Take Off the Mask Blog Tour with Sonya Visor

Who I’ve Become is NOT who I AM is Sonya Visor’s first non-fiction book. Her passion is to minister to the people who hide behind masks. Sonya’s calling is to break and destroy the yokes of bondage, releasing the power of God into the lives of others by the preached Word and prayers of deliverance. When you can find the strength, to step into who you truly are; you can find the strength to BE THE (Tru U). TruU Ministries is the women’s ministry that God has charged her with to help other’s become free.

Sonya shares her heart with her husband, Pastor Tony Visor, who she calls her better half, for nineteen years. She and her husband have ministered effectively in the city of Racine together at NCC since 1999. Sonya is blessed to love two sons, Jason and Tony, Jr.

Visit her online at sonyavisor.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Who are you when nobody’s looking? It’s time to take off what hides who you truly are…the mask! Are you tired of going around family, friends and church folk with a frozen smile and a broken heart? Unmask your true identity and learn your real name as pastor’s wife and playwright Sonya Visor cuts to the heart with dynamic testimony of sexual molestation at a young age.

BEING SILENT GAVE POWER to the hands that touched her life. Can hands meant to protect you also have the power to crush your identity? YES! But when we stop allowing a mask of shame to hold us captive with CLOSED mouths, WE CAN let Jesus be real in our lives.

Discover who you have become and embrace who you really are in a book that goes past the pews and what other’s think about you — to bring glory to God by being transparent and transformed. It’s time to take off your mask and let the true you show up!

Excerpt from the Book (CHAPTER 7)

Audio excerpt version with commentary from Sonya

Can I Tell You My Story?

Can I talk to you for a minute? I mean like really; can I trust you with my stuff, or my situation? Or are you one of those people who run and thrive off somebody else’s trouble or mistakes? If people are really going to break the silence, are you a safe place for them?

Masking is often implemented because most folk can’t really handle the truth about others or what they are hearing. The situation, if shared, will usually render responses that immediately are classified as judgment or rejection. There’s a rare group of people who can handle the true story that’s being told or deposited into one’s hearing.

If someone came and told you that they were struggling with lust, pornography, lying, stealing, homosexuality, or lesbianism, what would you say? How would you address the problem presented? I mean, both you and the person know that the issue is wrong, so where do you go from there? People are dying because they can’t find anybody to be real with. So they remain quiet and undercover, which will eventually rot the inside of their souls.

My heart goes out to the person who everyone perceives to have all the answers, but in reality, they are barely making it. He finally comes to the point of sharing his heart, only to hear the person he was about to share with speak against someone else with a similar problem. So what happens? The mouth is closed; there’s a retreat. A whisper on the inside says, I can’t tell a soul.

This secret continues to eat at the inside of them. I know, because I felt that I could tell no one my story. It has to come out in order for the individual to be free. I tried, but they responded with the “right” religious jargon, but not the right spirit. Sometimes just having an ear to listen is the best gift you can give someone. The right heart or spirit loves the person right where they are, at that moment.

View the blog tour schedule and read an excerpt at http://bit.ly/TakeOffTheMask.

Discussion: If people are really going to break the silence, are you a safe place for them?

*A Tywebbin Blog Tour

My Mother’s Child Blog Tour with Dwan Abrams

Dwan Abrams is a full-time novelist, freelance editor, and publisher. She’s the best-selling author of My Mother’s Child (the sequel to Divorcing the Devil), Married Strangers, Divorcing the Devil, Only True Love Waits, and The Scream Within. She’s the founder, publisher, and editorial director of Nevaeh Publishing, LLC a small press independent publishing house.  She’s currently signed to Urban Christian, an imprint of Urban Books/Kensington. Her sixth novel, the second book in the Married Series, is set to hit national bookshelves in 2011.

Visit Dwan online at http://dwanabrams.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lyric Stokes lives, by most standards, a charmed life. Married to Michael Stokes, a prominent heart surgeon, she has financial security and lives in the lap of luxury. All is not perfect, though. Lyric feels inadequate because she gave birth to a daughter, rather than the son that her husband so desperately wanted.

After an unexpected turn of events, Lyric discovers that she’s pregnant again, but now she has to decide whether she even wants to keep the child she has longed for. She seeks solace in her church, where her daughter also feels at home; but they can’t get Michael to join them. Disagreeing with organized religion, he has put his job before all else, including God. The distance between the couple grows further every day.

Nigel Fredericks has a history of stalking women. He’s been accused, but never convicted. Now he’s set his sights on Lyric. She’s at a low point in her life, and Nigel knows just how to take advantage of that vulnerability. Lyric’s life is turned upside down; Nigel is like a cancer eating away at her mental stability, her marriage, and ultimately, her life. Will Michael reevaluate his priorities and his faith in time to save his family?

