Trust Cover and Synopsis

Well, after a slight delay in getting them both ready, I am very excited to present the cover and synopsis of Trust, the third and final book of the Makilien Trilogy!

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   “I just can’t understand this, Elohim. When is any of it going to make sense? I really need You to guide me.”

   Struggling to cope with the losses of battle, Makilien seeks to live each day in trust of Elohim’s plans. As the conflict of hope and reality war in her mind, a sudden arrival changes everything, bringing to light a new scheme wrought by the remnant of Zirtan’s men.

   Finding herself witness to a shocking act of treachery, Makilien is thrust into the very center of the dangerous schemes of the enemy. Trust is something she must give carefully as those who appear trustworthy fail even as those she would least expect could hold the key to success. Can she and those around her secure their safety and freedom or will they find themselves outwitted by their enemy’s final act of dominance?

Trust Cover Costume

With the release of Trust fast approaching (I’m planning on a November release date, if all goes well), it’s time to start sharing things such as the cover, synopsis, book trailer, and all that good stuff. To start it off, I wanted to share a little about the costume that will appear on the cover. This one didn’t have nearly as many pieces as the Courage costume, but it’s a costume I’ve wanted to make for quite some time.

 

First we have the shirt. I’ve wanted to make a dress or shirt this color for a long time. The pattern I used was New Look 6179. It was a wonderfully simple shirt to make. I chose it because the drawstring neckline reminded me of a historical shift, and I thought it worked well for a fantasy outfit. The only modifications I made were to the sleeve length.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we have the overdress. This was another piece I’d wanted to make for a long time. This was quite the project. I used a grand total of 350 metal eyelets! All put in by hand. It took about three days of working hours at a time to attach them all. But I love the result. It turned out just like I hoped. The skirt of the dress has eight separate panels, which I can either lace or leave open, obviously for the easy of riding, combat, and other such activities. For underneath I have a matching pair of khaki pants. Like my Truth dress, I used McCall’s 5499 for the pattern. I again modified it to lace up in the front instead of the back, and I removed the sleeves. It is made out of 100% linen in it’s natural color, which is gorgeous and really adds to the historical feel of the outfit. It smells very natural too. :)

 

 

The primary inspiration for this costume came primarily from this outfit worn by Marian in BBC’s Robin Hood (the first two seasons are fantastic, by the way). I LOVE the aqua shirt and how it goes with the gray.

 

 

 

 

Inspiration for the construction of my overdress came directly from this dress (another Marian outfit). I just loved the idea of all the skirt panels lacing together. It was very out of the ordinary.

So there it is, the Trust costume. Now all that’s left is to release the cover. Are you excited? Fantastic, because I’m setting the official release date of the cover and book synopsis for this Friday, October 5th. Make sure to check back! I can hardly wait to share this new cover.

Favorite Gluten Free Recipes

I’ve been very neglectful of my blog lately. Unfortunately, when I get busy, it’s one of the first things to slip. Just a lot of things going on, not the least of which is learning to live gluten free. (It has made a huge difference in my health and quality of life, by the way.) It’s been a challenge, but also fun at times. My mom and I have been doing so much baking and making things we would otherwise have bought at the store. I don’t know what we’d do if we did not have the internet. There are so many great recipes, so I decided to share a couple of our favorites we’ve discovered in the last few weeks.

Best Blueberry Muffins

Source: artofglutenfreebaking.com via Molly on Pinterest

These muffins are AMAZING, and that is coming from someone who LOVES muffins. I was so sad to think I’d never get to enjoy my favorite muffins again, but these definitely cheered me up. They are probably the best muffins I’ve ever made, GF or not. I didn't take time to make the jam for the top, and I just used frozen blueberries, but they tasted delicious anyway. 




Hamburger Buns

Source: artofglutenfreebaking.com via Molly on Pinterest

This recipe comes from the same lady as the muffins. (She has amazing GF recipes!) I love a good cheeseburger and needed to find some good buns to go with it. A lot of GF bread is dry or too dense, but these buns are wonderfully soft just like they should be.  






Focaccia Bread

Source: glutenfreehomemaker.com via Molly on Pinterest

 These were the first hamburger buns we tried. I thought they were too dense and not soft enough for hamburgers, but for sandwiches they are excellent. They have a wonderful taste and smell divine when you’re mixing up the dough/batter and baking them. A very tasty and simple recipe, especially if you were to add some spices.





These are just a couple of the recipes. There are many more we plan to try. We have a few birthdays coming up so I’ll be looking for good cake and pizza recipes, and I'll be sure to share what I find. :)

Introducing the Ilyon Chronicles!

After much delay and frustration with my complete lack of ambition (thanks Celiac), it gives me great pleasure to finally announce the series title of my “secret” fantasy project!

I’ve been busily preparing for this day for the last couple weeks, only to keep pushing the announcement back further and further due to no creativity and a total lack of ambition when it came to this blog post! But here it is at last. I’ve wanted to come out with the series title for a long time. It’s no fun to always refer to it as my “secret” or “current” fantasy project. But I wanted to get a few things done before that. Like building a website for the series! :)

Ilyon Chronicles is still in the early stages of being written, but I like to share bits of information here and there, and build excitement. That’s part of the reason I’ve set up the website as well as a couple other social media pages where everyone can follow along with my progress. Just follow the links below to discover more!

Website
Facebook Page
Pinterest Inspiration Board

Book Review—Karen Witemeyer’s Books

Over the last couple weeks I have had a delightful time reading through Karen Witemeyer’s four historical romances. As usual with series like this, I read through them so fast that I didn’t have time to sit and write a detailed review after each one, but here a few of my thoughts on each book in the order I read them.

My mom downloaded the Kindle copy of A Tailor-Made Bride when it was free on Amazon a few months ago. It was a book I had seen before and was always interested to read considering my love for 1800s romances. Not to mention the cover is both beautiful and humorous, and very eye catching. I have to say I was slightly disappointed. The book didn’t draw me in like some of my favorite stories. I was tempted to skim the first half, but it did get much better toward the end. I think the problem was that I didn’t love the guy. For me, the guy in a story is important. More times that not, I love the guy much more than the girl. This was the exception. I liked him . . . eventually, but didn’t love him. Still, despite my personal opinions, I was incredibly impressed by Witemeyer’s writing style. Her phrases and descriptions, particularly of emotion, have me a little envious! For this reason, it’s definitely worth the read.

First, I have to say thank goodness I didn’t stop after reading A Tailor-Made Bride!! To Win Her Heart is one of the best, if not my favorite, historical romances I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. This is very cliché of me to say, but I couldn’t put it down. I adored Levi, and I actually quite liked Eden. I enjoyed the progression of their relationship and really felt for Levi in his struggles. And I can’t say enough about the gorgeous cover. This is the book that drew me to Witemeyer’s fiction in the first place. What can I say? I have a thing for blacksmiths in historical fiction. :) Once again, the writing style left me in awe. All the emotions felt so real, and left this hopeless romantic with a dreamy sigh and big grin at the end. ;)

 

I anxiously dove into Short-Straw Bride as soon as it came in at the library shortly after finishing To Win Her Heart, and it did not disappoint. This gave me all the dreamy sighs the last one did, plus a healthy dose of giggles. This book cemented my opinion that Witemeyer not only writes great main characters, but also fabulous supporting characters. I was absolutely delighted by the sibling relationships between Travis and his three brothers.The story was fairly light-hearted compared to a lot of fiction I’ve read, but I liked that. My only complaint was some of Meredith’s actions. Over the years I’ve developed a pet peeve for woman in fiction taking matters into their own hands when the guy is perfectly capable and responsible for taking care of things. It comes up in almost every historical romance, it seems. Maybe it’s starting to feel cliché. Either that or it’s just because I’m not that kind of woman. Whatever the reason, it didn’t detract from my love for this book.

Head in the Clouds started out a bit slow for me, but once I got into it, I very much enjoyed it. This one seemed more serious than the other three, but still fun. What I loved about this one was how different it was from a lot of 1800s romances. Gideon, the main guy, was actually English and the son of a baron, but he moved to America to set up a sheep ranch. Because of this he definitely wasn’t the cowboy rancher I was used to in western novels. I really loved both Gideon and Adelaide, and thoroughly enjoyed the plot.

