The Edge of Grace Virtual Book Publicity Tour September 2011

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Join Christa Allan, author of the contemporary fiction novel, The Edge of Grace (Abingdon Press), as she virtually tours the blogosphere September 5 – 30 2011 on her second virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!

About Christa Allan

A true Southern woman who knows that any cook worth her gumbo always starts with a roux and who never wears white after Labor Day, The Edge of Grace is Christa’s second novel. Her debut women’s fiction, Walking on Broken Glass, released in February from Abingdon Press. She is under contract for three more novels that will release in 2012 and 2013. She has been teaching high school English for over twenty years, earning her National Board Certification in 2007. The mother of five adult children and the totally smitten Grammy of two granddaughters, Christa and her veterinarian husband, Ken, live in Abita Springs, Louisiana.

Visit her website at www.christaallan.com.

You can connect with Christa at Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ChristaAllan.Author.

About The Edge of Grace

When Caryn Becker answers the telephone on most Saturday morning, it’s generally not a prelude to disaster. Except this time, her brother David’s call shifts her universe. Her emotional reserves are already depleted being a single parent to six-year-old Ben after the unexpected death of her husband Harrison. But when David is the target of a brutal hate crime, Caryn has to decide what she’s willing to risk, including revealing her own secrets, to help her brother. A family ultimately explores the struggle of acceptance, the grace of forgiveness, and moving from prejudice to love others as they are, not as we’d like them to be.

Here’s what critics are saying about The Edge of Grace!

Forgiveness, acceptance, and family ties figure prominently in Allan’s second novel. She does not avoid tough subjects (her Walking on Broken Glass deals with alcoholism). Widow Caryn Becker is having a hard time raising her young son while getting her new business off the ground. When her brother David tells her he is gay, she is unable to cope and rejects the one person she has been able to count on. When her brother is attacked, his partner, Max, asks Caryn for help standing up against the attacker. Reluctantly, she agrees. Throughout the trial, Caryn comes to accept David and finds the grace to stand up for what is right. VERDICT This sophomore effort deals with a difficult subject for many Christians with sensitivity and grace, exploring Caryn’s feelings honestly while never shirking from the issue of justice and forgiveness. It is difficult to find a comparative CF novel, but readers who believe in a more forgiving and accepting God are sure to enjoy it.

— Library Journal

A beautifully written book, The Edge of Grace is a powerful story of the true meaning of grace and love. Nobody spins words like Christa Allan, with her ability to speak directly to the challenges in our hearts with prose that both hits the reader in the gut and inspires smiles. A brilliant mix of dark and light, laughs and gravity, The Edge of Grace is a must read.

–Jenny B. Jones, award-winning author of Save the Date and A Charmed Life series

Christa Allan’s sophomore book, The Edge of Grace, is a powerful work of art, delving into waters not often stirred in fiction. It made me squirm and it challenged me to consider how I offered grace. The only thing it did not do was leave me unchanged. Novel Journey and I give The Edge of Grace our highest recommendation: a 5 star must read.

— Ane Mulligan, editor Novel Journey

Christa Allan writes my kind of fiction – real, vulnerable, and unpredictable. In The Edge of Grace Caryn Becker is already juggling more than enough challenges as a widow, single mom and new business owner. When her brother David announces he’s gay, she distances herself from him, not knowing how to process his unexpected announcement.

I love the way these characters get in the mud of life and try to respond in a way that pleases God when that way is not so clear. Caryn grapples with wit and honesty the question of how to love her brother, even when his choices aren’t ones she understands or ones which make her comfortable. We discover along with Caryn how God’s grace covers messy relationships, which rarely have easy or predictable answers.

I will be telling my friends to read The Edge of Grace, as Christa Allan brings to Christian fiction a unique, courageous, and needed voice.

— Melanie Chitwood, author of What a Husband Needs from His Wife and What a Wife Needs from Her Husband; and writer for Proverbs 31 Ministries

Book Excerpt:

The last two words I said to my brother David that Saturday were “oh” and “no,” and not in the same sentence–though they should have been.On an otherwise ordinary, cartoon-filled morning, my son Ben sat at the kitchen table spiraling a limp bacon slice around his finger. His last ditch effort to forestall doing his chores. I was having a domestic bonding experience with the vacuum cleaner. My last ditch effort to forestall the house being over- taken by microscopic bugs, dead skin, and petrified crumbs. I’d just summoned the courage to attempt a pre-emptive strike on the intruders under the sofa cushions when the phone rang.
I walked into the kitchen, gave Ben the “don’t you dare touch that phone with your greasy bacon hands” stare, and grabbed the handset.

It was David. “I wanted you to hear this from me,” he said. An all-too familiar sensation–that breath-sucking, plum- meting roller coaster feeling–I’m thinking he’s been fired, in a car wreck, diagnosed with cancer, six months to live . . . But, no, it wasn’t as simple as that.He told me he was leaving in a few days for a vacation. With a man. Leaving with a man. Crossing state lines from Louisiana to Mexico to share sun, sand, and sheets with a per- son of the same sex.

My universe shifted.

He came out of the closet, and I went into it. For perhaps only the second time in my life, I was mute. Not even sputter- ing, not even spewing senseless syllables. Speechless.

“Caryn, are you still there?”

No. I’m not still here. I’m miles away and I’m stomping my feet and holding my breath in front of the God Who Makes All Monsters Disappear.

I think I hear God. He’s telling me I’m the monster.

Wisps of sounds. They belonged to David. “Did you hear what I said? That I’m going away?”

I hung up. I didn’t ask “Why?” because he’d tell me the truth my heart already knew.

“What did Uncle David want?” Ben asked.

I spun around and made eye contact with my unsuspecting innocent. “Get that bacon off your finger right now, mister. Wash your hands, and go do whatever it is you’re supposed to be doing.”

