Digitalis

No, not the medicine, but the book Digitalis, by Ronie Kendig. When I received this book, I thought oh, no, another military book. Don't get me wrong, I've been reading several books based on the military and I loved them. The man on the front of this book was so handsome, I had to open it and start reading.

An intriguing woman draws an ex-Marine into a deadly game.

Colton Neeley left his military career to take care of his four-year-old daughter. Although he's firm in his faith now, the repercussions of his former life are still evident-namely in the form of his daughter and his debilitating flashbacks from combat-related trauma. Can he muster the courage to step out of his self-imposed insulation and embrace the new woman in his life?

Piper Blum is hiding - from life and the assassins bent on destroying her family. Although smitten by Colton, she fears the day he discovers her secrets. Does their relationship, built on a foundation of lies, have a chance?

When an attempt on Piper's life leads to another's death, the black ops group, Nightshade, steps into the line of fire. Will Colton and Piper survive the mission with their love, and lives, intact? Will love cover their multitude of sins?

This is a very well written book and the suspense is abundant. I was surprised how fast the suspense jumped from one scene to another. It kept me reading and I will give it five stars. It is definitely a must read.

A New Website

Is website one word or two, web site? I have no idea, so I have made it one. Anyway, let me tell you about this baby we have produced with a lot of help from a lot of people.

My husband and I attend Walnut Grove church of Christ in Benton, KY. We love the fellowship of the elders, deacons, preacher, and all the members. This is one of the strongest churches I have ever had the privilege of being a part of. They are interested in spreading God's Word to everyone.

Something had been bothering me for a while. It seems we lose a lot of young people to the world without realizing they need encouragement from older members. I suggested to the elders that we might be interested in starting a website just for girls. They jumped on the idea and with research and finding a good designer, we are now up and running.

The site is forchristiangirls.org. We want to strengthen young girls to be good Christians first. That will enable them to be good wives and mothers. We are asking members of the church of Christ to write articles that would interest teens and also teens to write about things that interest them.

I am so thankful for RogDesigns.com for doing a wonderful job in getting this up and pink. I want to thank my daughter, Diane Turpin for the logo..We can never forget the ladies who wrote the first articles, Lyn Williams, our preacher's wive, Shanda Walker, one of our deacon's wife,  and a wonderful Christian teen who wrote a wonderful article for teens.

Articles are coming in for our next installment and I am so thankful for them. This is going to go far and wide in helping young women. Thank you for letting me tell you about it.

I Have Reclaimed My House

After almost five weeks of letting my husband wait on me, I decided today to reclaim my house. I started with the kitchen and the dishwasher is full and running nicely.

Next will be the laundry and our bedroom/bathroom. It needs reclaiming. From there I will go to the living room. My dining room table is full of junk. Why do we always have to have someplace to put mail, things we need to throw away, and just anything that we don't want to find a home for? Well, hopefully tomorrow I can take care of that.

I have had a hard time finding things in the kitchen. Why does my husband refuse to put lids in the dishwasher? I have several in there now that he has not put in for a long time. They need washing also. The cabinet with the baking utensils in it is a mess. It may take me a day to clean it out.

All in all I have to say he's been so good about all this. I pray that I don't have to have another surgery for years. I would do this knee surgery again. It is so wonderful. I have a little tenderness at the scar, but that is about all. I get very tired when I do too much and I have to rest. The surgery has been a success and the doctor, is great. I went to church yesterday without a cane or a walker.

Away to clean up some of the house and make it look straight again. Have a super day.

Today our guest is Laurie Alice Eakes. The first few times I read something Laurie Alice had written on a loop, I was amazed at her knowledge of Colonial era and the early 19^th century. Let’s see if we can find out more about her.

KA: Laurie Alice, I know you live in Texas and you are a fabulous writer. Tell our readers more about yourself.

LAE: Well, of course, I’m smart, funny, gorgeous… Oh, wait, that’s my fantasy life. Here is my official bio:

Award-winning author Laurie Alice Eakes wanted to be a writer since knowing what one was. Her first book won the National Readers Choice Award in 2007, and her third book was a Carol Award finalist in 2010. Between December of 2008 and January of 2010, she sold thirteen books to Barbour Publishing, Avalon Books, and Baker/Revell, making her total sales fifteen. Recently, she added two novella sales to that collection, as well as having her first book with Baker/Revell, Lady in the Mist, picked up by Crossings Book Club, and three of her books  chosen for large print editions by Thorndike Press. She has been a public speaker for as long as she can remember; thus, only suffers enough stage fright to keep her sharp. In 2002, while in graduate school for writing fiction, she began to teach fiction in person and online. She lives in Texas with her husband, two dogs, and too many cats even for her.

In the day-to-day reality, I’m a stay at home mom to two dogs and two cats and a number of strays who keep showing up in my fenced yard. And I write, read, research, write some more. Boring? Not at all. Well, not to me. I go by the adage that only boring people get bored.

As of June, I’ll have been married for nine years. After he graduated from Georgetown Law in DC, we moved to Texas for his job, about which I can’t talk. We love going to the beach, which isn’t too far away, but sometimes may as well be a thousand miles because of our schedules. We love music and theater and movies, especially the old ones made decades before we were born. My husband has never read one of my books, but if not for him, I wouldn’t be published. He challenged me to go for what I wanted and stick with it, make goals and meet them. He understood that I am a goal-driven person and the harder the goal, the happier I am.

