Pepper Basham's Blog, page 15
June 10, 2017
Swoony Saturdays – John Lawson
Swoony Saturdays are your opportunity to be introduced to a book hero who fits high quality hero characteristics. (okay, so he just makes us weak in the knees for all kinds of reasons, but you get the point)
The photos involved are chosen as the most representative of the heroes featured, so IF they look like someone you’ve seen before, that’s almost entirely accidental.
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Who? John Lawson
Where can we find this dreamboat? True to You by Becky Wade (released June 2017)
Personality summary: John Lawson…whew, such a strong name for a strong guy, yet beneath all those layers of man-muscle is a surprisingly sensitive and vulnerable guy. He thinks and feels deeply, and has a strong sense of doing what is right. There’s certainly a hint of broodiness about him, but once someone moves beyond the initial intimidation, they’ll find a good-hearted, loyal, and kind man with a subtle-yet-fabulous sense of humor. There’s a quiet confidence about him which draws the heroine toward him from day one. Oh yes, he’s a swoony hero, but more importantly, when his focus is trained on a goal, he’s all in…and he’s focused on Nora 
June 8, 2017
Book Journeys – St. Louis
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Named after the famed king of France, Louis IX, St. Louis is a glittering city on the Missouri River. Most notable for The Gateway Arch, it’s baseball team (Cardinals, in case you don’t know), and, in my opinion, its pizza!! Yum!
[image error]St. Louis’ history included lots of paternal confusion 
June 3, 2017
Swoony Saturdays – Tyler Hawk
Today we welcome Mikal Dawn to share her swoony hero, Tyler Hawk with us from her debut novel, Count Me In. If you are up for an adventure (the kind where you don’t leave your couch….) then pick up a copy of this book TODAY!
Who? Tyler Richmond Hawk
Where can we find this dreamboat? Count Me In by Mikal Dawn (released May, 2017)
Personality summary: Tyler is just…fun! He was a tight end in the NFL (playing for my favorite team, the Seattle Seahawks, which puts his hero-scale off the charts in my books!) and now owns his own extreme outdoor adventure company. He’s a risk-taker through and through, pushing through a past that tried to keep him locked away in fear. His big heart wants others to experience the thrill of pushing past fear, including his new accountant, Allegra Spencer—a more fear-filled woman he’s never met. Tyler likes to push her out of her comfort zone, perhaps pushing a few of her buttons along the way….and maybe a push into his arms?
Yes he is gliding with a HAWK! PinterestWhat makes us swoon?
He loves to laugh (who doesn’t love a hero who can laugh?!)
Genuinely cares about people
Football player = muscles (sorry, but…)
Loves to banter
Flirty
Supports and encourages his friends ❤
Adventurous and daring
Seahawks (need I say more?)
PinterestKissing level of such swooniness: Tyler is between a 2 and 3 on the kissing scale. He looooves kissing Allegra but he might be a little shy about doing it in front of readers. 
June 1, 2017
Book Journeys – The Biltmore – Gardens
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On this day, 119 years ago, George and Edith Vanderbilt married in a service in France. After their four-month long honeymoon, George brought his bride (called by many of the Appalachian natives ‘a princess’) back home to his estate in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville, North Carolina.
Edith Vanderbilt – PinterestPinterestPinterest
I can’t even imagine what Edith’s first thoughts were as she rounded the corner of the gated entry and saw the grand chateau with similar hues as the surrounding mountains. Both George and Edith were not only readers, but also the outdoorsy sort. Their personal photos, many taken by Edith, show them in various places around the estate and in the gardens.
And what gardens!!!
PinterestBiltmore’s extensive gardens were designed by Frederick Olmstead. From the long three-mile driveway to the Italian gardens to the rose gardens and beyond, Mr. Olmstead carefully created a masterpiece of beauty celebrating both the natural landscape around the house but also introducing some foreign designs. The beautiful Conservatory introduces many foreign plants.
The Azalea garden is particularly lovely in April. Here’s a pic of it that I took last year! Aren’t the colors AMAZING.
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And here is a photo I took last week from the rose garden.
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Take a stroll down to the Bass Pond for a scenic look of the landscape a bit farther from the house. Top the hill from the Bass Pond to see a fantastic view of the side of the house and distant mountains.[image error]
Frederick Olmstead was even famed to have said, “People coming from New York to Biltmore in the winter or spring must be made to feel that they are decidedly closer to the sun.”
George Vanderbilt fell in love with this part of the world when he was a child, and thanks to his passion for this landscape, he’s created a place where thousands of other people can fall in love too.
Cornelia Vanderbilt (George and Edith’s daughter) even had a garden wedding at Biltmore! Pinterest
In fact, Biltmore is also well known for hosting weddings – so…in essence, the love of George and Edith has a chance to be celebrated for years and years to come in this romantic and beautiful setting.
