Happy October! After two busy weeks in Florida, I’m back home in the gloriously autumn-ish state of Ohio, wrapped in blankets and sipping hot coffee as I blog.

The original plan had been to finish up the blog tour for Where Dandelions Grow on Saturday, but that day ended up being crazy enough that here I am today with the final tour celebrations.

Around the Internet 

Maddy over at Little Bit of Sunshine posted a review of Where Dandelions Grow, and her review layout has got to be one of the best I’ve ever seen. (So pretty!)

Esther at Purposeful Learning invited me to write a guest post for her blog where y’all can learn some of the background to Where Dandelions Grow. 

Maddy at Girls Living For God’s Glory wrote a sweet review.

Anna at A World Through Her Heart wrote a thorough review, complete with a book aesthetic that made my writerly heart quite happy.

Amanda at With a Joyful Noise posted a review and mini interview, which was fun to answer. She also made a quote image of the first line in the book, so that was cool. 🙂

Claire over at The Bookish Orca wrote a beautiful review that makes me happy every time I read it.

Em at Two Girls, Two Mountains posted an author interview, including the question “What did you want to be when you grew up when you were a kid?”

Samantha at Readhead With a Book wrote a fantastic review AND did an author interview complete with a LOT of gifs. Her review made me so happy I literally got tears in my eyes. Y’all need to check this one out for sure.

Zielle at The Ardent Reader also posted an author interview with questions like “What is a technique you use when developing your characters?”

And, last but not least of all, I’m excited to see that Where Dandelions Grow now has 43 reviews on Goodreads, and 25 on Amazon. Y’all are AMAZING! Today is also your last day to enter the giveaway for a $25 Amazon Giftcard. Enter it HERE.

This book has been so much fun to celebrate with y’all. Thank you for making this adventure worthwhile as you’ve read the book and encouraged me to keep going with my writing. There’s nothing like hearing that my book has touched you or entertained you to make me want to keep going when the going gets rough.

Releasing Where Dandelions Grow was also an interesting, rewarding, (and tiring!) way to celebrate my birthday which was on the 30th. Stay tuned for a “Musings” type birthday post coming up soon.

This post is the last one where the commenters are put into a drawing for a $5 Amazon Giftcard, so I’ll be choosing a random winner later on this week, so comment away! 😉

Today’s question ^ is one that I have a hard time knowing the answer to. In all likelihood I think I’d choose either Patrica St. John from the past (her books were a huge reason I wanted to become a writer, plus her life was amazing!), or Catherine Farnes (my favorite fiction author), or Brother Andrew (someone whose life has made a huge impact on me), from the present.

Thanks, folks, for hanging out! I am so grateful for each and every one of you. 🙂

There’s nothing like having a book release/blog tour, family vacation, and birthday week coincide to make the celebrations pile up. Yesterday I got to do some fun things – including hugging a giant stuffed animal which always makes life better. My dad took a group of us to a frozen yogurt bar, which was so cool and something I’ve wanted to do for years. It was so much fun to pick out the toppings. I got sprinkles (of course!), mini white chocolate chips, coconut, almond slivers, and random bits of candy. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go to another frozen yogurt bar, but maybe I’ll recreate one at home someday?

Around The Internet 

Y’all! It’s day four and we’ve got some fun reviews around the internet. You can check out Lisa’s review here, Kaitlyn’s review here, Karis’s review here, Enni’s review here, and Gray Marie’s review here.

You can also enter my giveaway for a $25 Amazon Giftcard by clicking here.

As a bonus entry for the comment giveaway that I’m doing at the end of the blog tour, share one of these two quote images on any social media site with the hashtag #WhereDandelionsGrow, then comment on here and let me know where you posted it.

As I’m writing this I’m in the back of a vehicle listening to Spotify as I try and get the post live before reaching our destination. This has been a crazy week for more than one reason, and yet it feels crazy to think it’s already almost over.

It’s months like this one that makes me think of how truth is often much stranger than fiction – at least when it comes to my life. Since we’re nearing the end of the month I’m like “I should be thinking of my month review” but when I stop and think of how much has happened this month I don’t even know where to start. #CrazyLife

Below is the question for y’all to answer in the comments so you can be added to the $5 Amazon Giftcard drawing at the end of the week.

My answer to the question(s):
1. Impossible to answer! But my favorites would include: Ohio, Colorado, Hawaii, North Dakota, Montana, and Tennesee
2. I’m not even sure – 25 or so
3. Ohio!

Make sure y’all snag your very own copy of Where Dandelions Grow!

BUY THE BOOK BY CLICKING HERE – JUST $0.99!

Y’all, I really didn’t think I’d ever become this person – you know the person who’s morning gets instantly better when she takes the first sip of coffee. But, I just had some coffee and it was so utterly delicious and warm and smooth and all that good stuff – almost as comforting and fun as wearing sparkly socks. (No worries though – I will not become the person who can’t function without coffee. #NotHappening)

Yesterday was Day Two of the blog tour celebration for Where Dandelions Grow. The day included a lot of writing work, babysitting, a glorious sunset, cooking supper while playing Skip-Bo, cotton candy, and a fun game of miniature golf. (Which I soundly lost after an epic beginning where the first hole took me seven strokes. #PlayingLikeAPro #OrMaybeNot)

By the way, did y’all know that with my giveaway y’all can go back and get entries each day? Like, if you followed my Twitter account, then you can go back tomorrow and get more entries, and the next day, too? Pretty cool, right? (You can – and totally should – enter the giveaway. Just click here.) Speaking of Twitter… One of my dreams is to be one of those funny Twitter posters. I haven’t quite reached that level of success yet, but if you want to follow me and cheer on my attempts? Well, you’d get to see a side of me that isn’t always evident on the rest of the internet. (Plus, I’d be endlessly grateful to you.)

