About the Book

Book: Catching Hope

Author: Kathy Cassel

Genre: Young Adult, action/suspense

Release date: February 1, 2021

Catching Hope—a pursuit fraught with danger.

Newly adopted Lexi Michaels is taking her first real vacation as she, twin brother Levi, adoptive brother Chad, and new cousin Jen head to Haiti where their dad, a pediatrician, will be volunteering in an island clinic. But who is the man who displays such hatred for the Michaels when they arrive at their resort? Is an attempted burglary as random as it appears? Will Jen ever accept the newcomers to the family? When the four teens set out to explore Haiti’s sights and history on their own, an unexpected encounter and natural disaster plunge them into adventure and danger. With their very survival at stake, can the four teens work together or will Lexi’s dream of a “forever family” end in tragedy?

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About the Author

Kathy Cassel lives in the Florida panhandle with her husband and four of their eight children, five of whom are adopted. She is a motorcycle rider, scuba diver, and loves spending time with her family. Her debut novel, Freerunner, was published by Elk Lake Publishing, Inc. in 2019.

More from Kathy

My Experience with Haiti

Prior to the 2010 catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake that caused immense damage to the country of Haiti, many people would not have been able to tell you that Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the island of Hispaniola just a two hour flight from Miami.

I knew where it was because our family had adopted a child from Haiti in 1997. At the time the earthquake took place, my husband and I were in the process of adopting twins from a different orphanage in Port au Prince Haiti. It had been over three years and our adoption was not yet complete. During those three years I visited the twins at the orphanage five times. Other family members went with me on some of those trips, and at one point, all of our children still living at home went to visit the orphanage.

This was an eye opening experience for my family. In fact, I volunteered us to do the daily wash. That meant hand washing clothes and sheets for 135 orphans using large metal tubs and harsh soap, then rinsing the clothes in other tubs before hand wringing them and hanging them on clotheslines. Once home, my children no longer complained about unloading the dryer!

Cooking was done in large pots over open fires and mainly consisted of rice and beans, or red sauce over rice. The cooks originally prepared the food in a wooden shack, but more than once one of them would get so hot she’d pass out, so an outdoor area was set up for food preparation.

After the earthquake, there was a mountain of paperwork to be done to get refugee status for children in the orphanages who had families waiting for them. Finally the children were brought to the United States, although some of the orphans went to other countries too, to be united with their forever families. Sadly, many were held in the airport for days before being released. For our family, the long wait was over January 25, 2010. Now our family is complete with three birth children and five adopted children, three of whom are from Haiti.

Some of the places mentioned in the book resemble real places in Haiti, although they have been fictionalized. I hope you will not only read Catching Hope, but will also take time to learn more about the country of Haiti.

Mindy Houng’s Q&A with Kathy

What does success as an author look like to you?

If one reader receives hope and healing from the story, my book is a success.

Which character did you connect to best in this book?

Lexi with her need for belonging and hope.

Which part of the book was the most difficult to write?

One thing that was hard was making the book authentic, but not wanting to show Haiti in a bad light. There are a lot of kidnappings. Our adoption facilitator and another orphanage worker were kidnapped near the beginning of our adoption process. It happens. But I didn’t want to make it sound like Haiti is a horrible place. It’s not. But it has those who are honest and upright and those who aren’t like in most places.

What inspired this book?

The idea of writing a book set in Haiti began back in 2007 when we visited an orphanage to meet twins we were planning to adopt. I knew it would involve a kidnapping, but I knew it had to be more than that. I needed a main character who was struggling with many of the same things today’s teens struggle with. In Lexi’s case, she struggle with acceptance, fitting in, and having hope for a better future.

Which author influenced the you most?

James Scott Bell. I reread Write Your Novel from the Middle and Plot and Structure quite often, especially when starting a new project.

What is your favorite Bible verse or life verse?

I really like the key verse for this book, I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NLT. My other favorite is Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

What is your vacation spot?

There are several places I like for different reasons. If I want to hang out with my whole family, we head to Bryson City to white water raft, tube and cook using fire pits. But sometimes I just want to see something. Like ever since reading Robert McCloskey’s picture book Make Way for Ducklings I wanted to see the bronze statues of his fictional ducks in Boston park. So I flew to NYC (one of my favorite places to go), rented a car and drove to Boston where I had my photo taken by the ducks.