Suzanne Woods Fisher's Blog, page 8
July 2, 2019
A Hard Goodbye
Last Thursday as I was out for a walk with the dog, my older brother Dave called to tell me that our beloved sister, Wendy, had died. We learned her sudden death was caused by a massive cardiac event—inexplicable and unavoidable. I can’t even begin to express the loss I feel, as well as her two daughters and husband, and all the rest of our family.
Wendy was my best friend, my crackerjack assistant (she went with me on book trips), my holiday planner, my go-to person for sharing family news. So not ready to say goodbye to her, but I am also deeply grateful for the lifelong gift of having Wendy as my sister, and I so look forward to being together again in Heaven. There is such peace in that knowledge. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).
July 1, 2019
Author Spotlight with Shawn Smucker
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Shawn Smucker’s newest book, Light from Distant Stars.
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Lori Smanski for winning Kate Breslin’s Far Side of the Sea.
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Shawn Smucker mesmerized readers with his debut novel The Day the Angels Fell, which won a 2018 Christianity Today Book Award. Now Smucker writes another spellbinding novel, Light from Distant Stars, which looks at how trauma affects our lenses on past and present events and the path to rediscovering grace and hope.
When Cohen Marah steps over the body of his father, he has no idea that he will tread into a labyrinth of memory. He recalls the dramatic events that led to his father being asked to leave his pastoral position, the game of baseball that somehow kept them together, and the two children in the forest who became his friends—and enlisted him in a dark and dangerous undertaking. As he confronts his traumatic past and his violent present, he must also ask himself the most frightening question of all—did he kill his father?
As the lines blur between what is real and what is imaginary, Light from Distant Stars relays a tale both eerie and enchanting, one that will have you questioning reality and reaching out for what is true, good, and genuine.
Summer Memories
I stood in center field, a 12-year-old kid wearing a ball cap with one of those adjustable bands that I could never get small enough. My ears stuck out at the side like wings. I pushed the hair out of my eyes and stared through 150 feet of summer haze towards home plate, waiting to see if the hitter would make contact.
Behind me, the tiny town of Gap, PA, sat at the intersection of two highways: Route 30, heading east and west, from Philadelphia to Lancaster, and Route 41, sprawling to the southeast, into the hills of Chester County. There was the Pizza Box and Gap Diner and, in those days, the brand-new McDonalds. There were two hills covered in old houses. That was it. That was the setting for what I would later think back on as The Catch.
The kid at home plate made good contact, and the ball bounced off his bat, rose up, higher and higher. I drifted, jogged, then ran backwards as fast as I could, tracking the ball, sprinting faster. When the ball plunged towards earth, I dove, opened my glove, and hoped for the best.
I remember hitting the ground hard. I remember reaching into my glove and, miracle of all miracles, finding the baseball hidden there, a treasure. I remember hopping up and running, so filled with joy and pride that it hurt, and my friends on the team slapped my back with their floppy leather gloves and clung to me with their spreading grins, jostling me on the head in their own kind of elation, my hat tipping to the side.
Did any of it happen exactly this way? I have co-written enough memoirs, and heard enough contradicting perspectives, to know that our memory is a tricky thing, subtle in the ways that it misleads us. Did I dive or fall over? Did I save the day or was the game well in hand? Did the entire team surround me, or did one friend come over and give me a smile?
I have never, until this day, 30 years later, wondered about the boy who hit the ball. Does he still remember the ping of the ball on his aluminum bat, the way it sailed towards the early moon? Was it the hardest he had ever hit a ball in his life? Did his stomach fall when he realized I had caught it?
Or has that moment vanished from his memories, as so many of my childhood disappointments have vanished from mine?
No matter. I remember how the sun set on those late, summer evenings, and the heavy smell of alfalfa freshly cut. I remember opening the car window and racing my hand up and down in the lukewarm air as we cut through fields on backroads that led all the way home. I remember falling asleep to the sound of raspy crickets and the blinking pulse of lightning bugs.
My favorite memory of summer? Summer itself is my favorite memory. No matter how dramatic The Catch might have been.
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Shawn Smucker is the author of the young adult novels The Day the Angels Fell and The Edge of Over There, as well as the memoir Once We Were Strangers. He
lives with his wife and six children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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June 24, 2019
Author Spotlight with Kate Breslin
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Kate Breslin’s newest book, Far Side of the Sea.
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Wendy Newcomb for winning Becky Wade’s Sweet on You.
