Do you love the setting of Anne of Green Gables? Then this blog post is for you! Today, PEI romance author Liz Johnson is talking about her latest book, Summer in the Spotlight with me, Breana Johnson–no relation to the author ; )
Liz Johnson at PEI’s Victoria Playhouse, a location featured in Summer in the Spotlight
I love the theater setting of Summer in the Spotlight! What’s your experience with drama, and which play did you see most recently?
I absolutely love theater! I try to see at least a few Broadway shows in Phoenix each year, and it’s been a great way to bond with my nieces, who also love to see shows. My oldest niece has been in a number of high school and community productions, so I love seeing her perform.
My personal experience is confined to audience member. Though one time I auditioned for a role in The Importance of Being Earnest (the same show they’re producing in Summer in the Spotlight). I was terrible and did NOT get a call back. But I had so much fun!
The last production I saw was a community production of Beauty and the Beast. It was wonderful! A couple weeks before that I saw Anne & Gilbert: The Musical on Prince Edward Island. It’s one of my all-time favorites.
Which character from Summer in the Spotlight do you resonate most with, and why?
Oh, man. I don’t know. I think maybe I see myself most in Violet—the older sister, giving counsel character. I’m rarely without words like Levi—though I do enjoy reading like he does. And I’m not one to faint at the sight of blood like Kelsey. But like her, I enjoy organizing events and coordinating things that matter to me.
What do you hope readers will gain from Summer in the Spotlight?
I hope readers will enjoy a fun escape to Prince Edward Island. And I hope they’ll be reminded of the power of the words we say. We can speak life, or we can speak death. I hope Summer in the Spotlight will encourage readers to encourage and uplift others every day.
Liz Johnson at the Anne of Green Gables house in PEI
Would you like to visit Prince Edward Island with author Liz Johnson? Explore the setting of Anne of Green Gables and Liz’s books when you join her PEI tour in July 2024! Find trip details here.
Today, I’d like to introduce you to the 2022 winner of the romance category of the ACFW Genesis Contest–and her upcoming debut novel! Meet Lori Dejong, author of Love’s True Calling.
It’s so exciting to see Lori’s winning manuscript go from contest entry to published book! Love’s True Calling is being released June 27, but you can preorder now and see why this story captivated the judges of the contest.
1. What inspired you to write Love’s True Calling?
It was actually for a class I took from Laurie Schnebly about plotting a book based on character motivations. We had to come up with two brand new characters and determine what motivated them to achieve their goals, then plot out the book based on those motivations.
I at first thought of a woman going back to college in her late 20’s and finds her professor is the popular guy from high school who made her life miserable. But I couldn’t really get it to work. So I switched them around. She was still the woman coming back to college, but instead I made her the high school Miss Everything and her professor was the high school nerd who had a big crush on her.
It developed from there that they’d been childhood best friends who went separate ways as they entered their teens, and so on. It was really never intended to go anywhere past that class, but I fell in love with the characters and felt a strong pull to write their story. I put it into a couple of contests and won, and that led to my publishing contract with Scrivenings Press.
God always has bigger plans than ours!
2. in Love’s True Calling, your leading lady faces the tough decision between following Jesus’ calling on her life and following her heart. Can you share a time when you had to choose obedience to Jesus over something else that you wanted?
Oh goodness, well, I feel like this happens on a regular basis. In little ways and in big ways. I’ve been battling my weight for years, so I feel that every time I choose to eat when I know I shouldn’t, I’m choosing my will over His. And conversely, I know how good it feels when I have victory over that and choose His will over mine. It may sound frivolous, but on a daily basis, those can be tough decisions when you’re dealing with issues that go way beyond food.
My husband and I have had to make other life decisions where we chose God’s way over something we’d hoped for or planned on. We had really hoped to adopt when our daughter was about five or six, but we didn’t get the feeling that door was opening for us. So we left that dream of having a second child behind instead of pushing through just because it was something we wanted. When we later went through a long season of financial hardship due to job lay-off and the slow recovery afterward, we could see how having a second child through that time would have been very difficult.
