It will be discounted to $2.49 in a Kindle Monthly Deal which runs between June 1, 2024 and June 30, 2024. It will be discounted on both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca (Canada).
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
WHEN HOPE SANK - Denise Weimer - One Free Book
I learned that the steamboat was carrying paroled Union POWs
on their way home. The boat was severely overcrowded due to bribes and
kickbacks. The boiler had been shoddily repaired. The river was at flood stage.
When three of the boilers exploded just north of Memphis, Tennessee, around two
thousand souls were expelled into the freezing water. Around half lost their
lives, making the incident the worst maritime disaster in the nation’s history.
To make matters worse, rumors of sabotage abounded. The towns on the Arkansas
side of the river—including Mound City where my heroine’s uncle runs an
inn—were known hotbeds of spies, bushwhackers, and saboteurs. I chose to
explore that connection after Lily Livingston rescues Lieutenant Cade Palmer, a
former Union surgeon, from the swollen waters of the Mississippi.
If you were planning a party with Christian authors of contemporary
fiction, what six people would you invite and why? I’m hard pressed to
answer that question since I rarely read contemporary fiction. I think Ted
Dekker would be very interesting to converse with. And maybe some of the big-name
authors who have written multiple series and whose books have been made into
movies. I’m sure we could learn a lot from them!
Now let’s do that for a party for Christian authors of historical
fiction, what six people would you invite and why? Now you’re talking my
language. LOL. Can I issue more invites since I’m not doing a modern party? Francine
Rivers, of course. Laura Frantz is one of my favorite authors. We share a love
of writing Eastern frontier romances. Lori Benton for the same reason. Shannon
McNear and Pegg Thomas are particular author friends of mine, co-authors on a
previous Barbour collection. I’d like to ask Deanne Gist how she’s so good at
humor in her historicals. And I’d love to learn more from Lynn Austin, Heidi
Chiavaroli, and Tamera Alexander. But I’m just getting going. As an editor at
Wild Heart Books, I want to invite every single amazing author I work with!
Many times, people (and other authors) think you have it
made with so many books published. What is your most difficult problem with
writing at this time in your career? Probably balancing all the attention
book releases require with my editing work and personal life. I always feel I’m
coming up short on the marketing end. Some people are so savvy in that area.
But we all have different angles and gifts…and only so much time and money to
go around. I’m thankful, so thankful, that I get to do what I love and feel
called by God to do as a career.
Tell us about When
Hope Sank.
April 1865
Emaciated in body but resilient in spirit, Lieutenant Cade Palmer is crowded onto the Sultana with other paroled Andersonville and Cahaba POWs for the journey north. But a fiery explosion rends the steamer and empties two thousand men into the frigid Mississippi River.
Recovering from wounds that might end his career as a
surgeon but clinging to his faith, Cade threatens both Lily’s defenses and her heart.
How can she tell him she might’ve prevented the tragedy if only she’d reported
a suspected saboteur’s claims? And when the man returns to town and encoded
messages pass through the hotel, Lily must follow her convictions to prevent
another tragedy.
Please give us the first page of the book.
Mid-April 1865
“Free Arkansas.”
The unexpected phrase, whispered a stone’s throw away at the
inn’s back alley door, froze Lily Livingston’s arms in mid-swing. The dirty
dishwater she’d been about to fling from the entrance to the kitchen swirled
and settled in the pan, all but a defiant trickle. The speaker’s head swiveled
in her direction. He’d removed his gambler-style hat, providing a glimpse of
long, center-parted black hair despite the drizzly night. Something in the
slash of his frown, the alertness of his posture, caused Lily to withdraw into
the doorway.
Who was entering River Rest’s private room the back way, and
why were they offering such a strange greeting to whomever answered the door? Experience
had taught her to use caution where patrons of her uncle’s establishment were
concerned. Some of the worst sorts of shirkers and criminals slaked their
thirst and sought their slumber at inns along the Mississippi these days. These days. She sniffed. Even before the
Civil War made Arkansas a haven for guerillas and bushwhackers, river ruffians
had abounded—gamblers, thieves, swindlers. And worse. Much worse.
“Miss Lily, what you doing?”
The question shot through Lily with the urgency of an alert
on a telegraph wire, straightening her spine.