Though I live in Texas, I don’t c myself as a Texan, being a recent transplant down here. Virginia seems to be home for me, though I’ve lived in many different places.

KA: Do you plot or are you a SOTP’s writer?

LAE: Plot. I could never keep up my schedule without my beloved outlines and knowing exactly where I want to go.

KA: I find when I try to plot, my characters take over a lot and pull me away from my plot. How do you overcome that?

LAE: Knowing your characters ahead of time really works. For myself, I have to write and rewrite the first 3-6 chapters before I’m comfortable with what my characters will do and, though they want to take us into tangents, that’s not always a good thing. Sometimes it is and one should go with it, but not if it gets you off track and the behavior is irrelevant to the plot. In the book I just turned in to my editor, my characters revealed things I hadn’t planned. It didn’t change my plot outline; it enhanced what was already there. Let them reveal things, just don’t let them get too much out of hand. It’s a balancing act at which I am not always successful.

KA: Do you dress to write, makeup, hair in place, business dress, or are you a jeans/sweats kind of person?

LAE: The only thing I do like that is keep my nails polished, except for at the moment when the weather has kept me from the beauty shop. But I’m a skirt and dress kind of gal, so wear a lot of sundresses in the summer and long skirts in the winter. Or a muumuu, if I’m feeling like really dressing down. Dressing for success waits for when I’m out in public. Then the heels and makeup go on.

KA: Besides writing, what do you enjoy most?

LAE: watching movies, especially old ones, listening to music, especially live, long walks on the beach or in the woods, if possible, just walking if not.

KA: Are there any places you want to go visit that you have not seen before?

LAE: Great Britain. I’ve been to Europe three times, studied in France and Switzerland as an undergrad, but have never made it to Great Britain.

KA: What is your next book going to be about?

LAE: Well, my current book, Lady in the Mist, just came out on Tuesday. In March, all three of my New Jersey historicals will be released in one volume. After that is my first Regency historical for Baker/Revell October 1. This is a romantic suspense with spies in drawing rooms, danger at balls, and descents into the London underworld. Plus a dashing French aristocrat hero and English war widow heroine ready to do anything to save England from Napoleon—or maybe not.

To keep up with my releases, do please visit my web site, wher eyou can read excerpts and reviews for all my books to date.

http://www.lauriealiceeakes.com

and keep up with my news on

http://www.seizethechance.blogspot.com

KA: Laurie Alice, I have enjoyed knowing more about you. You have been a joy for me to know and I’m looking forward to knowing you and your books better in the future. Sorry I could only get the picture of the Lady in the Mist on the blog. This is a book I would give 5 stars. So very good.

What's He Really Thinking?

I'm not a big fan on non-fiction books, but this book by Paula Rinehart is an exception. We, as wives, think we know exactly what our husbands are thinking, or at least I did. That was until I read this book. Now, I find it better to ask what he is thinking.

I highly recommend this book for a ladies class at a church. The scripture is accurate and explains her statements. There are some subjects that I would not consider to be discussed in a teenage girls class. The intimacy chapter is one of them. Some of these girls might not understand how important love making is to a marriage and as Paula puts it, "In the big picture of your relationship, you are experiencing in your best moments with this man some aspect of God that, otherwise, you would know only as a concept. It is this man's strength or courage or care that gives you a tiny peek behind the veil."

We, as women, see things differently than man. I know from my experience that my husband loves to go to a ball game, any ball game. I don't exactly like it, but I go and watch the people. I'm not the biggest ball fan in the world, but I do enjoy seeing people. So, he pays the price of a pro game for me to watch the people. That's love and understanding.

It is a effort to make a marriage work and we do need to understand the man in our life. There are days we don't feel like doing what he wants to do, but talk it out. One thing I thought was so good for married couples. When you have an argument, wait 48 to 72 hours to talk about it. It gives you time to cool down and get your thoughts together. You never want to point your finger at your spouse and accuse them of something that may be petty to you or something they may no realize they did.

I recommend this book highly. It gets a big five stars for me. Something we all can learn from, even if we are newly wed, or married for 50 years.

Having a Hard Time Finding Time

Boy, this surgery has really zapped my time. I have to take a nap in the afternoon, after I take a bath and dress. That just about completes the day, except for the emails. I have to read them, or at least the important ones. By the time supper comes, I am zapped again. I did do laundry today and I went to our little village closest to us.

Finally, I am wanting to write. That makes a big difference. We are starting a website at church for Christian Girls. I did get one thing done for it, but I have several more to do tomorrow or tonight. This will be for teen girls and problems they face each day.

My newest novel needs more done to it, but I couldn't get around to it yet today. I may get to write some tonight. It all depends on how I feel.

My knee is doing better today. I am walking in the house with no cane or walker. I feel more secure when I leave the house to have some device with me. It is doing very well. The scar will be tiny.

We have had rain and now we have wind. I can hear it in the trees outside the house. Wind is not my favorite. At least we are not supposed to get snow. Everyone stay warm and I'll try to get back on schedule later.