LEGITIMATE LIES - Julie B Cosgrove - One Free Book

Welcome back, Julie. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

The answer may sound glib, but I feel God calls me to write them, be it a suspense romance novel or another Bible study. He truly is my inspiration. I think at heart we are all story-tellers, and as Christians we are called to tell our story (and His) so others can be led to Christ. As a writer, I have the humbled honor of taking that a step further.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

The day my son was born pops into my head, but coming a close second is the day I learned I was under contract with a traditional publisher. What an affirmation! God had just granted me my life-long dream.

How has being published changed your life?

It has humbled me so very much. I tear up thinking about how gracious God is to let me live out this dream of writing. I am more at home in my computer clicking away on the keyboard than I am in an easy chair. I’d keep doing it even if nobody took the gamble to contract me. The fact that I have three novels contracted to publish in 2015 still amazes me. Yet I feel a burden of responsibility as well. I think many of us Christian writers do. We are not writing for ourselves.

What are you reading right now?

A wonderful cozy mystery by Sharon McGregor called Island Charms. She’s also a Prism Book Group author. Then I have three more I want to get to, one by my all-time favorite author Mary Stewart. I have been reading hers since I was in sixth grade. She passed over fifteen years ago, but I discovered one of her last I hadn’t read. Cozy mysteries are my favorite, always have been.

What is your current work in progress?

I have two. I am fine-tuning and editing Freed to Forgive which takes one of the minor characters from Hush in the Storm (released Aug 4, 2014) and Legitimate Lies (released Jan 14, 2015) and tells her story over a ten year period. Then, I am also writing a romance novella called Navy Blues, based on one of the love aspects –“love is not self-serving”— in I Corinthians 13.

What would be your dream vacation?

Returning to England and taking a course at Oxford. Britain is my familial and religious roots. I was blessed to be embedded with a family for ten days there a few summers ago on a church sponsored tour. My other “dream come true.”

How do you choose your settings for each book?

I choose places I have been or want to see. The latter I thoroughly research until I can “walk the streets” in my mind. For almost two years, I wrote for a travel website and researched cyberspace for places and attractions that would appeal to a young family, a pet lover, and a business person, and I believe that training helps me truly visualize my scenes for my readers.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

Max Lucado or Joyce Meyer. Both of their writings spoke to me at very crucial times in my spiritual life.

They are two of my favorite authors as well. What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

Word puzzles and vegging out on British mysteries and period novels on Netflix. Well, I am a Downton Abbey aficionado as well. Like my main character, Jen, I was weaned on Earl Grey with cream. A pure Anglophile. I also am a professional public speaker and workshop leader. I truly love meeting and leading other women to grow deeper in Christ.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

Finding the time to zone out everything else. I literally itch to write. When I get that feeling, I know I need to carve out at least a day to “scratch.” But putting a fence around that time now-a-days is hard, isn’t it? My family and close friends are slowly learning I am serious when I say I can’t do something or go somewhere because I need to write. It’s not a lame excuse like, “I need to wash my hair.”

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Write until you reach the end, then find a supportive critique group with at least one or two published authors in it and let them help you polish it and grow in the craft. Nothing will please them more, and then someday you will do the same for someone else.

Tell us about the featured book.

Legitimate Lies is a continuation of Hush in the Storm. I didn’t plan it that way, it just sort of happened. The Editor in Chief loved Hush in the Storm so much she encouraged me to write it.

Jen, who has been shoved into witness protection, must learn to live a legitimate lie about who she is. But one secret in her past keeps haunting her, and until she deals with that, she cannot move on with her new life. However, revealing this deep-seated shame may risk her one chance at happiness and love. Will she decide to just live the lie?

Please give us the first page of the book.

​Did I really want this baby? Yes.

Wait…no. Absolutely not.

The barricade of lies I’d droned into my head over the past few months, crumbled the moment little Josh Holder discovered her on the front steps of the Bonita Springs Public Library. She lay on the hard concrete, swaddled in a pink, crocheted throw. Innocent eyes, tucked into chestnut skin, widened as they peered into mine. Thick, straight strands encircled her head in a coal-colored halo.

I knew at once who she was—and that wounded me deeper than I’d ever imagined it could.

“Look. It was taped to her blanket.” Josh teetered on his eight-year-old tiptoes to show me.

My business card—“Sheila Williams-Library Assistant.” What on earth? I tucked a fly-away strand of auburn hair behind my ear. On the back, in a decidedly masculine scrawl, it read, “She’s yours if you want her.”

Mine, if I want her? The card trembled between my fingers. A tumult of emotions swirled inside me like a Dervish dancer. Anguish because she was my now-imprisoned husband, Robert’s, illegitimate child. Anticipation she could be what I secretly desired—a baby of my own. Anger that she existed at all. The inner turmoil mimicked the twirling leaves on the sidewalk in front of the library whipped into a tiny tempest by the tropical storm brewing above us.

Thunder rumbled. Or did my heart thump a warning inside my eardrums? No one from my past in Texas was supposed to know I now lived in Florida—except for Becky, who’d help me settle in my new life. But she wouldn’t tell. Her job depended on that. So who could have dropped off this child?

I scanned the city block. Then, I saw him. Tom. The one man I’d almost trusted. A smile eased across my mouth. He’d kept his promise to Robert after all. He’d made sure the baby lived. Now, Robert’s hold on him was broken. The old Navy buddy debt paid.

Oh, how I envied Tom’s freedom from my husband’s evil vice grip. My thumb rubbed the place where my wedding ring once sat on my finger. My faith told me I remained shackled to Robert—for better or for worse—even though the Feds had changed my identity and my marital status when I entered witness protection.

Tom tipped an imaginary Stetson in my direction. My mouth opened, but no words came out. There was too much to say, and none of it mattered now. So all I did was return the gesture with a slight nod, hoping he’d hear my heart beat for his.

Josh tugged on my sleeve. “Who’s that?”

“Just a man saying hello, I guess.”

But Tom had been so much more.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

My main website is www.juliebcosgrove.com.

I also have a blog: Where Did You Find God Today?  http:wheredidyoufindgodtoday.com.

My books are on Goodreads, Amazon, and most on Barnes and Noble. Hush in the Storm and Legitimate Lies are featured on PrismBookGroup.com. I am also on Facebook as juliebcosgrove-tx.

Thank you, Julie, for sharing this new book with us. I loved Hush in the Storm, and I know I'll love Legitimate Lies. It's up next on my to-be-read pile.

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Legitimate Lies - Paperback
Legitimate Lies - Kindle

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