the setting come alive.

I went in search of a story—something that was unique to the setting and to Italy and its history but still hadn’t been done a thousand times before. That’s when I became fascinated with the real-life story of the Waldensians or Vaudois (pronounced voo-dwa), as they call themselves. This pre-reformation Christian sect remained resilient as a persecuted people and often suffered martyrdom and great strife in their search for religious freedoms.

The Waldensian story is a universal story that most people can identify with, because we all long to live unfettered in the pursuit of our hopes and dreams and life-long happiness. It’s the story of the African American slave in Roots, the French peasantry in Les Miserables, and more recently, Eastern Europeans when the Berlin Wall fell. In fact, Zamir comments on that event during a moment when he is being honest with Luciana and talks about his sheltered life under strict communism in Albania. “Until nineteen ninety-one, [Zamir’s family] had never imagined they could enjoy a reality outside their small world.”

Waldensians wanted religious freedoms to live and worship and assemble in the peace and tranquility of their home valleys in the French and Italian Alps. Their real-life story is fraught with drama, romance and intrigue as families were separated, whole communities exiled, and individuals martyred for what they believed.

Though church historians have written volumes on the religious sect, I found only a handful of fiction novels set around the Waldensian story.  I also didn’t want to write a historical, because it seemed too niche. However given the history of another Italian institution—organized crime—I saw the potential for our modern-day heroes to have a different enemy to fight, a foe powerful enough to entrap, enslave, and expunge them from existence but could be defeated by an even more powerful force—love.

I developed a fictional Christian suspense series that created a contemporary story around a people whose real-life history of valor and faith endured the test of time. In The Waldensian Series, their history becomes integral to the plotlines and character arcs, enabling them to find courage and hope in their own circumstances where death is only a breath away.

Jamie and Alessandro’s stories convey something we all long for—to find peace and joy and love in spite of the complexities of life. In the process, they also find each other. Their faith in God and love in each other transcends the confines of our earthly lives, and we have hope that it can be our stories, too.

If you read my books and would like to comment on your own journey, please contact me at www.donnawichelman.com.

About the Author

Donna Wichelman was a communications professional before writing full-time. She has authored short stories, essays and articles in various inspirational publications and lives her dream writing novels and screenplays. She and her husband work with teens at their local church in Fort Collins, Colorado. They travel, bike and kayak whenever their schedules allows.

Website│Blog│Goodreads│Facebook│Twitter│Pinterest│Amazon│Newsletter

Tour Schedule

May 14th:
Launch
Heidi Reads...
Moments
Stacking My Book Shelves!
May 15th:
Colorimetry
Uplifting Reads
Reading Is My SuperPower
Remembrancy
May 16th:
Paulette's Papers
Hardcover Feedback
It's all About the Romance
Jen Around the World
May 17th:
Mel's Shelves
Rockin' Book Reviews
Hearts & Scribbles
May 18th:
Teatime and Books
Locks, Hooks and Books
underneath the covers
All-of-a-kind Mom
Andi's Book Reviews
May 19th: Grand Finale

Tour Giveaway

1st Prize: $25 Amazon Gift Card, Copy of the LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS (signed print copy to US winner, ebook to international winner) + 4 oz. Tea of your choice from the Tea Source or 1 LB of Coffee from DazBog Coffee (will Add $10 to Gift Card for international gift in lieu of tea or coffee)

2nd Prize: $15 Amazon Gift Card + Copy of LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS (signed print copy to US winner, ebook to international winner)

3rd Prize: Copy of LIGHT OUT OF DARKNESS (signed print copy to US winner, ebook to international winner)

Ends May 23rd

a Rafflecopter giveaway