Tag: books

What I’m currently loving, looking forward to, buying, planting, and . . . cleaning?

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn currently, everyday musings13 Comments

I am joining Jennifer at All 4 Boys for Currently for April after seeing this on Erin’s blog at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. This is a feature held the first Wednesday of the month where you share what you are currently …well, whatever the themes are for that month. This month the theme is what we are currently loving, looking forward to, buying, planting, and cleaning.

Currently Loving

I am currently loving reading The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes to Little Miss, who is 9. I read this book in March for Middle Grade March and really enjoyed it but it is even more fun sharing it with my daughter. It is old fashioned, sure, since it was written in the 1940s but that doesn’t bother me at all. It has some super cute stories in it.

I am currently reading Little Miss the chapter where the main character Janey (she’s about 10) is trying to keep the “oldest inhabitant” safe. The oldest inhabitant is a 99-year-old Civil War veteran whom the town is anxious to celebrate the 100th birthday of and Janey makes friends with him in the beginning of the book. Throughout the book she works hard to protect him from any harm and the friendship grows. It is super sweet and adorable.

I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series soon.

Looking Forward To

I guess I could have used the above sentence for this. However, in addition to looking forward to reading the other Moffat books, I am also looking forward to warmer weather.

The last couple of weeks have been very cold, rainy, snowy, and dreary in our neck of the woods and I really need some sun.

Life has been a little down lately and I’m hopeful the sun might cheer me up a bit. That and the blooming flowers which will be pretty to look at even if they trigger my spring allergies. The neighbor has a few daffodils in their yard so that’s been nice to look at.

Buying

A new planner. I don’t know how I got into buying planners that go from July of one year to July of the next but I have and now I can’t seem to get myself unstuck so I am buying another planner this week so I can plan further out than July of this year. I used to buy these huge planners, but now I buy smaller ones that I can slide into my purse and carry around. Not so I can look at it and remember what I have to do, mind you. Just carry around and look like I’m organized, when I am totally not.

Planting

I should be planting plants or vegetables this month, but I’m not. Gardens, flowers, plants – they’re all failures for me usually. I kill them and sometimes they even toss themselves off shelves instead of letting me take them home with me where they know they will die anyhow.

Instead of living things, I am trying to plant some more faith this month. Faith and gratitude. I have been horribly depressed, bitter, and sad about the state of the world this week and I don’t want to be that person so I am taking advice from a book I am reading and doing the things I want the future me to do and that includes being more positive than negative. I have failed this week so pray I get better for the rest of the month.

Cleaning

I’m not cleaning the way I should be cleaning. I always seem to get wrapped up in other things – like writing blog posts or dealing with my daughter’s friend dramas.

It seems like I clean my living room and an hour later I clutter it again. Since our dishwasher died several months ago, I have been cleaning a lot of dishes and I will be doing that again today. I will also do my best to finish cleaning my daughter’s room and sliding a new sheet on her bed.

How about you? What are you loving, looking forward to, buying, planting, or cleaning currently?

My complex and confusing relationship with social media

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings15 Comments

I’m going to preface this post with a clarification – I am not whining about not making money or book sales. I’m just rambling to blog friends about some disappointments I’ve experienced and lessons I’m learning along this writing and life journey.

I have a love-hate relationship with social media and lately, that relationship has tipped into the hate category more than the love.

As a self-published author, I need to have some sort of presence online if I want to sell books and that includes social media. I started writing my fiction books for fun and to escape anxiety and depression. I shared them here on the blog, chapter by chapter, again, as an escape and for fun.

Selling books was secondary. When I saw that I might be able to provide a tiny amount to the monthly family income, I became more interested in selling. Unfortunately, to earn any money as an independent author you need to be willing to put out more money than you earn at first and when you already don’t have a lot of money, that’s a definite challenge.

I’ve been pushing posts and sharing about my books fairly consistently for five years now (while also trying not to always be pushing books) and in the end it really hasn’t mattered. Every month I make about $40 on book sales. Previously I would make between $10 and $20.

I work hard for that $40 but it’s really not a good return on all the time and money I’ve put into my books. A lot of it’s been – dare I even say it – a waste of time. One of those things are the posts I make and share to Instagram.

I have a lot of fun making memes, laughing over them, sharing them, and meeting people on social media through them. I don’t find everything I’ve done online a waste of time.

I’ve met some of the coolest people.

I’ve had some amazing opportunities.

