The Siege of Reginald Hill Blog Tour

Reginald Hill Blog Tour

About the Book:

An odd surge filled my heart as I looked at him, sitting there in that chair: so old; so evil; so broken; so . . . alone. A warmth. A caring. A . . . love. I loved him. Just another poor sinner who needed my care. . . 

SAFETY IS NOT THE ABSENCE OF DANGER, BUT THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

Fr Kyle Verrall is living a quiet life as a parish priest in Africa when he’s snatched from his church one night by armed assailants. He’s in big trouble—his sister’s worst enemy is hell-bent on taking revenge on the famous Margaret Verrall by killing her brother, just as slowly and horribly as he can.

What could possibly save him? The humble young priest is defenseless—or so Reginald Hill believes.

But Kyle has a powerful weapon Hill knows nothing about. And he’s not afraid to use it.

Is Reginald Hill really the hunter?

Or is he the hunted? Continue reading

The Struggle Is Real for Catholic Fiction Authors

By Guest Blogger T.M. Gaouette

As the author of Catholic fiction for teens and young adults, I find myself in a constant battle of the wills. There’s this desire to delight the reader with an entertaining and relatable story, while still remaining focused on pleasing God and sharing His Word. Some may not think this much of a challenge, but when you reflect on the world we live in, as well as what passes for entertainment these days, hardly a fraction of it would be considered godly. In fact, entertainment is so focused on stories that do everything but promote God’s word, or worse, indulge in ideas that are contrary to God’s word.

Teens Reading

Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash

Continue reading

Interview with YA Author Leslea Wahl

Unlike many YA books written for adults, yours seem to be truly aimed at teens. While neither The Perfect Blindside nor An Unexpected Role take on big, controversial issues, they focus on natural concerns and problems that are, in fact, important to teens, both personally and spiritually. What inspires you to write for teens?

The Perfect BlindsideMy oldest child was always an avid reader, and when he was in middle school he began searching for YA books. It was difficult to find fun, adventurous books that he wanted to read that also reflected the values we were trying to instill in him. So many YA books contained things that weren’t appropriate. I kept wondering why someone didn’t write adventurous books for teens with good messages. At the time, I didn’t know God would call me for this task! But shortly after, the idea for The Perfect Blindside just popped into my head. Since then I’ve concentrated on creating intriguing mysteries that can also encourage teens to grow in their faith through their underlying messages. Although I do have to say that even though my books are about teens I have a lot of adults that have been enjoying them as well. Continue reading

In Honor of St. Dymphna: The King’s Prey by Susan Peek

St. Dymphna (the patron of those suffering from nervous and mental afflictions, whose feast day is today) and I go back to about 1996. I can’t recall when or how she first came to my attention. Did I look her up or stumble upon mention of her? I don’t honestly know.

It was about that time that I began to recognize my anxiety issues and learned what a panic attack was. (So, that’s what I’d been experiencing!)

My problem is relatively mild and fairly-well controlled these days. (I wrote about one aspect of my anxiety issues here.) It is not something I’ve ever felt the need to seek medical attention for. But it was enough to lead me to St. Dymphna. Continue reading

Guest Posts: CatholicTeenBooks.com and Rightfully Ours

CatholicMom.com

Rightfully Ours: A Theology of the Body Coming of Age Story (March 30, 2017)

“If ever there would be an opportune time for me to attempt writing 50,000 words of a novel, that was it. With a news story printed from a Pennsylvania newspaper for inspiration and not a clue as to the theme of my novel-to-be, I wrote.”

Catholic365.com

Catholic Teen Books Help Parents, Teachers Find Good Books for Catholic Teens (March 17, 2017)

“As a parent of a young teen, I’m grateful for this new resource that will help to ensure that the books my children read and enjoy are not antithetical to our faith, but help to strengthen it instead.”