Countdown to Summer 2012 – LDS Women's Book Review

Countdown to Summer 2012 Winners

Posted by Shanda Countdown to Summer, Special Features

Jul 062012

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Countdown to Summer 2012. We hope both the authors and our blog readers enjoyed the countdown. Every year the selection of great books by talented authors grows, and the Countdowns are a fun way to celebrate great reads.

I had planned to draw names and post winners yesterday but ended up being away from home and my computer most of the day. Are you ready to see who won? Of course you are, and if you haven’t already scrolled down to see if your name is on the list I am seriously impressed. :)

Here are the winners of the book prizes generously donated by their authors:

(as per random.org)

Reality Check by Karen Tuft – RACHEL

Cold Justice by Kathi Oram Peterson – ALYSON MARTIN

Journey to the Fringe by Kelli Nielsen – LOLAWID

Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena – CINDY

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson – CINDY

Of Grace & Chocolate by Krista Lynne Jensen – LOLAWID

Espionage by AL Sowards – CATHY JEPPSEN

And finally-

This year’s winner of the $25 Amazon gift card is…….

****CHRIS F.*****

Congratulations to all of you! Please send an email to ldswbr (at) gmail (dot) com with your address so the authors can get your prizes out to you.

Thanks again for all of the wonderful comments left on each of the Countdown to Summer 2012 posts. You all had such nice things to say and I know the authors appreciate the great feedback and encouragement.

We hope you all had a great 4th of July.

Enjoy the rest of your summer and keep reading!

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson – Countdown to Summer 2012

Posted by Shanda Countdown to Summer, Special Features

Jun 302012

Melanie Bennett Jacobson is an avid reader, amateur cook, and champion shopper. She consumes astonishing amounts of chocolate, chick flicks, and romance novels. After meeting her husband online, she is now living happily married in Southern California with her growing family and a series of doomed houseplants. Melanie is a former English teacher and a popular speaker who loves to laugh and make others laugh. In her down time (ha!), she writes romantic comedies for Covenant and maintains her humorous slice-of-life blog. Her third novel, Twitterpated, hits shelves in March.

Follow Melanie: WEBSITE | BLOG | TWITTER

LDSWBR: Do you find it easier or more difficult to write during the summertime? Why?

MELANIE: SO MUCH HARDER. It’s mainly because my littlest one just gave up naps and that was my sacred writing time, but it’s also because we don’t have a set daily routine where I’ve blocked out writing time. I don’t want to drag my kids back early from the beach just so I can write. It also doesn’t help that I’m in between projects right now, but I’m about to start outlining a new novel next week, so maybe I’ll hit my groove soon!

LDSWBR: Would you rather be in the pool or next to the pool?

MELANIE: Next to the pool, hands down. I’m always tucked up under my big, shady umbrella avoiding the splashes while I watch my kids play. I’ll go out if my toddler insists but I’d much rather not. Now, if I could just drift on an air mattress without small child water disturbances, that would be a different story.

LDSWBR: Ice cream or slushie? What flavor?

MELANIE: Ice cream. Butter pecan. Or maybe cookies and cream. Although mint chip is great in the summer. Then again, I kind of love straight up vanilla. Um, I guess ALL THE FLAVORS. But not chocolate. I don’t like chocolate ice cream or cake or milk. But I love chocolate everything else.

LDSWBR: Thanks, Melanie. Enjoy your summer!

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson

AMAZON | DESERET BOOK | SEAGULL BOOK

Jessie Taylor is furious when her roommate secretly posts her picture on the dating website LDS Lookup — furious, that is, until she spends all night instant messaging Ben Bratton, a man whose wit and warmth just might make Jessie forget the train wreck of her last romantic relationship. Their first date is a smashing success (literally), but Ben’s overall awesomeness can’t save Jessie from having to deal with Craig, her competitive coworker whose baiting behavior sets new standards for obnoxiousness. Determined to beat Craig at his own game, Jessie spends long office hours finishing projects and putting out fires, but while her performance wows her boss, it only makes Ben skittish— after a failed engagement to an up-and-coming lawyer, he’s not about to pair up with someone who’s married to her job. Will Jessie figure out how to be true to herself and take her big chance at love before it’s gone with a click of the mouse?

* * *

To enter the LDSWBR Countdown to Summer 2012, leave a thoughtful comment below.

Be sure to comment on each Countdown to Summer 2012 post for more chances to win. Please click through to the website as only comments submitted directly on this post will be accepted.

