Tuesday, August 31, 2021

saving faith

About the Book

Book: Saving Faith

Author: Jennifer Sienes

Genre: Christian Women’s Fiction

Release date: July 13, 2021

Saving Faith take 1b Hearts and flowers might pay the bills, but that’s all they’re good for.

Still clutched in the grip of guilt over her youthful indiscretions, Faith Nicholson can’t seem to move past her parents’ disappointment in her—or her disappointment in herself. Determined to make something in her life a success, she focuses on her floral design.

After all, she has quite the past to atone for.

Then her little sister decides to get married, and everyone but Faith chooses her for the job of coordinator. The family florist is the perfect choice. Right? Overruled, Faith agrees.

Enter a widower and his precocious daughter. A friendship with Michael Jacobs becomes more than a refuge in stress of wedding preparations. It becomes a catalyst for her entire life.

Hiding from her past hasn’t worked until now. Perhaps Michael is right. Facing it is exactly what she needs if she has any hope of a real future.

Faith never would have imagined that her grudging agreement to help her sister could become an olive branch between herself and her family—and the Lord.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Jennifer Sienes holds a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in education, but discovered life-experience is the best teacher. She loves Jesus, romance and writing–and puts it altogether in inspirational contemporary fiction. Her daughter’s TBI and brother’s suicide inspired two of her three novels. Although fiction writing is her real love, she’s had several non-fiction pieces published in anthologies–two in Chicken Soup for the Soul. She has two grown children and one very spoiled Maltese. California born and raised, she recently took a step of faith with her real-life hero and relocated to Tennessee.

More from Jennifer

Where does inspiration come from? When I wrote Illusions and Providence (books 2 and 3 of my Apple Hill series) it came from real-life tragedies I’d lived through. The characters and stories were pure fiction, but the inspiration was heartfelt and dark—just where I needed my emotions to be in order to write redemption stories. When I wrote Surrendered (Book 1) in the series, the inspiration came from one character that was eventually deleted in the second draft of Providence. Are you confused yet? Just to set the record straight, although Surrendered was the first book published in the series, it was the last one I wrote. Why they were published in the order they were is unimportant.

Saving Faith is unlike any other book I’ve written. It was the first novella I wrote in the series, although it isn’t the first to be published (are you sensing a pattern?) I’ve since written two Christmas novellas, both based on side characters introduced in my novels. All That Glitters released last November starring two characters from Surrendered—Julia and Marty. Wish Upon a Star will release this coming November, and the main characters are Elaina and Ryan from Providence.

But the characters in Saving Faith were created from thin air. Well, mostly. Although Addie Jacobs is a side character, she was inspired by a little girl in my Sunday School class—adorable, precocious, intelligent, and headstrong. Once I had her in place, the rest of the novella came together. It was also the first book I’ve written without plotting it out in advance, which was quite disconcerting for a control-freak like me. It was as if the Holy Spirit introduced me to the story as I wrote it. I’ve heard of those pantsers (they write by the seat of their pants rather than outline the plot), but until Saving Faith, I’ve never been successful at winging it. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t the main writer; I was just the co-pilot. I believe the story of Faith, Michael, Chloe, and Addie is better for it.

Another first for me was writing a story where romance was the main genre. I write women’s fiction with an element of romance. But Saving Faith is a romance with an element of women’s fiction. This set the bar for my other novellas. It’s these shorter books that allow me to delve into the world of romance, although it’s not the typical boy-meets-girl kind of story. It’s more boy-knows-girl and loves her anyway kind of story. Because truth be told, none of us are loveable without the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

MY REVIEW

I enjoyed this story so much that I didn’t want it to end. It is an easy read filled with characters that you want to be friends with. I liked how the story flowed with faith elements in just the right places. I needed to read a book like this which is not heavy but still has a great message.

Faith is pretty hard on herself at times. She thinks she is being punished by God for sonething that happened in her past. I think we can all raise our hands and say we have thought the same thing. When we are at our lowest that is when the enemy comes in to distract us. Faith represents each of us who struggle with guilt, shame and self esteem. I wanted to tell her that she is not alone, even though it may feel like it at times.

Pastor Michael Jacobs and his daughter are so perfect for this story. I liked how the author shows that even pastors struggle at times. We forget that pastors are just like us and find themselves fighting the enemy at times. Michael has his hands full with his energetic daughter Addie. When he looks at her he thinks about the wife he lost. His wife makes a life changing decision that reminds me of the scripture, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friend.” Her choice was hard to read but I understood why she did it.

The romance in the story is clean and moved at a nice pace. The author allows the characters to get to know each other and learn to trust each other. The moment that Faith decides to go to Michael and share her past was written so well. There was no judgment only guidance of how to forgive and move forward. This was my favorite part of the story. Reading how vulnerable Faith was and allowing someone to minister to her was priceless. The author has given us a story that not only expresses the love that God has for us but also Remi do us that we are forgiven.

“Forgiveness is often like an onion-it comes in layers. Just know that there may be moments when you get angry again, and that’s ok. God’ll get you through it.”

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.