Book Review: Count Down to Love By Julie N Ford

 My Take:

Ohh I can't tell you enough how much I loved Count Down to Love by Julie N Ford. I have read and completely enjoyed other stories by Julie. She knows how to bring sizzle and fun to her stories that keep the pages turning and the laughter going. I really couldn't read it fast enough. I was totally caught up in the plot and characters and didn't want it to end. This was so much fun to lose myself in the events of the story line.

Count Down to Love is a contemporary romance that leaves you wishing for more. Julie N Ford did a brilliant job of plotting and weaving the build up of the climax through out Count Down to Love as you wonder what new surprise is waiting in the wings. She knows how to keep the reader turning pages in anticipation of what is coming.

I loved Kelly Grace's character as she is dumped at her wedding and hopefully waiting for her fiance' to arrive to save the day. She holds out for him and trusts that the unfortunate turn of events are all just a big misunderstanding.

But when it becomes achingly clear that he isn't coming for her, she wonders how she is going to move forward with her home repossessed by the bank, no job and a floundering singing career, her life is a mess.  But her cousin Sissy has the perfect solution to help Kelly forget her woes.

As a producer of a reality dating TV show similar to the  Bachelor called "Count Down to Love" she needs a step in replacement for a contestant fast, and Kelly is the perfect one to step in at a moments notice. After some quick talking, Sissy convinces Kelly it would be like a mini paid vacation that would give her time to get things in her life figured out and it would only be for a few days.  Kelly takes her up on the offer, only she unexpectedly ends up staying a bit longer than anticipated.

Being on the show gives her time to heal her broken heart and hide away while she tries to figure out her next move. But the show brings in  unexpected surprises for Kelly, the biggest of all is her unexpected reaction to the bachelor of the show, New York Millionaire Dillion Black.  And the spark that starts between them or the adventures along the way.

I know you will love Count Down to Love as much as I did! Don't miss out!

Grand Prize Giveaway:
 
As part of the tour, Julie is generously offering a grand prize giveaway of a hard copy of Count Down to Love, a CD of the band Due West, and a copy of the single, “Who I Am”, which Julie and Due West wrote and recorded specifically for the book. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post or any of the other stops on the tour. (Visit the tour page for the full tour schedule.) The more stops you comment on, the more entries you have into the contest!

Book Description:
 
Abandoned at the altar, Kelly Grace Pickens finds herself left holding not only the bouquet but also the exorbitant bill for an A-list wedding. Homeless, a once promising singing career floundering, and her life bearing an uncanny resemblance to one of her country music ballads, she reluctantly accepts a last minute offer to appear on a reality TV show akin to the bachelor. Pitted against silicon-enhanced supermodels in four-inch heels, Kelly feels confident that she will be among the first would-be fiance's to be excused. Only, when the mysterious bachelor from New York City, Dillon Black, invites her to stay, Kelly finds herself thrust into the vortex of a game she doesn’t have the first idea how to play. Nursing her hopelessly broken heart while avoiding the foils of her fellow contestants, Kelly is oblivious to Dillon’s affections as she wades through hurt and betrayal to discover, in the end, that she has landed firmly on both feet.
 
Leaving behind Nashville’s Music Row for the majestic Grand Teton mountains, Count Down To Love takes readers on a journey from duplicity to sincerity as Kelly discovers that being true to oneself is the first step in finding happiness and everlasting love.
 
Author Bio:
 
Julie has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in English Literature from San Diego State University. In addition, she earned a Masters in Social Work from the University of Alabama. She has worked in teaching, childbirth education and family therapy. Besides writing, she spends many hours working along side her husband at their UPS Store franchise, but hopes to re-enter the Social Work field someday.
 
She is the author of three women’s fiction novels, The Woman He Married (March 2011) and No Holly for Christmas (November 2011), published by Whiskey Creek Press. The third, Count Down to Love (July 2011), published by Bonneville Books.
 
Currently, she lives in Nashville, TN with her husband, two daughters and one very feisty fish.

Social Networking:
Website: http://julienford.com/
Blog: http://julienford.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JulieNFord.Author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JulieNFord
Purchase Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Count-Down-Love-Julie-Ford/dp/1599555166/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344575545&sr=8-1&keywords=count+down+to+love
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/count-down-to-love-julie-n-ford/1102044040?ean=978159955516

Book Review : The Key of Kilenya By Andrea Pearson

I am excited to get the chance to review Andrea Pearson's new book THE KEY OF KILENYA. I love her amazing imagination and still wonder how she was able to come up with so many fantastic creatures and detail to scenery and location as she wove her story together. I was in awe at how well she developed them to the smallest detail.

