Interview with Author Kimberly Rae

Amazon bestselling author Kimberly Rae usually writes suspense about human trafficking. Her brand new book, "Blue Ridge Setup", published by Astraea Press, however, is a fun, lighthearted read set in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina.

About Kimberly ~

Amazon Bestselling author Kimberly Rae loves to help people fight human trafficking and live joyfully despite chronic illness. She has been published over 250 times and has work in 5 languages.

Rae has lived in Bangladesh, Uganda, Kosovo and Indonesia. She now lives in North Carolina at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband and two young children.

Rae's 3 books in her STOLEN SERIES on human trafficking (Stolen Woman, Stolen Child, Stolen Future) all are Amazon Bestsellers. She is currently working on a teen series on trafficking for teen girls (Book One, Capturing Jasmina, has been contracted by BJU Press/Journey Forth). Adult readers are also excited about the series, as it takes up where the STOLEN SERIES left off!

Video Trailer: http://youtu.be/MVkG6rdz1pc

Rae also has a new children's book, beautifully illustrated, for children who have a loved one in Heaven, titled, When I'm With Jesus.

She also has a series on chronic health problems. Rae has Addison's disease, hypoglycemia, asthma, scoliosis and a cyst on her brain. Though Rae could find deep books on chronic illness, she wanted a book that was funny and encouraging. When she could no find one, she started writing one! "I want my Sick & Tired series to give empathy, encouragement, and a little practical help," says Rae.

"When you've had health problems for years and years, you just want somebody to say 'It stinks, you're not alone, and here's a funny story to help you get through your day!' ":

Book One--Sick & Tired: Empathy, Encouragement, and Practical Help for those Suffering with Chronic Health Problems
Book Two--You're Sick, They're Not: Relationship Help for Chronic Sufferers and Those Who Love Them
Book Three--Why Doesn't God Fix It: Shining Eternal Light through the Darkness of Chronic Illness (Due for release 2014)
Book Four--Doctors, Nurses, and the ER--Oh My!

Laughter for the Sick & Tired--Special Addition

Video Trailer: http://youtu.be/FHRqAdj5zAM

Sign up at www.kimberlyrae.com to get updates on Kimberly's new releases and get exclusive special offers!
Twitter
Facebook
Blog 1
Blog 2
Pinterest

Disclosure: I am employed by Astraea Press. I am not being compensated for putting up this post. 

What is Blue Ridge Setup about?

At its heart, Blue Ridge Setup is a fun read about a young woman getting set up who doesn’t want to get set up. Kayla Madison moves in with her eccentric romance-novelist great aunt, who is determined she and Ryan Cummings would make great characters for her next novel, if only she can get them together! Poor Ryan has no idea what he’s getting into when he agrees to do a landscaping project for the great aunt, who intends to keep coming up with jobs for him to do until her plan works! And of course I love that it’s set in the Blue Ridge mountains, in my own town in fact!

Is the eccentric great aunt based on someone you know?

No, but I wish she was. She’s a riot—kind of what I’d imagine Anne of Green Gables would be like as a senior citizen. =)

Your main character starts having health problems and that plays a big part in your story. Why did you do that?

Most novels don’t have heroines with chronic health conditions. If there is a medical crisis in a book, it gets resolved so the main character can get back to her life as a healthy, productive individual.

As nice as that is, for many it is just not a reality. I was shocked to find out that nearly 1 out of every 2 people in our country has some type of chronic illness, and 96% of those are “invisible illnesses,” meaning the phrase I and others often hear, “But you don’t look sick!” (I hate when people tell me that! ~ Bea) As a person with chronic illness myself, I wanted to read a book with a character who didn’t get magically better, but who learned to live well despite and through her limitations. I wanted a book that said you don’t have to be healthy to have a happy ending.

Kayla’s disease is very rare. Did you have to do a lot of research?

None at all, well, not for her anyway. I have Addison’s disease myself. I thought about giving her something different but they say you should write what you know, so… 

Did you embellish a little with the health crisis to make it more dramatic?

The opposite, actually. That crisis in the book is from memory, not imagination, including the doctor asking, “Do you give permission for this surgery?” 

And me responding, “What happens if I don’t?” 

“You die,” he says. Cracked me up! Oh, and her joking with Ryan about the doctor saying sometimes a Central IV goes up instead of down actually happened to me, and the doctor told me he’d fix it tomorrow. Tomorrow! That was an interesting night. =) Goodness, that makes my life sounds interesting.

So did the falling-down-the-mountain-needing-a-shot incident happen to you as well?

Thankfully, no. That’s fiction. However, I have needed my husband to give me those shots on several occasions (poor man, he hates needles), once even on an airplane, which made a passing stewardess quite nervous! (Oh dear, the poor woman. ~ Bea)

Are any other parts of the story personal to you?

Like Kayla, health problems brought me home from the mission field and took away my sense of identity and significance. And it was one of the best things God ever did for me. I hated it, but I had to learn to stop looking for my worth in what I did. Now, I get to share with others that it is God who gives us worth, and it is not based at all on our level of activity or achievement. 

What do you hope readers get out of Blue Ridge Setup?

First, I hope they just enjoy the story. After that, I hope it blesses readers with the reminder that God loves them deeply. If they are in a place where it feels like He has taken away their biggest dreams, they should not despair. His dreams for them are better than anything they could dream for themselves.

Where can readers get Blue Ridge Setup?

You can find it on amazon: http://goo.gl/yLD3zQ . Right now it only has a few reviews. I’d love some more!

Find out more about Kimberly’s bestselling suspense series or her books on living joyfully with chronic illness, or contact her at www.kimberlyrae.com

********************************************************************** 

Blurb from the author:
 

Not him. Anybody but him.

When Kayla’s great-aunt Lavender, an eccentric romance novelist, invites Kayla to come live with her in the Blue Ridge Mountains for the summer, Kayla accepts. No one will know her there. No one will be disappointed in her failure.

A failure she had kept a secret until Ryan Cummings destroyed her dreams.

What Kayla does not know is that her aunt attends Ryan Cumming’s church and has decided Ryan and Kayla would make wonderful characters for her latest novel. Aunt Lavender hires Ryan to build additions to her property, making sure he will be around as long as Kayla is.

Neither Kayla nor Ryan have any desire to be set up. However, as Kayla battles feelings of worthlessness—started when health problems got her sent home from the mission field—a friendship grows and blossoms, one that may become a reflection of the perfect love, the love that casts out fear, that Kayla has always longed to know.

 

Publisher: Astraea Press
Genre: Romance, Inspirational
Format: ebook
Release Date: October 18, 2013
Buying Links:  Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Astraea Press | ARe*
* affiliate link; the blog receives a small commission for purchases made through this link.