It’s almost Christmas! (Yes, yes, I know….Thanksgiving comes first)
I’m super excited friends, to highlight several Christmas Novellas and novels this month and next.
This is the perfect season to pick up a cozy, heartwarming, Chrsitmasy read, whether it’s snowing already where you live (CO) or it’s just cold and windy!
Seasons of Hope by Laura Selinsky
Genre: Christian Romance
Synopsis
The Christmas lights in the mission’s front window are burning a little dim. So is Pastor
Nick Mayfield’s hope. Managing a down-on-its-luck mission in a tough neighborhood in
Philadelphia isn’t easy, and not for the first time, he questions his decision to leave a
promising law career to follow his calling.
Across the street, Claudia Delacorte works day and night in her abusive stepfather’s
store. She’ll do anything to assure her beloved half-sisters have a happy and safe future, even sacrifice her own happiness. So when the new pastor shows interest in her, she scoffs at his naïve overtures—she doesn’t have time for love. Or Christmas. But when a series of crimes throw the neighborhood into turmoil, Claudia becomes an easy target. During a robbery gone horribly wrong, Nick and Claudia must work together to save her sisters, the store, and each other. Will this tragedy restore hope to their community? Or will they lose everything they’ve fought so hard to keep?
Author interview
Welcome, Laura Selinsky!
Tell me about yourself. Have you ever been published before?
I’m married with two adult children and a cranky cat. It’s my own fault; if I wanted a friendly cat, I shouldn’t have names her for the witches’ cat in Macbeth. As you probably guessed from the Shakespeare reference; I’m a high school English teacher. For the last eighteen years, I’ve taught students with significant learning differences, and before that I taught students who had been in some trouble and were removed from public school. I ask my students to write, even when it’s a challenge for them. I decided I should have to work as hard at writing as they do. I set out to become a published author. Since then, I’ve won a writing contest and published short stories and nonfiction. The novella Season of Hope is the longest work I’ve published so far. I have two complete and two WIP novels that I hope to see in print someday.
Tell me about Season of Hope?
Season of Hope is a Christmas romance with a touch of mystery. It’s set in a Philadelphia neighborhood that’s slightly downtrodden, but full of wonderful people. My protagonist is Claudia, a young woman struggling to raise her young half-sisters and manage her family’s corner store. Overwhelmed by her responsibilities, Claudia finds her faith is running thin. Her (eventual) love interest is Pastor Nick; he’s inexperienced, but determined to turn an insolvent mission into a thriving community of worship and service. A series of crimes puts Claudia and her sisters in danger, and makes Claudia’s courage and reslience obvious to Nick. Their struggles and renewed faith give them common ground, then friendship, and finally romance.
What is your favorite Christmas tradition?
I love lighting an Advent wreath, and singing and discussing the Nativity story by candlelight. My family did that when my children were small. Now I continue the tradition with my second grade Sunday School students.
What was the inspiration for this story?
Season of Hope was inspired by the real urban neighborhood from which many of my alternative education students came. Later I volunteered in the neighborhood, cooking meals for a Salvation Army family shelter. I respected the neighborhood and the residents and wanted to craft a romance for the setting. As a young woman, I was a United Methodist pastor; that gave me a strong connection to my character Nick and his beginner bumbling.
What inspires you to pursue this crazy journey of being an author in general?
I wish to develop as an author for several reasons: to let the characters in my head come out to roam; to work as hard my students must; and to respond to the literature I love as art and amusement. A surprising motivation is that my husband, son, and daughter all write professionally in their careers as academics. With that many motivators, the surprise isn’t that I write, but that I waited until I was fifty to start!
Where can we find you online?
I am easily found on Facebook and Twitter; just search
Laura Nelson Selinsky. I’d love to chat with other readers and writers!
Season of Hope and my other work can be located through my Amazon Author’s Page
amazon.com/author/laura-nelson-selinsky
More about Laura Selinsky:
Author Laura Nelson Selinsky teaches Shakespeare, Chaucer, and myth at Hill Top Prep.
She loves free time with her husband and her adult children and their partners. For twenty years, she’s chased second graders through Hope Church. She makes excellent Scotch shortbread—it’s perfect with tea and a book!
Thanks for hosting Laura!
Hi Sara Beth, Thanks so much for posting this. No worries about my name. I see my own errors in this. No more late night post writing for me. Gratefully, Laura
I’m glad I could host you, Laura!