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Friday Free For All

Five From Patrick Friar

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Welcome to Five From Friends Friday!

Each week, I’ll share with you five quick and quirky questions and answers

from some of my favorite author friends.

I think you’ll see some familiar faces in here, too.

Quickies from Patrick Friar

Author Patrick Friar will be joining us at Indie BookFest this summer! Check out his book and his interview.

Q: Wine or beer?

A: Wine. Moscato.

Q: Think of your favorite of your own characters. What attribute, physical or otherwise, would you most like to have yourself?

A: Damon’s guts to wrestle with two tensions that many  shirk the courage to do with honest soul scouring intensity; religious faith and human sexuality .

Q: A famous producer appears on your doorstep and offers to turn any book you like (by any author) into a Broadway play. Which novel would you choose? 

A: One of Anne Tyler’s brilliant people portrait  writings  either A Beginner’s Goodbye, or St Maybe , or Breathing Lessons.

Q: It’s a gorgeous Saturday morning in early June. How will you spend the day, assuming time and money are both limitless?

A: How about on one of those ivory sandy beaches  with aquamarine surf next to me  . Not very much attire… a great book say from a fellow or maiden Indie author, and a stocked cooler. 

Q: Brownies or chocolate chip cookies?

A: My mom baked the best. Won the hearts of all my high school friends on bus trips many years ago . Have to go with Moms famous chocolate chip cookies 

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Damon is faced with a trial that shakes the depths of his soul. His spirituality is tested as he encounters the unyielding pull of image1sexual desires. Controversial and absorbing, Stained Glassis the story of a man whose own passions tear him apart with indecision.

 pastorsdamon.com/Amazon

  

Patrick Friar has had many years of experience in ministry. While becoming familiar with the inner workings of different smaller and larger church congregations, he finished work with a doctorate. Friar operates regularly as a therapist working with couples, individuals, and groups. He calls North Carolina home. He enjoys being a family man and is well-traveled. Friar enjoys a good steak, watching sports, playing golf, listening to music, and spending time with his family.

Follow Patrick here: Website/Facebook

What I'm Reading Wednesday

I’m Reading The Shameless Hour by Sarina Bowen

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We’ve been playing with a theme here the last week or so: strong females, sexuality and how it’s all portrayed in contemporary literature, more specifically in New Adult romance. The book I’ve been reading over the last week is a perfect example of how that’s done well.

You might remember I read the first two Ivy Years books last month and really enjoyed them. I was thrilled to see this new installment come out in April, but since it didn’t involve the main characters from the first two, I was a little worried. Happily, the story was so good and the characters so very engaging that I was immediately captivated. But what drew me in even more was one of the main themes of this novel: healthy sexuality and the role of shaming in our culture.

Bella, the female lead, is an unabashedly sexual character. It’s clear early on that she’s perfectly comfortable with her own body, with her sexuality and with a series of partners. She’s the hockey team’s manager, and she’s definitely more at home with men than she is with girls; we notice that she doesn’t really have any female friends, and the attitudes of the hockey girlfriends are less than warm. Still, the fact that Bella doesn’t feel shame–and in fact celebrates her choices–makes the reader comfortable with her, too.

When she encounters her upstairs neighbor Rafe needing some cheering up, Bella does what comes naturally. His response–or Bella’s perception of it–in the weeks that follow shake her convictions, but what happens next nearly destroys her life. I won’t spoil it, but the way the author weaves this story, subtly showing how easy it is to jump to judgement in situations we don’t understand, is remarkable and extremely well-done.

The juxtaposition of Bella’s open sexuality and that of the men at her school, and how both of those are perceived by others, is eye-opening. (More on that Thursday.)

From a strictly-story point of view, this was fabulous. The love story is gently developed, with believable ebbs and flows. Bella’s evolution and maturity is also nicely done, and I’m excited that one of the related characters will have her own story! (Yay! More Ivy Years!)

If you haven’t tried these books yet, I highly recommend them. Actually, I can’t say enough good about them. One click ’em now.

Friday Free For All

Five From Juli Valenti

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Welcome to Five From Friends Friday!

Each week, I’ll share with you five quick and quirky questions and answers

from some of my favorite author friends.

I think you’ll see some familiar faces in here, too.

Quickies from Juli Valenti

I was trying to remember exactly how I ‘met’ Juli Valenti. I know we were chatting about something bookish related, and then she was involved in a promotion we did this past winter. We also met up at Coastal Magic in February . . . she’s a fellow Floridian. Give her a big hello!

Q: You’re a Florida girl. If you were offered your choice of an annual pass to any local amusement park—transportation included—would you choose Disney World, Sea World, Universal or Legoland?

A: Disney World!!!! I’m a huge child at heart and I’ve only been once.

