Fun Friday: Indulging in Some Self-Promotion

First, congrats to Patricia Woodside for winning the mini-contest from Wednesday!

Since there are a lot of folks out there who’ve taken time out of their lives to read and review Stand-In Groom, and some have even taken more time to interview me and do extra promotion for me and my book. So I thought it would be nice to promote their sites where those reviews and interviews appear!

As part of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance blog tour, the first chapter of Stand-In Groom is posted here.

To kick things off, let’s start with Patricia Woodside’s review of Stand-In Groom on Readin’ ‘n’ Writin’ with Patricia. (You know what, Patricia—I’m not sure how we “met” online either, but I’m sure glad we did!)

“My very favorite book features are those for debut authors. These are the writer folks among we aspirants who finished the book, submitted it, hung through the sands of many rejections and finally made that first strike against bedrock!”

Regular reader and commenter (and fellow Lostie!) Leslie (a.k.a. “Greyfort”) reviewed SIG on her site, Footprints in the Sand.

“Kaye’s book is a sweet, solid romance full of second chances and forgiveness. Something that I think we can all use a little bit more of.”

I was interviewed for the ACFW E-zine, Afictionado. Click here to find out my agent had to say about me!

Tracy Ruckman featured me on her Pix-n-Pens blog in a contest (but we didn’t get any entries). Read the interview here to read the entire review.

“I found myself sighing with pleasure many times throughout the book – it was touching, tender, and sweet, but had enough conflict and drama to keep me turning those pages.”

Keli Gwyn featured me on Romance Writers on the Journey. Click here to read the interview and find out whom I would interview if I could interview anyone in the world.

Kim Ford and Kelly Klepfer reviewed Stand-In Groom on Novel Reviews. Click here for the full review.

“If you enjoy romance with more twists and turns than a roller-coaster, Kaye Dacus’ Stand-In Groom is exactly what you’ve been looking for!” ~Kim Ford

“Stand-in Groom is a unique story that is full of humor, angst and Southern flair.” ~Kelly Klepfer

Kelly also interviewed me for her Scrambled Dregs blog. The interview can be found here. Find out what crayon best describes me on a bad day.

Vicki Tiede posted a review of Stand-In Groom here.

Here’s the four-star review from Romantic Times.

Louisianan Jessy Ferguson gave me a charming review on her site.

“What really thrilled me about this book is that I don’t only like the heroine Anne Hawthorne, I admire her. She’s real. She’s not a cliche. She’s a lady I’d like to know in real life. In fact, she the kind of lady I might like to be.”

Overlooked Orchids’ review was short and sweet:

“This was a good book. Entertaining, funny…It’s a keeper!”
(Yes, that’s the whole of it.)

I did an interview for Christian Bookworm Reviews. Click here to find out which character in the book is my favorite!

Harriet Klausner posted one of the first reviews of Stand-In Groom way back at the beginning of December on Genre Go Round Reviews.

“Fans of amusing contemporary romances with an interwoven inspirational message will enjoy this fine tale of misconceptions and forgiveness.”

Jan Parrish’s interview is the most recent—it was just posted yesterday. Click here to find out what my favorite brand and flavor of coffee are.

Lena Nelson Dooley, who is one of the best at promoting newly published authors, featured me on her blog with an interview right after Christmas. Click here to find out what animal I would be.

Jenny posted a review as part of the CFBA tour on My Buckling Bookshelf.

“Stand-In Groom was so enjoyable, and George and Anne have such great chemistry, that I’m definitely looking forward to see what Kaye Dacus has in store in book two in this series.”

The person who reviewed it for Reading Grounds apparently had a hard time getting into it when she first started it, set it down, then came back to it and apparently enjoyed it the second time through.

“I really enjoyed the fact that the author gave the characters flaws, it made them really believeable and it was interesting to see them work through each obstacle.”

Brittanie not only enjoyed SIG, but apparently used it as part of a reading challenge for 2009. At least, that’s how I found A Book Lover in the Google search! Caution—she uses vulgar language in her review. She called the book [gasp!] chick lit!!! 8)

“I loved this book. It is going on my keeper shelf.”

M. Lovato reviewed SIG for her blog on The Signal.

“Stand-In Groom, by Kaye Dacus, proves that all things work together for good, for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Jennifer AlLee, whom I’ve slowly been getting to know online, reviewed SIG as part of the CFBA blog tour as well on her blog Musings on This, That, and the Other Thing.

“I completely enjoyed this sweet, charming story of two people who deserve to find love… whether they know it or not!”

Jendi, of Jendi’s Journal, doesn’t think that “wedding planner” is a job she’d want.

“Stand-In Groom has the all-knowing view. The reader knows what is going on in both lives. If it were a movie I would have been talking to the characters.”

Sunny, over on That Book Addiction, isn’t the only person to have liked the fact that Anne isn’t the typical rail-thin romance heroine. I’m so glad that’s something that resonated with readers.

“I love that she’s a ‘normal’ woman, not a toothpick-thin beauty queen who turns every one’s head. But she did turn George’s head. He is also not a glamorous hot-body but an average looking man full of respect and integrity.”

Heidi, on Reviews & Reflections, posted her review as part of the CFBA tour.

“I took this book along with me on vacation and read it while we were on the road. I LOVED it!”

Peg Phifer, with whom I served on the board at ACFW a long time ago, reviewed SIG for her Sips ‘n’ Cups Cafe blog.

“Great characters, interesting setting, fascinating plot. Kaye Dacus covered it all. Well done!”

Michelle Sutton reviewed me on her Edgy Inspirational Author blog.

“I highly recommend this story to people who enjoy tension between the hero and heroine and don’t want a fluffy same-old same-old read. This story had guts and heart tugging action, which earned my respect.”

AusJenny is someone I’ve been running into around the blogosphere for a while.

“I read this book this week and wanted to keep reading more each time I would pick it up. Kaye has created a wonderful story and seeing how it plays out was fun.”

Pam posted a review on Daysong Reflections.

“A story of grace and forgiveness, Stand-In-Groom leaves the reader satisfied that God really does work out things in His timing.”

Of course, a lot of reviews can be found over on Amazon.

This is in no way an exhaustive list, but it’s 3 a.m. and I really need to get some sleep!