20 Great eBooks under $8

Hello dear readers. Sorry for my absence this past week. I was dog-sitting and the internet was not cooperating... But, I'm back! And, as a little treat this morning, I'm excited to share 20 amazing ebooks under $8. Some are even FREE!!! So, I give you full permission to splurge ;)





*Note: I haven't read all of these but they are from authors I trust. And, at the time of this post, their price was below $8 but prices are always subject to change.

Easter Devotions and Activities for Your Whole Family | Adventures in Odyssey

 

We're down to the final two weeks before we celebrate Easter and Jesus' resurrection. Do your children understand and grasp the full meaning of why we celebrate the holiday? Adventures in Odyssey and Odyssey Adventure Club want to provide your family with a week of meaningful, fun Easter activities to help make the holiday come alive this year. Simply head to this page and sign up to download your free PDF full of family devotions, egg wraps, recipes, crafts, and cards. Oh, and as a bonus, here's a free activity sheet from Focus on the Family!

 

If you're looking to dig into the Easter holiday more and want to build your kids' faith, consider signing your family up for the Odyssey Adventure Club (OAC). It offers safe and free content for everyone in your family. Membership to the OAC costs just $9.99 a month — or even less if parents make a six-month or one-year commitment. Enrollment provides more than enough content to keep kids engaged throughout the year:

• Access to exclusive content and first looks at books and select Radio Theatre dramas.
• On-the-go access to the OAC app for both iOS and Android users.
• 24/7 streaming access to nearly 800 AIO episodes.
• A new, members-only AIO episode every month.
• A subscription to Adventures in Odyssey Clubhouse Magazine, and more.

To learn more about the Odyssey Adventure Club, visit www.oaclub.org, Facebook, Twitter. and Pinterest.

Dony Jay & Spy-Thrillers | Guest Post

Emilie here: Welcome author Dony Jay to the blog today as he talks about his favorite genre: spy-thrillers! 

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Get to know Dony Jay...

How did you start writing? What made you choose this genre?
I’m a thirty-eight year-old husband and father of two. I’ve been a cop for just over thirteen years, the last eight of which I’ve been assigned to CID (Criminal Investigations Division). When I’m not writing, I’m reading. When I’m not reading, I’m writing. More or less. I love being home with the family and going to my kids’ soccer and basketball games and practices and tournaments. A few other things I enjoy doing are hiking in the woods, going for a good run and knocking the soccer ball around.

I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I started writing seriously after I read two books back to back: Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn and Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. They inspired me to write my own spy thriller series. And while I devour all kinds of books, spy thrillers will always be my favorite.

What was the inspiration for your book?
Primarily my inspiration comes from the men and women of the special operations and intelligence communities—the real warrior spies, but more broadly all those who serve at home and abroad. The idea that there are people out there sacrificing their time with their loved ones, their dreams, their lives for me and my family, for America, is deeply moving. It continues to inspire me and always will.

Do you have a favorite character in this work? If so, why?
My clear favorite is the main character and protagonist, Reagan Rainey. He’s of course named after Ronald Reagan, one of my favorite presidents. Rainey lost his dad at a young age—his dad was in the CIA and was killed in the line of duty—and has taken up the mantle of vigilant protector of his mom and sister. He’s this fierce and fearless American warrior, a trained killer really, yet he’s a man of strong faith in Almighty God. He’s a unique combination of George Washington, Ronald Reagan and Adam Brown. Adam Brown was a U.S. Navy SEAL about whom Eric Blehm wrote his book titled, Fearless. I will never stop recommending that book to people by the way. Go read Fearless…even before my book. Do it now. You will not be sorry.

