In Becca Kinzer’s laugh-out-loud Christian romantic comedy Not What We Pictured, a perfectly planned proposal goes hilariously wrong and strands a determined photographer at a charming Tennessee bed and breakfast, where unexpected romance, family healing, and a reminder of God’s treasured identity await.
Meet Becca Kinzer
Becca Kinzer lives in Springfield, Illinois, where she’s worked as an ICU nurse for over twenty years. After handling plenty of real-life stress and drama on the job, she pours her energy into writing lighthearted romantic comedies that bring laughter and heart to readers. A classic-movie lover, she weaves in subtle nods to old films and actors throughout her stories.
Fun Fact: I used to be a runner and completed a couple of marathons back in my twenties. Even though I don’t run anymore, the lessons in perseverance I learned on those long miles still shape and inspire my creative life every day.
About the Book: Not What We Pictured by Becca Kinzer
What happens when a well-meaning sister tries to create the perfect marriage proposal… and everything goes hilariously wrong?
McKenna Boston is feeling stuck. She’s spent years growing her photography skills only for her career to hit a wall. She’s ready to move on, and she will, just as soon as she helps her sister’s boyfriend stage the perfect proposal. But when her best-laid plans go awry and a handsome stranger accidentally ends up with the heirloom ring, McKenna hops on a flight to retrieve it. Piece of cake, right?
Nate Lambert was hoping to enjoy a relaxing summer before starting his new job as a literature professor, but he arrives in Tennessee to discover his mom’s bed and breakfast is struggling and there’s a long list of repairs to be tackled. The last thing he needs is a gorgeous, determined photographer searching for a ring he doesn’t have since the airline lost his luggage somewhere on his route from Nebraska.
With the ring nowhere to be found, all McKenna can do is wait and use the time to build her portfolio and plan her next career move. But she also can’t help getting swept up in Nate’s bed and breakfast renovations and in planning a community concert with the townsfolk. As both await news of Nate’s suitcase, it begins to seem their serendipitous meeting, and the proposal gone wrong, could actually be everything going right . . . and that this may be their chance at a love neither could have pictured.
If you’re craving Christian fiction that delivers big laughs alongside genuine heart, Not What We Pictured is pure delight. Becca Kinzer’s warm, witty voice makes you feel right at home in a story that celebrates God’s treasure in every person—no matter their background or past mistakes. This Christian romance blends lighthearted fun with deeper themes of forgiveness, identity in Christ, and second chances, making it perfect for fans of clean, feel-good contemporary romance. You’ll laugh, root for McKenna and Nate, and walk away reminded that God sees us as His beloved—no performance required.
Author Interview: Behind the Scenes
What inner struggle drives your main character(s)?
Becca: At the beginning of the story McKenna is simply trying to help her younger sister have a perfect marriage proposal experience. But like a lot of my stories, that simple endeavor soon turns into a comedy of errors. Interwoven in the chaos, however, are themes of forgiveness and learning where our true sense of identity comes from, especially when complicated family dynamics are involved.
What is the heart of the romance?
Becca: I’d say the heart of this romance is how a false first impression can still eventually lead to true love. McKenna and Nate’s personalities initially clash at the beginning, but as they’re thrown together in forced proximity and soon find themselves working together to repair a bed and breakfast, they discover they have a lot more in common than they originally thought.
What do you hope readers carry with them?
Becca: I hope readers have a blast reading this story and are reminded that God absolutely treasures them no matter what their background or upbringing looks like.
What Bible verse encouraged you during this story?
Becca: All of Psalm 139 comes to mind, but especially verse 13 when I think about my character McKenna in this story. Since she was adopted, she questions whether she’s as valued as her sister, who was their parents’ biological daughter. I love how this verse reminds us that we are all cherished and special to God. As a writer I can sometimes be tempted to base my worth and value on sales, reviews, contest wins, and so forth. But this chapter and verse is such a great way to ground myself back in God’s love.
About the Author Becca Kinzer lives in Springfield, Illinois, where she works as a critical care nurse. When she’s not busy taking care of sick patients or using up all the storage on her phone with pictures of her dog, she enjoys making up lighthearted stories with serious laughs. She is the author of multiple titles including Dear Henry, Love Edith, which won the 2024 Carol Award for debut novel. Not What We Pictured is her fourth novel.
Hosted by Kelly Jo Wilson, the Christian Romance Book Nook is your cozy, faith-filled corner of the internet for Christian romance. Kelly connects readers with uplifting stories and honest author interviews. She shares exclusive giveaways and celebrates the joy of knowing you’re never alone in your love for clean romance focused on Jesus.
Come join our growing community, new friends, new books, and plenty of bookish encouragement are always waiting for you!
