Wish You Were Here

It’s Debut Day for my good friend and mentor Beth Vogt. Her first novel, Wish You Were Here, hits shelves today. I got to read this novel as it was being written. I got to kibitz on fun little details, brainstorm character arcs, and laugh and laugh some more at the antics of beleaguered heroine Allison Denman.

Over and over as I read this manuscript, I told Beth, “I can just see this.” From the very first page, a movie—starring Katherine Heigl no less—played in my head. Beth’s voice recalls favorite rom-coms like While You Were Sleeping and My Best Friend’s Wedding. Her writing is immediate and visceral and her dialog is spot on. Even the title seems tailor-made for the big screen. But don’t mistake the Sandra Bullock worthy storyline for a shallow chick flick. The more you read, the more you uncover Allison’s painful past and the secrets behind her need to control her own life.

Before I go any further, here’s a teaser to get you on the same page:

Allison Denman is supposed to get married in five days, but everything is all wrong. The huge wedding. The frothy dress. And the groom.

Still, kissing the groom’s brother, Daniel, in an unguarded moment is decidedly not the right thing to do. How could she have made such a mistake? It seems Allison’s life is nothing but mistakes at this point. Daniel’s adventures—chronicled through a collection of postcards—have always appealed to Allison’s well-hidden desire for something more. But how can betraying her fiancé’s trust lead to a true happily ever after?

Can Allison find her way out of this mess? Recognizing she doesn’t have all the answers won’t be easy because she’s used to being in control. To find her way again, she will have to believe that God has a plan for her—one outside her carefully defined comfort zone—and find the strength to let Him lead.

Let me put on my writer’s hat for just a moment and say that I was amazed at how Beth revealed Daniel’s character through his postcard notes to Allison. Talk about making every word do double the work. In Twitter-length sentences at the beginning of each chapter, Beth made Daniel live, breath, and holler, “Come have fun with me!”

Who could refuse?

I guarantee you will laugh along the way as Allison tries to figure out what to do with her life while pursued by a determined ex-fiancé, the inconveniently handsome and heroic Daniel, and the wedding dress that refused to die!

You can find Wish You Were Here at your local Christian bookstore or online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Christian Book Distributors