What is one take-away from your book that you hope readers identify with?
God is in control. No. Matter. What. There is so much that goes on in our lives and around the world that just doesn’t seem to make sense. Read the news these days; the world is upside down. But God’s ways are not our ways. We must learn to put our trust fully in Him. He is in control and He knows what He’s doing. (tweet this)

What was a challenge you faced while writing it?
Time. I know I’m not alone here. All authors deal with trying to find the time to write. But as an indie, writing is only the first of many tasks required to publish a book. Obviously, I have a regular full-time job (with rotating shifts and every other week being on call), but my biggest frustration is being the husband and father my wife and kids deserve. All this while I try to write and publish the next bestseller. The result is a heavy burden of guilt. That time with my characters and story is time away from them. But I’m blessed to have a lovely, supportive, godly wife and a son and daughter who offer faithful encouragement. They actually pray for old dad and his books at dinnertime. It’s great! And humbling. Sometimes though the writing just has to wait as life’s circumstances swirl. But God is good and He is faithful. As I mentioned before, He is in control even when (especially when) I feel like I’m losing it.

Was there a passage of scripture you came across or used while writing it that you’d like to share?
Psalm 97. I sign all my books with it. It starts off, “The LORD reigns…” Present tense. I love that.

What are you reading right now?
Inside the CIA by Ronald Kessler. Both for entertainment and research. I’m about a third of the way in.

Tell us something about yourself that has nothing to do with writing or books.
Hmm. Well, I recorded an original song that my wife and I danced to at our wedding reception. I’m no Michael W. Smith, but I have to admit, it was a pretty special moment. It’s funny, my daughter sometimes asks me to play the song now.

Here’s another I’ll throw in free of charge (lol): I’m extremely competitive…in a healthy way. I hate to lose even more than I like to win. I’m serious. I absolutely hate to lose. When I do fail at something though, I use that as fuel to get better. It’s just who I am. When I put my mind to something, I am stubbornly determined to succeed.

 
The Warrior Spy
by Dony Jay

The CIA has a problem. Its best clandestine operatives keep turning up dead. And now, as if things couldn't get any worse, a Defense Department scientist, specializing in high-energy lasers, has gone missing. America needs answers. And fast.

Delta Force operator Reagan Rainey, on temporary duty assignment with a secret CIA entity known as Directorate Twelve, is tasked to do just that—get answers. But to do so, he not only has to outwit and outmaneuver a dangerous cabal of foreign actors believed to be at the center of it all, he must contend with a deadly assassin who is bent on destroying him.

Relying on his bedrock faith in Almighty God, Rainey is forced to race against the clock to uncover what is really going on and why, before his beloved America is pushed to the brink of war.

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Dony Jay is an American, a husband and father of two. He loves to laugh and joke around, loves to spend time with his family, loves to be home. A graduate of York College of PA, with a B.S. degree in criminal justice, Dony has been a police officer for the past thirteen years, a detective for the last eight.

He is an avid reader and enjoys all kinds of books, most of all thrillers. In 2010, Dony set out to author his own spy thriller series, one with a distinctly Christian worldview and a patriotic flair for America...as she was founded.

When he's not reading or writing, he loves playing sports (soccer mostly), staying fit and cheering on the Philadelphia Eagles.

Above all, he's a follower of Jesus Christ. According to Dony, the tenets of a rich & rewarding life include faith, family and freedom. In that order.

He resides in south-central Pennsylvania.

Website: www.DonyJayBooks.com
Facebook.com/DonyJayBooks 
Twitter.com/DonyJayBooks 
Goodreads.com/DonyJay
E-mail: DonyJay@DonyJayBooks.com

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::WINNER::

Last week I had Cathy Elliott on the blog and she offered to give away a copy of her fun cozy mystery, A Vase of Mistaken Identity. We've got a winner : 

Annie JC 

Congrats! I'll be in touch :)  

Julianna Deering, Liz Johnson & Tanya Eavenson

Dressed for Death
by Julianna Deering

Published: March 1, 2016
From: Bethany House Publishers
Purchase: Dressed for Death

Drew and Madeline Farthering arrive at a Regency-Era house party at Winteroak House, excited to be reunited with old friends, including Drew’s former Oxford classmate Talbot Cummins. Tal is there with his fiancée, Alice Henley, and though many present seem worried about the couple, nobody is prepared when Alice dies from an apparent overdose. Tal refuses to believe she’d taken the drugs intentionally, and a dark question arises of whether the death is an accident or murder.

