Novels

Coffee Thursday – 3/15/17

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

`
COFFEE STEAMING - SEPIACoffee: It’s the elixir of love.  I know there are those who believe that title belongs to various other concoctions, but not so. It’s coffee. I’m sure of it.  In fact, as I was preparing to do this week’s “Coffee” post, I started thinking about how I’ve used coffee as the primary beverage between the romantic couples in all my novels. So I thought I’d throw together three excerpts from those stories for today’s take on the subject.

From Cameron’s Rib, page 119.

Thursday morning Suzanne sat across from Cameron at his desk and placed her tape recorder between them as she prepared to begin their interviews. The room was fragrant with the chocolate, hazelnut coffee they were enjoying, and as Cameron looked across at Suzanne, he felt a sense of deep contentment, sharing this time with her. …

`
From Jonah’s Song, pp. 95,96.

That decision being made, they decided to play a game of Scrabble and have more coffee, and before they knew it, the evening had grown late, and all four of them were ready to turn in.  At the door to his room, Jonah turned to Vallie, who was just opening her own door.  …  “Why don’t we plan on setting down around 9:00 tomorrow morning,” he said. “And see what we can come up with.  That way we’ll have time to run through the music a couple of times before tomorrow night.”

Vallie nodded her head.  “That sounds fine.”

“Good,” he said, smiling his signature smile at her now.  “And thank you, Valentina … for agreeing to be my partner in this venture.”

Vallie smiled back, genuine happiness in her face.  “I’m happy to do it, Jonah.  Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, my dear,” he said, and turned to open his door.

As Vallie prepared for bed, she kept thinking about how he had called her “my dear” several times recently.  Every time he had said those words, Vallie had felt a tingling all through her.  She told herself he hadn’t meant anything special by the term, but still, the endearment lodged in her heart, to be taken out again later and treasured. …

`
From Slate, pp.3-6.

Slate sat in a back booth at Katy’s Koffee Korner,  his eyes slowly scanning the room. They came to rest on a woman sitting alone in a booth across from his. She was sitting with her head bent forward and was massaging her temples.. Headache, he surmised, and glanced back at the waitress, winking at her as she set his coffee on the table and promised to be back with his breakfast in a couple minutes.

While he ate,  Slate glanced occasionally at the woman across from him. She had raised her head now and was sipping her coffee, her eyes closed. Her hair was a warm light brown shade, with just a tinge of highlights from the sun here and there. It barely skimmed her shoulders in soft waves. Her features weren’t classically beautiful, but she was really pleasant to look at. Her complexion was unblemished, and her eyes and eyebrows seemed to be etched in at exactly the right angles to highlight her whole face. Her mouth was rather wide, and her lips looked as if an artist had sculptured them. Yes, all in all, the sight was something he took pleasure in this morning.

He’d evidently taken just a little too much pleasure, because he’d been staring. Suddenly, she looked up and right at him, a question in her large, brown eyes. Almost exactly the color of a copper penny, Slate thought to himself as his attention focused on those eyes. He was caught off guard by the vulnerable look on her face, and instinctively he smiled his most genuine smile at her and then went back to concentrating on his food. A minute later, he heard her conversation with the waitress who had come back to bring her a fresh carafe of coffee.

“Can you give me exact directions from here to the Sandstone Motel?” she asked.

“Sure, Hon. It isn’t hard. I’ll write it down for you and be right back.”

“Thank you,” she answered, smiling and lighting up her face for just a moment, but when the waitress left, she went back to rubbing her temples and then her eyes. She finally leaned her head back against the high divider of her booth and closed her eyes, but Slate, glancing sideways at her, noticed a couple of tears trickling down her cheeks. After a minute more, she took a deep breath and opened her eyes, wiping the tears from her face with her hands, and by that time the waitress was back with her directions.

“Thank you so much,” she said and handed the waitress some bills. “This is for you.”

“Thanks, and you come and see us again, Okay?”