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
In spring of 1918, Lieutenant Colin Mabry, a British soldier working with MI8 after suffering injuries at the front, receives an unexpected message by carrier pigeon: it is an urgent summons from Jewel Reyer, the woman he once loved and who saved his life—a woman he believed to be dead. Leaving Britain’s shores to return into war-torn France, he hopes his reunion with her will ease his guilt and this mission restores the courage he lost on the battlefield.
Colin is stunned when he arrives in Paris to discover the message came not from Jewel, but from a stranger who claims to be her half-sister, Johanna. Johanna works at a dovecote for French Army Intelligence; having found Jewel’s diary, she believes her sister is alive and in the custody of a German agent. With spies everywhere, Colin is at first skeptical of Johanna, but as they travel across France and Spain, a tentative trust begins to grow between them.
When their pursuit leads them straight into the midst of a treacherous plot, however, that trust is at stake, as danger and deception turn their search for answers into a battle for their lives.
Summer Memories
My favorite summer memory was the year John and I chose to renew our wedding vows. After twenty years of marriage, that spring my prince gave me a real church wedding, complete with gown, flowers, guests, and beautiful music. We also traveled, visiting Yellowstone Park and the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore and Deadwood, South Dakota, where in 1876, Wild Bill Hickok played his last hand of poker before getting shot in the back by an angry gambler.
Later on, we cruised British Colombia’s inside passage to Alaska, reveling in the ship’s 24-hour amenities of fine cuisine and poolside saunas, not to mention the incredible scenery along Western Canada’s inner coastline and the matchless beauty of our 49th state.
My most exciting travel adventure that summer, however, was flying across the vast Pacific to the city of Sasebo, Japan, on the island’s most southwestern tip. There my beloved and I were introduced to a new world of exotic foods, royal hospitality, and poignant moments of discovery.
John arrived first, taking a separate flight for his naval work assignment, while I followed days later, after memorizing the “Learn Japanese in a Hurry” booklet on my lap during a 15-hour flight from Seattle. Once we touched ground at Fukuoka’s airport, John, along with his American co-worker, Jerry, and lovely Japanese wife, Kumi, whisked me off to a restaurant forbidden to Americans (because no one in the establishment speaks English) and my taste buds met with the sumptuous magic of Wasabi sauce, yakitori with beef tongue and octopus, and delectable Japanese fried rice.
At Sasebo’s daily outdoor market, vendors hawked teas, fruits and vegetables, and fresh fish ready for the cookpot. I also toured the famous Yonkacho Arcade, over half a mile long and the largest mall in Japan. It’s one-stop shopping for restaurants, department stores, and gift shops, so I indulged in buying a souvenir, a good luck Gankake-ushi (Wishing Cow.)
Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines abound in Japan, yet the lovely Catholic church of Mirua-cho in downtown Sasebo remains as a symbol of hope. As a writer of wartime stories, I was fascinated to learn that during WWII, the church was painted black to avoid becoming a target for air strikes.
After a few days of sightseeing in the town, we drove south to the city of Nagasaki, crossing the famous Saikai Bridge. Traveling across, I thought of the movie, Godzilla, because I was sure the 1000-foot-long arched bridge was featured in the old Japanese film.
Our first stop was to see the famous Nagasaki Peace Park, and I was deeply moved at the bronzed statues, particularly those of women and young children with arms outstretched, as though begging for an end to the ravages of war. (Quick WWII history: in early August 1945, Nagasaki was one of two Japanese cities struck with the atomic bomb that ended the conflict in the Pacific Theater.) Then to Ground Zero—the place where the bomb had struck, and just yards away stood a lonely remnant wall of the Urakami Cathedral, annihilated in the blast. Near the wreckage fluttered hundreds of colorful paper cranes in the breeze, each placed there by someone who prayed for peace. It’s difficult to describe what I felt at the time, only to say it left me somber and reflective. As I write this piece, gazing at the old photographs, my memory remains fresh with the knowledge of what war can do.
On our last day in Sasebo, we met with John’s Japanese co-workers, our new friends, and enjoyed a final, fun-filled meal together in a “No Americans Allowed” establishment. Then we boarded a Dutch galleon and sailed through Kujukushima, the 99 Islands, in Japan’s Saikai National Park. As our ship swam smoothly through the breath-taking archipelago of lush, green islands, I imagined I was Pilot-Major John Blackthorne seeing this beautiful, strange land for the first time in James Clavell’s, Shōgun. And as the sun slowly set on this most western part of the globe, I wondered how I could ever go back to modern life.