He shoved the bacon in his mouth, his face the solemn reflection of my emotional slap. From the den television, the Nickelodeon Gummy Bears filled the stillness with their
“. . . bouncing here, there, and everrrrrywherre . . .” song. “And turn that television off on the way back to your
room.”

“Okay, Mom,” said Ben, his words a white flag of surrender as he left the room.

Now what? I decided to abandon the vacuuming. Really, was I supposed to fret about Multi-Grain Wheat Thin crumbs and popcorn seeds when my only sibling was leaving for Mexico with another man?

The Edge of Grace Book Publicity Tour Schedule

Monday, September 5

Book reviewed at Legacy of a Writer

Tuesday, September 6

Guest blogging at Book Reviews by Molly

“If I’d been more serious about writing a book years ago, I’d have a much cleaner house. No, not because I would have sold millions and been able to afford a full-time housekeeper. The good news/bad news is that I could have accomplished the turbo-clean without publication.”

Wednesday, September 7

Guest blogging at Literarily Speaking

“If I’d been more serious about writing a book years ago, I’d have a much cleaner house. No, not because I would have sold millions and been able to afford a full-time housekeeper. The good news/bad news is that I could have accomplished the turbo-clean without publication.”

Thursday, September 8

Book reviewed at By the Book

“I think The Edge of Grace is perfect for a book discussion group. It promises a deep discussion of what it means to love one another, even when that other is walking a path we don’t understand or approve of. And the question of whether one can be Christian and gay, may be replaced with can someone be a Christian and _____ (you’ll have to fill in the blank).”

Friday, September 9

Book reviewed at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews

“”The Edge of Grace” is a beautifully written, emotional-filled novel that addressed the subject with frankness and objectivity, but also includes many moments of sunshine and laughter. Allan does a wonderful job of handling this very personal topic, and readers will come away from reading this novel with a renewed sense of hope for mankind and a renewed sense of faith.”

Tuesday, September 13

Guest blogging at Back Seat Writer

“If I’d been more serious about writing a book years ago, I’d have a much cleaner house. No, not because I would have sold millions and been able to afford a full-time housekeeper. The good news/bad news is that I could have accomplished the turbo-clean without publication….”

Wednesday, September 14

Book review & book giveaway at Life in Review

“I very highly recommend this book! I became an instant fan of Christa Allan after reading her first book, Walking On Broken Glass. This story is beautifully written, and it is so very realistic. The story will pull you in right from the very start, and the author really makes you care about the characters. You feel the emotions of the story. I really became attached to this little family and when it was over, I didn’t want it to end. I am definitely still a Christa Allan fan and look forward to more books from her in the future!”

Thursday, September 15

Book spotlighted at Book Marketing Buzz

“He came out of the closet, and I went into it. For perhaps only the second time in my life, I was mute. Not even sputter- ing, not even spewing senseless syllables. Speechless….”

Friday, September 16

Book review & book giveaway at A Cozy Reader’s Corner Reviews

“I loved this book. Though controversial in nature, due to the topics discussed, Edge of Grace captivated me from the moment I picked it up. Ms. Allan has a wonderful writing style that engages the reader in a battle of emotion and understanding.”

Monday, September 19

Guest blogging at Mad Moose Mama

“Writing on deadline. Ouch. I feel like I’ve been invited to prom by the cutest hunk in school, but he’s waiting to see my dress before he’ll actually escort me into the ballroom. It’s tough, though, to go shopping for prom dresses in the supermarket and truly difficult if you insist you’re a size 2 when there’s a missing digit in that number.”

Wednesday, September 21

Book reviewed at Splashes of Joy

“I do recommend this book for all to read, and it would be great for a small study group or a book club because it would be helpful to talk about the book after you read it.”

Thursday, September 22

Book reviewed at From the TBR Pile

“First off I want to give a shout out to a home town girl. Christa Allan is from Abita Springs, Louisiana. That’s not too far from where I live in South Louisiana. I always like to see accurate references to my home state in books I read.”

Monday, September 26

Book review & giveaway at All I Ever Read

“Christa Allen tackles what is a very difficult topic with tact and sensitivity. The book did not leave me feeling like I was being preached to, but rather left me thinking about some of my own long standing beliefs and ideals.”

Tuesday, September 27

Guest blogging at Literarily Speaking

“So, is the choice being thin with an immaculate house and no book? Or lumpy with dust layers protecting the furniture and publication? Is that why book jackets rarely show full body photos of the writers? And how many writer’s cribs are featured on those house shows anyway?”

Wednesday, September 28

Book reviewed at Bluerose’s Heart

Thursday, September 29

Book reviewed at Celtic Lady’s Reviews

“I really enjoyed this novel and I could often sympathize with the all the characters. A novel of overcoming hate and prejudice and the gracefulness of forgiveness and love. I give it 5 stars!!!”

Interviewed at Blogcritics

“In the book I’m writing now, the ending chapters happened in a way I didn’t expect or even consider when I sketched them out. I’ve learned if I follow the characters, they will tell me where they (and I) need to be.”

Friday, September 30

Chat with Christa at Pump Up Your Book Live! September Authors on Tour Chat/Book Giveaway Party!

Christa Allan’s THE EDGE OF GRACE VIRTUAL BOOK PUBLICITY TOUR will officially begin on September 5 and end on September 30 ’11. Please contact Dorothy Thompson at thewriterslife(at)gmail.com if you are interested in hosting and/or reviewing his book or click here to use the form. Thank you!

UPDATE: THE EDGE OF GRACE TOUR IS NOW FULL. THANKS TO ALL PARTICIPATING BLOG HOSTS AND REVIEWERS FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN!

If you would like to book your own virtual book tour with us, click here to find out how!

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