A natural-born storyteller,
author Leanna Ellis loves
spinning tales that explore
unwavering faith in the
real world. In her latest
novel, Facelift (B&H), the
author, wife and mother of
two explores the price of
beauty through the
compelling story of a
unique, can-do woman
named Kaye.
Ellis’ journey as a writer started “once
upon a time,” when she was a teacher
who knew that teaching wasn’t what
she wanted to do forever.
“I was trying to figure out what
exactly I wanted to do when my sister
suggested I start writing, because I was
‘always scribbling in a journal,’” the
author says. “That seed took root and
grew. At the end of the school year, I
quit teaching to become a writer. So
writing was never a hobby for me. From
there it’s been a long journey of almost
20 years. Quite an adventure!”
Starting out, Ellis wrote with a
collaborator—but she soon found that
she had so many ideas, she began to
write more stories on my own. “I
suffered numerous rejections,” she says
of that period. “But I was growing as a
writer and learning.”
She attended conferences and entered
contests—and all the hard work paid off
when she began to be noticed by editors
and agents.
She began her career writing romances
for the general market. Writing as
Leanna Wilson, she sold more than a mil-
lion romantic novels—and in the process
won a Readers’ Choice Award and the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart
Award for her work.
But a few years ago, she felt God
pulling her in the direction of Christian
publishing. This new phase of her career was launched with Elvis Takes a
Back Seat, the first book published
under her married name.
The storyline of her latest book,
Facelift, coudn’t be more timely.
There doesn’t seem to be a day that
passes without hearing about some
celebrity’s Botox regime or recent nips
and tucks to his or her appearance.
But Facelift is about more than
cosmetic surgery. “When I started
working on Kaye’s story,” Ellis says,
“the title seemed to fit as Kaye was
needing an emotional facelift. I’m not
sure anything specific inspired the
story, just my wacky brain at work
again. I wanted to explore how some
things that happen in our lives don’t
make sense and yet do.”
One theme of the book is that
blessings often arrive in the strangest
packages. Ellis hopes this book will
make readers smile and laugh. “But
also, I hope they
can relate to Kaye
as she is trying to
do everything
perfectly,” she
says. “So many
of us try to do it
all and do it
well, and it’s an
impossible task.”
Ask Ellis what
comes next, and
the answer will
surprise you. “After
Facelift, I have another book that’s a
bit different for me,” she says. “An
Amish/vampire novel called
Forsaken, which is scheduled for
release in the fall of 2011.” FF