Stranded

There are few things that make me happier than walking to my mailbox and finding a new book. I particularly enjoy it when the book isn’t available for purchase yet. This is probably because I have the patience of a fruit fly and I don’t like waiting for anything.

Right now, I’ve got four—that’s right—four books in my TBR (to-be-read) stack that fit this criteria. It’s like Christmas in August!

For today, let’s talk about the Alaskan Courage series written by Dani Pettrey—specifically, book three, Stranded, which releases on September 1 (but I’ve heard can already be found in some stores).

The Alaskan Courage series follows the adventures of the McKenna family—Cole, Gage, Reef, Kayden, and Piper. (Aren’t those great names!) 

The McKenna’s own and operate Last Frontier Adventures in Yancey, Alaska. When they aren’t helping tourists enjoy the vast beauty of the Alaskan frontier, they serve their community as volunteers on the search and rescue team.

We met Cole and his long lost love, Bailey, in Book 1, Submerged. Then we had the fun of watching the baby sister, Piper, fall in love with longtime family friend Deputy Sheriff Landon Grainger in Book 2, Shattered.

We also met Darcy St. James and watched her get under Gage McKenna’s skin in Shattered. Now, in Stranded, Gage and Darcy take center stage as they search for Darcy’s missing friend and uncover a sinister plot in the icy waters off the Alaskan coast.

And that’s all I’m going to tell you about the specifics. You know how I feel about spoilers. They are evil.

What I will tell you is…
I.Love.This.Series.
(True confession…I read Stranded in one night. I couldn’t put it down).

These books make me happy. They have just enough suspense to keep me turning the pages and just enough romance to keep my heart fluttering. 

The McKenna’s are a great family. The siblings are as different as five siblings can be. Feisty, fun, flawed. You will love them.
I certainly do.

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After you've read the books, you'll want to check out Dani's website. She's got some fun bios, playlists, and videos for each of the three books. 

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Summer 2013 by the Numbers

You may have noticed that it’s been a little quiet around here.

Here’s why . . .

Summer 2013 by the numbers:

Number of days spent away from home … 25+

Number of trips to the pool … 15+

Number of playdates … 15+

Number of books read to the kids … 100+

Number of long talks, shrieks of joy, huge grins, and hours spent surrounded by family and friends who might as well be family … too many to count!!

Number of fiction words written … 5,000

Number of blog posts written … 7

I’ve spent my summer trying very hard not to worry about writing. And in July I made the conscious decision to take the end of July and most of August off. It’s been both liberating and irritating. Liberating because it lightened a very fun-filled but hectic August schedule. Irritating because I kept thinking of things I wanted to write about!

Number of days before the boys start preschool … 7!

Now that we are down to a week before all three kids will be back in school, I’m flexing my blogging muscles and remembering how to work this into the schedule. (For those of you wondering, yes, I’m flexing my fiction muscles, too.)

I’m excited to share some of the things God’s been teaching me this summer.

Here’s to a new season of experiencing life Out of the Boat! I hope you’ll join me on the water.

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