Jan Thompson

USA Today Bestselling Author

InspyRomance blog

Novel Mothers (Mother’s Day Blog at InspyRomance)

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Today, I’m blogging on the InspyRomance website about mothers in novels and Christian fiction.

Link: https://wp.me/p47ZZG-9j7

ARCHIVED BLOG:

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day in the USA. We all have mothers, whether biological or adopted, so I thought maybe it would be interesting to talk about mothers in real life and mothers in fiction. Feel free to comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of Reach for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 2) in which Phoebe thinks about her adopted mother.

1. Do you look back fondly at the childhood days you spent with your mother?

What I remember the most about my mother is that she was always with us. Since she had her own business, she was able to stay at home with my brothers and me when we were little. It was very comforting to know that she was always there. After work, my father came home and ate dinner with us every evening. My parents were the stability that we needed growing up.

2. What are some of your favorite memories of your mother?

When I became a Christian, I realized that God had worked through my parents to provide for our family all through our growing years. Later in their lives, they too accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. So the best memory of all was to hear my mother and father pray to received Jesus into their hearts.

3. Do you like to read about novel characters’ relationships with their mothers?

What do you think? Have you read novels in which you find the book mothers endearing or overbearing? I write about many types of mothers in my fiction books, but I want to share about three types of mothers. So here I’m showing snapshots of how each mother appears in my books in two of my Christian beach romance series (Savannah Sweethearts and Vacation Sweethearts).

(a) Mothers who have passed away:

  • In Ask You Later (Savannah Sweethearts Book 1), we are missing two mothers. Sophie lost her mother and so did Leon. In both cases, their fathers have remarried and they have to deal with their stepmothers.
  • In Reach for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 2), Phoebe’s adopted mother died of cancer a long time ago. Will she find closure soon? This novel is connected to both Walk You There (Savannah Sweethearts Book 5) in a big way, and to Love You Always (Savannah Sweethearts Book 6) in a small way.

(b) Mothers who exasperate their children:

  • In Tell You Soon (Savannah Sweethearts Book 2), Mama Hu is the matriarch of the family. Eccentricity is the least of her worries, as we find out later in Once a Thief (Protector Sweethearts Book 1).
  • In Wish You Joy (Savannah Sweethearts Book 9), Mrs. Untermeyer has hidden a big secret from her daughter for many years. When Amy finds out, it causes a rift in their mother-daughter relationship. Will they resolve it by Christmas?

(c) Mothers with genuine love for their family:

  • In Know You More (Savannah Sweethearts Book 1), Diego is blessed with a loving mother who happily raised five healthy boys in the Flores family. His mother, in turn, is blessed with a loving husband who still loves her even as they’re approaching the twilight years of their lives on earth.
  • In Cherish You So (Savannah Sweethearts Book 4), Dante’s mother is very understanding about his plight as a paraplegic and the prospect that he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In the same book, Nadine’s parents work through their issues with each other and are determined to do the right thing.

Those are just snapshots of some of the mothers in my books. Have you read any of the books above? What do you think of those mothers?

Tell us about some of the books you have read. Have the mothers portrayed in those novels made an impact on you? Do comment to be entered into a random drawing for an ebook copy of my novel, Reach for Me.

If you’re a mother yourself, I would like to wish you a very Happy Mother’s Day. May God bless your special day in every way!

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

Joyfully in Jesus,
Jan Thompson

 

Reading and Writing Through a Pandemic (April InspyRomance Blog)

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Today I’m blogging over at InspyRomance about writing and reading during this time of global upheaval with the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Today is also the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, so I talked about hope in Christ. Check it out:

Reading and Writing Through a Pandemic

Stay safe, everyone!

PARTIAL ARCHIVE:

Are you staying at home due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic that is all over the world? Are you practicing social distancing so you can actively help flatten the curve to prevent a spike in the coronavirus disease in you county or state or country? (Look at me using all these new fancy terms I didn’t usually use in normal life!)

Readers, while you’re staying at home, are you reading new fiction books? Which contemporary Christian romance books are you reading or re-reading? 

