Funny Quirks, Sneak Peeks, and Unexpected Accidents

Howdy y'all! Crystal Barnes here, and I'm super excited about today's guest. My new friend, the multi-talented and totally awesome Samantha Bayarr is joining us! 

Crystal: Welcome to Stitches Thru Time, Samantha. For those of us who don't have the privilege of knowing you, tell us a bit about yourself.

Samantha: I am a former personal-injury paralegal, and I’ve been a published Indie author since 2010. My husband and I live in a 110-year-old historic home in a small town in Florida. I illustrate my husband’s children’s books and design my own book covers, but I couldn’t work Photoshop if my life depended on it.

Crystal: I told y'all she was talented. :) That is so totally cool that your house is that old! 
I know a bit about your newest release since it's in a collection we're both in, but congratulations all the same! 

What is your story about?

Samantha: My story, A Noose Fit for a Bride, takes place in Tombstone, Arizona, in the year 1885, the town known as The Town Too Tough to Die. My main character, Alvira, decides to hop a train after cooking up a scheme to pose as a mail-order bride in order to gain passage to Tombstone, all in an attempt to run from her father’s demand to marry a man twice her age for his financial gain. When her intended groom, Sheriff Hurley Grinshaw, finds her in possession of a stolen horse used in the stage-coach robbery, along with saddlebags full of the stolen payroll money, she has some explaining to do—that is if she was conscious. Is following through with marrying the sheriff the only way she can keep her neck out of the noose that the town wants to string around her neck? You’ll have to read it to find out.

Crystal: LOL! I love the premise! Where did you get the inspiration?

Samantha: I wanted to write a funny story, and what better scene than the old west, where almost anything goes?!

Crystal: Totally! Where did you get your love of cowboys and the Old West?

Samantha: A lot of my growing-up years were spent in front of the TV watching reruns of old westerns, the fearless heroes intriguing me. Now that I’m an adult, my husband and I watch all those same westerns, our favorites being; Bonanza, The Virginian, and let’s not leave out JW; we watch even the old reels of John Wayne movies when he was really young that have horrible sound and very little dialogue, but you still know what’s going on in them, and we’re glued to the screen until they’re over.

Crystal: Ahh, a kindred spirit. :) I also enjoy watching Cheyenne. 
What do you hope folks will take away from Alvira's and Hurley's story?

Samantha: Alvira had all the cards stacked against her, and she looked like she was guilty of robbery, but the sheriff forgave her for lying to him about being his mail-order bride and gave her the benefit of the doubt. People can sometimes have a tendency to jump to conclusions about things before they have all the facts, and Sheriff Grinshaw proves that forgiveness can go a long way in extending a hand to someone in need.

Crystal: Sounds like a great takeaway. 
Do you have a favorite scene in the book? If so, can you tell us a bit about it?

Samantha: The book opens with Alvira begging the stage-coach driver to stop so she can use the necessary, and when the stage finally does stop, she’s met with a gun in her face by one of the men who are holding up the stage. Her fear of wetting the expensive dress her father purchased with their last few coins to show her off to the man she was to marry far outweighs her fear of the gunmen, and so she pushes past them to run toward a patch of trees. When they chase after her with bullets flying, her fear takes on a whole new meaning, and she ends up wetting her expensive dress after all.

Crystal: LOL! OH WOW! What a great opener!
What do you plan to work on next?

Samantha: I’m working on a new-to-me genre, a contemporary romance entitled; Turbulence. This is a stand-alone book that deals with redemption of the heart and soul. When my main character, Maddison LaRue is on her way to her wedding to a man she barely knows, her plane goes down on an uncharted island. After her near-death experience, Maddison decides to rethink her life and the decisions she’s made. She feels that the plane crash is a blessing in disguise that not only closed one door but opened an even better one for her future. This book will be available on kindle and paperback within the next week.

Crystal: Cool! I'm sure you're super excited!
Where can readers connect with you? Where can readers buy your book(s)?

Samantha: I can be found on all social media; Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and my books are sold almost exclusively on Amazon, but I have a few titles that will go on Nook and iTunes over the next few months. I currently have one book FREE, Amish Weddings: Ellie’s Homecoming: Book One (of 6 in the series), and that book is on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and a few others.

Crystal: Thanks for those links and the tidbit about the FREE book. :)
Last but not least, what is the quirkiest thing you've ever done?

Samantha: My entire life is quirky, so it’s tough to pick out one event, but I will tell you a little story that demonstrates my odd sense of humor. My husband and I had our first date on the front porch of the house we now own (it used to be a B&B, tea room, and restaurant). It was a dark night without moonlight, but we decided to leave the well-lit porch and take a walk down the street to see some of the other historic homes in the area. It was so dark in one portion of the sidewalk where a street lamp was burned out that I tripped on a gap in the sidewalk and fell. I was so embarrassed, and a million thoughts ran through my head, such as the fear of not getting a second date with him. But I looked up at him as he’s holding out a hand to help me up from the ground, and I simply said as calmly as possible, “I guess I really fell for you!” We both laughed so hard, but we fell in love on that porch that night, and we ended up buying the house.

LOL! Oh, I love it. That's so neat that y'all ended up buying the house. Thank you so much for joining us today, Samantha, and sharing with us about your story. 

Ladies and gents, let's keep the fun going. Anyone care to share a quirky/funny dating experience? Or how about your favorite western sitcom? Are there other books by Samantha that you've enjoyed?