Count Down To Love/Back to the Books Giveaway Hop (INT)

Welcome to this stop on the Back To Books Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am A Reader Not A Writer. On my blog you can win an ecopy of Julie N Ford's COUNT DOWN TO LOVE. Check out my review/interview and Julie's guest post.

Abandoned at the altar, Kelly Grace Pickens finds herself left holding not only the bouquet but also the exorbitant bill for an A-list wedding. Homeless, a once promising singing career floundering, and her life bearing an uncanny resemblance to one of her country music ballads, she reluctantly accepts a last minute offer to appear on a reality TV show akin to the bachelor. Pitted against silicon-enhanced supermodels in four-inch heels, Kelly feels confident that she will be among the first would-be fiancés to be excused. Only, when the mysterious bachelor from New York City, Dillon Black, invites her to stay, Kelly finds herself thrust into the vortex of a game she doesn’t have the first idea how to play. Nursing her hopelessly broken heart while avoiding the foils of her fellow contestants, Kelly is oblivious to Dillon’s affections as she wades through hurt and betrayal to discover, in the end, that she has landed firmly on both feet.

 

Leaving behind Nashville’s Music Row for the majestic Grand Teton mountains, Count Down To Love takes readers on a journey from duplicity to sincerity as Kelly discovers that being true to oneself is the first step in finding happiness and everlasting love.

Entering is easy. Simply . . .

• Follow my blog in some way. Leave a comment telling me you've done so and a way to contact you.

Extra enteries:

• Follow Julie's Blog, leave a comment and a way to contact you.
• Like Julie's FB page, leave a comment and a way to contact you.
• Follow me on Twitter, leave a comment and a way to conact you.

Please have all enteries in by midnight on the 7th of September. It is in your best interest to leave SEPERATE comments as random.org will be choosing the winners. (One of the these days I'll have time to figure out rafflecoptor.) As always, thanks for stopping by! Be sure to see who else is participating in this giveaway hop.

Count Down To Love by Julie N Ford--Book Review and Interview

COUNT DOWN TO LOVE by Julie N Ford. I agreed to participate in the blog tour because the book just sounded so cute, and I have to say that it met all my expectations. The characters are so easy to love. The side characters are hilarious. I loved the plot, setting, and everything about the book. I'd recommend this to any and everyone who loves to read. It a great, fun, clean escape from reality. Be sure to stop by on Sept 1 for a chance to win a copy. Also, take a look at Julie's guest post and interview (below). There's info on a Grand Prize giveaway that is going on in conjuction with the blog tour too.

:) :) :) :) :)

Abandoned at the altar, Kelly Grace Pickens finds herself left holding not only the bouquet but also the exorbitant bill for an A-list wedding. Homeless, a once promising singing career floundering, and her life bearing an uncanny resemblance to one of her country music ballads, she reluctantly accepts a last minute offer to appear on a reality TV show akin to the bachelor. Pitted against silicon-enhanced supermodels in four-inch heels, Kelly feels confident that she will be among the first would-be fiancés to be excused. Only, when the mysterious bachelor from New York City, Dillon Black, invites her to stay, Kelly finds herself thrust into the vortex of a game she doesn’t have the first idea how to play. Nursing her hopelessly broken heart while avoiding the foils of her fellow contestants, Kelly is oblivious to Dillon’s affections as she wades through hurt and betrayal to discover, in the end, that she has landed firmly on both feet.

 

Leaving behind Nashville’s Music Row for the majestic Grand Teton mountains, Count Down To Love takes readers on a journey from duplicity to sincerity as Kelly discovers that being true to oneself is the first step in finding happiness and everlasting love.

Grand Prize Giveaway:

 

As part of the tour, Julie is generously offering a grand prize giveaway of a hard copy of Count Down to Love, a CD of the band Due West, and a copy of the single, “Who I Am”, which Julie and Due West wrote and recorded specifically for the book. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post or any of the other stops on the tour. (Visit the tour page for the full tour schedule.) The more stops you comment on, the more entries you have into the contest!

