Milla Holt's Blog, page 4

The Pastor’s Place in Romance

Once every month, I blog on InspyRomance. This month, I invited my friend and fellow author Emily Dana Botrous to write a guest post. She shared a thoughtful, excellent piece about pastors as romantic leads in Christian fiction, and also included a link to a free book. Check out the post here to meet Emily and find out more about the amazing books she writes.

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All Things New is out Today!

All Things New, the Mosaic Collection’s spring/summer anthology is out today! I’m so excited that these stories are going out into the world, and I pray they’re a blessing to everyone who reads them.

Many of my author friends tell me they have far more ideas than they could ever write about. Their problem is not “what to write,” but “what to write first.” And even while sorting out their existing ideas, they have a seemingly bottomless spring of story inspiration. It’s like all they need to do is turn a tap, and the ideas spring forth.

I’m not like that. For me, getting ideas for stories is more like strip mining than turning on a fire hose. I have to chip away at a lot of rubble before I get to a workable seam. That’s why I was so delighted when, for once, I got an idea easily.

The inspiration for Lost and Found, my story in All Things New, presented itself to me when I wasn’t looking for it at all. In fact, I was fast asleep.

I dreamed about a young woman who found an abandoned dog and decided to give it a home. But that choice ends up changing her life in more ways than she ever imagined.

Lost and Found ended up looking rather different from the dream that inspired it, but it’s been such a rewarding process to write, including involving my readers in choosing the dog’s name.

All Things New is available in paperback and ebook formats.

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Stories of Redemption and Renewal

The Mosaic Collection’s summer anthology, All Things New, is available for preorder.

When their own mistakes or the actions of others derail the hopes and plans of the men and women in these eight stories, is it too late to find redemption and a fresh start?

The Key by Candace West
Lost and Found by Milla Holt
Scarlet by Sara Davison
Reinventing Josie by Angela D. Meyer
Taste Budding by Deb Elkink
Coming Home by Brenda S. Anderson
Souvenir in My Pocket by Johnnie Alexander
How Life Begins by Eleanor Bertin
As they journey through heartache and challenges, each one discovers the powerful truth that only God can take what is broken and make it new again.

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Join Our Launch Team!

Things are shaping up behind the scenes for the launch of the Mosaic Collection’s summer anthology, All Things New. We’re gathering readers to be part of our launch team. If you join, you’ll get a free early copy of the anthology and help us spread the word. If this is something you’re interested in doing, look here for more information about what’s involved. We’d love you on board!

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An Honest, Unflinching Story of Redemption

My Review

I’ve been looking forward to the second story in Angela D. Meyer’s Applewood Hill series, and this book did not disappoint.

Where Healing Starts doesn’t give easy answers in its portrayal of the fallen world in which we live. This includes the fact that many sins have far-reaching consequences. Although the father of the now adult Hannigan siblings repented of his abusive behaviour while his children were young, his conversion didn’t erase the evil he’d done. His children bear the twisted legacy of that abuse, carrying devastating wounds that push the vicious cycle on.

Joanna shows this through her self-destructive behavior. My heart ached for her as she lurched from one bad choice to another. But Where Healing Starts also shows the power of God’s grace. His love and healing are real, and we see that through the way he patiently draws Joanna towards himself.

There’s a twist I didn’t expect at the end, but it fits in with the themes of this book. I look forward to reading the next story and finding out what happens to the characters.

If you like realistic fiction dealing with flawed characters finding redemption, this is a story for you.

About When Healing Starts

Title: Where Healing Starts – Applewood Hill Book 2

Author: Angela D. Meyer

Genre: Christian Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Family Drama

Release Date: May 11, 2022

Blurb:

Joanna and Blake Hannigan grew up in an angry home and made an all-for-one pact—them against the world—in order to survive. Now that pact may keep them from what they each long for.

While doing community service for shoplifting, Joanna’s walls begin to come down. She wonders if she does have something of value inside of her. But, still full of bitterness, she can’t get off the path to self-destruction.

Will a near death experience put her on the road to redemption?

Blake refuses to accept the consequences for putting his brother-in-law in the hospital. He runs from the law and does the unthinkable.

