November 1st - Christmas Blog Contest starts here!!!! And will end on December 8th! There will be TWO drawings - first one is November 14th and second one will be December 9th. I’ll post the prizes tomorrow and more details about the contest.

A CHRISTMAS GIFT
DIANE CRAVER
ISBN #: 978-1-936167-36-4
November 2010
Whimsical Publications
www.whimsicalpublications.com
Available Nov. 15th - ebook and print!

By the way, a lot of A Christmas Gift is true. After I thanked the reviewer for her wonderful review, she said the following, “I think the fact that I felt the way I did shows what a wonderful talent you have for engaging your readers :-)” She made my day!!!

REVIEW:

Debby Reeves is a precocious seven year old, full of curiosity and a joyous zest for life. She loves her family and leads a rather idealistic innocent existence until she discovers that her father has been keeping a secret from her and her older siblings. With guileless enthusiasm, she decides God will solve her father’s problem.

Justin Reeves is a fifty-four year old man who is happy with his life and family but he has a secret that he has been keeping for years. When the skeleton in his cupboard comes to light, instead of denying its existence, he is persistent and perseveres in order to overcome this obstacle and in doing so he demonstrates his strength of character and sets an example for his children.

It’s 1957, and Debby sneaks downstairs late one night and discovers her farmer father, Justin Reeves, doing something she just doesn’t understand. After keeping it to herself for a little while, she finally shares with her sisters and brother and the secret she discovered. Instead of hiding in shame, Justin who has the support of his loving wife and children moves forward with boldness and a strong faith.

Diane Craver chronicles a wonderfully inspiring tale of overcoming obstacles with willpower and familial support. This heartwarming story brought me to tears and yet left me with a glowing impact of the knowledge that with hard work and the encouragement of the people who love you obstacles can be overcome. Although this story takes place in the 1950s, I think it has a timeless feel to it and a message that lasts a lifetime. I have not decided if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I am very upset to find out that this is not a memoir but rather a fictitious account of some events that happened in the author’s life. While reading the story, I became so involved I believed that this indeed is an autobiography. I feel a little cheated that it is not an entirely true story, perhaps because it is so well written and the descriptions so authentic. This is truly an inspiring story for readers, young and old alike.

Venus
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

My daughter, Emily, took the OAT exam that she needs to apply to optometry schools. She received perfect scores in the following subjects: Quantitative Reasoning - 400, Biology -400, General Chemistry - 400. And the tough Physics and Organic Chemistry are also both impressive at 380 and 370.
Total Science Score: 400 Academic Average: 370

She shouldn’t have any problem getting accepted with such high scores plus she has a 3.9 GPA. Her only regret is that she didn’t start optometry school this year. During her senior year in college, she wasn’t thinking of becoming an optometrist, but I’m sure this year will go by quickly for her.

CONGRATULATIONS, EMILY! We are so proud of your amazing accomplishments!!!!!!

I couldn’t stop reading The Hungarian because I was swept instantly into Katherine Archibald’s world as she fell in love with Hungarian Count Matthias Duma. Burkhart’s strong heroine is a wonderful character in late Victorian England. This was the first time I’ve read a story about a werewolf. I found it so refreshing and fun to learn more about the challenges and pain of suddenly becoming a werewolf. Stephanie includes many wonderful details about the Count’s life that makes the whole concept realistic.

And it was definitely a page turner with Katherine helping the Count with his custody case of his young daughter, Emily. Lady Ashton does everything in her power to discredit her son-in-law because she wants to raise Emily. She isn’t a nice person and Lady Ashton reminds Katherine of her cruel aunt. Unfortunately, Katherine’s own parents were killed, so she was raised by her aunt and uncle. Secondary characters add richness to the story, especially the Count’s employees, Resa, the gypsy cook with her amazing, healing herbs and devoted friend, Lazlo.

The beautiful romance between Katherine and Matthias is inspiring as they struggle against many challenges in their relationship. You never stop rooting for these characters as they learn to accept each other’s strengths and differences. Stephanie’s descriptions of the various settings give exceptional images and a wonderful feel-good warmth as you explore the time period of 1901.

The Hungarian is an exciting story of love and hope. It’s a must read for any lover of romances. I’m looking forward to reading Count’s Lair, the next book in the The Budapest Moon series by Stephanie Burkhart.

By the way, I bought the book in the Kindle format. It’s available in all electronic formats.
Buying links: Desert Breeze
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

We received a favorable email today from realtor about our house showing that was last evening. The prospective buyers said that they liked the house and thought it was a good value but, however, too far out. They also said it was larger than expected.

It is much larger than it appears from the outside. We are thinking of building a ranch on our land (we have 10 acres) because we haven’t found a house we want to buy. We had a contract on a lovely ranch but never sold our house so lost it to another buyer.

Rita Hestand posted on the RAMP yahoo group that my novella YOUR PLACE OR MINE is on the best sellers list at Smashwords and is on the highest rated listing too!

I’m thrilled and thank you, Rita, for posting it!!! Even though I didn’t win the LASR voting poll, I definitely think the exposure helped to sell my novella. So a big thanks to LASR and reviewer Fennel!