What made you decide to become a writer?

I never “decided” to become a writer per se. I’ve always had stories in my head that I would play around with but never really considered turning any of them into a novel. Then, about five years ago, I had just finished chemotherapy treatments for Lymphoma when we moved to a new city. I didn’t know anyone, my girls were in school and I was at home waiting for my hair to grow back when the dialog and narration for my first novel just started coming to me—insistent, almost, that I let it out. I thought I might as well go ahead and write some of it. So one day I sat down at the computer and started my first chapter. One chapter turned into twenty and three months later I had my first novel.  

Who inspires you?

Kristin Hannah. She is my favorite author. In fact, if I could die and come back as any author, it would be her. I tried to emulate her while writing my first two novels but in the end both books just sounded like me. I guess that’s okay too.

What would you like your readers to get out of your writing?

With Count Down to Love I hope my readers will be entertained and maybe even laugh a little. And by taking Kelly’s journey with her, every woman will see that she too can find her true self. 

Where did this idea come from?

The idea for this story began as most of my ideas do, with a dream. Every now and then I’ll wake up in the morning with a story brewing. If I’m intrigued by the premise I’ll mull it over some more, allowing it to mushroom until I have a basic concept—characters, plot, central conflict. Then, living in Nashville around many struggling music artists, I was inspired to make Kelly a jilted signer/song writer. 

Who was your favorite character to develop?

Dillon. His character sprung from my secret affinity for cowboys. Then the fact that reality dating shows often choose handsome and wealthy men, someone they think women will swoon over like money and looks are all we ladies care about—as if—made me want to add another dimension. So, I made him a self-made millionaire with a mysterious past that would also give him some depth and an upbringing similar to Kelly’s. 

Any advice for aspiring authors?

Write because you love it, because the voices in your head won’t let you rest until you free them onto the page (or computer screen), because to stop is not an option. Keep writing when you get discouraged because even if you never make a dime off your work, the journey was well worth the effort.

What can we expect next from you?

My next novel is titled The Cadaver Ball and will be coming out sometime in 2013. It’s a women’s fiction/mystery about a woman from Southern California who meets the man of her dreams when she attends Vanderbilt Medical School’s, Cadaver Ball, with her college roommate. A year later she is married and living in Nashville with two step sons and has a sneaky suspicion that something doesn’t feel right regarding her husband’s first wife’s death. Being the curious person that she is, she just can’t help but go poking into the past, which lands her right in the middle of a dangerous conspiracy. The story is sort of a modern twist on the Rebecca and Jane Eyre novels. 

Where can we purchase your book?

Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com. And you can order a signed copy from my web site. JulieNFord.com. 

THANKS JULIE!

A Night On Moon Hill by Tanya Parker Mills--Book Buzzin'

A NIGHT ON MOON HILL by Tanya Parker Mills. I'm excited for this book to come out. Be sure to stop by Tanya's blog for an incredible giveaway that's going on.

Swimming is Daphne’s one refuge–

until the night she finds a dead body in her pool.

University professor and renowned author Daphne Lessing has never felt at ease in society. But a disturbance in her once calm and controlled existence suddenly unearths events from her past and thrusts an unusual child into her life.

Without wanting to, Daphne soon finds herself attached to Eric, a ten-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome who is obsessed with fishing and angels. Daphne is faced with a choice: Does she leave him and return to her solitary, ordered life, trusting others to do right by him, or does she allow this bright child to draw her into the world she’s tried to shun?

And what about the man that entered her life with Eric? Will she be able to shut him out as well?

My Best Advice--Guest Post by Julie Ford

Welcome, Julie! Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out her book COUNT DOWN TO LOVE. My review will be posted soon.