Prizes include a $25 Amazon gift card and the author-donated books listed below. This is raffle-style drawing where all entries throughout the contest period are entered into the same “hat” for all prizes. US only. 18 years and older please. See all contest rules and restrictions HERE.

If you don’t already follow LDSWBR through email, Facebook or Twitter (those cute little book buttons on the sidebar) you may want to consider doing so during the contest so you don’t miss any posts or chances to enter the drawing. Following LDSWBR is not required but it is nice to know that our book reviews are useful to other readers. :)

If one of our LDSWBR reviews has ever helped you find a book you enjoyed, perhaps you would consider helping us spread the word about the LDSWBR Countdown to Summer 2012. A link posted to your friends and family either in email or on your favorite social network would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Book prizes donated by the authors include:

Reality Check by Karen Tuft

Cold Justice by Kathi Oram Peterson

Journey to the Fringe by Kelli Nielsen

Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena (choice of print, Kindle or Nook)

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson

Of Grace and Chocolate by Krista Lynne Jensen

Espionage by A.L. Sowards

Becoming Bayley by Susan Auten – Countdown to Summer 2012

Posted by Shanda Countdown to Summer, Special Features

Jun 292012

I’ve always loved telling stories. My favorite is the one where I sent the wrong letter to the right missionary. We were married the next summer. I attended LDS Business College where I earned an Associate’s in Computer Technology and Brigham Young University where I should have majored in English. I live in a small town nestled in the heart of the Appalachians. When I’m not busy writing, I can be found baking cookies, going to the movies, helping with the homework or catching fireflies with my handsome husband and four adorable children.

Follow Susan: BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

LDSWBR: Do you find it easier or more difficult to write during the summertime? Why?

SUSAN: I don’t know that it’s harder for me to write in the summertime. I pound it out during the school year so that when my kids are out, I can take a break. I write when I can, but I don’t let the guilt creep in if we went to the pool or the movies or caught fireflies instead. My family will always come first and there’s plenty of time for writing during the school year.

LSDWBR: Would you rather be in the pool or next to the pool?

SUSAN: This is a tricky question for me. I’m pretty picky about the pool. I love to swim. Laps. In a calm lap pool. I don’t like to be cold and unless I’m doing some serious moving, the pool makes me chilly. If the water is warm enough though, or my husband throws me in, I splash around with the family.

LDSWBR: Ice cream or slushie? What flavor?

SUSAN: Ice cream! (Though my current WIP has a lot of slushies in it.) I’m not a fruit lover, even though I’ve tried. I’m sure I get the love of ice cream from my dad. He ate at least one, every day

LDSWBR: Thank you so much, Susan!

Becoming Bayley by Susan Auten

AMAZON | DESERET BOOK

Bayley Albrecht’s dream is to play soccer on BYU’s South Field. When she is invited to soccer camp the summer before her senior year in high school, she just knows she’s one step closer to her dream. Things get even better when she meets Matt Macauley, the star of the men’s soccer team. When they decide to write each other while Matt is on his mission, Bayley figures her life can’t get any better. But it certainly can get worse . . .

After she receives a minor concussion from playing soccer, Bayley discovers she had a disease called alopecia which causes her to lose her hair. As Bayley struggles to deal with the reality of her baldness she finds herself having to make some tough decisions. Can she still play soccer? Does she even want to? More importantly, should she tell Matt? And will he still want her when she does? Becoming Bayley is the story of one girl’s journey through self-discovery, of the definition of true love, and of the realization that as a daughter of God, she is of infinite worth.

* * *

To enter the LDSWBR Countdown to Summer 2012, leave a thoughtful comment below.

Be sure to comment on each Countdown to Summer 2012 post for more chances to win. Please click through to the website as only comments submitted directly on this post will be accepted.

Book prizes donated by the authors include:

Reality Check by Karen Tuft

Cold Justice by Kathi Oram Peterson

Journey to the Fringe by Kelli Nielsen

Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena (choice of print, Kindle or Nook)

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson

Of Grace and Chocolate by Krista Lynne Jensen

Espionage by A.L. Sowards

Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson – Countdown to Summer 2012

Posted by Shanda Countdown to Summer, Special Features

Jun 282012

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.

Follow Julianne: BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

LDSWBR: Do you find it easier or more difficult to write during the summertime? Why?

JULIANNE: It is always hard to find time to write. Summer is crazier for me because my house turns into the gathering place for half the kids in the neighborhood, and there is never a quiet moment from dawn til dusk. I definitely look forward to the structure of the school year and the earlier bed times that come with it.

