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Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!
�� The hunt BEGINS on 4/10 at noon Mountain with Stop #1 at . (Once we’re live, please make this a hyperlink directly to my first stop, to make it easy-peasey for people to jump in!)
�� Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
�� There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 4/13 at midnight Mountain)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
�� Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

My name is Pepper Basham and I love to write romance “peppered�� with grace, joy, and humor. Though, I’d have to say the heroine of my new release has some trouble with “grace�� of the…clumsy variety 🙂 I love writing books that feature my Appalachian heritage, but also explore Britain and other parts of the world. Writing in both contemporary and historical genres really makes the journey all the more challenging and fun, but one thing stays the same…the romance! I LOVE writing “kissing books�� as my dad called them, so if that sounds interesting to you, check out my newest release, Some Like It Scot (WARNING: Man in a Kilt!)

Speaking of Scots and traveling��

In my newest novel,(which just released THIS WEEK), we travel to the beautiful Isle of Mull. It is the second-largest island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland known for its rugged beauty, gateway to Iona, colorful capital of Tobermory, welcome people, and…its wildlife. Which brings us to this post today. While writing Some Like It Scot, I had the wonderful opportunity to research some of the wildlife Mull (as well as Scotland) boats and some of the creatures were familiar, but not all. There are so many options like basking sharks, seals (of course…those selkies), otters, eagles, and more. I write about various ones (in comical ways) in my novel, but I thought it would be fun to chat about a few today that you’ll meet among the pages of Some Like It Scot: 1 fictional and 4 very nonfictional creatures of Mull!

Let’s start with the nonfictional:

��Sheep : ) They a aplenty in Scotland in general, and Mull is no exception. These little puffy animals can been seen along the craigs and in the fields and sometimes…crossing the road, so take care as you drive. If you’re lucky, you might even see one of the uncommon Scottish black-faced sheep 🙂 Katie, my heroine, is NOT a fan of sheep and sees them as creatures who are trying to end her life. Are they? You’ll have to see for yourself 😉Puffins �� Oh my goodness, what fun little birds! These round, cheeky-faced colorful birds take up residence in Mull from late spring to early August. They are particularly abundant on a few of the neighboring islands from Mull. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs and usually get their food by sea diving. Fun facts: Their beaks change color throughout the year and they are lovingly referred to as “sea parrots��. If you want to hear their quirky sound, check this link out: Hairy Coos (or Highland Cows) �� These ‘usually�� mild-mannered cows are known for their shaggy coats (with ‘bangs�� that usually cover their eyes) and their handle-bar horns. About 60% of them have the reddish-brown color that is often seen in pictures or illustrations, but other colors like golden, a pale silver, and even black. Though usually gentle or indifferent, the coo you meet in Some Like It Scot may not match those descriptors 🙂Wedge�� Wedge is our fictional sheepdog who is usually in the company of a cute little red-headed boy name Lachlan. Clever, friendly, and protective of his “kid��, Wedge is a fun critter to meet on your journey to Mull by way of Katie’s misadventures.

Have you ever met a puffin or coo? Do you want to?

Here is a pic of me with a few when I went to visit a Highland Cow farm nearby in March.

If you’re interested, you can order Some Like It Scot on , , , or at your local bookstore!

Here’s the Stop #20 Basics:
Clue to Write Down: or in a, the Next Stop on the Loop: Jill Eileen Smith’s site!

Before you go, I’m offering a prize to one commenter �� a small Scottish purse, thistle earrings, and a signed copy of Some Like It Scot. All you have to do is sign up to get my e- newsletter (top right of my home page, green box) or note that you’re already a subscriber. Additional points for those who follow me as an author on ŷ������ or on Instagram! (USA only)

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

�� The hunt BEGINS on 3/14 at noon MST with .

�� Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).

�� There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 3/17 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.

�� Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

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So glad to have you here!! My name is Pepper Basham and I write historical and contemporary romance novels! (Romance being the operative word there 😉 If you’d like to learn more about me and my stories, take a longer stroll through my !

