Please join me in welcoming author Sara Beth Williams back to the blog today to chat about her new contemporary romance, Yesterday Now and Always! I’ve featured Sara Beth several times but realized I’d never hosted her in a Q&A so we are correcting that oversight today!
Sara Beth Williams is a published author of Contemporary Christian romance, an ACFW and CIPA member and freelance writer. She has a background in freelance publicity, blog managing, newspaper journalism and ten years in the field of education. Two of her three novels have been nominated for a Selah Award – A Worthy Heart (2020) and Anchor My Heart (2022). She lives in Northern California with her husband and two daughters. When she’s not held hostage by the keyboard, she enjoys playing guitar, reading, gardening, and spending time with her family. Find out more atsarabethwilliams.com
YESTERDAY NOW AND ALWAYS by Sara Beth Williams
SERIES: A Trinity Lakes Romance #12
GENRE: Contemporary Romance (Christian)
PUBLISHER: Independently Published
RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2024
PAGES: 278
He never expected to fall in love with her all over again.
After high school, Jake Monroe had the future all mapped out for him and high school sweetheart Audrey Wright. When Audrey is gifted a trip to New Zealand after her graduation and then spontaneously extends the trip from three months to twelve months, Jake is shattered.
From the age of six, Audrey Wright grew up in Trinity Lakes Washington as a dual NZ-US citizen. Adopted as a toddler, she’d never known her biological parents. During a whirlwind trip to New Zealand at eighteen to visit relatives, Audrey encounters a half-brother she never knew existed and makes the split decision to remain in New Zealand to rediscover the family she never dared to dream she’d find. But the cost of her spontaneous decision may be much higher than she realizes.
Eight years later, Jake returns to Trinity Lakes to fulfill his childhood dream of owning his own restaurant. Encountering Audrey again throws a wrench into his carefully laid out plans and dredges up old attraction that should’ve died when she’d chosen New Zealand over him. Regardless, he’s drawn to her as he was years prior. But mending the past and overcoming the anger and bitterness will take a miracle.
A small town, second chance high school sweethearts’ reunion, contemporary Christian Romance, part of the Trinity Lakes Romance series.
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Other Books by Sara Beth Williams in this Series
Hi Sara Beth! Welcome back to the blog!
Sara Beth: I enjoy Netflix and have had it for 15+ years. It has a lot of older movies and series I grew up watching, plus new movies and series that pop up. Our whole family enjoys it.
Carrie: that’s a definite advantage to Netflix – something for everyone
Sara Beth: I always say Writing and Music are my 2 biggest passions. I cannot concentrate on audiobooks. But I have been getting into podcasts more lately.
Carrie: I can’t concentrate on audiobooks either… and the only way I can listen to podcast is if I’m in the car going somewhere
Sara Beth: I really just love the ocean. Even though I grew up traveling in the mountains frequently. For a long time most people assumed that’s what I liked – but the ocean is amazing.
Carrie: the ocean is pretty amazing – so majestic and peaceful at the same time (but i prefer the mountains haha)
Sara Beth: Ebooks all the way. Difficult to read print books for me these days.
Carrie: same!
Q: Around here I like to say that reading is my superpower. If YOU had a superpower, what would it be?
Sara Beth: I would really love super-hearing or super-sight, as long as I had the ability to control the powers, like adjusting and turning on and off.
Carrie: yes, i think those controls would be important haha
Q: If you knew you were only going to be allowed FIVE books for the rest of your life, besides the Bible, which five would make the cut?
Sara Beth: The Count of Monte Cristo, The Shoemaker’s Wife, David and Bathsheba, The Princess Bride, and probably one of my own, whichever one is most recently released.
Carrie: i love that The Princess Bride is on your list!
Q: Writing spaces are as diverse as authors and books. Where is your favorite space to write?
Sara Beth: I like to write somewhere sunny and really quiet. But inside because the sun glares on my computer screen. Coffee shops are nice, not super quiet but still a good place to break up the day. Recently my favorite place to get out of the house and write is a local library that has lots of study tables and 2-story-tall windows. It’s large, sunny, relatively quiet and they have outlets and stable internet access.
Carrie: oh that sounds lovely
Q: Were there any songs that inspired you as you wrote Yesterday Now and Always?
Sara Beth: YES. I heard a song last year called Always by Chris Tomlin. I fell in love with it, and there are lyrics in the chorus that say, “Yesterday, now and always.” The song talks about how faithful God is always. So my author friend and I were messing around with book cover mock ups and trying to come up with different titles, and I had her put those lyrics on a mock-up cover. I absolutely loved it and said – “That’s my next title.” And hooray, the title and story are almost here!
Carrie: Yay!!!
Q: Did you have the whole plot outlined before you started writing Yesterday Now and Always, or did you let the characters dictate what came next?
Sara Beth: I don’t typically outline an entire novel – but as of 2021, I have been outlining a whole lot more than I did in years prior. As I was writing the first in this series, No Matter How Far, Jake kind of came up organically as the brother of my main heroine, Jocelyn, and the more I wrote, the more I needed a reason for him to be gone from Trinity Lakes, as well as a reason for him to be back, and so I began developing his story while I wrote the first book. Then later, I sat down and kind of just wrote the rest. The harder part was coming up with a female counterpart for him 😊
Carrie: i love that he just kinda barreled his way into the plot lol
Q:What is something God taught you while you wrote Yesterday Now and Always?
Sara Beth: As I sat finalizing Jake’s story in April, while going over one of the pivotal scenes in the last ¼ of the story (for the 100th time), I began to realize who this story is for. Me.
Throughout the story, the hero, Jake, struggles hard with loneliness.
Loneliness has become an epidemic in our current generation. You would think not, because we have the ability to connect with more people in more ways than ever before in history. But I assure you, the advent and perpetuating use of technology has only increased the level of busyness in our lives ten-fold, which makes meeting with people less and less of a priority. The older we become, the more we experience death, divorce, and broken relationships.
But God, rich in mercy, restores all things, and can repair, and renew and refresh. We are not meant to be alone, and God knows that. I think I need a lot of reminding of that myself, and a lot of reminding to trust, and to pray.
Carrie: amen – so very true ♥
Sara Beth Williams is offering a print copy of No Matter How Far to one of my readers just in time for the release of Yesterday Now and Always on June 25! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.
What about you? What makes you want to read Yesterday Now and Always by Sara Beth Williams?
