Please join me in celebrating the release of two new “home-based” sets of Christmas novels for this holiday season!
Even though we’ve all spent more time than usual at home over the past couple of years, we still long for the comforts of home, family, and friends during the holidays. These collections of Christian Christmas novels bring “home” the spirit of the season. Let’s get to know some of the authors and find out how we were inspired to write our stories.
Home for Christmas: The Christmas Lights Collection
Today, we’re meeting Cathe Swanson, author of The Road Home, and finding out her inspiration for writing this book. Take it away, Cathe!
The Road Home is my contribution to Home for Christmas, the 6th annual Christmas Lights Collection, and it’s the final book in my Hope Again series.
My first published book, Snow Angels, was in the 2016 Christmas Lights Collection. It’s set at the Unity Plenkiss Community Center in Chicago, a Christian ministry and daytime homeless shelter. In that book, I introduced Tally Zemmer, a homeless veteran. Tally is an important character in most of the Hope Again books, and after four more books and several years later, it’s time for Tally to have her own happily-ever-after.
The Unity Plenkiss was created and populated by characters inspired by my years of working with elderly and disadvantaged people. I wanted to write a book emphasizing the importance of honoring others regardless of their circumstances and helping them live with dignity. As a military wife and mother, I was familiar with the plight of our homeless and troubled veterans, and I was particularly horrified by the number of female homeless vets. So, in addition to all my other eccentric characters, Tally was created.
She was stubborn, prickly, and not very sociable, so I was a little surprised when she wanted her own POV in each of the Christmas books. Tally was broken, but not crushed. Throughout the series, with the support of good friends and a growing faith, she built a new life for herself. Her happily-ever-after was a fitting end for the Hope Again series.
Christopher Wright, the hero of the book, is a veteran, too, with scars of his own. It took years for him to track down Tally, but she made him a promise back in Afghanistan, and he’s going to hold her to it. Christopher’s one of my favorite characters. He has a mission and a career field I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a book hero before.
The Road Home is a Christmas book because Christmas is a time of anticipation, hope, and miracles. The theme of the Hope Again series is that of restoration after loss or trauma. God heals and he restores the years the locust has eaten – abundantly.
Visit Cathe at her website:
Find HOME FOR CHRISTMAS here:
While you’re in the mood for reading (and shopping), find HOMETOWN CHRISTMAS DREAMS here:
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