We interrupt this blog for the cover reveal for my novella, Freedom’s Flight.
Freedom’s Flight is set for release on October 25, 2022, and is available for preorder for 99 cents.
About the Book
Annalise Van Houten knows what it’s like to live in an oppressive situation. Sent to live with her conniving aunt and uncle in Ridge Gap, Tennessee, after her parents die, she dreads the plans they have for her future. When she discovers the handsome Reverend Matthias Sorenson assisting runaway slaves, can Annalise convince him to allow her to help?
Reverend Matthias Sorenson has a heart for serving others—and freeing them. An integral part of the Faith Train, he helps free slaves. When a beautiful newcomer to his church wishes to partake in the organization, can he trust her not to endanger their lives?
Lives in jeopardy. A race against time. Will mistrust prove fatal for all involved?
(This novella originally appeared as part of the Underground Railroad Brides Collection).
The week went quickly and today is the last day for the Forgotten Memories blog tour.
Today we’re wrapping up the tour, having a fun quiz to find out which character we are, and taking a fun glimpse into an excerpt of the book.
A reminder: there are two chances to win two books during the tour. Pit stop byChat with Veraand Patti’s Porch for those opportunities. (U.S. Residents only). I’ve included the entire blog tour stops below, including guest posts, book reviews, and book spotlights. I’m so grateful for the bloggers/instagramers who joined with me to bring you the excitement of Forgotten Memories becoming a reality.
And now, without further ado, which character are you?
Keep track of your answers (manually) and move to the second graphic for the answer!
And an excerpt from the book:
“Miss Ledbetter!” Charlotte’s panicked tone and waving right hand interrupted Annie’s thoughts.
Annie jerked her head up from the task at hand. “What is it, Charlotte?” Surely an emergency had occurred for Charlotte to have overreacted in such a way.
“Miss Ledbetter, I’ve been trying in vain to capture your attention for the past ten minutes. It’s Tobias Hallman. He’s being a bother again.”
Tobias snorted. “The past ten minutes? More like the past ten seconds.”
“Is this true that you are being a bother, Tobias?” Annie stood for a better view of the conflict between her students.
“It’s possible, ma’am.”
“But, Miss Ledbetter, it is true. Tobias just tied my braids together!” Charlotte reached back behind her and pulled a mass of tangled blonde braids above her head. “See?”
“Tobias…” Annie began.
“Miss Ledbetter, you must do something. My braids are wound together in a jumbled clump. I shall absolutely faint away into a hodgepodge of nothingness if something isn’t done to relieve this knotted mess!”
Tobias rolled his eyes. “Charlotte, you exaggerate like no one I’ve ever known. You’ll no more faint away into a lodge of nothingness than I’ll be on the next stage to California.”
Charlotte spun around in her chair and glared at Tobias. “Not a lodge of nothingness, Tobias Hallman. A hodgepodge of nothingness. You are such an ill-mannered and impertinent boor!”
“You and your big vocabulary. You sling them fancy words around like you’re smart or something. Even you don’t know what they mean.”
Several snickers followed Tobias’s insinuation.
“You take that back, Tobias! I do know what every single word I use means. Every singleword.”
“I’ll not take it back. It’s your own fault about your braids. If they weren’t so long, they wouldn’t find themselves on my desk. Keep them in your own space or next time I’ll bring my ma’s sewing scissors.”
Finally, here’s the complete tour in case you missed any stops.
One other thing…Dreams of the Heart, the second in the Wyoming Sunrise Series is also available for preorder. (Can’t wait to share John Mark’s story with you!)
Thank you for joining me. We’ll be returning to our regularly-scheduled program of encouraging blog posts next week.
It’s already day three of the Forgotten Memories blog tour. Today we’re meeting the characters and I’m sharing some of my favorite quotes. Oh, and there are chances to win a copy of the book as well!
Don’t forget to stop by all of the fantastic blogs and instagram accounts for author interviews, guest posts, and book graphics. And starting today, you have a chance to win one of two copies of Forgotten Memories! (Paperback for U.S. residents; ebooks for international winners). All of the details are below.
Enjoy!
Meet the Characters
Creating characters is one of the most exciting things for an author. We give them personalities, struggles, hopes, and dreams. Many of us find photos of our characters on Pinterest. Some of us, myself included, have the characters from my current work-in-progress taped to the computer monitor. As a visual person, that helps greatly in helping me form a well-rounded character.
Caleb Eliason, in my mind, looked exactly like a much-younger Brad Pitt… (image courtesy of Pinterest).