CHAT/DISCUSSION

Read brief excerpt from My Mother’s Child …

Lyric couldn’t understand why God wouldn’t bless her with a son. If only she could get pregnant. She really wanted to give Michael, her husband of fifteen years, a son, a namesake. No matter how much Michael assured her that he was happy with her and their twelve-year-old daughter, Autumn, a part of her felt as if she were less than a woman because she couldn’t give her husband a son.

On the surface, she didn’t lack for anything―big house, fancy cars, and money. She didn’t know whether she was the luckiest or unluckiest, woman in the world.

A lot of women think that having a husband with money would make them happy.  Why do you think that women who seem to have it all still find something to complain about?  Could it be that some women are never satisfied and want what they can’t have?  LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW.

View the blog tour schedule and read an excerpt at http://bit.ly/MyMothersChild.

*A Tywebbin Blog Tour

Healthy Heart Blog Tour with Rhonda McKnight

The Broken Heart

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.~ Psalm 34:18

See details below on how you can participate in the Healthy Heart Blog Tour with Rhonda McKnight.

10% of donation during this blog tour will go to the American Heart Association (AHA).

MEET RHONDA MCKNIGHT

Rhonda McKnight has been writing since she was six years old. Her first book was about a family of mice who lived under the boardwalk near her home in the coastal town of Asbury Park. It’s no coincidence that more than thirty years later, she would pen her first novel about a family.  Family means everything to her.

When she wrote Secrets and Lies her own family was in trouble. Her marriage of nearly ten years was falling apart. While she is clear that the novel is a work of fiction, she admits some elements of the story are her own. The emotional intensity of Faith’s pain was hers and the feeling of utter hopeless filled her heart. Join her today as she shares some of that pain and frustration in her segment on “the broken heart”.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Faith Morgan is struggling with her faith. Years of neglect leave her doubting that God will ever fix her marriage. When a coworker accuses her husband, Jonah, of the unthinkable, Faith begins to wonder if she really knows him at all, and if it’s truly in God’s will for them to stay married.

Pediatric cardiologist Jonah Morgan is obsessed with one thing: his work. A childhood incident cemented his desire to heal children at any cost, even his family, but now he finds himself at a crossroads in his life. Will he continue to allow the past to haunt him, or find healing and peace in a God he shut out long ago?

An Excerpt from the Novel

Faith was surprised she was able to keep up the front of being “okay” until she put the children to bed because, in truth, she was boiling under the surface. How could he do this to her, again? How could he do it to Eric?

She pulled Eric’s bedroom door closed, took a few steps and then stopped. Unable to move forward, she leaned sideways against the wall. Her anger and disappointment were mixing together in her spirit like a cocktail of oil and vinegar. Neither dominated, but each equally strong.

“Lord, how much more am I supposed to take?” she spoke into the darkness of the hallway. “How many more times will it be okay for him to break my baby’s heart?”

Faith is angry with her husband Jonah in the excerpt. He was a no show for an important family activity and as you can see, it wasn’t the first time. She’s heartbroken. I think many of us have challenges with communication and time. The demands in our current workforce make it difficult for families to have quality time. But it’s a must if we’re going to have healthy, happy, strong families. Jonah Morgan’s work is more important than his family, or at least it appears that way. At the heart of his work-a-holism is a childhood hurt that has never healed. His broken heart affects everyone in his life – his wife, children, even his parents. But how much does Faith have to put up with? How much does anyone have to deal with when a person who’s hurting won’t talk about it or get help? I believe we owe our families to be the most healthy, happy, whole person we can be. Because who we are shows up in our relationships and our work and our spiritual lives.

“How many times?” Faith Morgan asks. How many times indeed? God answers Faith. You’ll have to read Secrets and Lies to find out how. But in the meantime – what are some ways you can carve out family time? What might be hindrances to making it happen? What do you think about “for better or for worse” when what’s hurting one spouse is crippling the other? What about the children?

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rhonda McKnight is the owner of www.urbanchristianfictiontoday.com, a popular Internet site that highlights African-American Christian fiction and Legacy Editing, a freelance service for fiction writers. Her second novel, An Inconvenient Friend will be released on August 1, 2010. She has two sons, ages four and eighteen and one lonely goldfish. Originally from New Jersey, she’s called Atlanta, Georgia home for eleven years. Her website is www.rhondamcknight.net

ENTER TO WIN 3 GREAT GIVEAWAYS!

GRAND PRIZE (one winner possible)

A “Start” Fitness Pack she purchased from the American Heart Association’s Online store. The online store helps in the fight against heart disease by promoting heart-healthy lifestyles that include physical activities like walking. Net proceeds from the sale of these items support the Start! movement.

The Fitness Kit includes: Start BackPack, Start Water Bottle, Start Shoe Wallet, and the Power to End Stroke 46 Recipe Healthy Soul Food Cook Book.

SECOND PLACE PRIZE (one winner possible)

Autographed hardcover copy of Secrets and Lies will be given away to the 2nd person whose name is pulled in the drawing.