In the face of impending disaster, will Blake’s choices lead to healing?

Unless the siblings realize their pact can’t save them, they may not find the One who can.

About Angela D. MeyerAuthor Angela D. Meyer

Angela D. Meyer writes fiction that showcases God’s ability to redeem and restore the brokenness in our lives. Now that her two children are grown, she spends her life writing instead of homeschooling, stays active at church, and is plotting what to do with the rest of her life. She enjoys sunrises and sunsets, hanging out with friends, a good laugh, and reading. Someday, she would love to vacation by the ocean.

Learn more about Angela’s books on her website. Sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to hear about her new book releases.

Interview with Angela D. Meyer (Part 2)

As part of Mosaic Collection’s Novel Way blog tour for Where Healing Starts, I’m delighted to share part two of an interview with Angela D. Meyer. Part 1 is available on Daysong Reflections.

What was the hardest thing about writing the book?

Researching. In order to create the character of Joanna, I interviewed someone who had been through some similar background issues. Although their lives looked nothing alike in the walking out of grace and redemption, the feelings and emotions I did my best to borrow from her and her family

What motivated you to write on this topic?

When I was a young adult, the early years of being out of the house and on my own, I had numerous conversations with my sisters about why we did life the way we did. We each had similar upbringing, yet each of us turned out so different. What from our childhood influenced certain behaviors and choices?

This morphed into the idea of the Hannigan family. How their upbringing influenced who they became as adults and how they worked past those dysfunctional influences to find God and His grace for redemption.

Note: This is not in any way a retelling of my family.

Did you plan out the entirety of this story, or did it evolve as you were writing it?

The idea for the Applewood Hill Series came as a whole, the general direction for each of the Hannigan siblings’ lives, their struggles and their overcoming. The details have worked themselves out as I write. The characters often surprised me with the direction they took the story.

Do you plan on writing a sequel to this story?

Yes! The third book in the series, Where Joy Starts, will be released in December of this year. Where Joy Starts will continue the story of the Hannigan siblings and God’s redemption in the middle of their family’s pain.

What do you want readers to take away from your book?

That God can and does redeem anything that we are willing to give to Him.

Connect with AngelaWebsite: https://www.angeladmeyer.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angeladmeyer/ (@angeladmeyer)Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAngela...Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/angel...Newsletter Subscription Link: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/5f496b... Chance to Win!

As part of this book’s launch, Angela is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card via Rafflecopter. You can enter here.

Additional Blog Stops

The launch and giveaway fun doesn’t end here! Check out the other stops in Angela’s blog tour.

May 11 – Daysong Reflections  Author Interview, Part 1
May 11 – Milla Holt – Author Interview, Part 2 (This post)

May 12 – Stories of Hope – Book Trailer

May 12 – Johnnie Alexander – Excerpt, Part 1

May 13 – Cardinal Bluff Reviews – Excerpt, Part 2

May 13 – Library Lady’s Kid Lit – Character Interview with Joanna Hannigan

May 14 – Brenda S. Anderson –  Character Interview with Blake Hannigan

May 15 – Texas Book-aholic –  Setting Inspiration

May 16 – Ravenz Reviewz – Deleted Scene, Part 1

May 17 – Batya’s Bits – Deleted Scene, Part 2

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Happy Book Birthday to Me!

Unrequited love? I could write a book on it. In fact, a year ago, I did! My husband was my first boyfriend, and I met him when I was a couple of months shy of thirty. By that time, I’d had a long sad string of unreturned crushes. I’ve fancied boys who barely knew I existed. You know those women who have nice guys lining up to ask them out? That wasn’t me. I only seemed to attract people with whom I had zero chemistry, while the guys I liked would chase after other girls.

At the same time, I’ve had very close platonic friendships with boys and young men who liked me a lot, but not “in that way”.

That’s one reason Eden, the main character in Hidden in Her Heart, resonates with me. Eden is hiding a lot. She’s hiding her feelings for her best friend, hiding her past, and hiding her vulnerabilities. She’s experienced a friendship with a young man whom God placed in her life exactly when she needed someone. But when she realised her feelings for him ran deeper than friendship, he was looking at another woman.