Sounds like a good place for a historical romance to take place, right? Or any romance to take place
Which would you prefer – historical or contemporary?
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May 29, 2017
Great Scott!!! True to You by Becky Wade
[image error]Isn’t this cover amazing? And a wonderful representation for the quality of story you’ll find within the pages.
I must choose to read authors like Becky Wade only to torture myself as a writer…in a dreamy (maybe envious) kind of way.
True to You is a sweet story, and by using the word ‘sweet’ I don’t mean to simplify the elegance, beauty, or intricate complexity of this novel.
I mean ‘sweet’ in the way in which the best combination of high-quality ingredients creates a delectable dessert.
That kind of sweet.
Becky took a strong plot, two meaningful characters, a unique setting, and purposeful secondary characters to concoct a classy combination of romance and grace.
Nora is adorably complex, kind, and quirky.
John is indubitably hero material. Strong. Quiet. Focused…and in desperate need of the “brand of beautiful” Nora brings into his life.
They make a realistic and exquisite couple working through their own dreams, heartaches, and uncertainties.
There is a tenderness to this story that I haven’t experienced in Becky’s other books – although I’m a big fan of her others too. The relationships pull you along through the discovery, heartache, and healing. It’s a ‘quiet’ book – a gentle journey filled with deep emotions. (hopefully that makes sense 
May 27, 2017
Swoony Saturdays – Graham Cooper II
Welcome! Welcome!
Swoony Saturdays are your opportunity to be introduced to a book hero who fits high quality hero characteristics. (okay, so he just makes us weak in the knees for all kinds of reasons, but you get the point)
The photos involved are chosen as the most representative of the heroes featured, so IF they look like someone you’ve seen before, that’s almost entirely accidental.
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Today I am THRILLED to have Laurie Tomlinson here! She is going to share her hero from her new release with you. What do you find swoony about Cooper?
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Who? Graham Cooper II (Goes by Cooper)
Where can we find this dreamboat? With No Reservations by Laurie Tomlinson (May 2017)
Personality summary: Cooper has a very hard, colorful past he feels the need to atone for and self-medicates in various ways, the healthiest of which is cooking. Over the last few years, he’s thankfully learned the importance of humility and gratitude. He will fight hard for what and especially who he believes in. A talented salesperson, Cooper knows how to lay on the charm, but with the people who matter most to him, he is fiercely loyal and values authenticity.
What makes us swoon? “Sloane watched as Cooper unbuttoned the cuffs of his long-sleeve shirt and rolled them up one at a time, baring tan, muscular forearms. Her fingers tingled with the urge to slide up and down the ridges of his shoulders and arms. Fresh awareness of the power behind his clean-cut sophistication flushed her cheeks.”
[image error]The whole chef/cooking thing.
Dog-lover
Treats the women in his life like royalty
His tenacity and how much he’s overcome
His heart to help other people
Kissing level of such swooniness: He was rated a 3+ by Meez Carrie of Reading is My Superpower, but I think Sloane would disagree
May 25, 2017
Book Journeys – A Biltmore Love Story
It’s sad to say that most of the best love stories are not widely known. We hear a great deal about people to split up, but real-life romances are not as celebrated.
They happen. In all time periods, classes, places, and people-groups, true love has a way of making ordinary life rather extraordinary.
As we’ve toured the Biltmore the past few weeks in Book Journeys, we’ve had opportunity to see the beautiful creation George Vanderbilt envisioned when he first entered the mountains years before his grand estate was finished, but of all the beautiful things the estate housed…the relationship between George and his wife, Edith, was probably the most memorable for me.
Edith’s Engagement Photo – Pinterest
George was considered a confirmed bachelor and Edith an ‘old’ maid at the time the two of them began an attachment. Having been among the same circles for years, it wasn’t until one of George’s friends encouraged the two of them to spend time together as they traveled aboard ship to France, that a romance began to bloom.
George’s more introverted and bookish personality bloomed in Edith’s vibrant and social wake. There was a genuine excitement about their marriage to each other, and despite the immaculate wealth of the Vanderbilts, they both chose a fairly simple wedding.
George W. Vanderbilt – Pinterest
The Philadelphia Record reported this of the wedding: It was a union of quiet contentment…There probably never was so unostentatious a Vanderbilt wedding since the family made its millions. It is true that the church was full of costumes and the company was very fine, but there was an altogether marked quietness of tone and an absence of display.
After a four month honeymoon abroad, they returned home…man and wife, with great fanfare from the townspeople, tenants, and servants from Biltmore. The tenants lined the road as George and Edith rode forward and in the quiet of their first evening in their magnificent home, fireworks lit the night sky.
George with his daughter Cornelia – Pinterest
They both had an abiding love for learning and bringing education to others. With their quick minds and compassion, they opened schools of various kinds for the mountain people of Appalachia and took a surprising interest in the meekest and poorest of those people within their influence.
