This original Coffee Chat was from when the authors first began the Chapel Cove Stories. I felt it was worth another look to see how Marion was excited about this newest collaboration series.

Hello and Thank You, Marion, for joining us today for coffee! It comes as no surprise to our readers what a fan I am of your writing, so this is indeed a treat for me! I am so excited about this new series – Chapel Cove Romances that you are collaborating on with Alexa Verde and Autumn Macarthur.

MU: Thanks for having me, Paula. It’s great to be sitting down with you over a cup of brew again. Believe me, Autumn, Alexa, and myself are just as excited about Chapel Cove.

PM: Can you tell me a little bit about what inspired you to write a series where ‘life begins at forty’?

MU: Paula, it all started with a post I did on our readers’ group, TAaaB (Three Authors and a Blogger), on October 8th, 2018. I was giving everyone an update about a sixty-something set I was in, and my book, A Time to Push Daisies. In that post I asked the question: Do you think there’s a gap in the market for stories with older couples?It was Robin Widner Moore’s response—“I would love the same thing for 40s- 50s. I think there is a gap for anyone over 40”—that got Autumn, Alexa, and me thinking. By the end of that day we were sold on the idea of a new trilogy of three friends, nearing the big four oh.

Around the same time, the question was asked on Avid Readers of Christian Fiction: What is a topic you wish you saw more in CF books? Mature adults (40’s/50’s) was something mentioned that stood out to us, and we realized there was a gap in the market for books of this kind.

But we already had our schedules planned for the next two years with two other series we wanted to collaborate on. However, the more we chatted and brainstormed about a forty-something series, the more the idea and the characters grew on us. Very soon, we all felt that THIS was the series God wanted us to write next. Soon we’d pushed the other series back and planned Chapel Cove for September this year. But still Reese, Kristina, and Nai called to us, demanding their stories were the next we told, and so by October 13th (5 days after the idea was sparked), we were all in agreement that Chapel Cove would happen in March 2019. We’d initially thought just three books, but it didn’t take much to realize we were creating a storyworld that shouldn’t be wasted on only three stories. And so, we settled on nine books in the series (three each). That soon changed to twelve (four each). Who knows once we’ve written those twelve books whether more characters will emerge demanding their stories be told?

Here’s a little sneak peek at our storyworld, Chapel Cove. It’ll be an evolving town/map as more stories are told.

PM: That is so wonderful to hear! I love that you not only listen to the readers wishes, but of course, follow God’s leading in all of it!

In Remember Me, Reese goes about reinventing herself a few times, but the hardest to me must be after her return to Chapel Cove divorced, and basically penniless. I must tell you, this is an experience I have actually lived through – only younger than Reese was, and as a single parent – not an easy transition under any circumstances. You captured Reese’s struggles beautifully, I hate admit, but I have been in that very ‘same’ pawn shop myself. I’m not sure I want to ask how you were able to get such insight to this particular struggle……?

MU: So sorry you’ve been there, Paula. Thankfully, I’ve never been in that situation before. My sister did have a troublesome first marriage, so I did witness her struggles since I was about ten (she’s a decade older than me), even though she tried for thirty years to hide so much from the family. Movies probably…although none in particular… But I’m sure there were those that subconsciously helped me visualize the scenes. However, I do believe that my insight came from God, that He helped me get into the mind and heart of the woman scorned, the one who lost everything—like Reese.

PM: I am thankful that you have never had that struggle yourself, Marion, and my prayers to your sister!

I love second chance at love stories, especially when one party has remained head over heels in love with the other….no matter how much time has passed. This makes me swoon, lol!  In your own opinion, why do you think so many people love the second chance at love – with the same person – stories?

MU: Good question, Paula. I think maybe because it’s great to see people FINALLY getting it right. For me anyway, that’s why I love the trope.

PM: I love the idea of the girls having a ‘bucket’ list for when they reach the ripe old age of forty, lol. I remember having a few things I had hoped to accomplish later in life, but never made an actual list. Is that something you ever did – at any age?

MU: Not that I can recall. I did want to marry my younger brother when I was a little girl. That was before I learned it wasn’t the done thing and long before the days of my landing my fist through his bedroom door. Thankfully I discovered there were many, many interesting boys out there LOL. Much as I love them, I definitely wouldn’t want to marry any of my brothers.

PM: I am so curious as to how the three of you authors work out the dynamics when crossing over your characters, you all did it – and with even more authors- in A Tuscan Legacy and I can imagine it might be hard to get into the other author’s mindset when writing one of their character’s into your own story. Can you give us any inside scope on that?

