Author: Amanda Tero
Playing the Part | Book Review
About the Book
Lucetta Plum is an actress on the rise in New York City, but is forced to abandon her starring role when a fan’s interest turns threatening. Lucetta’s widowed friend, Abigail Hart, is delighted at the opportunity to meddle in Lucetta’s life and promptly whisks her away to her grandson’s estate to hide out.
Bram Haverstein may appear to simply be a somewhat eccentric gentleman of means, but a mysterious career and a secret fascination with a certain actress mean there’s much more to him than society knows.
Lucetta, who has no interest in Abigail’s matchmaking machinations, has the best intentions of remaining cordial but coolly distant to Bram. But when she can’t ignore the strange and mysterious things going on in his house, it’ll take more than good intentions to keep her from trying to discover who Bram is behind the part he plays.
My Review
3.5 stars
Lucetta is a famous actress…but she is not on stage for almost the entire book as a sudden threat enters the scene in the first chapter. Abigail is certain that her grandson’s castle is the fortress to protect Lucetta, but the day she arrives, Lucetta is almost killed several times. Is the castle truly going to keep her safe?
What I liked:
The style so had me laughing! Mrs. Turano certainly has a gift when it comes to witty scenes and just making them humorous. The story kept a steady pace moving forward.
What I didn’t like:
There were a few things that could have been left out–like the description of Lucetta’s clothing when she was running from the goat. The scene would have been complete without drawing our minds to how her dress slipped when she wasn’t paying attention. Also, I can hardly consider this a Christian book, according to my standard. God was mentioned 3-4 times and then it was only in passing or a character realizing that their relationship with God wasn’t as it should be. No continuing spiritual theme could be seen in this book.
It’s not a book that I WOULDN’T recommend…it was indeed enjoyable. I just don’t wholeheartedly endorse it as a spiritually edifying book.
*I received this book from LitFuse in exchange for my honest review*
About the author:Enter a giveaway for Playing the Part on LitFuse!
Learn more about this blog tour here.
The Path to a Modest Lifestyle | Book Review
When you’re obeying His commands and serving the Lord there is a certain satisfaction that you feel. Serving Him brings you great joy and pride. But what about giving yourself and your life to Him entirely? In giving Him your life, that includes giving Him your appearance, your attitude and your heart’s desire. You are a daughter of the one true King. It’s time to step into the life that God has meant for you to live; one filled with confidence in your natural beauty and grace. Let His glory shine through you, bringing His light to the world. Within these pages you’ll learn to unlock your natural beauty that God has given you.
This is a short and easy book to read (I read it while getting distracted from editing a book ;)), but I enjoyed every minute of it. Amanda covers a lot of ground in a few short words–from accepting the body God has made you in to embracing the role of womanhood.
Not only does Amanda cover Biblical reasons for modesty, she gives some very practical insight in how to change one’s wardrobe. The simplify chapter was very organized and had a great list of questions to determine what to keep or get rid of.
A quote that stood out to me:
“[Wearing dresses] has become a wonderful daily reminder of the thought and hard work God put into making me who I am: a woman.”
*I received a complimentary copy of this book to read*
Amanda started writing at the age of 13, already an avid reader, she decided it was time she tried her hand at the craft. Just a few months after beginning to write she became a regular contributor at The Link magazine. After starting high school, Amanda put her writing career on hold and went on to be a normal teenager. It wasn’t until Amanda entered college that she started her first book Searching for Summer. Now twenty-three, Amanda is an avid writer, and reader. Her love of books whether written by herself or others has immensely grown since her childhood. She now runs her blog, A Pinch of Faith and her online business AmandaLeite.com. She has recently published her first book The Path to a Modest Lifestyle and has plans for many more books in the future.
Enter to win 1 of 3 paperback books!
Journey to Love Winners!
I am happy to announce the three winners of Journey to Love!
Word Wednesday #100
Share a verse that God has given you today or copy the button if you’d like to join in Word Wednesdays with your blog! Did you post on your blog? I’d love to see — share your link in a comment!
The Solid Rock | Blog Tour
I am excited to be part of this blog tour for a new Christian Western! Faith Blum joins us today to talk about her new release, The Solid Rock. It is about a talented detective with a mission to find his kidnapped colleague who finds himself working undercover with a heinous outlaw who has more plans than first meet the eye. I had the chance to read this book as a beta reader, and it sure is exciting!
