Bookish Tuesday | Athens Ambuscade

Introducing Athens Ambuscade by Kristen Joy Wilks

By Iola Goulton, @iolagoulton

I requested Athens Ambuscade for review for two reasons:

1. It obviously featured Athens, Greece, which makes it perfect for a post at International Christian Fiction Writers.
2. I've never heard of "ambuscade" before, so I had to find out what it meant (it's an antiquated term for 'ambush' for those who are interested.

But then I read the book description and wasn't so sure ...

What happens when a strapped-for-cash bridal designer needs a stuffed animal...and fast?Up-and-coming bridal designer, Jacqueline Gianakos must fly a Montana taxidermist to Greece in order to stuff her Grandmother's cat. If Chrysanthemum isn't preserved within two days' time, Jacqueline will lose the home that was her childhood sanctuary. But will she survive the next 48 hours when the taxidermist ignores her pointed request and then shows up wearing flannel?

This sounded a little weird. And perhaps it was. But it worked.

Jacqueline is in Athens dealing with the estate of her recently deceased grandmother. Ya-Ya left what could have been a to-do list in the envelope with her will, and the lawyer decrees that Jacqueline must complete all the tasks on the list before she can inherit the house. This would seem ridiculous and unbelievable, but the writing and the setting makes it seem almost logical.

Anyway, Jacqueline (never Jackie and definitely not Jack) is a lady with Plans. She has emptied the attic, cleaned the gutters, built a tasteful orange tree house (if that's not a contradiction in terms then I don't know what is), and baked a watermelon pie (I have no idea how you bake a pie from a fruit that is basically water).

Now she has to get that nice taxidermist from Montana to stuff her grandmother's dead cat. 

He's arrived in Athens, and they've got two days to stuff the cat and show the lawyer. Shouldn't be difficult ...

Jacqueline and Shane collect the cat from cold storage (it's been dead three years, and Ya-Ya wasn't crazy enough to keep it in her own freezer. Yes, this is a good time for crazy cat lady jokes). Then their troubles begin as thugs in black vans want to steal the cat. Yes, you read that right. It's the "ambuscade" promised in the title.

What follows is a fast-paced cat chase through the streets and sights of Athens, including a visit to the Parthenon, the Gate of Athena, the Monastiraki Flea Market, and the Cave of Aglauros. It's also funny, in a laugh-out-loud kind of way, not a how-stupid-is-this-woman kind of way.

Jacqueline is a little strange (I guess she takes after Ya-Ya).

As I said, Jacqueline is a lady with Plans. She has plans and lists and is perhaps a little over the top. For example, when she arranges to meet Shane, the taxidermist, in an Athenian cafe, she doesn't tell him what she'll be wearing. She tells him the width of her belt, and the three shades of eyeshadow. I try to be organised, but Jacqueline takes planning and organisation to a whole new level.

Athens Ambuscade is a quick read, both because of the fast pace and because it is relatively short. But it packed a lot of punch: lots of great lines:

And:

It also had a strong Christian theme, with Jacqueline learning a definite lesson about the nature of God (a lesson that had nothing to do with kittens or rainbows or fluffy things).

And the location ... Wilks did a great job with the location:

So much color. A swipe of robin's egg blue across the Mediterranean sky, ancient white marble, and the flush of green growth clinging to the mountain. God seemed to create His most glorious splendors in hard to reach places.

Some books are set in exotic locations, but you read them and get the feeling they could have been set anywhere—the setting comes a distant third behind the plot and characters. Athens Ambuscade is different. It almost felt as though the setting were a character, and I loved that—although I am glad my own short visit to Athens wasn't nearly as exciting as Jacqueline and Shane's.

I recommend Athens Ambuscade for those who enjoy romantic comedy from authors such as Kara Isaac, and those looking for a Christian novel equivalent of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Thanks to Pelican Books and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.

About Iola Goulton

Iola Goulton is a New Zealand book reviewer, freelance editor, and author, writing contemporary Christian romance with a Kiwi twist. She is a member of the Sisterhood of Unpronounceable Names (Iola is pronounced yo-la, not eye-ola and definitely not Lola).