My Best Advice--Julie N Ford

When asked by my publisher to write some sample book club questions for Count Down to Love, I decided to look for inspiration in the back of one of my favorite novels. I didn’t find much that helped me settle on what questions to include in my book, but I did stumble upon yet another author offering advice to fledgling writers. 

Basically, it was the same old thing: keep reading, keep writing, keep submitting, and don’t give up. In other words, another lame, generic attempt by someone who has—by the grace of God—made their mark in the publishing world at not dashing the hopes of all the would-be writers with dreams of becoming famous published authors themselves. (Whew! Did I mention that I’m a master at the run-on sentence?)

Now I’m not famous, or arguably even a “good” author, but I still have some advice:

1^st Keep reading even though now that you are writing you will rip every book to shreds, wondering how in the world this person got published after breaking all the “rules” you kill yourself trying to follow. 

2^nd Keep writing but only because your characters wake you up in the morning screaming in your head to be released and brought to life on the page. Because a story that started as an intriguing idea, or a dream has continued to grow, mushrooming like the cloud of an atomic bomb until it consumed your every thought. Because inspiration comes to you at the most inconvenient times and you wish there was a way to safely type and drive, type and cook, type and shower, type and just about everything . . .

3^rd Keep submitting not because you daydream about seeing your novel featured on the end cap at B&N (btw, seeing your book on an end cap is pretty cool), and definitely not because you have aspirations of becoming the next Stephenie Meyer. But because you have enjoyed bringing your story and characters to life and you want others to enjoy them as well. Because completing a manuscript is a huge accomplishment. Because you are proud of what you’ve written.

4^th Don’t give up if you really love to write. If your greatest joy comes after crafting a well-written sentence, or when a scene comes together in a way you hadn’t intended, becoming more perfect than you’d ever anticipated. If you feel a rush of excitement unlike any other when the words flow from your head to your fingers tips as if they have a life of their own. If baring your very soul on the pages of your manuscript brings a freedom you’d never imagined.

Keep writing because to stop is not an option.

Because you still have stories to tell.

Because even if you never make a dime off your work the journey was well worth the effort.

I want to thank Bonnie for hosting this interview, giveaway and guest post. I hope all of you who decide to read Count Down to Love will enjoy the story as much as I loved writing it. And to all those inspiring authors out there, truly, if I write a book, you can too 

Count Down To Love by Julie Ford--Book Buzzin'

COUNT DOWN TO LOVE by Julie Ford. This one sounds great! Take a look. Stay tuned for a giveaway, an interview, and a guest post by the author.

Abandoned at the altar, Kelly Grace Pickens finds herself left holding not only the bouquet but also the exorbitant bill for an A-list wedding. Homeless, a once promising singing career floundering, and her life bearing an uncanny resemblance to one of her country music ballads, she reluctantly accepts a last minute offer to appear on a reality TV show akin to the bachelor. Pitted against silicon-enhanced supermodels in four-inch heals, Kelly feels confident that she will be among the first would-be fiancés to be excused. Only, when the mysterious bachelor from New York City, Dillon Black, invites her to stay, Kelly finds herself thrust into the vortex of a game she doesn’t have the first idea how to play. Nursing her hopelessly broken heart while avoiding the foils of her fellow contestants, Kelly is oblivious to Dillon’s affections as she wades through hurt and betrayal to discover, in the end, that she has landed firmly on both feet.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand--Book Review

UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand. This book was absolutely amazing. I can't believe anyone every lived through WWII. The amount of research that was done and the way Laura wove the story together was breathtaking. I learned so much about the war, perserverance, humanity, and life. I couldn't put it down, yet when I think of recommending it, I have to be completely honest. Some of the things that happened were absolutely horrific. It made me ill to think anyone actually had to live the way the POW's lived. Is it an amazing book . . . yes. Should you read it . . . yes.

:) :) :) :) :)

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood.  Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard.  So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini.  In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails.  As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile.  But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater.  Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

In her long-awaited new book, seven years in the making, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in her blockbuster bestseller, Seabiscuit.  Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.