MU: We do a lot of brainstorming before writing, so we do get a good feel for each others’ characters initially. Then we just write and send the scenes back and forth to each other to check if we’ve gotten the other authors’ characters right. It’s all quite an interesting undertaking. The biggest challenge though is keeping the timeline accurate.

PM: I completely connected with Clarise wanting to go by a new name – Reese, and sort of re-invent herself. Goodness knows I have certainly gone through that phase as well, hahaha – I never liked my name, lol. What gave you the idea to have Clarise be teased by the movie Silence of the Lambs? I’ll be honest, I have never seen the movie, but do recall the promotions with him saying that line very well…so it worked perfectly for me!

MU: LOL, to be honest, Paula, I’ve never been crazy on my name either. I mean, really, it means bitter??? But I have learned to live with it…my mom and dad must’ve liked it when they chose it, so I figured I could too. Plus, I don’t really know many Marions…two or three, that’s all.

When I chose the name Clarise, the first thing I thought of was that line in the movie (yes, I did see it), and I could just imagine this teen boy teasing poor Reese. I only just made it to using the film reference as the movie was released merely months before Clarise’s birthday. I first had the scene written with the girls surmising Heath’s brother had hired the movie.

Then we realised the movie wouldn’t have been released yet on DVD, so I had to rework the scene.

Oh, and remember I said Reese was very insistent on many things? Her name was one of those things. She insisted it was Clarise with one S and Reese with an S, not a C. She drove me, Alexa, and Autumn crazy, LOL.

PM: I just loved meeting Clarise and her friends in Remember Me as teens, they are all three so different and yet band together so well! I have to ask – do you still have friendships today with your own girlfriends as a teen?

MU: Life has taken me far away from where I grew up—even overseas to Ireland for a while—so sadly I lost touch with my childhood friends. Thanks to Facebook though, I have reestablished contact with many of those old school friends, and it’s great to keep abreast with what is happening in their lives.

I do have two friends I’d like to single out though. I made friends with Cathy at my first job almost 40 years ago. She lives in Swizerland. We don’t keep in contact much, but when our paths do cross, it’s like no time has passed since we last saw each other, even though it would’ve been years. In 2017, when she heard we would be holidaying in Italy, she and her hubby drove six hours from Zurich to Cinque Terre on the Italian coast and we enjoyed two nights and a wonderful day together. Here’s a photo of us on that holiday (she bought me the hat and it’s my favorite).

Then there is Sandy. We met through work around 2008—part of my job was planning corporate events, and she worked for a travel agency. She assisted me in finding suitable venues. Several years ago, she moved to the UK, but always comes to stay with me if she visits South Africa. And when we went to England in 2017, we made sure to visit her for a night. We’re not in contact much either (she’s not fond of social media), but we know we’re always there for each other.

Both Cathy and Sandy have fascinating lives, and I could certainly base some great books on them. Maybe one day I will.
And then I can’t not mention my Irish sister, Libby. She adopted herself into our family when I was a teen. Fresh off the boat from Ireland, she and her hubby lived in our small South African town for a few years. At that time she was friends with my oldest brother, but over the past two decades, Libby and I have become very close friends and “sisters”. This was us wandering the streets of Robin Hood’s Bay (A Hero for Heather and A Husband for Holly storyworld).

PM: You did an outstanding job portraying Heath – I absolutely adored him from day one. I especially enjoyed the way he comes off as a total beach bum, still living in the RV he did as a teenager! You really made him earn his way back into Reese’s heart, lol…..but of course that is half the fun! What I found so interesting is how you had Reese being closer to God growing up, and being pulled away from Him in adulthood, and just the opposite for Heath. What do you think would have happened if Reese and Heath were on the same “page” as teenagers, do you feel like they would have been able to make their relationship with God and each other work at that tender age, or did they truly need the years apart from one another to be at the right place and time down the road?

MU: My gut feeling is that Reese and Heath needed those two decades apart to allow God to work in each of their lives. I’m not sure that Heath would’ve changed as dramatically for God (if at all) had they gone from high school to married couple. He needed that heartache, from the loss of both Reese and his father, to get him to the place of realizing he needed God in his life. And he needed those kids to channel his energy into. It gave him a sense of purpose. And Reese…well, she would never have felt fulfilled if she hadn’t chased her ultimate dream. But when that was all stripped away from her, God was able to mold her into the vessel he’d always designed her to be.

PM: I completely agree with you on that, it’s just so hard to live through those struggles, but God knows the plans He has for us!