I did go back of course, and as our plane took off over the island, I considered this land of ancient dynasties and enchantment, silk kimonos and mighty Samurai, and I was warmed with memories of friendship, hospitality, and a “second honeymoon” adventure I would never forget.
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Former bookseller-turned-author Kate Breslin enjoys life in the Pacific Northwest with her family. A writer of travel articles and award-winning poetry, Kate’s first novel, For Such A Time, was shortlisted for the Christy and RITA awards and won ACFW’s 2015 Carol award for Debut Novel. Kate’s fourth novel, Far Side of the Sea, released in March 2019. When she’s not writing inspirational fiction, Kate enjoys reading, hiking in Washington’s beautiful woodlands, and traveling abroad.
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June 17, 2019
Author Spotlight with Becky Wade
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Becky Wade’s new book, Sweet on You.
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Anne Rightler for winning Beth White’s A Reluctant Belle.
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Britt Bradford and Zander Ford have been the best of friends since they met thirteen years ago. Unbeknown to Britt, Zander has been in love with her for just as long.
Independent and adventurous Britt channels her talent into creating chocolates at her hometown shop. Zander is a bestselling author who’s spent the past 18 months traveling the world. He’s achieved a great deal but still lacks the only thing that ever truly mattered to him–Britt’s heart.
When Zander’s uncle dies of mysterious causes, he returns to Merryweather, Washington, to investigate, and Britt is immediately there to help. Although this throws them into close proximity, both understand that an attempt at romance could jeopardize their once-in-a-lifetime friendship. But while Britt is determined to resist any change in their relationship, Zander finds it increasingly difficult to keep his feelings hidden.
As they work together to uncover his uncle’s tangled past, will the truth of what lies between them also, finally, come to light?
Summer Memories
When I was growing up, my father was a teacher, which allowed him weeks of travel time in the summer. Because of that, my parents took us overseas to Europe for the entire summer two different times before I turned ten.
That’s me in the yellow shirt at age 8
We traveled inside a VW van that we fondly called the “Jaffa bus” because of the Jaffa Drink advertisement emblazoned on its side. (Jaffa Drink is an orange-flavored soft drink produced in Finland). A bed took up most of the back of the Jaffa bus, though there was a small rectangle of floor space directly behind the two front seats. During the day, my sisters and I stretched out across the bed in the back and filled coloring book after coloring book while we drove. At night, we pulled into campgrounds and slept inside the bus. Yes. All five of us! My bed pallet spanned the two front seats.
We were too young to mourn the lack of a nearby bathroom, seat belts, fancy food, air conditioning, comfort, and square footage. We roved around the campgrounds, playing. We visited beautiful and historic places. We listened to mom or dad read books to us in the van at night. And we saw huge swaths of Europe.
I look back and I’m amazed that my parents were brave and hardy enough to spend their summers overseas in a VW van with three small kids. But I’m so very glad they did. We had the best time!
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Becky Wade is the Carol and Christy award-winning author of heartwarming, humorous, and swoon-worthy contemporary inspirational romances.
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June 15, 2019
June 10, 2019
Author Spotlight with Beth White
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Beth White’s new book, A Reluctant Belle.
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Charlette Bond for winning Susie Finkbeiner’s All Manner of Things.
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Beth White has charmed readers with her historical romance novels set in the Deep South. In A Reluctant Belle, book 2 in the Daughtry House trilogy, White returns readers to Tupelo, Mississippi, and offers a captivating tale of a love triangle that is entangled in the turbulence, dangers, and intrigues of America’s post–Civil War.
Impoverished Southern belle Joelle Daughtry has a secret. By day she has been helping her sisters in their quest to turn the run-down family plantation into a resort hotel after the close of the Civil War. But by night and under a male pseudonym, she has been penning articles for the local paper in support of the construction of a Negro school. With the Mississippi arm of the Ku Klux Klan gaining power and prestige, Joelle knows she is playing a dangerous game.
Desperate to protect her family and the hotel business, Joelle forms an alliance with her longtime nemesis, Schuyler Beaumont, who is the current investor in the Daughtry house renovation and has also taken over his assassinated father’s candidacy for state office. Joelle grapples with her feelings when animosity becomes respect. Will she have to divulge all her secrets and reveal who she really is to her sisters, her fiancé, the Ku Klux Klan, and a disturbing new romantic interest?
