WHERE THE LAST ROSE BLOOMS - Ashley Clark - One Free Book

 Welcome, Ashley. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about? I’m a big believer that themes from our own lives and personalities will inevitably come out in our writing – I think this is because God uses and redeems our own struggles to help others. For me, I love a good book about a story that’s almost lost to time… whether that “story” is a romance, a dream, or even an heirloom from someone’s history. In Where the Last Rose Blooms, this theme comes out in studying God as Emmanuel, God-with-us in life’s storms. I hope after the difficulties of the last few years, readers will resonate with message that while storms do come, God keeps us and remains with us even in our suffering. Our hardship does not indicate His absence, but on the contrary, the cross indicates His participation in our struggle.

Other themes in my books are motherhood, womanhood, friendship, beauty, and hope/redemption.

What other books of yours are coming out soon? Where the Last Rose Blooms is actually the final novel in my Heirloom Secrets series (keep in mind they can be read out of order, if any readers out there want to dive in but haven’t read the first two!) so I am in between projects right now. I hope to have some new-project updates soon, so I’d love if readers old and new would sign up for my newsletter so they can be the first to hear when I make these announcements! You can sign up for my newsletter on my website, www.ashleyclarkbooks.com and you’ll get a free novella just for signing up.

If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why? What a fun question! I think I would choose one of the dancers from Dancing with the Stars to get a free dancing lesson. I haven’t watched the show in a while but used to watch it religiously!

What historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why? I would pick Van Gogh and tell him what a difference he was going to make by adding such beauty to the world.

How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

Sadly, rejections never stop coming. After publication, you have to worry about different kinds of rejections – how will my book be received? Will I do well in contests? Will readers like it? Will I get another contract with my publishing house?

At some point, every writer has to make a decision about why they are writing and what they are writing. You have to pivot away from writing to be “successful,” however you view that definition, to writing as an expression of your gifting by God. When you do that, you’ll find joy and purpose in your writing despite the ebbs and flows of the industry. Sometimes it takes time to get your foot in the door – for me it took ten years. Only a love of writing itself (and this is all the more so true if you’re writing as a Christian and view it as a calling) will sustain you through those ups and downs.

Tell us about the featured book. Where the Last Rose Blooms is a story that’s been in development in my heart (and on my laptop!) for years. I actually wrote it prior to writing the first book in the series, The Dress Shop on King Street. It’s a dual timeline story with characters who discover surprising connections to the past through an heirloom rose bush. Set partially in Civil War era Charleston and partially in modern day New Orleans, Where the Last Rose Blooms follows the lives of two women over 150 years apart. One of them, a florist, uses her knowledge of “the language of flowers” to unravel hidden secrets about an abolitionist spy in the Civil war, and in so doing, she discovers the information about her own mother who went missing during Hurricane Katrina. Both of them also find romance along the way.

Please share an excerpt with us.

PROLOGUE

Charleston, 1860

Ashley Mama thought I was asleep the night ’fore I was sold. I wasn’t. I was looking at the patterns of the shadows on the wall, but she couldn’t see my eyes from where she sat. That was a year ago now. Well, roundabouts. Maybe half a year. Guess I don’t know the day, just that it was fall and still warm outside, and summer seem like it was gonna take forever to get here. Not a minute goes by, I’m not thinkin’ about her.

I’ll never forget what she said when she put my best dress inside the satchel, along with some pecans and a braid of her hair. “It be filled with my love always,” she said, and when Mama said always she meant it.

Problem was, always wasn’t ours to give. She put her favorite buttons inside the satchel too. Those butterfly buttons I had always loved. But the buttons fell out when the men took me. And I saw that look in Mama’s eyes— tryin’ to tell me she gonna find me and bring the buttons with her. I just know she will. And I remind myself of that look every night when I close my eyes. Only she’d better hurry. Because the dress Mama gave me ain’t gonna fit much longer.

How can readers find you on the Internet? I love connecting with readers, both new and old! Please sign up for my newsletter on my website, www.ashleyclarkbooks.com – I make a lot of fun announcements and do frequent giveaways through my newsletter. I’d also love to connect on Facebook (@AshleyClarkBooks) and on Instagram (@the_handwritten_story). And of course, you can find me on BookBub and Goodreads as well.

Thank you so much for having me today, Lena! It’s been great chatting with all of you!

—Ashley

Thank you for sharing this story with my blog readers and me.

Readers, here’s a link to the book.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=where+the+last+rose+blooms+ashley+clark&i=stripbooks&crid=2XWBOC06EYU5F&sprefix=Where+the+last+rose+blooms%2Cstripbooks%2C896&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_26

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