Hi all! I’m Carmen Schober, and I’m the author of After She Falls and Pretty Little Pieces, two standalone contemporary Christian romances published by Bethany House. After She Falls came out a little over a year ago, and Pretty Little Pieces releases next week on December 6th. I’ll be honest with y’all here, getting those two books out in the middle of raising three babies under four was wild. The timing of everything was a surprise—when my agent pitched ASF to Bethany, I didn’t expect a two-book deal…and I also didn’t expect to be pregnant shortly after I signed that contract!
It’s a weird feeling when everything you wanted collides. As long as I can remember (besides a short little misguided feminist period in graduate school) I’ve wanted to be a mother and an author. No other careers or callings excited me like the prospect of raising children and writing novels, so imagine my delight when both of those dreams came true in 2020. I had two beautiful daughters and a beautiful book—incredible gifts from God—but the unexpected addition of my son and a deadline for a second book really pushed me to a new level of trust in God’s timing and my own perseverance.
One of my most vivid moments during the rewrite process was waking up to nurse my crying baby at 4 o’clock in the morning in a hotel room (my amazing husband, bless him, would take me and our infant son on business trips with him while the grandparents watched our girls so I could squeeze in a little more writing time) and as soon as the baby was snoozing again, I went down to the dark and empty hotel lobby to write. Eventually, an employee showed up and kindly offered me some expresso, and I eked out a few more pages with tired tears in my eyes.
Similarly, I spent most of my thirtieth birthday writing the last few scenes of PLP in a crowded McDonald’s in Tulsa, Oklahoma (another business trip) while my husband took work calls and pushed Leo’s stroller around the restaurant. Snow was piling up outside, just like the pressure piling up in my heart. I spent so many hours writing during the six-month period after Leo was born that I wondered more than once—God, is this really going to be worth it? Is this story going to move people? Will all the work I’ve put into this make a difference?
Now that we’re here, God’s answer to that question is clear and resounding. It was a season of life that I never anticipated and wasn’t at all ready for, but God did what only He can do, and He took my simple trust in Him and all of my imperfect but consistent efforts and turned them into another beautiful story. It wasn’t the timing I would’ve chosen, but He knew best. Now, I can see that Leo’s birth and the birth of Pretty Little Pieces were divinely intertwined, and they’re both better than I could’ve ever imagined.
Sometimes it takes everything falling apart . . .
Ambitious influencer Georgina Havoc and her designer boyfriend have been dubbed “the next Chip and Joanna Gaines”–a power couple that flip homes all over Nashville–and they plan to merge their unique styles into their new home renovation show. But their relationship falls apart when he blindsides her with a “pause.” Forced to convince the network to take a chance on her as a solo star, Georgina takes on the task of renovating a forgotten cottage in the tiny, tight-knit town of Tarragon, Tennessee.
Facing one heartache and setback after another, Georgina moves forward with her plan to rebuild her life and save her career, but a surprise drop-in from her troubled twin sister makes things extra messy. The unexpected presence of rugged ex-sniper Cassidy Stokes also threatens to bring all the walls that she’s built crashing down.
As she puts the pieces of her previously perfect life back together, will Georgina retreat to the familiar or boldly embrace a new design?
“Carmen Schober is a fresh new voice in Christian fiction! A much-needed author with poignant stories for this day and age!”–JAIME JO WRIGHT, Christy Award-winning author
You can buy Pretty Little Pieces wherever books are sold, but preorders through Baker Book House are $10.19 (40% off) with free shipping!
Carmen Schober (www.carmenschober.com), author of After She Falls and Pretty Little Pieces, is a wife and mother, a proud Cuban-American, and a woman of eclectic interests, ranging from gritty combative sports to feminine design shows. She writes unexpected romance novels for the modern woman, with relatable but inspirational heroines and heroes. When she’s not writing fiction, she blogs about Christianity, motherhood, writing, and everything in between. She earned a master’s degree in English literature and creative writing from Kansas State, and she currently lives in Manhattan, Kansas.