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Discover a gripping second-chance romance wrapped in heart-pounding danger in Flare Up by Lily J. Hann, the exciting Book #2 in the New Freedom Fire and Rescue Series. When high school sweethearts Tylan and Madyson reunite years later—one a protective single dad and volunteer firefighter, the other a courageous journalist back from the brink of death—their long-buried feelings ignite just as deadly enemies close in. This clean Christian romantic suspense delivers friends-to-more chemistry, faith-filled redemption, and a tender little girl who steals every heart. Perfect for readers who love edge-of-your-seat inspirational romance with real emotional depth, powerful messages of trust in God’s gentle whisper, and the hope that second chances can shine even brighter the second time around.
Meet Lily J. Hann
Lily Hann is a Christian romantic suspense writer, teacher, boy mom, and pastor’s wife. Writing is her fun job, and she loves telling stories where danger is real, love is hard-won, and God’s redemption always has the final word.
Fun Fact: Lily teaches forensic science to high school juniors and seniors. She went to training from her local police department and learned all she could about police procedures and collecting, processing, and reporting evidence. It was a great experience that she also gets to use in her writing.
About the Book: Flare Up(Book #2 New Freedom Fire and Rescue Series)
What happens when a second chance at love collides with life-threatening danger?
Some fires never go out—they just wait for the right moment to reignite.
Private investigator and volunteer firefighter Tylan Jamison knows evil when he sees it—and he feels it closing in on New Freedom. After losing his wife, Tylan vowed to protect their daughter, Sari, from the ghosts determined to finish what they started. Every case he takes, every fire he runs toward, is driven by that promise.
Madyson Viruel has spent the last eight years fighting for the innocent in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Nearly killed while exposing those who exploit children, she returns to New Freedom to recover and disappear. The last thing she expects is to come face-to-face with the boy who once held her heart—and the man she never truly stopped loving. When Madyson’s enemies track her to New Freedom, the danger becomes impossible to ignore.
As threats escalate and secrets unravel, Tylan is forced to confront a terrifying truth: the evil hunting Madyson may be the same darkness that destroyed his wife. Drawn together by danger and a love they never acted on, Tylan and Madyson must face the past head-on. Because this time, protecting the innocent—and their second chance at love—means standing in the fire together.
Tropes & Themes
Friends to more
Second chance romance
Protector hero / PI & volunteer firefighter
Single dad (protective father)
Romantic suspense with real danger and faith elements
Found family through a little girl who steals hearts
God’s gentle whisper and better plans
Release Details
Release Date:
Publisher:
Genre: Christian romantic suspense
Series name: New Freedom Fire and Rescue Series (Book #2)
If you crave clean Christian romance packed with heart-pounding suspense, tender second chances, and powerful messages of redemption, Flare Up delivers. Lily J. Hann weaves thrilling danger with the beauty of rekindled love and a child who captures everyone’s heart. Readers will be reminded that God’s plans are always better than our own and that even in the middle of the fire, His gentle whisper leads us home. Perfect for fans of faith-filled romantic suspense who want hope, healing, and a story that lingers long after the last page.
Author Interview: Behind the Scenes
What inner struggle drives your main character(s)?
Lily: Tylan gave up on ever loving anyone other than Madyson and his sole focus is keeping his daughter, Sari, safe. Madyson came back to New Freedom to hide from the evil men she had been fighting against and from the man she never stopped loving. When the two reconnect, trouble follows Madyson and evil lurks in the shadows waiting to swallow Tylan’s daughter in it. Tylan and Madyson rekindle their shared love while also stopping the men chasing after Madyson and Sari.
What is the heart of the romance?
Lily: Tylan and Madyson were best friends in high school and promised each other that if neither of them found someone they’d find each other again when they turned 30. They both went their separate ways—Tylan into the Marines, FBI and finally as a PI and Madyson got her degree in journalism and traveled the globe bringing to light the horrors of trafficking. Sparks fly from the moment the two reconnect, but will Madyson stay this time or will she take Tylan’s heart with her again when she leaves? It is a friends to more and second chance romance woven with danger and a little girl that steals Madyson’s heart too.
What do you hope readers carry with them?
Lily: Sometimes we lose sight of where God wants us to be and we cling to what we think life should be. It can happen to the best of us. I hope that Madyson and Tylan’s story helps readers realize that God’s plans for us are better than we could have ever imagined and when He gives us a second chance to do something the right way, we should take those opportunities and cherish them. No matter what we thought about what was best for us, God’s way is always better.
What Bible verse encouraged you during this story?
Lily: After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. (1 Kings 19:11b-12) When Madyson felt God calling her to bring such evil to light so that she could be a part of the people who stopped such evil, she thought that was what she was supposed to always do.