My conclusion is that Karen Witemeyer is now one of my favorite historical authors. In my opinion, she is one of the most skillful authors I’ve come across, particularly when it comes to emotion (something I would love to learn from). Her characters felt remarkably real, and I’ve found myself thinking about them long after I’ve put her books down. My biggest regret is that I don’t have any more of her books to read! I can hardly wait until she comes out with something new. I highly recommend these four books to fellow lovers of historical Christian romances. (Though, on the flip side, if romances aren’t your cup of tea, these probably aren’t for you. I’m not sure I’d recommend them for teens either.)

To learn more about Karen Witemeyer, visit: http://www.karenwitemeyer.com/

Gluten Stole My Ambition

It’s been a while. My strange post title is part of the reason. About a month ago I discovered that I have celiac disease. I can’t have anything containing gluten. Ever. That’s something that takes a long time to wrap your mind around. You would not believe how many things contain gluten besides bread and baked goods. It hides everywhere! It’s pretty overwhelming when you realize you’ll never be able to have an Oreo cookie again, or buy your favorite birthday cake, or bake anything normally. And I can’t just have a taste here and there. Nope. Even the smallest, invisible trace of gluten will make me sick (I’ve already experienced this). And it’s not just an annoying allergy. Gluten actually damages my small intestines, so it’s basically poison to me. Crazy, huh?

However, once I got past the mindboggling ramifications of going gluten free for the rest of my life, I was glad to know I had celiac. The thing is, I’ve been sick for almost three years. I suddenly got really nauseated one day, and it pretty much never went away. I had good days, but never felt normal. At one point, it got so bad that almost all I ate was crackers (which I now realize were just poisoning my body) and was down to 95 lbs. It was a scary time, and no one could tell me what was wrong! All my blood tests showed I was perfectly healthy. I eventually started eating more again, but the symptoms just wouldn’t go away. Then, last summer, I began struggling with depression. It lasted through the fall, winter, and early this spring. I’d completely lost all creativity and ambition, and even felt like I’d lost the ability to write! Now there’s a depressing thing for a writer. I was tired all the time no matter how much sleep I got. I attributed it to Seasonal Affective Disorder (which I get in the winter), but it didn’t go away with springtime and longer days.

Finally, and I think this was God stepping in after months of desperate prayer, I looked into celiac disease a little over a month ago. After reading through this page of symptoms, I knew that’s what I had. I found symptoms on there I never would have connected to my stomach issues, but it all started to make sense. I’ve been gluten free for four weeks now, and I’m noticing a huge difference. I don’t remember the last time I felt so healthy. My stomach problems have begun to disappear, as well as other symptoms, particularly symptoms I always thought were just bad allergies. And I’m even more sure gluten is bad for me after accidently glutening myself last week. I went from feeling amazing to being tired, depressed, and more stomach problems within a day. I’m finally now starting to feel better again.

So, now I have an answer to all those months of inactivity and lack of ambition. Never want to go through that again. I may mourn the loss of many of my favorite foods, but none of them are worth feeling sick all the time. My ambition is finally coming back. The problem now is how out of practice I am in my writing. It’s been a struggle to really get back into it again, but I’ll keep working. I’m sure it will get easier and easier to get back to normal the longer my body has to heal. It’s been a lot to take in and learn, and I’ve still got a long way to go, but I am so thankful to finally have answers and understand what’s been going on. It’s definitely something God has used to teach me patience and trust.

New Author–Pamela Kay Murphy

I am very pleased to introduce the new Living Sword Publishing author, my mom, Pamela Kay Murphy! After everything she has taught me over the years (I wouldn’t be where I am today with my writing if not for her), it’s been so much fun watching and helping her get to the point of publishing, and it’s especially fun to have her published through my company. Her first book, Wooing Sam Walker’s Widow, a contemporary Christian romance, is available in eBook on Amazon and Smashwords right now. In a few weeks it will also begin to show up on other eBook retailers like Barnes & Noble and iBooks. She just ordered her first proof copy of the book so it shouldn’t be too long before the paperback is also available. To find all the information, you can visit her blog here:

http://pamelakaymurphy.blogspot.com/

You can also find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PamelaKayMurphy

If you like contemporary romance and family relationships, make sure to check it out!