April Newsletter: A giveaway, Book sales, book recommendations, YouTube Channel recommendations and thinking about faith and Jesus

Hello for the month of April! Can you believe it is already April? I can and I can’t, I guess. I’m ready for Spring but in some ways, it seemed to get here quite fast.

I hope you are having an amazing April so far.

I want to welcome any new visitors here and let you know a little bit about me.

Yes, I am a writer of Christian fiction, but I’m also a blogger, a photographer, and a homeschool mother.

I share blog posts a few times a week (though lately it’s only been a couple of times) on my blog Boondock Ramblings at www.lisahoweler.com.

Sorry for the sales pitch, but I will mention that I sell photographs through Alamy and Lightstock (links). Most of the time, though, I take photographs for myself and my own family’s history.

Shifting gears here a bit from introductions, if you are an avid reader like me, I wonder if you like library book sales as much as I do.

The libraries around our area offer used book sales either once a month or during special times of the year. Last week one of the libraries had a large spring book sale where tables were loaded with books for readers to go through. My husband and I visited and while he looked for mysteries, I looked for classic books for me and my children to read as a part of our homeschool lessons.  

I was excited to find a copy of Little Women because I have had an interest in reading Little Women for a while now. I have watched many of the movie adaptations of the book but had never actually read the book. Eek. Time to remedy that.

I also picked up A Tale of Two Cities, The Red Badge of Courage, Mansfield Park, and Pride and Prejudice.

Have you read any of these?

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Book recommendation and giveaway:

This past weekend, I finished Meant to Bee by Storm Shultz. I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to those who love sweet and not cheesy romances.

Here is my review of it that I posted on social media.

REVIEW:

This was a very sweet, well-written, and realistic romance that was much more than a romance.

I fell in love with Cordy and her determination to make it on her own as a single mother.

I fell in love with little Poppy, even though she only said a few words (Mama and Go-Go!).

I fell in love with Ronan because he’s a sweet and honorable Irishman.

And I fell in love with the side character as well – Vivian, Barney, and Jack.

This book is not a sugar-coated fanciful romance like some romances are. There are some topics in it that could be considered heavy by some standards, but it is written in such a relatable way that it doesn’t feel like a heavy burden has been placed on the reader’s shoulders.

This book has a cozy, hometown feel that I enjoyed escaping into. As Ronan said about Cordy: “She has pulled me into her world, and I plan to stay there forever.” Now I don’t know that I will stay in Cordy’s world forever since she is a fictional character, *wink*, but I’ll be sure to pick up future books by this author, with or without Cordy in it.

Because I enjoyed the book so much, I’d love to offer an ebook copy of it for this month’s giveaway. I can only offer this giveaway to US residents because of Amazon’s distribution rules. To enter, simply comment on this post and subscribe to my Instagram if you haven’t already. Winners will be chosen with a random number generator by 6 p.m. EST on April 19^th.

You can also share the giveaway with others.

If you want to tell others about it, you can copy this graphic and share it on your social media with a link to this substack:

A YouTube Channel Recommendation:

I found this YouTube Channel recently that I really enjoyed and wanted to share with you:

https://www.youtube.com/@ForgottenWayFarms

Her videos feature recipes and little tidbits about what she is reading or doing.

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A Meme for The Reader in Your Life

I thought I’d share these little memes my 8-year-old daughter made for me the other day. You might be able to relate to them:

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Writing Update

In addition to writing this newsletter and sharing blog posts on my blog, I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing and still hope to release it at the end of June. I’m having a lot of fun with this new character and writing about people she loves and meets along the way.

I had planned to offer chapters of the book to paid subscribers starting at the end of this week but I’m still working through some changes I wanted to make so that will be delayed for now. I will, however, offer a sneak peek of the first two chapters in an upcoming newsletter for paid subscribers. I’m so excited to introduce Gladwynn to all of you!

You can pre-order the book here:

You can upgrade to a paid subscription here:

This story is a bit of a departure from my previous books, but I hope that it will still have the hometown feel that the books in the Spencer Valley Chronicle do.

The Spencer Valley Chronicles is still available on Amazon at the following links:

The Farmer’s Daughter

Harvesting Hope

Beauty From Ashes

Beyond the Season

Shores of Mercy

Here are a few blog posts that I recently shared on my blog:

• Sunday Bookends: Finding a YouTuber I thought I lost, finishing books (someday), still working on the book I’m writing

• Saturday Afternoon Tea: Book sales, good food, and impatiently waiting for spring

• The Spring of Cary Grant

• Sunday Bookends: Enjoying Spring weather, Magpie Murders, and new book series

• Saturday Afternoon Chat: Dog grooming, visit to a museum, and annoying cold thwarts our plans

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Faithfully Thinking:

I want to close with some faith thoughts I had recently.

The earth was parched when I first wrote this, craving the rain for weeks. The grass in our backyard was yellow and dead and hard under our bare feet.

The weather service said we weren’t in a drought. I found it hard to believe, even though I know the designation has to do with water table levels and other such things. Our rivers and creeks were almost like rock beds.

Our farmers’ fields were dry and not growing.

Sometimes my soul feels the same way. Like there are days when I feel so dry, my insides being strangled by the vines withering in the hot rays of the sun.

Everything I try fails, falling on the dry, dead earth.

Each effort I make to improve our finances sputters to a start then runs out of air, out of gas, out of water, or success, or whatever you want to say.

It’s on days like that I look for water to quench my thirst. Yes, only Jesus can really quench our deep, soul-level thirst but on the more surface level I look for things like good books, good food, good people and they help me on a physical and mental level at least.

God never promised our lives would be easy but he promised He’d be there when they weren’t easy.

He never promised we wouldn’t go thirsty or our souls wouldn’t dry up in the heat of it all. What he did promise is that the well that provides his living water will never go dry.

How do you refill the well of your soul?

With things? With social media? With good books, good food, good people and ….?

Don’t be afraid to say Jesus and … Because that’s how it is for me too.

Your turn

Now it is your turn to share how you are doing. I hope you will do so in the comments. How is your spring going? Are you reading anything good? Listening to any good music? Watching anything fun?