LiteraryScape

Announcements

Welcome to a bonus episode featuring author Sandee Taylor’s debut novel, More Than An Attractive Face. But first a few announcements before we chat with Sandee.

We are just ten days away from the launch of Unwavering Faith. On February 1st, we will release the paperback and eBook of Unwavering Faith. It has been an exciting journey, and I cannot wait for you to enjoy Brody and Claire’s adventurous love story. For my friends who enjoy audiobooks, we hope to have that ready for launch mid-February. Originally, I was going to just narrate the entire book. However, when I went back through the recordings, I realized I would rather have different voices for each character. So, thanks to many family members and friends, we will bring you a dynamic audiobook that I hope you will enjoy.

If you are on my newsletter list, then you have seen the many unboxings we’ve enjoyed over the past few weeks as books, t-shirts, mugs, and totes have arrived. You can check out all we offer at www.literaryscape.com/shop. Then to stay up to date with all the happenings at LiteraryScape, you can sign up for our newsletter at www.literaryscape.com/newsletter.

We have two book club extravaganza events coming up for you as we celebrate the release of Unwavering Faith. The first event will take place on February 15th at the Branch Coffee Shop in Fairmount, Indiana. Author Abbey Downey will join me. This is an incredible opportunity to meet authors, enjoy a cup of coffee, sit and chat about books and play BINGO. We hope to see you there.

For those of you who do not live close to Indiana, I will host the online book club extravaganza on February 22nd. We will chat and play BINGO. You can learn more about these events and get your tickets at www.literaryscape.com/events.

Finally, when you visit www.literaryscape.com/events you will find all our Coffee and Books events for 2025. We have some incredible authors coming to chat with you this year. These are free events, just RSVP to get the link to join each chat.

Now, for this special bonus episode, I am thrilled to introduce you to author Sandee Taylor. She is a member of HCRW, our historical Christian romance writers’ group. Sandee just releases her first indie published novel. It has been a joy to be part of her writing journey and watch her incredible story come to life. Sandee is also an active member of the Kansas Authors Club and enjoys working with fellow writers. Enjoy this chat with Sandee Taylor.

Episode Notes

Summary

In this engaging conversation, author Sandee Taylor shares her journey into writing, sparked by personal experiences and a newfound passion for Kansas history. She discusses the challenges of character development, the intricacies of writing about violence and passion, and the importance of historical accuracy in her novels. Themes of family, integrity, and faith are woven throughout her work, reflecting her values and beliefs. Sandy also shares insights into her upcoming book launch and ways for readers to connect with her.

Takeaways

Sandy began writing after retiring and caring for her mother-in-law.

Her interest in Kansas history inspired her first published book.

Characters can evolve in unexpected ways during the writing process.

Writing scenes with passion and violence can be particularly challenging.

Research is crucial for maintaining historical accuracy in fiction.

Sandy's main character embodies strength and integrity.

The importance of family and community is a central theme in her writing.

Sandy's book launch includes both physical and virtual events.

Engaging with readers through book clubs is a goal for Sandy.

Sandy's audiobook is set to be released soon.

https://youtu.be/05rnf2-ZHPI

https://rumble.com/v6bvmqp-bonus-episode-interview-with-author-sandee-taylor.html

In this episode Jessica, Tiffanie, Mom, and Melissa share their favorites from 2024. It has been an exciting year of reading for all of us as we branched out into the world of Contemporary Christian Suspense Romance. Tiff became quite brave this year as she read through these series, and we are so proud of her!

We hope that you have found our book discussions to be entertaining and inspiring. Our schedule for next year is full of great novels and authors. We hope you can join us for another year of adventurous reading!

Topics We Discuss:

Our favorite series

Our favorite author interviews

Our favorite podcast moments

Historical Christian Romance v. Contemporary Christian Suspense Romance

Psst… we would also love to connect with you, be sure to sign up for our newsletter here. Every Friday you will get an email with our latest episode and lots of fun goodies along the way. Can’t wait to read with you in 2025!

Please note this will be our last episode until late January as we take a short break before kicking off the new year.