Summer Memories
Most of my best summer memories involve my first cousins. Though I grew up in Southaven, Mississippi, a suburb of Memphis, my family originates from the southern end of the state, both my parents having grown up in Lucedale. My three younger sisters and I would spend large chunks of the summer with our grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins on the Gulf Coast.
Y’all, it’s hot in South Mississippi in June and July. At my grandmother’s house on Cook’s Corner aka Highway 63 (where my grandfather used to own a country store, the real version of Cracker Barrel), we all wore as few clothes as possible and went barefoot one hundred percent of the time. Every morning we’d walk down to Cedar Creek (the swimming hole near my grandmother’s house) to swim. That creek is cold as ice, so it’s best to just jump in and get it over with. And try not to think about the snakes and fish you might be scaring off.
Then you go home and eat peanut butter-jelly or grilled cheese sandwiches (on a handmade quilt out on the lawn), washed down by sweet tea in jelly jars and followed up by homemade cake with caramel icing. In the afternoon, all thirteen grandchildren would play Rock School on the porch steps and swing, including the littlest ones who might be barely big enough to talk. Or maybe prowl around in the old store if it’s raining, thumbing through old shape-note hymnals that smell like mildew, and gathering buttons and Nehi caps left under the shelves. After dark, mosquitoes big as hummingbirds eat you alive, leaving giant, itching welts on your arms and legs when you play “Ain’t No Boogers Out Tonight.”
That night you sleep on sheets that smell like fresh air and lavender, with the windows open, listening to tree frogs chirr in the camellia bushes around the house, then wake up to birds singing in the magnolias and mimosas and oaks and the smell of bacon and grits and fried eggs coming from the kitchen.
And start it all over again.
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Beth White’s day job is teaching music at an inner-city high school in historic Mobile, Alabama. A native Mississippian, she writes historical romance with a Southern drawl and is the author of The Pelican Bride, The Creole Princess, The Magnolia Duchess, and A Rebel Heart. Her novels have won the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, the RT Book Club Reviewers’ Choice Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award.
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June 3, 2019
Author Spotlight with Susie Finkbeiner
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Susie Finkbeiner’s new book, All Manner of Things.
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Karen Klepsteen for winning Bethany Turner’s Wooing Cadie McCaffrey.
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Susie Finkbeiner is a CBA bestselling author who has mastered the skill of writing stories that tug at the heart of every reader. In her newest novel, All Manner of Things, Finkbeiner invites readers into the hearts and home of the Jacobson family during a time in which the chaos of the outside world has shaken their lives and their community in ways they never imagined.
When Annie Jacobson’s brother Mike enlists as a medic in the Army in 1967, he sends Annie a letter with the address of their long-estranged father, Frank Jacobson. Mike instructs Annie to contact their father if anything should happen to him in Vietnam.
When Frank’s father dies, Annie reaches out to her father, who returns home to face the tragedy. Frank’s return adds an extra measure of complication to an already tense time. As they work toward healing and pray fervently for Mike’s safety overseas, the Jacobsons must find a way to pull together as a family, regardless of past hurts. They grapple with the tension of holding both hope and grief in the same hand, even as they learn to turn to the One who binds the wounds of the brokenhearted.
Award-winning author Jocelyn Green states, “Susie Finkbeiner evokes a mood, an ambiance, a tide of emotions just below the surface of the printed page.” This is never truer than in All Manner of Things. Readers will fall deeply in love with the endearing Jacboson family as they join them on their tumultuous journey.
Summer Memories
When I was younger I was a bit of a tomboy. If given the choice between playing catch or Barbies I’d run and grab my baseball and mitt. If asked if I wanted to put on makeup or ride bikes, I’d push up the kickstand of old Dusty Rose and pedal away as fast as I could.
What? Even a tomboy can have a fancy pink bike.
I was the kind of girl who wasn’t afraid of getting a little dirt under her nails or giving a much-deserved punch in the gut to an older kid in my dad’s Boy Scout troop. I was scrappy. I was spunky. I was a little toughie.
What else could one expect from a girl who watched Annie on repeat and read her Ramona Quimby books until they fell apart?
One of the best spots for a girl like me in Lansing, Michigan was a place called Fenner Arboretum. It was a nature preserve with acres upon acres of untouched woods, hiking trails, and even a prairie. When spending time there, one could no longer hear the rush of traffic or feel the draw of the busy city. While at that preserve, it was easy to feel like the rest of the world was miles away.
