Happy Tuesday!
It’s now the second week of school and I feel like I’m drowning already lol. I’ve been coaching cross country after school so my afternoons disappear there, but both my boys are running so I’m getting to spend some quality time with them. Public speaking had their first speech today. It was very low-key but the students were still quite stressed about it. Creative writing is diving into characterization by reading The Fall of the House of Usher - if you haven’t read it and you like scary-ish stories then you have to read it, Lit and Comp is diving into Beowulf, and Yearbook is taking the most of my time. I’m having to learn a whole new software and teach it to a class of kids who have also never used it. So steep learning curve.
I do, however, have a new fantastic author intern this year. She was in my creative writing class last year and has goals of becoming a published writer, so I’m teaching her everything I know. Obviously she loves to read, but she also loves story creation at its core. She loves to learn about world building and has admitted she might spend a little too much time learning about them. However, it will translate well when she begins writing her own stories more.
Currently, she is working on reading through and helping me edit my first psychological thriller - Beneath the Surface - and I’m going to let her tell you a little about it. Before I do though, I’m looking for a few good BETA readers who love the psychological thriller genre and have read books in that genre before who would be willing to read the book and give some critique. If you think that’s you, please shoot me an email at faithbasedreads@gmail.com and let me know the last book you read in that genre. Now without further ado, a little note from my author intern.
“Hi, I’m Lydia, Lorana Hoopes’ intern! I’m very excited to be working on the more technical side of being an author. So far, I’ve learned a lot on the system behind purchasing ebooks, and how much work there is behind the scenes. I’ve also gotten to take a look at Beneath the Surface, and I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s very fast paced, and will make you wonder if you know the characters at all. Filled with twists, turns and just a smidge of girl-talk, I’m having blast to watch it grow into it’s final form.”
I’ve attached a possible cover and I’d love your thoughts on it. Does it grab your attention? Does it need more? Leave me a comment and tell me what you think and look for this book soon.
Lorana
Featured book of the week:
Meet the cowboys at Shooting Star Canyon Ranch, the heroes of the Christmas in Shooting Star Canyon series. Each cowboy will have his own story in the series, but you can meet them all now!
Here are the other book recommendations for the week. Remember, we haven’t read all these books, but Rose works really hard to make sure the books I share are clean and match the values you expect to find in my books.
At what point does a misunderstanding turn into a lie?
Evie Brown would do anything for her uncle, the only family she's ever known. So when he comes to her with a desperate plea to help save his home and business, she takes the only job she can find—housemaid for a rancher she knows nothing about. Making friends with a ranch hand who literally sweeps her off her feet is just a bonus.
Andrew Radcliffe is tired of every woman he’s ever met only interested in his money. Giving up on love, he focuses on expanding his ranch, and demanding loyalty from those who work for him. Mistaken by Evie for a servant in his own home, he plays along. At first, he enjoys the chance to learn more about the spirited young woman working for him. But complications arise as he falls in love with her.
Just after Evie admits to Andrew she’s fallen for him, her uncle arrives with a scheme. Now Evie faces an impossible choice—lose the man she’s fallen in love with, or turn her back on her family. Who will she betray? And when Evie discovers Andrew isn’t just a ranch hand, she’s certain no matter her decision, a happy ending is heartbreakingly out of reach.
He insulted her. She slammed the door in his face. Only their mutual disdain for Christmas will bring them together.
Ethan Wilder has a lot of reasons to hate Christmas. Being dumped by his cheating fiancée and ending up in Holly Wreath, Wyoming to hide out, is currently the biggest. The next person on the receiving end of his bad attitude is the waitress serving him cold diner food.
Nobody dislikes working long hours at the diner more than Olivia Campbell. She has to do something to pay the bills when customers at her bed-and-breakfast are slow. She puts on a happy face for her daughter, but after her husband walked out on them right before Christmas five years earlier, she wouldn't mind skipping the holidays. To make matters worse, she opens her front door to discover her new houseguest is the cantankerous man from the diner with the gorgeous hazel eyes.
Living in close quarters should be unbearable. However, as they share some of the simple pleasures of the holidays together, Olivia and Ethan find themselves enjoying the season for the first time in a long time. Until Olivia discovers just who Ethan is. Then, it may only be a Christmas miracle that keeps them together.
Butterflies? Levi Bailey does not get butterflies. Well, at least he didn't until Meredith Porter spilled coffee all over him.
Meredith has plans. Big plans. She is done being safely wrapped in bubble wrap. She is ready to live. That's what her list is all about—living and experiencing. Is it fate that her list of learning, trying, and experiencing continues to bring her into the path of grumpy Levi Bailey? She isn't sure—but she doesn't mind. Levi is just a misunderstood cinnamon roll and Meredith plans to enjoy every second of helping him realize that.
Levi's life has a routine. He's been running it for years. Go to work, care for Mom, watch over the siblings. If he's lucky, he'll get to play with his niece Alice before his head hits the pillow at night. It may sound boring, but it's worked for years. Why mess with a good thing?
Only… it's not that great. Now that his mother isn't sick and his siblings are grown, they don't really need him. Where does that leave Levi? It would seem in the hands of quirky, unpredictable Meredith Porter and her list. This girl is too young and too innocent for the likes of Levi. He has no business taking her to yoga or teaching her to ride a bike.
He certainly has no business falling for the twenty-three-year-old who has pretty much been living under a rock her entire life. Yep… no business at all, and yet there are a million butterflies disturbing his insides, telling him to kiss the girl, to give this thing with Meredith a chance. Telling him that maybe, just maybe, he is worthy of affection from someone as good and pure as Meredith.
Then again, what do dumb ol' butterflies know anyway?