of blades and thorns

the official blog of author grace a. johnson

Grace A. Johnson

7 days ago
4 min

held captive four-year bookiversary!

Four years ago yesterday, Held Captive was submitted for publication. Four years ago today, Held Captive went live. Four years ago tomorrow, Held Captive was available to purchase in paperback as well as ebook. So the dates are a little wonky, but basically today marks Held Captive's four-year bookiversary. *cheers ring out and a trumpet sounds* Y'all. In a way, it feels like just yesterday that this baby was published. And in another way, it feels like forever. 😂 Either way

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Grace A. Johnson

Feb 14
2 min

tell me you love me is here!

HAPPY RELEASE DAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and happy Valentine's Day too. 😉 To show our love for readers and our appreciation for the beautiful love of Christ, twelve authors and I (alongside the lovely Issabelle Perry) spent the past year crafting a collection of love stories that are sure to inspire and entertain...and now the day has arrived that this amazing anthology makes its debut into the world! To celebrate, I have a very special giveaway for just for y'all! (Because

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enter to win the anthologies (tmylm & stl blog tour)

Grace A. Johnson

Feb 8
3 min

enter to win the anthologies (tmylm & stl blog tour)

God bless H.S. Kylian. I have been so off my game this year, but this girl has kept me straight and reminded me that I yet again forgot to post. *facepalm* Thank y'all for putting up with my forgetfulness and incompetence. Y'all are the best. ANYWAY. I have a special giveaway for y'all, but to enter, y'all must first read the blurbs about the two amazing anthologies we're releasing and answer a couple questions! about tell me you love me Tell Me You Love Me – a timeless colle

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Grace A. Johnson

Jan 31
3 min

tell me you love me author tour wrapup (& giveaway winner!)

The end is here, my lovelies! The time has come to bring this fun (if a wee bit chaotic) tour to an end...and the announce the ✨winner✨ of our giveaway! But before we dive into that, I want to thank you all for following the tour and checking out all the amazing posts the authors of Tell Me You Love Me anthology have shared! From character Q&As and author interviews to beautiful graphics and behind-the-scenes, this tour has been jam-packed with wonder and romance - and that's

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introducing lydia m. jupp (tell me you love me tour)

Grace A. Johnson

Jan 25
6 min

introducing lydia m. jupp (tell me you love me tour)

IT'S HERE!!! We've all been so busy during the duration of this tour, so we were unable to get Lydia's post together in time for her original date, and we decided to post on the 25th instead! This is coming in very last minute, but it's here! I am SO excited to have Lydia M. Jupp on to share about her story and a Q&A with the characters from Sarah Lawton's story Till Death Do Us Part! Without further ado, here's Lydia! Hello lovelies! Tell Me You Love Me is soon to be release

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interview with margaret copeland (tell me you love me tour)

Grace A. Johnson

Jan 24
6 min

interview with margaret copeland (tell me you love me tour)

Y'all, please welcome Maggie Copeland! She's one of the many amazing authors featured in Tell Me You Love Me, and I can't wait for y'all to get to know her and her story! I actually had the pleasure of meeting Maggie in real life several years ago, and she's so sweet! I know y'all will enjoy our interview as much as I did! Hello, Maggie! Thank you so much for joining us today! I’m very excited to get into this interview, but first, please introduce yourself! Hi, Grace! Thank

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about the anthology (tell me you love me tour)

Grace A. Johnson

Jan 23
3 min

about the anthology (tell me you love me tour)

Around Valentine's Day last year, I came up with the idea to challenge myself to write one romance flash fiction story every day for a week. Well, just as soon as I wrote that idea down, another one popped into my head: a romance anthology. That night, Tell Me You Love Me was born. A day or two later, I got everything together and posted about open submissions for my romance short story anthology contest, and within a mere month I had over twenty submissions of all kinds - hi

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interview with amelia cabot & her character annemarie (tell me you love me tour)

Grace A. Johnson

Jan 20
14 min

interview with amelia cabot & her character annemarie (tell me you love me tour)

Welcome to Day 4 of the Tell Me You Love Me author tour! I'm pleased to announce that one of our lovely authors has agreed to introduce herself and her main character with us today, so everyone give a round of applause to Amelia Cabot! Y'all, this girl is such an amazing writer and so full of wisdom! I know you'll love hearing from her! the interview Heyo, Amelia! Thank you so much for joining us today! I am SO excited to get into this interview, but first, please introduce y

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Grace A. Johnson

Jan 17
2 min

tell me you love me author tour kickoff

Am I posting at 9:50pm? Yes. Did I totally forget that this post was supposed to go live at 5am? Yes. Did I also forget to actually write it until I was about to leave the house this evening? Yes. Y'all, I have been a HOT MESS this year. I participated in CWW for the very first time last week, and boy was that hectic. So this surprised Tell Me You Love Me tour I planned will be very surprising, suffice to say. 😅 Anyway, enough about that. Onto the ✨fun stuff✨!!! Tell Me You

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coming soon: yesterday's tides by roseanna m. white

Grace A. Johnson

Dec 20, 2022
3 min

coming soon: yesterday's tides by roseanna m. white

Y'all, Roseanna M. White is writing a dual-time novel and I AM HERE FOR IT. Who cares that I hate dual-time/split-time novels 90% of the time. This a White novel we're talking about. Not only that, but Roseanna's upcoming release, Yesterday's Tides, includes a character from The Codebreakers series (Remington Culbreth, if you're curious, who I am already in love with) AND is split between two historical timelines - which is such a refresher from all the historical/contemporar

