Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for Finding Peace in Wishing Bridge by Ruth Logan Herne, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
Title: Finding Peace in Wishing BridgeSeries: Wishing Bridge #3
Author: Ruth Logan Herne
Release Date: March 2, 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Being a supermodel isn't just hard.
It can be a killer, so when international sensation Jazz Monroe answered a friend's call for help, she'd just taken a hiatus from the job that made her a very rich woman and almost took her life. Outwardly Jazz was everything anyone would want to be. Beautiful, confident, rich and famous, and often seen on the arm of some of the world's most eligible bachelors, Jazz knows the truth she hides. Her self-confidence is an act and the eating disorder that plagues her refuses to let her rest.
But then she and her old friend Thea are called to help a friend and fulfill a pledge they'd made a dozen years before as high school seniors. If any one of the three ever needed help, the others would come running. Last December, Kelsey made that call and her two old friends, the other members of the "Soul Sisterhood", responded. They're here now. Thea is practicing medicine, Kelsey has married the hero deputy that saved her life and Jazz is finding the hints of peace that have eluded her for nearly two decades. She settles into the little town, helping out at a local diner, waiting for the sky to fall.
It doesn't. Instead, the sun begins to shine, winter fades to spring, and surrounded by new and old friends, Jazz begins to believe in herself. She loves the small town, the kindness of the locals, the warmth of the family diner and the special attention from two very different and distinct men makes her think new thoughts. Thoughts of family and picket fences and settling down.
But an unexpected attack on a wood-edged path reignites her fears and insecurities. Now she's looking in shadows again, doubting herself and others. In Manhattan, locked elevators and a staffed entrance desk kept her safe from intruders.
Wishing Bridge has nothing like that. Here, she lives life at ground level, with no bodyguards watching out for her. But when a local contingent makes it their job to keep her safe, Jazz learns not to sell the small town short. Folks here mean what they say because that's the kind of town Wishing Bridge is.
As Jazz rediscovers the most important things in life, she realizes that happiness isn't about where you are: it's about who you're with. And who you love.
Join Jazz, Kelsey, Thea and the rest of the Wishing Bridge cast as they band together to help the town and one another because together-- in Wishing Bridge-- they can make anything happen.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon
CONNECT WITH RUTH: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Hi Ruth! Thank you for taking the time to answer
these questions and giving my readers the chance to get to know you and your
book-Finding Peace in Wishing Bridge- a little bit better. I always like
to begin these interviews the same way with something fun… tell us 5 random
facts about yourself that we WON’T find in your bio!
Hmm… I am fairly random, so this shouldn’t be
too hard, right?
Okay, five random facts:
1.
I love birds. I love
their voices, their singing, and their flying. They make me smile!
2.
I love clean windows.
LOVE THEM. It’s a thing, a leftover from growing up in a really dirty place,
but there is just something so beautiful about clean windows…. Now, having said
that, let me add that I live in an ancient farmhouse (165 years old) with 54
windows.
I am not kidding.
There are windows in my closets…. So those don’t
get washed as often as the rest, LOL, but I do like clean windows! And because most of mine are old, that means
removing storm windows once or twice a year and cleaning inside and out… and
then putting storm windows back without breaking them. But there are TWO
WINDOWS that have never been washed between because they are painted shut on
the outside and inside. Two windows with ripply glass, glass that you can still
see the air bubbles in! And I just let the dust gather between those two for
now, because it’s like a legend in our house that my four boys never broke one
of those antique windows, and that wasn’t for lack of trying, let me assure
you.
And yet… this year…. One of the windows cracked.
Yup.
Just started a little spider crack on one side
that wriggled its way on a curve to the bottom.
But I couldn’t complain because those windows
held up for 165 years. Who could ask for more?
So clean windows are a must. Absolutely!
3.
I like dresses with
swishy skirts…. You get to twirl in a swishy skirt!!!!!
4.
I drink Diet Mt. Dew.
Don’t judge. I love the stuff!
5.
And five… I love the
season of Lent. I love the pondering, the thoughtfulness, the thought-provoking
appeal of a prayer-filled season leading up to Easter because Easter is so very
special… but without the garden and the cross and the suffering, Easter
wouldn’t have happened, and so I see Lent as our season of self-examination.
Examination of conscience… and a time of spiritual renewal. And then the
absolute GLORY of Easter shines bright, doesn’t it???
Let’s talk writing! Growing up, did you always dream of being a writer or was that something that came about later in life?
Always. Always. Always. I was always making up
stories and it’s funny because I can see that in a few of my grandkids… and I
recognize it! This love for storytelling and desire to write was inborn,
passed down from my mother who never had a chance to pursue her talents. So
unfortunate, because she was so much more gifted than me… and yet, I write for
both of us. Tales of women overcoming oppression or wretched pasts or old harms
or lack of self-esteem. I am a pro-woman writer who loves to see women empower
each other in every wholesome and holy way they can!
You have published many books over the years now, how do you keep the fresh ideas coming?
Thank you for noticing that!!!!
Ideas surround us. They are everywhere. And
you’ll see similarities from book to book sometimes, but each story has its own
rhythm, it’s own cadence. In all seriousness, if we look at one day of news
reports, there are dozens of stories…. And from each story comes another dozen
because the way we “look” at a story changes its dynamic, doesn’t it? So even
changing the point of view can pivot a story on its heel and alter its course.
Where did the inspiration for this particular book come from?
Where did the inspiration for this particular book come from?
Jazz’s story in “Finding Peace in Wishing
Bridge” has been on my mind for years. I am not afraid to hold stories until
the timing is just right, and I knew I wanted a story about overcoming an
eating disorder, and getting all those awful negatives out of our heads (when
skinny is NEVER EVER skinny enough….) to where a woman whose livelihood depended
on that body then took charge and made the tough changes required to stay
healthy. So the blend was Eating disorder, self-esteem, loss of heart (losing
her Mama and Mima as a tween was just a total blow for this young girl) and a
longing for that peace she’d known as a child, before being orphaned. And then
a lovely author, Carol Garvin, sent me a video of a fairy house trail, and it
fit so perfectly into Jazz’s story that I had to write it. Now that probably sounds weird, but in my
head I could see how the fairy house trail would help fix things. And that’s
what Finding Peace in Wishing Bridge was all about… fixing things that somehow
went so terribly wrong.
Can you tell us a little bit about Finding
Peace in Wishing Bridge?
Sure….
This is from the back cover summation.
Peace
may lie no further than your own front door.
Supermodel Jazz Monroe is a survivor. The world thinks she’s at the
top of her game but she understands the eating disorder that threatens her life
and the lack of self-esteem that dogs her steps. When she comes to Wishing
Bridge to help a friend, the warmth of the town embraces her. Here, waiting
tables in a family-friendly Greek diner, Jazz begins to settle into the calm
and joy of her new small town and the intriguing interest of two very different
men.
But an unexpected attack shatters her peace. Fear threatens her
newfound confidence. Friends, old and new, vow to do whatever it takes to keep
her safe. Can she trust them— and herself—
enough to find the home she’s never had?
Welcome back to the town where hope and prayers mingle so that wishes
really do come true.
Small town stories are often some of my
favorites. Is the town of Wishing Bridge (or any of the townspeople we’ll meet)
based on anyone from your real life?
Well, the town itself is a fictional composite
of Mt. Morris, Perry and Wyoming, New York, three sweet towns in the foothills
of Northern Appalachia. Did you know that Appalachia stretches right up here to
the mountains that run through the Pennsylvania/New York border? So we have
these glorious mountains and gorgeous vistas and nestled small towns but folks
don’t often see them because they’re dashing through on any one of several
amazing interstates…. And so the the towns wax and wane as fortunes go, don’t
they? But many years ago a former NYPD officer retired to the Mount Morris area
and Greg O’Connell began what he’d done for the town of Red Hook in NYC. He
started buying buildings, fixing them up, putting apartments upstairs and
low-priced street level business units to help spur the economy and you know
what? It worked. It helped. Greg’s story was my inspiration for Max Reichert,
whose beautiful story winds its way through the Wishing Bridge stories. And
while the townspeople aren’t based on real characters, many of them are from
folks who inspired me to be a better person… or sometimes it’s my way of doing
self-therapy because someone was a jerk to me, LOL!
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
What do you hope readers will take away from this book?
Hope. I want readers to finish this story and
feel the beauty of God’s love, His faithfulness, and His joy in his people by
being more hopeful than when they started the book. Hope lifts. It exhilarates.
It blesses us, shines on us, bleeds for us. Hope is such a perfectly wonderful
thing and I want folks to leave Wishing Bridge – temporarily, mind you!—with a
beautiful feeling of hope.
Thank you again for taking the time to answer my
questions. Before we go, can you give us an idea on what we can look forward to
next? Any projects you are currently working on that you can share?
I love sharing what’s going on in Ruthy-world!
Right now I’m working on my part in the Savannah Secrets mystery series for
Guideposts. The first mystery of that series comes out in May, and mine will
come out in June, available at Guideposts.com. And my newest Love Inspired book
“Learning to Trust” releases nationwide on April 1st (although it
will show up in stores before that!). I know that folks loved the first story
of that series, so I’m delighted that the second book is about to hit the
shelves. And as always, I am just so blessed to be able to live my dream of
writing sweet stories
(1) winner will receive a print copy of Finding Peace in Wishing Bridge and an assortment of candies!
Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight March 16, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on March 23, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US mailing addresses only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
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