Releasing on November 1st, 2024, this is the third book in a non-magical fantasy series, The Chronicles of Elira. The book is available to preorder in ebook, paperback and special edition hardcover!
The blurb:
Years have passed, the world has shifted, and the Eliran people have faced unimaginable loss.
Elgon, ensnared in a royal catastrophe, must navigate betrayals and personal grief. With his kingdom’s fate hanging by a thread, he clings to a sliver of hope, waiting desperately for the return of his most trusted knight.
Malcolm’s quest is a treacherous odyssey, fraught with danger and shrouded in secrecy. With a charge to rescue and protect, the weight of his past mistakes threatens to crush him. Can he redeem himself in the eyes of his brother and king, or will their secret mission be discovered and ended by their enemies?
Rosalie, isolated in a castle tower for most of her life, knows little of the world beyond her prison walls. Rescued by a mysterious stranger and propelled towards her destiny, she embarks on a perilous adventure. Will she survive the grueling journey, or will the trials of a lost heir prove too great?
A knight on a quest, a lost princess, a malevolent foreign ruler, and a secret of epic proportions will alter the fate and future of Elira forever.
O Lord, keep far from me the curse of leanness of soul; let me not have to cry, “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!” but may I be well-fed and nourished in Thy house, that I may praise Thy name.
Charles spurgeon
Things worth remembering
dancing the Jitterbug with my grandma
the county fair
watching the trailer races at aforementioned county fair
INTENSE heat and humidity
the concert that wasn’t and the subsequent sunset
songwriting with a friend
a photoshoot with friends and a host of mosquitoes
the fights that were much more enjoyable to watch than the baseball game
more intentional reading
getting the notes for Project Redemption from my developmental editor (!!!)
Who you turn to when the stakes are high – when the responsibilities are mounting – says a lot about whom you trust.
Guys, I FINALLY FINISHED IT!!! As in, you won’t be seeing this book pop up over and over again in the monthly recap posts as it has been lately. XD It was a good and thought-provoking read with a healthy dose of questions to lead to action steps.✨
The sun had no strength these days. It peeped out in the morning, glided across the sky as before, yet life it had not until toward evening, as it was nearing the western rim of the prairie. Then it awoke, grew big and blushing, took on a splendour which forced everyone to stop and look; the western sky foamed and flooded with a wanton richness of colour, which ran up in streams to meet the coming night.
Goodness, this novel on pioneer life in the Dakota Territory has been fascinating. The author gets into the heads of his characters so well, and the descriptions of the prairie are gorgeous. (The book does contain a good amount of mild language…just something to be aware of.)
“Oh,” said Tigger, who couldn’t quite remember if a hum was something to eat or something to sit on. “Tiggers like those, too.”
The Winnie-the-Pooh books by A.A. Milne are some of my favorites, and the author of this prequel did a stellar job preserving the spirit of Milne’s characters and narrative style! This book has been an absolute delight.
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.
isaiah 26:3-4
From the journal
Oh, but Jesus, my story was never supposed to be about me and my achievements, anyway. It’s all about You being strong through me, even when I can’t seem to take a step forward.
Can’t I trust the seedling to the hands of the One who planted and watered the seed in the first place?
If you’ve been around since my first little book came out circa April 2022, THANK YOU for sticking with me and my ever-evolving poetry.
You are so gracious.
I published This Will Not Last as a haphazard experiment…a wild attempt to familiarize myself with the world of indie publishing.
It truly is only by the grace of God that TWNL managed to bless people I’d never met, in spite of the imperfect structure and teenage angst that defined its content.
The Lord is so gracious, and I’m grateful.✨
However.
Just because a book served a purpose at one point in time doesn’t mean it should be eternal, and so I‘ve made the decision to stop printing copies of TWNL at the end of this month.
While TWNL was a huge stepping stone for me as a writer and a poet, its poetry is very different from the poetry I write now, both content-wise and structurally, and I think the time has come for me to distance myself from the immature teenager version of my poetry.
(Sorry, TWNL…I still love you. But you know it’s time.)
