A.L. Sowards grew up in Moses Lake, Washington, then came to Utah to attend BYU and ended up staying. She wrote most of her latest release while her twin toddlers were sleeping and did most of the revisions while they were supposed to be sleeping, but were really using their crib mattresses as trampolines.
Visit A.L.: WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS
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LDSWBR: What books do you plan/hope to read this summer?
A.L.: Last year I realized I’d been spending so much time on research books that I hadn’t read much fiction, so this year my goal is to read at least one novel a month. (That sounds really lame, doesn’t it?) I want to read The Grecian Princess, by N.C. Allen, because I liked the first two books in the Isabelle Webb series, then there are a few national market WWII books I’d like to read, and my siblings keep suggesting I read something by Brandon Sanderson, so maybe I’ll try the Mistborn series this summer.
I have some WWII research to keep up on too, including The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson, about the campaign in Italy, and two books about WWII spies: Between Silk and Cyanide, by Leo Marks, and Flames in the Field, by Rita Kramer. I’m also in the goodreads WWII readers group and I’ll probably read something for their upcoming group reads. Right now I’m reading Combat Crew, by John Comer, as part of their WWII aviation month.
LDSWBR: Did you ever go to summer camp, and/or what is your most memorable camping experience?
A.L.: I went to church camp when I was in Young Women. I was part of a huge ward, and we’d stay up late playing Encore (a game with two teams, and you go back and forth singing parts of songs with a specific word in the lyrics until the losing team runs out of songs). The other wards weren’t thrilled by our enthusiastic singing late into the night, but we had fun.
LDSWBR: If you could have a summer home anywhere in the world, where would it be?
A.L.: Part of me wants to say somewhere in Europe, but then it would be too expensive to actually visit the home, so I’ll settle for somewhere along the US Pacific coast, so I could drive there, and lie on the beach while planning out my next scenes, then type while listening to the waves.
LDSWBR: Thank you so much!
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Find Sworn Enemy:
AMAZON (Paperback & Kindle) | DESERET BOOK (Paperback, eBook & Audio/MP3) | GOODREADS
June 1944. As World War II rages, the people of Eastern Europe are hopelessly trapped between two formidable forces: Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. In their midst, a band of heroes works to defend against the inevitable Communist takeover.
After narrowly escaping her Nazi captors, French Resistance worker Genevieve Olivier has fled to Allied territory with the help of American Lieutenant Peter Eddy. Their connection is undeniable, forged in the crucible of danger. But despite their blossoming feelings for each other, they must both finish the work they began . . .
In the safety of England, Genevieve hopes to find purpose as a nurse—all the while unaware that the Gestapo still seeks the woman who slipped through their grasp. When she is called upon to resume a life of danger as a French spy, will her desire to prove herself be her downfall?
Recruited by an elite special-ops team intent on thwarting the Nazis, Peter finds himself engaged in a personal battle as well—there is a traitor among his comrades. Deep in the Carpathian Mountains, Peter combats an unknown foe. The stakes are high as he fights to save the lives of his teammates.
They are miles apart, yet as Genevieve and Peter fight for their own survival, they find a common well of strength in their faith—and their determination to be reunited.
What singing games did/do you play while camping?
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20 Responses to “Sworn Enemy by A.L. Sowards – Countdown to Summer 2013”
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The only experience camping I have was girls camp as a young woman. We’d sing typical songs. I don’t remember many games, except taking the more gullible girls on a Snype Hunt. So mean!
I just read Sworn Enemy. Very enjoyable sequel to Espionage.
The only time I remember singing/playing games while camping was at YW camp. I don’t know the names of most of them, but I do remember The Funky Chicken.
I have not done a lot of camping except for a few years of Girl’s Camp — the main song I remember singing is “Father Abraham”!
Just the typical campfire songs. Love listening to someone play the guitar by the fire, though!
Singing – well, there’s the crazy moose song and the Swiss maid song with gazillions of actions, among many other songs!
I love the sound of this book. I never went to LDS girls camp, being a convert. But I did get to go as a church leader. Holy cow but that’s a lot of work!
I have I, Spy (loved it!), A Blind Eye (can’t wait to read it), and I’d love a chance at getting a copy of this book.
I loved this book. It was really interesting to learn more about a side of WW2 that I didn’t know much about. As a young woman my favorite part of girls camp was singing. I got to be the youth singing leader once and it was so much fun! I loved singing “Singing in the Rain” complete with freezing various body parts and attempting to sing with your tongue sticking out. So fun!
We didn’t camp much as a family, but I went to Girls Camp every year and I loved the songs we used to sing. In fact, I still sing them to my kids :) !! One song many of us used to love to sing was “A boy and a girl in a little a canoe.”
I love the usual camp songs, but the most fun I’ve had singing was traveling as a kid. It was way before portable DVD players and game systems, so road trips tended to be very long and boring. One of the songs that we would always sing was a rousing rendition of “I’ve been working on the Railroad”. Over and over and over again…
This book looks great!!
Ride, Ride, Ride that Pony. Always a favorite at ALL of my camps :D
This is a book I really want to read. I love historical fiction. I work at a library so it would be great to win a copy for the library.
Wow! You all have good memories. I would have to find a camp song book to remember any names of the songs we would sing. I have been reading quite a few W.W.II books lately so this book looks very interesting to me. This author is amazing to have written a book with twin toddlers. My second kid is a toddler right now and much harder than my first. I don’t get much productive work done when she naps, I just try to relax myself!
Yup, I just sang all the girl’s camp songs – so that’s what I sing to my kids when we go camping (which hasn’t been often yet!).
Love Girls’ Camp songs! They burrowed into my memory and I sing them all to my granddaughter now.
It’s more chanting than singing, but we played a clap ping game where you had to stay on the beat and call someone’s assigned name after yours was called. This is a terrible description of how to play, but it was fun.
This book is SO GOOD!
It pulls you in on page one and keeps you going as you fight, fear, love, and conquer right along with the characters.
You will be captured and give in to this wonderful telling of WWII happenings.
And your final release will be when you turn that last page and sigh knowing that what you just read was wonderful, and heart-wrenching, and will forever be kept in your mind.
YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK!
YW camp songs…a VERY LONG time ago :)
We always played Phase 10 and s’mores! lots and lots of s’mores!!
First, loved Espionage, cant wait to read this next one.
OK camping theme on everything. I remember the fund songs like Aardvarks are our friends, and ridiculous songs like that.
When I camped, the only thing I sang were the blues.