by Jason Joyner | Mar 7, 2008 | Blog, CFBA, chocolate, fiction
This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Truffles by the Sea by Julie Carobini.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Julie Carobini is an award-winning writer whose stories often spotlight her family, the sea, and God’s timely work in the lives of those around her. She lives with her husband, Dan, and their three children in Ventura Beach, California.
She also likes to blog! Go leave her a comment at Waves of Grace.
Julie left you all a special message:
To celebrate my upcoming CFBA tour March 5-7, I’ll be giving away a copy of Truffles by the Sea AND and a 1/2 lb. box of yummy truffles to three of your readers.
All they need to do is drop by my blog
http://juliecarobini.blogspot.com/ during the tour and leave a comment and a way to contact them if they win!
ABOUT THE BOOK:
If you read, Julie’s first book, Chocolate Beach, then you might remember Gaby as Bri’s dramatic, lovesick best friend. Unfortunately, things get worse—much worse—for her before they get…well, best not to give it away.
Sometimes all a girl has left is chocolate…
Gaby Flores has a penchant for drama and an unfortunate knack for dating Mr. So Wrong. After breaking off yet another relationship, watching her apartment building burn to the ground, and discovering that her dippy delivery guy has run off with most of her business, Gaby decides it’s time to turn things around.
So she moves to a tiny waterfront loft and takes on a new motto: “Be gullible no more!” With help from her friends, she works to rebuild her flower shop—and her life. But when legal troubles and quirky neighbors and two surprising romances enter her beachy world, Gaby’s motto and fledgling faith are put to the test.
Can a young woman prone to disaster in both work and love finally find happily ever after?
“Truffles by the Sea is delightful! Julie Carobini has a new fan in this reader, and she’s earned a spot on my keeper shelf.” –Kay James, RomanceReaderatHeart.com
“This book is a delight to read, and the author has us rooting for Gaby from page one. This girl’s never-say-die attitude is incredible, and her life is filled with all kinds of foibles. This is chick lit with heart – about so much more than finding a man…. While keeping the light chick lit tone, this book satisfied while avoiding the tired old formulas. Just when I’m ready to give up on the genre, I stumble across an author who can write without relying on stereotypes.” –Cara Putman, writerinterrupted.com
“I liked Julie Carobini’s first novel, Chocolate Beach, but her sophomore release, Truffles By The Sea, greatly surpasses it. I thoroughly enjoyed Carobini’s second book and felt her writing was much stronger throughout. The characters are deeper and yet funnier – a great combination…. It’s a great read for a cold winter day – you can curl up with the book, a nice fire and pretend you’re the one by the sea.” –Jill Hart, RadiantLit.com
by Jason Joyner | Mar 7, 2008 | Blog, CFBA, chocolate, fiction
This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Truffles by the Sea by Julie Carobini.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Julie Carobini is an award-winning writer whose stories often spotlight her family, the sea, and God’s timely work in the lives of those around her. She lives with her husband, Dan, and their three children in Ventura Beach, California.
She also likes to blog! Go leave her a comment at Waves of Grace.
Julie left you all a special message:
To celebrate my upcoming CFBA tour March 5-7, I’ll be giving away a copy of Truffles by the Sea AND and a 1/2 lb. box of yummy truffles to three of your readers.
All they need to do is drop by my blog
http://juliecarobini.blogspot.com/ during the tour and leave a comment and a way to contact them if they win!
ABOUT THE BOOK:
If you read, Julie’s first book, Chocolate Beach, then you might remember Gaby as Bri’s dramatic, lovesick best friend. Unfortunately, things get worse—much worse—for her before they get…well, best not to give it away.
Sometimes all a girl has left is chocolate…
Gaby Flores has a penchant for drama and an unfortunate knack for dating Mr. So Wrong. After breaking off yet another relationship, watching her apartment building burn to the ground, and discovering that her dippy delivery guy has run off with most of her business, Gaby decides it’s time to turn things around.
So she moves to a tiny waterfront loft and takes on a new motto: “Be gullible no more!” With help from her friends, she works to rebuild her flower shop—and her life. But when legal troubles and quirky neighbors and two surprising romances enter her beachy world, Gaby’s motto and fledgling faith are put to the test.
Can a young woman prone to disaster in both work and love finally find happily ever after?
“Truffles by the Sea is delightful! Julie Carobini has a new fan in this reader, and she’s earned a spot on my keeper shelf.” –Kay James, RomanceReaderatHeart.com
“This book is a delight to read, and the author has us rooting for Gaby from page one. This girl’s never-say-die attitude is incredible, and her life is filled with all kinds of foibles. This is chick lit with heart – about so much more than finding a man…. While keeping the light chick lit tone, this book satisfied while avoiding the tired old formulas. Just when I’m ready to give up on the genre, I stumble across an author who can write without relying on stereotypes.” –Cara Putman, writerinterrupted.com
“I liked Julie Carobini’s first novel, Chocolate Beach, but her sophomore release, Truffles By The Sea, greatly surpasses it. I thoroughly enjoyed Carobini’s second book and felt her writing was much stronger throughout. The characters are deeper and yet funnier – a great combination…. It’s a great read for a cold winter day – you can curl up with the book, a nice fire and pretend you’re the one by the sea.” –Jill Hart, RadiantLit.com
by Jason Joyner | Mar 3, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
On the 26th I suggested that there was a theme or thread between two books that have been reviewed by the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy Blog tour. The most recent was The Shadow and Night, a pure science fiction novel, while the other reviewed a few months ago was The Legend of the Firefish, a fantasy tale featuring pirates. I had a few attempts at trying to guess where I am going with this group of posts. (Congratulations to Nicole for her winning the 10 year Cowboys calendar to decorate her favorite computer office! I’m sure it will be displayed with the respect due such a thoughtful gift…) While good guesses, I’m going in a different direction.
