Weekend Signings

It's a busy weekend for two of our authors. Susan Dayley and Joyce DiPastena will both be signing copies of their books this weekend.We have two author signings this weekend.

Susan Dayley will be signing copies of her book, Redemption,Saturday, February 27, from noon-2pm at Confetti Books and Antiques 273 North, Main Street, Spanish Fork, Utah.




Joyce DiPastena will be signing copies of Loyalty's Web and Illuminations of the Heart as part of the ANWA (American Night Writers Association) Conference. The ANWA Conference is being held at the Best Western Dobson Ranch Inn (at 1666 S Dobson Rd, Mesa, AZ) and Joyce will be signing from 4-5 pm.



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Stop by and say hi. I know that both authors would love to say hi back!

Murphy's Law

One of the ironies of life is that things have a tendency to no longer work just at the moment you need them to work. Whether it's a car, your stove, iPod, or in this case, the link to the contest form for the Love Your Body Book Giveaway, they seem to fail just when you've doubled checked everything and are thinking to yourself--I've done a good job.

For those of you that tried to enter the contest over the weekend and couldn't, I apologize that the link wasn't working. Great news though--the link is working now so enter away! For details about the contest, click here.




Joan Sowards in Washington



If you live in the Seattle area you are in for a treat.

Haunts Haven
, author Joan Sowards will be in Edgewood, Washington tomorrow signing copies of her book at Beehive Books and More, 10213 24th Street East Edgewood, WA 98372. Stop by and say hi, Joan would love to see you.

Love Your Body Blog Tour

Body image. If we were honest with ourselves, we would all admit that at one time or another it is something we struggle with. Our body image issues may range from just wishing we could get rid of those extra five pounds to more serious struggles such as bulimia or anorexia. With next week being National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we felt that it would be a good week to kick off the Love Your Body: A Diet-Free Approach to Balanced Eating blog tour. But before you any ideas that this book is only for those who struggle with more serious body image issues, it's not.

Drawing upon her experiences as a registered dietitian the author, Brooke Parker, writes a book that is helpful for all. A reader, Keva, wrote about the book I could not put this book down! I felt like every chapter was written for me! I also feel very strongly that anyone and everyone could benefit from reading this book. I realized while reading that I don't have to hate food and I can love myself no matter how I look. I would recommend this book to people of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Brooke Parker gives great ideas, easy strategies, and worksheets to help you love your body!"

We are really excited for our the ten wonderful reviewers that will be sharing what their thoughts and what they've learned.

February 22 Valerie Ipson
Of Writerly Things

February 23 Nichole Giles
Random-ish by Nichole

February 24 Danyelle Ferguson
Queen of the Clan

February 25 Rachelle Christensen
Rachelle Writes

March 1 Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen
The Write Blocks

March 2 Alison Palmer
Tangled Words and Dreams

March 3 Tristi Pinkston
*Tristi Pinkston, LDS Author

March 4 Sheila Stayley
Why Not? Because I Said So!
LDS Women's Book Review

March 5 Cami Checketts
Cami's Book


We will be giving away 5 copies of Love Your Body: A Diet-Free Approach to Balanced Eating as part of the online book book tour. The contest starts February 17th and will close on March 5th at midnight, MST.

Entering the contest is easy--all you have to do is blog, tweet, follow, or comment and then fill out this little form here.

So exactly how do you blog, tweet, follow, etc. Here's how.

1. Become a follower of our reviewers blogs. You can follow one of our reviewers or you can follow all of them. Remember that each blog you follow gives you another chance to win, so why wouldn't you choose to follow them all? But what if we are already following a blog? Lucky you--because you get an entry for that too.

2. Post a comment on their review. We would like the comments relate to the book and the posted review, but we are happy if you just review.if you leave a comment either about the book or just say hello use the form to tell us about it, and both will get you an entry in the giveaway.

3. Blog about the contest or one of the reviews. Spread the word. Just remember that the blog post either needs to link to the contest or to one of the reviews.

4. Follow us on twitter. Maybe you use twitter, maybe you don't. But if you do, you should follow us.
http://twitter.com/walnutspringspr
http://twitter.com/brookeparkerrd
http://twitter.com/valerieipson
http://twitter.com/nicholegiles
http://twitter.com/Rachellewrites
http://twitter.com/LDSWBR
http://twitter.com/camichecketts

5. Tweet about the contest or one (or all) of the reviews. Yep, 144 characters or less is all it takes to enter.

6. Become a fan of Love Your Body on facebook.Brooke is constantly updating her fanpage with articles, recipes, and helpful hints.

7. Post about the contest on Facebook.

8. Anything else you can think of that will spread the word. If you mention it on goodreads, shelfari, google buzz, or any other social media site, or make it your status on gmail chat, MSN or yahoo messenger let us know. We want to reward your creativity with an entry.

Remember that you MUST fill out the nifty little form HERE to be entered.

Congratulation to our TWO Whitney Award Finalist Authors

The Whitney Award Finalists were announced today and guess what, we have TWO finalists on that list. Yeah!

Illuminations of the Heart by Joyce DiPastena was nominated for Best Romance and The Route by Gale Sears was nominated for Best General Fiction.

We are so proud of our two authors and are keeping our fingers crossed that they win--because we think they should. :)

If you want to learn more about Illuminations of the Heart read the first chapter here, read what others are saying here, or even better buy the book here or here or at your local LDS bookstore.

If you want to learn more about The Route, read an author interview here, read what others are saying here, or even better buy the book here, here, or at your local LDS bookstore.

If you want to wish Joyce or Gale congratulations you can do so at their blogs here or here.

Death of the School Library?

As an elementary, middle school, and high school student student I loved the library. I would finish my work early just so I could go to the library. The library was my favorite place in the school. I felt like a little girl in candy shop--all of those books with adventures waiting for me--and I was in heaven. I would spend hours pursuing the shelves looking for new books--knowing that my stack of check-out books wouldn't last long due to my nighttime habit of reading under the blankets after my sister went to sleep. I remember that day in third grade when I finished all of the Nancy Drew books that the library had. I had been carefully checking off each title as I read it and seeing that last check-mark gave me a sense of accomplishment. You know you've spent too much time in the library when I can remember how the library looked better than any of the classes.

Which is why I was dismayed to see President Obama proposing to eliminate the federal funding for school libaries. Under Obama's proposal libraries will be put on a spending freeze, and none of the money earmarked for education can be used towards library education. I understand we are in a recession, but education isn't the place to make budget cuts. Especially when it will effect the most needy students, those schools that have 20% or more living below the poverty line. I believe that it's hard to have a love for education without a love for reading.

I know that the libraries have taken on additional roles over the years, but their purpose is still the same--to educate and inspire.

You can read more about Obama's proposal here.

Check out American Association of School Libraries (AASL) for information and resources about the proposed cuts and what you can do about it.

What memories do you have of your school library. Was your library a place of refuge or did you hate going there?