Author Spotlight: Elva Cobb Martin

Hi friends! Today, our author spotlight is on Elva Cobb Martin! Everyone, say hello to Elva! Without further ado, let's get to know Elva and her book Georgia Ann, English Rose.

Author Bio:
Elva is a multi-published author. Her inspirational novels have spent time on Amazon's 100 Bestseller lists for Women's Religious Fiction. She is currently finishing Book 3 in a three-book Charleston Brides historical romance series contracted with Wild Heart Books. Book 2, Georgia Ann, releases today, November 17. Her articles have appeared in Home Life, Charisma, and Decision magazines. A mother, grandmother, she lives in Anderson with her husband Dwayne, and serves as president of the ACFW-SC chapter. Elva always stops to sample chocolate, to love on babies of any kind or stripe, and to smell the roses.

Here's Elva!

Romance Means Kisses

If you write or aspire to write romances, you will know the importance of learning how to describe romantic kisses. As Christian writers we want to show romantic passion, but it’s not that easy to do in the Christian market. Anybody can warm up their pages with blatant bedroom scenes, but it takes skill to heighten the romantic tension in a book with only a look...a kiss...or even an almost kiss.

I highly recommend two authors who have taught me much about romance and “kissology.” Susan May Warren has a great workbook available on Amazon that I treasure, How to Write a Brilliant Romance. (Kiss and Tell I think was the earlier version and the one I have.) And Julie Lessman, in my opinion, is the queen of romantic tension and kisses. A blog series of hers, I think she did on Seekerville, is in my file that I refer back to often, Sixteen Suggestions to Warm up the Pages with Romantic Tension.

I personally love the first heady kiss between my hero and heroine. Here’s a scene from my just released novel, Georgia Ann, English Rose, of the first kiss and reaction. You always need a reaction.

He (Samuel) touched a tendril of her hair curling on her shoulder.

She gazed into his shining jade eyes so close to hers. His glance fell to her lips, and he drew her nearer. Slowly he bent and pressed his mouth to hers. Fireworks exploded in her head and travelled down her frame. Her arms came around his neck without forethought. The kiss deepened until she felt transported on a soft, wispy cloud.

Suddenly he released her and stood. “It’s time to go back.” He reached a hand to help her stand, but she couldn’t. Her knees buckled. He chuckled and held her against him for warm moments. Her cheek pressed into his shirt and the spicy scent of cloves enthralled her. Did all his clothing carry that delectable scent now?

Then there is another type of kiss like this one when my hero Samuel first sees Georgia in the sultan’s dungeon. It’s a kiss of sorrow and imminent danger. Up to this moment she had thought him dead from his earlier ship wreck. And I found a photo that helped me see my captured heroine.

Samuel knew the moment Georgia understood he was at her cell door. Her body stiffened on the pallet. She sat up and stared toward the cell door. Tears overflowed her eyes. She arose and stumbled toward him.

They clutched fingers through the bars. His heart jumped into his throat at her loveliness even in her rough Turkish slave garment. Her hair, parted in the middle, hung down her side in a thick blond plait. Silky curls, escaped from the braid, framed her lovely face covered with tears.

“We thought you were dead,” she whispered between shuddering, repressed sobs.

They kissed through the metal bars, and Georgia staggered as if she might fall, but Belle grabbed her around the waist and held her erect.

Another favorite kiss of mine is the “almost kiss.” This scene comes from Marisol, Spanish Rose, Book 1 in this Charleston Brides series. One night Marisol is discovered as a stowaway on her indentured master Ethan’s ship—with her six-month old son, Samuel, and a servant girl. Captain Ethan loses his usually gentle nature.

What is going on in that head of yours, Marisol, to bring your baby and Amy aboard my ship, upsetting all my crew?” He gave her a little shake and looked at her with such a derisive expression, her temper flared.

She stomped her booted foot and, to her surprise, smashed down on his. Hard.

He growled and pulled her to him, scrunching her bouffant skirt. His tight, bearded face came within inches of hers. Manly, warm breath feathered across her cheek. “Now that kind of attack will never do, my Spanish lady. Maybe for a snake, never for a captain. Did you mean to do that?” His blazing eyes held her captive as much as his arms. His glance fell to her lips.

Her knees threatened to fold, and she couldn’t breathe. She tried in vain to pull away from the warmth emanating from his encircling arms and firm chest. “No, I promise I didn’t, Ethan. Please let me go.” She couldn’t prevent the tremor in voice.

He released her, and her knees buckled. He chuckled and caught her elbows to steady her. New strength flowed to her limbs, and she pushed away from him. “Let me go back to my cabin, sir, I have a plan to help you rescue your sister, but we can talk about it tomorrow.”

