Dienece Darling: Spotlight on Hearts Unknown

I’m happy to feature my new Australian author friend Dienece Darling and her Historical Romance, Hearts Unknown, on the Hope-filled Fiction blog this week! Comment below by March 18 for a chance to win an Ebook of her novelette.

Welcome, Dienece!

I’ve always loved a good friends-to-more story and decided I’d write one myself. The couple were easy to pick out. They’d be estranged childhood friends, driven apart by a secret. They used to be neighbors in London, but it’s been years since Edith saw Clarence. Yet, she’s never given up hope he’d come back.

But a story needs more than just a sweet heroine and a gentleman suffering from unrequited love.

That’s where the inspiration for Hearts Unknown came in. In 1763, John Wesley wrote in his journal of his struggles to dissuade one of his street preachers from believing and preaching the world would end on February 28, 1763. The obstinate, former lifeguard would not listen to Wesley and caused havoc in the church, on the streets of London, and for Wesley who felt betrayed by a man he considered a son in the faith.

After going through a church split myself, I knew how messy those were. How much it hurt to have your church family torn apart. I wanted to lean on that personal experience and write about it.

But God had other plans.

Isn’t that just like Him?

Of course, I foolishly fought those plans at first. Finally, I surrendered and wrote the story God asked of me. It was heartrending and humbling. To know I didn’t have the answers and be forced to trust that God would send the answers before my book was due out.

FYI, when you write a book about faith, be prepared for God to stretch your faith.

But God was faithful, and the book came together in time.

If you gain nothing else from this blog, I pray the existence of this book gives you hope in a time of waiting. God will provide what we need. He is always faithful.

So, what is Hearts Unknown about? Yes, it’s still that historical end of the world prediction, but each of our couple has their own journey.

Edith Howard doesn’t know if she ought to believe Christ is returning on the 28th, but she does believe Christ will return one day. And she fears nothing she’s done is good enough to lay at the feet of her Savior. That nothing she does will ever be good enough.

Have you ever felt that way? That nothing you do is worthy? I know I have, and it’s a hard thing to shake.

Barrister Clarence Beauchamp has lost faith that Jesus ever plans to return. It’s been nearly 2,000 years after all. How can a skeptic hope in an event when one cannot know the date of it?

Clarence’s crisis was the hardest part to write. To take all my secret fears and doubts and lay them out, and trust that God would provide the answers I didn’t have. Praise Him that He did!

Hearts Unknown is a love story. You’ll laugh at times and fall in love. But it’s also an encouragement for Christians to hold to the promise of our Lord’s return for  “…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 KJV

Thanks so much for giving us an inside look at how you came to write Hearts Unknown, Dienece. I pray God will use your story for His glory!

Join the conversation. Do you enjoy reading Historical Romance? Does Dienece’s story sound like something you’d like to read? Do you ever struggle with feeling unworthy, like Dienece’s book character? What questions or comments do you have for her?

Be sure to comment below by March 18 for a chance to win an Ebook of Hearts Unknown!

Hearts Unknown by Dienece Darling

Click the book cover for purchase link

When the heart longs for what it cannot have, toes aren’t safe in the ballroom.

Edith Howard has long mourned the loss of Clarence. He was more than the boy next door. He was her dearest friend until he left without word or warning. But when Clarence makes a surprise return the London season of 1763, the gentleman standing before her bears little resemblance to the boy she used to know. What happened to Clarence, and why is he back?

A chance encounter might be just the ticket Clarence needs to convince Edith he always has been and always will be hers. If only she wasn’t listening to those dangerous street preachers. Clarence doesn’t know how to save the lady he loves from the lies she’s following. Or, for that matter, how to show her all that’s in his heart.

What will it take for Edith to see the man Clarence is today? And dare she let him back into her life when she doesn’t know what drove him away the first time?

This clean, historical romance novelette is written in dual first person with faith content and has a happily-ever-after.

Multi-Award Finalist, Dienece Darling is a former Georgia Belle and missionary’s kid who calls Australia home these days with her Aussie husband and two sons. Her first name is a variant spelling of Denise.

As a teen, Dienece would greet the dawn with a paperback in hand, but she constrains herself now to eBooks and the more respectable hour of midnight. Her eyes and pocketbook might be grateful for the invention of eBooks, but Dienece still loves a good paperback whenever possible. Libraries are one of her favourite places to visit. Who doesn’t want to be surrounded by books?

Dienece writes first-person inspirational historical romance and was a finalist in the ACFW First Impressions Contest 2023, the Florida West Coast Writers Competition 2023, and the CALEB Award 2022. Dienece was also a semi-finalist for the ACFW Genesis Contest 2022.

Connect with Dienece: Website / Facebook / Instagram / X

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If you missed Steven Rogers’ interview last week about his new release, A Year in the Room, FIND IT HERE.