To the Last…

by Carole Brown

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life is the brevity of it–and many other things. We know of a surety that all things must come to an end at some time.

I Peter 1:24 says: For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falleth away.

When Tamera asked me to join her Word Sharpeners site, we agreed that it was a temporary situation. She needed help for a period of time, and I was agreeable with that situation. Now, she’s entering into an exciting new adventure with her Facebook Book Parties, and I’m excited for her! But…

That means I’m moving on. I have new plans for my blog site this year: Sunnybank Secrets  ( Sunnybank Secrets ) and am excited to follow God’s leading for my life. Please be sure to follow my blog and/or any of my sites where you can find my books, offers and discounts, my thoughts on life, God and other tidbits of my life and adventures. My up-and-coming newsletter signup can be found on my blog site too. 

I’d love to connect with any of you at one or more of these places:

Personal blog: http://sunnebnkwrtr.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaroleBrown.author

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Carole-Brown/e/B00EZV4RFY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1427898838&sr=8-1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/browncarole212

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sunnywrtr/boards/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5237997-carole-brown

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=67381031

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/113068871986311965415/posts

Stitches in Time: http://stitchesthrutime.blogspot.com/

Thank you to those who’ve read and commented on my posts. It’s appreciated more than mere words can convey, but that’s all I have to show it. May you be blest in your own endeavors.

I’ve loved this adventure in sharing Tamera’s blog and have nothing but affection for her and wishes for her continued success! Do keep in touch with her FB parties (I’ll be participating certain months). 

Following God’s leading is always so interesting and wonder-filled. Where will I be headed next? What is God thinking in my current situation? How can I fulfill his new plans for me? How does He want me to glorify him here? Sad times? Of course. That’s a part of life. But so many beautiful, energizing times too. 

Forward! Onward! Our cry for the here and now! 

What Would You Do…?

by Carole Brown

…if someone wanted to kill your baby? 

• Mary and Joseph fled.
• In the Redemption of Caralynne Hayman, Cara is mad with grief and anger at the death of her oldest daughter. A tough read? Yes, but well worth seeing what happens to this sorrowing mother.

 

…if you had to give up your business in a hurry? Or face destruction?

• Joseph did. He and Mary had to flee to Egypt to escape the wrath of the King and begin again in his carpentry business.
• In Sabotaged Christmas, Toni DeLuca must find the person casting doubt on her beloved father before her business is ruined and Christmas won’t be coming to Appleton, WV for her employees.

 

…if you were told you were having a baby, but you had no idea (at first) how it’d happened?

• Mary did. She heard the angel’s proclamation, but told no one and kept everything hidden in her heart, pondering.
• Starli Cameron was always told she couldn’t have a baby, but was it the truth? Only time would tell…after the struggles from the past vanished.

 

…if valuable items were given to you by kings?

• Baby Jesus was visited by the three Magi and given precious gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
• Caroline‘s friend, Andy, had valuable paintings, but Caroline disdained them. When one is stolen, she’s pushed into a mystery that proves how valuable paintings (and relationships) can be.  

 

…if you were suspicious of three foreign kings who visited you?

• King Herod was, afraid that a new baby would take his place someday.
• Tyrell Walker in With Music in Their Hearts had a reason to be suspicious of so many in the boarding house. After all, there was a foreign spy determined to wreck havoc to the U.S.

 

…if you were about to lose what you loved?

• Mary and Joseph were. Baby Jesus was a precious gift from God. They were assigned a duty to raise him, and they would do anything to keep him safe.
• Jerry and Josie thought they were losing each other, and both were determined to battle the war for their lives and their souls. 

 

Interest peaked?

Read St. Luke Chapter 2 to find the answers to the above questions.

Go here to find my books that hopefully will keep you reading and warm through the coming winter! 

Amazon Author Page

Merry Christmas!

 

Help for the Hurting Military Families at Christmas

by Carole Brown

 

 

Many military people dread Christmas due to various sadnesses, physical problems, financial setbacks, and loss of loved ones. It’s a struggle to move forward, to face each day let alone enjoy the season. PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) is a serious threat to returning home soldiers.

