Skip to main content

Lady Wynwood #7 early release Kickstarter

I worked on my first Kickstarter and it got approved! It’s for the Special Edition Hardcover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer and the release of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 7: Spinster. I contacted my graphic designer about the Special Edition Hardcover of vol. 1: Archer—it’s going to be SO beautiful! The Kickstarter focuses on the Special Edition Hardcover, but it’ll also include vol. 7: Spinster so that it’ll sort of be like a launch day for vol. 7, too. A third special thing that’ll be in the Kickstarter is Special Edition Paperbacks of all the books in the series. They won’t be available in stores, just in the Kickstarter (and later, from my website, and also in my Patreon book box tiers if I decide to do them). The Kickstarter is not live yet, but you can follow it to be alerted when it has launched. (You may need to create a free Kickstarter account.) Follow Camy’s Kickstarter

JADE by Marilynn Griffith

JADE (Shades of Style, book #2) by Marilynn Griffith

From the back cover:

HAVING THE PERFECT LIFE ISN'T ALL IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE.

Designer Lily Chau doesn't know if she's finally got it together or if life is starting to unravel. With a successful boyfriend and a great job at up-and-coming fashion house Garments of Praise, it seems she has the perfect pattern for success. But her mother's health is failing, her boyfriend just won't pop the question, and being a pattern maker is a far cry from having a clothing line of her own. Lily is sure her hands are just too full to draw her deepest dreams.

Raya and Chenille, Lily's pals at Garments of Praise, offer plenty of advice and sympathy. And Jean, Lily's co-worker and second mom, even goes behind Lily's back to boost her chances of success. When she's chosen for the reality show The Next Design Diva, it seems like the chance of a lifetime for Lily. But the mysterious designer chosen to mentor her sends her spinning. He's fresh, fine--and way off limits. Suddenly Lily's life goes from carefully patterned to nothing but a tangle of threads.

Camy here:

Maybe it’s because I wasn’t as familiar with the African American culture in PINK, but I feel closer to the main character of JADE—and it’s not because she's Asian. It’s because I relate to her personality more. The storyline and the writing of JADE also seems more romantic to me than PINK. I enjoyed the love story a great deal.

I liked how the protagonists are older. Their mindsets are different than the protagonists of PINK, giving a slightly different tone to the story. The maturity of their concerns and emotions will appeal to older women versus ones in their teens and 20’s.

The author wrote with clarity and compassion about the background and prejudices Lily and her mother experienced as first and second generation Chinese. They’re things that will resonate with many other first and second generation Americans, regardless of ethnicity. No matter where they come from, people who immigrate to America from other countries face some things that other Americans don’t experience, and this book brought some of that to life in a gentle, non-political, non-threatening way.

I think that many women will relate to Lily’s trials with her aging mother suffering from dementia. It brought back the struggles my mom had with her mother-in-law, and with the difficulties my aunt had with her mother. The author doesn’t go into detail, but she brings the emotion to the forefront—I really felt Lily’s tiredness, stress, and sense of being overwhelmed.

I didn’t quite think Lily always reacted the way I would as a single woman who desires to be married. Despite the other factors in her life, once in a while she said or did something that made me stop and question if she really did want to be married, that made me wonder if I was really relating to her struggle with her singleness, because it wasn’t always in line with my own experiences.

On a whole, though, the romance in this story is both hot and spiritual, if there is such a thing. LOL. I really enjoyed seeing how Lily and Doug were thrown together. Their chemistry sizzled on the page.

Doug’s variegated background—a missionary kid who grew up in Asia and knows Chinese, a medical doctor who hasn’t practiced in a while, a once-famous clothing designer, a missionary who understands African languages—was a little hard for me to buy. Can one person really have all these hats on one head?

But it’s fiction, and it made him one of the most interesting characters I’ve read in a long time. I really loved Doug as the male protagonist in this story. The author paints him with color and flair and yet also with subtle nuance to make him real and not flashy. He stood out for me, moreso than Flex did in PINK.

The prose is like poetry. It flows like Lily’s water fountain, movement over rock-solid faith. The author’s voice is strong and one of the most unique writers’ voices I’ve read.

