Book Launch and Giveaway: A Love to Come Home To by Alicia G Ruggieri

Today I'm delighted to welcome author Alicia G Ruggieri back to Iola's Christian Reads. Alicia joined us last year to share her fifteen favourite authors (click here to read the post), and today I'm welcoming her back to share the news of her latest new release.

Alicia G. Ruggieri writes grace-filled, Christ-centered fiction, including the A Time of Grace Trilogy. She’s a graduate of Rhode Island College, where she studied Communications and History, and her adventures include children’s theatre direction, restaurant management, and small business ownership. Alicia and her husband live in coastal New England, where she may be found drinking far too much coffee and penning stories with her emotionally-disturbed second-hand pug by her side.

About A Love to Come Home To

Book Three in the A Time of Grace series

Hardened Ben Picoletti thought he’d turned his back on Depression-era Rhode Island years ago. Nothing remains there for him, except for haunting memories of an abusive childhood. Yet when a criminal accusation shatters his ambitions, Ben has nowhere to flee but back to his stepfather’s home.
There, he finds that redemption yet waits for him… but the sacrifice required to attain it may exceed the limits of his family’s hearts.

Meanwhile, his musical sister Grace continues her studies in New York. She longs to hear a word of affection from her high-school beau… yet only Paulie’s silence greets her. Grace must decide whether she wants to live in the past or move into an unknown future with unexpected love.
Lyrical and sensitive to the aching heart, A Love to Come Home To affirms that God delights in being a stronghold in times of trouble; that He renews His mercy every morning; and that He will work every bitter thing together for the good of His children.

Click here to buy A Love to Come Home To on Amazon

Click here to download a free Kindle copy of The Fragrance of Geraniums

(the first in the series)

Click here to buy book two, All Our Empty Places, on Amazon

You can find out more about Alicia at:

Website: http://www.aliciagruggieri.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AliciaGRuggieri

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AliciaRuggieri

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/AliciaGRuggieri

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/aliciagruggieri

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/aliciagruggieri

And you can enter the giveaway below! (US residents only - sorry!)

Giveaway: All Our Empty Place by Alicia G Ruggieri

THE BOOK:

All Our Empty Places - Book Two in the “A Time of Grace” trilogy – by Alicia G. Ruggieri

BACK COVER BLURB:

In 1935, when the bank calls in her mortgage, Sarah Picoletti – now a penniless widow – finds herself and her children on the brink of homelessness. Sick at heart, she plans to beg her brother in New Jersey to take her family in.

Then Doctor Samuel Giorgi knocks on her door. Godly and well-off, Sam seems to have put the careless ways of his youth behind him, and he also appears to have one desire: to make Sarah his wife, two decades after he broke their engagement.

However, nothing prepares Sarah for the storm that breaks once she makes her decision. Everywhere she turns, the errors of her former choices confront her, insisting on her inferiority and the irreparable brokenness of her past. Sarah begins to wonder if Christ really can bring true redemption or if He is limited by her frailty.

Meanwhile, her daughter Grace faces new challenges in her own life. When her relationship with Paulie changes unexpectedly, Grace realizes that she must make a decision with the potential to alter both of their futures.
Compassionate and intensely poignant, All Our Empty Places paints the portrait of a mother and daughter with broken pasts, who dare to step into a future overflowing with the grace of the Cross.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alicia G. Ruggieri writes Christ-centered fiction that speaks of redemption. She received her B.A. in Communications and History from Rhode Island College and lives with her husband and their emotionally-disturbed pug on the New England coast.

To learn more about Alicia and what she likes to read, visit our Friday Fifteen feature!

