The Oak Leaves
Maureen Lang

One writer’s take on the “book of her heart.”

Maureen Lang thought she’d write about her experience with Fragile X Syndrome (a genetic form of mental retardation) “someday.” After all, having a child who requires round-the-clock care doesn’t make for the upbeat, escapist reading most romance novelists prefer to write about. Still, Lang wanted to include Fragile X in a story because so few people have heard of the disorder that affects her 12-year-old son. So she put the tale in the middle of a love story.

The Victorian romance of Cosima Escott is interspersed between the pages of a glimpse into the contemporary life of Talie Ingram as her world is forever altered by her son’s diagnosis of Fragile X Syndrome.

From the back cover:

Talie Ingram has an ideal life: a successful, devoted husband; a beautiful one-year-old son; and another on the way. But her world is shattered when she discovers a shocking family secret in the nineteenth-century journal belonging to her ancestor Cosima Escott. Only in reading Cosima’s words can Talie make peace with the legacy she’s inherited and the one she’s passed on to her son.

Media Reviews:

From the very beginning, Lang, a romance novelist and author of Pieces of Silver, deftly navigates back and forth in history… It’s Cosima's lingering voice—her determination and faith—that inspires Talie to reconcile her son's diagnosis of fragile X syndrome (a disability Lang's own son suffers from) with her belief that God is merciful.
Publisher’s Weekly

A tender account of unconditional love and the deeper joy that results from overcoming the odds, Lang's latest is recommended for all collections and is an essential read for those with fragile X syndrome in their families.
Library Review

“…A lush and moving tapestry of love, fear and faith…spellbinding… Flawlessly plotted, filled with flesh-and-blood characters and a radiant faith…Very highly recommended.”
Christian Book Previews

Available at a store near you or order The Oak Leaves by Maureen Lang from Amazon HERE

What do you do when you're overwhelmed? Seriously, I want to know. Please click on "Comment" below and tell me. I welcome any and all suggestions. I've always had a sort of overload switch that just shuts me down when I get. . .well, overloaded. It's a very self-defeating mechanism and if I knew where it was, I'd remove it. But it's buried pretty deep inside me.

If my house gets too messy, I can't make myself clean it. If I get too financially behind, I want to quit trying. If I'm running behind on a deadline, I can't seem to find the words to finish the story. I hate this about myself. I've tried to fight against it by praying, by breaking the job down into bite-size chunks. But so far, nothing seems to work.

So I thought I'd open the floor up to suggestions. What do you do to get over the feeling of being buried alive by an undone job?

Angela Hunt is thrilled to announce the release of her latest contemporary novel, THE ELEVATOR (Steeple Hill). Furthermore, she has just signed paperwork that sets it well on its way to becoming a Lifetime TV movie!

Get caught in The Elevator!
THREE WOMEN . . . ONE MAN . . . A GATHERING STORM
In the path of a devastating hurricane, three very different women find themselves trapped in the elevator of a high-rise office building. All three conceal shattering secrets —unaware that their secrets center on the same man.
The betrayed wife, eager to confront her faithless husband, with rage in her heart and a gun in her pocket . . .
The determined mistress, finally ready to tell her lover she wants marriage and a family . . .
The fugitive cleaning woman, tormented by the darkest secret of all . . .
As the storm rages ever closer, these three must unite to fight for their lives in the greatest test of courage — and faith —any woman could ever face.
Reviews of The Elevator:
“Prolific novelist Hunt knows how to hold a reader’s interest, and her latest yarn is no exception . . . Readers may decide to take the stairs after finishing this thriller.” --Publishers Weekly
"...a brilliantly plotted novel...the hurricane approaching the Florida coast is no match for the storm brewing inside the claustrophobic confines of a high-rise elevator. ...Be prepared to lose some sleep until you reach the last page!" Liz Curtis Higgs, best-selling author of Thorn in My Heart
"Hunt traps three women in an elevator during a hurricane, dangling them, and the reader, from a tangled web of interconnected deceit, failure, crime and fear. ...The Elevator...creates the perfect set-up to keep you turning pages long after the rest of the house has fallen asleep. ...Loved it." Lisa Samson, award-winning author of The Church Ladies, Songbird and Straight Up.

Where’d the idea come from? Easy—the cover of Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down. I had picked up that book for my book club to read, and I found myself staring at the cover, which featured the shoes of four different people against a background of sky. Then I naturally began to think about people trapped in a crucible . . . like an elevator. And though that’d be tense, what would make the situation worse? Maybe the arrival of a hurricane? Next thing I knew, I pretty much had the plot synopsis in my head. All that remained was working it out . . . and finding a way to keep a reader’s attention (a bit of a challenge when most of the book is set in an elevator!)

And now I’d like to offer you fifteen fun things to do the next time you’re caught in an elevator!