THIRD PLACE PRIZE (one winner possible)

In honor of Rhonda’s birthday on Feb. 6th – a $10 Barnes and Nobles, Borders or Starbucks Gift Card will be given to the 3rd person whose name is pulled in the drawing. (winner chooses).

HOW TO ENTER THE DRAWING:

All entrants with 10 POINTS AND UP will be entered in a drawing to win the GRAND PRIZE – FITNESS PACK.

All entrants with 5 POINTS AND UP will be entered in a drawing to win PRIZES TWO AND THREE.

HOW TO Earn points:

+15 Point ENTRIES: Purchase a copy of Secrets and Lies from the online store during the tour through www.urbanchristianbooks.com.

+1 point ENTRY: join the discussion by commenting on one of the blog tour sites each day (must comment on the day of the tour site by 9 pm). Comment must include your thoughts on the subject. (can not just say – great point or I agree).

+1 point ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING INTERESTING YOU FIND WHEN YOU GO TO Rhonda’s WEBSITE or blog. LOOK AROUND AS THERE IS LOTS TO SEE. HERE are THE LINKs www.rhondamcknight.net and www.urbanchristianfictiontoday.com

+1 point ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY. On Twitter Retweet @rhondamcknight or use the hashtags #Health or #hearthealth

+2 point ENTRIES: Join Rhonda’s Facebook Reader Page or Sign up for her newsletter on her webpage.

THE RULES:

• U.S. Residents Only
• Email address must be included in comment **RAWSISTAZ will provide email addresses upon request to ensure privacy of participants.
• All Entries/Comments must be separate in order to count as more than one entry.
• Maximum of 3 points can be earned on any one tour day.
• Tour host bloggers can not enter to win.

DRAWING WILL BE HELD AT 9 PM EST on FEBRUARY 7th

Beautiful Ugly Blog Tour with Shelia E. Lipsey

A Man To Call Her Own

Kacie Mayweather, stricken with cerebral palsy, has had her share of men—five baby daddies for six children, in fact. But she’s never had one man to call her own.

Take a Peek Inside Kacie’s Story
(excerpt from Beautiful Ugly by Shelia E. Lipsey)

For the fifth time in a week, Kacie couldn’t muster up an appetite, not even for Coco Puffs, which was her all time favorite cereal since she was a little girl. The very thought of milk and cereal sent her to the bathroom heaving.  Having given birth to six children, she didn’t have to go to a doctor, or run to the drugstore for a pregnancy test.  There was no doubt about it.  She was pregnant. Kacie freshened up and when her stomach settled, she drank an ice cold glass of pineapple –orange juice.  Sitting alone at the kitchen table, Kacie stared outside at the orange and gold leaves as they fell to the ground.  The site was beautiful to her.  The leaves fell gently, one by one, some two by two.  Kacie folded her arms inside each other and hugged herself like she was warding off the cool wind blowing through the trees in the front yard.

Standing, Kacie retreated to the living room and started picking up behind the kids.  She paused a moment and massaged her belly.  Looking down; she smiled at the idea of giving birth to the child of the man she loved – the man God had finally sent her way.  “You’re going to have a wonderful daddy,” she whispered. “And, unlike the rest of the bums I’ve had in my life, this time, everything is going to be different.  I wouldn’t be surprised if your daddy asks to marry me.”  She drew back into the living room and leaned against the spotless wall.  She turned with a start when the phone rang.

“Speak of the devil,” she said when she looked at the Caller Id then down at her tummy.  It was Deacon. Kacie beamed with joy.

“Good morning, beautiful.”  The voice on the other end of the phone forced her to smile.

She loved Deacon.  The four and a half months they had been seeing each other seemed like a lifetime to Kacie.  It was like she’d known him all of her life.  Except for the times like yesterday when Deacon seemed like he’d fallen off the face of the earth, their relationship was good.  Maybe he didn’t tell her he loved her, like she told him, but Kacie believed he did.  “Actions are better than words,” Layla reminded her from time to time.  Kacie retained Layla’s words in her mind to retrieve whenever Deacon didn’t call or when she wanted to hear him say those three special words.

“Deacon, honey. I’ve been so worried.  You weren’t at church yesterday and you didn’t answer my calls.  Are you okay?” Kacie asked with grave concern.

“What have I told you about getting yourself all in a tizzy when you don’t hear from me everyday?  I got called out of town at the last minute late Saturday evening, after we talked.  You know how those trips can be.  Quick, exhausting and definitely spur of the moment.  I’m sorry. I wanted to call you, but I was up half the night with a client trying to kiss up to him so he would sign a contract with our company.  It was late by the time I convinced him to sign on the dotted line and I was exhausted.  I didn’t make it back to Memphis until after midnight. I wasn’t about to wake you up then, knowing you had to get up early yourself to get your kids off to school.”

