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.

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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?

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

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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.

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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

Feb 272012
 

Friends and Foes

Author: Sarah M. Eden

Publisher: Covenant Communications

Published Date: January 2012

Softcover;  269 pages

Genre: Regency Romance

ISBN# 978-1-60681-376-2

Reviewed by: Shanda

FTC FYI: free review copy in exchange for honest review

Summary

Phillip Jonquil, Earl of Lampton, a dandy in brightly-colored frock coats with a quick-witted humor and Sorrel Kendrick, a woman with a shrewish attitude whose body and dreams were forever shattered in a painful accident, are enemies immediately upon meeting. Both are protecting something: Sorrel, her heart damaged by lifelong abuse, and Phillip, his secret career hunting spies for the Foreign Office.

They declare themselves at war and oppose each other throughout the month-long Christmas holiday they must spend together while visiting common friends. With plenty of time to get to know the enemy, they find themselves forming an unexpected trust and friendship.

When Sorrel unknowingly overhears the very information Phillip needs to catch a notorious spy he refuses to put her at risk, but Sorrel knows he needs her to identify the men she saw. When the situation turns more dangerous than they expected, Phillip fears he will lose the woman he loves forever.

My Review

Friends and Foes was just as good as I expected, having enjoyed all of Sarah’s other books. I got a kick out of Phillip. He’s an easy hero to love, with his wit, good looks, and dangerous job. It was nice to get inside his head and see the man behind the dandy.

I also enjoyed watching the relationship between Phillip and Sorrel develop. Sorrel is strong because she feels vulnerable inside. Spending time in the same house with Phillip allows her glimpses behind his make-light-of-everything mask. He challenges her when she needs it, and soon there is a trust between them that is budding into friendship.

I read Friends and Foes in one sitting and loved every minute of it. I can’t wait to read more from Sarah. I hope we get the chance to know Phillip’s many brothers better in future books. (Please say we do, Sarah!)

 

Buy Friends and Foes: AMAZON | DESERET BOOK | SEAGULL BOOK **

**These links are provided for the reader’s convenience and are not affiliate links.

 

Jan 122012
 

We are happy to have Sarah M. Eden as our guest author today. She is the author of several Regency-era romances, including Seeking Persephone, Courting Miss Lancaster, Kiss of a Stranger and her most recent release, Friends and Foes.

Not only is Sarah a talented author, she is a sweet, quick-witted woman and dedicated mother and wife.

Read more about Sarah and her books on her WEBSITE. Purchase Friends and Foes at DESERET BOOK and AMAZON.

Find details below for the DOUBLE BOOK LAUNCH for Sarah and last week’s guest author, Krista Lynne Jensen.

Okay, Sarah, take it away.

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Authors are strange people. Stranger than most.

We feel deep and abiding connections to people we make up, people who only exist inside our heads. We talk to them. Often out loud. And they talk back. Conversations go on for hours. And we don’t find this odd.

Authors get together in groups to willingly and gratefully be told all the many reasons why the words we have slaved over for hours, days, weeks, years are inherently flawed and horrible. We then work for further hours, days, weeks, years to fix those flawed words and send them off to be rejected, criticized and panned by people we don’t even know. We do this repeatedly. Willingly. And we like it.

We see story ideas in everything around us. The line at the grocery store. A one-paragraph news item. Dreams. Overheard conversations. Yes, we eavesdrop. Shamelessly.

Perhaps our oddest feature of all is what I like to call the Jekyll/Hyde Syndrome. I have never yet met an author who couldn’t flip from the ultimate optimist filled with confidence and dreams of grandeur to a pathetic heap of despondent self-loathing and doubt, and do so in an instant. Over and over again.

Perhaps a visual record of this very thing would be helpful. I happen to have obtained this extremely accurate documentation for your enlightenment. Read on.

Like the grave. Oh so very sad but so very true. We’re an odd bunch, writers. But we embrace it. Next time you run into an author, feel free to give them a high five or a “good going.” Chances are, we need it.

Then again, we might very well be in the middle of a very in-depth conversation with someone only we can see. In which case, maybe distance is best. Science hasn’t yet proven it, but there’s a chance this sickness we call “Being a Writer” might just be contagious.

Happy reading. Happy writing.

Shameless plug time!

Got some free time on your hands this Saturday? Live anywhere near Salt Lake City, Utah? Fellow author Krista Lynne Jensen and I are celebrating the release of our novels Of Grace and Chocolate (Krista’s) and Friends and Foes (mine) with a launch party of epic proportions! There will be prizes and treats and fun to be had by all. Stop by!

Saturday, January 14
11-1
1110 Ft. Union Blvd, Midvale Utah

Thank you, Sarah. See you on Saturday!

Help us thank Sarah for visiting the LDSWBR blog and leave a comment!