3. What do you hope readers will gain, personally or spiritually, from reading your debut novel?
I hope they see the redemptive love of Christ. Harper, my leading lady, made some awful choices in her life, but once she gave her heart over to the Lord, He changed her simply by His grace and forgiveness.
Wyatt, my leading man, is a strong Christian man who has some tragedy in his past that led him to start a student ministry targeting teenagers who yearn to belong. But he comes to understand that even though he’s in ministry, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have issues of his own he needs to give over to God so that he can further his reach.
I hope readers see that obedience to God, no matter the sacrifice, is what brings true joy and peace.
4. You signed a multi-book deal. Can you give us a hint of what’s coming next?
Sure! Book Two, Love’s True Home, (June 2024) is Ally and Zane’s story. As a child to foreign missionaries who moved frequently from one country to another, Ally Kincaid yearns to plant roots in American soil. Zane Carpenter, raised in America’s heartland in the same house until he was eighteen, craves adventure, and if that involves a foreign mission assignment, all the better! But when they fall in love, will she find a home wherever her heart is, or will he find adventure in his own back yard?
Book Three, Love’s True Measure, (June 2025) tells the story of Hunter and Shannon. Raised in a wealthy family by a father who worked too much and a mother who put her value in their position, Shannon Trent only wants to serve God as an adolescent psychologist and student ministry volunteer. Attorney Hunter Cavanaugh, born to an unwed teenage mother who later married a man who couldn’t keep a job, believes his self-made wealth and status is the measure of who he is as a man. When he’s suddenly the guardian of his fourteen-year-old sister, his 80-hour work weeks become a thing of the past, as well as his dream of being made law partner by the age of thirty. But when Hunter’s tasked by his superiors to do something less than ethical, will he measure his worth by man’s standards or God’s? And will Shannon be able to leave the ghosts of her past behind to help a young girl seeking her own value in a new world?
Thanks so much, Lori! I can’t wait to read Love’s True Calling when it arrives on release day!
On a recent escape to Northern Arizona, I devoured Vivid by Ashley Bustamante, a YA fantasy book about dark secrets at a boarding school for teens with a talent for color magic. The school teaches red and blue magic, but yellow magic, which involves mind control, is banned.
But are the yellow magic people really all as evil as everyone thinks? When precocious Ava Locke runs into an escaped Yellow Magic user, she begins to question everything she’s ever known.
I was also lucky enough to get an advanced reader copy of Book 2, Radiant, which releases May 9! After enjoying these two books, I asked Ashley if she’d share a bit about the world of color magic and what comes next in the Color Theory series.
Your books feature magic that is divided in color categories. What gave you the idea for color magic?
It was actually something I used to daydream about as a kid! I’d see colorful objects and would imagine what it would be like if I could take all that color and turn it into magic.
If you could pick just one color, which type of magic would you like to have and why?
That’s such a tough choice! I think Blue magic would be so useful, so if I’m being practical I’d probably go with that.
Woven into your stories are themes of trust and acceptance. What do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I hope readers will feel inspired to become more unified and maybe seek to understand the who are different. I think so much of the contention among people that arises in today’s world is because of lack of understanding.
Can you share anything about your upcoming projects?
Right now I’m hard at work on book 3 of the Color Theory series, which is due in a few weeks! I’m really focused on that right now because I want to make sure this series finishes strong. It’s bittersweet.
A Christian fantasy series based on adventure board games? Yes, please! Today I had the priveledge of talking to James R. Hannibal, author of the Lightraiders Academytrilogy. The second book in the series, Bear Knight, released in February of 2023 from Enclave.
How has your background contributed to the action scenes in Bear Knight?
I’m always aware of the physics when writing action, whether hand to hand combat or aerial battle.
Having studied multiple martial arts and having trained US troops in hand to hand combat certainly helps with the fight scenes. Having flown fighter and bomber aircraft also helps with visualizing the aerial scenes. Of course, everything must be adjusted for the physics of the fantasy realm.
