Category Archives: Barbour Publishing

My novel, John’s Quest, is now available on Kindle and other e-readers!

It’s amazing how quickly life can change. Overnight, Monica Crawford finds her neatly organized world turned upside down. Her sister abandons her blind son, Scotty, leaving him on Monica’s doorstep. Caring for a handicapped child brings unexpected conflict-but unexpected joy as well. When John French volunteers to tutor Scotty, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to Monica. But John and Monica are very different. She is a strong believer, determined to live her life for Christ. John is an agnostic who wants nothing to do with God.Will John see the light? Will Monica realize that sometimes letting go of a dream is the way to achieve it? Only in full surrender will either of them be happy- whether they end up together or alone.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Southern Fried Sushi by Jennifer Rogers Spinola

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Southern Fried Sushi by Jennifer Rogers Spinola

***This review has a minor few spoilers.

Shiloh Jacobs is an American working as a reporter in Japan. She has a handsome Latin fiancé and she loves living in Tokyo. Her life takes a dramatic turn when her fiancé suddenly takes on a female roommate and she misses her deadline for a story at her job. She rectifies the situation at work dishonestly, and her actions affect her life later in the story.

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Shiloh’s mother also dies and she finds it hard to deal with all of these events happening in her life. Due to her estranged mother’s death, she must leave Japan and travel to the South (in rural Virginia) to attend the funeral. It’s hard for her to attend the funeral and meet some of her mother’s friends – Shiloh has not spoken to her mother in years and she had bad, vivid memories of her dysfunctional childhood with her mom.

Shiloh loses her job in Japan, so she must remain in the South, living in the home she’s inherited from her mother. She meets an interesting cast of country-accented people while living in Virginia. She is befriended by Adam, a professional landscaper who’s taking care of his amputee brother who was injured in Afghanistan. She also meets Tim and Becky, a country couple who have been dealing with infertility issues. There’s also Faye, one of her mother’s closest friends, who gives Shiloh a lot of details about the recent years of her mother’s life.

Shiloh has a hard time understanding the strong Christianity of her new friends. Unsaved, she’s still trying to figure out the meaning of being a Christian. She also doesn’t understand why Christians suffer, but still praise Jesus.

This book was a good, heartwarming read that portrays Shiloh’s physical journey as she relocates to rural Virginia from urban Tokyo, Japan. It also shows her emotional and spiritual journey as she discovers friendships with her new Christian friends, and she also learns more about the mother’s salvation. I highly recommend this book – it’s a wonderful, emotional story that will bring you both laughter and tears.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Milk Money – Now Available On Kindle!

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My novel, Milk Money, is now available on Kindle! Other outlets that it can be found is eChristian.com, CBD.com, kobobooks.com, Apple’s iBookstore, and ebookstore.sony.com. Out of all of the books that I’ve had published, this one is my personal favorite! If you read it, let me know if you liked it!

Emily can’t keep running her dairy farm all alone. When her dad dies, Emily Cooper must work hard to save the family farm. She manages—until the day a CPA pulls in her driveway and announces he’s there to do an audit. Franklin Reese is appalled at the lack of interest the Cooper women have in the financial aspect of their livelihood, but he dives in, determined to help them learn. The further he looks into Mr. Cooper’s dealings, however, the more uncomfortable he becomes. Can he uncover the truth of the situation and still earn the love of the amazing Emily Cooper? Or will issues in Franklin’s own life keep them apart, even after the farm is taken care of?

~Cecelia Dowdy~

A Treasure Revealed By Pamela Griffin

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A Treasure Revealed

A Treasure Revealed is also one of the stories included in the Silver Mountains anthology.

This is an enjoyable historical romance that deals with sibling rivalry. Clay is bitter – he finds it hard to forgive his brother Derek for leaving him when he was a youngster. Derek was not around when their mother died, and as a result, Clay has had some rough times, trying to make it own his own as a youngster, since he’d been abandoned by both Derek and his father. Also, it appears that Derek also tried to strike it rich on his own by taking their father’s treasure map and looking for their deceased father’s silver mine.

When Clay finds Meagan wandering in the dessert, he’s very puzzled by the frazzled, injured woman who doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on. Her hands have been burned, and he wonders what’s happened to her. He brings her back to Derek’s wife, an Indian named Linda who can help Meagan to heal. Now forced to deal with his deceitful brother, Clay doesn’t think he can find it in his heart to forgive his sibling.

While Meagan is given medical care by Derek’s wife, Linda, she must face her own demons. She’s partially lost her memory, and wonders what has become of her family. Clay is smitten with beautiful Meagan. Meagan is illiterate, and Clay reads the Bible to her. Both Clay and Meagan deal with their attraction as they learn about God and salvation.

This is a Heartsong that I had lying around my house. I picked it up the other day and I was immediately hooked into the story. I think I really enjoyed watching the story unfold because a family is divided over a silver mine. This was a realistic conflict since families are often divided by money matters. It’s also a short, sweet story that you’ll be able to finish in a few hours. Overall, I thought the author did a superb job with the setting, the characters, and the plot.

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Barbour Sells Heartsong Presents to Harlequin

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Stunned, simply stunned. I’m so totally surprised to hear this. I sensed that HP would be bought, but, I’d just assumed it would be purchased by another Christian publisher, not Harlequin! See more details about this here. Literary Agent Steve Laube blogged about it. You can find the press release here. What are your thoughts about this news? Are you just as shocked as I am? Leave a comment!

~Cecelia Dowdy~

Burying The Hatchet By Chris Well

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Burying The Hatchet by Chris Well

Earl Walker is an elderly, wheel-chair-bound, amateur sleuth who is determined to prove the innocence of his new pastor. When Earl’s new pastor meets with a psychic for a public meeting, the pastor leaves the room and the psychic is found dead – the pastor is arrested for the crime.

Earl is feeling his way through Christianity and detective work in this novel. He’s a Christian, but still new to the scriptures. In his heart, he feels his pastor is innocent of this crime, and he’s determined to prove this fact. In the midst of his detective work, Earl is falling in love with Gloria, a dear elderly friend. He also consorts with a young woman named Jenny whom he nicknames “College”. As the threesome attempt to solve the murder, they keep running into the town’s deputy who accuses them of interfering with a federal investigation.

A lot of other things happen in this story – some church members want to oust the pastor since he’s been arrested for killing a psychic. There’s an author (Page) in town who’s trying to get the lead for his next book and Earl joins forces with Page since Page has already done a lot of research about the serial killings of elderly people in the area.

This book was a light, slightly humorous, enjoyable read. It also was interesting to read a novel from the viewpoint of an elderly person. I don’t see a whole lot of novels being published with older protagonists.

Ironically, this book touched upon some subjects that I’ve been blogging about lately. The disappearance of Philip was mentioned as well as the dangers of psychics.

Overall a good read that I’d highly recommend.

~Cecelia Dowdy~