Saturday Promotion

It’s Saturday morning, so I’m sitting here sipping coffee and writing. One of my favorite things to do on Saturday morning is to work on my current WIP and maybe dabble with something new in the works. But this morning I want to talk about my In Harm’s Way Series. Three in the series have been released, but there are two more to come.

This Christian Suspense Romance series has surprised me. When I stepped out of my usual sweet romance style writing into something a little more edgy, I was scared. But the response from my fans has been wonderful. I even get emails asking when the next one will be released. And I have to admit that writing suspense and mystery is fun. There’s so many twists and turns.

So here’s a look at the three that are out:

Hadley never thought she’d be living out one of the stories she wrote. Not until one trip to the park changed her whole life. She finds herself in the middle of a horror story. One that will change the way she looks at everything and everyone around her. If she lived through this, it would be a miracle. She had one chance at safety, but he was making her break out of her comfort zone.
Drew left everything to find solace on his Wyoming ranch. His world had been filled with espionage, murder, and keeping the country safe as a member of an elite Navy Seal team. But now, all he wanted was peace. That would change in an instant with one meeting with Hadley. Drew couldn’t go back to that life, but now he has no choice if he was to keep her safe.
They are thrown together to solve a mystery, one that could change her own past. Both have their own inner demons to get past. Can her faith help her, and can she teach Drew to have faith? As they get closer, both realize that there is more than just investigating happening between them. But Drew knows that it’s something he can’t explore, and Hadley doesn’t understand when he pushes her away.
This novel is a faith-based suspense romance. If you’re looking for a clean, faith-oriented thriller novel, then look no further than one of the In Harm’s Way novels.

Abusive husband… Old love… Tested Faith…
Harper…
Harper was trapped in a nightmare. Every morning she woke expecting it to be her last. How could she have married a monster? The only light in her dark world is the faith that she holds close to her heart.
Reid…
Reid has struggled for years to forget the one woman that was everything to him. While doing rounds at the hospital, he comes face to face with her. He sees the truth to her injuries, but she quickly denies them, leaving the hospital before he can convince her to get help. Now he can’t get her out of his head. She’s in trouble and he needs to help her.
To his surprise, she shows up at his front door needing his help. She risks everything to get help. When she learns more of her husband’s secrets, she knows she must leave Reid forever to keep him safe.
Reid is frantic to find her before her abusive husband does. Will he be too late to save her? With not much to go on, the police extend the search, but they may not get there in time. Reid fears he’ll never see her again.
This is a story of abuse, suspense, faith, and lost love…

Ginger just wanted to get to the photoshoot safely. She leans on her faith and takes a chance driving into a blizzard. But when she becomes snowbound, her only place to take refuge is an old cabin she saw before she ended up in a snowbank.
Dakota can’t believe who’s at the door during the worst snowstorm in years. The woman that had haunted his dreams since that fateful trip to Paris. Now he was on the run from the law, but he couldn’t just close the door in her face.
While they are stranded, they begin to grow closer. A call informs Dakota that the men after him are headed in his direction. Dakota must keep Ginger safe, but how? They are forced to take a chance and brave the frigid cold to get to safety. When tragedy strikes, Dakota must step out of hiding to get her help. That one move ends with Dakota behind bars for murder.
There is more to what’s happening than anyone would believe. And Ginger must prove it, or Dakota will never be free again. She’s forced to step out of her comfort zone to help this man. She leans on her faith and begins to piece things together. But nobody expected what would happen next. Not to mention what is revealed about Dakota’s identity.
It all comes down to the place it all began for Dakota and Ginger. Will their faith help them find each other again or will they lose everything?
A Christian Suspense Romance that will keep you guessing up until the end…

So, if you’re in the mood for some suspenseful reading this weekend, then grab one or all three.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you…

Calling all bloggers!

Hey, everyone! As the release of my newest book is coming closer and closer, I’m looking for some bloggers that would be willing to do a post about it or even a review. I’d also like to reciprocate by doing a post for you. If you’re interested in helping, I’ll send you the media package that I’ve assembled.

Breakwater preorder ad

Also, enter to win a Kindle… Just go to this link and enter.

http://lovekissedbookbargains.com/category/giveaways/preorder-giveaway/

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Sonya Loveday – The Vows We Make Releases Today!

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Now available on Amazon.
Click here to purchase
Or Read for free on Kindle Unlimited.

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The Vows We Make
Book 4 of The Six Series
Mark and Paige’s story.

Some vows can be deadly…..