I suppose I need to offer a quick synopsis of each book to put it into context.
I’ll borrow from my previous preview of The Legend of the Firefish:
The Legend of the Firefish sets the reader in a new world, starting in the kingdom of Nearing Vast with young Packer Throme. He has a mysterious past as the son of a local fisherman who started off in seminary and has returned to his village with a talent for swordplay. He is in love with the beautiful, if sheltered Panna Seline, daughter of the local priest.
His motivation is twofold- to restore the fortunes of the declining fishing villages of his home region and to be worthy of the love of Panna. His plan entails hooking up with Scat Wilkins, notorious pirate captain of the Trophy Case, and tracking the elusive, legendary Firefish. This beast is a true sea serpent that is dangerous to all who dare hunt it, but its meat confers healing and power to the person who eats it.
Getting near Scat won’t be easy with his security officer, the mysterious Drammune woman Talon, whose infamy with the sword is only equaled by her cruelty and her mysterious powers.
As for The Shadow and Night, it takes place over 10,000 years in the future on a world that humans have terraformed and colonized called Farholme. It is the farthest world from Ancient Earth, at the end of a series of Gates that allow interstellar travel. The Assembly of Worlds have seen the reign of the Lamb come, and they have a society that is fully built on His Word and His ways, without any known evil since the Jannafy Rebellion thousands of years prior.
As the colonists continue to help shape the world, a forester named Merral comes across some minor anomalies that foreshadow a greater threat growing across the world. As the unthinkable happens and their world is cut off from the rest of the Assembly, Merral must confront the return of evil both externally and internally.
As for the connection between these books – hmm. Seems I’ll have to return to this thought in another post…
by Jason Joyner | Mar 3, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
On the 26th I suggested that there was a theme or thread between two books that have been reviewed by the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy Blog tour. The most recent was The Shadow and Night, a pure science fiction novel, while the other reviewed a few months ago was The Legend of the Firefish, a fantasy tale featuring pirates. I had a few attempts at trying to guess where I am going with this group of posts. (Congratulations to Nicole for her winning the 10 year Cowboys calendar to decorate her favorite computer office! I’m sure it will be displayed with the respect due such a thoughtful gift…) While good guesses, I’m going in a different direction.
I suppose I need to offer a quick synopsis of each book to put it into context.
I’ll borrow from my previous preview of The Legend of the Firefish:
The Legend of the Firefish sets the reader in a new world, starting in the kingdom of Nearing Vast with young Packer Throme. He has a mysterious past as the son of a local fisherman who started off in seminary and has returned to his village with a talent for swordplay. He is in love with the beautiful, if sheltered Panna Seline, daughter of the local priest.
His motivation is twofold- to restore the fortunes of the declining fishing villages of his home region and to be worthy of the love of Panna. His plan entails hooking up with Scat Wilkins, notorious pirate captain of the Trophy Case, and tracking the elusive, legendary Firefish. This beast is a true sea serpent that is dangerous to all who dare hunt it, but its meat confers healing and power to the person who eats it.
Getting near Scat won’t be easy with his security officer, the mysterious Drammune woman Talon, whose infamy with the sword is only equaled by her cruelty and her mysterious powers.
As for The Shadow and Night, it takes place over 10,000 years in the future on a world that humans have terraformed and colonized called Farholme. It is the farthest world from Ancient Earth, at the end of a series of Gates that allow interstellar travel. The Assembly of Worlds have seen the reign of the Lamb come, and they have a society that is fully built on His Word and His ways, without any known evil since the Jannafy Rebellion thousands of years prior.
As the colonists continue to help shape the world, a forester named Merral comes across some minor anomalies that foreshadow a greater threat growing across the world. As the unthinkable happens and their world is cut off from the rest of the Assembly, Merral must confront the return of evil both externally and internally.
As for the connection between these books – hmm. Seems I’ll have to return to this thought in another post…
by Jason Joyner | Feb 27, 2008 | Blog, fiction, theology, writing craft
I’ve noticed a paradox in some Christian fiction books recently. It manifested in The Legend of the Firefish by George Bryan Polivka and The Shadow and Night by Chris Walley. It presents an interesting conundrum for those who pursue writing Christian fiction. It really strikes at the heart of how to write effective, engaging fiction, and it has the potential to create a couple of theoretical camps in this realm of fiction.
Now that I’ve been melodramatic, what does crazy Jason have in mind? Well, I’m not ready to say. But any good product finds a way to create some buzz. I’m hoping that dropping a little teaser will have people wonder what those two books have in common that may portend what I’m talking about.
If anyone has any thoughts, feel free to post comments and I’ll be back in a couple days to open up what I want to discuss.
See you then…
