I’m so pleased to have the very talented author Emerald Barnes on my blog today. She’s got a brand new book (with a gorgeous cover!) titled DELIVERED BY ANGELS. Here’s a little bit about it…
Determined to escape her abusive father and drunken mother, Lexi Johnson turns to the blade to numb her pain, but it isn’t enough to end her misery. She’s convinced that not even God could save her now.
Roxy Taylor is the new girl in town, and Lexi doesn’t trust her, especially when she teams up with DJ Tucker to try and break down the barriers that Lexi has put in place.
Little does Lexi know, there are greater forces battling for her life, and as Lexi begins to open up to both Roxy and DJ, she’ll see that she isn’t alone in this world.
In the heart-pounding sequel to Entertaining Angels, everyone’s favorite angel, Zach Taylor, is back, and he’s there to make sure that Madison and Chase Sanders are on the path that God has chosen for them, a path that could deliver Lexi from the demons who want her soul.
I love everything to do with angels so I asked Emerald what inspired this book and her other angel novels. This is what she had to say…
I remember the first time I saw an angel. I was around ten and lying on my trampoline with my sister. We were cloud-watching, picking out shapes in the clouds, and there she was, sitting on a cloud. She had long black hair, was wearing white, and held a harp. I was so excited, and kind of scared, that I ran inside to tell my mom what I’d seen. When we went back outside, she was gone.
From then on, I searched for angels. I had an obsession with them. As a Christian, I believed in angels. I knew we had guardian angels, and I also knew about the angels in the Bible. But there was something special to me about knowing that angels existed.
I read live accounts of angel experiences in books. I read fiction books about guardian angels, and The Bishop’s Wife was my favorite Christmas movie. Yet, after that time, I still hadn’t seen any more angels. Though, it never left me, and I knew that angels were with me wherever I went. And here recently, I’ve begun to have more experiences with angels.
But when I first began my Entertaining Angels series, I had no clue that I was going to go down the route of an angel novel, and it definitely wasn’t going to be a story about angels helping out humans. But as I wrote the first book, I realized something. I wanted to help others, much like angels do.
I realize that I may never reach millions of people with my stories, but that’s okay. If I can help one person, just by writing about my angels, then it’s totally worth it. I want people to realize that they have angels who will watch over them and protect them. I wanted to give them hope, just like angels do.
There’s something special about knowing angels are surrounding you, protecting you and giving you comfort. Angels are incredible beings.
Just from writing about them, I believe that they care about us, like God does. I know that they protect us from harm, bring us peace and comfort as well. And just from some experiences I’ve had lately, I can tell you that they’re around more than you think!
For the past three years, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about angels. I have some questions, found some answers, and I have come the realization that we all have our own angel experiences, even if we don’t realize it! Have you ever felt the presence of someone in the room with you? Have you ever heard a soft rustling of maybe wings? Seen a bright flash of light you couldn’t explain? I’ve even seen a man in bright white walking in my front yard, but when I searched again, he was gone. I know it was an angel. I have no doubts about it! I’ve experienced all of those things before, and it’s been a wonderful experience.
I love knowing that God has sent His angels to protect me and my family. And guess what? He has done the same for you. If you’ve had an angel experience before, I’d love to hear about it!
Emerald Barnes graduated with a B.A. in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing at Mississippi University for Women. She resides in a small town in Mississippi and has the accent to prove it. She’s an auntie, a Whovian, a little bit of a nerd, a reader, a writer, and a family-oriented person. God is number one in her life, and she thanks Him continuously for His love and favor.
Connect with Emerald online:
Facebook: Author Emerald Barnes
Twitter: @emeraldbarnes
Pinterest: Emerald Barnes
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/emerald_barnes
http://ebarnes23.wordpress.com/
Add Entertaining Angels, Before We Say I Do, and Delivered by Angels to Goodreads.
Email: emerald_barnes@yahoo.com
Purchase Delivered by Angels on Amazon today, available through Kindle Unlimited as well!
Author Anneli Purchase has an exciting announcement. Her novel The Wind Weeps is being offered for FREE! Here’s what she has to say:
If you have not read The Wind Weeps, grab your free digital copy now on amazon or on smashwords. Follow it up with the conclusion to Andrea’s story in Reckoning Tide. Here is a sample of the beginning of Reckoning Tide:
You’re mine!
