Ann Gabhart and Free Books!

With WW II finally over and the boys coming home, the Merritt sisters are ready to pursue the plans put on hold by the war, but even in little town like Rosey Corner, peacetime life can hold challenges.

Before we visit today's author, I want to announce that the winner of the signed copy of Guzzy Goofball and the Homeschool Play from Outer Space, by Susan Lyttek, is:

lnhoog@ . . .

Congratulations! I'll email you today to get your mailing address, and we'll get your book to you right away. I encourage readers to keep commenting and/or subscribe at right (above my list of books) in order to participate in future book give-aways! Subscribers are entered a second time when they comment.

And now let's chat with novelist Ann Gabhart, author of Love Comes Home (Revell Books, July 2014).

Ann H. Gabhart, the author of several bestselling novels, has been called a storyteller, not a bad thing for somebody who never wanted to do anything but write down stories. She’s published over twenty-five books for adults and young adults with more on the way.

Scent of Lilacs, her first Heart of Hollyhill book, was a Booklist Top Ten Christian Fiction Book. The Outsider, the novel that began her Shaker series, was a finalist for Christian Fiction Book of 2009.

A starred review for Love Comes Home in Publishers’ Weekly says “…a novel tailor made for book clubs that can be treasured and shared with all who appreciate the beauty of love and family...”

Ann keeps her keyboard warm out on a farm in Kentucky where she lives with her husband, Darrell. They have three children and nine grandchildren.

Please tell us three random things we might not know about you.

--My grandfather was a blacksmith just like Victor in my Rosey Corner books.

--Every day, I take a walk on our farm with my dog, Oscar, and sometimes the neighbor dogs, Roxie, a St. Bernard, and PJ and Jake, two Heinz 57 dogs, go with us too.

--The Rosey Corner stories were inspired by my mother’s stories about growing up in the 1930’s. Now I’m walking the hard path of dementia with Mom as the disease has stolen all her wonderful life memories.

Heartbreaking, Ann. What a blessing that you captured so many of those memories in fiction.

Please tell us a bit more about the plot of Love Comes Home.

The people of Rosey Corner are celebrating the end of World War II. Everybody is ready to welcome the boys back home and get back to peacetime living.

Kate and her sisters can’t wait to step into the future they’ve only been able to dream about while the men were away at war. Kate is eager to start a family and live out her dream of happily ever after with Jay. Evangeline craves the kind of perfect life she’s read about in the women’s magazines. Victoria wants what can never be. Lorena is growing up and wondering more and more about her past.

But the shadow of the war lingers over them all as they face the challenges life throws at them. Each sister must learn to trust in the Lord’s guidance and strength as they share the joys and sorrows in their little corner of the world.

What is it about your lead characters that will make your readers care about them?

I have four viewpoint characters in Love Comes Home. Kate and Jay are beginning their life together after the war and facing some newlywed challenges even though they’ve been married for four years. I hope readers will also be rooting for Victoria to find happiness and for Clay who stole my heart as I got to know him in the story. He’s a good man who has many family obligations and wants so much to win the heart of the girl he loves. My Rosey Corner characters are like my own family and I hope they’ll feel like family to readers too.

If you were the casting director for the film version of your novel, who would play your lead roles?

I would make a very poor casting director since I tend to spend my free time reading books instead of watching movies, so I wouldn’t know where to start getting actors and actresses. But with the help of Google, I’ve come up with a few possible candidates for the lead roles: Kiera Knightley for Kate (even though her eyes aren’t the right color),


India Eisley for Victoria,





Brady Corbet for Clay,





and Andrew Kooman for Jay. Of course, Mr. Kooman is a writer and not an actor, but somehow I’ll talk him into taking the role. ☺


Sometimes a writer’s imagination can be triggered with word mapping. If I give you the word challenge, what three words first come to mind, and how would you word a sentence (or 2, if needed) using all four words?

Work. Excitement. Desire.

If you desire to meet the challenges of life and achieve your goals, you must work with excitement and perseverance.

I love seeing how differently this month's authors react to that exercise. You've taken a very encouraging tack.

What is the last novel you read that you would recommend?

Not long ago I read Love's Awakening by Laura Frantz. It’s the second in her Ballantyne Legacy series. I haven’t read, Love's Reckoning , the first book in the series yet, though I do hope to soon. That didn’t keep me from falling in love with the characters in this novel or being able to follow the story line. Laura’s story is very romantic and rich in history with characters that spring to life in your imagination. If you like romance mixed in with interesting history, this is a book you will enjoy.

That's definitely a component of a good series--the reader should be able to start in the middle and still enjoy it.

What are you working on now?

I went back to my Shaker village of Harmony Hill for a new story titled The Innocent. The story is set following the Civil War and has a mystery entwined with the story about my characters, Carlyn and Mitchell. The book is scheduled to be released July 2015.

Where else can readers find you online?

You can find out more about me or my books by visiting www.annhgabhart.com. I post twice a week on One Writer’s Journal, www.annhgabhart.blogspot.com with occasional giveaways, and then Jocie, my young character in my Heart of Hollyhill series, reports from Hollyhill in the Sixties every week at www.hollyhillbookofthestrange.blogspot.com. You can join the conversation on Facebook or Twitter, and I keep some boards going on Pinterest.

The book can be purchased in fine book stores and online via the following buttons:




CBD.com


Finally, what question would you like to ask my readers?

Trish tried to trigger my imagination with the word challenge. So now I’m using that word to get you talking. What challenging things have you done in your life or what challenging things are still on your bucket list to do someday? What attributes does a person need to meet the challenges in life?

Great questions, Ann! Thanks for visiting with us and telling us about your novel. Readers, Ann has offered to give a signed copy of her book to the winner of our drawing on Thursday, July 31. To enter, leave a comment below in answer to Ann's question, above. "Please enter me" won't get you entered. Leave your email address, in case you win, like so: trish[at]trishperry[dot]com.

Be sure to check out my interview with Alison Stone, below. Leave an appropriate comment at the bottom of the post to enter the drawing for a signed copy of the book.

Also, I'd love it if you'd connect with me on Facebook. Just click on my name at the right of today's post.

Annoying legal disclaimer: drawings void where prohibited; open only to U.S. residents; the odds of winning depend upon the number of participants. See full disclaimer HERE.