Here are some of the winners for my last book giveaway!
The Pied Piper’s Bride by Myrna Mackenzie – Margaret Chind of Monroe, GA
The Healing Place by Leigh Bale – Christy Hawkes of Tremonton, Utah
Nobody by Creston Mapes – Mrs. Carole Jarvis of Jonesboro, GA
Promises, Promises by Amber Miller – Stacy Johnson of Fort Worth, TX
Sticks And Stones by Susan Meissner – David Brollier of Huguenot, NY,
A Touch Of Grace by Linda Goodnight – Susan Wadkins of Snellville, GA
Enjoy!
Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White
by Claudia Burney
Publisher: Cook, David C.
Pub. Date: April 2008
ISBN-13: 9780781445504
416pp
From Publishers Weekly
The voice of beautiful Zora Nella Hampton Johnson-her name echoing the author of her favorite novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God-will take you up and carry you along until she utters her very last syllable. Anger, laughter and delight come from Zora’s sharp, sassy tongue as if she is talking out loud. Burney’s gift for voice is not limited to her heroine, though it takes her longer to get the other main character, Nicky Parker, the handsome but poor son of a racist pastor, to shine as distinctly as Zora. At this novel’s heart are love and race-what happens when a self-described BAP (black American princess), the daughter of a famous megachurch leader, falls in love with a young white man. Zora and Nicky’s dialogue about race is unflinching, with attitude, honesty and occasional humor. Burney pushes her prose to the edge of the edgiest in the “Christian fiction” genre, and then barrels right over. She doesn’t sugar-coat, especially when it comes to sex, yet she manages to create a love story that’s both erotic and chaste. Faith in Jesus comes to life on the page through Zora and Nicky’s intense, if imperfect, soul searching. Though parts are a bit melodramatic, Burney gives readers a page-turner for all audiences, Christian and beyond.
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This book was a page-turner, as I felt as if I were being taken back in time. Although the novel is contemporary, I felt a lot of the racial stereotypes portrayed went back into historical times. A lot of the talk about race, made me think about things I’ve been hearing about Blacks and Whites since I was a child. For example, the Black jockey statue that was seen in Nicky’s yard, I’d wondered if the younger generation, like people in their twenties, would have ever seen a black jockey before? I’ve seen them, of course, knew about them, but I can honestly say that I haven’t seen one in a long time.
If you want a read that touches upon just about every racial stereotype from slavery times to current times, then this book is for you. The romance is sensual and chaste at the same time, and Burney did an excellent job of showing how these two young people are so deeply attracted to each other.
The novel was moving and gripping and I read it in one day.
Going to North Carolina this weekend to drop my son off to spend a week with his grandparents. I’ll also be heading to Chicago next week to be in my sister’s wedding! So, my blogging over the next week will be kind of spotty. I do plan on selecting winners for my last book giveaway this weekend, and I also plan on blogging about Zora and Nicky soon!
Where The Heart Leads by Kim Vogel Sawyer
No, I have not read this novel! However, I love the cover! I think I like it so much because it’s women’s fiction, yet you have the man in the forefront, dominating the cover! It’s different and eye-catching!
I signed two copies of my contract, and I’m placing those in the mail tomorrow.
I also forgot to mention that I read a very thought-provoking book last weekend. It’s a little bit different than what I usually read. It’s called Zora And Nicky and it’s about an inter-racial couple and the problems that they face. The author is Claudia Mair Burney. I plan on blogging about this novel soon, as soon as I can gather my scrambled thoughts!
I’m filling out the Cover Art Sheet for my novel entitled Milk Money. The tentative release date is January 2009. I’m letting my publisher know that I imagine my cover looking like this:
An attractive African American man in a business suit holding a briefcase. He’s standing beside an attractive African American woman. The African American woman is wearing farmer’s clothing (like overalls). There’s a red barn, cows, silos, and maybe a cornfield in the background.
I’m just using my imagination here, trying to help the art department to come up with an appropriate cover!
We’ll see what happens! It’ll be months before I’ll receive my cover for this book, but I’ll be sure to post once I get it!
Through Google alerts, I found out about someone reviewing my novel, First Mates, on their blog. Check it out! First Mates Review
I received the contract for my next Heartsong Presents novel yesterday. I plan on reading it through and sending it out by Monday. The title is Bittersweet Memories. More details will follow in the coming months!
Heaven by Randy C. Alcorn
ISBN-13: 9780842379427
Pub. Date: October 2004
From Barnes And Noble.com:
Synopsis
We all have questions about what heaven will be like. Randy Alcorn helps answer some of these questions by sharing his extensive research on the topic—all from a biblical perspective. His writing will surprise readers and stretch their thinking beyond anything they’ve imagined heaven to be like. And Heaven will help readers strive for eternity while they’re living on earth.
I’ll be blogging about this book here and there, every once in a while. Reason being, it’s a non-fiction title, and for those that know me well, I don’t read a whole lot of non-fiction, and when I do, it’s usually in bits and pieces over a span of time before I finish the entire book. I just started this book, and I’ve only read a few pages so far. Here are my thoughts about what I’ve read.
I think it’s kind of sad how a lot of Christians have a skewed view of Heaven. Randy used the skewed example of Heaven as it was portrayed in Tom Sawyer, and also, he gave an example of a clergyman who had skewed view as to what Heaven was really like.
Another thing he mentioned, which I felt was pretty bad, was that in a lot of seminary and divinity schools, they don’t really teach a required course about Heaven, and if they do, it’s as an afterthought, after focusing on other study items. Randy said that Heaven is living in a New Earth in our resurrected bodies, and usually clergymen, and others, don’t portray Heaven as such. Surprisingly, I have studied this aspect of Heaven before (long story as to where and why) so this information was not new to me.
The pastor at my church did a series on Heaven and I believe he stated he got a lot of the information from his sermons from Randy’s book. My pastor said that Heaven would be living on a New Earth with our resurrected bodies. A lot of this is goes back to Revelations (I believe it’s chapter 21?), but I don’t have the exact chapters and verses in front of me.
If you’ve read this book, I’d like to know your thoughts and opinions about it. It’s hard to say when I’ll be finished with the book, though.
My novel is now on the Heartsong Presents and Barbour websites! It won’t be available to order until about a month from now, though. But, get this, if you’re looking for a novel that won’t break your wallet, then you need to check mine out! It’ll be selling for $2.97 plus postage and handling, and you can’t beat that price!