Author Spotlight ~ Debut Author Gretchen A. Carlson's "More Than Grit" Novel

 

Please welcome debut author Gretchen A. Carlson. 
She won't mention that she's already a #1 Best Seller, but I will :)

Thank you, L.A., for inviting me to your porch with your friends and readers. With a deep breath, I’ll jump in with two quiet confessions.

First, I might be the oldest author to share a debut book here… but I’m learning to live with a young heart. I used to see the glass half empty rather than half full. When the grit of life darkened my heart, I often escaped into books, especially historical fiction. Characters fueled my courage and inspired me.

My grandma was in her eighties when she told me a story kept secret for decades. That was thirty years ago, but today More Than Grit is available on Amazon. It’s a book about broken lives and deep friendships as the shadows of World War II lengthened. More importantly, it’s about forgiveness and grace. It’s a story for hearts that yearn to live young.

My second confession? I cried. No, I sobbed when I typed the last paragraph of the book. I realized no matter the twists and turns or disappointments of life, nothing can separate us from God’s love.

My prayer is that each of you sweet friends and readers will not stumble through life’s hurts and jagged edges with an old heart. Instead, let hope and grace carry you. This is why I write.

A bit more about the story and why I wrote it. The official genre is Middle Grade, although readers of all ages have contacted me that they enjoyed the book. I decided to target fourth through eighth graders for two reasons. First, that’s when books began to shape me. My main character is a spunky twelve-year old girl, and through her I want to inspire teens that their lives have impact. They can make a difference in their homes, school, and community. Secondly, I’ve been concerned with content trends in middle grade and young adult novels.

Thank you for listening to tidbits of my story, and thank you again, L.A. for connecting friends and books.

Blessings!

Gretchen A. Carlson

Excerpt: 

I rolled up my shirt sleeves even though Mother warned me not to sunburn my scars. Were the bird-pecked apples worth the risk?

But winter’s hunger was approaching. I grabbed two apples and reached for more. Sweat ran under my ponytail, down my neck and back.

Tossing apples onto my ragged quilt spread below, I scanned the yard. My breath caught. Dewey Dog was gone. Only the chickens’ throaty cackles interrupted the quiet.

Don’t panic. It must be safe since he wandered off.

With my skinny legs wrapped tight around a limb, I inched higher.

“Git down, ya thief.” A raspy voice cut the silence, and a long shadow stepped from behind a shed, a rotting rectangle ready to collapse. A brown stream of spit hit the ground with a dusty splat. “Stealin’ my apples.”

Old Man lifted the barrel of a shotgun. I froze.

“Girlie. Ya hear me?” Old Man’s shotgun edged closer, and my heart skittered to a stop.

“I heard you.” I swallowed hard and chucked another apple onto the quilt. “And I’m not Girlie. My name … is … Sissy Grumme.” I turned my head, expecting a reaction to my ugly melted cheek.

He raised the gun.

I stared down the end of the barrel.

“Last time. Git down.” Old Man spat and sniggered, “Girlie.”

My heart battered hard against my chest. Don’t. Call. Me. Names.

I picked an apple and threw it at Old Man’s feet. Rotten mush splattered his work boots, and he snarled. I hugged a branch with both arms and dropped to the ground. As I landed, there was the sharp crack of a shell sliding into a gun chamber followed by Dewey Dog’s deep growl. Behind Old Man stood my guard—his fur bristled. Old Man pressed the shotgun into his shoulder and spun around.

“No!” I rushed toward them.

Blurb:

When do secrets become lies? When is grit not enough?

Scarred by burns from a kerosene lantern, twelve-year old Sissy knows electricity is more than her farm family’s dream. It’s vital. She also knows they can’t afford the required deposit to be connected to electric lines, so she wrangles a secret deal to help her parents. As she faces danger and sacrifices to support her family, Sissy’s best efforts fail. She’s blind to what she needs most, and when she tells her secrets, she fears it’s too late.

