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About the book: Julia Whittaker's rocky past yielded two daughters, both given up for adoption as infants. Now she must find them to try to save her son.
Julia and Matt Whittaker's son has beaten the odds for thirteen years only to have the odds---and his liver---crash precipitously. The only hope for his survival is a "living liver" transplant, but the transplant list is long and Dillon's time is short. His two older half-sisters, born eighteen months apart to two different fathers, offer his only hope for survival.
But can Julia ask a young woman---someone she surrendered to strangers long ago and has never spoken with---to make such a sacrifice to save a brother she's never known? Can she muster the courage to journey back into a shame-filled season of her life, face her choices and their consequences, and find any hope of healing?
And what if she discovers in her own daughters' lives that a history of foolish choices threatens to repeat itself? Julia knows she's probably embarking on a fool's errand---searching for the daughters she abandoned only now that she needs something from them. But love compels Julia to take this journey. Can grace and forgiveness compel her daughters to join her?
Read first chapter:
Shannon Ethridge is a best-selling author, speaker, and certified life coach with a master's degree in counseling/human relations from Liberty University. She has spoken to college students and adults since 1989 and is the author of 21 books, including the million-copy best-selling Every Woman's Battle series. She is a frequent guest on TV and radio programs and mentors aspiring writers and speakers through her BLAST Program (Building Leaders, Authors, Speakers & Teachers.)
Learn more about Shannon:http://www.shannonethridge.com
Kathryn Mackel is a best-selling author and acclaimed screenwriter for Disney and Fox. She was on the screenwriting team for Left Behind: The Movie, and Frank Peretti's Hangman's Curse. She is the acclaimed author of "The Surrogate", "The Departed", and "The Hidden" and resides in Boston, Massachusetts, with her husband.
Learn more about Kathryn: http://www.kathrynmackel.com
In To Know You, Shannon Ethridge and Kathryn Mackel explore
how the past creates the present . . . and how even the most
shattered lives can be redeemed.
Q&A with Shannon about her new book --
Enjoy learning a little bit more about the story behind the story of Shannon Ethridge's new novel To Know You. And don't forget to RSVP to Shannon's Facebook party on 11/19 and enter to win $100 to Lisa Leonard Design and a personal coaching session!
Q. Tell us a bit about the story behind your latest novel. Where did your inspiration spark from?
A. I was sitting in an airport in 2003 after my first non-fiction book, Every Woman’s Battle, had released. I opened an email oozing with kind words of affirmation for the book, and posing the question, “When will you write fiction?” I’d just finished Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love and had been overwhelmingly inspired by the power of a well-crafted story. I thought, Wow – releasing an entire series of fiction works that inspire women to let go of their past sexual and emotional baggage -- that’d be SO fun and fruitful!
Q. What’s your next book or project ?
A. I have my 20th non-fiction book releasing through Thomas Nelson in January 2014, called The Passion Principles: Celebrating Sexual Freedom in Marriage. Then Kathy Mackel and I have a follow-up novel called Veil of Secrets which will release in July 2014, focusing this time on the rocky sexual relationship between Will and Melanie Connors, who just happen to be the parents of Destiny Connors (from To Know You).
Q. What’s your favorite character you've written so far?
A. I loved Destiny in my first novel, To Know You. She has this hard edge and doesn't leave people wondering how she really feels about anything. She just puts in out there without blinking, without mincing words, without apology. I was always told that I don’t have an “edit button,” so I felt a real connection to Destiny whenever she’d pop off about something. Plus she has tattoos and rides a motorcycle – two things I've never had the hootzpah to do.
Q. Tell us a bit about the story behind your latest novel. Where did your inspiration spark from?
A. I was sitting in an airport in 2003 after my first non-fiction book, Every Woman’s Battle, had released. I opened an email oozing with kind words of affirmation for the book, and posing the question, “When will you write fiction?” I’d just finished Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love and had been overwhelmingly inspired by the power of a well-crafted story. I thought, Wow – releasing an entire series of fiction works that inspire women to let go of their past sexual and emotional baggage -- that’d be SO fun and fruitful!
Q. What’s your next book or project ?
A. I have my 20th non-fiction book releasing through Thomas Nelson in January 2014, called The Passion Principles: Celebrating Sexual Freedom in Marriage. Then Kathy Mackel and I have a follow-up novel called Veil of Secrets which will release in July 2014, focusing this time on the rocky sexual relationship between Will and Melanie Connors, who just happen to be the parents of Destiny Connors (from To Know You).
Q. What’s your favorite character you've written so far?
A. I loved Destiny in my first novel, To Know You. She has this hard edge and doesn't leave people wondering how she really feels about anything. She just puts in out there without blinking, without mincing words, without apology. I was always told that I don’t have an “edit button,” so I felt a real connection to Destiny whenever she’d pop off about something. Plus she has tattoos and rides a motorcycle – two things I've never had the hootzpah to do.
Shannon Ethridge is celebrating the release of To Know You (co-written by Kathryn Mackel), by giving away a $100 gift certificate to Lisa Leonard Designs and a personal coaching session, as well as throwing a Facebook Author Chat Party!
One winner will receive:
- A $100 gift certificate to Lisa Leonard Designs
- To Know You by Shannon Ethridge
So grab your copy of To Know You and join Shannon on the evening of November 19th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!)
My Thoughts
Julia and Matt Whittaker would do anything to help their son, Dillon. All attempts have failed to find a liver donor. If only Julia had the courage to ask strangers, the two daughters whom lived with their fathers. Could one of them make a sacrifice and become a liver donor for Dillon.
I lost my grandson before he turned two years old. He became a donor. How helpless you feel when you are faced with so many decision and sometimes nothing left to done. To make the decision to be a donor is an ultimate sacrifice for those giving and the ultimate gift to those receiving.I was hesitant to read the book because of my lose. The pain of loosing a child never really goes away you hang on to the fact that God granted you the gift of having that person in your life as long of God chose for them to be with us.
This book has heartache, hope, faith, forgiveness and redemption. It will help one see how God can give us healing through our pain.
What would you do if you were asked to be a living donor?
I recommend this book.
I rated this book a 5 out of 5.
Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from Litfuse Publicity Group for review. I was in no way compensated for this review. This review is my honest opinion.
