Monday, October 31, 2022

About the Book

Book: A Not So Convenient Marriage

Author: Sandra Merville Hart

Genre: Christian Historical Fiction

Release date: November 8, 2022

A spinster teacher…a grieving widower…a marriage of convenience and a second chance with the man she’s always loved.

When Samuel Walker proposes a marriage of convenience to Rose Hatfield so soon after the death of his wife, she knows he doesn’t love her. She’s loved him since their school days. Those long-suppressed feelings spring to life as she marries him. She must sell her childhood home, quit her teaching job and move to a new city.

Marrying Rose is harder than Samuel expected, especially with the shadow of his deceased wife everywhere in his life. And he has two young children to consider. Peter and Emma need a mother’s love, but they also need to hold close the memories of their real mother as they grieve her loss.

Life as Samuel’s wife is nothing like Rose hoped, and even the townspeople, who loved his first wife, make Rose feel like an outsider. The work of the farm draws the two of them closer, giving hope that they might one day become a happy family. Until the dream shatters, and the life Rose craves tumbles down around them. Only God can put these pieces back together, but the outcome may not look anything like she planned.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Sandra Merville Hart, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author of inspirational historical romances, loves to discover little-known yet fascinating facts from American history to include in her stories. Her desire is to transport her readers back in time. She is also a blogger, speaker, and conference teacher. Connect with Sandra on her blog, https://sandramervillehart.wordpress.com/.

More from Sandra

There are some stories that must be told. A Not So Convenient Marriage is one of them for me.

I don’t know what it is about this story, but once I began writing it over a dozen years ago, the characters wouldn’t leave me alone.

I wrote the first draft of this book a few years before my first book—another book, A Stranger on My Land—released, so I was still learning about the writing journey. I’m certain that my first draft of A Not So Convenient Marriage wasn’t ready for publication because it was rejected.

But the characters in my imagination wouldn’t allow me to let this one go. I edited and reedited, using skills I learned at writing conferences. Then I tried again with another editor. Another rejection.

Discouraged, I worked on other writing projects and met with a little success. When my first Civil War romance published, I decided to follow my heart and continue writing about that turbulent time period.

This book was set aside.

Still, every morning I woke up thinking about the characters in A Not So Convenient Marriage. In my mind, I’d rewrite a scene from the book as I lay, trying to sleep, in the middle of the night. Or the story would haunt me before falling asleep at night, keeping me awake an hour or two.

This happened almost daily for years.

Finally, I pulled up the manuscript again. It had been written in my early days so it required a lot of modification. I asked my agent to begin showing my updated proposal for the book. She was happy to do this because she always believed in this book. In fact, she decided to represent me after reading for proposal for it.

By the way, the story was still keeping me awake as I waited to sign a book contract.

Last year, I was thrilled when Misty Beller, Wild Heart Books, offered me a contract for a three-book series for this novel. Not only that, she also gave me a three-book contract for my “Spies of the Civil War” series, that published this year. (I invite you to read the whole “Spies of the Civil War” series beginning with Book 1 Avenue of Betrayal, Book 2 Boulevard of Confusion, and Book 3 Byway to Danger.)

Misty told me that she cried when reading my manuscript for A Not So Convenient Marriage—the first time that had ever happened for a submission. That touched my heart.

I’m happy to say that scenes from the book no longer keep me awake at night…for now the story will be told.

MY REVIEW

I always find stories about marriages of convenience interesting. This book especially touched me because it was written with emotion that is felt deep in your soul. However unless you read the book you will miss out on how God works to restore a family who was broken hearted to a family that was able to build a new life. The lessons in the book are ones we all need as we face difficulties in our own lives.

It isn’t easy to lose a spouse and Samuel is finding that out as he struggles raising his children on his own. Grieving the loss of his wife has left him in despair and watching his children become shells of themselves hurts him to the core. As the title implies he decides to remarry to find someone to help him with the children, clean house and cook meals. I don’t think he was ready to take on a wife but in his mind he was doing it for his children.

Rose is one of the best characters I’ve had the pleasure of reading about. Her compassion for children is evident and her grace is abundant. When Samuel asks her to marry him, she understands her place in the family. Perhaps she has had dreams of having a beautiful wedding and a husband who adores her, but for now she feels led by God to help Samuel out.

There are moments in the story where we witness Rose yearning to be loved and finding people in the community shunning her. Samuel’s first wife was loved by many and they seem to judge Rose unfairly. The hardest part for me to read was when Rose felt there was no way for her marriage to work. Samuel always reminds her that he is to have all the say in the children and leaves her out of moments where she felt that her presence would help everyone grow closer. Her tears flow with hopelessness as she contemplated what to do.

I loved how God was the center of this story and how he worked on both Rose and Samuel. Rose is a little bitter and decides to leave instead of communicating her feelings to Samuel. Rose thought she was not wanted and allows herself to believe everyone would be better off if she was not part of the family anymore. Samuel hasn’t let go of his feelings for his first wife. He thinks he is being disrespectful to her memory and can’t admit his feelings for Rose.

The ending is more than just forgiving and starting over. It represents what God meant for marriage to be. Two people who love each other unconditionally, willing to communicate, trust and honor each other and put God first is the foundation for a marriage.

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