“One silver lining for me is that I have missed my son since he left for college (university) two years ago. He only came home at spring breaks, summer breaks, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Since he is our only child, we were suddenly empty nesters, and just like that, motherhood became a long-distance thing for me. Unexpectedly, with his college campus closing and moving the rest of the semester online until this outbreak is over, we’re all in the same house again. I rather like that and thank God for an opportunity to be at-home mom again, even as my book deadlines loom.” – Jan Thompson, author of the Savannah Sweethearts, Vacation Sweethearts, and Seaside Chapel series

As you know, writing can be a lonely career in which writers have to spend time alone writing, writing, writing. My happy place is sitting at my desk and writing my books. So when the pandemic reached my country and everyone is told to stay at home… I mean, I’m already writing at home! However, schools and businesses also closed. So now everybody is really home. Our house cat is probably wondering why everyone is in pajamas, like it’s Christmas season! Except it’s coronavirus season…

As a Christian, I can look to God’s Word, which I am reading a lot during this time of social distancing and war against the COVID-19 disease that has attacked over 184 countries (and counting) worldwide (only the continent of Antartica is spared). Vaccines are still months away. Romans 8:37 comes to mind.

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37).

Praise the Lord that the biggest news of all is that Christians have hope and protection in God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Nothing can touch us unless the Lord allows it for a reason. God is also the Great Physician. I pray that He would heal everyone who is inflicted with the coronavirus disease. And that He will heal this world.

I think it’s God’s timing for this week to be our holy week, right when the coronavirus outbreak peaks in the USA. We have stayed at home on Palm Sunday, Passover, Good Friday, and now Easter Resurrection Sunday. It is a reminder to me that life is very fragile. All it takes is for someone with the disease to breath at you for your to risk getting COVID-19. However, we don’t live in fear because we have faith in Jesus Christ, our risen Lord who has conquered death!

Praise the Lord that Christ has risen indeed!

“Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:1-7).

Happy Resurrection Sunday, everyone! And stay safe!

Serving the Risen Lord,
Jan Thompson

Something Old, Something New (Blogging at InspyRomance)

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I’m blogging at InspyRomance today about something old (2019) and something new (2020). Comment there for a random ebook giveaway.

Link: https://wp.me/p47ZZG-8uN

If you haven’t read SMILE FOR ME, it’s set in sunny and WARM Bahamas (something to read this cold winter if you’re in the northern hemisphere, huh!) and here is the book description:
 

Happy reading!

Update:

Here is the archived content of the blog post I wrote above:

Happy new year, friends! How is your January coming along? Do you make resolutions? I try not to, but inevitably every year comes around and so do the resolutions LOL.

Something old…

When you look back at the year 2019, do you find things that you’d like to carry over to the year 2020? What are some of the things that resonated with you in 2019 that you would keep in 2020?

One year ago to the day (January 11, 2019), my blog post for InspyRomance was about new year resolutions. In What Resolutions? I wrote about three things I am perpetually working on, year after year:

  1. Study God’s Word more.
  2. Work harder and smarter.
  3. Exercise regularly.

In 2019, I fell short in the exercise department (Resolution #3), but I hope to improve next year — I mean, this year! I am continually desiring to be in God’s Word more and more (Resolution #1). I did work a bit harder in 2019, but not in ways I had perceived (Resolution #2)…

In juggling the many hats I had to wear, I wrote and published four new novels in 2019. I am thankful to God that was even possible because I had health problems in 2019 totaling about 4-5 months, and only had 7-8 months of healthy days to write my books. I did not meet my goal of writing 6 books that year, so the last 2 books have been rolled into 2020. In light of Romans 8:28, I’m happy with the four novels that made it out the door. They accurately reflected the workload that I could manage in 2019.

Kiss You Now (Savannah Sweethearts Book 7)

  • Burned out physician Priyanka Patel meets a stalled author in the crossroads of their careers.

Find You Again (Savannah Sweethearts Book 8)

  • Sometimes secrets from the past grow up and knock on your door…

Call You Home (Savannah Sweethearts Book 10)

  • Two chefs who dislike each other must work together in one hot kitchen.

Wait for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 3)

  • Divorced couple problem: take their five-year-old son on a happy family cruise in Alaska.

In fact, with the release of three of those books, I have finally completed Savannah Sweethearts, a series of 11 books in total. Praise the Lord!

Something new…

To jumpstart the new year, I already have four books on preorder coming up soon. Each book is in a different series that I have yet to complete. That way, fans of each series will not have to wait too long (as they did in 2019) for me to get to their next favorite books. Two of the novels on preorder are in the Contemporary Christian Romance genre (the other two books are Christian Romantic Suspense, which is outside the scope of this blog post). Here are the two romance novels coming soon:

Look for Me (Vacation Sweethearts Book 4)

  • Ex-boyfriend Martin finds his lost love and tries to protect her from her other past.

