Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **AUTHOR SPECIAL** with MARLENE F. CHENG!
Welcome to my Friday bonus feature called Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **Author Special**!! Today, in lieu of one of my own recipes, I’m going to introduce you to a new author who will share one of her favorite recipes. Not only will you and I occasionally learn how to make something new and delicious, but we’ll get a chance to check out some wonderful authors. Introducing author, MARLENE F. CHENG, and her favorite recipe for WARTIME COOKIES!
BLACK PANSIES
Love is Forever
BY MARLENE F. CHENG
Blurb
Fiza, an adoptee from South Sudan, finds accepting and giving love impossible. Although she has everything a young lady would desire—a supportive family and friends, a rewarding career, a well-appointed turret, where she lives independently—she feels empty.
The why, she intuits, hides in a dark cave in her heart’s memory.
With great courage, she embarks on a treacherous journey home, hopefully to find answers and to free herself for everlasting love, her deepest yearning.
The tension between the romantic hoped-for and the inevitably starker reality palpates.
“Black Pansies is all about love. Love of the self, family, and that one special person to share your life with. It was a truly beautiful experience to read Fiza’s journey as she understood her identity and navigated towards her future.”—Worthy Writers Editing
“Terrible loss and devastating heartbreak, passionate love and immense joy fill the pages of Black Pansies. It is fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional.”—A Beta Reader, Great Britain
“A sweeping tale that transports readers between war-torn South Sudan and Ornskoldsvik, Sweden where Fiza, an adoptee, and David, a war veteran, struggle with heartbreaking pasts. They fight ferociously to find a path forward to everlasting love, together. Black Pansies is compelling in every aspect. Be prepared for tears of excruciating sadness and of great joy. Highly Recommended”—A Beta Reader, British Columbia, Canada
“A compelling, heart-rending story about love and loss, pain and prejudice, and the deep roots that bind families. Phenomenal!”—Beta Reader, Canada
BLACK PANSIES
Love is Forever
BY MARLENE F. CHENG
Excerpt
David and I put on our backpacks and started up the path. At the spot where the path flattened, I did what I didn’t do the first time I walked away from my village. I stopped and looked back. The tukuls were hidden by the trees, but I saw smoke rising. It gave me a warm feeling. Perhaps, when I first left, I had looked back. How else did this picture of the smoke rising get stuck in my memory? That first time, the thought of not returning probably never occurred to me. Now, I know, deep in my being, that I’ve left my village for good. There will be no road back. I got down on my hands and knees, took the small stone from my pocket and buried it. I kissed my birth earth. This ritual was my way of saying goodbye to my past. The first time I left, I didn’t cry. Now, the parched earth drank my tears. With determined resolve, I stood and said, “Let’s go.”
About Author Marlene F. Cheng…
Marlene Cheng is a Maincrest Media and a Book Excellence award-winning author of women’s fiction. Her books are about the relationships that define women’s lives–romance, friendship, family. Marlene is a keen observer of how people think and feel, and she writes lyrical, uplifting, and emotionally rich stories.
What is being said: “Today’s best up-and-coming fiction writer.”–Publishers Daily Reviews. “Marlene writes with great facility. Her writing is intelligent: her prose is poetic.”–Dr. David Yeung MBBS FRCPC (certified psychiatrist). “A fantastic journey that takes readers to the innermost corners of the human heart.”–Reader’s Favorites.
Marlene was prairie-born, farm-raised, and now lives among the old-growth pine and cedar, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, on the West Coast of Canada—a haven that stimulates creativity.
“As with any worthy story,” Marlene says, “my biography has its own inner destiny independent of its author. I sense this and strive to have the poise, integrity, and courage to go with the flow.”
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Links to Marlene’s website, blog, books, #ad etc.:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKCBL8FF/ref=sr_1_8?crid=2RPWDCGGGYKGQ&keywords=black+pansies&qid=1666652816&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIyLjY5IiwicXNhIjoiMi40MiIsInFzcCI6IjIuNDEifQ%3D%3D&s=books&sprefix=black+pansies%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C161&sr=1-8
I hope you enjoy the recipe Marlene is sharing today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. Happy Eating!
Karen
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**Special Giveaway** Readers can download the ARC for Black Pansies here: https://claims.prolificworks.com/free/wP5xt8YX
Marlene also has a Gift giveaway on her website: https://www.marlenecheng.com
Happy Reading!
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Thanks, Marlene, for sharing your book and recipe with us!
Don’t miss the chance to read this book!
Good morning, Marlene, and welcome to Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. What a fascinating concept. Her journey home sounds fraught with dangers…to her heart, at least. Thanks for sharing your book and your mother’s recipe with us! I’m going to have to try this recipe, too.
Thank you, Karen. I was looking for your books and came across this. Black Pansies is doing great. Marlene
Not only an interesting background and attention grabbing excerpt, but a delicious sounding recipe, light and fluffy cookie.
Thank You, K.A. Bylsma. I appreciate your support.
What an interesting background and attention grabbing excerpt. Thanks for sharing your delicious sounding recipe.
Thank you, EILEEN AW. I appreciate your interest.
I look forward to reading about Fiza’s journey. The cookies sound yummy.
Thank you Julie Mc Donough. I hope you got a chance to read Black Pansies. I would love to hear what you thought of it.