Iola holds a degree in marketing, has a background in human resource consulting, and currently works as a freelance editor. When she’s not working, Iola is usually reading or writing her next book review. Iola lives in the beautiful Bay of Plenty in New Zealand (not far from Hobbiton) with her husband, two teenagers and one cat. She is currently working on her first novel.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

Visiting my Writing World (and eBook giveaway)

by Marion Ueckermann

In two weeks, I’ll be heading for the airport to catch a Qatar flight to Doha, and then on to Edinburgh, Scotland. I can’t wait for this overseas trip for many reasons. I’ll be seeing my brother, Lenny, and sister-in-law, Hanlie, who immigrated in September last year. Hubby’s coming with which is great because we both need a good holiday after an exhausting year—plus, I think my brother needs some male company for the 17 days we’re there because my sister is also going with us to Scotland, as are her two crazy daughters (no, they’re not literally crazy, but it is definitely going to be a barrel of laughs from beginning to end with them around). I’ve booked the seats in front of them on the plane for Noel and I, and have warned them that if they misbehave, I’ll recline my seat as far back as I can the entire way. Jokes aside, I can’t wait to show my sister and nieces the land of our ancestors. I’ve been to Scotland twice and loved it.

My brother lives in Falkirk now, about an hour from Edinburgh (one of my favorite cities), and an hour from Glasgow. Below are pics of The Kelpies close to his home. Aren’t they magnificent works of art?

Care to join me for a minute and take a look at what I’ll be experiencing and seeing? Click here. I promise, it’ll be a minute well spent.

This brings me to the second reason for my excitement for this trip. Have a look at the photo below to see what’s waiting for me at my brother’s house. Because postage is cheaper and safer to Europe than to South Africa, I’ve sent my book shipments there. I’m certainly glad my hubby, sister and nieces are there to help me lug the 26kg of my books back home. I’ve already claimed 5kg baggage from each of them (think I deserve some recompense for booking the tickets and sorting out the visas, don’t you?)

And here’s just one more good reason why I can’t wait for this trip. Glasgow Grace, my third Passport to Romance novella published by Pelican Book Group, releases on July 22nd, and I cannot wait to visit the places I researched and wrote into this story. Places like The Clyde Auditorium, also known as The Armadillo—a concert and public event venue in Glasgow (remind you of another opera house down under?); Buchanan Mall; Anderston Quay; and all the bridges that cross the River Clyde—Bell’s Bridge, Millennium Bridge, and Clyde Arc or The Squinty Bridge. Here are two photies of Lenny and Hanlie’s recent trip to Glasgow. Doesn’t it look like such an interesting city?

I found two photos of The Armadillo on Wikimedia Commons to share with you (no guesses why it got that nickname).

I cannot wait to get to Scotland and see all the above. We're also spending four days beside Loch Ness...I wonder what Scottish stories my mind will conjure up during this time. 

To get you as excited as I am, here’s the cover and blurb for Glasgow Grace. As soon as this novella releases next month, I’ll give away a free eCopy to one lucky reader who leaves a comment on this blog. 

Opera singer, Skye Hunter, returns to the land of her birth as leading lady in Phantom of the Opera. This is her first trip back to bonnie Scotland since her mother whisked her away to Australia after Skye’s father died sixteen years ago.

When Skye decides to have dinner at McGuire’s, she’s not going there only for Mary McGuire’s shepherd’s pie. Her first and only love, Callum McGuire, still plays his guitar and sings at the family-owned tavern. 

Callum has never stopped loving Skye. Desperate to know if she’s changed under her mother’s influence, he keeps his real profession hidden. Would she want him if he was still a singer in a pub? But when Skye’s worst nightmare comes true, Callum reveals his secret to save the woman he loves.

Can Skye and Callum rekindle what they lost, or will her mother threaten their future together once again?

MARION UECKERMANN's passion for writing was sparked when she moved to Ireland with her family. Her love of travel has influenced her contemporary inspirational romances set in novel places. She now lives in South Africa in an empty nest with her husband and their crazy black Scottie, Wally.

Three sleeps till this book arrives!

Today's slot was meant to be Marion Ueckermann's. For a number of reasons, we traded places and I'm delighted to be able spotlight her latest offering in her absence. Marion is a hard-working writer who churns out words regardless of what life throws at her. She is supportive and helpful and a joy to be friends with.

