Book Spotlight & Giveaway: Untold by Vanessa Hall

About the Book:

You can only run for so long …

Two years hasn’t erased the sting of betrayal and the shadow of the past, but Nikolai Alexandrov has finally found a way to live. Moscow, Russia, is the last place anyone would look for a rogue ex-CIA officer, and the members of Grace Baptist Church see beyond his past to the man he is now.

Molly Baird never wanted to be a missionary, but due to her father’s wishes, she lands in Moscow to aid her missionary cousin, Gabe Kelly. All is foreign in the massive city, though, rendering her unable to serve. Only the few English speakers in Grace Baptist’s congregation hold a trace of familiarity—including Nikolai, whose kindness she can’t deny.

Yet when a sniper’s bullet strikes far too close, Nikolai and Molly are thrown together in a desperate race against untold threats. When time runs out, will Nikolai and Molly be able to trust God with the past—and with the future?

Goodreads ┃Purchase Untold┃ Unknown (Book 1) is $.99 on Amazon

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Excerpt from Untold 

On nights like this, it only took footsteps.

Or the glare of a streetlight. The shouts of a drunken neighbor. The ache in his chest.

All reminders that wouldn’t loosen their grips, even after months.

Years.

He blinked his eyes open, the leather of a Bible soft against his fingers. Yet instead of comforting Words, a name stared up, penned in stalwart blue ink.

Nikolai Petrovich Alexandrov.

A lie.

Even a dozen aliases hadn’t convinced him he was anyone but Nick Bates—a stupid kid from Tennessee who’d ended up in Russia.

Six years.

He slid the Bible to the nightstand, his hand shaking.

Pathetic.

He drew his fingers into a fist.

The red numbers on the alarm clock, ever taunting, glowed three forty-seven. Mid-morning back home.

His eyes fell shut, and he slumped back onto the lumpy mattress.

Cold jolted through his veins, his fingers curving into the rumpled sheets.

Enough. Morning would eventually come, and according to Polachev, work would be back-breaking.

What would he have thought ten years ago if he’d known only a construction job awaited? Yet anything more risked discovery of falsified documents—and therefore endangered this very fragile safety.

One word from the right person, and it’d be over.

His forehead throbbed in time with his pounding pulse, and he pried his hand from the sheet to press to the ache. Heat flooded his palm, slick with sweat.

It was high time to learn to deal with this. Other men had suffered worse.

A deep breath, in through his nose, rasping past the congestion.

Easy, pure—

The breath caught, smothering.

No.

He jerked upright, fire flooding his chest. Coughs tore his raw throat—but at least they smothered the cry.

Just a cold. The pastor’s little granddaughter had been coughing up a storm on Sunday.

Yet dizziness still attacked, his breaths coming as pants.

Tough officer, wasn’t he, unable to sleep because of a stuffy nose and a cough.

Oh, God, please help me. This has to end … it has to.

Training should’ve stopped this, should’ve prepared him.

Yet he’d marched right into Serbia. And even after that nightmare, straight into Russia.

So young, so confident, so incredibly stupid.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

He never would’ve stepped foot in this place if he’d known what he would find.

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About the Author:

Vanessa Hall is an author, musician, and homeschool graduate. Most days, she is reading, writing, or practicing the violin—or trying to find time for all three pursuits. Currently, she is working toward gaining a degree in instrumental music education. But above all, she is a sinner saved and held fast by the abounding grace of Jesus Christ.

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Connect with Vanessa:

Website/Blog: https://vanessahallauthor.wordpress.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21596469.Vanessa_Hall

Newsletter: https://vanessahall.ck.page/ 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Vanessa-Hall/e/B09D5FK28P/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1 

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/vanessa-hall-76d55a60-3f49-4ac3-8e43-d64014ae4c55

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Tour Giveaway:

One winner will receive free e-copies (epub or pdf) of Unworthy and Untold. Winner will be announced on Saturday, October 1, on Vanessa’s blog and will be contacted via email. Giveaway open to all entrants over 18.

Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b768bf280/

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Tour Schedule:

Friday, September 23

Kristina Hall – Spotlight

Rachel – Spotlight

Emma – Review

Rachel Anne English – Spotlight and Author Interview

Vanessa Hall - Tour Kickoff + Giveaway Announcement!

Saturday, September 24

Kristina Hall – Review

Anna – Review

Vanessa Hall - An Author’s Perspective: What Do I Love Most About My Characters?

Lorelai Angelo – Spotlight

Sunday, September 25

Jolene @ Beauty in the Binding – Spotlight

Monday, September 26

Kristina Hall – Character Questionnaire (Daniil, Evgeny, and Gregor)

Grace A. Johnson – Spotlight

Kirby @ The Preppy Book Princess – Review

Tuesday, September 27

Stephanie @ Books Less Travelled – Review

Lillian Keith – Spotlight

Charity Henico – Review

Wednesday, September 28

Lillian Keith – Author Interview

Saraina Whitney – Review

Issabelle Perry – Review

Thursday, September 29

Stephanie @ Books Less Travelled – Author Interview

Madisyn Carlin @ Madi’s Musings – Spotlight and Author Interview

Vanessa Hall - Music of Untold (In Which I Gift You with A Playlist!)

