Interview with Gail Pallotta & spotlight of Stopped Cold...

We're happy to have Gail Pallotta with us today talking about her novel Stopped Cold. To learn more about her and her book, read on!

Back cover blurb:

Things aren't what they seem in peaceful Mistville, North Carolina.

Margaret McWhorter enjoys a laid-back Freshman year in high school swimming and hanging out with friends—until the day her brother, Sean, suffers a stroke from taking steroids. Now he's lying unconscious in a hospital.

Anger sets a fire for retribution inside her, and Margaret vows to make the criminals pay. Even the cop on the case can't stop her from investigating. Looking for justice, she convinces two friends, Jimmy and Emily to join her in a quest that takes them through a twisted, drug-filled sub-culture they discover deep in the woods behind the school. Time and again they walk a treacherous path, and come face-to-face with danger.

All the while Margaret really wants to cure Sean, heal the hate inside, and open her heart to love.

Please give us the first page of the book.

My first day as a Freshman at Meriwether Christian High School in Mistville, North Carolina, the sun shone on a small plant with pink blossoms on the window sill and gave Mrs. Hornsby’s English class a cheerful look. She stood in front of pine straight back chairs scrunched together in the middle of the room, the tables shoved up against the wall at the end of it.

“Today we’ll form a circle and get acquainted.”

Her voice sounded bubbly and kind, but I wanted to escape to the pool or a beach. She directed us with her hands as we scraped chairs across the laminated floor and took our seats. That’s when I noticed Jimmy Willmore staring at me. As self-conscious as a possum in a dog show, I peered at my lap. Was he checking me out? I raised my head and glanced at him.

He shifted his gaze to the blackboard.

Mrs. Hornsby ran her hand through her short, salt-and-pepper-colored hair then twirled around. “Let’s start with you.” She gestured toward a pretty girl with dainty features and long, blonde hair.

“I’m Sally Dumont, a transfer student from North Wilkes.”

The other kids gave their names, but I let them fade into the background while I thought about Jimmy Willmore. Then it was my turn. “I’m Margaret McWhorter, and I entered Meriwether in middle school.”

What do you do for fun when not writing? Get together with friends and family, go to lunch with hubby, swim and go to the beach every chance I get.

What are you working on now?  I’m excited about a new adult romantic suspense novel I’m working on.

Please tell us five random things we might not know about you.

I’m a fan of Elvis Presley. I listen to his CD, “An Evening Prayer,” three days a week on the way to the pool.

I love fresh fish, especially eating it on the Back Porch in Destin, Florida.

It’s hard to find my shoe size, so I rarely throw away a pair of shoes no matter how old and ragged looking they get.

I have Lyme disease, but thanks to Jesus and a wonderful alternative doctor, I’m up and kicking.

I cook Southern recipes handed down from three generations.

Why did you choose to write this book?

As a college student then later as a young Mom, I knew of children, teens and young adults affected in a devastating way because they didn’t always excel. The results ranged from heartache in children over not winning a race or making all As to suicide attempts and suicide in young adults. I’m not sure if these sad situations crossed my path more than they did that of others or not, but the more pain I witnessed, the more I wished these children, teens and young adults had believed they did not have to be the best, but do their best. Even though the drive seemed to originate from different sources - parents, siblings, peer pressure or within - I wanted to tell them that God had given each of them a gift or gifts to use for Him, and they didn’t need to be #1. The theme rattled around in my head for years until finally I put it in Stopped Cold.

What one thing about writing do you wish non-writers would understand? 

It takes a lot of hard work.

What is the toughest test you've faced as a writer?

Marketing, especially balancing it with time to write.

What do you hope readers to take away from your novel?

Standards set by others pale when we use our talent to glorify God. We’re all created in His image, but each of us has a particular gift or gifts to use for Him.

What accomplishment(s) are you most proud of, writing-related or not?

My wonderful, Christian daughter.

Bio:

Award-winning author Gail Pallotta’s a wife, mom, swimmer and bargain shopper who loves God, beach sunsets and getting together with friends and family. She’s a former regional writer of the year for American Christian Writers Association, a 2013 Grace Awards finalist and a 2017 Reader’s Favorite Book Award winner. She’s published six books, poems, short stories and two-hundred articles. Some of her articles appear in anthologies while two are in museums.

Where else can readers find you online?