Sing with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 3)

  • Suddenly widowed, a billionaire businessman finds therapy in food and music.

On the home front, I hope to spend more time in God’s Word and seek His perfect will for my life. I know it’s an ongoing process of learning and applying what I learn. God is always good, isn’t He? He teaches us so many new things about Himself and our life in Christ.

This year, I pray that I’ll be able to build on last year’s resolutions — with God’s help, of course:

  1. Study God’s Word still more.
  2. Improve my productivity.
  3. Exercise and be healthy.

What about you? Is there something new that you’d like to do this year that you didn’t before, or is there something you did before that you’d like to continue doing this year? For example, I feel that I need to exercise more and have better nutrition. That’s an ongoing thing, but it’s a good goal for me.

Feel free to comment for a giveaway. One random person will be selected to receive an ebook copy of Smile for Me(Vacation Sweethearts Book 1), a novel set in the Bahamas to warm up your winter. Book 4 in the same series is coming soon in March.

May God bless your brand new year with peace, love, and joy!

In Christ,
Jan Thompson

Favorite Christmas Themes (InspyRomance Blog)

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It’s almost Christmas, friends! I’m blogging today at InspyRomance and my topic is about Christmas themes. What are your favorite things about Christmas? Check out my blog post and comment.

Blog: https://www.inspyromance.com/favorite-christmas-themes

My favorite Christmas theme is always the same year after year: Jesus Christ. I know it sounds simplistic, but in the hustle and bustle of the busy Christmas season, I feel more joy and peace focusing on Christ and Him alone. I remember the sayings “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” and “Without Christ, there is no Christmas.”

Throughout the year, I celebrate Jesus Christ as the Lord of Lords and King or Kings, but Christmas is such a special time of the year set aside to commemorate God sending His only begotten Son to earth to live a sinless life and then carry all our sins on Himself at the cross of Calvary. Because of Christ, I have eternal life and am saved forever. That’s a celebration!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Happy early Christmas!

Rejoicing in Jesus Christ,
Jan Thompson

Update:

Here is the archived content of the blog post I wrote above:

Wow. It’s December. Can you imagine? Just over a week ago we were having Thanksgiving dinner in good old November. Suddenly, we’re less than one month away from the year 2020.

How is your December coming along? Busy? Will you be traveling for Christmas or staying where you are? Have you decorated your home for Christmas yet? Or do you celebrate Christmas at all?

What are your favorite Christmas decorations?

Well, decorating is always hard for me because I immediately think about having to box everything up again after Christmas. Do you keep your decorating simple or do you go all out?

My Christmas tree is basically eclectic. Some of the ornaments are from years past and some are newer. I have seen some pretty Christmas trees that are rustic, glitzy, Victorian, modern, minimalist, and so forth. How about yours? How would you describe your Christmas tree?

What is your favorite outdoor Christmas scene?

We don’t usually have snow here in the southern USA, but many towns and cities hang outdoor lights to make streets and parks look festive. It gets icy cold sometimes, though. What about where you live? Do you have a winter wonderland there?

The December outdoor at night is too cold for me, so I prefer to stay indoors. And maybe listen to carols on iTunes or on the radio. Some radio stations have started playing Christmas songs since early November. How about your local radio stations? Have they been playing Christmas music?

What are your favorite Christmas carols?

I have so many I can’t list them all, from “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” to “Away in a Manger” to “O Holy Night” to “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen” to almost all the carols that sing about Jesus. Do you have a favorite Christmas carol? Or many favorites? What are some of your memorable ones from your childhood?

What is your favorite Christmas food?

Yummy is all I can think of when I see Christmas cookies, especially the ones that won’t help my diet LOL. What about you? Do you like Christmas cookies? Are they too sweet for you? Or not sweet enough? What about gingerbread cookies? That’s an all-time favorite for many. I’ll eat any cookie, to be honest!

I know the fruitcake is much maligned, but sometimes they can be pretty good (I eat anything at Christmas). I don’t see much of it sold nowadays, but I do remember getting a small fruitcake from Costco a while back. Or was it a German Christmas Stollen bread instead? I can’t remember. Maybe it was a special featured item at that time because I don’t recall seeing it ever again at Costco for years since then. Do you still see them sold anywhere else besides online?

