Interview & Giveaway with Debbie Lynne Costello

Today I am so excited to welcome blogging buddy Debbie Lynne Costello to Stitches Thru Time! She has a new release to celebrate and I think ya'll are going to love what she's got to share.

Debbie Lynne Costello is the author of Sword of Forgiveness, Amazon's #1 seller for Historical Christian Romance. She has enjoyed writing stories since she was eight years old. She raised her family and then embarked on her own career of writing the stories that had been begging to be told. She and her husband have four children and live in upstate South Carolina with their 5 horses, 3 dogs, cat and miniature donkey.

Connect with Debbie Lynne:

www.debbielynnecostello.com
www.theswordandspirit.blogspot.com
www.HHHistory.com

https://www.facebook.com/debbielynnecostello

https://twitter.com/DebiLynCostello

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Debbielynnecostello

https://www.pinterest.com/debbielynne1/

 

Welcome Debbie Lynne! We're so glad you could visit us today. Tell us about your book.

The Perfect Bride is about Avice and Philip who grew up together and are best friends. At a time when men did not have female best friends, Philip has learned to ignore the jabs. But what Philip doesn’t realize is he has fallen in love with his best friend—and he is the only one who can’t seem to see it other than Avice, his best friend. Avice has loved Philip since she was a little girl. Her biggest challenge in her life is making Philip see her as the grown woman she has become rather than the little girl who sat in awe of him as he told his tales of squiring. But when danger lurks around the corner for Avice’s father she may just have to forget love to save the man who raised her.

So, the hero must convince the heroine to fall for another lord? Sounds intriguing. Where did the inspiration for this story come from? I really hadn’t planned on that part of the story, but as I was telling Avice and Philip’s story it began to evolve. And sometimes you just can’t stop what has to be told. That was kind of what happened with this situation. There was no other way to write it. They had a story to tell more than I had a story to tell! :)

Your Heroine has an interesting name. Where did you come up with it?

I like authentic names for my characters. There are some sites in the UK where they have records of people in medieval times. I love that site! That is where I always go for my names. They tell you the name and how often that name was seen in that area and at what periods of time. I saw Avice and I knew that was my heroine.

You mentioned that your hero was a minor character in another story in this series, was it difficult to flesh out the story of a minor character? Can you tell us a little about that process?

Because I knew the theme of our novella collection, it did help a lot in the fleshing out of the character. It really is much the same as you’d do for a first time character one makes a hero. You have to determine who this person is. What makes him tick. Is he serious, fun, the life of the party? Is he a ladies’ man, etc. There are a lot of questions you have to ask the character.

You’ve mentioned to me that spiritual elements play a huge role in your writing. Can you tell us what spiritual elements you’ve woven into this story?

One of the spiritual elements in the story is trusting God for what is best for you. Avice prays for Philip to see her as a woman he could love. She feels like frustrated that God doesn’t hear her prayers. Though she doesn’t make any outward advances on Philip, she does in the fact that she goes to see him every day. It isn’t until she realizes that maybe God is saying no and she relinquishes her will to God’s will that God begins to move in her life.

Why did you choose the Medieval time period?

I love the chivalry, and the fact that men are men and women are the softer partner. Call me old fashion, but I think God knew what He was doing when He created man to be the stronger vessel and woman the weaker. I don’t mean weak minded but we are not as strong as men. Men were designed to look after and take care of the family. Woman were designed the nurturers. We are the ones who have tender hearts and can be more understanding. So a shorter answer is I love the chivalry, the knights in shining armor, and the damsels in distress. Although you’ll find I never have a weepy, weak heroine. I believe they can be kind and tender hearted and very strong!

Can you tell us what are you working on next? 

I would love to! I am working on the sequel to Sword of Forgiveness. And yes it is set at Rosen Craig with Lord Bryce, the same place that The Perfect Bride is set. I’m excited to finally get to write the sequel. It really has been so much fun. Lots of turmoil in England at the time and Bryce is having to deal with it all.

Very interesting. Looks like you have some great stuff going on. Thank you so much for being with us! 

Thank you for having me on here today, Amber! I’m looking forward to chatting with your peeps! I love meeting new readers and talking with some who know and have read my stories.

Check out The Perfect Bride on Amazon

In celebration of her new release, Debbie Lynne is offering us TWO giveaways! A rafflecopter that goes along with her blog tour, and one just for us at Stitches Thru Time.  So leave Debbie Lynne a comment to get your name in the drawing for a signed book of your choice. (Ebook for outside US)

 And here is the rafflecopter giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you'd like to join Debbie Lynne for the rest of the blog hop, here are the links below. 

April 29^th Overcoming With God

http://cfpagels.blogspot.com/

April 30^TH Anne Payne Blog

http://annepayne.blogspot.com/ 

May 2^nd Cross Romance

http://crossromance.blogspot.co.uk/

May 4^th Amy Booksy

https://amybooksy.blogspot.com/

May 7^th  The Sword and Spirit

http://theswordandspirit.blogspot.com/

May 9^th Singing Librarian Books

https://www.singinglibrarianbooks.com/adults

May 12^th Stitches Thru Time

http://stitchesthrutime.blogspot.com/

May 15^th- Heroes, Heroines, and History- Mid Month Madness

http://www.hhhistory.com/

May 17^th Jodie Wolfe Blog

https://www.jodiewolfe.com/blog

May 21^st  Sunnie Reviews

https://sunniereviews.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-mothers-gift-blog-tour-guest.html?spref=fb

May 24^th MaryLu Tyndall

http://www.marylutyndall.com/