Dear Readers, let's be especially nice to Julie. Somehow, the app I use to sign people up for the
blog double-booked my guests last week and Julie got accidentally bumped. I do apologize and hope she gets lots of views and comments!
Introduce yourself—name, where you’re from, and something people notice when they meet you?
Thank you for having me! I’m Julie Arduini, Are-due-we-knee, and I live outside of Youngstown, Ohio with my husband and college-age daughter. I’m originally from Upstate NY, and that’s where I set my small-town romances with Christian surrender issues and chocolate mentions. When people meet me, they ask about my curly hair. It’s gray, but they ask about the curls every time.
Tell us about your book—title and back cover blurb.
Repairing Hearts, Book 2 in the Surrendering Hearts series.
What happens when a reality show creates a blight on sextuplet Ryan Hart’s life harsher than his dump of a home? Ryan, the independent, brooding second oldest of the Hart sextuplets, can’t enjoy the solitude he craves when he agrees to star on a reality show. The plan is to discover a project manager to renovate his hole of a property. The show reveals that it's more about Ryan’s dating life. Can he keep his guard up when everything around him is falling apart faster than the shingles on his roof?
BJ Wallace loves her quiet life in Wisconsin that she’s created far from her traumatic childhood. Everything changes when she learns she's competing on Repairing Ryan's Heart. As the show focuses more on Ryan than the house, BJ falls for him. Will she win the show and destroy Ryan with her secret, or sacrifice her heart to protect Ryan?
A small-town, reality show romance with family drama and a Christian thread of surrendering pride and anger.
Share one thing that you found difficult or challenging about writing this book?
The biggest challenge I had writing Repairing Hearts was that the plot revolves around a reality show. Sextuplet Ryan Hart bought a dump of a home that he can’t afford to repair. He enters the reality show arena thinking it will be home repair related and his troubles will be over. The “reality” is it’s a dating show to find his project manager for the repairs. This meant I had to research the genre. I haven’t watched the dating shows or much of any of them before writing Repairing Hearts. I met with a friend who knows the show well, and I started watching, ten years late, Dance Moms. As hard as it was to watch, I learned a lot and incorporated it into my writing.
Ask the blog reader a quirky question or two.
Do you watch any reality shows? Which ones?
Would you find being a sextuplet interesting or dreadful?
Share your social media links?
You can follow me across social media and book sites at https://linktr.ee/JulieArduini
Repairing Hearts Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Repairing-Hearts-Christian-Surrender-Surrendering-ebook/dp/B0CLCTD289/
Repairing Hearts Softcover: https://www.amazon.com/Repairing-Hearts-Surrendering-Julie-Arduini/dp/1733687653/
It is free for Kindle Unlimited.
Thank you, Julie, for sharing and I hope you all have a wonderful week!
I don't watch Tv. I'm sure it would be cool at first to be a sextuplet, but it would probably grow old fast!
I don't watch reality TV, but I often think the "special features" on dvds are a lot like those shows. I'm the oldest of 5 from a chaotic home, so sextuplets? No, thank you very much. Been there, done that (sorta).
Christina, thank you for letting me share. Blessings to you and your readers.
I do not watch reality shows. I am an only child. I would think it would be dreadful to be one of six. Thank you for the opportunity. God bless you. Have a wonderful week.
I don’t watch reality shows.
I think being a sextulet would be fascinating but also tough.