COTT Olympia Winner Announcement!

Many deserving competitors entered the fray. One became the victor!

Congratulations Jennifer Uhlarik, 

2016 Olympia Award Champion.

We took a few moments to get to know Jennifer a little better, and now here's your chance to do the same:

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.

How did you come up with the idea for this book and what made you want to write this particular story?

While working with a few other authors on some novella collection ideas, I came up with the idea of three adult siblings who reunite after being separated by adoption in their youth. This story and the two that follow it are the result of that idea—three strong siblings devoted to law and justice, each in their own way.

What does winning the Olympia Award mean to you?

It is such an honor! I love the Olympia since the first round is judged by readers. That is probably the truest group of judges one can have. And I know the competition is always stiff in contests, so just to final is quite humbling. To win is indescribable (and I’m an author, so that says a lot. I’m speechless. LOL)

How can people find you online/contact you?

I can be found in the following places:

• Website: www.jenniferuhlarik.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferUhlarikAuthor/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferUhlarik
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jenuhlarik/

2014 Olympia Winner Now Available for Purchase!

COTT's 2014 Olympia winner, Reclaimed, launched in September! Author Jennifer Rodewald is pleased to put this winning title in front of readers, especially the COTT judges who fell in love with her story.

 

About the book:

Suzanna Wilton has had a heavy share of heartache in her twenty-seven years. Left wounded by a marriage cut short, she leaves city life to take up residency in a tiny Nebraska town. Her introduction to her neighbor Paul Rustin is a disaster. Assuming he’s as underhanded as the other local cowboys she’s already met, Suzanna greets him with sharp hostility.

 

Though Paul is offended by Suzanna’s unfriendliness, he can’t stop thinking about her, which unsettles his peaceful life. Intrigued by the woman who lives down the road and propelled by a sense that she carries a painful burden, he frequently drops by to offer help as she adjusts to rural living.

Just as Paul’s kindness begins to melt Suzanna’s frozen heart, a conflict regarding her land escalates in town. Even in the warmth of Paul’s love, resentment keeps a cold grip on her fragile heart.

 

Will Suzanna ever find peace?

 

PURCHASE

Amazon

 

Q: Jennifer, what message or theme do you hope readers will take with them after reading Reclaimed?

 

A: I put up a promo meme the other day on my Facebook page. This one:

 

 

One of my friends posted this response: so thankful He does.

That’s it. Right there.

I write women’s fiction with strong threads of romance, but my heart’s desire is always to point to the romance of heaven, to reflect back to the King’s heart toward his reclaimed bride. He knows every wound, small and festering or fresh and gaping, and He LOVES us. He holds out hope and healing, He waits for us to run into his arms with our heartaches. I think almost every woman’s heart longs for the love of a good man, but ultimately our thirst is for Love. Agape Love, the kind that pours out from heaven to satisfy our thirsty hearts.

 

About the author:

Jennifer Rodewald is passionate about the Word of God and the powerful vehicle of story. The draw to fiction has tugged hard on her heart since childhood, and when she began pursuing writing she set on stories that reveal the grace of God.

Jen lives and writes in a lovely speck of a town where she watches with amazement while her children grow up way too fast, gardens, and marvels at God’s mighty hand in everyday life. Four kids and her own personal superman make her home in southwestern Nebraska delightfully chaotic.

She would love to hear from you! Please visit her at authorjenrodewald.com or  www.facebook.com/authorjenrodewald.