Author: Jessica Scachetti
Genre: Gritty Christian Fiction
Books: Wonder of Light; From Dark to Light; Back to Light; Out of the Shadows
Original Publication Date: March 14, 2022
Revised Publication Date: Hardcover with revised story line released June 3, 2025
Wonder of Light: A heart-warming, yet gritty, Christian romance book. Wonder of Light is a faith-based adversaries-to-lovers romance about two opposing high school seniors.
The Perspective of a Controversial “Gritty Christian” Fiction Writer
Interview by Jenny Fulton
Jessica Scachetti is an independently published author of what she describes as, “Christian Romances with a Twist” or “Gritty Christian Romance.” One aspect that makes her writing unique is that she writes in 1st person, dual point of view, with one perspective coming from a Christian-based mindset and the other stemming from a non-Christian one.
“I like to write this way to give the readers some insight from both perspectives since I witnessed both growing up,” she explained.
Now, when Jessica says she writes in the “Gritty Christian” genre, she isn’t talking about a safe, sanitized, rough-edges-smoothed-over style of writing. Instead, she’s referring to characters who sometimes cuss (censored lightly to de-glamorize) and inflict violence. However, she emphasizes the fact that these elements are included to better display the immorality of the characters’ sinful actions and highlight the message of redemption and salvation through Jesus Christ that is at the center of each of her books.
Including profanity in books with the Christian label is a controversial issue among many Christian readers. Knowing this, I asked Jessica what kind of responses she has received to her books.
“I have received both good and bad,” she shared. “The bad have caused quite the debate amongst Christians followers on social media when I posted about my perspective on it. Many Christians believe that using profanity in Christian books is unacceptable, while others believe it’s okay if done modestly. My response to the negative is that I believe my writing in no way conflicts with the Bible and that is all that matters at the end of the day.”
Although she knew her books might not be accepted by everyone in Christian circles, Scachetti says she didn’t anticipate that, “in this day and age it would be as controversial to some as it is.” Yet she still chose, and chooses, to write in this style because, “My upbringing was gritty. My childhood included one Christian parent and one who defied Christianity, which made for many awkward moments. This inspired my preference to write Christian love stories that have some grit and depict both the Christian and Non-Christian/Struggling Christian points of view. Having witnessed both sides of the spectrum a good chunk of my life, it was important to me that I portrayed both. I wanted my stories to show that the road to love and salvation can be difficult and isn’t always coated in sugar and fluff. With there now being more blended families with differing morals and backgrounds, like my own, profanity is unfortunately all around us and you can’t always escape it. I felt it was important to always keep my characters realistic.”
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An Early Love for Writing: Jessica Scachetti has loved writing since she was ten years old. In her early years, she wrote a children’s book, a thriller, and a drama.
“No love stories for this young kid. That was the furthest thing from my mind to be honest. My anxiety disorder sort of crafted my writings at that time. So, all of them ended in tragedy.”
As she grew, Jessica’s stories maintained the element of suspense but expanded to include love and happy endings.
“Learning to manage my anxiety disorder and experiencing a strengthening of my faith has allowed my mindset to go from doom and gloom to positives and happily-ever-after’s.”
The Impact of Faith: “My faith inspires the message of redemption and salvation in each of my stories along with the happy endings. Because, as a Christian, I believe our ending will be happiest of all.”
The Impact of Work: Scachetti works for the Government on a military base.
“I would say that my job has impacted or inspired some of my writing, since one of my books in the Wonder of Light series is actually a military romance.”
The Impact of Family and Friends: Although writing itself is a solitary activity, we need lots of help and encouragement from others to keep going and to move through the publication process. Some of these key people in Jessica’s life include a co-worker, her mom, and her husband.
“My coworker and dear friend encouraged me to publish. She absolutely adores my stories. My mom is one of my biggest supporters and has helped me edit some of my books. My husband has taken on added responsibility when I’m promoting or working on my novels.”
Stepping Into Publishing: After years of writing books, Scachetti started researching and pricing out what it would cost to self-publish her first book. She opted to go the self-publishing route because, “It seemed the simplest way to go, not just because I didn’t even know where to start with trying to get my manuscript before a traditional publisher or acquiring an agent, but because my life challenges make keeping to a writing schedule quite difficult. So, the ability to schedule writing on my own terms works better for me.”