I’ve found a way to distract myself from depression and anxiety that doesn’t involve drinking or eating myself into oblivion.

There is some good that has come from the time I’ve spent online.

A lot of good.

But I’ve also spent way too much time on things that haven’t mattered and aren’t helping my soul.

Balance is definitely key when it comes to social media.

Spending too much time on there can eat up your soul.

Spending too little time means you can’t connect and meet more people who might be interested in buying, or at least reading, your book.

This weekend I decided my soul was more important.

Now, this isn’t an announcement that I’m leaving social media, never to return. It isn’t even an announcement that I’m taking a break (even though I’m taking a small one that doesn’t involve going cold turkey but does involve backing off a bit). It’s just me sharing some thoughts about how social media has changed so many of us, how draining it can be, and how it steals a little part of our soul when we get too wrapped up in it.

I have seen people change as they become more popular on social media.

They’re more willing to compromise their values and morals as they become popular.

They often seem to be more interested in gaining followers, pats on the back, and overall attention than they are in sticking to their beliefs on a variety of issues. I get it. That shot of endorphins when someone likes a post or a lot of someones likes a post is addicting. Been there. Done that.

I have just decided I’d rather be unknown and poor than have to pretend I am someone I am not, to completely overshare every aspect of my personal life, or to compromise my integrity to get those likes.

The bottom line about my relationship with social media is . . . it’s complicated but I have my lines drawn and I intend to do my best to stay within those boundaries.

Sunday Bookends: Happy Easter, busy week so less reading, comfort watches

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends10 Comments

First, Happy Easter.

He has risen! He has risen indeed!

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.


What’s Been Occurring

Last week was a crazy week in some ways and I detailed that more in my Saturday Morning Chat. The long and short of it is that there were some health issues within our family, everyone is okay, and my brain is trying to recover from it all.

Yesterday I didn’t have tons of time for my brain to recover since our daughter had a friend over and they tend to be a little crazy when they get together. They had a lot of fun, though, and it was a good day. And they weren’t really that crazy. We went to the playground and then they had fun splashing in the bathtub in their bathing suits. Earlier in the day they went to two Easter egg hunts as well.

And I did have some downtime for reading and watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, at least.

Today we are going to my parents for Easter dinner and an Easter egg hunt.

What I/we’ve been Reading

Currently:

I’m reading Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor and Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jamie Jo Wright still thanks to the aforementioned crazy week. Both are very good. I’ll probably be finished with Murder in an Irish Village today and Night Falls… later in the week.

The Secret Garden is also being read but slowly.



Soon to be read:


The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold

The Mystery at the Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew)

What We watched/are Watching

This week I watched Little House on the Prairie and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

I also enjoyed relaxing to my favorite YouTube farmer, Farmer Pete:

There is something comforting about watching Pete and his wife work on the farm – feeding the cows and the chickens, fixing tractors, cooking beef brisket and just doing what they do every day.

I also watched this interview with two of the authors I am in a multi-author project with.

You can learn more about our project by watching this video or visiting our Facebook group.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/511319271100448

For Easter I am watching this:

and other songs related to Easter like this:


What I’m Writing

What I’m Listening To

I’ve been listening to Ellie Holcomb’s album, Canyons.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

Did Jesus Die on Friday by Nostalic Italian

Are You Following the Breadcrumbs by A New Lens

The Bookstore With One Million Books – Literally by Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs

Good Friday’s Not the End by Mama’s Empty Nest

Photos from this Week

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Book recommendation: Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings5 Comments

Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan, the fourth book in the Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries, was hard for me to put down not only because I wanted to find out who committed the crime in this super cozy mystery, but because I became attached to the main character Angela “Angie” Braddock and those around her.

Angie owns a fabric and quilting shop in the small town of Millersburg, which has a very large Amish population. She owns two pets – a loveable French Bulldog named Oliver and an aloof cat named Dodger. She’s dating the town’s sheriff, James Mitchell, which creates some interesting situations when she’s trying to investigate things she shouldn’t really be investigating.

Angie’s friends work in the shop or are connected to the shop in some way and are Amish. There are two different types of Amish sects in this community – more strict and more liberal. Angie’s employees – Anna and Mattie – are a mix of both.

Anna cracked me up because she is Amish but also wants to get to the bottom of things and in this case those “things” are surrounding the murder of a very cranky bishop of the Old Order Amish named Bartholomew Belier. He’s found dead in the library bookmobile by Angie and Angie’s “prim and proper” mother. Standing over him is brash librarian Austina Shaker, who is quickly blamed for the murder.

