Pralines of Prescott, a great chocolate shop!

Since my novel Chocolate Roses is set in a chocolate shop, I'm always excited to find fun shops that specialize in chocolate!

Pralines of Prescott is located on Curley St. inside the Bashford Courts Mall in Prescott, Arizona, and has been in business since 1991. The many items they make include fudge, brittle, caramel, toffee, sugar free yummies and of course pralines.

Family owned by Mary Handley, Irene Handley, (in photo), and Ashley Moser, their chocolates are homemade, and I will add, delicious! Visit their website at http://pralinesofprescott.com/

It is fun to see the transformation of downtown Prescott of the last twenty years. Several years ago, a friend scolded me for going to the antique stores and shops in the rundown old downtown, saying it wasn't safe. Now downtown is bustling with tourists and fun shops from food to crafts and clothing.

If you know of a favorite chocolate shop, please leave its name and location here in your comment.

Thank you!

Great Quotation

"The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."

Margaret D. Nadauld

Invitation to Facebook!

I've changed the name of my author page on Facebook to Joan Sowards, LDS Author. I'd love to have you join me there!

Winner of The Star Prophecy--A Book of Mormon Adventure

Jessica Tidd of California is the winner of my novel The Star Prophecy in the Sumer Treasure Hunt. Congratulations Jessica!

Dearly Departed by Tristi Pinkston

Ida Mae Babbit and her gang of Secret Sisters ride again! This fun tale begins with an innocent obituary and a couple of falls that land Ida Mae in an upscale assisted living facility. But there is no time for convalescing from her multi injuries, there is a murder to be solved! With the help of Arlette, Tansy, Eden, Eden's coworker Kevin, and a few zany senior residents, she uncovers a cynical plot in this otherwise peaceful care center.

Author Tristi Pinkston has again charmed her readers with this book two in her Secret Sisters Mystery Series. It has something to please all readers--suspense, mystery, laugh-out-loud moments--all with a hint of romance. I enjoyed this delightful story and recommend it to all who enjoy reading a cozy whodunit.

Visit Tristi at her blog.

Buy Dearly Departed on Amazon.

Book Signing and Rollover

My book signing in Cedar City, Utah was in a lovely store named Mountain West Books. It offers a wide variety of books (including LDS) and supplies in an uplifting atmosphere. Mountain West is affiliated with the furniture store next door that is chockfull of decorating accessories that are to die for. Next time you are in Cedar City, treat yourself with a visit to their stores.

It started hailing/snowing before 1 pm when I bid farewell to my hostess Britannia, and my husband and I headed toward St George. The road turned very slushy and before we knew it, only a few miles into our journey, our van began to fishtail. In seconds we spun, hit the shoulder and began to roll. I wondered if my life was over, if I'd ever see my children again, and if Dennis and I would get to serve the mission we planned on. Thankfully. after a full roll, our car landed upright. The windows had shattered and showered us. "Are you alive?" I asked, and to say I was relieved to hear Dennis say "I am" would be an understatement. He carefully opened his door, and as snow fell, came around and opened my door, We hugged, grateful to be alive! Thank goodness for seat belts and great engineering design. Blinded by tears, I began picking up my novels and items that had been thrown from the car in the roll, and tossed them back into the car hoping to get them out of the rain and snow. Most of the windows were gone from the vehicle, so there was no protection from the snow. I also found my laptop still in one piece on the ground.

Passer-bys didn't see us since we were several feet off the road down a slope. Dennis got his cellphone working and called 911. Up the road we could see another car had ran off the road, and several yards behind us, a truck had slid into the median. Later we were told there were ten vehicles that had ran off the road within that hour. Hopefully, we were the only one that rolled. To make a long story short, our car was towed back to Cedar City (totaled, of course), we got a rental car, and four hours after the accident we headed up the road again toward St. George--still very shook up.

Thank you to all the emergency personnel who came to our rescue--the highway patrolmen, the paramedics, the tow-truck driver--everyone acted concerned and cordial to our needs and made dealing with the tragedy much easier.

We are thankful to be home where we are nursing our bruises. Next time I go to Utah, I will definitely fly!

Quote for the day--Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote to his mother from college. "I do not want to be a doctor and live by men's diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer to live by their quarrels. So I don't see that there is anything left for me but to be an author."

Mesa AZ Temple Easter Pageant. Beyond Excellent!

Each year that I go to the Mesa AZ Temple Easter Pageant seems better than the last, and this year's performance is excellent.

No tickets are required, and the pageant runs April 13-14, 19-23 in English and April 15-16 in Spanish. All performances begin at 8pm at the temple, 525 E Main Street, Mesa, AZ.