What is your overall favorite Christmas theme?

Some years ago, a local church here hosted a living nativity. The line to get in was so long that it was impossible to wait for several hours with a young child just to walk through the live action stable past my son’s bed time in the cold evening. In some places, they have drive-through nativity, but we haven’t been to one. Have you taken your kids to any of the living nativities? The church we used to attend made the nativity a part of their Christmas play, so we would go to that instead (indoors, with heat).

My favorite Christmas theme is always the same year after year: Jesus Christ. I know it sounds simplistic, but in the hustle and bustle of the busy Christmas season, I feel more joy and peace focusing on Christ and Him alone. I remember the sayings “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” and “Without Christ, there is no Christmas.”

Throughout the year, I celebrate Jesus Christ as the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Christmas is such a special time of the year to commemorate God sending His only begotten Son to earth to live a sinless life and then carry all our sins on Himself at the cross of Calvary. Because of Christ, I have eternal life and am saved forever. That’s a celebration!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Feel free to comment for a giveaway of any ebook that I have written. Amazon won’t let me gift an ebook on preorder, but one randomly selected winner will be invited to browse through my published catalog of books at JanThompson.com/amazon and whichever published ebook she selects, I’ll gift it to her as the special prize. This giveaway ends on Sunday, December 8, 2019.

Speaking of how busy the Christmas season is, I thought I’d save you time and money with this offer of four ebooks at $0.99 each. Save a total of $13. That’s a whopper. The four ebooks are on Amazon only. You can also rent them via Kindle Unlimited if you’re a member there. If you already own these ebooks, how about buying them for your reading friends? They’d make great stocking stuffers (take up little space). This special sale ends this month. Happy reading and happy gifting!

  • If you like Christmas romance… Wish You Joy
  • If your winter needs warming up, how about visiting the Bahamas… Smile for Me
  • Or the beaches of Tybee Island, where the sand is made for bare feet… Ask You Later
  • Orchestra music is not just for Christmas, but any time you want to enjoy it… Share with Me
Don’t forget to comment to be entered into a drawing for a free ebook of your choosing from my published collection.
Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Celebrating Jesus Christ,
Jan Thompson

A Thankful Heart (InspyRomance November Blog)

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I’m blogging at InspyRomance today about thankfulness and the callings of God in our lives. A random reader who comments will get a free ebook from me. Check it out.

A Thankful Heart blog post: https://wp.me/p47ZZG-83O

Do you know what your calling in life is? Has it changed over the years? Do you think that there are some callings that don’t ever change?

Here we are in the weeks between the Canadian Thanksgiving (October) and the American Thanksgiving (November). During this Thanksgiving season, I think about the many things I am thankful to God for, the many near-misses He has delivered me from (some of the “saves” are probably unknown to me until I get to heaven), and the wonderful blessings that God has poured out on us as Christians. Blessings to overflowing, and blessings upon blessings.

Which leads me back to my initial question. Dear friend, what has God called you to do? In your own heart, do you know if you’re closer to achieving it or if you’re still struggling along?

Regardless of our individual callings, God has called us to be thankful:

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18).

As I was thinking about being thankful to God as I press on toward His upward call for my life to write Christian books, I made a list of three points of thankfulness:

  1. Always thank God.
  2. Always praise God.
  3. Always remember God.

Regardless of how far along we are in our journey, we can go so much farther if we are thankful to God for everything. When we obey God, we have peace, and our hearts are filled with gratitude.

What are you most thankful for? Whom are you most grateful for? Feel free to comment.

If you’re the USA, I wish you and your family a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving coming up at the end of the month!

Happy Thanksgiving month, everyone!

Thanking God for my salvation in Jesus Christ,
Jan Thompson

Update:

Here is the archived content of the blog post I wrote above:

Do you know what your calling in life is? Has it changed over the years? Do you think that there are some callings that don’t ever change?

Here we are in the weeks between the Canadian Thanksgiving (October) and the American Thanksgiving (November). During this Thanksgiving season, I think about the many things I am thankful to God for, the many near-misses He has delivered me from (some of the “saves” are probably unknown to me until I get to heaven), and the wonderful blessings that God has poured out on us as Christians. Blessings to overflowing, and blessings upon blessings.

