Romance on the Cheap

In challenging economic times, even love can feel expensive! :) So it behooves me to alert you to some penny-pinching--and downright free--romance reads.

Cascade Brides: Three Novels of Faith, Hope and Charity ($4.99) is a compilation of three titles that are available individually for $1.99 each.

The Three Sisters Mountains are part of the Cascade Mountain Range near the town of Sisters, Oregon. The peaks were named Faith, Hope, and Charity by early settlers. In the Cascade Brides series, three estranged siblings named for the mountains, each in the far-flung reaches of the state, are drawn back to their childhood home in Sisters by men who ultimately help the siblings realize the blessings of family bonds.

In Rock And A Hard Place, Faith Conrad is used to striving. After more or less raising her twin sisters because of an absent father and ailing mother, she knows the meaning of responsibility. She had to drop out of high school to pay the bills, hamstringing her future. When handsome Bureau of Land Management ranger Shane Zadopec rescues her from a rock climb gone wrong and reveals that he's a photographer too, she feels threatened and rebuffs his attempts to get close. Will she ever picture them together?

In Book Two, Bayward Heart, Hope Conrad runs a whale watching business and is readying for the peak season when her boat is damaged. Boat captain Eric Bandon offers a solution that may only deepen her dilemma. Strapped for cash and time, and knowing one bad season will sink her business for good, she reluctantly accepts Eric’s offer. Will she heed his challenge to take the plunge with him as well as be reconciled to her sisters?

In Project Love (Book Three) barista Charity Conrad enjoys her adoring customers and the caffeine that keeps her personality perking. Next to her job, she stays involved in good causes and can rarely say no to community involvement. So when coffee shop patron Daniel Tabor begins coming in to her shop, she makes it her personal goal to get the handsome but taciturn man to smile. But Daniel resists becoming just another 'project' and instead challenges Charity to take a risk not only with him--but with her sisters.

So grab the set and save a dollar!

Or for a completely FREE read, grab a copy How Sweet It Is.

Embrasser means to kiss in French. Delphine D'Arleux, traveling in Belgium for a candy-making class, doesn't expect to have the word demonstrated to her, especially by a stranger. Brad Larsen, an avowed chocoholic, knows he behaved badly by kissing the pretty French girl, but he can't quite regret his actions. Can he show Delphine that a longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul?

How Sweet It Is will be free for a limited time. Grab a copy and enjoy romance on the cheap!

Progressive Christmas Story Hop Winners!

We had a great time with the Progressive Christmas Story promotion and now it's even better because we have WINNERS!

Grand prize winner was Sylvia S. She won a $100 Amazon gift certificate! Congrats, Sylvia!

Winner of my Cascade Brides series was Heather C. Hope you like 'em, Heather!

Thanks to all who participated and we hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Bonnie

Progressive Christmas Story Hop

Mark your calendars for December 13-15, 2012! Grand Prize: $100 Amazon Gift Card!
 
Christmas time is for us to remember why we celebrate the season.  It’s the time of year that sometimes gets lost under Santa Claus and presents under the tree, making a Christmas dinner for the family or baking Christmas cookies.  But, we’re supposed to remember that the reason for the season is God. 
We’ve come together for the Christmas season, as Christian authors, to show you the meaning of why we celebrate our Savior’s birth.  

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
 God sent us His Son, so that we may be forgiven and to have everlasting life.  Please join us in the celebration of our Lord and Savior, and celebrate with us our favorite Christmas movies and join us on a progressive Christmas story hop.

Here's how it works:

1.  Go to each blog in the order that is listed below.
2.  Read the first section of the story. Then follow the link to the next section of the story.
3.  At each blog, comment to get entered in both the Grand Prize drawing ($100 Amazon Gift Card) and to be entered in each author's individual drawing. Your comments can be about the story. Or you can tell us your favorite Christmas songs or movies or books. You can also tweet and like us on Facebook to be entered multiple times.

Feel free to browse each author's bookshelf.
Blogs to visit for the Progressive Christmas Story should be visited in the order listed below: 

1.    Gloria Harchar
2.    Emerald Barnes
3.    Bonnie Blythe
4.    Anita Green
5.    Marian Merritt
6.    Rich Bullock
7.    Dawn Turner 

My prize is all three books in the Cascade Brides series; Rock and A Hard Place, Bayward Heart, and Project Love, all available for Kindle or at Smashwords.

Enjoy my part in the Progressive Christmas Story below and leave a comment with your email address! a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Meredith passed the rest of the evening enclosed in a sense of unreality, barely aware of the sweet sounds of the children singing. 

Garth was back. After all this time. Why hadn’t he called her? Come to see her? 

But why would he? After all, he was the one who had decided to end things almost exactly two years ago, right before his last deployment. He didn't want to think about me worrying about him. 
 

At least that’s what he’d said. 

She’d worried about him nonetheless. Prayed for him daily—despite her bewildered, broken heart. 

But the shock at seeing him on the porch—with a gun no less. Wow. That had been so completely unsuspected. He had aged somewhat—at least the look in his eyes. There was a weariness there—and a new wariness. But was it due to action overseas, or the fact that his rejected girlfriend had shown up on his front steps five days before Christmas?

Meredith was relieved when the evening came to an end, when the last child had been picked up from the church lobby by his parents. Her mouth ached from smiling, echoing the state of her heart. She’d plunged into the holiday festivities, hoping to find a balm after the breakup. After all these months, the pain had lessened to a dull ache, but the memories had not let up a whit.

And now that Garth is back in town it will only be that much harder to move on. 

By the time she got home, a headache had formed at the base of her skull. Meredith refrained from turning on the lights right away. For the moment, the darkness soothed her. She closed her eyes and offered up a small prayer. Lord, You knew this moment would come even if I didn’t. Boy, I so didn’t. Help me respond with grace. She bit her lip as moisture stung the back of her eyes. And help me have Your peace. 

Pushing away from the door, Meredith headed to her bedroom and pulled open her nightstand drawer. She had almost packed the picture frames away a hundred times, but so far had been unable to box them up for good. Now was definitely the time. All I need is the whole town talking about how I can’t move on from the hometown hero. 

Despite her intentions, she peeked at the photos in the frames—photos of happier times when she and Garth were making plans for the future. The picture of her standing next to him right after his enlistment made her throat thicken. Only a few years ago. A lifetime.

She wondered what he was really afraid of. War? Death? No doubt he’d seen horrific things from his time overseas. But where so many military men managed quickie weddings prior to deployment, Garth had chosen to break things off suddenly when they’d been going so strong. Had he experienced some morbid premonition about the coming months in Afghanistan? It was something she had wrestled with over and over when he left. And she was no closer to an answer.

Meredith sent up another prayer. Lord, help Garth find peace from what troubles him. Bring people into his life that draw him out and bring him back into a hope and a future. People that can bring healing.

Even if that person can’t be me.