Kacie exhaled. ” I was so worried. When I talked to you Saturday, you said you were going to see me at church.  I just started going out of my mind thinking all kind of crazy thoughts when I didn’t see you. I forgot how your job keeps you on call twenty-four seven.”

“Well, now that, that’s settled.  How’s my favorite girl doing?” he asked.

“Perfect, now that I’m talking to my favorite guy,” she answered.  Kacie walked around the sofa where she spotted one of the boys’ wrestling figures on the floor.

“I was thinking about coming by before going to the office this morning.  You up to seeing me?”

“Do you have to ask?” Kacie sat on the back of the sofa.

“Do you want me to stop somewhere and grab you a sandwich?”  Little thoughtful things like that is what made Kacie adore Deacon.  He was such a considerate man.

“No, I’m not hungry this morning.  I just want you.  You’ll be my breakfast,” she crooned into the phone.

“Hey, hey, I like that.  I’ll see you in about ten minutes, love.”

What Do You Think?

Like many women, Kacie has been searching for a man to call her own. Do you think Kacie is on the right track in the passage above? What do you think she may be or should be doing differently.?

Leave your comments below and DON’T FORGET to leave an answer for the contest question too.

To find out more about Kacie and her two friends, consider purchasing a copy of Beautiful Ugly. This book makes a great book club selection for discussion!

Win an autographed copy of Beautiful Ugly

Shelia Lipsey is the author of three other Christian Fiction novels. The trivia questions below are from one of those novels. Leave your response to the trivia question below in the comment section.

What was the relationship between Frankie and Rena? Tell us the title of the book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author Shelia E. Lipsey is a multi-award winning author.  Her novels are available at most bookstores nationwide as well as online.  Lipsey’s books have been called gripping, life-altering, memorable and realistic. Lipsey was recently awarded the 2009 Top Shelf Award for Beautiful Ugly by Black Pearls Magazine. She also won 2009 Shades of Romance Readers’ Choice Awards for My Son’s Wife in the following categories: Author of the Year, Christian fiction Book of the Year, Christian Romance of the Year, Best Book Cover of the Year, Best Fiction Book of the Year, among several other awards for her novels, Into Each Life and Sinsatiable.

Lipsey is the proud mother of two sons and the grandmother of three blessed young men. She is president of UCHisGloryBookClub.net, founder of Living Your Dreams Now a non-profit organization and MAAW (Memphis African American Writers). For more information, visit www.shelialipsey.com.

Check the tour schedule at http://bit.ly/BeautifulUgly

The Lovechild Blog Tour with Ashea Goldson

Ashea Goldson, originally born in Brooklyn, NewYork  is a wife of twenty three years, a mother of two daughters, a grandmother of one,a  graduate of Fordham University, a writer, a poet, a publisher,a reviewer, an internet radio host,an educator, and a co-founder of a Christian preparatory school. Active in the ministry, she is a dedicated member of World Changers Church International for many years. She has a lifetime of experience with writing which ranges from being published in local newspapers, magazines, and online  publications to full length books.

Her first Christian fiction novel  is The Lovechild, published by Urban Christian Publishers  in 2008.

For more information about Ashea and her books, visit her online at http://www.asheagoldson.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In The Lovechild, Makaeli Hunt, a successful fashion designer, has been driven far away from home by her family’s dysfunction. While living in Italy, trying to heal the wounds of yesterday, ambition becomes her comforter. When a family emergency forces her to return to her home, in seven life altering days, amidst  memories of a tumultuous past,will one revealed secret drive her away from her family and God forever? Or will she discover what it means to be God’s lovechild?

Dealing with issues of racism, depression, self-esteem, drug addiction, mental illness, verbal and physical abuse, The Lovechild is a story of redemption and re-dedication, confirming our victory in Jesus Christ.

RAWSISTAZ BOOK BLURB

THE LOVE CHILD is an interesting story of how families work with forgiveness and love. The characters were well-developed and it was easily understandable why they behaved the way they did. The entire family is keeping secrets and eventually, in order for there to be peace, those secrets must be told. But do they have the courage? It was an interesting story from start to finish. There was plenty of suspense and tension. I would recommend it.  READ THE FULL REVIEW
- Reviewed by alice Holman

Ingredients for Prayer by Eric Lambert

In times of economic turmoil in the lives of so many, people are turning to whatever financial bailout that comes their way. These stimulus packages include reduced costs for services, rebates, two for one deals, and even prayer. The Rev. Eric A. Lambert Jr. believes prayer is the stimulus to improving people’s lives not as a gimmick but by, for one, giving them peace even though they have a bleak financial outlook.

“Through prayer we find a place that guarantees peace,” Rev. Lambert says. “God wants to solve our problems and give us peace.” In his latest book, Ingredients for Prayer: A Practical Approach for Maximizing Your Time with God, Rev. Lambert, pastor of Bethel Deliverance International Church north of Philadelphia, details what he believes is the true purpose of prayer in contrast to the ‘give me syndrome’ of prayer that so many with financial woes seem to have.

