WINNER OF THE AMAZON GC

Congrats Lena Nelson Dooley

When Alex and Lucy pick out wedding invitations, they wonder if they can be printed in vanishing ink.

Former NFL star Alex Sinclair is a man who has it all–except the votes he needs to win his bid for Congress. Despite their mutual dislike, Alex makes Lucy a proposition: pose as his fiancee in return for the money she desperately needs. Bound to a man who isn’t quite what he seems, Lucy will find her heart on the line–and maybe even her life.

When God asks Alex and Lucy to scrap their playbook and follow his rules, will they finally say, “I do”?

I fell in love with Jenny B Jones as an author when I read Just Between You And Me, so I was waiting impatiently for Save The Date.  You know when you get very excited for something but fear it won’t live up to your anticipation, well let me tell you Jenny B. Jones does not disappoint.  Save The Date is funny and witty, but you learn a powerful lesson on how lies you believe about yourself shape who you are.  It is only when you believe what God says about you, that you can live the life He has for you.

I believe you will love Jenny B Jones so much that I am offering one reader a $30 Amazon gift card (emailed to them).  Leave a message below this post and tell me one thing you learned or laughed about while reading the interview.  Winner will be selected on Feb. 14!!!–because I love ya!

Without further ado  Jenny B. Jones

1. Jenny thank you for joining us, please tells us a little bit about yourself?

Hey, Lori, thanks for letting me stop by! I do not have a glamorous bio. I live , write, and teach high schoolers in Arkansas. I love to read, watch movies, go to plays, and sing show tunes at annoying decibels. I am gifted at procrastination and food ingestion, not as gifted at house work and long division. I write romantic comedies for the lady-folk as well as YA for teen girls. I love to travel. I love to people watch. And I’ve been waiting many years for Ben and Jerry’s to return my call about the test-tester job I know I deserve.

2. You captured my heart in Just Between You and Me, but I think you out did yourself in Save The Date. You had me laughing out loud while educating me about Saving Grace. Can you tell our readers more about Saving Grace?

Wow, what a compliment. Thank you. I’m so glad you enjoyed the books. (A declaration of immense dislike would’ve made the rest of this visit kind of awkward.) Seriously, it is an honor to talk about Saving Grace. In our country, if a child is in the foster care system and not placed in a home when they “graduate” at eighteen, they have a few options, but most of them opt to striking out on their own. It’s all they know. Their chance of winding up in prison are significantly higher. Their likelihood of going to college almost nonexistent. Pregnancy and poverty rates are through the roof. Research says that when these kids have mentors and adults in their life to help them with life skills and “keep tabs,” their chances of success rise considerably. Also many of these kids, once they leave the system, are totally unprepared to support themselves and many become homeless.

Saving Grace is a group home in Arkansas (and now featured in a fictional sense in Save the Date) for girls who have graduated from the system, but have no place to live. This home was dreamed up and is run by a dear woman named Becky, who was herself in the foster care system and a product of some of these statistics. She has a great burden for changing young women’s lives, and she’s doing just that. When a girl comes to Saving Grace, she stays for a reduced cost of rent, lives with other girls in the home, has her own professionally decorated bedroom, has three mentors, and is encouraged to work part time and enroll in college or trade classes. Like many states, Arkansas has more foster children than foster parents (over 7k kids in need of placement and about 950 families to take care of this urgent need). So you can imagine that many of these kids will age out of the system without having experienced adoption or even inclusion into a loving home. Or any home. Saving Grace provides that home, stability, and a chance to be just another statistic.

3. How much of your character Lucy Wiltshire do you see in yourself?

Oh, gosh. I think we all write ourselves into our characters a little bit. Lucy has my independent streak, my love for vintage, my clumsiness, my nervous tendencies, and a desire to work with children. I do not share in her love for all things Star Trek, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings, I’m not as stylish as she, nor do I recall ever attracting the romantic and/or business attentions of a pro-football quarterback-millionaires. But the week is young…

4. One of the themes in Save The Date is lies we believe about ourselves. As a teacher, an author, and woman what are some of the lies you see that people struggle with on a regular basis?

Working with teenagers has really provided opportunities to see this in action. Girls/women especially buy into the lies that we’re not pretty enough,not smart enough, not worthy of being picked first, not sophisticated enough, not wealthy enough, not wearing the right clothes, shoes, handbag, etc. I think the big lie we all buy into, from small to large doses, is “I’m not good enough.” We see blogs all over the place of moms telling you how accomplished they are at motherhood, cooking shows that make a gourmet meal look easy, PhotoShopped magazine covers telling us we can have Michelle Obama’s biceps in two weeks. We see the luxury car our neighbor’s driving as it passes our ten year old minivan. You’re. Not. Good. Enough.

Satan loves that lie and our culture is helping him out in a big way. We’re trying to survive (not thrive) in this culture of rampant insecurity. But God says, “Hey, I gave you my peace, strength, wisdom, and love. I told you you’re beautiful and my favorite. Why are you buying into these lies?” As in Saving Date, events from the past whispered lies and they stuck with the characters for years, shaping their futures. We can’t be free until we acknowledge some truth and let some old things go.

5. Do you have anything coming up you can share with our readers?

I’m going to Ecuador this summer with Susie Magazine and we’d love for you to join us. The two week mission and retreat trip is for tweens/teens and it’s going to be a great time.
This fall I have my next YA coming out, There You’ll Find Me, the story of Alex Sinclair’s sister from Save the Date. It’s set in lush, lyrical Ireland and involves a young hotel heiress, a foreign exchange program, and one very famous vampire-movie actor.

6. Also when you are not running from tornadoes or painting walls what do you like to do in your spare time?

Ha. I have spare time? Painting and weather watching takes a LOT of my luxury hours… As mentioned above I love to read—romance, historicals, humor. And I’m a total magazine addict. I am constantly working on my house, prettifying it, then re-prettifying it. I love to spend time with my family and friends, and I can’t get enough of working out. . .just kidding. But for a second there, I sounded really good.

6. Thank you for your time, before you go can you tell us about Southern BelleView?

LOVE that question! Southern Belle View is a new blog and sistership made up of fabulous Southern-writers Rachel Hauck, Beth Webb Hart, Marybeth Whalen, Lisa Wingate, and myself. We are five ladies dedicated to Southern culture, our faith, and, of course, books. Every week we tackle a new topic, from favorite recipes (fried chicken! chocolate pie!) to hometowns. Each of us has our own day of the week to write, and it’s so fun to see our different perspectives on these same topics. We hope it’s like sitting on the back porch with a friend with a big glass of tea, some conversation, and some sunshine. Minus the flies. And the mosquitoes. And the sweltering heat that makes you sweat right through your Dry Idea.

And for an encore I am posting Jenny’s book trailer (I would go potty first, I laughed so hard watching this). And don’t forget to leave a comment to enter to win the Amazon Gift Card.

Save The Date by Jenny B. Jones can be purchased here.

FTC Disclosure: Special thanks to Jeane Wynn of Wynn-Wynn Media, LLC for sending me a review copy of Save The Date by Jenny B. Jones.

You May Enjoy These Books Also:

• Digitalis by Ronie Kendig
• Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander
• Masquerade by Nancy Moser
• Driftwood Lane by Denise Hunter
• Jenna’s Cowboy by Sharon Gillenwater

© Thank you so much for visiting me at Lori's Book Reviews. You can also find me on Facebook under Lori Kasbeer.

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