In the daylight.

So work on it. Get those romantic kisses in your romance and elicit those sighs.

Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to have your feedback and how you describe a great kiss.

Georgia Ann, English Rose Blurb

The lure of the legendary Spice Trail beckons, but he may never find a spice more precious than the treasure he left in Charles Town.

Two Charles Town men love Georgia Ann Cooper—Samuel Vargas and his step-brother, Joshua Becket—but only one both intrigues and infuriates her. Even though he’s a dangerous budding patriot and a privateer—or more likely pirate—Samuel fills her dreams and waking moments. When he leaves Charles Town for high sea adventure on the legendary Spice Trail, she determines to push him out of her thoughts and her graces. A task made easier when she sets out on her own journey to England on one of her father’s merchant ships.

Samuel Vargas is determined to make his own way in the world, not live in the glow of his parents’ escapades in Charles Town and the Spanish Main. There’s no better place to earn his fortune than the Spice Trail and along the Barbary Coast of the Mediterranean. But the adventure becomes more than he bargained for when at Tripoli he stumbles across a familiar face from Charles Town in a sultan's dungeon, and he’s forced to use all his abilities to save the life of the woman he’s been trying to forget.

As their paths intertwine on a journey filled with Barbary pirates, intrigue, and romance, only love and the grace of God can overcome the past and ignite a new beginning for Georgia Ann and Samuel.

Purchase Link and to Connect with Elva:

Link to all her books: https://amzn.to/3neXJQC
Website: http://www.elvamartin.com
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/elva-cobb-martin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1193651817676113/user/1217763020
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=elva%20cobb%20martin&rs=typed&term_meta[]=elva%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=cobb%7Ctyped&term_meta[]=martin%7Ctyped
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elvacobbmartin/


Friends, I sure hope you enjoyed getting to know Elva Cobb Martin and Georgia Ann, English Rose.



Thank you so much for joining us, Elva!


If you're an author and you'd like to be showcased here, just let me know. Must be inspirational or clean, can be fiction or nonfiction.
Check out my website, connect with me, and sign up for my newsletter. https://sallyshupe.weebly.com/

Author Spotlight: Pepper Basham

Hi friends! Today, our author spotlight is on Pepper Basham! Everyone, say hello to Pepper! Without further ado, let's get to know Pepper and her book The Red Ribbon.

 

 Author Bio:
I wrote my first story when I was a nine year- old, freckled-faced tomboy in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains (my earlier writings wouldn’t have been considered “books”, more like short stories). Coming from a long line of oral storytellers, weaving a good yarn seemed a typical part of my life. It wasn’t until I finished college, had two children, and a full-time job before I began to study the ‘craft’ of writing (you know when I had plenty of time).

My music-director turned pastor husband took his first senior pastor position eight years ago, moved the 6 of us to Tennessee, where we added our fifth and final kid to the Basham crew. And now hubby is a music minister in Asheville, NC. Yep, we love the Blue Ridge Mountains.

So…now I’m an older, freckled-faced mommy enjoying life, learning to write, and laughing often. My mom says that I must have a small bit of insanity because I don’t realize how stressed I ought to be.

I’m also a speech-language pathologist who spends her time hanging out with kids who have social communication and language difficulties! It’s a challenge and a blessing – and constantly teaches me about the importance of thinking outside the box!

My newest book, The Red Ribbon, releases in October 2020 and takes place in my hometown of Carroll County, Virginia.

My first split-time releases in April 2021 and is titled Hope Between the Pages!

Here's Pepper!

Hope is a beautiful thing.

Vital, really.

At times, it appears as a lifeline cast down into a stormy sea and others as a ray of sunshine through thick, permeating fog. Hope offers perspective and possibilities. Light at the end of the tunnel. A hug in the middle of this world’s tragedies.

I suppose, when I started writing The Red Ribbon, I didn’t realize how important hope would become until I’d done my research and realized how very dark True Crime could be. How evil reared its ugly head in myriad ways and appeared to be winning. How hatred, greed, and selfishness twisted and turned events in heartbreaking directions – like a courthouse massacre or a roadside murder.

So when I started writing The Red Ribbon, I knew that woven into this darker story of Virginia history, I needed to find—or shine—hope, and that’s where Jeremiah Sutphin and Ava Burcham came in.

The Hillsville Courthouse Massacre/Tragedy of 1912 was a single event that began years before because of feuding and easy offense, sparked by an unexpected kiss, and finally exploded in a gunfight inside the courthouse in the little, unknown Blue Ridge Mountain town in Hillsville, Virginia.