“If I have time,” she said smiling slightly at the retreating waitress, and then she slid out of her seat and stood up. Before she could take a step, she swayed and reached for the back of the booth to regain her balance. She was sitting in the last booth across from him, and no one else had noticed the unusual action. She sat back down on the edge of the booth, holding her head. Slate had learned better than to interfere in someone else’s business, but something about her just seemed so vulnerable that he couldn’t keep from getting up and walking over to her booth.

“Are you all right, Miss?” he asked, resting one hand on the table and leaning towards her. She looked up at him then, her eyes registering her pain.

“Yes,” she answered in almost a whisper. Then she cleared her throat and tried to speak louder. “It’s just this stupid migraine headache. They often make me woozy. Eating should help, but I guess the food just hasn’t had time to get into my system yet. I’ll just sit here another minute. Thanks,” she added, smiling wanly.

Slate sat down in the other side of the booth. “How about another cup of coffee?”

She turned back into the normal sitting position in the booth and nodded her head as he picked up the carafe and poured some into her cup. She began drinking it immediately, and Slate stepped over to his own booth and retrieved his cup, bringing it back with him. He poured fresh coffee for himself and topped hers off again. She smiled at him, her eyes seeming to show a little relief now. …

If you’d like to join in the fun for “Coffee Thursday,” just post your own picture, story, article, or poem on the subject and hop over here to leave us the link in a “Comment” window below. I look forward to seeing your take on coffee this week.

“`
~~~

Breaking the Mold

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

BOOKS - darker with symbolSome of the happiest hours of my life have been spent reading great inspirational fiction. But during the past couple of decades, I’ve noticed a trend in that genre that troubles me deeply – not to mention that it takes the fun out of reading inspirational romance and mystery novels. What I’ve been seeing is that nearly every major publishing house now has a mold into which they force every Christian novel – with characters that are carbon copies of scores of characters before them, and with a plot that requires characters to meet within a certain number of pages and to carry out specific types of actions within a certain number of chapters – and worst of all – with themes that carry the reader into the erroneous doctrines of man’s traditions rather than the pure Word of God.

I’ve failed to find one inspirational novel in the past several years that does not promote the erroneous belief that God is behind every single thing that happens in our lives and, therefore, is behind all of the trouble, afflictions, sickness, hurt, and heartache that we undergo. The doctrine that says God deliberately allows (sanctions) those things in our lives in order to teach us something or bring us into a more Christlike character is rampant throughout the Christian bookstore shelves. Now, let’s not beat around the bush: If God deliberately allows those evils when He has the power and the know-how to restrain them it is exactly the same thing as His putting those things in our lives Himself. That teaching goes against everything Jesus Christ taught and lived.

I don’t intend this biographical vignette to be a major Bible lesson, but I will say here that the Word of God is extremely clear for the New Covenant believer that God says He is not in control of all things, and in fact He does not get His own way about a lot of things. He wants all men to be saved, but they will not be. Jesus taught us by His own personal example that God wants all the sick to be healed as well, because He never refused one sick person who came to Him for healing. Moreover, He sent out His disciples to visit the surrounding towns and to heal every sick person in those towns – announcing to them as they did so that they were experiencing the Kingdom of God in that deliverance and healing. He wanted the people in His own hometown to be healed as well, but His Word tell us clearly that He “could not” do any mighty miracles because of their unbelief.

God does not want us to suffer from sickness, deadly storms, earthquakes, accidents, or any number of other horrible destructive forces. But we experience them simply because we live in a cursed world where sin has opened the door to those things, and most of us do not yet have enough of a handle on God’s Word to be living every aspect of our lives according to it. But none of that is God’s plan for us. If it were, He wasted His breath when He breathed out Psalm 91 to the Psalmist and had it included in the canon of the Holy Bible.

So the Christian novels that promote the teaching that it is actually part of God’s will and plan for us to suffer the kinds of things Jesus delivered people from is simply another attempt by man to cop out of our personal responsibility to study and learn God’s Word for ourselves and then to believe it for ourselves. If we can blame God for all the problems we’re facing, we don’t have to take any responsibility for their cause or their cure either one. It’s convenient for the lazy believer, but it is a pack of lies about our God.

His Word also tells us clearly that He has given us His Word, His promises, and His Holy Spirit that will impart to us “all things pertaining to life and godliness” and will create into us the Divine nature of God. The teaching that problems, hardships, and heartaches create the Divine nature of Jesus Christ in us is a direct contradiction of God’s personal Word on the subject. Yet hundreds of inspirational novels that have lined the bookstore shelves for years now keep preaching that demonically inspired theme again and again.

So when the Lord called me to write inspirational novels, He called me to write stories that were true to His Word and that presented Him in the light of what Jesus showed us daily in His time with us on the earth. Jesus said He spoke only what the Father wanted Him to speak and He did only the works that the Father wanted Him to do. So I make every effort in my inspirational novels to show God doing exactly what Jesus did and said. And because He’s still the same “yesterday, today, and forever,” I show Him doing and saying the same things in the everyday lives of ordinary believers in the 21st century.

It’s past time for us to have some inspirational novels that don’t fit the molds. It’s time for stories that show us what it’s really like to live in the 21st century with a God who is just like Jesus Christ.

