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When is the last time you noticed a firefly? My children and I love to go out in the yard on summer evenings and catch them, but a lot of times we're too busy. Isn't that true for most of us? Author (and my friend) Tonya Ashley is here today to tell us how she wove these magical creatures into her sweet romance. I can vouch for it--it's a good one! See what you think.  Fireflies were one of the first symbols I knew I wanted in this story. Long before Dr. Ben Ewing stepped onto the page or Rebecca Hogue was juggling her family of eight siblings, there was this memory—soft, quiet, glowing. Summer twilights in Arkansas. The hush right before night settles. Fireflies rising like little promises across the grass. As a child, I found it enchanting. It was a place where wonder lived, where quiet felt expectant. Somewhere along the road to adulthood, I lost that stillness. Life got louder. Responsibilities, expectations, a steady hum of urgency, drowning out the gentle things. I learned to be capable, efficient, “fine.” And I forgot how to sit in the grass and wait for light to appear. Years later, when life’s challenges began stacking one after another with little time to breathe between them, God invited me back to the quiet through simple moments in nature. Misty morning walks. A cathedral of bowed pine saplings. And yes, fireflies—flickering at the edge of dusk, reminding me hope is still there when darkness begins to settle around me. Those memories became the heart of the oak grove in Fireflies in Sacred Shadows. Losing the Stillness… and Finding It Again When I began writing this story, Ben arrived hollowed by his years in California. He went west as a doctor during the Gold Rush to help where he could, but the experience left him carrying wounds no one could see. He returns home to Van Buren longing for the last place he felt whole—and for the woman he left behind. Rebecca Hogue has been holding her world together with horsehair sutures: caring for her siblings after their mother’s death, running the boardinghouse, and stepping into the medical role Ben left behind when he disappeared. She’s strong, compassionate, steady—and tired. Both Ben and Rebecca needed a way to navigate their burdens without losing the Light. And that’s when the fireflies flitted fully into the story. Lingering Light Fireflies are small, but their light catches our attention. Hope doesn’t always blaze. Sometimes it’s the faintest glimmer on the darkest night. And healing—real healing—often happens when we stay still long enough for God to sit with us in the dark before He leads us out. Ben returns home changed. Quiet. Unsure how to move forward after extraordinary pain. His story isn’t about a triumphal return but about a slow, sacred re-entry into home, hope, trust, and a relationship with God. Rebecca encounters her own places of ache and longing. But in the quiet edges of the oak grove behind Hogue House, fireflies gather in the hush of evening the same way they did in my childhood. That grove becomes a sanctuary because God meets us in the stillness of quiet places with the tenderness and compassion of a loving Father. And here’s a little moment I didn’t expect: I chose fireflies long before I learned their population is rapidly declining, and some species are close to extinction. It made the symbol even more poignant. A reminder that light in the shadows is precious. Worth noticing. Worth protecting. Where God Meets Us Scripture shows us repeatedly that God comes close not only in parted seas and burning bushes, but also in a gentle whisper and the stillness of dark caves. That’s the spirit woven through Fireflies in Sacred Shadows:
Maybe This Story Meets You There Fireflies in Sacred Shadows began for me the same way fireflies appear in summer: slowly, softly, out of the stillness. And even years later, the memory of those twilights—those small lights rising from the grass like promises—remains a reminder that God delights to meet His children in quiet places. So, if you’re in a season where the world feels harsher than you expected… If God feels quiet, or you’re learning to sit with Him in the in-between… If you long for Light that joins you in the dark-- I pray this story finds you like fireflies at dusk. Thank you, Amy, for inviting me to share a peek behind Fireflies in Sacred Shadows. It’s always a gift to talk about the threads God weaves into our stories, and I’m grateful for the space you create for that.  Fireflies in Sacred Shadows A hidden message. A broken past. A chance to begin again. Van Buren, Arkansas, 1853. Rebecca Hogue is doing everything she can to hold her family—and their boardinghouse—together. But when a mysterious spyglass surfaces and her reputation is called into question, the danger becomes far more personal. Dr. Benjamin Ewing returned to Van Buren with nothing but regrets and a heart still tethered to the woman he left behind. When the spyglass reveals a coded message and Rebecca finds herself in harm’s way, Ben must face the ghosts of California and the emotional wounds he still carries. Can Rebecca and Ben unravel a tangled scheme, navigate fragile trust, and learn to appreciate walking through hard places together?  Tonya B. Ashley writes stories that speak to the weary and the wandering—faith-filled fiction rooted in family, redemption, and the sacredness of suffering. Whether she’s unraveling a love story beneath flickering fireflies or tracing grace through grief, Tonya’s writing leans into the belief that hope still flickers in the darkest places.
She is the author of Of Faith and Dreams, Book One in the Lost and Found Series, and Once Lost, Now Found, a prequel novella featured in the collection A Gift for All Time. Her newest novel, Fireflies in Sacred Shadows, can be read as a standalone or as part of the Lost and Found series. When she’s not writing, Tonya enjoys time with her family, connecting with students, reading in a hammock, and junk journaling with a creative cup of coffee. Website and Social media links: https://www.facebook.com/tonya.b.ashley.author https://www.amazon.com/author/tonya.b.ashley
1 Comment
Tonya B. Ashley
11/18/2025 06:40:07 am
Thank you so much for having me, Amy. It’s a joy to share with you and your readers! Leave a Reply. |
This is a place for me to tell you about what I'm writing, talk about the process or where some of my ideas came from, or even have other authors come in and talk about their books.
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