I'm excited to bring you a sneak peak of a new release from Pelican's White Rose / Passport to Travel series. It is hovering in the wings, waiting to take centrestage on Friday, the 14th of August. I loved her previous Pelican release, Helsinki Sunrise, and am looking forward to reading this one. Marion creates characters who are full of spunk, humour and charm.

Oslo Overtures - The Blurb

“If women were meant to fly, the skies would be pink.” 

Those were the first words Anjelica Joergensen heard from renowned wingsuiter, Kyle Sheppard, when they joined an international team in Oslo to break the formation flying Guinness World Record. This wouldn’t be the last blunder Kyle would make around the beautiful Norwegian.

The more Anjelica tries to avoid Kyle, the more the universe pushes them together. Despite their awkward start, she finds herself reluctantly attracted to the handsome New Zealander. But beneath his saintly exterior, is Kyle just a daredevil looking for the next big thrill? 

Falling for another wingsuiter would only be another love doomed.

When a childhood sweetheart comes between them, Kyle makes a foolish agreement which jeopardizes the event and endangers his life, forcing Angelica to make a hard choice.

Is she the one who’ll clip his wings?

Can he be the wind beneath hers?

You can find Marion and all her other published works at www.marionueckermann.com or her Amazon author page.

Marion - we are praying for you and yours at this time. May His peace be around you like a soft warm blanket, and may the Holy Spirit comfort you in the way that only He can.

The Stuff Inside

Seventeen years ago today, I was in a hospital bed holding my newborn baby girl. Drunk on hormones and lack of sleep, I held her in my arms and fell hard. Smitten, irrevocably besotted with this tiny person that would turn my world inside out. I cried when I had to cut her nails for the first time. Seriously? How could anyone trust me to do that right? Yet somehow we both survived without too much bloodshed. I bathed her without drowning her, I rocked her to sleep without breaking her and now seventeen years down the line, she is a beautiful young lady with the ability to turn my world the right way up on those days when it's too top-heavy for me.

I didn't always think I could do this mothering thing, but somehow we muddled through.

Eleven years ago, I started stringing words together. I sold some of them to magazines, but then Jesus pushed my button and I thought about writing a book. A whole book. All eighty thousand words of book. Seriously? Who could trust me to do that right? Yet eleven years later, I'm finishing up my third. Sure, sleep got short-changed, tears were cried and there may have been some bloodshed, but we muddled through.

When Jesus tells you to do something you're not entirely sure you can, it's best not to argue. Take a look at what He's planted in you. Dreams and hopes, desires... the things that make you come alive. You can be sure He didn't plant them there for nothing.

Breathe deep and step off the edge.
Watch the floodgates open.
See His Life and Love pour out of you.

Has Jesus been pushing your buttons? Tell us more...

Dianne J. Wilson is a South African author, who squeezes out words a few hundred at a time in between doing admin for a dance studio and mothering her three girls.

Her first novel, Shackles, is available as a free ebook.

Her second, Finding Mia, releases from Harbourlight on the 19th of June 2015.

Her third, Affinity, is a batch of flapjacks away from being  ready to go out to beta readers.

LORD…THIS WRITING BUSINESS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY—By Christine Lindsay

Author Christine Lindsay with her husband David and all four of her children.

When I first started writing I had no idea how time consuming it would be, how many incredibly long hours…years…a decade and a half, that it would take to become an author with a nice tidy little line of published books.

1999 seems so long ago when the emotional breakdown that I was experiencing at the time became the catalyst to start me writing in the first place. It was just after I'd reunited with my birthdaughter, the child I'd relinquished to adoption 20 years prior. God brought peace and healing to my heart and life, and as the years past so too did a ministry as a writer and speaker grow.

For the last two years I’ve blogged a bit on the weariness that comes to writers and speakers. Ask anyone of us and we’ll say how tired we are, how much work there is to do, and how the to-do-list never seems to whittle down. There have been many times I’ve tried to stop. Last summer the need—or what I considered the need—to market my books became overwhelming.

I simply had to stop writing. Permanently. I couldn't do it anymore.

And I told the Lord so.

My precious God gave me the rest I needed, several months of not even looking at my computer. I loved it. And how surprised I was to be willingly giving up my drive to write. For years I’d wondered if my desire to write Christian novels was just a tiny bit self-driven, and not entirely the Lord’s plan for my life. How often have I wondered if I had been fooling myself.