Bear Knight has some awesome maps! How do you come up with the landscapes you invent?
I had a great foundation to start with. The Lightraiders Realm was first created by Navigators author and Christian counselor Dick Wulf back in the 80s. When he handed the world to me, I had a fairly detailed world map to start with and a few towns or locations that were created for the original game. That became my palette from which to build out other locations and fill in the map.
From there, I develop a landscape or village in my head and then work with fantastic artists and cartographers like James R. Brown and Jog Brogzin to bring them into visual reality for a reference.
What books or series inspired your love of fantasy?
This entire series is based on the original DragonRaid game by Dick Wulf. Our team is grateful he had the opportunity to write the forward for Wolf Soldier, the first book in the series, before he went on to be with the Lord. Both Dick and I have been inspired by Tolkien and Lewis primarily.
What do you hope readers will come away with after reading Bear Knight?
The theme in Bear Knight is courage in the face of our fears. We’re talking about fear of physical danger as well as less tangible but just as frightening fears. The characters deal with fear of being left behind by peers, fear of failure, fear of becoming someone they don’t want to be, etc.
I hope that readers learn that no matter what fears they face, they can always find peace and hope in Christ and His promises, and thus the courage to face those fears head-on.
Today I am watching for the mail truck, awaiting the delivery of an Irish romance book I’ve been eagerly anticipating: The Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Deibel.
Not only does the heroine share my name (although spelled Brianna… sigh), but the book comes out the day after birthday, February 21!
While waiting for my copy to come in the mail (and while you’re waiting for yours!), I had the chance to interview Jennifer about her upcoming release.
1. The Maid of Ballymacool is set in 1930s Ireland. What is your favorite aspect of this setting?
It might be easier for me to say what I don’t love!
Seriously, though, I love just about everything involving a historical Irish setting.
One thing I enjoy about the 1930’s is that it’s not a time many people write about when it comes to Ireland. We tend to focus on the Great Hunger and the Irish War of Independence—and rightly so.
However, exploring more unfamiliar time periods really gets my imagination going—especially because rural Ireland was so much slower to get the more modern conveniences, so 1930 in County Donegal was more like the 1910’s were everywhere else in the world.
The Maid of Ballymacool is the featured novel in my March 2023 book box!
2. As a romance writer, you are a queen of love stories! What’s your own love story in a nutshell?
Awww, thank you! My love story began my freshman year of college, when I met my now-husband.
Though, really, it started much earlier in our lives, as both our parents had prayed for each of our future spouses. In fact, when we got engaged, my husband’s grandmother gave me a garter to wear on our wedding day that she had bought right after Seth was born. And then she’d prayed over me—even though she had no idea who I would end up being—every day.
But, once we met, it would be two more years before our romance really began to bloom. If we were a romance trope, it would be friends to lovers.
3. Each of your books shares vocabulary from the Irish tongue–your second language! What’s one of your favorite Irish terms or phrases?
Oh, there are so many! And I’ve added almost all my favorites in my books already. But there’s one that always makes me smile. When we were in our langauge class, we were talking about a specific area of County Clare called The Burren, and we were describing it.
I asked our teacher how to say “It’s unique.” He thought for a moment, and then answered: Níl a mhac a samhail in aon ait. It means, “There’s not the likes of it to be found anywhere.”
4. What do you hope readers will come away with after reading The Maid of Ballymacool?
My prayer for this book is that anyone who feels—or has ever felt—unseen, overlooked, or stuck in a seemingly impossible circumstance, would realize just how seen and loved they really are. And that they would turn to God to find it. And for those who are secure in who they are and how much they’re loved to reach out to those around them who don’t know.
If you’re putting The Maid of Ballymacool on your To Be Read list, here’s a tip– preorder before February 21 from Baker Book House and you’ll get 40% off and free shipping.
It’s that time of year! Yes, Christmas time–but also book giveaway time! You can enter the annual 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway here between today and December 12. And entries roll over, so the earlier you enter, the more days you’ll be entered to win!