The police have their own information though, and Drew is shocked when they arrest someone he’s trusted and admired since his childhood—someone who’s been smuggling drugs into the country for years. Stunned by what has happened, Tal begs Drew to get to the bottom of everything, but Drew’s never felt more unsettled. Questioning his own ability to see people as they really are, Drew doesn’t know who to trust, and he’s not ready for the secrets he’s about to uncover—or the danger he’ll bring down on everyone he holds dear.

Get to know Julianna...

What are the names of your pets?
I have three cats: Elizabeth who is five, Petie who is three, and Eddie (a girl!) who is one. I love them madly, even Eddie who won't stop chewing my pens.

Favorite place you’ve traveled to?
I have several places I love, but I think York, England is my favorite. It still has its medieval wall around the central part of the city and one of the most glorious cathedrals ever. It's a fascinating place to visit.

What's your favorite chore?
I don't get a chance to do it often enough, and I really, really need to do it now, but I love organizing my things. It's lovely to clear everything out and put it in good order. Sometimes I find things I didn't even know I had. It's like a treasure hunt.


Also from Julianna Deering: The Drew Farthering Mysteries:
Rules of Murder, Death by the Book and Murder at the Mikado available from Bethany House

Sign up for Drew's News www.juliannadeering.com/newsletter.php
Website: www.deannajuliedodson.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/deannajuldodson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJuliannaDeering


The Red Door Inn
by Liz Johnson 

Published: March 1, 2016
From: Revell
Purchase: The Red Door Inn

Marie Carrington is broke, desperate, and hoping to find sanctuary on Prince Edward Island while decorating a renovated bed-and-breakfast. Seth Sloane moved three thousand miles to help restore his uncle's Victorian B and B--and to forget about the fiancée who broke his heart. He wasn't expecting to have to babysit a woman with a taste for expensive antiques and a bewildering habit of jumping every time he brushes past her.

The only thing Marie and Seth agree on is that getting the Red Door Inn ready to open in just two months will take everything they've got--and they have to find a way to work together. In the process, they may find something infinitely sweeter than they ever imagined on this island of dreams.

Get to know Liz...

If your main character celebrated Halloween, what would they dress up as?
Marie would definitely don a straw hat, pinafore, and long red braids to be Anne Shirley from her favorite book, Anne of Green Gables.

If your book became a movie, who would you cast for your main characters?
Marie would be played by Rachel Bilson (Heart of Dixie). She’s very petite with long, wavy brown hair. And she has just enough spirit to play Marie, who often has a snide comment. And Seth would be played by Jonathan Patrick Moore. He’s tall and dark and broody—and carrying a heavy weight on his shoulders.

What’s your favorite book?
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare has been my favorite since . . . well, for as long as I can remember. I adore Kit, a free spirit from Barbados, who ends up in a very strict Puritan community in the late 1600s. I think Nat Eaton was my first literary crush.

Restored
by Tanya Eavenson

Published: February 11, 2016

From: Clean Reads

Purchase: Restored



Sometimes love arrives when you least expect it.

Dr. Steven Moore is known nationally for saving lives. If only he could save his own. Unable to deal with his cancer prognosis, he retreats to a happier time in his past—to the woman who once stole his heart.

Four years after the death of her beloved husband, bookstore owner Elizabeth Roberts still struggles to sustain her faith and joy in the Lord as she raises her two sons. She strives to find a way through her family's grief, never suspecting a man from her past might offer hope for her future.

But how can there be a future when he's only come to kiss her and says good-bye?


Get to know Tanya...

