SWEET SUMMER - Christina Sinisi - One Free Book

Welcome back, Christina. Why do you write the kind of books you do? I was writing sci fi/fantasy novels that weren’t getting anywhere. My mentor, Eloisa James, asked why I wasn’t writing Inspirational fiction since my faith matters so much to me. I had no good answer. I switched and have been so much happier—it still took a few years to get published, but now I am writing for the glory of God and the words just flow.

I love it when that happens. Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life? My happiest days are my wedding day and the births of my children. I am happily married now for 35 years!

How has being published changed your life? Being published opened the door to my truly focusing on my writing. I’d slowed down in the face of so much earlier rejection and went months without writing. Since I first got the novella, Christmas Confusion, accepted for publication, I haven’t stopped. I now write every day unless I am ill. Since 2019, I’ve written two books a year and have ideas stacked up waiting.

One of my early novellas was titled Christmas Confusion. What are you reading right now?   I am reading Francine Rivers’ The Masterpiece for my church’s book club.

When I obtained my copy of that book, I was on a book deadline and loaned it to a friend. Covid hit, and now I can’t find out who it was. I wish I’d written that one down. What is your current work in progress? I am in the editing stage of my Work-In-Progress, The Promise. It’s a book set in my hometown of Buchanan, Virginia, which is a departure from my previous work.  I hope readers will travel with me from the beach to the mountains.

What would be your dream vacation? I have been blessed to travel a good bit in my life and only have two states remaining to check off all 50. So, I had plans last summer to travel to Maine, but COVID intervened. My hope is to make it to Maine and Alaska in the next few years—goals.

How do you choose your settings for each book? So far, I’m writing what I know. Two out of the three books I have published are set in the Charleston, South Carolina, area where I live. It’s a beautiful place rich in history. The third book, Christmas on Ocracoke, is set in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. My sister and her husband bought a rental house there in 2019 and the whole family has met there for vacation several times. The islands there are stunning as well, but in a very different way from the South Carolina beaches only a short distance away. I was awed by God’s creation and how unique each place can be.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why? Would it be bad to say my husband? We’re so busy and have been focusing on helping our grown daughter move that we need a date night!

Date nights are wonderful and necessary. What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading? I love to hike in the woods (grew up on a farm) and bake (big fan of the British Bake-Off).

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it? Time. I am a professor and department chair at a local university and work demands a great deal of my time.

What advice would you give to a beginning author? Persist. Learn all you can, write all you can, and keep going. Even if you don’t get published, find an agent, etc., you will have had the joy of writing.

Tell us about the featured book. Shelby Marano is the youngest of three sisters and was always Daddy’s baby girl—until her father was murdered when she was only eight years old. Ever since, she’s been running from anyone or anything that could truly hurt her. Instead, she seeks calculated thrills that leave her exhilarated, but when she’s caught outside during a summer storm, she quickly realizes not all adventures are within her control.

Tyler Burgess struggles with the responsibility of caring for a mother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Forced to take a leave of absence from work and put his life on hold, his only reprieve is the volunteer work he does at the local museum. When a soaking-wet Shelby barges in, he offers her both refuge from the rain and a safe place to land. She’s the breath of fresh air he didn’t know he needed.

Tyler proves to be much more than just a nerd in a history museum, but what she finds out about him is a deal-breaker for her. As family health issues and an unknown stalker threaten Shelby’s perfect little world, she learns a hard lesson: no one can hide from the dangers of life. Can Shelby let her sisters, Tyler, and even more importantly, God, show her in one Sweet Summer that love is worth taking the risk?

Please give us the first page of the book.

Both day and night belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun.  You set the boundaries of the earth, and you made both summer and winter. Psalms 75:16-17

Water sluiced down Shelby Marano’s back, and she ran faster, as if it were possible to outrace a tropical downpour that wanted to be a hurricane when it grew up. Her feet pounded on the sidewalk next to the Charleston harbor sea wall, agony streaking up her calf. The orthopedist had advised her to take a break, but she could no more stop running than she could give up coffee or taking risks.

She slowed and searched for shelter. A black pickup approached, and she did a quick glance-over. The vehicle looked a lot like Thomas’s car, and aggravation ripped through her like a leg cramp. Then, the vehicle picked up speed, passing by. She tripped over a cobblestone, her heart slowing down in relief, and she could take in oxygen again.

Shelby focused back on her surroundings and not her paranoia. The Battery sat at the tip of the peninsula of Charleston, a beautiful green expanse with statues and cannons and a gazebo. The gazebo offered a roof, but this rain slanted sideways, and she needed walls. The ancient live oaks offered a bit of protection, but no public place for blocks. She sighed, then squealed when lightning struck in the harbor.

She picked up her pace, weaving to avoid rain puddles down East Bay Street, and took a left at the first side street that came her way. The roof overhangs helped her predicament some, but several more intersections went by before she saw an open door to a museum. If she’d gone straight down East Bay Street, she’d have located shelter faster, but she’d have walked into a tourist trap full of people while she looked like a soaked Labradoodle with her corkscrew blond curls half-soaked and half-sprung.

The sign read “Open,” and she headed for refuge. The wrought iron gate scraped the sidewalk as she shoved it open, and she danced a quickstep as thunder rolled. Up a dozen worn concrete steps and she stood on the columned porch, looking back out at the street.

“Hello?” The man’s voice came from behind her, inside the museum foyer. “You can come in and get out of the weather. We’re free.”

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Social Media Links:

Website/Blog: https://www.christinasinisi.com/

Twitter: @ChristinaSinisi

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Christina-Sinisi-Author-105861987440664/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Instagram: @csinisi123

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/csinisi/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/101218889-christina-sinisi

Thank you, Christina, for sharing this novel with my blog readers and me. I Have a copy and will read it very soon.

Readers, here’s a link to the book.

http://ow.ly/zoBf50GqpxP

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