Showing posts with label Jody Hedlund. Show all posts

SPOTLIGHT: With You Always by Jody Hedlund

Saturday, June 10, 2017

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Jody Hedlund about her new novel 'With You Always'. The first in her new Orphan Train series and a story I fell completely in love with. If you haven't read my review yet don't worry, I'll link it and a few other's below. Before we get to the Q&A with Jody however, let me give you some book information.

About the Book

With You Always by Jody Hedlund
Series: Orphan Train Book 1
Published by Bethany House
Release Date: June 6, 2017
Genres: Historical Fiction,Christian Fiction

When a financial crisis in 1850s New York leaves three orphaned sisters nearly destitute, the oldest, Elise Neumann, knows she must take action. She's had experience as a seamstress, and the New York Children's Aid Society has established a special service: placing out seamstresses and trade girls. Even though Elise doesn't want to leave her sisters for a job in Illinois, she realizes this may be their last chance.

The son of one of New York City's wealthiest entrepreneurs, Thornton Quincy faces a dilemma. His father is dying, and in order to decide which of his sons will inherit everything, he is requiring them to do two things in six months: build a sustainable town along the Illinois Central Railroad, and get married. Thornton is tired of standing in his twin brother's shadow and is determined to win his father's challenge. He doesn't plan on meeting a feisty young woman on his way west, though.

About the Author

Winner of the 2016 Christian Book Award for fiction and Christy Award for historical romance, best-selling author Jody Hedlund writes inspirational historical romances for both youth and adults.

Jody lives in central Michigan with her husband, five busy children, and five spoiled cats. Although Jody prefers to experience daring and dangerous adventures through her characters rather than in real life, she’s learned that a calm existence is simply not meant to be (at least in this phase of her life!).

When she’s not penning another of her page-turning stories, she loves to spend her time reading, especially when it also involves consuming coffee and chocolate.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Q&A with Jody Hedlund

An e-novella, An Awakened Heart, kicks off the series. What is the novella about, and is it a must-read in order to understand the series?

An Awakened Heart is not a must-read in order to understand the series. But I do highly recommend reading it. (Plus it’s FREE, so you have nothing to lose by giving it a try!) The e-novella introduces a couple, Guy and Christine, who are both passionate about helping the poor immigrants crowded into the overflowing and dirty tenements of New York City. The novella shows their efforts to bring about change in the city, but also brings them together in a satisfying love story.

The novella also introduces the three orphan sisters who will each become main characters for the three full-length novels in the series. It gives some of the background information on their situation, particularly how they become orphans, which I think readers will find helpful as well as informative.

What is the inspiration behind your new Orphan Train series?

I have long been fascinated by the era of the Orphan Trains and the heart-wrenching stories of the homeless and helpless young orphans that were taken from the streets of New York City and other eastern cities and shipped West by the dozens. I was familiar with stories of those scared orphans who were placed out in what was thought to be a more wholesome, healthy environment of the newly settled Mid-Western states. Some of the orphans found happy endings and were adopted into loving families. Others experienced great abuse and heartache in their new homes.

While stories of the orphans who rode the trains have been told—and rightly so—the stories of the women who were involved in the movement are not as well known. One of the things I particularly like to do when telling my stories, is focus on women who have been overlooked by the pages of history. I consider it a great privilege to be able to bring forgotten women to life for our modern generation. Thus, throughout this series, I’ll be focusing each book on a different aspect of the Orphan Train movement, particularly from the perspective of women who experienced riding the trains in one form or another.

What do you hope readers take away from With You Always?

One of my hopes in telling this story is to leave readers with the reminder that God is walking with us in whatever dark valley we’re going through. Often, like Elise, we tend to pull away from God and let the bitterness of our circumstances drive us into a cave of isolation and self-blame and heartache. But God wants us to realize that even if we pull away from Him, He’s still there walking by our side, waiting for us to reach out our hand and grab a hold of Him. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He’s there waiting.