What’s one thing you must have/do in the morning? 
I. Must. Have. Coffee. =)

If your main characters were animals, what would they be? 
I’d have to say Lions. I’ll never forget this one year we were visiting family in Kentucky and took a trip to the Louisville Zoo. While waiting for family members to join us, I noticed the Lion exhibit and how a male and a female lion seemed drawn to each other. They stood side by side for some time before the female lay at the male’s feet and the male proceeded to lick her face and ear. It was an incredible scene, as if he was claiming and protecting her.

What's one chore you hate doing? 
I love to cook, but hate doing the dishes. However as Agatha Christie said, “The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes.” I’m taking her words to heart!

Tanya Eavenson enjoys spending time with her husband, and their three children. Her favorite pastime is grabbing a cup of coffee, eating chocolate, and reading a good book. Tanya is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Word Weavers International, and writes for Christ to the World Ministries. You can find her at her website http://www.tanyaeavenson.com/ on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Google, or on Amazon.

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Walk Through Holy Week with Odyssey Adventure Club

Hey readers, Emilie here! If you've been here on the blog for some time you know I'm all-out crazy for Adventures in Odyssey!!! I love what they provide for children and, let's be honest, adults too! I'll be featuring some really awesome things they've got going for kids and families as we make our way toward Easter. Take a look...
 

 

The Bible is no doubt a timeless book, but often it's seen by the younger generation as ancient and antiquated. How can we make the stories of the Bible—particularly the Easter story—alive and exciting for our children? Adventures in Odyssey has created a free activity kit for families to experience the Easter story brought to life through eight days of Christ-centered and fun activities. Click here to sign up and download the kit for free.

 

If you're looking to bring the Bible to life further during the Easter season, consider signing your family up for the Odyssey Adventure Club (OAC). It offers safe and free content for everyone in your family. Membership to the OAC costs just $9.99 a month — or even less if parents make a six-month or one-year commitment. Enrollment provides more than enough content to keep kids engaged throughout the year:

• Access to exclusive content and first looks at books and select Radio Theatre dramas.
• On-the-go access to the OAC app for both iOS and Android users.
• 24/7 streaming access to nearly 800 AIO episodes.
• A new, members-only AIO episode every month.
• A subscription to Adventures in Odyssey Clubhouse Magazine, and more.

To learn more about the Odyssey Adventure Club, visit www.oaclub.org, Facebook, Twitter. and Pinterest.

Tying the Knot by Rob Green | RE:View

A complete guide to premarital counseling with Christ at the center! 

Before anyone asks, no I'm not getting married. As silly as this will sound, I didn't realize this was a premarital counseling book. (Um yes, hello Emilie can you read?) I realize now it says that right on the cover but you guys know me and the fact I hardly ever read the back of books before I decide read them. And hey - I look at reading things like this as information for the future and extremely helpful to think through. I also find it helpful in my own personal walk with Christ and as a type of research for characters too. So, all around a bonus!

With that said, I really enjoyed this book. I feel like Rob did a great job of outlining each chapter and making it understandable for couples. He touched on super important topics like finances, conflict, church community, and many other things. The best part, in my opinion, is how Jesus-central it was! I felt like he did a great job keeping everything solidly rooted in scripture.

Rob also included really helpful questions at the end of each chapter that would help each person dig down deep. The examples he includes of he and his wife as well as couples he has counseled were also very helpful. He includes a section for mentors at the back too, so that's really great, especially if you're new to being a premarital counselor.

All around, if you are a counselor, looking to be a mentor for premarital counseling, or interested in premarital counseling for you and your significant other, this is definitely the book for  you. You can rest assured the advice will be sound, the conversation stimulating, and the guidance always toward the Lord and His plan for marriage.

Rating: 5*
Purchase: Tying the Knot

Book Description
(from Amazon)

Advised by both tellers of fairy tales and harbingers of doom, many engaged couples simply don’t know what to expect from marriage, so they focus their anxious energies on the wedding day. Rob Green, a pastor, counselor, and veteran of many premarital counseling sessions, shares that the joy, fun, companionship, and love couples hope for before marriage are not only possible, they are actually God’s plan for marriage. But none of these wonderful things happen automatically when you tie the knot. A strong and satisfying marriage must be intentionally built on Jesus.

