Carl & Leah Thornton

Christa Allen’s debut novel has garnered glowing reviews as she delves into the painful world of addiction and its impact on a marriage. Drawing on her own life experiences this story is well worth adding to your wishlist.

Enjoy ~ over to you, Christa:~

Brief physical description

Brown-eyed Leah Thornton has dark curly hair that resists being tamed, and finds herself always 10-15 pounds over the wrong side of her goal weight.

At over 6’ tall, her husband, Carl towers over his petite wife. He works to stay in shape, and chooses to shave his head. His eyes shift from gray to hazel.

Actor/famous person

Michael Rosenbaum who played Lex Luthor on Smallville, the television show, could be Carl.

Jeanane Garofalo might be a good Leah; she definitely would have the sassy!

Strengths and weaknesses

Leah

Strengths: Loyal, Generous, Witty, Friendly

Weaknesses: Lacks confidence, impulsive, fears revealing herself, people pleaser

Carl

Strengths: Loyal, focused, responsible, ambitious

Weaknesses: Distant, resistant to change, elitist

Quirk (if any)

Leah

When she’s nervous or out of her element, she scratches the top of her hand

Carl

He’s a man of patterns, the kind of person who straightens his silverware, has a closet organized by season, color, piece.

Your inspiration for the character

I wanted to explore the dynamics of addiction in a relationship where there are issues of denial and resistance, and if and how recovery would shift the balance. So, Leah’s character grew out of a composite of women I met over the years in AA. In Carl, I wanted to create a character who grew to be more than he appeared to be on the surface.

Background to the story

My tagline is “stories of unscripted grace” and that grew from my realization that our lives don’t always follow the scripts we’ve expected and, as a result, we sometimes find ourselves frustrated, lonely, confused, angry. We think God’s abandoned us, when-ironically-we may be following God’s script for our lives, and His grace will sustain us. I’m a recovering alcoholic, and by God’s grace, have not had a drink for over twenty years. I invited God back into my life because of AA, not in spite of it.

As I grew in my faith and in my recovery, I realized that so many Christian families suffer in silence. Alcoholism, drug, sex, or food addiction, lifestyles are all the big elephants in the room we don’t talk about. But we all know they exist. So, what’s someone to do who’s immersed in these challenges? I wanted to reassure women struggling with addiction that they’re not alone, that there’s a loving and compassion God who cares about them and His grace will be sufficient for them. I wanted to remove the façade that often hinders real recovery. “Good” Christian families aren’t immune to the world, but once we admit we have a problem, we can be healed by God.

Christa ~ thank you for sharing your characters and a little of your story at Relz Reviewz

On Thursday, the spotlight shines on Reece Jaxon & Shiloh Blake from Ronie Kendig’s debut novel, Dead Reckoning.

Relz Reviewz Extras

Visit Christa’s website and blog

Buy Christa’s book at Amazon or Christianbook.com