My Christmas Present to You!

by: Staci Stallings

If you got a Kindle for Christmas, I’ve got a special gift for you…

FREE on Amazon Dec. 27 & 28….

Click Here to get your FREE GIFT!

& Merry Christmas!

The Next Big Thing

by:  Staci Stallings

This is so fun!

In a few seconds I’m going to share with you my Next Big Thing, but first thanks to Gail Pallotta, who’s one of my writer friends on the ‘Net for tagging me in the Next Big Thing blog hop!  This is the Next Big Thing blog hop in which you get to hop back and forth through the posts to find new and exciting authors and books.  Some authors will share upcoming books, some will share already released books, others will give you a peek into their current work in progress!  So hop around and enjoy all of the excitement!

Now, I’m here now to answer…

10 Questions about My Next Big Thing

And then stick around at the end for a great opportunity and more fantastic blogs!

Hope you have fun…

What is the working title of your next book?

My next big thing will be coming out in February.  It’s called “Eternity.”

Freddie Prinze Jr. as Aaron Foster

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Many years ago I was on a message board for a show that was very popular at the time but the series was ending. There was one actor I just LOVED on the show.  He had an emotional depth that for a young man was astounding.  Then one night I went to a movie and there was a guy in the movie that just captivated me.  Back on the message board, I was expounding on how fantastic these two guys were, and someone said, “Someone should make a movie with the two of them in it.”

Well, I had already written 7 full-length novels to that point, and I WAS inspired.  30 days later, “Eternity” was finished.

What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary Inspirational Fiction (great story, great message, not overtly Christian)

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Well, THAT’S easy!  The lead role of Aaron Foster is played by Freddie Prinze Jr. 

Rider Strong as Drew Easton

Aaron’s best friend, Drew Easton is played by Rider Strong.

And Mena Suvari is Harmony Jordan.

Mena Suvari as Harmony Jordan

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

He set her up with his best friend, then fell in love with her. Now what?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It will be published through Spirit Light Books as all of mine are.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

30 days.  Fastest one I ever wrote, and you will probably read it that fast as well.  It kind of grabs hold of you and won’t let go!
What is unique about this book?

This is the love triangle that will rip your heart out and stomp on it… in a good way.  You’ve got Aaron, the nice above-average, completely clueless guy.  You’ve got Harmony, the love-struck girl next door who Aaron sees as his best friend in the world but nothing more than that.  And then you’ve got Drew who you will absolutely fall in love with and then hate everyone else for what’s about to happen.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

They say that nice guys finish last, but what happens when you’ve got TWO nice guys, and only one can win the girl’s heart?

Do you have anything to keep us entertained while we wait?

I certainly do…

You have ONE DAY LEFT to get

COWBOY for FREE on KINDLE–Click here!

“Christian fiction at it’s best!”
Don’t miss out!
Click here!

Then visit the next five outstanding blogs in the Next Big Thing blog hop!

Mary Campagna Findley

Sharon Srock

Naty Matos

Precarious Yates

Edie Mahoney Melson

Enjoy!

Free Ebook Thursday & Friday ONLY!

Taking today off from blogging to let you know that my #1 Christian Romance Best Seller, TO PROTECT & SERVE is FREE on Kindle!

TO PROTECT & SERVE

“Romance of the purest and sweetest kind…”

Houston firefighter, Jeff Taylor is a fireman’s fireman. He’s not afraid of anything, and no situation is too dangerous to keep him on the sideline if lives are at stake.

Lisa Matheson runs a semi-successful ad agency that’s on the brink of falling apart. Her employees are incompetent and her schedule has become exhausting. When she takes on a client with a brilliant idea for a big conference, she thinks that maybe, finally this is her lucky break. However, the fire station wasn’t what she had in mind for finding conference speakers. When she falls for a handsome but shy firefighter, it’s possible that life might just be going her way for a change. The only problem is she can’t quite get control Jeff and the death wish he seems to have…

“Staci Stalling is like an artist, and she really paints a beautiful picture. There are few books that can glue me to my seat and with every Staci Stallings’ book, I am glued. In ‘To Protect and Serve,’ you will smile with them, get angry with them, and you’ll also cry when the characters are hurting. In this novel, Staci shows that love does not only encompass emotion, but to love, we need to trust, to accept and in some instances, surrender.” 