When she almost dies and is sent home, she is drowning in knowing whether or not to go back into the field. I chose this verse because sometimes we want God to speak to us in grand ways or we are holding onto what we thought was best when in reality God is whispering to us to change course. This is a lesson that Madyson learns in the story and one that resonates with me.
About the Author
Lily J. Hann writes Christian romantic suspense novels that intertwine thrilling mysteries with messages of faith and love. A devoted wife and mom, she cherishes time spent exploring life’s adventures with her husband and two sons. When she’s not writing or adventuring, you’ll likely find her curled up with a good book or enjoying a quiet moment with a cup of coffee.
Hosted by Kelly Jo Wilson, the Christian Romance Book Nook is your cozy, faith-filled corner of the internet for Christian romance. Kelly connects readers with uplifting stories, honest author interviews, exclusive giveaways, and the joy of knowing you’re never alone in your love for clean romance focused on Jesus.
Come join our growing community, new friends, new books, and plenty of bookish encouragement are always waiting for you!
Join the Christian Romance Book Nook Community
Want early access to Christian fiction author interviews, new releases, and exclusive book giveaways?
Do you love historical romance where the defense of home and family sparks deep attraction across divided worlds? Laura Frantz’s The Belle of Chatham is a tender story of vastly different people drawn together by the timeless truth that history is truly God’s story.
In this exclusive author interview on the Christian Romance Book Nook, Laura shares what drives her characters at the beginning, the heart of their romance, the takeaway that God never changes, and the Psalm 139 encouragement she has memorized since girlhood and still signs in her books today.
Meet Laura Frantz
Laura Frantz has been writing for Revell Books since her debut novel, The Frontiersman’s Daughter, released. A Kentuckian, she currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, Washington State. She’s proud mom of a career firefighter and an American soldier.
Fun Fact: I love my readers and try to answer every comment on my socials personally. Writing is a gift and so are reading friends!
About the Book: The Belle of Chatham
The call for liberty creates a divide between family and country, desire and duty, love and loyalty.
In 1777, caught in the crossroads of the American Revolution, sisters Maebel and Coralie Bohannon’s quaint New Jersey village becomes a battleground as they house American officers. Rebellion ripples through their family as members take opposing sides–Patriots and Loyalists–causing a deep chasm that fractures their once-unbreakable bond.
As Mae’s friendship grows with the American general Rhys Harlow, Coralie continues her liaison with her childhood sweetheart, a British officer stationed in New York. Mae, torn between her deepening love for the general and suspicion that her sister is a British spy, leaves the only home she’s ever known for the New York frontier. When betrayal strikes in the heart of the wilderness, she’s forced to take a perilous journey that tests her very survival and those she loves, all in the name of liberty.
On the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Laura Frantz offers a stirring friends-to-lovers historical romance of divided loyalties, patriotism, sacrifice, sisterhood, and love set during the American Revolution.
Tropes & Themes
Friends to lovers
Sisterhood
American Revolution
Defense of hearth and home
Vastly different worlds (geographically and socially)Historical fireworks and attraction
Laura Frantz delivers a beautiful historical romance that reminds us history is truly God’s story and though centuries change, He does not. Readers will be swept up in the spark between two people from different worlds and the powerful message of faith that endures.
Author Interview: Behind the Scenes
What inner struggle or desire drives your main character(s) at the beginning of the story? How does that shift as the story unfolds?
Laura: The defense of hearth and home at first. Then what makes a home, the people, foremost.
What would you say is the heart of the romance in this story?
Laura: They’re vastly different, from two different worlds both geographically and socially. Rather than drive them apart it sparks their attraction. Historical fireworks!
What is one takeaway you hope readers carry with them after finishing this book?
Laura: That history is truly God’s story and though centuries change He does not.
What Bible verse encouraged you during your writing journey or that reflects this story’s message?
Laura: My mom and I memorized Psalm 139 when I was a girl. I sign all of my books with that today. It’s Scripture that covers all of life and contains some of God’s most priceless promises.
About the Author
Laura Frantz has been writing for Revell Books since her debut novel, The Frontiersman’s Daughter, released. A Kentuckian, she currently lives in the Pacific Northwest, Washington State. I’m proud mom of a career firefighter and an American soldier. Visit her at www.LauraFrantz.net
About the Christian Romance Book Nook
Hosted by Kelly Jo Wilson, the Christian Romance Book Nook is your cozy, faith-filled corner of the internet for Christian romance. Kelly connects readers with uplifting stories, honest author interviews, exclusive giveaways, and the joy of knowing you’re never alone in your love for clean romance focused on Jesus.
Come join our growing community, new friends, new books, and plenty of bookish encouragement are always waiting for you!
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