My upcoming book is a fun romcom called and it features one of my favorite book heroes I’ve ever written. He’s a regular guy with a REALLY big heart!!

So I guess that’s what inspired my post for today! 🙂 🙂

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What Makes an Everyday Hero?

Don’t you love a good hero?

And I love that heroes can come in all shapes and sizes.

Would you consider anyone in your life an example of a great hero?

My dad is one of the first examples that pops to my mind. Why? On the outside, not everyone would have thought him a very heroic sort. As a burly-chest mountain man who worked as a police officer for almost thirty years and did woodworking/construction “on the side��, he was a very direct man. He told things how he saw/thought them, which could come across with less finesse than some of the more eloquent heroes we may know. But, some of the characteristics that highlighted his hero status were the ones, I think, are most important in the best heroes:

Loyalty

Strength of character

Steadfastness

A sense of humor

Honesty

A desire to do the right thing

Compassion (even though, sometimes, his came across with a bit of gruffness tagged on)

Brave

Thoughtful

Kind (even though this may show up with some gruffness too)

One thing I’ll add is that my dad was a very manly��man. He teased about “girly stuff�� and joked about needing to “grow some muscles�� on my sons�� arms, but beneath all his teasing, my kids (and anyone else who really knew my dad) were confident in the fact that he loved them, he’d rush to their rescue without a second thought, and he would cheer them on with the biggest faith in them that anyone could imagine.

Sometimes, heroes don’t show up on the page in high-class regency clothes or business suits. Sometimes they don’t speak in eloquent sentences or sonnets. Sometimes, they aren’t walking down the steps of a castle or out of a��pond wearing a white shirt 🙂

Sometimes, heroes look more like your everyday guys who work hard, love big, grab a hammer in one hand and a kid in the other, grumble a little, tease to an annoying degree, forget to help with the dishes but then make up for it by fixing the sink 🙂 but they’re the same ones who will drive 5 hours at night to rescue an adult child whose car has broken down, weep at deep loss, hug like they’re never going to see you again, tell you when you’re being an idiot, and make sure you know you’re protected.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE watching daring rescues over castle walls and handsome men walking through a morning field with their white shirt a bit disheveled 😉 But I also love that we can read men who represent those everyday heroes too.

Flannel shirts, dusty jeans, tennis shoes, t-shirts…etc.

Because at ��the heart of what makes a good hero is��

The heart 😉

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So let’s celebrate a few everyday heroes, either from literature or your real life! Bring on the praise!!

Now��.for the clue��

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To keep the fun going, visit !��

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For an additional prize, I’ll be giving away a copy of one of my books (winner’s choice). Just leave a comment below and let me know if you’d like to be included in the drawing 🙂 🙂 (USA winners only)��

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WELCOME TO THE CHRISTIAN FICTION SCAVENGER HUNT!

If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to collect the clues through all the stops, in order (beginning here at Stop #1), so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

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The hunt BEGINS on 6/15 at noon MST right here on this page!Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not��Explorer).There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 6/18 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!(If you want to start at the beginning, the hunt starts right ��!)��

Hi everyone!! My name is Pepper Basham and I write historical and contemporary romance (both usually with humor). I ADORE connecting with readers, so if you’d like to learn more about me, check out my website at or on social media at Facebook or Instagram .

Imaginary worlds have always fascinated me. How about you?

From the whimsy of Narnia to the vastness of Middle earth, even the glimpses I saw in fairytales, my mind absorbed and expanded these make-believe places until I could “see�� them myself as I read. The snowy landscape awaiting Aslan, the towering grandeur of Minis Tirith, the elegant ballroom of Cinderella or shadowy forest of Red Riding Hood, something about these worlds inspired me to bring their sense of “magic�� into mine.

As a young girl who grew up in Appalachia, surrounded by forests and mountains, the real world (when left to my imagination) with a bit of sunlight through trees, birdsong, and a lazy afternoon could easily transform into something very different. A “prince�� meeting me in the woods, a shadow of a dragon I needed to vanquish, the rush of wind through flowers releasing fairies to flight…the simple, through my childish mind, became fantastical.