Pledged by Gweynneth White--Book Buzzin'--Excerpt

PLEDGED by Gweynneth White. Here is one of the excerpts talked about in my earlier book buzz.

EXCERPT ONE: Meet Seth and Erin . . . 

Despite the heat, Seth felt icy. Dread could do that to him. Or so he had recently discovered. Deep breathing usually calmed him, so he sucked in a lungful of desert air and told himself to relax. It didn’t help. By the time he’d walked from the aircraft to the immigration hall he’d ripped off a jagged piece of thumbnail, already bitten raw. He handed his US passport to the Botswanan border official, and, after a frown, and a stamp, he joined the crowd at the baggage carousel. Botswana in southern Africa was the last place on earth he’d ever have picked for a holiday destination. But he wasn’t here on holiday. Not even close.

His backpack was slow in coming. Tired from his long-haul flight from New York, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. Almost as if to mock him, the hated vision that had brought him to Botswana burst into his mind. In an instant he was back in ancient times, watching a man he knew only as Gideon. As usual, Gideon was huddled on a windswept hill with his band of hopeless soldiers, waiting to be slaughtered by a huge army gathered in the valley below.

Seth snapped his eyes open to stop the battle from waging in his mind. It wasn’t that he was particularly squeamish; he’d watched enough movies to iron clad his stomach against gory visuals. But no movie had ever left him icy with dread the way Gideon’s battle did. And the reason for that was simple. The moment the visions had started, he had known that the war, fought so long ago in a place he’d never heard of, was far from over. And, as reluctant as he was, he too was being enlisted to fight in a cause he didn’t understand or want. 

He forced himself to focus on the present: Erin, who waited for him in the arrivals hall; his brother Kyle, whom he’d come to Botswana to visit; Kyle’s expedition to find the Lost City of the Kalahari . . .

He ripped off another piece of fingernail. Thinking about the search for the Lost City was almost as bad as the war-vision. I hope Kyle never finds the damned place. He slapped his hand on his thigh. Enough! Grabbing his backpack off the carousel, he set his face into a smile and strode into the arrivals hall.

The first hurdle was finding Erin. She was due to arrive an hour earlier on a flight from Cape Town in South Africa, one of Botswana’s neighbours. He’d never met her, although they had spoken over the phone once. Then she’d described herself as “a short, seventeen-year-old (a year younger than him) with a mass of ginger hair.” She’d sounded nice. Meeting her was the one ray of brightness in this otherwise dark picture.

He stopped to scan the crowd. A petite girl with shoulder length, reddish-blonde curls, dressed in skinny jeans and a purple blouse, immediately caught his eye. It had to be Erin. Nice legs. What’s it with girls that they always under-sell themselves? He studied her face with his artist’s eye. Vermeer would’ve killed to paint her. Suddenly wishing he didn’t look so grimy after his three plane-changes, he walked over to join her. “Hi, I’m Seth. You’ve got to be Erin. My brother’s just married your sister Izzy.”

“And after only knowing each other for about a week.”

Her dimpled grin was infectious, making him crack his trademark crooked smile. “Madness.”

“Mysterious.” Erin cocked her head to one side, seemingly appraising him. He knew he had been accurate when he’d told her he was tall and dark-haired. But what he had failed to mention was what girls had often said they liked about him: his strong, angular face, softened by expressive brown eyes. He watched her eyes rove over his grey Muse: Resistance t-shirt, taking in his broad shoulders and chest. From there they darted down his black camo-pants to his boots. Amused by her blatant assessment, he cocked his head to one side, watching her. Suddenly Erin giggled – was she embarrassed? – and picked up her bag. 

“We’ve yet another plane to catch. My fourth in the last twenty-four hours,” Seth said, hoping to explain away his rumpled appearance. “To a place called Maun.” 

“So we do. Let the adventure begin.”