Yep, I thought, God wants me to focus on Him, be the wife, mother, and grandmother that I am supposed to be.

Then, just as I thought I’d figured it all out, another contract to write my non-fiction story was offered—the story of relinquishing my first child to adoption and our painful reunion 20 years later.

Then another contract was offered me for a fictional novel I’d written  several years ago. Then six more speaking engagements were offered to me. All without me asking. The writing/speaking ministry was growing organically. I was no longer striving for these things, and there it was, the thing I’d been fretting for so hard for, for years.

I felt the Lord’s smile. I wasn’t off the writing hook yet. Maybe I just needed a refresher course in the fact that I CANNOT DO IT ON MY OWN.

“Stop striving, child.” I thought I heard God say. “You cannot do this work on your own, but you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.”

So this past Christmas, I focused on my family and enjoyed what Christmas means. I look forward to 2015 with the renewed attitude that I will be that warm wife and mother and not the busy writer glued to the laptop. God will take care of the details. This is especially real to me as I look at the family photo of this past Christmas which includes myself, my husband, our three children and my birth-daughter whom the Lord has lovingly entwined in our lives and us in hers.

If God can do that, He can take care of a writing and speaking ministry.

Christine Lindsay is the author of the multi-award-winning series Twilight of the British Raj. Book 1 Shadowed in Silk, Book 2 Captured by Moonlight, and recently released Veiled at Midnight. Also by Christine is the romantic novella Londonderry Dreaming, and soon to be released Sofi's Bridge. 

Drop by Christine's website www.ChristineLindsay.com to learn more about her books and speaking ministry.

Vegas Vacation (& eBook Giveaway)

Lies and deceit, murder and mayhem…what else can you expect in Sin City?

Former protective services officer, Sgt. Martin Ames, is five weeks short of medical retirement from the Vegas PD when he lands one last case: spoiled English heiress, Lady Tamlyn Bradshaw, whose bodyguard is hospitalized with suspected food poisoning.

Tamlyn is on holiday, her first without her father and his ever present bodyguards. She wants to have fun, not spend the time stuck in a hotel room with a disabled cop, even if he is tall, dark and disturbingly handsome.

When food poisoning becomes murder, passions and tempers flare as Martin attempts to keep Tamlyn safe from the assailant who gains everything on her death.


Clare Revell, it’s my pleasure to welcome you to International Christian Fiction Writers today.

CLARE: Thank you. It’s lovely to be here on yet another side of a different pond :)

Please tell us how long you’ve been writing.

CLARE: Since I was five. I used to rewrite fairy stories – usually Red Riding Hood, so my penchant with real villains began a long time ago. Then I turned to fanfic, Blake’s Seven, Star Trek, Stargate SG1. Then I added my own characters to those stories and from there launched into my own plots.

You have an amazing publishing career with Pelican Book Group. How many books have you published with them?

CLARE: My first book was published in 2010. Since then I have 20 published with another 18 contracted and 3 with them in hope (wow… I hadn’t actually added them up until now…)

That is a huge accomplishment! Well done!

Now, you’ve been known to work on more than one manuscript at a time. How do you manage that and not get your characters muddled?

CLARE: I cast each book and print off a photo of hero and heroine. So it’s really like watching several different TV shows and not getting them muddled up. EG Eastenders, The Bill, Casualty, Star Trek. 

Earlier this year, you published the final book in a seven book series of the Monday to Sunday’s Child offering readers a romantic suspense for every day of the week. Currently you’re writing on a twelve book contract for 2015. You are one ‘series’ of a lady :)

Please tell us a briefly about these series, and any others you are working on.

CLARE: The Monday’s Child series is summed up in the poem I wrote, with help. Each line is the tag line for that particular book. They cover witness protection, serial killers, and several exciting rescues with the RNLI. The latter I had a blast researching. Saturday’s Child is based on real life events and was incredibly difficult to write.

Monday’s Child must hide for protection,

Tuesday’s Child tenders direction

Wednesday’s Child grieves for his soul

Thursday’s Child chases the whole

Friday's Child is a man obsessed

Saturday’s Child might be possessed

And Sunday’s Child on life’s seas is tossed

Awaiting the Lifeboat that rescues the lost.