Set in Kansas farmland, More than Grit is an unforgettable story of determination to succeed against all odds that will appeal to middle-grade and teen readers, their parents, and anyone who roots for the underdog.

Award winning author Gretchen A. Carlson fills her characters with grit and grace as she shares the story her grandmother kept secret. 

 Buy the Ebook and Paperback:

 Amazon

Bio:

More than Grit won the 2018 American Christian Fiction Writer’s Genesis award for the young adult category and 2017 First Impressions award. Gretchen’s background in journalism and education has fed her heartbeat for writing and sharing stories of hope with students. For adventure and despite several bear encounters, she and her husband enjoy tent camping each summer. Her six grandchildren also fill their lives with adventure and fun. She is a member of Front Range Christian Fiction Writers, American Christian Fiction Writers, and The Storyteller Squad.

 Find Gretchen:

 Facebook  Instagram  Website  How More Than Grit came to me video:

Author Spotlight Featuring Mary A. Felkins & Her Debut Novel ~ Call To Love

It's always a joy to host a debut author. 

Please welcome Inspy Author, Mary Felkins.

Thank you, L.A. for hosting me.

I began to wonder…what if two crisis-driven professions, trained to answer emergency calls, refuse to answer God’s call to love again? 

I’ve always been in awe of first responders, those who make headline news in times of tragedy but seem to gain little recognition otherwise as they work tirelessly to respond to emergencies.

Throughout their shifts, they see so much of what most of us will never see. In addition to my trust in God’s protection, they’re the reason I sleep in peace each night.

For my first novel, I had the hero move from Texas to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains which parallels mine and my husband’s story in 1997. Although we made the move from Houston, Texas, I chose to have the hero move from San Antonio for one simple reason: my firstborn son is named Anthony. As simple – and fun – as that!

The heroine is an ER nurse in intent on leaving her hometown community in the foothills of North Carolina in pursuit of new life in another city. But what appears to be a wise career move is really lack of trust in disguise, a refusal to answer God’s call to love. Who can’t relate to justifying our reasons for turning in a particular direction when, behind it all, we’re running from the one thing God meant for our good?

Excerpt:

Tracy Cassidy’s life plan read like a doctor's script: wear lead apron over heart and manage affairs on own. If Plan A fails and pain persists then, and only then, a shout-out to God would be considered. After all, life was a vapor.

Hungry as Tracy was following a twelve-hour shift in the emergency department, the area outside Joe’s Hot Dog Shack needed to clear out stat. The command rose in her throat, but she reasoned that having to wait in line when hungry didn’t justify an irritable disposition. Mom said it marred the beauty of biblical femininity.

The hot dog stand, the likes of a tiny, roofed house, sat square in the parking lot of a small shopping strip. Cars whizzed along Highway 127, the four-lane, divided road beside it. Burning tobacco wafted from the customer ahead and tinged the air. Like those Atlantic league baseball games with her father. She pivoted toward a distant siren wail. Could be her brother Jack on patrol. Faithful to a family ritual, Tracy prayed. Keep him safe. Always safe.

Beneath summer’s sun, Tracy’s feet marinated inside her neon pink Nike’s. She slung her stethoscope behind her neck and inhaled the calming scent of Appalachian handcrafted rose and jasmine shea butter soap on her skin. A ‘just because’ gift from Mom, likely meant to dissuade Tracy’s consideration of leaving her hometown of Laurelton.

An older couple sat at one of two pine picnic tables beside the food stand. Tracy peered at them over her shoulder. A cheery yellow umbrella shaded them from the gauze of August heat. Their shoulders touched, eyes brightening like jewels. The gentleman tucked strands of graying hair behind her ears. He reached a napkin to her mouth. “Marilyn, whadya say we get married?”

The woman angled her face away then returned his smile. “Oh, Wilburn. You’ve been proposing since our wedding day sixty years ago.”

