Michelle Sutton Interview

I'm delighted to welcome Michelle Sutton to The Borrowed Book today. Michelle, otherwise known as the Healing Hearts author, is a prolific reader/book reviewer/blogger, and the author of over a dozen inspirational novels. She lives in Arizona with her husband of over twenty years and her two college aged sons.

Welcome, Michelle. It's great to have you as a guest today. You have a book releasing this month. Give us the title and a short blurb about the book.

The title of the book is When Love Collides. Raquel longs for physical healing, but God uses someone from a dark time in her past to heal something more important...her heart.

I like the name Raquel that you've given your heroine. She is described as an emotionally fragile woman. What has happened in her past to make her that way?

She married a man ten years prior who acted violently toward her, so she learned to tread carefully around people so she wouldn't provoke wrath in others. She has trust issues as well from her father leaving her and her sister as young girls, pluse she felt like a plain woman next to her gorgeous sister who always attracted more attention from men.

Many individuals (women, men, children) are victims of abuse. How do you deal with the subject in your book?

I show how even a decade after an abusive relationship ends the victim may continue to deal with the ramifications from that one negative relationship spilling over into another. There is always a bit of mistrust and waiting for things to fall apart. Normal anger takes on a different meaning, as well as typical male/female arguments, which seem more threatening. Everything is filtered through the "lens" resulting from abuse.

When readers encounter a character who is suffering from past experiences, they want to see someone who is going to be able to help that person cope with the past. How does your hero Scott help her do that?

Scott tries to see past her behavior to support whatever it is that is causing her pain. She doesn't tell him at first because she fears rejection. He just knows some bad things happened to her. As she slowly tells him about it over a period of time, he finds himself showing more and more empathy, not pity, for her situation. This causes her to grow stronger, and it helps their love to not only blossom, but deepen over time.

What do you want readers to take away from your story after reading When Love Collides?

That healing can occur no matter how damaged the heart is or how much trust was destroyed. If Christians loved like we are supposed to, more people would be open to a relationship with Christ, but it's so much easier for many people to point the finger and judge. It's sad, actually. Also I wanted readers to see that true love is not about doing things for each other or seeing yourself as valuable to another person, it's about a heart connection. Raquel had a hard time seeing herself as anything but a potential burden on Scott due to her debilitating symptoms. He showed her that no can love him like she did and that was what mattered most.

I like how you describe yourself as an author of Healing Hearts. How does this theme play out in all your books?

I always have situations where people are broken hearted for one reason or another. I like to show how healing can occur in many different forms, but the key to all healing is true Christian love. I write for the "walking wounded" if you will. At the end of every story is a theme that even if they could go back and take away all the pain, they wouldn't because it is often the very thing that brought them closer to God and to each other.

When Love Collides releases, where will readers be able to purchas it?

The best place to get it is directly from the publisher (who sells it in every format...mobi is for kindle and epub is for other ereaders.) That address is here. However, it will also be available on Amazon directly as well as Nook, Sony, Ibooks, and a number of other places that sell ebooks.

Although December is usually filled with much happiness, we know there are many people whose hearts are heavy this time of year. What Christmas message would you like to leave with our readers to let them know how their hearts can be healed?

The scripture that comes to mind is one that Jesus said in John Chapter 14. "Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

Thank you, Michelle, for those inspiring words from the Bible. I know our readers have enjoyed finding out more about your book today.

Michelle would like to give away a free copy of her book in pdf form. Leave a comment about a time when God healed your heart, and you could be the winner.

Have a Merry Christmas, dear friends.