About the Book

Book: Roxie Applesauce

Author: Tonya L. Matthews

Genre: Faith-based Christian Fiction

Release date: August, 2021

God takes broken pieces and brings them together for something amazing

Marcella Ciscal enjoyed few good days. The reason she knew she could live another day, the way she stayed sane, the friend who never left her side was Roxie Applesauce.

Homeless and beaten, Marcella awakens to the care of Haleya Kage who’s going through a difficult season—a demanding career, two teens, and her husband Thomas’s business a casualty of the 2009 economic downturn. Yet, with life unstable and the future unknown, it’s the unpredictable that propels His greater plan.

In a story of reconciliation, love, and legacy, we are reminded that life’s not always perfect or predictable, but God can make all things beautiful – in His time.

Life is full of scenes: some short, long, seemingly insignificant—others life-changing. Woven together, these scenes reveal a person’s heart. His or her life-story shared by a heart blessed, unforgettable. – the author.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Tonya grew up on a family farm in Riverside, Kentucky. Her father recognized early on that hoeing tobacco and running hogs weren’t in her skill set. He opted to send her to college. Graduating from Western Kentucky University with honors, Tonya went on to support the business community for two decades as an executive for the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce where she served a primary role in the organization’s multiple national honors.

Tonya has found writing to be a healthy escape and effective therapy in tough seasons throughout her life. Tonya began writing Treasure atop the Mountain 15 years ago when she and her husband were trying to start their family and encountered multiple disappointments. Ultimately, they signed up to be foster parents and adopted.

Tonya’s been married to Todd Matthews for 25 years. They have two grown daughters. In August 2019, she published Treasure atop the Mountain—a fiction novel based on real-life emotions that can be related to by many. Tonya’s second novel in the TREASURE series, Roxie Applesauce, released in August 2021. She’s currently writing the series’ third book, Get Will. Additionally, in 2022, she will debut the first two books in her children’s book series.

More from Tonya

THE STORY behind the story—Tonya L. Matthews

As many of you know, Todd and I adopted our two girls from foster care. I remember hugging Haley one night after a tough day (she was a handful…well, still is) with tears in my eyes. Tears of sadness in my heart for what had brought us both together and tears of hope that we could help each other move forward. Todd and I had experienced multiple failures at trying to have a baby, and she’d experienced failure after failure of what is best for a little girl who needs a stable home-life. Roxie Applesauce, published and release this month, is dedicated to her. Though little has gone as we’d planned, God was and is still in control. I often say, ‘God had her before we did; he’s still got her!’

Life’s road isn’t always fair, but along the way there are those undeniable, unexplainable occurrences where without question the only answer is that it had to be God. That’s the message of hope I needed when I wrote Roxie Applesauce (and still need today.)

I began writing as an outlet for my emotions years ago as nothing seemed to work. I sat down and started writing, not knowing that I could write a novel and not set on it as the end goal. My goal was to find something that would take my thoughts away from the never-ending cycle of worry, anger and confusion over why there was no baby when for so many it just happened so simply.

I enjoyed reading fiction with an inspiring message. I remember when I finished a good book, I’d hold it for a minute after I closed it and even sometimes say out loud, “Wow, that was good!” I’d think about it the next day and the characters in the book were more like people that I knew or wished I knew.

After I read several that didn’t deliver, and inspired by those that did, I thought…I’ll just write what I like to read. So, I sat down and started typing and then I just never quit on the book. In the background of a busy, busy life, it was always there. Then when I walked away from the Chamber to be a better mom to my teen girls, I yet again, needed an outlet for all the ‘I am not equipped to raise these two!’ emotions that followed. Slowly, keeping my family as priority for really the first time ever, I worked toward the publication of Treasure atop the Mountain. Since its release, I can say the greatest joy has been the people that I’ve met! We all struggle. The emotions are the same, though the circumstances may be different. We need to know that we are not alone. We need to know that God’s plan is at work, even through the difficult times. If you haven’t had a chance to read Treasure atop the Mountain yet—first in the series, I hope someone passes it along to you as part of God’s plan as the existence of these books is beyond me!

If you didn’t know, my daughters are named Haley and Aleya. Not biological sisters. Born to two birth mothers who don’t know each other. One named her daughter HALEY and the other named her daughter ALEYA. If you put their names together you have HALEYA. Put you hand over the A on the end and it’s Haley. Put your hand over the H and you have Aleya. I have to remind myself on the toughest of days as a mother of two now adult-age girls in this world full of lies and heartache that God does know what he’s doing, and I know that God’s hand is at work! So, I write the third novel in the series, Get Will, yet again, as a healthy escape for my mind that is often unrelenting when so much is out of our control.

Interview with Tonya

• Share something your readers wouldn’t know about you.

In February 2018, I packed up 20 years of my life as an executive for our local Chamber of Commerce, coming to the realization that rules and requests weren’t going to raise our teen girls. There had to be a relationship. Walking away from the Chamber wasn’t easy for me. It was an emotional step and leap of faith as the Chamber was a part of me. At church a few months after I was now a full-time mom and wife for the first time ever and realized what all there is to do for my family, these words came to me:  When you do something, do it well; but don’t do everything and call it good. Just like the Covey 4DX concept can benefit the workplace, it benefits in life. What is priority will progress. When too many priorities in life compete, there is pain instead of progress.