The new series also has a poem that sums up each one:

Carnations in January shake the foundations

Violets in February are an aid to salvation

Daffodils in March bring betrayal and loss

Sweet peas in April consume all the dross

Lily of the Valley in May brings danger untold

Roses in June show hope in a heart filled with gold

Water lilies in July a town will submerge

Gladioli in August love from the ash will emerge

Forget-me-nots in September are on the front line of fear

Marigolds in October will test her career 

Chrysanthemums in November show the burden of choice

Holly in December lets a broken family rejoice

These I’m having fun with. Not all villains are men with guns as my tsunami and erupting volcano show. Nicola did an amazing job with the covers – and used my cast list to perfection.

It all sounds very exciting and a lot of hard work. But there’s another series from Pelican Book Group that has me, and readers, excited—that’s the Passport to Romance series released earlier this year from White Rose Publishing, a Pelican Book Group imprint. Your book, Vegas Vacation, releases tomorrow. Having just released Helsinki Sunrise myself, I know how excited you must be.

What inspired Martin and Tamlyn’s story and the location of Las Vegas?

CLARE: My visit to Vegas to stay with a friend in 2005 had a lot to do with it. We did the trip around the Vegas monopoly board that Tamlyn wants to do. We went to Mount Charleston, the Bellagio. It’s an amazing city. It just got me thinking it’d be fun to base a story there and this was the result. It sat on my hard drive for several years after completion and was rewritten several times. I told Lisa, my editor, about a sword fighting scene I’d written set in Vegas and sent it to her. She suggested a passport to romance submission but there wasn’t a prompt for it. She gave me three prompts – funnily enough all in the book anyway. That sword fight ended up being edited out but it’s been saved for another story.

Before we say goodbye, do you have any plans to take your readers to more exotic locations with Passport to Romance?

CLARE: I submitted one set in Wales back in August, so we’ll just have to see what happens.

Clare, thank you so much for being my guest today. It has been really interesting getting to know more about you and your new release.


Vegas Vacation can be purchased from tomorrow at Pelican Book Group (half price release day special), Amazon, Christianbook.com, and Barnes & Noble.

View the Passport to Romance Book Trailer.

For one lucky reader, Clare is giving away a copy of Vegas Vacation (in eBook format only). All you have to do to be eligible for the draw is leave a comment with your email address before October 24. Winners will be announced in the Sunday Edition of October 26.

And just to tempt you to purchase Vegas Vacation, here’s a small extract:

“Martin, you’re the only person in the department with the security clearances and the experience to do this.”

“I haven’t worked protective services for over three years and for good reason. I’m five weeks from early retirement, and I don’t want to spend them running around after a spoiled heiress.”

“Did I ask what you wanted? This woman’s father is royalty and I just got off the phone with him—”

Tamlyn cringed in her seat, her cheeks burning. This was a bad idea. She’d go back to the hotel and trust God to protect her. No one knew who she was; she was just one more tourist in a city of thousands.

The angry voice continued its tirade in the office. “Royalty? In that case, I’m sure she can afford a replacement bodyguard. Even better…ask the British Embassy to provide one. My days of babysitting people are over.”

“Unless you want to be fired five weeks before your retirement date, your assignment for the next three weeks is to be Lady Bradshaw’s bodyguard. There’s the door. She’s by your desk waiting for you.”

The door flung open, and Tamlyn glanced down. She focused her gaze on her fingernails. Maybe she could just pretend she hadn’t heard.

Heavy steps crossed the room as muted conversations started up again. They stopped by the desk. “Lady Bradshaw, I presume?”

She looked up into the most intense, glittering pair of blue eyes she’d ever seen. His hair was pulled back in a long black ponytail, and he leaned on a cane. They had to be kidding. A disabled cop? His navy blue shirt and tie at least gave an appearance of professionalism. Although the gun holster on his shoulder made her shiver.

She stood, grateful he couldn’t read her mind, because she was already regretting that first thought about his gorgeous eyes. She held out a hand. “I am. You must be Sgt. Ames.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Clare writes inspirational romance, usually of a suspenseful nature. Her books are available through her publisher Pelican Book Group and Amazon. She is married with three kids and lives in the UK. She loves watching sci-fi, crime drama, cross stitching, reading and baking.




