Showing posts with label Religious. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religious. Show all posts

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Lone Star Book Blog Tours 2017 Bloggers' Choice Awards ~ ~ ~ ~ Best Literary Fiction & Best Religious / Inspirational / Spiritual

The Lone Star Book Blog Tours team has voted, and the results are in!  From Best Fiction to Most Engaged Author, we have seventeen awards to hand out to the awesome Texas books and authors featured on Lone Star Book Blog Tours in 2017.

From February 15-23, 2018, please join us as we hop around the LSBBT blogs and share the winners, runners-up, and shortlisted titles. Don’t miss it!

🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴


MY TWO CENTS: Oh, these books! Beautiful inside and out. I can personally attest to this for two of them (click titles for reviews). This isn't the first Awards appearance for The Grave Tender, for which I cannot sing high enough praises. Lyrical and lingering; deep and disturbing. And there's Nowhere Near, with all those completely unique stories and characters...characters that have stayed with me nearly a year after I met them...characters who haunt me and amuse me and fascinate me. I didn't read Loving Luther, but I hosted a guest review on my blog, and it made me want to read the book even more. I know our LSBBT bloggers know their stuff, so I WILL be reading these other titles, too.  

Click to learn more about:
The Grave Tender by Eliza Maxwell
Loving Luther by Allison Pittman
A Good Girl by Johnnie Bernhard
Nowhere Near by Teddy Jones
Before the Rain Falls by Camille DiMaio
Lady Jayne Disappears by Joanna Davidson Politano


🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴

MY TWO CENTS: Interesting that there is some overlap in these titles from the Best Literary Fiction Awards.  I again am seeing that I have some holes in my reading categories as the only book I read of these titles was Almost a Minyan, which is making its third award appearance with this one. FABULOUSLY inspiring and utterly unique. I know several of these authors have new books coming or just published, so I need to get on the stick with these. 

Click to learn more about:
Loving Luther by Allison Pittman
Before the Rain Falls by Camille DiMaio
These Healing Hills by Ann Gabhart
The Day the Angels Fell by Shawn Smucker
Almost a Minyan by Lori Kline and Susan Simon
A Moonbow Night by Laura Frantz
A Stolen Heart by Amanda Cabot



CLICK BELOW TO SEE ALL OF THE AWARDS

Thank you for following along! If you are a Texas author or have a Texas book you'd like to take on tour with Lone Star Book Blog Tours, just fill out the contact form (bottom of the blog page) and I'll hook you up!  Want to be a part of the LSBBT blogger team? Click the "Texas Blogger" tab on this blog and then fill out the contact form if you think you are a good fit for the group! 

We love our Texas books, Texas authors, and Texas bloggers!



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Loving Luther ~ Blog Tour, Guest Review, & Giveaway!


LOVING LUTHER
by
ALLISON PITTMAN

  Genre: Christian Historical Romance 
Publisher: Tyndale House
Date of Publication: September 1, 2017
Number of Pages: 432

Scroll down for giveaway!

Germany, 1505
In the dark of night, Katharina von Bora says the bravest good-bye a six-year-old can muster and walks away as the heavy convent gate closes behind her.

Though the cold walls offer no comfort, Katharina soon finds herself calling the convent her home. God, her father. This, her life. She takes her vows--a choice more practical than pious--but in time, a seed of discontent is planted by the smuggled writings of a rebellious excommunicated priest named Martin Luther. Their message? That Katharina is subject to God, and no one else. Could the Lord truly desire more for her than this life of servitude?

In her first true step of faith, Katharina leaves the only life she has ever known. But the freedom she has craved comes with a price, and she finds she has traded one life of isolation for another. Without the security of the convent walls or a family of her own, Katharina must trust in both the God who saved her and the man who paved a way for rescue. Luther's friends are quick to offer shelter, but Katharina longs for all Luther has promised: a home, a husband, perhaps even the chance to fall in love. 


══════════║║║══════════

 Praise for Loving Luther:

[Pittman] pens an exquisite tale, capturing the emotions of a nun grappling with the faith she’s always known vs. a new and unfamiliar freedom in faith.  Simmering with tension of Katharina’s discontent and longings, the novel unveils a slow morphing that follows Katharina’s own personal transformation, from reverence to spirited determination in choosing her own way in the world. -- Booklist

Loving Luther is a moving and rich historical romance based on Luther’s relationship with his wife Katharina.  In addition, it shows how their marriage was actually significant to the Lutheran faith.  Instead of dwelling on the couple’s courtship, the story goes deep into the roots of the Reformation.  Luther and Katharina interrogate their faith, living out their convictions in a way that is both inspiring and profoundly human.  Loving Luther has depth, and it is unexpectedly touching.  Katharina and Luther, in search of a happy ending, find one another.  Their love, Pittman shows, really did change the world. -- Foreword Magazine


A historical novel with characters who are brave, strong and willing to take chances in times of persecution.  The plot is partially based on the teachings of Martin Luther and the many lives he changed, some for the better, some for the worse.  Pittman is a talented author who touches on topics that have been debated over the decades and are still being talked about today. -- Romantic Times Reviews
CLICK TO PURCHASE

Guest Review
by Nicole Counts of
Blogging for the Love of Authors and Their Books

Upon reading the synopsis of Loving Luther, I found my interest piqued. I am a Lutheran and my birth mom is a Luther, and we’re descendants of Martin Luther on his brother’s side. Knowing Luther’s background, I wanted to read about Katharina, who is the main character of Allison Pittman’s book, Loving Luther.

Loving Luther is a story of a woman who is devout and fully committed to the Lord. It is a beautiful story. The story is as real as it gets for living life and the struggles we all face. After reading the book, I understand Katharina a little better and understand the reason she and Martin Luther were good together.

This story flowed easily and was well written. I looked forward to turning the next page because there is so much history in this story. This period was a time of radical religious change, and the fact that Katharina was part of the separation of the Catholic church was fascinating.  It was fun to see these characters grow, and readers will easily fall in love with them.

I give Loving Luther five stars. I will recommend this book to others and immediately to my mother and sister-in-law, who are also Lutherans.  A big thank you to Tyndale and Lone Star Book Blog Tours for giving me a complimentary copy of the book and allowing me to read this beautiful story.

Allison Pittman is the author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed novels and a three-time Christy finalist—twice for her Sister Wife series and once for All for a Story from her take on the Roaring Twenties. She lives near San Antonio, Texas, blissfully sharing an empty nest with her husband, Mike.
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK   TWITTER
INSTAGRAM







-----------------------------------------
GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY!
TEN SIGNED COPIES OF LOVING LUTHER
October 2-October 11, 2017
(U.S. Only)



CHECK OUT THE OTHER GREAT BLOGS ON THE TOUR:
10/2
Author Video #1
Texan Girl Reads
10/2
Excerpt, Part 1
Chapter Break Book Blog
10/3
Review
Hall Ways Blog
10/3
Author Interview
StoreyBook Reviews
10/4
Author Video #2
A Page Before Bedtime
10/5
Review
Syd Savvy
10/6
Guest Post
The Page Unbound
10/6
Scrapbook Page
Books in the Garden
10/7
Review
Books and Broomsticks
10/8
Author Video #3
Missus Gonzo
10/8
Excerpt, Part 2
Forgotten Winds
10/9
Review
Reading by Moonlight
10/9
Review
Margie's Must Reads
10/10
Author Video #4
Tangled in Text
10/11
Review
The Librarian Talks

   blog tour services provided by
  




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)