Annie Ledbetter, on the other hand, looked exactly like the model on the book cover. However, one of my readers also pointed out that she thought Annie resembled a much younger Nicole Kidman. (Image courtesy of Pinterest).
I rarely watch the typical Hollywood movie fare and almost never have seen the movies I find my characters from; however, I do watch (and occasionally review) clean movies, so sometimes I do find a character or two in those movies as well.
My Pinterest board includes some other characters such as Cain and Louie and other fun items such as Reverend Solomon and Lydie’s house, the school where Annie teaches, the church the characters attend, and the wagon Annie’s family traveled in during their journey to the Wyoming Territory.
The time for the Forgotten Memories blog tour has finally arrived!
Are you ready for book spotlights, author interviews, guest posts, bookstagrams, reviews of the book, quotables, and giveaways?
There are three signed paperback copies up for grabs for three U.S. residents!
All the details in a minute, but first, is Forgotten Memories the book for you?
Do you love…
To read love stories
Stories set in the late 1800s
Stories in the West
Sweet romance
Plentiful humor
Character-driven plots
Strong faith element
Scenes that tug at the heartstrings
Mid-length novels
Tender love stories
Tear-jerking scenes
Hilarious antidotes tucked within the pages of a novel
To curl up and escape in the lives of book characters
Settings in small Western towns
Realistic plot lines
Close-knit families
Memorable characters who stay with you long after the last page
Clean and wholesome reads
If you answered “yes” to the above, Forgotten Memories is, indeed, the book for you!
Below is the “official” blurb:
Some memories are best forgotten… The Wyoming Territory is rife with lawlessness and disorder, something Annie Ledbetter and her parents discover when their wagon train is robbed. Seven years later, Annie settles into her lifelong dream as a teacher in the small town of Willow Falls. When she meets handsome rancher Caleb Eliason through a humorous misunderstanding, she is quickly drawn to his kind heart and charming smile.
Former outlaw Caleb Eliason embraces his chance at a fresh start. Gone are the days of robbing stagecoaches and wagon trains. When he falls in love with the new Willow Falls teacher, he doesn’t realize they’ve met before—under much different circumstances. When his past comes to light, will it put the growing love between them at risk?
Can forgiveness and redemption heal two broken hearts or will the past keep them from sharing a future?
Forgotten Memories is available wherever books are sold, including the following places:
One last detail…below is the first page of the book:
Wyoming Territory, 1877
A fleeting movement caught twelve-year-old Annie Ledbetter’s attention. She squinted at the grove of trees on a distant hill and willed her eyes to focus. A quick flash of something—or someone—appeared. Annie tipped her head to the left and stood on tiptoe, anticipating a better view.
The vacant prairie previously held nothing but miles and miles of grasslands, sagebrush, and the occasional rolling hill.
Until now.
Annie’s feet stalled in the soft dirt as if rooted. Could it be? A man, or maybe more than one man, watched and scrutinized Annie and the rest of the travelers.
But as quickly as the figure appeared, he vanished.
A shiver of fear traveled up her spine.
Don’t forget to stop by the blogs on the tour on their blog stop days and leave a comment for your chance to win one of four copies!
And join me next week for my regularly-scheduled encouraging blog posts!
When an author writes a book, it can seem like an eternity before the book is released. I’m super excited that the day has finally arrived!
Readying a book to send off into the masses is not for the faint of heart. It involves hours of pounding on the keyboard, back-and-forth chat sessions with our editor, and reading the manuscript over a thousand times until we have it memorized. But it is so worth it to see the finished product and to share it with our readers.
Below is the blurb:
Some memories are best forgotten…
The Wyoming Territory is rife with lawlessness and disorder, something Annie Ledbetter and her parents discover when their wagon train is robbed. Seven years later, Annie settles into her lifelong dream as a teacher in the small town of Willow Falls. When she meets handsome rancher Caleb Eliason through a humorous misunderstanding, she is quickly drawn to his kind heart and charming smile.
Former outlaw Caleb Eliason embraces his chance at a fresh start. Gone are the days of robbing stagecoaches and wagon trains. When he falls in love with the new Willow Falls teacher, he doesn’t realize they’ve met before—under much different circumstances. When his past comes to light, will it put the growing love between them at risk?
Can forgiveness and redemption heal two broken hearts or will the past keep them from sharing a future?
Where to order:
Forgotten Memories will soon be available for order everywhere books are sold and is now available at Amazon in both ebook and paperback formats.