Connect with Clare:
Website
Blog

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marion Ueckermann’s passion for writing was sparked in 2001 when she moved to Ireland with her husband and two sons. Since then she has published devotional articles and stories in Winners, The One Year Devotional of Joy and Laughter (Tyndale House Publishers), Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miraculous Messages from Heaven, and her debut novelette, Helsinki Sunrise (White Rose Publishing, a Pelican Book Group imprint, Passport to Romance series). Her second Passport to Romance, Oslo Overtures, will be published in 2015.

Marion blogs for International Christian Fiction Writers and Beauty for Ashes. She belongs to Christian Writers of South Africa and American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives in Pretoria East, South Africa in an empty nest with her husband and their crazy black Scottie, Wally.

Connect with Marion Ueckermann:

Website / Amazon / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest

Blogs: A Pebble in my Pocket / Foreign Affaire

Watch the Helsinki Sunrise book trailer on YouTube

* Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

Permission to use images obtained.

Wearing Her Author's Hat

by Ruth Dell

Helsinki Sunrise, a Passport to Romance, blog tour follows on from yesterday’s hero interview and book review with Heidi McCahan.

Today we welcome Marion Ueckermann to our blog. She’s a regular blogger here, but today she is wearing her author's hat. We will be chatting about her debut novelette, Helsinki Sunrise. 

Marion Ueckermann’s passion for writing was sparked in 2001 when she moved to Ireland with her husband and two sons. Since then she has published devotional articles and stories in Winners, The One Year Devotional of Joy and Laughter (Tyndale House Publishers), and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Miraculous Messages from Heaven, and her debut novelette, Helsinki Sunrise (White Rose Publishing, a Pelican Book Group imprint, Passport to Romance series).

Marion blogs for International Christian Fiction Writers and Beauty for Ashes. She belongs to Christian Writers of South Africa and American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives in Pretoria East, South Africa in an empty nest with her husband and their crazy black Scottie, Wally.

Marion, welcome and congratulations on the release of Helsinki Sunrise.

Thanks, Ruth. It’s great to be here today, this time as a published author. Can I just say, “Whoo-hoo!”

A few months ago I visited Marion and one of the highlights of the day was enjoying her homemade blueberry pie. It was, in fact, the first blueberry pie that she had ever made. It was delicious and definitely “moreish”. Marion, what was the significance of that pie?

Firstly, Ruth, it really was a flop-proof recipe. For anyone interested, my heroine, Eveliina’s blueberry pie recipe is available in Pelican Book Group’s free recipe book, Cooking with Grace. And I just noticed that the crockery I used that day was lined with a blueberry pattern.

In the summer, the forests of Finland are filled with berry-bearing blueberry bushes. This was important to the book, originally titled Blueberry Eve. When Eveliina is faced with the prospect of having to share her grandparents’ summer cottage with a fasting missionary from the other side of the world, she’s adamant he has to go. And she knows exactly how to make Adam Carter want to leave—her grandmother’s blueberry pie. Here’s a little teaser excerpt:

Eveliina held her breath as tightly as she held the spoon, waiting for Adam to succumb. If he did, she was certain he’d leave the island a defeated man, unable to live up to his goals and ideals, his God and his Christianity.

But if he resisted…

How many blueberry recipes did she have?

Finland is an unusual setting for a book. How did you research that county? Do you have any anecdotes or interesting experiences arising from your research which you would like to share with our readers? Have any of these found their way into your book?

It certainly is, Ruth, and that’s why I was so excited to see it on Pelican Book Group’s list of stories required for their Passport to Romance series—I had visited Finland for my son’s wedding seven months before. What better research could I have had than living with Finnish people, immersing myself in their culture?

One thing I never expected in Finland was the infestation of mosquitos in the summer. I always thought they were unique to Africa. But then again, with all that water, something close on 190,000 lakes, what else could one expect. And those tiny buzzing bugs were far more vicious than African mosquitos. My feet definitely took the brunt of their attacks. For some it was their faces, others their backs or arms.

Interesting experiences during our time in Finland involved taking a sauna, gently beating myself with a vasta or vihta which are leafy, fragrant boughs of silver birch used to massage and stimulate the skin, and to calm the effects of mosquito bites—pity I didn’t know that then—and thereafter running and jumping into the lake…several times in succession. Hot, cold, hot, cold.