How can readers find you on the Internet? Denise
Weimer writes historical and contemporary romance from her home in North
Georgia and also serves as a freelance editor and the Acquisitions and
Editorial Liaison for Wild Heart Books. A wife and mother of two daughters, she
always pauses for coffee, chocolate, and old houses.
Connect with Denise here:
I was born in Arkansas and grew up there. I’m eager to
read this book. Thank you for sharing it with my readers and me.
Readers,
here’s a link to the book.
Leave
a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these
instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least
the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments
containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void
where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants.
Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of
the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining
local/federal/international laws.
The
only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to
check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 2 weeks from
the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link: Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com
WINNERS
IMPORTANT: Instructions for winners - When you send me the email, make sure your subject line says this: Winner - (book title) - (author's name) If you don't do this, your email could get lost in my hundreds of emails per day. I WILL SEARCH FOR POST TITLES STARTING THAT WAY.
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Carl K (TX) is the winner of Up From the Dust by Heather Kaufman.
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Congratulations, everyone. If you won a print book, send me your mailing address:
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Click the Contact Me link at the top of the blog, and send me an Email.
If you won an ebook or audio book, just let me know what email address it should be sent to. Remember, you have 2 weeks to claim your book.
Wednesday, May 08, 2024
HIDE AND SEEK - Dennis Jernigan - One Free Book
About Hide
and Seek: Hide and Seek is the first book
in The Bairns of Bren series, a spinoff from The Chronicles of Bren. The
Chronicles of Bren details the life and adventures of Lee Jennings as he
progresses from a country boy to high king of the realm of Bren. The Bairns of
Bren follows the lives of Lee’s grandchildren as they embark on missions of
their own in Bren. Young readers will delight in the adventure and suspense of
The Bairns of Bren, Hide and Seek!
When the Jennings cousins decide to play hide and seek, they have no idea their simple game will lead them into the magical land of Bren. There, the Bairns of Bren face the daunting task of saving the kingdom from the evil Oddlings. Though the children become separated, they manage to stay together in spirit through the many twists, turns, and surprises they encounter along the way. Will they be able to save the kingdom before it's too late?
What
is the significance of playing hide and seek in a mystical, magical land? When children
play games like Hide and Seek, they learn how to recognize
deception - especially the player who is doing the seeking. In the fantasy
realm where this story takes place, there is a literal hide and seek game being
played between the children, while a simultaneous and sinister game is being
played by the enemies of the kingdom. My goal with the story is that my
grandchildren would learn to recognize the deceptive lies of the enemy of God
and would learn to respond to those lies with truth.
How is the story used to teach children
to rely on God? There
comes a point in the story where each child comes to a dead end, a time when it
appears all hope is lost. In this story, each child is encouraged to cry out to
the Founders - a euphemism for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit - and surrender their hearts and minds to the will of the Founders.
How does the children’s quest to free the
kingdom from the Oddlings lead to infighting amongst themselves and how do
they resolve their differences? Each child comes to a place in which they
must recognize pride and an oversized ego. The children are encouraged to put
off pride and replace it with humility, all while trying to view their current
circumstances from either the Founder's point of view or of another child's
point of view.
What is the ultimate take-away you hope
for each reader? The
ultimate take-away from this story is to recognize that knowing the truth will
set one free, but that we never get to the freedom of that truth until we get
honest with ourselves about ourselves. Even when we think we hide from God, we
must understand that He loves us even as we hide from Him. My hope is that all
who read this story will have a better understanding of how honesty leads to
truth and truth sets us free. This book is meant to be a fun read. My hope is
that it brings a lot of joy into the lives of many children.
Thank you, Dennis, for sharing this book
with my blog readers and me. As a grandmother and great-grandmother, I’m happy
to share the books with my own family.
This book is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook
format at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=hide+and+seek+dennis+jernigan&crid=2FCHGWVDJK7IM&sprefix=hide+and+seek+dennis+jernigan%2Caps%2C120&ref=nb_sb_noss
Readers, leave a comment
for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these
instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least
the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments
containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void where
prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the
giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer
in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.
The only
notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to
check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 2 weeks from
the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link: Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 07, 2024
A SEASON OF HARVEST - Lauraine Snelling - One Free Book
She returns readers to the Nielsen sisters for the fourth and final
book of her Leah’s Garden series.
