​Welcome to the inaugural Back to School Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt. We hope that throughout this hunt, you discover some new books and get to know a little more about us.
A few things before you begin:
This hunt is a blog hop. Collect the “clues” (pieces to the longer phrase) at each stop. Enter the individual giveaways along the way, then click on the link to the next stop and repeat until you reach #28, where you will input the full phrase as your entry to the grand prize drawing.
The hunt begins August 30, 2023, at noon EST and ends September 4, 2023, so you have plenty of time to visit each stop. If you need to step away and come back later, make a note of the last stop you visited, and go to this post with the list of all stops on the hunt.
If you are having trouble viewing the posts, you may need to switch browsers. Chrome and Firefox sometimes work better than Microsoft Explorer or Edge.

I haven't read Shannon Sue Dunlap's new book yet, but it's definitely on my TBR list. It sounds like so much fun, and today, I am thrilled to get to know Shannon a bit more too. See what you think about this new-to-me author and her books. Be sure to read all the way to the end to find out how to get one of Shannon's stories for free.

Your new story revolves around a mayoral election. What made you choose politics for your romcom?

I don’t consider myself very political and hope readers won’t be wary of the election setting. I’d created the adorable town of Sweetheart for an indie romance called Decoy Valentine. In that story, Lanette Johnson, the mayor’s opinionated wife, played a prevalent role. After I’d finished the book, I was going about my normal life when a question occurred to me. What if Lanette got mad at her husband and decided to run against him for mayor? That’s all it took. It was too hilarious a setup to ignore.
 
Your characters are a small-town girl and a big-city guy. Which one do you think you're more like? Or are you comfortable in both places?
 
I’m big-city all the way and relate to my hero Ryan’s ignorance of the small-town pace.
 

Spring has sprung,
The grass is riz,
Wonder where the flowers is?
They are nowhere to be found,
‘Cause they’re underground.
 
I’ve always had an affinity for springtime in Kentucky, being born in March, so it was no stretch for me to write a story based on the season!
I could also say that, like my character Maia Pascal, I have a love/hate relationship with the season.
In the LOVE category are the feelings of refreshing, new birth, plus the colorful flowers and budding trees after a somber late winter! It brings hope every year.
On the flip side (I can’t use the word HATE, unlike Maia!), there are the following issues:

• I have curly hair (as does Maia), and damp windy conditions do not play well with naturally curly hair. You leave the house feeling like you’re having a pretty good hair day, and you look in the mirror when you arrive at your destination, and WHAM! Humidity strikes again. Sigh. No amount of hairspray can fix that.
• For many in the Southeast/Midwest, allergies do crop up as soon as the pollen hits the air. Maia suffers greatly—my allergies wait until fall!
• Spring weather in my part of the world can be quite unpredictable. Maia deals with fluctuating temperatures (what to wear??), snow (are you KIDDING me? It’s March!), and flooding (the most serious issue). Throw in a tornado, and you’ve got spring in Kentucky—although some of our worst tornados have been in Winter, lately!

You know the old joke that everyone, in every town repeats? If you don’t like the weather today, just wait for tomorrow!

For almost a month now, I've been giving sneak peeks into MY story in the novella collection releasing TOMORROW! But today, I'm passing the torch and letting Heather Greer post about her story and why winter is such an intrinsic part of it. Be sure to read to the end so you won't miss the next clue in our scavenger hunt!

Spring is too wet and the ground is a big muddy mess. Summer is too hot and not even the draw of a great glass of lemonade can make it less so. Autumn is perfect. Always. Winter is often cold and dark.
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Why, then, did I choose winter for my novella, Sugar and Spice? While the temperatures may leave something to be desired, I cannot deny the beauty of the season.

Despite the cold, there’s beauty in winter. When snow blankets the bare branches of trees and rests on the needles of evergreens set against a wintery blue sky, the result is breathtaking. When sunlight hits the snow-covered ground creating an ocean of sparkling diamonds out of the field behind my house, the two sights blend with the unique hush accompanying snow to evoke a sense of serenity. 

​The Love in Any Season Social Media Scavenger Hunt beings September 23rd! To celebrate the release of their new novella collection, Love in Any Season, the authors are hosting a fun social media scavenger hunt.

