God is Love: Love Arrives In Pieces (novel)

Showing posts with label Love Arrives In Pieces (novel). Show all posts

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Book review: Love Arrives in Pieces

Love Arrives in Pieces is a book that I loved to pieces!

Author Betsy St. Amant, one of my writer friends and favorite authors, is super sweet and talented! She shines with her storytelling style that gently scoops you up within the first few pages and carries you through this delightful tale about how only God can make beauty out of brokenness.

The story starts with the main character Stella Varland. She's sitting inside her sister Kat's bakery deconstructing decorations on top of a cupcake one "plink" at a time. These outward actions are symbols of inner turmoil--Stella is still reeling from her divorce, an event that shattered her heart into millions of broken pieces.

Kat proves to be of invaluable help to her dear sister Stella from the very first few pages of the story. She provides counsel, advice and good humor to lighten Stella's mood. But it is also Kat who later on in the story almost prevents Stella from finding her healing and happily ever after. But the author brings that conflict full circle too and all I can say is the reader is not disappointed with the denouement.

Female readers who love a good, handsome and hunky hero will adore the other star of this story, Chase Taylor. He's easy on the eyes and soft on the heart despite the fact that in the past, he broke both Kat and Stella's hearts. But the author Betsy does not leave the readers on an emotional cliffhanger with those pieces of the story. She skillfully weaves in just enough backstory and just enough character development to please the reader and make her characters not only believable but relatable.

Speaking of backstory, here's the scoop: Stella is a former pageant queen who is always adored by men except the one she married. He's the one who divorced her and broke her heart into pieces. Chase is a contractor who is not only dashing but daring. His way of moving on after losing his fiancee is to experience life full-speed ahead, living with no chance of regrets.

And here's how the characters come together: Stella and Chase are forced to work together on a big project--renovating the town theater. They clash early on as their reunion brings up the pain of the past though for the first full half of the story, they keep their pain and details therein hidden from each other. Several chapters of Stella and Chase fiercely guarding their hearts from the hurt of their past, ensue.

But here is how the author shows how God works. Just like in real-life, God uses these two broken hearts (Stella and Chase) to bring each other healing. As the story progresses, Stella and Chase are placed into situations and have conversations that challenge them and slowly but surely start to change their lives for the better.

Betsy is skilled at character development and she knows how to write in a way that's both inspiring and informative yet captivating and whimsical. Truly, I envisioned this book as a movie as I read it! It's just that good!

But don't take my word for it, go buy Betsy's book and read it for yourself! :)

*The author provided Alexis A. Goring with a complimentary copy of her book, Love Arrives in Pieces, in exchange for an honest review.

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Author bio: Betsy St. Amant has a heart for three things - chocolate, new shoes and sharing the amazing news of God's grace through her novels. She resides in Louisiana with her adorable, story-telling young daughter, a collection of Austen novels and an impressive stash of Pickle Pringles. Betsy has a B.A. in Communications, is multi-published in contemporary romantic fiction, and freelances for her local newspaper.

She also enjoys inspirational speaking and teaching on the craft of writing. When she's not composing her next book or trying to figure out where Mr. Darcy went, she can usually be found somewhere in the vicinity of a white-chocolate mocha, or singing along with her daughter to the latest Disney soundtrack.

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Buy Betsy's book:

Amazon.com - http://amzn.to/1f1hub7

Barnes and Noble - http://bit.ly/1f1hvfi

Christianbook.com - http://bit.ly/1MGrCRQ

Zondervan - http://www.zondervan.com/love-arrives-in-pieces

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Connect with Betsy:

Author page on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BetsySt.Amant
Official website - http://www.betsystamant.com/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/betsystamant

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Love is in the Air: God Makes Broken into Beautiful

My dear writer friend Betsy St. Amant is here today to share the reason why her latest novel Love Arrives in Pieces, is so close to her heart.

Best of all, Betsy is hosting a book giveaway contest here on my blog today! She agreed to give away one paperback copy of her novel Love Arrives in Pieces, to the one person who wins the contest.

Enter the contest by answering my question for you which is found toward the end of Betsy's guest post and to increase your chances of winning, fill out the items on the Rafflecopter widget.