I suppose that’s why the idea of creating fictional places for my novels inspired a little bit of giddiness. Instead of spending time by myself in imaginary worlds with imaginary people, I could bring other people along too. Readers!

So, I’ve loved creating a few different worlds.

For “a world�� that was BASED on a real place, I made Ransom, VA �� a Blue Ridge Mountain town that is featured in the Mitchell’s Crossroads series. I took inspiration from nearby towns like Wytheville, Abingdon, and Bristol, VA to create the quintessential small town for those books. I even created Ransom in Minecraft 😊

My Appalachian town in Laurel’s Dream and The Heart of the Mountains was designed from research of mountain communities during that time period, plus my own family history.

Whitlock and Havensbrooke were two places I invented for the Freddie and Grace mysteries. Whitlock has a bit of Biltmore vibe and Havensbrooke was a combo of several manor houses I’d visited in the UK.

But Skymar? Skymar was a combination of all the things I adore most about places I’ve visited in the UK and the U.S. Small-town moments in villages, centuries�� old ruins, castles, monarchy, coastlines, mountains, and…well, everything rolled up into this set of islands between Scotland and Norway in the North Sea. Creating a history and festivals and varying cultures throughout the island has been fun and challenging. If you’d like to visit my make-believe world, you can read about Skymar in Authentically, Izzy and my upcoming novel, Positively, Penelope 🙂

(Psst, did you know there used to be a spy network stationed on Skymar during WW2?)

So, what are some imaginary places you’ve enjoyed reading? Rachel Hauck’s Lauchtanland or Becky Wade’s Merryweather? What about Sara Ella’s Wonderland or Kara Swanson’s Neverland?

Share your thoughts below for a chance to win a paperback copy (or digital if you are outside the U.S.) of my upcoming novel, Positively, Penelope, and you can visit Skymar yourself!! If you want to learn more about Positively, Penelope, check it out !!

And…can you BELIEVE this giveaway?? All the books! And some of my favorite authors!! GOOD LUCK!!

Here are the Stop #20 Basics:

Clue to Write Down: we’re in a

Link to Stop #21, the Next Stop on the Loop: The lovely Ann Gabhart!!

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Bonus: Below is an exclusive video giving you a “tour�� of Skymar to get your ready for Positively, Penelope!!

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Not to EVER disagree with Mary Poppins, but covers DO matter. Don’t you think? I’m drawn to a cover and get a “feel�� for the book by seeing the cover. Recently, I’ve found some lovely but very different ones.

Here are a few. Which ones stand out to you, and why? What draws your attention?

Here are a few of mine! I adore MOST of the covers of my books, but there are some I love a little more than others. Can you guess which ones are a few of my favoritres?

I’m a distractible creature.
And then I’m TOO focused.
If I’m doing something that my mind and emotions are not super interested in, it takes all the extra work to keep me from getting distracted by everything. However, if I’m doing something I love, I can go for hours and not take a break.

My emotions and my thinking can impact my focus. And anxiety has a crazy way of REALLY messing up my focus. How about you?

Cory Brock in TableTalk Magazine defined anxiety like this:
“It is an ongoing, fearful restlessness wherein we imagine hypothetical circumstances of loss. The anxious one is playing the prophet by looking into the possible futures and imagining what it might feel like to lose something we love. Therein, common anxiety develops when we fear losing something we find truly precious. That over-concern spirals into a vicious circle of spiritual—and oftentimes physical—damage.��

Wowzers! Did anyone else feel the truth of that definition? “Hypothetical circumstances of loss��, “possible futures��.

I love having an imagination, but in this case, it’s not always beneficial. If my focus goes in the wrong direction, it leads me to being anxious, sad, and less efficient spiritually. And if you’re like me, most of the “worst case scenarios�� I create in my head don’t happen. I’m “spinning in mud�� and going nowhere because of “hypothetical circumstances�� causing me to worry.

So what does the Bible have to say about focus and anxiety and all that?

The perfect Sunday School answer: Jesus.