The life of Jesus Christ is portrayed so beautifully by a cast of hundreds, making it the largest outdoor Easter pageant in the US. Come early to get a seat (and a parking place.) We brought our dinner with us so we could get a seat early, and enjoyed visiting with those around us.

In spite of the huge audience, the Spirit was strong and bore witness to me again, that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. Seeing the pageant is my favorite way to celebrate Easter!

Curse of the Elfs by Anna Del C.

Anna Del C, thank you for the interview! How long have you been writing?

About seven years ago, I started writing because my husband wanted to live to the ripe age of fifty. He thought my imagination would be the end of his days. He actually ordered me to write. He is awesome.

What are your books titled?

In the order they were published, they are:

The Silent Warrior Trilogy

Book 1 - The Elf and the Princess

Book 2 - Trouble in the Elf City

Book 3 - Elfs in a conquered Realm

and now:

Curse of the Elfs

Do you write your books from beginning to end, or start in the middle?

I started writing the Trilogy at the beginning. The idea for Curse of the Elfs came to me in the middle of the story, the rest came from there. I am not sure why… it just happened that way.

Was there a particular person or event that inspired you to write this story?

The last movie of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings was my inspiration. I wanted to know more about the character’s lives and couldn’t find enough. My husband said, “Why don’t you write your own.” I answered, “Yah right!” But his answer haunted me and in three days I had the draft of The Elf and the Princess in my mind. When I told him the story he came back with a laptop and told me to write it. The rest is history.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Never give up!!! Join a writer's chapter close to you right now, and learn the craft of writing from them.

Anna, do you write with music playing? If so, is the music likely to be songs with lyrics or only instrumentals?

I do have music on, though I love quietness. I have my favorite tunes in the computer where I write. Lots of them have lyrics, but a few don’t.

What is the best thing about being an author?

Meeting great people and other authors.

What would you say is the most challenging part?

Spending hours promoting my books. I would rather be writing!

Do you have a particular goal you aim to achieve with your writing?

To create a wonderful world where the reader can forget reality’s cold hand and safely enjoy fantasy. Life is tough and we need something to help us make it more fun and worth living. Fantasy is how I choose to do it.

You once told me that English was your second language. What sort of challenges did you meet in trying to write your books, if any?

Not many really. I write and my editor has to figure out what I am trying to say. (If I can't figure how a word goes in English, I put it in Spanish...he speaks Spanish very well.) We have a lot of fun when we edit the books; because of my English mess ups.

If you could give your book to only one person, who would it be and why?

A teenager in trouble...

In the hope that he/she could discover the power they have deep inside to change and become better. I want them to see that nothing is impossible if we put our minds to it.

Can you share with your fans how you describe so well your battle scenes and the sword's playing action?

My husband and I took a medieval sword fighting class at the local high school. He liked it so much that he has continued for a years now and has earned two different belts with the clan.

Where can we purchase a copy of your books?

www.amazon.com

www.barnesandnoble.com

www.annadelc.com

Thank you for this opportunity to visit with you and your friends!

Watch the book trailer here.

Lolly's Yarn by Anna Laurene Arnett

Lolly’s Yarn is a delightful collection of stories from the life of author Anna Laurene Arnett. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her childhood, her courtship with the handsome Charles Arnett, their wedding, her child birthing experiences, and their many moves across the US and even to Japan. Even before I read the last page, felt like part of the Arnett family.

I didn’t barrel through Lolly’s Yarn all in a few days as I usually do when reading a novel. True, Anna’s account of growing up and going back east to work, then meeting and falling love with Charles, played out like a romance novel and kept me reading. After that, I read a few of her stories each day and savored them—relating them to my own life. I loved that Anna enjoyed being a mother and wife--refreshing for today. I appreciated her willingness to accept the role of stay at home mom. You could feel her love and devotion to her seven children. And when they were all grown, Anna went to college and became a teacher.

Anna keeps you laughing, and in places she makes you cry. Lolly’s Yarn is a story about real people, real wars, and real happenings, Anna Laurene Arnett retells a life full of adventure with an honest voice that blesses all who will read.

Anna's son Mark made a documentary about Charles' service in WWII and named it after his father's fighter plane--"Baby Boomerang." This interesting hour interviews and real footage and photographs from the war puts you right in time period. Mark tells the story of his father’s World War II experience to the spoiled, pretentious, and ungrateful baby boomer generation that he belongs to. He succeeds in drawing us into a very personal story that explores faith, courage, love, and the inescapable fact that, in many ways, we all turn into our parents in the end.

Buy Lolly's Yarn here, and "Baby Boomerang" here.