COTT {Clash of the Titles} February Release Champion!!

February Release Champion!!

Let's hear it for this week's clash winner, A WORTHY HEART! Way to go, Susan! 

Here's what her readers are saying:

A Worthy Heart by Susan Anne Mason is on the already at the top of my TBR!!

Love love love Susan Mason books! Can't wait for the next one!

Susan Anne Mason's historical fiction has well developed stories and fascinating characters. I hate it when they end! 

On top of the beautiful stories in Susan Anne Mason's Courage to Dream series, they are also some of the most intriguing and gorgeous book covers. I'm very excited to read the second book in this series.

As her readers know, there's so much more to this book than an intriguing blurb and a beautiful picture on the front. Let's peek behind the cover and learn a little more about it.

Susan, what was your inspiration for this book? 

I guess the loose inspiration was the biblical story of the prodigal son. Adam personifies the prodigal son who betrays his father with a life of sin and returns home with nothing, willing to work at the lowest job in the stables. Yet unlike the prodigal son in the Bible, Adam is not met with joy from his father, but rather anger and distrust — which puts a whole new spin on the story. And, of course, adds great conflict! 

Talk about the theme. What can readers hope to learn from reading this novel? 

I believe the theme is worthiness. Adam struggles with feelings of unworthiness because of his past mistakes. During his prison stay, the prison chaplain rekindles Adam’s faith and allows him to believe he is a worthy child of God. Even so, Adam’s main goal upon his release from prison is to prove his worthiness to his mother and father in order to earn back their respect. Once he meets Maggie, however, he longs to be worthy of her heart, a goal that seems impossible given all the obstacles in their way. 

Interested? Here's the full description:

The answer to Maggie Montgomery's dream of seeing America has arrived at just the right time. Not only will she be reunited with her beloved brother Rylan, but she'll finally be able to escape Neill Fitzgerald and his increasingly unwanted attentions. She's intent on never returning to Ireland, hoping to build her future in the land of opportunity and perhaps find the love of her life. 

While visiting Irish Meadows, she meets an intriguing man she thinks is a stable hand. Only when her brother demands she stay away from Adam O'Leary does she learn he's Rylan's brother-in-law, recently released from prison. Nonetheless, Maggie can't seem to make her stubborn heart conform to her brother's request.

Adam O'Leary has never felt worthy of his place in the family. Now a free man, Adam's only desire is to earn back his family's trust. Falling in love with the newly arrived Maggie, however, was never in his plans. Despite everyone's efforts to keep them apart, the two develop a bond it seems nothing can break--but they soon discover the past isn't easy to overcome.

ABOUT SUSAN: 

Susan Anne Mason describes her writing style as “romance sprinkled with faith.” She loves incorporating inspirational messages of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness into her characters’ journeys. A Worthy Heart is her second historical novel in the Courage to Dream series. Irish Meadows won the Fiction from the Heartland contest sponsored by the Mid-American Romance Authors chapter of RWA. 

Susan lives outside Toronto, Ontario, with her husband, two children, and two cats. She loves red wine and chocolate, is not partial to snow even though she’s Canadian, and is ecstatic on the rare occasions she has the house to herself. In addition to writing, Susan likes to research her family history on-line, and occasionally indulges in scrapbooking. Learn more about Susan and her books at www.susanannemason.com.

People can contact me through my website:
http://www.susanannemason.com/

Or my author page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/susan.anne.mason.333/