“We are often challenged by the worldly view of prayer, and we fall into the trap that makes us think that we are able to use prayer to bully the Lord into doing what we want. Yet I believe prayer is a time for intimacy and connection with God,” Rev. Lambert says. “Prayer by definition is worshipful oratory. By hyper-definition, prayer is an act of intercourse with your soul and God’s spirit. It is you connecting with God until your desires have been replaced by His heart.”

By using “The Lord’s Prayer” as a framework, he examines pieces of this prayer model to show ways to connect with God, like understanding the mind and will of God and becoming dependent upon and receiving the peace of God. Rev. Lambert says having a God-centered and not self-centered focus on prayer helps you to know that “[p]rayer is not about you. It is about the will of the Lord being done through you. To make supplication means that you should bring your request to the Lord; however, you must be sure that your request does not go against the will of the Lord.”

Rev. Eric A. Lambert Jr. responded to God’s call to Jesus Christ in 1971. From that time he was active in Christian ministry, serving in a variety of capacities at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Smith Sr. In 1987, after God’s leading, Rev. Lambert established Bethel Deliverance International Church in 1987 with seven committed believers, just north of his hometown of Philadelphia. In addition to pastoring, Rev. Lambert is fulfilling his apostolic calling, having planted a number of churches and developed pastoral relationships with both new and seasoned pastors. He remains committed to spreading the love of God to those who do not know Him while stabilizing and fortifying believers. This is evident not only in his church but in the messages of his books.

LISTEN TO A SERMON ONLINE FROM PASTOR LAMBERT

• Renewing The Mind
• Getting Your Fire Back
• Walking In Your Season

For more information about Ingredients for Prayer: Maximizing Your Time with God, visit http://ericlambertministries.com.

Follow the Ingredients for Prayer blog tour at http://bitly.com/IngredientsforPrayer.

The Ideal Wife Blog Tour with Jacquelin Thomas

Meet Jacquelin Thomas, author of The Ideal Wife

Jacquelin Thomas is an award winning, bestselling author with twenty-nine titles in print. Her books have garnered several awards, including two EMMA awards, the Romance In Color Reviewers Award, Readers Choice Award and the Atlanta Choice Award in the Religious & Spiritual category. Jacquelin was a 2005 honoree at the Houston Black Film Festival for the movie adaptation of her novel, Hidden Blessings. She was the first recipient to receive the Writers Achievement Award at the North Carolina Book Festival in Winston-Salem.

Although Jacquelin initially published in the romance genre, she decided to follow the call on her heart to write Christian fiction because she seeks to write books that will touch your heart and uplift your spirits with tales of characters who yearn to have an intimate relationship with God.  Committed to writing books that glorify God and her growing teen audience, Jacquelin published the first of her Young Adult Inspirational Fiction series titled Simply Divine in October 2006.  Her second book in the series, Divine Confidential was nominated for a 2008 NAACP Image Award.  She has since gone on to publish two more books in the series.  When asked why she is so passionate about writing teen novels, Thomas shares that teens are confronted with so much—sex, drugs, violence and abuse, physically and mentally. They need to not only listen to what the world says about these things but also to what the Bible says.

Jacquelin is a member of the National Writers Union, Romance Writers of America and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is happily married to her best friend and is the proud mother of three children. Jacquelin and her family live in North Carolina.

Jacquelin, list your published books.

• Romance

Hidden Blessings – A Resolution of Love – Forever Always – Someone Like You – Cupid’s Arrow – Family Ties – Love’s Miracle – Undeniably Yours – With A Song In My Heart – After The Vows – Stolen Hearts – Treasures of the Heart – To Mom with Love – The Pastor’s Woman – Teach Me Tonight

• Christian Fiction

Shades of Gray – Singsation – The Prodigal Husband – A Change is Gonna Come – Soul Journey – Saved in the City – Blessed Assurance – How Sweet the Sound – Have A Little Faith – Defining Moments – Redemption – Jezebel – The Ideal Wife

• Young Adult

Simply Divine – Divine Confidential – Divine Secrets – Divine Match-Up – It’s A Curl Thing

Which book did you find the hardest to birth?

I would say it was The Ideal Wife.  I had to write about a subject that I knew would be controversial and I knew that readers would either love the story or hate it.  Writing about the swinging lifestyle would challenge what people believe.

Which book is your current favorite?

My favorite is always the book I’m working on at the moment.

How would you describe your writing style?

I write stories about characters who are deeply flawed, but truly have a heart for God.

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what kind?

I love Gospel music because it really ministers to me, but there are times when I’m writing that I listen to Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston and Mary J. Blige.

Tell us anything about you as a writer that you think might be interesting or unusual.

