📚 A Christmas Bookish Chat with 'Mistletoe Season' Pepper Basham | Author Interview | #AuthorInterview #Christmas #WomensFiction #HolidayRomance

Today we welcome Pepper Basham to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Pepper is the co-author of the new holiday romance, Mistletoe Season. This interview is part of her Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance “peppered” with grace and humor. Writing both historical and contemporary novels, she loves to incorporate her native Appalachian culture and/or her unabashed adoration of the UK into her stories. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is a wife, mom to five great kids, a speech-language pathologist, and a lover of chocolate, jazz, hats, and Jesus. Her dual timeline novel, Hope Between the Pages, was a 2022 finalist for the prestigious Christy awards. Pepper’s newest book, Loyally, Luke, made it on the ECPA bestseller list for May. She loves connecting with readers and other authors through social media outlets like Facebook & Instagram.

Website ➜ https://pepperdbasham.com

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/pepperdbasham/

Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/pepperbasham/

Welcome to The Writer’s Life, Pepper! Can you give us your earliest recollections of when you started writing?

Well, I grew up in Appalachian so I was already surrounded by oral history stories, which encouraged in me the love for story from very early. I know that I was making up my own stories in grade school and still have a copy of the first "chapter" book I ever wrote when I was 10 years old. So writing has been a part of my "story" for a very long time.

Your book, Mistletoe Season, is written by you and two other great authors. Can you give us a brief summary of what your particular story is about?

Oh how I loved writing this story!! In one of my previous serieses (The Skymar series), we hear rumors about this rogue prince from across the ocean and I wondered what it would be like to toss that poor guy into the middle of an Appalachian small town. I mean, if he needs some good old fashion reform, then why not give him a dose of the simple life of hardworking USA, right? Throw in a hardworking mountain woman with a broken past and a big heart, then sprinkle it all with a little Christmas magic? Well, here's what you get: Prince Arran St. Clare has lost his freedom and fairytale life in exchange for a three-month “punishment” in the small town of Ransom, North Carolina. To prove he is ready for the royal life for which he was born, Arran must engage in the Christmas charity fundraiser, The Mistletoe Wish. But when kindness, authenticity, and hard work prove more appreciated in Appalachia than a royal pedigree, Arran must face the mirror and find out who he is beyond the crown. Add a beautiful and intelligent woman who doesn’t recognize her own worth, some mistletoe, and a little Christmas magic and it all might be enough to help the rebel-prince understand what truly matters most.

If your main character was going to take us all out to celebrate the holidays, where would we go?

Arran would take us to the palace, I'm pretty sure. I mean, he IS a prince and he'd love to help us all celebrate big. Charlie would probably invite us all to go with her to her crazy Appalachian family's big get-together. But I warn you. Watch out for flying presents...and strategically-placed mistletoe.

What's your favorite part about the holidays? Do you spend it at home or travel?

I love the simple sweetness of holidays with family. Christmas Eve our church has a Christmas Eve Candlelight service and then our family returns home to open our stockings. On Christmas morning (usually with my mom (and before he passed, my dad) joining us, we'll read the Christmas story, open presents, have a big breakfast, and then have a Mario Kart marathon! :)

What's your fondest memory of one of your Christmases when you were a child?

Oh my goodness! What great memories! So, when you read The Mistletoe Prince in Mistletoe Season, you get to experience Charlotte's family Thanksgiving. That's a little snapshot into what Christmas was like at my Granny Spencer's house. We were all (over 50 of us including cousins, uncles, aunts, etc.) packed into her small house and we'd eat, laugh, talk, sing, and pass out presents. There was such love and joy in those moments it carries over into my memories with such happiness. I just love thinking of those times. (and that's where I get the 'flying presents' from. Seriously, some gifts would go flying through the air on their way to their hopefully right destination) :)

What’s coming up next that is writing related?

I am so excited to share my books releasing in 2025!! Some Like It Scot releases in April and it was SUCH a fun book to write. Not only do I get to toss together so many things I love, I placed the story in Scotland! In July, my fourth book in the Freddie and Grace historical mysteries, releases. It's called The Highland Heist (so...again, Scotland!!!). And THEN my very first regency romance comes out in October! We just got the title too!! It's called Sense and Suitability!

This Christmas, three couples find themselves under the mistletoe . . . whether they want to be there or not.

Say No to Mistletoe by Sheila Roberts—Mistletoe is Hailey Fairchild’s kryptonite. Every time she’s kissed someone under the mistletoe it’s led to love disaster. Not a good thing for a romance writer! When she was a gawky high school girl, her hunky neighbor, Carwyn Davies, star of the basketball team (and her dreams) kissed her under the mistletoe on a dare. But the kiss wasn’t a dream come true. It was a mortifying moment she’s never forgotten, and now she’s about to go home for the holidays, unengaged and . . . determined to say no to mistletoe. Especially if Carwyn is anywhere around.

Return to Mistletoe by Kathleen Fuller—Emmy Banks has always loved Christmas. How could she not when she lives in Mistletoe, Missouri? Kieran O’Neill has spent years abroad, renovating an old Irish castle, but returns to Mistletoe for his mother’s seventieth birthday. He reconnects with Emmy, his sister’s close friend, and spends time with her in her charming antique shop. When the weather turns colder, things start to warm up between Emmy and Kieran. But can Emmy risk her heart when she knows he’ll never stay in Mistletoe, and she will never leave?

The Mistletoe Prince by Pepper Basham—Prince Arran St. Clare has lost his freedom and fairytale life in exchange for a three-month “punishment” in the small town of Ransom, North Carolina. To prove he is ready for the royal life for which he was born, Arran must engage in the Christmas charity fundraiser, The Mistletoe Wish. But when kindness, authenticity, and hard work prove more appreciated in Appalachia than a royal pedigree, Arran must face the mirror and find out who he is beyond the crown. Add a beautiful and intelligent woman who doesn’t recognize her own worth, some mistletoe, and a little Christmas magic and it all might be enough to help the rebel-prince understand what truly matters most.

Mistletoe Season is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.