Yearly Archives: 2009

Thirsty By Tracey Bateman


Thirsty by Tracey Bateman

From the back cover:
There’s no place like home, they say.

“Hello, I’m Nina Parker…and I’m an alcoholic.”

For Nina, it’s not the weighty admission but the first steps toward recovery that prove most difficult. She must face her ex-husband, Hunt, with little hope of making amends, and try to rebuild a relationship with her angry teenage daughter, Meagan. Hardest of all, she is forced to return to Abbey Hills, Missouri, the hometown she abruptly abandoned nearly two decades earlier–and her unexpected arrival in the sleepy Ozark town catches the attention of someone–or something–igniting a two-hundred-fifty-year-old desire that rages like a wildfire.

Unaware of the darkness stalking her, Nina is confronted with a series of events that threaten to unhinge her sobriety. Her daughter wants to spend time with the parents Nina left behind. A terrifying event that has haunted Nina for almost twenty years begins to surface. And an alluring neighbor initiates an unusual friendship with Nina, but is Markus truly a kindred spirit or a man guarding dangerous secrets?

As everything she loves hangs in the balance, will Nina’s feeble grasp on her demons be broken, leaving her powerless against the thirst? The battle between redemption and obsession unfold to its startling, unforgettable end.

==
I purchased this novel because it was about two subjects that garner my interest: alcoholism and vampires. I’ve blogged about vampires a few times because of the Twilight series, and I’ve also included the subject of alcoholism in my own novels.

I thought Bateman did an excellent job of describing the difficult road to sobriety for an alcoholic. Nina has struggled with this addiction off and on for most of her adult life, and the addiction is in her blood – her father has suffered from alcoholism, too.

Thirsty also talks about familial disharmony: Nina’s relationship with her daughter is strained because of Nina’s abuse of alcohol. Nina’s relationships with her parents are strained because of her troubled childhood. When she returns home, she’s been gone for several years, and this is the first she’s seen of her parents in a long while. Plus, she’s recently divorced, although she still loves her husband.

Although two of the characters are vampires, I thought the story could have easily been re-written by portraying the two bloodsuckers as satanists or occultists or something?

Overall I thought the book was a good, suspenseful, intriguing read and it was a page turner.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Cheap Stocking Stuffer Idea









If you want some cheap options to stuff your Christmas stocking, then you should consider purchasing some Heartsong Presents titles. They’re only $2.97 each and you can order them directly from the publisher. I’ve ordered directly from Barbour myself, and I always received the books a few days after I ordered them.

You can find titles here – select the Books tab to get a full selection, and you can also order by calling (800) 847 8270. You can order up to twelve Heartsongs and still pay the same amount in postage. My titles are John’s Quest, Milk Money, and Bittersweet Memories. But, you can find a whole slew of available titles, both contemporary and historical, for a reasonable price. If you order soon, you should receive your novels before Christmas, in plenty of time to stuff your stockings!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Chesapeake Weddings


I removed Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer from The Christmas Box and placed it into the DVD player tonight for my four-year-old son to enjoy. He watched Rudolph for awhile and then came upstairs whining and upset. He was afraid of the Abominable Snowman! How could he be afraid of The Abominable? He watched the movie over and over last year, we almost had to force him to put it away once Christmas was over. Now, how is he going to watch it this year and be scared? Did the scariness kick into his brain sometime between three and four?

On another note, if you’ve read any of my three stories: John’s Quest, Milk Money, or Bittersweet Memories and you enjoyed them, I’d appreciate it if you’d post a review for it on the Christianbook.com link for Chesapeake Weddings. Chesapeake Weddings is a re-released volume of all three stories, so, even if you’ve only read one of the three, you can still post your review for that story on this link under the Customer Reviews heading.

Hope the holiday season is going well for all of you!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

The Christmas Box!

I opened my closet last weekend and pulled out my Christmas box! What’s in it? Christmas CDs and DVDs to enjoy for the holidays! Here are the selections in my Christmas box!

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas CD and DVD – this thing has been on TV for as long as I can remember! What a heartwarming story that’s still a hit today!

Original Christmas Classics DVD set which includes:

2. Frosty The Snowman DVD
3. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town DVD
4. Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer DVD
I can remember seeing all three of these shows on TV every year since I was a kid!

5. The Polar Express DVD – this selection is what I consider “new”. My hubby and I went to see this in the theater and this was before we had a child.

6. The Vanessa Williams Christmas Collection CD – I mostly listen to this while traveling in the car!

7. Jackson 5 Christmas Album – My four-year-old son LOVES listening to this! He especially enjoys Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer!

