Beyond the Hills was well and truly launched last Friday. After an amazing Book Tour, the book was launched on the 18th with a lovely online party.
The Book Tour before that day had been such a blessing, and I want to share it with you, in case you missed it!
There were ten slots, so I will list them here for you.
First off was Sophia Anyanwu. She is a writer, and you can see my review of one of her books here. Sophia is such an encouragement, so I was thrilled that she asked to be part of the Tour. Here is Sophia’s blog for the Tour. I love her closing sentence:
A highly recommended read for anyone wanting to see what living in faith or living out of faith is like!
This lovely review was followed by Lydia Jenkins’ review. Lydia writes dystopian fiction as well, and as you can tell from my review of her book here, there are some similarities, which I think is fun, as it clearly shows that great minds think alike! You can read her blog here. Here is my favourite quote:
It is an encouraging aspect of Mortimer’s writing; the way it shows God’s word and a love for others transforming people for the better.
Day three was from Australia! Patricia Leslie is a writer as well as a busy reviewer, so when she offered to be part of my Tour, I was so happy! Here is my favourite line from Patricia’s Blog:
The writing style is easy to read and the story flows well.
Day four was on Susan Sanderson’s blog, which has been updated to include all the links for the Tour as well. Susan wrote a wonderful review, and was probably the first to finish reading Beyond the Hills! Here is my favourite quote:
Although I am not a film buff, I wondered whether this series would make a good film. It is exciting enough, although Macia’s thought-life might be difficult to include in a film.
Next in the Book Tour was my friend Katy Simpson. I was so pleased when she asked to be included, as Katy isn’t a writer (yet!), but she has a lovely business in wellbeing and how to thrive with online video making. Katy and I did a Live interview via Instagram, and we had a wonderful time. You can find the link to the interview here, for I added it to my YouTube Channel afterwards.
Saturday brought another video, with an amazing writer and interviewer in France! Tendayi Chirawu is an expert at interviews, and I called her the Queen of Questions, as her questions were so thought-provoking and interesting. You can listen to the interview here, on Tendayi’s Channel.
I left the Sunday open, so on Monday morning, Victoria Kay, who I got to know through Instagram, kicked off the week with another lovely review on her Instagram account. It was such a great review, and here is my favourite quote:
This book is quite beautifully written, clever, fresh and pacy.
Tuesday the Tour stopped over on Claire Muster’s blog, who had invited me to write a guest blog. Being completely new to all this, I wasn’t sure what to do, but I sent in a blog, and Claire set it all up on her website here. Do have a read, as I talk a bit about the background of Beyond the Hills.
Wednesday saw two brilliant blogs by Liz Carter. One on her blog, about the background to the story and how faith comes into the book. Liz had asked me some great questions, but this is my favourite quote, as it shows what I tried to tell in the book:
For me one of the loveliest parts of the book was seeing Macia blossom as she embraced emotion and joy, becoming the person she was meant to be.
Liz also wrote a blog for More Than Writers, the Christian Writers’ Blog for the Association of Christian Writers (I contribute regularly as well, it’s just a brilliant blog!), and you can read Liz’s blog post here. Again, I love how Liz pinpointed what we enjoy as Christian writers, so here is my favourite quote:
That is such a joy – I think that it’s a wonderful privilege we have, as writers, to dig further into the Word that sparked all words, and bring it to life in new ways for new generations.
Thursday arrived, and I couldn’t believe it was the last day of the Book Tour! There was one more blog, and it was such a beautiful way to end the Tour. Joy Margetts is a new writer as well, with a historical novel published and hopefully more to come. You can read Joy’s blog for the Tour here. This blog was lovely, as Joy highlighted the Power of the Word of God, and how the Bible speaks to us and transforms us. So this was my favourite quote:
I was so thrilled then to discover that a major theme of Maressa’s new book is the power of the Word of God to transform a person’s life.
That brought us to Friday and the Book Launch Party, which you can watch on YouTube or my Facebook page. These ten people have blessed me, and I’m so glad I asked for people to join me on the Tour! It’s been such a blessing, especially as they are all such accomplished people in their various fields. There are enough book recommendations here to see you through the summer, so do look around their sites!
I hope you have enjoyed the Tour, and do order your signed copy from the shop as well as sign up for my Newsletter. Subscribers receive a story of how I started Walled City and the city-state of Elabi.