A First Time for Everything (& a giveaway!)

Please welcome my friend Jill Lynn to the blog!! She’s generously offering a signed copy of her new release to one of you. So be sure to learn more about her book via this post, then enter to win it by commenting. Happy Friday! -Becky

It’s been a couple years since I’ve written a guest post for Becky’s blog, and it’s always such a welcoming experience. So, thank you for joining me and thanks to Becky for always being a gracious host. I’ve been a Becky Wade fan since a little book about a hockey player hit shelves. (Matt – le sigh.) And my fangirling has continued ever since.

Today, I’m here celebrating my new book, The Summer of Keeping Secret, which just released this week. 

When I first started writing this book, I didn’t know where or if it would be published. I’d been writing sweet, Christian romances for Love Inspired for years, and I knew this story wasn’t a fit for that exact line and length of books.

I went back and forth over whether I should try something new. For me, I always write a little bit scared. I’m never confident when I start writing or even when I finish writing a book. As you can imagine, I’m quite fun to live with! But I’ve learned to write anyway—even if I’m nervous. And to give myself a deadline. Those help!

My husband encouraged me to try something new, so I decided to go for it.

And in one of those fun twists like God enjoys doing for us, The Summer of Keeping Secrets found a home with the very same editor of my previous books at the new Love Inspired Trade length publishing line. (The trade line focuses on longer books with a wider variety of story lines – everything from suspense to historical to romance.) 

Continuing in that same vein, I experienced numerous firsts with this book.

While I’ve been writing books set in Colorado for quite some time, this was my first time setting a story in a real Colorado city versus a fictional one.

Lake Dillon

Dillon, Colorado is in Summit County, which is an area known for some exceptional ski resorts like Breckenridge and Keystone. It’s also known for Lake Dillon (a.k.a. Dillon Reservoir) which provides most of Denver’s drinking water. You can boat on Lake Dillon. You can be in a kayak or on a paddle board. And you can wade in it. You like what I did with Becky’s name there? But since a person can’t survive very long in the frigid temps, they don’t allow swimming in the reservoir.

The Summer of Keeping Secrets is set on the cliffs above Lake Dillon. A couple years ago we were driving by those cliffs, and I thought, it would be fun to set a book in one of those amazing houses. And then I thought, ooh, and I should put a body in it! When I told my daughter, who is an avid reader, that I wanted to set a book in one of the houses on the cliff, she announced: you should put a body in it! LOL! I thought that was funny and also confirmation that I was headed in the right direction.

This is the first time I added a mystery element to a book. (Oof. I needed a lot of help with that!) And the first time that my three main characters range in age from 30 to 60.

The main focus of the book is about a widowed mother and her two grown children purging the grandparents’ cliffside home. When the adult daughter discovers an old newspaper clipping about a body found below the property 34 years earlier, pieces of the past begin to unfold.

This is also the first time I’ve veered from writing a traditional Christian romance novel to mainstream clean women’s fiction. (My definition of clean = no sex, no profanity, no explicit content.)

My characters might not have overt faith story lines in this book, but I think God is still “visible” in the themes of grace, forgiveness and hope. I honestly don’t think I’m capable of writing a story where He doesn’t show up. And since I’m a big fan of romance, I threaded in three romance story lines. I had a lot of fun writing those, because to me every book should have a little romance.

And in something that was not a first for this book, I am so grateful to God for taking this little idea and making into a published book. That is something that definitely hasn’t changed over the years!

If you pick up a copy of The Summer of Keeping Secrets, I hope you enjoy.

Thanks again to Becky for letting me visit!

Jill Lynn

I would love to hear about something that has happened in your life lately that is a first for you. I’m so thankful that when we do a new thing, God is with us.Giveaway!

To celebrate the book’s release, I’m giving away a signed copy of The Summer of Keeping Secrets to one of Becky’s readers – US shipping only. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post. One winner will randomly be selected on Monday, July 1st.

p.s. I also have an additional giveaway for a book tote, signed book, and chocolates going on here.

Connect with Jill!

Jill’s web site | Amazon | Instagram | Facebook