~~~

Share Your World February 27, 2017 – by Guest Blogger Mariah Jacoby

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

`
Disclaimer: The following is a blatant advertisement:

everythings-jake-amazon-cover-2-for-e-bookI decided I’d do something different this week: Instead of answering Cee’s questions as myself, I’m giving a guest blogger the opportunity to answer. Cee keeps telling us to just have fun with this challenge and even let our alter ego answer if we like. So meet Mariah Jacoby, the heroine in my inspirational romance Everything’s Jake. Here’s Mariah’s take on this week’s Share Your World.

Question # 1: Ever ran out of gas in your vehicle?

Are you kidding?  Really?  Never!  But, of course, you may not realize that I’m an auto mechanic. I didn’t start out to be. But after two college degrees in journalism and education — and a host of jobs that I just couldn’t fit into — I finally admitted to myself that I’m just a grease-monkey at heart. I love cars, trucks, vans, and busses. Anything with an engine that purrs when it’s happy makes me happy. And, in reference to the question at hand, why, I’d never forget to put gas in a car anymore than I’d forget to eat. So  — I guess the short answer to that question is — No.

Question # 2: Which are better: black or green olives?

Now, that’s a hard one. I love both. I enjoy the smooth, sweetness in the black olives, but sometimes I crave something salty, and you can’t beat the green olives for that, especially since they add just the tiniest bitter bite along with the brine. I  especially love olives on pizza. Neil Warner and I have been having pizza together every Friday night for the past month — when we work on the books for his auto repair business. It’s sort of like a non-date, which I hope will eventually get us to a date date — if you know what I mean. But that’s all in the book.

Question # 3: If you were a great explorer, what would you explore?

Chrysler Manufacturing plant, General Motors manufacturing plant, Toyota manufacturing plant, and Neil.  Oooops, I guess that didn’t come out exactly right. What I mean is that I’d like to get to know Neil even better — learn what all makes him happy and sad, what his dreams are, what I can do to be number one in his life. He’s probably someone you’d consider just an ordinary guy: late thirties, slightly overweight, kind eyes, a mega-watt smile — and he looks sexy in his green coveralls with a dab of grease on his chin. (sigh). I think I fell half in love with him the first day I met him because he was so kind to me, giving me a chance to prove myself even when he knew he was taking a chance where his business reputation was concerned. Yep, I think I’d like exploring that man more than anything else.

Question # 4: Quotes List: At least three of your favorite quotes?

I’m going to share just one quote: It’s my favorite of all time:

“To thine own self be true.” (William Shakespeare as the character Polonius in Hamlet)

I’ve finally followed that advice. One day, after a horrible relationship failure, I got up from my bed where I had lain for an hour bawling, looked into my bathroom mirror, and got real with myself. I said, “All right, so maybe you’re not a femme fatale who can bring men to their knees. But you’re a gentle, kind, loving, hard-working woman of God. And, dang it, girl! You’re also the best darn mechanic that this town has ever laid eyes on!” (Everything’s Jake, p. 89).

That’s when I really started enjoying my life completely, and that’s also when I opened the door to the love relationship I’d wanted my whole life.

Bonus Question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful I discovered the truth about Carter Sanford and what he wanted from his relationship with me. And in the weeks to come, I’m looking forward to becoming the one woman Neil Warner can’t live without.

If you’d like to find out how successful I am in that endeavor, be sure to read my story. You can find it in paperback or digital at Amazon.

 

 

~~~

‘Everything’s Jake’ – Love at the Auto Repair Shop

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

everythings-jake-amazon-cover-2-for-e-bookIt all began with a dream. Yep, it’s another one of those stories. Two of my novels came from dreams that stayed with me long after I woke. I just knew I had to pick up from that point and finish those stories — one of which turned out to be EVERYTHING’S JAKE.

In fact, I can’t even take credit for the title because it was part of my dream as well.

It’s just a little love story. But, then again, it’s a whole lot more than a love story. It’s about finding out who you really are and learning to like that person – and discovering that liking who you are opens the door for the best relationships with other people. It’s about family – and friends who are just like family. It’s about letting God’s way of loving take control of your heart.

In this inspirational novella, you’ll meet Mariah Jacoby. She’s happiest working under the hood of a car, but she’s convinced that grimy hands and greasy smudges on her face aren’t exactly what guys are looking for in a girlfriend. Unfortunately, though, she’s having trouble holding down a job in any other field, despite college degrees and an upbeat personality. Desperate to change her unemployed status, she finally admits it’s time to face the fact that she’s really a “grease monkey” at heart. But dare she hope there’s a guy in her future who’s dreaming of a girl who smells like engine oil?

It’s a relaxing read, and it’s available from Amazon in print as well as in digital format.

Print Version is $4.99

Digital Version is $1.99

Check it out, and please don’t forget one other thing. If you like it, please go back to Amazon and leave a short review telling everyone how you enjoyed it. As most of you know, we authors are dependent on word of mouth from our readers to help us find more readers. So thanks in advance. (Oh, and if for some reason you don’t happen to like it — well — just don’t say anything, okay?) 🙂

~~~

Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge: Relax (with Cinquain)

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

 

Exif JPEG

Relax
And read a book.
Release your mind from toil.
Let soul take flight on words with wings.
Renewed.

 

Visit Daily Post to participate.

 

 

~

‘Racing Toward The Light’- a novel about the battle between light and darkness

| Sandra Pavloff Conner

I have taken considerable liberty this week in responding to the prompt at “A Dash of Sunny.”  It calls us to look at light and darkness and to write about them in any way we feel led. I have written an entire novel that focuses on the battle between light and darkness, looking in depth at the root sources of both.

As with all my inspirational novels, the theme of Racing Toward The Light is based in the Christian faith, and this particular book allows the reader to delve into the earthly lives of the characters of the story, but also into the spirit realm, where those forces of light and darkness dwell in all their fullness, and from which they influence and control earthly beings.

Since Racing Toward The Light fits this prompt so perfectly — and since it also fits the season of Halloween, when the world focuses on those forces from the dark side of the spirit realm — and since the E-Book version of the novel goes on sale at the Amazon Kindle store today — I thought I’d give you a peek at the official book trailer, in which I personally read an excerpt from the first few pages.

Maybe I can whet your appetite enough that  you’ll hop over to Amazon and purchase a copy.  And even if you don’t, it’s fun to share this much of it with  you. The printed version came out about 5  years ago, but I’m excited about the digital version because so many people from around the world can download and read it now without dealing with exorbitant shipping costs.

So if you’re ready for a fresh, enlightening Halloween experience, come walk through this journey with Noah, as he struggles to find a way to overcome his own fear and weakness in order to commit himself to fighting a new battle with forces from beyond this world. Experience the power of God as angels and demons engage on the spiritual plane while believers discover the truth about their position of authority and their victory in the name of Jesus Christ and His blood.

 

~~~