Happy Sunday, dear readers! Continuing until October 28th (culminating with a list of winners), I have the privilege of featuring all of the 2021 The Christy Award Finalists! Today I’m featuring Amanda Wen and her first novel Christy Award finalist book Roots of Wood and Stone! You can check out a list of all the finalists HERE.
ROOTS OF WOOD AND STONE
SERIES: Sedgwick County Chronicles #1
GENRE: Inspirational Dual Timeline Fiction / Romance
PUBLISHER: Kregel
RELEASE DATE: February 3, 2021
PAGES: 268
This historic home holds the keys to their destiny . . . and their hearts
Abandoned at birth, her family roots a mystery, historical museum curator Sloane Kelley has dedicated her life to making sure others know theirs. When a donor drops off a dusty old satchel, she doesn’t expect much from the common artifact . . .until she finds real treasure inside: a nineteenth-century diary.Now she’s on the hunt to find out more.
Garrett Anderson just wanted to clean out his grandmother’s historic but tumbledown farmhouse before selling it to fund her medical care. With her advancing Alzheimer’s, he can’t afford to be sentimental about the family home. But his carefully ordered plan runs up against two formidable obstacles: Sloane, who’s fallen in love with both the diaries and the house, and his own heart, which is irresistibly drawn to Sloane.
A century and a half earlier, motherless Annabelle Collins embarks with her aunt and uncle on the adventure of a lifetime: settling the prairies of Sedgwick County, Kansas. The diaries she left behind paint a portrait of life, loss, and love–and a God who faithfully carries her through it all. Paging through the diaries together takes Sloane and Garrett on a journey they never could have planned, which will change them in ways they never imagined.
This warm, beautifully written split-time novel will resonate with readers looking for stories that reveal the beauty of God’s plan for our lives, and how our actions ripple for generations
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I asked the author…
What is one of your favorite quotes from Roots of wood and stone & why do you love it?
“It was a house. A pile of wood and stone. And yet it was so much more.” I love this quote because it not only sums up the story itself, but its inspiration. In both past and present timelines, Roots of Wood and Stone centers around a century-old farmhouse. And to each character, the house represents something different. An object to be preserved. An obstacle to be overcome. A home. A headache. A link to the past. A lifelong dream. But for every single one of them, this house is far more than just a house.
The house in the story is inspired by a real farmhouse a few miles away from where I live, one which belonged to my great-great-grandfather, who was one of the original settlers of Sedgwick County, Kansas. My whole life, I’ve known that the big white house on Ridge Road belonged to my family, and this book, with this house at the center, is my homage to all of them. So although both farmhouses–fictional and real–are piles of wood and stone, to me they are both so very much more.
Amanda Wen is an award-winning author of split-time inspirational women’s fiction. She has placed first in multiple contests, including the 2017 Indiana Golden Opportunity Contest and the 2016 ACFW First Impressions Contest, among others. In addition to her writing, Amanda is an accomplished professional musician, frequently performing as a freelance cellist and choral accompanist. A lifelong denizen of the flatlands, Amanda currently lives in Kansas with her Boston-born husband, their three hilarious Wenlets, and a snuggly Siamese cat.
Amanda Wen is offering a signed, print copy of Roots of Wood and Stone to one of my readers! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.
What about you? What makes you want to read the first novel Christy Award finalist Roots of Wood and Stone by Amanda Wen? Or, if you’ve read it already (I did!), what did you love about it?
Sounds like an interesting book.
I like the story line.
Sounds really great
Thank you so much for sharing. I love the cover. God bless you.
Sounds like a great read
Great book. 🥰
Nice cover. It sounds like a really interesting book. Thank you for sharing.
I would love to read this book, thank you for the giveaway.
I’m hearing that this should be a “must read” on my wish list. I’m taking the good advice!
I want to read this book because the plot is intriguing.
Hope to read it soon…sounds like my kind of book.
I love Dual Timeline Fiction and she’s a new author! Sounds so intriguing!