Snelling’s masterful grasp of life’s struggles in the late 1800s shines as she
weaves yet another complex, realistic, and heartfelt tale into Neilsen family
lore. Turning her focus to Larkspur Neilsen’s long-awaited story, Snelling’s A
Season of Harvest artfully renders the physical and emotional struggles
of carving out a life on the plains of Nebraska.
About the story: Can
her dreams for the future—and a budding romance—survive the trouble that comes
calling? Lark
Neilsen has carried the weight of her family’s fate on her shoulders since her reckless
choices forced them to flee their home in Linksburg, Ohio. Now she finds this
weight heftier than ever. With Del and Sythia busy tending to their own homes,
and Lilac back in Linksburg repairing the family mercantile, Lark must attain
the family dream of Leah’s Garden all on her own.
To further
complicate matters, Isaac McTavish is back in town, putting Lark’s head and
heart at odds. Her heart may be pulled toward Isaac’s persistence and
affection, but her mind is set on achieving her goal of starting a seed
catalog. While love blossoms between Lilac and an old schoolmate from Ohio,
will Larkspur allow the same for herself?
When it becomes
clear that Lilac’s new beau is not the only one who followed her to Nebraska,
Lark comes face-to-face with the danger that forced the Nielsen sisters to flee
Ohio in the first place.
Welcome back to my blog, Lauraine. Each of the previous books in your current series, Leah’s Garden, follows a different
Neilsen sister as the main character. What led you to save Larkspur’s story for
the series conclusion? I’d actually planned Larkspur’s story to
be first since she’s the oldest. However, once The Seeds of Change
started coming together, Forsythia took over the story! So the first book
became hers.
Loyalty plays a key role in A Season of Harvest. Without
giving spoilers, can you hint at why loyalty is at the core of the story? Loyalty
threads through the whole series. These sisters are loyal to each other, to
their friends, and to everyone they know. Through all the books, they take care
of each other so faithfully. Even their initial departure from Ohio stems from
drastic action they take to protect each other and their family. Loyalty then
streams over into other characters in the series, especially Isaac McTavish,
who really grows into loyalty in this book. Even our villain stays loyal to his
purpose all the way through.
A
Season of Harvest returns to a major
conflict from the first book in the series, The
Seeds of Change. Was it always in your
plan to circle back and address that conflict again in the series conclusion? It wasn’t always
in our plan, but as the book came together, it became inevitable. One benefit of
a great editor is that they sometimes contribute ideas, and my editor, Jessica
Sharpe, pointed out how key it would be for Ringwald to confront Larkspur at
the end of the series. As the book went on, it became so important to resolve
that conflict, and we kept the villain in the stories just enough to keep readers
from forgetting about him.
What do you hope readers learn or take away from this
series? A
reminder of how important our families are. The Nielsens stood by each other in
so many crises, and that’s what I would hope readers take away—just a reminder
of how important your family is and how absolutely critical faith in Christ is.
Salton becomes a place of healing, a place for people to recover joy. That we
have so many joys and things to learn in this life is a theme that weaves
through all my books.
What
led you to set these stories in the homesteading period? How was the setting
important to the story you wanted to tell? It’s one of my favorite periods!
The homesteading era was such a time of change and adventure. As for why
Nebraska, I hadn’t set stories there very much yet. For Kiersti, it was special
to join in on The Seeds of Change and get to write about Nebraska
homesteaders living in a soddy because her great-grandfather, a son of Danish
immigrants, was born in a soddy in Nebraska in the late 1800s.
Is
this truly the last your readers will see of the Neilsen sisters and the rest
of their community? As
far as we know!
Now
that you’ve wrapped up the Leah’s Garden series, what are you working on
next? A
series set in 1889 near Decorah, Iowa. Six-year-old Ruth and
twenty-one-year-old Amalia are thrown together on a ship crossing over from
Norway when their families die of cholera. Ruth’s dying mother gives her
daughter into Amalia’s custody, and the two orphans travel to Iowa to take over
the family boardinghouse Ruth will inherit. They must battle a greedy relative
trying to claim the property and somehow make ends meet for the motley band of
orphans who gather under their roof, while finding a way to make this new land
home.