I have some exciting events coming up in celebration of the release. There will be two blog tours back-to-back and another one in October. (Please see the Blog Tour tab for more information). There is an opportunity to win copies of the book, interviews, inside looks at Forgotten Memories, and more!
Please stay tuned to the Forgotten Memories Blog Tour tab for all the details regarding the tours. Giveaways will also be posted on the Book News/Giveaways tab.
A fun offer for those who feel a Christian historical romance reading binge coming on… for a limited time in celebration of the release of Forgotten Memories, Love in Disguiseis 99 cents as well.
If you are an avid reader of Christian historical romance, I am now accepting applications for the Dreams of the Heart and theFreedom’s Flightlaunch teams. For all of the details, please click on the links below.
I am so excited to share with you the official cover reveal for Forgotten Memories. Not long ago, Caleb and Annie’s story was just an idea in my mind. As we draw closer to the release date of August 30, it has now become a reality.
About the Book:
Some memories are best forgotten…
The Wyoming Territory is rife with lawlessness and disorder, something Annie Ledbetter and her parents discover when their wagon train is robbed. Seven years later, Annie settles into her lifelong dream as a teacher in the small town of Willow Falls. When she meets handsome rancher Caleb Eliason through a humorous misunderstanding, she is quickly drawn to his kind heart and charming smile.
Former outlaw Caleb Eliason embraces his chance at a fresh start. Gone are the days of robbing stagecoaches and wagon trains. When he falls in love with the new Willow Falls teacher, he doesn’t realize they’ve met before—under much different circumstances. When his past comes to light, will it put the growing love between them at risk?
Can forgiveness and redemption heal two broken hearts or will the past keep them from sharing a future?
There are a couple of blog tours coming up soon that I will be posting about here andin my newsletter.
I do have a few spots left on the Forgotten Memories launch team and would love to have you join if you love Christian historical romance with themes of forgiveness and redemption and plentiful humor.Go here to sign up.
Also, if you haven’t yet entered to win one of my available books and a $25 Amazon gift card in honor of my 13th Blogoversary, be sure enter.Forgotten Memories is one of the books available for the giveaway!
Please join me next week for my encouraging post about things we can do in these crazy times.
Until then, thank you for joining me in celebrating my cover reveal!
Thanks so much for taking the time to share this post. I appreciate you!
Back in 2009, I started this WordPress blog on the heels of my third book, 77 Ways Your Family Can Make a Difference. My first post was titled “Preparing for a Writer’s Conference”. I followed that post with a humorous one about why I wasn’t a cowgirl due to my adventures on a persnickety horse in the Montana wilds.
It soon became clear my blog wouldn’t have just one topic. Rather, as a person with a million tabs open at any given time, my blog would advance forward in a direction that included a plethora of both fun and serious topics. Encouraging posts, devotionals, movie reviews, guest posts from author friends, writing posts, recipes, humor posts, book news, and how-tos have all been included in the lineup over the years.
When God redirected my path to write fiction, I excitedly embarked on creating faith-filled love stories. Christian romance in both historical and contemporary (and soon suspense!) is my favorite to write and I don’t think I’ll ever return to nonfiction.
However, nonfiction still runs through my veins, and my blog has, and continues to, feature mainly nonfiction posts. I love to encourage others to join me as we grow in the Lord together.
So, in celebration of this monumental milestone, I am hosting a giveaway. The first place winner (U.S. resident only) will receive their choice of any of my available books in paperback or ebook (see graphic below for choices) plus a $25 Amazon gift card. The second place winner, which can be a U.S. or international, will receive a copy of an ebook of their choice from my available books. Entering is super easy and the contest ends August 10, 2022. Go here to enter.
So it is to you, my blog readers, that I extend a heartfelt thank you. Without you stopping by and taking the time to read my posts, there would be no blog. Thank you for sticking with me all these years and for the privilege of your time as you read my posts.
I typically don’t post shout-outs for my book launch teams, but I am just super excited about this book and its release is right around the corner, August 30 to be exact.
Below are all of the details. Click HERE to sign up for the team. Please feel free to spread the word to your booklover friends.
Thank you in advance and have a blessed day!
The Blurb
Some memories are best forgotten…
The Wyoming Territory is rife with lawlessness and disorder, something Annie Ledbetter and her parents discover when their wagon train is robbed. Seven years later, Annie settles into her lifelong dream as a teacher in the small town of Willow Falls. When she meets handsome rancher Caleb Eliason through a humorous misunderstanding, she is quickly drawn to his kind heart and charming smile.