LDSWBR: Would you rather be in the pool or next to the pool?

JULIANNE: If it’s hot, get me in the pool. If there’s a nice breeze, stick me in the shade with a good book and I’m happy as can be.

LDSWBR: Ice cream or slushie? What flavor?

JULIANNE: Mmmm…they both sound good right now. I vote berry slushie on a hot afternoon; chocolate nutty ice cream at night.

LDSWBR: Thanks, Julianne!

Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

AMAZON | DESERET BOOK | SEAGULL BOOK

Marianne Daventry will do anything to escape the boredom of Bath and the amorous attentions of an unwanted suitor. So when an invitation arrives from her twin sister, Cecily, to join her at a sprawling country estate, she jumps at the chance. Thinking she’ll be able to relax and enjoy her beloved English countryside while her sister snags the handsome heir of Edenbrooke, Marianne finds that even the best laid plans can go awry. From a terrifying run-in with a highwayman to a seemingly harmless flirtation, Marianne finds herself embroiled in an unexpected adventure filled with enough romance and intrigue to keep her mind racing. Will Marianne be able to rein in her traitorous heart, or will a mysterious stranger sweep her off her feet? Fate had something other than a relaxing summer in mind when it sent Marianne to Edenbrooke.

* * *

To enter the LDSWBR Countdown to Summer 2012, leave a thoughtful comment below.

Be sure to comment on each Countdown to Summer 2012 post for more chances to win. Please click through to the website as only comments submitted directly on this post will be accepted.

Book prizes donated by the authors include:

Reality Check by Karen Tuft

Cold Justice by Kathi Oram Peterson

Journey to the Fringe by Kelli Nielsen

Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena (choice of print, Kindle or Nook)

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson

Of Grace and Chocolate by Krista Lynne Jensen

Espionage by A.L. Sowards

Espionage by A.L. Sowards – Countdown to Summer 2012

Posted by Shanda Countdown to Summer, Special Features

Jun 272012

Sowards is a graduate of Moses Lake High School and Brigham Young University. She swam competitively for sixteen years, including while she was in college. She found it more entertaining to think of plot ideas while following the black line up and down the bottom of the pool than having a song in her head that restarted with every flip-turn. Sowards currently lives along the Wasatch front with her amazing husband and her adorable twin toddlers.

Follow AL Sowards: BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS

LDSWBR: Do you find it easier or more difficult to write during the summertime? Why?

A.L.: I think it’s easier, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I’m outside with the kids more, so they get tired and take better naps. It also helps that I’ve recently given myself a no-internet-during-nap-time rule, so I’m getting good chunks of quality writing time almost every day.

LDSWBR: Would you rather be in the pool or next to the pool?

A.L.: In the pool. Between swim team and life guarding, I practically lived at the pool most of my youth. This summer I’m not swimming too many laps, I’m just catching my two-year-old twins when they jump into the water.

LDSWBR: Ice cream or slushie? What flavor?

A.L.: I’m going to have to say smoothie, because my daughters and I have smoothies for lunch at least once a week. It’s an easy recipe, so I’ll pass it on: 1 cup milk, 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup yogurt (just about any type works, and if it’s a single-serve size yogurt, I just dump it in without measuring it), 1 banana. Sometimes I add a baby food jar of pureed carrot to add some nice color and some good vitamins (yes, we still have pureed vegetables at our house, because my kids still eat them. Anything I can do to get more vegetables into them…). Blend. Add straw (if desired). Enjoy.

But don’t let that fool you–I’m a total chocolate addict.

LDSWBR: Thank you so much!

Espionage by A.L. Sowards

DESERET BOOK | SEAGULL BOOK | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

France, 1944: Nobody expects Peter Eddy to survive his first commando mission—to retrieve a code book stolen by the Nazis—so when he does come back alive, his success is rewarded with an even more daunting assignment. Partnered with French Resistance leader Jacques Olivier, Eddy must identify which of three Allied contacts in Calais is a double agent and use the traitor to help implement a strategic Allied diversion that might win the war. Eddy and Olivier secretly cross the English Channel to confront their suspects one at a time, but what appears to be a clean assignment soon turns disastrous, and a shocking betrayal leaves Eddy in the grip of the Gestapo. With the courageous aid of Olivier and his sister, Genevieve, Eddy evades his captors with a dangerous escape plan. But as the Allied invasion approaches, treachery in the least likely places leads to fresh graves in the bloodied European soil—and only the power of loyalty and love can transform tragic endings into new beginnings.

