Please join me in welcoming author Paula Mowery to the blog this week. She has an interesting new release with a great story behind it. And, she’s giving away an ebook copy of it. Read the interview and scroll down for your chance to win.

Here’s a little more about the book.

Chelsea Wilson’s life is a constant reminder of what living dishonorably looks like. At every turn she continues to prove her mother’s shunning must be deserved.

Dr. Kevin Alley returns to the old home place to establish his medical practice. After running into Chelsea, he knows his love for her is still strong.

Chelsea is ousted from her small rented room when her mother bursts in, proclaiming Chelsea’s pregnancy.

Kevin takes Chelsea in, giving her space to live on the upper level of his house.

When Chelsea’s baby displays life-threatening symptoms, Chelsea must face her mother. Secrets unfold about Chelsea’s parents. Can Chelsea and Kevin uncover the secrets linked to Amish heritage in time to save the baby? Can the two find love together despite their history?

1. What led you to write a book that involved the Amish community?

My husband’s first church to pastor out of seminary was in Southern Maryland. We found ourselves very near an Amish community. On our way to different places we would ride through the roads their houses and land were on. I was fascinated with their way of life. We discovered that the Amish had a market on Saturdays. We would stroll around and purchase many of their goods and produce. When life becomes hectic, I often think on the simple life the Amish portrayed. Theirs wasn’t an easy life by any means. I had watched small Amish men plow with those huge horses. But things didn’t seem so complicated. I also respected the way they helped each other. I remember an incident where an Amish man was killed. The neighbors stood in the yard of the family’s home in silence and respect. When a family needed a house or a barn, the whole community came together and built what was needed. That was so appealing to me having lived in places where I never even knew my neighbors. And in this area of Maryland, it seemed that the Amish and the Englisch had found a way to live side by side harmoniously.

2. Why did you include a crisis pregnancy in the story?

My church association has its own pregnancy crisis center. I was asked to be the devotional leader which I did for about a year and a half. I have such respect for the women who run this ministry. They show the unconditional love of God in every way.

3. What do you hope your readers get from the book?

As stated above, I hope readers experience the unconditional love available from God. My parents modeled God’s love for me, so it wasn’t difficult for me to believe that He could love me that way. But not everyone has had His love modeled for them. No matter how you may have been treated by those who should have loved you, God loves you with no strings and no grudges.

4. Why did you want to become an author?

Becoming an author was a calling I received from God. There are messages He has for me to share through my writing. Nothing is more thrilling than for God to inspire my stories and then have them touch readers for His glory.

5. What else do you have in the works?

Right now I am writing a sequel to my Christian romantic suspense which released in September of 2015 called For Our Good. The sequel is tentatively called Face in the Mirror.

I also taught a class at last year’s Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference about writing devotions. We culminated that class by writing a devotional for Christian writers from Christian writers. This devotional was contracted and is set to release on April 19. The publisher wants to do another one, so I am thrilled to be returning to the conference to teach this class again.

I’ve also been busy working on a pilot program, encouraging kids to write. This program is called TAG – Tomorrow’s Author Guild.

Paula Mowery is a published author, acquisitions editor, and speaker. Her first two published works were The Blessing Seer and Be The Blessing from Pelican Book Group. Both are women’s fiction, and their themes have been the topics of speaking engagements. Be The Blessing won the Selah Award in 2014 in the novella category. In November of 2013 her first romance released in the anthology, Brave New Century, from Prism Book Group. This book went to number five on Amazon’s bestseller category, historical Christian romance. Legacy and Love was her first solo romance and was a finalist in the Carolyn Readers Choice Awards in 2015. Her other titles include a Christian romantic suspense called For Our Good, a Christmas romance called Love Again, and a romance inspired from the Love Chapter called The Crux of Honor.

Reviewers of her writing characterize it as “thundering with emotion.” Her articles have appeared in Woman’s World, The Christian Online Magazine, and the multi-author devotional blogs, Full Flavored Living and Putting on the New. She wrote a section for Join the Insanity by Rhonda Rhea. She has devotionals included in several collaborative books.

Having been an avid reader of Christian fiction, she now puts that love to use by writing book reviews. She is a member of ACFW and also on the faculty for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.

Paula is a pastor’s wife and mom to a college student. She homeschooled her daughter through all twelve years, and they both lived to tell about it. Before educating her daughter at home, she was an English teacher in public school.

Learn more about Paula at her blog as well as find other links to connect with her at www.paulamowery.blogspot.com.

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Thanks so much for joining us, Paula!