Angie isn’t sure if Austina is guilty or not but when Austina begs her to help clear her name, Angie can’t seem to help trying to find out. Anna also pushes Angie to get involved, certain she can help get to the bottom of what really happened to Bartholomew.

Angie does have a history of trying to solve murders, after all since she’s investigated and solved three murders previously. I should add that I didn’t realize this was the fourth book in this series when I started it and I had no issues understanding what was happening despite not reading the previous three yet.

The loveable cast of characters in the book include Anna and Mattie, Angie’s friends Rachel and Jonah, who are also Amish, Mitchell and his son Zander, a mischievous goat named Petunia, and Angie’s parents.

Her father is extra loveable and fun as he tries to navigate life after retirement. Her mother is more on the irritating side of things as she tries to run the show a lot and seems a bit stuck up but she keeps the storyline even more interesting as the reader braces themselves for what she’s going to say or do next.

There is much more than a mystery going on in this book and I like that. I like the little side stories with the different characters. I also loved the undercurrent of romance between Mitchell and Angie and how Alan didn’t need to add anything explicit or detailed to get across the feelings between the two.

There were even a few swoon-worthy scenes that made me giggle with delight over the gentle affection shown between the couple – affection that didn’t involve anything blush-worthy.

It’s amazing to me how just Mitchell brushing his fingertips against the back of Angie’s arm was enough to hint at sexual tension. No spicey scenes or language were needed.

I am looking forward to reading more books in this series.

Sunday Bookends: cozy mysteries, Little House on the Prairie marathon, and a few photos from the week

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends9 Comments



It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

 It’s still been very cold this past week so we have been lighting a fire every other day.  We lit one last night as the temperature dropped to somewhere around 22 degrees. It looks like temps will warm up this week as we move into Good Friday and Easter.

I wrote a bit about our week last week in yesterday’s Saturday Afternoon Chat post if you want to catch up on other “events” of our week. Spoiler – there weren’t a lot of events actually.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I’m reading A Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor. It is very authentic Irish and I’m enjoying it.

I just started The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett but will probably read this one very slowly because of some books I’m reading for tours and to review for Clean Fiction Magazine. I already know the story of The Secret Garden from watching the movie.

I have also started Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jamie Jo Wright. This one is for a book tour in April. I honestly think it is going to be too creepy for me but I guess it is good to branch out once in a while.

Just Finished:

Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan and The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes.

Currently:

I enjoyed both of these books and will have reviews up soon.

Soon to be read:

The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold

Who Brought The Dog to Church? By Tracy Smoak

When You Returned by Havelah Mclat

What others in the family are reading: The Boy is reading Horus Rising and listening to A Tale of Two Cities. Little Miss is listening to The Railway Children and we are reading The Middle Moffat together.

The Husband is reading Do the New You by Steven Furtick

What We watched/are Watching

This weekend I watched all things Little House on the Prairie. This year is the 50th anniversary of the debut of the show and they are holding a festival with many of the old cast members in California. I have been watching the show and some footage from the festival such as interviews with Melissa Gilbert and Dean Butler, etc.

I didn’t realize how attached I was to the show until I saw Melissa Gilbert come out in front of all her fans and begin to cry and then I began to cry as well. I have good memories of running home from the bus stop to watch the show when I was a kid. I’ll ramble about that in a future blog post.

Here is the video I watched of the Melissa Gilbert interview if you are interested:

My daughter and I watched a couple of the episodes based more directly on stories in the books, which we read over the last couple of years and then watched three more that were loosely based on stories. I, of course, had to watch with her the episode when Laura pushes Nellie down the hill to prove she has been lying about not being able to walk. After that one, Little Miss was hooked and asked to watch more.

Earlier in the week I always watched Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Lark Rise to Candleford.

Over the weekend I watched original Perry Mason episodes with The Husband.

What I’m Writing

I am on the epilogue of Cassie and then I will be beginning book three of the Gladwynn Grant mysteries.

On the blog this week:

What I’m Listening To

On Audible I am listening to A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens (Lord Jesus be with me. Literally.) and The Railway Children (with Little Miss).

Photos from Last Week

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

Billyisms and Winnie the Pooh by Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs

This post cracked me up, especially this line: “This was all just to warm up to the topic of my husband being a human Winnie the Pooh, but one who wears pants of course.”

