Word Gets Around by Lisa Wingate

And here is another excellent read. I was drawn in from the very first page. Something is happening in Daily which is every small town's dream... a big movie star is going to make a movie. However, if you've ever stayed in a small town for any length of time, you know that when this big movie star comes to town, more than a movie gets made. There is just something about home town folks that helps the heart to heal, brings dead things to life, makes priorities rearrange themselves according to importance, and all the while the reader falls in love with the characters.

The whole premise works very well, especially when viewed from the two protag's point of view and the reader never has to guess, "Okay, who's talking here?" We get a wonderful character study when a rough and tumble, devil may care movie star meets Jesus Who happens to possess the heart of a petite home town girl, who happened to win bookdom's form of American Idol (praise the LORD we are not subjected to that competition).

Here is the problem, though. There doesn't seem to be a "main focus" for the story line. We've got numerous stories going on and it gets a LOT involved. Nate and Lauren, Justin the Movie Star, what happend to Lauren, what happend to Nate, what happened to Justin... The stories are not hard to follow, but flash backs are the rule of the day, and that gets a bit annoying. Roll into the dough the glorious home cooking of the ladies of Daily (you can smell the pecan pie when you open the book), it gets really hard to ignore your fridge while reading. Regardless of those two tiny flaws, the book is a keeper and worth the money.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Word Gets Around

Bethany House (February 1, 2009)

by

Lisa Wingate


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Lisa Wingate lives in central Texas where she is a popular inspirational speaker, magazine columnist, and national bestselling author of several books. Her novel, Tending Roses, received dozens of five-star reviews, sold out ten printings for New York publisher, Penguin Putnam, and went on to become a national bestselling book. Tending Roses was a selection of the Readers Club of America, and is currently in its tenth printing.

The Tending Roses series continued with Good Hope Road, The Language of Sycamores, Drenched In Light, and A Thousand Voices. In 2003, Lisa’s Texas Hill Country series began with Texas Cooking, and continued with Lone Star Café, which was awarded a gold medal by RT BOOKCLUB magazine and was hailed by Publisher’s Weekly as “A charmingly nostalgic treat.” The series concluded with Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner.

Lisa is now working on a new set of small-town Texas novels for Bethany House Publishers. The series debuted with Talk of The Town and continued with Word Gets Around. A new series is also underway for Penguin Group NAL, beginning with A Month of Summer (July 2008), and continuing with The Summer Kitchen in July, 2009. Lisa’s works have been featured by the National Reader’s Club of America, AOL Book Picks, Doubleday Book Club, The Literary Guild, American Profiles, and have been chosen for the LORIES best Published Fiction Award.




ABOUT THE BOOK

When Romance Is In the Air, Word Gets Around Lauren Eldridge thought she'd wiped the dust of Daily, Texas, off her boots forever. Screenwriter Nate Heath thought he was out of second chances. Life's never that predictable, though. Cajoled by her father, Lauren is back in town helping train a skittish race horse set to star in a Hollywood film. But the handsome screenwriter gives her more trouble than the horse. And Nate is realizing there's a spark of magic in the project--and in the eyes of the girl who is so good with horses. Daily, Texas, has a way of offering hope, healing, and a little romance just when folks need it most.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Word Gets Around, go HERE

What people are saying:

"Lisa Wingate writes engaging stories that strike the heart. God has gifted her with a marvelous talent and I, for one, am most grateful."
—Debbie Macomber, New York Times #1 bestselling author