Although Jacquelin initially published in the romance genre, she decided to follow the call on her heart to write Christian fiction because she seeks to write books that will touch your heart and uplift your spirits with tales of characters who yearn to have an intimate relationship with God. Committed to writing books that glorify God and her growing teen audience, Jacquelin published the first of her Young Adult Inspirational Fiction series titled Simply Divine in October 2006. Her second book in the series, Divine Confidential was nominated for a 2008 NAACP Image Award. She has since gone on to publish two more books in the series. When asked why she is so passionate about writing teen novels, Thomas shares that teens are confronted with so much—sex, drugs, violence and abuse, physically and mentally. They need to not only listen to what the world says about these things but also to what the Bible says.

Jacquelin is a member of the National Writers Union, Romance Writers of America and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is happily married to her best friend and is the proud mother of three children. Jacquelin and her family live in North Carolina.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Jana Collins loves her husband with all her heart. But what if love isn’t enough?

Marrying a handsome, wealthy lawyer and living in a Hollywood Hills mansion . . . it’s a dream come true for twenty-four-year-old Jana, from the moment Lawrence Collins swept her off her feet and into his luxurious world. True, she put her studies at a local Bible college on hold in order to wed after a six-month whirlwind romance. Beautiful and vivacious, with a stunning body, Jana knows men like Lawrence don’t come along every day, and she vows to be a perfect companion—the ideal wife—to this sexy, powerful man. But at what price?

From her wardrobe and hairstyle to her friends and her choice of church, Lawrence seems to want to change Jana into someone she’s not . . . and soon, the man Jana thought she knew will test her values and her faith with a shocking revelation that goes against everything she believes—how far will Jana be willing to go to keep the man she loves? With her “ideal” marriage falling apart, Jana—the real, modest, smart, and strong girl who knows what she stands for—must put her trust in God, and follow His guiding light out of the darkness of a broken relationship.

Drawing from a moving scripture tale with an insightful message for women today, Jacquelin Thomas delivers a provocative and enlightening new novel.

BOOK REVIEW
With The Ideal Wife, Jacquelin Thomas demonstrates why she’s a leading voice in Christian fiction. She explores the intersecting boundaries of marital sex, love and respect with the grace and sensitivity for which she’s known. The Ideal Wife raises questions about sexual relations within marriage that I have not seen addressed in Christian fiction. In the character Jana Collins we see a newly married woman struggle with doing what is comfortable for her and doing what pleases her husband. In the character Lawrence Collins we see a husband with very rigid ideas of how a wife should act, dress and express her love for him. The Ideal Wife will have you asking questions and examining your own beliefs. It’s the perfect book to read with a book club or a women’s group. I guarantee you’ll have a very lively conversation. The Ideal Wife is a must read!

READ EXCERPT

The Ideal Wife by Jacquelin Thomas (excerpt) –

Follow the blog tour at http://bit.ly/TheIdealWife.
For more information about Jacquelin, visit her at http://www.jacquelinthomas.com/

Vanessa Miller of Dayton, Ohio is an Essence best-selling author, playwright, and motivational speaker. Her stage productions include: Get You Some Business, Don’t Turn Your Back on God, and Can’t You Hear Them Crying and Abundant Rain.

To date, Vanessa has written the Rain Series and the Storm Series. The books in the Rain Series are: Former Rain, Abundant Rain, and Latter Rain. The books in the Storm Series are: Rain Storm and Through the Storm. These books have received rave reviews, winning Best Christian Fiction Awards and topping numerous Bestseller’s lists.

FORSAKEN is Vanessa’s newest book. Forsaken is the story of a fallen pastor’s journey back to God. Vanessa believes that each of her books will touch readers across the country in a special way. It is, after all her God-given destiny to write novels that bring deliverance to God’s people.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Pastor Jerome Tyler “JT” Thomas is charismatic behind the pulpit, charming to all he comes in contact with, and lethal to those who linger too long. Since the age of twenty-two, when he prayed for God to keep him out of prison, JT knew he would preach the gospel. Bishop Turner makes it possible; but there are strings attached, and now JT isn’t sure he can stay tied down.

Cutting loose causes more problems than JT anticipated. When an old friend from his days on the streets resurfaces and his extracurricular activity comes knocking on his front door, JT’s life and the lives of those close to him spiral out of control. Now he will need divine intervention to make things right. But how much help can a man hope to receive when he feels he’s been forsaken by God?

READ EXCERPT

Forsaken by Vanessa Miller (excerpt) –

WATCH BOOK TRAILER

Since the issue is a common one, I started a Facebook page so that children of absentee fathers, their mothers, and the absentee fathers themselves could share their stories. Guess what? Not many people have taken me up on my offer. So I’m making an appeal to you here today to participate with us as we discuss questions about absentee fathers and their adult children.

For adult children of absentee fathers:

How do you feel about your father now?
Do you want a relationship with him? Why or why not?

For mothers of children whose fathers are not in their lives:

How does it feel that your child’s father is not involved in his/her life?
Does your child miss their other parent? How do you know?
How do you feel about the absentee father?
Would you welcome a relationship between your child and his/her father? Why or why not?

