Peg here: I'm pleased to once again welcome back author Julie Arduini as she takes us behind the scenes in the writing of ENGAGED, the third and final book in the Surrendering Time Series. Julie is also offering a free copy of this book. Details below.
Return
of the “Mean Girl”
ENGAGED: Surrendering the Future
Book 3, Surrendering Time Series
Trish’s Story
Trish Maxwell returns to Speculator Falls with crushed dreams, egg on her face, and the chance to make a new start with the very people and places she used to make fun of.
Trish Maxwell’s back in Speculator Falls with egg on her face and a lot of apologies to make. She left the mountain town for her dream job in New York City, only to come back unemployed. With no prospects, she works at her mom’s department store and makes amends as she finds a new passion creating window displays for Adirondack businesses. She works hard and tries to convince the people of Speculator Falls she’s changed for the better.
As Trish pitches in with community events, she meets paramedic Wayne Peterson, the one man who doesn’t seem to judge her. She even makes friends with Jenna Regan, who helps Trish when people demand to know what’s next in Trish’s life. Living in New York City has been her goal, but the more she’s around Wayne and the Adirondack area, the more she’s drawn to revising her plans. Just when Trish thinks the plan for her life’s coming together, a second chance comes her way that could give her every career goal she’s ever wanted, but threaten to tear her and Wayne apart. Can Trish surrender fears about her future and discover God’s plan for her?
Part of the fun in writing the third book in my Surrendering Time series was making the “mean girl” from Book 1, Entrusted, the heroine of Engaged. Trish Maxwell started out as the scandal of Speculator Falls, a small mountain village in the Upstate NY Adirondack Mountains.
Trish grew up in Speculator Falls and the residents
and her high school boyfriend, Ben Regan, assumed she’d get married and stay in
the area. Trish couldn’t contain her longing to leave the county so rural it
was labeled pioneer land, and the first opportunity she had, she left
Speculator Falls for New York City. Without saying goodbye. Without handing in
her job resignation at the senior center. Even during a quick visit, it was too
easy for Trish to make sure the new girl in town, Jenna Anderson, realize she
was the darling of Speculator Falls and Ben’s life.
Fast forward and by the time Engaged begins, Trish is back in Speculator Falls without a job.
She’s living with her parents again, working part-time at the department store.
New York City life wasn’t as glamorous as she thought it would be. Now that
she’s back in her hometown, she has no idea what she’s going to do.
And
she has to face the same people she refused to say goodbye to when she left.
I loved Engaged because
it was born in conflict. Right away Trish has to face one of the senior
citizens who has a long memory and is bent on making sure Trish faces
consequences for leaving the senior center without a director. She has to watch
all the people she rejected move on without her. When paramedic Wayne Peterson
comes to her rescue, she has a second chance. He’s one person who hasn’t been
affected by her selfish choices. He understands scandal and how to overcome it.
He sees Trish with a bright future when everyone else is focused on her pas
There was conflict for me as well. I had to create a
transformation where Trish lets go of her mean girl qualities and becomes a
woman who works well with others. There were times she had progress, and yet
took a step back as a defensive mechanism. Winning her neighbors, Ben, Jenna,
and the senior citizens over wasn’t an easy task.
Thankfully, readers loved Trish’s story as much as I
enjoyed writing it. Trish was the perfect character to complete the
Surrendering Time series with.
Julie Arduini loves to encourage
readers to surrender the good, the bad, and ---maybe one day---the chocolate.
She’s the author of ENTRUSTED: Surrendering the Present, ENTANGLED: Surrendering the Past, and ENGAGED: Surrendering the
Future. FINDING FREEDOM THROUGH SURRENDER is her 30 day devotional using the
surrender themes and characters from the series. She also shares her story in
the infertility devotional, A WALK IN THE VALLEY. Her latest release, YOU’RE
BEAUTIFUL, is a book for girls ages 10-100, written with her teenaged daughter,
Hannah. Julie blogs every other Wednesday for Christians
Read, and also is a blogger for Inspy
Romance. She resides in Poland with her husband and
two children. Learn more by visiting her at http://juliearduini.com,
where she invites readers to subscribe to her monthly newsletter full of
resources and giveaway opportunities.
Facebook: http://facebook.com/JulieArduini
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The Giveaway:
What
do you think of heroines who have a tarnished reputation? If you leave a
comment, Julie will choose one winner to receive a copy of Engaged. US winner can choose either print or eBook. If you’re an
international winner, it will be an eBook. Giveaway ends one week from today on Tuesday, August 20, at Midnight, CDT.
