What are the stories you carry?

The good stories? The not-so-good stories? Those you reveal? Those you keep secret?

Have you ever thought about whether these stories we keep secret affect how we process life? How they color our thoughts and opinions?

This month’s featured guest is award-winning and bestselling literary author, Robin W. Pearson. Her latest release (Tyndale, October 7th), The Stories We Carry is a beautiful blend of unique characters, secrets, and a plot with a mystery twist all rolled together with her usual Southern flair.

Here’s More About Robin’s Newest Novel

A small-town bookstore owner finds herself at odds with a newcomer bent on disrupting her quiet life.

Glory Pryor has carved out a life for herself in Gilmore, North Carolina, cultivating a community around her bookstore, By the Book. While her business is a success, she carries the weight of stories of her own she’s never told anyone. She holds out hope that one day her estranged brother will turn up on her doorstep so she can finally learn where he’s been all these years.

Glory’s husband Eli thinks she has her arms wrapped too tightly around the could-have-beens, and that it’s time for them to let go of the store as they head into their retirement years. Glory has different opinions on that—she’s not ready to give up the dream she’s built just yet.

Then Adelle Simonette shows up with her young son, Bennett, and Glory’s carefully controlled life begins to crumble.

Newly widowed Adelle Simonette is a single mother trying to find her footing and navigate parenting her young son. Lost in her grief, one thing she’s certain of is that she needs to confront Glory Pryor and everybody who knows her because the woman’s been living a lie. Adelle thinks it’s high time Glory made things right. But Adelle’s finding it hard to tell the truth . . . and there will be no going back once she does.

In the wake of deeply personal grief and loss, two women reckon with a lifetime of silence and secrets to find a path forward toward healing, hope, and restoration.

I gave The Stories We Carry 5 Stars!

Robin and I had fun during our YouTube interview, so I wanted to ask more serious questions in our blog interview.

Robin, what did you read as a child? 

I’ve always loved reading out loud to my peeps, so I covered everything from Sandra Boynton’s board books when they were babies to The Crucible as high schoolers, and all things in between. Of course, we’ve always read the Bible together. My oldest three loved listening to characters like Cassie, Big Ma, and Little Man in the Mildred D. Taylor series when they washed dishes and to Rosh and Leah in The Bronze Bow. “Hearing” these voices brought the books to life and inspired me to make sure people could hear my own characters when they read my stories.

What is one of your favorite quotes from The Stories We Carry and why do you love it?

In this story, Eli and Glory Pryor are mature newlyweds, and she’s dealing with a fair measure of church hurt. At one point she asked her husband: “If I asked you if God was hard, what would you say now?” Eli tightened his hold and answered, “I’d say, He’s good, baby girl. Good in the hard.”

This quote speaks to the answer all believers should find after all our seeking and wrestling and during seasons of blessing and burden. On the mountain and in the valley and even when we don’t understand, God is good.

Many of the authors I interview have a deep message they wish readers understood. That’s why they love to ask: What is a question no one has asked you about The Stories We Carry, and you wish they would? Why?

I haven’t talked much about the meaning of the scars my characters bear, visible and invisible. We all carry evidence of what we’ve been through, whether it’s physical or emotional. Some of us deal with brokenness, such as Adelle’s grieving heart. Like her, we may still pick at the hurt, keeping it from healing. Sometimes we consider our scars ugly reminders of what we’ve suffered, and we try to hide them, just as Glory does. Before we can enjoy healing and wholeness, we must allow God’s light to shine on our dark places, as the characters in The Stories We Carry.

What do you hope readers know about you and your books?

I try to give readers the sense that these people and their lives continue—just as ours do—and we’re just getting a peek at their experiences at a particular moment in time. While my books aren’t part of a series, I do create a “universe,” and readers may recognize familiar or well-loved characters and settings that connect these stories.

My novels also reveal different snippets of my life and background. Most importantly, they attest to my relationship with Jesus Christ and how this relationship impacts everything in my life—my thoughts, my work, and my interactions with others. I know that it is “…in Him we live, and move, and have our being…” (Acts 17:28)

How about a wonderful giveaway from Robin and Tyndale Fiction?

October’s A2A Giveaway!

Yes! Thanks to Robin and Tyndale Publishing, this month’s giveaway winner will receive a softcover copy of her latest release, The Stories We Carry!

How? Well, by entering! Not just once, but up to SIX times– (see the YouTube interview)!* Leave a comment below and share this blog and if you haven’t already, please subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of this blog and receive a free gift from me — and an extra entry.

NOTE: WANT TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING THIS INCREDIBLE GIVEAWAY?*

Check out my YouTubeA2A interview with Robin. Because, in the video interview Robin answer different fun questions–and we have some funny discussions! 

By Liking and Commenting on the video episode, you will have one more entry.* Sharing the video, another entry.* Subscribe, and you have TWO entries for a chance to win.* 

The Deadline is October 9th 

Watch our interview–

That means, my friends, if you comment and subscribe -– or are already a subscriber -– to my blog, then watch the video and LIKE, SHARE, and COMMENT on the VIDEO, then Subscribe to my YouTube Channel, your name will be entered SIX TIMES–SEVEN!*

Next month: Award-winning and bestselling suspense author, Sarah Monson. PLUS, I hope to have our 3rd annual indie-writers panel and a surprise anniversary episode!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Robin–I certainly did! Until November, God bless and KEEP READING! 

*So sorry, entries from the contiguous US only.