Which leads me back to my initial question. Dear friend, what has God called you to do? In your own heart, do you know if you’re closer to achieving it or if you’re still struggling along?

Regardless of our individual callings, God has called us to be thankful:

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18).

As I was thinking about being thankful to God as I press on toward His upward call for my life to write Christian books, I made a list of three points of thankfulness:

  1. Always thank God.
  2. Always praise God.
  3. Always remember God.

Regardless of how far along we are in our journey, we can go so much farther if we are thankful to God for everything. When we obey God, we have peace, and our hearts are filled with gratitude.

What are you most thankful for? Whom are you most grateful for? Feel free to comment.

If you’re the USA, I wish you and your family a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving coming up at the end of the month!

Giveaway: Of all the books I’ve written, I only have two books that are set in the fall (autumn) season. Reach for Me(Vacation Sweethearts Book 2) begins in the Great Smoky Mountains when the beautiful flaming colors of fall have swept across the mountains. Cherish You So (Savannah Sweethearts Book 4) has a few scenes set in the same region, when my main character goes camping with her father at a mountain campground. In any case, I would like to give away one of these two ebooks to a random winner who comments. You can pick whichever ebook you would like to read.

Happy Thanksgiving again! To the rest of the world, you know what they always say: Everyday is a day of thanksgiving!

Thanking Jesus Christ for saving me,
Jan Thompson

Seaside Chapel Music (InspyRomance Blog)

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Do you like music? Listen to it a lot? Sing? Play an instrument?

As you may know, I blog once a month at InspyRomance, where a few dozen contemporary Christian authors gather to chat with our readers and potential readers. Check out my blog post for October 2019.

https://www.inspyromance.com/seaside-chapel-music

In my blog post, I featured my Seaside Chapel series, which is filled with music and instruments of the orchestra. Books 1-2 have been out a while, and Lord willing, Book 3 will be out soon.

“Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints” (Psalm 149:1, KJV).

My Seaside Chapel series has an undertone of music, featuring a local area classical orchestra and a small church orchestra. While these two entities are a figment of my imagination, I chose a real life setting by the Atlantic Ocean. One of my most favorite beaches is St. Simon’s Island on the coast of Georgia, USA. Superimposing my imagined story world into a real world setting has been the most delightful and fun thing ever that this author can do.

In Share with Me:

“Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise” (Psalm 33:3, KJV).

In Share with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 1), Ivan McMillan is a crossover violinist with a concert career in front of him until his grandfather dies and he goes home to St. Simon’s Island to take care of his elderly Grandma Yun.

For the next six years, Ivan busies himself teaching violin in a studio, playing first violin in the local symphony orchestra, and serving as a violinist at Seaside Chapel’s sanctuary orchestra. Every now and then he dreams of touring the world again, but those concert days are pretty much over for him.

In the same novel but only playing the piano occasionally, billionaire heiress Brinley Brooks has inherited quite a collection of musical instruments from her now-deceased Grandpa Brooks. She keeps those expensive violins in a vault that is rarely opened. The violins are precious to her because they once belonged to her grandfather. She cannot imagine anyone playing them… Except maybe one particular musician…

In Share with Me, Brinley gets embarrassed a little bit when she tries to play a classical piece she hasn’t practiced, but she knows that her parents won’t mind her mistakes at the keyboard because they love her anyway.

In Step with Me:

“I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto Thee” (Psalm 144:9, KJV)).

The next novel in the series, Step with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 2), has more orchestral music. This time, I feature the pedal harp, another lovely string instrument found in orchestras. While my musician character, Emmeline O’Hanlon, can play several types of harps, including the Irish and lap harps, her preference is for the pedal harp. Her father taught her and her older brother to play the harp. The two siblings also compose music. Actually, her brother will get his own book, but that’s another story I will tell soon.

Sing with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 3) will be coming soon. Preorder the novel now on Amazon!

Update:

Here is the archived content of the blog post I wrote:

Do you like music? Listen to it a lot? What kind of music do you like to listen to?

“Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints” (Psalm 149:1, KJV).

I so enjoy church hymns, especially when accompanied by a full live orchestra. I’ve attended small and big churches with varying sizes of orchestras. Some smaller churches have ensembles if they don’t have enough musicians to recruit from their congregation. Regardless of whether it’s a small duo, trio, or quartet, or a half orchestra, live classical instruments add to the scope of church music, in my humble opinion.