About the Book
Joshua woke with a quiet groan. As his senses woke up one at a time, he cracked his eyelids open. Sure enough, there was a silhouetted form standing at the foot of the bed. From the smell, the person was either from the brothel down the street or had recently left one. He forced himself to breathe evenly and reached for the knife in his thigh holster. With as tough and evil a voice as he could imitate, he spoke, “State your intentions.” Pinkerton detective, Joshua Brookings, is sent on a job that seems simple on the surface. His fellow detective has been kidnapped and his boss, William Pinkerton senses foul play. Joshua is sent to investigate Edward’s case in hopes of finding the kidnapped detective and helping solve the case that has taken over ten years to investigate. Arriving in Cheyenne, Joshua finds much more than a simple kidnapping. Yet again, he must go undercover, something he made his boss promise never to make him do again. The only Christian in the outlaw group, Joshua falters and almost loses faith in God’s providence. Will he stand on the solid Rock or drown in the sinking sand?
You can also preorder a paperback copy here for $14.00 plus shipping.
Excerpt
Giveaway
Faith is giving away a full set of paperback books! Fill out this form to earn entries to the giveaway. Each entry gives you one point, plus there are opportunities for bonus entries.
If you haven’t read any of my books and would like to try one for free, I am working on getting A Mighty Fortress available for free on all formats. It is currently free on Barnes and Noble, iBooks, and Kobo. If you also wouldn’t mind helping me get it free on Amazon, I would appreciate that. To help, all you have to do is grab 1, 2, or 3 of the links where it is free and go to AMF’s Amazon page, click on “tell us about a lower price” and submit a link or three. Thank you!
Facebook Party
About the Author
Faith Blum started writing at an early age. She started even before she could read! She even thought she could write better than Dr. Seuss. Now that she’s grown up a little more, she knows she will probably never reach the success of Dr. Seuss, but that doesn’t stop her from trying. When she isn’t writing, Faith enjoys doing many right-brained activities such as reading, crafting, writing, playing piano, and playing games with her family. One of her dreams is to visit Castle City, Montana someday to see the ghost town she chose for her characters to live in. She currently lives on a hobby farm with her family in Wisconsin. Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Faith-Blum/e/B00GSPBHW6Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HymnsoftheWestTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/Faith_BlumPinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/FaithBlumAuthorWebsite: http://www.FaithBlum.comBlog: http://www.FaithBlum.wordpress.com
Tour Schedule
Biblically Speaking – Ways of Men (vs. God’s way)
Giveaway Reminder
Just a few more days to enter the giveaway for one of three paperback copies of Journey to Love!
ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE.
Don’t want to wait to see if you won? Buy it on Amazon for your Kindle or as a paperback.
Shapes and Swirls | Graphics Design
Last week, I pushed all of my fonts on you. This week, I’m going to introduce something that I have SO MUCH FUN with! Some are under the category of “Dingbat,” others are just swirls and designs. All of them plug into your fonts on your computer.
Some of the dingbats/swirls I have on my computer and use often are Kfon, Nymphette, WW Floral Corner.
For example, here is the banner I created for Orphan Journeys:
You can see it on the top of Journey to Love.
Compare the new Orphan Journeys series banner to my former thought (which was…no banner).
How did I create the new and improved? Let me introduce you to my favorite “font,” Nymphette. I probably overuse it, I like it so much!
First, I kept “Orphan Journeys” in the font Cinzel. Then, using good ol’ font Times New Romans I placed a line on top and on bottom of my text (yeah, I could have just drawn a line, but this is just how I do things the hard way).
THEN, the fun part! I used Nymphette letters KL (capital, yes) to create the double swirl. Then, I copied those, flipped them horizontally, and here ya go.
What do you use to embellish your work?
Do you have a link to something you’ve designed? Share it in a comment–I’d love to stop by and see it!
Bookmarks!
My bookmarks came in! If you think you’ll be able to share them, let me know and I’ll send some your way.









































