The results of the Clash are IN. Drum roll please....
And the winner is....
A Bridge Unbroken
a Miller's Creek Novel
by Cathy Bryant
Congratulations, Cathy!
And a big congrats also to our other participants. Thank you for playing!
Read what COTT voters had to say about Cathy Bryant's newest book!
- Each one just gets better, Cathy Bryant!!
- Cathy Bryant is a wonderful author. Her books have great characters and are filled with suspense and great spiritual depth. I just read A Bridge Unbroken and it didn't disappoint.
- Cathy Bryant is fast becoming my very favorite author! Her books are so well written and keep me so engrossed in the story line, it is hard to put down. Definitely a winner!!
About the book:
Letting go to build a bridge...
Dakota Kelly wants her painful past to disappear. Her plan to start afresh is derailed when she co-inherits her late grandfather’s farm with Chance Johnson, the man responsible for the scars on her heart. But Chance isn’t the only ghost from the past. Someone else is out to get her and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Will Chance and Dakota lay aside their grudges to restore the old farmhouse and bridge, or will evil forces sabotage their attempts at forgiveness?
* * *
THE STORY BEHIND THE
STORY OF "A BRIDGE UNBROKEN"
by Cathy Bryant
The question I get asked most often as an author is:
"What's the story behind this particular story?" For A Bridge Unbroken, a Christian romantic
suspense and the latest Miller's Creek novel, the inspiration came from three very specific areas.
1. Home Renovation
My hubby and I seem to have a penchant for buying
fixer-uppers. Usually I enjoy the process, but this time? Not so much.
We moved to the Santa Fe, New Mexico area in the spring of
2013 for my husband's work as a pastor of praise and worship. Since I'm a
country girl at heart and like to have my critters--in this case, chickens,
rabbits, and a 75-pound German Shepherd who thinks she's a Chihuahua--we found
a cabin in the lovely
Sangre de Cristo mountains. To keep it short, let me just
say that this house has been the fixer-upper of all fixer-uppers. While we've
accomplished the most difficult tasks, like kitchen and bathroom fixes, we
still have a long way to go. (You can see pics
HERE.)
So when I took time off from the renovation to write
A Bridge Unbroken, I knew a house
renovation would be part of the storyline. In the story the heroine, a
frightened runaway on the run from an abusive boyfriend, co-inherits her
late-grandfather's farm and dilapidated farmhouse with a man responsible for scars
on her heart. Unusual conditions are attached to the inheritance, and the two
must work together to renovate the farmhouse. (You can watch the book trailer
HERE
and read a sample chapter
HERE.)
2. Writing
I love to write--to plot out scenes, develop characters, and
wrangle with words until I find just the right one. I also love interacting
with reader friends. My career as a writer had hit an all-time high and my book
sales followed suit...
...until we moved to our remote mountain location where it
took us months to get internet service.
I made weekly trips to McDonald's to try to stay on top of
things, but it wasn't enough. I watched in dismay as my book sales plummeted.
To make matters worse, I had no time for writing because of the home
renovation.
It was a natural leap to make Dakota (the heroine of A Bridge Unbroken) a writer. I could
literally feel her angst at needing to keep her writing career afloat while
renovating a broken-down heap of a farmhouse. Yeah, that was easy to write.
3. Forgiveness
When I began praying about the spiritual theme of the story,
the answer that came immediately was forgiveness. Quite frankly, I wasn't
elated. I often struggle with forgiving others. I've always been very
sensitive, the kind who wears my heart on my sleeve. And anytime you leave your
heart on your sleeve for any length of time, someone will come along who thinks
it's their job to rip into it.
Then something interesting happened. Everywhere I looked I
found messages of forgiveness--a devotional magazine, my scripture reading for
the day, a social media post--they were everywhere! I delved into scripture,
quickly reminded of things I'd known since childhood, but had chosen to
overlook. Things like: forgiveness isn't an option or a suggestion, forgiveness
is an act of the will, forgiveness is an act of obedience, and more.
I realized during this process that much of the world's
teaching on forgiveness had crept into my belief system. And I wasn't alone!
Friends had many of the same ideas, none of which were anywhere in God's Word. Worldly
messages like: forgiveness is something you do for yourself, forgive and
forget, and forgive if...
I'm always amazed at how much the Lord teaches me through my
writing. Between penning
A Bridge
Unbroken and its companion Bible study,
The
Fragrance of Crushed Violets, God managed to get me back on track in
the matter of forgiveness.
So to answer the question of the story behind this story, it
all boils down to three things: home renovation, writing, and most importantly,
forgiveness.
* * *
Cathy Bryant is the author of the popular
Miller’s
Creek Novels, set in the fictional back-roads
country town of Miller’s Creek, Texas…where folks are friendly, the iced tea is
sweet, and Mama Beth’s front porch beckons. Her passion is to tell
heart-stirring stories about God’s life-changing grace. A native Texan, Cathy
currently resides in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains of northern New
Mexico with her minister husband of over thirty years. When she’s not spinning
tales about the fine folks of Miller’s Creek, you can find her rummaging
through thrift stores, hiking through the wilderness, or up to her elbows in
yet another home improvement project in the mountain cabin she calls home. You
can find more about Cathy and her books at
CatBryant.com.
Cathy also likes to interact with reader friends in the following places:
