The Story Behind Hope by Fay Lamb and #giveaway!!!

Today we welcome Fay Lamb to my blog. Fay is very graciously offering a copy of her new book HOPE to one reader. Please include contact information 

The Story Behind Hope

I once received some very wise advice from a publisher who had no idea that I had a story brewing in my mind about a woman with an illness. This wise person said, and I’m paraphrasing: “Don’t make the story all about the sickness. Share the journey with the readers, but give them something more than a story about someone recovering from disease.”

I pondered that sage wisdom for a couple of years as I worked here and there on the story while meeting other deadlines. As I typed away, I began to realize that the illness was developing as the main antagonist of the story.

Oops. What do you do with that?

You sit and you think about it—a lot. You allow questions to arise, and you try to answer them. My brain kept throwing one question at me? How do you defeat something that, while evil, isn’t conscious of evil? In The Ties that Bind series, Charisse’s villain, Delilah, sure knew what she was doing. And Hope, she was Libby’s antagonist. While she might not have understood the reasons for her actions toward Libby, she did recognize that her actions were horrible.

So here was Hope fighting for her life against a foe without a consciousness of its evil, and there I was trying to follow the encouragement I’d been given not to make cancer the focal point of the story.

That’s when I realized that Hope was her own worst enemy. Her lifestyle had changed. She was a new person, but she had hurt many people who loved her. She’d left death and sadness in her wake. The illness, while some would still call it an antagonist, for me, became that door of no return that authors read about and study—the door that the hero or heroine or both must step through because it leads to change. And thus, the cancer in Hope became that door for both her and the man she loved—the one who’d been such a victim of Hope’s past that he thought he could never love her again.

Hope is a story of a reluctant Christian who, until forced to face a possible demise, struggles to follow God’s direction. Adversity can weaken or strengthen a soul. With the eclectic family Hope has been thrust into, God doesn’t give her much of a chance to walk away from His will, and Hope’s journey as a woman who trusts in God also becomes a tale of redemption for the ones Hope most loves in the world.

 BIO

Fay Lamb writes emotionally charged stories that remind the reader that God is always in the details. Three of the four books in the Amazing Grace romantic suspense series, are available: Stalking Willow, Better than Revenge, and Everybody’s Broken. Hope is the third book in The Ties that Bind Series, which also includes Charisse and Libby. Fay’s adventurous spirit has also taken her into the realm of non-fiction with The Art of Characterization: How to Use the Elements of Storytelling to Connect Readers to an Unforgettable Cast.

Future releases from Fay will be: Frozen Notes, Book 4 of the Amazing Grace series, and Delilah, Book 4 from The Ties that Bind.

Fay loves to meet readers, and you can find her on her personal Facebook page, her Facebook Author page, and at The Tactical Editor on Facebook and on Goodreads. She’s also active on Twitter. Then there are her blogs: On the Ledge, Inner Source, and the Tactical Editor.

BACK COVER

Hope Astor is literally a starving artist, living off the good graces of her friends as she seeks help for the fatigue that has plagued her for over a month. Dr. Daniel Duvall is a noted oncological surgeon whose life hasn’t been the same since losing his sister in a car accident the year before.

When Hope receives her diagnosis, she understands that her carefree artist’s lifestyle has left her without any options to save her life, but her friends try to convince her otherwise. They persuade Hope to seek treatment from the best doctor she knows.

Trouble is, Hope is the reason Daniel’s sister is dead, and she doesn’t think saving her life is on his list of priorities.