With You Always is the third book you’ve released in 2017. How do you find time to write so many books?

I keep a very rigorous writing schedule, usually writing six days a week. I give myself a challenging word count goal—a certain number of words to write every day. Then, in the morning, I sit down and write until I meet my goals. It’s as simple . . . and as hard as that!

I like to compare being an author to a marathon runner. The person training to run a marathon doesn’t start off running twenty-six miles the first time she runs. Instead she begins with just a few miles, strengthens her muscles, builds her endurance, and slowly adds more miles.

Writing is the same way. Over the years, I’ve strengthened my writing muscles and built up my endurance so that now I can write faster and for longer stretches.

What role does faith play in your novels?

While I try not to preach at my readers, I do weave faith themes through my books. My faith also motivates me to keep my stories "clean." I believe Christian fiction is a much needed alternative, especially Christian romance.

I just recently got an email from a reader telling me she that she'd picked up several books and been really turned off by the explicitness within them, but that she didn't realize the books contained such content until she started reading them. She wanted to know if there was a rating system or some way that she could tell if the book would be "clean" before she started reading. I was glad that I could point her to inspirational Christian fiction, that she would be guaranteed the sweet romance she desired.

What are you working on next?

The second book in the orphan train series releases next summer in 2018. The story continues with Marianne Neumann. She gets involved in the orphan train movement as one of the placing agents and accompanies the orphans as they ride the trains west. I hope readers will enjoy Marianne’s story and also appreciate learning more about the orphan train movement from the eyes of the compassionate workers who tried to place the orphans into new homes.

Do you have any parting words?

I love hearing from readers! Make sure you stop by one of these places and say hello!

I hang out on Facebook here: Author Jody Hedlund

I also love to chat on Twitter: @JodyHedlund

My home base is at my website: jodyhedlund.com

Find me on Instagram: instagram.com/jodyhedlund/

Come pin with me on Pinterest: pinterest.com/jodyhedlund/pins/

Want more? Check out what other's are saying about With You Always'.

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Locks, Hooks and Books

The Green Mockingbird

Radiant Light

Cover to Cover and Everything In Between

Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses

Becoming an Author...My Journey

Everyone has a Story to Tell

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Pink Granny's Journey

Joy of Reading

The Fizzy Pop Collection

BOOK REVIEW: With You Always by Jody Hedlund

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

When a financial crisis in 1850s New York leaves three orphaned sisters nearly destitute, the oldest, Elise Neumann, knows she must take action. She's had experience as a seamstress, and the New York Children's Aid Society has established a special service: placing out seamstresses and trade girls. Even though Elise doesn't want to leave her sisters for a job in Illinois, she realizes this may be their last chance.

The son of one of New York City's wealthiest entrepreneurs, Thornton Quincy faces a dilemma. His father is dying, and in order to decide which of his sons will inherit everything, he is requiring them to do two things in six months: build a sustainable town along the Illinois Central Railroad, and get married. Thornton is tired of standing in his twin brother's shadow and is determined to win his father's challenge. He doesn't plan on meeting a feisty young woman on his way west, though.

Before I even begin this review I am just gonna say it: I love this book. If you haven't read the prequel 'An Awakened Heart', available for free download from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, then get it now. This story follows Elise (you meet her in the prequel) as the financial crisis hits New York City. Businesses close, job opportunities dry up and even the Seventh Street Mission is affected. Elise does what she can to protect her sisters and the children they were left in care of. She's given an opportunity to relocate to the west (Illinois) via the New York Children's Aide Society. They helped secure transportation via the train to her new opportunities and ensured a job once she arrived. What they fail to mention is that the working conditions and the pay are just as bad, if not worse than New York. They also fail to mention how long it will take to pay back travel expenses. They actually fail to mention a lot. We'll address that later. En route to her destination she meets Thornton. And with many twists and turns history is made. In more ways than one.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. Hedlund is a powerhouse for setting a scene that draws you in. She engages your entire being into the world she creates. You can smell the stench of unwashed bodies and filth, you can see the haze of coal smoke from the buildings and trains. You can envision the flat nothingness that is Illinois over the stacked hustle and bustle of people on top of people that was New York. You may be wrapped up in your cozy reading spot but you are 'there' in the moment that Hedlund takes you too. You have to look again at your hands to make sure they aren't covered in soot or chapped by manual labor. When she first introduced the Quincy family I wasn't sure why they mattered a chapter. But when Elise met up with Thornton on the streets of New York I knew there were important things to come.

Another thing that Hedlund excels at is her knowledge (read I'm sure days upon days of research) of the time period she is writing and the social and moral issues of the time. She takes on the plight of poor immigrant families in Lower Manhattan (and the Illinois prairie) as though she was one. She takes on the inequality of the rich and poor, male and female, adult and child as though she actually experienced all of those things personally. She does so in a way that is appropriate to the time without coming across as a social injustice warrior attacking where we have come from. When Elise stands up for what she thinks and gets fired for what she says, well you know that good things are coming. And like Thornton I am confident there were other's like him that when confronted with things that needed changed made the hard decisions to buck 'tradition' and make those changes. They weren't many, they weren't common, and they aren't necessarily documented and lauded by history. Change is slow. Even necessary change.

Honestly, there's nothing I did not like about this book. The characters spoke to me, the spent hours engaged in their lives. The story spoke to me and for a small fraction I can almost imagine I was there. I am ever so grateful to the author, Jody Hedlund, and her publisher Bethany house (via NetGalley) for allowing me the opportunity to pre-review this book. I know my life is different and I cannot wait for future installments in this series.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Jody Hedlund, Bethany House, and NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.

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About Jody Hedlund

BOOK REVIEW: An Awakened Heart by Jody Hedlund

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Trying to heal the ache she feels in her empty life, wealthy Christine Pendleton decides to volunteer at Centre Street Chapel. Ministering to one of the most deprived parts of New York City, the chapel aims at making a difference in the lives of the impoverished immigrants flooding the city. After seeing firsthand the hopelessness of the poor women and orphans, Christine is convinced more can be done to help them.

Guy Bedell has been serving at the chapel and pouring his heart out for the people he's grown to care about. When Christine begins to challenge his methods and offers a new vision for reaching out to the community, can he trust that perhaps God has bigger plans in store for him--plans that may include this feisty socialite?

"Maybe instead of waiting for the miracle, you need to be the miracle."

The introductory novella for Jody Hedlund's new Orphan Train series, which is currently available by free download for Kindle and Nook so hit the links below and get your copy, is just amazing as I expected it to be. It's the spring of 1857 and Christine has recently lost her mother after years of caring for her after her father's death. 30 and unmarried she's resigned herself to a lifetime of singleness and takes an opportunity to volunteer at what we would consider an inner-city church in the very poor area of New York filled with tenement buildings, sweat shops, and the fact that women don't have a chance to earn even a pittance wage and must find other, less than moral means of paying rent and buying food. The scene is set so expertly that you can hear the noise, feel the heat, and smell the stench, even while reading from the comfort of bed. Hedlund is a powerhouse when it comes to setting the scene and placing your right into it, no matter where you really are. For me, this is something that has set her books apart from so many others and what keeps drawing me back to her books time after time.

On about page 2 I was ready to start yelling at my screen. Pastor BeDell totally missed the mark. He was so far out in left field that I was utterly disappointed in him and the ministry and and and. But then Christine rescues it all by actually attempting to share and start what I was thinking. She did it bigger and better but you know my mindset totally helped her out right? When I take it into the whole picture though, his response is very much realistic of a male during this period of time. Women were lesser. Period. They earned less money for the same (and sometimes better) work, they were thought to be less intelligent, they were ornaments in society and a burden to figure out in the tenements. I was upset over his reaction to a prevailing thought process of the time. And cheering Christine for being forward thinking and finding enough of herself to put herself forward and share her thoughts.

