Julie Lessman: Romance, Pure And Simple

Everyone's Story welcomes first time guest and well known, beloved author Julie Lessman. While everyone and her sister may know of Julie, there are quite a few interesting insights about this author that you  will relate to, chuckle over, and nod your head in agreement with. I know I did! Please check out Julie's amazing BookGiveaway offer. This will be a very fun week here. Both Julie and I are looking forward to hearing from you.

BookGiveaway:

Julie is offering 1 copy of any of her 12 books in either print or e-format within the US and e-format outside of the US. The winner will be announced here on Friday, November 14th between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment. ***For an extra point in the contest, indicate that you have LIKED (or have LIKED in the past) both  Julie’s Facebook Page and Elaine Stock's Facebook Page in your comment. Anyone who has already posted a comment prior to this added bonus can submit another comment. Thanks and GOOD LUCK!

When Certain Addictions Are Good by Julie Lessman

My name is Julie Lessman … and I am a romance addict.

However, Margaret Mitchell bears the blame. The moment Scarlett seared Rhett with a look on the winding staircase of Twelve Oaks, I was a goner, my brain irrevocably branded with the burning desire for romance. God help me, I was only twelve when some innocent, unsuspecting person put a copy of Gone With the Wind in my hand. I swear to this day that the binding not only burned my fingers, but it seared my life forever.

You see, when I read that novel at the age of twelve, I was swept away into the world of romance for the very first time. It captured me like no other book had done, and I immediately set out to write (along with thousands of other love-struck young girls, I’m sure), what I hoped would be “the great American novel.” Obviously my dreams of grandeur didn’t go anywhere, but I did write 150 single-spaced pages of a story that became the basis (some forty years later!) for my debut novel, A Passion Most Pure. Today, I like to think that not only are Margaret Mitchell’s fingerprints all over me in my religious devotion to passion, but God’s as well—merging my passion for romance with my passion for Him.

And speaking of religious devotion, I may well be one of the few GWTW fans whose obsession became a habit—a religious habit, to be exact, of the “nun” variety. Although I had read the book at the age of twelve (and reread it a gazillion times since then), I never saw the movie until I turned sixteen. Way back then (we won’t go into how far back that was), Gone With the Wind was re-released every seven years. So when I found out that a theatre in my city was sponsoring a free premiere for the local religious and clergy, I actually dressed up as a nun to go. One of my friends had a sister in the convent who loaned us novice habits and off we went! I sat there mesmerized, shoving free popcorn into my mouth as I watched the emotional tug-o-war between Rhett and Scarlett. It was one of the most thrilling times of my teens … until we ran into the nuns from our high school! I must have looked pretty convincing in the novice garb, though, because one of our nuns started talking to me about a vocation. Are you kidding? A nun who writes romance? Uh, no!

Why would a book like Gone With the Wind impact me so? Romance, pure and simple. Yes, Scarlett was selfish, but what drew me was the pull she had over Rhett—a man who wanted her but couldn’t have her. To me, seeing a strong, male type like Rhett Butler “who wasn’t the marrying kind” give in and marry her because he loved her and wanted to cherish her, spoke volumes. I sensed that was what romance was all about—finding a man who couldn’t do without you and to whom you were the most important woman in the world.

It wasn’t until I became a born-again Christian at the age of 23 that I learned it was a foreshadow of how God sees romance in Ephesians 5:25: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Now I am not saying that Rhett Butler typified the kind of love Christ had in mind, but he wanted Scarlett so badly, he was willing to give of himself to get her. No other woman alive could do that to him, only her.

Now to me, that’s romance in the most heart-pounding sense of the word, albeit a thin shadow of the kind of romance God longs to have with each us. His is a true passion, not just for us collectively as the Body of Christ, but individually as well, allowing each of us a piece of His heart that nobody can else can fill—only us. We are, quite simply, the apple of His eye, and with this kind of “unfailing” and “everlasting” love, is it any wonder that I’m hooked on romance?

Especially the God Who created it!

Julie's Ah-hahs To Tweet:

Like reading #romances? Chat with “romance addict” author @JulieLessman. #BookGiveaway (Tweet This)

Everyone has a story: Why is @JulieLessman obsessed with romance stories? (Tweet This)

Why is Rhett Butler still seizing @JulieLessman’s breath? #BookGiveaway (Tweet This)

Author's Bio and Places to Connect:

Award-winning author of “The Daughters of Boston” and “Winds of Change” series, Julie Lessman was American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year and voted #1 Romance Author of the year in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice Awards. She has also garnered 17 RWA and other awards and made Booklist’s 2010 Top 10 Inspirational Fiction. Her indie book A Light in the Window is an International Digital Awards winner, a 2013 Readers' Crown Award winner, and a 2013 Book Buyers Best Award winner.

Julie loves to hear from reader friends, so if they like, they can contact her and read excerpts from her books at www.julielessman.com, or through Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, or Pinterest or by signing up for her newsletter. Julie also has a blog “Journal Jots,” which is a very laid-back journal to her reader friends, or readers can check out Julie’s favorite romantic and spiritual scenes from each of her books on the “Excerpts” tab of her website. In addition, Julie can be found daily at The Seekers, a group blog of 13 published authors that inspires, encourages, teaches, and informs aspiring writers on the road to publication and beyond. Although Seekerville has been listed on Writers Digest 2013 and 2014 “Best 101 Websites for Writers,” it is also a blog devoted to readers as well.

Finally, Julie has the following freebie/sales/low-cost novellas currently going on:

FREE DOWNLOAD on her debut novel A Passion Most Pure, American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Book of the Year with over 570 five-star reviews.

$3.99 SALE (or FREE on Kindle Unlimited) on Julie’s Irish Christmas love story, A Light in the Window—winner of three awards, and here’s the video to give you a peek—ALITW Video.

 Only $2.99 each for two brand new Christmas novella collections from the Seekers called Hope for the Holidays.  The historical collection features novellas from Julie Lessman, Mary Connealy, Myra Johnson, and Ruth Logan Herne, while the contemporary collection features novellas from Marcy Connealy, Mary Connealy, Audra Harders, Sandra Leesmith, Ruth Logan Herne, Tina Radcliffe, and Missy Tippens.