It's Release Day for The Planter's Daughter!

MY BOOK RELEASES TODAY!!!

The Planter's Daughter received her wings and is flying out into the world as I write this blog post! She is right now winging her way across the internet into the computers and iPads of folks who pre-ordered the e-book version. Those who pre-ordered the print version will have her in hand in a week or so. 

It's a truly exciting and humbling moment for an author. 

Like many authors, I've poured my heart into this book. The characters became real people in my imagination. I've laughed with them. I've cried with them. I fell in love with them. And my deepest desire is that you, the reader, will too. 

You can read more about why I wrote the book here, but I wanted to share a few things now so you know what you're getting when you purchase the book (click here to order): 

• The Planter's Daughter is a romance at its heart, but there is so much more going on. Freedom is the underlying theme throughout the story. All of the main characters need freedom from something that is keeping them from living the abundant life God created them to live.
• Some of the scenes involving slaves are very realistic to what really happened during the days of slavery. After reading true narratives of former Texas slaves, where they told of the abuse they endured, I knew I had to include it in my book. Not for the shock factor or anything like that, but because we should never forget what slavery allowed one human being to do to another. 
• The Planter's Daughter is the first book in a 3-book series. The second book is tentatively scheduled to release in November 2017. Each book is set on the same Texas cotton plantation but in different time periods with a different hero and heroine in each book. 

If you or someone you know enjoys reading historical fiction, I hope you will get a copy of The Planter's Daughter.  I've woven lots of interesting Texas and American history throughout the book, and I've tried to stay true to the time period and setting as far as language, dialect, sights and sounds.  

I will host a Launch Party on my Author Michelle Shocklee Facebook page tomorrow, Saturday, March 4, all day. I am giving away free copies of my book, some Chicken Soup for the Soul books, gift cards, and some other goodies, so be sure to stop in throughout the day for lots of chances to enter and join the celebration!!

I'll leave you with the words of what one early reader said about The Planter's Daughter:

The Planter’s Daughter captivated me from chapter one. I didn’t just read this story, the author put me in the middle of the setting and I watched the story unfold around me. Michelle Shocklee has done a masterful job of allowing her three-dimensional characters to perform the story on a sensory-rich stage. One of the best books I’ve read this year. BRAVO!

~ Connie Stevens, Author

Brides of Georgia and Hope’s Dwelling Place


Blessings,

~Michelle

The REAL Book of Life

A new animated movie is coming out in a few weeks called, "The Book of Life." Seeing the previews and reading the plot summary online, it looks like an innocent enough hour or so of entertainment. There's a hero, a heroine, a villain, quirky characters, and lots of adventures in other make-believe worlds. Good triumphs over evil in the end, I assume, with the young couple living happily ever after. Doesn't sound like something that would have me riled, right?

But it does. It has me very, very riled!

Not the movie itself, but the title. The Book of Life.

If it riles you too, read on.

If it doesn't rile you, read on.

To understand the significance of those four words -- The Book of Life -- we have to look to God's word, the Holy Bible. Most of our knowledge about the real Book of Life is found in the book of Revelation. Jesus, who gave the "revelation" to the apostle John while he was exiled on the rocky Greek island of Patmos sometime around AD 95, gave us quite a lot of information about the real Book of Life.

In the first letter to the seven churches (and to us), Jesus says, "He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life..." (Revelation 3:5) That tells us a special book, a book like no other, exists in heaven. Jesus called it the "book of life." By his own word, we know names are written in this book. Whose names? Our names! The names of people who have lived and walked on this earth. People who have believed and trusted in God. People who have not "soiled their clothes" (Rev. 3:4). They -- and we -- are the "them" in verse 5.

Some people speculate our names are written in the book of life at birth. Some believe our names go into the book when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Some people mistakenly believe that once your name is in the book, it can't be removed. They site Jesus' words in Revelation as proof, but in Exodus 32:33 God makes is abundantly clear that is not true:

"The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book."

This is the very same book Jesus spoke of. King David also mentions names being blotted out of the book in Psalm 69:28 when crying out to God about his enemies: "May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous."

The apostle Paul wrote about the book of life to the church in Philippi when speaking of faithful folks who'd helped him on his journey. He says of them, "whose names are written in the book of life." (Philippians 4:3) Paul didn't have the benefit of reading Jesus' revelation to John when he wrote these words, so obviously the book of life was something that Jews already knew about and believed in.

Daniel's prophecy may be part of the reason. In Daniel 12:1, Daniel writes this about the end times: "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people --- everyone whose name is found written in the book of life --- will be delivered." 

Woohoo! Praise God!

If the usage of the term "book of life" for a childish movie didn't rile you at the beginning of this post, I hope you are gaining understanding about why it riled me. The Book of Life is nothing to make light of! The Book of Life is real! Names are written down by God's own hand in this precious book! Names are blotted out by God's hand too. This book is THE most important book that has ever existed! I firmly believe the Enemy of this world is laughing his head off because a stupid movie millions of people will see has hijacked the name of the Lamb's book, perfectly setting up an entire young generation of kids (and adults) to misunderstand what the real book of life is all about.

I leave you with John's vision of heaven from Revelation 20:12-15 and 21:27 and ask you one very important question: Is your name in the Lamb's Book of Life? It matters, my friend. It really, really matters.

"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

"Nothing impure will ever enter [heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." (21:27)

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