Why I write Christian Fiction

via Why I write Christian Fiction

Why I write Christian Fiction

First, let me say I love being a #Christian. I am one of the ones fortunate to have experienced God’s grace. But let me say, you don’t have to be a Christian to live the life God intended. When is the last time you helped a neighbor? Or perhaps you saw a total stranger struggling with something and ran to help.  Or as I personally experienced, had someone behind you see you struggling to find your debit card in line at Starbucks, and lean past you to tell the barista they’d be happy to pay for you.  True, these are small things and may not seem like much, but if you’ve done them, you’re living the life of a Christian, whether or not you’re a believer. The people portrayed in my story are NOT living the life of a Christian, even though they proudly proclaim to be. They are part of a twisted sect that thinks they have all the answers. As a humble pastor once told me, nobody has all the answers, and to proclaim you do is like saying you’re God. I wanted to share with you my most recent review for Twisted Faith, and the reason is because the person who wrote this review, has nailed my intent for Twisted Faith. I want to say thank you to BookBelle, for sharing your thoughts so openly in your review. When some people read my story, they’re going to think that things like this don’t happen, but I can assure you they do, as attested to by BookBelle in her review.   I hope many lives are touched by my story, especially the young and vulnerable who are afraid to reach out for help.

Twisted Faith is available anywhere online books are sold. Please visit my website to learn more and subscribe to my newsletter to keep updated on my work.  Follow me on Amazon to be notified of new releases and updates.

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You could win!!!!

Twisted Faith is now distributed on popular audio formats through Blackstone publishing and Red Rose Audio! I’ve waited a long time for the production of this audio. I wouldn’t settle for just any narrator. I was holding out for the right duo to fit together, and  I have to say I’m ecstatic with the results of this team. Conner Goff and Kelley Mack deliver  a powerful performance that brings you right into the characters’ feelings.  I have to add a special thanks to the Silverton agency for your professional services in production, narrator selection, and distribution.  Thanks to you all for making Twisted Faith so special.

To honor this release, I’m giving away one download of the audiobook to two people. To enter to win, send me an email at victoria@victoriaschwimley.com and in the subject line write, “I want to win.” Winners will be chosen by random number draw on March 15th. Can’t wait for the contest? You’ll find the audiobook for sale at these popular retailers.

Available at Downpour on instant download or audio CD

Available at Audible

Audio CD at Amazon

Ratuken Kobo

Audiobooks.com

Publisher’s Summary

Abby Stein is young, smart, and obedient. But even obedient girls can make a mistake once in a while.

While most girls learn a lesson and move on, Abby isn’t allowed to do that. When a poor choice at a party leaves Abby pregnant and alone, her overly religious parents and church community will make her life so miserable that she’s forced to consider suicide as her only way out. With nowhere else to turn, Abby makes a desperate call from the parking lot of New Hope Christian Church. Pastor David Owens leads a fledgling congregation at New Hope Christian Church and answers the call. As the suspense increases, so does the little group of congregants working together in a race to save her life. Can they get through to Abby and show her God’s true love before it’s too late?

Twisted Faith is the second book in the Faith series.

Rave reviews are already coming in:

***Once I started, I couldn’t stop!!!!

When Abby meets Jimmy and makes a bad decision, her whole life gets turned upside down. Her strict parents enforce very cruel punishments for Abby after they find out she is pregnant and forbidding her to see Jimmy again.
The events that take place have Abby’s head spinning, she doesn’t know what to do any more. Her parents are pushing to adopt the baby but Abby doesn’t want her baby reared by her parents. She is confused, tired of the fight with her parents, missing Jimmy she thinks suicide would be the best for her and her baby. Thank goodness Pastor Owens answers the phone and takes the time to talk to Abby, to find out about Abby.

The narrators do an excellent job!!! 

 ***Couldn’t put it down!

Although this is a 2nd book in a series, it definitely stands on it’s own. I did not read book 1 and had no problem keeping up with what was going on. The story was so well told I felt like I had an investment in what was happening to the characters. I was sad, happy and very angry at and for the happenings. I love how the author wrapped the story up in the end. The narrators did a WONDERFUL job of the characters they were portraying. I enjoyed this book from start to finish and will be looking for Book 3!

Worth a credit? YES IT IS

***I was hooked when I read the first chapter.

This is a continuation of Captured Faith; however, it’s a great book to read as a stand-alone. Pastor David has since moved on from his position as the youth pastor to become Pastor at New Hope Christian Church, a church in dire need of an upgrade of both its building and congregation. Shortly after accepting the position Pastor Dave received a call from a young mother in distress. As the conversation progressed, readers hear more of Abby’s horrific story. The characters are introduced excellently as readers are brought into the story. I felt as though I met each character and went through this emotional night with them. I appreciated how the congregation came together to help Abby and gained a renewed sense of faith for themselves.

I was hooked when I read the first chapter. I found it extremely hard to stop and I recommend this to all readers. I should also let you know my 12 year old listened with me and couldn’t wait to get back to it until we were finished. I listened to the audiobook and felt Kelly and Conner did an excellent job; even better than I could have done. Both voices were perfect for their character. I really loved this book and rate it with 5 stars. 