Another cultural experience we enjoyed was roasting makkara (a Finnish sausage), stuck at the end of a long two-pronged fork, over an open fire.

And what fun we had blueberry picking. It was unforgettable.

The sauna and lake experience definitely made it into Helsinki Sunrise in a really fun way, along with the mosquitoes and blueberries. Vasta and makkara didn’t make it into my story.

Did you have any particular Bible verses running through your mind as you wrote?

One verse defined Helsinki Sunrise—Luke 15:6, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” I chose this verse because Eveliina had become the black sheep of her family. She desperately needed to be found and returned to the fold and Adam was determined to do just that through prayer and fasting.

There were several other verses from Isaiah that I used toward the end of the story but I’ll keep those a secret as I don’t want to give away anything of the story and spoil the read.

How did you weave a spiritual thread through Helsinki Sunrise without being preachy?

Adam’s vocation as a missionary definitely lends itself to a preachy hero, but his character fortunately did not allow it. It’s not without a struggle that Adam manages to hold fast to his integrity and beliefs as Eveliina tries her best to tempt Adam who’s fasting. Between Eveliina’s shortcrust pastry and shorts, Adam has a difficult time. I believe it is this humanness of Adam that will draw readers in so that they will listen to his subtle messages.

Even when Adam has the golden opportunity to present the gospel to Eveliina, he does so by drawing her in gently, raising challenging questions only she can answer.

The salvation message is conveyed to the reader subtly through Eveliina’s thoughts as she reads the scriptures from Isaiah I alluded to in the previous question when she’s placed in a situation where she struggles with her own fears and doubts.

Here’s an excerpt of one of the ways the scarlet thread is gently woven into the story:

Adam’s thoughts drifted to his favorite parable. Doesn’t a good shepherd go seeking after the stray sheep? Doesn’t he leave the safe open country, venturing into dangerous territory until he finds the one that is lost?

Heaven will rejoice more the day you show Eveliina the way back to Jesus, than at your teaching the Finnish church to pray. The thought struck Adam like the cold water splashing across his back as the oar skimmed the water instead of sinking deep.

Both took his breath away. 

What do you want your readers to take away from your book?

I want my readers to not only feel like they are falling in love all over again, but also to know that God will pursue the lost sheep relentlessly to bring them back home.

What are you currently working on and what are your future writing plans?

At the end of July, I signed my second publishing contract with Pelican Book Group for another Passport to Romance novelette. This story is set in Oslo, Norway, and my hero and heroine have the exciting occupations of being professional wingsuiters.

I've just completed a submission for Pelican Book Group for their Easter Lilies series. The story is set in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Currently, I'm completing a third Passport to Romance story, this time set in Glasgow, Scotland. I definitely plan to write more Passport to Romance novelettes. Maybe one day soon I'll get to polish some of those completed novels, or finish writing one of the four semi-complete ones.

Thank you, Marion. I'm looking forward to reading more of your books.

Thank you for hosting me, Ruth. It’s been fun to sit on the other side of the interviewing table.

Marion has kindly offered to give away an e-Copy* of Helsinki Sunrise. To enter the draw for her book, please leave a comment before September 19th telling us which country you would like Marion to use for a setting in her next novel. Please include your email address to be eligible for the draw. The winner will be announced on the blog on September 21st. International readers are welcome to enter.

This blog tour will remain at International Christian Fiction Writers tomorrow where I will share a book review of Helsinki Sunrise.

Numerous eBooks of Helsinki Sunrise will be given away on the blog tour, so take a journey to each of the stops and leave a comment. Don’t forget to include your email address.

Helsinki Sunrise is available to purchase from Pelican Book Group, Christianbook.com, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

Watch the Helsinki Sunrise book trailer on YouTube.

Watch the Passport to Romance book trailer on YouTube.

Connect with Marion Ueckermann:

Website / Amazon / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest

Blogs: A Pebble in my Pocket / Foreign Affaire

* Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

Permission to use images obtained.

Ruth Ann Dell writes children's stories and international Christian fiction from her home in a sunny South African suburb. She is a member of several writing groups including the American Christian Fiction Writers and Writer's Ink. Her desire is to craft gripping stories which draw her readers into a closer relationship with God.

Ruth Ann and her husband have lived in several countries and are renovating a cottage in the heart of Ireland.