Lyn Cote Says I Was Wondering...

 I Was Wondering…

why no one answered my question from last month: “Have you ever met a challenge that you or those around you didn’t think you could conquer?” I think it was overlooked since it appeared at the end of the newsletter instead of right after the comments from the previous month.

So I'm just going to talk this month about my greatest challenge. Can you guess what it was? Well, I think that it was writing my first book. I started this when my daughter was 13 months old and I was driving past the school where are used to teach and the voice in my head said, “It's time for you to start your first novel.” And I thought okaaaaayyy. I had always wanted to be an author and I had done some poetry writing and nonfiction writing in my teens and early 20s. But now I was ready and I listened to that voice. I tackled my first full length manuscript. I had two children: my daughter, and a son three years old. And at the same time, my husband was working a full-time job and going to college two nights a week an hour drive both ways. What was I thinking????

But I started right away—How you ask? I love history and that had been my major in my education. And I had an idea for a book! I bought a clipboard and a long legal pad and I literally followed my children around and wrote a sentence whenever they paused. I also let them watch Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers morning and afternoon and could sit and write during those minutes. How long did my handwritten manuscript take to finish? Three years. But I did finish it. Which of my novels do you think it was? Well, there’s no way for you to know since it wasn’t the first novel that I had published!

Now I hope you will reply to the question you missed last month. “Have you ever met a challenge that you or those around you didn’t think you could conquer?”

The answer to which book this was is…

Journey to Victory

Book One in The American Journey Series

“Enemies by war, bound by love—one woman’s courage can change history.”
An inspirational Revolutionary War romance of faith, forgiveness, and enduring love.

Fans of Laura Frantz, Tamera Alexander, and Jocelyn Green will love this inspiring tale of courage and forbidden love set during the American Revolution by USA Today Bestselling Author Lyn Cote. A sweeping historical romance of faith, redemption, and a woman’s fight for dignity in a changing world.

How does the daughter of a French courtesan become a friend of Martha Washington—and the beloved of a man sworn to fight against her cause?

In the early 1700s, Christiane is destined to continue her mother’s glittering legacy at the French court. Yet she longs to be cherished as a wife, not admired as an ornament. After her mother’s death, she escapes France with her renegade father, exchanging silks and chandeliers for the stark beauty of the Canadian wilderness.

When frontier violence threatens all she holds dear, Christiane journeys southward—and into the heart of a revolution. Her courage and compassion draw her into the circles of the new nation’s founders, including Martha Washington herself.

But one man from her past can never be forgotten. Captain John Eastham once protected her on the frontier. Now war has made them enemies. Torn between divided loyalties and an unyielding love, Christiane must summon a faith strong enough to bridge old worlds and new—and discover whether peace can heal what war has broken.

One woman’s courage. One man’s honor. One nation’s birth.
One family’s saga, a young nation’s story~

Click here to purchase.

So please don’t leave me wondering why no one replied to last month’s question. Surely all of us have had a challenge to overcome. Again please share here.—Happy Autumn! Lyn

Laura Scott's New Release!

 

Good morning from Wisconsin! The leaves are falling and the weather has turned cold, a sure sign winter is right around the corner. 

The best winter activity I can recommend is reading a book! There's nothing better than cozying up to a fire to read a great story. 

I'm thrilled to announce the eighth book in my Sullivan K9 Search and Rescue series is now available. Scent of Terror is Bailey and Trevor's story. Bailey is Trevor's best friend's little sister. She's also widowed, pregnant and has amnesia! Wouldn't you like to know what happens next? This book is only $3.99 for the first month of the release. After that it will go up to $4.99 so don't wait. Get your copy now!

Scent of Terror by Laura Scott $3.99

Pregnant with amnesia!

Bailey Adams discovered she was pregnant after her husband's death from an accident that she believes was something more sinister. And when she notices someone following her, and ends up run off the road, her last conscious thought was that she was right. Her husband had been murdered.

Trevor Sullivan and his K9 Archie find Bailey at the bottom of the ravine alive, but when she looks at him like he's a stranger, he realizes she has amnesia. A killer has Bailey in the crosshairs, but without her memory, Trevor fears they'll never uncover the truth. Can he keep Bailey and her unborn baby alive until her memory returns? Or will they die fighting to learn the truth?

