Nora St. Laurent runs two book clubs near the Atlanta area and is the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) Book Club Coordinator. She currently writes a Book Club Column for Christian Fiction Online Magazine. You can read author interviews on her Finding Hope Through Fiction blog, located at http://www.psalm516.blogspot.com, and reviews around the web at The Christian Pulse Mag, Title Trakk, Novel Reviews, and Suspense Zone. Nora and her husband run The Book Club Network www.bookfun.org

The contest between the book clubs last month was to spread the word about TBCN. Contestants were also asked to visit author book club pages and encourage them.

Congratulations to Faith in Fiction book club on winning the grand prize, which included twenty-five copies of Deadly Ties by Vicki Hinze and twenty-five copies of Carmel by the Sea Sandi Bricker. Sandi even threw in a few copies of Always the Baker, Never the Bride for this winning team. Faith in Fiction book club, led by Brandi Fitzpatrick, went all out in spreading the word about TBCN, encouraging other book clubs and authors at the network. Brandi Fitzpatrick even held book club discussions on her book club page, resulting in Dan Walsh, Gina Holmes, and Mindy Starns Clark joining TBCN to participate. Faith in Fiction was one happy book club!

Brandi was thankful for the contest and the network and said this to her team: “I’ve got some amazing news to start this New Year off right. First . . . drumroll, please . . . we won The Book Club Network contest! Thanks to all of you that pulled together to help us win the contest. I have some more good news! Yesterday our boxes of books arrived . . . if you know me, you know I was in heaven. All those books . . . pure bliss!”

I love how Brandi has held the book club meetings online so that everyone at the network can benefit from this experience and become familiar with new authors and their books. Brandi’s group qualified for the next round of the contest and the opportunity to participate in the “secret mission,” which is the Just Desserts contest described below, inspired by the secret missions in Deadly Ties.

Now this is why we are here: to get the word out about great books, connect book clubs with authors and have lots of “book fun” in giveaways and contests! This month The Book Club Network has more contests for the readers at the site. We’ve had two contests for book clubs as a whole, now we have a few contests that are open to the public for the individual readers.

The Just Desserts Contest is looking for recipes! This contest is not limited to the members of TBCN. Anyone who has a great dessert recipe can enter it simply by e-mailing it to fred@thebookclubnetwork.com. Three dessert recipes will be chosen for Brandi and the Faith in Fiction book club to judge. They will have a “cook-off” in February when they will make and taste the final recipe selections in the contest to pick the winner. Sounds like Brandi and her team will have some fun times ahead! The Book Club Network is accepting your best dessert recipes between January 1 and February 11, and the person entering the winning recipe will receive a $100 gift card to a high-end cooking store. The winner will also receive a copy of Deadly Ties by Vicki Hinze and Always the Baker, Never the Bride by Sandi Bricker! We want to thank Vicki Hinze for sponsoring this contest and Sandi Bricker for donating a copy of Always the Baker, Never the Bride!

The Touched by a Miracle Contest is looking for stories about miracles that happened in your life, miracles that changed the course of your life forever! Just e-mail fred@thebookclubnetwork.com with your story. The submissions will not be published without permission and approval of the final copy. The best entry will get People of the Book by Kathi Macias, and we will donate $100 to the winner’s favorite 501(c)(3) ministry. Thanks to Kathi Macias for sponsoring this contest.

Win a $50 gift card to Lifeway Christian Stores by solving the “Mister Ree Book” Contest! Entrants will have to join the Book Club Network at www.bookfun.org to see the page. There is no charge to be a member. Clues to the book’s identity will be revealed daily until someone solves the conundrum. Thanks to B & H for sponsoring this contest and for the opportunity to promote The Book of Days by Jim Rubart. Watch TBCN for the announcement and more details.

Another contest for members is the Wheel of Grace, based on the Wheel of Fortune game show; it will involve guessing letters until someone figures out the phrase.

The phrase will be on a page on TBCN and letters and guesses will be entered (time stamped on the discussion) on the comments to the page. Entrants will have to join the Book Club Network (no charge to join) at www.bookfun.org to see the page.

The one who solves it will also win a $50 gift card to Lifeway Christian Stores. Thanks to B & H for sponsoring this contest and the opportunity to promote Words by Ginny Yttrup. Watch for the announcement and details at TBCN.

The Lifeway gift cards can be used to order products online, so anyone anywhere could win and use it to shop from home or in the store.

So let your neighbors and blog readers know about Just Desserts, Touched by a Miracle, and the other contests. Keep an eye on TBCN for more book fun! If you aren’t at the network, you should be!

Until next time.

Nora St.Laurent
The Book Club Network
www.bookfun.org