 

I wanted to share a bit today that is the real–the true meaning of overcoming and/or getting through each day.

Here’s a story example:

He started to scoot out onto the balcony when pain shot through his whole body, and he wanted to scream. He pulled himself from the window ledge and staggered forward two steps before falling on his face.

What had happened? Marshall’s screaming voice echoed outside his head, but the world had faded to mental darkness. His left leg had gone numb. He shook his head. He couldn’t lose consciousness. To do so might mean death. He hung over the rail and surveyed the climb he’d have to make. His stomach churned with nausea.

The pain and fear of facing the unknown, of knowing you’re injured…

“What happened?”

Her gaze flicked to the bottom of the bed, then back. “You were shot.”

The memory of that night swarmed in. “How long—”

“Must you talk? You’re still pretty weak.”

“How long?”

She sighed. “Two weeks. You almost died.”

Facing the fact that you are injured. Learning what exactly that injury is. Knowing you’re at the mercy of the doctors, possibly your wife or family…

“Jerry. Lie still. You’re too weak to get up.”

Squeezing his eyes shut, he gritted from between his teeth. “I have to. It’s too dangerous for you to be coming here.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I do. Help me, and I’ll try it again.”

“I wasn’t able to get a doctor. Our family doctor is not to be trusted. You almost died. Medwin—my cousin—has a bit of medical training and he thinks a bone or bones was shattered in your leg. He did what he could but your leg still became dangerously infected. I thought—”

“What?”

Vanda bit her lip. “I thought we’d lose your leg if not your life.”

“The infection’s gone?”

“Yes-s. But it still looks bad.” Her brow lined with another worried frown. Her gaze flicked to his legs and back. “I-I’m not sure you’ll ever completely recover from that wound.”

The reality of the truth: you won’t ever be the same as before. Through luck, carelessness and/or lack of training or funds or uncooperative military bureaucracy, life will never be the same.

Soldi

ers who’ve given their lives for their country and come back injured severely—and their families—face extreme difficulties. It takes strong and determined companions to get through, to accept the fact that this new life will be a life long endeavor. There are no magic wands to change the facts of war.

Besides the horrific injuries many face, the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with its moodiness, verbal abuse, feelings of wanting to commit suicide, embarrassment, rejection, etc. takes its toll on soldiers.

During WWII

In A Flute in the Willows, I tried to show a bit of this in Jerry and the effect it had on Josie, his wife. Young and inexperienced, both of the Pattersons struggle to understand and deal with conflicting emotions. Josie’s father, experienced in war service, offers advice and encouragement.

“You’re going to have to be stronger than you’ve ever been in your life.” He warns Josie, and those words stay with his daughter over and over to strengthen and give her a boost to not give up on Jerry. In time her patience and love for Jerry win out.

 

 

“I’m here if you ever need to talk.” Knowing what military service is like, and having lived long enough to know a few things, Captain Ossie, Josie’s father, offers, but never intrudes on Jerry’s emotions. In time he heads to his father-in-law’s office to seek guidance.

• Families need to understand that their soldier is going through unspeakable damages. Love, offer help and listening ears, don’t talk when their loved one is moody, encourage and never, never give up.

 

 

• Friends who are there, offering hope and encouragement. Accept any help given and be grateful you have those kinds of friends.

 

• God.  He is truly the only source who can pull a person through. Whatever comes, God is the strength, the supreme encouragement, the one who understands all, and the one who loves you unconditionally. Lean on him. Trust. Believe.

Both Josie and Jerry come through their own personal, and shared, problems, with God’s help, and understanding from others, that pull them through.

That’s what it takes for servicemen/women to overcome the worst of the nightmare of PTSD and injuries during the Christmas season–or anytime throughout the year. God, understanding and love.

Read about the Patterson’s struggles and how God helped them overcome

their troubles in the midst of danger and heartache.

Amazon

 

Opportunity to Win BOOKS, Books, Books…and $50 Amazon Gift Card!

by Carole Brown

Wonderful opportunity for both authors and readers! 

What does it mean?

• Authors: a chance to expose their book to new eyes/new readers! What a blessing!
• Readers: a chance to find new authors/gain new books/win a valuable gift card!

