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Friday, March 18, 2011

Welcome Brandy Bruce and Looks Like Love

Please interact with our guest authors by answering the question they provide. Your response will also enter you in the drawing for a free book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


BRANDY BRUCE holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Liberty University. She’s been a nonfiction developmental book editor for Focus on the Family more than six years, and she’s the author of the newly released novel Looks Like Love. Brandy makes her home in Colorado with her husband, Jeff, and her daughter, Ashtyn.

LOOKS LIKE LOVE
by Brandy Bruce
Published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson

ABOUT THE BOOK

Following a break-up with her boyfriend, an unfulfilling career, and a general bad taste in clothes, Kasey Addison feels lost in her own life. With the help of her best friend, Amanda, Kasey embarks on an unexpected journey to rediscover life and love, starting with a whirlwind London jaunt. Surrounded by red telephone booths, double-decker buses, and men in fuzzy black hats, Kasey falls in love with mud baths, Jane Austen, and stone cathedrals. And in the middle of London she meets Lincoln Davis, a Texan with a really great tan, and her life gets even more unrecognizable. When her spur-of-the-moment vacation is over, Kasey, a junior marketing consultant, finds herself on the marketing team for LETA, a growing cosmetics company. Kasey's thrown into the fast-paced world of promotional galas, photo shoots, and magazine interviews. When the owners of LETA decide to release their very first fragrance, Kasey's new assignment is to find out what love looks like and then find a way to sell it. With the help of Amanda and a few new friends, and with a rekindled relationship with the Lover of her soul, Kasey discovers that sometimes love looks like what we least expect.

BOOK TRAILER

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThatOneP3RSON#p/a/u/1/A3D3Kum0ChU

Readers, buy your copy of Looks Like Love today!

AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR FEATURE AUTHOR

Thinking in Words

I fell in love with fiction at a really early age. It was Amelia Bedelia, then the Babysitter’s Club, then the Christy Miller series, and on it went. I started scribbling my own stories once I entered the sixth grade, and by the time I went to college, I knew I wanted books to be a part of my career. So I became a book editor. There was, and continues to be, something so fascinating to me about taking a rough manuscript and then shaping and polishing it until it becomes what it was always meant to be.

To me, editing is like working a puzzle. Despite the fact that I’m a fiction reader and writer, after college I began working as a non-fiction editor for a publishing house. And to this day, I love my work. When an author first sends me his or her book, I look at all the possibilities. Would something flow better at the beginning instead of the ending? Is this part really necessary to the overall message? Could we somehow make this section more inspiring? What’s missing? It’s very much a puzzle that I have to put together.

But in my personal life, fiction has remained my passion, and I’ve never given up that habit of scribbling stories of my own. Sometimes I think that my thoughts come out in story form. Do you know what I mean? I think in words and pictures, of course, but I also think in story. I’m a character living out her destiny and God is my author. Or I’m the author and my imagination runs wild as I create characters of my own.

Several years ago I went on a European tour, visiting Ireland, Scotland, England, and France. It was an amazing journey, and I came home with all kinds of inspiration for stories. A few years later, I accepted an editor’s position at Focus on the Family, and my husband and I moved from Virginia to Colorado. And as we settled into our new home and new jobs, a story started forming in my mind. A story of a young woman, Kasey Addison, who was starting over and in desperate need of hope and adventure and inspiration. I began her journey by sending her to England, and everything just unfolded from there. The end result was my novel Looks Like Love.

While I was writing Looks Like Love, I pulled out my journal that I’d taken on my trip overseas to remind myself of all the little details I’d forgotten. I opened all my photo albums from that trip, and I surrounded myself with the souvenirs I’d bought. I drew inspiration from my own journey as I dived into Kasey’s story. I hope you’ll check out Looks Like Love and then let me know what you think! I love hearing from my readers.

When I think of the beauty and power of story, I think of the best storyteller of all time—Jesus. I like to think of Him sitting and sharing parables with an engaged audience. He knew the value in a well-told story. A good fiction story stays with us and inspires us. It captures our attention and keeps us turning pages. Any book-lover can think of a book that made a huge impact on his or her life. What’s yours?

* * * * *

Thank you, Brandy, for sharing with us today.

Guest Question: Any book-lover can think of a book that made a huge impact on his or her life. What’s yours?

ENTRY RULES Readers, leave your email address (name at domainname dot com/net) along with your answer to the question(s) for your chance to win a FREE autographed copy of the book above. If you do not answer the question, and your email address isn't provided, you will not be entered.

This week, the contest is open to US/Canada residents only.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

All of the Christy Miller series that Brandy speaks about really impacted me as a young woman in Jr. High and High School. They taught me what to look for and expect out of a man! I knew I would wait till I found that, and I did!
Ashley
eisymorgan@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for letting me guest post, Tiffany!

And Ashley, you are definitely a kindred spirit if you like Christy Miller! :)

Anonymous said...

Redeeming Love mad a huge impact on me.

somanybooksblog@hotmail.com

Carolynn said...

Redeeming love by Francine Rivers. I don't think anyone can read that book without being affected by it.
Thanks for the chance to win!
carolynnwald [at]hotmail[dot]com

ChristyJan said...

Going back to my childhood . . . books that made a huge impact on my life (and got me hooked on reading): Kathryn Kenney's TRIXIE BELDEN mystery series and THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND by Elizabeth George Spear

hawkes(at)citlink(dot)net

karenk said...

i, too, was touched by 'redeeming love' by francine rivers.

karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com

Sylvia said...

Anything written by Robin Jones Gunn impacts my life. I have read and own every one of her books from the young adult clear through the newest adult book "Under a Maui Moon". Her books have a way of drawing the reader closer to God. I always walk away after reading one of them feeling free, happy, loved by and in love with Jesus.

Brandy, I never was in to the Babysitters Club books, but LOVE the Amelia Bedelia books!:) She's the best!

nina4sm/at/gmail/dot/com

Courtney said...

There was a book I read recently that I felt was life changing to me, and that was Driven by Shellie Neumeier. When I was younger I was really in to the Babysitters Club, those were my fav books!

kcmelone/at/yahoo/dot/com

Anonymous said...

I think Redeeming Love would be the one for me too! Brandy's books looks great!!
Blessings.....Joy
ibjoy1953{at]yahoo[dot]com

Jo said...

The books that really impacted me seem to be the Yada Yada books by Neta Jackson.

Thanks for such a great interview and sharing about your book. It sounds like a great book and definitely on my list. Please enter me in the giveaway.

Blessings,
Jo
ladijo40(at)aol(dot)com

Pegg Thomas said...

The books by James Herriot impacted me in many ways. There is so much about life, and people, and relationships in his books.

Thanks for entering me in this drawing!
twinwillowsfarm at gmail dot com