Where can readers go to connect with you? They can find more information about my writing and other books by
visiting my website at LauraineSnelling.com. I’m also on Facebook and BookBub
at @LauraineSnellingAuthor.
Thank you, Lauraine,
for sharing this book with us. I love your stories, because my father was half
Norwegian and half Swedish and both sides of his family emigrated in the late
1800s and settled in Minnesota.
Readers, here’s a
link to the book.
Leave a comment
for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these
instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least
the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments
containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void where
prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the
giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer
in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.
The only
notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to
check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 2 weeks from
the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading
this on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please
come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the
drawing. Here’s a link: Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com
Monday, May 06, 2024
WINNERS
IMPORTANT: Instructions for winners - When you send me the email, make sure your subject line says this: Winner - (book title) - (author's name) If you don't do this, your email could get lost in my hundreds of emails per day. I WILL SEARCH FOR POST TITLES STARTING THAT WAY.
Some people don't read the instructions of how to enter. Unfortunately, they don't have a chance to win. so next time you come and leave a comment, be sure to read all the instructions if you want a chance to win.
Sharon (SC) is the winner of Parkinson’s and Recreation by Dennis Jernigan.
Pam (OH is the winner of Rocky Mountain Promise by Misty M Beller.
If you won a book and you like it, please consider giving the author the courtesy of writing a review on Goodreads, Amazon.com, Christianbooks.com, Barnes and Noble, or other Internet sites. Reviews are such a blessing to an author.
Also, tell your friends about the book you won ... and this blog. Thank you.
Congratulations, everyone. If you won a print book, send me your mailing address:
Click the Contact Me link at the top of the blog, and send me an Email.
Click the Contact Me link at the top of the blog, and send me an Email.
If you won an ebook or audio book, just let me know what email address it should be sent to. Remember, you have 2 weeks to claim your book.
Wednesday, May 01, 2024
UP FROM DUST - Heather Kaufman - One Free Book
A devotional contributor to Open Windows,
Portals of Prayer, and Guideposts, author Heather Kaufman believes each of our stories is a part of
the larger, beautiful story that God is telling, and she strives to highlight
the goodness of God through her own storytelling.
Making her Bethany House publishing debut with Up
from Dust, Kaufman reimagines the story of Martha of Bethany in the launch
of her new Women of the Way series.
In each installment, Kaufman highlights a different influential woman of the
Bible and the Savior who pinpointed their pain, met them in the middle of their
mess, and lifted them up. Perfect for fans of Angela Hunt, Jill Eileen Smith,
and the TV series The Chosen, readers of Up from Dust will
experience for themselves the life-changing power of a true encounter with
Jesus of Nazareth.
About the story: Martha of Bethany is a woman
of dust, undone and unseen in her hurt and her loss—until everything changes in
the presence of Jesus of Nazareth.
Martha of Bethany
is no stranger to adversity. After her mother’s untimely death, Martha
shoulders the responsibility of raising her siblings—quiet and studious
Lazarus, and wild and rambunctious Mary. She finds solace in friendship and the
beginnings of first love, but just as Martha begins to imagine a new future,
hardship strikes again, and her dreams crumble into dust.
Ten years later,
Martha’s friend pleads for the new teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, to come and heal
her husband. When Martha discovers that the carpenter-rabbi is connected to her
past, she’s not sure she can trust him with her future. But as he continues to
perform miracles, the invitation to believe becomes harder to resist, renewing
Martha’s hardened heart, even as she faces an unknown future.
Welcome to my blog, Heather. Up from Dust is the first novel in your new series, Women of the Way. Can you please tell us
a little bit about this book and the connecting element between the other
installments? Up from Dust presents a fictional backstory of Martha of Bethany, the sister of
Lazarus and Mary. The story traces all the “many things” that worried and
troubled Martha’s heart and the Christ who pinpointed her pain, met her in the
midst of it, and lifted her up. We watch Martha come of age as she works
through her mother’s death and the heavy responsibility of raising her
siblings. We journey with Martha as she experiences first love and learns to
shoulder the mantle of womanhood, even while coping with a father who is stuck
in his loss. When grief comes to Martha’s own heart, she is presented with a
choice. Will she cling to her hurt more than to Adonai, the way her father has
done? Or is there a better way forward?