Announcements

Pre-orders for Unwavering Faith are now open along with lots of fun merchandise. Visit www.literaryscape.com/shop to place your order today.

Tickets for the Book Club Extravaganza events are now on sale! We have three in person events on January 25th, February 1st, and February 15th. On February 22nd, there will be an online event. We will have BINGO, Door Prizes, and all kinds of book club fun. For our February 15th event, author Abbey Downey will be co-hosting with me. We will also announce another exciting book event coming in the spring of 2025. You can get all the details and purchase your ticket at www.literaryscape.com/events. Please note that each event has a limited number of tickets, so don’t delay and get your seat today!

Let’s jump into this week’s Christmas novella discussion of The Best Gift of All by Julie Lessman.

Episode Notes

In this episode Tiffanie, Jessica, Mom and I discuss Julie Lessman’s Christmas novella, The Best Gift of all. This novella is part of the many O’Connor family stories. John Brady and Lizzie from A Passion Redeemed are featured is this incredible Christmas novella.

Topics We Discuss:

The balance between spouse and children.

God’s design for the family structure.

Redeeming  broken relationships.

We gave the following ratings to each of the story elements listed below.

(Espresso = an expression, Mocha = Medium amount, Latte = A lot)

Mystery – Espresso

Drama - Latte

Suspense - Espresso

Romance – Latte

Inspiration – Latte

LiteraryScape gave The Best Give of All by Julie Lessman 3 lassos!

(1 lasso – throw and a miss, 2 lassos – hooked, 3 lassos – hooked and hog tied)

Book Link

www.literaryscape.com/podcast/141

https://youtu.be/U9C9jnrW-tg

https://rumble.com/v60zjr8-episode-141-the-best-gift-of-all-by-julie-lessman.html

Announcements

Pre-orders for Unwavering Faith are now open along with lots of fun merchandise. Visit www.literaryscape.com/shop to place your order today.

Tickets for the Book Club Extravaganza events are now on sale! We have three in person events on January 25th, February 1st, and February 15th. On February 22nd, there will be an online event. We will have BINGO, Door Prizes, and all kinds of book club fun. For our February 15th event, author Abbey Downey will be co-hosting with me. We will also announce another exciting book event coming in the spring of 2025. You can get all the details and purchase your ticket at www.literaryscape.com/events. Please note that each event has a limited number of tickets, so don’t delay and get your seat today!

The proof copies of Unwavering Faith came this week! This is my first time seeing it in print, and you get to enjoy unboxing it with me. I've included a link to the video in this week's newsletter; be sure to open it and scroll down.

Let’s jump into this week’s Christmas novella discussion of A Whisper of Hope by Julie Lessman.

Episode Notes

In this episode Tiffanie, Jessica, Mom, and I discuss A Whisper of Hope by Julie Lessman. This novella features one of the infamous O’Connor couples, Mitch and Charity. Being a big Julie Lessman fan, I of course love this novella. However, I also love all of the characters in the O’Connor family and highly recommend every book in the series.

Topics we discuss:

Age differences in couples

The joy of children

The never-ending weight battle.

We gave the following ratings to each of the story elements listed below.

(Espresso = an expression, Mocha = Medium amount, Latte = A lot)

Mystery – Espresso

Drama - Mocha

Suspense - Espresso

Romance – Latte

Inspiration – Latte

LiteraryScape gave A Whisper of Hope by Julie Lessman 3 lassos!

(1 lasso – throw and a miss, 2 lassos – hooked, 3 lassos – hooked and hog tied)

Link to podcast.

Link to book.

Announcements

Tomorrow is our last Coffee and Books event for 2024. Join us from 1:00-2:00 pm EST for an hour of entertaining book discussion with authors Abbey Downey, Jodi Basye, and Karen Witemeyer. Sign-up for the is free event at www.literaryscape.com/events.

Pre-orders for Unwavering Faith are now open along with lots of fun merchandise. Head on over to www.literaryscape.com/shop to pre-order your items today.

