Jenna Brandt's an award-winning, international bestselling author who writes sweet inspiring contemporary and historical fiction with elements of romance, suspense, and faith.
She has been an avid reader since she could hold a book and started writing stories almost as early. Jenna has been published in several newspapers as well as edited for multiple papers and graduated with her BA in English from Bethany College where she was the Editor-in-Chief of her college newspaper. Her first blog was published on Yahoo Parenting and The Grief Toolbox as well as featured on the ABC News and Good Morning America websites.
Writing is her passion but she also enjoys cooking, watching movies, reading, and spending time with her three young daughters and husband who are the inspiration behind lots of her characters. She enjoys living in the Central Valley of California and spending summers on the Central Coast. She's active in her local church where she volunteers on their first impressions team as well as in the crisis care ministry.
He’s an Olympic gold medalist, she’s a wellness coach, and they have to learn to run a fitness island resort together.
Blake “The Blazing Comet” Holliday is an internationally famous gold medalist runner. Known around the world for being a playboy billionaire and sports icon, the last thing he wants to do is settle down and run the fitness island his father has put him in charge of at the family resort. What’s worse, his father has hired a wellness guru who thinks it’s her job to tell him how to incorporate a spa and wellness program into the island’s offerings.
Peyton Belmont is a renowned wellness coach who has spent the last decade building up her brand. In order to take her company to the next level, though, she needs a cash infusion. So, when Gordon Holliday offers to hire her for a hefty sum to help overhaul his fitness island at his family resort, she decides she can give up a couple of months to get the money she needs. What she doesn’t plan on is putting up with Blake Holliday.
Can Peyton and Blake learn to get along? Will they give into the attraction they are fighting to deny? And can they make Comet Island the best fitness destination in all the world without destroying it in the process?
Jenna Brandt would love for you to follow her on Amazon. Just click the follow button. She's an award-winning, international bestselling author who writes sweet inspiring contemporary and historical fiction with elements of romance, suspense and faith. You can find out more about her any time and sign up for her newsletter.
She has been an avid reader since she could hold a book and started writing stories almost as early. Jenna has been published in several newspapers as well as edited for multiple papers and graduated with her BA in English from Bethany College where she was the Editor-in-Chief of her college newspaper. Her first blog was published on Yahoo Parenting and The Grief Toolbox as well as featured on the ABC News and Good Morning America websites.
Writing is her passion but she also enjoys cooking, watching movies, reading, and spending time with her three young daughters and husband who are the inspiration behind lots of her characters. She enjoys living in the Central Valley of California and spending summers on the Central Coast. She's active in her local church where she volunteers on their first impressions team as well as in the crisis care ministry.
She’s a women’s suffrage advocate with her own substantial wealth, he’s a livery worker saving for a future he may never get. What happens when she comes tumbling into his life?
Elizabeth Holt has her own inheritance that she wants to be in charge of, but her aunt and brother think her incapable of running her own life. When she makes one mistake in Boston, her aunt sends her to stay with her brother in Silverpines. When she arrives, she is less than happy about the situation, and she doesn’t want to be stuck in the remote town filled with strangers.
George Caldwell left his home in Rockwood Springs, Texas to chase the woman he thought he loved. After being rejected not only by her, but by a second woman he met in Silverpines, George wonders if he will ever find the right woman to love. When the uppity Elizabeth Holt gets dumped by her horse into his proverbial lap, he knows she can’t be the one, or could she?
Lisa Dawn was brought up in New Jersey, where she fell in love with fairy tales and animated movies. She studied screenwriting at Ramapo College in the hopes that she could one day write the next great animated princess movie. After attending the DAVE School in Florida to learn computer animation, she moved to Los Angeles to work on 3D movies as a rotoscope artist. Today, she lives in North Hollywood with her husband, Derrick, and runs The Princess Blog at www.theprincessblog.org.
Ever since her parents died in the Magic War, Princess Charlotte was determined to become the perfect queen for Klingland. However, when her aunt forces her into an alliance with the greedy kingdom of Dorraine, Charlotte takes a huge risk that she pays for with her crown and title. Now she must find a way to save her home and restore magic to the kingdom as a peasant with no idea what the future has in store for her.
Karen A. Wyle was born a Connecticut Yankee, but moved every few years throughout her childhood and adolescence. After college in California, law school in Massachusetts, and a mercifully short stint in a large San Francisco law firm, she moved to Los Angeles, where she met her now-husband, who hates L.A. They eventually settled in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University. They have two wildly creative daughters, and a sweet but neurotic dog.