Here are the details: The Scavenger hunt opens September 23, 2022 and entries must be received by 11:59pm on October 4, 2022. One winner will be drawn from correct entries and announced on our social media pages on October 5, 2022. The winner will receive a $60 Amazon gift card. The contest is open to US only.
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Many of our clues are found on social media sources that aren't our own. Each author will keep a post like this one where links to new clues will be updated each day.  Here are the other places where you can connect with each of the authors:

Happy Christmas in July! Welcome to the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway, which runs July 15-22, 2022 (contest closes at 8 p.m. Eastern on 7/22). At the bottom of each author’s blog post, you will find the name of a Christmas song. Write them all down and provide the provide all song titles (26 in total) on this Google form. Click here for a list of all participating authors and their links!
Note: You must grab all the song titles from every author in the 2022 Christmas in July Reader Blog Tour & Giveaway to be eligible to win the grand prize of a $520 Amazon gift card, plus a copy of each participating author's book OR first place prize of a copy of each participating author's book. At the end of this blog post is a link to the next blog, and so on, to the final blog post (26 authors in all). ​

July is a great month for talking beach Christmas, right? Because usually when you think of the beach, you think summer. Well, in my novella, Mistletoe Make-believe, (and in all the novellas in the collection), our characters are spending Christmas on the beach. In my story, it's St Simons Island, Georgia, just off the coast of Brunswick.
I've spent several weeks at St Simons. Once, on my honeymoon (perfect!) and once a few years ago when we took the kids. It's absolutely gorgeous, so when I was invited to write a story for this beachy Christmas collection, I knew it's where I wanted my characters to go.

Sometimes, you discover an author and read every one of her books you can get your hands on. Because they're that good. Janet Ferguson is one of those authors for me. I found her through a freebie on one of her stories, won another one in a giveaway, and then I was hooked. Her tales are sweet and fun, with characters to root for and settings you want to visit. And today, I get the pleasure of introducing Janet to you. Make sure you read all the way to the bottom to find out more about her newest book set to release later this month.

​Hi Janet, most of your recent books have been set near the coast in Georgia and the gulf (including my favorite--St Simons Island, GA). Do you have a favorite beach you've visited? Why? 

It’s so hard to choose just one! I’ve loved all of them. The beach I end up going to most often is Fort Morgan, Alabama. It’s fairly close—four hours or so—and it’s a little less crowded and less commercialized on the peninsula. I usually go in the fall, and the temperatures are mild, but the Gulf is still warm. The butterflies migrate through the area sometime in October. Sometimes, I’m blessed to be there to see them.
 
Ooh! I need to check that beach out. It sounds amazing, and I love butterflies. What is it about the beach that makes you long to set stories there?
 
I love the beach. It’s like God opens a treasure chest and sprinkles prizes around for us to find. Shells, porpoise, heron, sand dollars, starfish, sunsets, the ocean breeze, sea turtles, glowing jellyfish, the stars, and the waves as constant as His love, and so much more.

Looking for something fun and bookish to do over the next few weeks? Scrivenings Press is hosting a 12 Days of Christmas bash on their facebook page. Swing by from December 13 through 24th to play fun games, chat with authors about some of their holiday favorites, and possibly win some bookish prizes. Each day one person who participates will win an ebook of their choice. And at the end of the week, someone is going to win the promise of an ecopy of every book Scrivenings is publishing next year (over 25 books!). And don't forget the recipes you can receive, too. ;-)
We hope you'll come by and party with us as the holidays approach. It's a great way to end 2020.

Do you love cowboy romances? I know I do. If you're like me, then you're in for a treat today. I'm chatting here with Shannon Taylor Vannatter, who writes cowboy romances. I had the pleasure of meeting Shannon at the KenTen writer's retreat a few years ago, and look forward to seeing her again this August at the same place. I'm also thrilled that she is now one of my editors at Scrivenings Press. Read on to learn more about Shannon, as well as how to be entered into an amazing giveaway she's doing right now to celebrate her new release.

Shannon, you've released almost 20 books now, right? What keeps you going and gives you inspiration? 
 
Actually, my 18th will release in March 2021. I can’t not write. I’ve tried. When I take a break, that’s usually when inspiration strikes. I’m inspired when I learn something new, hear an odd phrase, or see a headline. I also find tons of inspiration in being with other writers, just hanging out, or attending conferences. Being with other creative people inspires me and anything that interests me usually ends up in a book.