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.

Click here to get your copy!

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

Did you use a functional outline, or was it just chaos that somehow worked?

I write as I go. I do envision a minimal grand plan: basically a beginning, middle, and end. But usually I just go where my music and imagination takes me.

Is there a particular scene or passage you’re incredibly proud of?

My absolute favorite is Seti’s last conversation with Moses. He learns so much. It is the reason for the entire duology. The centerpiece, the absolute heart of the story.

What surprising discoveries did you make during the writing process?

That Joshua was in his forties, water gushed from a rock twice, and that the quail only came once (I originally thought they came every evening). I also learned that I can’t fit everything I want to teach young readers into one story. It gets too convoluted. It might still be a little convoluted.

What’s one writing rule you believe in and one you think is made to be broken?

Well, every rule is made to be broken if done right. But if you want me to choose one: using the word “said”. Though dialogue tags and action tags are better, I have no fear of using the word “said”.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

Reading and studying God’s word. I absolutely love learning new things about God. It’s like finding a treasure or a secret, and it makes me fall in love with Him all over again.