Reese’s parents are absolutely adorable, but tell me, how hard was it for you to make them practice the tough love with their only daughter? I’m not sure how most parents would handle that, lol, in my big Italian family the momma’s are only too happy to have their young one’s back home so they can coddle them, lol!

MU: Paula, it was pretty tough writing them that way, and it was hard for them to take that stance. But they knew their daughter, knew what she was capable of achieving, and what they’d seen for nearly two months wasn’t it. They had little doubt that taking a lesson from the birds and kicking their little chick out of the nest, she would learn to fly high once again.

And they were wise enough to realize that the alternative of leaving her to continue wallowing in her misery, would be to Reese’s detriment. So they were willing to take a chance on tough love. Of course, whether they actually would have kicked their daughter out onto the streets had she not pulled her life together in the time they’d given her…well, thankfully neither us nor them needed to find out.

PM: Yes, you certainly got them off the hook, lol! Last question – are we going to get to see Reese and Heath’s love story progress as we get more installments in the series? Inquiring minds need to know, lol!

MU: Reese and Heath will definitely pop up in all the rest of my three planned Chapel Cove stories, so yes, readers will get to enjoy snippets of their lives. 

Remember Me: A clean, sweet, faith-filled, small-town romance, where life begins at forty. (Chapel Cove Romances Book 1) 

What she most needed was right there in front of her all along.

At the age of thirteen, Clarise Aylward and her two best friends each pen a wish list of things they want to achieve. Deciding to bury a tin containing their life goals, the friends vow to unearth the metal box once they’ve all turned forty. But as the decades pass and each girl chases her dreams, the lists are forgotten.

Heath Brock has been in love with Clarise for over twenty-seven years and counting. As a young man, he’d plucked up the courage to ask her out on a Valentine’s date, but the couple succumbed to pent-up passions, sending Clarise dashing for the other side of the country.

Years after Clarise’s sudden departure, Heath serves as youth pastor. He’d held out hope of Clarise’s return, but buries his feelings for his childhood sweetheart when he learns she’s married.

Almost penniless, divorced, and with nowhere to go, Clarise returns home to Chapel Cove, her future uncertain. She’s approaching forty with her dreams in tatters. When old feelings resurface, Clarise wonders whether she’s ever really fallen out of love with Heath.

What’s the man of God to do when his old flame returns, seemingly to stay?

With Clarise back in town, Heath is determined not to repeat past mistakes, but if he has anything to say about it, never again will he lose the only woman he’s ever loved.
Welcome to Chapel Cove, Oregon, where life begins at forty.

Choose Me: A clean, sweet, faith-filled, small-town romance, where life begins at forty. (Chapel Cove Romances Book 4)

The one thing he wants most in the world, she can’t give him.
Her heart broken at the altar, real estate agent Julia Delpont moves south to Chapel Cove, away from the humiliation, the gossip, the stares. At least in this small town, nobody knew her story. And she had every intention of keeping it that way. No man would ever break her heart again.

After three years as an army surgeon in war-torn Afghanistan, Dr. Hudson Brock avoids the ER, choosing instead to perform scheduled surgeries at a top Dallas hospital. But neither extreme in his career has offered Hudson what he really wants—a wife and family to come home to at night. Maybe in the sleepy hollow town he’d grown up in he would find what he was looking for.
Once back in Chapel Cove, Hudson tries to find the perfect house. He suspects that finding the perfect woman will take far longer.

When Julia Delpont literally stumbles into Hudson’s life, he knows he’s the one who has fallen harder. But Julia is afraid to open her heart again. Especially to the handsome doctor whose deepest desires she cannot fill.

Accept Me: A clean, sweet, faith-filled and emotional small-town romance.

She came seeking her mother.
She found so much more.

On her deathbed, Haddie Hayes’s mother whispers a secret into Haddie’s ear—one that she and Haddie’s father had kept for twenty-eight years. The truth that Haddie wasn’t born a Hayes sends this shy Kentucky girl far from the bluegrass of home to a small coastal town in Oregon in search of her birth mother. Hopefully in Chapel Cove she’ll find the answers to all her questions.

EMT Riley Jordan can’t help himself—he’s a fixer, a helper, sometimes to his own detriment. A 911 call to Ivy’s on Spruce has Riley attending to Haddie Hayes, the new girl in town. After Riley learns of Haddie’s quest, he promises to help her find her birth family.

When Haddie makes the wrong assumptions, she vows to give up on her foolish crusade and go back to the only place she called home, a place she’d always felt safe and loved. But a freak accident hinders her plans of bolting from Chapel Cove.

And running from Riley…who has a secret of his own.

Welcome to Chapel Cove, Oregon, where life begins at forty.

