Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!
- The hunt BEGINS on 10/21 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
- Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
- There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 10/24 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
- Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!
If you’re new around here, my name is Melissa Tagg and I write small-town contemporary romances. Officially I’m a “USA Today bestselling, Christy Award-winning author” but a much funnier title I saw someone use to describe me recently is “The Queen of Meet-Cutes.” And you know what? I will happily accept that label because writing the moment when a hero and heroine first meet is one of my absolute favorite parts of storytelling! In addition to being a writer, I’m also a marketing and communications coordinator for an awesome nonprofit in Iowa and proud aunt to the cutest nieces and nephews ever.
My newest release, Autumn by the Sea, just released a few weeks ago and it’s the beginning of a brand new three-book series set in Maine.
Abandoned as a toddler, Sydney Rose has spent years wondering who she really is, homesick for a life she’s never lived. When a private investigator crashes into her world, she finds herself heading to a tiny seaside town in Maine to meet a woman named Maggie, who’s searching for the granddaughter she lost decades ago.
If not for Maggie, Neil MacKean might still be back in Scotland, bereft and alone. Instead, he has a full life in Muir Harbor with an adopted family he loves and a blueberry farm to run. But the farm is struggling and strange occurrences have him concerned.
Worried for Maggie, Neil is suspicious of the city girl who shows up at the farm. But there’s something about Sydney that tugs on him. Together, they’re pulled into a mystery complete with a centuries-old legend, unexpected danger . . . and a love as deep and wild as the sea.
One of the really fun pieces of writing this novel was learning all about blueberry farming! Being from Iowa, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what farming life is like…but through researching, I realized blueberry farming is a world all its own!
Blueberries for Beginners . . . and my favorite blueberry recipe
Okay, I’m not actually going to tell you ALL about blueberry farming because let’s be honest, though I might have done my research, there’s sooooo much I don’t know. But I can tell you this: There’s a big difference between the cultivated blueberries you probably buy when you visit the grocery store and actual wild blueberries!
Get the recipe here.
The blueberries that grow on Neil’s farm in Autumn by the Sea are low-bush, wild berries . . . they only grow to about ankle-height and they can grow on rocky soil as easily as flat ground. And though many farmers are now able to machine harvest their barrens, a good deal of the low-bush berries that on craggier ground are actually raked by hand. The best thing about wild blueberries? They taste better! They’re smaller and brighter in color.
A lot of what we buy in the store are high-bush cultivated berries that have been planted in nice, tidy rows. Many big farms in Maine grow these and hey, they’re great too. But if you want a burst of flavor—or just a little grin of satisfaction at knowing your eating something wild and very possibly hand-picked—look for wild berries . . . and maybe give ’em a try in this oh-so-scumptious recipe for Blueberry Lemon Scones.
Here’s the Stop #9 Basics:
If you’re interested, you can order Autumn by the Sea on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or any of these other stores.
Clue to Write Down: a fire
Link to Stop #10, the Next Stop on the Loop: Creston Mapes’ site!
But wait! Before you go, I’m offering three e-books of Autumn by the Sea to three entrants (or choose one of my other books). There are several entry options in the Rafflecopter form below. (USA only)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Comments 127
Thank you!
I love baking with berries! I usually use blueberries or strawberries to make yummy muffins!
I do love to bake, but I’m pretty basic and I haven’t baked with berries. I will have to try your scone recipe though…sounds delicious!
Don’t have Instagram 🙁
Here in MD, my family grows strawberries, blueberries (the high-bush ones), and raspberries. I LOVE baking with berries (and apples and pumpkins and peaches)! Hopefully I’ll be baking some apple crisp soon. 😀
I love baking…right now it is all about pumpkin….
I don’t do much baking but hubby made blueberry scones and they were yummy.
I love berries, and I love to bake with them. When I lived in the PNW, we had a huge garden of berries. Raspberries are my favorite! I will enjoy making your blueberry scones recipe 💙.
Your books are wonderful. I looked forward to reading your new one!
Thank you for participating in the scavenger hunt 🥰🎉.
Thank You!
I love to bake blueberry pound cakes, muffins and scones
This book sounds so fun and cute!
I read Autumn by the Sea and absolutely loved it! Cannot wait for the next one 🙂 I love baking with berries. My favorite is just a crisp of mixed berries, so easy and super yummy with vanilla ice cream.