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Mark and Paige are living in sin—that’s what any man of the cloth would say. All they want is to get married, but they refuse to exchange vows without their best friends—the Six. As they wait to hear back from them, Mark and Paige can’t help but feel they’ve been put off… forgotten.

When the threat of an enemy stalking them is brought to light, the call is made to bring them into the secretive world of Cole Enterprise.

Slotted for recruitment by the very agency that stole their chance at a normal life, Mark and Paige have to adjust to their new path as secret agents in a war they didn’t even know existed.
What neither fully understands is that nothing will ever be the same… and some vows are deadlier than others.

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CHANGE WAS ALL AROUND ME. Everything was different. My life. My dreams. All of it.
Maybe some of it was for the best. Maybe it would push Mark and me to make more of ourselves than we would have on our own.
Crossing my arms tightly, I stepped out onto the dock and made my way to where Mark stood looking out over the water.
Coming back to the cabin and being around our friends after such a long absence from both had enveloped us in something like a constrictive hug. Both needing it, while desperately trying to come to terms with it.
“Hey,” I said, stepping up beside him and sighing when he pulled me into his arms.
I leaned back, turning my head slightly to fit into the crook of his neck. His cheek brushed against my hair and he asked, “Can you believe this place?”
I snorted. “No. But then again, we are talking about Jared’s parents, so…”
“True. It still feels the same here though,” he answered, watching the water ripple along the surface with the wind.
Arriving at the cabin, or what used to be the cabin, had sort of floored us all. No one knew what to say when we’d got our first glimpse of the new and improved place.
What used to be one story with a kitchen, living room, and six bedrooms with bathrooms was gone. Its replacement was two stories, ten bedrooms with full bathrooms, a massive open-floor kitchen/living room, a movie theater room, and a game room. Grant and Nadia had gone all out to make the cabin a place where all of us could live together, for an unforeseeable amount of time.
“It’s like they just knew…” I said, leaving the rest of what I was thinking unsaid. It wouldn’t do any good to dwell on the things none of us could change.
“How are you holding up with all of this?” Mark asked.
I sighed deeply and closed my eyes. “Honestly? I don’t know how to feel right now. It’s like this huge war being waged right here,” I said, poking my finger against my chest. “I’m happy to see everyone. We’re here together—just like we wanted—but for all the wrong reasons. I’m missing classes and work. I don’t know what to do with myself. My life is literally on hold at this point.”
He hugged me tighter. “Tell me what you want me to do and I’ll do it. If you want to leave, we’ll go. They can’t hold us here.”
I snorted. “Can you imagine the look on all of their faces if we just walked out with our suitcases behind us? No. I love you for that though. It’s nice to hear you’d do that to make me happy.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I’d do anything to make you happy, Paige.”

Wedding rings, engraved

The Vows We Make is Amazon Exclusive!
Don’t have a Kindle?
No problem!

All you have to do is download the Kindle App to your tablet or phone!

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Sonya Loveday, first and foremost is a reader, an avid one. It is of that love that brought her to purchasing her first laptop in 2009, and then publishing her first novel, Casted, in 2013.

Not long after the completion to the Casted Series, Sonya tried her hand at Contemporary Romance.
Thusly, the Six were born with The Summer I Fell.

In 2015 Sonya joined forces with best friend and fellow author Candace Knoebel. Together the duo created the Game of Hearts Novels. The series has two published titles: Love Always and Runaway Heart. Knoebel and Loveday will be releasing the third book in the series in 2017.

For more information about releases, and appearances, follow Sonya on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/sonyalovedayauthor

Editing, it’s very important!

Good Tuesday morning! It’s nice to be back in a regular schedule. Vacations are really nice and relaxing, but then I start losing track of my days and that makes my brain turn to jelly. Not good when I’m on two book deadlines, and have accounting to catch up on.

While on vacation I downloaded three books to my Kindle to read while at the beach. I was so excited about one of the books, but as I started the first page things didn’t sound right. I struggled through a couple more pages and put it down, thinking I was sleepy. I picked it up the next day and more of the same. The story line was really great, but the writing or rather the editing was bad.

I’ve heard authors say they found books that were hard to read because of the poor reading, but usually I can muddle through. This one wasn’t like that and the sad thing is the book is by an author that I really like and have read before. It has me thinking really hard about my editing process. I’m constantly reading articles about editing and writing which helps keep me educated on the craft. This book would have been covered in red marks and comments. But I really wanted to find out what happened to the two characters. Eventually I’ll pick it back up and try again.

Some may ask if I plan on putting a bad review on this book. The answer is no! I don’t believe in downgrading an author, especially one that’s written some great books. It’s very possible that this book was downloaded from the wrong file. I did that with a reviewer one time. Now that was embarrassing. I might send her a email and inquire if she’s checked the finished and published product. I just don’t like to be negative to my fellow authors. We’re all in this craft together and should support one another, not tear one another down.