So…if TWNL did happen to bless you in any way and you’d like to grab a copy or two before it goes out of print, you have the rest of the month to do so here.
Thank you all so much for tagging along with me on this poetry journey!❤️
I was flipping through a book of my handwritten poetry the other day and found this poem I wrote a few years ago. It’s just a little thing without a ton of meaning, but I like it, anyway. If you’re familiar with the song “Homeward Bound” it might mean a bit more to you.🤭
This June was sunshine and thunderstorms and wildflowers and good books.✨
And mosquitoes. Lots of mosquitoes.
When he bares his teeth, Winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, We shall have spring again.
C.S. Lewis
Things worth remembering
the start of the local farmers market
flower shopping with a brother
kayaking with the same brother in the rain
wandering through a newly-discovered cemetery
savoring slow mornings on vacation
reading on the dock
sand volleyball and Crossnet
Facetiming a dear friend
hayrides with cousins
wild costumes and Uno in the rain
late night cousin chats
scrounging wildflowers from the ditches
“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…”
“What don’t you love?” he asked, looking at her intently.
She gazed back at him. “Oh, soggy mittens, chocolate without nuts, a man who can’t find it in himself to hold your hand when it’s sticking right out there in plain view.”
He took her hand that was resting on the table. “What else?” he said.
I finished this one on our family vacation, and it was a delight. I’m so glad there are so many more books set in Mitford!
Her life was pretty normal, but normal through rose-colored glasses. Normal with abstract colors thrown in. Normal in an intentionally romanticized way.
This book is a masterpiece. Both the pacing and narration are absolutely brilliant, and Rain is one of those characters who deserves to go down in literary history with the likes of Anne Shirley and Jo March.
When you’re brave enough to show your scars to others, you declare that both your celebrations and your sufferings belong to the Lord. In doing so, you steward them both well.
Yes, I’m STILL reading this book! XD It’s still good.
(I’ve also been beta reading a short story that will be published in this anthology!)
LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, Nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
psalm 131:1-2
From the journal
It is His strength within me. His love. His heart. His mind.
It was glorious this evening, and beauty is pulsing stronger on the horizon. God, You are so good to carry Your weak ones and give them hope’s whispers in unexpected places.
Let me not long for the cup You have not given.
What stood out to you from this June?
Oh! Just a note…I’ll be sending out a newsletter with some writing updates in a week or so here that you might not want to miss. You can click here to join my mailing list if you haven’t yet.
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“Am I to understand,” said Reepicheep to Lucy after a long stare at Eustace, “that this singularly discourteous person is under your Majesty’s protection? Because, if not–“
Sometimes you start with nothing and hope it all works out. Not sometimes—every time. All you really have is your willingness to fail, coupled with the mountain of evidence that the Maker has never left nor forsaken you.
I started a reread of this on the plane to Tennessee. Andrew Peterson’s appreciation of and hunger for hope and beauty is catching.
i may wake to morning stars or thick darkness yet, but maybe – hope against hope – it’ll be Day. soon, He promises, and that’s enough.
Hosanna and I did a book swap in Tennessee, and I’m savoring the journey through this chunky book of hope-laced poems. Hosanna has a passion for Jesus and His coming that is contagious, and she articulates her heart so well in this poetry collection!
“Everything and nothing. What you did today, what I did today, what we’ll do tomorrow. About God and how He’s working in our lives. About my work, about your work, about life, about love, about what’s for dinner and how the roses are doing – do they have black spot or beetles…”
So far, I’m loving the second book in the Mitford series even more than the first! It feels softer, cozier, even more full of warmth and gentle healing.
Even when we’re only given fleeting seconds of connection, we almost always have the opportunity to share the touch of Christ, if not in our actions, certainly in our reactions.
I’m still savoring this book!
Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name…
Romans 1:5
From the journal…
Oh, God! Get it through this hard head of mine that nothing shall be impossible for You, and that You have not left the business of redemption. Open my eyes to see the chariots of fire. Open my heart to wait on You and You alone for provision…there is joy set before me…and so I can endure.
