Note from Alexis: We're doing things a bit different in "When Love Inspires" for today (Feb. 10). As I said yesterday (Feb. 9), I'm hosting ALL of the six authors from their boxed set "Betwixt Two Hearts."
So in order to accommodate the authors and not give you information overload, I've divided this book promo feature into two parts (Part 1 = yesterday and Part 2 = today). Enjoy visiting with the boxed set coordinator Amanda Tru's author friends Cathe Swanson, Carol Moncado and Chautona Havig!
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When Love Inspires: Cathe's story
I love writing sweet, clean romance novels because the world needs that kind of light-hearted, hopeful story.
Christian romances aren’t just about a man and a woman who fall in love. The spiritual component of Christian marriage – and relationships of every kind – is often left out of contemporary love stories, but our faith adds a deeper dimension to our relationships.
I want to show the full, rich, beautiful love that can only be found when we love God first, more than we love the other person. That’s the only way to have a truly Happy Ever After.
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Cathe's Author Bio:
Cathe Swanson, the author of the Great Lakes and Glory Quilts series, enjoys gardening, sewing, papercrafting, and kayaking on the beautiful Wisconsin rivers.
She’s been teaching quiltmaking for over 25 years, focusing on retreat workshops, ministry events and bridal quilt bees, and is finally bringing that experience and enthusiasm to her newest series, The Glory Quilts.
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Blurb for Cathe's novella, "The Swedehearts":
Eleanor Nielson always dreamed of following in her distinguished parents’ footsteps, becoming a teacher and living a life of selfless community service – until she tried it. Now, happily working at her uncle’s construction company, she’s finding fulfillment in her work and discovering a family heritage she never knew.
She can resist her parents’ pressure and manipulation from a hundred miles away, but she can’t skip their anniversary party. Eleanor isn’t interested in a relationship, but she doesn’t want to go to the party alone. Can a matchmaking agency find her a date who will impress her parents?
Like any good engineer, David Reid has his life all planned out. He’s finished college and established a career he enjoys. The next thing on his timeline is marriage and starting a family, but good wives are hard to find. He wants the right kind of woman – one who’s ready to start a family, who will share his faith and work at his side when he becomes a pastor. Someone he can trust.
I write clean/sweet because I don’t need to see what goes on behind closed doors or “hear” cursing or “see” gore and violence. It’s not something I enjoy and not something I enjoy writing. I think there’s a lot of other people out there like me, and they just want to read something they can share with other generations – their moms or grandmas and their teen daughters.
I spend far more time than I probably should watching Hallmark movies. They get criticized, sometimes rightfully so, for their formulaic nature, perfect hair and clothes, quaint towns where there’s always piles of snow but clear roads and sidewalks, etc. Sometimes it’s fun to poke fun at them.
I often watch royalty or writing related ones “live” in my reader group, posting commentary as I do. There’s usually a fair bit of snark involved, but underneath is that happy, waffy sigh at the end when their worlds all end up the way they should.
That’s what I like to write.
My characters have real issues (even if finances aren’t one of them for most of them). They struggle with the same thing we all do: Am I good enough? Do people really like me for me or because of (fill in the blank - for many of my characters, it has to do with their titles and tiaras)? Where do I find my self-worth? How do I reconcile what I should do with what I want to do or can I? And if I can’t, which do I choose?
Everyone answers those questions differently, even characters in the same book. But sometimes in those characters, we see little bits of ourselves and maybe learn a little bit about how we can change our own outlooks on who we are.
And do it without the cursing or sex scenes or violence that can be so prevalent in other genres.
We have enough drama and sadness in the world. I like bringing at least a little bit of sweetness and light into that and giving readers a bit of an escape from the real world into a fictional land where everyone eventually ends up with a happily ever after. (Except the bad guys of course. They get eaten by sharks).
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Carol's Author Bio:
When she's not writing about her imaginary friends, USA Today Bestselling Author Carol Moncado prefers binge watching pretty much anything to working out. She believes peanut butter M&Ms are the perfect food and Dr. Pepper should come in an IV.
When not hanging out with her hubby, four kids, and two dogs who weigh less than most hardcover books, she's probably reading in her Southwest Missouri home.
Summers find her at the local aquatic center with her four fish, er, kids. Fall finds her doing the band mom thing. Winters find her snuggled into a blanket in front of a fire with the dogs. Spring finds her sneezing and recovering from the rest of the year.
She used to teach American Government at a community college, but her indie career, now with over thirty titles, has allowed her to write full time. She's a founding member, former President, and current vice president of MozArks ACFW, blogger at InspyRomance, and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.
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Blurb for Carol's novella, "Guardian of Her Heart":
When Mark’s boss, the queen of Montevaro, signs him up for the dating app Betwixt Two Hearts, he grudgingly goes along.
Casey is signed up by her best friend, before her best friend moves thousands of miles away.
When Casey attends the Serenity Landing Craft Convention, a stowaway cat means she’s desperate for help and her only option is the new match from her Betwixt app.
As Mark and Casey get to know each other, their apparent incompatibilities could prove to be too much to overcome – or could prove that sometimes opposites attract.
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Connect with Carol:
Carol Moncado Books: www.facebook.com/CarolMoncadoBooks
Serenity Landing Book Club (reader group): bit.ly/MoncadoReaderGroup
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarolMoncado/
Website: http://www.carolmoncado.com
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When Love Inspires: Chautona's story
I've had lots of people ask me why I write "romance" over the years. I put romance in quotes because a true romance author would laugh at the idea of my romance "counting" as far as genre goes.
But I put romance in books because it's obviously important to the Lord. He didn't just tell us He serves us and takes care of us. He showed us in so many metaphors, parables, and allegories that He cherishes us. He woos us to Him. And regardless of my personal comfort
with the whole thing, that means something to me.
I try to allude to that picture He paints every time I interject a romantic element into one of my novels as both a reminder to the reader and as one to me. We are loved, cherished, adored. Wow.
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Chautona's Author Bio:
Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge.
An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales.
Find her on the web and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.
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Blurb for Chautona's novella, "Random Acts of Shyness":
“That man is going to be single for the rest of his life!”
What began as a coping mechanism as a little boy became highly-effective date repellent as a man. He knows girls don’t care about the life cycle of a dung beetle, but Heath can’t help but spew facts like a docent at the zoo anytime he’s on one of his many first and only dates.
His sister is determined to fix that. So, she signs him up for the new matchmaking service. Her plan: simple. Just let him practice on a bunch of girls until it becomes second nature. Simple, right?
