Book Review: Nothing but Trouble by Susan Warren

The fun will Kick-off with a SUGAR BOMB on Friday May 15th. Susan is
encouraging everyone to purchase a copy (and maybe a few for friends) of
Nothing But Trouble anytime during the day on May 15th. Every one who
purchases a copy of the book will be entered into the contest to win a
http://www.susanmaywarren.com/contest.html Sugar Spa Basket. All you need
to do is purchase a book at
Amazon
or
Christian book Distributors
Come back here (contest page at
<http://www.susanmaywarren.) and leave Susan a
message letting her know where you bought your book. Easy. And for every
additional copies you buy, you’ll gain an additional ten entries into the
contest. So just let her know how many copies you bought.

The party will continue all month with a blog tour and chances to win copies
of Nothing But Trouble from the blog tourists! Schedule posted below.

The Sugar party will conclude in a day of celebration on Friday June 19th
with a day long ONLINE Sugar Book Club Party. Susan will be giving away
prizes, answering questions, hosting a live chat, and generally getting
herself into some "Trouble".

Tell your friends…or better yet, host your own Sugar Party! Details to
follow.

 About the book: PJ Sugar knows three things for sure:

After traveling the country for ten years hoping to shake free from the
trail of disaster that’s become her life, she needs a fresh start.

The last person she wants to see when she heads home for her sister’s
wedding is Boone—her former flame and the reason she left town.

Her best friend’s husband absolutely did not commit the first murder
Kellogg, Minnesota, has seen in more than a decade.

What PJ doesn’t know is that when she starts digging for evidence, she’ll
uncover much more than she bargained for—a deadly conspiracy, a knack for
investigation, and maybe, just maybe, that fresh start she’s been longing
for.

It’s not fair to say that trouble happens every time PJ Sugar is around, but
it feels that way when she returns to her hometown, looking for a fresh
start. Within a week, her former teacher is murdered and her best friend’s
husband is arrested as the number-one suspect. Although the police detective
investigating the murder–who also happens to be PJ’s former flame–is
convinced it’s an open-and-shut case, PJ’s not so sure. She begins digging
for clues in an effort to clear her friend’s husband and ends up reigniting
old passions, uncovering an international conspiracy, and solving a murder
along the way. She also discovers that maybe God can use a woman who never
seems to get it right.

Read the first chapter:  
http://gotsugar.susanmaywarren.com/

 

About Susan: Susan May Warren is the award-winning author of seventeen
novels and novellas with Tyndale, Steeple Hill and Barbour Publishing. Her
first book, Happily Ever After won the American Fiction Christian Writers
Book of the Year in 2003, and was a 2003 Christy Award finalist. In Sheep’s
Clothing, a thriller set in Russia, was a 2006 Christy Award finalist and
won the 2006 Inspirational Reader’s Choice award. A former missionary to
Russia, Susan May Warren now writes Suspense/Romance and Chick Lit full time
from her home in northern Minnesota.

A note from Susan May Warren

Sometimes, do you feel like you just don’t fit in?  You look around you and
if anyone knew how difficult it was just to put yourself together, to smile
when you feel completely overwhelmed, to even figure out what you were
making for supper, they’d know what a mess you were.   Maybe you totally
relate to those words in 1 Peter – God’s elect, strangers and aliens in the
world.   Do you feel like when you look in the rear view mirror, all you see
are your mistakes?

Maybe not.  But if so, then PJ is your gal.  I wanted to write a story about
the person in so many of us who just wants to get it right…but can’t seem to
stay out of trouble.  My friend and I have what we call the “stupid mouth”
club…and we report our weekly foibles (usually on Monday, after Sunday
church!).  PJ is our charter member.  She’s the girl that changes her mind,
always hopes for the best, is always discovering that she is just a little
different than everyone else.  PJ is us.

And that’s good news.  Because God loves PJ.  He loves her messiness, and
her impulsiveness, her heart bent toward others, the hope that fuels her
actions.  And He has a plan for PJ – one that includes her weaknesses as
well as her strengths.

Yep, I need to hear that – need to hear that I don’t have to be perfect for
God to love me, use me, sing over me.  Need to hear that although I don’t
fit in, well, I’m not supposed to…in fact, I’m supposed to be a
little…alien.

I wrote PJ for everyone who feels just a little messy, just a little like
they can’t quite get it right.  And who needs to hear that God loves them.
Period.  Full stop.  Hallelujah.

What is your favourite Bible verse and what does it mean to you?

My current favourite is: Hebrew 4:16, “Let us approach the throne of grace
with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in
our time of need.”  It means that even when I come crawling, my face to the
floor, He won’t reject me. I pull it out whenever I blow it, or feel
inadequate, or when someone hurts me, or…when I hurt someone else.
Basically whenever I feel like I’m Trouble, I remember that God won’t turn
away.  In fact, He may even do what I do to my children – turn me to face
Him, despite my puffy red face, wipe off my tears and pull me into His arms.

How did I come to be a writer?

I’ve always been amazed at the journey God has taken me on.  I always loved
to write, but being a missionary in Russia, I never dreamed about being an
author.  I just tried to do the best with what God had entrusted to me, and
for me that meant writing missionary newsletters.  I honed my skills through
my newsletter, and then, after a number of years, began to write devotionals
and magazine articles.  Although I tried my hand at writing novels (I wrote
4 before I ever had one published), I never thought I would get anything
published.   But I diligently studied craft and analyzed books, even though
I was hidden away in Siberia.   I’ll always be grateful that Tyndale took a
chance on me!  I’m still learning, and still trying to be a good steward of
the gift and task I’ve been given to write books that draw people closer to
God.

Where did the idea for PJ Sugar come from?

Every author dreams of a moment where someone says something, or they see
something on the news, or in a newspaper and it springs out at them, nearly
shouting – STORY IDEA!  This happened to me a number of years ago while
talking to friends about their daycare situation, and how one of the parents
ended up being a murder suspect!  Scary!  But an interesting idea.   About
that time, I was a mom who wore many hats – homeschooling mom, writing
teacher, speaker, children’s church leader, — and it occurred to me that a
mother really has to be a sort of PI.  Not only taking on different roles,
but sleuthing out daily household mysteries like, who ate the last of the
peanut butter (and put it back in the cupboard?) and whose socks are laying
in the middle of the floor, and finally…(in our house), who let the dog (and
her muddy feet!) in the house!  PJ is the alter-ego in every mom, that
super-hero inside of us that allows us to have esp (I know you’re not really
done with your homework!), or have “eyes in the back of our head,” (stop
poking your sister!) or even figure out how to whip together an
award-winning science project the night before the fair.  PJ just applies
all those skills to bad guys and figuring out the truth.

PJ Sugar is also a woman who wants to be all things to all people. She wants
to be her nephew’s champion and her sister’s best friend, and her mother’s
favorite daughter, and Boone’s special girl, and the  hero of her hometown.
That’s not too much to ask, is it?  Maybe…because God wants her to be His
girl, and satisfied in who He made her to be.  And that is a journey for all
of us PJ Sugars.

 

Blog tour schedule and link:

http://www.litfusegroup.com/latest/current-blog-tours/81-nothing-but-trouble
-blog-tour-schedule

Book Notes:
I just wanted to say that if you have a chance pick up one of  Susan’s books! She is one of my favorite authors and I love to curl up with her books. It is like  expecting a visit with a good friend, with lots of laughs and good food! – Martha