Inspiration
Agape After All is my most autobiographical novel to date because the root of the plot is based on my first serious boyfriend in college. He played in the worship band, we attended church together, we prayed together, and we both thought we were going to get married someday. He was cute and funny but also manipulative and very jealous. We dated for a year and a half and it took me way too long to figure out that he was toxic for me. I was (correctly) taught that I should marry a man who shares my faith but I wrongly assumed that if both people are Christians, you're guaranteed to have a healthy relationship. That’s not always the case. That's the message I want to convey to readers: not every Christian knows how to have a healthy relationship and it might take some work and some wisdom to get there. Choose your spouse wisely.
Agape After All is set in Hickory Run State Park in PA which is one of my favorite places. My family has gone camping there almost every summer for the last 17 years. There’s a lake to swim in, a waterfall, a fishing pond, Boulder Field, and miles of cool hiking trails. There’s so much to do there that I had to cut a bunch of stuff from the first draft of the book. I was keeping the characters in the park for extra scenes so they could hike the falls and fish and stuff and the plot was stagnating because what they really needed to do was to go home and move the romance along. Boulder Field is a very unique part of Hickory Run and I’m really pleased with the role it ends up playing in the novel. It was the perfect metaphor for my heroine’s predicament. It was so fun to share a place I love with readers.
Excerpt
She turned to see Tony bounding toward her over the boulders. He looked like she felt: flushed and happy. Maybe a little sunburned. He landed on her boulder and handed her his phone and there she was, caught in a photograph mid stride, a superwoman gazelle with the field of boulders spread out behind her like a cape. There was laughter in her eyes.
“Wow,” she said softly.
Blurb
When Vanessa meets Tony on a camping trip in Hickory Run State Park, she's not looking for love. She’s already engaged to Collin, a man who checks everything on her list: smart, handsome, and a Christian. Tony inspires her to sign up for a Biblical Greek class against Collin’s wishes and a deep friendship develops between them. As she finds her voice, she begins to yearn for a different future than the one she had planned. Are her doubts just cold feet or is she about to marry the wrong man?
my review:
Vanessa isn't looking for love, after all she's already found it in the shape of her fiancé Colin. However when she meets Tony on a camping trip and then keeps bumping into him, she realises that Colin isn't as wonderful as she thinks he is.
A great read with engaging characters and a wonderful setting.
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