About the Book

Author: Susan K. Beatty

Genre: Christian Woman’s Fiction

Release date: May 11, 2021

Fear strangles even the faithful sometimes.

Despite every attempt to be brave, fear has defined Olivia Stanford’s life: with each new foster home, when her adopted parents died leaving her all alone again, trusting and marrying her husband, Frank, and coping with his football injuries and career loss.

Without faith, fear only grows in the face of adversity.

When Frank becomes abusive, Olivia enters a terror-filled life in her upscale Southern California home. Common sense demands she dig deep for the courage to confront him–to demand change. Fear and confusion push back.

And just as courage finally blooms within her comes the terrifying diagnosis: breast cancer.

Some say courage is found at the intersection of faith and grit. How will Olivia manage to summon either in the midst of this new battle?

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About the Author

Susan K. Beatty is passionate about finding courage through faith and grit, particularly through the trials of breast cancer. Her daughter is a metastatic breast cancer “thriver” and has been an inspiration for her writing. Susan retired from a full-time job in 2017 and is now pursuing a novel-writing career. Her first novel, “Faces of Courage,” is in revision. Susan is the author of “An Introduction to Home Education” (AKA “California Homeschool Manual”), was the assistant director of the SoCal Christian Writers’ Conference and is the president of her local ACFW-OC Chapter. She is a professional writer/journalist. Susan is proof you can begin a fiction writing career after age seventy.

More from Susan

The words “You have breast cancer” can drop you to your knees. What’s worse is when those words are spoken to your thirty-one-year-old daughter. And worse yet when they are spoken to her more than once. My daughter Melanie has had three bouts with breast cancer, the second time classified her with stage IV metastatic breast cancer of which there is no cure. Over an eleven-year period, Melanie has undergone twelve surgeries, one removing two-thirds of her sternum to be replaced by a donor bone with titanium clamps.

Melanie’s courage during these battles inspired me to write about courage at the intersection of faith and grit. True-to-life stories follow characters through cancer and other issues confronting women today.

In Faces of Courage, I wanted to tell a story like Melanie’s but not exactly Melanie’s, a story nevertheless filled with growing courage. Melanie’s journey doesn’t include an abusive husband (Praise God!), but our terrorized heroine Olivia suffers from her husband’s mistreatment, confused by her misunderstanding of how God views her, and challenged by her lack of strong faith. Just as her courage matures and strengthen through these problems, she’s thrown by those knee-buckling words, “You have breast cancer.”

It is necessarily a gritty look at domestic abuse and the realities of dealing with cancer and its various treatments. I wanted to show Olivia’s growth as a wife, how she experienced the cancer, and how, with the help of faith and grit, her courage flourished.

In many ways, this novel is a tribute to women who fight these battles with bravery, even if that valor takes time to develop. I pray the reader, by witnessing another’s journey, is strengthened in her own battles.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, June 21

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 22

Texas Book-aholic, June 23

Inklings and notions, June 24

For Him and My Family, June 25

deb’s Book Review, June 26

Locks, Hooks and Books, June 27

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, June 28 (Author Interview)

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, June 28

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, June 29

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, June 30

Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama, July 1

cats in the cradle blog, July 1

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 2

Rebecca Tews, July 3

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, July 4

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Susan is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/10dbc/faces-of-courage-celebration-tour-giveaway

My Review

I have previously read and enjoyed Susan K Beatty’s Isobel's Mission of Courage. I was excited to have the opportunity to read her newest release Faces of Courage. I thought it was a pretty good read. I know many readers will be able to relate to Olivia. She has been through quite a bit throughout her life and has found herself broken. I had to keep reading to find out how she would be able to pull through it all. I enjoyed the faith element of it and I found that I was able to learn a little bit about myself. 

I am giving Faces of Courage five stars. I recommend it for readers who enjoy an inspiring, good, and clean fiction. I would love to read more by Susan K. Beatty in the future. 

I received a copy of Faces of Courage from the publisher. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.