Book Boyfriends: Christa's hero

Interview with "Mac" from The Broken Trail by Christa MacDonald:

Christa: What’s your favorite color?

Mac: (frowns)

Christa: If we poked through your closet what color would we see the most of? 

Mac: Blue, the color of my uniforms. 

Christa: So you’re a police officer. Do you like your job?

Mac: Law enforcement is my calling. It’s how I serve God. There are good days and bad, same as any job.

Christa: Is faith something important to you?

Mac: It’s the cornerstone of my life. There was a time my ambition was my god and the consequences of that were devastating. It’s not a mistake I ever want to make again. In every decision, every relationship, I try to live in God’s will.

Christa: Have you ever been in love?

Mac: (scowls)

Christa: Okay, maybe we’ll skip that.

Me: What is your favorite place and why?

Mac: Martin’s Meadow. It’s on a trail that runs through my property. My horses like it in any season, but in summer it’s really something. These blue flowers grow and it looks a little like the ocean at a distance. 

Christa: You’ve lived in NYC, do you miss city life?

Mac: There’s a kind of energy in a city as large as New York, there are times I miss that. Being able to get a decent meal at any hour, I miss that too, but up here a man can find peace.

Christa: Is peace what you want most in life?

Mac: At this point in my life I want to be content with what I have and open to what God might give me. There’s peace in that for certain.

~*~
Author Bio: 

Christa MacDonald is a 2017 Carol Award finalist for contemporary Christian fiction. 

She began her writing career at the age of eleven, filling a sketchbook with poems and short stories. After publishing a few short pieces in her college's literary magazine she took a long hiatus during which she embarked on a few different careers, got married, had three kids, and renovated an old barn masquerading as a house. 

The Broken Trail, published by Mountain Brook Ink, was her debut novel. Her second novel, At the Crossroad, released in October 2017. 

When not working or writing Christa can be found ferrying her kids around, reading, or attempting something crafty. She and her family live along the coast of New England.

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Book Blurb for The Broken Trail: Katherine Grant takes the job at Sweet River Christian Academy hoping a small town in the wilderness of Maine will be a vacation from her high-powered career and a break from the emotional toll of the secrets she has buried deep. With the school director on a power trip and evidence of shady dealings, there’s nothing relaxing about it. 

Maybe it would be easier if she wasn’t so distracted by Captain MacAlister, the local cop she can’t get along with, yet can’t get out of her head. She didn’t trek up to the middle of nowhere to lose her heart. 

Mac doesn’t need the kind of trouble he believes Katherine will bring. He’s got enough to deal with from poachers to drug crime. Mac has rules to maintain his faith, like avoiding the pull of an attractive woman who doesn’t fit his life. But when he meets Katherine, he’s drawn in by her intelligence and strength, despite getting burned by her quick temper.

When near tragedy strikes, Katherine reveals her feelings, and Mac doesn’t hesitate to respond. If only their scars, both seen and unseen, didn’t threaten to tear them apart. Two wary hearts must soften and two steel wills bend if they have any hope of making it down the broken trail to love.

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Buy The Broken Trail on Amazon

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Connect with Christa:
Website - www.christamacdonald.com
Facebook group - http://bit.ly/2DTmIH6
Facebook author page - https://www.facebook.com/ChristaMacDonaldAuthor/
Amazon author page - http://amzn.to/2DT0X6c
Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14189014.Christa_MacDonald

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A Guest Post by Christina Lorenzen about her new book "Healing Seas"

From Pirates to The Titanic 

A guest post by Christina Lorenzen

I was the kid in high school who had absolutely no interest in history. I loved English, creative writing and literature classes. I didn’t figure out how they could connect until years later.

It started when I picked up my first historical novel by author Julia Quinn. I had just finished that book when I saw a friend on Facebook talking about a Mary Balogh novel. So I picked it up. I was in the bookstore when the cover of a Sarah MacLean stopped me as I was making my way to the magazine aisle. No magazines went home with me that day, but that Sarah MacLean book did. I was pretty surprised at how much I liked reading historical romance. That’s when it dawned on me that history could be fascinating to write about. I regretted not putting more effort and interest in my history class in high school, but I was ready to write my first historical romance. But life gets in the way, and I was busy at the time as a freelance writer and working on another novel.

I’ve long since stopped freelance writing but writing three novellas and a novel has kept me busy. The push I needed to write my first historical novel came when my publisher, Forget Me Not Romances, announced they were putting together collections of novellas for each of the fifty states. I knew I wanted to write a story about my state, New York. When I queried about a novella, I asked to write a historical one. In my mind, I dreamed of finally writing a story about pirates that had been rattling around in my head for ages. And since I live on Long Island, just an hour from New York City, I knew I had the perfect setting. Long Island has a rich history that includes Captain Kidd himself staying here back in the late 1600s. I was buzzing with excitement, eager to get started.