We have several fun announcements coming your way over the next few weeks. Be sure to sign-up for our newsletter at www.literaryscape.com/newsletter to stay in the know.

Let’s jump into this week’s Christmas novella discussion of I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Sarah Sundin.

Episode Notes

In this episode Tiffanie, Jessica, Mom, and I discuss Sarah Sundin’s novella, I’ll Be Home for Christmas. We loved reading this novella as it takes place in our home state and features our favorite university. It was also interesting to find out that the candy store featured in the story still exists today. Taking a trip there will be in our future!

Topics we Discuss:

Redeeming a bully

Kids

Candy Shops

We gave the following ratings to each of the story elements listed below.

(Espresso = an expression, Mocha = Medium amount, Latte = A lot)

Mystery – Espresso

Drama - Mocha

Suspense - Espresso

Romance – Mocha

Inspiration – Mocha

LiteraryScape gave I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Sarah Sundin 3 lassos!

(1 lasso – throw and a miss, 2 lassos – hooked, 3 lassos – hooked and hog tied)

Link to episode.

Link to book.

Announcements

December 7th is our last Coffee and Books event for 2024. Join us from 1:00-2:00 pm EST for an hour of entertaining book discussion with authors Abbey Downey, Jodi Basye, and Karen Witemeyer. Sign-up for the is free event at www.literaryscape.com/events.

Pre-orders for Unwavering Faith are now open along with lots of fun merchandise. Head on over to www.literaryscape.com/shop to pre-order your items today.

We have several fun announcements coming your way over the next few weeks. Be sure to sign-up for our newsletter at www.literaryscape.com/newsletter to stay in the know.

I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Let’s jump into this week’s Christmas novella discussion of Christmas Threat by Lynn Shannon.

Episode Notes

In this episode Tiffanie, Jessica, my mother, and I discuss the novella Christmas Threat by Lynn Shannon. This is the second novella in her Christmas novella collection. You can read all of three for free on Kindle Unlimited. Most, if not all her books are available on KU. As always Lynn delivers an action-packed romance you cannot put down.

Topics we discuss:

Evil laughs

Mom’s amazing date bars

Flying coats

Suspicious gifts

Scary feet

We gave the following ratings to each of the story elements listed below.

(Espresso = an expression, Mocha = Medium amount, Latte = A lot)

Mystery – Latte

Suspense - Latte

Romance – Mocha

Inspiration – Mocha

LiteraryScape gave Christmas Threat by Lynn Shannon 3 lassos!

(1 lasso – throw and a miss, 2 lassos – hooked, 3 lassos – hooked and hog tied)

Link to episode.

Link to book.

Announcements

December 7th is our last Coffee and Books event for 2024. Join us from 1:00-2:00 pm EST for an hour of entertaining book discussion with authors Abbey Downy, Jodi Basye, and Karen Witemeyer. Sign-up for the is free event at www.literaryscape.com/events.

The Unwavering Faith pre-orders opened last Friday. If you’ve followed along for a while you know that I am only selling my books on our LiteraryScape website. I want to have a direct connection with my readers and ensure that my book sales do not support companies that put funds into organizations that do not align with God’s word.

So, to get my books and any merchandise we have you will need to head on over to www.literaryscape.com/shop. Now, I want to explain a couple of things real quick. If you are watching the video for this episode, then you will be able to see this part. The paperback books and merchandise are housed on our online store at www.literaryscape.com/shop. The eBook and audiobook are housed on our ThriveCart store. You can visit our home page or click on the Unwavering Faith link under Author Melissa LaShure in the context menu to access the buy links for these two books. Just click on the eBook button or the audiobook button. This will take you to our Thrivecart checkout where you can complete your purchase.

This is not as smooth of a purchasing flow as we want, but it is our current solution for directly selling the eBook and audiobook versions of Unwavering Faith. Currently, BookFunnel who delivers these books for us and Squarespace who hosts our website, do not connect for these sales. I am hoping that one day soon they will. Thank you for your understanding and patience as we work towards an easier checkout process for you.