Stunning coastline, a harbor against life’s storms, and a welcoming community await in Chapel Cove. A place where those hurt by challenges, disappointments, and failures or reminded of their unfulfilled hopes and dreams can make a fresh start. And, if they’re brave enough to accept it, maybe find a second chance at love, if only they’ll allow God to safely anchor them in their hearts’ home?

Ride with Me: A clean, sweet, faith-filled, small-town romance.

Fall for someone who could destroy her livelihood? Never! Hotel magnate Henry Scott lives life in the fast lane. True to form, when his great-uncle leaves him property and a Victorian house in Chapel Cove, he takes a weekend drive, only intending to stay long enough to evaluate his new found assets. If they aren’t a viable option for the next Scott Leisure Resort, he just might consider selling to the couple who’d expressed an interest in buying the old place. After all, if not for them, he would never have known about this last part of his great-uncle’s will, sealed for almost a decade.When her new neighbor rolls into town, Tash Thornton is less than impressed. Not only is the man presumptuous and audacious, he’s downright egotistical. His grand plans for the property adjoining her stables, tack shop, and riding school do not bode well for her business.Love thy neighbor, the Bible teaches—those people who cross your path each day. But with Henry Scott owning the land right next door, Tash fears God may expect her to show him a double portion of love.

 

 

About Marion Ueckermann  

A Tuscan Legacy

 

That’s Amore: That’s Love (A Tuscan Legacy Book 1)

Begin your journey to Tuscany this summer with Book 1 of A Tuscan Legacy! Each novella is a complete and satisfying romance, filled with faith, family, forgiveness and love.

When Rafaele and Jayne meet again two years after dancing the night away together in Tuscany, is it a matter of fate or of faith?

After deciding to take a six-month sabbatical, Italian lawyer Rafaele Rossi moves from Florence to Tuscany, resigned to managing the family farm for his aging nonna after his father’s passing. Convinced a family get-together is what Nonna needs to lift her spirits, he plans an eightieth birthday party for her, making sure his siblings and cousins attend.

The Keswick jewelry store where Jayne Austin has worked for seven years closes its doors. Jayne takes her generous severance pay and heads off to Italy—Tuscany to be precise. Choosing to leave her fate in God’s hands, she prays she’ll miraculously bump into the handsome best man she’d danced the night away with at a friend’s Tuscan wedding two years ago. She hasn’t been able to forget those smoldering brown eyes and that rich Italian accent.

Jayne’s prayers are answered swiftly and in the most unexpected way. Before she knows what’s happening, she’s a guest not only at Isabella Rossi’s birthday party, but at Villa Rossi too.

When Rafaele receives what appears to be a valuable painting from an unknown benefactor, he’s reminded that he doesn’t want to lose Jayne again. After what he’s done to drive her from the villa, though, what kind of a commitment will it take for her to stay?

my point of view:
I may be just a little bit prejudiced since I my ancestry is from Italy, but I loved this premise!! I was so anticipating this series that I had every one of them on pre order as soon as it was offered! I was part of the Facebook group so I would get notified of all the promotions, etc. Then when the first one was released, I thought, oh my goodness, I am sure to love this series so much I will be beside myself waiting for each release…….so I decided to practice restraint.

Something I have never been very good at, but hey, I was going to give it my best college try! I did try too, gave it my best, but as everyone kept talking about the books and I tried not to read, well, I couldn’t take it for too long and I finally started reading them. I consoled myself with the fact that by the time I got through the first ones, the last would be out and I’d be in good shape!

It worked out pretty darn good too, as I was able to read them all straight through! I must tell you, the way these authors brought the stories together is amazing!

Book one introduces us to the entire family of Nonna and her grandchildren. Sounds like a busy time, but add this to the author’s plate – not only must she write this love story about Rafaele and Jayne, but she is laying the foundation for all the other central characters that other authors are going to be writing about! She does a great job in this, book one, but you don’t really get HOW great of job Marion has done until you have read all of the books! The scenery of Tuscany makes me feel as if I was there (wish I was)! The descriptions are beautiful!

Other reviews:

Ti Amo: I Love You (A Tuscan Legacy Book 4)

She never wants to get married. He does. To her.

The day Alessandra Rossi was born, her mammà died, and a loveless life with the father who blamed the newborn for her mother’s death followed. With the help of her oldest brother, Rafaele, Alessa moved away from home the moment she finished school—just like her other siblings had. Now sporting a degree in Architectural History and Archaeology, Alessa loves her job as a tour guide in the city of Rome—a place where she never fails to draw the attention of men. Not that Alessa cares. Fear that the man she weds would be anything like her recently deceased father has Alessa vowing to remain single.

