Mackinac Island Giveaway

Mackinac Island. It’s a magical place that allows you to step back in time from the moment you first step off the ferry. Authors Cara Putman and Melanie Dobson have teamed up for a tour of the island, now and then. Comment at each stop for a chance to win a copy of one of their books set on Mackinac Island. You’ll find the list of stops here. Share the tour on twitter, Facebook, pinterest and other places, and you’ll gain extra entries for the grand prize of a copy of each of their books and a 5 slice box of Murdick’s Fudge, straight from Mackinac Island. Just be sure to email Cara at cara@caraputman.com, so she can record your entries. The Grand Prize winner will be selected August 27, 2012.

Cara Putman: A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island

One of the most recognizable sights on the island is the Grand Hotel. From the ferry, you can see the long, white expanse of the hotel before other buildings and landmarks come into view. Our first visit to the Island we stayed at the Grand because my husband attended a conference there. It maintains the aura it’s had since the late 1800s – a place where certain expectations are met so that the experience is magical. After 6:30 p.m., guests are expected to be in evening wear or asked to return to their rooms and change. The five-course dinner is included in most stays and is an experience. Everything from the geranium scented lotions to the pool, where an Esther Williams movie was filmed in 1947, reminds you that you are staying at a special place with a special history.

Melanie Dobson: Love Finds You on Mackinac Island

The historic Grand Hotel is just as grand today as it was in the 1800s when visitors came for weeks or even months at a time to hear the hotel’s renowned orchestra play on the world’s longest summer porch. More than a hundred years later, it remains the world’s longest summer porch. The hotel employs a historian so when I was there, I learned about the history through his wonderful presentation and then enjoyed an amazing five-course dinner that evening. Where else can you arrive at an elegant hotel by carriage and eat whitefish baked in black truffle broth while enjoying the beautiful view of Lake Huron? It truly was magical.

A Wedding Transpires on Mackinac Island: Join attorney Alanna Stone as she returns home despite her determination to never set foot on Mackinac Island again. Once again in close proximity to Jonathan Covington, her first love, she vows to protect her privacy and her heart from the man who still makes her pulse race. But when her worst fears are realized and history repeats itself—landing her in the midst of a murder investigation—Jonathan may be her only hope. Will they be able to lay aside the past and let God heal their hearts, or will reconciliation come too late? Read the first chapter here.

Love Finds You on Mackinac Island: As the Gilded Age comes to a close, Elena Bissette’s family has lost most of its fortune. The Bissettes still own a home on fashionable Mackinac Island, and they spend summers there in hopes of introducing Elena to a wealthy suitor. Quickly tiring of the extravagant balls at the Grand Hotel, she spends her days walking along the island’s rugged coastline. There she meets Chase, a handsome laborer who invites her to watch the ships from an abandoned lighthouse. The two begin to meet there in secret, hoping to solve a mystery buried in the pages of a tattered diary. As Elena falls in love with Chase, her mother relentlessly contrives to introduce her to Chester Darrington, the island's most eligible bachelor. Marriage to the elusive millionaire would solve the Bissettes' financial woes, and Elena is torn between duty and love. Read the first chapter here.

To get in the running for your choice of the Mackinac books, leave a comment and tell us where you'd go for a vacation if the Vacation Fairy gave you the time and money.

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below 25 comments

veronica - August 24, 2012

Oh, wow! The Vacation Fairy is my new favorite fairy 🙂 Let’s see…I think I would choose an Alaskan cruise – my hubby and I have been dreaming of a vacation to Alaska!

Kristin - August 24, 2012

I would go on a month-long (at least =) tour of England, Ireland, and Scotland, maybe stopping by Paris for a couple of days, too. I want to see Jane Austen’s house and all things C.S. Lewis and castles and the Great Hall.

P.S. Does this mean you’re going to start blogging again, Jenny? I have seriously missed your posts this summer! =)

~Kristin

Emily Reynolds - August 24, 2012

I would LOVE to go back to Italy–Venice and Florence… Or Ireland. Or Japan. Does the Vacation Fairy follow the same operations manual as the Genie? Can I get three wishes? 😀
-Emily

Jenny - August 24, 2012

Today I would choose Venice, but there are so many places the list would be long!

