always just commonly

Happy Book Birthday to Still Life  by Dani Pettrey! In celebration, I have a little fun for y'all! I've happened to bug Dani for a little mini interview and  a fun little jigsaw puzzle. And Dani offered a wonderful prize for a reader!! Are you excited? Let's start, shall we? Thank you to Dani for dropping by and for the awesome prize for the giveaway!  Tell us your short (elevator) spiel of Still Life . Blacklisted in the photography business when one of her shots causes a scandal, but desperate to somehow continue in the profession, Avery Tate answered an ad for a crime scene photographer. She fully expected to be laughed at, but crime scene analyst Parker Mitchell hired her outright–taking time to teach her the trade. Now she’s half in love with the man, half terrified to even acknowledge her feelings, and completely hooked on the job–until the next crime hits too close to home. Avery attends the gallery opening of a new photography exhibit to support h...

Title:   Still Life Series:  Chesapeake Valor, Book 2 Author:  Dani Pettrey Publisher:  Bethany House Release Date:   January 31, 2016 Genre:  Inspirational Contemporary Fiction / Suspense  Someone Is Out There. Watching Her. Waiting.  Blacklisted in the photography business over a controversial shot, Avery Tate answered an ad for a crime-scene photographer. She expected to be laughed at, but crime-scene analyst Parker Mitchell hired her outright--and changed her life. But six months ago, when her feelings for Parker became too strong, she left his employ to sort out her heart. Now, for the first time, Avery is facing the world that rejected her to attend the gallery opening of a photography exhibit for which her friend modeled. But the only image of her friend is a chilling photo of her posing as if dead--and the photographer insists he didn't take the shot. Worse, her friend can't be found, and so Avery...

Just Commonly  welcome authors to drop by and share with us their take on a book that embodies a predetermined Word of the Month !  For the full year of 2017, every Monday at 7:00 AM EST, a new post by a new author will be live! Today, Jennifer Slattery is here for the last Monday of the January words, "New Beginnings" and with new beginnings comes restoration. "   My aunt used to tell me a story—or perhaps more of an analogy. “Each one of us,” she’d say, “started out as a clean glass of water. But over time, people and life throw mud in our water. Calling us names, putting us down, or treating us poorly. The mud settled to the bottom, where we promptly forgot about it, until life shakes us up, and then the mud begins to swirl, creating a mess of dirty water.” A mess that leads to insecurity, emotional reactions, defense mechanisms.  Hiding. Striving. Competing. Comparing. I would probably phrase it like this: We were created to be image bearers. W...

Title:   Miracle on 5th Avenue Series: From Manhattan With Love, Book #3 Author: Sarah Morgan Publisher:   HQN Books Release Date:   November 29, 2016 Genre: Contemporary Urban Fiction/ Romance It will take a Christmas miracle for two very different souls to find each other in this perfectly festive fairy tale of New York!  Hopeless romantic Eva Jordan loves everything about Christmas. She might be spending the holidays alone this year, but when she’s given an opportunity to house-sit a spectacular penthouse on Fifth Avenue, she leaps at the chance. What better place to celebrate than in snow-kissed Manhattan? What she didn’t expect was to find the penthouse still occupied by its gorgeous—and mysterious—owner. Bestselling crime writer Lucas Blade is having the nightmare before Christmas. With a deadline and the anniversary of his wife’s death looming, he’s isolated himself in his penthouse with only his grief for company. He wants no inter...

"I felt torn between two worlds..." Title: Of Stillness and Storm Author:     Michèle Phoenix Publisher:   Thomas Nelson Release Date:   December 6, 2016 Genre: Inspirational Contemporary Fiction "I felt torn between two worlds. Each with its own mystery. One more captivating than the other, but the other more real and breathing." It took Lauren and her husband ten years to achieve their dream---reaching primitive tribes in remote regions of Nepal. But while Sam treks into the Himalayas for weeks at a time, finding passion and purpose in his work among the needy, Lauren and Ryan stay behind, their daily reality more taxing than inspiring. For them, what started as a calling begins to feel like the family's undoing. At the peak of her isolation and disillusion, a friend from Lauren's past enters her life again. But as her communication with Aidan intensifies, so does the tension of coping with the present while re...