Sean C. Morgan
When a Christian man advertises for a roommate, he is surprised when a rather strange woman responds, and he surprises himself when he decides to let her room with him in Corinna Dominy’s new book, “Marcus and Lyric.”
She released the self-published title, her second, in April. Hard copies are available now. An Amazon Kindle edition was released in late May.
“I started this two or three years after I started writing the first one,” Dominy said, referring to “Matters of the Heart,” a 327-page Christian romance set in the 1830s, which was published a year ago.
Dominy, 32, is a 1999 graduate of Sweet Home High School who now lives in Lebanon. She has four children, Titus, Jude, Hosanna and Eden.
She said her first book sold “well” via the Kindle e-reader through Amazon.
“I did sell about 75 copies in person,” Dominy said.
“I guess you could say I’m international,” she said, chuckling. She sold a copy to a missionary to Laos, who is supported by her church.
Since then, she has put the finishing touches on another book and she has ideas for more.
“I had about three-quarters of it handwritten before I was finished with ‘Matters of the Heart,’” Dominy said. Writing by hand helps her get her ideas down rather than getting distracted by editing as she goes using a word processor. “It helps me order my thoughts. My thoughts flow better.”
After “Matters,” she finished the “Marcus,” typed it out and sent it to her proofreader, who, she said, proofed it “about a hundred times.”
“It was much quicker,” Dominy said. “You can see, it’s much shorter. But also I was kind of working on it while I was working on the other one.”
Her husband, Lebanon police officer and SHHS graduate David Dominy, designed the cover.
The book’s title names the two main characters. In the story, Marcus seeks a new roommate after his best friend moves away. He places an ad in the local newspaper and, based on his Christian values, assumes only men will apply. Instead, a woman named Lyric shows up, and he’s surprised by her appearance.
After interviewing, he decides to let her move in, Dominy said. She has a history and is wrestling with a number of issues, and “he looks at himself as her protector.”
Marcus and his family quickly accept her, Dominy said. “She’s got low self-esteem and doesn’t quite know why he lets her move in. She wonders what she’s doing there and why they accept her because of what her background is.”
The story follows both as they learn and grow.
“I want it to be applicable for Christians and non-Christians,” Dominy said. She wanted to avoid being preachy, but she would like the romance to reach non-Christians and let them know about God’s love, compassion and forgiveness.
“It doesn’t matter what your past is,” Dominy said. “You’re not too horrible a person for God to forgive you.”
Often, Christians and non-Christians try to put God into a box, with the idea He must act in certain ways, Dominy said. “I kind of want to show Christians there is another side to God. You can’t put God in a box.”
The book portrays a situation that many Christians believe is not biblical, she said, but “even in life, you’re going to find yourself in situations that might not be biblical.”
Marcus is not judgmental of her, Dominy said, but he doesn’t understand her background.
She thinks believers and nonbelievers can take something from this story.
It’s something where everyone can relate, including the religious themes, she said. “I hope that they at least get inspired, kind of take the journey with Lyric and discover because her past might be bad, it doesn’t make her a bad person.”
The themes in this book are a sort of test for her likely third book, with a darker story and themes, she said.
She also is working on a series of books based in Ecclesiastes 3 and the idea that there is a time and season for everything.
To order a book, contact Dominy through Facebook or by email, [email protected]. It will be available for free for the Kindle from July 3 to July 7.