New historical fiction from Pelican Book Group

From Pelican Book Group

Recent widow Jared Montrose needs a new wife to maintain his home. In order to flee a cruel past, Mercy Cantrell accepts his mail-order, but can the stubborn lawman handle the feisty and beautiful woman?

And will he accept her love in return?

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In an Instant Tracy Wainwright

In an Instant

Tray Wainwright

c. July 2019

Prism, an imprint of Pelican Book Group

$5.99 ebook

$15.99 Print

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About the Book

The Clock is Ticking...
Julie Montgomery left for work but never arrived. Her husband, Luke, reports her disappearance, but Officer Terrence Cooper isn’t convinced anything’s amiss. As he looks into the case, he discovers that not only are Luke Montgomery’s fears warranted, but that Julie had been hiding a dark secret.

Julie vanished in an instant. By the time Terrence unravels the truth, will it be too late to get her back?

My Review

Set in lush fall east coast rural America, Wainwright’s Christian suspense shows how all things must work together in order to save a missing woman.

At the start, a young husband’s report of his bride’s disappearance seems uncomplicated at best, suspicious at worst. Luke knows only that although his wife’s car arrived at work, she didn’t show up at her historical interpretation position in the Colonial Williamsburg historical complex. Since it’s only been a couple of hours, Officer Cooper has nothing but gut instinct to go on when he agrees to check things out. As he gets deeper into the troubling situation, he begins to unravel a secret of despair that Luke’s wife, Julie, and mother-in-law are desperate to keep in the past.

Our past not only haunts us, it returns upon occasion to remind us that we are all imperfect creatures and secrets hurt and betray. When Julie decides to stomp the ugliness of her youth into the ground and share her newfound normalcy with joyous abandon when she marries Luke, her past rises up in an attempt to regain control of her life. Officer Cooper, a loner on the force, learns he must use the expertise of those around him, even if he doesn’t respect their intent or beliefs. Julie’s mother and husband must rely on the only course of action they have to help Julie, which is deep prayer, and the prayers of friends. Julie and Luke both understand that in desperate situations, they do the best they can and then rely on the One who is truly in control.

A few clever distractions briefly hide the depth of the crime, and overall good dialog and characters keep the reader turning pages. Those who love their crime stories interwoven with Christian prayer and moments of Christian gathering to soften the moments of violence will find much to appreciate in Wainwright’s newest book.

About the Author

Tracy is the author of books and multiple local and national magazines articles. She enjoys writing in a variety of genres and has works in the categories of Bible Studies, adult fiction, young adult, children’s fiction and nonfiction. Her latest nonfiction book, A Transformed Mind is the first in a series of twelve mini ebooks devoted to life transformation. Tracy works in her writing around being a wife and homeschooling mom of four, women’s conference director, women’s ministry leader in her church and speaking. She loves Jesus, other people and both the written and spoken word.

Currently reading In an Instant

The Clock is Ticking...

Julie Montgomery left for work but never arrived. Her husband, Luke, reports her disappearance, but Officer Terrence Cooper isn't convinced anything’s amiss. As he looks into the case, he discovers that not only are Luke Montgomery’s fears warranted, but that Julie had been hiding a dark secret.

Julie vanished in an instant. By the time Terrence unravels the truth, will it be too late to get her back?

 Buy from Pelican Ventures

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Excerpt

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A demanding voice broke through Terrence’s concentration.

“I don’t care if your policy says to wait forty-eight hours. I want someone to help me look for my wife.”

He glanced up from the stack of paperwork to the man berating the front desk clerk. Late twenties, he guessed. About five foot ten, dark blond hair, fit. Probably worked with his hands, judging from the calluses visible on his palms from across the room. The man’s face shone beet red, and he glared at the poor rookie. Jack turned from the angry man and met Terrence’s gaze. He raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes.

Terrence groaned, handed the file he’d been flipping through to Officer Clark, and sauntered over.

