March 2012 Prize Sponsors

Last month's prize winners announced HERE.

There are new guidelines and entry requirements for winning one of these books. Please take a look at the updated Official Rules.


A big thank you to our Prize Sponsors! Please take a moment to learn more about this month's wonderfully generous sponsors.


Arizona Guy by Raymond Spitzer

He didn't know he was an Arizona guy until someone called him a California guy.

Ted White, a high school band director comes to Ajo to house sit for his aunt and uncle, and to get far away from a broken engagement. But the relatives are missing.

In the process of unraveling the mystery of their disappearance, this small desert town comes to mean more to Ted than he ever could have imagined. 







Raymond Spitzer was born in California and resided in Japan and Montana before his parents saw the light and brought him to Arizona. He grew up in Nogales from the age of three and completed high school and college in Tucson. He taught school in Ajo and Gila Bend for sixteen years before becoming a public safety telecommunicator with Pima County Sheriff's Department in Ajo.

Arizona Guy is his first published book, but Spitzer is hard at work on the next book in the series.



The Frozen Trail by Lisa Dayley

Based on a true story THE FROZEN TRAIL details Emma Girdlestone's 1856 trek across the United States with the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company. It tells of a remarkable young woman of faith, who endured a journey wrought with peril to join her fellow Latter-day Saints in the Salt Lake Valley of the Utah desert.

The Mormon pioneers moved across the Great Plains in wagon trains and pulling handcarts to seek a new home safe from persecution. THE FROZEN TRAIL is the story of one woman, eighteen-year-old Emma Girdlestone who, along with her fellow travelers, faced starvation, frostbite, and death on the trail to Zion.

This work of historical fiction is dedicated to the members of the Willie Handcart Company. These courageous pioneers showed heroism and devotion in the face of unbelievably harsh and brutal conditions. It is especially dedicated to Willie Handcart member Emma Girdlestone who left behind a legacy of bravery, fortitude, and faith; and who, 155 years later, managed to change the life of her great-great-granddaughter Lisa Dayley, the author of this book.

Lisa Dayley graduated from the Metropolitan State College of Denver with a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications and Creative Writing. An award-winning writer and photographer, she has written for both newspapers and magazines. Dayley lives in Burley, Idaho with her husband Darrell. They have three children and one grandson. You can read more about her in an interview with Karen Jones Gowen.



The Heirs of Southbridge by Jennie Hansen

When tragedy strikes Southbridge plantation, young Clayton and his brother, Travis, are forced from the only home they’ve ever known. Fleeing the drunken rage of their grandfather, with bounty hunters and horse thieves thick on their trail, the boys and their father try to eke out a lonely life as fugitives and cowboys.

As Clayton nears adulthood, his greatest desire is for a strong and stable family, but his father’s death and his brother’s departure leave him more alone than ever. Seeking for roots, Clayton visits Southbridge en route to college and kneels on his mother’s grave, only to be accosted by a gun-wielding girl named Lucy, whose father will stop at nothing to make the plantation his own.

Can Clayton realize his deepest desires of marrying the woman he loves, having a family, and reclaiming the plantation that is his rightful heritage?



Jennie Hansen was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She lived in many farming and ranching communities in Idaho and Montana. Her family moved more than 20 times as she grew up. Born the fifth of eight children, Jennie had a ready supply of playmates during her childhood. Her brothers and sisters are still among her closest friends. She married Boyd Hansen of Rexburg, Idaho, and over the next ten years they became the parents of five children. They have made their home in Utah since their marriage.

Jennie graduated from Ricks College in Idaho then continued her education at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has been a receptionist, a model, a Utah House page, freelance magazine writer, newspaper reporter, editor, library circulation specialist, mother and grandmother. She has over twenty published books to her credit. Jennie also writes a monthly review column for Meridian Magazine.



Identity  by Betsy Love

While vacationing in Mexico, two similar-looking young women find themselves caught in a chain reaction of mistaken identities. Amelia is a wealthy heiress and business owner, and Savannah is a sweet Mormon girl deciding whether or not to serve a mission.

When they end up on the same flight to Phoenix, Savannah and Amelia unravel the sequence of events that wreaked havoc on their trips, and they make plans to resolve the subsequent misunderstandings. But their flight is cut short when the plane crashes, killing one of the young women and plunging the other into a world of intrigue and deceit where identity means everything.



Betsy Love: Writing has been a passion since I was a little girl. I first discovered the art of pen to paper watching my mother make out her grocery list. It did not take long for me to discover that those indecipherable squiggles meant words, and words have power. What joy I experienced as a first grader learning to write my name. Now the stories dancing in my head would find a home on paper. I hope you will follow me in my journey to share what I have written.

