RIVER OF PERIL - Sandra Merville Hart - One Free Book

BIO: Award-Winning and Amazon Bestselling Author Sandra Merville Hart is past Executive Editor for DevoKids.com where she also contributed historical articles. She serves on the Planning Committee for Faith and Fellowship Book Festival. As Treasurer of ACFW Ohio, she has helped plan writing retreats and other events. Sandra is also a speaker, blogger, and workshop teacher.

Sandra is a founding member of The Erasers, a group that encourages and uplifts writers and readers. ERASERS is an acronym for “Edit, Rewrite, And Save. Edit. Repeat. Save.”

Sandra is thrilled that her Spies of the Civil War series was released by Wild Heart Books in 2022. Book 1 of the series, Avenue of Betrayal, is set in Washington DC in 1861. Boulevard of Confusion and Byway to Danger (Books 2 & 3) are set in Richmond, Virginia, in 1862. Byway to Danger won the Gold Illumination Award 2023. Actual historical spies will influence the lives of fictional characters. Books 4-6 in this series are set in Vicksburg, a Southern city the Union considered a prize it needed to capture. Streams of Mercy, Book 4, was published on March 26, 2024.

Sandra has taught at writers’ conferences, writers’ groups, and women’s retreats, participated in Author Panels, and led sessions at women’s retreats. As Treasurer of ACFW Ohio, she has helped plan writing retreats and other events. 

How did you come up with the idea for this story? River of Peril is Book 5 in my Spies of the Civil War Series. We met Felicity and Luke, the heroine and hero in our story, in Book 4, when several friends are introduced to readers.

Felicity and Luke were already courting and very much in love in the previous story. I wanted to give them a mighty hurdle to overcome in their relationship. As the story opens, we see Nurse Felicity’s horror when her soldier beau is among her wounded patients. Unfortunately, the situation worsens—Luke has amnesia and cannot remember her. The doctor cautions her to allow him to recall those hidden memories on his own, but her secret rips her heart apart.  

If you were planning a party with Christian authors of contemporary fiction, what six people would you invite and why? What a fun question! For my contemporary friends, I’d ask them to bring their favorite appetizers for supper.

I have many writer friends because I’ve been writing for years. It’s not easy to narrow it down to six, so I will choose some authors I’d love to talk with again soon—Deborah Sprinkle, Lisa Carter, Ane Mulligan, Sharon Lavy, Sharyn Kopf, and Rebecca Waters.

I’d add one more… Yvonne Lehman, who has gone on to her reward. She was such a sweet, fun, feisty author—and she was such an encouragement to me and hundreds of others. I’m not the only one who misses her friendship and sense of humor.

Now let’s do that for a party for Christian authors of historical fiction, what six people would you invite and why? Yes! Let’s have another party for more author friends. For my historical friends, I’d plan a meal with recipes from my cookbook written about 150 years ago. These recipes are not always easy to decipher so I’d try them out on my husband first.

However, it’s not any easier to whittle back this list. I’d invite KD Holmberg, Starr Ayers, Linda Dindzans, Debra DuPree Williams, Misty Beller, and Susan Mathis. And Lena Nelson Dooley, can you come too? 😊

I’d be honored to attend. 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? My biggest problem is that there’s not enough time to accomplish all my tasks/projects. One might imagine that writer’s block might attack after the completion of a book or a series. That’s not the case with me. I’m always planning ahead. Ideas for my next book/project begin to swirl while I’m still writing the last novel. I can’t wait to begin researching, yet I do think it’s healthy to take a creative break. That’s not always been possible.

Writing brings with it many other opportunities and we, as authors, always seem to have lots of irons in the fire. I try to remember to pray for guidance as a new opportunity arises. If I can’t forget about it, I feel that God is prompting me to pursue it. If I never think of it again, then I believe He’s telling me to pass on it.

What I most need to do is to keep my focus on what God wants me do. Ideas for my next series are taking shape and I’m praying for His guidance.

Tell us about the featured book.

Amnesia stole his memory, and now he’s fighting for the wrong side.

Orphaned and alone at sixteen, Felicity has found solace in serving others as a volunteer nurse. When she discovers her Confederate soldier beau, Luke Shea, among the wounded in her ward, her worst nightmares come true. Luke's shrapnel wound has stolen his memory, leaving him with no recollection of their love or his past. As Felicity struggles with the loss of the man she once knew, she turns her attention to the service of her broken country. But the more she learns about the brutal war, the more she realizes she can no longer stay silent. She becomes a Union spy, plunging herself into danger.

When Luke Shea awakes in a hospital with no memory of the last five years, he’s shocked to learn he's been fighting against the Union he once so strongly supported. And when he learns of his past courtship with his nurse, Felicity, he struggles to understand the man he was and what happened in those missing years. Determined to atone for his Confederate past, Luke also joins the Union cause as a spy.

As danger lurks at every turn, only a Divine hand can not only protect their lives, but give them a second chance for love and the future they both crave.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Friday, December 19, 1862, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Felicity Danielson hurried through the city streets of Vicksburg in the early-morning fog toward her volunteer job at the City Hospital. Some shops she passed were unlocking their doors for the day’s business, while others had been closed since the Union navy’s two-month attack on the city. Ultimately, the Confederates had won the battle, more’s the pity—and not only because Felicity supported the Union. Northern military leaders were too interested in her city located on a bluff by the mighty Mississippi River to leave them alone. They’d be back.

Her pace slowed as she approached an intersection. Five Confederate soldiers headed down the steep sidewalk toward the center of town, another common occurrence in occupied Vicksburg. Some soldiers had left after running the Union ships from the river, and others had replaced them. She lowered her eyes as their booted steps passed her on the other side of the cobblestone street. If the Twenty-first Mississippi Infantry—her beau Luke Shea’s Confederate regiment—were

How can readers find you on the Internet? I love to connect with readers. Thank you so much for asking!

I’d love to connect with readers on my blog and Facebook. Follow me on Goodreads and BookBub to find my all my books. Here are my links:

https://sandramervillehart.wordpress.com

https://www.facebook.com/sandra.m.hart.7

https://www.pinterest.com/sandramhart7/_saved/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8445068.Sandra_Merville_Hart

https://www.amazon.com/Sandra-Merville-Hart/e/B00OBSJ3PU/

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/sandra-merville-hart

https://twitter.com/Sandra_M_Hart

Thank you, Sandra, for sharing River of Peril with my blog readers and me. I know a lot of us will love this book.

Readers, here’s a link to the book.

https://www.amazon.com/River-Peril-Spies-Civil-Book-ebook/dp/B0CW1KQBWC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=WK9PRGLRSZ27&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CcmA3W9gPHRN8STFIsa5Fw.VQQLYZFL_5PJHLwvA9vWZl73oaiaJmngMu63NwciZHA&dib_tag=se&keywords=river+of+peril+sandra+merville&qid=1729551402&sprefix=River+of+Peril+%2Caps%2C92&sr=8-1

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