* * *

To enter the LDSWBR Countdown to Summer 2012, leave a thoughtful comment below.

Be sure to comment on each Countdown to Summer 2012 post for more chances to win. Please click through to the website as only comments submitted directly on this post will be accepted.

Book prizes donated by the authors include:

Reality Check by Karen Tuft

Cold Justice by Kathi Oram Peterson

Journey to the Fringe by Kelli Nielsen

Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena (choice of print, Kindle or Nook)

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson

Of Grace and Chocolate by Krista Lynne Jensen

Espionage by A.L. Sowards

Friends and Foes by Sarah M. Eden – Countdown to Summer 2012

Posted by Shanda Countdown to Summer, Special Features

Jun 262012

I’m not normal. I’m an author. I spend enormous amounts of time avoiding responsible things like cooking dinner and doing laundry and making vital phone calls. Instead, I fill my days with making up stories, talking to voices in my head, and laughing hysterically at my own wit. Like I said, I’m not normal.

Follow Sarah: BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

LDSWBR: Do you find it easier or more difficult to write during the summertime? Why?

SARAH: Is this a QUESTION? I have children still at home, and during the summer they are literally at home. They are here all the time. Every day. The only time they leave, I am with them, driving them to activities and camps and classes and the library. I do schedule a little writing time after they go to bed, but I’m usually so tired that the words I write are either gibberish or every one of my characters finds themselves suddenly struggling with paralyzing exhaustion.

How many more weeks until school starts again?

LDSWBR: Would you rather be in the pool or next to the pool?

SARAH: I would rather be inside the air conditioned house. Despite growing up in southern Arizona where the temperature soar above 100* in April, spend July above 115, and don’t come back out of the triple digits until October, I am a complete and utter wimp in the heat. Also, I don’t like water. I’m even kind of afraid of water. The few times I’ve been on a boat were not particularly pleasant, and not because one of those boat trips ended with my nose getting broken–but that’s a story for another day.

So, yeah. I definitely wouldn’t choose to be in the pool. I take my kids swimming because I love them, but I don’t enjoy the actual “being in the water” part of it. Man, they have no idea how much I love them. (Wow, I kind of feel like I’m talking to a psychologist, here. I have the sudden urge to lay on a leather couch and recount my vaguest of childhood memories and stair at ink blots.)

LDSWBR: Ice cream or slushie? What flavor?

SARAH: You ask the most ridiculous questions. Who could possibly choose a pathetic cup of half-melted ice and gooey syrup over a bowl of sweet, creamy heaven? Sheesh. Flavor: Butter Pecan. Or, in a pinch, Pralines and Caramel.

LDSWBR: I’ll ask better questions next time. :) Thanks, Sarah!

Friends & Foes by Sarah M. Eden

AMAZON | DESERET BOOK | SEAGULL BOOK

After five years of tracking and capturing spies on English soil, Philip Jonquil, Earl of Lampton, is in pursuit of his last quarry. But at a traveler’s inn, he encounters an unexpected and far more maddening foe: Sorrel Kendrick, a young lady who is strikingly pretty, shockingly outspoken, and entirely unimpressed with him. Indeed, Sorrel cannot believe the nerve of this gentleman, who rudely accuses her of theft and insults her feminine dignity. Doubly annoyed when they both end up at a party hosted by mutual friends, Philip and Sorrel privately declare war on one another. But Philip’s tactics, which range from flirting to indifference, soon backfire as he finds himself reluctantly enjoying Sorrel’s company; and, much to her dismay, Sorrel finds Philip’s odd manner to be increasingly endearing. In the midst of this waning war and growing attraction, Philip catches wind of the French spy he’s been tracking, and Sorrel inadvertently stumbles upon a crucial piece of the puzzle, making her indispensable to the mission. But can two proud hearts negotiate a ceasefire when cooperation matters most?

* * *

To enter the LDSWBR Countdown to Summer 2012, leave a thoughtful comment below.

Be sure to comment on each Countdown to Summer 2012 post for more chances to win. Please click through to the website as only comments submitted directly on this post will be accepted.

Book prizes donated by the authors include:

Reality Check by Karen Tuft

Cold Justice by Kathi Oram Peterson

Journey to the Fringe by Kelli Nielsen

Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena (choice of print, Kindle or Nook)

Twitterpated by Melanie Jacobson

Of Grace and Chocolate by Krista Lynne Jensen

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