Excitement was quickly replaced by anxiety and discouragement. While there was plenty of research and facts about Kidd’s visit to Long Island, too many doubts nagged at me. Would I be able to portray a time period so accurately? Would I be able to make the dialogue believable? I started reading advice from historical novelists. Don’t use period slang. Do use period slang. Within a few weeks, I scrapped my pirate story and decided to write about the rum runners on the island during 1923. As I thought about it in bed one night I realized I didn’t feel anything. No excitement. No anticipation. No real rush to get writing. The next night my daughter, having her own stressors over her college senior thesis, asked if I wanted to watch a movie with her. We’d watched The Titanic at least a dozen times together. It felt like the perfect escape.

Enjoying a late night snack, my daughter brought up the memory of her great-grandmother’s love of that movie. Grandma Dorothea was born March 3, 1912, just weeks before the greatest tragedy of that time took place. She used to love to talk about the stories she’d heard about the Titanic as a child. When the movie came out in 1997, my mother-in-law had no choice but to take grandma to see it. Up until she died she talked about that movie. Remembering the excitement in her eyes was a light bulb moment for me.

Forget pirates and rum runners. I was going to write a story about a woman who had survived the Titanic. The excitement was there. The eagerness to get started. The research was enthralling. And all along I felt as if Grandma Dorothea was right there as I wrote Healing Seas, looking on with that look of excitement she had all those years ago.

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Author Bio:

Christina started writing as a young teen, jotting stories in wire ring composition notebooks. Her first typewriter made it faster to get all those stories out of her head and down on paper. Her love of writing has sustained her through a myriad of jobs that included hairdresser, legal secretary, waitress and door-­to‑door saleswoman.

Luckily for her, writing proved to be successful and a lot less walking than going door to door. Healing Seas, her first historical romance, is Christina's fifth book. She is also the author of A Husband for Danna, its sequel, A Wife for Humphrey, Snow Globe Reunion and Harvest Blessings. She is busy working on a modern retelling of the classic tale, Rapunzel. 

When she isn't writing or reading, she can be found walking her dog, talking to her herd of cats and spending time with her family.

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Book blurb for Healing Seas: In just a matter of days, Addie Mayfield’s life is upended. Through an arrangement her father makes, she sets sail on the RMS Titanic as governess to the two young Fairchild children. 

When tragedy strikes, she finds herself rescued alongside strangers on the RMS Carpathia, headed for New York City. Far from home, she is taken in by the O’Reilly family to wait for her family to send for her. With no money for her passage home, she’s brought to the small hamlet of Montauk to become a caretaker for a great aunt she has never met. 

Captain Frank Shea is a man without a ship. Removed from duty as captain of the RMS Morrow, he’s come to Montauk to recover from a leg injury. More painful than the injury is his fall from grace after spending his entire life at sea. The ocean was his home and he has never needed anyone. Now faced with an uncertain future, he’s desperate for a way back to the sea. Until he meets Addie Mayfield, a woman who is just as lost as he is.

Can these two people find hope for the future after all they’ve lost? Can an unexpected love heal two broken souls?

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Buy Christina's book, available exclusively on Amazon

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Connect with Christina:
Facebook Author Page ~  Twitter ~ Website ~ Goodreads ~ Amazon Author Page 

A Prelude to Christmas: Carrie's story, "Moonlight Over Manhattan"

Welcome Carrie Turansky to the blog today! She's here to share an excerpt from her Christmas story, Moonlight Over Manhattan.

Book Blurb: Professional organizer Sarah Montgomery is hired to organize her elderly neighbor’s cluttered apartment by Justin Latimer, her neighbor’s grandson. Sarah believes free-spirited Justin is a lazy, unemployed poet who is taking advantage of his grandmother’s generosity. Though attracted to him, she guards her heart against her growing feelings. As Sarah and Justin work together to help his grandmother and enjoy Christmas events in New York City, romantic sparks fly. When Sarah discovers who Justin really is, she must decide if she will continue to hide behind her protective wall or open her heart and embrace love. Moonlight Over Manhattan (formerly titled Moonlight and Mistletoe) was originally published in "A Big Apple Christmas". It has been updated for new readers to enjoy.

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Reader Review of Moonlight Over Manhattan (published on Amazon.com): 
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet Love Story
By Anne Rightler on October 10, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition

Moonlight Over Manhattan is an engaging novella by Carrie Turansky. Sarah is a professional organizer who seems unable to commit herself to a romantic relationship. Then she bumps into the neighbor's very good-looking grandson, Justin. Embers of love begin to flame and yet suspicions and fears have a hold on Sarah's emotions. Can she overcome the fears and give into the growing attraction for a "song-writing, Bible quoting poet"? Will she find the strength to follow God and trust Him with her future? The author has given readers a captivating love story set in New York City at Christmastime, the most magical time of the year. With realistic and likable characters and a sweet Christmas love story, Moonlight Over Manhattan will not disappoint.

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Fill out the book giveaway contest entry form on the Rafflecopter widget for your chance to WIN a copy of Moonlight Over Manhattan: 

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Story excerpt from Chapter 1 of Moonlight Over Manhattan:

Later that afternoon Sarah sat at the desk in her apartment. She glanced at the calendar on her phone, mentally calculating the time she’d need to leave for her first appointment tomorrow morning.

Molly whined and nudged Sarah’s leg.

