Invite an Author to Your Book Club

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BookClub_LogoFree Service Encourages Reading Through Rare Access to Authors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Greenville-based publisher Ambassador International is launching a unique book club that offers readers personal access to some of their favorite authors. Select Ambassador authors are available to attend book club meetings across the country via phone or Skype through the launch of this exciting new program.

To take part, book club leaders must feature one of the Ambassador titles from the evolving list found at ambassador-international.com/about/bookclub.  Book clubs can then invite the author to be a part of an upcoming meeting by filling out a short online request form.

The author will join discussions via phone or Skype. “In addition to inviting your neighbor or your cousin to your book club you can invite the author as well,” explains Ambassador International COO Tim Lowry. “Our authors are really excited about the chance to engage on such a personal level with their readers and we think book clubs across the country will be thrilled for this unique and free opportunity.”

Both fiction and non-fiction authors are featured in the program including:

    • Anna McCarthy, Forgiveness is Not an Option
    • Stephen Goode, Marriage Triage
    • Renee Metzler, Total Home Makeover
    • Lindon and Sherry Gareis, Declutter Now
    • Carrie Daws, Romancing Melody
    • Will Montgomery, Lukewarm

About Ambassador International: Ambassador International was founded in 1980 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and expanded into Greenville, South Carolina in 1995.  Ambassador International’s books and materials have been distributed in dozens of countries and are sold worldwide.

For more information about the Ambassador Book Club visit https://ambassador-international.com/about/bookclub.  To request an interview or more information please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

 

Book Club Decor: Book Page Table Runner

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book page table runnerBook Clubs are a great way to discover new and old books in an in depth way, but they can also be a great way to socialize with friends.  If you are looking for a way to spice up your book club meetings and explore your creative side then why not create a fun book page table runner!

Book Page Table-Runner:

Step One: Find an old book that you don’t mind destroying for a good cause. You may have one that has been partially damaged that would serve this purpose well. Or find a used book at a thrift store for less than a dollar.

Step Two: Tear the pages out of the book.  When it comes to breaking the binding it will make a difference if the pages are glued or sewn.  The book I used had a glued binding.  I started by breaking the binding back on the edge of a table and tearing the paperback cover off.  From there I simply ripped away pages.  For the length of my table runner I only used half of a 250 page book.

Step Three: Glue! It is best to use a glue stick that will dry faster rather than a glue bottle and won’t make as much of a mess. Begin gluing the pages together at angles. There is no particular method to which way you should glue pages together.  Make it as long or wide as you like!

Step Four: Display your work of art. Once your book page table runner is completely dry, display it on your table, top it with book club-friendly snacks and enjoy!

Ready for another fun crafting project for your book club meetings? Then be sure to check out Ambassador International’s Pinterest page.

Guest Post: What is Romance?

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In honor of the release of her third novel, Romancing Melody, author Carrie Daws provides today’s guest post. Romancing Melody is available in paperback starting today and in various eBook formats.

roseWhat is romance? Long-stemmed roses and fancy dinners, boxes of chocolate and nights on the town. Truth be told, I’ve always been a simple girl.

To me, one rose of the right color is even more perfect than a dozen roses in an expensive vase because one rose conveys three things: 1) my husband thought of me and took time to stop to buy something for me, 2) he cares enough to remember and look for a rose in my favorite color, and 3) he knows me well enough to comprehend that while I’ll enjoy the rose immensely, I will also be thinking of the financial cost to our checkbook.

And that’s really what romance is all about: lavishing love on another. I treasure that my man knows me well enough in big ways and small ways to understand what I like and what I think. Picking the right color tells me he listens when I speak. Choosing to purchase one rose over a dozen tells me he is cognizant of my preferences and personal convictions between stewarding our resources and wasting them.

I believe the whole point of romance should be relationship. Romance draws you in, makes you yearn for relationship. Relationship drives you forward, makes romance fun and Romancing Melodyexciting. They can work together, forming an ever-deepening circle.

But have you ever thought of romance outside of the dating or marriage relationship? If romance is nothing more than lavishing love on another to draw them into relationship, then romance could be used in broader terms. Yet I think we tend to limit its usage because we understand that romance encourages intimacy. And intimacy is scary.

Opening our hearts to those who may let us down. Sharing our fears with those who may belittle them. Discussing our dreams with those who may tell us to be realistic.

