COTT: May Clash Results

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!

Nancy Kimball with Chasing the Lion, Richard Mabry with Critical Condition, Sharon Srock with Pam, and Katie Ganshert with A Broken Kind of Beautiful

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?

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Click here to enter the Goodreads giveaway of 3 print copies of A BRIDGE UNBROKEN.

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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.

  

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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:

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Selecting the Best Bible Reference

Since Where Love Once Lived is a Christian novel, I looked for a Bible reference to place at the beginning of the book to give the reader a hint as to what the book is about. During my search for the right passage I found three and decided to include them all. The references below are to the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”—Matthew 6:14-15.

I picked this reference because both Karen and Brian had someone to forgive before they could move on with their lives. Karen needed to forgive Brian and Brian needed to forgive himself. But there is more to it than that. After the two broke up, Karen turned closer to God and Brian turned away. Karen knew in her heart that God had already forgiven her for what she perceived she had done. Brian felt he wasn't worthy of God's forgiveness, and he started seeing God as vengeful. Luckily for both characters, they find forgiveness.

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”—Romans 8:28.

This verse was selected because Brian's happiness and his ability to achieve his goals improved when God came back into his life. Brian's love for God grows until in the end he realizes it is the love of God that he had been seeking all along.

“And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”—Isaiah 30:21.

I liked this verse because it describes how the bookmobile librarian Liz and Brian's best friend's father George continually prod Brian. No matter where Brian goes or what he does, Liz and George remind him how wonderful it is to walk in the way of the Lord.