I don’t do Instagram and there’s no way to get past that to do the extra entries. I SO want to enter to win one of the copies for Autumn By the Sea 🙁
Is there any way to manually enter my name (or anyone else that doesn’t have an Instagram account)?
I don’t do much baking anymore since my husband is pre-diabetic and can’t have all the sugar. But I love anything with berries in it!
Thank you! The Blueberry scones look delicious!
I don’t have Instagram. Love blueberries!
I love baking with blueberries! They are the only kind of berry I have used for baking. Your recipe sounds amazing!
yes, scones
Sounds like a great book and recipe! Thanks!
To answer the question: No I do not do much baking, but I may have to try to recipe provided 🙂 Sounds delicious!
Thank you
I can’t wait to read Autumn by the Sea! I’m sure it will be just as great as your other novels!! 🙂
Plum tart
Thanks for the chance!
Thank you for doing the scavenger hunt!
I love to bake with berries so thank you for this recipe! The recipe that I have made recently as a guilty pleasure is Strawberry Lush…oh, my is it good. I use crushed vanilla Oreos for the crust and you only need one large container of cool whip.
https://pin.it/4Aj92to
Your book sounds intriguing and I love wild blueberries. I have a delicious blueberry muffin recipe that my boys love.
I don’t do too much baking with berries but my Dad has a lot of blueberry bushes (the tall variety) and we eat them all by themselves. They are so incredible good! Grocery store berries are never the same.
Yay, a new-to-me author! I think the wild blueberries are the ones I remember that would come in the little can in the boxed blueberry muffin mix we used when I was a kid. I’ve always wondered why the ones sold in stores are so big compared to what I remember.
I used to bake a lot with berries, especially my blueberry muffins that are amazing! I don’t do a lot of baking anymore though, because I have been struggling with cancer and chemo and have no energy.
Normally, I do a good bit of baking. I don’t like baking with berries so much as it is harder to get the right consistency especially doing gluten and dairy-free but I do enjoy baking with peaches.
I love baking with cranberries!
I loved this book and can’t wait for the next one in the series!
I don’t do much berry baking, but I do love to berry EAT! 😉
Love your books! Thanks for sending out hard copies at your expense-that’s a lot!
Don’t do a lot of baking with berries. The only berry my husband likes is strawberries, and I like most any berry except strawberries.
Looking forward to reading your book! “Maine” has been on my bucket list, and this may be a way to visit. I’ll share the Blueberry Lemon Scone recipe with my sister, who is the real baker in the family!
I love baking with blueberries or strawberries.
You’re a new author to me!
I love the scone recipe!
I’ve had a recipe for blueberry buckle (essentially a streusel topped blueberry coffee cake) for a long time that I make as a special treat for ladies Bible studies, etc.. It is delicious. Let me know if you would like the recipe =)
Blueberry Buckle at our house, too. We have been making it in our family for 50 years. My daughter made me some the other day. It came to us from the pastor’s wife, and we still refer to it by her name! Definitely a MUST!
I usually bake with blueberries and strawberries.
Love these scavenger hunts so much and look forward to each one!!
I haven’t done much baking with berries. But making something like a muffin and/or a scone would be yummy! Then there are the old standard Chocolate Chip cookie with nuts and a fun chocolate chip mint, peanut butter etc.
I love baking, but I’m much more likely to be baking with apples (or chocolate!) than berries!
Thank you!
I have not read any of your books yet. I am looking forward to reading them.
I don’t bake as much as I used to, but I do have a blueberry cobbler recipe that our family enjoys.
One of my favorite breads to bake is an apple cake. I like to throw in blueberries if they are in season for just a spark of tartness to the cake.
Blueberry muffins are my favorite, however, I don’t bake them as often as I would like. I am interested in trying something with strawberries, I’m just not sure what…
I love blueberries and can’t wait to try those scones.
I have been baking banana muffins, and Irish soda bread, and English muffin bread.
Not much of a contemporary genre fan, but I sure do like yours!
Just started your Crittendon Files series, and you have hooked me!
I don’t do a lot of baking usually. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for a friend when I baked earlier this year. And the last with berries was a vegan strawberry cake with vegan strawberry icing.
I love baking. I recently made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. I will have to try the scones.