American missionary Michael Young has moved to Rome on a two-year mission trip. His temporary future in the country doesn’t stop him from spontaneously joining Alessa’s tour after spotting her outside the Colosseum. And being bold enough to tell her afterward that one day she’d be his wife. God had told him. And he believed Him. But Alessa shows no sign of interest in Michael.

Can anything sway the beautiful and headstrong Italian to fall in love? Can anyone convince her to put her faith and hope in a Heavenly father, despite being raised by an earthly one who never loved her? Will her sister’s prompting, or a mysterious painting, or Michael himself change Alessa’s mind? About love. And about God.

In Ti Amo, we get to meet Michael young, a character from one of Marion’s past books – Restoring Faith. Michael is all grown up now and in Italy when he meets Alessa and knows he is going to marry her. While Alessa has her own issues from her past to deal with, coming to trust God and Michael is a journey worth taking!

Awesome review:

About Marion Ueckermann   

Under The Sun by Marion Ueckermann

For thirty years, Brian and Elizabeth Dunham have served on the mission field. Unable to have children of their own, they’ve been a father and mother to countless orphans in six African countries. When an unexpected beach-house inheritance and a lung disease diagnosis coincide, they realize that perhaps God is telling them it’s time to retire.

At sixty, Elizabeth is past child-bearing age. She’d long ago given up wondering whether this would be the month she would conceive. But when her best friend and neighbor jokes that Elizabeth’s sudden fatigue and nausea are symptoms of pregnancy, Elizabeth finds herself walking that familiar and unwanted road again, wondering if God is pulling an Abraham and Sarah on her and Brian.

The mere notion has questions flooding Elizabeth’s mind. If she were miraculously pregnant, would they have the stamina to raise a child in their golden years? Especially with Brian’s health issues. And the child? Would it be healthy, or would it go through life struggling with some kind of disability? What of her own health? Could she survive giving birth?

Will what Brian and Elizabeth have dreamed of their entire married life be an old-age blessing or a curse?

 

Everyday life for Dr. Melanie Kerr had consisted of happy deliveries and bundles of joy…until her worst nightmare became reality. The first deaths in her OR during an emergency C-section. Both mother and child, one month before Christmas. About to perform her first Caesarean since the tragedy, Melanie loses her nerve and flees the OR. She packs her bags and catches a flight to Budapest. Perhaps time spent in the city her lost patient hailed from, can help her find the healing and peace she desperately needs to be a good doctor again.

Since the filming of Jordan’s Journeys’ hit TV serial “Life Begins at Sixty” ended earlier in the year, journalist and TV host Jordan Stanson has gone from one assignment to the next. But before he can take a break, he has a final episode to film—“Zac’s First Christmas”. Not only is he looking forward to relaxing at his parents’ seaside home, he can’t wait to see his godchild, Zac, the baby born to the aging Dunhams. His boss, however, has squeezed in another documentary for him to complete before Christmas—uncovering the tragedy surrounding the doctor the country came to love on his show, the beautiful Dr. Kerr.

In order to chronicle her journey through grief and failure, Jordan has no choice but to get close to this woman. Something he has both tried and failed at in the past. He hopes through this assignment, he’ll be able to help her realize the tragedy wasn’t her fault. But even in a city so far away from home, work once again becomes the major catalyst to hinder romance between Jordan and Melanie.

That, and a thing called honesty.

 

Not every woman is fortunate enough to find her soulmate.
Fewer find him twice.

JoAnn Stanson has loved and lost. Widowed a mere eighteen months ago, JoAnn is less than thrilled when her son arranges a luxury cruise around the British Isles as an early birthday gift. She’s not ready to move on and “meet new people”.
Caleb Blume has faced death and won. Had it not been for an unexpected Christmas present, he would surely have been pushing up daisies. Not that the silver-haired landscape architect was averse to those little flowers—he just wasn’t ready to become fertilizer himself.

To celebrate his sixty-fourth birthday and the nearing two-year anniversary since he’d cheated death, Caleb books a cruise and flies to London. He is instantly drawn in a way that’s never happened before to a woman he sees boarding the ship. But this woman who steals Caleb’s heart is far more guarded with her own.

For JoAnn, so many little things about Caleb remind her of her late husband. It’s like loving the same man twice. Yet different.

my point of view:

Ladies, get your tissues ready, you are going to need them…….in a good way, of course! I was excited to read a  love story for an older generation, and this story does not disappoint! So many romance novels these days are about characters in their 20’s, and don’t get me wrong, I love to read those too, but it is so nice to see that we older folks aren’t too old for love too! I was so enamored with Caleb and JoAnn, I found myself so many times at the edge of my seat unable to read this fast enough to get to the next part of this beautiful love story. This book has a lesson for all of us, from the young to the young at heart, we can all take away a new appreciation for God’s unending love!