My dad took us there often, even letting me tag along on Scout trips. I remember most vividly one of the first days I spent there. It was the summer of 1988 and I was ten years old. It was blisteringly hot and achingly dry. We were smack dab in the middle of an uncommon, historic drought.
I was glad that my dad had reminded us all to fill our canteens before we left.
Under the cover of ancient trees, we enjoyed relief from the sun, feeling cool enough to sprint between the trunks and leap over undergrowth. We might have played Capture the Flag that day or a wild game of hide-and-seek. I don’t remember.
What I do remember is when we finished the game, one of the older scouts said he wanted to show us something. We followed him off the trail and into a restricted zone.
“There’s something in that fenced in area,” he said.
“What is it?” another of the boys asked.
“You’ll just have to see for yourself.”
The fence was covered with shrubs, too thick to see through. The boys and I shushed each other and tried walking toe to heel, the way we’d been taught that Native American scouts might have.
Rounding a corner, we reached the gate. And, standing on the other side of the chain link fence, stood a beast that took my very breath away.
The way I remember it, the bison was as large as a house. I know that can’t be true. But at ten, everything seems bigger. Horns curved up out of his scruffy head. Mats of tightly curled fur hung from his flanks. His bearded chin touched the tops of overgrown weeds at the fence line.
“Is it real?” one of the boys whispered.
“Of course it is, dummy,” the boy who led us there answered.
The boys did as they often will. Ribbed each other for being scared and dared the younger ones to touch it through the space in the gate.
I ignored them, letting their voices fade into the background. Nearing the gate, but not getting too close, I saw right into the animal’s eyes. They were deeply brown, the color of his fur. I wanted so badly to reach through the fence — I knew my hand would fit — and touch the spot between his eyes. I wondered if he was soft or rough. I thought maybe he’d feel wooly.
If only I’d had the courage to try.
The boys moved on, looking for the next adventure that — if memory serves — involved finding a garter snake.
I lagged behind just a minute longer, facing down the bison, in awe of something so powerful, so wonderful, so enormous. And in that moment I realized how very small I was.
For years after, I looked for the bison every time I visited the nature center. Sometimes he was grazing far out in the field. Others he stayed in his structure. Never again did I encounter him so close like I did that dry day in the summer of ’88.
It was a moment laced with magic.
The kind of magic a summer day holds for a spunky little tomboy.
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Susie Finkbeiner is the CBA bestselling author of A Cup of Dust, A Trail of Crumbs, and A Song of Home. She serves on the Breathe Christian Writers Conference planning committee, volunteers her time at Ada Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and speaks at retreats and women’s events across the state. Susie and her husband have three children and live in West Michigan.
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May 27, 2019
Author Spotlight with Bethany Turner
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Bethany Turner’s new book, Wooing Cadie McCaffrey.
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Licha Haney for winning Natalie Walters’ Living Lies.
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Christy Award finalist Bethany Turner captivated readers with her witty debut novel, The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck. Now she ramps up the romance once again in Wooing Cadie McCaffrey.
Cadie McCaffrey and her boyfriend Will are victims of a storybook romance grown cold. With no prospects of a proposal in sight, Cadie believes it is time to let him go before life passes her by. When a misunderstanding leads to a mistake, leaving her hurt, disappointed, and full of regret, she finally sends him packing.
But Will pulls out all the romantic stops in an effort to win her back. With the dubious guidance of his former pro-athlete work friends and tactics drawn from Cadie’s favorite romantic comedies, Will is determined to figure out how he can be the man Cadie wanted him to be. It’s a foolproof plan. What could possibly go wrong?
Anyone who enjoys a good romance or binges romantic comedies on Netflix will devour this delightful story. Bethany Turner has a gift of dealing with thorny issues with wit, humor, and empathy that is sure to appeal to readers’ hearts.
Summer Memories
I’ve been trying to single out my best summer memory from childhood, but I haven’t been having much luck. For about ten seconds that worried me. Do I not have any great summer memories? Well, I quickly ruled out that possibility. Summer meant time away from school. Summer meant trips to my grandparents’ house, about four hours away, and I loved being there. My birthday is even in the summer! Ooh! Maybe that’s it. This summer I’ll turn forty. Is that the point when you lose the ability to differentiate one childhood memory from another? And then I started thinking of a million family experiences that I don’t actually remember, but I sometimes feel as if I do. Do you have “memories” like that? I’ve seen all the photos and heard all the stories so many times that I can see it all as if I were there. And I was. But I was one year old.
