Release Day and Giveaway!!!

IT'S RELEASE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Isabel “Izze” Vez, bridal consultant extraordinaire, has been helping brides find The Dress for years. She loves nothing more than helping make wedding dreams come true…but sometimes the happy endings grate on her. How many times can a girl discover someone else’s gown without dreaming of the day it’ll be her turn to wear one?

When James Miles Clayton walks into her life, he represents everything Izze can’t handle: change. He’s determined to bring the Ever After Bridal Boutique into the black…and to prove to Izze that she should give him a chance.

But if there’s anything Izze handles worse than change, it’s trust. She may have a few issues—fine, she knows she does. But will they keep getting in the way of any chance of her own Happily Ever After? She wants to trust God to give her those dreams of love and lace, but that’s going to require some…minor alterations.

Love, Lace, and Minor Alterations is available now! This romantic comedy arrives just in time for all the June weddings. I'm so excited and nervous and nauseous and thrilled and awed!

I started writing this story six years ago when I was 18. I had never been on a date, and the guy I liked (who is now my husband) was frustrating me. One day while working, Izze popped into my head. She was spunky in all the ways I was too afraid to show the world. Obsessed with weddings like me, yet frustrated because she also wanted to be in a relationship and get married. I could almost hear "I Need a Hero" playing in my ears as I envisioned this girl. I had started writing dozens of stories before this one, but I had a Daniel moment and purposed in my heart that this was THE ONE I was going to finish.

And I did. After four-ish years, which can be broken down into fourteen months of frustration, fifteen months of dating, one ACFW writers conference, six months of engagement, and thirteen months of marriage.

Truthfully, I wrote about half of this book in the months leading up to my second ACFW conference. After hours and hours of typing, plotting, editing, and re-plotting, I climbed aboard a plan that took me to Missouri. There I meet Roseanna White (who is awesome, by the way!).

A few months and several rejection letters later, I got the best e-mail ever! My first completed manuscript was going to be published! I was so, so blessed. That rarely happens in the publishing world.

So here we are.

All I can think is that I'm so blessed. I hope you guys will do me the extraordinary honor of reading my book. I put so much of my heart into this story, but more importantly, I let God teach me through the ups and downs in the process of dreaming up, writing, and editing this book. I hope it blesses you. I hope you fall in love with Izze and Miles. I hope you can laugh and learn with them. But I hope you fall even more in love with the Great Lover of our souls.

Since this is a very special day, I'm running a very special giveaway. You have not one, not two, but three chances to win!

Two people will each receive a signed copy of  Love, Lace, and Minor Alterations!! Yay!

And the third will receive a signed copy Love, Lace, and Minor Alterations, a $25.00 Starbucks gift card, a journal, a pink scarf, a box of jelly cookies, and two Lindt chocolate bars (dark chocolate with sea salt & dark chocolate with orange)!!! (*There are allergens in the cookies and chocolate. Do not eat without checking the ingredients first!*)

*Important Giveaway Information:*  Unfortunately this giveaway is only open to those who live in the United States of America. I'm so sorry if that means you can't participate. :( I will eat pans of brownies in your honor! Please share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and Google to enter. Also:  The contest will be running from now until 12:00 A.M. July 16, 2016.

Enter here ~~~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

God bless you guys!

V. Joy Palmer

"The Gate Called Beautiful"

   "And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;
   who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.
   And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said "Look at us."
   So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
   Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
   And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
   So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God. Acts 3:2-8

According to the Strong's Concordance the word Beautiful means ... "belonging to the right hour or season (timely) i.e. flourishing (beauteous)" and that is what I would like to talk to you about today. This guy spent all his days sitting and waiting for people to show him compassion and give. He spent all his time asking with an expectation that lay below the surface. Expecting but not expecting. I say that because  ... even though he was sitting there begging, asking for alms, (expecting help) he was asking by rote ... and not really expecting. John and Peter had to speak to him and tell him to look at them when they approached. It was only then that his level of expectation jumped to the surface and he really looked at them with a valid expectation to receive.

As I was praying about this message God reminded me that we all have this "right hour" ... this "right moment" where we are at the Beautiful gate waiting for our "right season," This "day of visitation." The question is, will we respond with an expectation to receive or not? Even now we are in this season of visitation and the Holy Spirit is saying, "Look at Us."  I believe that we are even now coming into a day and an hour where we not only can, but need to look at God expecting to receive far above all that we need or have been asking for! Its time that we as His people stop waiting for the right season or the "flourishing" to happen sometime in the future. Today is the day that He is saying to us, His people, that sitting at the Beautiful gate by rote is no longer enough. We  need to be looking to  Him with an expectation to receive because it is His heart that we would receive everything we need to be walking, and leaping, and praising God.

