Ahhh, yes, summer is finalllllllly here!!
I don’t know about you, but our spring was cold, rainy, and nasty almost up until summer started on June 21st. But now the warm weather is here, and I am soooo ready for it because this is the moment I’ve been praying for!! I love the heat, the water, the boating, the flowers, you name it, and I’m not alone either! Here’s a pic of my 5-month-old grandson ready to dive in too! 😎
Whenever summer rolls around, I can’t help but think of my contemporary series, Isle of Hope, and no more so than this year because of one very special reader friend named 💕 Melissa Armstrong 💕.
You see, sweet Melissa not only went to Isle of Hope on her vacation, but she took pix of a number of the places I wrote about in the Isle of Hope series, which absolutely blessed the 🧦off of me!!
Since I thought it might be fun for you to see them, too, I’ve attached all the pix below, from the O’Bryen’s house, their dock, and Forsythe Park (where Shannon first met Sam in Love Everlasting) to the ever-famous Lulu’s Chocolate Bar, where Chase (the pastor hero from book 3, His Steadfast Love) actually took all three heroines from the series on dates! And I chuckled out loud when Melissa told me she also ordered Chase’s favorite dessert, of which she also took a pic. Now this is a reader friend after my own heart! 😉 So, Melissa, thank you again for making my week by sending me those pix — you are an absolute gem!
Of course, not only is “summer” the moment I’ve been praying for, but there’s another moment I’ve been praying for that’s just as exciting to me — and I hope, to you as well!! And that is — drum roll, please — finishing Gabe’s book, A Wing & a Prayer, which just happened three days ago, so THANK YOU, JESUS!!
I have to admit that this has been the most difficult book I have ever written because I am not fond of research, but HOLY COW, this one required research galore, and to tell you the truth, I am pooped!
Why? Well, the heroine in this story (Gabe O’Connor) is an airplane pilot who enlists in the WASP program (Women Airforce Service Pilots) in WWII, then becomes a war correspondent who falls in love with an aeoromedical pilot/medic in the European Theatre of the war. Consequently, almost every single page of this book (and sometimes every paragraph) required extensive research!
So not only did I have to learn medical terms, military terms, WASP terms, 1940s terminology/hairstyles/fashion/etc., but I also had to have my history down cold. As a result, I am happy to say that I now know more about WWII than I ever dreamed possible. Which, I have to admit, was pretty cool given the fact that we just celebrated the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.
I am REALLLLLLY excited to introduce you to Gabe’s story soon, but I won’t know the release date until the end of July, so stay tuned because I will be announcing it right here on Journal Jots. Until then, here’s the jacket blurb to prime the pump and the stock photo that I had in mind when I wrote the book:
She’s dead-set on giving everything to the war overseas …
Even if she loses everything in a war of the heart.
A street orphan abused and abandoned by an alcoholic father at age five, Gabe O’Connor has never let a man stand in her way yet. So when a handsome flight officer thwarts her plans to become a Women Airforce Service Pilot, she’s determined to join the war effort anyway she can. Her chance comes when she reads about a war correspondent who sneaks on a medical ship to reach the front. As the adopted daughter of the Boston Herald’s editor, Gabe plots to do the same, hoping to report on Operation Overlord (D-Day) by “borrowing” foreign correspondent credentials from the Herald. Stowing away on the medical ship that is transporting her cousin Hope Dennehy to England as a nurse with the Army Nurse Corp, Gabe manages to charm everyone she meets. Everyone, that is, except the one officer she longs to win over the most.
Alex Kincaid pegs Gabe O’Connor as trouble the moment she steps foot on Avenger Field. As the eldest brother of a boy whose jaw Gabe broke in grade school, Alex is familiar with her reputation as both a charismatic ringleader and a headstrong hooligan who’s challenged every male and nun from grade school to college. Assigned as her flight instructor, Alex keeps a tight rein, even attempting to forge a friendship rooted in God. But when Gabe mistakes his friendship for more, Alex’s rejection kindles her ire, resulting in her expulsion when she pulls a dangerous stunt against Alex’s orders.
As an aeromedical pilot in France eight months later, Alex is stunned to learn that Gabe is not only posing as a foreign correspondent by a fraudulent name, but causes a summary court marshal for his best friend after she charms him into flying her to Paris for its liberation. Hoping to protect his friend Bren from Gabe and Gabe from herself, Alex makes a deal that inadvertently lands both Gabe and him behind enemy lines. Suddenly, they are exposed to a danger as perilous as the German tanks roaming the Reichswald Forest—a love for each other neither expected.
To celebrate finishing Gabe’s story, I thought it would be fun to run a CHRISTMAS IN JULY SALE, so here it is!
Yep, you read that right — ALL SEVEN of my indie novels are now on sale for only 99 cents each, including my latest O’Connor Christmas short novel, A Dream Fulfilled. So, if you haven’t read all of them, here’s your chance to get any of the following e-books for only 99 cents.
A Dream Fulfilled (Katie & Luke’s story) only 99 cents.
Each Book in the Isle of Hope Series only 99 cents each:
Prequel novella, A Glimmer of Hope, is free!
Book 1 — Isle of Hope: Unfailing Love (5 stars on Amazon)
Book 1 — Love Everlasting (5 stars on Amazon)
Book 3 — His Steadfast Love (5 stars on Amazon)
Each Book in the Silver Lining Ranch Series only 99 cents each.
Book 1 — (Prequel Novel) For Love of Liberty (4.5 stars on Amazon)
Book 2 — Love’s Silver Lining (4.7 stars on Amazon)
A Light in the Window only 99 cents.
(Check out my “A Light in the Window” video HERE created by my hubby using my daughter as model)
I hope you are enjoying your summer as much as I am! Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for my next Journal Jot when I will be announcing both the release date for A Wing & A Prayer and the date for my next Facebook Live, plus giving you a sneak peek excerpt from Gabe’s story.
Till then, have a warm and wonderful summer and HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!! 🇺🇸
HUGS AND MORE HUGS!
Julie
💜 ISLE OF HOPE PIX FROM MELISSA ARMSTRONG 💜
The O’Bryen’s House with its plantation look and white picket fence.
The O’Bryen’s dock.
Mansion on Forsythe Park where Book 2, Love Everlasting, begins.
The famous Lulu’s Chocolate Bar, which appears in all three books.
Chase Griffin’s (hero #3) favorite dessert, double chocolate peanut butter pie!