So, do you make sure that your editing process is what it needs to be? Also, make sure if you’re paying an editor, double check their work too. Everyone can miss something, even the experts.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

Beach Sale!

It’s summer and the time to go to the beach. If your not headed to the beach, but maybe a staycation at home, then now’s the time to fill up your Kindle. We all know that summer is our time to give back to ourselves. For me that means getting in some reading while sitting in the shade, sipping cool, sweet tea.

With that thought in mind, I’m offering a huge Beach Sale on all of my standalone e-books through Amazon. For the summer they will be .99, yes that’s right, .99. What’s a little sacrifice among friends. So head over to my Amazon author page and grab a couple or all of them before the summer ends. I might extend the sale to other sites where my books are available, but for now it’s only Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Stephanie-Hurt

As for now, good writing, and May God Bless You…

By the way, try to stay cool!

Catching up with the times…

Some of you may not know this, but I’m a ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’ type person. Even when upgrades are needed or maybe new equipment, I keep purring along with what I’m currently comfortable with. I guess it goes along with my introvert ways or maybe it’s just that I’m in my own little world and happy there. Not sure, but I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone and well, I kind of like it.

If you’re wondering what I’m blabbering about, well I finally upgraded to an iPhone this past week. You’re probably still tapping your head and saying ‘really’, but it’s just me. I was happy with my old phone and it was happy with me. But when I’d pull it out of my pocket or purse it would fall apart, so my hubby snatched my phone and upgraded me. It was like being separated from the womb, but I’m coping. As a very busy accountant, writer and children’s minister I was afraid of learning something new that would take time away from all of that, but it’s gone well.

After five days with the new fancy device, I’ve all but mastered ordering apps. I decided last night to grab the Instagram App. My son almost had a stroke. He was a little concerned about mama checking on him in his private world, but he got over it.

As I sat yesterday waiting on hubby to pump gas into the truck an idea for a new book came across my brain. If you’re a writer you know how critical it is to get that idea down on paper. Well, as I reached into my purse, I noticed my handy dandy notepad was not present and in a panic I looked around the truck for anything, even a napkin to write it down. Then I remembered the note app on my new phone. Smiling I quickly opened it and voila my idea was stored for future use. Now that’s a plus for the new phone. Not to mention I now have my Kindle on there too.

So, do you have areas of your life that are behind in the times?

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

The day after the feast…

The day after the feast and I sit here feeling like I’m still full. I don’t even think I can eat breakfast. Although I will make room for a cup of coffee. I always have room for that. It’s crazy the feeling I have on the day after Thanksgiving. The excitement of the Christmas season is stirring around in my mind. I feel the decorating bug coming on heavily and know that by the end of the day my house will look like as my hubby would say “Christmas threw up all over the place”.

I’m not a shopper like most on black Friday. Going out into the wilds of shopper frenzy is not the least enticing to me. Now cyber Monday is my day to shop. I can sit in my living room and shop til my fingers cramp. No hassles, no crowds, no fighting over the last sale item, just me and my laptop.

Now that the Christmas book is finished and the other books are in the works I feel a little better. But the stories dance in my head like sugar plums. I’m trying to finish the works I’ve got started, but the stories keep popping in and taking over. So as I sit here and enjoy a long leisurely morning of movies, coffee and Christmas decorations my mind is whirling with stories and covers and other bookish things.

Why is it a writer never takes a vacation or holiday? Since my accounting office is closed until Monday I don’t have figures dancing in my head, but the writer in me stays awake at night with thoughts and ideas. I watch movies and ideas pop in my head, I listen to music and ideas pop into my head, I see a picture and ideas pop into my head. yeah I’ve got it bad.

Someone asked me one day, ‘Don’t you ever run out of things to write?’ Well, sometimes I have writer’s block on a certain story line. That’s when I move on to the other work in progress and eventually I move back the one that was blocked for a little time. As a writer your mind is usually on overdrive. Crazy how it works.

The only bad thing about the stories whirling in your brain is the times you want them to stop they usually speed up. As I slipped into bed last night I thought I was sleepy, but as soon as my head hit the pillow I knew it was useless. I lay on one side and then the other, fighting with sleep, try desperately to win. Finally I sat up realizing it was futile. I grabbed my Kindle and headed to sit by the fire in the den. I needed to clear my head so I read for three hours, yeah three hours. When I looked up at the clock I was glad that I didn’t have to go into the office the next morning.