I also want to point out that we have some merchandise on pre-order in our store. We have the men’s T-shirt featuring the Bounty Brothers logo and the women’s T-shirt featuring the Unwavering Faith logo. This week we added four different mugs and two totes, so be sure to head on over to www.literaryscape.com/shop and check them out. All items in the shop are on pre-order and will ship out on February 1, 2025.

You may ask why do I need to pre-order? Well, this is our first round of selling each of these items. Pre-orders help us determine how much of the product we need to order so that we do not end up with products no one wants. So, any item that does not sell during pre-orders will not remain in our shop. If you see something you like and want, then go ahead and pre-order today.

Episode Notes

In this episode we discuss Lynn Shannon's Christmas novella, Christmas Danger. It is packed with suspense and makes for quick holiday romance read. We also discuss the Clark Griswolds in our families and share one our favorite Christmas treats.

Takeaways:

Who is a Clark Griswold when it comes to Christmas

Jessica is discussing the wrong book

Papaw was the ultimate Chex-mix maker

The library can’t keep Lynn’s books on the shelf

We gave the following ratings to each of the story elements listed below.

(Espresso = an expression, Mocha = Medium amount, Latte = A lot)

Mystery – Latte

Suspense - Latte

Romance – Mocha

Inspiration – Mocha

LiteraryScape gave Christmas Danger by Lynn Shannon 3 lassos!

(1 lasso – throw and a miss, 2 lassos – hooked, 3 lassos – hooked and hog tied)

Link to book.

Link for the blog post for this episode: www.literaryscape.com/podcast/137

Episode Notes

In this episode, Melissa celebrates the upcoming launch of her first historical romance novel, 'Unwavering Faith,' and shares insights about the Bounty Brothers series. She discusses the creative process behind the book cover, character dynamics, and the unique approach to self-publishing. Additionally, she highlights upcoming events and community engagement opportunities for readers and writers.

Takeaways

The final cover of 'Unwavering Faith' has been revealed.

'Unwavering Faith' is the first book in the Bounty Brothers series.

The series is inspired by historical heroes and the Civil War era.

Each book in the series will feature a unique bounty hunter's story.

The main character, Claire, undergoes a significant faith journey.

Melissa emphasizes the importance of direct connection with readers.

The book will only be available for purchase on Melissa's website.

Future plans include helping other Christian authors publish their works.

Community events will be held to engage with readers and promote the book.

The newsletter is the best way to stay updated on events and releases.

https://www.literaryscape.com/podcast/136

Announcements

We have another incredible line up for our final Coffee and Books event this year on Saturday December 7th from 1:00-2:00pm EST. Join authors Karen Witemyer, Jodi Basye, and Abbey Downey for an hour of book talk. Visit www.literaryscape.com/events to sign up for this free event today!

Authors we have KyLee Woodley joining us tomorrow Saturday November 9th from 12:00-1:00pm EST to talk about book proposals. Getting your creative works in front of professionals in the Christian Book Market can be challenging. You need to showcase your best writing and understand what industry professionals are looking for. This class teaches you to polish a query letter, proposal, and writing sample. Additionally, we will preview resources for improving writing and where to find agents and editors. Finally, this class provides three templates to get you started. Visit www.literaryscape.com/events to sign-up for this training today.

Today I am excited to bring author Abbey Downey back on the podcast. She is the author of the Adventurous Hearts series featuring when who make a splash in sports and exploring in the early 1900’s. If you enjoy a sweet romance with spunky characters, then be sure to check out her books.

I also want to mention that Abbey and I will be hosting a couple of adventurous reader events in 2025, so stay tuned for those announcements!

Now let’s hop into today’s author interview with Abbey Downey!

Episode Notes

In this episode of the Literary Escape podcast, host Melissa welcomes author Abbey Downey to discuss her latest release, 'An Unexpected Catch.' Set in 1907, the novel features a female umpire and a pitcher navigating their unexpected romance amidst the challenges of their time. Abbey shares insights into her characters, the historical context of the story, and the research that informed her writing. The conversation also touches on the dynamics between characters, the role of supporting figures, and the challenges of writing compelling antagonists. Abbey hints at her future projects, including a new book that breaks away from the sports theme.