If you’re an absentee dad:

How did you come to be separated from your children?
Have you tried to get to know them? How did that go?
Have they reached out to you? How did that go?
What do you want for your relationship with your kids, if anything?

If you’re interested in sharing your story, please join us on the Sins of the Father Facebook page or post here in the Comments section. I truly believe sharing the stories will be beneficial to all of us. You may end up being a blessing to someone you’ve never met.

I don’t think it is a sin to be rich, it’s a sin to die rich. I want people to make as much money as they can as long as they give it away as much as they can.

I understood what he meant. Money is not to have/hoard/acquire but to give/use. He has an interview HERE that you should read. He talks about the decisions he and his wife made after the PDL money started rolling in. He made nine million dollars in royalties in the first three months!

First, we decided we would not change our lifestyle one bit no matter how much money came in. So I still live in the same house I’ve lived in for 15 years and I still drive the same Ford truck, have the same two suits, I don’t have a guest home, I don’t have a yacht, I don’t own a beach house, we just said that we aren’t going to use the money on ourselves.

Second, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, I added up all the church had paid me over the past 25 years and gave it all back. I gave it all back because I didn’t want anyone thinking that I did it for money. And I knew that God was raising me up to a position of prominence. I knew I was going to be under the spotlight and I wanted to live a life beyond reproach. So we gave it all back and the very next week it was either Time or Newsweek came and did an interview of me and the very first question they asked was, “What is your salary?” I was able to say honestly I’ve been able to serve my church free for 25 years. It felt so good to bust that stereotype.

Kay and I became reverse tithers. When we got married 30 years ago, we began tithing 10%. Each year we would raise our tithe 1% to stretch our faith: 11% the first year, 12% the second year, 13% the third year. Every time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life. Every time I give, it makes me more like Jesus. Every time I give, my heart grows bigger. And so now, we give away 90% and we live on 10%. That was actually the easy part, what to do with the money–just give it away, because I’m storing up treasures in heaven.

You’ll have to read the article for the rest of the interview. My question for you is where do you stand on the prosperity gospel? Does it include driving through exclusive neighborhoods claiming houses and cars that will some day be yours? Is it looking to be a funnel that passes on the blessings of God to others? Or is your position some combination of the two?

If Sins of the Father was turned into a movie who would you cast to play your characters?

Denzel would play Abraham, Angela Bassett would be Saralyn and Whitney (the old Whitney) would be Leah.

After seeing the first day of the two-day Oprah interview with Whitney, I’m convinced the old Whitney is back, older and wiser. I think the interview is must-see TV so if you missed the show, please catch it HERE. Whitney’s openness was refreshing and I think what she said will speak to a lot of us. I know it spoke to me.

By the way, I’m more convinced than ever that Whitney would make the perfect Leah. What do you think?

Here’s the question from Shades of Romance Magazine and my answer:

Okay, a not-so-fun question. How important are reviews to you as a writer?

I like good ones and bad ones make me feel down for a minute or two. I’ve gotten philosophical about it though. If everybody loves my book, it means that I didn’t have good distribution. I don’t expect everybody who reads my work to enjoy it. I don’t think that’s realistic.

I was honest with that answer but I didn’t say as much as I could have. I didn’t share the paranoia. I’ll share them here in Angela’s Review Rules. These rules come out of my review paranoia so they don’t have to be true and you don’t have to agree with them.

Rule 1. On a 5-point scale, there is no way a rating of “3″ means the reader liked the book, regardless of what’s written in the text of the review. When I get a review of “3″ of lower, I want to understand why. Since I’d never question a reader or a reviewer, I collect data and draw conclusions. If it’s an Amazon review, I look at other reviews posted by the reviewer for books similar to mine. You know what I’ve concluded: There’s no figuring out people’s preferences. They like what they like and don’t like what they don’t like. I’m the same way as a reader so I fully understand.

Rule 2. While ratings are important, the number of reviews is more important. If nothing else, a lot of reviews means a lot of people read the book. The bestselling books all have lots of reviews, with ratings in every category. I truly believe that in order to find the people who enjoy your work, you have to go through quite a few who don’t.

Rule 3. Never parse a review to change its meaning. For example, I got a “bad” review for my second book, For All Time, back in 1995. The reviewer for a local newspaper wrote something like, “A good story is hampered by stupid characters and weak writing.” Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but you get my drift. Anyway, I used that review and the newspaper’s name in my promo material. It came out as something like, “A good book. . .” Now that was wrong on my part since I totally distorted the review.

Those are Angela’s Review Rules. Do you have any?

Writing with a Day Job. This was a great session with a lot of interaction. People were honest and supportive.

Meet the Mainstream Author. This was a great session as well. More light-hearted than the Day Job one, but still a lot of fun. Six mainstream authors participated, one a NY Times bestselling author. You’ll have to go to site to find out who was there.

This was a great conference. There’s something for readers, new authors and advanced authors. If you missed, be sure to check out the archives.