Guest Post (and a Giveaway!): Pepper Basham & Hope Between the Pages

Welcome to the Takeover Tour for Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours! I’m delighted to have Pepper here today to chat about the power of story!

Title: Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham
Series: Doors to the Past
Publisher: Barbour Books
Release Date: April 1, 2021
Genre: Christian, Split Time romance

Uncover the Story Behind a One-Hundred-Year-Old Love Letter

Walk through Doors to the Past via a new series of historical stories of romance and adventure.

Clara Blackwell helps her mother manage a struggling one-hundred-year old family bookshop in Asheville, North Carolina, but the discovery of a forgotten letter opens a mystery of a long-lost romance and undiscovered inheritance which could save its future. Forced to step outside of her predictable world, Clara embarks on an adventure with only the name Oliver as a hint of the man’s identity in her great-great-grandmother’s letter. From the nearby grand estate of the Vanderbilts to a hamlet in Derbyshire, England, Clara seeks to uncover the truth about family and love that may lead to her own unexpected romance.

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Jane Eyre & The Power of Story

by Pepper Basham, author of Hope Between the Pages

Stories are powerful things.

They can grasp our imaginations, take us to places we’ve never physically been, and make us feel emotions that aren’t ours! Pretty powerful stuff, right?

It’s amazing that simple words on pages can do that.

But they can. And do. And have been for millennia.

As a little girl growing up in Appalachia, I realized the beauty of oral stories because it was a part of my culture. My grandparents, aunts/uncles, even folks you’d meet in a store, always had stories to tell or ancestry to share…along with a few tall tales thrown in.

I grew up loving these stories, but I’d never “fallen” into a story or been “carried away” by one until I started reading chapter books. Oh my! In novels, I was taken on great adventures, solved nail-biting mysteries, and traveled to lands, both real and imagined. For a little girl in a culture where traveling didn’t happen a whole lot, this truly was the best way to see the world.

I’d read The Boxcar Children series, devoured EVERY Nancy Drew book, but when I was in 6^th grade, I became introduced to a very different type of book…and place. In 6^th grade, I read Burnett’s The Secret Garden and fell in love with the UK and manor houses and the mystery of secrets.

Now, since the amazing Kim Duffy already expounded on the beauties of that particular book, I’m going to share the book which propelled me even further into my happy Anglophilia.

As I write this post, we are coming up on Charlotte Bronte’s birthday (April 21, 1816) and it seems fitting that I talk about her most popular novel, Jane Eyre, which I read in 9^th grade…and knew right then and there that the books I’d write someday HAD to include manor houses, secrets, romance…and STRONG characters.

Not only did this novel propel me into the English countryside to a house of dark secrets with an embittered master, but, more than that, it introduced me to Jane – a heroine worth reading. Even with her tragic backstory, she rose above the expectations of her day to build her own future. We see her grow in both strength of will and character as she steps into who God has made her to be, despite…and sometimes because, of her circumstances.

Though she struggles with some pride, she is admirable for sticking to her values, even when the easier (and more pleasurable) way would be to give in to temptation.

The world Charlotte Bronte described with Thornfield Hall and the Yorkshire countryside framed an engrossing and powerful story not only kept my 9^th grade mind captivated, but sent my imagination into overdrive.

So, I’m glad that as an adult, the hints of how Jane Eyre inspired me still permeates my writing (I hope) in the way I want to create strong heroines and tangible settings. I also try to include manor houses as often as possible…but not in EVERY book!! (in my upcoming September release, I have all sorts of fun secrets inside a mysterious manor house!! YIPPEE!!)

What about you? Have you ever read Jane Eyre? Do you have a movie version that’s your favorite? I own about 5 different movie versions, but my favorite is the 2006 by Masterpiece Theater.

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(1) winner will receive a print copy of Hope Between the Pages and a $15 Amazon gift card!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight April 12, 2021 and lasts through 11:59 PM EST on April 19, 2021. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

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This giveaway is hosted by JustRead Tours, not RimSP
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!

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What about you? What makes you want to read Hope Between the Pages by Pepper Basham? Have you ever read Jane Eyre? Do you have a movie version that’s your favorite?