Help me, Lord, as I walk the rim of the darkness, staggering towards the light and holding it in my heart. Thank You for this time of grace…this opportunity to stand firm in the darkness and hold high my torch. You are so good…always, even when the world continues to fall apart around me.
Thank You, Jesus, that You are sovereign, and that Your kingdom shall reign over all the earth.
Instead of seeing every bad thing as a failure of God’s goodness, why don’t I see every good thing as His grace?
Let me not be defined by what I lack. I am not a dry tree. I am planted by Your river.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)
Encouragement is more than just giving a compliment. It is the passing on of courage. To encourage someone is to give them the courage to face an unknown future, the courage to trust an unseen God, the courage to stand firm in a turbulent culture.
I’m so glad I finally got this book. I’m marking it up all over the place! It’s been a gentle challenge for me to consider the way that I walk through life and treat the people that surround me…and what that lifestyle says about who God is.
He raised his head slightly, and froze. “Do not move,” he said. “That is a bull.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she whispered, “this happens in comic books, not real life. Will we be gored?”
I’m such a slow reader, but I was able to tear through this book while I was down after getting my wisdom teeth out! XD You can read my full review here.
…I looked past her to the counter and realized she’d baked more than muffins. There were also cupcakes. I felt my stomach plummet. “Oh, no, Lib.”
“It’s not what you think,” Libby promised. She was an apology cupcake baker. A guilty cupcake baker. A please-don’t-be-mad-at-me cupcake baker.
I did end up shelving this as DNF because the combination of teenage angst and implied content wasn’t my cup of tea. That and the plot just didn’t grab me like I’d hoped. I loved the MC’s snappy dialogue, though, and the glimpse of the tender heart beneath her armor, even in the first chapter.
“…we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
2 chronicles 20:12
From the journal…
Let me see each day, each aspect of my life as a battleground; an opportunity to decrease and let You increase.
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It’s spring in my corner of the world…on the ridges and in my soul. Here’s a new poem to commemorate these days.
the world is coming alive again,
and so
am
I…
spring is yawning green,
pushing its delicate fingers through the loam
that knew death with such intimacy…
but it breathes again,
racing to meet a cloud-studded sky
at the horizon to dance a jig
where death has died.
words flow, inky black
yet so alive
from my pen.
funny how, in the months where
the world stretched barren,
my pen was barren, too…
and now,
as the fields are wooing my heart,
my fingertips spring to life with the words
I fought to snare all winter.
a gift, a gift,
it’s all a gift…
the chorus echoes through my mind
and thunders through my ribcage.
all these God-formed hands can do is
plant,
water,
weed,
gather the increase that comes
from the heart of God and never
from my own sweating brow.
fear melts with the last of the snowdrifts, and
I poke warming fingers into the grasp
of an Almighty hand…
grateful,
eager,
in love.
P.S. I had to revamp my newsletter because I was running into some issues with my hosting site…so if you were subscribed to receive my newsletters, you’ll have to re-subscribe here if you’d like to continue receiving them!
(And, hey…if you weren’t subscribed in the first place, now’s your chance. ;))
Funny how differently time is prioritized when it’s in short supply.
If I enjoyed the romance genre (or if this book didn’t happen to be written as a romance…XD) it would likely receive five stars from me. The pacing, the side characters, the plot twists…it’s a heavy read, but an endearing one. It handles the topics of grief and loss so well, and I loved the coastal town feels! And now I want a blackberry lemonade slush. XD
My goodness, the humor in this book! The characters are so real. There are some minor things in it that I’m not a fan of, but in general it’s been an easy fun read with all of the small town feels.
“…the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John 3:29-30
From the journal
God, be my strength and smile today! Open my eyes to see what You are doing.
when my soul is weary and pleading for more than a sin-soiled world, there is hope and satiation in Your very presence beside me…
You are the-God-who-sees. You see me pressed beneath the weight of this deadline…and You call Yourself enough within me to bear this weight. You see me faltering before the most miniscule decisions…and I call You my Shepherd, all knowing and sovereign. You see my longing, and I call You all I’ll ever need.
“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”
John 12:27-28a
Jumping back a few weeks…what was memorable in your life this March?
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)
Laurel Luehmann 