After talking over her research and pricing findings with her husband, Jessica decided to take the plunge.
“I had found a gig on Fiverr that would format my manuscript in both paperback and e-book, create the covers for both formats, and launch my book on KDP for less than $200. My husband and I found this to be financially feasible at the time and hired the gig.”
ABOUT WONDER OF LIGHT
Jessica was 37 when she published her debut novel, Wonder of Light.
“I had been playing around with the story for a couple of years with no rushing desire to finish and certainly no intention of getting it published,” she shared. “Then one day, when I was reading some of it to a friend, she recommended I look into publishing because it was a wonderful story. So, I did some investigating, which motivated me to finish the story.”
Inspiration: The idea for Wonder of Light came after Jessica watched Pureflix’s I’m Not Ashamed movie about Rachel Joy Scott.
“It brought me back to being in high school and hearing about her story at the time of the Columbine shootings. Having been a Christian girl in high school at that time, Rachel’s story resonated with me. However, it wasn’t until I watched the movie that I came up with the idea of writing my own version that would have a happier ending – one where the Christian girl could witness to the potential shooters, which would expectantly steer them down a different path.”
Personal Experiences: As Jessica wrote the book, she pulled from her own high school experience with having dated a non-Christian guy her Junior year.
“His friends would often give me grief about my beliefs, even though he never did. That relationship, although short-lived, definitely inspired some elements of the story.”
Key Themes: Intertwined throughout the book are the themes of unconditional love, forgiveness, redemption, and salvation.
Jessica hopes that when people read this story, they come away having confidence “that there is hope in all adverse circumstances. Jesus is that hope. He uses us to impact one another and inevitably steer us down a path of righteousness. No one is beyond redemption. There is even hope for some of the darkest of souls.”
The Story Continues: Writing and publishing her first book motivated Scachetti to write her next one.
“At this point, I started cranking out my novels fairly quickly. Wonder of Light is actually a Trilogy. I have four books published in total. My fourth novel is the first in another trilogy that I still have yet to complete the last two installments.”
AUTHOR LIFE
Other Hobbies: Besides writing, Jessica also loves to read – “Although finding time these days has been difficult with everything else I have going on in my life,” – and sing karaoke with her friends – “I’ve got a decent set of pipes.” Her other side gig is making and selling soy candles – “I took this up during lockdown in 2020. I have a shop on Etsy!”
Balancing Writing with Working and Motherhood: “The struggle is real. I have two young kids: a teen and a 9-year-old. Between extracurriculars, such as youth group and sports, my evenings are kept pretty busy. I also work a full-time job. So, writing takes place in any downtime I can possibly find. I try to find an even balance of writing and promoting my already published works. Although promoting and staying engaged with my audience often wins out over writing most times.”
Best Part of the Writing/Publishing Journey: “The best thing has truly been all the connections I’ve made throughout this journey. I’ve connected with so many great readers and fellow creators.”
Most Challenging Aspect of Writing/Publishing: “Editing has been the most challenging. As an indie author, I don’t have the budget for a legitimate editor. So, I’ve spent a lot of time doing it myself. When I released my first book, I didn’t put much effort into editing, which ended up warranting a lot of complaints about the errors. Thus, I re-launched Wonder of Light in June with a revised and edited version.”
What’s Next: “I just re-launched Out of the Shadows: A Mafia-Style Christian Romance on August 5th. I released the revised version while at the same time launched the Hardback book with a new and improved cover. After the launch, I’m hoping to soon wrap-up my faith-based, mafia trilogy.”
Book Blurb
Sarah Warner is the holy princess of Belton High. Popular, pretty, and kind; just about everyone adores her aside from Belton’s outcasts, Evan Simes and his best friend, Tyler. Sarah has always made every effort to be gracious and kind to Evan who avoids and ignores her at every turn. Little does this sweet Christian girl know that Evan’s home life is as violent and off-putting as his time spent in the halls of Belton High. After a run-in with Evan’s bullies and then getting locked in the school library with the bitter young man overnight, these two are able to find a common ground.
Get the book now, to read more on the challenges these two diverse characters face on their journey of discovering love and faith.
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Heart Soul Mind 
Fantastic interview! Congratulations, Jessica, on the relaunch of Out of the Shadows!
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