What’s not to love? 

BUT (there’s always a but!). This opportunity is time limited. The celebration dates are September 11-17. Last day: Sunday, September 17. Don’t miss out!!

Back to School FB Book Celebration

 

 

EXTRA:

 

And, as an added blessing: my WWII Spies, Book one (With Music in Their Hearts) is a part of this celebration.

Remember, Book Two (A Flute in the Willows) is scheduled for release late this fall (2017), so you’ll want to have read the first one–first.

Look for it!

Happy Reading!

 

 

$50 Amazon card or 30 books?

by Carole Brown

I am excited to be participating in a multi-author giveaway just for you! 

What’s more fun to celebrate summer than a $50 Amazon gift card or 30+ books?!

Don’t miss you chance to win!

Enter here: https://promosimple.com/ps/bfa a

 

Link to giveaway:

https://promosimple.com/ps/bfa a

Introducing…Jerry & Josephine Patterson

by Carole Brown

Coming soon will be the cover reveal of “A Flute in the Willows” the second book in the WWII Spies series. I’ll share a few pictures in this post, too, that remind me of things found in the  book.

I’m really excited over this book, as this series holds a special place in my heart.

Through my years at home I learned so much about the WWII era from my mother: the jobs she held, the clothes worn, the hardships, and much more. It piqued an interest in me that’s still intense and strong.

 

 

Two words in the title give you a hint of what will be mentioned or used as part of the story:

• * Flute
• * Willows (trees)

 

How do you think they will play a part in the story?

Here’s the blurb for the story:

Serving as a spy in the middle of Germany, Jerry’s prepared for the risks involved until the sister of a high ranking official falls in love with him. That would be fine except he has a lovely young wife back home that he adores. Besides all he really wants is to find the list of names he came for and if using Vanda to get it is what’s required then he’s willing to pay the price.

Back at home, seeing his wife’s desire to succeed as the world’s greatest female ice skater, Jerry shoves away Josie’s concern and love determined to give her a chance to leave him, a damaged husband. But when her life is threatened by who’s determined to make him pay for his spying activities in Germany, Jerry realizes he can’t stand by and do nothing. Once again, Jerry has to risk all—only this time it’s for the very soul and life of himself—Josie.

Josie Rayner Patterson has two loves—her skating and Jerry, her husband. But when he returns home looking like a skeleton trying to return to life, she’s scared. What happened in Germany to change a man so much? Was he tortured? Has she lost his love? She knows he was injured—the crippled leg proves it, but he refuses to sleep with her, to talk with her, to share with her. He’s a stranger in their home.

Only her skating helps her keep her sanity even though she has her own demons to fight. Always rebellious at the restricted life she’d grown up in, she develops a greater taste for the liquor that dulls her troubled soul and climbs higher and higher to the peak of success she craves–until the night she makes a fatal mistake. Josie is wild with grief and angry at life itself. How could the God her family serves do this to her? She’s lost her two loves and has nothing left to live for.

When she joins her husband in finding and bringing down the person trying to wreck what little they have of life, she’s determined to do all she can. 

These two damaged, rebellious people learn the hard way that leaning on God instead of their own selves and abilities is the only true way to love and happiness. 

A Flute in the Willows is scheduled for release this fall! 

 

 

No buying link YET for this one, but in the meantime, feel free to check out the first book: With Music in Their Heart:   https://www.amazon.com/Carole-Brown/e/B00EZV4RFY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1492661357&sr=1-1

WW2 Christian Fiction Facebook Party with $50 Amazon Card/7 Novels Giveaway

Christian Fiction honors World War II Vets with WW2 era novels at this link.

Grand Prize: $50 Amazon Card

Runner Up Prize: 7 WW2 Novels

To enter:
• Click that you will attend the party at this link.
• Share the party on your timeline.
• Comment on one of each author’s posts during the party.