Tying the Knot offers soon-to-be-married couples a practical vision of Christ-centered marriage that is realistic, hopeful, and actionable. This nine-session study guides couples through issues like conflict, expectations, communication, finances, and intimacy, showing how each can be successfully resolved with Christ at the center of the marriage.

Knowing the stresses and needs of a couple in their season of engagement, Green has helpfully designed the study to require a manageable (and healthy) 60 minutes of at-home work per session, with questions and exercises to build communication and intimacy at the end of each chapter. Tying the Knot also includes an appendix for mentors, making it easy for a married couple, lay leader, or counselor to lead an engaged couple through the book.

Field-tested and recommended by multiple counselors in a thriving counseling practice, Tying the Knot has already guided many couples into a stronger and more joyful union. Let this nine-week premarriage study reorient your life and marriage around Christ, so you both will experience all the blessings of marriage as God designed it.

• Presents a day-to-day vision of Christ-centered marriage that is realistic, hopeful, and practical • Demonstrates clearly—in just nine chapters or sessions—how issues like conflict, expectations, communication, finances, and intimacy can only be successfully and satisfyingly approached with Christ at the center of a marriage • Field tested and recommended by multiple counselors in a thriving counseling practice • Highly practical and accessible for couples, requires about 60 minutes of weekly at-home work • Includes chapter-by-chapter exercises and questions for couples to do separately and together to build communication and intimacy • Includes an appendix for mentors to guide couples through the book

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I received a free copy of this book for review purposes, but was under no obligation to read the book or post a review. I do so under my own motivation and the opinions I have expressed in this review are honest and entirely my own.

Crystal L. Barnes {Writer Wednesday}

A little bit about Crystal...

An award-winning author, Crystal L Barnes also happens to be a born-n-raised Texan and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). She has a degree in Computing Science because she loves putting things into their proper place, and she enjoys writing because she gets to share her love of old-fashioned things and the Lord. You can also find her watching old sitcoms like I Love Lucy. :)

Connect with Crystal...

Find Crystal at her website,
Connect on her blog and Stitches Thru Time group blog
Amazon Author page
Goodreads
Pinterest
Google+
Facebook author page
Want to be notified of her latest releases and other fun tidbits? Subscribe to her newsletter
Purchase: Love, Stock & Barrel

Get to know Crystal L. Barnes

You and Writing

Tell us a little bit about yourself...

God called me to write in January of 2011. I never saw it coming. :) I am enjoying the ride though. He’s taught me so much and helped me to grow in countless ways as a writer and as a child of God. I’ve spent countless hours reading ever since I stumbled over Janette Oke books in my middle school library. From there our Christian romance library began to grow with authors like Lori Wick, Dee Henderson, Mary Connealy, Janice Thompson, Karen Witemeyer… I could be here all day. :) Suffice it say I’ve always enjoyed true Christian fiction where the spiritual thread is so interwoven into the story that if you were to remove it the story/plot would fall apart. That’s the kind of stories I strive to write—one’s that will minister to hearts in a time of need like those stories did for me and continue to do today. That’s where my heart lies.

Emilie here: I used to devour Janette Oke books when I was younger! I love the purpose you feel for your writing!

Your Writing

Tell us a little bit about your book...

Why did you write it? 
Well, I needed a second story for my Marriage & Mayhem series, so I knew it had to have marriage and mayhem. I figured a shotgun wedding qualified for that pretty well. J However, I wanted this to be different from your average shotgun wedding tale. Most folks know that a shotgun wedding normally has the gun pointed at the fella. Well, I figured I’d through a twist into it and see what would happen if the gun was pointed at the gal for a change. J Thus was born the story Love, Stock, & Barrel. :)
 
What is one take-away from your book that you hope readers identify with?
Hope. With God, there is always hope for every circumstance we face, no matter how hard. And trust me, I throw some hard stuff at Dinah and Russell.

