Angel Beneath My Wheels by K.S. Moore

If you love romantic suspense, you’ll fall in love with Angel Beneath My Wheels by my guest, Kathryn Moore. I am not a NASCAR fan, but this book is just plain good fun to read–an uplifting, enjoyable experience. Leave a comment and sign in on the Rafflecopter for a chance to win an e-book copy! We would love to hear from you!

 

 

Fabulous Fridays

Welcome, Kathryn! Since Angel Beneath My Wheels is your debut novel, tell us a little about what you enjoy doing when you are not writing.

I love the outdoors: hiking, gardening, walking my dog, Bear, playing in the lake. And of course, I love to read. My favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks – his earlier works are the best – and Nora Roberts.

Can you tell us something that your readers might find surprising about you?

Secretly, I’d love to be an inventor!

I found Angel Beneath My Wheels to be a delightful romance, even though I am not a NASCAR fan. Tell us a little something about how you came up with the story.

I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Norma Gail. I think most readers enjoy learning a little something with everything they read. I know I do. You don’t need to be a NASCAR fan to love Angel Beneath My Wheels any more than you need to be a rodeo fan or art enthusiast to enjoy Nicholas Spark’s The Longest Ride. It’s only a setting but one I hope lent an exciting and informative backdrop for the plot.

You don’t need to be a NASCAR fan to love Angel Beneath My Wheels…

When I initially decided to start writing, it was to provide more family friendly stories for the movies. A few years ago, with two children entering their teens, my husband and I became frustrated by the lack of family appropriate films. Our children were too old for Disney and Pixar and they definitely weren’t ready—in our minds anyway—for PG-ratings. Sadly, we simply stopped going to the movies.

So when I sat down to decide what to write, I kept two things in mind. It had to be a story my whole family would enjoy and it had to be something that would make a great movie.

I decided on a love story because every good movie contains a great romance, but I wanted it to be one my husband would enjoy. So when my brother described an interesting film called Gas Hole, an eye-opening documentary that alleged a massive cover up by oil companies, it sounded like the makings of an intriguing story and one with a definite modern-day interest, given the volatility of gas prices. According to the documentary, “Big Oil” has been suppressing innovations in fuel efficiencies for years, even going so far as to murder at least one very bright young inventor who had the idea for an engine that ran on vapor.

Like many men, my husband and son are into cars. Coupled with my above-average-for-a-woman knowledge of engines, mechanics and chemistry in general, I came up with the idea of a young woman who, like me, grew up working on cars with her father. My husband and son love NASCAR too so I thought that would provide an exciting backdrop as well as tie in nicely with the idea of fuel efficiency.

Finally, above all, I wanted it to be wholesome and family friendly, with a subtle but meaningful message for young people. So my heroine is a young woman of faith who’s made a commitment to God to save her virtue for marriage. She wears a purity ring and the story explores how difficult it can be for a young woman to retain those ideals in our modern culture.

How much of yourself or your family did you write into your story?

Quite a bit, actually! My daughter, Rachel, was fourteen when I started writing the story and had recently attended a “Silver Ring Thing” sponsored event at a local church. And like I mentioned earlier, I actually grew up working on cars with my father and even helped my husband build a Cobra sports car while we dated.

Are you a full-time writer or do you hold a day job? What is the biggest challenge/obstacle you face in protecting your writing time?

I have a family and a full-time (and then some) job as a Business Operations Manager / Project Leader. A big part of my professional role is organizing, communicating and documenting—the same types of skills needed to write a novel. Go figure.

My biggest challenge is finding time to write. Most days I work through lunch. I’m not a morning person so getting up early is not an option. I do a lot on evenings and weekends but even that has been mostly marketing stuff lately, building my social media presence and getting my novel out there. Stephen King once said, “You can’t be an author and a writer at the same time.” So true!

How would you like to inspire your readers?

My stories are contemporary character driven tales of normal every-day people and the challenges we all face in real life: love, friendship, parenthood, morality, mortality, compassion and faith. My favorite novels are those that reach down deep, wrap up my whole heart and soul, make me laugh, and cry. And those are the types of stories I want to write. I want to touch people’s lives. I want my reader to feel better, be better, love better, because they read my words and took them to heart. I want to inspire, to comfort and to breathe faith and hope into anyone who may despair that they’re alone in this world.

I want my reader to feel better, be better, love better…

Some people have a problem with Christian romance because they feel it gives readers unrealistic expectations in real life, what would you say to them?