Around the Internet 

Beth from Sweet Contemplations reviewed Where Dandelions Grow and says she wishes the book was several hundred pages longer. (Aww! #MakesMyAuthorHeartHappy)

Zielle at The Ardent Reader also reviewed the book and says “I don’t think I have ever read a book that has spoken to me this much, and made me smile so much at the end.” Wow, wow, wow! As someone who has a horrible time with endings, this makes me want to dance for joy.

Jessie at Whimsical Writings for His Glory just now had her review go live, so it’s hot off the press.

Rebekah over at Rebekah DeVall – Writer for God graciously allowed me to guest post on her blog, so you can head over there to get a look at a strange “coincidence” regarding the book and my life.

And, as always you can see the reviews piling up on Goodreads (where you can also mark the book to-read!) and Amazon. I’ve also had fun posting pictures and little tidbits about my day on Facebook (my author page), Twitter (where, as I mentioned, I’m trying to be amusing), Instagram (where I’m totally new), Goodreads (where I’m having fun with watching the reviews pile up), and Google+ (because I’ve been on there for a long time). Plus, I’m really hoping to post a video on Youtube today, but as it turns out I’m away from home and I’m really not sure if I’ll be able to find a quiet place to film, so we shall have to see.

Remeber that the end of this blog tour I’m going to randomly draw one of the commenters and send them a $5 Amazon Giftcard, so you should totally answer that^ question, or just comment about life in general. 🙂

By the way, THANK YOU to everyone who’s been buying my book. Y’all rock.

Buy the book by clicking here – just $0.99!

Y’all! It’s day two in the blog tour celebration for the release of Where Dandelions Grow! Yesterday was amazing, including watching the sunrise, lots of work keeping up with comments and posting, going out to a celebration breakfast with my mom, eating birthday cake ice cream with my best friend and her little girl, and watching Andy Griffith with my siblings.

Now for day two! Today I’m babysitting my best friend’s daughter and we’re currently hanging out eating cheese, sour gummy bears, dancing with a stuffed cow from Chick-fil-A, and listening to It’s Gonna Be Okay by Panio Guys. (Clara, who’s two, is pretty smart. Yesterday I asked her what cows say, and she delightfully informed me that they say “Moo! Eat More Chicken!” So, apparently, she’s been well-taught.)

Around the Internet 

There are a lot of fun posts around the internet today for the book tour, so you should totally check out some of the links below!

Esther posted a review at Purposeful Living where she talks about the romance (or rather lack thereof) in Where Dandelions Grow. 

Blessings Counter at Count your Blessings discusses how much she likes Noveltea – the bookstore/coffee shop in Where Dandelions Grow. 

Geo Turtle made me smile by her review because Where Dandelions Grow is the first time she’s ever been part of a book blog tour. (What an honor!)

Bekah at Bekah’s Books has an interview up today with my absolute favorite question of all the author interviews I did for this book. (Her question: Is Destiny, your MC, still writing and has she published any books yet? 🙂 I’d love a little update.)

Keturah at Keturah’s Korner posted a review and author interview, where she asked a lot of good questions, including “How do you handle caffeine? Or what was the inspiration for how Destiny reacts to too much caffeine?”

And…

Kate at Once Upon an Ordinary did an author interview where she asked the question “What first made you decide you wanted to be an author?”

You can also read the reviews that are popping up on Goodreads and Amazon. And, throughout today I plan on posting celebration pictures on my social media so you can hang out there if you want. 🙂

Youtube
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Instagram
and Google+. 

Make sure you use the hashtag #WhereDandelionsGrow online, and if you want to share any book quotes, you can find them here.

Each day I’ll post a question a for y’all to answer in the comments. At the end of the blog tour I’ll randomly draw one of the comments and send that commenter a $5 Amazon giftcard. So, comment away and you’ll be placed in the drawing!

Click here to buy Where Dandelions Grow for only $0.99!!! 

And

Click here to enter the giveaway!

Y’all! One week. ONE WEEK! That’s how long it is until the release of my book, Where Dandelions Grow. Do y’all know how exciting this is? You can pre-order it on Amazon, and it will be delivered directly to your device on the 26th. So cool, right? And imagine this: It’s only $0.99! Where else can you get a couple of hours of good entertainment at such a great price?

Some of my ARC reader/reviewers have been totally amazing and made book quote images for fun. I’m going to share some from Maddy – when I saw how beautiful they were I legit got tears in my eyes. It’s like my book is all grown up and going off into the world and that’s crazy!

If you want to snag some of these images and post them on your social media, that would be tons of fun! Especially if you tag it with #WhereDandelionsGrow, cause then I can come and check it out. 🙂 Also, if you leave a comment on this post with a link to where you posted it (such as your blog) I’d be delighted to come and see it for myself.

This week I plan to spend a lot of time putting together the blog book tour – or at least the finishing touches on it. I’m gonna be doing a lot of interviews and behind the scenes posts, plus a lot of people are going to be doing book reviews, so that will be pretty fun.

This morning I’m rather tired, so I plan on getting a big coffee to sip on as I work. (It will be decaf, but shhh, maybe my brain won’t realize that.)

What do you think is the most fun way to help an author celebrate the release of her book? Giveaways? Games? Character quote images? I’d be thrilled to hear your ideas and get you to join in the celebration fun!