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Reviews of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing and a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings7 Comments

There have been some lovely reviews of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing over the last week and a half.

I’m going to share a couple today and also remind you that you can enter to win a copy of the paperback of the book and a $50 Amazon gift card HERE.

This one from Devoted to Hope was so nice:

Step into the nostalgic embrace of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing, a delightful haven for lovers of vintage charm and heartwarming mysteries. With its retro flair and cozy atmosphere, this book invites readers to immerse themselves in a world where classic style, old-fashioned values, and the timeless allure of small-town life reign supreme!

As you journey through the pages, you’ll be swept away by Lisa R. Howeler’s storytelling, which effortlessly transports you to a bygone era filled with quaint cottages, a bustling town, and the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee. With every twist and turn of the plot, you’ll find yourself captivated by Gladwynn’s spirited determination and unwavering resolve as she unravels the mysteries lurking beneath the surface of her beloved community.

The intriguing storyline and the rich tapestry of characters who populate this enchanting world will steal your heart. From Gladwynn’s endearing quirks to her grandmother Lucinda’s timeless wisdom, each character is infused with a warmth and authenticity that feels like a welcoming hug. As you follow their journey, you’ll find yourself becoming deeply invested in their lives, eagerly anticipating each new revelation and heartfelt moment.

Read the rest of the review and find other amazing reviews of Christian or clean fiction books HERE.



I also loved this fun interview with Gladwynn that Amy Walsh did on her blog. It was seriously so cute and fun.

Gina Holder shared an interview with me on her blog today, which I very much appreciated.

This review from Holly’s Book Corner was perfectly short and sweet and I really appreciated it.


There have been so many nice mentions or reviews of the book since last week and I truly do appreciate those who took the time out of their days to read the book and then share about it or leave reviews on their blogs, Amazon and Goodreads. It really does mean so much! The tour ends March 25.

Sunday Bookends: Watching old shows, reading cozy mysteries, and blog posts I enjoyed

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends15 Comments

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

 If you want to know what has been going on in our world lately, you can hop on over to my post from yesterday.

What I/we’ve been Reading

Currently:

We had a nice week weather-wise so I didn’t read as much as I wanted to but I read more than I used to. I’m almost halfway through Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan and The Middle Moffat and I am enjoying them both.

I am also continuing All The Light We Can’t See and hope to finish it . . . eventually. That’s all I can say.

I am reading through Do The New You by Steven Furtick with my church e-group as well. I have three chapters to read before our online session this week.


Soon to be read:

Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor. I’ve started this one and am enjoying it.

Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly. This is a Netgalley read.

The Secret Garden for Middle Grade March

Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jamie Jo Wright

What We watched/are Watching

Wednesday night I had two hours to myself which is a very rare thing. I decided that I was going to watch a movie that has been sitting in our DVD collection for years — The King’s Speech. I had planned to finish the last couple of chapters of the book I’m writing in between watching but I ended up being so enthralled with the movie, I ended up abandoning that plan.

Later that night I watched a Lark Rise to Candleford episode. On Friday and Saturday, I started a mini-binge of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

Little Miss and I had a Dr. Quinn binge yesterday afternoon as well and then I added an episode of Little House on the Prairie. I wanted to finish out the night with an episode of The Waltons to relive my childhood and teenage years but The Boy took over the TV to play a video game with a friend so that Waltons episode will have to wait for tonight.

Friday The Husband and I watched an episode of McDonald and Dodds. I hope to watch more of that show this week.


What I’m Writing

I am on the last chapter of Cassie, then I will work on the rewrites. I also am brainstorming ideas for the third book in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries and will announce a title for it soon.

Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing is on a two-week book tour and you can enter to win a paperbook copy of it and a $50 Amazon gift card HERE.

What I’m Listening to

Little Miss and I am listening to Caddie Woodlawn on Audible and The Boy and I are listening to A Tale of Two Cities.

Photos from Last Week

And one I found from my dad in January right after his 80th birthday, riding an old sled down the snow-covered dirt road in front of his house.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

Pricilla’s Release Day by Jenny Knipfer

This post is about the release of Jenny’s new book, Priscilla, which is one of the books in the series I am writing a book for.

Day Off, Time With My Dad and with Family by Still An Unfinished Person

I’m a little biased on this post since it is my brother’s weekly post where he shares three good things that have happened to him during that particular week.

