A Match For Emma Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour & Giveaway for A Match for Emma by Pepper Basham, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

 

Title: A Match for Emma
Author: Pepper Basham
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November 21, 2019

Emma Mitchell may enjoy sprinkling romance into the lives of others, but her own plans involve a single first-class ticket to culinary school in Europe.

When her best friend, Jon Noble, suddenly moves back to Ransom, Emma’s fairly certain her life can’t get any better…until her matchmaking schemes nosedive, her culinary future falls flat, and a life-long friendship begins to teeter on the brink of something unexpected.

With a little inspiration from Jane Austen’s classic and a touch of Blue Ridge charm, will Jon and Emma discover that what they need the most may be the last thing they’re trying to find?

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

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Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor with southern Appalachian flair. Both her historical and contemporary novels have garnered recognition in the Grace Awards, Inspys, and ACFW Carol Awards. Her historical romance, The Thorn Healer, was a finalist in the 2018 RT Awards. Her most recent historical romance, My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge, showcases her Appalachian heritage and family history, as well as her love for humor and family.

She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is the mom of five great kids, a speech-language pathologist to about fifty more, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus. Her upcoming release, A Match for Emma, is the third book in her popular Mitchell’s Crossroads series.

Pepper loves getting to know readers and other authors through social media. You may also learn more about her on her website!

CONNECT WITH PEPPER: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Hi Pepper! First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and giving my readers here at A Modern Day Fairy Tale the chance to get to know you and your latest book-A Match for Emma- a little bit better. I always like to start these interviews with something fun… tell us 5 random facts about yourself that we WON’T find in your bio!

Hey Randi, thanks so much for featuring me and A Match for Emma on your blog!!

5 random facts? My favorite cookie is something called A Preacher Cookie. “Pepper” is my real name. I’m a Minecraft junkie. I didn’t take my first flight on a plane (or taxi ride) until I was 30 years old. I still have a copy of the first chapter book I ever wrote when I was 10 years old 😊

Aside from being an author, you are also the mother to five kids and a speech-language pathologist to children on the spectrum. First, I must say as a mother of an autistic child, thank you for that… but I have to know, how do you find the time and energy to take on all of these roles? 

God gives all of us callings and the ability to make them work at the right time. I thrive off of mental activity. Being a mom is one of the greatest and most challenging callings, but I am SO thankful for the opportunity. I love getting to be the mom of these Basham kids 😊 But as they’ve grown, it’s naturally created more time to focus on other things. I didn’t write a lot when they were younger, because I worked full-time and wanted to spend as much time with them outside of work as possible. As they’ve grown and become more independent, time has opened up in different ways, so that I can write more. AND God’s made my brain so that I think in stories. I daydream about them until I can sit down and start writing. I think I’m more productive (at this point in my life) when I have to switch from a speech-language pathologist brain, to a writer brain, to a mom brain. All those parts of me, help me in my writing…or at least I think so 😊

Let’s talk writing! You wrote your first story at just 9 years old, but didn’t pursue it until after college. Despite that, did you always know deep down this was what you were meant to do?

I think I knew that this was ONE of the things God had placed in my heart. Of course, priorities shift and change with time, so actually writing had to shift with that – but I always had the desire. Even when I didn’t have time to write novels (when I was working full-time with 5 little kids 8 years and below), I would write book ideas, poems, children’s stories, and songs on napkins and sticky notes any chance I got 😉

Your website describes your writing style as ‘romance peppered with grace and humor’, can you share a little bit more about what that means? 

Sure! I want my books to shine with hope and I find that hope shines really well through God’s grace and laughter. My desire is to show the beauty of God’s bigger story of love, mercy, and forgiveness through the smaller ‘stories’ of these books – and I try to soften the edges of life with His truth and good humor. I think it’s a very hopeful combination.

A Match for Emma is book number three in your Mitchell's Crossroads series. Can you tell us a little bit about this book and the series as a whole? Will readers who have not read the first two books be able to catch up, or do we need to go back and read them all first?

Oh boy! YES!!!

Each book is a modernized loose retelling of some classic work of fiction. I reiterate ‘loose’ because I wanted to write my own story but found inspiration within the classics for each one. The overarching theme of the series is ‘finding home’.

