Jennifer Slattery – Real Life Romance – Part 1 of 2

Shannon here: Jennifer Slattery shares insight into her real life romance plus a chance to win her latest Women’s Fiction title, Restoring Love. Comment or answer the question at the end of any post dated Jan 10 – 13 to enter the drawing for a copy. Deadline: Jan 14th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’ s Jennifer:

The first time he sang to me, we were in Hawaii on our honeymoon. We’d found a nice, non-touristy restaurant in the town of Kona, about thirty minutes from our hotel. I don’t remember much, except the walls were green, the entire area was open and without dividing walls, and brown tile covered the floor.
Having enjoyed one too many sodas that day, I quickly left in search of a bathroom. On the way, I passed a local band that was just beginning to get set up. As I returned to our table a short time later, the band began to play a country song. I wish I remembered which one it was—I know it had significance to my husband. Then again, I could probably say that about nearly every country song we heard in our early years. My husband may look big and burly, but he’s the biggest sap I’ve ever met, and I mean that in a good way.
So anyway, I start to sit, but my husband extends his hand. “Can I have this dance?” he asks.
My heart melts as realization hits. While I was gone, he’d paid the band to play “our song” (again, one of many). Then, as we danced, he held me close, his mouth to my ear, and serenaded me.
This began twenty-plus years of dancing and serenades. But my favorite by far came about three years ago, when I was nearly at my worst. I’d been struggling physically, had spent more days than not in my pajamas (or favorite pair of tattered sweat pants) and I felt far from beautiful. And honestly, I felt like I wasn’t pulling my weight; in fact, that I had become dead weight.
That was when my husband decided to show me just what all those vows we spoke on our wedding day, when both of us were young and had unrealistically idyllic dreams of our future, meant.
He came home from work to find me reclining in the living room, wearing one of his soft, oversized t-shirts and a pair of baggy shorts.
“Hey,” I said.
His response: “Get dressed. I’m taking you out.”
I didn’t feel like going out. Honestly, I wanted to go back to bed, but I also wanted to be with him. Plus, he wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I pushed up from the couch and shuffled into our bedroom to get ready. By the time I finished, he was already in the car—warming it up for me.
I shortly followed, and the moment I settled into my seat and snapped my seat belt into place, he pulls out his phone, taps the screen.
Music began to play, and as it did, he sang alone. The song was called “Never Stop Trying. You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGdDC8y6Q4k
So there I was, sitting beside this man I adore, the man who’s remained at my side for over two decades, feeling ugly and defeated, as, through song, he tells me how much he loves me, how I still cause him to lose his breath, and how he’ll never stop choosing me.
As you can imagine, by the time he got to the chorus, I’m a crying mess.
When the song ended, I dried my eyes, grabbed his hand, and asked if he’d play the song again.
He did. 
About Jennifer: Novelist and speaker Jennifer Slattery has a passion for helping women discover, embrace, and live out who they are in Christ. As the founder of Wholly Loved Ministries, http://whollyloved.com, she and her team put on events at partnering churches designed to help women rest in their true worth and live with maximum impact. She writes devotions for Internet Café Devotions, Christian living articles for Crosswalk.com, and edits for Firefy, a Southern fiction imprint with Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. When not writing, reading, or editing, Jennifer loves going on mall dates with her adult daughter and coffee dates with her hilariously fun husband.

Learn more, visit and connect: 

Jennifer’s Blog            Jennifer’s Facebook           Jennifer’s Twitter           Jennifer’s Pinterest

About the book – Restoring Love:
Mitch, a contractor and house-flipper, is restoring a beautiful old house in an idyllic Midwestern neighborhood. Angela, a woman filled with regrets and recently transplanted to his area, is anything but idyllic. She’s almost his worst nightmare, and she’s also working on restoring something herself. As he struggles to keep his business afloat and she works to overcome mistakes of her past, these two unlikely friends soon discover they have something unexpected in common, a young mom who is fighting to give her children a better life after her husband’s incarceration. While both Mitch and Angela are drawn to help this young mother survive, they also find themselves drawn to each other. Will a lifetime of regrets hold them back or unite them and bring redemption along with true love?
Can’t wait for the drawing? Get your copy now: 

christianbook.com                     barnesandnoble                    Amazon

Question for Readers: Are you or anyone in your family a gifted singer? If so, where do you or they use the talent?

Come back Jan 13th for Jennifer’s excerpt!