A Review of Little House in the Big Woods by Impressions in Ink

I loved this thoughtful review of one of my and Little Miss’s favorite book and the addressing of some recent concerns with Laura’s books.

Tuesday Morning Catch Up by Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs

This description of how Erin dislocated her toe was equally disturbing and fascinating to me.

10 on the 10th for March by Marsha In the Middle

I didn’t participate in this one because I didn’t think I could write about ten green things since I don’t like green but Marsha did a great job talking about the green things she liked.


Now it’s your turn

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

Saturday Afternoon (oops…late afternoon/early evening) Chat: Injured knee, sick dog, getting the kid hooked on Dr. Quinn and Newhart

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Saturday Afternoon Tea8 Comments

“I’m going to take a quick shower and then we’re going to do your science,” I told my 9-year-old daughter yesterday afternoon.

She looked at me with wide “innocent” eyes. “Why don’t you take a bath instead?”

“Excuse me? Are you trying to push off your science longer?”

“I’m just saying you should take some time to relax,” she responded with a serious face and a hint of a smile. “Soak your sore knee in some Epsom salts.”

I did as she suggested and she gained another half an hour of freedom, but, alas, she did not distract me to the point I did not remember that we still had her Science and History to do for her homeschool lessons.

Sometime in the week, I injured my knee by sleeping, as people in their mid-40s so often do. It was actually an issue I’d been having off and on with the knee but I guess it all finally came to a head and the pain was so severe I woke up twice in tears Wednesday and Thursday night but didn’t get ibuprofen or an ice pack like I should have since straightening the leg and relaxing the muscle helped.

During the day yesterday it felt fine, thankfully, and last night it didn’t hurt so hopefully it will heal on its own.

On Tuesday the weather was beautiful so Little Miss and I went to my parents’ house to see my brother who was visiting my parents. He wrote about the visit on his blog Unfinished Person. (https://stillanunfinishedperson.blog/2024/03/14/day-off-time-with-my-dad-and-with-family/)

He had driven over about 90 minutes from where he lives to travel with my dad to his physical therapy.

The weather was so nice that Little Miss and I sat out on my parents’ deck and I read a book while she pretended to read a book but actually searched for ladybugs to keep captive in a small dish with some grass. I’m not sure what that was about but before we left both bugs died. She has since made another terrarium to capture more ladybugs.

On Thursday the weather was nice again so Little Miss and I traveled 20 minutes to meet our friends at a playground. The kids had a lot of fun creating games on the equipment and chasing each other all over.

Later that night the little girl Little Miss played with the most developed symptoms of a stomach bug so I spent all day and night Friday waiting for one of us to throw up. So far that has not happened so I think we might be in the clear since stomach bugs are usually very contagious and hit very quickly. I’ll keep you updated *wink*. Luckily the little girl she was playing with was feeling much better the next morning too, so hopefully, it was a very quick-moving illness.

Today I am taking it easy after a stressful few days because Zooma the Wonder Dog is sick again. She has chronic colitis and other stomach issues and that has flared up again. It might have been all less stressful except I had a disagreement with our vet’s office because the vet didn’t want to give us medicine for her unless we set up an annual exam, but they said they couldn’t set up the exam right away because they were booked a couple of months out.

The problem was that our dog was sick now and needed the medicine and they weren’t offering an emergency appointment. Even if they had, we can’t really afford an office visit. If they hadn’t treated her for this same condition in the fall, I wouldn’t have asked for the medicine. They finally agreed to send the medicine by mail (since it is a 45-minute drive and she wasn’t in dire straights yet) but told us in a rather passive-aggressive and annoyed way that we had to have that annual exam before they would help again.

Today she is still not feeling well – lethargic and obviously in some sort of discomfort in her stomach, but she is acting better than she was when we thought we were going to lose her in the fall. We set up the annual exam but I probably will look for another vet in between.

I joked with my mom that I have enough issues trying to manage my own chronic illness and now I have to worry about the dog’s too. Such is life I suppose.

Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing is on a blog tour this week and earlier today I was tagged in the most beautiful review I have ever received for any of my books.

I plan to share a separate post about the review later on, but today I just wanted to mention how much the review meant to me. It was a bright spot in a week where I felt like I was slipping into depression. I’m overwhelmed with a lot in life and I’ve had some very good days but I’m starting to crack under the worry a bit. My mom gave me some Bible verses earlier today and they are helping as well but reading the nice review – something kind in a world that doesn’t seem very kind at times – also helped and made things feel less gloomy.