All 7 of these authors will be at the party and will give out additional prizes.
5:30 – 6:00 – Billie Houston
6:00 – 6:30 – Gail Kittleson
6:30 – 7:00 – Carole Brown
7:00 – 7:30 – Johnnie Alexander
7:30 – 8:00 – Joan Leotta
8:00 – 8:30 – Naomi Musch
8:30 – 9:00 – Tamera Lynn Kraft

Mystery Lovers, Beware!

by Carole Brown

We love to travel and have done so since we’ve been married. From Washington state to Texas, from Alabama to Maine, we’ve gone traveling for business and for fun.

If you ask the Dentons, who love to travel, their vacation spots always seem to land them in mysteries. Now that’s an interesting thought and experience, but the Dentons take it in stride. Considering their love of fishing, buying new shoes and reading mystery books, it’s easily understood how they can get involved in any mystery that pops up at their newest vacation spots.

So far they’ve solved the Mystery of the Dead Motorcyclist in Tennessee (Hog Insane) and in New Mexico (Bat Crazy), they eventually found who was behind the Vampire Bats supposedly inhabiting a new cave.

(By the way, someday I’ll explain how I came up with these crazy, insane titles. Lol)

Now in Colorado, they’re helping long time friends Jeremy Meadows, who owns and runs a ski resort with his Down’s Syndrome sister Daffodil, discover the people who are tricking her and ruining their well-laid plans for the resort. And what do ducks have to do with the story anyway?

Can they succeed in finding the evil doer? Readers can find out in the third book of this delightful series: Daffy’s Duck, coming late 2017.

 

Check out the first two books in this series here:

Hog Insane:  Amazon.

Bat Crazy:  Amazon

Happy Reading!!

Shy Spring and Persistent Winter

by Carole Brown

What do these two seasons have to do with writing?

It reminds me of the first book in the WWII Spies series, With Music in Their Hearts, where winter doesn’t want to give up its reign on the town of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Just like we’ve been having, and many other states too, spring has edged out the colder weather earlier than usual this year. We’ve gotten spoiled by the shirt-sleeve weather and sometimes forget that, really, it’s still the winter season. Until…snow and cold and furious winds sweep in and demand a few more days of winter. 

As in With Music in Their Hearts where Emma Jaine enjoys the warmer days–jacket weather. But in the last scene we see that winter demands a few more days of attention. When Tyrell Walker and Emma Jaine pause on the…

Oops. Almost gave away a bit of that ending. Can’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to the readers. Everyone enjoys a good surprise, right? 🙂

A READER’S THOUGHTS on With Music in Their Hearts:

I opened to chapter one in my Kindle and heard the music coming from the piano at the boarding house. I felt a part of the intrigue and saw the characters as they interacted with one another. Carole Brown’s World War II spy novel With the Music in Their Hearts is a fascinating read. The realistic dialogue, setting and characters’ dress drew me into this 1940’s mystery. Americans spying on Americans during a turbulent time in history perked my interest. Make that spy a pastor and add some romance and I was fully engaged. The characters reminded me of an old black and white movie from the period especially the way the men and women flirted and behaved. Carole is a gifted writer and meticulous researcher. Both talents show through in this page turner. Some may refer to it as cozy because there isn’t a lot of graphic violence. But the suspense still rings true. Lovers of World War II historicals aren’t the only ones who will enjoy this novel. If this time period is not your normal fare give With Music In their Hearts a look. You won’t be disappointed. –Cindy Huff

GET THE BOOK HERE: Amazon

Happy Reading!

Missing One of these?

by Carole Brown

Want to join the people falling in love with Appleton, WV?

Want to learn who the next protagonist in this series will be?

Want to know what cozy mystery will be in the fourth book?

Then keep up with the this unique group of friends and the small town of Appleton.

Reviewers thoughts:

~~This is a fast paced, enjoyable read. In fact, when my copy ‘vanished’ from my Kindle for some strange reason, I quickly bought another so that I could finish the story!~~

~~Knight In Shining Apron by Carole Brown, is a delightful Christian book set in the beautiful little town of Appleton West Virginia.~~

~~“Undiscovered Treasure” by Carole Brown is a truly remarkable story about how true love never gives up and never dies.~~

Toby’s Troubles is the fourth book,

but in the meantime…

Enjoy:

 

OR…

Happy Reading!