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Grace A. Johnson

Dec 1, 2022
2 min

december eve blog party pt. 2

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring-ting-tingling too. Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you! Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, let's go... Listen to my ultimate Christmas playlist! And when I say ultimate, I mean unique and eclectic, because I've included some genre-twisted tunes and some beautiful classics to create a playlist everyone will enjoy, whether you like punk rock, swing, rock'n'roll, or CCM! This 3+ hours-long playlist includes the

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Grace A. Johnson

Nov 30, 2022
3 min

december eve blog party pt. 1

It’s been a minute since I’ve talked about music on here...since one of my first-ever blog tags, actually...so what better way to get back into the swing of things than with CHRISTMAS SONGS?! I’m one of those strange folk who start listening to carols in September (and, let’s face it, I never stop singing “Jingle Bells”), so suffice to say Christmas songs are some of my favorite songs, and I can’t wait to share them! This Christmas blog collab is headed up by the lovely Lilli

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Welcome to November! (October Wrapup & November Goals)

Grace A. Johnson

Nov 5, 2022
4 min

Welcome to November! (October Wrapup & November Goals)

*drops in* Hello there! Yes, I am still alive...but barely. It has been SO busy lately, which means I ended up pushing back a lot of posts here on le blog. I’d like to say I plan on catching up this month, but, uh...that’d be a lie. However, I do plan on posting more consistently and easily, so maybe I’ll have a posts schedule? We’ll see. I’ve tried being organized in the past, and it just ain’t for me. *chuckles* So y’all don’t hold your breath.I ain’t. ANYWAY. It is Novembe

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Release Day: The Glass Road by Alyssa Schwarz

Grace A. Johnson

Oct 11, 2022
2 min

Release Day: The Glass Road by Alyssa Schwarz

Happy, happy release day to The Glass Road, a contemporary Christian romance by Alyssa Schwarz! I've read some lovely reviews for her first book in the Prescott Family Romance, and I can't wait to give her series a try! about the book Austin Wright had bigger dreams than to inherit his grandfather’s old property, but with the help of his nephew and a few volunteers, he decides to reopen the idyllic summer camp of his youth. Following her accident at the first triathlon of the

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New Release: A Hope and a Prayer by Julie Lessman

Grace A. Johnson

Oct 3, 2022
4 min

New Release: A Hope and a Prayer by Julie Lessman

HOLD. ON. TO. YOUR. HATS. Y'ALL. It's not often I issue a warning such as that, so y'all KNOW this is gonna be good, right? RIGHT. Because none other than JULIE LESSMAN (the QUEEN of romance and my literary godmother...yes, I have just officially christened you my literary godmother, Miss Julie) is releasing her next book in the Cousins O'Connor series (technically cousins and aunt, but we won't go there *winks*), A Hope and a Prayer!!!! *squeals incessantly* For those of y'a

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Grace A. Johnson

Sep 30, 2022
2 min

New Release & Giveaway: Judgement Call by E.B. Roshan

I'm pleased to share with y'all not only romantic dystopian suspense author E.B. Roshan's latest release in her Shards of Sevia series...but ALSO an epic EXCLUSIVE giveaway just for y'all! Let's not waste any time diving right in! about the book Kiva is handsome, generous, and very much in love with recently-widowed Preen Enda. But the thought of becoming his wife fills her with dread—especially when men from her past—men who know too much—begin appearing in her peaceful town

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Grace A. Johnson

Sep 26, 2022
3 min

Book Spotlight: Untold by Vanessa Hall

Y'all...Vanessa Hall's Grace Sufficient series is SO. GOOD. I mean, it's a romantic suspense series set in Russia...with ballerinas, armwrestling, and spies! It can't get any better, now can it? Y'all can check out my review of the first book, Unknown, here, and my review of the second (Unworthy) is coming soon! As for the third book, Untold, which released on July 30th...allow me to introduce y'all... about the book You can only run for so long … Two years hasn’t erased the

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Review: The Sugar Baron's Governess by Elva Cobb Martin

Grace A. Johnson

Sep 5, 2022
6 min

Review: The Sugar Baron's Governess by Elva Cobb Martin

Stars: 3.5 Synopsis: Widow Abigail Welch has journeyed from Charleston, South Carolina to Jamaica for a fresh start as a governess for a sugar plantation owner, Mr. Joshua Beckett. But when her voyage is disrupted by pirates, and she’s “rescued” by a mysterious Captain Jay, Abigail discovers her new life may be fraught with more danger—and romance—than she realized. What I Loved: Naturally, I loved being transported back to Jamaica during era of revolutions, rebellions, and r

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Coming Soon: Worthy of Legend by Roseanna M. White

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 19, 2022
2 min

Coming Soon: Worthy of Legend by Roseanna M. White

Guess what's coming soon to a bookstore near you! No, not Bound and Determined - at least, not yet. I'm talking about Roseanna M. White's upcoming release (which I can't wait to read and fall in love with), Worthy of Legend!!! I'll spare y'all the gushing, because boy! do I have a lot to share today! about the book The Secrets of the Isles, 3 1906 After a summer of successful pirate-treasure hunting, Lady Emily Scofield and her friends are forced to hide the unprecedented dis

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Spotlight & Guest Post: Should We Tell Her? by Lillian Keith

Grace A. Johnson

Aug 15, 2022
6 min

Spotlight & Guest Post: Should We Tell Her? by Lillian Keith

I have got one PACKED post for y'all today! Everything from a book spotlight to a guest post to a giveaway (*cheers ring out because we all love free stuff*) - we've got it all...and it's for none other than middle-grade author Lillian Keith's latest release, Should We Tell Her? I haven't read middle-grade in literal years (since I was about seven or eight), but I know this sweet story will be loved by readers of all ages, and y'all won't wanna miss your chance to learn more

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of blades and thorns

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