Wyle's voice is the product of almost five decades of reading both literary and genre fiction. It is no doubt also influenced, although she hopes not fatally tainted, by her years of law practice. Her personal history has led her to focus on often-intertwined themes of individual identity, liberty, family, communication, unintended consequences, and the persistence of unfinished business.
Joshua Gibbs survived the Civil War, building on his wartime experiences to become a small-town doctor. And if he wakes from nightmares more often than he would like, only his dog Major is there to know it.
Then two newcomers arrive in Cowbird Creek: Clara Brook, a plain-speaking and yet enigmatic farmer’s daughter, and Freida Blum, an elderly Jewish widow from New York. Freida knows just what Joshua needs: a bride. But it shouldn’t be Clara Brook!
Joshua tries everything he can think of to discourage Freida’s efforts, including a wager: if he can find Freida a husband, she’ll stop trying to find him a wife. Will either matchmaker succeed? Or is it Clara, despite her own scars, who can heal the doctor’s troubled heart?
Jonnie is the last princess of the Crystal Bearers, once a powerful people. When she was a baby, the metal army destroyed what was left of them, and now it is hunting her. Her watchmen keep her just out of the metal army’s reach, but she has spent her seventeen years running and hiding. Instead of standing by while her watchmen keep risking their lives for her, she decides to learn how to fight alongside them. On the journey to hone her skills, long-hidden secrets about her people reveal a connection between the Crystal Bearers and the metal army that only fuels Jonnie's will to defeat it. But the more she learns about her own powers, the more she realizes she may be responsible for the metal army – and the destruction of her people.
Jenna Brandt is an award-winning, international bestselling author who writes sweet inspiring contemporary and historical fiction with elements of romance, suspense and faith. You can find out more about her any time at and sign up for her newsletter.
She has been an avid reader since she could hold a book and started writing stories almost as early. Jenna has been published in several newspapers as well as edited for multiple papers and graduated with her BA in English from Bethany College where she was the Editor-in-Chief of her college newspaper. Her first blog was published on Yahoo Parenting and The Grief Toolbox as well as featured on the ABC News and Good Morning America websites.
Writing is her passion but she also enjoys cooking, watching movies, reading, and spending time with her three young daughters and husband who are the inspiration behind lots of her characters. She enjoys living in the Central Valley of California and spending summers on the Central Coast. She's active in her local church where she volunteers on their first impressions team as well as in the crisis care ministry.
A woman with a broken past, a man with a fragile heart, two people who realize they can be the salve for each other's wounds.
After the tragic murder of Cara McGregor's mother and hanging of her father, her only choice is to become a mail-order bride to a widower in the Dakota territory. When she arrives, she's thrust into taking care of three resistant children and a distant man.
James Cassidy doesn't want a new wife, but he needs a mother for his children and helpmate around his farm. Since the jobs go hand-in-hand, he reluctantly takes out a mail-order advertisement to acquire what his family needs.
What neither of them expects is the attraction or the affection that develops between them. Their budding romance is interrupted, however, when Cara is arrested for a crime she didn't commit. Will James find a way to save Cara? Will they decide their marriage is worth fighting for? And will this family find a way to have a happy life together?
Tam May grew up in the United States and earned her B.A. and M.A in English. She worked as an English college instructor and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher before she became a full-time writer. She started writing when she was 14 and writing became her voice. She writes historical and contemporary fiction about characters who must examine their past and the time in which they live to move on to the future.
Her first book, a collection of contemporary short stories titled Gnarled Bones And Other Stories, was nominated for a 2017 Summer Indie Book Award. She is currently working on a Gilded Age family saga, of which the first book, The Specter, is now available for preorder. She is also working on a historical mystery featuring a turn-of-the-century New Woman female sleuth. Both series take place in Northern California.
She lives in Texas but calls San Francisco and the Bay Area home. When she’s not writing, she’s reading classic literature and watching classic films.
To what lengths will one go to exorcise a specter?
One rainy morning in 1892, people gather to mourn the death of San Francisco socialite Penelope Alderdice. Among them is a strange little woman named Bertha Ross, who claims to have known “Grace” in the 1850’s in the small town of Waxwood. But Penelope’s granddaughter, Vivian, has never heard of Grace or Waxwood.
Bertha reveals surprising details about Grace’s life in Waxwood, including a love affair with Evan, an artist and member of Brandywine, Waxwood’s art colony. Vivian’s mother, Larissa, insists Bertha is an imposter who has come not to mourn a woman she knew in her youth but to stir up trouble.
