Month: July 2017

The Best Girls

Posted on by Frances

What I am about to share with you, I would like you to pay full attention to. It’s no big deal, really, when I do book reviews. But this one is different. This one is a huge deal! Why? Because this novel that you’re about to see is hands down one of thee best romance novels that I’ve ever read. And truly believing that, I am so excited to share it with you, and am hoping you’ll also give it a chance. Like me, you’ll see why I highly recommend!

The book is called Her Best Match. It’s Book 1 in The Best Girls Series by Tamie Dearen. Let me stop there for just one minute. If you don’t know who Tamie Dearen is, please do yourself a favor and pick up one of her books. (If you like romance, make it Her Best Match!) Oh…my…goodness. She has talent! She’s not just romance, either. So, seriously, go check her out!

Back to the book. Let me share with you a little bit about it. Here is the blurb, as well as the front cover.

Feisty, stubborn, and bored with life in Texas, Anne Best is about to get more than she bargained for.

The lovely widow heads off to the Big Apple for a job interview, expecting no more than a few days adventure in New York City, only to find herself with a new job working for the most infuriating man she’s ever met.

Billionaire Steven Gherring is one of New York’s Most Eligible Bachelors, and he has every intention of staying that way. But Gram has other ideas. She’s on a not-so-secret campaign to find a wife for her grandson.

As fearless as she is clumsy, Anne tackles every challenge (including her new boss) enthusiastically, with two lone exceptions… public speaking and recognizing her own feelings. Passions rise along with hemlines as Gram joins forces with Anne, a veteran matchmaker, to find the perfect match for Steven.

This book currently has a 4.4 star rating out of 375 reviews!!!! That’s three hundred seventy five!! If you haven’t guessed by now, I rated it 5 stars. Here’s why… Continue reading “The Best Girls” →

Broadway Lessons

Posted on by Frances

I had the amazing privilege of watching my first Broadway play a while ago. It was something I’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t actually gotten around to doing for a few reasons. One being that these plays tend to be a bit pricey. For good reason, though!

Here is what I saw:

If you can’t tell by this blurry picture (sorry about that), it was Dirty Dancing! It may not look like it, but the seat I had was actually a very good one. I was able to enjoy the whole play without having a hard time because of people in front of me. I’m not very tall, so it wouldn’t surprise me if taller people in front of me blocked my view. So glad no one did!

Anyway, as I went through the experience, there were 7 things I learned. Some of them will show just how sheltered I must be, but oh well:

  1. People will sing along to the music. And who can blame them?! Dirty Dancing is full of great 80s (and earlier) music! When Hungry Eyes came on, I had to bite my own tongue because I wanted to belt it out! I even wanted to dance! Trust me, though, no one would want to see or hear that!! If there isn’t a lot of music, I have found that people will even talk along to certain phrases that make up the movie! With Dirty Dancing, “No one puts Baby in a corner,” is pretty iconic, so it only made sense that when that part came up in the play, everyone said it!
  2. People dress up! I, myself, wanted to look special for the evening so I made sure I was in my Sunday best, but that’s just who I am. I like to dress up for a lot of things. I didn’t expect others to be so formal. And they were! Some were even overdoing it I felt. There were still some that came in casual attire, but most of the guests were very well dressed. In a way that was nice to see, too!
  3. Actors/Actresses in the play actually swore. You can go ahead and laugh at me on this one. I’ve even laughed at myself! I’m not sure what I was really thinking. I mean, in the movie there is swearing. Why wouldn’t the play have it?! I guess a part of me thought Broadway plays were cleaner, but that just shows how sheltered I am. Anyway, it didn’t bother me. Just really surprised me.
  4. There is a mad dash during the intermission. The first half is only just over an hour. But the moment the play is on intermission, everyone high tails it out of there to use the restrooms or to do whatever it is they do. I just sat in my seat, enjoying the extra breathing room. After all, I made sure to use the restroom before the play even started.
  5. Late comers get in the way. This is true with any event. You’re just going to have people that are late. For the most part, everyone made it on time before the play started. However, it was after the intermission that I really noticed this. People would walk in quite a bit after the play was underway again. And the problem with this is that they now get in the way of the viewing. I know it doesn’t help I had an end seat so of course people have to file in by walking in front of me, but it was slightly annoying. Then again, that might be better than feeling claustrophobic when sitting in the smack dab middle of the row.
  6. Broadway does the best with what they’ve got. What I mean by this is that some scenes are hard to do in reality on the stage. Movies can make certain things easy to portray, but on stage you’ve got just the actors/actresses and props. I think that with Dirty Dancing they did a fantastic job on the scenes that were tougher to show. One scene was when they were practicing moves in the water. Of course there’s not beach on that stage, but they used screens and sound effects to really pull it off.
  7. Sexy scenes were hilarious! There was one brief moment where you could tell two of the characters were supposed to be having sex. Of course they didn’t show anything so I do appreciate that. But what made it funny was that it was a little overdone by the actor/actress. There was another scene where an elderly man ripped open part of his shirt. And the crowd got all into by oohing and ah’ing. That was funny!

Overall, it was a great experience. One that I’d like to repeat in the future sometime. Of course I wouldn’t just go see anything, because as stated before, ticket prices are not cheap. But if there was a play coming near me that I know a lot about, I might be tempted to go.