Each book in the series focuses on a female
follower of Christ, presenting a “before” picture so that when the book touches
upon events in Scripture, we feel like we know these women and
understand their choices and reactions in a fresh way. In our familiarity with
certain Bible stories, we can gloss over names like Martha’s. I’ve begun to
linger, to let myself wonder what their lives were like and what they might
have felt when experiencing the power of Jesus Christ. These people didn’t
encounter Christ in a vacuum. They were living full, complicated, nuanced lives
. . . and then Christ came, gloriously breaking into their mundane and
compelling them to respond.
Can you share with us why the book is named Up
from Dust? What significance does this have to the story? Dust represents the bookends of life—both humanity’s humble origin
and destination. In the Bible, dust is an image of death and the grave, as well
as humanity’s own frailty. Throwing dust on the head was an image of deep
mourning, and sitting in the dust was a sign of affliction. In the book, Martha
experiences soul-crushing sorrow that brings her “down to the dust” (Ps 44:25).
She needs a Savior who understands her and who doesn’t hold her humanity
against her. She needs the mercy of God to find her and raise her up from dust
(Ps 113:7). This is the trajectory of our new life in Christ! Dust is no longer
our inevitable destination. Spiritual, physical, and emotional graves can no
longer contain the life that is transformed by Jesus. He is the firstfruits,
and He continues to come to people of dust, generously lifting them up to new
life.
Why focus solely on biblical women as your
protagonists? What role did they play in the Bible’s greater redemption story? If there was anyone who understood the worth of women, it was the Son
of God, the Word of God who fashioned her being! When Jesus walked onto the
scene, the Jewish people had been sitting beneath several centuries of teaching
from the influential Rabbi Ben Sira—teaching that greatly devalued women. In
Christ’s interactions with women, He affirmed their equal worth, value, and
dignity over and over again. He welcomed them as His disciples, included them
in His teachings, and benefited from their service. When we see Christ in His
cultural context, His tremendous heart toward women comes clearly into focus as
He lifts them up, restoring the dignity that was theirs from the very
beginning. From Eve’s faith in the seed that would crush the serpent, to
Hannah’s song that prophesized a coming King, to Mary’s Magnificat, the Bible
is full of faith-filled women—spiritual mothers whose stories are worth telling
again and again. Like man, woman is made in the image of her God, and she was
made to reflect His glory. By focusing on female followers of Christ, I hope to
highlight His extraordinary heart for women and how God has always delighted in
using both men and women to further His kingdom.
What do you hope to portray to readers
through these books? You are seen, known, and valued by God, and
you have an important part to play in His kingdom work! God put His feet on the
ground in the person of Christ and empowered ordinary people of dust to walk in
His footsteps. He did it then, and He continues to empower His people to do
extraordinary things today. Will we shrink back in fear or push forward in
trust? Will we cling to old patterns of thought and ways of being or fully
embrace the new life He offers? He is worthy of our trust and our best, and He continues
to come to His children, meeting us in all our frailty and weakness with all of
His sympathy, power, and strength.
How does Martha’s story mirror our own
stories today? As hard as it was to write, I wanted to
depict Martha learning to live in the tension between God’s goodness and the
incredibly hard circumstances He allowed into her life. She doesn’t receive
concrete answers about certain things that happen to her, and this was an
intentional choice on my part. Certainly, Martha experiences personal growth
and can trace God’s goodness and faithfulness, but she really doesn’t receive
an answer to her burning question: “Why?” And I think most Christians, if
they’re honest, live in this tension too. We sing songs on Sunday affirming
God’s goodness and then we go back to lives that sometimes don’t feel so good.
There’s that one tender spot that makes no sense. And I think we can feel this
pressure to put on a happy face that looks like a trusting face. Almost like we
want to “protect” God’s image by downplaying our own pain. So, we slap Romans 8:28
on our wounds and paste on a smile.
But God is not honored by our denial. God is
honored when we come—like Martha—barreling down the hillside, overflowing with
all our pain, pouring it out at His feet. Christ doesn’t want a “good Christian
version” of us—something that looks spiritual on the outside. He wants us.
