Black 'n' Gold Girl's Book Spot

Beyond All Measure (A Hickory Ridge Romance, Book 1) by Dorothy Love Copyright 2011 Thomas Nelson Publishers 314 pages ISBN: 978-1-59554-900-6 Fiction/Christian/Historical From the publisher : Unless she can trust God's love to cast out her fears, Ada may lose the heart of a good man. Ada Wentworth, a young Bostonian, journeys to Hickory Ridge, Tennessee, in the years following the Civil War. Alone and nearly penniless following a broken engagement, Ada accepts a position as a lady’s companion to the elderly Lillian Willis, a pillar of the community and aunt to the local lumber mill owner, Wyatt Caldwell. Ada intends to use her millinery skills to establish a hat shop and secure her future. Haunted by unanswered questions from her life in Boston, Ada is most drawn to two townsfolks: Wyatt, a Texan with big plans of his own, and Sophie, a mulatto girl who resides at the Hickory Ridge orphanage. Ada's friendship with Sophia attracts the attention of a group of locals see

Ohmygosh The Hunger Games is seriously the best YA series I've read since Twilight so the fact that it's also being made into a film series (hopefully better than Twilight ) has me really excited. Needless to say this trailer doesn't show a whole lot but still it looks like the movie is going to be amaaaazing! Thoughts on the trailer? The books? Any movies you're looking forward to in 2012?

*Guest post by Michelle Massaro Congratulations, Lisa T. Bergren , author of Waterfall ! Lisa's winning excerpt was discovered by COTT's new Talent Scout, Katie McCurdy. You can read Katie's review here . This YA title is being highly-praised by adults and is only the second YA title to win at Clash Of The Titles. Visit Lisa's site to learn more about her. About the book : Gabriella has never spent a summer in Italy like this one. Remaining means giving up all she’s known and loved… and leaving means forfeiting what she’s come to know…and love itself. Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Bentarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives with their parents, famed Etruscan scholars, among the romantic hills. Stuck among the rubble of medieval castles in rural Tuscany on yet another hot, dusty archaeological site, Gabi and Lia are bored out of their minds… until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an anc

Hidden Affections by Delia Parr Bethany House Publishers Copyright 2011 320 pages ISBN: 9780764206726 Historical Fiction/Romance From the publisher: Betrayed by her husband, Annabelle Tyler wears the burden of legally being a divorcee, a difficult position for an upstanding young woman to find herself in. While attempting to start a new life for herself, an unexpected turn of events once again has Annabelle married--this time to Harrison Graymoor, the most eligible, yet elusive, bachelor in Philadelphia. Harrison assures her that he will secure an annulment immediately, unaware that the constable has sent word of the marriage to the press in Philadelphia. And here things continue to go awry. Harrison's past, a philanthropic cousin with his eye on Annabelle, and the appearance of Annabelle's ex-husband threaten the tentative relationship growing between Harrison and his "wife." For two individuals set against marriage, there are certainly a lot of second thoughts r

During the summer months my little brother and I stay up late and watch reruns of Whose Line Is it Anyway ? on ABC Family. Tonight's episode was a Salute to American Television with special guest stars that included Lassie! If you know anything about dogs or classic tv you know that Lassie is the world's most famous collie and quite possibly the world's most famous dog period. Well Lassie is a favorite in our household especially with Coco, our own collie so I thought I'd share this cute clip on Coco's behalf. :-P

It's so hard to believe that over 200 of you think enough of my blog to want to follow it. I'm honored. I wish I could give you all a million dollars to thank you but unfortunately I can't...unless maybe I win the Powerball in the near future. Anywho, to thank you for being SO cool the first two people who are Google Friend Connect followers who email me at steelergirl83(at)gmail(dot)com saying, "I want a book!"and include your mailing address will each get one surprise book from me! I'll add the two winners names to this post as soon as I get them so if you see two winners here the books have already been claimed. Sorry. US residents only. Void where prohibited. Winner #1 ~ Katie M. Winner #2 ~ Sablelexi

Guest post by: Jennifer Slattery Do you remember those dances held during junior high and high school? How you and your friends would spend hours pre-dance talking about what you'd wear, how you'd do your hair, and...giggle, blush, giggle...who might ask you to dance? Only those dances never quite ended up how we envisioned, at least not in my school. Inevitably, the guys huddled near the far, heavily-shadowed wall while the girls spent their time crying in the bathroom or trying to comfort their near hysterical friend hiding in the stall. At least in Junior High. High School got a little better and people actually danced, and the bathrooms were far less crowded with splotchy-faced, sniffling girls. But reading this week's excerpts actually brought me back even further...to sixth grade. We didn't have dances--instead, our school hosted skating parties. Do you remember those? "Elvirah" blaring from those gigantic speakers while a disco ball lit up the ro

Too Rich for a Bride (The Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek, Book 2) by Mona Hodgson Copyright 2010 WaterBrook Press 314 pages ISBN:978-0-307-45892-6 Fiction/Romance/Historical From Amazon : With a head more suited to bookkeeping than a bridal veil, Ida’s dreams include big business- not beaus. Ida Sinclair has joined her sisters, Kat and Nell, in the untamed mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado for one reason: to work for the infamous but undeniably successful businesswoman, Mollie O’Bryan. Ida’s sisters may be interested in making a match for their determined older sister, but Ida only wants to build her career. Under Mollie's tutelage, Ida learns how to play the stock market and revels in her promising accomplishments. Fighting for respect in a man's world, her ambition leaves little room for distractions. She ignores her family's reservations about Mollie O'Bryan's business practices, but no matter how she tries, she can't ignore the two men purs

