THE QUILTED HEART - Mona Hodgson - One Free Book

Dear readers, I read this delightful book as soon as it arrived. Even though it is a novella collection, it read as seamlessly as one book, just changing the hero and heroine from story to story. I loved that continuity almost as much as I loved the characters. Understanding how the Civil War affected the lives of each person, brought history to life. And I love history. As always with Mona’s novels, her skillful writing drew me into the center of the story and kept me there until the last page. I wasn’t ready for my time with these characters to end.

Hi, Lena. What fun to join you here. Hello, Everyone!

Welcome back, Mona. Tell us about your salvation experience.

I was seven years old when I attended Vacation Bible School at Trinity Baptist Church in Indio, California. During the Bible story time one morning, Mrs. Bacon spoke about sin, our separation from God, Jesus’ deity and sinless nature, Jesus’ death on the cross, His resurrection, and our forgiveness through belief in Him. That sunny June day in Southern California, I prayed, asking Jesus to forgive me and be my Savior.

I grew up in a Christian home with parents who were active in church and Child Evangelism Fellowship. At age 14, a freshman in high school, I attended a large Wednesday night youth group at Grace Baptist Church in Riverside, California. On one of those Wednesday nights, I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit to grow in a faith that was more “my own;” to go deeper in relationship, rather than to let religion shape my faith and walk.

You’re planning a writing retreat where you can only have four other authors. Who would they be and why?

Only four? Okay. Lauraine Snelling, Carol Cox, Carrie Turansky, Joanne Bischof because they all write Historical Romance that I love reading. They all love the Lord. They each enjoy a good laugh, and each one has tremendous heart.

Do you have a speaking ministry? If so, tell us about that.

I do have a speaking ministry, and I especially enjoy speaking at Christian women's retreats. I'm over-the-top excited about my newest book release, The Quilted Heart, because the title first belonged to my most popular retreat talk series by the same name. A quilted heart is a transformed heart—a heart transformed by God’s grace, Jesus’ blood shed for us, and the Holy Spirit’s renewal. Just as quilters repurpose scraps of cloth and create beautiful quilts, God pieces together the remnants in our lives that we would readily reject as shameful mistakes and tragic circumstances to make you and I a new creation. Beautiful.             You can learn more about The Quilted Heart Retreat at http://monahodgson.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/The-Quilted-Heart-Retreat-Series-Flyer.pdf . 

People are always telling me that they’d like to write a book someday. I’m sure they do to you, too. What would you tell someone who came up to you and said that?

Recognize and remember that writing for publication is a process and a journey. Expect delays, and detours. Enjoy the adventure! Make the most of writers’ conferences, critiques by published writers, and writers’ market guides and publishers’ Submission Guidelines.

Tell us about the featured book.

Tattered relationships and broken hearts, like a quilt, can be pieced together by God's love.

Once a week, Elsa Brantenberg hosts the Saint Charles Quilting Circle at her farmhouse on the outskirts of the riverside town of St. Charles, Missouri. The ladies who gather there have all lost men to the Civil War, and are facing their painful circumstances together in friendship and prayer. Can the tattered pieces of their hearts be stitched together by God's grace?

           

Women, especially, long for community and tend to engage social, emotional, and spiritual families. The means for making that connection may vary and change from place to place and time period to time period and generation to generation ... shade trees, front porches, quilting circles, Facebook groups, blogs, but we want to fit in and find a place of belonging. From a young age, we search for our social home.
           

In The Quilted Heart omnibus, the quilting circle provide that connection point for the female characters. In Dandelion on the Wind, the first of the three novellas, Mrs. Brantenberg had this to say to a new member, “Here in this quilting circle, none of us are alone. Not in our sorrows, nor in our triumphs.”

I'd love for you to meet Elsa, Maren, Emilie, Caroline, and the other inspiring women in The Quilted Heart novellas.

Dandelions on the Wind
When Maren Jensen took a job on Elsa Brantenberg’s St. Charles, Missouri farm,   she never expected to call the place her home. As she grows to love Mrs. Brantenberg and her granddaughter, Gabi, Maren is transformed from a lonely mail-order bride-without-a-groom to a beloved member of the Brantenberg household. But when Gabi’s father, Rutherford “Wooly” Wainwright, returns to the farm unexpectedly, everything changes for Maren, and she feels compelled to find another job. Are her choices in obedience to God, or is she running from His plan?