1. Grin at another passenger for a while, then announce, “I’m wearing new socks!”
2. Make race car noises when anyone gets on or off.
3. Whistle the first seven notes of “It’s a Small World” over and over and over. . .
4. Open your purse, peer inside, and ask, “Got enough air in there?”
5. Stand silent and motionless against the back, facing the wall, until everyone else gets off.
6. Greet everyone getting on with a warm handshake and ask them to call you Queen of the Universe.
7. Meow.
8. Start a sing-along. “Kum by yah” works well.
9. Say “DING!” at each floor.
10. Listen to the elevator walls with a stethoscope.
11. Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and then go back for more.
12. Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the passengers (you’ll know all about these after reading THE ELEVATOR!).
13. Take pictures of everyone aboard with your cell phone—even if it doesn’t have a camera.
14. When there’s only one other person aboard, tap them on the shoulder and pretend it wasn’t you.
15. Hold a copy of THE ELEVATOR, read it, and keep moaning, “Why didn’t I take the escalator?”

The Elevator is appearing now in bookstores around the country. For more information, visit www.angelahuntbooks.com. Or buy it now on Amazon.

My husband filled in for our out-of-town preacher last week and not surprisingly--since he loves to run--his sermon was titled Running the Race. He did a beautiful job of blending scriptures with his own real life experiences. In the meantime, he's been training to move beyond his normal 5k runs in order to participate in a local event this past Saturday - the K8-8k. Slated to take place at Craighead Forest Park in Jonesboro, Arkansas and sponsered by our local ABC station, KAIT Channel 8, it promised to be a great race.

We'll never know.

Even though I'm on a killer deadline, we loaded up Friday night and drove to Jonesboro to spend the night at his mom's (3 1/2 miles from the park) so Kevin could be there bright and early Saturday morning for the race that was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. I took my laptop and worked late, but he got up at 6:00 and got ready. Since he'd already pre-registered, he went ahead and did his pre-run warmup mile near his mom's house so that he didn't have to fight the crowd at the park. Then he made the short drive over. When he arrived at the park gate at 7:32, there were trucks parked sideways across each gate entrance and guards were turning people away. "No entrance to the park after 7:30 a.m. NO Exceptions!"

Kevin came back to the house, disappointed and upset. We didn't have internet access so all the way home (1 1/2 hours) we wondered if that information had been on the website and we'd missed it. But no. When we got home, we searched the site and it is nowhere. Race starting at 8 a.m. is the only info listed.

By noon, Kevin had gotten over his disappointment for the most part, accepting that things happen and that it probably worked out for the best that he didn't run the race. He's already looking forward to the next event. But I've been thinking about it a lot since then, especially in light of his sermon last week. It's no fun when you're doing what you're supposed to be and someone changes the rules without telling you. That's a good thing about running the race God has set before us. We have the Bible to go by and if it's not in there, we won't be held accountable for it. We may get confused, we may wander off course, but God doesn't switch things on us at the last minute.

So get on your mark, get set, GO!

Robin Lee Hatcher
RETURN TO ME
Zondervan, June 2007

Discouraged and destitute, her dreams shattered, Roxy Burke is going home. But what lies beyond the front door? Rejection ... or a brighter future?

A lot has changed since Roxy escaped small town life to become a Nashville star. Her former boyfriend Wyatt has found Christ and plans to become a minister. Her sister Elena, who comforted Wyatt when Roxy ran away, is now his fiancee. Her father Jonathan, a successful businessman, is heartbroken over the estrangement of Roxy from the family.

Now Roxy—her inheritance from her grandmother squandered, her hopes of stardom dashed—finds her way home ... not by choice but because it's her only option. Her father's love and forgiveness surprise her, but her very presence throws the contented Burke family into turmoil, filling Roxy with guilt and shame.

Elena is shocked to discover doubt and resentment in her heart after her father's easy acceptance of Roxy into the family circle. Wyatt wrestles with doubts about marrying Elena. And Roxy struggles to accept forgiveness. Isn't she more deserving of rejection? As the story of the prodigal plays out, each member of the Burke family must search for and accept God's grace.

ORDER NOW



Robin Lee Hatcher discovered her vocation as a novelist after many years of reading everything she could put her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and ketchup bottles. However, she's certain there are better plots and fewer calories in her books than in puffed rice and hamburgers.

The winner of the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction, two RITA Awards for Best Inspirational Romance, and the RWA Lifetime Achievement Award, Robin is the author of over 50 novels, including Catching Katie, named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Library Journal.

Robin enjoys being with her family, spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies. She is passionate about the theater, and several nights every summer, she can be found at the outdoor amphitheater of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, enjoying Shakespeare under the stars. She makes her home in Idaho, which she shares with Poppet the Papillon.



One quick question for Robin -
SO, DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE A WRITER?