The distraught man shifted his gaze to meet his straight on. Terrence ignored the pain reflected in the man’s eyes. Anyone could fake emotion.

“What’s the problem, sir?” He steadied his voice, exuding calm instead of the irritation bubbling inside. The best way to get someone to placidity was to lead them there.

The man spoke through clenched teeth. “My…wife…is…missing. I want someone to help me find her.”

“OK. Let’s start with the basics. What’s your name?”

“Luke Montgomery. My wife’s name is Julie.”

He held the man’s challenging stare. Mr. Montgomery refocused the conversation off himself and back to his wife. Interesting. Most missing wife cases turned out to be the husband. Deflection could be a cover. “OK. Your wife is missing. How long has she been gone?”

“About two hours.”

He blinked several times instead of rolling his eyes as he wanted. Montgomery’s wife probably decided to take a long breakfast with a girlfriend or do some early morning Christmas shopping. The possibilities were endless. “Two hours? She could be anywhere, passing time, goofing off with a friend.” He took a deep breath. “Give her some more time. She’ll show up, and you’ll laugh about it over turkey in a couple weeks.”

Terrence turned to leave, but a hand gripped the sleeve of his uniform, spinning him back around. Heat seared through his veins. “Remove your hand, sir.”

Tears pooled in the man’s eyes, throwing Terrence off balance. He stepped back, and Mr. Montgomery let go of his shirt.

“You don’t get it.” Mr. Montgomery raked his fingers through his hair. “She should be at work. Her car’s where she always parks it. She’s as reliable as a clock. She’s missing, and I know every minute ticking by means the chances of finding her diminishes.”

Terrence’s blood cooled to a simmer. He glanced at Jack and met sympathy in the young cop’s eyes. Great. This guy isn’t going away until someone talks to him. “All right, Mr. Montgomery. Why don’t we get some coffee, sit down, and tell me about your wife.”

The man’s shoulders dropped. “Thank you.”

He turned to the rookie. “Jack?”

“Interview room two is open.”

“This way, Mr. Montgomery.” Terrence led him through the desks, paused to fill two cups of coffee, then continued down a hallway and into the room with a large “2” pasted on the door. He closed the door, flicked his hand toward the metal chair on the opposite side of the table, and plunked down. He glanced behind him. Jack would have sent someone to observe from the other side of the two-way mirror in case this guy got a little too passionate about his missing wife.

He sipped from one of the steaming cups and set the extra one on the table in front of the troubled Mr. Montgomery. The man shook his head.

“OK, tell me more about your wife. When did you last see or talk to her?”

Montgomery splayed his fingers flat on the cold, hard table and stared at them. “About six-thirty when she left for work.”

“What about before that? Did y’all have a fight?” He slurped from his cup again. Black and strong. How he perceived himself. How he preferred his coffee.

Montgomery’s jaw twitched. “No. The morning went great. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until her coworker Sue called to say Julie never showed up.”

He studied the man. Creased brow, open arms. He didn’t appear to be hiding anything.

Terrence leaned back in his chair and ran his thumb along the top rim of the Styrofoam. “Let’s go back to before she left. Give me the play-by-play of the morning.”

The muscles in Montgomery’s face relaxed, and he also leaned back. “We got up at five and went for a run, like we do every weekday morning. I fixed breakfast while she took a shower. We ate together, and she finished getting ready while I showered. We kissed good-bye, got in our cars, and headed to work.”

Ugh. How disgustingly bland. No one could be that boring. He had to be leaving something out. “But she never made it.”

He scrunched his eyebrows. “No.”

Courting Danger suspsense with Nike Chillemi

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About the Book:

Newly installed Pelican Beach, FL detective Katerina "Kat" Andruko fears the prime suspect will get off in the murder of a teen with the help of the department's forensics psychologist, a man she's just started to trust.