Edith with her daughter Cornelia – Pinterest
Edith Vanderbilt’s reputation was one of sophistication, grace, and the unique ability to relate to people of all different social classes and rank, which would become one of her most memorable features to the servants and townspeople of Biltmore. George was a visionary with a generous heart.
Biltmore truly became a ‘home’ for them, especially when their only child, Cornelia, was born.
George and Edith Vanderbilt at Bucksprings Lodge – Pinterest
Though their marriage ended too soon with George’s untimely death only sixteen years after they married, their legacy of compassion, ingenuity, and helping-others-help-themselves continued on in Edith’s life. She pursued her and George’s dream by selling a large portion of land to the United States Forest Service to create Pisgah National Forest. Her legacy, and Biltmore’s, continued and still goes on today…but the ‘story’ of their romance is worth telling.
I hope to do that some day
May 20, 2017
Swoony Saturdays – Samuel Miller
Swoony Saturdays are your opportunity to be introduced to a book hero who fits high quality hero characteristics. (okay, so he just makes us weak in the knees for all kinds of reasons, but you get the point)
The photos involved are chosen as the most representative of the heroes featured, so IF they look like someone you’ve seen before, that’s almost entirely accidental.
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Who? Samuel Miller (Sam)
Where can we find this dreamboat? The Thorn Bearer by Pepper Basham (released May, 2015) debut. Add to Goodreads HERE.
Personality summary: Loyalty is a key component to Sam’s personality. He’s a defender of the right and is a faithful friend and confidante. One deterrent to Sam’s overall jovial and kind demeanor is the bitterness he harbors against those who’ve deeply wounded him, but once he realizes how grace demands forgiveness, his heart opens wide with an even deeper love and gratitude than he had before. The sweetest romances are born of friendship, so when Sam’s affections turn to his best friend, Ashleigh, there is no way she can withstand the appeal of such steadfast, fun, and tender emotion.
[image error]What makes us swoon?
His ready humor lightens moods
He’s a rescuer
Lifesavers…of the yellow variety
Heart of GOLD
He has a tender protectiveness for those he loves
Friend
PinterestSam is always ready to give a helping hand
Boyish Charm
He sets you at ease/calms
When he realizes he’s in the wrong, he seeks forgiveness
GRACE
Kissing level of such swooniness: Sam is a solid 4 kisser, but when he thinks he’s lost the woman of his dreams, those kisses bump up into the 5 range.
Basic hero type: Sam has a whole lot of Knightley in him but a little of Captain Wentworth too. A faithful friend and devoted lover, resentment could deter him from making the wisest choices, but good sense, honest friends, and a steadfast Savior, soften his hardened head and awaken his reluctant heart.
How can I meet this swoony mister? [image error]
Ashley Dougall has a terminal disease and forgiveness is the only cure.
Ashley Dougall’s father stole her innocence, her selfish fiancé stole her heart, and unforgiveness is slowly stealing her life. Drawn by the desire to help others, she tries to escape haunting memories and enlists her services as a nurse in war-torn Europe. Along with her childhood friend and fiance’s best friend, Samuel Miller, the fragile threads holding Ashley’s life in place one-by-one begin to snap. From the deck of the ill-fated Lusitania to the smoke-filled trenches of WWI, Ashley must choose between forgiveness of the past, life in the present, and a Savior who is willing to help her face them both.
You can find The Thorn Bearer on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads as well.
Kissing Levels & Hero Types
Tagged: Heroes, Sam Miller, The Thorn Bearer
May 18, 2017
Book Journeys- The Biltmore’s Library!
Okay, so we’re back on our tour of the Biltmore – America’s largest privately owned home. This beautiful French-inspired estate is nestled in the lovely Blue Ridge Mountains in Asheville, NC and is one of my FAVORITE places to visit.
You can visit my previous Biltmore posts here and here, but today we’re going to spend an entire post touring my FAVORITE room in the house – the Library!
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[image error]Right now, The Biltmore has a wonderful exhibit where some of George Vanderbilt’s books from his library are on display along with costumes from movie-adaptations of those novels. Peter Pan, Jane Eyre, books by one of George’s favorites, Thomas Hardy, and loads of other authors/novels. Needless to say, I was particularly interested in which novel and movie adaptation would hold the coveted spot in the library.
(keep reading to find out
May 16, 2017
A Wounded Head…But a Healthy Heart
So, did that title snag your attention?
Well, the combination of those two things have certainly snagged mine this week.
[image error]For anyone who knows my brother, you will agree that he is an energetic, kind, sometimes silly, but super sweet kind of guy. He’s ready to give a helping hand, a big hug, a funny response, or a positive word whenever he can. He’s also a really hard worker and, as is true with most of the people in my family, he loves to talk.
Being the big sister, I’ve known him his whole life