–Amazon Reviewer, Rhonda Aberdeen

Get it FREE on Kindle!

New Release Announcement: To Protect & Serve

Although tomorrow is the official release of my new book “To Protect & Serve,” I’m giving you, my loyal readers a sneak peek…

Houston firefighter, Jeff Taylor is a fireman’s fireman. No situation is too dangerous to keep him sidelined if lives are on the line. However, when control freak Lisa Matheson falls for him, she quickly realizes she can’t control Jeff or the death wish he seems to have…

To Protect & Serve

The Courage Series, Book 1

To save others’ lives, they will risk their own

Buy it on Amazon Kindle

 Buy it on Barnes & Noble Nook

“To Protect and Serve will hold you prisoner to its pages until the final one is turned. Prepare to cry, laugh, wish, love and maybe even cry again as you become enveloped in the hopes and feelings of Lisa and Jeff.”

-Cindy Reiger

Get Your Copy Today!

God’s CONSTANT Input

by:  Staci Stallings

One of the most interesting aspects of the rise of Coming Undone through the Amazon book ranks at the beginning of February (it was #1 on Religious Fiction and Religious & Inspirational, as well as #11 on the overall Free Kindle Store) has been the reviews.

What interests me is the 2 1-star reviews I have received so far.  The first went like this:

“Coming Undone, My Dear Lord!?!

NONONO! Why?  God has to work very hard in this one. Why?

I guess without his CONSTANT input we can’t deal with life.”

This is not a spoiler for the book, but in it the heroine, Kathryn works in a hospice unit as a social worker.  Now think about it for just a moment.  She deals with death, families going through death, and the people who become her friends losing the people they love over and over and over again.  So it’s not like she’s asking God for help purchasing a latte.

But even without this heightened need for God and His help, I want to ask this person and the other who left a similar review decrying the characters’ reliance on God… what’s the alternative?

What is the alternative to relying on God every moment?

Doing it yourself?

Isn’t that the very definition of Original Sin?  “I don’t need God.  I can do this on my own”?

And even if you don’t want to go that far with it, let’s look at it from a relationship standpoint.  Let’s say you have a friend, and this friend is someone you greatly admire and even say you love.  Now let’s say that the only time you ever talk to this friend is when you are in desperate need of help.  I mean, otherwise, you don’t need this friend, so why talk to him, right?

How would you feel if someone did that to you?  How would you like it if the only time this person showed up at your doorstep was when they had messed everything up, everything was horrible, and they needed you to fix it?

Yeah.  That’s what I think too.

We wouldn’t want to be treated that way, so why do we think God does?

I think some of this “don’t rely on God all the time” mentality goes back to the unBiblical saying, “God helps those who help themselves.”  I’m curious who in the Bible really “helped themselves” the way this saying seems to tell us to do.  Abraham?  His helping God turned into a disaster we still haven’t recovered from.  Moses?  Would that “helping himself” have been the part about killing the Egyptian or the refusing to go talk to Pharaoh because he couldn’t talk well?

What about Mary?  When the angel showed up, did she start making a list of all the things she’d better do and accomplish to earn being the Mother of God?

Or how about Jesus, Himself?  Have you ever noticed how many times the Bible refers to Him going off by Himself to pray?  Why?  Because He thought He could do it Himself?  And He was GOD!

Yes, God sometimes has to work very hard in our lives.  Why?  Because we need Him!  We need Him to show up, to help us, to guide us, to protect us, and yes, to love us.  And He is more than willing to do that if we will just ask.  So yes, I need God’s CONSTANT input in order to deal with my life.  I hope you do too!

*~*~*~*

Read the other reviews for Coming Undone, an Amazon #1 BestSeller in Religious Fiction & Religion & Inspiration…

Click here!

Grace & Faith brings you Romance Week!

Staci’s books are featured all this week on Grace & Faith’s Romance Week!  Check it out!

