Winner and Conclusion (Swell Time Blog Tour)

Good morning, friends! Our swingin' blog tour is coming to a close, but that doesn't mean the fun is over. :) Gather round, and we'll announce the giveaway winner, share some tour highlights, remind you of a freebie you can grab (today only!), and announce Cindy's next blog tour that's right around the corner.

Winner Time

Congratulations to the winner of the Swell Time for a Swing Dance giveaway...

Kim (cheetahthecat)!

She won signed copies of Bad Day for a Bombshell and Swell Time for a Swing Dance, a Glenn Miller Orchestra CD, and a WWII-themed ornament. Woohoo!

Kim, an email has been sent to you. :)

Tour Highlights

This tour came with some terrific and touching posts from the author and our team of bloggers. If you missed any of them, it's not too late to check them out! Here are some handy links...

Articles by Cindy 

• Dancing Through the Pages (how should you dress for a 1940s swing dance?)
• A Forties Fascination (what might you find in Cindy's cool collections?)
• Want to Get a Real Feel for the Forties? (what books and movies should you check out?)
• Honoring Those Who Were Really There (do you have stories of a veteran you can share?)
• Why I Love the 1940s (what are Cindy's top 5 reasons?)
• Dear Diary, It's Me, Tracy Truworth (what's a day in the life like for Cindy's heroine?)

Interviews with Cindy

• On Lisa K's Book Reviews
• On Encouraging Words from the Tea Queen
• On Heidi Reads...
• Bonus interview with the heroine, Tracy Truworth, Apprentice P.I.!

Excerpts from the Novel

• Who killed the dancer?
• Did someone steal something too?
• Young love in wartime
• Will someone set the press straight?

Reviews

• "Swell Time for a Swing Dance was fast-paced and set in an unsettling time for the world. It reminded me a bit of Marvel’s Agent Carter series." | Julie's review

• "The author describes the 1940s and wartime life in America well." | Meagan's review

• "Everyone knows I love a good mystery, so of course, this series is quickly becoming one of my favorites." | Heather's review

• "Tracy is my new favorite 'girl' detective.... This is the first book that I have read by [Cindy], but it will not be my last." | Carissa's review

• "I love the individuality of each of the characters. It really brings them to life." | Katrina's review

• "Once again, Cindy Vincent delivers a wonderfully engrossing 1940s atmosphere in the high-stakes world where Nazis have secretly infiltrated the US—and Tracy and her fella have been framed for the latest crime!" | Jes's review

Personal Blogger Post

• Carissa shares about her interest in WWII

Get the Book...for Free!

Today is the last day of the Kindle freebie promotion for Swell Time for a Swing Dance. If you enjoy reading ebooks, don't miss this chance to snag a FREE Kindle copy of the book in celebration of this blog tour!

Get Ready for Christmas Cheer!

If you enjoyed this tour with Cindy Vincent, we hope you'll return next month for a special tour to kick off the Christmas season! We'll be celebrating Cindy's novella, Yes, Carol, It's Christmas! This little story is a reimagining of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in modern times, featuring a former party planner who's lost her Christmas spirit.

The tour is scheduled for November 26-30 and will include lots of fun posts featuring reviews, party-planning tips, and more. If you're a blogger, you can learn more about participating in the tour HERE. Sign-ups are still open!

Cindy and I want to offer our sincere gratitude to all the bloggers who participated in the Swell Time for a Swing Dance blog tour, as well as all those who joined the fun by leaving comments, entering the giveaway, and downloading the book! Until next time... :)

Honoring Those Who Were Really There (Swell Time Blog Tour)

This tour for Swell Time for a Swing Dance has been a blast so far! Lots of fun posts about the 1940s and Cindy Vincent's newest cozy mystery. (You can catch up on the tour schedule HERE.) Today, though, we're taking a more serious turn with a post honoring those who served in World War II.

I'm so glad Cindy has a heart for our nation's veterans and has made space for us today to remember their sacrifices. I was privileged to attend a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery in 2010 for a WWII flight crew that included my great-uncle (the remains of their plane went undiscovered until recent years)—and I was incredibly touched by the experience. My posts and video slideshows from the trip can be found HERE and HERE.

We'd love for you to share your own stories in the comments section! And now, here's Cindy...

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Honoring Those Who Were Really There

By Cindy Vincent

It’s time to honor the generation who lived and fought during WWII, from the frontlines to the homefront. And with this post, I’m asking for your participation. I’d like you to share the names of any family members, or other people you might know of, who served in the military or played a role in the war effort in some way. Please tell us a little bit about them. This may require a phone call or two to find out if Grandma or Grandpa, or even Great-Grandma or Great-Grandpa, played a role in fighting for freedom. Whatever they did, please honor them by sharing their stories.