But no matter what person comes to your mind as you read this, God waits, quietly romancing you. Pursuing you. Wanting to draw you into a relationship with Him.

Just a few months ago, a friend went through an incredibly difficult time. And as I loved her and prayed for her, I could see God working all around her. Yet her heart hurt and she couldn’t see clearly through the pain.

As I prayed for her, God drew me back to some painful times in my own life. And I began to see the romance, God weaving His love all around me and drawing me into a relationship with Him.

It seems to be a unique perspective on this holiday about love. Yet it’s all over the pages of history. God so loved, He created. He called a people to Him. He knew the law wasn’t enough and He came to save His people.

And now, 2,000 years later, God still loves His people. He still calls, to you. He still comes. To you.

Do you see the romance?

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Novel Addresses Hardships Facing Military Families

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Romancing MelodyRomancing Melody is the Third Installment in Popular Crossing Series

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  More than half of 3.6 million Active Duty military personnel in the US are married, 85% are under the age of 35 and slightly less than half have children.  The life of a military wife and mother is one author Carrie Daws knows personally and one she writes about in her latest book, Romancing Melody (Ambassador International; Feb. 2013; $11.99, paperback) in which she tells the story of a young newlywed and mother who must learn to trust that God has a plan for each of us.

Melody Podell is a new wife and mother when her husband is deployed to a dangerous region of the world. Feeling alone, she is unprepared to handle the tragedy that strikes and soon pushes away family and friends as they try to help her find solace in God. “The first problem is that Army life is not what she expected and she struggles to adapt. Shortly before her husband is deployed, Melody gives birth to their first child, and just as she is settling in, tragedy strikes,” explains Daws. Romancing Melody follows a relatable character as she faces tragedy and loss while focusing on the power of love and how God romances each and every one of us.

Romancing Melody is the third installment in what Daws says will be a four-part series. Crossing Values was released in early 2012, followed by Ryan’s Crossing in August. Just as with Daws’ other books, readers will find a free book club discussion guide as well as a character list available at CarrieDaws.com/Freebies. These tools will help book clubs, small groups and individual readers delve further in to the themes and characters of Romancing Melody.

About the Author: Carrie Daws currently lives in North Carolina with her three children and her military retired husband.  She finds time to write when she’s not homeschooling her children, working at the church office, or volunteering with military ministries that are close to her heart.

To learn more about the author and her book Romancing Melody, visit http://carriedaws.com or https://www.facebook.com/CarrieDaws.  For Interview requests please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

 

Romance and Suspense Collide in New Christian Thriller

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Alana Candler, Marked for MurderNovel Reminds Readers How Living a Christian Life Can Be a Powerful Example of Faith to Others

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  What would you do if someone was trying to kill you?  How do you love someone who doesn’t share your belief in God? Who do you trust? These are questions that Alana Candler faces in Joanie Bruce’s new thriller Alana Candler: Marked for Murder (Ambassador International; February, 2013; $14.99, paperback).  This suspense-filled novel follows Alana, a freelance photographer, as she flees from an unknown killer who wants her dead.

Soon after photographing a crime scene for her Police Chief brother Brad, Alana has the strange feeling that she is being followed.  Her fears come to fruition when she is kidnapped and left for dead.  After a handsome stranger, Jadyn Holbrook, saves her life and promises to protect her the two must race against time as the attacker chases her tirelessly.  As they spend more and more time together, Alana’s example of faith in God challenges and inspires a skeptical Jadyn who must come to terms with his own demons and reservations about God.

In a combination of nail-biting suspense and romance, Alana Candler: Marked for Murder centers around the importance of living your Christian faith, not simply declaring it.  “I hope with all my heart that my book will be a blessing and encouragement to someone,” says Bruce, “I pray that each of my readers will be encouraged, inspired, and that it will bring you a closer relationship to God”.

About the Author:  Joanie Bruce and her husband, Ben, live in a country home near Madison, Georgia where they raised and homeschooled their three children who are now grown.  She enjoys writing, cooking, taking long walks, and painting oil portraits.  Alana Candler: Marked for Murder is her first published book.

For more information about the author Joanie Bruce please visit joaniebruce.com or facebook.com/joaniebruceauthor.  For interview requests please contact publicist Alison Storm at [email protected].

