Sunday, September 19, 2010





This week, the





Christian Fiction Blog Alliance





is introducing





Autumn's Promise
Avon Inspire (August 3, 2010)





by





Shelley Shepard Gray




ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Since 2000, Shelley Sabga has sold twenty-six novels to numerous publishers. She has written a seven book contemporary series for Avalon books. She also published The Love Letter, a western for Avalon. Five Star Expressions published Suddenly, You in February of 2007. This novel is a historical western set in the mountains of Colorado.


Shelley has written nine novels for Harlequin American Romance. Cinderella Christmas, her first novel with them, reached number six on the Waldenbooks Bestseller list. Her second book with them, Simple Gifts won RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice award for best Harlequin American Romance of 2006. The Mommy Bride, was chosen by Romantic Times Magazine as one of their TOP PICKS for May, 2008.

Under the name Shelley Shepard Gray, Shelley writes Amish romances for Harper Collins’ inspirational line, Avon Inspire. HIDDEN and WANTED the first two novels of her ‘Sisters of the Heart’ series, were chosen to be Alternate Selections for the Doubleday/ Literary Guild Book Club. FORGIVEN, book 3, has received glowing reviews. Avon Inspire is releasing four novels by Shelley this year.

Before writing romances, Shelley lived in Texas and Colorado, where she taught school and earned both her bachelors and masters degrees in education. She now lives in southern Ohio and writes full time. Shelley is married, the mother of two teenagers, and is an active member of her church.


ABOUT THE BOOK


Some promises are meant to be broken...


Until Robert Miller met Lilly Allen, his world had been dark. A widower after only two years of marriage, he'd been living in a haze, feeling that, at twenty-four, his life was already over.

But thanks to his friendship with Lilly, he now has new reasons to wake up each day. He knows his connection to her doesn't make sense. She's only nineteen, with a past the whole town talks about. Even more, she's not Amish, like Robert. A marriage between the two of them could never happen.

Lilly's heart is drawn to Robert, not to his faith. No matter how much she admires his quiet strength and dependability, she doesn't think she could ever give up her independence and reliance on the modern world. Is their love doomed before it even begins?

If you would like to read the first chapter of  Autumn's Promise, go HERE.

Cheryl's Comments:

Shelley Shepard Gray has won my respect as a creator of wonderful stories that are fun to read and truly heart-warming.  Shelley has managed to convert me to the Amish Romance genre with her gentle yet relevant plot lines and characters.  Somehow she accomplishes this without sugarcoating conflicts such as teen pregnancy and rebellion against parental authority.

As a mom of teens, I could relate to the worry and sleepless nights that the parents in this series have experienced, as children struggle to figure out if  the way they were brought up is the best way of life for them, or if life might be greener on the other side of the Amish tracks...

For the Amish, the consequences of leaving the faith are pretty dire.  Imagine losing family relationships and everything that speaks of home forever if you break with the "plain" way of life.  Imagine trying to convert to the Amish way after having all of the conveniences of modern life...

Autumn's Promise is a story of life and love that crosses barriers and expands the heart.

Great book series for teens, moms, grandmas... I look forward to reading more by this gifted author.

2 comments:

Shelley Shepard Gray said...

Dear Cheryl,

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing Autumn's Promise! I'm so glad you're a fellow mom of teens. My two are 17 and 19 now, but back a few years ago, there were both struggling to find their ways. I guess all of us does, at one time or another.
Thanks for talking about the teens in my book in your review. I'm so grateful that you could relate to them. Knowing that really means a lot.
Fun to 'chat' with you today!
Shelley

Cheryl Klarich said...

Thanks for the lovely comment!

I've recommended your books because (one of many reasons...) I like how you intermingle the "English" and the Amish in a kind of relevant "co-existance".

You are also a fantastic story teller!