Amazon B&N Apple Kobo GooglePlay

I'm Back from Australia Mate! by Pat Simmons

A few weeks ago, I attended the Romance Author & Readers Event in Melbourne, Australia. I had a blast mingling with readers from across Australia and London.

Although I was the only Christian Fiction Author there, it didn't stop book lovers of dark romance, spicy stories, and other genres from purchasing my books: the Jamieson Legacy (Family Saga with American and Black American History), the Intercessors (my spiritual warfare), and romance novellas.

A bookstore in Australia purchased my extra books because readers ask for closed-door romances.

Twice a year, RARE brings 200+ authors to readers in Paris, Florence, Scotland, Melbourne, London, Berlin, and other places.

What an opportunity, mate! Melbourne was filled with tourists, Uber drivers, DoorDash delivery bicyclists, and fabric stores! Yes, I went shopping because our dollar was stronger but their money is prettier. I went to Darn Cheap Fabric one day and Super Cheap Fabric the next. LOL.

Oh, I did see kangaroos, koala bears (they are so cute), and one penguin that was hiding.

I'm so glad I tried something different,

and I hope to go again, next time to London. Does this loo familiar at all. It's funny when we travel and see American businesses like McDonald's, KFC, Subway, and...Hungry Jack's? Looks like Burger King to me.

Okay, see this fabric store. I purchased so much, I had to buy a tote bag to lug around the airport as my carryon. LOL. Fabric is heavy.

I wanted to keep all of this. I just saved $5 for a souvenir. 

On a side note, it's not too early to get in the Christmas spirit. Please consider pre-order shopping for Christmas, out 11/11/2025. Please visit me at www.PatSimmons.net. 

My Christian Historical Romance series is truckin' along ...

 

Hi everyone, this is Camy Tang. I also write Christian Regency Romantic Suspense as Camille Elliot.

The 8th (!) book in my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series is about to be released on Amazon in about a week.

I can’t believe I’m already at 8 books! I’m working on book 9 right now, too. Many of the mystery threads are starting to come together, and the romances between the couples in the series are also moving forward! Yay!

It’s been SO FUN doing this serial novel, because I’ve been able to create complex plots and really develop deep spiritual conflicts for my characters. Everyone has changed a lot since book 1 in the series, and it’s so interesting to write them as they evolve. And as their romances evolve, too!

I’ve loved being able to write about these characters in each book so that I don’t have to leave the story world. I always hated when a book ended and I had to leave the characters, so I wrote a long, epic-length series where their story doesn’t resolve until the last book.

If that sounds like something you’d enjoy, I hope you give my series a try. Book 1 is only 99 cents on Amazon, in all countries, only until October 30, 2025.

If you’ve already started reading the series, you can buy book 8 early on my website, along with some website bonuses:

🌹regular eBook and AI-narrated audiobook
🌹 Annotated Edition ebook, which includes Easter Eggs, research facts, behind-the-scenes tidbits, and author commentary.
🌹”Bidding on Treason” limited-availability novelette
🌹 Correspondence-style flash fiction story

Use the code WEBSITE10 at checkout for 10% off your entire order.

👉 Click here to buy Book 8

Too Much Emotion? by Janice Lynn

I've less than one month until the next book in my Wrapped Up in Christmas series releases. I've written over 50 books, but it's this series that I get the most nervous over as these books are so close to my heart. This book in particular is that way. As with the other stories, this one also brings attention to a real life organization called Quilts of Valor Foundation that wraps veterans in patriotic quilts of comfort and healing. But this story also brought comfort and healing to me in many ways. I sold this story on a basic plot, then had to fill in the flesh of the story when I started writing it. Unfortunately, my grandmother took a bad turn for the worse during fall 2024, went on hospice, then died in February 2025. While sitting with her in the evenings and sometimes all night, she and I would work on that fleshing out my story. We'd basically recap the same things that we'd said the night before and I'd be and say silly things to make her laugh. She'd agree and say those silly things had to be in the story. The thing she wanted most with this story, though, was for me to make her a Butterfly. Oh my heart. This is book 5 in this series so adding a Butterfly wasn't an easy feat to stay true to the previous four books, but I really couldn't not do this, could I? But I, hopefully, did it in a way that my readers will accept and love. She is certainly my forever Butterfly.