A Twist of Faith is book 1 and is inspired by Pygmalion or better known as My Fair Lady. As a speech-language pathologist by trade, I had a lot of fun writing this gender-bend from the classic. Adelina Roseland is the serious, strait-laced speech-language pathology professor at Blue Ridge University who has the arduous task of getting Appalachian farmer, Reese Mitchell, into tip top shape for a big-city job interview. The Appalachian father of two has as wounded a background as Dee with just as much hurt to overcome, but love doesn’t have an accent, and it doesn’t take long for these two to find some serious romance. But…will a wager for Dee’s future steal her chance at true love? #lightmyfire

Book two, Charming the Troublemaker, takes two secondary characters from book one and places them within a loose retelling of Elizabeth Gaskell’s classic, North and South. Alex Murdoch doesn’t leave the best impression with us from book one but give us a little time to get to know the intentions behind all that flirty charm he exudes and there’s a good chance he could win our hearts. Rainey Mitchell’s not buying it though. Having been deeply wounded by her ex-husband the last thing she’s looking for is a charmer, but this particular charmer has a heart of gold and the best intentions. When Rainey begins to see through the façade to the tenderhearted protector within, the walls around her broken heart begin to fall and ‘prince charming’ looks like the way to her happily-ever-after. But don’t get too comfortable, there are lots of wounds to work through and…a killer on the loose. #underoos #AdorkableAlex

And now…it’s Emma’s turn.

A Match for Emma takes Jane Austen’s classic, Emma, and brings it to life in modern day Appalachia. Our matchmaker of the same name isn’t looking for romance…for herself, but you can bet she’ll try to find it for everyone else. Meanwhile, she’s making plans to go to culinary school in Europe for three months, once she can finish saving up her money. When her best friend, Jon Noble, suddenly moves back to Ransom, Emma’s fairly certain her life can’t get any better, especially when their relationship begins to teeter on the brink of something unexpected. Through an endless game of Scrabble, classic front porch chats, and some horrible attempts at a New York accent, Emma and Jon attempt to navigate a surprising newness to their friendship which may include a little…nonverbal lip-to-lip communication. Unfortunately, Emma’s matchmaking schemes nosedive, her culinary future falls flat, and the life-long friendship suffers the brunt of her pride. Can she turn the disaster around and capture her best friend’s heart in the process, or will her pride be the downfall of her happily-ever-after? #NobleEverAfter #luvewe

I’ve written them so they can be read as stand-alones, but it’s a lot of fun reading them as a series. The family dynamics are fun, but I’ve had readers start with Emma and follow along just fine!

What do you hope readers will take away from this book?  

This goes back to my tagline. I always want people to see hope in my stories. This one, in particular, looks are healing and pride. I guess, I hope that readers see what real love looks like, without strings and prideful expectations, but also to understand God’s love is bigger than our biggest mistakes.

A Match for Emma is definitely on my TBR pile, but I have found that writers are so often some of the best readers too. If we were to take a look at your TBR, what might we find there? 

Well, I have Jessica Kate’s debut, Love and Other Mistakes, Melissa Ferguson’s debut, The Dating Charade, Denise Hunter’s newest, Lake Season, Mimi Matthews’ The Work of Art, The Mistress of Tall Acre by Laura Frantz, and A Thousand Miles Up the Nile by Amelia Edwards

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions. Before we go, can you give us an idea on what we can look forward to next? Any projects you are currently working on that you can share?

Yes! I am currently working on my October 2020 release with Barbour Publishing called The Red Ribbon. It is a part of their True Crimes series and it’s about the Hillsville Courthouse Tragedy of 1912 (in my hometown). There’s a shootout, a manhunt, and a kidnapping…and it all starts with a kiss.

I also hope to add a Christmas novella to my list for 2020 – the second book in the Blue Ridge Fairytales series following Between Stairs and Stardust. It is a story inspired by Beauty and the Beast.

Thank you so much, Randi!!!

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(1) winner will receive a Paris cube decorative tote, paperback copy of Jane Austen's Emma, paperback copy of A Match for Emma (or another one of the Mitchell's Crossroads books, if preferred), a 'love' ornament,  a mug that reads "You're my cup of tea", and Misty Mountain handcrafted soap (made locally) - the scent is Mountain Berries!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight November 9, 2019 and last through 11:59 PM EST on November 16, 2019. Open internationally except where prohibited by law or logistics. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

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