The case has national security implications giving former US Army Ranger, Dr. Dimitri Garmonin a chance to work with the FBI. It could help him gain funds needed to expand his small Behavior Analysis Unit. He's unmoved by the chic FBI agent but is intrigued by Kat with whom he shares a Slavic heritage.

Det. Katerina "Kat" Andruko and her partner detain two wrong suspects, giving the department negative press. The predator turns his anger on Kat, targeting her. Can Dimitri use his profiler skills to protect Kat before the feisty detective does something else to enrage this killer.

A Brief Interview with the Author:

Q: What do you love about your new book?

A: I loved giggling and laughing as I created and wrote my quirky characters. It was such fun dressing middle-aged Detective Gilbert Nash in Sonny Crocket/Miami Vice type colorful suits. He makes his first appearance at the murder site in a cornflower-blue suit jacket, beige silk tee, tan slacks, and sockless feet in tan and black loafers. Another time he shows up in a pumpkin-colored suit which he claims is a "perfectly acceptable fall color." I got such a kick out of the wryly humorous courtroom scene where the elderly Honorable Hyam Noach Levine puts a gangbanger in his place.

Q: What are two things you learned while researching?

A: In this case, the novel itself took its shape from my personal research. I knew I was going to write about a serial killer in a beach town as early as 2014. At that time, Russia was invading Crimea in the Ukraine. As I'm of Ukrainian heritage, I was amazed and proud of the Ukrainian Orthodox priests who stood in front of Russian tanks holding crosses. It spurred me on to read articles about how these priests ministered to the people of the Crimea day and night while they were under attack. So, I thought, what if I made my American born heroine the child of devout Ukrainian Orthodox parents. Of course, you have conflict when she suspects the hero, the city's profiler of being the murderer…and even more conflict when the sexy FBI agent makes a play for him. But I thought why not create underlying socio-ethnic conflict/suspicion and make the profiler Russian-born.

Q: Tell us about the character who gave you the most trouble.

A: My killer gave me the most trouble. I can't go into too much detail without giving this individual's identity away.

Q: What do you hope readers will tell others about your book?

A: That the novel engages the reader on multi-levels. -- And that it's 99 cents all summer.

Q: What are you reading now?

A: Magnolia Storms by Janet W. Ferguson, and I'm enjoying it tremendously.

Q: What’s next?

A: I'm working on a new detective novel with a national security twist entitled Acts of Malice. It's heroine, Lavender Raines, is a new widow. Her husband has been brutally murdered and it appears he was involved in something covert. The hero, known as Mackey, who Lavender is wary of from the get-go, is an operative with a clandestine organization. Unbeknownst to her, he has been tasked with finding her husband's killers.

About the Author:

Nike N. Chillemi writes contemporary detective novels, It's been said she writes literature that reads like pulp fiction. Plenty of action, a dash of grit, wry humor as well as an uplifting message. There's often a national security/public safety twist to them. She likes her bad guys really bad, her good guys smarter and better. Her newest endeavor is COURTING DANGER.

Nike is the founding board member of the Grace Filled Fiction Spotlight (formerly the Grace Awards) and its Chair, a platform to promote excellence in Christian fiction. She has been a judge in the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017 Carol Awards in the suspense, mystery, and romantic suspense categories; the Genesis Awards in 2019; and an Inspy Awards 2010 judge in the Suspense/Thriller/Mystery category. Her four novel Sanctuary Point series (out of print), set in the mid-1940s has finaled, won an award, and garnered critical acclaim. The first novel in the Veronica "Ronnie" Ingels/Dawson Hughes series HARMFUL INTENT won in the Grace Awards 2014 Mystery/Romantic Suspense/Thriller/Historical Suspense category. She has written book reviews for The Christian Pulse online magazine. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and John 3:16 Marketing Network.  https://nikechillemi.com/

William Burt Creation Seekers books

About the Book: 

Book I in the Creation Seekers series

Published by: CREATION WAY BOOKS (an imprint of KOT BOOKS, LLC). June, 2017. (Softcover; 314 pages. Illustrated by Becky Miller.)