The next year was dedicated to my family. I am fortunate to be able to embrace this season of life. There was so much I wanted to do for my husband and the girls. My husband said it best when he said, ‘It’s just a better life.’ Slowly I started working on editing and publishing the book—Treasure atop the Mountain–that I’d written 15 years earlier before I’d adopted the girls from foster care. Then I began pulling pieces together of Roxie Applesauce that I’d worked on over the years as well. I wish life were a fairy tale and I could say, “And they lived happily ever after.” I don’t regret walking away from my career for my family. They’ve chosen their own path. God had them before we did. He still has them.

• What has been your favorite part of the publishing journey?

In a lot of ways, the entire writing and release of these novels is beyond me. I made good grades in school, but I wasn’t the student chosen to read his/her essay for the school. I write messy because honesty I’m a bad speller. I am not one of those people who want to read anything they can get their hands on. I was just at a time in my life where I needed an escape, and I started to write a book as an outlet for the emotions during that particular difficult time in life. When I take the time to read a book, I want it to be meaningful. So, I wrote a book like one that I want to read. Luckily, those who’ve read it have liked it. Book reviews are at haleyapublishing.com, amazon.com, and goodreads.com. The flower on the front cover of the book Treasure atop the Mountain is a photo I took in my back yard. The cover photo for Roxie Applesauce is in my back yard. It is fulfilling to have the vision and work with the people and entities to help make it happen. I started Haleya Publishing (haleyapublishing.com) just for fun as a self-publisher. Now I’m helping publish others. At nearly 80 years old Brenda Gentile had written nearly a hundred poems that she hadn’t shared with anyone. Within three months of meeting her, she’s now the first of soon to be several published authors through Haleya Publishing.

• Can you share with us something about the book that isn’t in the blurb?

Sure, on a bit of a personal note. It is dedicated to my daughter Haley. It is not her story but it is a story of a birth mother who reunites with her daughter. It was the way that in my mind I wished it would happen. Reality is a bit more complicated! Everyone in a brokenness is in pain. It’s a grasp for healing—everyone!

Just a bit about that road traveled as it created Roxie Applesauce in my heart and mind:

I remember hugging Haley one night after a tough day with tears in my eyes. Tears of sadness in my heart for what had brought us both together and tears of hope that we could help each other move forward. In many ways, we were two broken people God put together. Todd and I had experienced multiple failures at trying to have a baby, and she’d experienced failure after failure of what a home and family should be. Haley has been loved by all who’ve been a part of her life, though her road was not always smooth. It’s taken a village. I’ve said to her many times that God has had her since day one. Since Haley’s adoption and certainly through her teen years, there’s a based-on-a-true-story book to be written! Maybe someday we’ll do that together. We’ve held on to love, even when it didn’t feel like love at all. Even when she tried to push us away, we kept loving (along with the hurt.) And when we didn’t get it right as parents (somewhere—deep—inside her, along with the pain) there was still love. We still hang on. Nothing’s picture perfect. In fact, it’s in no why anything that we’d have anticipated. As parents we’ve been hurt to the core, been shocked and shocked again, felt like failures, cried out a hundred questions to God, and wished there was a ‘give up and walk away’ option more than once. Life’s road isn’t always fair, but along the way, thankfully, there are those undeniable, unexplainable occurrences where without question the only answer is that it had to be God. So in the hardest of times, I keep saying, “God is in this. Somewhere, God is still in this.” He doesn’t leave what He started. It’s not her story or anyone’s story. I’d started it years ago and it was there to run my emotions through as I grasped for hope (and still do!) in our complicated world. The book’s dedication says: To Haley Angelica Matthews. God has had you since day one! Oh how I’ve repeated this to myself so many times. Because He had her before we had her. And He has her now, when we don’t.

• What is the key theme and/or message in the book?

Life’s road isn’t always fair, but along the way there are those undeniable, unexplainable occurrences where without question the only answer is that it had to be God. That’s the message of hope I needed when I wrote Roxie Applesauce (and still need today.) To answer this question, the readers say it better than I can: Roxie Applesauce came to life for me, and I felt like I was in the middle of the story. * It has sweet romance, drama, and suspense. I cried twice from sheer joy and admiration for the characters’ resolution. * My heart breaks and smiles as I walk through life with these wonderful people. * It is a story of how God picks up the pieces in our lives and sews them into a beautiful tapestry. * I love the many characters whose lives interconnect and their stories develop with such ‘ah-ha’ moments. Wonderful ending!

• Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

Haleyapublishing.com, Goodreads, Amazon and on Facebook @haleyapublishing

• Any current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

If you didn’t know, my daughters are named Haley and Aleya. Not biological sisters. Born to two birth mothers who don’t know each other. One named her daughter HALEY and the other named her daughter ALEYA. If you put their names together you have HALEYA. Put you hand over the A on the end and it’s Haley. Put your hand over the H and you have Aleya. I have to remind myself on the toughest of days as a mother of two now adult-age girls in this world full of lies and heartache that God does know what he’s doing, and I know that God’s hand is at work! So, I write the third novel in the series, Get Will, yet again, as a healthy escape for my mind that is often unrelenting when so much is out of our control.

In addition, I have the mock-up of the children’s books mentioned in Roxie Applesauce ready to begin being formally designed. Those can be previewed at haleyapublishing.com and will launch in August 2022.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 9

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, March 10 (Author Interview)

Miriam Jacob, March 10

Texas Book-aholic, March 11

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 12

For Him and My Family, March 13

Inklings and notions, March 14

deb’s Book Review, March 15

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 16

Older & Smarter?, March 17

Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, March 18

Pause for Tales, March 18

Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, March 19

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, March 20

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 21

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 22

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Tonya is giving away the grand prize 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/1b8b4/roxie-applesauce-celebration-tour-giveaway