Can it just be, I wonder, that I have so many good memories—not to mention a fond remembrance of my childhood in general—that it’s nearly impossible to sort out all the joy and happiness and laughter and love, and narrow it down to one memory? Yes. I have no doubt that’s the case, and I feel abundantly blessed that’s the case.
But that also sounds like a cop-out, so here is one quick, wonderful memory. My grandfather and I were buddies. Big time. He had a Commodore 64 computer and approximately a gazillion games on floppy disks (which, honest to goodness, I’m realizing for the first time right now as I write this, he probably somehow pirated…) and whenever we visited, he and I played games nearly non-stop. One of the best memories I have is playing the Commodore 64 Barbie game with my grandfather. In the game, Barbie would get a call from Ken, inviting her to join him for a picnic, or dinner, or at the beach, or my personal favorite, the prom. Regardless of the invitation, Barbie would respond, “Sounds like fun. See you in an hour!” (Only Barbie can prepare for an impromptu prom in an hour or less.) Then you would drive Barbie around town in her convertible. You picked out her clothes, her shoes, her hairstyle…but you had to get her home and ready for Ken within the hour (which was actually about five minutes). And this, my friends, is where the treasured memories really begin. Because my grandfather and I were mischievous. We loved making Barbie miss her date. There would be a note from Ken on the door if you were more than one minute late because Ken waits for no woman! But he would call again immediately, invite Barbie to something else, and it would all begin again.
But there was one thing we loved even more than making Barbie miss her date. Our favorite thing in the entire world was getting Barbie ready for the wrong event. Picture it, if you will. Barbie in a ball gown and a sweeping updo…at the beach. Barbie in a bikini and pigtails…at the prom. The possibilities were endless! (Okay, it was the mid-80’s. The technology didn’t actually allow for endless possibilities…) Over the course of years, we never got tired of tormenting poor Barbie. And now, more than thirty years later, that is cemented as one of my most treasured memories.
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Bethany Turner is the award-winning author of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck and the director of administration for Rock Springs Church in southwest Colorado. A former bank executive and a three-time cancer survivor (all before she turned 35), Bethany knows that when God has plans for your life, it doesn’t matter what anyone else has to say. Because of that, she’s chosen to follow his call to write. She lives with her husband and their two sons in Colorado, where she writes for a new generation of readers who crave fiction that tackles the thorny issues of life with humor and insight.
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May 20, 2019
Author Spotlight with Natalie Walters
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Natalie Walters’ new book, Living Lies.
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Amy Bradsher for winning Jill Eileen Smith’s The Heart of a King.
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Natalie Walters has been a military wife for 22 years and comes from a family with members who have served in either the military or law enforcement. She now utilizes her expansive knowledge to create a fully formed, emotionally rich look at the cost of service and secrets. In Living Lies, book one in the Harbored Secrets series, Walters’s fresh new voice pulls readers into an edge-of-your-seat plot with more than a few surprises.
After the death of her husband, Lane Kent returned home to Walton, Georgia, with her young son—and a secret. Dangerously depressed, Lane is looking for hope but instead finds the body of a murdered teenage girl.
Lane’s life becomes unexpectedly intertwined with Deputy Charlie Lynch to uncover the truth behind the murder. But when the truth hits too close to home, she’ll have to decide if saving the life of another is worth the cost of revealing her darkest secret.
Living Lies adeptly weaves a riveting story with a tantalizing mix of complex characters whose chemistry and snappy dialogue are sure to have readers coming back for more.
Summer Memories
Summers were never complete without gatherings at my grandparent’s home. My father is the youngest of six children. I am one of fifteen grandchildren. We come from a German/Hispanic family where food is nearly as important as family…nearly.
There was really only one rule: No one was allowed inside unless you had to use the restroom or were crying and then it had better be a life or death situation. Of course, that didn’t stop us from triple dog daring each other to sneak into the house only to be chased out of the kitchen by my grandma—I’m fairly certain she actually did have eyes in the back of her head.