Vivian, however, suspects the key to her grandmother’s life and her own lies in Waxwood. She journeys to Brandywine where she meets Verina Jones, Evan’s niece, and discovers a packet of letters her grandmother wrote forty years ago about her time in Waxwood.
As Vivian confronts the specter that holds the truth to secrets buried in the family consciousness, she examines her grandmother’s life as a mid-19th-century debutante and her own as a Gilded Age belle. Will she find her way out into the world as an autonomous being, or will she be haunted by the specter of her grandmother’s unhappiness all her life?
Tonya lives in a small town in southern Kentucky with her husband and two sons. They spend most of their time outdoors, discovering the beauty of the world. If she isn't reading or writing, you will find her sitting in front of a canvas, painting the landscape around her home.
My daddy warned me to not walk down Cider Avenue after school. I thought the threat on my life was nonsense, just like the other times before... But when arms engulfed me, tugging me into a van, on that very street, I wished I had listened.
My only hope is in the motorcycle club, Night Hawks. I couldn't deny, the son of the club's president had swept me off my feet. I was drawn to the boy with rugged looks and a heart of gold.
As my world collapses into chaos, will he pull me from the clutches of my enemies or will our families be drawn into a war of blood, guns and broken promises?
When my captures threw me in here, I was afraid I would take my last breath in this dirty, smelling place. I expected to hear the hammer click back on a weapon and feel the steal against my temple. Instead, my ties were removed and a door slammed shut behind me, causing me to remove my hood and take in my surroundings. My eyes worked around the small shed. When I saw no way out, I fell to my knees and tears filled my eyes. I wanted to cry but I didn’t. To stop them, I sucked in a ragged breath and scooted back into the corner.
My heartbeat steadied as I thought about Dad. He warned me and I didn’t listen. I had to let my hormones drive me. I had to defy him for a boy. It was my entire fault.
I nestled my cheek against my knee as I closed my eyes. The whistle of a train blew as it sped by. Every few hours another train rolled along the tracks alerting me to where I was. It was the only part of town where a road crossed the train tracks. It was the southern part, the worst part of our county. If it was the first time one laid eyes on it, it would remind someone of a deserted city. Large block buildings and overgrown concrete setting in the middle of fields. Repossessed homes, broken structures and forests were everywhere around me.
Each whistle made the time speed by, my stomach ached. It wasn’t because I hadn’t eaten since lunch. It had to do with the fear that grew in the pit. Right now it was a seed but with each minute a new root took shape. A new sprout formed, taking over my strength. I was afraid what would happen if it grew into my core. I won’t let it.
Standing, I refused to let the fear take hold, to grow into more. I wanted to squash it like a bug, so I paced, making the blood flow through my body and help my limbs not feel as cold.
Turning again, I faced the door. I stared at the wooden planks and broken beams. It was old but whoever had me in here reinforced the broken pieces in case the person inside tried to escape. Premeditated, I thought.
I made my way to the door. I stared at it as if it were a stranger. Slowly I raised my hand, holding it inches from the wood as if a fire roared on the other side and the door was too hot to touch.
I gripped the handle. The cool steal felt as if it burned into my flesh. Ignoring the feeling, I took a breath and pulled. It didn’t move. Placing my other hand against the door frame, for leverage, I tugged harder. Nothing.
Duane Simolke received StoneWall Society Pride in the Arts Awards for his books The Acorn Stories, Degranon, and Holding Me Together. He also wrote New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio and served as editor/co-author of The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer. His writing appeared in nightFire, Mesquite, Caprock Sun, Midwest Poetry Review, International Journal on World Peace, and many other publications. DuaneSimolke.Com includes some of his work, as well as a variety of resources. He lives in Lubbock, Texas.
In an alternate reality, an Iroquois scientist and her twin gay sons battle shapeshifting aliens. Telius wants to marry the man he loves. Argen struggles with the residual effects of a deadly drug addiction. Both twins help their mother face Valchondria’s greatest threats.
Taldra accepted the title of Leader for Valchondria’s one-world government. Maintainer Admiral Nil blames her for a series of tragedies and might be as dangerous as the changelings that want to feed on humanity.
“The most intriguing aspect of the story is controlled by emotion as relatable characters grow and brave it all together, selflessly helping each other.”-Enas Reviews
Native American storytelling inspired this stand-alone sequel to Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure. Degranon and Sons of Taldra are also available together as the eBook Taldra: Science Fiction Adventures.
They held him until the shaking stopped and he grew quiet.