Synopsis:
When two vicious wolves chase fourteen-year-old Jacob Clark down a path from our world into another, his life is forever changed. He has no idea they have been sent by the Lorkon—evil, immortal beings who are jealous of powers he doesn’t know he possesses—powers they desire to control.The inhabitants of the new world desperately need Jacob's help in recovering a magical key that was stolen by the Lorkonand is somehow linked to him. If he helps them, his life will be at risk. But if he chooses not to help them, both our world and theirs will be in danger. The Lorkon will stop at nothing to unleash the power of the key—and Jacob's special abilities.


My take:
This story is about a 14 year old boy named Jacob who has lived his entire life in the shadow of his older brother Matt. Matt is Jacob's hero and in Jacob's mind, Matt is everything he isn't. Popular, courageous, easy going, smart, athletic and the list goes on. It is about how Jacob comes to find out for himself that he is every thing his older brother is and more. As he discovers this, he is able to move himself out of his brother's shadow by being forced to shine in the light on his own as he learns to rely on his own wit, skills and abilities that require him to be all the things Matt is in the face of real dangers.


I love how Jacob learns to have confidence in himself and that as he learns about who he is and what he can accomplish he realizes how much he has to offer and that even though he still admires his brother, he is now more on equal footing with him by the end of the story. I love the self discovery he goes through and the feelings of doubt he overcomes as he meets each new obstacle.


This is a perfect book for all ages! It is entertaining and filled with great mystical beings from another world. Andrea takes great care to paint the picture of this new land with words and the images pop vividly in your mind, as you can see in technicolor the world and creatures she has created. It was fun to see what new things Jacob would run into along the way of finding the Key or new obstacle he would have to figure a way to overcome, and sometimes it was one and the same.


This is a great book to read as a family together, or to spend a few hours alone just immersed in another world. It is clean and fun and full of great perilous adventures that keep you wondering to the end how will certain things turn out, only to find you must wait until the next exciting installment of the series. I love Andrea's amazing imagination and how she created a unique world that was fun to explore with Jacob. I know you will enjoy the fun as well.


Hurry and get your copy of Andrea Pearson's The Key of Kilenya by clicking here. And check out Andrea's website here to learn more about her great series!

Disclaimer: while I sometimes receive copies of books to review, my opinions are and will always be my own.

blogging and writing goal

I must make a confession. One that I think was a long time in coming, and quite frankly one I need to admit to myself. My daughter Danielle has out blogged me! She has laid down the gauntlet and shown me up quite a bit!

Not only is she having the best fun of her life traveling through Europe, but she also started her blog in May and has written in it just about everyday since then all while traveling all over Europe. Sure it is an assignment while she studied abroad this summer,and ya it's required, but really that doesn't matter. She has blogged her heart out! What I have I done while she's been gone? Well, read her blog of course http://aportraitofdanielle.blogspot.com How could I not?? But certainly not blogging myself.

Dani has had some pretty great adventures and have to say she has shown me that I have been making blogging way harder than it needs to be. Maybe it's because so many of my Friends are soo good at it, that I feel like it's tough to keep up at their level, but really now I see it was just an excuse. That if my amazing daughter can show me up in a heartbeat, then maybe I need to get on the ball, and show her that I can keep up. Or at least make an attempt...an honest attempt.

I used to wonder how all my friends managed it, how they were able to blog so much, but now I think I am going to challenge myself to blog like they do! I am going to take the month of July and blog it like I've never blogged before! OK, not everyday, but I will commit to at least three times a week! I will attempt to blog everyday from here out, but since July started um 3 days ago, I sort of missed that particular boat. But blogging I will do from here on out.

I hope to gain a few more followers and I hope to learn something more about myself and what I can accomplish, because I am also going to add a writing goal for my novel here too. I will write at least 15 pages a week. No less and I will come back on Sunday to report my results of blogging and writing.

Hey I have to be accountable to myself somehow, and since I have been a pretty big bump on a log lately, not motivated to do much more than find ways to avoid everything I love to do, I am kicking my own butt. And giving all my friends to kick it along with me!! If you want to add your butt kicking motivation to the comments... please please go for it!! Heaven knows I really Really REALLY need it!

I need to get back to the land of the living instead of wallowing in the land of the forgotten and feeling lost all the time while I wander aimlessly(metaphorically speaking) all over the place getting absolutely nothing accomplished. So here I go, with the first entry! Keep your fingers crossed that I will accomplish what I am setting out to do! I think it will be really cathartic and get me back on track, and moving forward like I need to!!

So here it goes!! Let the fun begin!! The Official Goals for July : 1) blog at least 3 times a week, everyday if possible 2) Increase my followers and maybe break 100 if really lucky! 3) write 15 pages of Into The Crimson Sun every week! 4) Report progress on goals truthfully every Sunday.