Now, have you ever wanted to go on a European cruise? Visit Ireland, Scotland, London? Walk among the Standing Stones or cross over the Ha’penny bridge and all the other sites there are to see? My feet have never left the good ole’ USA, but I feel as though I have been on the most luxurious trip thanks Marion’s A Time to Push Daisies!  Not only did I get to set sail on an amazing cruise with my own butler, but I had the chance to fall in love…..with both the hero and the heroine in this beautiful story of love found later in life!

Another fun addition in reading this story of Marion’s – you get a to see some old friends, Caleb is of the Blume family, and JoAnn is a part of two earlier books (A Time to Laugh and A Time to Love, making this the third, any fan will remember:

 

PLUS – there is a recipe that I promise you will love if you like chocolate! I made them immediately after reading this story, and my hubs loved them!! 

About Marion Ueckermann   

 

 

 

When his wife dies in childbirth, Zambian conservationist Simon Hartley pours his life into raising his daughter and his orphan elephants. He has no time, or desire, to fall in love again. Or so he thinks.

Wanting to escape English society and postpone an arranged marriage, Lady Abigail Chadwick heads to Africa for a year to teach the children of the Good Shepherd Orphanage. Upon her arrival she is left stranded at Livingstone airport…until a reluctant Simon comes to her rescue.

Now only fears born of his loss, and secrets of the life she’s tried to leave behind, can stonewall their romance, budding in the heart of Africa.

A Few Reviews:

Who am I? The question has Taylor Cassidy journeying from one side of America to the other seeking an answer. Almost five years brings her no closer to the truth. Now an award-winning photojournalist for Wines & Vines, Taylor is sent on assignment to South Africa to discover the inspiration behind Aimee Amour, the DeBois estate’s flagship wine. Mystery has enshrouded the story of the woman for whom the wine is named.

South African winegrower Armand DeBois’s world is shattered when a car accident leaves him in a coma for three weeks, and his young wife dead. The road of recovery and mourning is dark, and Armand teeters between falling away from God and falling into His comforting arms.

When Armand and Taylor meet, questions arise for them both. While the country and the winegrower hold a strange attraction for Taylor, Armand struggles with the uncertainty of whether he’s falling in love with his past or his future.

Check out these reviews:

Their outdoor wedding planned for the middle of Africa’s rainy summer, chances are it’ll pour on Mirabelle Kelly’s bridal parade—after all, she is marrying Noah Raines. To make matters worse, the African Rain Queen, Modjadji, is invited to the wedding. Mirabelle must shun her superstitions and place her faith in the One who really controls the weather.

Some reviews:

About Marion Ueckermann   

 

Her Treasured Love: An Inspirational Christian Romance by Marshalee Patterson

After losing all her family in Jamaica, Gabriela went to live with her best friend Sophia in Milan. She wanted to let go of the past and start over in the only other place that brought her happiness.

However, one encounter in her past left her suspicious of men and unable to trust.

Coming to Milan she soon had another encounter, this time with an unexpected stranger which left her wondering if he was a sign of hope…

Or her chance of love.

Q& A

1. Tell us a little about your book.

Her Treasured Love is a tender story about love, forgiveness, and learning to follow God’s direction, even when it seems impossible. It’s also about overcoming trauma and learning to trust and love again.  

2. What was the hardest part of the writing process for you?

That would be to write the scene about her traumatic past as it’s close to home and all the pain was resurfaced. But I find that for me to be able to write with a lot of feelings for readers to connect with, I myself usually have some connection to these experience that becomes the characters. I believe God allows me to experience them in order to help others heal through these stories.   

3. What scene were you most excited to write?

 That would be the scene where the main characters finally came together after so much struggle. It was happy moment for me and I hope readers will feel that too.

4. Who is your favorite character in this book and why?

Sophia was the bubbliest character and reminds me of the side of me that don’t comes out very often. She is sometimes seen as materialistic but dee down she is wise and know how to come through with the right answers.

5. What is your advice for any readers who would love to write a book?

Pray first and know if it’s the will of God, that way your story will flow as it should and you won’t be easily discouraged when you are criticized by others who might not agree with what you have to share.

