Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt
Stop #17
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 3/12 at noon MST with Stop #1 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, 3/15 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!
Hello friends!
I’m Nicole Deese and I’m delighted you’ve stopped by for a visit. I wish I could hand you a warm cup of coffee (and a cupcake!) and invite you to stay awhile and chat, but since you have more scavenger hunt sites to visit, I’ll do my best to be brief (a rare trait for a novelist)! My upcoming contemporary romance, Before I Called You Mine, published by Bethany House Publishers, is my tenth novel. And while each book an author’s pens is special in their own way, this story roots deeper into my heart as it was inspired by the adoption of our daughter, Lucy Mei.
Lauren Bailey may be a romantic at heart, but after a decade of matchmaking schemes gone wrong, there's only one match she's committed to now--the one that will make her a mother. Lauren is a dedicated first-grade teacher in Idaho, and her love for children has led her to the path of international adoption. To satisfy her adoption agency's requirements, she gladly agreed to remain single for the foreseeable future; however, just as her long wait comes to an end, Lauren is blindsided by a complication she never saw coming: Joshua Avery.
Joshua may be a substitute teacher by day, but Lauren finds his passion for creating educational technology as fascinating as his antics in the classroom. Though she does her best to downplay the undeniable connection between them, his relentless pursuit of her heart puts her commitment to stay unattached to the test and causes her once-firm conviction to waver.
With an impossible decision looming, Lauren might very well find herself choosing between the two deepest desires of her heart . . . even if saying yes to one means letting go of the other.
The What Ifs of Story
In the summer of 2017, my little family of four—my husband of 16 years and our two pre-teen sons—became a family of five when we adopted a 6.5 year-old girl from an orphanage in Beijing, China. Our lives, and our daughter’s life, was forever changed that day. Over the next year, as I took time off from writing deadlines and publishing contracts to bond with our daughter, Lucy Mei, God began to weave a new storyline in my writer’s heart.
While we were in China, I met several single mothers who’d made the incredible trek overseas to adopt their son or daughter during the same time we adopted our Lucy Mei. Their journeys were not only courageous, but their obedience to pursue a life-altering call despite the cost, stigma, and sacrifice, left me teary-eyed and inspired. The rules are clear—you can either adopt as a woman who has been married for two years or longer, or as a single, unattached woman. No exceptions. Basically, if you start the process to adopt as a single woman, get matched with your future child, and then accidentally meet and fall in love with Mr. Right during that same timeline… you are going to have some hard decisions to make.
It was this rule that began a series of what if questions in my writer brain: What if there’s a single woman in her thirties who loves children and feels called to adopt an orphan overseas? What if only a short while after she’s matched with a child she meets the man she’s prayed for all her life? And what if she’s forced to make an impossible decision between the two deepest desires of her heart, even when walking through one door will mean closing the other?
Before I Called You Mine is a contemporary romance that colors outside the lines of a traditional romantic fairytale but highlights the undeniable connection of two hearts meant to beat as one. While there are many playful interactions and humorous scenes throughout Lauren and Joshua’s story, there are also raw and vulnerable moments that I pray will stir your soul and paint a lasting, more vibrant picture of all that love can be with the turn of every page.
Here’s the Stop #17 Basics:
If you’re interested, you can order Before I Called You Mine on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Christianbook, or at your local bookstore!
Clue to Write Down: books can
Link to Stop #18, the Next Stop on the Loop: Connilyn Cossette's site!
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But Wait! Before you go!
I am giving away a signed copy of Before I Called You Mine to one lucky entrant (US only).
For your chance to win complete the Rafflecopter form!