Probably that I’m a diehard sports fan.  Nothing gets in the way of my football and basketball games.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Keep writing because the more you write, the better you get.  Give yourself permission to write it wrong!  Most writers spend too much time trying to write ‘perfectly’ the first time out–they end up never finishing the manuscript.
Writers are often encouraged to write what they know. Have you found that to be the case with your writing?

I am a researcher, so I tend to do a lot of research for my stories.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Jana Collins loves her husband with all her heart. But what if love isn’t enough?

Marrying a handsome, wealthy lawyer and living in a Hollywood Hills mansion . . . it’s a dream come true for twenty-four-year-old Jana, from the moment Lawrence Collins swept her off her feet and into his luxurious world. True, she put her studies at a local Bible college on hold in order to wed after a six-month whirlwind romance. Beautiful and vivacious, with a stunning body, Jana knows men like Lawrence don’t come along every day, and she vows to be a perfect companion—the ideal wife—to this sexy, powerful man. But at what price?

From her wardrobe and hairstyle to her friends and her choice of church, Lawrence seems to want to change Jana into someone she’s not . . . and soon, the man Jana thought she knew will test her values and her faith with a shocking revelation that goes against everything she believes—how far will Jana be willing to go to keep the man she loves? With her “ideal” marriage falling apart, Jana—the real, modest, smart, and strong girl who knows what she stands for—must put her trust in God, and follow His guiding light out of the darkness of a broken relationship.

Drawing from a moving scripture tale with an insightful message for women today, Jacquelin Thomas delivers a provocative and enlightening new novel.

Follow the blog tour at http://bit.ly/TheIdealWife

Read an excerpt at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/9653509/The-Ideal-Wife-by-Jacquelin-Thomas-(excerpt)

For more information about Jacquelin, visit her at http://www.jacquelinthomas.com

Forsaken Blog Tour with Vanessa Miller

Meet Vanessa Miller, author of Forsaken

Vanessa Miller of Dayton , Ohio is an Essence best-selling author, playwright, and motivational speaker. Her stage productions include: Get You Some Business, Don’t Turn Your Back on God, and Can’t You Hear Them Crying and Abundant Rain.

To date, Vanessa has written the Rain Series and the Storm Series. The books in the Rain Series are: Former Rain, Abundant Rain, and Latter Rain. The books in the Storm Series are: Rain Storm and Through the Storm. These books have received rave reviews, winning Best Christian Fiction Awards and topping numerous Bestseller’s lists.

FORSAKEN is Vanessa’s newest book, due out in October 2009.  Forsaken is the story of a fallen pastor’s journey back to God. Vanessa believes that each of her books will touch readers across the country in a special way. It is, after all her God-given destiny to write novels that bring deliverance to God’s people.

List your published books.

Former Rain, Abundant Rain, Latter Rain, Rain Storm and Through the Storm.

Which book did you find the hardest to birth?

Former Rain. I think it was the hardest because it was my first. That book took seven years from beginning to end. It wasn’t seven year of writing. A lot of that time was spent procrastinating. But the book took so long from beginning to completion that I wondered if I could write another. Now my books only take me a few months from beginning to end.

Which book is your current favorite?

Through the Storm. This is my fifth book in the Rain Series and it deals with the power of prayer. But Through the Storm is a very suspenseful novel. I love reading suspense novels and always wanted to write one. When I finished Through the Storm I knew I wanted to write more books like that.

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what kind?

No. I have to have absolute peace and quiet when I write. That’s the probably the reason I don’t often write anywhere else but home.

Tell us anything about you as a writer that you think might be interesting or unusual.

I can’t think of anything interesting or unusual about me. I don’t know, reader might find it interesting that I like for each of my novels to be more than entertainment. I want them to stay with the reader long after they turn the last page. So I pray over my novel – and believe that God allows my books to touch the hearts of my readers in just the way they need to be touched.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Never give up. Even when it looks like things are moving slower than you thought it would. If your heart’s desire is to write, then keep on writing and promoting your work. You never know what’s right around the corner.

Writers are often encouraged to write what they know. Have you found that to be the case with your writing?

I write restoration novels. In other words, I like to deal with imperfect characters and then show how God can turn their lives around. So, yeah, I guess I do write what I know, because I have definitely been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Pastor Jerome Tyler “JT” Thomas is charismatic behind the pulpit, charming to all he comes in contact with, and lethal to those who linger too long. Since the age of twenty-two, when he prayed for God to keep him out of prison, JT knew he would preach the gospel. Bishop Turner makes it possible; but there are strings attached, and now JT isn’t sure he can stay tied down.

Cutting loose causes more problems than JT anticipated. When an old friend from his days on the streets resurfaces and his extracurricular activity comes knocking on his front door, JT’s life and the lives of those close to him spiral out of control. Now he will need divine intervention to make things right. But how much help can a man hope to receive when he feels he’s been forsaken by God?

Follow the blog tour at http://bit.ly/Forsaken.

For more information about Vanessa, visit her at http://www.vanessamiller.com.

