13 days until Christmas
Julianne Donaldson grew up as the daughter of a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. She learned how to ski in the Italian Alps, visited East Berlin before the wall came down, and spent three years living next to a 500-year-old castle. After earning a degree in English, she turned her attention to writing about distant times and places. She lives in Utah with her husband and four children.
Please take a minute to visit Julianne at one of the links below:
WEBSITE | BLOG | TWITTER | FACEBOOK
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LDSWBR: What is your favorite Christmas song/hymn? Does it have special meaning to you?
JULIANNE: The First Noel.
LDSWBR: Do you get together with friends/family to play board games on Christmas or New Year’s? What games do you like to play? Do you have a favorite game from your childhood?
JULIANNE: We play games with my husband’s family on a night between Christmas and New Year’s, and it’s whatever game is popular that year, as long as it’s not Risk. Risk was outlawed years ago.
LDSWBR: If you could recommend only one book from those you read this year, what would it be and why?
JULIANNE: I loved Ruta Sepetys’ “Out of the Easy.” I thought it was a beautiful, moving story that was full of hope.
LDSWBR: Thank you, Julianne!
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Blackmoore
AMAZON | KINDLE | BARNES & NOBLE | NOOK | DESERET BOOK | SEAGULL BOOK
Kate Worthington knows her heart and she knows she will never marry. Her plan is to travel to India instead—if only to find peace for her restless spirit and to escape the family she abhors. But Kate’s meddlesome mother has other plans. She makes a bargain with Kate: India, yes, but only after Kate has secured—and rejected—three marriage proposals.
Kate journeys to the stately manor of Blackmoore determined to fulfill her end of the bargain and enlists the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield. But when it comes to matters of love, bargains are meaningless and plans are changeable. There on the wild lands of Blackmoore, Kate must face the truth that has kept her heart captive. Will the proposal she is determined to reject actually be the one thing that will set her heart free?
Set in Northern England in 1820, Blackmoore is a Regency romance that tells the story of a young woman struggling to learn how to follow her heart. It is Wuthering Heights meets Little Women with a delicious must-read twist.
My husband and I banned Monopoly shortly after we were married. Are there any games that have been banned or outlawed in your home?
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NO PURCHASE NECESSARY; entrants must be 18 years or older; open to residents of continental US only; giveaway begins December 3, 2013 and all entries must be received by 12:00 Midnight December 23, 2013 Mountain Time; to enter, complete the required entry on each post and any additional entries of your choice if listed; LDS Women’s Book Review reserves the right to determine what is considered a thoughtful comment as per each post’s required entry; giveaway prizes include a $50 Amazon gift card and a variety of book prizes donated by featured authors; the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning; LDS Women’s Book Review is not liable for technical problems which may affect entry into the giveaway; winner identity will be verified by email address; winner will be selected December 28, 2013 by use of a sequence generator on random.org; winner will have until January 4, 2014 to claim their prize; if any prize winner forfeits or does not claim prize, prize will be re-awarded to next winner in sequence; all prizes will be awarded; limit of two prizes per entrant; this contest/giveaway is not associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other entity unless otherwise specified; by entering the giveaway you give LDS Women’s Book Review the right to publicize your name on the LDS Women’s Book Review blog; winner agrees to release LDS Women’s Book Review from any liability as a result of winning; email comments and questions to LDS Women’s Book Review – ldswbr (at) gmail (dot) com; giveaway subject to Utah regulations; VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
**Book Prizes (as of 12/12/13 – more to be added to this list!)**
- Rocky Road by Josi S. Kilpack (personalized copy)
- Shannon’s Hope by Josi S. Kilpack (personalized copy)
- The House at Rose Creek by Jenny Proctor (signed copy)
- Penumbras by Braden Bell (signed copy)
- The Reluctant Blogger by Ryan Rapier (personalized copy)
- Just Ella by Annette K. Larsen (personalized paperback)
- Longing For Home by Sarah M. Eden (signed copy)
- Mile 21 by Sarah Dunster (ebook or signed paperback)
- Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson (audio CD)
Previous Countdown to Christmas 2013 posts:
- Rocky Road and Shannon’s Hope by Josi S. Kilpack (12/3/13)
- The House at Rose Creek by Jenny Proctor (12/4/13)
- Penumbras by Braden Bell (12/5/13)
- The Reluctant Blogger by Ryan Rapier (12/6/13)
- Just Ella by Annette K. Larsen (12/7/13)
- Longing For Home by Sarah M. Eden (12/9/13)
- Mile 21 by Sarah Dunster (12/10/13)
47 Responses to “Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson – Countdown to Christmas 2013”
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No games have been outlawed, but no one in my family will play Boggle with me. :o) How cool to live next to a castle!
Yahtzee was outlawed after the year my sister threw the dice across the room when she lost. :-P (We had to ban dominoes, too, for the same reason!)
No games banned, but we do try to not be too competitive! We love games!
We don’t exactly have outlawed games, but we don’t play games that have had a specific poor sport player.
No games have been banned at my house….Although I might have to get together with Lori above…I love word games like Boggle and no one likes that at my house.