Sign Up to Help Promote V. Joy Palmer's debut novel, Love, Lace, and Minor Alterations!

Guys! So excited! This is the influencer sign up form!!! I'm looking for some more reviewers and influencers, so if you are interested, I'd love to have your help!

Once you fill out this form, you are volunteering to be an influencer. What does an influencer do? Well, that depends on the agreement between author and the influencing individual. Here's what I'm asking my influencers to do:

1. You will receive an e-book copy of Love, Lace, and Minor Alterations. Please read Izze and Miles' story and  post a honest review on at least one retailer website - especially Amazon. If you have a blog, that is good, too. It doesn't have to be big and flowery. Simple and short is good, too. If you are looking for suggestions, this is a good example: "Super Awesome!" ;)

In the event you don't like the story, that's okay. We will still be friends. :)  However, please post a review anyways. No review at all is worse than an honest, negative review, especially on Amazon. However, please try to note some positive points in your review.

2. Please try to commit to sharing at least one of my book promo posts on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter on your profile pages once a week for six weeks. Simply share one of the posts from one of my profiles onto yours.

3. Talk the ears off of everyone around you about Izze and Miles. :)

That's all! Pretty simple! If you still want to help, and the ears of those around you remain intact, you are welcome to (but not required to) request a copy for your local library, recommend it for your next book club read, or lend it to a friend.

*IMPORTANT* Unfortunately, everyone may not be able to participate. There is only a limited number of spots available. I wish everyone could participate, but influencers will be selected on a first come basis. If you are not able to participate as an influencer, I hope that you will still buy the book and tell your friends. Also, influencer copies will be primarily e-books. I'm so sorry if that prohibits anyone from participating.

Thank you so much for your help, guys! You are all supremely awesome. I'm sending you hugs, and I will eat pans of brownies in your honor!

Thanks to Google, you can sign up here! You'll see the same instructions on the form.

Thank you! God bless you guys!!!

V. Joy Palmer

P.S. Book cover and description below! ;)




Isabel Izze Vez, bridal consultant extraordinaire, has been helping brides find their perfect wedding gowns for years. All the happy endings are starting to grate on her. How many wedding dresses does Izze have to help other brides find before she actually gets to wear one herself? After experiencing a failed romance several years earlier, Izze begins barraging God: When will it be her turn?

When James Miles Clayton walks into her life, a fragile relationship is formed, but will their rocky start and a misunderstanding at work destroy everything? More importantly, will Izze let go of her shattered dreams, and trust God for a beautiful future?


I Refuse to Accept This!

"This is your fault."

Some people mumbled it. Others said it with their dark, angry eyes. One man had marched up to him, and jabbed a finger into his chest.

His fault.

Were they right? He didn't want to believe it, but could it be true? Was this death laid squarely at his feet?"

"NO!" A voice spoke to him. The Lord. Paul took a deep breath to regain his composure. He would not let the lies of the devil distract him.

Ignoring his instinct to panic, Paul knelt over the young man. Then a calm washed over him like a cooling mist on a hot day. His spirit leapt within him.

Eutychus was alive.

Based on Acts 20:7-12

"On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, 'Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.' And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted." Acts 20:7-12

So I love how casual Paul is here. I think of The Princess Bride when I read this... He's just like, "Guys, he's not dead. See? Help him get up so we can finish talking."

I know that if I was in this situation, I would have been blaming myself for Eutychus' death. "Oh, no," I'd moan and sob. "It's all my fault!" You don't see Paul take that attitude, and I would be willing to bet that some of the people - people who had just been praising him - were now throwing fiery darts at him. They were probably shouting, whispering, and criticizing him, saying, "This is your fault. He's dead because of you, because you kept droning on and on instead of letting us go home and sleep!"

But Paul didn't let those fiery darts take him down. Not the ones from the people, and not the ones from his own insecurities and doubt. He continued in God's ministry. He did not take responsibility for this lie. It was not his to bear.

I think all of us can relate to this. I know that I can. It's something that's been on my heart. People, even other Christians - will throw darts and jabs from the devil at you. Don't let them take you down. They aren't your responsibility to bear. Jesus took those lies. Your responsibility is to continue in God's will.

Repeat after me, "I REFUSE to accept this lie!"

V. Joy Palmer