COTT: Tackling the Fields by Janet W. Ferguson

Surrendering Control by Michelle Griep ACFW New Releases: October

COTT: Tackling the Fields by Janet W. Ferguson

Congratulations to Janet W. Ferguson and the novel Tackling

the Fields for taking home this month’s Clash crown! We’re pleased

to feature this guest post, which gives us a little insight into Janet’s

book and football…yes, football!

In the South, most of us love football. It’s something we talk about,

cheer for, and spend time watching with friends, whether in person or as

a group viewing it on TV. The adrenaline seems to flow as the leaves

begin to turn from deep greens to those fall yellows and oranges, a

chill touches the air, and those pads and helmets are put on.

My husband played high school football. He was a center. I’ve always

watched the sport at whatever school I attended, and of course, in

Mississippi, a lot of us follow the SEC games. I never thought a whole

lot about why we enjoy watching so much or about the injuries the

players battle with—until my son played the sport.

His junior year, he tore his ACL and his shoulder labrum participating

in this sport he loved. And he was not able to make a comeback. I saw

the game through different eyes as he struggled with the loss. He missed

the comradery, the goal, the discipline, the friendship. Everything

about being a part of a team.

While he was going through three of four surgeries that he ended up

having, I began writing Tackling the Fields. It combines this love for a

game with the loss of a dream for one character and the loss of

innocence for another. It was a challenging, almost painful, book to

write. But in the end, God heals our wounds and helps each of us recover

from our broken places.

He’s there to free each of us from the heartaches that try to take us

captive.

About the book:Cole Sanders is a changed man. The university

quarterback questions his direction in life after serving on a mission

trip in Honduras. Things that used to fill Cole’s ego seem empty after

witnessing the developing country’s extreme poverty and the death of a

precious child. The one glimmer of hope through his confusion is the

fresh perspective he now has about his tutor, Audrey. She possesses

something beautiful inside and out—something that might help him become

the person he wants to be.

University senior Audrey Vaughn

tutored Cole Sanders for an entire year and never imagined the popular

quarterback would see her as anything more than a friend. After

partnering with him on the mission trip, they are drawn together. And he

appears to have changed for the better. To let Cole into her life,

Audrey will have to overcome not only her brother’s distrust, but also

the paralyzing fear still lingering from a past she’s tried to leave

behind.

Cole can’t walk away from Audrey now that they’re back

in Oxford. He’ll have to figure out how to keep her giant of a brother, a

lineman on his football team, from killing him when the coach has his

back turned. But can Audrey trust her heart to a player so similar to

the one who stole so much from her in the past?