Sunday, January 02, 2011

Paradise Valley by Dale Cramer


This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Paradise Valley
Bethany House (January 1, 2011)
by
Dale Cramer



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dale Cramer was the second of four children born to a runaway Amishman turned soldier and a south Georgia sharecropper's daughter. His formative years were divided between far-flung military bases, but he inherited his mother's sense of place—

He took on small construction projects at night to help make ends meet— "and to preserve the remainder of my sanity," he says. While building an office in the basement of a communications consultant, a debate over labor/management relations turned into an article on mutualism which found its way into an international business magazine. It was Dale's first published article, and he liked the feel of it. He bought books, studied technique, and began participating in an online writers' forum, writing during the boys' naps and after they went to bed at night. Before long he was publishing short stories in literary magazines and thinking about writing a book.

Three storylines vied for Dale's attention when he finally decided to write a novel. His first two choices were commercially viable secular stories, and a distant third appeared to be some kind of Christian saga about a broken-down biker. The process of determining which novel to write was settled by a remarkable encounter with his youngest son, a lost set of keys, and God. His sense of direction was suddenly clarified. In 1997, Dale began work on Sutter's Cross, which was eventually published in 2003.

His second novel, Bad Ground (July 2004), while it is not autobiographical, contains a great deal of material drawn from his own experience as a construction electrician.

He and his wife and two sons make their home in northern Georgia.


ABOUT THE BOOK

An Amish settlement in Ohio has run afoul of a law requiring their children to attend public school. Caleb Bender and his neighbors are arrested for neglect, with the state ordering the children be placed in an institution. Among them are Caleb's teenage daughter, Rachel, and the boy she has her eye on, Jake Weaver. Romance blooms between the two when Rachel helps Jake escape the childrens home.

Searching for a place to relocate his family where no such laws apply, Caleb learns there's inexpensive land for sale in Mexico, a place called Paradise Valley. Despite rumors of instability in the wake of the Mexican revolution, the Amish community decides this is their answer. And since it was Caleb's idea, he and his family will be the pioneers. They will send for the others once he's established a foothold and assessed the situation.

Caleb's daughters are thrown into turmoil. Rachel doesn't want to leave Jake. Her sister, Emma, who has been courting Levi Mullet, fears her dreams of marriage will be dashed. Miriam has never had a beau and is acutely aware there will be no prospects in Mexico.

Once there, they meet Domingo, a young man and guide who takes a liking to Miriam, something her father would never approve. While Paradise Valley is everything they'd hoped it would be, it isn't long before the bandits start giving them trouble, threatening to upset the fledgling Amish settlement, even putting their lives in danger. Thankfully no one has been harmed so far, anyway.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Paradise Valley, go HERE.


Cut Here

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Posting Information


The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764208381

Author's picture is:


The book cover photo is:


The code for this post is:


Dale can be reached through the Contact link on his Website

Visit the comments for additional posters and follow the list of posters for this tour:

Abi at Scraps of Life
Amy at My Life
Andie at Radiant Light
Angel at A Heart for Words
Barbara at A Life Of Contentment
Becky at Joyful Mother
Bonnie at Bonnie Writes
Brandilyn at Forensics and Faith
Carla at Carla's Writing Café
CeeCee at Book Splurge
Christa at Fairfield Corner Academy
Christy at Southern Sassy Things
Christy at At Split Ends
Dave at Novel Spotlight
Deanna at Deannna's Corner
Deborah at books, movies and chinese food
Debra at Soul Reflections
Deena at A Peek At My Bookshelf
Ernie at Writing: My Adventures In Words
Janis at The Nearsighted Bookworm
Jenn at One House Schoolroom Reviews
Jennifer at My Not So Hurried Life
Jill at Artistic Blogger
Julia at Thou Art Jules
Julie at My Own Little Corner of The World
Kathleen at Reviews From The Heart
Kay at Views & Reviews by K
Kelly at A Disciple's Steps
Kelly at Scrambled Dregs
Kim at Window To My World
Lauri at Knits, Reads, and Reviews
Linda at Reading For His Glory
Lori at Noggin Bits
Mark at Thoughts Of A Sojourner
Michelle at Raising Little Women
Molly at Book Reviews by Molly
Myra at Writer at Random
Nora at Finding Hope Through Christian Fiction
Pam at Daysong Reflections
Tara at Tara's View On Books

14 comments:

Molly said...

Scheduled w/ a review!

Jim Thompson said...

Posted at One Small Stone

Heart2Heart said...

It's up and posted. Loved this book, read it while it snowed here, perfect book on a perfect day.

http://reviewsfromtheheart.blogspot.com/2011/01/paradise-valley.html

Love and Hugs ~ Kat

Jill said...

My post is up at Artistic Blogger.

Illuminating Fiction said...

Post - although international mail seems to have delayed delivery of the book, once again.

Ernie W. said...

Happy New Year everyone.

Post is up.

Pam at Daysong Reflections said...

Posted with short review. http://www.daysongreflections.com//?p=6643

April Erwin said...

mine's up.

Anonymous said...

Posted and REviewed

Nora St.LAurent
Finding Hope THrough Fiction
www.psalm516.blogspot.com

Deanna said...

Posted

Deborah said...

i'm up with my review

Thou Art Jules said...

posted at Thou Art Jules

Unknown said...

Posted at Southern Sassy Things today with review...great book!

Scrambled Dregs said...

Reviewed at Dregs and double review on Novel Reviews