Tuesday, October 7, 2014

RELEASE DAY: Lynn Donovan "Christmas Grace, Signing Seeds"


 
Blurb:
Grace Avery’s husband was her rock, the foundation to her faith and her life. Now a young, grieving widow, she longs to have his baby, but artificial insemination fails her again and again. How far will she go to have his baby? She cries out to God, but He isn’t listening. When the Worship Team Leader asks her to come back and bless the congregation with her gift of sign language during the Christmas Eve Program, her stifling grief holds her back. Can sharing her gift be the seed needed to reap the harvest she so desperately wants? Is God’s grace sufficient? Is there Christmas Grace?
 
 
Author:
Lynn Donovan spends her days chasing after her muses, trying to get them to settle down and behave long enough to dictate their words and actions. Thank goodness her muses love Christ or she’d be in big trouble. The results have produced The Clockwork Dragon, a collection of nine short stories in which she wrote half (4.5 stories), The Wishing Well Curse, and Thorns of Betrayal, Rocking Horse Shadows, and Christmas Grace, Signing Seeds. A speculative fiction called The Abraham Project is hovering out there somewhere. Lynn enjoys reading and writing Christian fiction, paranormal, and speculative fiction. But you never know what her muses will come up with for a story, so you could see a novel under any given genre. All we can tell you is keep your eyes open, cause these muses are not sitting still for long! Oops, there they go again…
 
 
Now available on
Amazon Barnes & Noble Smashwords
 
Excerpt:
 
CHAPTER ONE
 
Grace Avery jerked awake, but she dared not move.
There it was again. A rattling noise. Was it the house? A howling wind ripped through the eaves and shook the window frames of their restored Victorian home. Winter was bullying out autumn.
A shiver scurried down her back. She tucked her arm under the covers and listened. The rattle that woke her was rhythmic and repetitive. It wasn’t the wind. It was Chris, and he sounded worse this morning.
She turned over and laid her hand on his shoulder. His skin felt cool and clammy to the touch. She scooted closer to spoon with his fragile frame. Long streamers of dawn’s rays reached through the gray-blue linen curtains and illuminated a violet hue across his already pallid skin. She pulled their sheets up over his shoulder and considered getting him another blanket.
The house creaked and moaned, the structure’s unique chatter announcing the change in weather. Before, she enjoyed these sounds, the change in the seasons, but now they only brought a sensation of concern for Chris. The chemo treatments had depleted his immune system, and she feared this winter would be rough on him. The frustrating irony of the cure. The testicular cancer hadn’t killed him, but these chemo treatments sure had brought him closer to death than she ever thought possible. If it weren’t for his valiant will to live, she didn’t know—
No. She wouldn’t think like that. He had something to live for. Something he had been longing for since they were first married. And she was doing everything possible to make the dream a reality. No matter how much she hated the fertility procedures, she went faithfully and did everything Dr. G told her to do. It was just a matter of time. Deep in her heart, she knew this was what kept Chris fighting death’s calling. Their one unclaimed victory—a baby.
Was it only a year ago Chris had appeared to be in robust health? He was Head Engineer of his department. Zilker Electronics’ stocks were soaring because of the profitable contracts he had procured. The Board of Directors rewarded him with a staggering bonus last Christmas. They were living “high on the hog,” as her mother put it.
It had been four years since they had begun this trek, trying to conceive. But conception had eluded them. It was frustrating. Still, they clung to high expectations for positive results. Well, Chris had high expectations. He was the optimist. She was the worrier.
She had good reason to worry. Had she caused her fertility problems? For the first five years of their marriage, a baby was the last thing she wanted. It had always been Chris who hinted at starting a family. She was a freelance writer and worked from home. It would have been an easy transition to have a baby and still work. But, the thing was—she was happy without a child.
Casual observance of their friends convinced her. Her fears were valid. Every aspect of their friends’ lives had become consumed with their children. Yet they seemed exhausted and miserable. Their marriages suffered and so did their careers.
Her marriage had been perfect. She and Chris loved each other more every day. She still felt like a honeymooner. She didn’t want to lose this amazing relationship she had with him, so she took every precaution, even doubled up on the birth control methods. No unplanned pregnancy would ruin her marriage or her happy life.
Then one day, something just…changed. Perhaps it had been her twenty-seventh birthday. Maybe an internal timer going off, who knows? But that day her heart opened and she saw the possibility in a whole new way. She no longer focused on her wants. It was like she had stepped into a room, an ordinary, familiar room, but now the lighting was so much brighter. She could see everything at once. The light filled the room like her love for Chris filled her heart. It completely saturated her being and there was nothing she wanted more than to make him happy. Instead of wanting to receive gifts from him, she wanted to give one to him.

No comments:

Post a Comment