And maybe He won’t give us what we think we need. We may never know why certain
things happen. But He will give us Himself. Faith involves accepting the
tension between our sovereign God’s goodness and our deep pain. It’s choosing
to believe God despite feelings and circumstances. Until we can stand on the hillside
with Martha, surrendering our understanding, our right to know why, as we cling
to who He is.
What other themes present themselves throughout
the novel? Family dynamics figure prominently in this
book. Martha, Lazarus, and Mary both rely upon and frustrate one another, and
each has their own unique experience with their father. It can be tempting to
filter our family members’ actions through our own personal frustrations with
them rather than slowing down to truly see those closest to us.
Female friendship is another strong theme
throughout the book. Martha and Gilah’s friendship is “forged in the fires of
loss and need, fertile ground that had given [their] relationship deep roots.”
But as each woman’s story unfolds in different directions, the friendship
unravels and is only put back together as each is humbled in her own way.
The book presents varying responses to pain
and disappointment as dreams become shattered like shards of broken pottery. One
response sees love as a thief, and pain as something to cling to out of
self-preservation. The other response sees love as a gift, and pain as a
catalyst driving us closer to God. The question remains: Will we cling to our
hurt more than to Adonai?
Worry and fear are presented as bundled up
tightly in the human heart. The disruption of God’s winnowing fork is needed to
fling high all the chaff and leave behind that one necessary thing—closer
communion with Christ.
This biblical fiction story is your first
published novel in the genre. As a newcomer to the genre, how did you approach
writing this kind of story? With much
fear and trembling and prayer! I’m grateful for faithful commentaries and the
mounds of scholarship that exists on Jesus’ cultural setting. I began—quite
simply—with the Bible. I read and reread the book of John, taking the time to
consult commentaries along the way. Then I moved to a bird’s-eye view of the
cultural setting, getting a feel for what everyday life was like at the time.
With the broad strokes in place, I was able to begin writing and, as I wrote,
fill in the many gaps in my understanding. This was where the “nitty-gritty”
research came into play. I began wide and telescoped inward, all while keeping
in focus a heart of worship. Any head knowledge I ever acquire about the Bible
should compel me to worship. And then it’s from that place of personal love for
my Savior that I write. During the process, I was keenly aware that I was
touching upon sacred things. Martha is my sister in Christ, and she is alive
with Him at this very moment. Even though this book is ultimately a piece of
fiction, the seriousness and weightiness of the topic was never lost on me,
which is why I kept running back to God in prayer!
What do you hope readers will take away from
this story? My heart behind this story is for readers to
fall in love with the Word and the One the Word points to—Jesus Christ. I pray
that readers will throw down my book and pick up their Bibles with renewed
passion. The God of the Bible is the same God today, and He loves His kids with
the gut-level love of a parent. We can give ourselves over to that love
even—and perhaps especially—when we don’t understand His ways. I hope Martha’s
story encourages readers to reframe their wounds, to see their pain points as
access points for God’s strength. There are many things that can bring us “down
to the dust,” that make us keenly aware of our own need. We all have heaviness
that we carry, burdens we bear in silence, and we feel our own “dustiness” deep
in our bones. I pray this story helps us all believe that God is good not if
or when but now, right here in the heaviness of our hurt, and
that we will not be disappointed when we expect Him to be faithful.
What
can readers look forward to in Book 2 of the series? The scope of Book
2 is sweeping, and the research took me in surprising directions! I won’t give
away who the main character is, but let’s just say it’s a lady who doesn’t
receive nearly as much attention as she deserves. Book 1 took us to the
country. Book 2 whisks us into the city. Get ready for political intrigue,
family secrets, a marriage of convenience that blossoms into more, and many
grand-scale moments where the heroine must choose between safety and bold
faith.
Finally,
how can readers connect with you? My website (hmkstories.com) is the best
way to find me! Once there, readers can fill out my contact form to message me
directly and sign up for my Stories and Sundries MiniMag—a monthly-ish
newsletter full of book recs, product recs, giveaways, and more! I’m also
across socials with the handle @hmkstories. I love connecting with readers . .
. because I’m a reader myself, and I’ll gladly “talk shop” any day!
Thank
you, Heather, for sharing Up from
Dust on my blog. The idea for the story intrigued
me. I know my blog readers will want to read it.
Readers, here’s a
link to the book.
Leave a comment
for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these
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The only
notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to
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If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link: Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com