Del Bay Blog Tour with Paula Chase Hyman

When author, Paula Chase Hyman, wrote a manuscript in 2003 about a bright-eyed optimistic fourteen year old, suburban girl who happened to be African American, the landscape of young adult fiction featuring contemporary Black characters was barren.

In 2004, Hyperion released Dana Davidson’s Jason & Kyra and from there the slow trickle of books featuring characters of color without race being the primary focus began.  And in 2006, So Not The Drama, Chase Hyman’s debut was acquired by Kensington Books to launch their YA line.  She went on to write four more books that followed Mina Mooney and her group of friends and The Del Rio Bay series officially joined the small fray of books depicting a more heterogeneous teen point-of-view.

Since then, Chase Hyman has been on a journey to inject books like hers into the literary mainstream, so they’re mentioned in the same discussion as books by Sarah Dessen, Cicely Von Ziegesar and Meg Cabot.

Paula also co-founded The Brown Bookshelf with five author friends. The site is dedicated to honoring vanguard authors and showcasing the myriad of talented African American children’s lit authors and illustrators flying under-the-radar of librarians, parents and teachers.

Visit her at www.paulachasehyman.com and www.thebrownbookshelf.com.

ONE-ON-ONE (Throwback) INTERVIEW
(Excerpted from our interview conducted March 2007 by Stacey Seay)

RAW:  Tell us all about you, the author.  And then tell us about the person behind the author.

I’m a type A, shoe-a-holic whose habits of multi-tasking have spun so out of control I can only relax 100% if I’m away from email access.  Oops, that’s the person behind the author.  Paula the author is a true pantser (as in, I fly by the seat of them when I write).  Even when I attempt to outline my stories, they tend to wander off where they want to once I begin writing.

RAW:  How long have you been writing and what has the experience been like for you?

I’ve always been a writer.  My parents have boxes of stories I wrote as a kid.  And I have a box, somewhere, of stories I used to write with my best friend, Nicki. It was like a create-your-own adventure deal.  I’d start the story and then she’d add on, then I’d add on etc…  I don’t think the story ever came to a true end.  I really need to find those things. They could make a good book.

Having my first book published has been an eye-opening experience.  There’s so much you learn about the publishing industry that you sort of wish you didn’t have to know, because it infringes a little on the creative side.  I always joke that I’ve gone from green to jaded in 12 months.  But it’s kind of true because so much of what I know now has forced me to always look at my writing as a business, with a critical eye. I have an agent who handles the serious lifting.  Still, I’m much more aware that I have to constantly juggle two very essential components – the business side and the creative arts side.

RAW:  What was the inspiration behind the book(s) and what inspired you to write young adult fiction?

In ’03 when I wrote So Not the Drama, my daughter was eight years old.  She had gotten to a point where she loved buying books and getting books at the library, but she wasn’t finishing them.  An avid reader, myself, this habit bothered me.  But then I began looking around at the books out there for young readers and it surprised me that YA fiction was still very much vanilla, twenty years later.  It wasn’t that books with black characters were lacking, but that 1) they were still either historical fiction or problem novels and 2) YA books, overall, weren’t diverse.  You had books with white casts.  And books with black casts.  Where were the books with multi-culti casts?  My daughter is growing up very much like I did, with a diverse base of friends.  There weren’t any books that showed that side of suburbia.  So I set out to create a book that would.

RAW:  I really enjoyed how you incorporated characters with diverse family lives and backgrounds into the story (Book 1).  Was this something you did purposefully?  How did you create your characters?

The idea for such a large cast came, once more, from my own reality as a teen and my daughter’s.  Some kids roll in huge cliques.  It was six of us, back in the day. And my daughter has no less than four close girl friends and a few close guy friends.  I’ve heard some minor grumbling that it’s “too” many people in So Not The Drama.  But I think a large circle of friends is realistic.  Even if you have one best friend, you have more than just that one friend.  So my Del Rio Bay clique rolls deep.  And when you have a large cast, it’s important that they’re different somehow.  Otherwise the characters begin disappearing into one another.

The friends share a common bond and many similarities, but it would have been unrealistic if they’d all been cut from the same exact cloth.  So yes, I did consciously set out to make the characters diverse.  For example, Mina, JZ and Michael all live in the same exact neighborhood.  But it’s pretty obvious that JZ’s parents are wealthier.  Also, JZ and Mina come from traditional nuclear homes, where Michael is being raised by a grandmother.  So even in the same nabe, there are distinct differences that help flesh out each character.

I’d say that my characters are a hodge podge of my own character traits, my teen clique, my daughter’s quirks.  All rolled into a big old potpourri of wacky, teen angst.

RAW:   How challenging is it to make your characters and plot relevant and interesting for today’s young readers?  What do you do to stay “hip” <<grin>>?