6. Is there anything else you’d like to add about your book that you think readers should know before picking it up?

This book will allow you to  stop seeing yourself as not good enough for the good things that comes your way, which often times allow us to live in regret later. It will show you how to move past that showing you how God really sees us and give you the courage to embrace the blessing that is yours.

About Marshalee Patterson     

Love can grow cold through a lack of communication, leading to temptation.
Love can face its greatest test through the devastating effects of loss.
And love can be lost through marital discord that’s deeply rooted in issues from the past.

The Potter’s House Books 7, 14, and 21 are stories of three siblings each facing problems in their marriages and difficult life situations—a love grown cold, a love tested, and a love threatened.

Restoring Faith

When love grows cold and vows forgotten, can faith be restored?

Charles and Faith Young are numbers people. While Charles spends his days in a fancy Fort Collins office number-crunching, Faith teaches math to the students of Colorado High. Married for sixteen years, Charles and Faith both know unequivocally that one plus one should never equal three.

When blame becomes the order of the day in the Young household for their failing marriage—blaming each other; blaming themselves—Charles and Faith each search for answers why the flame of love no longer burns brightly. In their efforts, one takes comfort from another a step too far. One chooses not to get mad, but to get even.

Dying love is a slow burn. Is it too late for Charles and Faith to fan the embers and make love rise once again from the ashes of their broken marriage? Can they find their first love again—for each other, and for God?

Recovering Hope

In a single moment, a dream dies, and hope is lost.

Lovers of the ocean, Hope and Tyler Peterson long for the day they can dip their little one’s feet into its clear blue waters and pass on their passion for the sea.

Despite dedicating her life to the rescue and rehabilitation of God’s sea creatures, when their dream dies, Hope can’t muster the strength to do the same for herself. Give her a dark hole to hide away from the world and she’d be happy…if happiness were ever again within her reach.

While Tyler is able to design technology that probes the mysteries of the deep, he’s at a loss to find a way to help Hope surface from the darkness that has dragged her into its abyss. He struggles to plan for their future when his wife can barely cope with the here and now.

If they can’t recover hope, their marriage won’t survive.

my point of view:

Reading, for me, has always been a great love. You can travel to places I would never get to any other way, you can find humor and literally laugh out loud when no other person is around you. You can learn about history, sports, maybe science….the world is at your fingertips when you love to read!

Every now and then you may come across a book that simply grabs your heart strings and carries you along for a ride. Recovering Hope is such a book. It has happy moments, joyful celebrations, beautiful characters….and heartbreaking despair. Yes, I said despair.

Recovering Hope is a book that gives you all of these things and more…it also gives you HOPE. Hope for a future when your whole world is crashing down around you. Hope that someday, no matter what has happened, there will be light in your life again. Hope that resonates throughout your soul that there IS a God, and that He does love us.

I always say that God has a plan and a reason for everything, even if we cannot see it at the time, one day we will have something so wonderful happen in our lives and realize that we would never be in this exact moment if that crushing situation had not taken place.

Recovering Hope is that story….please read and be ready to cry….and rejoice!

Thanks for sitting down with me today, Marion! I must tell you, Recovering Hope truly knocked me off kilter, in a good way though! This is one book that really packs a lot of emotions into it, and addresses a serious issue in today’s day and age – depression. I can only imagine how many people will benefit from reading this amazing story!

Thank you for having me, Paula. It’s great to be back on your blog. It is my prayer that Recovering Hope will help to bring healing to some readers out there. Already, I’ve seen it impacting lives in a positive way, so that’s encouraging.

Can you tell our readers what first inspired you to write Hope and Tyler’s story of heartbreak and subsequent depression?

Yes. When The Potter’s House books wanted stories in the series with flawed characters in desperate need of hope, redemption, and second chances, I knew that a heroine struggling with depression was one of the stories I needed to write. Several women in my family suffer from / or have suffered from depression—some closer to home than others. So in some ways, Recovering Hope is their story.

That is amazing, and so heart felt for you to write this with them in mind! I loved reading about Hope’s vocation with Marine life, and Tyler’s underwater robots! I honestly do not think I have ever read another story with those types of careers and frankly, found it quite interesting! I can only imagine the research you must have gone through to write such details, care to tell us more about that?

How I came to choose their careers was truly interesting and I believe a God-encounter. Shortly before I started to write Recovering Hope, I visited my son and daughter-in-law in Stellenbosch, in the beautiful Western Cape (South Africa). One day we stopped by our favorite wine farm to do a chocolate and wine tasting. As we got out of the car, two women and a guy had parked just two cars up from us. Turns out it was a young woman who works with the youth in our church (some 1700 kilometres away) and another young woman who was in the youth when my son was several years ago. They’d been friends. We chatted and it turned out this young lady had moved to the Cape as she was getting married the next month, plus she was studying marine biology.

