Guest Blog: Lana Newman Kruse and Broken Cups Hold Love *Prize of a Christmas Ornament to Random Commenter **WINNER: Lela York
- ChristinaSinisi-Author
- Oct 6, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 19, 2024
Dear Readers, Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a blessed day of rest. Please join me in welcoming new-to-me author Lana Newman Kruse. I love her book title!
Introduce yourself?
Hi, I’m Lana Newman Kruse—last name is pronounced Kruzey--rhymes with doozie!
I was born and raised in Texas and have lived in San Antonio and Austin and currently live in McKinney, north of Dallas. My husband, David, and I took a delightful sojourn to California, mostly southern, for twenty-one years. David and I have two children and six amazing grandchildren. I’ve been a middle school teacher, an avid volunteer in social work, have been a group leader in Bible Study Fellowship and Community Bible Study, and have facilitated a women’s group called Simply Social. Currently, I am a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), Wildwood Writers, have a newsletter, and now am honored to be a part of this podcast.
I hope people notice right away I’m friendly, always ready to laugh, and love people. My novel Broken Cups Hold Love is brimming with doozies too.
Lana Newman Kruse 2lanak@sbcglobal.net
Broken Cups Hold Love
71,708 Word Women’s Fiction
Four Canasta-playing friends from the Greatest Generation mold Boomers with their tales of wobbly marriages, a World War, a soldier’s love story, a polio epidemic, a straying from faith, and more, even murder. The four pals embrace poignant moments and douse life with humor and lavish love.
Ten year-old Laurie Anne learns about life and friendship from unlikely teachers, her mother Camilla, a guileless, ditty-writing friend to all, Betty, a pistol-packing mama, who uses gunfire to keep her wandering husband in line, Betty’s flashy-dressing sister Sophie, an artist and dreamer, sporting a different hair color every week, and hiding a tragic secret behind an I-don’t-care attitude, and Camilla’s sister-in-law, starched Hyacinth, wound as tight as her dark ringlets, searching for husband number three.
Broken Cups Hold Love was fun to write because it’s chocked full of love, humor, mystery, and a look back into history to highlight a simpler time and the importance of female friendships. However, writing about the polio epidemic in San Antonio, Texas, was challenging for me to be reminded of the tortuous disease that crippled children and adults. As a child I lived through this widespread illness. Though I was blessed to be spared from contracting this disease, I remember children going to school in heavy leg braces, holding onto crutches, and some being pushed in wheelchairs. Also, there was a rumor polio could be caught from standing rainwater. I was terrified of mud puddles.
To the blog reader:
Please share a fun or sweet childhood memory.
One of my sweet memories is when I was holding my colorful windmill out the car window while Daddy was driving. The wind caught my cherished toy and swept it out of my tiny hand, whipping it to and fro. Daddy pulled the car to a stop and chased my whirling toy for block. He finally caught my spinning plaything and proudly brought it back. Wow, did I feel special! What a sweet memory!
Another touching childhood memory was when I danced on my father’s feet. I absolutely adored planting my tiny tootsies atop Daddy’s man-sized, shoe-clad feet, spinning like a princess in my father’s arms, probably to our favorite song, The Tennessee Waltz. Because of these touching memories, I suggested this tradition to my son when his daughter was born. Great recollections for all times.
Another question if you wish: If you could be featured in a movie or TV show, what would it be and what would you do? I'd like to be dropped into Designing Women's episode, Dash Goff, the Writer with Gerald McRaney as guest star. I'd love for him as a writer to describe me like he did for designing women, Charlene Frasier and Mary Jo Shively.
Hope you love Broken Cups Hold Love. To purchase on Amazon.com, clink on link below.
Thank you, Lana, for being a guest! What a lovely idea, especially since, in truth, we are all broken. God bless!
Hi-My dad had 10 green fingers, he taught me all about gardening. He grew anything and everything. When all our hard work had come to fruition, we'd gather it and make dinner. I still garden ☺️
I loved spending the last two weeks of August in West Virginia at my Mom's childhood home. She was one of eight children. The majority of the family would try to have their vacation time there at the same time. The ones that lived in the area would stop by and spend some time or we would visit them. As a only child, it was wonderful to be with my aunts, uncles and cousins. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
One of my childhood memories was always helping my dad feed our chickens and collecting the eggs!
One of my childhood memories starts as a young child in kindergarten and picks back up as a teenager in high school. I was raised to be kind to everyone and I met another child who had had polio and was in a wheelchair. A lot of students pretty much avoided him after they got over the novelty of his wheelchair. I spent a lot of every recess talking with him as I hated to see him alone. We moved after that year and I never saw Rex again until high school when we were at an area wide church youth picnic. He saw me and started over to speak to me and one of his crutches landed …
When I was little my dad took the whole family to Shiloh Park in Zion, Illinois's and there would be these geese that would chase people. My dad managed to keep the geese away until we got safely in the car and then I rolled down the window and stuck my tongue out and said the nana nana boo boo spiel :).
jennydtipton@gmail.com