About the Book

Book: AS A BRIDE IN THE WILDERNESS

Author: EJ Ashmore

Genre: Biblical Fiction, young adult

Release Date: January 10, 2026

Eliza is sure happiness has arrived. She and her family, never to be separated again, join the rest of her people on the road to a land filled with milk and honey. A land to call home. Even better, Seti, the love of her life, has joined her people, pledged allegiance to her God, and vowed to marry her.

But life isn’t that simple. Not only are her plans disrupted by a detour into the great unknown, but she has suffered a severe concussion, thanks to Seti. Her people and her family, though loveable, prove to be a squabbling mess, and Seti, can’t stay out of trouble. Freedom is not so easy. Who is she really, and how does a free woman act?

Seti, an Egyptian, once had everything, or so he thought. He willingly gave it all up for Eliza and her God. Now reduced to an outcast sleeping outside his best friend’s tent, he has no money and no way to prove himself acceptable to Eliza’s family or her people. For the first time ever, he is filled with insecurity and fear. Fear of losing Eliza to his foolishness, but most of all, fear of disappointing the God who saved him. Yet, his every decision leads to disaster.

 

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About the Author

EJ Ashmore is a wife, mother, and nurse, with a passion for young believers who are searching for answers about God. Whether it be what God wants, who He is, or why He does some of the things He does, she seeks to use ordinary, relatable characters to illustrate God’s unwavering faithfulness and devotion even to those who feel unworthy or invisible.

 

 

 

 

More from EJ

Why I wrote this:

This all began when my teenage son couldn’t grasp why God would harden Pharaoh’s heart and then punish him for it. But then I read Joel Richardson’s Sinai to Zion, and how  God’s love story for His people (Israelite or Gentile/Christian) is framed after ancient Jewish wedding customs and how God designed marriage to mirror His desired relationship with His people.

But I also wanted to reach young girls who felt as I did as a teenager: ugly, unworthy, a constant failure, insecure, and constantly bullied. God seemed to hear everybody else but me. But God’s love story is for the individual as much as for a nation. He pursues, He gets the girl, He proves His worthiness again and again, and He builds her up as His beautiful bride who He will have an intimate relationship with.

Add in the depravity of humanity who barely know their God, stuck in a desert with nothing to do and have no idea how to act not only as free people but as people of God, yet God chooses them and loves them and wants to live in their midst.

I deeply desire for my reader to come away from this pondering how God pursued and pursues them in their own lives, and have a deeper relationship with God and a better understanding of the why God does what He does.

Interview with the Author

What made you choose to write this book when you did?

Many things. First, I strove give satisfactory answers to my teenage son on why God did some of the things He did in Exodus. But I mainly wanted to showcase God’s desired relationship with man, how it’s not a vassal treaty, but like an actual marriage. And there’s a reason husbands and wives have their respective roles. Not only that, but I wanted to show readers that we are probably more like the Israelites than we’d like to admit. So many people are quick to judge them in the Wilderness, but when you actually sit down and watch people, we are much like them even now. Displace several thousand, maybe a million people who are used to having structured, busy lives and probably not well acquainted with their own families, then stick them in the wilderness with nothing to do, no privacy, no security (according to them), with their fate resting in the hands of an unpredictable God that they hardly know. Of course you’re going to get pettiness, confusion, identity crisis’s, family drama, and a clash of pride from all levels. Not to mention, the Wilderness was known to be the home of evil spirits. Egyptian gods only protected those on their own turf, but the Israelites were trespassing onto foreign turf, that of chaos and the evil spirits.

Not only did they have to depend on their God for food and water, but also protection from evil all around. It proved His supremacy over all gods and all lands.

Who was your biggest influence writing this book?

My biggest influence was Joel Richardson. He writes nonfiction, mostly eschatology. I’m a huge fan of his. His book Sinai to Zion illustrates this love story between God and His people so perfectly and beautifully. It made me fall in love with God all over again. As far as writing style: Connilyn Cossette. She’s so articulate and perfect with her words. No other fictional author compares to her style.

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

Confronting the past that I have buried for so long. Writing the love story between Seti and Eliza was pretty hard for various reasons. Also, creating a redemption arc for Eliza. Writing Seti came naturally for me, because even though Eliza is pretty much me, he was a lot of fun to write and asked all the questions I would have asked.  But for Eliza, it seemed like, no matter how I wrote her, none of my Christian readers liked her. That was very hard for me because she really is basically me in every way. I was a very troubled teenager, and I couldn’t relate to any female character in any book I read, so I wrote Eliza for young girls that feel like I did, and lo and behold, nobody likes her. Her redemption arc isn’t as obvious as Seti’s because her struggles are so much more deeper and require so much more time, which doesn’t quite conclude at the end of this book.

What part of this book came most naturally to you?

The conversations between Seti and Moses or Seti and Joshua. They just flowed. I love to talk about God, and I love listening to others talk about God. The questions and frustrations of the characters are everything I’ve battled with as I grew into my relationship with God, and I wished I could just sit and listen to Moses or Joshua speak.

What is the biggest thing you hope readers take away from this book?

So much. I want people to look back on their lives and see how God pursed (and still pursues) them. Their own personal love story with God. But I also want them to see the big picture. God’s grand scheme. It’s a love story, ending with the Kingdom, filled with people who freely chose Him and became His bride. Like a groom, He desires our undying loyalty and trust, and he will provide the rest. He doesn’t just want to be seen for His glory, but He wants an intimate relationship where we know Him like a bride knows her husband, and we truly choose and love Him.

Blog Stops

Books Less Travelled, September 15

Simple Harvest Reads, September 16 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 17

Artistic Nobody, September 18 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, September 19

Guild Master, September 20 (Author Interview)

The Bookish Pilgrim, September 20

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 21

Fiction Book Lover, September 22 (Author Interview)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, September 23

The Bookish Ledger, September 24 (Author Interview)

Blossoms and Blessings, September 25 (Author Interview)

Stories By Gina, September 26 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, September 26

Lily’s Corner, September 27

Books, Books, & More Books, September 28 (Author Interview)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, EJ is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card and a paperback copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://gleam.io/cQ41F/as-a-bride-in-the-wilderness-celebration-tour-giveaway