I don’t bake a lot with berries.
I don’t do a lot of baking at all. I’m single and need to stay away from sweets! I’m not much of a fruit in my dessert person either (unless it’s chocolate covered strawberries!). Next up for baking maybe test out some new pies that you can have for Thanksgiving!
I love baking with berries especially cobbler and breads.
I have to say I enjoy blueberries right off the bush so much that I don’t keep any to bake with. (I use the canned variety for our family’s favorite Thanksgiving and Christmas dessert: Blueberry Dessert. It has a thin cheesecake layer over a graham cracker crust, topped with blueberry pie filling. It’s a must (!) to make fresh whipped cream to serve on top!)
I guess my bushes are what you would call high bushes (I learned something new today). I planted two different varieties, which is supposed to be good for cross-pollination. It does seem that the berries from one of the bushes taste better than from the other bush. I wish I could remember the names of the bushes! I live near “The Blueberry Capital of Mississippi” and bought my bushes at the annual Blueberry Jubilee a decade ago. There are several blueberry farms in the area.
A sweet friend of ours shared her blueberry oatmeal breakfast bars recipe with our family a few years ago and it is our favorite now! It’s made with oats, berries, and yellow cake. So delicious and sweet!
Thanks for participating in this scavenger hunt. Love your books.
I’m not much for baking, but I do like anything with strawberries, apples or blueberries. I read and really liked your book, Autumn by the Sea. I hope there will be a sequel or sequels and and that we will will learn if Maggie finds her granddaughter.
Two of my favorite things to bake with berries are Raspberry pie and Strawberry pie. They both have a graham cracker crust. So yummy! Thanks for being a part of the CF Scavenger Hunt and the chance to win one of your books, Melissa!
I don’t bake very much, with berries or otherwise, but I especially love strawberries. I can’t wait to try out this recipe for lemon blueberry scones.
I like to bake. Did you ever make blueberry and lemon muffins they’re great. 😍🍀‼️
Blueberries aren’t my favorite, but maybe that’s because I’ve never had a wild one!
And I totally didn’t answer your question! I don’t do much baking with berries. Right now I’m craving pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting so that’s my suggestion for you. 🙂
I haven’t done a scavenger hunt like this before. I am so excited to learn about new authors like you!
I have never made scones. I need to try this recipe! thanks
Would love to add you to my list of fav authors
I am a baker; however, I don’t bake much with berries. My family prefers my cookies…chocolate chip, peanut butter, double chocolate chip, oatmeal, etc. You get the idea. In fact the only thing I can think of that I bake with berries is blueberry muffins.
With it being fall, I’d recommend baking something with pumpkin in it. I LOVE pumpkin bread…slather a healthy helping of cream cheese on there and you’ve got breakfast!
Thank you for a little look into blueberry growth. So much I don’t know about in this world.
I love baking! It is probably my downfall because I tend to eat what I bake as well as share with others. Yesterday I made the Double Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies by Sally’s Baking Addiction. My husband LOVES them!
Yes- I just used blueberries and made homemade bakery style muffins. They were excellent and will be making them again.
Thank you for participating in this hunt!
I would try some raspberry muffins!
Hubby grew up in Maine and raked blueberries in July and August as a summer job, love to bake with them.
Hey, I’m from Iowa too! I love blueberry anything…pancakes, waffles, muffins, bread, you name it!
I don’t bake but I love blueberry muffins. Your scones look so good!
I do some baking, but I’ve gone low carb so berries and such aren’t what I work with l.
I love baking with berries especially blueberry muffins, my favorites!
I think you should make blueberry muffins next.
Some baking with berries. Usually, just a recipe I run across.
So many things to bake with berries! I know this sounds gross, but one of my favorite blueberry recipes is a Blueberry Sour Cream Pie. I was so hesitant to try it but it’s delicious! 😋🥧
This book! It has all of my favorite things!!! 😍 I’m going to recommend it to my library next time I go in!
I don’t bake much and when I do it’s from a mix! But I love to sample others baking. Especially like blueberry and blackberry scones and muffins. My daughter is considering having a cookie swap for Christmas, can we say Toll House slice and bake. 😉
I’m not much of a baker but I love to eat baked goods! Especially blueberry buckle 🙂
I love baking Blueberry Mug Muffins.
