With Spring Break upon us, author Lin Stepp wants to know: Where do you love to go on vacation - the mountains or the sea? Don't worry - she's got a book for you, no matter what you decide! Both books release on April 2, 2019, so pack your virtual bags and head to the destination of your choice. And the beauty of travel-by-novel is... you can easily visit both!
Title: Claire at
Edisto
Series: Edisto Trilogy #1
Author: Lin Stepp
Publisher:
Mountain Hill Press
Genre: Inspirational Contemporary
Romance
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Set against the
alluring backdrop of coastal South Carolina, CLAIRE AT EDISTO takes
the reader on a sweet and gentle journey showing that love and new
beginnings can often bloom from the deepest sorrows.
Standing in grief
and shock at the grave of her young husband, Claire Avery wonders
what she and her young daughters will do now. They live in the church
parsonage they need to vacate. She hasn’t worked since her marriage
twelve years ago. Old issues and complications hinder relationships
with her family. Struggling for answers, Claire accepts her
brother-in-law’s offer to stay at his beach house at Edisto to give
her a season to heal and think. But even the peace and beauty of the
coastal island bring new problems along with unexpected joys as
Claire seeks to find her way.
Parker Avery always
promised his brother Charles he would look after Claire if anything
happened to him. Charles stood by him three years ago when his wife
Ann died and Parker is determined now to be a help to Claire and the
girls. As time passes, instead of feeling like a hero, he feels like
a heel instead as he realizes he’s developing feelings for his own
brother’s widow. To make things worse, he watches with pain and
jealousy as Miles Lawrence waltzes into Claire’s life. What can he
expect though? It hardly seems right that Claire, even after a season
of mourning, would ever fall in love with her own brother-in-law.
Title: The
Interlude
Series: Smoky Mountains #12
Author: Lin
Stepp
Publisher: Mountain Hill Press
Genre: Inspirational
Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 2, 2019
In this gentle,
inspirational romance, Lin Stepp reveals the healing touch and deep
peace the beauty of the Smoky Mountains can bring to a hurt and
troubled heart.
Too much work, too
much pressure, and too much heartache can lead even a strong young
woman like Mallory Wingate to the edge of a nervous breakdown. Now
her doctor and employer have insisted she take a space to heal and
rest—so like it or not, she’s heading to her grandparents’
resort in the Smoky Mountains. Hoping to sleep and rest on the flight
home, Mallory is entertained instead by an unexpectedly charismatic
stranger, making her forget many of her problems and even making her
feel deliciously female again.
Lucas James, flying
home from a pro golfing event, hadn’t expected to enjoy an
interlude of flirting with a pretty stranger on the plane. A stranger
he never expected to see again but who turns out to be the
granddaughter of his boss at The Millhouse Resort. Worse, he quickly
learns she’s passed through a recent history of emotional problems
that remind him all too painfully of his past wife. The last thing
Lucas wants is to get involved with anyone like Cecily again. Surely
it won’t be too hard to keep his distance while Mallory is at the
resort.
______________________________________________________________
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Tea or coffee? Iced
or hot?
L: Hot coffee in the morning—always—two
cups in a favorite mug to start the day … and …
hot tea later in the evening, while
reading a good book after all my day’s work is done.
I especially love Republic of Tea
specialties, like Vanilla Almond, Ginger Peach, or Red Velvet
Chocolate and Celestial Seasons Fruit Teas… . Ahhhh!!
Those all sound like amazing flavors!
If you could write
in another genre, what would it be?
L: Children’s picture books… and I’d
love going into schools, libraries, and children’s bookstores to
read them to groups of kids. Even though I taught college for almost
twenty years, I still remember my K-8 elementary teaching roots, too!
Elementary school are some of my greatest memories! I love that idea.
What are your
favorite scenes to write?
L: I love to write dialogue—taking the
reader, like a fly on the wall, to eavesdrop on characters’ words
and emotions…. Don’t we all love those moments when we get to
watch drama unfold? …I also love painting memorable scenes to make
my readers sigh and wish they were right there, in that place and
time and moment.
Yes to all of this! LOVE!
Which one of your
characters is most like you ? Least like you?
L: I’ve never purposely painted a
character to be like me, but in reading back through Claire at
Edisto recently, I saw much of my younger self in the main
character Claire—a young woman encumbered with children, home,
church, and a host of other activities with little time for herself.
I remember those busy years… but, like Claire, I loved working with
children, too. My creativity came out, as hers did, entertaining my
own children and the many children I worked with through school,
church, scouts, and more. My creative gifts, like Claire’s, weren’t
seriously encouraged in my early life—and I struggled, as Claire
did, to take my artistic gifts seriously and to envision how I might
share them.
My least favorite characters—and
those hopefully least like me—are the ones who deceive or exploit
others for their own selfish ends…. like Elliott Howell in Tell
Me About Orchard Hollow, Jonas Cole in Delia’s Place,
Estelle Cunningham in Welcome Back and many more. I have never
understood the conscience that allows some people to so hurt and
damage the lives of others—and with little to no remorse.
What is your
favorite holiday?
L: Christmas! … with all its sights,
smells, delights, and generosity and goodwill in the air. Even the
smells of Christmas are wonderful—evergreen boughs, turkey baking,
pies and holiday cookies, and the scents of cinnamon, gingerbread,
and Christmas spice candles on the air. Just like the old song: It’s
the best time of the year.
Amen to that! I love Christmastime!!
Where do the
inspirations for your stories come from?
The answer is Everywhere and
Anywhere! … while hiking, while traveling, or while working in
the yard, teaching or speaking for a civic group, reading the
newspaper, or shopping and having lunch with a friend. Stories are
everywhere waiting to happen and new inspirations for stories are all
around us. You just need to tune in and listen for them. And then
write those ideas down before you forget them!
I feel the same way about photography. There is a picture everywhere, you just have to look.
You have books about
both the mountains and the sea. Which do you prefer?
B: I grew up near, and still live very
near, the Great Smoky Mountains—and the scenes of Appalachia are in
my blood and heritage. The mountains are who I am and a part of
me—but the sea is my favorite escape spot for vacation… and the
ocean calls to me, too—just as my mountains do.
The air is just sweeter in both places!
Thank you so much for being on the blog today Lin. It was a blast!
Lin Stepp is a native Tennessean, businesswoman and educator. A New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon best-selling international author, Lin now has sixteen published books, including her twelve beloved Smoky Mountain novels set in different locations of the Tennessee and North Carolina mountains, as well as a Smoky Mountain novella in one of Kensington’s Christmas anthologies. In addition, Lin’s first novel in a new Edisto Trilogy recently released, set on the South Carolina coast. Lin and her husband also write regional guidebooks, including a Smoky Mountain hiking guide and a Tennessee state parks book. Stepp’s latest 2019 releases are The Interlude, set in the Greenbrier and Pittman Center of the Great Smoky Mountains and Claire at Edisto set at Edisto Beach, South Carolina. Lin enjoys keeping up with her readers on Facebook, Twitter, and through her monthly blog on her website at: www.linstepp.com
Giveaway will begin at midnight March 24, 2019 and last through 11:59 pm March 31, 2019. Void where prohibited by law. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.
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