Hope in My Heart: A Collection of Heartwarming Stories
Alexis A. Goring
About the Book
Hope in My Heart is a collection
of short, heartwarming stories with characters in need of hope.
In Love Unexpected, a car crash
brings commitment-wary Sebastian and career woman Chandra together. Neither is
looking for romance, but those around them see the potential, and Sebastian and
Chandra discover that sometimes love shows up unexpectedly.
Christmastime is the setting for
the middle story, The Best Gift. Christina desires to lose ten pounds so she
can fit into her dress for her sister's wedding. Jordan wishes her mom would
stop trying to marry her off. And Joshua hopes to be reunited with his
ex-girlfriend but eventually learns that the best gift this Christmas will be
the restoration of his relationship with God.
In Peace and Love, three
characters living in a metropolitan area are desperately searching. Elle, a
starving artist, aspires to become a paid professional. Eric, a divorce attorney,
wants to resolve his issues concerning his parents' divorce. Kristine
anticipates finding her birth mom before she marries Derek. All characters pray
their searches will conclude this holiday season and fill their hearts with
peace and love.
Westbow Press
November 2015
eBook .99
Print $13.95
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A Brief interview
with the Author
Alexis, what do you
love about this book?
I love that this was my first book, a collection of short
stories featuring diverse characters from various backgrounds and cultures with
the shared theme of hope.
Introduce us to your most
challenging character.
My most challenging character to
write in this book was Eric from “Peace and Love” which is the third and final
story in this collection. He’s a divorce attorney who even as an adult, is
still negatively affected by his parents’ dramatic divorce that took place at
Christmastime when he was a child. What’s different is that this Christmas (in
the story), Eric realizes that he needs to get over his issues, so he reaches
out in hopes of reconciling with his parents.
Eric’s character was challenging
to write because I’m not a lawyer and at the time that I wrote this story, it
didn’t dawn on me to do story research by reaching out to an attorney in
real-life. I was an aspiring author who did not have any books published prior
to this one and I honestly didn’t know that research should be part of the
story writing process.
However, with God’s grace and my
active imagination along with drawing on some of my favorite TV shows and
movies that feature lawyers, I was able to get a good handle on my character
Eric without reaching out to a real-life attorney for advice about making his
scenes believable and true to real-life. I haven’t received any complaints yet about
how I portrayed Eric at work in this fictional story, so that makes me happy!
What do you hope
readers will tell others when they’re finished with the book?
I hope that readers will tell others that this book warmed
their heart and gave them a healthy dose of hope!
What are you reading
now?
I just finished reading Deck the Shelves by Toni Shiloh and
loved it! It is a novella in a boxed set of books called Comfort & Joy: The
Christmas Lights Collection.
What’s next for you?
I’m writing my answers to these questions in November 2018,
which is about five years after my first book (Hope in My Heart: A Collection
of Heartwarming Stories) was published. So what was “next” for me back in the year
2013, was actually my second book A Second Chance that, after a few re-writes,
was published in January 2017.
About the Author
Alexis A. Goring is a passionate writer with a degree in
Print Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing. She loves the art of
storytelling and hopes that her stories will connect readers with the enduring,
forever love of Jesus Christ.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PennedbyAlex
Website: https://alexisagoring.jimdo.com
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/capturingidea/
“God is Love” blog: http://capturingtheidea.blogspot.com
