Thursday's Talk About the Book

From Romance Times Book Reviews:

Everson's evocative writing puts the reader in the midst of the gorgeous seaside setting. It takes a while to connect with the characters, but after a few chapters they seem like real people. The abrupt ending is puzzling, but possibly a sequel is in the works to further explore this wonderful family.

Okay...first, I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Melissa Parcel, who reviewed the book. And another THANK YOU for calling my writing "evocative."

Let's look at that word, shall we? To be EVOCATIVE means to EVOKE...feelings, memories...to "call them up" and to "draw them out."


Well, I believe I like that, don't you? I like knowing my words can "call up" memories or feelings. That's the whole point, I think. I write to tell a story, but even more, to make my readers think the story is real. And, in that "reality" they can find answers to their own life-questions. Or, maybe they can just escape for a while. 

Okay, bottom line. I write because if I don't, my brain will pop, what with all these men and women, boys and girls running around, talking to me, telling me their stories as if I don't have enough of my own. (Perhaps only novel writers will truly appreciate that.)

I also like knowing my characters seem like real people. (Thank you. Thank you very much. My work here is done...) But I have to be honest...they are real people. At least to me. I spend a LOT of time with these folks. I have their photos. I've put together their wardrobes. I've gone over their past, their present, their future. I know what they like, what they don't like and all the things you wish you knew about them but don't. (If they knew I knew, they may rise up and kill me so...shhhh!)

AND... I just LOVE that Ms. Parcel thinks the family is wonderful. The family is dysfunctional at best...but then again, what family isn't? I think this honest writing makes the reader say, "Oh, I know exactly  what this feels like!"

In Chasing Sunsets, Kimberly Claybourne Tucker is a divorced mother of two boys. Her husband "just didn't want to be married anymore" and Kimberly cannot, for the life of her, understand that. After all, wasn't she a good wife? A doting mother? Enter Steven Granger, her high school sweetheart. The boy who broke her heart. The only man she ever loved, other than her husband. Steven is also divorced. His wife left him with their toddling daughter, Eliza. He reared her the best he could, all the while working hard, staying away from the dating scene to concentrate on Eliza, and now--with Eliza in college and Kimberly back in Cedar Key--he's willing to open his heart again. He knows he did Kim wrong way back when, but he also knows they were kids. 

Kim, however, hasn't quite gotten over that fact.

Here's the point I'm trying to make. Years ago, when I first entered in to the world of Christian fiction, we Christian fiction writers were hard-pressed to find a publisher who'd let us write about such things as two divorced adults who are both Christians and want to find love again. So, BRAVO to Baker/Revell (my fabulous pub house!) and to all those who are saying, "Yes! This is real life, people! This is what the church is facing today...and we must confront it."

Finally, I'd like to address the "abrupt ending." While, yes, there is another book on the horizon (I have a matter of DAYS...okay WEEKS...to get this thing done!), I honestly didn't feel the ending was abrupt. So, here is what I have decided... the book was just SO GOOD, the reviewer didn't want it to end. (Smiling broadly here!) I know I didn't! When I knew this part of the story was over and that it was time to type: THE END, I cried. I have grown to love Kimberly and Steven and Patsy  and...

...Oh! Did I mention the second book is Patsy's story!? Wait till you hear....