I’m not naïve enough to think that everyone who reads my book will enjoy it. I wouldn’t expect that. Not everyone enjoys the same books. On this tour I had a couple of people share about the book but not leave a review. It’s possible they forgot or it’s possible they didn’t want to leave a review because it wasn’t their cup of tea. I don’t care either way but what stands out to me is that they still shared about the book to let others know about it in case it is their cup of tea. That means a lot to me.

Cooler weather will be coming again this week so I am sure I will find myself in front of a fire at some point reading a book. I’ve been reading a lot this week but am still on the same books I’ve been reading for the last couple of weeks. It has been nice to just read for fun, which I do anyhow, but sometimes I have books I agreed to read for tours, too.

I will be starting a book for a book tour soon but I have plenty of time to read it luckily. Of course, I will ramble about what I am reading more tomorrow in my Sunday Bookends post.

As part of my relaxing today I am watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and in the episode I am on, a man keeps “dying” at various places in town. Little Miss and I love to watch Newhart together with The Husband and I said that the “dead” guy looks like Tom Poston who plays George on the show. Little Miss agreed and after a few more looks we decided it was him. A quick search on Google showed that it was him. He didn’t even speak the entire episode.

Thanks to me, I think Little Miss is hooked on Dr. Quinn, and soon I’ll have her addicted to Little House. *insert evil laugh here* She’s already hooked on Newhart and when we turn on an episode she claps her hands and says, “Yeah! Newhart!” It’s so funny to see a 9-year old doing that.

I’m off for now to make some dinner and then settle in for an evening of reading books and watching either more Dr. Quinn or Little House or Lark Rise to Candleford.

What are you up to today and how was your week last week? I’d love to hear/read about it in the comments.

Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing book tour (and giveaway!) starts today

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings7 Comments

I’m excited and nervous!

Today is the first day of the Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing book tour with Celebrate Lit.


You can read a bit more about the tour HERE but the bottom line is that some bloggers will be sharing about the book for the next couple of weeks on their blogs and will also be sharing about the giveaway.

You can win a $50 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing by entering.

For more details on the giveaway see HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Here is a description of the book:

A little bit of mystery, a dash of romance, and a whole lot of heart

After being laid off from her job as a librarian at a small college, Gladwynn Grant isn’t sure what her next step in life is. When a job as a small-town newspaper reporter opens up in the town her grandmother Lucinda Grant lives in, she decides to take it to get away from a lot of things – Bennett Steele for one.

Lucinda has been living alone since Gladwynn’s grandfather passed away six years ago and she isn’t a take-it-easy, rock-on-your-front-porch kind of grandma. She’s always on the go and lately, she’s been on the go with a man who Gladwynn doesn’t know.

Gladwynn thought Brookstone was a small, quiet town, but within a few days of being there, she has to rethink that notion. Someone has cut the bank loan officer’s brakes, threatening letters are being sent, and memories of a jewelry theft from the 1990s have everyone looking at the cold case again.

What, if anything, will Gladwynn uncover about her new hometown and her grandmother’s new male friend? And what will she do about her grandmother’s attempt to set her up with the handsome Pastor Luke Callahan?

Find out in this modern mystery with a vintage feel.

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1KSQJXP

or here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/gladwynn-grant-gets-her-footing-lisa-howeler

The tour stops will include:

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 12

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 13

Holly’s Book Corner, March 13

Texas Book-aholic, March 14

Devoted To Hope, March 15

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, March 16

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 17

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 18

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, March 19 (Author Interview)

Mornings at Character Cafe, March 19

Book Looks by Lisa, March 20

An Author’s Take, March 21

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 22

Blogging With Carol, March 23

Pause for Tales, March 23

Lily’s Corner, March 24

For Him and My Family, March 25

Mary Hake, March 25

Reviewers give their own opinions so they can be good or bad. Please give their blogs some love no matter what. I know I will because not every book is for every reader! I just appreciate them taking the time to read the book.

Thank you to Joan at Book Reviews of An Avid Reader for being the first stop on the tour. You can see her book review of Gladwynn’s first book here: https://bookwomanjoan.blogspot.com/2024/03/gladwynn-grant-gets-her-footing-by-lisa.html


I don’t want to sound too cheesy here but I really like working with the Celebrate Lit team so if you ever need to publicize a book, look to them. I won this particular tour but I am planning future tours with them and just appreciate how gracious they have been through the whole process.