Blog Tour: A Year in Prayer With Jesus by Marilynn Dawson

A Year in Prayer With Jesus is not one of Rivershore's books, but we received a request to feature it and we are more than happy to!

Welcome to the second stop on Author Marilynn Dawson's virtual book tour for her soon-to-be-released book, “A Year in Prayer With Jesus.” Today we feature an excerpt from the introduction of her book:

The Sermon on the Mount. . . Matthew chapters 5 – 7, could be described as Christ's dissertation on how the one who follows Him will live and carry out their daily activities. While the Apostle Paul at that time was Saul the Pharisee, he would echo Christ's teachings quite decidedly in the years to come through his various letters to the churches across the region.

Included in Christ's dissertation that day, was a talk on how to pray. Prayer in the life of a Jew was very much part of everyday life. The more devout the Jew, the more they prayed. This was particularly true of the Pharisees who not only thought it important to pray, but important to be seen while doing so. Piety was deemed something to be flaunted, rather than hidden under the cloak of humility.

Fast forward 2000+ years into our time period, and we still have people and clergy thinking it necessary that everyone knows their piousness. The need for long public prayers eloquently spoken in loud, solemn voices is somehow evidence of that person's elevation above the common man and an indication of how he has God's attention. This behaviour can be seen anywhere from the pulpit to the prayer room. But does it truly show the piety of the person praying? Do they really have that much of an “in” with God?

If we take Christ's words at face value, the answer is NO!

Matthew 6:5-8 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

So if the wordy prayers are out, if we are not to pray in a manner that showcases our pride, and if God already knows what we need before we ask, then how exactly do we pray? What exactly, do we pray for? Both of these questions are given to us in the form of “The Lord's Prayer”.

Click this link here to get your fourth single day prayer guide outline.

http://songdove.fa-ct.com/stuff/YPWJ/YPWJ-day83.pdf

Be sure to stop by Marilynn's blog (http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusing) on June 30th for your next single day prayer guide free download. Be sure to sign up for her monthly newsletter for yet another free gift! Don't you just love FREE?

In addition to these free downloads, Marilynn is giving away a complete one-month sample of her next book via the rafflecopter app below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: The Word Changers

The Word Changers by Ashlee Willis

The description of the story had me intrigued; the first chapter had me hooked. Posy finds herself drawn into a book - literally. For a book lover like myself, this is the perfect plot.

Following that, throughout the book there are references to words, pages, margins, and other book-related terms. The word play around these is delightful. The author has a writing style that is creative and flows naturally. It never felt either too simple or too complex. 

There were very a few grammar mistakes in the book, but they were minimal (i.e., "Oh." The king said. It should be "Oh," the king said.) As an editor, I'm nit-picky, but they didn't trip me up as I was reading and there were only a few instances. (I actually debated mentioning them here - especially since, as I was given a pre-release copy, they may have been caught and fixed already.)

For the most part, the characters are unique and believable. Posy has a mixture of faults and positive traits, and felt easiest to relate to. Our situations may not be the same, but the feelings behind them are. The other characters are a mixture of believable and slightly flat (meaning, mainly good traits or mainly bad traits). There weren't any that stuck out to me as a problem, but some that could have been fleshed out much more. The way the story is written, though - mainly from Posy's perspective - there wasn't much chance of that and the author did a good job with the characters that were shown more. I did feel the change in Kyran was a little too abrupt, however it worked within the plot.

The romance was sweet, but I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. I'm a hopeful romantic, so it definitely didn't bother me - aside from their ages. (Okay, as older teens, romance is natural, but I prefer it when characters are older. Old fashioned? Perhaps.) Near the end it started to bother me for a different reason, but I won't say more to avoid spoilers.

The overall plot is imaginative and kept my interest. The story begins almost immediately, and it brings the reader right into it, in the same way Posy is brought into the book. There is adventure and pain, goodness and mercy, evil and joy.

Other reviewers have called this an allegory, and it is one. The similarities to Christianity came through clearly even at the beginning of the book, but especially as it nears the end. From the perspective of a Christian, it wasn't preachy or overdone, and it was great to see the Truths throughout the book. More than once, I had to stop and reread a sentence to truly take it in and commit it to memory. The wording is that beautiful.