So take a deep breath, curl up in a cushioned chair, maybe pour a cup of tea and listen to Betsy share her heart...

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God Makes Broken into Beautiful
A guest post written by Betsy St. Amant

After writing All’s Fair in Love and Cupcakes, I knew deep down that Stella Varland, a side character in the book, had her own story. She was so much more than just a pageant queen sister to Kat. She had hurts that made her the way she was, she had insecurities underneath the Vaseline-slicked teeth and the perfectly curled hair. She had secrets.

Love Arrives in Pieces delves into Stella’s secrets.

And in doing some, unearth a few of my own.

I put a little bit of myself into all of my characters—it’s hard not to, as an author. It might be hair color, it might be a habit or quirk, it might be a favorite food, it might be a career. It might be a pet or a memory or a fear, but there is a tiny part of me revealed in all of my characters.

Love Arrives in Pieces is so special to me because there’s not just a tiny piece of me in Stella. In so many ways, I am Stella.

Oh there’s many differences, of course. I was never a pageant winner, but I was divorced. I never had perfect blonde ringlets, but I know how it feels for your husband to bail. I’m not even remotely talented with art or interior design, but I know what it’s like to try to gather all the sharp broken pieces of your heart and wonder what on earth God can do with them.

Stella’s journey is much like the one I had to navigate, and this story is for all of the Stella’s out there. For all of the women who feel betrayed by their beauty, or maybe who feel like they aren’t beautiful at all. For all of the women who have had their hearts broken. For all of the women who struggle with sibling rivalry. For all of the women who are grieving the end of a dream and longing for a new one. For all of the women who are afraid to hope for happily ever after, and are trying to convince themselves to settle for mundane ever after. For all of the women who have soaked their pillows with tears wondering if God sees or cares. For all of the women who have harbored bitterness or unforgiveness in their heart toward family or toward men. For all of the women who wish things were different.

For all of the women who wonder if God can fix “this”—whatever “this” is for them.
I know from experience that God is especially in the business of fixing “this”. In fact, the more shattered it is, the more impossible it seems, the better. God loves showing up and doing what only He can do. He is the Dream-giver. He loves to restore and to give seconds chances (and even third and fourth and fifteenth chances). He loves when we depend on Him, trust Him, and wait expectantly for Him to work. It might not look the way we expected it to look. In fact, it rarely does, because God’s ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). They’re better.

Nothing is too broken for Him to repair.

I found that out, and eventually, so does Stella.

I hope you will too.

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Question for readers: What is something in your life that you want God to "fix"?

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Author bio: Betsy St. Amant has a heart for three things - chocolate, new shoes and sharing the amazing news of God's grace through her novels. She resides in Louisiana with her adorable, story-telling young daughter, a collection of Austen novels and an impressive stash of Pickle Pringles. Betsy has a B.A. in Communications, is multi-published in contemporary romantic fiction, and freelances for her local newspaper.

For so long, Stella was known for her beauty. Now, with her heart stripped bare, she must discover who she really is.

Former pageant queen Stella Varland doesn’t trust beauty anymore after her divorce. Her appearance betrayed her and led to brokenness, so instead of being beautiful, now she tries to make beautiful things, but she always falls short. So she keeps her passion for art to herself and focuses on her interior design work. But if she doesn’t get another job soon, she’ll be stuck living with her parents.

Contractor Chase Taylor is determined to live a life of no regrets after losing his fiancée. Now he lives life at full speed, striving to see how much he can accomplish. He knows if he slows down, he’ll fall apart. So he returns home to Bayou Bend to renovate the town’s old theater and is shocked to discover that the designer for the project is his old flame, Stella.

Forced to work together, Chase and Stella battle their chemistry and past as they struggle to compromise and work together on a vision for the theater. Their wills clash as they attempt to hide their brokenness—and their unresolved feelings for each other—until Chase discovers the hidden parts of Stella, while losing her trust in the process.

A near catastrophe, a fire, and a small-town gossip mill finally force Stella and Chase to realize that they have a choice—to hold on to the shards of their pasts, or surrender their fragmented pieces to the One who makes a beautiful masterpiece from their brokenness.
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Buy Betsy's book: