Andrea Boyd has always been a dreamer. Once her most awesome job of raising her wonderful children was over, she decided to take up the challenge of putting these dreams into words and sharing them with the rest of the world.
Each of Andrea Boyd's series represents a different genre but all fall into the category of romance. All offer an element of her own brand of humor. And all are a tribute to God.
Besides writing, she loves spending time with her family, quilting, going to car shows, and driving around in her 1968 Barracuda convertible.
Andrea lives with her husband, Tommy, and at least a couple of cats in York County, SC.
Letting an author share a list of random facts about themselves that readers might not know is one of my favorite blog posts. Here's Andrea's list!
Ten Things You May Not Know About Me by Andrea Boyd
1. The truth is I haven’t been a Boyd for over thirty years. Boyd is my maiden name. I use it as a way of honoring my parents.
2. When God called me to write I was in my forties. I had no idea or inclination to write before that. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else!
3. I would love to travel, but evidently it wasn’t meant to be. I have only left the South once in my life and that was a one week stay in Colorado. The difference between here and there—mind-blowing.
4. After reading that last one, this shouldn’t surprise you, but I have lived in the same county in South Carolina my entire life.
5. I wasn’t supposed to be able to have children. I started praying at the age of nine. God answered that prayer three times. Even with my last child, the doctors were shaking their heads, saying it shouldn’t be. God is the God of miracles.
6. I didn’t start reading for pleasure until I was twelve. And I’m ashamed to say that first book was Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. I was introduced to Janette Oke right after that and have been hooked on Christian Fiction since.
7. Everyone knows that I am into classic cars and that I own a 1968 Barracuda convertible, but you may not know that I did most of the work in restoring the car—including rebuilding the motor.
8. Jobs I have held: cashier, mill worker, bookkeeper, tax preparer, post master relief, garage manager, voting poll manager, truck driver, and author, plus odd and end jobs.
9. Only one of my characters has my (INTJ) personality type- Rian from Restoring Dermot. And only one of my personal experiences has made it into one of my books. In Love’s Redemption, the thing that happened to Izzy when she was twelve, happened to me. If you read the book and want to talk about it, feel free to contact me.
10. I’m the oldest in my family. My sister is only a year younger than me, but even at the age we are now, I still get to boss her around. Lol When I was first called to write, I told her, “I’m going to write a book, and you’re going to make the cover.” Her eyes got big, but she said okay. Neither one of us knew what we were doing, but with God’s help, together we have nine books behind us and counting.
Tragedy sent Holden Armstrong to the bottom of a liquor bottle. He spent a year there before coming to his senses and has been fighting the addiction since. But giving up alcohol is easier than forgiving the man who took his family away from him. And then there’s Izzy. She calls him every time she needs a designated driver. He’s happy to pick her up any time she needs a ride, but the alcohol causes her to cross the line every time. It’s obvious that she needs help, but he can’t be her solution. God is the only one who can fix Izzy Tanner, if only she’d let him.
Izzy Tanner does whatever she wants, says whatever she thinks, dates whomever she wishes. There is nothing wrong with her casual way of living—at least, that’s what she tries to convince herself and others. Only one man could tempt her into something more serious, but nothing will ever come of it. Holden Armstrong is too good for the likes of her. When a date goes terribly wrong, it changes everything. Unwanted memories from the past resurface, leaving her broken and ashamed. She begins to question her life and the choices she has made.
What will it take for Izzy to accept God’s calling?
Here's and excerpt from Love's Redemption:
Feeling like a zombie, it was all Izzy could do to keep at the menial task of rolling napkins around silverware. Sheba sat across the small worktable from her helping. Normally the job would go to someone else. She knew why Sheba offered to help. Izzy could easily read the worry in her every glance.
Izzy looked around the kitchen to make sure no one listened before speaking. “Does God ever talk to you?”
“Of course. Wouldn’t be much of a relationship if He didn’t. Sometimes it’s that still, small voice of conviction in my heart, and sometimes it’s through a verse from His Word.” Sheba stared at her. “Why? Has He been talkin’ to you?”
That still small voice had come in loud and clear to Izzy. She hadn’t been able to get it or her grandma’s hymn out of her head.
“Last night one of the hymns my grandma used to sing came to mind. It felt like…” She didn’t know how to finish. Like God was trying to comfort her? It had scared her worse than anything had in a long while. She now regretted turning to alcohol last night. What would have happened if she hadn’t?
“Did it feel like the words of the song were meant for you?”
Izzy nodded.
“I believe God can talk to you through song. He’s God, He can do whatever He wants.” Sheba looked up at her through her lashes as she rolled another napkin. “He ever talk to you before now?”
She took a deep breath. “I got saved when I was ten years old. I suppose He spoke to me then, but that was a long time ago. I burned that bridge after what happened.”
Sheba leaned forward and lowered her voice. “You mighta turned your back on God but He didn’t forget about you.”
Izzy slapped her hand down on the table. “Then why did He let it happen?” Great. She had captured the attention of those working in the kitchen around them. She covered her eyes with her hand.
“Child, look at me.” Sheba wrapped her hand around Izzy’s. “God didn’t cause this. According to the Bible, sin entered into this world through one man. That man was Adam. And it’s been ravaging this world ever since. You say you became a child of God’s when you were a child, well He takes care of his own. He’s been tryin’ to help you since that bad thing happened, been trying to heal you. But you’ve been running. It’s time to run back to him. You hear me?”
Izzy squeezed her hand and pushed a whisper through a throat choked with tears. “Yes, I believed as a child. So what? What about the things I’ve done since then? Trust me, God wants no part of me now.” Even as she said it, she knew it wasn’t true. He wouldn’t leave her alone. The pull to make things right kept growing stronger. And then last night… He had tried to send comfort when she didn’t deserve it—wasn’t even sure she wanted it.
Inspiration:
Let’s talk about Izzy Tanner.
I don’t know how it is for other authors, but I don’t plan out how things will go for my characters. For me, characters march through my mind telling me their own story. I first wrote Izzy into existence as Vivian Emerson’s sister in Irresistibly Yours. Right from the beginning, I knew there was something different about Izzy. She had the same parents, the same upbringing, so what caused her obvious brokenness?
Then she whispered it to me. My initial response—God, please no, I don’t want to write about that. Izzy’s story is not my story, but that thing that happened to her, it happened to me too. I won’t spoil the story, but it involves a #metoo #churchtoo situation. I had healed from the ordeal, but I avoided reading about it. I certainly never planned to write about it. But above everything God knows my heart. He knows my greatest desire is for his will to be done, not mine.
Right after this, every book I picked up had something to say about the subject. I knew what God was up to, so I powered through. There was a lack of hope and of healing in some of these stories. It became clear to me why God meant for me to write Izzy’s story.
And let me tell you, this wasn’t an easy story to write. I’ve never cried so much over a book, ever. There were some parts where God would give me the words and tell me, “Write it just like this.” He used this story to minister to me and my hope is it does the same for you.
Other books in The Walden Beach Series include:
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copy of Andrea Boyd's e-book, Love's Redemption. And don't forget to share the giveaway with your best reading buddy because the authors have decided to double the fun! When we announce the winner on Facebook, they can tag one friend and we will stock their TBR pile, also! Don'f forget to tell your friend to enter, too!
Tammy, it really is.
That is amazing God giving you children.