Was there a passage of scripture you came across or used while writing it that you’d like to share?

“For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”—Philippians 4:11–13 

Did you get to do any fun research for the book? 
Oh, I got to learn a lot about guns and rifles of the old west. (My heroine grew up in a gunsmith shop after all). At a Texas Ranger museum, I got to take apart and reassemble a Colt Peacemaker. Do you know those things weigh as much as a bag of sugar? (Right at 5 1bs.) I also learned which rifles and handguns used the same bullets. I visited Colorado Bend and Inks Lake State Parks in the Texas hill country – beautiful!

Emilie here: Sounds like SO much fun!

What made you choose the setting for the book? 
I chose Crystal Falls, Texas for a couple of reasons. For one, I’m a Texan, born-n-raised, so I write what I know. Second, in 2014, I wrote a short story called Husband Hunting (currently released in the Out of the Storm collection) that was set in the imaginary town of Crystal Falls, Texas. I had such fun with the characters and location I wanted to go back. :) So I did. J Love, Stock, & Barrel starts in the east but I don’t take long in getting my gal to Texas. :) Crystal Falls is loosely based upon places I’ve visited in the Texas Hill Country.

Writing

Let’s talk about your writing life....

How long did you write before you got published? 

I started learning the craft of writing in January 2011. I’ve been learning ever since but plunged into the published pond in 2015 with two short stories and my first full-length novel Win, Love, or Draw.

Are you a Panster or Plotter? 

Pantster…although I’m trying to be a more focused pantster. (If that’s even possible :D )

Emilie here: I am right there with you - and I'm hoping it's possible too hehe.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors for writing and/or publishing? 

Write from the heart. Do what God tells you to do. He’ll bring the right people across your path when you need them. Trust Him to lead the way because He loves you and won’t steer you wrong. One verse I have stuck up in my house is Psalm 25:12 (NASB), “Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.”

You

What is your favorite genre to read? Why do you enjoy it? 

Historical Romance – if it’s set in the west even better. J I love the exciting time, the challenge of living off the land without modern conveniences, a time when men lived and died by their word, and held their families dear.

What’s your favorite green food?

Hmmm… I guess that’d be a tossup between green beans and spinach.

If you could travel to any location and stay there for one month where would you go? 

Ooo, hard one. There are so many great places in Texas to visit. Palo Duro Canyon is gorgeous. But there are also countless lakes and streams to drop a line into and relax a day away. However, last year I got to see Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota, such wide open spaces and towering peaks. There’s a ranch outside of Yellowstone tucked up next to a mountain and opposite a beautiful lake. I could gladly disappear there for a while (as long as it’s warm or I stay that way :D ).

What are you currently reading?  

Love Me Tender by Janice Thompson 

I have a TBR list a mile long that I hope to get to visit more often. :)

Emilie here: Amen and I hear you on that one! My TBR is about a mile long too haha! But thanks for taking time out to chat with us here!

Check it out:

Crystal is offering a 15% discount coupon for your readers to use in my author estore. Simply enter the code SIGNINGDEAL at checkout:

Store link: https://squareup.com/market/crystal-l-barnes-author

Don't miss this opportunity readers!!!

Love, Stock, & Barrel 
(Marriage & Mayhem, Book 2)

Hiding from a rat of a fiancé, Dinah Lexington makes tracks for Texas and who she hopes is her late mother’s relative. She’s seeking answers but finds more than she bargains for when she gets caught in a shotgun wedding—with the rifle pointed at her.

Russell Cahill can’t believe his father is demanding he marry the feisty redhead. The sharpshooting female would only add to his troubles, but how does one argue with a gun and an attraction he's fought to ignore?

Sparks fly. Secrets surface. Loss threatens.

Will a dream for love shatter forever, or will the pair find a marriage worth lock, stock, and barrel?