Welcome! Check out an interview with the author and enter the tour giveaway below...
Revived Hope
(Bay Town)
By Kathleen J. Robison
Christian Romantic Suspense, Novella
Paperback & ebook, 120 Pages
October 19, 2021 by Celebrate Lit Publishing
Summary
How many near misses does it take not to be a coincidence anymore?
Melanie Thompson has spent her entire adult life trying to overcome the mistakes of her youth. Just as everything is looking up, it all begins to unravel as one problem after another piles on top of each other, each with one goal in mind. Get her out of the way.
Determined to make a better life for herself and her daughter, and with the help of her father, Melanie looks at alternative ways to make her dream of owning a storefront for her bridal business come true. Complications with her ex-husband, the new business, and a threatening landlord all conspire against her, and everything seems lost when tragedy strikes not once, but twice.
What will it take for Melanie to accept the alternate path the Lord has laid out for her?
Revived Hope, the prequel to the romantic suspense Bay Town Series, paves the path for Melanie and Lacey’s move from Orange County to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and a new life in Bay Town.
Author Interview
What inspired you to write Revived Hope?
This book was the prequel to Shattered Guilt, Book 1 of my Bay Town Series. My publisher asked that I write a novella, and it seemed natural to write Melanie’s story. She’s the main character in Shattered Guilt, and I had so much backstory that didn’t go into that book, so I jumped at the opportunity to write more about her life before moving to Bay Town.
What part or aspect of this story do you love the most?
I love the family relationship. Melanie is a single mom, so the dynamics of her parents helping to raise their granddaughter, Lacey, was so touching. The grandparents were inspired in some ways by my parents, who are both with the Lord now. I got to relive some of the fun times and banter that I experienced growing up. Of course, it’s fiction, but my parents were the inspiration.
What challenged you about writing Revived Hope?
Oh my! Definitely the word count and subplots. I have difficulty drafting short stories, and I’d never written a novella, so I went way over my allowed words. That meant cutting subplots and changing characters. It wasn’t easy, but I think it resulted in a much tighter and enjoyable story. However, I’m happy to get back to writing a full-length novel!
What’s one of your hobbies or something we might not know about you?
I have so many hobbies that I dabble in everything. But I guess something you might not know about me is that I love to dance. I don’t get many opportunities anymore, but I can’t keep my feet still when I click my playlist to write. Before the pandemic, my husband and I took ballroom dancing, and when I was younger, I waltzed with my dad, much like Melanie does with her father in Revived Hope. My family used to clear out the living room, and dancing was a weekly event! My mother was accomplished in Okinawan Folk Dancing, as was my grandfather and an uncle, so it runs in the family!
What advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Join a critique group right away. It was the best advice I received, and it came from my sister, a journalist, and writer. I chronicled it in a TWJ Magazine article, but it was the best thing I ever did to jumpstart my writing. I had to check out a couple before I fit, but it’s vital to the success of becoming an author. Getting feedback from others on my writing and listening to the critiques was critical to me becoming a better writer. But the most important thing is to write every day. I have a set word count, and it drives me to get something on paper before the day is through. I pound it out, even when I don’t feel like it. Then, of course, study the craft of writing. There are so many good books and courses out there to help.
When you reach for a book to read, what genre do you grab, and what are some of your favorites in that genre?
I’m so eclectic, but I do love page-turners. That’s why I started writing suspense. I just discovered Robin Caroll, and I think she’s my new favorite suspense writer. She has a series based in the Louisianna Bayou that is so gripping! I love Cathy Gohlke in historical fiction and wish I could write like her. She’s a beautiful writer who paints a vast canvas with her words. I have so many favorites in so many genres, but those authors right now are the most prominent. Not only do I enjoy their books, but I learn from their writing as well.
About the Author
Kathleen J. Robison is an Okinawan-American. Born in Okinawa, raised in California, Florida, Mississippi, and Singapore. Her travels are the inspirational settings for her stories. She and her Pastor husband have eight adult children. Seven are married, blessing them with fourteen grandchildren and counting. The diversity of their 31 family members provide the inspiration for more lively characters than can be imagined. Her husband grew up in the streets of Los Angeles raised by a single working mom, and that life provides fodder for many of the conflicts of her characters.
Tackling difficult life’s trials with God’s strength are the central theme of Kathleen’s stories. She hopes to inspire her readers to trust God and with His strength, weather through and rise above trials and tragedies. If you like suspenseful stories with a thread of romance, you will enjoy Kathleen’s Bay Town Series
More from Kathleen
In Revived Hope, the prequel to Shattered Guilt, it’s one year earlier. Melanie Thompson races through life’s challenges while navigating the trials of being a single mother, a budding entrepreneur, and a woman of faith, all with threats of danger.
Our past doesn’t define us, as Melanie learns, but it definitely frames who we become. Thankfully, we have a gracious God who uses all of the good and the bad to bring us to a place of communion with Him…desiring His will for His glory. And ultimately, it’s always for our good.
I love my character Melanie, and I hope you will too. I’ve spent so many years getting to know her that it was fun writing this prequel. I enjoyed writing about her past and introducing you to her family in California before the move to charming fictional Bay Town in Shattered Guilt. When I wrote of Melanie’s relationship with her dad, I laughed, I cried, and I left my heart in the book…in a manner of speaking.
But Revived Hope is not all sweetness and heartache. Things get pretty testy when Melanie tackles villains head-on and sometimes all alone. Often the world encourages us to do it all, and Melanie tries. Although tragedy strikes too many times, the lessons she learns strengthen her faith and trust in the Almighty.
Lastly, Revived Hope teases with a hint of romance but sets the stage for Melanie’s love story in Shattered Guilt, Book 1, Bay Town Series. I’m excited for you to meet Melanie and her family as you root for her in all her harrowing escapades.
Tour-Wide Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Kathleen is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
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