LOVE'S FORTRESS - Jennifer Uhlarik - One Free Book

Welcome, Jennifer. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters. Oh, I think most of my characters have at least a small piece of me in them. Some more than others, but there’s always a bit of Jennifer Uhlarik in each one, even if it’s just an off-hand comment I like to use.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done? Hmmm. Hard question to answer. “Jennifer” and “quirky” aren’t exactly synonymous. I guess the answer would be that I fell sound asleep in the middle of the 1994 Billy Joel/Elton John “Face to Face” concert. (As my husband likes to say, I’m a gifted sleeper…LOL)

When did you first discover that you were a writer? I think I always knew it, deep down—I have pictures of myself as toddler still in diapers with a pencil and paper firmly in hand. But when did I really know it? I was twelve and in the seventh grade. All my school friends were getting into makeup and boys instead of playing pretend, and I was the odd one who still wanted to create fun stories to act out on the playground during recess. So when a school friend announced to me that she was writing a novel, something clicked. I didn’t have to give up my imagination because I was growing up. I just needed to write down my ideas on paper and say I was writing a book.  

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading. My favorites are historicals, particularly westerns. But I’ll read mysteries, suspense (as long as it’s not scary/horror-like), contemporary romance, dual-timeline. Pretty much, I’m open to anything if the story grabs me.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world? Hahaha. I was just talking with my husband about this the other day. My husband is retired after 26-years in our local sheriff’s office. For three years, I taught school—the hardest three years of my working life—but then God gifted me with the opportunity to come home and write full-time. My only child at home is now a gainfully employed engineer who is saving to buy his first house. So I’m not in a season of life anymore where I’m running all the time. In fact, on those rare weeks when we actually do have appointments or social events, we both feel like we are “so busy” because we had to leave the house for more than a trip to the grocery store or the random errand. It’s a pretty stress-free life for us, and we love it!  

How do you choose your characters’ names? Oh, goodness. It depends on the character. For the main or important secondary characters, I usually need to research the meanings behind the names, consider other characters’ names so I don’t repeat the same starting letter, and generally think about how the names of hero and heroine will sound together. On some rare occasions, I’ve had names pop to mind at random moments while I’m cleaning house or running errands, and I just write them down for a future story. Usually, when that’s happened, a new opportunity comes up, and I put the name to good use soon after it comes to me.  

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of? I would have to say raising my son, Zack. My ex-husband and I separated before I knew I was expecting our only child. I raised him as a single mom until I married my second husband when Zack was nine. In spite of the broken home, he’s an amazingly well-adjusted, sweet, and godly man—now out of college and working as an electrical engineer. He makes me incredibly proud.

Good for you. If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why? Hmmm. A snuggly cat? A loyal dog? A regal horse? No…as much as I love all of those, I think I’d have to say I would want to be a giraffe. They are such interesting animals! They see above the trees and, from what I understand, have amazingly good distance vision, so they can see predators coming. To me, the giraffe is a symbol of God’s immense creativity. There’s not another animal on the planet like them.

What is your favorite food? Call me simple, but I love when my husband grills hamburgers! Those are the best!!!

What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it? I’m a slow writer. The words don’t always flow easily. In fact, most times, they don’t. I fight to get them from my brain onto the computer screen, even when I can see the story playing like a movie in my head. I’ve had to learn to just put my backside in the chair every day and set goals to challenge myself. Daily word goals, a monthly goal. And I am accountable to other writer friends for completing those goals. For me, having that accountability is huge.

I’m also a visual author. Tell us about the featured book. Love’s Fortress is my first dual-timeline book, the seventh novel in Barbour’s Doors to the Past series. Both timelines are set in St. Augustine, Florida. The present-day storyline focuses on Dani Sango, who receives word that her long-estranged art forger father has passed away and left her some sort of inheritance. When she arrives in St. Augustine, she’s given keys to his house and told that is part of what he’s left her. However, when she enters the house, she finds all kinds of forged art hanging on the walls, as well as a book of Native American ledger art in his studio. She teams up with an art museum curator to ferret out the truth of whether her father was once again forging art, and where the book of Native American ledger art came from.

The historical timeline is set in 1875, following the plight of Broken Bow, a Cheyenne brave who is among seventy-three Plains Indians sent to Fort Marion (aka the Castillo de San Marcos—the old stone fort in St. Augustine) as prisoners of war. Upon his arrival, Broken Bow is bitter and resistant to anything his white captors try to do, including having him draw artwork in a ledger book in order to remember his heritage. Over time, the kindness of “White Chief Pratt” and missionaries Luke Worthing and Sally Jo Harris soften his hard heart, and they form deep and abiding friendships that will forever change all their lives.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Chapter 1

Franklin Sango’s Home, St. Augustine, Florida—Present day—Saturday

“Hardly the best choice of mood music, you idiot.” The evocative first lines of “Sound of Silence” had seemed appropriate when it came up on her playlist, but as Dani Sango pulled into the driveway, a thick blanket of melancholy threatened to smother her. She put her fourteen-year-old Kia Sorento in park, clicked out her phone’s music app, and unplugged the device from the charger. Cutting the power to the engine, she patted the dashboard.

“Thanks, old girl.”

She stared at the tasteless brown ranch-style house, its only distinguishing feature the bright red door flanked by ornate sidelights. The house sat on a pretty tree-dotted lot. Some distance down stood a quaint commercial garage with vintage-style gas pumps and signage. Parked near the road, two restored classic cars straight out of the movie Grease—both in cherry condition—sported primo paint jobs. Between them stood a sign, Joie-Rides Restoration and Custom Detailing. Behind the quaint building stood a much larger structure with numerous garage bays.

Dani sighed. Enough stalling. She dropped her phone in her tiny purse, extracted the key labeled House from the manilla envelope she’d been given, and stepped out of the car into the sweltering June heat. Draping her purse across her body, she pocketed her car keys and walked to the door. Her hand shook as she fumbled and failed to insert the house key.

“Get a hold of yourself, girl.” She blew out a breath and, this time, accomplished the task.

Dani swallowed and pushed her way into the nondescript living room. A broken-down couch with a mismatched coffee table and end table sat on one side of the room. On the other, a small entertainment center of no particular style held a flat-screen television. A worn leather chair and a floor lamp finished off the sparse furnishings. Yet the walls were filled with pieces of artwork in varying styles and sizes—all framed canvases.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jennifer-uhlarik

Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing this book with my blog readers and me. My copy arrived yesterday, and I’m eager to read it. I love dual timeline novels.

Readers, here’s a link to the book.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Love%27s+Fortress&i=stripbooks&crid=YYR11U7PE6MA&sprefix=love%27s+fortress%2Cstripbooks%2C4660&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

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