What are the mysterious lights flitting above Oswego Lake on moonlit nights? Marsh gas? Ball lightning? Or holdovers from the dawn of Creation?

When Jonathan Oliver makes it his homeschool project to track down the source of the Lake Lights, his search leads him to Iron Mountain’s abandoned Prosser Mine and its age-old secrets. After his physicist father goes missing in the wilds of Afghanistan, Jon is left to decode a cryptic message leading to yet more mysteries and a remarkable, game-changing invention.

With his grandfather’s help, Jon matches wits with an unscrupulous scientist who will stop at nothing to steal the device and sell it to a shadowy criminal organization. Jon’s dual discoveries not only help him to deliver his city from total annihilation but also ultimately rock the scientific world to its very foundations.

Buy the book:

The website

Print: $11.99 plus $3.99 shipping

Amazon

Print: $13.95

Ebook: $4.99 - special sale during this promotion of $2,99

A brief interview with the Author

What do you love about your new book?

I love the fact that it’s set in an actual location in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where I grew up. It’s fun to be able to walk the scenic Iron Mountain trail and identify the remnants of the Prosser Iron Mine and other landmarks mentioned in the book. Though I’m not a fan of historical fiction per se, I did enjoy weaving both historical fact and fiction into the plot. I also loved incorporating some Creation Science principles (and live “dinosaurs”) into the story, which is one of the main reasons I wrote it. So many young people and adults nowadays are steeped in Darwinism that I thought it was high time Creationism received equal billing. Something else I enjoyed about this title is that all the Oliver family members are devoted Christians. Moreover, my main character and his sister end up being homeschooled. I purposely portray homeschoolers as normal, intelligent, well-adjusted students.

What are two things you learned while researching this story?

First, I learned a great deal about the Prosser Iron Mine’s history (which I tweaked a bit for the story). It turns out that in its day, the mine was the largest of its kind on the west coast, with many extensive and unexplored drifts. Not far from my childhood home, for example, a woman remodeling her house accidentally broke into one of these mine tunnels. Second, I learned more of the flaws in evolutionary theory—such as the discovery of unfossilized tissues in many fossilized remains. (I’ve actually studied the subject for many years, but research is turning up new inconsistencies every day.)

Tell us about the character who gave you the most trouble.

Dr. Graham MacKenzie is a Scottish volcanologist who is also a Creation Scientist. As a family friend, he has an important role to play. I enjoyed developing his character so much that I carried him over into the sequel, The Vikings of Loch Morar. However, putting his Scottish idiomatic English on paper proved to be quite a challenge, though it was great fun!

What do you hope readers will tell others about your book?

I hope they will tell their friends that as a clean, inspirational (and educational) mystery adventure tale, this is a book well worth the reading—and re-reading.

What are you reading now?

I just finished re-reading The Wind and the Willows and am halfway through The Cottingley Secret, which is a well-written and imaginative spinoff from actual historical events. Otherwise, I mainly read the Bible.

What’s next?

I have some ideas rolling around in my head—a kind of crossover between my two series involving a different spin on time-travel. We’ll see if those concepts bear fruit.

About the Author

William D. Burt is the award-winning author of the seven-title Christian allegorical “King of the Trees” series and of his new Creation Seekers series: “The Lake Lights” (Book 1) and “The Vikings of Loch Morar” (Book 2). All nine of Burt’s titles have been awarded five stars by Readers’ Favorite reviewers. Two of his first series titles (out of three submitted) were finalists in the 2014 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest: “The King of the Trees” and “The Golden Wood.”

“The King of the Trees” subsequently won the 2014 Silver Medal in the category of “Christian Fantasy/Sci-fi.”

The Creation Seekers series is William Burt’s first foray into the realm of science fiction. The titles in this series feature the adventures of a fictional Oregon family of brilliant scientists and educators who turn the world upside down with their revolutionary inventions and discoveries.

