Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for This Ain’t No Promised Land by Tina Shelton, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: This Ain’t No Promised Land
Author: Tina Shelton
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Release Date: March 19, 2024
Genre: Christian General Fiction
"With stellar storytelling skills, Tina Shelton reminds us that while love isn't always enough to erase the hurts, it's the only way to survive them. A powerful read!"
--Julie Cantrell, New York Times & USA Today best-selling author of Perennials
When her husband dies, Charlotte can't face the things she's done that could tear her family apart. So she drops a goodbye letter in the cookie jar and flees south to escape everything--her life, her three daughters, the mistakes she's made, and the secrets eating her alive.
Now Gracey and her sisters are alone on Chicago's South Side with nothing but their home and belongings. They're doing everything they can to stay together, but young teens aren't meant to parent themselves. Their close-knit Black community gathers around them to keep them fed and clothed with the utilities on, but that's not enough to fix the damage of abandonment.
Hundreds of miles away, Charlotte is struggling to keep her own head above water. She's made a close friend who talks to her about God in a way Charlotte's never heard before. But when her demons catch up to her, the shaky peace she tried to build shatters. Even if she's able to find the courage to embrace motherhood again, will it be enough to save the family she left behind?
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ChristianBook | Bookshop | BookBub
Excerpt
Sometimes the way Mom looked at us let us know she loved us, but her real thoughts were trapped inside her body and, in order to know what was really going on, we had to read, pick apart, and divvy up whatever her soul offered. We had to listen to her breathe, like the way she sighed deep at night with a sliver of a high-pitched hum. That let us know she was tired of trying to figure out whatever it was she was forever trying to figure out, but she was gonna stick with it anyway.
We had to watch her eyes, the way they lit up when she saw us walk through the door after school. We had to soak in the way she traced our hairline with her fingers when we were waking out of sleep; the touch of her thumb to our cool cheeks when we were crying. We had to watch which piece of baked chicken she’d give us at dinner and compare the sizes of our cake for dessert. We watched for her reaction to us when we stood next to her on the porch and watched the sun go down. If she smiled, she loved us; if she sighed and looked down the street, we were a nuisance. Having Mom around was like watching the sky in the spring. When she was okay, the sun shined and she made the world a happier place to live in, but when she wasn’t, it was overcast. But even with all that quietness of her soul and our gray days, we knew we were better off with her home than not.
Who knew emptiness could fill every nook in a space with such thick silence?
About the Author
Tina Shelton is registrar at Chicago Theological Seminary and a pastor in the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. She is also the mother of two young adults, and loves walking, working out, and traveling with her family. This is her first novel.
Connect with Tina by following her on Instagram @ts_walking
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will win a signed copy of This Ain't No Promised Land and several book-related goodies, including a friendship bracelet, a mini journal, a pen, and a prayer tin.
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight March 18, 2024 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on March 25, 2024. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
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