 ***Twisted Faith

Twisted Faith, Book 2
: Victoria Schwimley

This coming of age YA book explores relatioships between families, young couples, religous groups and school friends. It shows how one event can evolve into a chain of events that effect a community. The story is told from two different prespectives, and how they interact. I found myself crying and holding my breath until the very end. Awesome work by the author and narration team!

The narration was well done. The characters were well portrayed by Kelley Mack, Conner Goff.

“Bravo Bailey”

I am so thrilled to share this review I just wrote about a new author I just discovered. Don’t you just love discovering someone new. In the book Servant, the chronicles of servitude series, J.S Bailey depicts an awesome contrast between good and evil, and her narrator, Paul McSorley – whom I’ve listened to before, does a fabulous job.  Here’s my five-star review.  I encourage you to check it out on Audible.

“I absolutely loved the pull between good and evil in this story because it mimics real life, in my opinion. We all are battling good and evil, even within our own minds. When evil attempts to kill good in this story, I kind of had to think about that because evil is a trusted friend of good. In true life, evil is often disguised as a good friend, and we don’t know it until it’s too late and damage has been done. I love the author’s writing style and the way she builds the suspense throughout a chapter and then leaves the reader hanging and switches to another character/chapter. It’s what keeps me listening and rating the story with 5 stars. I hope book two is just as suspenseful. Paul McSorley does an outstanding, professional job with his narration. Nice, clean audio.”

It Touches my heart

As an author, I’m thrilled when I can touch a reader.  Despite the fact that writing is a business, it’s not why I started writing. Simply put, I love to tell stories.  I’ve been telling them since I was a kid and will tell them well into my senior years. Every once in a while, I get a review that is so special I want to share it.  Here’s a review by Verasbookreviewsandstuff.

Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 starsFantastic Suspense Romance Novel

Byverasbookreviewsandstuffon July 27, 2017

Format: Kindle Edition

STORY-LINE IN THE VICTIM’S SHADOW BY VICTORIA SCHWIMLEY:

In The Victim’s Shadow by author Victoira Schwimley, the reader finds a suspense filled romance. Amber Winters lost her mother to violent when a child; without leads, the police never caught the culprit.. Never receiving closure of her mother’s murder affected Amber greatly . Amber, a successful attorney, lives a life of luxury, as her father’s wealthy and she’s wealthy in her own right. However lately, she felt dissatisfied with her life. She’s feeling her internal biological clock ticking. As the next anniversary of her mother’s death approaches strange things begin to happen; she turns to her best friend.

John, an attorney in the same firm and Amber’s best friend, secretly felt more for her. As a result, John recognizes Amber’s unease; someone’s messing with her mind and life. A psychotic stalker has Amber in his sights. My suspense romance book reviews of In The Victim’s Shadow follows.

CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, DEVELOPMENT:

Author Victoria Schwimley filled In The Victim’s Shadow with intrigue, suspense, and romance. Stalked by a psychotic deranged man, fueled by revenge and jealousy, Schwinley created a first-class villain in Chad. As Schwimley developed the character of Chad, I found him a scary man. With a personality filled with hate, Chad hides his true character as best he can from Amber. However at times of stress, he reveals his true nature; Chad’s temper sits on the edge of explosion and he erupts often. Chad’s a crude rude man raised in an atmosphere of uncaring and poverty. I can not reveal the reasons for Chad’s mental instabilities without spoilers. Needless to say, the turn of events will surprise the reader.

Amber and John, although wealthy and privileged, have caring hearts for the underdog, their friends, and family. Schwimley skillfully introduced the romance between them; including very tasteful love scene which did not include erotica, explicit, or graphic sex. This is a sweet romance between best friends as they realize they want more than friendship. Each have strong personalities; John’s the perfect love interest for Amber. Each are classy, articulate, and successful.

With many plot threads to bring together and weave into a solid book, Schwimley wove the plot threads together and masterly leads the reader through this action packed story. I found the pace of story correct for the length of the book and the characters well-developed. Schwimley also added in tidbits of faith into the story-line. Schwimley demonstrates how past events affect many lives. The reader views this story from the prospect of the victim and culprit. After I started this book, sleep was the only thing which had me laying it down. The suspense, intrigue, and mystery, kept at high peak, had me reading long into the night. The inventive way Schwimley introduced Chad into Amber and John’s life made his crossing their path seem normal.

In Chad, the reader finds not only a first-class villain, he’s also intelligent in a crude way, angry, sneaky, street wise, and bordering on insanity. You will love to hate him and wish for his demise. He is far beneath Amber’s class and his dreams of the future ridiculous. With an explosive surprise ending with multiple revelations, I sat on the edge of my chair as Amber learns the reasons behind Chad’s madness. An epilogue brings closure to this intense story. I closed this book with a sigh of satisfaction for a story which held my attention from the first page, characters I came to love and a story which me kept intrigued. Kudos Ms. Schweinley, kudos for a job well done.
IN THE VICTIM’S SHADOW RECOMMENDATION: STARS 5

If you’d like to be notified of updates and new releases, follow me on Amazon, or visit my website

In The Victim’s Shadow is currently on sale for 0.99

Gone Writing

Today I had the pleasure of being a guest on fellow Entis’s blog, Gone Writing. I’m excited to share the interview with you.  Read it here.

