Book Spotlight (and a Giveaway!): A Twist of Faith by Pepper Basham

I am THRILLED to be able to talk about two of my very favorites – A Twist of Faith and Pepper Basham – all day today! Right now, I want to spotlight the book a little bit, and Pepper has graciously provided an excerpt for your swooning…er… READING pleasure 🙂

Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas | April 2016

Maybe the language of love doesn’t have an accent, but with any other type of accent, Dr. Adelina Roseland feels confident she can correct it. Accent reduction is her specialty and she’s worked ten years in research with it to attain her dream job: Professor at the University of Virginia. But all rookies must pass through the fire, so Adelina is sent to a tiny town in a crevice of Appalachia called Wise, Virginia, to begin a new program for their satellite university there. Determined to prove herself, Adelina makes a daring wager with her arrogant supervisor, Dr. Alexander Murdock. If she can pass Appalachian cow farmer, Reese Mitchell, off as a Harvard grad and help him with a job interview for a corporation in Chicago, then she can present her research at the National Convention in front of her newfound colleagues and hundreds of other professionals, launching her career to further heights and moving her as far away from Appalachia as possible.

But Adelina didn’t plan for the faith and friction of single-dad Reese Mitchell or his chaotic family. Drawn into a culture she’d been trying to forget for the past fifteen years, Adelina finds the warmth of family, the hope of faith, and the joy of love melting away at the deep wounds of her past. But when Reese discovers that he’s been a mere pawn in her step up the corporate ladder, will he be able to forgive her deceit or will their miscommunication end in two broken lives.

Will some good old-fashioned Appalachian grit from a meddling mother bring rescue this culturally-diverse couple before they lose their chance to build a future of their own?

With humor, romance, heartbreak, and a twist of faith, find out how this modern day bend on the delightful classic, My Fair Lady, teaches the timeless beauty of second-chances and the eternal truth of everlasting love.

Pepper envisions Hugh Jackman as the model for Reese Mitchell (can we all just take a moment to appreciate?), the softhearted but thickly accented Appalachian cattle farmer.  He’s a single dad to some adorable kiddos, has a strong bond with his family, and there may be quite a lot more to him than Dee first assumes.

The beautiful Kate Beckinsale fits Pepper’s visual image of Adelina “Dee” Roseland, the professor with a lot to prove. She pulls her hair back to maintain a professional appearance and keep her distance. Throughout the story, however, her features and hairstyles soften along with her personality.

Reese slammed his truck door and revved the engine. He’d had about enough of Doc’s bellyaching. Maybe they shared a few sweet moments at his mama’s house on Sunday. He’d talked about his family, she’d talked about her dad, but then –wham – Tuesday started right back into “fixing Reese’ with a fury. When she came to his house on Thursday, it wasn’t no better. And now, Friday, he’d spent the last hour practicing ‘r’ words.

For one whole hour. Didn’t make no sense to keep practicing something he learned in first grade. That woman really needed a hobby. Maybe fishing – one of the best calming activities in the world. It didn’t hurt if you caught your dinner either, and the word ‘fish’ didn’t have one single ‘r’ in it.

But Dee didn’t seem to remember any of their sweet moments from Sunday. In fact, the last three visits with her were all business. And all bossy.

“Ain’t is not a word.”

“Put your ‘ing’ on the ends of words.”

“Light is made up of a diphthong, not one long, flat vowel.”

“Stand up straight.”

“Put away your toothpick.”

He shifted his truck into reverse to pull out of the university parking lot and caught sight of Dee leaving the school building. Her gray skirt highlighted the length of her legs and Reese looked away. Trouble, with a capital T, underlined, and in italics. That’s what she was. One minute he wanted to kiss her and the next he wanted to run from being schooled on his alphabet. She’d probably even correct a compliment if he gave her one.

He watched her until she sat safely in her car, and then he backed out, scared to even think of any words for fear they’d be wrong in his head. A loud bang sounded from his right. In one split second the cause for the blast came into full view. He swiped a hand across his mouth to keep his grin covered. Smoke rolled from the hood of Dee’s car, obscuring much of the windshield view.

Wonder what vowels and consonants Doc yelled about now?

He steered his truck beside of her and parked, planning a perfectly enunciated sentence in his mind. Before he even reached her, her hand swept out to stop him.

“Don’t say anything.” Her index finger shot up as warning. “Not one word.”

Palms up in surrender, he stepped forward, grin itching to break free. Dee popped the lid of her car and more smoke poured out, sending her coughing. Reese released a low whistle.

“I told you not to say anything.”

“I didn’t.” He looked over into the car and recognized a lost cause. Oil sputtered from one place, darkening various spots across the engine and spark plugs.

“It made a weird noise when I pulled into the parking lot today, but I hoped−” Her shoulders slumped forward and she swiped her hair back with shaky fingers, leaving a long smudge of black along her cheek. “I hoped letting it rest would fix it.”

Reese shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded, not daring to say one little word and certainly not fidgeting to clear the mark off her face.

Dee moaned and stepped back, giving the underbelly of the dying vehicle a glance. “Look, there’s something leaking from underneath too. What on earth is that?”

“Do you want me to answer this time?”

She propped her hands on her hips and waited, brows up to her hairline. He took that as a yes.

Ahhhhhhhhh!! Don’t ya just LOVE them??? I seriously had the biggest grin on my face through the majority of the book.

And you, my dear readers, have a chance to win a digital copy of A Twist of Faith all for your very own.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post about the story or the cover or Reese or … you know… all of the above 🙂

For EXTRA entries: 

• follow my blog (readingismysuperpower)
• share this giveaway on social media (facebook/twitter/Pinterest/etc)
• come back throughout the day and comment on the other Pepper Day and A Twist of Faith posts that I’ll be featuring. (For example, go right now and comment on the cover reveal post!)

(You can follow my blog by entering your email address in the box in the top left of this page or by clicking “follow” with your wordpress or twitter accounts.)

**Make sure you let me know in another comment what you did to qualify for extra entries!**

You can also visit Pepper’s blog for yet another chance to win!!

My giveaway will be open until Saturday January 2nd at 10:00pm. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and notified by email. If I don’t hear from you within a week, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck and thanks for reading!!