Liabetes by Shanna M. Heath
Thank you for welcoming me as a guest on your blog! I appreciate the opportunity to share my recently released YA contemporary Christian novel, Liabetes, with your readers.
My inspiration for writing Liabetes came from a mix of real-life chaos, some questionable decision-making (not mine, I swear!), and an admittedly odd fascination with moral dilemmas. Olivia’s journey wasn’t born from a single moment, but rather from an ongoing curiosity about the choices we make and how they align with faith and integrity. I found inspiration from my past, my children, and my students. (Thanks, guys!)
The Heath family is currently in the thick of all things college–it’s Spring Break here, and we’re spending our week touring colleges with our oldest, a high school junior. The harsh reality is, college is expensive. Scholarships, grants, and financial aid can only stretch so far. Liabetes explores the desperation that financial limitations can create—how far someone might go when they’re thisclose to making their dream come true. Olivia’s family is not well off, and Vanderbilt University costs a pretty penny. She’s forced to discover what it’s like to chase a dream and hit a monetary brick wall at full speed. Unfortunately, when she tries to take control by bending the truth, she steps outside of God’s plan for her. (Spoiler alert, God’s got her back…)
In Liabetes, my protagonist makes a morally questionable choice and then has to deal with the consequences. Olivia’s decision to fake diabetes for a scholarship is outrageous, sure, but it’s also rooted in the deeply human desires for survival, ambition, and fear of failure. As Christians, we know that God calls us to honesty and trust in His provision. But what happens when someone steps away from truth to secure their future? And what happens when that deception leads to unexpected relationships and a realization of God’s grace and redemption?
One of my favorite parts of writing Olivia’s story was developing the relationships she forms—especially her dynamic with the Core Four (her closest three friends) and the Sugar Shatterers, a diabetes support group she attends in her effort to learn more about the disease, and one very smug (but very cute) diabetes support group member, Paul. Olivia is placed in multiple situations where she’s forced to confront her moral compass. She learns that deception has consequences and that God often places people in our lives to guide us back to truth.
Olivia needs a whole lot of divine intervention to dig herself out of the mess she makes. Fortunately, she finds that God’s plan was bigger than her own, no sugar-coating necessary. (See what I did there?!)
Liabetes isn’t just a about mistakes—it’s more so about grace. We all mess up. Sometimes spectacularly. But God’s grace is bigger than our worst decisions, and His plans are always better than the ones we try to force into existence. Writing Olivia’s story was a blast, even if it challenged me to think about faith in the midst of struggle. I hope it does the same for readers.
Blessings,
Shanna M. Heath
Back cover blurb:
She’s got a dream school, a nightmare budget, and she’s headed for a doozy of a rude awakening…
Olivia’s goal is within reach. She’s been accepted to her dream school, Vanderbilt University, alma mater of famed comic illustrator Paige O’Donnell. Despite gaining multiple scholarships and grants, Olivia’s just shy of tuition. Desperate, she applies for a $15,000 scholarship offered by the Wonderbrink Foundation, to be awarded to a high-achieving and athletic senior with diabetes. One little problem… Olivia doesn’t have diabetes.
In her quest to pull off a whopper of a lie, Olivia attends a diabetes support group meeting, where she meets and befriends Paul Roberts, a smug yet handsome member of the Sugar Shatterers. Her best friends Xavier and Amber aren’t thrilled about Olivia’s new mysterious, one-sided friendship with superstitious, entitled Paul. Xavier may secretly be a *little* jealous, and the scholarship application deadline rapidly approaches.
If you’d like to read more, or know someone who might, Liabetes is available for purchase at HERE (Amazon) and HERE (IngramSpark).
Thank you again for allowing me to write as a guest on your blog, and I appreciate your kind readers for taking the time to read my post.
Blessings,
Shanna M. Heath
About the Author: Shanna M. Heath resides in central Kentucky with her sweet family, two dogs, and a ball python. When she isn’t writing young adult Christian fiction, she enjoys teaching middle school social studies or taking Sunday afternoon naps. A sucker for teen rom-coms, her stories have a knack for weaving together the awkward and the flirtatious, with a healthy dose of real-life complications to boot.
