About the Book
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| ★★★★★ Goodreads | Amazon |
August Reinhold has not only found kinship with Jessica's grandparents, but as they share their granddaughter's letters from the Front, he discovers a surprising bond drawing him toward the independent and beautiful woman. Displaced by a war and a painful history, he finds Hot Springs and the intriguing Jessica Ross a tempting place to start over. Determined to scale the heights of her bitterness and show her the power of love, August faces more than just Jessica's resistance but a more devious design to harm the civilian sailors housed in Hot Springs.
Thanks to Singing Librarian Book Tours, I received a copy of The Thorn Healer and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.
About the Author
Author Interview
1. What do you want readers to take away from reading The Thorn Healer?
The Thorn Healer is really a book of hope – hope for healing, in particular, and peace. Life is not easy. It’s a broken place filled with broken people who all need to know there’s a love much bigger than our suffering – a Savior who can mend our brokenness in a way nothing else can.1. What do you want readers to take away from reading The Thorn Healer?
2. Do you ever travel for research?
3. What type of research did you do to write the Penned in Time series?
4. I know you have a season pass to the Biltmore. What makes you love the Biltmore so much?
5. What are you currently reading? What drew you to or inspired you to read this book?
6. When you are not writing or working as a Speech Language Pathologist, what do you like to do?
Hang out with my kids! I also enjoy spending time in the mountains, walking and looking at the amazing scenery. Research is super-fun too. And, of course, I read. :)
Author's Top 10 Favorites
1. Holiday - Christmas
2. Cookie – Preacher Cookies (aka chocolate/oatmeal no bakes)
3. Date option – Nice dinner and then the local bookstore…maybe ending with a stroll through the park or drive through the mountains
4. Tea – sweet, warm or cool
5. Vacation location – UK….EVERY time!
6. Animal – wolf, followed quickly by labs
7. Scripture – (One of my favorites) Ephesians 3:14-19
8. Chocolate – ALL, but I guess my favorite is dark
9. Restaurant – I really like Carrabas, but I’m open for a new favorite
10. Book genre – romance…all kinds
Behind-the-Scenes Facts About the Book
1. Jessica was an EXTREMELY difficult character to write, from beginning to end. I think it was a personality trait for her ;-)2. I had not planned on Anna showing up in this story…or Cliff – but I’m so glad they appeared.
3. Hot Springs is a real place that had a real German internment camp during World War I (not II).
4. The author of the book The German Invasion of Hot Springs was an amazing resource for history into both Hot Springs AND the internment camp.
5. A little historical tidbit here – many of the people in Hot Springs didn’t know about the existence of the internment camp because everyone stopped talking about it when World War II broke out. They were ashamed of their involvement in having Germans in their town.
6. There is still one artifact left in Hot Springs of the Germans presence there – but only one – except for any personal artifacts family members have passed down (a painting is one I know of).
7. The Hot Springs in the town are still active and people still come to use them, though the site is NOTHING like the grandeur and elegance of the former hotel that used to stand on the site.
8. In history, nobody knows who started the typhoid epidemic that takes place in the book.
9. I created Sylvie to go with Jude so I could write a World War II romance of them. ;-)
10. There’s a funny story to the cover design. The stock photo of the woman used is of a woman in a strapless wedding gown…neither of which was appropriate for the era OR my heroine. So…we had to decide on a ‘romantic’ way to cover those shoulders….thus the train smoke emerged.
Snippet From The Thorn Healer
He’d learned hard lessons on patience—lessons, no doubt, she’d push to the edge if his first few days with her proved typical. But he’d found his home in Hot Springs. He’d never known what it meant to belong somewhere until he’d run to the assistance of Dr. Carter when a woman collapsed at the train depot a few months after his arrival to the camp. From that moment, the gentleness and forbearance, the trust, offered by Dr. and Mrs. Carter began the long and sweet healing August’s heart needed.A place of belonging.
And Jessica’s entrance, along with the three-inch block of resentment on her shoulder, threatened to wedge distance between August and his beloved Carters. If nothing else, he had to win her indifference, but he wanted much more.
“You have had a busy entrance, no?”
She slid him a glance from her periphery and continued moving forward without a response.
“It must be difficult returning after so long. Much has changed for you but stayed the same for your small town.”
Her sudden exhalation of air broke the quiet and she shot him a heated look. “My small town hasn’t stayed the same from where I’m standing, Mr. Reinhold. The flood. The camp.” She focused ahead. “Not the same at all.”
“The spirit of your town is the same. Kind people, like your grandparents, and the beauty of the —”
“You need to understand something.” She stopped on the trail, her palms planted on her hips as she turned the full brunt of her fiery gaze on him. “We are not going to be friends.”
He combatted her statement with a shrug. “I am an optimist.”
She groaned and resumed her frantic pace up the hillside, slowed only by the limp in her stride. Silence moved between them like a wall. August glanced up at the afternoon sky, awash with a mixture of clouds and sun. He had to return to camp by dusk or he would endanger the freedom his good name allowed.
“Just because you think you know my grandparents doesn't mean you know me.” Jessica’s words erupted in a harsh whisper, fueling her steps to an even faster rhythm.
He kept the pace. “No. But knowing the kindness and the welcome from your grandparents has made me wish to know you as well. They assure me you can be kind.”
She turned the power of those emerald eyes on him, her mouth dropped wide. “Of course I can be kind. I’m a nurse, for heaven sakes.”
“I would not see the two as related.” August shoved his hands in his pockets, holding his grin in check. At least he had her talking. “Nurses have always brought needles and stings to me.”
Her brow tilted skyward. “Perhaps you deserved the needles and stings.”
The grip on his smile loosed completely. “No doubt, Nurse Ross. No doubt.”
Her gaze hesitated in his before she jerked her attention back to the path ahead and tightened her jaw into a line of defense. The fiery glint in those large eyes fascinated him. He knew the gentleness and longing braided through her letters, the dry humor and compassion infused onto the pages. But those eyes added a dimension of depth he’d failed to anticipate. Fascinating. Challenging.
December 6: Bibliophile Reviews
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December 10: Reading Is My SuperPower
December 11: Red Headed Book Lady, Christian Bookaholic
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Giveaway
Hallie,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for taking a chance on a new author! I'm so glad you enjoyed August and Jessica's story. It was a wonderful discovery to write.