 As an Assistant Professor in the Special Education Department at Western Oregon University, Burt served as a successful grant-writer and program coordinator. He holds a B.S. in English from Lewis and Clark College and an M.S. in Deaf Education from Western Oregon University. Burt has been an RID-certified sign-language interpreter with over forty years’ experience. His interests include reading, foreign languages and mycology. He is married with two grown children and four grandchildren.

Guest Alexis Goring Devotional on God's Family

God’s Family: A Forever Place to Belong

A devotional by Alexis A. Goring

We all want to belong. 

Sororities and fraternities are a big deal for college students in the United States of America. There’s a whole, grueling, sometimes embarrassing process that young men and women go through just to belong to one.

People go to great lengths and do all sorts of things (good and bad) just to get in because they want to belong to a support system that’s like family consisting of their peers.

But what they fail to realize is that they are already invited to be part of God’s Family where they truly belong and are loved unconditionally.

Best of all, God’s Family is for life not only on this Earth but forever.

Beth Moore, a famous Bible teacher and writer, said something in her book Breaking Free that resonates with me. She wrote,

“God is not only the answer to a thousand needs, He is the answer to a thousand wants. He is the fulfillment of our chief desire in all of life. For whether or not we’ve ever recognized it, what we desire is unfailing love.”

Unfailing love can only come from the heart of God. Not sororities. Not fraternities. Not gangs. Not high school cliques. Not memberships to prestigious organizations. Only God.

I love the song “Your Love Never Fails” by Jesus Culture. It’s about how God’s love never fails or gives up on us. He is our Creator, Lord, Savior, Redeemer and truest Best Friend. He loves us with all of His divine heart and He wants us to love Him too. But He will never make us love Him because He wants us to love Him out of the free will that He gave us, not because we’re scared of going to hell or have ulterior motives about making it into Heaven.

God is love. He embodies the word and His love for His creation is present in nature all around this world! He is our Heavenly Father and when we accept His Son Jesus Christ into our lives, we become a permanent part of His forever family!

The best part is that we don’t have to do anything drastic to belong to God’s Family. We just have to trust Him, believe in Him and accept the free gift of salvation that He offers humankind through His Son Jesus Christ. According to John 1:12 (ESV), this is how we become part of God’s family after we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

It’s simple. No strings attached. Only hope eternal knowing that when our life here on Earth ends that we have the promise of spending eternity with Him when Jesus Christ returns to Earth again to take His faithful followers to Heaven.

God’s Family is global. When you join His forever family, you gain brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world. Just think how grand our big, diverse family reunion with our brothers and sisters in Christ, will be when we make it to Heaven!

Belonging to God’s Family is something we should all seek before seeking acceptance from any social or prestigious organization here on Earth. Remember, your worth does not come from what your fellow man thinks of you. Your worth comes from God! Focus on what He says about you. Believe what He knows is true about you. Let Him be your mirror. Listen to His Truth. Don’t allow what mankind says to define you, good or bad. Let your sense of self ... your core identity ... come from God! He thinks you’re amazing because He made you. As one of His children, you are loved!

Yes, I know that as mortals, even when we have the Creator of the Universe lavishing His divine love upon us, we still may want to seek acceptance from sororities, fraternities or other prestigious organizations that are safe (gangs and cliques are NOT safe). I’m not saying to not seek after those things. I’m just saying to keep God as your primary focus and seek Him first. Find out what He wants you to do and ask Him for wisdom to make good decisions that will help you, not hurt you. Also, as you journey through life, remember who you are (your identity as a follower of Jesus Christ) and whose you are (you belong to God) and refuse to let the opinions of people deter you from remaining a part of God’s Family.

In closing, I’d like to share a prayer from Beth Moore about unfailing love that is from her book, Breaking Free. She wrote, 

“Oh, God, awake our souls to see—You are what we want, not just what we need. Yes, our life’s protection, but also our heart’s affection. Yes, our soul’s salvation, but also our heart’s exhilaration. Unfailing love. A love that will not let me go!”

