Welcome to a guest post with …

Welcome back to Jacob and Julia’s Iowa farm.

In 1893, their son Justin is eleven. and daughter Annaliese is ten. When Jacob and Julia adopted Annaliese as an infant, they were told God had a special plan for her. As Annaliese grows up, she wonders if her purpose will be world-changing.

Julia’s old friend, Edward Harrington, comes to visit from England, along with his wife and son, Robbie. Their time at the farm is the beginning of a like/hate relationship and later something more between Robbie and Annaliese. When the families traveled to San Francisco in 1900, a shocking revelation from Edward’s wife could change everything, beginning with taking Annaliese to England.

If this is God’s plan, Annaliese is disappointed. It’s nothing like she imagined, and her heart’s desire is to go to veterinary college. This could mean a very different future for her.

Linda lives in west central Ohio with her husband and grandson. She earned a degree in psychology from Anderson University, where she learned that the voices in her head were actually characters from stories waiting to be told. 

Linda has been writing since childhood, but her publishing career started with writing columns and a middle-grade serial for the South Charleston Spectator. A retired librarian, she now enjoys being a full-time author in her home office. She writes not only to entertain but to encourage readers with God’s faithfulness. 

You are invited to visit her website, Linda Hoover Books, to learn more about her and her books. You can stay in touch when you subscribe to her newsletter, and as a thank you, you’ll receive a novella, Joel & Ella.

This link will take you to all the places you can find Linda on the web.

Thank you for hosting me on your blog, Danielle. I’m excited to share about my new book. Heart’s Promise, set in 1900, is book three in the Heart’s Desire series, but I believe readers will be fine starting here. This is the book in the series where the children of earlier characters, Annaliese and Robbie, have grown up and taken the spotlight. Their families take a trip to San Francisco which means riding on the Intercontinental railroad. They were able to do that in a Pullman Palace car, referred to by many as a hotel on wheels. Robbie has always been enamored with Annaliese, but she has only thought of him as obnoxious and annoying. On a journey where everyone is in close quarters for several days, Annaliese begins to see maybe he has matured. Then this scene with Annaliese’s brother Justin, her, Robbie and Robbie’s sister happens. He will have some work to do.

Annaliese turned to see how Justin and Robbie were doing with their chess match. They were still bent over the board on the table between them, but Robbie appeared agitated. He rubbed the back of his neck and blew out a breath, while Justin’s hands were folded loosely on the table. A few minutes passed before Justin said, “You might as well concede. I have your king in check and there’s nothing you can do to escape.”

 

Robbie slumped back against his chair. “Alright. You win, but I’ll challenge you again later. Right now, my brain is too tired to think.”

 

Justin chuckled as they reset the pieces. Eveline went and stood beside Robbie with her hand on his shoulder. “Since your brain is tired, how about a game of Old Maid with the girls?”

 

“Ha!” Robbie turned to his sister. “You don’t even need a brain to play that, so I should be good to go.” He shifted his focus to Justin. “We can play cards with the girls for a while then get back to the manly game of chess.”

 

Annaliese told herself Robbie was only teasing about chess being a manly game, but a part of her didn’t want to let it go. As they all moved to the dining table, she casually posed her question. “Robbie, are you saying girls can’t play chess?”

 

His eyes widened. “No, not at all. Anyone can play, but the female brain isn’t capable of thinking the way a man does. Understanding rules and the strategy of the game are beyond the fairer sex.”

Even though I’ve been to San Francisco, I needed to find out what it looked like in 1900. Thankfully, there are many pictures and articles online to answer that question. It was fun to learn they had amusement park-style rides then as well as many other tourist attractions. The Golden Gate Bridge hadn’t been built yet, but there was a Golden Gate Park with many things to see and do. Some of the things I talk about the characters visiting at the park weren’t there until the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894. The Japanese Tea Garden and Tea House are two of them. They feature big in the story, so Readers, I hope you’ll forgive me for borrowing from the future. Be on the lookout for that scene. 

Another part of the story is set in England. At that time an ocean liner was the only way to travel from the United States to England. In my research, I learned there were several different cruise lines competing for customers. Even though they were first of all a means of transportation they went all out to entertain and make the passengers comfortable, especially the wealthy ones. It made me think of today’s cruise ships. A nice feature was the possibility of a starlight walk on the deck. 

I had to depend on the internet to know what the characters saw in England. When they got there, they took a train from London to Nottinghamshire where Robbie’s family lives. I’m going to tour the British Isles this summer and was excited to learn we’ll be riding a train through Nottinghamshire. Along with sights in London, I can look out the train window and imagine what my characters might have seen going through the countryside one hundred twenty-five years ago.

Heart’s Promise brings me to the end of my initial overall plan. I’m reluctant to call it a trilogy because there are so many interesting side characters who would make a good story. I’m keeping that thought in the back of my mind. Each story has been fun to write, but my main purpose in writing any of them is to honor God. I hope to encourage readers to trust him. You can depend on him because he is faithful.