This book, though, has one draw back that hits on one of my pet peeves. I don't care how 'awesome' and 'amazing' someone is, you don't know them well enough to love them or ask them to marry you in a matter of a few weeks. OK, so my grandparents (Dad's parents) had only been seeing each other a few short weeks when they hoped the train to the next town over to get married at the courthouse. And yes, they were married for 58 years when she passed away and he grieved himself to death over losing her. However, this is the exception, not the rule. It irritates me in life because I've watched these marriages destroy people who try so hard to make it work. It irritates me in books because, again, it's the exception not the rule and sets a false expectation of life and love and relationships and romance. That's it. A huge personal pet peeve but the only negative in this entire novella. I cannot wait for the first book 'With You Always', coming out soon, to carry forward this story!

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About Jody Hedlund

BOOK REVIEW: For Love and Honor by Jody Hedlund

Friday, May 5, 2017

Lady Sabine is harboring a skin blemish, one, that if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. After all, what nobleman would want to marry a woman so flawed?

Sir Bennet is returning home to protect his family from an imminent attack by neighboring lords who seek repayment of debts. Without fortune or means to pay those debts, Sir Bennet realizes his only option is to make a marriage match with a wealthy noblewoman. As a man of honor, he loathes the idea of courting a woman for her money, but with time running out for his family’s safety, what other choice does he have?

As Lady Sabine and Sir Bennet are thrust together under dangerous circumstances, will they both be able to learn to trust each other enough to share their deepest secrets? Or will those secrets ultimately lead to their demise?

"They're priceless treasures. Each marking or chip makes them even more special." That line right there encompassed the basic truth of this book for me. When I talked about the idea of perhaps requesting this book, Kristin almost insisted I do it. My concern was that it was the 3rd book in a series. She insisted that it read perfectly as a stand alone novel, and I'm very glad I listened (don't let it go to your head Kristin!). Lady Sabine deals with her own insecurities due to a birthmark that is considered a mark of witchcraft. Sir Bennet deals with the fact that his older brother has allowed his grief to cloud his ability to make wise decisions and he is called home to attempt to set things right. They are drawn together over their love of priceless artifacts. Artifacts that others see as dispensable, decrepit, and not really worth holding onto. They are pulled apart due to her insecurities and his seeming ability to let chivalry and nobility cloud his judgement and ability to communicate real feelings. And of course the siege, and stubbornness (on both their parts), and the influence of others. But they manage to overcome all of that and conquer all without losing the story and falling to cliches. Almost too perfectly overcoming it all but I'll let that slide. Though I think my next book needs to go the opposite of romance, happy endings are starting to cloud my grumpy edges.

This book, while set in a historical time period, did not read awkwardly (as they sometimes do) and provided such believable characters. They both made me want to Gibbs' Smack them which restores my faith in humanity and fiction since it's been a while since I had characters to pull me in and want to show them the way. I wanted them both to actually say what they felt and thought instead of fighting within themselves. You know, like humans do. Every. Last. One. Of. Us. If you tell me you don't second guess your thoughts and feelings and how the other person may or may not react to those well, I don't believe you. It's a real thing and when you see if from the outside you realize that it's redundant and annoying. Doesn't stop us from doing it though, does it? And while annoying, draws me to those characters and makes me feel for them and root for them and well you know, bond with them.

The only thing that I really didn't like about the book, and it truly is more an annoyance, because I'm me, than a true flaw is that everything worked out at just the right time. Every time. Hand to hand combat and our time is going down? Friends ride to the rescue. And how the gravy did they even know to come when everyone said they didn't have time to get a message out. And how did they even hear rumors when they were sieged in? I won't go into detail about the other 'perfectly' timed rescue as it would give away too much. I get that at times in real life things sometimes just work out perfectly at the exact right last moment but it's an exception not the rule. I feel like it was the rule here. Annoyance as I'm not a 'must have happy endings' kind of gal but did not detract from the story for me.