8.

The Nutcracker CD – my husband doesn’t care for this, but I love the music! If I play it in the car, it’s usually when I’m alone!

Do you have a Christmas box or Christmas music and DVDs that you enjoy every year? If you do, what are your selections? I’d love to know!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Hershey’s Soft And Chewy Cookies

You can use any kind of chip or baking piece in this recipe, but I used milk chocolate chips, and they are OH SO GOOD! 🙂

What’s different about this recipe is you use corn syrup in the dough. The corn syrup gives these cookies a nice texture! This recipe is a real keeper!

1 cup Butter (no substitutes)
¾ cup Packed light brown sugar
½ cup Granulated sugar
¼ cup Light corn syrup
1 Egg
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
2½ cup All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking soda
¼ teaspoon Salt
1 pack HERSHEY’S Chips or Baking Bits (any flavor; 10-12 oz) – I used milk chocolate chips!

Heat oven to 350’F. In large mixer bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add corn syrup, egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in chips or bits. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and almost set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Cookies will be softer the second day.

FOR CHOCOLATE COOKIES: Decrease flour to 2 1/4 cups and add 1/4 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa or HERSHEY’S European Style Cocoa. For best results use HERSHEY’S/REESE’S Baking Chips and HERSHEY’S Cocoa.

So, pour yourself a nice, tall, cold glass of milk…

and ENJOY! 🙂

~Cecelia Dowdy~

The Face By Angela Hunt


The Face by Angela Hunt

Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Mira (November 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778327272
ISBN-13: 978-0778327271

From the back cover:
Product Description
Orphaned and severely deformed, from her earliest moments Sarah Sims has been kept hidden away in a secret CIA facility—until an unexpected discovery gives her an opportunity to make a life for herself at last.
Now Sarah has an ally, a long-lost aunt who has discovered her true identity. Aided by this brave psychologist, twenty-year-old Sarah must find the courage to confront the forces that have confined her for so long. And the strength to be reborn into a world she has never known.

==
This book was a bit different than my usual reading. Born without a face, Sarah Sims has lived her life in captivity, on a remote island near Spain. Brilliant, she’s a successful computer hacker working for the CIA. Orphaned, her contact with the outside world has been minimal, and she has no desire to set foot outside of her own little world due to her deformed appearance. However, when her beautiful Aunt Renee, a psychologist, shows up on the island to perform an analysis on her niece, Sarah soon learns that she longs to see the world, outside of her remote island.

Renee has just learned about her niece, believing Sarah was brought into the world as a still-born child. Renee’s arrival on the island causes strife, turmoil, and joy, which makes this an exciting read. You also have interesting secondary characters on the island like Judson, the legless blind man who’s maimed by working for the CIA, Dr. Kollman – a CIA plastic surgeon who’s smitten with Renee, and Dr. Mewton – the CIA employee who has raised Sarah after she was orphaned.

The ending of this book was bittersweet, and something totally unexpected happens near the end.

This book reminded me a little bit about a secular novel I read several years ago. It was called Butterfly by Kathryn Harvey and I just looked on Amazon and it appears it was re-released through iUniverse a few years ago. In Butterfly, the main character, Rachel, was physically ugly. She wasn’t deformed like Sarah, but she was obsessed with the beauty of others and she has plastic surgery to “fix her face.” At least half of the novel deals with the struggles she endures from having a face that most do not consider attractive.

The Face reminds us about how we view physical appearance in society. I think the way that we look can have a huge impact on our lives.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Apple Crisp

This recipe is a delicious, simple alternative to apple pie! I made this about a week ago and my husband loved it!

4 cups of sliced, tart apples (about 4 medium)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 375. Arrange apples in a greased square pan, 8x8x2 inches. Mix remaining ingredients: sprinkle over apples.

Bake until topping is golden brown and apples are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

A Letter About Milk Money

I recently received a letter from a reader regarding my novel, Milk Money. The reader made the following comment in her letter:

I would have enjoyed the story more if you hadn’t continually commented to the color of people’s skin as though it was an oddity. I don’t see that in books about Caucasians.

Here was my response to this reader:

If you read a lot of books written by African-American authors, I’ve noticed we do tend to mention skin color more. Why? I suppose skin color is more of an “issue” with us, a way of life. Our skin color comes into play more often than with Caucasian characters simply because we are Black, living in America, and there are things that may happen to us (Blacks) that might not necessarily happen to Caucasians, because of the color of our skin. I know skin color has been a HUGE factor in my life – I lived in an all-white area and I felt ostracized a lot of the time because of my skin color. So, I guess I’m saying that with most Blacks, we’re probably going to mention skin color more frequently when we’re writing about African-American characters. I hope my explanation helps!

