March 12, 2016

What 3 Book Tours in 40 Days Taught Me

When book bloggers review a book, they do NOT mess around.

I've met some wonderful, intuitive reader/reviewers in the past several weeks. Of course I'm honored and humbled by their glowing praise of Like There's No Tomorrow, Like a Love Song, and The Memoir of Johnny Devine, but I'm also highly impressed at the gifts of insight and articulation these women possess. I wish I could write book reviews half so well!

Carrie - a.k.a. Reading Is My Superpower - has a gift for not only thoroughly enjoying a good love story, but also mining the depths of it for things that, quite frankly, few people find. It is a particular delight to me and author friends when something we've so carefully woven into a story--by the inspiration and guidance of God's Spirit--is not only found, but leaves a lasting impression or impact. 

Yes, Carrie, God's Story is THE story, and our stories, whether we write fiction or live and breathe out our guts-and-glory story of real life, stem like tender shoots from the Vine, from the Master's own story. 

May the One who inspires true love continue to redeem, refresh, renew, repair, restore, and inspire us all to receive and re-gift the Love that never fails.

Since I absolutely can't help myself, here are a couple of snippets of Carrie's wonderful review of Like a Love Song:

"...I love books that point me to THE Story, to the Author of my days, to the ultimate Romance. This is why I adore reading books by Camille Eide. Because along with a great love story, readers are shown a reflection of THE great love story...

...Sue is guarded and perpetually stressed but her heart is in the right place. It just needs some TLC. The kids at the ranch, just like any group of kids that age, some were easier to like than othersBut see, I’ve known kids like them – in the foster system, abandoned by everyone who should have been protecting them, rejected one too many times. My heart ached and swelled and broke – and healed again – in turns.


And Joe… It took me longer than I care to admit to realize that Joe and his convoluted ex-adoptive family were a sort-of picture, if you will, of another convoluted family – this one hailing all the way back to the Biblical book of Genesis. But once I discovered it (and after I squealed in allegory-loving delight), I was reminded of how much depth there is beneath Camille Eide’s books.  In fact, they really need to be read more than once because there is priceless gold to mine that surpasses what can first be seen on the surface... 
The beauty of this story – the tender victory of every story on earth – is that God specializes in binding up heart-wounds. He is the Father to the fatherless. He places the lonely in families – even unconventional ones. He sets people free who have been imprisoned by the trauma of their past and gives them joy. (Psalm 68:5-6)"



Please click HERE to read the rest of this lovely review AND to enter the final hours of the giveaway for a free copy of the book, but hurry! 


More Like a Love Song reviews:

PS: I am deeply grateful to Singing Librarian Books and Sydney Anderson's mad skills in putting together these amazing Book Tours. I highly recommend her services to authors interested in launching a book tour.

2 comments:

MeezCarrie said...

i am humbled beyond words. Serious tears in my eyes over here, Camille! It is such a privilege to be trusted with amazing books and get to live out my dream of talking about them. (P.S. - Sydney rocks!!)

Sydney Anderson said...

Thank you so much, Camille! Thank you for the opportunity to work with you and promote your books (I still need to read Like There's No Tomorrow and Like a Love Song and am very much looking forward to it)!! I hope to host tours for you again in the future. It has been a lot of fun!

ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF. . . .

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:

I've published five novels and 2 novellas (more about those on my website.) I've been writing all my life, but decided in 2007 to get serious about being published.

I love action movies and Jane Austen. (she’s dead, I know. I found that out when I tried to get her to endorse my novel)

They let me play Bass guitar and sing in a worship band.

I can produce 4 dozen homemade cinnamon rolls in a flash for a crowd of drooling young adults. Or publishing house editors.

I used to have a Harley. Now we have seven grandkiddos. Decent trade, really.

I am a proud Grammy. Don't even think about taking candy from my babies.

I hate shopping (Yes, I'm aware that I'm a girl)

MY ROOTS:
I've lived in Oregon all my life, spent time in Eugene (Go DUCKS!), Springfield, Reedsport, and Smith River. Which is not really a town, but a river, about 70 miles long, a tributary of the Umpqua River in southwest Oregon.

Although it's not a town, it is a community with a strong sense of pioneer history. It's cool to say you've lived there, especially if you lived there during the days when you had to take a boat to school. No joke! The old farmhouse my grandfather and my mother grew up in still stands, nestled into a narrow, pasture carpeted valley, complete with a swimmin' hole and its own 'crick'. It may turn up in one of my novels.

There's a rumor that my ancestors had a connection with the Mafia back in Sicily. I used to fantasize as a kid about a big black limo with tinted windows pulling up and whisking me away from school. Ahhh. So THAT'S why I'm having so much trouble conjugating my dangling participles now.

NOT RANDOM: I am challenged by the truth and amazed by the grace of God. And it's either in spite of or because of that grace that I hold a PhD in Learning Stuff the Hard Way.