To have,
To hold,
No matter how hard.
You’re mine!
Give me honour,
Obey,
And do as you’re told.
You’re mine!
In sickness,
My sickness,
Comes hell.
You’re mine!
This day forward,
’Til death,
Do us part.
Chapter 1
“Nurse!” I screamed. “Nurse, come back!” Robert’s smile vanished. He advanced and tossed the three orchids onto the foot of my bed.
I twisted around grasping for the cord with the call button. “Get away from me!” I hit the button frantically.
Robert lunged at me. “No, Andrea. Don’t!” He ripped the cord away from me. I pulled my fist back to punch him, but he was quick and caught my wrist in an iron grip. His eyes narrowed into slits.
“Nurse!” I yelled again. He clamped a hand over my mouth. Flashbacks of what that hard hand had done to me went through my mind. I bit down on his fingers, my terror lending me extra strength.
“Arrrgh! You bitch!” Robert’s eyes grew wide. He stared at me with a glassy look that I remembered too well. He drew his arm across his chest to backhand me, but dropped it when the nurse appeared.
“What’s going on here?” the nurse demanded. Margaret was a hefty woman. She filled most of the doorway as she stood with her hands on her hips. “Sir! Come away from the bed.”
“She bit me!” he said, unable to keep the whine out of his voice. “I brought her flowers—orchids, her favourite kind—and she bit me!”
I gasped at his outrageous boldfaced ploy, twisting the truth. “He tried to kill me. Don’t let him near me. He’s the one I told you about.”
“Now, Andrea.” Robert’s voice, silky smooth, sent ripples of terror up my spine. “You know that’s not true.” He turned to the nurse and slowly shook his head. “I’m her husband. You see, she’s had quite a shock. We had an argument and she set fire to our cabin and ran away when she thought I had died in the fire. I guess she’s surprised to see that I’m still alive.”
The nerve of him! I tried to get out of bed. “No! No-no-no!” I had to get the nurse to believe me. “He’s twisting it all around. He tried to kill me.”
The nurse was quick to put her hand out. “Stay in bed, Andrea.” She looked flustered and tried to calm us both. But no wonder she was confused. The whole situation was so bizarre. She looked from Robert to me and back to Robert again.
Would she side with Robert?
“Sir,” she said, “would you mind going to the waiting room down the hall? I’m sure the RCMP would like to speak with you, too. They’ll be here soon to interview Andrea.”
Robert raised his chin and gave me a smirk. “That was fast,” he said. “We’ll soon get to the bottom of the situation then.”
The nurse escorted him out the door. “We called them this morning when she woke up,” I heard her say as they walked down the hall.
The nurse had explained to me earlier that the police have to make a report in cases where there has been violence, especially since a gun was found in my fanny pack. The gun I pointed at him last week. Should have pulled the damn trigger.
*****
You will find paperback and digital versions of Reckoning Tide on amazon outlets and on smashwords.com (for e-readers other than Kindle). Just click on the links:
For more about Anneli Purchase and her books, visit her at http://anneli-purchase.com/
I’m so happy to welcome my friend A.R. Silverberry to my blog today! He just released a new book called THE STREAM and it sounds like such an intriguing and enlightening read. I’ve asked him to share the inspiration behind his very imaginative tale…
The Miracle of Now by A.R. Silverberry
Many years ago, when I was in college, I took a class called Eastern Religions and Philosophy. I’ve forgotten most what was taught, except I remember being fascinated as we discussed Buddhism. The professor, a thirty-something, hippie type, said that when Buddhist practitioners meditated, they, “Just sat.” At the time, I really didn’t understand the significance of that. Were they waiting for something to happen? How did this lead to enlightenment? Years later, I got it. There are so many ways to dodge reality. There are the obvious ways, like drugs and alcohol. And there are the subtle ways, like thinking about something else while someone is talking.
