Guest: Charity Bradford and Celebrate the Small Things

Today, I'm starting out with a celebration of a wonderful author and blogger, Charity Bradford!
Q's by me, A's by Charity.

1. What's your favorite scene or line from Fade Into Me?

As my daughter would say, “So many, so many!” Here are a couple of lines.

·      I closed my hand to stop her fingers from causing any more damage to my resolve. ~Caedan

·      My inner demons snarled and clawed until the butterflies had been shredded. ~Ryanne

·      Happiness is never a guarantee and it always requires effort. ~Caedan’s mom

·      The collective magical ignorance of the human race compelled the colors to remain motionless. Here (referring to his world) they played like joyful children. ~Caedan

·      All I could think about was following him down the street for a fist to face conversation. ~Caedan

·      In that one moment between blinks, the restlessness disappeared, and I was home. ~Ryanne

·      The entire last chapter. sigh

2. How did Fade Into Me take on a life of its own?

Wow, that’s a great question. I originally planned a sweet romance, that in all truth would have been blah. Then Ryanne took me on the first detour. I was typing and something about scars on her back appeared on the page.

What in the world?

Well, I let it percolate and things became much more complicated. There were so many questions to be explored. The answers brought a lot more depth to Ryanne’s character and helped me realize there was a message I wanted to share with the world.

Bad things happen. They might leave us broken and scarred, but that doesn’t mean we’re unworthy of a love that heals and lifts us to a better world.

3. What prompted you to write about the message of Fade Into Me?

This is a little harder to pin down. Perhaps its just life that led me to this point. I’ve suffered depression, watched my mom/sisters/myself struggle with co-dependent tendencies, spoken with friends who have had very traumatic events in their past, etc. Although our individual experiences were different, we shared many common emotions. “I’m not good enough.” “Why would he love me when he could have someone else?” “It’s my fault so this misery is justified.” “If only I had been better, prettier, something, things would have been different.”

Sadly these are VERY common thoughts in today’s world. And not just with women. In my life one thing has always helped me keep moving forward. Love. Love of family, my sweet husband, my friends. None of us is perfect. Love isn’t even perfect. But it’s worth fighting for and it can make us whole.

So true. Love is worth fighting for! (comment)

Bonus: What's one of your favorite scenes from one of your favorite books?

I have an entire bookshelf of “favorite books”. You know, the ones you can read over and over and never get tired of them? Well, today I’ll share a newer favorite. I think I read Louisiana Longshot by Jana Deleon three times last year. OMGosh this book makes me laugh out loud. I picked it up for free under the romantic suspense kindle section. This year I hope to make enough money selling my books to buy the rest of this series.

Anyway, I love the scene where CIA agent Fortune (whose hiding out from some really bad guys who want her dead in a little back water Louisiana town called Sinful) is trying to get to Gertie’s house (one of the geriatric mafia—seriously you just got to read this book). She’s also trying to avoid the only eligible bachelor in town, Deputy LeBlanc. It’s a really small town and she ends up in his back yard while he’s going in and out to grill out. She’s hiding in a bush trying very hard not to attract the attention of his dog. Well, she get’s Gertie to call him, he leaves and she has to dump the meat off the grill to distract the dog while she jumps the back fence. Unfortunately she leaves behind a few strands of her platinum blonde hair snagged in the bush. He has to wonder if she’s stalking him.

The whole book is filled with laugh out loud fun.

Author Bio:

Charity Bradford has been a voracious reader ever since her 5th grade teacher introduced her to the world of books with the WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS and SUMMER OF THE MONKEYS. She soon lost herself in the worlds created by Card, Bova, Asimov, Bradbury, Nagata and Niven. She lives in Northwest Arkansas with her hubby and four kids that keep her on her toes.

Blurb:

Caeden Frey doesn’t believe humans will evolve to see the magic, much less control it. Even so, he has two months to marry a human or face the wrath of the High Council. Bitter about a responsibility he thinks prevents him marrying for love, he figures any human girl will do. He’s ready to propose when his soul mate stumbles into—and right out of—his arms.

Human, Ryanne Killian might be Caedan’s one shot at happiness while still fulfilling his duty. Unfortunately, she guards a dark secret. She’s determined to push Caedan away to protect him from her past.

Caedan must convince her she’s worthy of his love before a rival family puts an end to his wedding plans. If she can see her own worth, she just might save herself and his people.

Links:

Buy it on Amazon

Watch the Trailer

Read the first 2 chapters

Find Charity at:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Charity is so right! Love is worth it! 

I just have a few other things to celebrate!

1. Two awesome awards - Liebster and Very Inspirational - received and given away earlier this week.

2.  A Jumble of 500+ Writing Prompts is out! (off my desk after 4 years of prep)

3. I have a guest post at M.J. Joachim's Writing Tips blog! The Makings of an Every Day Writer!

4. And, I graduated from the "walking cast boot" aka "boot of evil with good intentions" into brand-new hiking boots. I can now drive our stick shift again, and take small strolls (inside the grocery store, etc). 

Hiking boot rules over "the" boot. 

What are you celebrating today? Do you think love is worth fighting for?  Please say hello to Charity and check out Fade into Me!