I'm thrilled to have Connilyn Cossette here on the blog today chatting about her newest release, Wings of the Wind, out TODAY!! It is Book 3 of the Out of Egypt series, and if it's anything like the first two books, it's going to be amazing!

So in celebration, let's play this puzzle and then check out Conni's post!

Out ofEgyptRD

If it's not showing, click HERE to take you to the puzzle page.

Alanah, a Canaanite, is no stranger to fighting and survival. When her family is killed in battle with the Hebrews, she disguises herself and sneaks onto the battlefield to avenge her family. The one thing she never counted on was surviving.

Tobiah, a Hebrew warrior, is shocked to find an unconscious, wounded woman among the Canaanite casualties. Compelled to bring her to a Hebrew healer back at their camp, he is soon confronted with a truth he can’t ignore: the only way to protect this enemy is to marry her.

Unused to being weak and vulnerable, Alanah submits to the marriage—for now. As she comes to know and respect Tobiah and his people, however, she begins to second-guess her plans of escape. But when her past has painfully unanticipated consequences, the tentative peace she’s found with Tobiah, the Hebrews, and Yahweh is shaken to the core. Can Alanah’s fierce heart and strength withstand the ensuing threats to her life and all she’s come to love?

Just Commonly – Q&A with Connilyn Cossette

Which part of the book is your favorite? Can you share a line/paragraph (without a spoiler)?

Oh that is SUPER hard to do without giving spoilers…but this is one of my favorite little interchanges that gives a hint to the personalities of both Alanah and Tobiah, and shows a bit of the conflict between Alanah and her new sister-in-law—who is none too pleased that her brother has married an enemy Canaanite woman.

Latent horror must have played across my face. Tzipi watched me with a curious look before she blinked it away and replaced it with a feral sneer. “He should have left you there to die.”

I leaned forward, a handspan from her face. “Then we agree on something.” I smirked, holding still as death.

A large hand clamped down on my shoulder and I spun toward the interference. My fist met a man’s solid chest with surprising force.

Tobiah grabbed my wrist and held it in the air. “I am going to assume that strike was meant for someone else and not your husband.” He looked down at me with his brows raised. Was that a glimmer of humor in his eyes?

Yanking hard, I twisted my wrist from his grasp. “You can assume anything you’d like.”

“Well then, I will also assume you and my sister are having a civilized conversation.” He divided a chastening look between the two of us. “Since we are family.”

And which character of a book will you think would make a great "faraway best friend" to one of your characters?

I’m going to have to go with Katniss from Hunger Games, I am pretty sure she and Alanah would bond over archery, their no-nonsense attitudes and hard-to-crack outer shells, but also their extreme loyalty and willingness to go to battle for those they love.

I can relate most to Shira in Shadow of the Storm because, like her, my children came to me by adoption. Struggling through infertility is something that is close to my heart and in her role as an apprentice midwife, Shira endures a lot of the same heartaches and joys that I did in the early years of my marriage. There were times when I wrote scenes with tears rolling down my face.

#1 - I too, am adopted. I was adopted at birth and then in 1998, when I was 22, I found my own birthmother after stumbling across a posting she’d placed on an adoptee’s website searching for me on the new-to-me invention called the internet. I went to meet her and my half-siblings a few days later and have been very grateful to have them in my life since then.

#2 - When we met, my husband worked for a bank as a field collections agent, so for our first date he took me out to dinner and then we went on a repo! That’s right, on our first date we sat in an apartment parking lot for two hours waiting to steal someone’s car. They didn’t come home that night but over the next couple of years we spent many nights stalking down people’s cars and stealing them, legally.

#3 - Because I didn’t have a dedicated office to write in at home and I desperately needed a door to shut out kid noise and a place to be my introverted self, I commandeered our master closet. After dragging a writing desk, all my books, a comfy chair, a lamp and some shoji screens into the closet, I set up a little writing studio. So the majority of Shadow of the Storm and Wings of the Wind were written in my closet. Of course many times both cats, both kids, and the husband end up jammed in there with me clamoring for my attention. I really need a lock on my closet door…

#4 - I used to be in a rock band. It was a worship band, so don’t think it was anything too crazy but for couple years I played keys and sang back up with a few friends. We had a fun time, did a few gigs, and even recorded an album but writing was my first love so I quit to pursue it full time.

#5 - I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl but never thought it would ever happen or that I’d ever make money at it. It took me until I was 35 before I ever showed anyone my work and fully expected no one to ever want to read it, let alone publish it. I was so afraid of rejection and disappointment that I didn’t even dare to ask the Lord to fulfill my wildest dreams. But He did it anyway. His extravagant love surpasses any fear I ever had and I can do nothing but trust my career to His care.

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OTHER BOOKS in the OUT OF EGYPT series 

(Click cover image to take you to my reviews of each book)