FROM MISS TO MRS.: CHRISTMAS BRIDES - Kathleen Y'Barbo - One Free book

Welcome back, Kathleen. It’s always a pleasure to have you here. Where do you write? Wherever I can! I’ve got a laptop that can go where I go, although most of the time it’s at my desk at home.

When deciding on how to publish, what directed you to the route you took? Not what but Who…God did. Ages ago, I had plans to write funny spicy romance and become the next Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Nora Roberts. I bought books, studied my craft, and joined a local writing group. I learned about writing from some of the best in that group. Then one day my pastor asked the congregation if there was anything we were holding back from God. Immediately, He put one word on my heart: writing.

The next meeting, DiAnn Mills visited the group. The short version is she and I hit it off and it wasn’t long before she asked me to join her in a novella collection that became my first published book. Twenty years later, I still write for that publisher as well as for a few others plus I’m releasing indie books.

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

Reading, of course! I also love traveling and spending time with my hubby.

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

Write. It’s absolutely as simple as that. Be true to your voice, always be teachable and open to critique, but do talk yourself out of putting words on the page. The enemy’s going to be doing that already. Do not cooperate.

What is your favorite book? Favorite author? Do you have an author that inspired/inspires you to write? Bible. God. God. Having said that, I have lots of favorites. I have eclectic tastes in books. I love a good story or a nonfiction that informs or challenges me.

Where did you get the idea for the featured book? I had a number of options, but FROM MISS TO MRS.: CHRISTMAS BRIDES resonated with me. The book is a compilation of two unrelated Christmas stories, one historical and one contemporary, so titling was tricky. I think this one worked well.

I do, too. And I just love the cover. From idea to final revision, how long did it take to write? Since this was a reprint of two previously published stories, the time was in the edits and cover art.

Are you working on anything now? I am finishing a contemporary novella that will become the next book in the Pies, Books and Jesus Book Club series. I’ll be able to say more about that in the spring. Once that story goes to the editors, I’ll be turning my attention to a dog-themed cozy mystery in a series I’m doing with Janice Thompson called Gone to the Dogs. It’s set in Brenham, Texas, and even has some Aggies in it—two legged and four-legged!

I’ll want to feature your new books, too. Please tell us about the featured book. Two different stories, two different centuries with one result: love at Christmastime. From historical San Antonio, Texas, to modern day Santa Monica, California, the gift of love is the best present of all!

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

Christmas Day, 1851

San Antonio, Texas

Texas Ranger Captain Ebenezer “Eb” Wilson swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand and knelt at Carolina’s bedside. On the other side of the closed door, his firstborn, Rafael Ebenezer Wilson wailed in the capable arms of his grandmother. His wife had given him a strong, fine son, a lad with his mama’s dark hair and his papa’s talent for howling at full volume.

If only he’d been there when . . .

“Eb, promise me. . .”

Jerking his attention back to the tiny form beneath the blankets, Eb felt the tears threaten again. His beautiful fiery wife, the delicate counterpoint to his big clumsy self, lay so still and pale that he barely recognized her. The very life seemed to flow from her as the clock on the bedside ticked.

She reached for his hand but her fingers fell limp on the quilt just shy of their mark. Eb grasped her tiny hand in his and lifted it to his lips. “Anything, Lina. Anything.”

For moment, fire flashed in Carolina’s eyes, a reminder of the saucy senorita he’d met and married in a whirlwind courtship barely one year ago. “Don’t let my mama take our Rafael to raise. Get him another mama, someone young and strong who’ll love him like me.”

“No.” The sharpness of his tone startled him but it seemed to have no effect on Carolina. “I’ll never marry again. I . . . I couldn’t.”

Her fingers slid from his grasp to wipe a tear off his cheek. “Then I will only pray you will consider it.”

Where can my readers find you on the Internet? I’m active on Facebook and Instagram and I also have a Twitter account I check occasionally. Check out my website at www.kathleenybarbo.com for the links to those sites.

Thank you, Kathleen, for sharing these novellas with my blog readers and me. I loved the stories when I first read them, and I’m reading them right now. Enjoying them again.

Readers, here’s a link to the book.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=From+Miss+to+Mrs.+Kathleen+Y%27Barbo&i=stripbooks&crid=25PRSD5343K5H&sprefix=from+miss+to+mrs.+kathleen+y%27barbo%2Cstripbooks%2C3433&ref=nb_sb_noss

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