God’s Love for you will never let you go. Stay close to Him and allow Him to direct your destiny. Remember, you are loved and part of His family!

Author Bio: Alexis A. Goring is a passionate writer with a degree in Print Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing. She loves the art of storytelling and hopes that her stories will connect readers with the enduring, forever love of Jesus Christ.

Visit her blog at:

http://capturingtheidea.blogspot.com/

This post originally appeared at Whispers in Purple in May, 2019.

Used with permission.

Photo: swans, courtesy of Morguefile, a free sharing site.

Highland Romance with Jennifer Trethewey

Saving the Scot

Book 4 of the Highlanders of Balfourss historical romance series

Jennifer Trethewey

Entangled books

March, 2019

$3.99 ebook

$18.99 print

$14.99 Audio

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About the Book:

Louisa Robertson’s father is furious when he finds her acting on stage. Now, she’s being shipped off to America to marry some stranger her father thinks will bring out the “lady” in her. Luckily, Louisa’s maid agrees to switch places with her! Her maid will marry the American and get the wealthy lifestyle she’s always wanted, and Louisa can do whatever she damn well pleases––for the first time in her life.

Highlander Ian Sinclair needs an army commission, and the only way he can get one is to safely deliver the general’s Daughter-from-Hell to her intended in America. Easy, right? It would be if the lady’s companion Louisa didn’t wear breeches and do everything the exact opposite of what he orders. It’ll be a miracle if the sparks flying between Ian and Louisa don’t set the bloody ship afire before they arrive in America.

But just when Louisa thinks her plan is going to give her the acting career she wants and a Highlander to boot...Ian discovers her secret.

My Review:

Saving the Scot is a hijinks tale of mistaken identity, secrets, and outright lies that make the reader wonder which Scot needs to be saved most. Louisa is the spoiled motherless little sister who terrorizes her father with her refusal to do anything conventional. Since he spends so much time away either on the battlefield or in military training, she’s been left to her own devices, which has led her to the debauched life of play-acting. On the public stage. Ian’s battle scars are more than skin deep, and after five years of attempting to heal as captain of a family merchant ship, he’s ready to leap back into the regimentation of military life. A major hitch in his plans arrives with the news of his fatherhood, a young lad being cared for by an ailing grandmother.

Framed by the false identities of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Trethewey, who’s an actress turned author, finally pens a story of what she knows best. Louisa lives as though she’s preparing for a role and uses the behavior as an excuse to cover her deepest fears of abandonment and closed-in spaces. When her father sends her away to marry her brother’s acquaintance in America, Ian is tasked with seeing her safely there. But Louisa has other plans and gets her maid to exchange identities. Feeling free to act on his attraction to the supposed lady’s maid, the two allow themselves to get carried away. Through various events involving pirates, thieves, sex traffickers, and another acquaintance with a false identity, the two sort out their future goals and wishes.

Although this story is part of a series of familial characters, it can be read on its own. Other characters are mentioned, and the allusion to the portent dream concluding the previous story, that of Ian marrying a woman in trousers, are the only ties to the other books. Told in opposing points of view from Louis and Ian, readers of romantic fiction will appreciate the research and attention to detail, along with the lusty relationship sparking the adventure.

About the Author:

Jennifer Trethewey is an actor-turned-writer who has moved her performances from the stage to the page. In 2013 she traveled to Scotland for the first time, where she instantly fell for the language, humor, intense sense of pride, and breathtaking landscape. Her love for Scotland was translated into her first series of historical romance novels, the Highlanders of Balforss.

Trethewey’s primary experience in bringing the imaginary to life was working for one of the oldest women’s theaters in the nation, where she was the co-founder and co-artistic director. Today she continues to act, but writes contemporary and historical fiction full-time. Her other loves include dogs, movies, music and good wine. She lives in Milwaukee with her husband.