My husband and I both HATE to lose, so he can’t play boggle or scrabble with me and I can’t play video games with him, especially Dr. Mario and Tetris…it’s the best way we know to avoid having potty mouths! :)
i always cheated at monopoly when i was the banker … :) so no one will play with me anymore even though that was when i was like 12!
love the game banagrams — that’s not very competitive and it’s fun.
Loved ‘Blackmoore’! No banning of games but I much rather read any day!
No games have been outlawed in my family. A favorite game of ours to play during family reunions (which usually happens around the holidays) is the newlywed game. It’s so fun to hear all the answers and laugh about them with one another.
I am the one who outlawed Risk. Won’t even let him buy it…but I love all other games.
We love games at our house and so far none have been banned, although there are some that are harder to get others to play with you. :)
We haven’t banned any games, but my family always gets in a fight on our annual New Year’s Eve game night, so maybe we should start banning them!
I loved Out of the Easy; I’m glad to see Julianne recommend it. :)
We love to play games! There are some games that are more competitive than others, such as Tetris, and cribbage so they aren’t played as often as I’d like (you can tell who normally wins :) I’m truly humble about it too). It’s better to avoid conflict when possible. Play on!!
We haven’t banned any games, but I think everyone has a game that they don’t care for. My husband is not a Monopoly fan. I sure try and avoid Stratego whenever possible. My youngest sons are not big Scrabble or Bananagram or Quiddler players. And for some unexplainable reason, son #2 doesn’t like Ticket to Ride Europe and only plays it with me when he can “gift” it to me for my birthday. :)
I refuse to play Risk, but it’s not really banned, I just don’t like that kind of game!
We don’t have any that are outlawed, but we do have some that one or more family members refuse to play. I won’t play Risk or Monopoly. My husband won’t play Scrabble.
I wish risk was banned. We grew up playing games on new year’s eve and i miss it. This post has inspired me to talk to my husband about making that our family tradition too!
We haven’t banned any games but I do sometimes hide Candyland.
No games are banned but I refuse to play Scrabble with my husband because it takes FOREVER!!
Banned is such a harsh word. But I will admit to several games being placed on sabbatical.
Not married yet, but I would probably ban Monopoly too.
We should ban risk. Every year, we have a tradition of playing it the day after Thanksgiving. And every year one of our children gets really mad when he starts losing and upends the table.
I love “Ticket to Ride” and only my dad will play with me because I am too competitive.
Phase 10 is played at the participants own risk. I just have to say that I love Julianne Donaldson!! I own her books, have given them as gifts, and tell people about them as often as possible. She is such a talented writer!!
We are still in the phase of playing games like Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, so the hubby and I aren’t so competitive these days. I wish we could play better, more complicated games sometimes, but someday we will, right?
When the kids were younger we had to stop playing Sorry….too many tears.
My husband’s family also has a Risk ban. His Aunt used to call it “the game of the devil” because it caused so many fights!
Loved Blackmoore so much, by the way. :)
We haven’t banned any games. My husband and I love to play any type of board game. The more complicated, the better.
I loved Blackmoore! Fabulous book! So far, no games have been outlawed… :D
Nope, no banned games. But my husband and I have pretty different tastes in games.
No chess may be played whilst I’m pregnant. I cry when I lose. After the baby…game on!
My husband and I haven’t been married long enough to outlaw a board game from our home but I could potentially see Risk getting the boot in the future.
No banned games, but we do have the rule that we all have to leave as friends….everyone gets pretty competitive :) and we still want to like each other after.
I had to laugh at Julianne’s comment about Risk! We have a love/hate relationship with that game at my house–meaning my husband LOVES it and I HATE it! We love playing games together but that is definitely not one of them.
We had to ban “The Name Game” from our family functions and just mentioning the thing will stir up tension. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152006402573745&set=p.10152006402573745&type=1&theater
I love Julianne Donaldson, by the way!
LOVED. LOVED. LOVED. Blackmoore!
All games are welcome at our house…although most of my family would rather watch a movie :)
I’d love to be able to outlaw Risk too — my husband’s family loves to play but it gets super intense!
This book sounds REALLY GOOD! I’d really love to read it, since it’s right up my alley!
Loved Edenbrooke-just finished it, so I’d love to read this one! We love phase 10, farkle, 3 in a row, and any games you can play in group situations. We haven’t banned any games, but some people get pretty competitive!
I loved Edenbrooke and would love to read Blackmoore. As for games, we purchased The Office game and stopped playing that. We would argue about some of the things that were open to interpretation, so it doesn’t get played much. With young kids we play more of their games lately anyway, but they are really liking Shelby’s Snack Shack game a lot!
We don’t have any games banned, I actually wished we played games more. It is something we are trying to start doing more with our children.
I’ve learned that if we play games with my husbands family to watch close, they like to sneaky cheat.
There hasn’t really been any games that have been outlawed, but for a while, my family did have alterations to the rules of Ticket to Ride, which meant that we weren’t really able to play with my aunt and uncle who insisted on the “correct and proper” rules.
Loved Edenbrooke and Balckmoore! We haven’t had to ban any board games here yet:)
My husband doesn’t like any games involving cards. I don’t really like Monopoly but I do LOVE it Monopoly Blast (is that the name?).
Nope–no games have been banned…yet.
Well I guess we have banned ourselves from any games that have any small stuff until my babies are at least 8 and understand things and don’t put things in their mouth.