Bending Toward the Sun
Dedicated to her education and to helping her father in his general store, Emilie Heinrich is convinced she doesn't have time for love. But when a childhood friend returns to St. Charles, Missouri, after serving in the Civil War, his smile and charm captures Emilie’s eye and her heart. Will she be forced to choose between honoring her father and a future with a husband and family of her own?

Ripples Along the Shore
Change is brewing in St. Charles. A group of brave souls are preparing to head west on the Boone's Lick Wagon Train, led by the mysterious and handsome Garrett Cowlishaw, who served as a Confederate soldier in the war that killed Caroline’s husband. Despite her dislike for him, Caroline is tempted to join the wagon train and start fresh somewhere new, but when Mr. Cowlishaw forbids her­ a single woman­ to travel with them, will one man’s prejudice destroy Caroline’s hope for a new future? Or will the ripples of God’s love bring the answer she needs?

I’ve read the book, but please give us the first page for my blog readers.

Never mind that four months had passed since General Lee’s surrender. Maren never walked the apple orchard or the wheat field without careful watch for bushwhackers and jayhawkers. Four-year-old Gabi held tight to Maren’s hand while they followed Gabi’s grandmother to the field. When Mrs. Brantenberg’s walking stick sprung a branch in her path, the child’s gaze darted up the lane toward the orchard then back to the farmhouse and across the hillock to the five acres of wheat.

            “Are they coming again, Miss Maren.” Dread strained Gabi’s voice.

            Maren drew in a deep breath in the hopes it would remove any tension from her own voice. “The war is over, little one.” We should be safe. “God is with us. Like Oma said, ‘Fear is not of the Lord. We cannot live in fear. We must trust God.’”

            Gabi gave a quick nod, then began swinging Maren’s hand at her side.

            Fear is not of the Lord. We cannot live in fear. We must trust God.

            Maren willed her shoulders to relax into the child’s playful arm swinging. Still, she’d heard too many stories about raiders from the women in the quilting circle to let down her guard. To believe the fighting would ever end. The memories of the Union jayhawkers traipsing through the orchard picking apples and taking the steer from the pastures remained fresh in her mind too. She glanced toward the cabin in the far corner of the property, past the orchard. Now empty. She’d only heard about the Confederate bushwhackers who had raided the farm last year, but little Gabi remembered.

            Maren fanned the side of her bonnet against her ear to cool the onslaught of hot August air. Thankfully, she saw no sign of trespassers today. And if any outlaws did show their faces, Mrs. Brantenberg had her stick ready with a stack of sorrows backing it up.

            Mrs. Brantenberg stopped at the edge of the field. This close, Maren could see that two women didn’t do as even a job of planting as she and her father had in the old country.

            Gabi stepped up to the three-foot-high lawn, giggling. “They have whiskers like the cats do.” Her hands brushed the tips of the wheat stalks.

            Bent, the widow plucked one head and rolled the grains between her fingers.

            Maren did the same on the thinner area, where the stalks didn’t reach as high. The grain was soft and green inside. She didn’t need to taste it to know it’d be bitter. “Still a ways to go here.”

            When a covey of bobwhites exploded from within the crop, Gabi cried out and fell to the ground.

            Maren bent over the child. “Just thieving fly-by-nights. They learned their lesson, didn’t they?”

            Gabi nodded. “They scared me.”

            “Didn’t do my heart any good either.” Mrs. Brantenberg patted her chest. Then, smiling, she pressed the tip of her stick to the ground. “The wheat on the north end turned golden first. It’s more likely to be ready in just a few more days.”

How can readers find you on the Internet?

www.monahodgson.com/blog
https://www.facebook.com/Author.Mona?ref=hl
http://www.pinterest.com/monahodgson/
https://twitter.com/MonaHodgson

Click here to order your paperback or eBook copy of The Quilted Heart. (http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?work=220625)

Thanks so much, Lena, for this opportunity to connect with your followers. Blessings and Happy Reading to you all!

I thoroughly enjoyed spending this time with you, Mona.

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