So Others Won’t Hurt Like I Did by Hannah Arduini and #giveaway!!!

So Others Won’t Hurt Like I Did

Hannah Arduini (with help from her Mom, Julie Arduini)

Hannah and Julie are very graciously giving away a copy of You're Beautiful to one person who comments (reader's choice for format, but USA only for print). Please leave contact information.  When was a time when you felt awkward, unwanted, or not beautiful?   

                When I started seventh grade, I knew it was going to be different. Older friends and my brother warned me that teachers expect more, that the other kids would suddenly care about people and things they never had before, and that it was going to take prayer and hard work.

                It was a lot harder than I expected.

                What none of us knew until mid-year was that I was in the wrong academic track. I had trouble keeping up and my grades dropped, fast. I worked on not being afraid to ask questions, but I still struggled even after most of my teachers helped me.

                Things got worse. I was in a situation where I was left out of an event because I was forgotten by an adult. That’s hard to feel confident, and it hurt. When there was a chance to make it right, the adult didn’t. I didn’t want anyone to see how much that hurt.

                Other things happened behind the scenes that my parents dealt with, or they watched happen to me and couldn’t believe it. Although my grades improved once I was in the right classes, I couldn’t wait for the year to be over.

                My mom sat me down once summer came and asked me what I thought went right about the year. It was hard to come up with things. I told her some of the pain I still felt from everything that happened and said I wished there was a way to help girls before they ever go through anything close to what I did. She asked me to keep talking and I thought about a story for girls that would mention the issues girls would go through. Mom asked questions that made me think harder about it. Finally she said, “This could be a book. You could really help girls if you made this a real story.”

                We kept talking, and Mom offered a proposal. She said if I helped her by telling her the story and how it should go, she would write it. She asked me to be part of the entire process from creating character names to making sure her writing matched my plotting. Mom had it critiqued and edited, and then she showed me cover ideas. She picked model pictures, but I thought girls like me would want an animated cover. Once we created that, she formatted it and send it to print.

                Mom even asked me to work marketing with her. I was too nervous to do a book signing, so she thought of a Facebook party. Instead of going live, we did a chat, but Mom typed. It gave me a good idea what talking about the book is like. Plus, now that I’m in eighth grade and things are going much better, I have people at school asking me about the book. Kids that didn’t talk to me before now come up to me and congratulate me.

                We are going to write two more books, the next one we will start this summer. It will be called You’re Amazing. I’m looking forward to it!

You’re Beautiful by Hannah Arduini & Julie Arduini

Blurb:

Hayley Atkinson withdraws from her friends and new opportunities with the new mentoring group, Linked, after she is told a lie that she believes is true about herself. Sabrina Wayson is a mentor in Linked who feels she can’t help encourage girls because she’s struggling as much as they are. Can they surrender the lies and find freedom?

Note:

Julie and Hannah will be having a Facebook party to celebrate the release Thursday, February 15 at 8pm Eastern at http://facebook.com/JulieArduiniAuthor. They will discuss You’re Beautiful, offer “surprise” opportunities, and welcome special guest authors Candee Fick, Kathleen E. Friesen, and Laura V. Hilton.

You’re Beautiful eBook will be FREE Friday, February 16-Sunday, February 18

Purchase:

eBook:https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Beautiful-Surrendering-Stinkin-Thinkin-ebook/dp/B078VK3JJB

Print: https://www.amazon.com/Youre-Beautiful-Surrendering-Stinkin-Thinkin/dp/0692056238

Hannah Arduini is in the eighth grade and lives outside of Youngstown, Ohio. She loves fashion, Starbucks, and serving at church. She has a brother who lives at home, and siblings that live in Wisconsin. She also has two nephews. You’re Beautiful is her first published book.

Julie Arduini loves to encourage readers to surrender the good, the bad, and ---maybe one day---the chocolate. She’s the author of the contemporary romance series Surrendering Time, featuring ENTRUSTED,ENTANGLED, and ENGAGED. FINDING FREEDOM THROUGH SURRENDER is her 30-day devotional using the surrender themes and characters from the series. She shares her infertility story in A WALK IN THE VALLEY. She blogs every other Wednesday for Christians Read, and also is a blogger for Inspy Romance. She resides in Ohio with her husband and two children. Learn more by visiting her at http://juliearduini.com