Every once in awhile an author comes along that has a gift, a gift that is truly given to them by God. It is with great honor that I am hosting one of my new favorite authors as my very first Author Of The Month: Julie Lessman
Bio as written by Julie: I’m Julie Lessman, an Inspirational Romance author with a passion for God and a passion for romance. Since the age of twelve, I’ve been in love with the idea of being “in love.” It happened the moment Scarlett seared Rhett with a look on the winding staircase of Twelve Oaks. Suddenly I was a goner, spellbound by the emotional ebb and flow of romantic relationships.
As an adult, I quickly learned that true romance is spiritual as well as physical and emotional. And one pass through the “Song of Solomon” in the Bible told me that God was the biggest romantic of them all, deeply passionate in His love for each of us. Through my love affair with Him, I have discovered that romance can transcend to another dimension where romantic passion and spiritual passion merge, creating a 3-D love story: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together. I hope you enjoy my stories ... and may they bring you closer to the Father’s heart.
Julie was generous enough to answer a few questions for us...
so without further ado I give you Julie.
1.) Why Irish Boston and am I Irish-Catholic?
Well, I actually started writing A Passion Most Pure at the age of twelve after reading Gone With the Wind and immediately knew I wanted an Irish family (a la The O'Haras). I then picked Boston because when I was twelve, I LOVED Boston Baked Beans candy as well as anything Colonial (I used to love Disney’s Swamp Fox show too).You can imagine my excitement when I finished A Passion Most Pure some 40 years later and learned that Boston was considered the heart of Irish America because of its large contingent of immigrants after the potato famine. Very cool! As far as being Irish-Catholic, I was raised Catholic and am 1/4 quarter Irish, so I don't know -- does that constitute Irish-Catholic, I hope? :)
2.) How many people ask you if the characters are based off real people???
Actually not too many, but I DO get asked if my personality is reflected in any of the three O'Connor daughters (Faith, Charity or Lizzie), and to that, I must answer ... uh, yeah, afraid so! :) For instance, Faith, the sister heroine from A Passion Most Pure, is my spiritual self while Charity, the “wicked” sister is my sensual or worldly self before I “got religion.”J In book 3, A Passion Denied, the sister heroine is Lizzie, who is a bookworm and dreamer, which is how I used to be as a child, often sneaking downstairs at night to watch forbidden romance movies on the TV when my parents were sleeping.
3.) Besides the Bible, what has been the #1 book that influenced you the most? (GWTW right??)
BINGO!! We have a winner -- Gone With the Wind is correct! :)
Wow Julie, thank you so much for writing such an inspiring and wonderful family, and most of all for becoming one of my newest friends.
Friends I am so excited to share her new book with you and so please if you want to win a copy let me know in the comments here..
Please post a comment with your email address in the
(at) (dot) format to win a copy of this great book!
Winner will be drawn on 5/24/09 and announced that Monday
9 comments:
I SO want to win her book, A Passion Denied. Please enter me in your contest.
desertrose5173 at gmail dot com
First of all, HELGA, I cannot thank you enough for your incredible support! And I have to admit, when I first saw your header and read what you wrote, it made me tear up. But you've read the books, so I guess we both know what an emotional mess I can be! :) Nonetheless, you are such a blessing ... both as a reviewer and now a friend ... and I thank you for hosting me on your blog.
LINDA -- Trust me ... I SO want you to win this book too! Keep at it girl, and you will!
Hugs,
Julie
I would like to win. I'm visiting all the blogs I can.
courtneylp1323(at)aol(dot)com
You picked a fantastic author for your very first author of the month! Her books are changing the lives of the ppl who read them!
Thanks so much for the chance to win (again)!
carolynnwald[at]hotmail[dot]com
Sounds like a fantastic author. I would love to read her book! Thanks
I have never read Gone With the Wind, but I have seen the movie. I think it scarred me. o.O Maybe I was a bit too young at that point. LOL. But keep hearing so much about it from you, Julie, that I may just have to read the book. :)
ashley.vanburen[at]gmail[dot]com
Good for you, COURTNEY, because THAT'S the way to win a book! Most of the winners last week (three out of four) were those who commented on every one of my blog interviews, so good luck to you too!
CAROLYNN ... gosh, I sure HOPE I can at least affect some of my readers for God ... that is the true desire of my heart ... BEFORE romance!
DOMESTIC DESIGNER -- Thanks so much for dropping by. But maybe we'll wait and reserve the title "fantastic" till AFTER you read the books, okay? :)
LEY ... Oh, honey, you just HAVE to read the book!! Although I loved the movie too. But you have to remember that back in my day (and the day of GWTW), there weren't as many wonderful "passion" stories like there are now, so GWTW took the world by storm. Maybe young women today wouldn't be as taken with it as my generation was.
Hugs,
Julie
I like how the three sisters reflect your personality, Julie. I'm an only child who would have loved having sisters - or brothers, for that matter. And I stayed up at night to read when I was supposed to be asleep.
Thanks for another opportunity at a giveaway.
cjarvis [at] bellsouth [dot] net
CAROLE, thanks for posting on all the blogs -- you deserve to win and your chances are pretty good, so good luck! Sorry about the loss of sleep, my friend (NOT!) :)
Hugs,
Julie
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