I totally got Eden’s pain when the man she loved didn’t see her the same way. But it didn’t mean she was worthless. Although I wrote a happily-ever-after ending for Eden, I know that marriage won’t happen for everyone, and a lot of crushes will end in heartbreak. Many wonderful Christian men and women will never marry.

But despite that, I still see tremendous value in writing romance. It’s a wonderful medium for showing the personal growth that has to happen for people to deal with their weaknesses, heal, and walk into the plans God has for them.

Back when I felt like I was on the shelf, overlooked and undervalued, I knew I had to be okay with being on my own, content to accept the fact that marriage might be something that never happened for me. I learned that I didn’t need the seal of endorsement of a romantic relationship to tell me I’m special. Romantic love is a wonderful gift, but it’s not the be-all-and-end-all, especially since we have our identity in Christ, and he is our primary and only unfailing source of love, comfort, and blessing.

I hope that message comes across in Hidden in Her Heart.

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Heart-Melting, Soul-Stirring Romance

Emily Dana Botrous is an extraordinary writer. I’m a huge fan of her work. While she has a beautiful way with words, her writing superpower is telling stories of broken and hurting people finding redemption and love. With Love, Melody is her best book yet. I didn’t think so at first, since I was uneasy about the main character TJ pretending to be somebody else on a dating app so he could try to get close to the best friend he’s loved since they were both young teenagers.

But as the story unfolded, I loved how Emily showed these characters stumbling forward through their mistakes and learning to give in, first of all to God’s love for them and their own love for each other.

As is always the case with Emily’s books, this one deals with some deep issues. But that’s exactly what I love about her stories: she’s not afraid of engaging with gritty subjects and flawed people.

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Love, Faith & Tender Kisses

Boy meets girl. Man meets woman. Sparks fly. All good love stories start here and usually face a myriad of challenges before the young couple find that together they are better. This set of Contemporary Christian romance stories come from writers across both sides of the pond and Down Under, proving that romance is not only a sweet thing, it’s global. Here’s a set of stories to inspire, encourage faith, and meet all the warm-fuzzy expectations.

My novella Last Flight Home is part of the Love, Faith & Tender Kisses anthology, along with six other heartwarming stories, one each from Lisa Renee, Meredith Resce, Lorana Hoopes, Carolyn Miller, Narelle Atkins, and Autumn Macarthur.

Grab it now at the online retailer of your choice.

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Sweet, tender romantic suspense

I’m delighted to be part of the Novel Way Blog Tours with The Mosaic Collection as we celebrate the release of Sara Davison’s latest Christian romantic suspense novel. (Keep reading to the end of this post for details about a $25 gift card giveaway).

My Review

Every Star in the Sky is a story about how God gives beauty for ashes. Starr, the heroine, has been in a living nightmare for the past eight years, ever since she was kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Night after night, her brutal handlers compel her to allow strangers to violate her body. If she doesn’t comply, her kidnappers punish her savagely.

As though that isn’t enough, Starr must also endure the psychological torture of seeing the other trafficked girls suffer the same abuse day after day.

When police officer Cole Blacksky goes undercover, his orders are to make contact with and extract a woman who will be willing to testify against the evil mastermind at the head of the human trafficking ring. Starr must decide in a split second whether she can trust Cole.

Their story is a sweet narrative of how, by God’s grace, love and healing can bloom out of even the worst circumstances. And it does bloom, unfolding in a tender, gentle manner that had me sighing with happiness. This book asks hard questions, such as how can an all-powerful and all-loving God permit such evil to happen. It’s a page-turning read, and I was deeply invested in how things would turn out for everyone.

If you’re like me, you’re curious about how authors get their inspiration for the stories they write, particularly a book like this one, which deals with such a hard subject. Sara Davison shares her thoughts below about how this story came to her heart.

Sara, Tell Us More!

A lot of Christian authors have recently released books on the theme of human trafficking. While it feels like a trend, I think it is a great deal more than that. I truly believe that El Roi, the God who sees, is revealing His heart for these precious women (and some boys and men).