E-BOOK WEEK AT SMASHWORDS-BIG SAVINGS SITEWIDE

It’s time again for the annual read an e-book week at Smashwords. Already more than 20,000 authors have signed up to offer drastically reduced prices for one week only.

I’m offering all my books for 0.99. Just follow the links below beginning March 5th.

THE BOOKS

Suspense

Lacy’s End – A mother and daughter fight to escape an abusive home.

In The Victim’s Shadow – Her mother is murdered, as she stands by helpless. Twenty-seven years later, the killer is still at large and someone is stalking her.

Children’s books

Fight for the Kingdom – Two young boys on an adventure to recover a stolen dragon’s egg before the mother incinerates the kingdom

Crime Solver’s Detective Agency book 1- She’s a pint-sized detective and her antics will leave you in stitches

Grand Theft – Crime Solver’s book 2- She back for more laughs and adventure as she solves the case of the stolen mustangs

YA Christian

Capturing Faith – Amber loves God. Chelsea loves herself. When these two worlds collide, Pastor David Owens must do what he can to smooth out the mess

Twisted Faith- Pastor David Owens has the biggest case of his life; trying to save the life of a teenage suicidal mother

Jessica Crawford series

Coveting Love- Jessica Crawford is torn between two brothers. She flees to Australia where she confronts danger she never saw coming

Confronting Truths- Jessica Crawford and Amy Jackson come face-to-face with their past lies

 

YULIN -A terrible injustice

There’s a terrible injustice going on and the world needs to hear about it. Dog’s are being tortured all around the world – everyday for the sadistic pleasure of people who think it makes dog meat taste better if the dog is tortured and mutilated while still alive.  I’m not going to preach about my beliefs about eating dogs – who are supposed to be man’s best friend, except to say that as I write this, I see my two sweet, loving dogs sleeping on the couch beside me, not a care in the world except filling their obligation to be a loving pet to me and my family and can’t even imagine that happening to them.  That’s not what this is about.  Torturing dogs, and butchering them alive while people stand by and cheer is inhumane and MUST stop.  Stealing dogs from what’s supposed to be the safety of their own yard for the purpose of torturing them – sacrificing them to the highest bidder needs to STOP.  How can you help?  Go to this website and read about it.  There are several links on the site with suggestions for ways to make the public aware. http://savingdogsinyulin.org  There’s an event, organized by my animal rights activist daughter, Jamie Schwimley, scheduled for March 11th in Downtown Sacramento.  If you’re in the Sacramento area or know of people in the area you can pass the word to, please plan to join us for the Fight for The Innocent on:

March 11, 2017 at 1:00 PM

CALIFORNIA STATE CAPITAL ROSE GARDEN PARK

CALIFORNIA STATE CAPITAL ROSE GARDEN PARK – 15 ST. AND CAPITOL AVE. – Sacramento, California 95814

PLEASE don’t turn a blind eye to this injustice  – help spread the word, let your government know we won’t stand for this!

Free books? Free for whom?

I had a recent encounter with a co-worker who gushed excitedly about all the free books she gets on Bookbub.  So, I asked her, “Do you ever leave a review for those books?” Her reply was that she hadn’t even thought to do that. I pointed out to her that authors offer free books in hopes of getting a review in exchange for that book. I also shared with her the many hours and dollars we authors put into producing that free book.  She hadn’t thought of that either.  It brought to mind a distant post I made about free books. I decided I needed to share it again. Please fee free to share this information. Author really need those reviews!

Here it is:

A word about free books:

Food for thought. I recently received notification from a Facebook friend who liked a site that gives away free books. I read the comments following the post where people had commented on how great it was to get all these free books, followed by others who were frustrated because after downloading the AP they found they had to actually pay for the books they wanted. As an author, I just want to bring to attention the fact that an author spends at least a year producing a good quality book. The expense to the author is costly. There are editors to pay (readers want error free books, right?,) book covers to pay for (the artists want to be paid), and that could cost anywhere from 100-600 dollars. Then there is advertisements to pay for…etc. I have to put the question out there, would you expect to go to the movies and not pay for your ticket? I think not. Would you go to work in the morning and not be paid for your days wage? I think not. Now, I want to point out that authors (including myself) give away many free copies of books for promotional purposes. So, if you want a free copy of a book and are lucky enough to obtain one, please don’t pass around a book you like, recommend it to a friend for purchase. And please be kind enough to leave a review on book websites. Reviews drive sales for authors. The more reviews an author receives the higher its ranking on Amazon, which increases its chance of being noticed. Thanks for listening.

GIVEAWAY!!!

There’s still time to get in on the Kinde giveaway for Twisted Faith.  Only five copies left – Will you be the lucky one?  #YABookPromo

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/afa7fe91cd839d1e