No, I didn't, although I loved books and stories even before I could read. In fact, I went to my first day of first grade with only one goal in mind — learn to read. When they didn't teach me how that very first day, I told my mom there was no point in going back. Fortunately, my mom knew who was boss, and I did go back to school.

When I was young, what I wanted to be most in all the world was a movie star. My closest friends all nod their heads, I'm sure, when I say this, knowing my theatrical nature. I took ballet for seven years, and I was in various theater productions, both in school and as a young adult.

My storytelling career began in grade school when I told my fifth grade friends that my mother was born in a covered wagon while coming west on the Oregon Trail. It seemed plausible. My mother was, after all, 47 years old at the time. My word! Had they even invented the wheel when she was born? [Sorry, Mom.]

Fast forward to high school. I was a compulsive writer, scribbling stories and poetry in notebooks and on binders. This wasn't work. This was fun! Writing could transport me to any place, any time. How cool. I also was a lover of horses and spent many years riding and competing and raising them.

Marriage and family filled the next decade. I read voraciously. I daydreamed. In my mind, I reworked the endings of both movies and books any time they didn't suit me. I performed with a Christian theater troupe. We raised a few horses. Then I got an idea for a story, a Gone With The Wind type saga. I talked about it with others for about six months. Finally, I sat down and began to write. I wrote long hand on yellow legal pads and typed the pages on the office Selectric typewriter during lunch hours and coffee breaks. Nine months later, I had a book, and two years after that, it was published.

The rest, as they say, is history. These days, the nest is empty. My daughters are grown with families of their own, and I am the ridiculously young grandmother of six. My mother (past her 93rd birthday — who was not born in a covered wagon) lives with me, as does Poppet the high-maintenance Papillon.

Christine here - Robin, thanks so much for sharing with us!! I can't wait to read RETURN TO ME.

Softball camp starts tomorrow. The girls are in different age groups this year, so I'm looking forward to a whole week of driving the youngest there at 8:30 - picking her up at 11:30, then taking the oldest at 12:30 and picking her up at 3:30. I can hardly wait to spend all that $3 a gallon gas. (Not to mention my time, when I have not one, but TWO books due July 15th.)

So why do it?
It's simple really.
My daughters love softball.
And I love my daughters.
So it doesn't matter how much time or gas it takes, they're seeking to improve at something they care about. And I'm going to help them as much as I possibly can. Love is a great motivator, isn't it?

OH, speaking of love. . .I love my nieces and nephews. I had my kids last, so most of my sister's and sister-in-law's kids are grown, but they'll always have a special place in my heart. And I mean that in a real way, not a cliche hallmark card way. Anyway, I said all that to say I'm SO proud of my niece, Annalisa Daughety. She decided a few years ago that she wanted to get serious about writing and she has. She finaled in the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis contest for unpublished writers. YAY! Congratulations, Annalisa!! You can check out her new website (and from there, go to her really cool blog, Princess of Patience) HERE. Or type in www.annalisadaughety.com.

Drop by and give her some encouragement! Then learn to spell her name. I think you'll be seeing it a lot before too long!

Remembered is Book 3 in the Fountain Creek Chronicles. Though loss is often marked in a single moment, letting go of someone you love can take a lifetime...

The threat of war and a final request send Veronique Girard from France to a distant and uninviting country. In the Colorado Territory, she searches for the man who has held her heart since childhood, her father.

Pierre Girard left Paris for the Americas to seek his fortune in fur trading, vowing to send for his wife and daughter. But twenty-five years have passed and his vow remains unfulfilled. Sifting through shards of broken promises, Veronique embarks on a dangerous search for a man she scarcely remembers. His grief finally healed, Jack Brennan is moving on with life.

After years of guiding families west, he is now working as a freighter to the mining towns surrounding Willow Springs. What he doesn't count on is an unexpected traveling companion on his trips up into the mountains, and how one woman's search will cause havoc with his plans... and his life.

TAMERA ALEXANDER is the bestselling author of Rekindled, Revealed, and Remembered, the three-part Fountain Creek Chronicles historical series with Bethany House Publishers. Rekindled, a CBA bestseller, has won critical acclaim and was chosen as one of Library Journal's Top 5 Picks for Christian Fiction 2006.

Rekindled and Revealed triple-finaled in the 2007 RITA Awards sponsored by Romance Writers of America-Rekindled and Revealed for Best Inspirational Novel, and Rekindled for Best First Novel. Tamera frequently speaks to women's groups, sings on the praise team, enjoys mentoring other writers, and also served as the conference coordinator for the 2004 American Christian Romance Writers National Conference in Denver, Colorado.

She and her husband, Joe Alexander, make their home in Colorado with their two college-age children, and a seven-pound Silky named Jack.

Tamera is currently working on her fourth novel, part of another three-book historical series with Bethany House which is set in the Colorado Territory.

Visit Tamera's website at www.tameraalexander.com And her blog at www.tameraalexander.blogspot.com