“You don’t have to go outside again, do you?” She felt a little strange talking to a dog, but Molly seemed to understand. When she heard the word “outside” the dog’s ears stood up, she barked once, and the expression on her face looked like a doggy smile.

Sarah laughed and picked up the leash. “Okay, come on.” Molly dashed to the door, dancing with excitement. As Sarah clipped the leash on Molly’s collar, the doorbell rang.

She looked through the peephole and saw the back of someone’s head. They had shoulder length, light-brown wavy hair. With the distorted view, she couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. A ripple of apprehension traveled up her back.

She opened the door but left the chain lock in place. Better safe than sorry in this city.

The person turned around. Sarah immediately realized he was a man—a very good-looking man with a long straight nose, strong chin, and golden-brown eyes. He looked about thirty. She glanced at his clothes, and her eyebrows rose. He wore a dark-green baggy sweatshirt with a torn neck, worn black jeans, and slip-on leather loafers with no socks. She kept the chain in place and stood back a little.

He smiled, and a deep dimple creased his left cheek. “Hi. I’m Justin Latimer.”

Surprise rippled through her. She’d pictured Lillian’s grandson a little differently when they’d talked on the phone earlier.

He lifted his brows, reflecting her hesitant expression.

Heat radiated into her face. “Oh . . . yes. I’m sorry.” She unlatched the chain and opened the door wider. “I’m Sarah Montgomery.”

Molly lunged past her and leaped at Justin. Sarah hung on to the leash.

Laughing, he squatted to greet the dog. “Hey there, Miss Molly. What’ve you been up to? Giving this lady a hard time?” He scratched behind her raised ears and let her lick his cheek.

“How’s Lillian?” Sarah glanced down the hall toward her neighbor’s door.

He stood to face Sarah, and a serious expression replaced his smile. “She sprained her wrist, and they think she has a concussion.” He frowned and glanced away. “Her blood work came back with some strange results. The doctor wants to run some more tests. They’re keeping her overnight.”

“I hope she’s not too upset. I know she thought she’d be coming home today.” Sarah glanced down at Molly. Keeping the dog for one day had been a challenge. She’d had to rearrange her schedule and cancel two appointments. She wasn’t sure how she’d manage working and watching Molly tomorrow.

Justin held his hand out for the leash. “Don’t worry. I’ll take Molly.”

Sarah’s face warmed, surprised he’d read her thoughts, but she didn’t release the leash.

“It’s okay.” Amusement shone in his eyes. “I stay with Molly whenever my grandmother goes out of town. That was part of the deal we made when I got Molly for her.”

“You bought Molly for Lillian?”

Grinning, he nodded. “Yes, I’m the guilty party.” He leaned down and ruffled the hair on the dog’s head, his expression growing pensive. “She was lonely after my granddad died. I thought a dog would be a good companion for her.”

Sarah’s heart warmed as she watched him. “That was thoughtful.”

“Well, I’m glad it helped. Now Molly is one of the most pampered pooches in Manhattan.” He gazed at the dog with affection. “And my grandma has someone who needs her and a reason to get up in the morning.”

Sarah nodded and studied him. Even though he needed a good haircut and new wardrobe, a man who cared that much about his grandmother deserved a measure of trust. “Why don’t you come in, and I’ll collect Molly’s things.” She opened the door wider.

“Thanks.” He followed her into the apartment. His gaze traveled around the living room and dining room. “Wow, this is nice.” He hesitated and glanced at her. “Spacious and very . . . neat.”

She smiled. “You sound surprised.”

“It looks like the same floor plan as my grandmother’s apartment, but it’s a shocking contrast to her . . . housekeeping style.”

Sarah held back a chuckle. “Yes, I saw her apartment for the first time this morning.”

He lifted his hands. “She wasn’t always like this, but since my granddad died, it’s gotten out of hand. Hopefully, I can sort through some things and clean up while she’s at the hospital.”

Sarah tipped her head, considering the possibilities. “Maybe I could help you.”

His dark brows rose. “You want to help me clean out her apartment?”

“That’s what I do.”

“You’re a cleaning lady?”

She pulled in a deep breath and stifled her initial response. “No, I’m a professional organizer.” She reached in her suit jacket pocket and handed him a business card.

He took the card and read it, but the question in his eyes told Sarah he could use a little more explanation.

“I help my clients develop and implement plans to simplify and organize their lives, homes, and offices.”

He nodded, but still looked uncertain.

“I help them discover why they struggle with disorganization. Then I teach them how to overcome clutter, get organized, and realize their dreams.”

His eyes lit up. “That’s exactly what my grandmother needs.” He rubbed his hands together. “When could you start?”

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Author bio: 

Carrie Turansky is the award-winning author of seventeen inspirational romance novels and novellas. She writes both contemporary and historical stories and has won the ACFW Genesis Award, The ACFW Carol Awards, and the International Digital Award. 

When Carrie is not writing she enjoys traveling with her husband, working in her garden, walking around the lake near their home in New Jersey, and cooking healthy meals for friends and family. Carrie loves to connect with reading friends through her website, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

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Connect with Carrie:
Website - http://carrieturansky.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/authorcarrieturansky/
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/carrieturansky/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/carrieturansky?lang=en