When the idea for Every Star in the Sky came to me, I was in the middle of writing another book. I tried to shelve the new idea to work on when I finished my current project, but it refused to wait its turn. I had to set what I was working on aside and write Starr’s story out in its entirety before I was able to return to the original project.

This was a powerful lesson to me that it is God who is laying these stories on authors’ hearts, asking them to put names and faces—even fictional ones—to these beautiful, hurting, traumatized souls in order to bring them to the forefront of readers’ attention.

These stories are not only for entertainment. They are a call to action. After reading them and thereby gaining a deeper understanding of this heinous practice that exists and is prevalent in every corner of the world, including North America, readers may then feel compelled to do more. Our primary responsibility as believers is to pray. Pray that these modern-day slaves will be freed. That they will find healing in Jesus Christ and hope for their future. And that all those perpetuating this evil will be brought to justice.

While continuing to pray, some may also want to look into organizations that help those caught up in the sex trade to escape and begin a new life. I mention a couple of these organizations in my letter to readers at the end of Every Star in the Sky, but there are many others that are working—often at risk to staff or volunteers—to free involuntary sex workers and to support them in their journey of healing. Donating money or becoming involved in these organizations in other ways is a powerful response to God’s call to remember and to fight for these women and men that He loves.

My hope and prayer for this book and all others written on this topic is that God will use them as He sees fit to help accomplish these objectives. And that readers will not only be drawn to pray for the victims of trafficking but will also be reminded that the God who placed every star in the sky and knows each of them by name knows their names too.
The theme of the two sparrows for a penny series is the same as it is for all my books—that we are never alone. God has promised that He will not leave us or forsake us, whatever we are going through. May you be reminded and deeply impacted by that as you read Every Star in the Sky and as you pray for all victims of human trafficking, that they will experience the truth of that promise for themselves.

About Sara Davison

Sara Davison is the author of four romantic suspense series—The Seven Trilogy, The Night Guardians, The Rose Tattoo Trilogy, and Two Sparrows for a Penny, as well as the standalone, The Watcher. A finalist for more than a dozen national writing awards, she is a Word, Cascade, and Carol Award winner. She currently resides in Ontario with her husband Michael and their three mostly grown kids. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason.

Get to know Sara better at:

Website: On the Edge Suspense – On the Edge Suspense (saradavison.org)
Facebook – Author Sara Davison
Twitter – Sara Davison (@sarajdavison)
Instagram – Sara Davison (@davisonsara)
BookBub – @saradavison1
Newsletter Subscription: On the Edge Suspense – On the Edge Suspense https://saradavison.org/connect/

About Every Star in the Sky

Author: Sara Davison
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: March 2, 2022

She is willing to testify against her trafficker. If she can stay alive that long.
“You’re safe here, Starr.”

How many times has Detective Cole Blacksky said that to her since helping her escape the life she’d been forced into eight years earlier?

Starr desperately wants to believe him, but she knows Brady Erickson, her former captor, too well. Although Cole has promised her protective custody on his family’s remote ranch, no place on earth is safe enough. Brady will stop at nothing to permanently silence her before she ever reaches the witness stand.

And he is powerful enough to do it.

Get Every Star in the Sky here.

Win a $25 Amazon Gift Card

Sara is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card. Here’s how to enter the draw: follow this link and click on any of the ways to participate.

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Regency Romance with a Powerful Faith Thread

This book has been on my radar for quite some time, and I finally read it this week. Ruby’s Redemption by Edwina Kiernan is a tender, sweet, and thrilling story set in early 19th century England about a woman who escapes a life of degradation in a brothel. With the help of a kind-hearted clergyman and his family, she learns the true meaning of grace and forgiveness. And there’s a beautiful love story in there, too.

Although I enjoy Regency romance, I don’t read it very often since my focus is more on contemporary fiction.

But this was a wonderful story that really warmed my heart. Edwina packed this tale with many twists and turns. I’m normally pretty good at guessing what’s going to happen next, but a lot of the events took me by surprise. Check it out on Amazon; it’s well worth a read.

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