Friday, September 30

Katja L. @ Old-Fashioned Book Love – Spotlight and Review

Rachel Anne English – Review and Character Questionnaire (Nikolai)

Abby Burrus – Review

Issabelle Perry – Author Interview

Saturday, October 1

Saraina Whitney – Character Questionnaire (Molly)

Kayti - Review

Vanessa Hall - Wrapup + Giveaway Winners!

Book Spotlight: Unknown by Vanessa Hall

About the Book:

He knew there was a cost. He just didn’t know how great it’d be.

Gabriel Kelly returned to Russia for one reason—to bury his parents. After ten years in the United States, he hadn’t expected to return to his childhood home in the face of tragedy. However, after short days in Moscow, he begins to consider if the same call that cost his parents’ lives is now upon him.

Sofia Rykova’s dreams finally came true when she became a principal soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet. One night, though, an old crush walks back into her life, making her wonder if there is more to life than ballet. Gabe Kelly is just as she remembered, just as she longed for—yet religion stands between them.

Unknown to Gabe and Sofia, danger lurks closer than either would have guessed. The deaths of Gabe’s parents grow more suspicious by the day, and Gabe and Sofia are drawn into the midst of a plot neither can escape. Will obedience to God’s call—in spite of their fears and desires—result in a price too steep to bear?

Purchase at: Amazon.

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Excerpt:

            Life rolled on. Nothing stopped, nothing changed … even when his world had slammed to a jarring halt.

            The city lights pricked through the dark of night, a night that threatened to swallow up the entirety of the city. Cars slid by on the street below the hotel, each carrying a passenger to his destination.

            A demanding buzz cut through the silence, and a sigh gathered as Gabe turned from the window. The phone he’d thrown on the bed had been blowing up these last few days. Stupid thing.

His sigh broke free as he pivoted back to the window. Probably Mr. Mathers inquiring about another client. Gabe should just pick up the phone and tell the man he was on leave. He was not working right now. He couldn’t.

Yet Mr. Mathers didn’t understand that some things came before work. That making a profit was not the most important thing in life.

Oh, there was so much more to life—and it’d taken this to make him realize it.

            He’d been sitting in his new desk chair at the office, printers humming nearby, keyboards ticking from each cubicle. He’d just gotten off the phone with a would-be client, and the phone had rung again. He hadn’t even glanced at the number.

            “Gabriel? I—I have some very bad news.”

            The Russian words had jolted him, had churned the coffee in his stomach. “What is it, Sergei?”

            The head deacon of Mom and Dad’s church plant had paused for long moments. Then his words had traveled those thousands of miles and shattered Gabe’s world.

“Your parents were found dead early this morning.”

            Somehow, he hadn’t lost his breakfast on the desk. Somehow, he’d mumbled something to Sergei, assured him he’d be on the next plane to Moscow.

Then he’d hung up, shaking uncontrollably as he’d choked back sobs that would grip him short minutes later.

 It’d been two years since the week he’d visited Mom and Dad, and only this year, he’d gotten enough vacation from work to plan another trip.

Now they were dead. Dead.

            The funeral this afternoon had sealed it. Sergei’s reddened eyes and hearty but mute embrace spoke more than words. Every churchgoer, grasping his hands, pressing kisses to his cheeks, offering tearful apologies, drove the reality home.

            He’d never see Dad again. Never see Mom again.

They were gone.

He lowered his head, his fists clenching as the gaping hole tore at his chest. Tears burned the backs of his eyes—as if he hadn’t cried enough in the past three days.

            “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live …”

             “Yes.” The word rasped over his raw throat. Yes, he had to believe that. Had to cling to that, even when everything else was so muddled.

He dragged in a breath. They were gone … but they were alive. Mom and Dad were in heaven with the Savior they’d served so faithfully. And he would see them again, just not on this earth.

            That was comfort. That was truth. But even those faithful promises didn’t stop the questions.

Why? Why would God take such good people? Hadn’t they given their lives to His service and risked so much for the Russian people for more than two decades?

And they’d died in a random burglary?

            He turned from the window, swiping at his grainy eyes. “Help me, Lord. I don’t know …”

            He sank onto the bed. He didn’t know anything. How was he supposed to function when his parents lay in their graves—lay in this cold city they’d sacrificed so much for—with two bullet holes in their bodies?                       

He groaned and buried his face in his hands.

The Bible said the Lord worked all things out for the good of those who loved Him.

Even this?

                His throat seized, and his eyes went back to stinging. Dad had preached a sermon on the topic the last time Gabe had been in the city.

            “There’s going to come a time when you and I look around us, and we’re not going to understand. But the Lord understands—and He will use every situation, good or bad, for our good. For His glory. And that is why we never despair, why we never fear, and why we always hold firm to our faithful Lord.”

            Dad’s voice, deeper than his own and filled with so much compassion, so much love, so much faith.

            Mom and Dad wouldn’t be doubting God’s Ways. Dad would be praying. Mom would be singing a hymn. And they’d tell him to do the same.

            Yet they couldn’t tell him a thing.

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About the Author:

Vanessa Hall is an author, musician, and homeschool graduate. Most days, she is reading, writing, or practicing the violin—or trying to find time for all three pursuits. Currently, she is working toward gaining a degree in instrumental music education. Unknown is her debut novel. Above all, she is a sinner saved and held fast by the abounding grace of Jesus Christ.