There is magic throughout the book. Magic brought Posy to the story, and magic guides many things within it. Although I am sometimes against magic in books, it didn't bother me in this one. I think the reason it didn't is because it wasn't shown as a positive thing. It wasn't necessarily shown as a negative one, either; it was just there.

Ashlee Willis is a talented author and I look forward to her next books. Although this book wraps up naturally and works well as a standalone, I would love a sequel! 

I was given a copy of the book in exchange for this unbiased review.

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Connect with the author:

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Buy the book: 

(Available as an ebook now; in paperback tomorrow, June 23rd)

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

There's a Goodreads contest to win a signed copy of this awesome book - but it ends tomorrow, so hurry! Click here to enter.

"A Year in Prayer With Jesus" Virtual Book Tour Schedule

Next week, we are excited to participate in a blog tour for Marilynn Dawson's A Year in Prayer With Jesus. This is not one of Rivershore's books, but we're happy to be a part of the release.

As the tour continues, you'll have a chance to collect excerpts and PDFs of Dawson's book. Here's an overview of where the tour will be:

Week one - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://ow.ly/y8Dhz): June 17th - tour stop: June 19th - Pamela Rose Williams -http://christianityeveryday.com
Week Two - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): June 24th - tour stop: June 26th - Jansina Grossman - http://rivershorebooks.com

Week three - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): June 30th - tour stop: July 2nd - Jim Hughes - http://cthroughmarriage.blogspot.com/p/christian-authors-page

Week three - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): July 3rd - tour stop: July 5th - Lorilyn Roberts - http://LorilynRoberts.blogspot.com

Week four - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): July 9th - tour stop: July 12th - Margaret Armanious - http://www.ministryinwords.wordpress.com/

Week Five - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): July 14th - Tour stop: July 16th - Jansina Grossman - http://thilly-little-nothings.blogspot.com/

Week Five - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): July 17th - Tour stop: July 19th - Madeline Duffy - http://www.shaneflynn.com/blog

Week Six - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): July 20th - Tour stop: July 22nd - Rebekah Beene - http://rebekahbeene.wordpress.com

Week Six - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's blog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): July 23rd - Tour stop: July 24th - Amanda Taylor - http://www.soaringeaglepublicity.com/

Week seven - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's bog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): July 28th - Tour stop: July 30th - Jim Hughes - http://www.cthroughmarriage.blogspot.com

Week seven - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's bog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): July 31st - Tour stop: August 2nd - Jeannie Pallett - http://jeanniepallett.com

Week eight - Author/blogger feature over at Marilynn's bog ( http://songdove.fa-ct.com/wordpress-mu/songdovemusings/): August 5th - tour stop: August 8th - Jansina Grossman - http://blog.iandfmag.com/

Publishing: How Long Does It Take?

(Note: This scenario assumes Rivershore is doing everything for your book. The actual timeline would be shorter if fewer services were needed.)

How long until my book is available?

Most authors I've worked with have asked me this question. The short answer: One to three months, depending what's needed. Now I have some follow-up questions.

You've written your book; it's the best version you can make it. 

Have you had it edited by someone else?

No.

All right. Editing takes me three weeks to a month. I'll give you some time to look through my edits and decide which you'd like to keep. 

Time lapsed: 1 month

Are you ready for formatting?

Yes.

It takes me one to two weeks to format. If you'd like special fonts, scene break designs, or specially formatted chapter titles, we'll take some time to discuss that and come up with pieces you love. (That usually takes about a week.)

When the formatting is done, I'll send you the file. If there are any changes, I'll take care of those for you.

Time lapsed: 2 months

Do you know what you want for a cover?

Yes.

It takes about a week for me to take the picture you're imagining and create the cover. I'll send it to you for feedback.

Time lapsed: 2 months, 1 week

Does everything look the way you'd like it to?

Yes.

Now I'll upload the book to CreateSpace (paperback), Lulu (hardcover), and/or the ebook distributors. It will be up to 5 days before the paperback is on Amazon; up to 3 days before the ebook versions are available. Hardcover will be available on Lulu immediately, but it takes another 2 months to appear on Amazon.

Total time lapsed: 2 months, 2 weeks

Are you ready to see your book in print? I'd love to talk to you about it. You're welcome to email me at Jansina@rivershorebooks.com