Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt Stop #29

UPDATE: The winners of my drawing have been notified via email. THANK YOU to everyone who joined the hunt, subscribed to my newsletter, and left a comment! Y'all are the BEST!!!

Many blessings, 

~Michelle

Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

• The hunt BEGINS on 6/15 at noon MST with Stop #1: Lisa Tawn Bergren's website. 
• Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
• There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 6/18 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
• Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

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Hi everyone! 

Welcome! I hope you're having FUN on the hunt!

I'm Michelle Shocklee. I'm a bit of a history nerd, which comes in handy since I write historical fiction.  One of my favorite things about writing fiction set many years ago is the excuse to read research books on all kinds of topics, like World War II and the Vietnam war (for the book I'm currently working on). My last three novels are historical split-time stories, so that means I got to research TWO different time periods for each novel! You can learn more about me and my books on my website, on my Facebook page, my Instagram page, and my Pinterest page for folks who enjoy looking through the pictures I use for inspiration as I write my books. 

Speaking of books, I'm quite anxious to share my latest, Appalachian Song, with all of you! It releases October 3, 2023, just in time for fall colors, bonfires, and hot cocoa. One of my favorite places on earth is the Great Smoky Mountains, so when I started thinking about a setting I would enjoy reading about, the mountains began'a callin'! Here's a little blurb about the book:

Bertie Jenkins has spent forty years serving as a midwife for her community in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Out of all the mothers she’s tended, none affects her more than the young teenager who shows up on her doorstep, injured, afraid, and expecting, one warm June day in 1943. As Bertie and her four sisters tenderly nurture Songbird back to health, the bond between the childless midwife and the motherless teen grows strong. But soon Songbird is forced to make a heartbreaking decision that will tear this little family apart.

Thirty years later, the day after his father’s funeral, Walker Wylie is stunned to learn he was adopted as an infant. The famous country singer enlists the help of adoption advocate Reese Chandler in the hopes of learning why he was abandoned by his birth parents. With the only clue he has in hand, Walker and Reese head deep into the Appalachian Mountains to track down Bertie Jenkins, the midwife 

who holds the secrets to Walker’s past.

For fans of historical and Southern fiction comes a poignant story of love and sacrifice 

set in the heart of Appalachia.

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COME WITH ME TO THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS....

Great Smoky Mountains; nps.gov

The Great Smoky Mountains have been home to Native American tribes as well as white European settlers for hundreds of years. In the 1800s, logging became a large industry in the area, but by the early 20th century, people began to realize that clearcutting--the logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down--was destroying the forest's natural beauty. 

A woman by the name of Ann Davis is credited for suggesting a National Park in the Smokies. She and her husband Willis returned from a trip visiting several Western national parks in 1923 and determined they needed a national park closer to home. This started discussion of the idea with leaders in the area, especially around Knoxville. Sounds like an idea everyone would love, right?

Wrong.

Gregg-Cable house in Cades Cove; nps.gov

There was a lot of opposition to overcome. There was also the issue of money. (Isn't that always the case?) However, the idea soon took root and was championed by prominent people in Tennessee and North Carolina. The group began raising private funds to help the cash-strapped National Park Service acquire land. John D. Rockefeller even contributed $5 million, with the US government adding $2 million. Congress finally authorized the project in 1926. 

I snapped this pic of my little red VW Bug at 
the Walker Sisters cabin! A red VW Bug is 
what my heroine drives when she visits a 
cabin very much like this one!

Purchasing the land, however, proved difficult, even with the money in hand. Some 6,000 small farms, large tracts, and other miscellaneous parcels had to be surveyed, appraised, dickered over and sometimes condemned in court. The timber and paper companies had valuable equipment and standing inventory, which required compensation. Some mountain homesteaders, like the Walker Sisters who inspired the characters of Bertie and her sisters in my book, were given lifetime leases to remain on their property, although they couldn't hunt, log, or farm on it. Everyone else was evicted. 

Today, the park occupies 522,419 acres of gorgeous, well-preserved land in two states--Tennessee and North Carolina. It boasts two visitors' centers, miles and miles of hiking trails, historical buildings, waterfalls, lakes, and recreation areas. The well-maintained roads take you through some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen, especially during the fall. 

Great Smoky Mountains; nps.gov

If you've never been to the Great Smoky Mountains, I encourage you to plan a trip soon. In the meantime, you can preorder a copy of Appalachian Song and travel there vicariously with some of my favorite characters as soon as the book releases October 3, 2023! 

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Here’s Your Critical Stop #29 Info:

If you’re interested, you can preorder Appalachian Song on Amazon,

Barnes & Noble, Tyndale or at your local bookstore! 

Clue to Write Down: Let's READ! 

Link to Stop #30, the LAST Stop on the Loop: GRAND PRIZE ENTRY!

BUT...before you go, I'm giving away THREE paperback copies of Appalachian Song 

as soon as it is available. To be included in the giveaway, all you have to do is sign up for my 

e-NEWSLETTER at the TOP RIGHT corner of this page! 

If you're already a subscriber, you're already entered!

For an EXTRA entry, after you sign up for the newsletter, leave me a comment 

and tell me if your favorite vacation is:

A. Going to the mountains!

B. Going to the beach.

C. Neither. I'd rather go to  ____________. 

I'll draw the winners on June 20, 2023. (US only, please.)