“Come back to us,” Taldra said, stroking his sweating face. “Come back to us.” She helped him into the chair and poured him a cup of water from a nearby pitcher. “I’ll never forgive the Degrans for getting you addicted to their pills. Please, fight the effects. Come back to us.”
“I’m trying,” he whispered, as the ability to speak returned to him. “The confidence pills made me so fragile, so….”
Taldra wiped the drool from his face and held back the tears that might upset him more. He couldn’t help how his seizures made her worry, and she wouldn’t burden him with any guilt over her maternal fears.
Argen coughed and tried to speak again. “So stupid.”
“You’re not stupid,” Telius and Taldra both said, as usual.
Telius added, “And you’re hardly fragile. I know I couldn’t handle those seizures, or having to take those oversized antidote pills.”
“We’ll take care of each other.” Taldra hugged them. “I won’t let the Degrans, or anyone else, hurt my boys or my world again.”
J.D.R. Hawkins is an award-winning author who has written for newspapers, magazines, newsletters, e-zines, and blogs. She is one of only a few female Civil War authors, and uniquely describes the front lines from a Confederate perspective. Her Renegade Series includes A Beautiful Glittering Lie, winner of the John Esten Cooke Fiction Award and the B.R.A.G. Medallion, A Beckoning Hellfire, which is also an award winner, and A Rebel Among Us, recipient of the 2017 John Esten Cooke Fiction Award. These books tell the story of a family from north Alabama who experience immeasurable pain when their lives are dramatically changed by the war. Her nonfiction book, Horses in Gray: Famous Confederate Warhorses, has recently been published. She is currently working on another sequel for the Renegade Series. Ms. Hawkins is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the International Women’s Writing Guild, Pikes Peak Writers, and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She is also an artist and singer/songwriter. Learn more about her at http://jdrhawkins.com.
J.D.R. Hawkins’ Renegade Series describes the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of several families during the Civil War. With colorful settings and vivid descriptions, the series portrays life during a tumultuous time in American history. From the spring of 1861 until the end of the war in 1865, the characters in this family saga come to life, experiencing pain and suffering, as well as joy and jubilation. The Renegade Series is astounding in its imagery, and truly one not to miss.
I've been a writer ever since I can remember, and have written everything from songs to poetry to short stories and novels.
What genres do you write?
Primarily historical fiction, but I have also written children's books and a nonfiction book.
Do you have a daily word or page count goal?
Five hundred words is a basic goal. When I'm writing a book, though, I shoot for a page a day.
If you could be one of your characters for a day, who would it be and why?
I would be Anna. She is strong and strong-willed, and although she has experienced personal loss, she has big goals and dreams.
What is the most difficult thing you've ever researched?
Battle scenes were the toughest. It gave me nightmares! I startled awake one time after I dreamt a bullet whizzed by my head. I drew a lot of description from actual journals and diaries, so the descriptions are real.
What are your goals as an author?
I would like to be an international best seller. I would also like to write three or four more books.
What is the best writing advice you've ever received?
Show don't tell. I fall into this trap frequently, which is easy to do when writing historical fiction. It helps to have a great editor to point these issues out.
How many books do you have on your "to read" list?
I'm really behind on reading some of the best sellers. I'd like to read The Girl on the Train and A Broken Kind of Beautiful.
Do you write in first or third person, past or present tense, and why?
Mostly I write in third person, but one of my books is in first person. They are all in past tense. I thought that would be the most effective way to tell the story.
How do you come up with the titles for your books?
I don't have a problem with coming up with titles. The first book in the Renegade Series, A Beautiful Glittering Lie, was taken from a quote a Confederate soldier wrote in regard to the Civil War, stating that it was "all a glittering lie."
Have you ever gotten an idea for a story from something really bizarre?
I wrote a book about my great aunt and uncle, who ran a hotel in my hometown, Sioux City, during the Depression. Supposedly, there was gangster activity going on there, and money was hidden behind the wallpaper!
What inspired your current work?
Seeing the Gettysburg battlefield was awe inspiring, because I had never seen a Civil War battlefield before. It inspired me to write the first book, which turned into a series.
What was the hardest part about writing your latest book?
It was nonfiction, which I hadn't done before on that large of a scale. There was so much research involved. It was exhausting!
Do you have any advice for other authors?
Write what you love and feel passionate about, and never give up!
Do you have anything specific you'd like to say to your readers?
I decided to write from the Southern perspective because it has nearly become lost to history. Slavery was an issue but it wasn't the cause of the Civil War. I didn't understand that because I grew up in Iowa and wasn't told about the Southern side. So I researched it myself and discovered the truth.