Cara Putman - August 24, 2012

All I can say is I want to come along when the vacation ferries grant these dreams! I’d love to visit Tuscany and Paris! Thanks for playing along!

apple blossom - August 24, 2012

love to visit Hawaii

ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com

Karen Schulz - August 24, 2012

I visited Mackinac Island at age 11, and would love to return through these wonderful books!

Jennifer Tipton - August 24, 2012

To visit the Mackinac Island of course and stay in The Grand and rent a horse of course
jennydtipton[at]gmail[dot]com

Jada AKA CookieLover3 - August 24, 2012

I’m so jealous! I have never been off the mainland.

Jada AKA CookieLover3 - August 24, 2012

But I would go to Paris and stuff myself

Judy Burgi - August 24, 2012

If the vacation fairy gave me the time and money I’d be heading to Hawaii! That is my dream vacation!

Thanks for this giveaway. Can’t wait to read both books.

Blessings!
Judy
sweetpea.judy(at)yahoo(dot)com

jennifer - August 24, 2012

England and Scotland, I have been working on my family genealogy and would love to go see if I can find records for my great great grandparents.

Jennifer
avidreader(at)middleswarth(dot)net

Megan - August 24, 2012

I would love to see Ireland!

Pam K. - August 24, 2012

I’ve always wanted to go to Great Britain since I’ve read so many books set in England, Scotland, and Ireland. If the vacation fairy didn’t leave quite enough for that, my second choice would be Mackinac Island. All these tour posts have renewed my interest in the island.

Cherie Kasper - August 24, 2012

Hi Jenny, there are so many places I have dreamed of visiting, but since I just moved to NW Ohio and read about Mackinac Island this week, this is where I’d love to go spend a week at the Grand Hotel. Thanks for your blog.

Lane Hill House - August 25, 2012

Give you a hint! My name is Kathleen
Song: “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen”
Yes! It would have to be Ireland.

My younger brother has been to Ireland twice and he was not recognized as a tourist at the pub eating supper, he told me when I asked him. I thought that would be true! But… alas, I would probably be too star-struck!

Oh, by the way, head out of the clouds with the vacation fairy, I would like to be signed up for Melanie’s book, please! I have Cara’s. Thanks!! Kathleen

lanehillhouse[at]centurylink[dot]net

Cara Putman - August 25, 2012

I just want to stow away with each of you. Such a fun list of places to visit!

Abbigail - August 25, 2012

I’d want to go to the Florida Keys! It’s close to home, and yes, I practically live on the beach already, but I’ve always wanted to see the keys. My grandparents lived there for quite a while, but right before I was born, they moved. Grr. Thanks a lot.
–Abbigail

Melanie Dobson - August 25, 2012

Thanks so much for hosting us, Jenny! Now I’m dreaming of a European vacation. All I need is a Europass, my backpack, and my wonderful husband. I’ll be back in a month. 🙂

Laura J - August 25, 2012

I have a goal to visit all 50 states, so I would take a few months and visit all the states I haven’t visited yet.

laurelprincess12 at gmail dot com

bn100 - August 25, 2012

I’d like to visit Australia.

bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

Liz - August 26, 2012

I think I would spend a summer in Australia. How much fun would that be!

Ronda - August 26, 2012

I have always wanted to stay in the Grand Hotel Mackinac, ever since I first set eyes on the place! We did look up prices once…and that was the end of that dream! :-/ Ideally, I would stay for about a week during the lilac festival. I have LOTS of other wonderful vacation ideas–the Greek isles, the more obscure Hawaiian islands, China, New Zealand and Australia–but Mackinac is one of my most frustrating dreams since it is SO close. But Grand Hotel might as well be the moon for the prices they charge! I just don’t think I could bring myself to do it.

Robin Stevens - August 26, 2012

Today is an anywhere-but-here kind of day, but there are places I’ve been on mission trips or with my husband on business that I want to take our kids… snorkeling off the coast of Jamaica, swimming at midnight in a bio-luminescent bay in Puerto Rico (one of THE MOST awe-inspiring God-moments of my life! How did He come up with this stuff?), hiking in the Peruvian Andes to deliver vet supplies to a remote village, finding enough underbrush to serve as a bathroom near said village while praying the locals wouldn’t get more from the “gringa” than they’d bargained for…

Robin Stevens - August 26, 2012

Oh, and… welcome back to your blog-a-sphere. We’ve missed you here.

Mackinac Island Giveaway

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