What’s funny is, being hip is so here today, gone tomorrow.  Yet, I can’t lie, I love that people think I’m hip and trendy.  Truth is, writing for teens is just where my heart is. I’ve worked with teens and children since I was in college.  And writing for teens is another way of mentoring for me.  I don’t intend for my books to have a lesson in them.  It’s fun, light-hearted fiction.  But if someone thinks twice about their own actions because of a misstep of one of my characters, that’s cool as hell.

Teens fascinate me.  The way everything is so dramatic and is life or death, it’s really something to behold.  Instead of feeling frustrated that they just don’t “get over it,” I envy that they’re in a place where their drama is relatively harmless.  They’ll figure out soon enough that a break up is nothing compared to holding a marriage together.  Or all the other adult balls life throws at you.

So my plots come from knowing that everything is a massive crisis when you’re a teen.  And I take that notion and run with it.  When you think like that, it’s not hard to create a plot point.  Maybe an adult would read it and think, how is an entire book based on a fight with your friend?  But a teen knows that one simple argument can send seismic waves through a friendship and take days or weeks to right.

RAW: As we close out the interview, share some words of advice or inspiration that have been shared with you that you always hold onto?

Now, I have no idea who uttered these words originally, but my father was the first one to say to me, the only constant in life is change.  I keep those words top of mind, because change is around us, all the time.  And change is the one thing that seems to frighten almost all people equally. Because for every welcome change in our lives there’s one or ten changes we’d prefer to reject.  For some reason, realizing that change is the only constant gave me a sense of control over the uncontrollable.  You may not be able to control some of it, but if you’re accepting of the fact that change is around the bend, you find ways to cope.

THE COMPLETE SERIES

The Del Rio Bay series books are:  So Not The Drama, Don’t Get It Twisted, That’s What’s Up!, Who You Wit’? and Flipping The Script.

DEL BAY BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE:

September 15: Shades of Romance
September 16: Devyn Burton
September 17: RAWSISTAZ
September 18: Linda Gerber
September 21: Melissa Walker & Readergirlz
September 22: Mitali’s Fire Escape
September 23: YA Fresh
September 24: Color Online
September 25: APOOO Book Club

Sins of the Father Blog Tour with Angela Benson

Explore the Fun Side of Angela Benson, author of Sins of the Father

Would you say you are an extrovert or introvert?

I’m definitely an introvert.  While I enjoy being around family and friends and am often the life of the party, I get my energy from my time alone.

Do you like to cook? If so, what are your favorite dishes to cook?

I don’t like to cook.  Actually, I can’t cook.  Literally.  Every time I have to cook a dish, I have to call my mom.  I blame my brother for this.  When we were kids, my mother had two jobs so she gave me cooking tasks for after school.  Unfortunately, her first task for me was fried chicken.  How hard could that be?  Well, things fell apart when my brother took his first bite of my golden brown chicken and it began to bleed.  From then on, he refused to eat anything that I cooked so  my cooking opportunities were severely reduced.

What movie(s) have you watched recently that you would recommend?

Transformers.  I loved that movie.  I think I’m in love with Bumblebee.

Do you like books being turned into a movie? If so, what is your favorite book-to-movie?

Let’s put it this way, as an author, I’d love to see one or more of my books turned into movies.

If Sins of the Father was turned into a movie who would you cast to play your characters?

Denzel would play Abraham, Angela Bassett would be Saralyn and Whitney (the old Whitney) would be Leah.

Which social networks do you enjoy the most?

Definitely, Facebook.  I’m hooked.  I really love it over there.  You can find me at http://www.facebook.com/angelabenson every day.  Come on over and join the fun.

What’s next for you?

My contract with Avon/HarperCollins is up with Sins of the Father.  I recently submitted a proposal to them for my next book.  I hope to have some good news in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, I have a novella in the upcoming Millions of Blessings anthology being published by Dafina in March 2010.  Marilynn Griffith and Tia McCollors, two wonderful people and great authors, have novellas in it as well.

About the Book

Successful media mogul Abraham Martin has great wealth, an elegant wife, Saralyn, and a rebellious son, Isaac. He also has a secret: a second family that no one knows about. Now, after thirty years—driven by the urging of his long dormant conscience—Abraham is determined to do the right thing by finally bringing his illegitimate children into the light…and into the family fold.

But beautiful, manipulative Saralyn will never accept the proof of her husband’s indiscretions. Isaac the heir, shaken by his father’s revelations, will fight mercilessly when his world is threatened, and may lose everything that matters as a result. And while Abraham’s forgotten daughter Deborah is open to the undreamed-of possibilities suddenly awaiting her, son Michael cannot forgive the man who cruelly abandoned them to near poverty. And he’s driven by only one desire: revenge!

Angela Benson’s Sins of the Father is a powerful story of a house bitterly divided—a rich, multi-layered family saga of betrayal and redemption, rage and compassion, faith, forgiveness, and ultimately, of love.

Follow the blog tour at http://bitly.com/SinsoftheFather.

For more information about Angela, visit her at AngelaBenson.com.

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