I like this question! First off, I’d agree with them. Most Christian romance is so over-the-top sappy and unrealistic, I feel patronized reading it. I want my stories to live in that middle ground where the characters are—above all—realistic. Some might be really good Christians, some not-so-good Christians and some not Christian at all. But beyond that, I want my stories to inspire, to reassure the reader that God made them the way they are, and there’s goodness in that because God doesn’t make mistakes. People do, but that’s why God forgives. There’s a natural beauty in that simple message which can be life changing.

What would you most like to accomplish that you have not done yet?

I’m still looking for a screenwriter for Angel Beneath My Wheels. By the way my working title for it was Fuel, which would make a great movie title, don’t you think? Watch for it…some day!

What can we expect from you in the future? Do you have more stories waiting to be told? 

So glad you asked, Norma. I actually have my second book finished and my agent sent it out a couple of months ago. We’re hoping a major publishing house will pick it up soon. It’s called Providence and it’s the story of an overworked Midwestern executive and a lonely modern-day rancher. It’s the best of The Notebook, The Vow and Bridges of Madison County, all rolled together and set amidst the raw splendor of the Colorado Rockies. Like The Notebook, there’s a story within a story. Like Bridges, there’s a forbidden attraction and like The Vow, it’s the story of a man’s determination to recapture a lost love.

Here’s the blurb:

Owner of one of the wildest and loneliest modern-day ranches west of the Rockies, M. Daniel McKennon, “Mac”, made a vow long ago never to fall for another flatlander. But when Ryan St. James, a Midwestern executive seeking a respite from a cheating husband and soul-crushing career, shows up on his mountain, Mac is torn between desire and honor. Thus begins the story of a friendship so deep it brings healing through faith and a love so enduring it may even have the power to turn tragedy into triumph.

Please share a favorite passage from Angel Beneath My Wheels with us.

Luke watched her fragile strength crumble. He struggled for words, while the silence that hung between them disappeared in the raindrops that crashed on the roof, like the tears that rolled off her cheeks splashed the concrete between her boots.

He slowly closed the distance between them, his heart aching as he peered at the heartrending tilt of her head. With a gentle fingertip, he lifted her face to look at him. She blinked as she glared, tears streaming down her cheeks, and it broke his heart clear through to know he caused them.

Book Blurb:

Beneath his playboy façade, young NASCAR driver Luke Brandt yearns for a family. Rachel Tate, an inventive, purity-ring-wearing mechanical engineer, is determined to prove herself in a male dominated industry. When Luke outbids Rachel on the only two muscle cars she could use to test her new vapor-fueled engine, she wants nothing to do with him. But Luke’s gentle ways and down home country charm just might win her over—if his painful past doesn’t push her away.

When she begins to touch his heart, he’s haunted by bitter memories of the only woman he’s ever loved—the mother who abandoned him as a little boy. With an intense trust that God will lead her on life’s journey, Rachel perseveres, her innocence and grace breach his defenses and his walls begin to crumble. As they join forces to bring her remarkable invention to market, their love, their very lives, are threatened by the iron-tight grip that “Big Oil” holds over the whole auto industry and Luke realizes his final happiness must come through faith, in the One who has always loved him… and always will.

About the author:

Kathryn Moore is a business operations manager who lives in Rockford, Michigan, with her husband, two children and a little Yorkie named Bear. A prolific reader, she’s always enjoyed the escape of a really good book and four years ago decided to try her hand at writing one of her own.

Through her writing, Moore strives is to bridge the gap between Christian literature and mainstream best sellers, to depict contemporary Christians in real-life stories of love, drama, action and adventure, to show (not tell!) what it means to live a Christ centered life in today’s culture, and to provide wholesome fodder for more family-friendly movies.

Inspired by great contemporary novelists Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts and Francine Rivers, K.S. Moore’s stories will both move you to tears and set your heartstrings shimmering with delight.

Her first book, Angel Beneath My Wheels, published by Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas, was released on February 29th, 2016. If you’d like to receive her monthly short stories called Touches, join her mailing list at www.KathrynSueMoore.com.

Connect with Kathryn:

Facebook Author Page: K.S. Moore – Author

Goodreads: K_S_Moore

Twitter: @KathrynSueMoore

Instagram: KathrynSueMoore

Book Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Angel-Beneath-My-Wheels-Moore/dp/1938499670/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/angel-beneath-my-wheels-k-s-moore/1123491009?ean=9781938499678

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