 

Coming Undone on FREE KINDLE!

February 1 & 2 ONLY!

FREE ON KINDLE!

Staci’s novel:

Coming Undone

“If you’ve ever searched for love, been afraid to love, or lost someone you love, you will love Coming Undone.”

Available as a free download from Amazon!

To get your free download starting Feb. 1,
CLICK HERE!

(If you do not have a Kindle,
Click here to get an App to read the book on your own computer.)

 

News From Nashville & Beyond

Character Interview with Ashton Raines and Kalin Lane

(Transcribed from a television interview with “The Music Plays… World Tour” featuring opening solo artist Kalin Lane and headliner Ashton Raines, both accompanied by their wives, Beth Raines and Danae Lane.)

NFNB:  First of all, welcome to you all.  Thanks for sitting down with us.

Ashton:  Thank you for having us.

NFNB:  Let’s start with what it’s like to be on a world tour.  What cities?  What are the crowds like?

Kalin:  Well, for me it’s been an absolute dream come true.  I mean, getting invited to be here with Ashton who, let’s face it is the King of Country music right now.  Standing on that stage every night, hearing the fans singing my songs, cheering, in all these different countries…. it’s truly amazing.

Ashton:  I have to agree.  I stand down there as Kalin’s playing, and there’s just this incredible energy that sweeps through the whole place, no matter if we’re playing for 20,000 or 60,000.  To hear those fans, to get to connect with them.  It’s what I came here to do, it’s why I started singing in the first place, and to get to do it night after night has been such a blessing.

NFNB:  How’s it been working together?  The two of you play country music, but it’s really not quite the same kind of country.

Ashton (laughing): Yeah. I could never pull off the hair!  (Reaches over and ruffles Kalin’s famously stringy blond mane then shrugs.)  But it works, you know?  I play the more traditional stuff, Kalin rocks the house, it works.

Kalin:  I have to agree. I think it has really come together because we’re not two performers who happen to get on the same stage every night.  We really understand each other and respect each other for what life has thrown at us and the hard knocks it’s taken us to be able to play from the heart so to speak.  So it doesn’t matter that he plays the acoustic and piano, and I’ve got more electric and keyboards to my style of music because I think deep down we both really see that we’re doing what we love to do, making the kind of music we love to make.  When you do that, somehow the synthesis of what comes out of it just works even if on the outside it doesn’t look like it should.

NFNB:  You mentioned what life has thrown at you.  Would you call the road to get here bumpy or smooth?

(Ashton looks to Beth who smiles back, and Kalin grins at Danae who brushes her brown locks from her forehead and shakes her head with a soft laugh.)

All:  Bumpy.

(Laughter)

Ashton:  Definitely bumpy.  (Beth nods, her eyes filled with respect and love as she looks at her husband, and the two of them share a moment.  When he turns back to the camera, Ashton seems to drift into another world.)  After my first wife died of cancer, there was a long stretch in there that honestly I didn’t even want to be here.  I mean here as in making music here, but even here as in on the planet.  Then one night I wound up in this little diner in the middle of nowhere (He looks over to Beth.)  And an angel from Heaven pulled me back and gave me a reason to keep on living.  (As if no one else is watching, he leans over and kisses.)  Thank you, babe (he whispers so the camera barely catches the words. Then he turns back.)  To be real honest, I’m not even sure I’d be here without her.

NFNB:  So Beth, what was it like?  I mean, he is Ashton Raines.  It’s like every girl’s dream to have the king of music to walk in and sweep you off your feet.  That must have been surreal.

(They glance at each other.)

Beth:  Well, to be honest with you, I didn’t even know who he was that night.

NFNB:  You didn’t?

Beth:  No, really I didn’t. It’s a long story, but let’s just say I fell in love with a man, not a music star.

NFNB:  Okay.  Well… (Turning to the other couple.) Kalin, you also said bumpy.  Now we know a little about your career’s early fits and starts what with having to go back to your home country the first time around.  What was that like?