Do you ever read a story by a favorite author and find yourself wondering what was going on in their life while they were writing that story? That maybe some of those things have spilt over into their writing and you pick up on subtle differences in the way they present things? Is there such a thing as too much of an author's emotion bleeding into a story? 

I supposed it could be said that if a writer was a good enough author then that would never happen because they could write through life. That isn't me. My emotions spill onto the page and my words flow like laughter and tears. Good or bad, I know that's the case. Sometimes in the self-editing I can tone back when I've let it go too far, but sometimes, I think those raw feelings are the best words I've written.

In Wrapped Up in Christmas Faith, my heroine, Maggie, is a wounded warrior, and has come to Pine Hill undercover. My firefighter hero is a single dad with a big heart but one that's been broken in the past. I loved writing the ups and downs of their love story and hope you enjoy reading it.

https://amzn.to/42Q9ZOM

USA Today, Wall Street Journal, & Publishers Weekly Bestselling author JANICE LYNN lives in Tennessee with her Prince Charming and their princes and princesses, her vivid imagination, an adorable Maltese named Halo who's the true royalty of the house, and bunches of unnamed dust bunnies that moved in after Janice started her writing career. In addition to writing romance, Janice is a nurse practitioner, a quilter, a military mama, and an avid supporter of the Quilts of Valor Foundation. www.janicelynn.com  

Wrapped Up in Christmas https://amzn.to/4gvI1wP

Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy https://amzn.to/47wB8qW

Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope https://amzn.to/3Twuye

And the newest, WRAPPED UP IN CHRISTMAS LOVE. Order your copy today. Amazon Barnes & Noble

A Wilderness Getaway and A Start of A New Story by Merri Maywether

Dear Reader,

It's taken a while to recover since our last adventure. Randy and I were chaperones for an overnight field trip to the  Bob Marshall Wilderness. The views were breathtaking—even if I only managed to capture one picture. 

We learned to identify herbs and wildflowers and learned their homeopathic purposes. 

There were a couple of bear spottings (from a safe distance!). 

Thanks to the remote location, we soaked in the quiet that clears your head and refreshes your spirit.

The lodge was a smaller version of where Sam and Kate from 452 Memory Lane would have stayed at the beginning of their story. 

Then we got home, and the uggies caught us. 

After several recovery days, I jumped into writing my Military Kisses story.

Reese thinks he’s going to surprise his parents with one of those picture-perfect military homecomings, but when he arrives two weeks early… his parents are away on a cruise. Instead, Maya’s brothers swoop in, determined to ensure Reese doesn’t spend the holidays alone.

What Maya's family didn't know was that she'd been writing letters to Reese. 

It’s a story of second chances, family, and discovering that sometimes what you’ve been searching for has been right in front of you all along.

Learn More About Tis The Season For Falling In Love

Does Age Make a Difference by Merrillee Whren

The books I’ve written have a variety of ages for the hero and heroine. I’ve written stories with heroes in their thirties and the heroines in their twenties. I’ve written stories with heroines who are older than the heroes. I’ve written stories with heroes and heroines who are close to the same age.

 

When I first started reading romances many years ago, I would say all the heroes were older and the heroines younger. I married a younger man, although only a couple of years younger, but I have a friend who married a man seven years younger than she is. I wanted to read a story with an older heroine and a younger hero, so I wrote one. That book never sold, however, I did eventually write and sell a book to Love Inspired with an older heroine and a younger hero. That book was Love Walked In, now reissued as Second Chance Gift, the second book in my Pinecrest series.

 

 

 

I also wrote two more books with older heroines, A Place to Find Love and Kirsten’s Mission, first published by Love Inspired as Nursing the Soldier’s Heart.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes the age difference is something the hero and heroine think about as the relationship grows, especially when the age difference is more than a couple of years. In other books age is barely mentioned. Currently, I'm working on a story in which the hero is over twenty years older than the heroine. 

 

Do you have a favorite age combination in the romances you read? 

 

 

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.