During the past few years in the month of September in honor of my own birthday I've hosted some blog parties that were pretty cool if I do say so myself. While those parties were really successful I thought that for this year I'd tweak it just a liiiiiittle bit. Some of my very favorite authors just so happen to have "book birthdays" coming up in September so I thought it would be fun not only to celebrate me (hey, it's my birthday so I'm allowed to be self-centered right?) but great new books as well. Every guest during my Book Birthday Party will have a book that is releasing during the month of September with the exception of Laura Frantz whose latest novel, The Colonel's Lady was published in August but she's such a special friend I'd thought we'd celebrate belatedly. Each day there will be interviews with authors, guest posts, and excerpts celebrating these incredible authors and their stories. As a special bonus each author has offe

Blue Skies Tomorrow (Wings of Glory, Book 3) by Sarah Sundin Copyright 2011 Revell Books 448 pages ISBN: 978-0-8007-3423-7 Historical Romance From the publisher : In a time of peril, can they find the courage to confront their fears and embrace a love that lasts? When her husband becomes a casualty of the war in the Pacific, Helen Carlisle throws herself into volunteering for the war effort to conceal her feelings. But keeping up appearances as the grieving widow of a hometown hero is taking its toll. Soon something is going to give. Lt. Raymond Novak prefers the pulpit to the cockpit. His stateside job training B-17 pilots allows him the luxury of a personal life--and a convenient excuse to ignore his deepest fear. When the beautiful Helen catches his eye and captures his heart, he is determined to win her hand. But when Ray and Helen are called upon to step out in faith and put their reputations and their lives on the line, can they meet the challenges that face them? An

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Kaye Dacus and the book: Ransome's Quest (The Ransome Trilogy) Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011) ***Special thanks to Karri | Marketing Assistant | Harvest House Publishers for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kaye Dacus, author of Ransome’s Honor has a BA in English, with a minor in history, and an MA in writing popular fiction. Her love of t

Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy, Book 1) by Lauren DeStefano Copyright 2011 Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers 358 pages ISBN: 9781442409057 Fiction From the publisher : By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children. When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can't bring herself to hate him as much as she'd like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to i

see more Historic LOL

*guest post by Jennifer Slattery The next Clash of the Titles literary champion is Anne Patrick! Her her novel A Familiar Evil won the vote for Author’s Choice. Here’s a blip of her COTT winning excerpt (excerpt B): “Excuse me. I’m looking for Chief Russell.” Jordan’s stomach did a nosedive at the familiar voice of her soon-to-be-ex-husband. “You found her,” Frank answered. Jordan looked up just as Sam smiled. “Indeed I have.” He started toward her desk. Colleen barged through the opened door. “Chief, there’s an Agent Russell here to see…oh, I guess you found her.” “Agent Russell,” Frank repeated. He turned back to Jordan, “Isn’t Russell your married name?” He then shifted his gaze back to Sam, “That must mean you’re her husband.” “Not for much longer.” Jordan hurried around her desk and ushered Frank out the door. “You’ll be hearing from me.” She closed the door and looked at Sam. “What are you doing here?” “I’m here at your request.” Read th

The Colonel's Lady by Laura Frantz Copyright 2011 Revell Publishers 416 pages ISBN: 9780800733414 Historical Fiction From the publisher : Roxanna Rowan may be a genteel Virginia woman, but she is determined to brave the wilds of the untamed frontier to reach a remote Kentucky fort. Eager to reunite with her father, who serves under Colonel Cassius McLinn, Roxanna is devastated to find that her father has been killed on a campaign. Penniless and out of options, Roxanna is forced to remain at the fort. As she spends more and more time with the fiery Colonel McLinn, the fort is abuzz with intrigue and innuendo. Can Roxanna truly know who the colonel is--and what he's done? Immerse yourself in this powerful story of love, faith, and forgiveness set in the tumultuous world of the frontier in 1779. My Review: Nobody writes frontier romance like Laura Frantz! The Colonel's Lady is yet another example of Christian fiction at it's finest. This book is not simply a

Thank you everyone for all your votes. All the votes were pretty much spread out but here are the final results and I'm so happy that most of you voted to change nothing at all. You don't know how much I worry about making my general posts as entertaining as possible and my reviews as informative as possible. I know how much I appreciate quality reviews on the blogs I follow so I want to try to return the favor. I'm thrilled to know that you all think so highly of my spot on the Web. Nothing, it's fine as it is: 8 votes More giveaways: 7 votes More author interviews/guest posts: 6 votes More book reviews: 6 votes New design: 3 votes ( all votes for "new design" were cast before I actually rearranged and redecorated the site ) In the following months I will be trying to host more giveaways and hopefully host more authors. I've been quite busy lately so I haven't had as much time to blog as I would like but coming up in September is somet

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book! You never know when I might play a wild card on you! Today's Wild Card author is: Lori Copeland and the book: The One Who Waits for Me Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011) ***Special thanks to Karri James, Marketing Assistant, Harvest House Publishers for sending me a review copy.*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lori Copeland is the author of more than 90 titles, both historical and contemporary fiction. With more than 3 million copies of her books in print,

Ever wonder what a writer thinks about other genres, authors, and books? Let's find out! I put together some fun questions for our Clash of the Titles authors, as well as our current anonymous Clashing authors. Some of their answer surprised me. Others made me chuckle, or made me think about my own motives. Here they are! If you had to choose... ...to do only one of these for the rest of your life, which would it be? Read or write? Amanda Flower -- Read- I write because I was reader first. Lisa Lickel -- I’ve written twenty-five novels so far, published five of them and hope that’s not it, and it’s not like I feel I’ve written everything I wanted to...but between Kindle and my p-tbr-pile, there’s well over a hundred books just calling to be read. Jennifer Slattery - Write, definitely, because that's when I feel God's presence strongest. I also process through my writing, whether penning articles, devos, blog posts or novels. So I imagine if I quit writing,