Former outlaw Caleb Eliason embraces his chance at a fresh start. Gone are the days of robbing stagecoaches and wagon trains. When he falls in love with the new Willow Falls teacher, he doesn’t realize they’ve met before—under much different circumstances. When his past comes to light, will it put the growing love between them at risk?
Can forgiveness and redemption heal two broken hearts or will the past keep them from sharing a future?
***A side note: Mountain Peak Edits & Design created the above graphics. She is absolutely amazing when it comes to graphics!
Thanks so much for taking the time to share this post. I appreciate you!
I’m excited today to share with you some fun Ellis Creek happenings, along with a character quiz.
Christian historical romance is one of my favorite genres to write. Something about spending time in “the olden days” is refreshing and provides a much-needed reprieve from this crazy world in which we live.
And yes, if you guessed that I loved watching Little House on the Prairie re-runs, you guessed correctly.
Love from AfarandLove Unforeseenboth take place in Montana in the late 1800s. Ellis Creek is a charming little town where everyone knows everyone else. There are delightful characters, such as Meredith, Gabe, Tillie, Willard, Lula, Gideon, and Mollie. There are more challenging characters, such as Leopold Arkwright. And finally, there are timeless characters, such as Mr. Norman and Widow Jones.
Below is a map of the town and the key places.
Mollie, one of the secondary characters in Love Unforeseen, works at her parents’ mercantile and also writes for the Ellis Creek Journal. I have a sneaking suspicion that sometime in the future she may “graduate” from being a secondary character to a main character.
Below is a recent article Mollie penned about the happenings in Ellis Creek…
Love from Afar and Love Unforeseen are both available in ebook and paperback formats, and Love Most Certain (Book Three in the series) will be available for pre-order in the coming months. More details about both books can be found hereand here. Love from Afar is available for purchasehere. Love Unforeseen is available for purchase here.
I’m thrilled to share with you Tillie and Will’s story. It’s the second book in the Love Letters from Ellis Creek series, but can be read as a standalone.
One of the things I love most about Love Unforeseen and Love from Afaris that they are quick and fun reads. They are sweet romances filled with faith and humor, can be read in one sitting, and are a perfect temporary escape. Below is the blurb:
Will a best friend’s matchmaking scheme be successful?
Tillie Waller finds her life’s purpose in molding young minds as a teacher in Ellis Creek in the late-1890s. While she claims contentment, there is a part of her that longs to marry and be a mother, like her sister, Meredith, and best friend, Lula. But no matter. With her students and books, how could she ever be lonesome?
Willard “Will” Fairbanks has longed to return to Ellis Creek since the day he left the town with his family twelve years ago. When a job offer at Ellis Creek Mill beckons his return, Will eagerly embraces the opportunity. An added bonus? He hopes to reconnect with Tillie Waller, the girl he has always loved—the girl who never felt the same about him.
When Tillie encourages her pupils to write to pen pals in another town, she can’t possibly foresee how such an assignment will impact her own future. Her best friend, Lula, concocts a plan, unbeknownst to Tillie, for Will to become Tillie’s pen pal under a false name. Tillie forms a connection with her pen pal and even dares herself to fall in love.
When she falls in love with both Will and her pen pal, which one will she choose?
Will love unforeseen become a reality for Tillie and Willard?
In other news…
And speaking of sweet romances, Henry and Evaline will be free for download this Thursday and Friday. If you’ve been wanting to take a little journey to the 1960s for a fun visit and a peek into the life of one of Chokecherry Heights’ most beloved characters, here is your chance! Go here for your Kindle download.
Free free to spread the word!
Also, if you love giveaways, especially the chance to win 40+ books or a $500 Amazon giftcard, you’ll want to check this out. I am honored that my contemporary Christian romance novel, Love Under Construction, is a part of this phenomenal Celebrate Lit giveaway!
What’s better than a garden of flowers? How about a garden of books!
You will want to hurry because the giveaway ends May 14.
And finally, two items…have you signed up for my newsletter yet? All of the details can be found on the Newsletter tab on this blog.
Also, I’m starting a new Penny’s Peeps street team, and I’d love to have you join me. Interested in learning more? Go here.
Join me for my post Are you an Encourager or Discourager later this week, as well as a Saturday Spotlight with a new author friend. And coming up, I’ll be posting Movie Monday reviews for The Inspectors and God’s Not Dead: We the People.
Penny Zeller 