Romance
Date Published: 07-18-2023
Publisher: Creative James Media
She's a pastor’s daughter. He's a convicted killer. Forever may be out of reach when she falls in love with one of the dangerous ones.
Faith is more than just a word to Mia Anderson. It's the foundation of her life as a pastor’s daughter. At home in her church and at peace with her beliefs, she decides to participate in a program to send letters to inmates regardless of what sins they may have committed.
Gabriel Myers is a convicted criminal, serving life in prison for his father’s murder. Facing a hopeless future and haunted by a past that has left him full of contempt for God and the church, he wants nothing to do with Mia until she proves she can understand the man everyone believes is a monster.
With each letter that's exchanged, Mia becomes more aware that although Gabriel has never has never denied his crime, there is more to the story than the jury was allowed to hear. As reluctant friendship turns to seemingly ill-fated love, she knows she must convince him to appeal the verdict.
Dealing with the Texas justice system is a long shot, but the only chance they have to finally be together outside the walls of Gabriel's prison. Winning his freedom will give them a chance at happiness but can they finally find bliss in each other's arms or will the challenges they face and their divergent beliefs destroy their love for good?
Interview with Ashley Hawthorne
How many books have you written and which is your favorite?
I’ve written three so far, although Deliver Me is the first of them to be published. I don’t know if I could choose a favorite, that feels a bit like having to choose a favorite child, but I do think Deliver Me is unique in a way because it is the first. This is my first experience as an author and also the first time I’ve been able to fall in love with a world and a set of characters and then share that with readers. It’s very exciting!
If you’re planning a sequel, can you share a tiny bit about your plans for it?
There are no plans for a sequel for this book. Deliver Me covers a lot of ground for these characters and hopefully leaves the readers feeling incredibly satisfied with their journey.
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
My first two books, Deliver Me and Death Sentence, stand alone, but Undercurrents, my third book, is part of a duology. I intended to keep each book entirely separate but one of the side romances in Undercurrents got away from me and I realized they needed a book of their own.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
A lot of brainstorming went into the title for Deliver Me. Ultimately this was my favorite out of the many options because it’s a play on words that works well for the main themes and tropes of the book.
How long did it take you to write this book?
It took me about a year to write the book. I knew when I started it that I wanted to aim for publishing as the final result, so I took a lot of time to work through it and make it the best I possibly could.
What does the title mean?
The book is epistolary and has religious elements with the main character being a pastor’s daughter. Deliver me is a play on the dual use of the word ‘deliver’, as in the delivery of letters paired with the religious concept of deliverance as salvation.
What did you learn when writing the book?
I did a lot of research for the book, most of it centered around prison and the justice system. I think most people would be shocked if they really understood how unfair the system is and how little attention is put into real justice instead of punishment for the sake of it. The statistics are incredibly bleak, especially for those who are poor or marginalized.
What surprised you the most?
I was very surprised at how cruel the justice system is to the poor. Everything inside is very expensive, from the stuff in the commissary to the phone calls to keep in touch with loved ones. People are assigned to prisons with no consideration of how far they are placed from their loved ones, which can make visitation expensive and impossible.
In some states, prisoners can be forced to work with little to no financial compensation, and in Texas, they have a very limited time to file appeals after conviction and no access to state defenders to do so. They have to hire a lawyer with their own funds to appeal at all.
We are taught that justice is supposed to be fair, that it’s blind, but the system was just not designed that way. Access to public defenders, often overworked and underpaid, is just not enough. It’s brutal to the poor.
Have you ever killed off a character your readers loved?
Not yet! Character death in Deliver Me takes place off page and in the past, so there’s not really a chance to feel any actual grief for the character that dies. My second book, Death Sentence, is a bit of a murder mystery, and the character that is killed is someone the readers have a chance to get to know first. I’m a little nervous about how people will react to that, but I think it’s kind of a rite of passage for authors to do something they know is probably going to break the readers’ hearts a bit.
What do you do to get inside your character’s heads?
I really need them to feel like a real person, so I start with whatever little piece inspired me and build up a character around it. I have Pinterest boards dedicated to them, where I put in anything that seems to match their vibe, and then a full character sheet about their backstory and personal habits, etc. I can’t really get into a story until I know what makes them happy, what makes them, what goals they have and why they’re afraid to do what the story is asking them to do.
About the Author
Ashley Hawthorne is a contemporary romance author, avid reader of many genres, and shameless nerd. She's a lifetime fan of The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and has spent nearly as long reading through every book in the romance section of the library. Now, she writes stories that examine what love means to us, how far we'll go to get it, and what we're willing to give up to keep it. She lives in Texas with her husband, kids, and a house full of rescue pets.
Contact Links
Twitter: @ink_and_ashes
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