Review of Lilac Girls

Review of Lilac Girls Last year I vowed to not read another historical fiction novel set in World War II—most especially focused on Nazi concentration camps. Melancholy would linger for days after finishing these books, and I would struggle to shake it. The thought of what so many prisoners experienced at the hands of pure evil never fails to wreck …

A Dog is A Kid’s Best Friend

A Dog is A Kid’s Best Friend When my son was little, my mom told me that every boy should have a dog. An unexpected statement from her since we didn’t have dogs growing up. With four sisters, my brother probably would have definitely benefitted from having a canine companion to call his own. It wasn’t until I had kids …

Guest Blogger: Rayce Jasper of A Canine Christmas

Guest Blogger: Rayce Jasper of A Canine Christmas The problem with putting people on a pedestal is they eventually fall off. That’s what happened with my granddad. He was my hero when I was growing up—until Nana passed. Then he went dark. My name’s Rayce Jasper, and I’ve come back to Shelbyville to sell Granddad’s farm. The plan is to …

History of Mail Carriers

History of Mail Carriers This post may be a stumper for you. Why in the world would I be sharing the history of mail carriers for my Christmas novella release week? Good question. Main character Amelia Hutchinson is a disgruntled mail carrier in A Canine Christmas. Not disgruntled about the job but that it’s not quite as adventurous as she’d …

The History of Chrismon Trees

Chrismon Trees I think it’s appropriate that most of the helpful information I found on Chrismon Trees was on the online Southern Living Magazine. It wasn’t until our first Christmas in Tennessee I’d ever heard of Chrismons. Apparently, it’s not a well-known word, because every time I type it into this article, auto-correct tries to change it to Christmas. Maybe …

Holiday Supper Southern-Style

Holiday Supper Southern-Style I am by no means a Foodie. In fact, if I didn’t need to eat to survive, I probably wouldn’t bother. Except when it comes to the holidays! We moved from Northern California to Tennessee almost seven years ago. A lot of people have asked if I suffered from culture shock—which I haven’t—except when it comes to …

Guest Blogger: Amelia Hutchinson of A Canine Christmas

Guest Post by Amelia Hutchinson of A Canine Christmas Authors are strange sort of people, don’t you think? I mean, they get it into their heads their fictional characters are real—my creator, Jennifer Sienes, even asked me if I’d tell y’all a little bit about myself, as if I truly exist. We’re going to give her a little grace and …

A Canine Christmas Devotional

This is Day One of A Canine Christmas release. I’d like to start with a devotional since the heart of every one of my books is to draw people closer to the Lord. For a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card and the ebook version of A Canine Christmas, share in the comments below how you combat today’s …

The Benefits of Therapy Dogs

Here we are—the last day of A Canine Christmas Countdown. Tomorrow it officially releases, and for a limited time, you can still get the ebook version for only $2.99. If you’ve been following along all week, you know this has been a total dog-fest. In case you’re not sold on dog ownership (that’s where the dog owns you, not the …

Amazing Dog Tricks

We’re closing in on the end of A Canine Christmas Countdown. I intended to write a post about the importance of training our dogs, but that’s a no-brainer. No one wants a dog that behaves badly, and the only way to change that is through consistent training, positive reinforcement, and a close bond with its owner. A couple of years …