I was so blessed to be provided a complimentary copy of this book through Celebrate Lit and NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.

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For Love and Honor (An Uncertain Choice, #3)

About Jody Hedlund

SPOTLIGHT: For Love & Honor by Jody Hedlund

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

To purchase your copy, click here.

About the Book

Book: For Love & Honor
Author: Jody Helund
Genre: Young Adult Historical
Release Date: March 7, 2017

Lady Sabine is harboring a skin blemish, one, that if revealed, could cause her to be branded as a witch, put her life in danger, and damage her chances of making a good marriage. After all, what nobleman would want to marry a woman so flawed?

Sir Bennet is returning home to protect his family from an imminent attack by neighboring lords who seek repayment of debts. Without fortune or means to pay those debts, Sir Bennet realizes his only option is to make a marriage match with a wealthy noblewoman. As a man of honor, he loathes the idea of courting a woman for her money, but with time running out for his family’s safety, what other choice does he have?

As Lady Sabine and Sir Bennet are thrust together under dangerous circumstances, will they both be able to learn to trust each other enough to share their deepest secrets? Or will those secrets ultimately lead to their demise?

About the Author

Jody Hedlund is a best-selling and award-winning author who loves fairy-tales and happily-ever-afters. She makes her home in Midland, MI with her husband and five teen-aged children. When she’s not writing another of her page-turning stories, you can usually find her sipping coffee, eating chocolate, and reading.

Guest Post from Jody Hedlund

Is Chivalry on the Brink of Extinction? By Jody Hedlund

With the release of Fifty Shades of Grey movie and its popularity, I can’t help but wonder about the long-term consequences that such ideology will have on how people view relationships. Already, too many couples struggle to maintain happy, healthy relationships. In fact, it’s become almost a weekly occurrence to get news of another friend or acquaintance who is dealing with a spouse cheating or leaving.

Mutual respect, loyalty, honor, and self-sacrifice have become out-dated, forgotten, or tossed aside in place of short-term pleasure that often leaves people feeling hollow and empty.
I honestly can’t help wondering where chivalry has gone, and not just the man-doting-on-the-woman chivalry. But mutual chivalry, the kind where each person in the relationship puts the other in high esteem, uplifts them, and makes a concerted effort to protect and cherish (both emotionally and physically).

Has chivalry become antiquated in our modern society? And even if it has, should it be outdated and on the brink of extinction? Should we be making more of an effort to reclaim mutual respect in relationships?

The kind of respect that does things for someone with no thought of getting anything in return. The kind of respect that is graciously honest about problems instead of sneaking around and being unfaithful. The kind of respect that is willing to sacrifice and see the needs of others instead of demanding our way and our own needs be met first. As my teenage children enter into dating relationships, I worry about the influence of movies like Fifty Shades of Grey. I worry that they’ll see dysfunction as the norm. I worry that they’ll settle for a lot less than they should in their relationships. I worry that they won’t even know the meaning of chivalry. Of course, we’re having candid conversations about all of these issues. Of course, my husband and I attempt to model mutual respect. And of course, I’m praying my teens work on growing their own character so that they can be strong and ready for whatever they might face. But one of the things I’ve done over the past couple of years is write a young adult (YA) series that is aimed at some of these very issues The third book, FOR LOVE & HONOR, just released this spring (and can be read as a stand-alone). Since the story is set in medieval times amidst castles, knights, and ladies, chivalry is already a huge part of that era.

More than giving readers a glimpse of chivalry, however, I hope the book sparks some discussion about what it means to have healthy, respectful relationships. The book contains reader questions at the end that youth groups, moms and daughters, or friends can use together.
It’s not just another dating book. Instead it’s a fun and entertaining story that can hopefully facilitate discussion regarding what it means to truly demonstrate chivalry in our relationships.

So what do YOU think? Is chivalry on the brink of extinction? What are some ways we can make sure that we don’t lose it?