For special occasions, I bake blueberry muffins for breakfast. It’s a tradition that is 56 years old in our family.
The only thing I bake with berries is pie! I use the Betty Crocker recipe for raspberry pie from scratch.
I love this scavenger hunt because I get to learn about new- to- me authors. I can’t wait to start reading your books!
I love baking blueberry crisp!
I like baking blueberry muffins but that’s about all I’ve really done with berries.
I like making blueberry muffins.
I don’t bake☹️
I use blueberries to make my grandmother’s cobbler recipe. This is the only recipe I make with berries. I have bought the blueberries from a local grower.
This new series sounds good. Thank you for the opportunity to participate.
This book struck my interest and so do the recipes
About all I bake with berries is strawberry pie, and I recently tried a black raspberry pie. I cheat though and buy the frozen pre-made crusts 🙂
My family loves sheet pancakes with blueberries
Thank you so much for sharing this!! We LOVE picking blueberries & strawberries at our local farm. Muffins, pancakes & scones are a must for baking throughout the year. We pick peaches for homemade cobbler, too. I should try blueberry cobbler next…and the new blueberry scone recipe you shared.
Does strawberry pie count? Lol. But thank you for sharing the recipe!
I enjoy your recipes in newsletters but I’m not a berries lover! Thanks for the opportunity.
I don’t do much baking with berries, or much baking at all, lol.
I love making homemade blueberry preserves/jam, or mix and match strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and/or blueberries for a mixed berry jam!
I have made a few things with blueberries but it has been a while.
Sometimes I use blueberries in muffins or pancakes! They make anything so much yummier!
I don’t bake much but when I do I use bananas instead of oil or butter for fat free results.
I have used this recipe several times and the family love it! They are also a wonderful gift/cookie exchange because they are really lovely on a pretty plate or basket. This is the link to the recipe, Enjoy! https://www.uniquegiftstips.com/2019/04/apple-pie-cookies.html
I don’t do any baking with berries! I’ve always been nervous to try it for some reason. But I do like to bake!!!
I love baking with blueberries! YUM!!
I love making berry crisps, cobblers and pies. And I do a lot of jamming in the summer
Our daughter is the baker (& my husband, too) and they both love to cook with strawberries & blueberries! We live in the Deep South (MS) so they are abundant. She made a beautiful Patriotic Trifle one 4th of July! He likes to make a cobbler using two fruits and cooks it in a HUGE black iron skillet.
I like to bake, but I haven’t done much with berries. I will have to try them. Thank you!
I don’t do much baking with berries. I have made strawberry cakes. When I was a child, my mother would pick and can blackberries and make cobblers from them.
I enjoy baking, but don’t often have the time to do it. I rarely use berries, but I love it when others do! Thanks for participating in the scavenger hunt and for offering the giveaway! Your books are some of my very favorites!
No, I don’t bake much because I have diabetes. However, you might try chocolate next, made with stevia or another healthy alternative.
I actually bake little, but I want to get into baking! I cannot have gluten anymore, so I have been looking up yummy gluten free recipes. One that I saw that looked really yummy was Christmas cranberry and blueberry gluten free bundt cake with glaze :p
I rarely bake but I collect a lot of great recipes! I just discovered BHG’s recipe for apple fritter bread, and I might actually make it!
Thank you for the opportunity. Have a blessed day!
I guess I should have done the drop down before I already commented. 😁 I saw it said leave a blog post so I did but when I went back I saw your questions. 🤦🏻♀️ I’m not much of a baker but I do love blueberries and blueberry muffins. I happen to have some blueberries in my freezer so I just might have to make some soon. Sounds good.
I love blackberry cobbler and strawberry pie. Thanks for your giveaway, and for sharing your recipe!
Thank you so much. This is fun. I enjoy baking.
I rarely bake with berries – sorry! But years ago my mom found a blackberry bush and made brownies with the berries in them – I couldn’t believe how good those brownies were!
No, but I love blueberry muffins.
I have only baked with fresh berries a couple times. The scones I made turned out nicely.
I don’t cook much with berries but I DO love Blueberry Scones! Thanks for the giveaway! I already bought and read Autumn by the Sea and loved it! I’m sure there’s one of your others that I don’t have yet. LOL
I love baking especially with fresh berries. My favorite is blueberry muffins.