UNTITLED by Jesseca Wheaton – Blog Tour

FOLKS GUESS WHAT! Jesseca Wheaton HAS ANOTHER BOOK. Before you ask, yes. I have already read it. I was a beta reader. Jesseca’s books are a priority in my life and I always make time for her! XD. This one is called Untitled. It releases TODAY!!!

Okinawa, 1945

Two brothers. Two Separate Paths.

A Navy corpsman assigned to the Marines, Jess Walker’s world is shaken as he struggles to aid the men around him. But the battlefield isn’t his hardest challenge. The nagging memory of how he lost his brother weighs on him, serving as a constant reminder of his failure. War has no mercy for anyone and Jess isn’t sure he can survive the war inside. As his world comes crashing down around him, he struggles to believe there is a future beyond the pain.

Clay Walker has moved on from the life he once lived. A successful Marine pilot, he wants nothing to do with his family and the God he left behind. Japan is on the brink of surrender when his unit is shipped off to Okinawa, and it’s there that Clay is forced to realize his past is not as deeply buried as he thought. Faced with heavy losses and questions without answers, Clay has a choice to make. Is he willing to step back and let God take the controls? Or is it too late for a second chance?

As WWII rages, the two brothers must face their demons — or be lost to the burning world around them.

HOW EPIC IS THAT BLURB. I have no idea how she does it. XD

Trying a Review?

Ok so y’all know I’m kind of obsessed with Jesseca’s work. Hence the blog tours and cover reveals for so many of her other books. This story was no exception.

I don’t want to give away spoilers for this one at all, so here are the main important points for this review.

• Brothers.
• Love and pain
• Brothers
• WWII (which we love)
• Brothers
• Self Conflict!
• Brothers.

So incase you haven’t gotten the hint yet, THE MC’s ARE BROTHERS AND I LOVE IT!

Jess’s pain with his loss of his brother and also the fact that he’s a drafted medic is like the recipe for ideal MC. And also Rhett. How does Jesseca write such awesome characters?

Clay keeps trying to convince himself the whole time that he wants to forget, and that he hates his family. And Ivan’s part in the story. MY HEART.

Guys I’m not making any sense. What you should take away from this is you need Untitled in your life!

Content

I will say that this book is YA focused, and it may not be appropriate for younger kids. The subjects discussed were very tastefully handled in a way that glorifies God. Here is what the author has to say about it:

“PTSD, Homosexuality, and the horrors of war are all dealt with…
“I’m first and foremost a Christian, and that is reflected here. Everything is dealt with as gently and reasonably as possible, yet keep in mind this is a war novel.  Mild language is also used in an effort to show the difference between believing and unbelieving characters, however there are no scenes or language used that would give them any more than a PG-13 rating.”

According to my reading standards that I hold for the books I review on my blog, the language was not of concern for me. Like I said, this is a very thoughtful story that will get you to think seriously about life. The way the subjects were handled were in light of the gospel and biblical doctrine. I appreciated Jesseca tackling such tough topics and not running away from the story God placed on her heart. She’s such an inspiration for me!

About Jesseca Wheaton

Where to start. Guys, earlier this fall I had the absolute HONOR to meet Jesseca in person, and she was THE SWEETEST HUMAN EVER.

I was nervous to meet her. I don’t know why. I’ve been following her as an author for a couple of years now, but I didn’t know if she felt famous and I was just squeezing into her busy time. But she made time for me, so that was good.

Girls. She is the most sweetest person ever. She’s so real and easy and down to earth! Her passion for Christ, and for her family is so admirable. We hit it off pretty well! We talked about everything under the sun (including Untitled). It was so much fun. So now I have the pleasure of calling Jesseca my inspiration, one of my favorite authors AND an irl friend. And I got to do a Q and A with her!

I’m blessed out of my socks.

Jesseca is a daughter, sister, and a child of God. When she’s not busy at her full time job as a first responder, her days are spent reading, spending time with siblings, watching movies that make her cry, and playing piano. Oh, and writing, of course! At an early age words fascinated her, and her love for the printed page has only grown. She lives with her parents and seven siblings in the sunny state of Kansas, and she’s convinced there’s no place like home.

The Q and A session

Q: Do you ever name your characters after real life people? If so, do you use their real names or something that represents them?

Jesseca: Sometimes! And honestly it depends. Sometimes I’ll use their real name on purpose and there’s normally an inside joke or something in that case. Mostly though if I’m using the name of someone I know in real life, it’s going to be someone who I know won’t ever read my book so they can’t accuse me of stealing their name. XD 

Q: How do you get around writers block and/or reach deadlines?

Jesseca: I know this is something that doesn’t work for everybody, but I just force myself to write anyway. Maybe try the scene from another POV or write a few sentences of what will happen in the scene just so I have a placeholder, then go onto the next scene. As for deadlines, I tend to be very goal-motivated, so give me a deadline and I’ll see it as a challenge I have to complete. I like to try and pace myself because I hate trying to rush and do things last minute, but I’m also really good at procrastinating … it’s a constant struggle.

Q: If you could give new writers one piece of advice what would you say? What do you wish you knew when you first started writing?

Jesseca: Don’t write what you know will please people — write what God’s given you to write. I so wish I had learned this earlier in my writing journey. Your book will never please everyone. So don’t expect it to. Don’t try and change what you write so someone else will like it. Write the story you’ve been given. God will use it in ways you never would have dreamed of. 

Q: Is it worth investing in an editor?

Jesseca: Oh my goodness yes! I normally have two or three editors in addition to my beta-readers. One reads it right after I finish and kinda irons out major issues and points out things with the characters, plot, etc. Another gets it after beta readers and right before it gets formatted. And then once I get the proof copy one of my good friends goes through it one last time to catch any mistake we might have missed.  Often I’ve also had a historical editor go through and watch for any historical errors. (Greatly encourage this if you write historical fiction!) It still isn’t perfect, but it’s so much better than it was. And having so many different sets of eyes on it helps too because they’re all going into the story brand new. Not like you after you’ve read it for 29474 times. I’d highly recommend at least paying for one final edit before you publish your books. It’s so tremendously helpful and it rly will pay for itself in the long run. Going along with this I’d also encourage anyone who’s indie publishing to invest in someone to format your book. When the formatting is well done it adds to the book even though it seems nearly invisible. When it’s not done well, it’s distracting and can really influence whether or not your readers is going to even want to finish reading the book. 

Q: Does your support group change or mostly stay the same from book to book?

Jesseca: Kinda depends? I have a lot of the same readers I had when I started but like everything else in life, things change. The people I started this journey with have their own lives and aren’t as invested in reading and writing as they used to be. I’ve been able to meet so many new wonderful friends and readers as time goes on and new faces are added to the Indie Christian Writing world. I’m so thankful to everyone who’s been a part of each story and I can’t wait to see who will be involved in my next one! 

Untitled Giveaway.

I’m so excited about this book if I don’t win a copy I’m ordering a copy of this book as soon as I can.

One winner of the giveaway will receive…

• Paperback copy of Untitled 
• Box of compass cards
• God Bless America Wooden Sign
• Bookmark 
• USMC keychain 
• U.S. Navy Medallion

You can enter here! (I tried to create the widget on my page but I couldn’t make it work for some reason this time.)

You can also add the book to your TBR on goodreads here!

Thank you Jesseca for meeting me, and for letting me beta read, and for brainstorming a little with me (it meant the world) and for the honor of partaking in another blog tour for you! Keep living for God and blessing people!