When it came to choosing careers for Hope and Tyler, I knew they had to have careers involving the ocean because Hope was from Hawaii and she and Tyler now lived in Florida beside the sea. I remembered my encounter a few weeks before, and began investigating marine biology and other oceanic careers. I decided to go with marine vet (no not the military kind…that brought up some interesting internet searches) for Hope. I wanted a different career for Tyler though. My son has been busy building a small underwater robot for a few years, and so when I saw Ocean Engineer as a career, I knew that Tyler would work with underwater robots.

Wow! I must tell you, when I first read what Tyler did, I thought of Titanic the movie…but to know your son has actually been making one, that is fantastic! I grew up watching Flipper, so I love dolphins! I even once went to Florida Keys and was able to pet a dolphin! May I ask what quirky things you learned about dolphins that took you by surprise?

Oh, some made me blush, like the whole reproduction aspect (although it was interesting and fascinating). What took me by surprise was that dolphins are very amorous creatures, mating not only for reproduction but for pleasure too—either with the opposite sex, or the same (males).

Another theory that was fascinating to read about was dolphin suicide and whether they can actually plan an intentional death. I do refer to one of those intentional deaths (actually, one of the dolphins who played Flipper) in Recovering Hope.

Yes, i was so sad when I read that part of the story, they are amazing creatures! So many writers are afraid to tackle hard hitting issues, and this must have been very difficult for you…not just the heartbreak that Hope and Tyler suffer in their loss, but the way in which they each suffer in the days ahead. 

Doubt was one of the hardest things to deal with while writing Recovering Hope—would readers want to read a book about a depressed woman? It was also a very research intensive book—from depression (and how it affects both the sufferer and the one living with the sufferer) to suicide, medicines, pregnancy and births, oceanic careers, Hawaiian language and culture, and hurricanes to mention the bulk of my research. And because the subject matter hit home personally, Recovering Hope was difficult to write. But I knew it needed to be done.

I, for one am so glad you did. I know this book will be very emotional and a blessing to many people. I was impressed with so much medical knowledge you imparted in this story! Did you google all of that, or were you able to talk to medical professionals about it as well?

LOL, whenever I have a character that involves a medical issue, I take them to my doctor. Seriously, I do, but as a tag on to an appointment I have for myself. My doctor loves it, and we chat for ages about different scenarios for my character/s. I’m also fortunate that treating depression is one of my doctor’s passions.

Then of course, there was a lot of online research after my doctor’s visit.

I also have a close friend who was a midwife and has personally experienced some of what Hope had. She was a wealth of knowledge which she freely shared with me. I thank her from the bottom of my heart for being so open and honest with me so that I could write the best book possible.

Please tell her thank you from me as well for sharing. That must have been difficult for her, but will be such a blessing to others. The epilogue…honestly, had me seriously crying, to see how this couple not only comes full circle in their lives, but how what they went through can help others…in ways they never dreamed of! How amazing is it that God has truly used your ability to reach so many others in such a compelling way!

The amazing thing about the epilogue is that I had envisaged some of it quite differently. I’d planned to finish writing the book one Friday night, but the last chapter’s last scene took much longer to write. As such, I had to put off writing the epilogue to the Saturday. That night as I tried to fall asleep, the idea I used for the epilogue which gave Tyler the platform he had, drifted into my mind, and I knew why writing that epilogue had been delayed.

That is absolute GOD timing! Finally, is there anything I did not address that you would like for everyone to know about Hope and Tyler’s journey?

Yes. For those suffering from depression, there is hope. It is treatable. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. So don’t try to face this terrible illness alone. Get the help that you need.

The same goes for any difficult situation you might be going through—lean on God, and those around you who want to help.

I pray that you will be blessed through Recovering Hope.

Reclaiming Charity

Some artworks appear chaotic, but it all depends on the eye of the beholder.

Brody and Madison Peterson have the picture-perfect marriage. Or so it seems. But their teenage daughter Charity knows only too well that that’s not the case. Frequent heated arguments—the bane of artistic temperaments—have Charity pouring out her heartache and fears in her prayer journal.

When Madison makes a career choice that doesn’t fit in with her husband’s plans for their lives or their art gallery, disaster looms. The end of their marriage and a bitter battle over Charity threatens.

What will it take for the Master Artist to heal old wounds and transform their broken marriage into a magnificent masterpiece? Could Charity’s journal be enough to make Brody and Madison realize their folly and reclaim their love?

 

About Marion Ueckermann