The other day, my wife and I dined in our favorite restaurant. At one of the tables sat a family of four. The boy was glued to his iPad. Okay, I get that. All kids are glued to them nowadays. What was striking was the rest of the family. The sister, mom, and dad were focused on their phones. No one talked to each other, let alone acknowledged the presence of the rest of the family. Family day—that special time to share, exchange, bond, and give love—was absent in this family. They were as disconnected as an unplugged phone line.
When we over focus on the past or the future, we miss the miracle of what’s unfolding right before our eyes. The risk is that we go through our lives running from phantoms that don’t exist, or we chase dream after dream, feeling empty and unsatisfied when we arrive at our destination.
For the past twenty-five years, psychologists have turned to the practice of mindfulness, studying the benefits on health, stress reduction, creativity, pain management, better coping, memory, relationship satisfaction, attention, and concentration, to name a few.
But there may be a more compelling reason to practice awareness of what’s unfolding in the here and now. True happiness, happiness that can fill us with a lifetime of joys, is found in each moment of existence. Try this. The next time you’re feeling stressed, turn off your phone, turn off your radio, open your eyes to the wind, the sky, the trees, the air flowing into your lungs. Listen to the song of the birds, of children playing in a park. Open your heart to the miracle of each moment.
Here’s a challenge. But first, a little background. My novel, The Stream, was born during a conversation I was having about how to best cope with the curve balls, even the tragedies life throws at us. Drawing on my background as a psychologist, I suggested that embracing the here and now and developing a sense of gratitude were two powerful responses. The metaphor of a stream came into my mind. In a few hours, the character of Wend, a small boy, alone, defense, trying to understand the ways of the world, popped into my mind. I saw images of him confronting the trials we all face: love, loss, pain, losing your way. In a way, we are all that boy, orphans floating on the flux of life, trying to comprehend the enormity of existence.
Such a boy needed a world that encompassed the enormity of life. What follows is a description of his world. Though it didn’t make it into the novel, it could have. As I leave you, here’s the challenge. How would you cope in such a world? Who would you turn to? What would be important to you? What would you hang on to for a sense of stability and continuity? What would give your life meaning? Feel free to post your responses in the comments section.
If Wend had stopped to think about it, he would have realized that his family, searching for fruit, nuts, and roots, never ventured far from either shore, that travelers never sailed upstream to tell tales of what lay ahead. Except for tacking and voyages of a few miles, his family never ventured upstream either. When he’d asked his father why, he was told, “It’s a law.” Wend must have looked blank because his father told him to jump as high as he could. Wend jumped, and after his feet landed on the ground, his father said, “Now jump as high as the top of the mast.” Wend had laughed, but declared that no one could do that.
“Why not?” his father asked.
“We come down first,” Wend replied.
“It’s a law,” said his father. “And it’s a law that we go that way.”
His father pointed downstream.
If Wend had thought of these things, he would have understood that everyone was tethered to the stream and could only go in one direction. People stopped from time to time, working at abandoned foundries to smelt metal for anchors, chains, and knives, cutting trees to build or repair boats, living in villages, taking over deserted houses like creatures that move into another animal’s shell. They never stayed long, always returning to their boats, always going with the current, always traveling downstream.
Here’s more about The Stream:
What if your world was six miles wide and endlessly long?
After a devastating storm kills his parents, five-year-old Wend awakens to the strange world of the Stream. He discovers he can only travel downstream, and dangers lurk at every turn: deadly rapids, ruthless pirates, a mysterious pavilion that lures him into intoxicating fantasies, and rumor of a giant waterfall at the edge of the world. Defenseless, alone, with only courage and his will to survive, Wend begins his quest to become a man. Will tragic loss trap him in a shadow world, or will he enter the Stream, with all its passion and peril?
Part coming-of-age tale, part adventure, part spiritual journey, The Stream is a fable about life, impermanence, and the gifts found in each moment.
Purchase The Stream:
EBook:
Softback:
Follow A. R. Silverberry:
About A. R. Silverberry:
A. R. Silverberry writes fiction for adults and children. His novel, WYNDANO’S CLOAK, won multiple awards, including the Benjamin Franklin Awards gold medal for Juvenile/Young Adult Fiction. Silverberry, the pen name for psychologist Peter Adler, continues to balance his clinical practice with writing. THE STREAM is his second novel.
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