Both women’s fiction readers and romance addicts will like this story. I think that older readers will relate to Lily’s struggles more, whereas teens and 20-somethings might not quite be able to step into Lily’s skin as she deals with the issues uniquely facing a single woman in her late 30s.

I can’t wait for Jean’s story!

Comments

Ruth said…
Great reviews, Camy! You are totally putting me to shame with your ability to churn out these awesome write-ups! I hope to finish my review of RELUCTANT BURGLAR tonight, so keep your fingers crossed (but don't hold your breath, LOL!). *wink*
Anonymous said…
I can relate to some of the immigrant issues though after I'd gone through school they no longer made such a difference. I guess my issues were less ethnic-related than they were related to my Christian upbringing.

I can definitely relate to the dementia/Alzheimer's issue. At first I thought I was going crazy with all the weird things my mother was doing and saying. It got so bad that I couldn't do my job anymore and my own illness was intensified as I tried to deal with my mother's illness. In a way, I think her doctor should have said something to me a lot earlier about her problems. At times I truly believed I'd gone totally of my rocker. It wasn't until my sister-in-law's 3 doctor relatives saw my mother's behavior at a family get-together that *they* decided that something needed to be done and one of them had enough pull to get my mother examined immediately. Although my mother had a lot of confidence in her doctor, and he probably was good, I've never trusted doctors completely who'd give me some medication and say "I know this will help you." The medication in question the only time I went to see him because I had no other doctor was one I'd been taking for a few years in Germany already. It had finally made it to Canada about the time I got back from 10 years in Germany. The medication hadn't been much help in Germany and it wasn't any better in Canada. The power of positive thinking only works... Well, maybe it works when you haven't taken medication after medication with little or no sign of improvement.

Popular Posts

Camille's Writing Progress

Join my newsletter to get regular updates in your inbox!

Tabi socks, part deux

Captain's Log, Stardate 07.25.2008 (If you're on Ravelry, friend me! I'm camytang.) I made tabi socks again! (At the bottom of the pattern is the calculation for the toe split if you're not using the same weight yarn that I did for this pattern (fingering). I also give an example from when I used worsted weight yarn with this pattern.) I used Opal yarn, Petticoat colorway. It’s a finer yarn than my last pair of tabi socks, so I altered the pattern a bit. Okay, so here’s my first foray into giving a knitting pattern. Camy’s top-down Tabi Socks I’m assuming you already know the basics of knitting socks. If you’re a beginner, here are some great tutorials: Socks 101 How to Knit Socks The Sock Knitter’s Companion A video of turning the heel Sock Knitting Tips Yarn: I have used both fingering weight and worsted weight yarn with this pattern. You just change the number of cast on stitches according to your gauge and the circumference of your ankle. Th

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And

Camy’s Worsted Cotton Comfortable Skirt with Lace Edging knitting pattern

I made my original Comfortable Cotton Skirt with a simple eyelet round at the bottom, but this one has a simple antique garter stitch lace edging, “Edging to Trim the Body and Sleeves” on page 43 of the book New Guide to Knitting and Crochet , published in 1847. You can download a free ebook copy of the book here . The edging was originally to trim a Baby’s Knit Body, but I have no idea what that is. :P If you do, please do leave a comment. I also changed the hip increases to 4 distinct darts rather than 8 sections, but if you prefer the hip increases from my original Comfortable Cotton skirt, you can substitute that. Like the original Comfortable skirt, this one is cotton for summer, and loose for casual wear. It has a little positive ease and is only slightly flared. The waist is drawstring rather than elastic so that I can loosen it on my fat days or after pigging out at my favorite restaurant. This pattern/recipe is for my size, but there are instructions at the bottom for

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures

One-Skein Pyrenees Scarf knitting pattern

I got into using antique patterns when I was making the scarf my hero wears in my Regency romance, The Spinster’s Christmas . I wanted to do another pattern which I think was in use in the Regency period, the Pyrenees Knit Scarf on pages 36-38 of The Lady's Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting, and Crochet Work, volume 1, by Jane Gaugain, published in 1840. She is thought to be the first person to use knitting abbreviations, at least in a published book, although they are not the same abbreviations used today (our modern abbreviations were standardized by Weldon’s Practical Needlework in 1906). Since the book is out of copyright, you can download a free PDF copy of the book at Archive.org. I found this to be a fascinating look at knitting around the time of Jane Austen’s later years. Although the book was published in 1840, many of the patterns were in use and passed down by word of mouth many years before that, so it’s possible these are

The Robe by Wes King

Captain’s Log, Stardate 01.07.2006 I’ve been developing the spiritual theme for this current project for a while, and I think I’ve finally nailed it down. This song has inspired me in my own walk, but then it occurred to me that it communicates the emotional theme for my WIP very well, too. The Robe by Wes King Anyone whose heart is cold and lonely Anyone who can't believe Anyone whose hands are worn and empty Come as you are Anyone whose feet are tired of walking And even lost their will to run There is a place of rest for your aching soul Come as you are For the robe is of God That will clothe your nakedness And the robe is His grace It's all you need Come as you are Anyone who feels that they're unworthy Anyone whose just afraid Come sinner, come and receive His mercy Come as you are For the robe is of God That will clothe your nakedness And the robe is His grace It's all you need Come as you are From the album: The Robe c1993 Emily Boothe, Inc. (BMI)/Careers-BMG Mus

Grace Livingston Hill romances free on Google Books

I wanted to update my old post on Grace Livingston Hill romances because now there are tons more options for you to be able to read her books for free online! I’m a huge Grace Livingston Hill fan. Granted, not all her books resonate with me, but there are a few that I absolutely love, like The Enchanted Barn and Crimson Roses . And the best part is that she wrote over 100 books and I haven’t yet read them all! When I have time, I like to dive into a new GLH novel. I like the fact that most of them are romances, and I especially appreciate that they all have strong Christian themes. Occasionally the Christian content is a little heavy-handed for my taste, but it’s so interesting to see what the Christian faith was like in the early part of the 20th century. These books are often Cinderella-type stories or A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) type stories, which I love. And the best part is that they’re all set in the early 1900s, so the time period is absolutely fasci

Cleo’s Drawstring Purse knitting pattern w/ @KnitPicks CotLin

Kari Trumbo is one of the twelve authors who participated with me in the Christian Contemporary Romance anthology, Save the Date . Kari’s novella in the anthology is titled January Hope . In celebration, I wrote a knitting pattern for the lace drawstring purse used by Kari’s heroine, Cleo. (In case you missed it, here are the links for my interview with Kari part 1 and part 2 . Tomorrow I’ll post an excerpt of one of Kari’s other books, Better Than First .) This is a pretty and practical little bag used by the heroine Cleo in Kari Trumbo’s novella, January Hope . Knit in a cotton/linen blend yarn, it’s just large enough for a cell phone and a small wallet. In the book, Cleo’s bag was a coral shade, but the bag I knit here is a chocolate brown color. The lace pattern is the Double Rose Leaf stitch pattern originally published on page 195 in The Lady's Assistant, volume 2 by Mrs. Jane Gaugain, published in 1847. ( You can download a scanned .pdf of the book from Archive.

A List of my Free Blog Reads

Curious about what my writing is like? Here’s a list of all my free books and the free short stories, novellas, and novels that you can read here on my blog. I’ll update this post as I add more free reads. Christian Humorous Romantic Suspense: Year of the Dog (Warubozu Spa Chronicles series, Prequel novel) (Currently being posted monthly on my blog as a serial novel) Marisol Mutou, a professional dog trainer, finally has a chance to buy a facility for her business, but her world is upended when she must move in with her disapproving family, who have always made her feel inadequate. When she stumbles upon a three-year-old missing persons case, security expert Ashwin Keitou, whose car she accidentally rear-ended a few weeks earlier, is tasked with protecting her. However, danger begins to circle around them from people who want the past to remain there. Can they shed light on the secrets moving in the shadows? Christian Romantic Suspense: Necessary Proof (Sonoma series #4.1, n