This book’s cover is just downright gorgeous! I love seeing Biblical fiction books where the story isn’t the Bible’s story (since I always know how those end! 🙂 But a story within that Bible narrative is always intriguing. Let’s see what Connilyn will tell us about it!

Egypt , 0-Everything BC , Biblical Events , slave , Based on Actual Characters or Events , slavery , Cossette-Connilyn

Counted with the Stars Sold into slavery by her father and forsaken by the man she was supposed to marry, young Egyptian Kiya must serve a mistress who takes pleasure in her humiliation. When terrifying plagues strike Egypt, Kiya is in the middle of it all. Choosing to flee with the Hebrews, Kiya finds herself reliant on a strange God and drawn to a man who despises her people. With everything she’s ever known swept away and now facing the trials of the desert, will she turn back toward Egypt or surrender her life and her future to Yahweh?

Connilyn’s Website

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Questions about Connilyn’s Story

What inspired your story?

Counted with the Stars was inspired by a study I was doing on my own into Exodus and the roots of my faith. I ran across the verse in Exodus 12:38 that said “a mixed multitude went up with them.” I thought to myself—who were these people that went with the Hebrews on the Exodus? I wondered whether some of them might be Egyptian and what would have inspired them to follow an invisible God into the wilderness when all they had ever known were the gods of Egypt? Kiya’s story began as a product of my own curiosity about the motivations by those we would call “Gentiles” who journeyed with the Hebrews.

What did you learn about yourself while writing this book?

One thing I never considered when I began to write a book was how much it would affect me personally. Due to a number of circumstances and the choice to be a stay-at-home-mom, I did not finish my teaching degree. I love being at home with my children and began homeschooling them when my son was in Kindergarten. But honestly, I had labeled myself “just a housewife” and figured that my family would be my only sphere of influence and ministry. But pursing the dream of being an author has changed my perspective on many things, not the least being that my dreams were not too big for God. I have found new confidence in myself and my God-given talents. I have opened myself up to new exciting ways that the Lord is leading me in developing a platform to minster to women. And I have discovered that although there were valleys that I walked as a young woman, God is using all my experiences and trials in my writing to speak truth and life into other people’s lives. And most of all, I have realized that God is using my writing to refine me spiritually, in ways I never could have predicted.

Which scene (give us the chapter) is your favorite, the one you never tired of working with? Give us a reason to look forward to it.

I would say that my favorite scene is in Chapter 19, when Kiya encounters the Hebrews on the night of Passover. This was one of the scenes I first envisioned when writing Counted with the Stars and was excited to explore just what it might have been like on the night that the Angel of Death snatched the lives of all the firstborn sons of Egypt. What dread the Hebrews must have felt as they sat huddled together in their homes, protected only by a smear of blood around their doorways, listening to the Egyptians keening their devastation into the night! It was especially interesting to write this well-known story from the POV of an Egyptian who could not grasp what was happening around her. Also this scene ties into my next book, Shadow of the Storm, in an interesting, albeit subtle, way!

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Questions about Connilyn’s Reading

	What Christian Historical Novel did you reread last, and why did you reread it? I just began rereading A Thorn in My Heart, by Liz Curtis Higgs, which is the first in a series that retell biblical stories set in Scotland. Liz is one of my favorite authors and these books are my favorites of hers and such a cool twist on Biblical fiction. She has a way of drawing the reader into the setting, history, and language cadence so completely that even on my third reading of A Thorn in My Heart, I am completely absorbed. And also, I am a just a sucker for anything Scottish.
	Which was the last Christian Historical Novel you read, and what was your favorite thing about it? The one I read most recently was The Reluctant Duchess by Roseanna White. I’ve been a fan of Roseanna’s for a long time, but the series she is writing for Bethany House is among her best. Her characters are so well-developed and the plot kept me flipping pages long into the night. And as I said before, I am a sucker for anything Scottish and she does an excellent job with the brogue, which is so tricky to write in a believable way without overwhelming the reader.
	What Christian Historical Novel in your To Be Read pile is begging you to make time to plop down with it right now? Oh! So many! But the most pressing is Sandra Byrd’s A Bride of a Distant Isle that just arrived in the mail the other day. It’s been calling my name from the nightstand. I loved Mist of Midnight, which is a beautifully written Gothic romance, and I am dying to read this new one. Once my book launches, I am digging in!

Connilyn is giving away a copy of her book and I’m giving away winner’s choice of ebook of any of the books mentioned above. Enter the Rafflecopter below!

**If you don’t want to enter Rafflecopter, tell me in a comment below: “I’m not entering the rafflecopter, but please throw me in the hat” so I can manually put you in there for a chance.**

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