THE ALAMO BRIDE - Kathleen Y'Barbo - One Free Book

Dear Readers, Kathleen has been a close writing friend for decades. I love her books, and I’m thrilled to feature her with her newest one today.

Welcome, Kathleen. Where do you write?

When I am at home, I have a home office. Thanks to my laptop, however, any place where inspiration strikes is fair game!

When deciding on how to publish, what directed you to the route you took?

Oh my goodness. That was so long ago! I had been attending Romance Writers of America meetings for a couple of years when DiAnn Mills came to speak to us. After meeting DiAnn and hearing her speak, I knew I was meant to write for the Christian market. In 1999, she invited me to join a novella collection she was putting together. Two weeks after submission, the book was purchased and I was published. Twenty years later, I am still writing for the Christian market and still write for Barbour Publishing, including The Pirate Bride and my newest book, The Alamo Bride.

What kinds of things do you like to do outside of writing?

My husband and I both have convertibles, so we love to put the top down and take long drives. I also love reading.

What kinds of advice would you give to someone who wants to start writing?

Just do it. Seriously. There are so many ways to trip yourself up at the beginning of a writing career, but NOT writing is the biggest mistake of all. Get some words on a page, even if you’re sure they’re awful. Then get into a writers’ group—I love American Christian Fiction Writers—where you can get to know lots of other writers. But first…WRITE.

What is your favorite book? Favorite author? Do you have an author that inspired/inspires you to write?

Oh that’s not fair! I have so many favorites. Of course, the Bible is #1. I have eclectic tastes in books, but I love it when a sentence can make me pause and smile at the cleverness behind its construction or a brilliant plot twist can catch me unaware. Books by Susanna Kearsley, Rhys Bowen, and Kate Morton come to mind. I also love well-written characters like Captain Lacey from the Ashley Gardner mystery series and just about every character Sarah Addison Allen has ever put on the page. Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, and I also love Kathryn Casey’s true crime books, partly because they are set in locales near me and partly because she’s just such a fabulous writer. Finally, I have to go on record as saying that I love every single book that Jamie Langston Turner and Linda Nichols have ever published. Go read them. Not kidding. I am a huge fan.

Where did you get the idea for The Alamo Bride?

I got the germ of an idea for The Pirate Bride, this book’s prequel, more than 25 years ago sitting on porch of our beach house at Crystal Beach, Texas, and then filled in the details at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston Texas. When my editor asked me to write a book that centered on Texas history and the Alamo, I was thrilled. I’m a 10th generation Texan whose great-aunts are genealogy buffs. Mining that rich history, I was able to place the granddaughter of my pirate heroine from The Pirate Bride into history that was actually lived by my own ancestors. How cool is that?!

From idea to final revision, how long did it take to write?

I’m a fast writer so from idea to turning in the manuscript to my publisher was just a matter of weeks, maybe four or five. Revisions were pretty quick—a day or two—because my amazing copy editor Linda Hang catches so much and makes me look like I know what I’m doing. All that’s left is for me to scan what’s there and then tell the senior editor how brilliant Linda is. Lest you think I’m kidding, The Alamo Bride is dedicated not only to my two great aunts who inspired the story behind the story but also to the amazing Linda Hang.

Are you working on anything now?

I am putting the finishing touches on a Guideposts contemporary cozy mystery and then I will be switching gears and writing a novella set in 1880s Texas.

Please tell us about the story.

The Alamo Bride opens in New Orleans then shifts to coastal Texas in 1835 through real-life Texas history until after the battle of the Alamo in 1836. My characters are a Texian woman (red-haired granddaughter to the fiery Maribel from The Pirate Bride—and yes that is Texian not Texan) and the handsome New Orleans soldier who arrives full of bullet holes via canoe down the Brazos River. Did I mention he cannot remember how he got there or what sort of business brought him that far away from where he should have been? Then there’s the fact that during his fevers, while she’s trying to keep him from dying, he talks about President Andrew Jackson and General Sam Houston as if they are friends of his? Then there’s the hidden pirate treasure map in his boot.

Sounds wonderful. Please give us a peek at the first page of the book.

New Orleans, Louisiana 

October12, 1835 

 He was the grandson of a pirate who sailed with the infamous Jean Lafitte and the nephew of a governor and statesman, but tonight Claiborne William Andre Gentry was merely one of the many anonymous souls who walked along Magazine Street in the Vieux Carre.  

Back in Tennessee, his sisters had teased him about the dark hair that was so different than their blonde braids and yet so similar to the pirate whose name was forbidden in their home. Here in New Orleans, Clay’s resemblance to the grandfather his family never spoke of had caused him to fit in rather than look out of place. And when a man was carrying a secret on behalf of the President of the United States, looking out of place was not the goal.

The night was warm, unseasonably so for October, and the air was thick. Like as not, there would be storms before daybreak.  

Clay moved swiftly down Magazine Street, keeping to the shadows and avoiding the glare of the gas lamps. Though the full moon overhead turned everything it touched a dull silver, murky darkness was never far away in this city. 

He knew from experience the darkness did not merely extend to the streets and alleys of this city. It also lay deep in the heart of men who dwelled here. 

In the last few months since he’d discovered the names of some of those men. His mission tonight was, in part, to discover if what he learned was true. The remainder of his task for the evening--the duty he held and the favor the completion of that duty would incur--weighed heavy on his mind. 

He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust…  

A verse first memorized at his mother’s knee because it made him laugh to think of the Lord covered in feathers, now these words gave him strength. With this in mind, Clay picked up his pace.

Just yesterday news of the battle in Gonzales had reached the city. A squabble over ownership of two cannons very likely had launched what would become a full-blown war. 

The general who would lead his troops in that war needed funding if he was to be successful. Funding that the Mexican government would very much wish to intercept. 

For that reason, he’d spoken to no one since his arrival in New Orleans. In times of war, not all friends were truly friends. And, sadly, not all family escaped the title of enemy. 

Though he kept the evidence of who he was--the papers that named him as a citizen of Louisiana by virtue of his uncle’s position—tucked into his boot, he would not make that evidence public. Better to remain a stranger than to be targeted because of an alliance that came from an accident of birth. 

Wonderful. I want more. Where can my readers find you on the Internet?

I’m on social media via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Just do a search for Kathleen Y’Barbo and you’ll find me. I’ve also got a website at www.kathleenybarbo.com that will point you to lots of great information about new books, my newsletter, and—if you can’t find me through searching—my social media links as well.

Thank you, Kathleen, for sharing this story with my blog readers and me.

Readers, here are links to the book.

The Alamo Bride - Christianbook.com
The Alamo Bride (Daughters of the Mayflower) - Amazon.com paperback
The Alamo Bride (Daughters of the Mayflower) - Kindle

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