Saturday, June 9, 2012

Welcome to debut writer, Becky Wade.

Becky Wade makes her home in Dallas, Texas with her husband, three children, and one adoring (and adored) cavalier spaniel. Her inspirational contemporary romance, My Stubborn Heart, has just been released by Bethany House.

During her childhood in California, Becky frequently produced homemade plays starring her sisters, friends, and cousins.  These plays almost always featured a heroine, a prince, and a love story with a happy ending.  She's been a fan of all things romantic ever since.

Becky and her husband lived overseas in the Caribbean and Australia before settling in Dallas, Texas.  It was during her years abroad that Becky's passion for reading turned into a passion for writing.  She published three historical romances for the general market, put her career on hold for several years to care for her kids, and eventually returned to writing sheerly for the love of it.  Her first contemporary Christian romance, My Stubborn Heart, has just been released by Bethany House.

These days Becky can be found failing but trying to keep up with her housework, sweating at the gym, carting her kids around town, playing tennis, hunched over her computer, eating chocolate, or collapsed on the sofa watching TV with her husband.

Readers can find Becky at the following websites. http://www.beckywade.com
http://www.facebook.com/authorbeckywade
 
My Stubborn Heart

Kate Donovan is burned out on work, worn down by her dating relationships, and in need of an adventure. When her grandmother asks her to accompany her to Redbud, Pennsylvania, to restore the grand old house she grew up in, Kate jumps at the chance.
Upon her arrival in Redbud, Kate meets Matt Jarreau, the man hired to renovate the house. Kate can't help being attracted to him, drawn by both his good looks and something else she can't quite put her finger on. He's clearly wounded--hiding from people, from God, and from his past. Yet Kate sets her stubborn heart on bringing him out of the dark and back into the light... whether he likes it or not.
When the stilted, uncomfortable interactions between Kate and Matt slowly shift into something more, is God finally answering the longing of her heart? Or will Kate be required to give up more than she ever dreamed?

Excerpt:

Prologue
       There once was a girl who'd been praying for a husband since the fourth grade.  Over the years she'd prayed for his health, his happiness, his protection, and -- okay -- sometimes for his good looks.  She'd prayed that she would meet him when she was meant to.         
       Except that she hadn't. 
     She'd been avidly expecting and watching for him all this time, from the fourth grade straight up to the age of thirty-one.  And though she tried hard to be positive,  the truth was that she'd grown tired of waiting.  Tired of dating.  Tired of breaking off just two bananas from the bunch at the grocery store.  Tired of the singles group at church.  Tired of living alone. 
     Worse, she was beginning to doubt that her nameless, faceless husband existed at all.  Maybe, late at night in her kid bed, her college bed, her adult single woman bed, she'd been praying for someone who wasn't coming.  Ever. 
     Perhaps her husband had run in front of a bus as a child.  What did God do in that situation?  Swap in an understudy?  Or maybe she'd missed her husband during the bustle of her college years, never knowing that the shy guy from physics class was the one.  Or perhaps, right from the start, God had never intended for her to marry.
     Or maybe, just maybe -- and this was the hope she still clung to despite the evidence to the contrary -- her husband was still on his way.
*****
     There once was a mother who'd been praying double hard for her son ever since he'd stopped praying for himself. 
     From earliest childhood, he'd been extraordinary - a perfect, miraculous blend of athletic ability and focused determination.  She and her husband had supported and loved him, but never expected of him what he'd made of himself.  How could it even have entered her mind to dream a dream that big?  She'd watched with a mixture of sentimental pride and stunned surprise as he'd climbed up every level of the sport of hockey. 
     By the age of eighteen he was playing professionally.  From there, at what she'd thought would be the pinnacle, his star had only continued to rise.  He'd been photographed for grocery store magazines.  He'd moved into a house surrounded by a wall of security.  He'd married a beautiful girl in a grand wedding ceremony filled with the flashes of cameras, wedding planners, and peach colored roses.
     Her son had accomplished it all.  The height of success in his career.  National fame.  Wealth.  The best personal happiness with his wife.
     And then it had all come apart, crashing and rolling out of reach like a handfull of spilled marbles.  His wife had been diagnosed with cancer and nothing -- not the most money, not the best doctors -- had been able to save her.  When she'd died, he'd walked away from his sport, from the big house with the wall, from the fame.
     In the years since, he'd retreated inside himself to a place where none of his family or friends could reach him.  So his mother prayed.  She prayed that God wouldn't forget about him, this son of hers, who'd gained and lost the world in just a third of his lifetime.  She prayed that God would send someone who could find him and save him from his prison of grief.  And she prayed that maybe, somehow, in time, his heart would soften and he'd find love again.
*****
     Funny thing about prayers.  God hears them.  But you just never know if, when, or how He's going to answer them.


In My Stubborn Heart, God asks the heroine
to wait for the husband she's long been praying for.  
What has God asked you to wait for in your life?

We need to hear from you. As you take a glance at Becky's excerpt, consider how you might respond to Becky's question about waiting. What HAS God asked of you when it comes to that patient word called "WAIT"? 

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for having me on your blog, Shirley!

    What has God asked me to wait for? He asked me to wait for our third child. My husband and I had two children and yet I felt strongly that God had one more in mind for my family. #3 proved difficult, however. Three years of trying and two miscarriages came and went. Through that season, I simply continued to believe and trust. And in His time, the Lord did send us a third baby. A healthy, sassy, confident, and wonderful little girl.

    Through that circumstance and others, the Lord has reminded me of his faithfulness and that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him." Romans 8:28

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  2. Sounds like such a fun story!! I love the set up you posted here. :)

    God had me wait to publish my first book! It took nearly 12 years! But once it happened, I realized I wouldn't have been ready sooner.

    Becky, congrats on your release!

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  3. Becky, we had a simliar story. We had to wait on our second child 5 years (and through 2 miscarriages). Then 21 months after that, we had the wonderful surprise of a third! :)

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  4. Becky,

    It sounds like a fabulous book. I love the excerpt!

    What has God asked me to wait on? Although I feel like my life has been truly blessed, I'd always wanted a second child.

    But not having that second child allowed us to give our daughter much more in terms of life experiences than we would have been able to afford otherwise. And it allowed my husband and me to pursue our own dreams as well.

    I can't wait to pick up your book! Oh, and did I tell you I think the cover is fabulous?!

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  5. Hi Becky! What a terrific excerpt . . . Kindle time!

    About waiting--I've waited for years for a particular healing for a loved one. It might never happen in this life, but there's no misery in Heaven :)

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  6. This looks like a great read, congrats on its release.
    What a loaded question ...
    The Lord has asked for me to wait for a finished home (ours is a do-it-yourselfer that now needs redoing, and a few things that weren't polished!).
    The Lord has asked me to wait for an answer to my father's unsolved homicide, 37 years now.
    I am still waiting to see loved ones come to a personal relationship with Him.
    He honored my waiting to become a published author two years ago.
    When we wait resting in His promises, it doesn't seem as hard...

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  7. Thanks, Missy, Cindy, Victoria and LoRee for your comments. What a blessing to hear how God has (and is) moving in your lives through your season's of waiting.

    Cindy, my cover is fabulous, isn't it?!!! An in-house designer at Bethany named Jenny Parker created it. She read the entire book in manuscript form before she set to work. THAT's dedication! I couldn't believe how much the Matt on the cover looks like the Matt in my imagination!

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