As I sit here this morning watching Sabrina and enjoying my coffee the stories are pushing past this post, wanting to escape. I know what all needs to be done to get ready to decorate, but the writer in me wants to just sit here all day with Christmas movies in the background and my laptop in my lap. Oh I love this life.

But alas, I do need to make my house look festive as this is my favorite time of year. So buckle yourself up and get ready for the ride because from now until Christmas I’ll be in high gear. Let’s get our Christmas on…

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…

While looking through the attic…

Saturday afternoon I ventured into my attic which is taking your life in your own hands. I’m, how would you say it, a pack rat. I confess, it’s a thing I inherited. When I was younger I had a book issue. I’d buy books everywhere I went. Needles to say I have a lot of books. Yes actual physical books. You remember those right?

I noticed that the pasteboard boxes that contained my books were looking a little worse for wear. So I had some extra plastic bins so I decided to take on the task of going through my books and putting them neatly in the bins. It was like a journey through my history. I laughed as I went through the different types of romance genres I’ve gone through in my 44 years. I love history, so I went through a rather lengthy historical romance stage. Everything I bought was a historical romance.

There are a couple of books that I hold close to my heart and have been known to reread several times. One of those was a book named “Violet Fire” by Jo Goodman that was published around 1987. It’s an awesome romance. It’s actually the second copy of that book I’ve owned. The first one I let an old family member borrow it. She passed away not long after that and the book never resurfaced. Not sure what happened there. I was lucky to find a copy a couple of years later in a second hand book store. You would have thought I’d found the Ark of the Covenant. I squealed and danced. Needless to say I was happy.

Well, I thought I’d lost it again as I couldn’t find it a couple years ago when I wanted to read it again. I thought I was just destined to not get to read it again. I picked up one of the boxes at the bottom of the stack and guess what, there it was with a couple of other books I thought I’d lost. I let out a whoop and my son came to the bottom of the attic steps. I assured him that I was fine and did a little silent dance. I’ve read every small moment I had. Funny how your hand cramps when trying to hold an actual book. I love it… My Kindle feels a little left out, but it will get some loving real soon.

It’s crazy how you find a book that you love and you just have to read it every once in a while. If you ever find this book on Amazon or in a book store I suggest reading it. It’s rather lengthy, but really good. I like Jo Goodman’s writing and this is one of my favorites.

As always, good writing and May God Bless you!

Where your writing takes you…

As I start this post I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was wonderful. Now on to the clean up and take down and enjoying time with my son. My husband says it looks like Christmas threw up in our house. So I like to decorate. What? On to the post…

Where does your writing take you? It can take you to different countries, different lives and let your dreams come true at your fingertips. When you are writing open up your heart and experience it.

As I write I usually try to throw in a fantasy or something I love. That way I get to live the fantasy and make it come true for my characters. I get to do the things I wouldn’t dare do in real life.

Through my characters and lots of research, I get to go to places that I have dreamed of going. It’s so much fun to experience the places through my characters. If you put enough descriptions you can carry your reader off to places beyond their Kindle, Nook or paperback. You can take them to exotic destinations with the sun dancing on the clear blue water or even take them to snow covered chalets with crackling romantic fires.

The sky’s the limit when writing. Give your reader and yourself an adventure, you both deserve it. So get writing and live your dream through your writing. Go to that place, or do that thing you want to do, live the dream.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You!

Why publish a paperback?

I had someone laugh at me for publishing my books in paperback. I was astonished. For a few seconds I could not even respond. When did we lose the art of picking up a paperback and turning pages. I still get a thrill out of picking up a book and reading, don’t get me wrong, I still use my Kindle too. But there is something about the smell of a paperback and the feel in your hands. Maybe I’m old fashioned and I won’t apologize for that, but it still holds a special place in my life.

Also, on the point of publishing, it feels really good to hold a book in your hand that has your name on the front. It is like when you are pregnant, the baby is in your stomach and it is obvious that their is a baby there, but when you can actually hold it in your arms it makes it real. Just like with a book. The first time I held one of my books in my hands was surreal. I actually shed a tear or two. It was so different from looking at it on a computer screen or a e-reader.

I can also tell you that Shakespeare feels different when read on the computer. There is something about the classics in book form that just pulls you in and grabs you. SO please do not throw out all of your books. If you have not picked up an actual book lately, try it. You might find out that it still has potential. By the way there are still many people who do not have e-readers, so you have to get your books in their hands too.

Well, I’m off my soapbox until next time. Have a great Friday and as always have a blessed one and good writing! Remember today starts the weekend. (We have Fall Break next week so I’m sleeping in!!!)