Tom Brokaw referred to the WWII generation as being “The Greatest Generation.” And with good reason. So many of them sacrificed their very lives to battle the evil trying to take over the world. Much of our military at the time was comprised of “Citizen Soldiers,” people who simply gave up or took leave from their regular jobs to enlist in the military, in one form or another. But even those who stayed stateside still endured plenty.

An elderly friend of mine comes to mind. She lived on a family farm and was just fourteen years old when her brothers and her father all enlisted and went to war. That left her and her mother to run the farm when they went away. So at the tender young age of fourteen, my friend was left to run the tractor and was given the responsibility for plowing, planting, and harvesting the crops. Could you imagine doing such a thing at that age?

When I was in my twenties, I had the great privilege of working with plenty of WWII vets in a skilled care nursing home. Their stories and their attitudes have stayed with me all these years. At the time we went to war, the United States military was only ranked number eighteen in the world—not exactly a superpower. Yet from what I heard from the people I met, Americans went into the war believing that we would win. That optimism and high morale got them through a lot. I also heard the phrase, “We didn’t start this war, but we’ll put an end to it.”

Now I’d like to share the story of my husband’s Aunt Jean Hixson. She had always wanted to fly and got her pilot’s license when she was only eighteen. When the war came along, there was a shortage of male pilots, so a program was started to train women as military pilots. So Jean, along with 25,000 other women, applied to become a WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot). Only 1,830 women were accepted, and Jean made the cut. She was also one of only 1,074 who completed the training. From there, she went to work with whatever assignment she was given. The WASPs were excluded from combat, but she ferried planes between manufacturers and Air Force bases, including overseas transports. And she towed targets for live gunnery practice. She was one gutsy girl!

Here’s her official WASP photo:

Remember, she was barely in her twenties at the time. And here she is doing a preflight:

And finally, here she is with some of her colleagues after flying a twin-engine B-25 bomber (far right). She was an Engineering Test Pilot for this aircraft.

So that’s my tribute to a few members of the Greatest Generation. I hope you’ll join me in sharing whatever family photos and stories you can dig up!

And my thanks go to Amber, for hosting me here today. We’ve worked on many blog tours together, and it’s always a joy to work with her! I look forward to our next one!

Amber: Thank you so much for sharing these amazing stories with us, Cindy! It's always a pleasure to host you and to tour your books together. :)

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Learn more about this book tour (and a special giveaway) HERE.

Don't forget to grab your FREE Kindle copy of Cindy's latest, 

Swell Time for a Swing Dance!

Back in Time: World War II

Today I'm combining our "Time Travel" week with "Monday for the Military," as we step back into the World War II era: a time of great peril, great courage, and great miracles. If you want to learn more about the World War II era and be inspired by it, then I highly recommend Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II by Larkin Spivey:

Here's a description of the book from the author's website:

"Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith & Courage from World War II is meant to strengthen the faith of readers by showing the power of others’ faith under the most extreme circumstances imaginable. This is accomplished through 365 one-page stories from America’s greatest conflict presented in a daily devotional format with relevant scripture readings for each day of the year. The daily readings offer a candid look at the faith and courage of individual soldiers, sailors, civilians, and national leaders, as well as God’s providential hand during many pivotal events of the war. Additionally, the book presents a unique and concise history of World War II with summaries, maps, and photographs of the major campaigns of the war. Many will enjoy reading the book straight through to gain insights into the war and combat not found in typical historical accounts."

Partial Review:

Battlefields & Blessings...looking back on the blessings from the WWII battlefields and discovering blessings on the spiritual battlefields in the present, this book is a powerful read! So far I've read through the first month's devotionals, and I've been touched by the moving stories of a grand and yet painful era.

With historical tidbits, stories from individuals, and pictures from WWII, along with relevant Scripture and connections to our everyday lives, this book is a great devotional tool. From what I can tell, the book is best read from the very beginning in order to follow the chronology of the War, so I've read through the "January" selections and am getting ready to start "February." Each day's reading is short but effective. I've enjoyed the reading so far, and I am looking forward to reading more! Based on what I've read, I recommend this book for anyone who is willing to learn from history and wants to be inspired.

*With thanks to the author, Larkin Spivey, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I apologize for the delay in posting about this great book!*

Note: If you'd like to read an example of the devotionals in this book, click HERE. (One of the selections especially spoke to me, so I posted about it a couple of Sundays ago.)

A Song for the Road

And since we're on the subject of World War II, I just have to share a song with you!



Do you enjoy reading books or watching movies about the WWII era? Do you have any recommendations for the rest of us? Sometime soon I plan on watching the Hallmark movie The Magic of Ordinary Days, which is set during WWII. I couldn't resist buying it when I found it at a Hallmark store in Oregon! ;)