I’d been raised in this county. More than two hundred years of my ancestors had grown up in this county, and I’d heard the tales of bootlegging, family feuds, murders, thieving, and all the other things that can pop up in the shadowy parts of a places’ history. This story became prominent only because it made national news, otherwise, it would have likely disappeared into history like so many other similar stories from Appalachia.

Murders happened and were never disclosed or resolved – unless by residual gunfire.

Bootlegging led to feuds. It had for decades before.

But this tragedy caught the public’s interest and resulted in nationwide news coverage and a nationwide manhunt, exposing the world of Appalachia like few things have – and it led people outside of Appalachia to believe that these mountain folks were nothing more than angry, illiterate, hostile, ignorant nobodys.

I guess that’s why I loved the opportunity to show both sides of Appalachia in this book. The hardened, irreverent, and corrupt side and the hopeful, loyal, loving side. Both existed and still do, as in about any population of people around the world, it just looks different.

The Hillsville tragedy shone a light on the darker spots of Appalachia. The way loyalty can move into obsession or stark independence can lead to destructive pride. But I couldn’t leave readers only thinking those things about my home. They needed to see the hope too!

As an Appalachian girl, I love my culture. I love the loyalty of the people to family. I love their unique creativeness and steel-like resilience. I love their appreciation for their homes and land, and their intense acceptance of people (once they know you). That’s where the true crime and the fictional story blend together.

Because hope is real and a driving force to help us make it through the difficulties of life, and thankfully, as a Christian, hope is not some wispy, weak wishful thinking.

It’s a steadfast assurance that on the other side of tragedy, pain, suffering, or heartache, there is purpose, growth, and an ultimate joyful ending.

I hope that’s what readers find at the end of The Red Ribbon- and awareness that, as Christians, hope threads its way through every scene of our lives and we can hold to God’s truth in His love for our futures even in the dark. 

 

 The Red Ribbon Blurb

An Appalachian Feud Blows Up in 1912 Step into True Colors -- a new series of Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime In Carroll County, a corn shucking is the social event of the season, until a mischievous kiss leads to one of the biggest tragedies in Virginia history. Ava Burcham isn’t your typical Blue Ridge Mountain girl. She has a bad habit of courtin’ trouble, and her curiosity has opened a rift in the middle of a feud between politicians and would-be outlaws, the Allen family. Ava’s tenacious desire to find a story worth reporting may land her and her best friend, Jeremiah Sutphin, into more trouble than either of them planned. The end result? The Hillsville Courthouse Massacre of 1912.

 

Purchase Link and to Connect with Pepper:

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1643526499
Website - www.pepperdbasham.com
FB – https://www.facebook.com/pepperdbasham/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/pepperbasham/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/pepperbasham
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/pepperbasham/


Friends, I sure hope you enjoyed getting to know Pepper Basham and The Red Ribbon.


Thank you so much for joining us, Pepper!


If you're an author and you'd like to be showcased here, just let me know. Must be inspirational or clean, can be fiction or nonfiction.
Check out my website, connect with me, and sign up for my newsletter. https://sallyshupe.weebly.com/

Accidental Fiancee by Mary Moore

I loved this Christian historical romance by Mary Moore! I loved the dialogue between Lady Grace Endicott and Lord Weston. She is caught in a compromising situation, but she will do everything she has to in order to ensure nothing hurts her sister Lydia's introduction to society. To protect Grace's reputation, Lord Weston announces she is his betrothed. Sounds simple. Pretend to be betrothed and then break it off. But what happens when one of them is a Christian and isn't comfortable lying?

Can a known rake come to accept God's grace? Can he turn his back on how he's lived his life and be the husband for Grace? He is determined to protect Grace's virtue, but the only way he can do that is to say she is his betrothed. Lord Weston is ready to put the plan into action, but Grace cannot lie about her situation. Grace has to follow along so her actions won't hurt her sister Lydia's chances of finding a suitable husband. Grace's sarcastic responses keep Lord Weston on his toes. She assumes she is too old for love but won't marry for convenience. Can they keep London society from guessing the truth? Or, will they discover they have more in common than they first thought?

God's grace is freely given and covers our sins. Can Grace show Lord Weston that means even him? "We have been given the gift of grace from God." Accidental Fiancee is a great book with snappy dialogue, intriguing characters, and a plot that pulls you in. Lady Grace is an independent young woman set on living her life as a Christian. As she and Lord Weston get to know each other, will she find the rake is past all hope, or is there still a chance for him?

Pick up this great book today and get lost in a wonderful love story!