Our family has walked a long journey of hurt and grief for the past 10 months. Different kinds of hurts. Different kinds of griefs. Right now, it’s easy to get distracted by the fear of “what’s going to happen next?��, but God is calling our hearts to look to Him. Focus on Jesus. Because, as I told my kids this morning, “If God loves us so much that He would give His son to die for us to be made right with Him, then we can trust that whatever He has planned for us, it is for our ultimate good and God’s ultimate glory.��

Basically He’s encouraging us to love Him more than our love of our “precious things�� and then our priorities will be set so we can focus on the things that really matter…instead of the ones that may never happen.

Does that automatically fix everything? Nope. Are all my problems instantly solved? No.
But it DOES remind me of a truth that does not shake despite the dragons and fire and hurt and fear. God is NEAR! He is LOVE. And He is FOR US.

As a reader of fiction books, I know that when I enter into a good story a “black moment�� is in my future. If you’re a fiction reader (or movie watcher), you know what I’m talking about.

It’s the moment when all hope seems lost �� when the ship is sinking, when the best friend is shot, when the girl finds out a hidden something about the guy that appears to end everything. It’s the main point when a happily-ever-after is not only in jeopardy, but seems impossible.

And yet��

We keep watching or reading because we have hope that something good will come along and change the “perceived�� trajectory of the story.

Why?

Because we’ve read enough fiction or watched enough movies to know that’s how it works. We (usually) don’t turn off the movie or throw down the book at the ¾ place in the story because we have HOPE for a happy (or acceptable) ending since we have a history with similar books/movies.

Hope is a powerful thing.

Though the Bible isn’t fictional, it is full of those “black moments��, times when it looks like all hope is gone. From the garden of Eden to the apostles, over and over again we see impossible feats with giants, and armies, and seas, and…even twisted human hearts, and yet��

Impossible things happen to ensure that the Author of the Great Story is very much at work in the ultimate rescue plan for his beloved people. Even the blackest moment in the Bible, Jesus’s death, twists the “impossible�� on its head to prove all the more that hope in Christ does not fail.

We keep watching those movies and reading those books, even when we get to the black moment, because we have a history of knowing that on the other side of the black moment is the happily-ever-after. God’s track record is even better. He’s reached into “black moments�� throughout history and brought about his beautiful plan, over and over and over again.

Why can we start a new year with hope? Joy? Certainty in a happily-ever-after?

Because God’s track record has proven itself true. God has proven himself faithful.

Even when we were DEAD in our sins, God made us alive in Christ! God rescued us from the ultimate black moment for a future of forever happily-ever-afters!

Hope? Oh yeah, we have hope! For 2022 and beyond.

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(Ephesians 2:4, Title is from a phrase of the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness)

Do any of you like musicals? Or maybe even classical music?

I love musicals and have a particular joy in hearing recurring motifs. Do you know what I mean? When you’re listening to the instrumental parts of the musical, a motif sneaks into a current piece that reminds you of a scene that happened earlier in the musical. Sometimes, it brings the emotions from that earlier scene into the current one and we, as the audience, are like “oh, that reminds me of…��

The Sound of Music, Hamilton,�� as well as so many other musicals are full of those little hints.

I thought about motifs this week when I was reading the Biblical Christmas story. Particularly when reading Matthew 1:23:

��“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel�� (which means, God with us ).

As profound as this verse is (and should be), the idea of God being with his people is not a “new�� idea in Matthew 1. In fact, there a numerous verses about God being with his people from Isaiah 41:10, Joshua 1:9, Deuteronomy 31:6, and the well-known Psalm 23 (verse 4 in particular) all the way into the New Testament where the announcement of Jesus�� birth to a young virgin named Mary and beyond.

Jesus himself continues the theme later in Matthew (Note, it’s Matthew again. Coincidence? I think not!) In Matthew 28:20, Jesus is ascending after his resurrection and says, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.��

Interesting that in the first chapter of Matthew and the last chapter, we have this idea repeated. God with us.

A motif, of sorts, right?�� When Jesus mentions this about himself at the end of Matthew, it causes me to harken back to Matthew 1 when the angel starts off Jesus�� earthly story with the same theme. Kind of like God is just reminding everyone, “I was with you at the beginning and I’m going to be with you always. I mean it.��

If we really think about this idea of God being with us, it’s rather mind-boggling.��

God �� the Creator of the Universe whose mere words brought life, space, earth, and everything else into existence. His WORDs created, ordered, and beautified all we see and know (and many things we can’t see or know). THIS is the being who is with us. Who holds our souls, who heals our broken-heartedness, who understands our sorrows, who makes our paths straight, who loves us. And the same power within his WORDS came into “flesh�� in the birth of Jesus. Whoa!��With �� The Free Dictionary Online defines “with�� as “in the company of�� or “alongside��. It’s also important to note it is in present tense, not past or future, especially if we refer to Jesus�� statement “I AM with you always��. There’s no qualifier for when Jesus is with us. He means…Right now. Wherever we are and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. He is WITH us. Romans 8:38-39 reminds us, �� For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, �� nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.�� So when God is with us, He is ALWAYS with us. Everywhere. We are never alone, lost, forgotten, too far gone, or out of his reach. He is always present with us.Us �� Who is us? Our pastor brought the reminder this past weekend at our church’s Christmas concert. Perhaps, we can look a little farther in the Christmas story at a spectacular nocturnal visit to a bunch of outcast shepherds near Bethlehem (at some point, we should talk about the importance of God choosing shepherds to hear this first birth announcement.) :-). The host of angels sings to the shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!�� (ESV) Hmm, who are those? His kids. Those who are a part of God’s family. Those who have been called, saved, born-again—whichever word you choose to use—are the ones who not only say God is Creator and King, but also call him “Father��. His special love for His kids give us assurance of His constancy, care, and continual closeness to us, no matter the circumstances.��

It’s a wonderful reminder this time of year, maybe especially after the past two years we’ve all lived through, to remember that God is not some distant, uninvolved ruler, but throughout history He has come to His people to show his love and rescue them. The culmination of millennia of God’s fingerprints throughout history comes in the very real fingerprints of “God in flesh�� as a baby in Bethlehem born to provide the ultimate rescue of God’s kids.

With us?

Always.

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at , and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

The hunt BEGINS on 10/21 at noon MST with at LisaTawnBergren.com.Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 10/24 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

Hi all! I’m so excited to be a part of��this fun scavenger hunt with some amazing authors. And look at all the books!!

I adore a good story, don’t you?

I’m Pepper Basham: wife, mom, speech-language pathologist, and author of historical and contemporary romances peppered with grace, humor, and a dash of whimsy. My newest release really embodies those three things: grace, humor, and whimsy. The Mistletoe Countess is a marriage of convenience story with a little mystery sprinkled in for good measure. If you enjoy fiction that tickles your funny bone and warms your heart, my books might just be for you! To learn more about me and my stories, check out my other books or learn more about me 🙂

Speaking of fiction!

I don’t think you’d be enjoying this scavenger hunt if you didn’t like reading fiction, but why? Why do we love fiction so much? I posed the question to a group of avid readers and their answers fit within 3 main categories:

TRAVEL, ESCAPE, & INSPIRATION

��Here are what a few had to say 🙂

��“I love the ability to a story to take me new places and introduce me to new people. Sometimes, when life is tough, fiction gives me a way to relax and ignore the madness. I come��back when I’m ready.�� Vicky Sluiter

����Fiction has the unique ability to make history feel personal to us, because if a book is historically accurate and well written we come away not just knowing a list of dates and events but feeling as though we’ve lived it.�� �� Caitlyn Santi

��“It provides an escape from whatever is happening in the reader’s real world �� drama, health issues, stress, etc. The reader enters the world the fiction book has created to gather strength �� and in the case of inspiration fiction –be reminded that God is still good, He is still in control, and seeing Him work things out for fictional characters builds faith and reminds the reader that He can do it for him/her in real life.�� �� Ruth Elizabeth Jensen“Many reasons�� 1) to dissociate from a stressful reality for a while, 2) to enjoy a historical time period from a first-person vantage point, 3) to live vicariously through fabulous romances since I have zero time for a real one in my current life situation.�� �� Hannah Nelson

��“Why not fiction? A story is a powerful think; it moves, it breathes, it inspires, it encourages, it instructs, it forms an everlasting memory about things that were never meant to be forgotten.�� �� Rebecca Maney ��“Fiction may be fiction but there are often valuable life lessons found within a story. The right book can make you ponder important aspects about your character and be catalyst for change. And you can be transported to other places without leaving your comfy, favorite reading chair.�� �� Lisa Kelley

��“The best of fiction weaves spiritual truths into the story and those can speak to us and stay with us and even help us in our lives. Fiction touches our minds and hearts in a unique way that leaves us changes because of the encounter with the story and characters.�� �� Andrette Brown Herron

��What would you add to the list?

Leave your a nswer i n the comments and have your name put into the drawing for a paper copy of one of my books of your choice (U.S.A only). Or a digital copy for outside of the U.S.A. If you leave your email a dd ress i n the comments it will make it easier for me to contact you if you win.

If you’re interested, you can order The Mistletoe Countess on , , or at your local bookstore!��

(Here’s a little bit about The Mistletoe Countess)

Mistletoe is beautiful and dangerous, much like the woman from Lord Frederick’s Percy’s past, so when he turns over a new leaf and arranges to marry for his estate, instead of his heart, he never expects the wrong bride to be the right choice. Gracelynn Ferguson never expected to take her elder sister’s place as a Christmas bride, but when she’s thrust into the choice, she will trust in her faithful novels and overactive imagination to help her not only win Frederick’s heart but also to solve the murder mystery of Havensbrook Hall before the ghosts from Frederick’s past ruin her fairytale future. Will the magic of Christmas bring these two newlyweds closer together, or will the ghosts of the past lead them into a destructive discovery from which not even a Dickens’s Christmas can save them?

Now��.��

Here’s the Stop #23��Basics:

Clue to Write Down: in which

The Next Stop on the Loop: !

I’m so excited to share with you the cover for my July 2022 release, The Heart of the Mountains.

This book is the sequel to My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge, Laurel’s Dream. You can learn more about that story 🙂

Wanna know more?

Here’s a bit about the story:

To escape a forced marriage, Cora Taylor travels from England to the Blue Ridge Mountains in search of her brother, who is working as a teacher in a mission school. She hopes to find a place where her nursing skills and independent ideas will be accepted and appreciated, but nothing prepares her for the wild mixture of isolation, community, brokenness, and hope within these mountains…or in the person of Jeb McAdams.Returning from the devastation of World War 1 emotionally damaged, Jeb McAdams struggles against the rampant mountain alcoholism to soothe his nightmares. It’s easy to hide within the mountains, or it was, before Cora Taylor arrives. Now, she seems to show up at every turn, bringing her ideas, curiosity, and beautiful eyes with her. Their mutual understanding of the costs of war leads to an unspoken bond that develops into a hesitant friendship. As Cora turns her nursing experience and determination on establishing hygiene and education for women in the Appalachian community while also attempting to rescue Jeb from his own ghosts, Cora and Jeb’s partnership turns into a project of celebrating the gifts within Appalachia. But when the past sweeps back into their lives and an outbreak of scarlet fever threatens the future, will Cora and Jeb find a way to work together �� even if it means unplanned matrimony �� or will their different lives and brokenness tear them apart.

I’m a native of the Blue Ridge Mountains and lots of these stories are seasoned with smaller stories my granny told me while I was growing up. This culture is so dear to my heart and I hope you’ll feel the ‘heart of the mountains�� too as you read my Appalachian-flavored books!

Without further ado!

Here is the cover for The Heart of the Mountains!!

There is a lot of hope to be found from Peter, the “apostle of hope��, in his letter I Peter. Here are a few of my thoughts.