Kalin:  Rough.  Really, really rough.  To be honest with you, that first time I let the fame and the money and the adulation of all the people around me go straight to my head.  I fell in with a lifestyle I thought was great at first, but it caught up with me real fast.  When I lost everything–the dream, my meal ticket in Nashville and almost my life–I thought it was all over, you know?  Back then, there was no way I could have seen the amazing grace God was waiting to give me and the joy and the mercy and the grace He gives me every day now.  Getting to be here now, like this, with the Raines family, and my beautiful wife. (He turns to Danae and smiles.  She smiles back.)  I’m telling you it’s more than a dream come true.  In fact, it’s the reason I sing “Lucky” every night out there on stage.

That line about, “And it’s not fate, it’s not luck, it’s a gift from God above, that I found you, you found me, and we found love”?  Those aren’t just nice, pretty words. I really believe that, you know?  Because if it was not for God and the love of this wonderful, strong woman sitting next to me, I can almost guarantee I would not be sitting here today.  It’s more grace and love than I’ve ever deserved or imagined, I’ll tell you that.

NFNB:  Well, it’s almost time to wrap this up.  Closing thoughts, anyone?

Ashton:  The tour’s been amazing.  The fans, the cities, the experiences.  All out amazing.

Kalin:  Come out and see the show!

NFNB:  That’s it for now from News from Nashville & Beyond.  Now back to you in the studio.

 

Read more about Ashton and Beth’s story in “Cowboy” Book 1 of The Harmony Series by Staci Stallings…. Click here:  http://stacistallings.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/cowboy/

Kalin and Danae are featured in “Lucky” — Book 2 of the Harmony Series. Click here: http://stacistallings.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/lucky/

Look for The Harmony Series by Staci Stallings on Kindle and Nook!

Coming Undone–Starts This Week!

By:  Staci Stallings

Check it out!  A new novel by Staci Stallings starts… NOW!

Coming Undone

Ben Warren has life all figured out.  At 35, he’s successful in his work and free as a bird everywhere else.  He has no desire to be tied down like some of his friends, and he sees no reason to change that.  Then the unthinkable happens and causes him to rethink everything about everything.

Kathryn Walker can’t figure out what she’s doing wrong in the dating department.  The rest of her life makes sense.  She’s compassionate, strong, honest, hard-working and still alone.  She wonders if she is doomed to spend forever single.  Little does she know that fate is taking a major turn in her life.  In fact, she doesn’t even see it happening until it has.  Can she ever get past the fact that Mr. Right didn’t show up in the way she thought he would?

http://spiritlightworks.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/coming-undone-opening/

Be sure to subscribe over at Spirit Light Works to get the newest chapters.  I will only be posting an update or two over here about it, and you’re not going to want to miss this book.  It’s GOOOOOD!

Announcement

By:  Staci Stallings

It is my honor to announce the formal release of a new book by a new author with Spirit Light Books!

Deja Vu Bride, by Debra Ullrick.  Furious with God, Olivia Roseman vows to never trust Him again. Why should she? Once again her prayers have gone unanswered, and once again another loved one has been ripped from her. With no job and only a few dollars, Olivia makes a choice to start over again. Without God and without love. However, her handsome new boss isn’t going to make forgetting God or keeping her vow to never love again very easy. Erik Cole questions the sanity of his moving from Swamper City, Alabama to Charity, West Virginia. That is, until he hires airbrush designer Olivia Roseman to paint his monster truck. When he senses that she’s a gal who is down on her luck, he vows to do whatever he can to help her. Only problem is, the little beauty creates more challenges than one. As his feelings toward her deepen, all Erik can do is hope and pray that one day Olivia will open up her heart to Christ—and to him.

 

A personal note from Staci… This book helped me so much.  Anger at losing someone very special can wreak havoc on your faith and on your heart.  Deja Vu Bride was instrumental in healing many tender places in me after the death of my brother.  Yes, bad things happen in this life, but Deja Vu Bride reminds us all that even in the midst of awful, we have the choice to remember that what Satan meant to harm us, God can take and make something good.

Check out Deja Vu Bride at:  http://www.lulu.com/content/3970924