The Keeper's Calling by Kelly Nelson

They come from two different worlds. One fateful discovery will bring them together. Neither of their lives will ever be the same.

Chase Harper's to-do list for senior year never included fall in love and fight for your life, but things rarely go as planned. Tarnished gold and resembling a pocket watch, the counter he finds in a cave during the summer of 2011 will forever change the course of his life, leading him to the beautiful Ellie Williams and unlocking a power beyond his wildest imagination.

In 1863, Ellie Williams completes school in Boston and returns to the Utah Territory only to discover that her grandfather and his counter, a treasured family heirloom, are missing. When Ellie is abducted and told she must produce the counter or die, an unexpected rescuer comes to her aid.

 Kelly Nelson was raised in Orem, Utah, and now resides in Cornelius, Oregon, in the heart of the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She enjoys life on a ten-acre horse property with her husband, four children, and, of course, lots of horses. Kelly has a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. She worked as a certified public accountant for several years before opting to stay home and raise a family. As a young girl, she was an avid reader and had a passion for creative writing. Her travels to England, France, Egypt, Israel, West Indies, Mexico, and across the United States sparked a love of history, adventure, and exotic places. This led to the inspiration behind her debut novel, The Keeper’s Calling, the first book in The Keeper’s Saga.



Northanger Alibi by  Jenni James

Sometimes a guy is even better than you imagined...

The Russo family and Seattle, Washington, are no match for Claire Hart and her savvy knowledge of all things vampire-related. Thanks to her obsession with the Twilight series, if there is anyone who would know a vampire when she saw one, it's Claire. And she's positive totally hot Tony Russo is a vampire - she just has to prove it!

In this modern retelling of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, follow Claire's hilarious journey on her first summer adventure away from home, where she learns everything isn't what is seems, and that in some instances, reality is way better than anything she'd ever find in a book.




Jenni James: I'm married to a totally hot, redheaded Air Force Recruiter, named Mark. Together we have 10 kiddos (7 ours, 3 fostered). We have just moved back to the States after living 9 awesome years in the Azores Islands of Portugal and England! Our kids love the USA!

When I'm not writing up a storm, I enjoy reading, acting, portrait painting, directing plays, cooking, planning eleborate parties and chasing my kids around the house. Oh, and before you ask--I haven't been to college, YET! But I've always been able to write one mean essay when I needed to. *wink*

Learn more about Jenni and her upcoming books at her website.




Someone Else's Fairytale by E.M. Tippetts

Jason Vanderholt is the hottest actor under thirty with legions of screaming fans. 

Chloe Winters is a college student who hasn't gotten around to watching most of his movies and doesn't follow Hollywood gossip. 

When they meet by chance, he is smitten and she becomes the woman every other woman in America is dying to be, but it just isn’t her fairytale.

 
E.M. Tippetts: I write chick lit as E.M. Tippetts and science fiction as Emily Mah. I got my start in writing at the Clarion West Writer's Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy.

I am originally from New Mexico,  have a bachelors in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University, and a juris doctorate in business law from UCLA. I also design jewelry (and no, that doesn't fit in with any of the other stuff I've listed here.) Currently, I live in London while my husband does his PhD.
 

 

Targets In Ties  by Tristi Pinkston

Secret Sisters Mystery #4!

After two long years, Ren's mission is finally over, and it's time for Ida Mae, Arlette, and Tansy to travel to Mexico to pick him up. They have their itinerary all planned out visiting the ruins in the Yucatan, shopping, playing in the sand and surf and then they'll head to Ren's mission home and be reunited with that dear boy.

But a wanted antiquities thief crosses their path, and soon the ladies find themselves tangled up in a web of lies, intrigue, and costly jewelry. Held hostage by men desperate for riches, they do what only they can do keep their heads about them, plan their escape, and discuss the proper making of tortillas.

Will they survive their most harrowing adventure yet?

With her crisp writing style and attention to detail, Tristi Pinkston pulls her readers into the pages of history and helps them feel the emotions that fueled the events of that time. She has been hailed as one of the most talented historical fiction writers currently on the market.

Jeff Needle's review for AML, said, "This kind of writing can only come about when the author has thoroughly researched her subject and worked very hard to put herself in the place of her protagonist."

Targets in Ties is Tristi's ninth book.





To enter to win one of these books, use the form in the sidebar. One entry per person per month. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be 18 years or older to enter. Limited to U.S. residents. Deadline to enter: March 31, 2012, midnight, Mountain Time. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. CLICK HERE to read the Official Rules.

CLICK HERE for details on sponsoring the contest.