Something magical happened in my grandparent’s backyard. We never ran out of things to do. I remember there was a croquet set, three or four old metal toy trucks that had once belonged to my dad and his brothers, an old tricycle with a flat wheel, and a frisbee or ball. Nothing like what fills backyards these days but it was enough to keep the fifteen of us occupied for hours. When we became bored we’d pull out a piece of cardboard and take turns break dancing to the cheers and laughter (mostly laughter) of our parents, or see how high we could stack ourselves into a pyramid before tumbling into the grass, or we’d invent new versions of tag, running around until our cheeks were flushed and the hot, desert day cooled, turning the sky into the prettiest shades of pink, peach, and lavender.
Mealtime was probably the only thing that slowed any of us down. Long tables would be covered in a variety of food choices but always included fresh green chile (not chili, which is completely different) that would be added to everything. Even ice cream. The best part of the family gathering was always the fresh, hand-churned ice cream, which my grandpa required all grandchildren to participate in if they wanted to eat it. Each of us would be required to hold down the top as my grandpa rotated the crank over and over until the ingredients magically turned into the best ice cream ever made.
My grandparents have passed but their love for family, summer gatherings, and homemade ice cream will live on in my heart forever and it’s a blessing I hope to pass down to my own kids and grandkids.
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Natalie Walters is a military wife of 22 years and currently resides in Hawaii with her soldier husband and their three kids. She writes full-time and has been published in Proverbs 31 magazine and has blogged for Guideposts online. In addition to balancing life as a military spouse, mom, and writer, she loves connecting on social media, sharing her love of books, cooking, and traveling. Natalie comes from a long line of military and law enforcement veterans and is passionate about supporting them through volunteer work, races, and writing stories that affirm no one is defined by their past.
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May 13, 2019
Author Spotlight with Jill Eileen Smith
Enter below for a chance to win a copy of Jill Eileen Smith’s new book, The Heart of a King.
Winner will be announced in the next Author Spotlight feature. Congratulations to Connie Bolick Lee for winning Ann H. Gabhart’s The Refuge.
Please email my assistant Christen to claim your prize. Note: This post contains affiliate links meaning I will get a small commission if you click and buy from that link.
Publishers Weekly has stated that Jill Eileen Smith “reimagines the biblical story . . . with expert attention to historical and cultural detail.” In The Heart of a King, Smith transports readers to the exotic and ancient land of Israel to visit its wisest and wealthiest king. Imagine the tale of King Solomon as never told before—through his eyes and the eyes of four of the women he loved.
King Solomon was wealthy and wise beyond measure. He could—and did— have anything he wanted, including many women from many lands. In this engrossing novel, you’ll meet Solomon and four of the women who entered his harem: Naamah the desert princess, Abishag the shepherdess, Siti the daughter of a pharaoh, and Nicaula the queen of Sheba. Each woman captured King Solomon’s heart in different ways, and he indulged his desires despite wisdom’s warning.
When life takes a turn against those desires and Solomon’s role is tested, he must decide whether his wisdom ultimately benefited him and those he loved—or whether it betrayed them. Did they ever find what they spent their lives searching for? Was life truly meaningless, or was there something more?
Childhood Summer Memory
Probably my absolute favorite summer memories from childhood began several months before summer vacation. My dad’s entire family lived in California, while we lived in Michigan. So every now and then, after my brother and sister were married (I was the baby of the family), my dad and I would look at each other and say, “Let’s go to California!”
While we were convinced it was a great idea, it took a little bit of coaxing for my mom to agree to travel. Looking back, I can understand. In those days, we didn’t hop a plane. We either drove 3000 miles or took the train. Most of the time we drove. One year my dad decided to make the trip even longer and drove 8000 miles! So we tucked in a little extra scenery.
I loved going to California because that’s where most of my cousins lived and my dad’s siblings and parents. I didn’t get to see much of my grandma and grandpa growing up, so I enjoyed those visits. And one aunt and uncle would always invite the whole family to gather for a family reunion when we were there. I have fond memories of that state for that reason.
Now my kids live out west – some in California – and my grandparents are buried there. So the state still holds a piece of my heart. I suspect it always will. I keep thinking I might like to live there someday just for the weather, but God hasn’t said “go” yet, so we wait on Him.
Still, I will never forget my dad’s excitement when he got the itch to visit his family. I was his partner in crime, so to speak, in convincing my mom. (It didn’t take much convincing.) And I treasure those memories.
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Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling and award-winning author of the biblical fiction series The Wives of King David, Wives of the Patriarchs, and Daughters of the Promised Land, as well as the nonfiction book When Life Doesn’t Match Your Dreams. Her research into the lives of biblical women has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times. Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.
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