Beyond Believing by D. D. Marx - Review and Giveaway

I received this book free from the publisher. All opinions are my own

Book Details:

Book Title: Beyond Believing (Book #1)

Author: D.D. Marx

Category: Adult Fiction, 200 pages

Genre: Chick-Lit

Publisher: Beyond Dreams Publishing

Release date: October 2017

Tour dates: Oct 16 to Dec 22, 2017

Content Rating: PG 13 Non-explicit sex, swear words (light...couple f-bombs)

Book Description:

When Olivia gets news of her best friend Dan’s fatal car accident, her entire life is upended. Shattered with grief and struggling to find any meaning or purpose to life, she trudges along with a gaping void in her heart. Finally, when her frustration reaches its peak, Olivia decides to trust Dan’s eternal friendship. That trust allows him to break through to her from the beyond, and Dan guides Olivia through the twists and turns of her life into something new and entirely unexpected.

When Olivia exposes a gigantic internal scandal at work, her career implodes. With no job and no one to turn to, she escapes to Palm Springs for the sympathy and care of her beloved cousin, Garrett. He isn’t quite the comfort Olivia hoped for, but on that journey, meets someone who fills the void in her heart. She’s never experienced such a deep love. It heals her soul and rekindles her spirit - and just may have been the design of her dearly departed friend all along.

Beyond Believing is a sweet, funny and romantic story that touches the heart, serves up delicious twists and turns, and shows the reader that there’s no such thing as “coincidence.” Author D.D Marx regards this book as her love letter to friendship.

To read more reviews, please visit D.D. Marx's page on iRead Book Tours.

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Meet the Author - D.D. Marx

D.D. Marx is a contemporary romantic fiction writer and blogger, as well as a lover of all things social. She is a graduate of the University of Dayton, as well as the Second City program in Chicago, where she currently resides. A proud aunt and self-described hopeless romantic, Marx has always had a knack for humorous and engaging storytelling. Her pen name is a dedication to her beloved friend Dan, who continues to guide and inspire her in her daily life.

Connect with the Author: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest

My thoughts

This was the first book that I have read by this author and it was enjoyable. It is a story about love and friendship. The character development was very good as the author created some strong characters who could be someone you know. This is one of those books that you could not put down as you did not want to stop reading about your friends. There are some sad parts to this book as well but they have to be there to tell the story. But do not fret there is also some humor to this story. I think this would be a good quick beach read. A bit of trivia about this book is that it was written in memory of the author’s best friend Dan and she calls this book a “love letter to friendship”. If you like romance or chick-lit then you will enjoy this book. This book is a part of a trilogy and I have had the pleasure of reading the entire series. Watch for my reviews.

Guest post

How do you write a novel based in a place where you’ve never been?

When I embarked on the journey with this series, I started with foundational basics. First, my goal was to tell the story from two different perspectives, in alternating chapters. It was important for these characters to be leading parallel lives but in very different worlds. The easiest way to accomplish that was to create physical distance between them.

Olivia’s character was loosely based on my life so that was easy. I wrote about what I knew and what was comfortable. For Finn’s character, who is entirely fictional, I took pieces and parts from people and experiences in my life that were familiar to me. For example, I came up with Finn’s hometown because my neighbor was a lovely woman who was born and raised in Scotland. I loved her accent. She was always cheerful and pleasant. She’d greet me in the morning on my way to work and say, ‘you look smashing’. She told me stories of her childhood and I felt attached. I could envision the places in the stories she was sharing. And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a hunk from Scotland? Hello, Gerard Butler and voila, that became the birth of Finn McDaniels.

From there, I went on a quest to learn more about Scotland, through research, to create back stories for this character. I just kept asking questions. Who was Finn? Where did he come from? Did he have siblings? What was his passion? What motivated him to pursue it? Each answer led me down endless winding roads that developed him into who he was. He became a real person in my head. Once I knew who he was and where he came from the rest came easy.

Don’t ever shy away from pursuing your dreams. The sky is the limit

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