Takeaways

'An Unexpected Catch' is set in 1907 and features a female umpire.

The story is inspired by real-life umpire Amanda Clement.

Emmett, the male lead, is a confident pitcher with hidden depths.

Character dynamics play a crucial role in the story.

Supporting characters significantly impact the main characters' arcs.

Villains in stories should be complex and not caricatures.

Research on historical sports adds depth to the narrative.

The book balances romance with historical context.

Future projects may explore themes beyond sports.

Abbey's newsletter includes fun trivia and games for readers.

Connect with Abbey at: https://abbeydowney.com/

Get your copy of An Unexpected Catch here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D5BQ28TF

View the show notes for this episode here: https://www.literaryscape.com/podcast/135

Announcements

We have another incredible line up for our final Coffee and Books event this year on Saturday December 7th from 1:00-2:00pm EST. Join authors Karen Witemyer, Jodi Basye, Misty M. Beller, and Abbey Downey for an hour of book talk. Visit www.literaryscape.com/events to sign up for this free event today!

The Unwavering Faith crowdfunding campaign ends today. Head on over to www.literaryscape.com/campaign to get your limited-edition copy of Unwavering Faith today!

Authors we have KyLee Woodley joining us on Saturday November 9th from 12:00-1:00pm EST to talk about book proposals. Getting your creative works in front of professionals in the Christian Book Market can be challenging. You need to showcase your best writing and understand what industry professionals are looking for. This class teaches you to polish a query letter, proposal, and writing sample. Additionally, we will preview resources for improving writing and where to find agents and editors. Finally, this class provides three templates to get you started. Visit www.literaryscape.com/events to sign-up for this training today.

Let me introduce you to today’s special guest, author Lynn Shannon. It took an international move from Texas to Greece before Lynn turned her love of reading into a passion for writing. Now she spends her days penning fast-paced inspirational romantic suspense. Her novels combine intriguing mysteries with heartfelt romance.

Lynn lives with her husband, two children, an extremely spoiled dog, and a turtle who hibernates half of the year. The experience of a different country has provided amazing new foods—like Yemista and Kourabiedes—to accompany pecans and Blue Bell ice cream on her favorites list. She also never passes up coffee, chocolate, or the chance to watch cute animal videos.

We all crowded in on my couch to talk to author Lynn Shannon. If you’ve been listening over the past month, then you’ve heard us raving about her Triumph Over Adversity series. We are excited to feature her Badge of Honor series next year. Enjoy this fun conversation with author Lynn Shannon and be sure to click the link in the blog post for this episode to connect with her!

Episode Notes

Author Lynn Shannon discusses her journey from being a lawyer to becoming a self-published author. She talks about her Triumph Over Adversity series and how it came to be based on reader requests. Lynn shares her writing process and how she develops suspenseful storylines. She also mentions some of her favorite authors and books in the Christian romantic suspense genre. Lynn discusses her favorite Bible verse and what readers can expect from her next. The conversation ends with a discussion on her Christmas novellas and how listeners can connect with her.

Takeaways

Lynn Shannon transitioned from being a lawyer to becoming a self-published author.

Her Triumph Over Adversity series was born out of reader requests for a story about a character from a previous book.

Lynn's writing process involves a combination of plotting and pantsing, and she often doesn't know who the killer is until the end of the book.

She enjoys reading Christian romantic suspense and recommends authors like Lenora Worth, Christy Barritt, Jessica R. Patch, Laura Scott, and Melinda Leigh.

Lynn's favorite Bible verse is 1 Corinthians 13:13, and she also finds inspiration in Hebrews 11:1.

Readers can expect the first book in Lynn's new Badge of Honor series, set in the same town as the Triumph Over Adversity series, to be released soon.

Lynn has also written standalone Christmas novellas that provide a quick and festive reading experience.

Listeners can connect with Lynn Shannon through her website, newsletter, Facebook, and Instagram.