 

CLOSED: Valentine’s Day Giveaway: Win Flowers and Fresh Fiction

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Ambassador International wants to put a little romance in your Valentine’s Day! To celebrate the release of Carrie Daws’ latest novel  Romancing Melody, available in eBook February 14 and print March 7, Ambassador is giving you a chance to win a flower bouquet and a copy of the book!  Carrie Daws’ third book in the Crossing series, Romancing Melody, tells the story of a young military wife and mother who faces a terrible tragedy.  The book reminds readers that God romances each of us daily because “romance is more than fancy dinners and roses.  Romance is all about one person lavishing love on another, drawing them into a closer relationship.”

Celebrate the HolidayRomancing Melody of Love this year by allowing God to romance you!  To enter to win simply “like” Ambassador’s Facebook page AND complete at least one of the following:

  • Leave a comment on this blog post
  • Pin the book cover image on Pinterest and use the hashtag #RomancingMelody
  • Tweet using the hashtag #RomancingMelody (ie. I can’t wait to read #RomacingMelody, the newest book from@AmbassadorIntl)
  • Register to receive Ambassador International emails

You’ll receive additional entries for every step you complete. Win your copy of Romancing Melody and bouquet today and take time this Valentine’s Day to focus on the greatest love of all – God’s.

** Winner must be in the 48 contiguous states and provide a valid address accepted by ProFlowers.com to receive your flower bouquet. Winner will be chosen at random on February 15.

 

 

Eight Mothers Connected By One Doctor Share Their Stories of Life After Loss

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Surgeon and author Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh searches for comfort after son’s tragic death

Healing HeartsFor immediate release: Pediatric heart surgeon, Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh, makes a living performing life-saving surgeries on hearts the size of walnuts. In more than four decades he’s operated on thousands of them, and while many times the surgeries are successful, often patients pass away. In Healing Hearts: A leading pediatric heart surgeon learns about the journey from grief to life from these inspiring mothers of his lost patients (Ambassador International; May 2013; $14.99, paperback) Dr. Nikaidoh explains how it wasn’t until his own son Hitoshi was killed suddenly that he finally understood the magnitude of suffering that accompanies the loss of a child.

After his son’s death, Dr. Nikaidoh sought comfort from the very parents he had once tried to comfort. “What I eventually learned from these eight women who have so generously shared their stories for Healing Hearts is that it is possible to move beyond the excruciating pain of losing a child,” he says. The eight inspiring mothers have each contributed to the medical field– many even working in the exact hospital where their sweet babies took their final breaths, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. “At least for these eight parents, it is possible to infuse their own lives with a deeper meaning by giving back to the very community that tried valiantly, though unsuccessfully, to save the lives of their precious children,” says Nikaidoh.

The eight mothers, who all share a special connection with Dr. Nikaidoh, are courageously and honestly opening up in the pages of Healing Hearts about the experience of losing a child. “God certainly blessed [Dr. Nikaidoh] with wonderful talents to allow him to surgically mend those tiny hearts. But He gave him an even greater gift to comfort the parents of those whose little hearts were not meant to be mended,” says mother and contributor Liz Etzkorn. Former US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who also lost a son, wrote the foreword for Healing Hearts.

Dr. Nikaidoh is the descendent of a long line of Buddhist priests, but became a Christian in his 40s. His faith completely changed the way he practiced medicine. “I no longer looked at life and death as being all about me—what I did, what I should have done, what I should not have done,” he writes. “My newfound faith and understanding of God’s hand in our lives had brought me to a place of greater freedom. Now that I was no longer feeling the burden and judgment of perfection, I felt a greater sense of freedom to be the best physician and surgeon I could possibly be and to more fully enjoy my work.”

Dr. Hisashi Nikaidoh, Director of Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis in Tulsa, OK, earned his medical degree from The University of Tokyo in 1959 and trained at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City; Children’s Memorial Hospital, Chicago; and Case Western Reserve University Hospital, Cleveland. Dr. Nikaidoh is internationally known for the innovative surgical procedure that carries his name and his lifelong dedication to the care of children, for which he received the Children’s Miracle Achievement Award in 2011. In addition, Dr. Nikaidoh has been a long-time teacher of the Gospel and served on multiple missions, domestic and abroad.

To learn more about Dr. Nikaidoh or the eight contributing mothers visit TheHealingHeartsBook.com, or Facebook.com/TheHealingHeartsBook. To receive a review copy of Healing Hearts or to connect with the author please contact publicist Alison Storm by email at [email protected].