When I met Sandy Coughlin at Blissdom ’09, I immediately saw her as a genuine grownup – smart, beautiful, and gracious. When the weekend was over and The Nester and I had succeeded in showing our idiot sisterly ways to our roommates Sandy (and Melissa!) over the course of 48 hours, I realized Sandy was not just a real grownup, but that she truly knows what it means to connect on levels both deep and outrageously silly – my two favorite levels.

After Blissdom that year, I began to read her blog, Reluctant Entertainer, and I loved her even more. She writes about inviting people into your home and being available to host, not to impress but to love; not to just feed their stomachs, but to feed their soul. Reading Sandy, I began to almost believe I could be that type of hostess too, the type who focused on others rather than worrying about vacuumed floors and perfect pasta.

Yesterday I wrote about the joy it is for me to have close friends over for dinner every week and Friday I will start my series on 31 Days of Grace. I’m excited to have this giveaway today because Sandy’s heart is really the bridge between hosting dinner for friends and remembering to give and receive grace in the process. Consider these words from Sandy’s book:

“Simple entertaining combined with some inspiration can create spiritual monuments in our lives. It not only gives us hope, but it teaches us the benefits of moving forward and not looking back. It is a beautiful gift without a price tag.” The Reluctant Entertainer

Today, Sandy’s publisher, Bethany House, is offering two chances to win a book. So two lucky winning commenters will each get one. Trust me, you want to win this one. When I got it in the mail, I just wanted to carry it around the house with me. It is a substantial, beautiful, hardcover book filled with glossy, colored pages of simple recipes, tangible inspiration, gentle advice, and lots of encouraging personal stories and photos.

How to enter

Easy. Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post by clicking comments and then enter your name, email (seen only by me and necessary so I can contact you if you win), and your blog or website if you have one. If not, you can leave that line blank. I will leave the giveaway open until Friday morning when I will announce the two winners. I hope you are one of them! But if not, you may purchase Sandy’s book here or put it on your Amazon Wish list here. And after you come to see if you won on Friday, be sure to visit Sandy as she begins her 31 Days Series as well: 31 Days to Stress-Free Entertaining. I can’t wait for it!

this giveaway is now closed.

I saw Katie Holmes in the Charlotte airport once. This was pre-Tom, when she was still with Dawson and Pacey. She was in line in front of me at Starbucks and ordered a vanilla latte, same as me. Even before I knew who she was, she stood out among the other customers. She was stylish with a long coat and cute shoes. And she was very, very tall so she stood out that way too. I hate to admit it, but I watched her hands as she spoke to the woman next to her, and I considered how very much they reminded me of my own.

After all, we are both people. Before blogs and twitter, movie stars and TV people and book writers and news anchors seemed so untouchable. But now, you can read a writer’s book, follow them on Twitter, and comment on their blog. Just like that, you realize there is a human person behind all that stuff. And you can connect.

That is one reason why I love to talk about books written by people I know in real life. Because they are friends, they are mothers, they are wives and sisters and people. That is why I am excited to introduce you to Marybeth Whalen.

You may know her from her blog, Cheaper by the Half Dozen (yes, she has six kids), or from the Proverbs 31 Ministries team. That is how I know her. Last year at She Speaks, she was the lucky P31 team member assigned to introduce me and my sister, so she had to sit through our entire session. Since then, her debut novel The Mailbox was released, and I read it. Of course.

In it, Linsday Adams makes her first trip to the Kindred Spirit mailbox when she is only fifteen. Over the next twenty years, she continues to come back to Sunset Beach and write to the Kindred Spirit letters about dreams come true and dreams yet to be lived. Between the husband who leaves her and the first love who reappears in her life, Lindsay has choices to make that require both risk and faith.

The Mailbox has all the elements of a great read: the familiar flutter of young love, the sharp pain of betrayal, the longing that comes after heartbreak, and the beauty found in redemption. One thing I appreciate about this book is that Marybeth did not write Christian characters with fluffy flaws. These people seem real to me, with authentic insecurities and believable emotion.

Perhaps that is why, when I saw Marybeth again this year at She Speaks, I had to stop myself from calling her Lindsay and asking her how life was going on Sunset Beach. If I would have written about it earlier in the summer, I would tell you to be sure to pack this book with you in your beach bag. But since summer is basically over, I will recommend it as a great just-before-bed read. It is an easy book to get right into. I took it with me on a flight I had to take alone this summer and nearly finished it by the time we landed. I thank Marybeth for getting this anxious flier through some rough turbulance. I hardly noticed it.

When I chatted with Marybeth about how very much I admire fiction writers, she told me that a friend told her to write the book she would want to read. And so she did.

Would you like to read it, too? Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post by Wednesday to enter to win a copy of The Mailbox. Otherwise, you can go here to buy a copy or to read more about the book.

The winner of my extra copy of Mary DeMuth’s book Thin Places is Star Forbis. Congrats! Check your inbox.