Danita Minnis

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jessica Rakus will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Josephine Grant lives a charmed life – a husband, three perfect children, strong bonds with family and friends in the small town where she’s lived her entire life. She’s the helper, the hostess, the one who always shows up. The person who can do it all.

Then the bus carrying her son’s basketball team crashes, and Jo’s husband and son are among the lives lost. Now she has a new identity. Widow. Single mother. Woman who lost everything. Grief begins to tear apart the place that’s always been her home. Infighting among friends. Gossip and rumors. Wounds that may never heal and bonds that just might.

Now Jo has to rebuild her life, but as the person who thinks of herself as the helper, asking others to help hold her together is impossible. Jo must learn to lean on others as she learns to stand on her own.

 

Author Interview: Jessica Rakus

1. How did you choose your genre? What made you write this book?

I think the genre chose me! I never sat down and thought to myself, “I’d like to write book club fiction” and then looked up the “rules.” I simply knew the story I wanted to tell. For this book, I was working through my own sadness and sense of unfairness of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018. In a lot of ways, I think I was trying to reassure myself that a happy (enough) ending was possible.

2. Writers write what they know, and must observe the world. Are you a first born, middle or last child and how does this shape your view of the world?

I’m a first born, but I’m not sure it’s made much of a difference. Maybe because my sister and I are super close in age (14 months apart), so I’m older but we hit milestones in quick succession or sometimes in the “wrong” order (for instance, she graduated college before I did). It’s interesting, thinking about siblings, I tend to write characters who are only children. I hope that doesn’t say anything about my relationship with my sister, haha.

3. Where is your favorite place to write?

In theory, I love to write outside. It’s just not practical – it’s almost always too hot outside where I live, or the sun is so bright I can’t see anything on my laptop screen, or a storm blows in out of nowhere. Instead, I mostly write while sitting at my desk in my home office, since that’s where I spend all my time (I work from home for my day job, and it’s easy to just swivel my chair over to my personal desk and switch to writer mode).

4. How do you feel about killing your darlings, and what do you do with the remains?

It’s so hard to delete! I actually call it out in my acknowledgments in Haven Strong that someone encouraged me to delete interstitial flashbacks. I loved the flashbacks! And now they live in their own Word document set aside so I can read them if I’d like, but my readers don’t have to sit through these moments that are quite lovely but slow down the story.

5. You are introduced to your favorite author. Who is it, and what is that one burning question you must ask them?

I’ve met a few of my beloved authors, which has been a dream. David Sedaris told me a dirty joke, and I was too awed to come back with my own. Patricia Cornwell signed a tourism brochure I happened to have in my bag at the signing. It feels like in the modern times of social media, anything I’d want to ask is out there these days. It’s almost not special anymore, when you can follow favorite authors online and hear their thoughts on random events or their new books.

6. Inquiring minds want to know…tell readers something about you that no one knows.

Oh, great question. I’m very much an open book – I’m chatty and sociable, and not good at remembering that not everyone needs to know my business haha.

7. You are stranded on a deserted island with only a back pack for company. What three items are in your survival pack?

Is it basic and terrible to say a satellite phone so I can get out of there? Despite years in the Girl Scouts and lots of camping experience, I would NOT do well being in an actual survival situation. I’ve joked many times with family and friends that if there’s a zombie apocalypse, I’d be done for in the first wave.

But I’d definitely want sunscreen in that bag too, and some way to purify water for drinking.

8. If you could have one super power in your existence, what would it be?

Healing powers, 100%. I think in a lot of ways I write stories of grief and loss because I can “fix it” and make everything better.

9. Favorite snack?

These days, I’m obsessed with Bubs, the viral Swedish candy one of my chronically online friends got me into. I really need to find a snack that ISN’T candy.

10. Indy 500 – Do you know how to get where you’re going or do you drive the speed limit?

At the risk of ending up on some sort of list, I almost never drive the speed limit haha. I’m in a season of life where I just can’t take the time to slow down for even a second, which isn’t great.

Read an Excerpt

I handed my husband his sneakers, shoes he should have been able to keep better track of, given how often he wore them. At least he didn’t leave them where I’d trip on them, like the kids did.

“Thanks, Jo, you’re a lifesaver.” He cupped my face with his free hand. My shoulders relaxed and I melted against him, forgetting all the things on my to do list. My eyes drifted shut as he kissed me, the lingering kiss we were rarely allowed, with three kids running around the house. Our daughters were spending a few hours with their grandparents, and our son was upstairs ignoring us. And even without the kids interrupting us, Steve’s cell phone pulled us apart, ringing incessantly from his pocket.

“Ignore it, Steve,” I murmured against his lips.

“It’s Reston, and we have to leave anyway.” He stepped away from me and answered the phone call before sitting down to tug on the sneakers, grubby with constant wear. “We’re on our way, I swear. Walking out the door as we speak.”

A lie. Despite multiple reminders we needed to leave, Matt was still in his room. Matt and Steve were due at school in ten minutes to catch the bus to this evening’s basketball game. And if the head coach was calling, we had to leave the house now.

About the Author:

Jessica Rakus is a debut novelist, after many, many years of writing practice. She currently lives in Louisiana, after living briefly in seven other states.

More information available at http://JessicaRakusBooks.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9QNWVDF/ref=sr_1_1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/haven-strong-jessica-rakus/1148809286