Do any of you read novels written by African-Americans? If so, do you think we mention the color of people’s skin more than Caucasians? I know when I do it, it’s not intentional, that’s just the way that I write! I also notice we use food as adjectives to describe people’s skin: mocha-colored, chocolate, toffee, caramel-colored, etc.

Feel free to share your thoughts!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Twenty Wishes By Debbie Macomber


Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Mira Books; Reprint edition (April 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778326314
ISBN-13: 978-0778326311

From the back cover:
What Anne Marie Roche wants is to find happiness again. At thirty-eight, she’s childless, a recent widow, “alone.” She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle’s Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there’s a feeling of emptiness.
On Valentine’s Day, Anne Marie and several other widows get together to celebrate…”hope.” They each begin a list of twenty wishes, things they always wanted to do but never did.

Anne Marie’s list includes learning to knit, falling in love again, doing good for someone else. When she volunteers at a local school, an eight-year-old girl named Ellen enters her life. It’s a relationship that becomes far more involving–and far more important–than Anne Marie had ever imagined.

As Ellen helps Anne Marie complete her list of twenty wishes, they both learn that wishes “can” come true…but not necessarily in the way you expect.

This was a light, slightly inspiring read. Anne Marie is depressed since her husband has suddenly died…right when they were in the middle of reconciling. When her step-daughter comes to Anne Marie for help, she’s confused – her stepdaughter has always held nothing but distain for her. In the midst of her stepdaughter’s crises, Anne Marie bonds with an eight-year-old child through a school lunch buddy program. Meanwhile, Anne Marie’s friends are going through their own difficult times, struggling with troublesome romantic relationships. I also found it interesting that one of Anne Marie’s friends, Barbie, has a love interest who is in a wheelchair. This story was heartwarming and emotional. If you like inspirational romances, then you’ll probably enjoy this book.

I did not purchase this novel. I received it at the annual Romance Writers of America conference last July. The author, Debbie Macomber, attended this event and even signed the book for me! 🙂

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Self-Published Novels

Over the past year, I’ve had several people to email me and ask how they can self-publish their novel – they’re usually assuming that I self-published my books. I then state that I’m not self-published, so I’m not the best person to give advice about that subject.

I still feel I’m not the best to give advice, but since so many have asked me, I thought I’d share some thoughts I’ve garnered through the internet. First I’ve noticed that some self-published people want a traditional contract, however, you need to realize that self-publishing your novel is not the key to landing a traditional contract. People will name The Shack as an example of a self-published novel that is now traditionally published and has sold milllions of copies! That’s true, however, The Shack is an exception, not the rule. Most self-published novels are hard to sell, so you need to be sure you have a solid marketing plan to get rid of your books.

Literary Agent Chip Macgregor did a great blog entry about this recently. Check out the link here. Be sure to read the comments as well as the blog post! I felt there was useful information in both the post and the comments!
I did think the Lightning Source option seemed reasonable, pricewise – more reasonable than Thomas Nelson’s and Harlequin’s vanity models, however, the price would go up once all of the editing and cover design was done.

Also, I’d think you’d need to seek out those who’ve successfully self-published a novel and ask them for advice, one-on-one. However, success is relative. Someone may self-pub a novel, sell one hundred copies, and consider that a success, and someone else may have a much higher measure for success. So, I’d think you’d need to decide how many copies you’re trying to sell, and then try and target self-pubbed authors of novels who’ve sold around your targeted amount (or even more than your targeted amount.)

How do you go about finding a reputable content editor, copy editor, and cover artist? I’m not sure! I’d think an internet search would help you! Also, like I’d mentioned above, if you can find some good self-published titles, then you can ask those authors who did their cover art and editing.

I’ve never hired my own editor, but I’ve heard good things about these two freelance editors:

1. Andy Meisenheimer – I believe he used to work for Zondervan, so I’d think he’d be a good choice. From glancing through his website, it appears he only offers editorial services for work contracted by traditional publishers – but he does offer mentoring services for unpublished novelists. I’m assuming the mentoring service would help to improve your manuscript?

2. Camy Tang – I’ve heard people mention that she’s a good editor, too.

Also, my sister is a great artist! She has designed covers for self-published books before! Here’s her website if you’re interested!

That’s all I know about self-published novels, and this is based upon what other people have told me, not upon my own experiences!

~Cecelia Dowdy~