My favorite part was the music. My next favorite part was all the dancing. Everyone did a great job. It was truly phenomenal!

Before I go, here’s one last pic:

That’s me holding the brochure with all the details inside. Great stuff, folks!

Go West Blog Tour

Posted on by Frances

About the Book

After duty as an ambulance driver in World War I, Ellie Morgan returns to Chicago to take up her share of the work in her grandparents’ department store. Ellie doesn’t want to alienate her family or disappoint them, but despite a six year effort to settle in, she feels increasingly trapped in store routine. Meanwhile, her grandmother urges her to marry a local politician and help him succeed in his chosen field. Ellie’s grandfather, however, wants to see her happy and independent. “Go west, young woman, go west,” he advises, paraphrasing a popular quotation of the day. So with Granddad’s help, Ellie secures a job on a ranch in Colorado and sets out to prove that she has the necessary character to succeed at a third vocation.

When Aldon Leitzinger meets Ellie’s train in Clifton Colorado, he introduces himself as the foreman of the ranch. But the more people Ellie meets in the community, the more apparent it becomes that she is in demand to fill a number of roles for which she is not prepared. Desperate to prove herself, she settles in to please everyone, a task that puts her at risk of failure in every attempt at finding a new and happier life.

Buy now on Amazon!

About the Author

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West, available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn. She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

Giveaway

DiVoran has five prizes for five people! First to go will be the beautiful art cards and then we’ll have the two eBooks. Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Excerpt

 

At the Train Station

She looked up into the eyes of a tall man with silver-blond hair. He held her carpetbag in one hand and a deep brown Boss of the Prairie Stetson in the other. She didn’t know yet who he was, but she knew from working in her grandparent’s department store back home, that he had good taste in hats. His frayed khaki shirt, however, looked as if it were part of a uniform from the Great War.

 

Tour Schedule

July 10
Bookish Orchestrations – Tour introduction
Rebekah Lyn Books – Author Interview
Janice’s book reviews – Review

July 11
Frances Hoelsema – Book Spotlight
Rachel Rossano’s Words – Author Interview
Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections – Character Interview

July 12
Shout Outs – Book Spotlight

July 13
Laurel’s Leaves – Author Interview
God’s Peculiar Treasure Rae – Book Spotlight
Old Things R New – Book Spotlight

July 14
Letters from Annie Douglass Lima – Book Spotlight
Stephany’s BLOG Snippets – Character Interview

July 15
Bookish Orchestrations – Giveaway Winners

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What to Expect When You’re NOT Expecting

Posted on by Frances

I am so excited to announce today that my first non-fiction piece is now available! The writing process started in mid-January, and now six months later, my baby is published! What an exciting time! So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to the book…

This book provides information and inspiration for those going through infertility. But more specifically, here is what the back of the book says:

Have you been actively trying to conceive for the past 12 months or more to no avail? If you answered yes, then welcome to infertility. It’s a journey like no other. It’s one you never wanted to embark on, and it’s definitely one you don’t want to stay on for very long. But since you’re here, let this book be your traveling companion!

In What to Expect When You’re NOT Expecting: Navigating Infertility, Frances Hoelsema uses her own personal experiences, as well as those of many other women, to guide and inspire you on this ultra-frustrating, highly-emotional, and what feels like an extremely-lonely journey.

If you’ve got questions…there are answers!
If you need tips…plenty are provided!
If you need someone to understand…these women do!
If you’re feeling alone…be assured you’re not!

Whether you’ve just begun your infertility journey, or have been on it for quite some time, there is something for everyone. From astounding statistics, to real life examples, to concrete sources of hope, this is one book you won’t want to be without.

So sit tight and buckle up! The journey will be bumpy, but with What to Expect When You’re NOT Expecting: Navigating Infertility by your side, you’ve got this! 

Compared to other books in this market, it’s set at a great price, too! The book is available on paperback through Amazon or CreateSpace for just $12.99 OR in eBook format on Kindle for just $4.99!

Now that the basics are out of the way, let me give you some background. This all started, honestly, in June of 2006. This is when my husband and I believed we were ready to get pregnant. We had been married a few months, had stable income, loved babies. Why not, right? However, the process wasn’t easy. Through treatments and one miscarriage, we thought our baby would never come. Almost four years later, thankfully, God answered our prayers.

Since going through the heartache of trying to conceive, I’ve had a passion to come alongside women in the same shoes I was once in. Therefore, it was only natural for me to want to write something about it. First, however, I wanted to get done with my Neighbors series. The final book in that series was published in December, and immediately, I began formulating what I wanted this infertility book to be about. With the help of so many other women, it became what it is today.

Up above is the cover of my book. And if you go to one of the retailer sites you can get a glimpse of the inside. Here, however, is something you won’t see, but here…my notes!

This is only a couple pages of the many I scribbled all over. You probably wonder how in the world I could make anything out of all this mess, but this is just how my brain works! I must admit, though, I am grateful it all came together and now is ready to share with the world.

Please do me a favor and spread the word! I truly believe that this book will help those in the midst of this dark and oftentimes lonely tunnel. Thank you so much!