AUTHOR LINKS:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AliciaGRuggieri
Blog: http://www.abrighterdestiny.blogspot.com
Twitter: @aliciaruggieri
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/AliciaGRuggieri
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/aliciagruggieri

PURCHASE LINKS:

All Our Empty Places (A Time of Grace, Book 2) – http://amzn.com/B014JVJYCK
The Fragrance of Geraniums (A Time of Grace, Book 1) – ON SALE for $0.99 through October 31, 2015 – http://amzn.com/B00P4PB7W6

THE GIVEAWAY:

One winner will receive – a signed softcover of All Our Empty Places; a mug with 2 Corinthians 12:9 inscribed on it; Caramel Apple Biscotti; and Harvest Spice Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate mix. (Open to U.S. residents only due to shipping costs.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday Fifteen: Alicia G Ruggieri

Today I'd like to welcome author Alicia G Ruggieri to share fifteen books and authors who have influenced her life and writing. Welcome, Alicia!

This was difficult! How does one narrow down the most influential writers on their own writing and life to a list of fifteen? Here are fifteen of my favorite writers who have had the strongest impact on my own life and writing.

1. C.S. Lewis 

My mom reading aloud The Chronicles of Narnia is one of my earliest memories. Lewis’ down-to-earth, often-humorous, but utterly deep fiction and nonfiction has challenged and encouraged me each time I read him. His ‘Til We Have Faces makes it into my top three fiction books.

2. Oswald Chambers 

Not only does My Utmost for His Highest have a near-permanent spot on my bedside table, but his other works – I’m thinking of his study of the Book of Job, Baffled to Fight Better – have fortified my walk with Jesus Christ.

3. George MacDonald 

Can anyone write more realistic fantasy, more childlike novels about bonny Scotland, or sermons more passionate about the love of God? My sister first gave me a volume of MacDonald’s sermons when I was in high school, and I will be forever grateful that she did. It’s hard to choose a favorite among his writings, but I’d say Phantastes and Sir Gibbie rank very high.

4. Elisabeth Elliot 

A woman unafraid to stand for the truth and to place everything she had and was in the Lord’s hands. Her first husband’s quote sums up her life and writings: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

5. L.M. Montgomery 

Her The Story Girl and The Golden Road display a level of simple yet heart-rending beauty that I’d love to imitate in my own work.

6. E.B. White

Wilbur the pig, Templeton the rat, and Stuart Little show us that some of the deepest themes in the world can find their channel through the most common of characters.

7. Brother Yun 

The Heavenly Man has provided focus and widened my vision of what God does in and through those who stake their all in Him. I can’t recommend Yun highly enough.

8. Hannah Hurnard 

God used this Quaker’s little book Hearing Heart to soften my own heart toward true obedience and listening to Him, the real and personal God.

9. Janette Oke 

She was perhaps the first Christian novelist I ever read, and her gently insistent Seasons of the Heart series continues to encourage me toward writing about ordinary folk who have an extraordinary God.

10. Charles Dickens 

How could I leave him out? His characters make me weep, roar with laugher, and cry with indignation.

11. Ravi Zacharias 

His Great Conversations series has helped me more deeply understand how our Christian discipleship makes all the difference.

12. J.R.R. Tolkien 

The Lord of the Rings brings a remarkable level of layering and fictitious history that leaves me in awe.

13. John Bunyan 

Pilgrim’s Progress is a spiritual eye-opener. I cannot recommend any book more highly.

14. John G. Paton 

This missionary’s autobiography has done a great deal to cement my commitment to the Lord Jesus. My favorite story about him: When an elderly woman in a Scottish congregation protested his upcoming missions work in the New Hebrides, saying, “But Mr. Paton, you will be eaten by cannibals!” His reply? “Madam, you will be eaten by worms.”

15. Shakespeare 

Who can do tragedy so well? I re-read Hamlet every couple of years and find something fresh every time.

Thanks for having me, Iola! Readers, I hope that you find something new to explore in my list!

About Alicia G Ruggieri

Alicia G. Ruggieri writes Christ-centered fiction that speaks of redemption. She received her B.A. in Communications and History from Rhode Island College and lives with her husband and their emotionally-disturbed pug on the New England coast.

AUTHOR LINKS:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AliciaGRuggieri
Blog: http://www.abrighterdestiny.blogspot.com
Twitter: @aliciaruggieri
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/AliciaGRuggieri
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/aliciagruggieri

Alicia's second book releases on 29 September, and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. Click here!