Welcome to the Blog Tour for Beauty in the Bittersweet by Jessica Stone, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: Beauty in the Bittersweet
Series: A Thornbush and Juniper Story
Author: Jessica Stone
Publisher: Story Architect
Release Date: May 5, 2025
Genre: Women's Contemporary Fiction (Christian) with romance
If checking off lists were all it took, Elle Reed could keep her life from crumbling around her. But her husband betrays her trust, her best friend’s recent diagnosis reveals a hidden trauma, and a secret Elle has been keeping from her mother has wrecked their Gilmore Girls-esque relationship. Her career may be the one thing she has control over, and she holds it tightly with both hands.
Then she gets a call she never expects—her mother has passed away suddenly, taking any hope of reconciliation with her. Discovering Catherine’s collection of devotional journals while packing up her home provides an opportunity to glean the wisdom she so desperately misses. But the journals reveal that her mother had secrets of her own, leaving Elle wondering if anyone in her life is who they say.
When an upheaval at work rips away the only stability Elle has left, she has to face her biggest fear. What will it take for her to surrender control to The One who’s had it all along?
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Jessica Stone Stories | Amazon
About the Author
Despite her start as a journalist for a faith-based news publication two decades ago, Jessica Stone has always loved fiction. She believes that her testimony and message come most clearly through storytelling, and she loves the process of developing deep—and deeply flawed—characters who find redemption and learn to accept grace, just as she is herself. Jessica and her husband reside in Raleigh, North Carolina, near her parents and other family. This story—and her confidence to write it—were inspired by her own Gilmore Girls-esque relationship with her daughter, who is living out her dreams as a fashion designer in Paris. Beauty in the Bittersweet is Jessica’s debut novel and the first in her A Thornbush and Juniper Story series.
Connect with Jessica by visiting jessicastonestories.com to follow her on social media and subscribe to email newsletter updates.
Author Guest Post
In September of 2011, I developed a serious illness that was misdiagnosed several times over the next few months. By February of 2012, I was in a coma and not expected to recover. By the grace of God, I did, though. As I began the lengthy recovery process, I couldn’t help but think about what my teenage daughter’s life would have been like if I hadn’t survived, and all the things I would have missed the opportunity to share with her.
From that experience was born the story of a young woman in her twenties who loses her mother but discovers the journals she’d kept, allowing her to gain insight into who her mother was outside of just being the mom she thought she knew. I wrote the first few chapters, but life did what life does, and I ended up setting it aside. Eight years later, my life was upended again when a cancer diagnosis for my mother prompted a move from Texas back to North Carolina, which coincided with the first weeks of the pandemic.
My original illness and the amazing therapy providers who helped me recover had led me to a new career in healthcare, but Covid meant I wasn’t comfortable continuing working in my field when we relocated. With a whole lot of nothing to do after unpacking in our new home, I decided to revisit the manuscript I’d started all those years before. I quickly realized the story had potential and completed my first draft within nine months.
The central relationship is between Catherine and Elle, just as much if not more than between Elle and her husband. Catherine was widowed when Elle was young, so they had the kind of close relationship that develops in situations like this. I raised my daughter as a single parent, and modeled their friendship after ours. But Elle and Catherine are both keeping secrets from each other, and Catherine dies before they can clear the air.
My mom and I are the best of friends now, but we had some rough patches when I was younger. In fact, I’ve often said that God gave me a daughter I fully don’t deserve because she never put me through the kind of drama I put my own mother through. But mother-daughter relationships are by nature complicated–the good ones, and especially the messy ones, and we see a bit of both in Elle’s relationship with her mother.
I felt it was important to not wrap everything up with a tidy bow, so while we learn a lot about Catherine through her journals, we also see that she had real struggles and real regrets. But mostly, we see that she trusted God with her pain and with her doubts. And like the mother I strive to be, she trusted God to take care of her daughter like only He could.
Tour Giveaway
(3) winners will receive a print copy of Beauty in the Bittersweet plus a sticker/bookmark, journal and pen set!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight April 29, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on May 6, 2025. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. No shipping restrictions. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
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