I also love classical music, and enjoy attending concerts whenever I have the opportunity here in the metro area where I live, and also at my son’s college campus in years past when he attended music camps. God has made so many talented musicians who can play so well, with precision and musicality, and from such early ages.

Do you or someone in your family play a musical instrument?

My family is somewhat musical. Our son competed in high school piano competitions. In university now, he still plays the piano in ministry. My husband used to play the French Horn, and for years was in a church orchestra. I myself also played the piano for many years, until I went to college and was too busy studying. After graduating, I worked and had no time to learn new songs or spend time at the piano.

Since I have been unable to schedule time to practice on the piano in my real life, I decided to write what could have been into my novels. I combined my love of church hymns and classical music into a whole collection of books in my Seaside Chapel series. And yes, I make my musicians practice! Haha. I can because I invented my characters and they do whatever I tell them to do, including practicing and rehearsing for the next performance!

My Seaside Chapel series has an undertone of music, featuring a local area classical orchestra and a small church orchestra. While these two entities are a figment of my imagination, I chose a real life setting by the Atlantic Ocean. One of my most favorite beaches is St. Simon’s Island on the coast of Georgia, USA. Superimposing my imagined story world into a real world setting has been the most delightful and fun thing ever that this author can do.

I’m going to share some little tidbits from the first two novels in the Seaside Chapel series, but only from the perspective of incorporating music into these contemporary Christian small-town beach romances. I’ve written so much more than these into my novels, of course, but the purpose of this blog post, I shall only focus on certain musical instruments.

In Share with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 1), Ivan McMillan is a crossover violinist with a concert career in front of him until his grandfather dies and he goes home to St. Simon’s Island to take care of his elderly Grandma Yun.

For the next six years, Ivan busies himself teaching violin in a studio, playing first violin in the local symphony orchestra, and serving as a violinist at Seaside Chapel’s sanctuary orchestra. Every now and then he dreams of touring the world again, but those concert days are pretty much over for him.

Does anyone here play the violin? Feel free to comment on what violin you play. If you don’t play the violin but love the music, do comment on your favorite pieces played on the violin. How about the Flight of the Bumblebee? My character, Ivan, tries to play that too.

In the same novel but only playing the piano occasionally, billionaire heiress Brinley Brooks has inherited quite a collection of musical instruments from her now-deceased Grandpa Brooks. She keeps those expensive violins in a vault that is rarely opened. The violins are precious to her because they once belonged to her grandfather. She cannot imagine anyone playing them… Except maybe one particular musician…

Do you play the piano? Or have taken lessons when you were little? I started somewhat late in middle school, but my son started playing the piano when he was four years old (also when he gave his first concert performance at the music academy he was in).

Feel free to comment on your favorite piano music. In Share with Me, Brinley gets embarrassed a little bit when she tries to play a classical piece she hasn’t practiced, but she knows that her parents won’t mind her mistakes at the keyboard because they love her anyway.

“I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto Thee” (Psalm 144:9, KJV)).

The next novel in the series, Step with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 2), has more orchestral music. This time, I feature the pedal harp, another lovely string instrument found in orchestras. While my musician character, Emmeline O’Hanlon, can play several types of harps, including the Irish and lap harps, her preference is for the pedal harp. Her father taught her and her older brother to play the harp. The two siblings also compose music. Actually, her brother will get his own book, but that’s another story I will tell soon.

Do you play the harp or know someone who does? Which types of harps? Lap or pedal? I have never played either one. However, I do enjoy the music of the harp, and once attended a concert of ten harps, called a harp choir. It was amazing and unforgettable. I recall that the hymns they played sounded spectacular, like “the voice of many waters.”

Well, thank you for letting me share about the music I have incorporated into my Seaside Chapel series. I’ve published the first two novels in this series. The rest are coming soon. I take my time to write this series. I know I will not be able to cover every single classical musical instrument in the orchestra. So, if you play the contrabass clarinet… Well, hmm, yes, I do mention the contrabass clarinet in Share with Me, actually!

“Sing unto Him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise” (Psalm 33:3, KJV).

One random commenter will be given one free ebook, either Share with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 1) or Step with Me(Seaside Chapel Book 2). The next novel, Sing with Me (Seaside Chapel Book 3), is coming soon. It’s available for preorder on Amazon.

Praising the Lord and singing unto Him new songs,
Jan Thompson