Q: You’re on a cruise, and the captain says you get to choose the dinner menu for the last night at sea. What will be served?

A: Hmm. tough one… depends on my mood, I guess. Probably Prime Rib, Green Beans (just like Outbacks) and a Caesar salad. For dessert: Key Lime Pie, Black Forest Cake, and Strawberry shortcake

Q: A genie offers you the chance to take your best friend and spend a day in *one* of the worlds you created in your books. Which book-world will you visit with your friend?

A: All of my worlds are real-time, and not different from every day life. If i could visit ANY world, though, it would probably be Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series 🙂

Q: What’s the one item you must have with you at the beach?

A: Sunscreen! A LOT of it. Maybe I need to go into business making sunscreen that protects the ultra-fair peoples like me. (I’m the only perpetually pale person in Florida!)

Q: The Property Brothers are going to help you find your dream home. What three elements are absolutely essential for your perfect house?

A: Light – I want to see the outside when I’m inside, using less electricity. Open floor plans with high ceilings and not a lot of walls (walls make me claustrophobic). A large backyard with a patio so I could sit outside and watch my kids play safely while I write and bask in the warmth of Florida (covered, of course, so I don’t burn like bacon!)

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author pic

 

Juli Valenti grew up in a small town in Arkansas, known for Wal-mart, which is no longer small but is still known for the grocery store. Lucky for her, she didn’t retain an accent, despite her overuse of ya’ll when talking. She currently resides in sunny Florida with her husband and two young boys. If her world wasn’t crazy enough, she also works a full time day job, as well as owns her own editing company (Juli’s Elite Editing).

Follow Juli here:

Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Website

 

Pieces in Chance

Drew Townsend has lived anything but a charmed life. When her mother died from cancer, her father snapped, using her as his own personal punching bag. After taking one too many beatings, she took things into her own hands. Determined to escape the Pieces in Chance Ecovernightmare she was living, a desperate Drew does the only thing she can think of to end it all.

Jensen Marks, a former Marine and now police officer in the small town of Chance, had seen a lot of things in his years – war, beatings, crying children – yet none of it kept him up at night. So once he met Drew, he’s perplexed by the way she got under his skin. After years of everyone turning their back on what was going on, Jensen takes it upon himself to see a change in her.

Can Jensen help Drew pick up the missing pieces of herself or will he push her into losing yet another piece in Chance?

Amazon/Nook

What I'm Reading Wednesday

I’m Reading . . . some New Adult Romance

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This is a fine thing, indeed. It’s What I’m Reading #Wednesday, and honestly, in the last week, I’ve been unhappy with what I’ve read.

I blame Colleen Hoover, Cora Carmack and Ginger Scott. Their last books were so good, I’m getting spoiled.

I’m happy to report, however, that last night, while trolling the ‘zon and iBooks for something . . . anything . . . I found out that Sarina Bowen’s new book, The Shameless Hour (The Ivy Years Book 3) went live last week.

Booyah!

Next week, I promise I’ll have more to report. But why have the other books I’ve been reading (which I will not name; we’re all entitled to our points of view!) not been cutting the mustard? It’s been a few things.

First, the characters are not memorable. They’ve been lackluster, wishy-washy and too capricious. One girl couldn’t make up her mind about anything, and that made me nuts. Another whined. No. Just no. Second, the storylines were unbelievable, and while I’m more than ready to suspend my disbelief, you’ve got to give me something to work with. Anything. Third, and this is a big one, some of the books I read this week were poorly edited. It wasn’t typos or missed words so much as my own personal bugaboo: words misused. One series I read had so many words used in the wrong context that I wanted to scream.

“No, you didn’t withhold the sobs threatening to escape!” I raged. “You held them in. You swallowed them. You bit them back. That word doesn’t mean what you think it does.”

On the other hand, I did read all three books–partly out of desperation and partly out of a morbid curiosity to see how the author brought it all together. So maybe it’s understandable that others read them, too.

The good news is that May is bringing me all sorts of book deliciousness. If only I can hold out that long . . .

Friday Free For All

Five From . . . You!

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QuestMark

Today I’m turning the tables and asking YOU five questions! Leave your answers in the comments or on my Facebook page. Yes, these will be used in a future post . . . you have been warned!

–What is your favorite genre right now?
–What book has stuck in your mind over the past three months?
–What aspect of a female lead is your favorite (i.e, snarky, smart, fearless, flawed . . . ?)
–What part of a male lead makes you swoon? (I mean characteristic, not body part!)
–How many books do you read each week?

Get ready for future Five From Friends Friday guests, including K.M. Scott, Stacy Darnell, CM Doporto, Jenna Barton, Arianne Richmonde, Ruth Cardello, Juli Valenti . . . and many more!