I have a special twitter site for the high school in Stopped Cold and would love to have people follow it. It’s Meriwether Christian @MeriwetherCS. (https://twitter.com/MeriwetherCS)

Website - https://gailpallotta.com

Blog - https://www.gailpallotta.blogspot.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorsandMore

Twitter - Gail Pallotta @Hopefulwords  

Barbara Britton Interview & Jerusalem Rising...

We're happy to have Barbara Britton with us today talking about her book Jerusalem Rising. To learn more about her and her book, read on!

Why did you choose to write this book?

I have taught the story of Nehemiah many times in Vacation Bible School. Kids love tearing down fake rocks and rebuilding them into a wall. Nehemiah was tasked with restoring the wall around Jerusalem and he also pointed the Hebrew people toward God. I was shocked to learn the daughters of Shallum helped rebuild Jerusalem’s wall. I thought their take on the construction project would make an interesting story. Women construction workers in Bible times were rare. I also discovered a prophetess in the book of Nehemiah who was new to me. She’s not a nice prophetess.

I enjoy bringing little known Bible stories to light. I wanted to share all the “new things” I discovered in the book of Nehemiah: women wall builders, a nasty prophetess, all the men who worked against Nehemiah and God. Spoiler alert. God wins.

What is the toughest test you’ve faced as a writer?

Even with three books published and three in the publishing pipeline, I sometimes doubt my writing skills. I need to cast the doubts aside and realize God gave me my passion. When I finish a manuscript, I look at the amount of work and say, “How did I do that?” With God. I’ve spent many years learning the craft of writing and I pray God will use me to shine a light on Him and His Word.

What do you hope readers take away from your novel?

The theme for “Jerusalem Rising” is be strong and courageous and do God’s work. It isn’t always easy to do Kingdom work or stand up for God, but God calls us to make disciples and share the Gospel. I hope people are encouraged by Adah and Nehemiah’s story.

What accomplishments are you most proud of, writing-related or not?

I am personally proud that I am active in ministry even though I have a lot of writing tasks. I love teaching Bible study and mentoring women, and I have honored those commitments even though life can get hectic at times. God gives us gifts to use in His church and I want to be faithful to Kingdom ministry.

Book Blurb:

When Adah bat Shallum finds the governor of Judah weeping over the crumbling wall of Jerusalem, she learns the reason for Nehemiah’s unexpected visit—God has called him to rebuild the wall around the City of David.

 Nehemiah challenges the men of Jerusalem to labor on the wall and in return, the names of their fathers will be written in the annals for future generations to cherish. But Adah has one sister and no brothers. Should her father who rules a half-district of Jerusalem be forgotten forever?

Adah bravely vows to rebuild her city’s wall, though she soon discovers that Jerusalem not only has enemies outside of the city, but also within. Can Adah, her sister, and the men they love, honor God’s call? Or will their mission be crushed by the same rocks they hope to raise.

The first page of  Jerusalem Rising:

Seventeen-year-old Adah bat Shallum breathed deep. Deep enough to carry the pomegranate, cassia, and aloe scents from the length of her nose to the depths of her lungs. Was this fragrance a treasure or a stench? She trusted her senses. Her patience had produced a precious perfume worth several silver coins. Possibly some gold ones too. Careful not to spill a single drop, she poured her afternoon’s labor into small glazed jars, and lined them one finger length from the edge of the shelf and one thumb width apart. A piece of whittled poplar closed every opening and kept her fragrance captive.

“Adah. Judith.” The summons echoed down the street. A harsh inflection deepened her father’s voice.

She peeked through a hole in the wall—a roughedged reminder of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege—and spied her father’s forward-leaning march. Wiping her hands on a clean rag, she scurried around the acacia wood table, a centerpiece to the small space she recently called her own. She crossed the threshold of her storeroom and hastened into the dirt lane.

What do you do for fun when not writing?

I love to read books by author friends. As Elizabeth Bennet said in the movie Pride and Prejudice, “I’m very fond of walking.” I don’t walk as much outside due to the cold Wisconsin winters.

What are you working on now?

I am finishing a mini-series about the daughters of Zelophehad. “Lioness: Mahlah’s Journey” will release in October of 2019 and tell the story of these five orphaned sisters. The remaining two books show their journey to inherit their land…and find love.

Where else can readers find you?

I have a website www.barbarambritton.com, and I am on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Barb’s Bio:

Barbara M. Britton lives in Wisconsin and writes Christian Fiction for teens and adults. She has a nutrition degree from Baylor University but loves to dip healthy strawberries in chocolate. Barb brings little-known Bible characters to light in her Tribes of Israel series.

What Bible story would you like to know more about?