He cupped her cheek and kissed her lips. Jeremiah Clark’s classic, Trumpet Voluntary, sounded in Tracy’s head and drew her thoughts to the unquenchable power of her parents’ love. Their story could have looked the same. If it hadn’t been for Dad’s badge.

Tracy gazed across the sloping Catawba Valley foothills that rose into indigo waves of sculpted Appalachian Mountains. Artistic brushstrokes of white cloud streaked an azure blue, mid-afternoon sky. Summer would soon give way to the glory of fall with sugar maple leaves, a sheer radiance of golden yellow, amber, and ruby red. A metal street sign colored in patriotic shades and anchored in the fertile road verge along the main road boasted Laurelton as an All-America City winner.

Yanking her thoughts back to business, Tracy considered her options. “So, if Cheryl tells me I got the promotion, I’m meant to stay in Laurelton and support Mom with Safe Shores Women’s Rescue Mission. But if not, I’ve got that dream job opportunity as assistant manager at Duke Regional Medical Center in Durham.” Sure tasted sweet. And she could forever darken the images of her fallen father that mocked her pain at every corner.

Her cell phone vibrated inside the pocket of her purple scrubs and disrupted the review of her carefully planned agenda. Another text from Robbie, Tracy’s former high-school sweetheart turned gorgeous-and buff-pharmaceutical rep. They’d been dating for over eight months since he’d first called on Dr. Rainer at the hospital.

Where are you?

“Persistent man,” she muttered.

Joe cupped a hand behind his ear. “Excuse me?”

Slipping the cell back into her pocket, Tracy advanced to the open, sliding glass window only to draw back at the pungent smell of chopped onion. She flapped her hand. “It’s nothing.”

Now, review agenda. Quell hunger, return home by close of business day, and contact Joanna Graves in Human Resources at Duke Regional Medical Center. Then she’d figure a way to wrap her mind around trading the beauty of the mountains for flat, granite landscape. Which was so not the picture of an All-America City. No matter. She’d make life work.

Buy:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Pelican Book Store

Blurb:

What if saying yes to love means trusting the kind of man you said you’d never marry?

What if pursuing a woman’s heart means restoring a painful past?

Tracy Cassidy, a fiercely independent ER nurse, must choose between her dream job or staying in her hometown to help support her mother’s faltering ministry. Even if it means risking her heart in love with the kind of man she said she’d never marry.

Why sign up to be Laurelton’s next cop widow?

Tom DeLaney, a hyper-vigilant cop and new hire from Texas, is wearied by years of failed rescue attempts to save his marriage to his ex. A free man, he moves to the foothills of North Carolina. Thing is, he hadn’t expected to fall for Tracy, his supervisor’s sister. But when his adolescent son is diagnosed with a chronic illness, he faces the risk of loving another woman with keep-out issues.
Fears related to the death of Tracy’s cop father and Tom’s inability to forgive the past threaten to sabotage any chance at love.

To trust again means surrender. Will they risk their hearts and answer the call?

Bio:

Mary A. Felkins is an inspirational romance author, administrator for Seriously Write writer's blog, and contributor to Refresh, a quarterly online Bible study magazine. In 2015, she was awarded a bronze medal winner for her scene submission to My Book Therapy's Frazier contest. Call to Love is her debut, inspirational romance novel.

She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and My Book Therapy.

Raised in Houston, Texas (and forever a Lone Star girl), Mary and her husband Bruce moved to the foothills of North Carolina in 1997. They are blessed to parent four young adult children. She can be lured from her writer's cave if presented with a large, unopened bag of Peanut M&Ms or to watch an episode of Fixer Upper. A surprise appearance by her teen idol, Donny Osmond, would also do the trick, although she’d likely pass out.

If, upon introduction, she likes your first or last name, expect to see it show up in one of her novels.

To receive Mary’s weekly story-style devotions and quarterly book news via email, join other #Felkinsfans at www.maryfelkins.com

Find Mary:

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter