Debbie Lynne Costello is the author of Sword of Forgiveness, Amazon’s #1 seller for Historical Christian Romance. She has enjoyed writing stories since she was eight years old. She raised her family and then embarked on her own career of writing the stories that had been begging to be told. She and her husband have four children and live in upstate South Carolina with their 5 horses, 3 dogs, cat and miniature donkey.
Connect with Debbie Lynne:
www.debbielynnecostello.com
www.theswordandspirit.blogspot.com
www.HHHistory.com
https://www.facebook.com/debbielynnecostello
https://twitter.com/DebiLynCostello
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Debbielynnecostello
https://www.pinterest.com/debbielynne1/
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Welcome to the blog, Debbie. I’m so happy to have you here today. Congratulations on your recent release, The Perfect Bride.
What do YOU love most this story?
Oh my, that is a thought provoking question. I think what I love so much is that they have been best friends since childhood. I’ve never read a book with that concept so when this novella collection was presented I was intrigued.
I love stories involving best friends! 🙂
When and where did you first get the idea for this book?
As I mentioned above this was presented as a novella collection idea. So the best friend aspect came from that. So many young girls get crushes on boys several years older. I could just see this young girl taken in by a squire and how their friendship grew—only she falls in love and he is so focused on his goals in life he doesn’t realize he too has fallen in love.
You say on your website that you and your very own hero live in South Carolina. Tell us how you and your hubby first met. 🙂
Joe and I were high school sweethearts. I had moved from a small town to a smaller town and started a new school. I remember seeing Joe walking down the hall. He had a very distinctive gait. We met and dated. Broke up, got back together several times. He went in the Air Force and while he was in there he asked me to marry him. 🙂 Best decision I’ve ever made besides my salvation.
Love it! Sounds like you were meant for each other.
What’s your most memorable vacation and can you tell us a bit about it?
Italy! We took a 3 week trip and saw Rome, Venice, Florence, and many other cities. It was such a wonderful trip. We spent 4 days at a castle. That was amazing! The churches in Italy are breathtaking. They are pieces of art. To beautiful to describe and pictures don’t do them justice. We also visited a lot of museums. Of course we saw Sistine Chapel, amazing. We also visited one of the churches that claimed to have the nail that pierced Jesus’ hand. One of the places we visited that I will never forget was in Rome. It was where Paul and Silas were imprisoned.
Oh wow! That would be incredible, every last part of it!
Can you name a few authors who inspire you?
Authors who inspire me today—goodness there are so many. MaryLu Tyndall has been an inspiration for many years. Carrie Fancett Pagels who pushes through and produces books. Julie Lessman and her ability to always be so bubbly! I could add so many more!
Yes, each of those ladies are wonderful!
Is there anything else you’d like to add? Any upcoming projects you can share with us?
Yes! I am working on the sequel to Sword of Forgiveness call Sword of Trust. You’ll see several characters you recognize from SOF. And SOT has more history in it. I’ve been doing a lot of research into the tumult time and working it into the sequel.
That sounds awesome! Congratulations, Debbie. Thanks for joining us today!!
GIVEAWAY!!
Debbie has graciously offered to give away a copy of winner’s choice of her books in any format. Enter below and it could be YOU!
Thanks for entering! A paperback copy will be available if the winner lives in the U.S. An international winner will receive a digital copy. Giveaway ends May 15, 2018. The winner will be notified by email. Happy Reading, everybody! 😉
READERS: Be sure to stop by Debbie’s Blog Hop at the blogs below to enter this great giveaway package too!
April 29th Overcoming With God
April 30TH Anne Payne Blog
http://annepayne.blogspot.com/
May 2nd Cross Romance
http://crossromance.blogspot.co.uk/
May 4th Amy Booksy
https://amybooksy.blogspot.com/
May 7th The Sword and Spirit
http://theswordandspirit.blogspot.com/
May 9th Singing Librarian Books
https://www.singinglibrarianbooks.com/adults
May 12th Stitches Thru Time
http://stitchesthrutime.blogspot.com/
May 15th– Heroes, Heroines, and History- Mid Month Madness
May 17th Jodie Wolfe Blog
https://www.jodiewolfe.com/blog
May 21st Sunnie Reviews
https://sunniereviews.blogspot.com/2018/04/a-mothers-gift-blog-tour-guest.html?spref=fb
May 24th MaryLu Tyndall
this is actually a funny and long story so to shorten a little. our church had a retreat in upper Wisconsin. with the college career age group we both went up for a week to work and clean things up for the summer. we didn’t know each other at this point. we had two school busses. on the way home we stopped for dinner at mc donalds and he decided to come sit in the bus I was in. the only extra seat was with me. we talked for 4 hours all the way home. we had a mutual friend that made sure we got together after we had gotten home. We have now been married 34 years with two children. God has blessed us immensely.
What a wonderful story, Lori! I love it! Thanks so much for sharing and for coming by. Good luck in the giveaway!
Oh, I love that, Lori. Your story made me smile. You are blessed, indeed. Thanks for sharing!
When my first marriage fell apart I wasn’t a Christian. But I started talking to God during that difficult time. I ended up giving my heart to the Lord. One day, I asked God to send me a husband. I told God that He would have to choose him because I couldn’t pick a decent man to save my life. Well, all of a sudden I started praying a description of the man I would soon meet. He would love God first and love God enough to love me right. He would push me to be the best I can be in a loving way. There was more but I don’t want to go on and on LOL This wasn’t anything I would have looked for in a man on my own. It was totally the Holy Spirit. Anyway, I ended up meeting this man a few months later and He was literally the answer to this prayer. We have been married now for for 21 years and in ministry together for 19.
Heather, that is wonderful. Talk about an answered prayer! God is so good! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Wow Heather! Isn’t got awesome! I love how He answers our prayers PLUS! Such a beautiful testimony of how God loves us. Thank you for sharing!
My husband and I met when I was summer help at the factory he worked in. It was my third and final summer working there, but my first summer working on first shift instead of third. He worked first.
I love hearing how paths cross. It’s fun to look back and see just how God brought people together at the right time and place. Love it, Pam!
God never ceases to amaze me with His blessings. We never know why plans change, jobs change, we get stuck in traffic or go the wrong direction. God sees the big picture and sometimes those little things can be He sent us off our direction or changed our plans to save us from an accident or because someone needed a kind word from us or in your case to connect two people who would fall in love! 🙂
I went home with a friend from college on our Thanksgiving holiday. She introduced me to a tall guy with a great smile. He gave me a wink and the rest is history. We will celebrate our 43rd anniversary this fall.
“A tall guy with a great smile”…. sounds pretty sweet to me! 😉 Congratulations on 43 years together, Melanie. Thanks for sharing!
Hmmmm that sounds like a story waiting to be told, Melanie. 😉 Congratulations on 43 years. That is quite a milestone. Joe and I have been married 38 years. My heart can still skip a beat when I see him.
Though I am divorced now, my ex and I met at the apartment complex I lived in. He was a maintenance man for the complex and he also lived there as well. Great interview and thanks for the giveaway. Good luck everyone.
You never know where you’re going to run into that special someone. 🙂 Thanks for visiting, Debbie! Good luck in the giveaway too.
Hey Debbie!!!! Good to see you! Thanks for coming by. I love to see people following me from blog stop to blog stop! Sounds like you were someone who didn’t have to look to far to find your husband, much like my heroine, Avice. God had her man right under her nose.
My family was eating at a restaurant and my husband was our waiter. We prayed before we ate and he was a seminary student so he started talking to us. Of course I knew right away he was the one for me!
How sweet, Faith. And I love you name! What a fun way to meet your husband. I love that he noticed you praying. Joe and I never eat at home or out without asking for God’s blessing on the food. And it sounds like your family didn’t either. Little did you know that God planned to bless you with more than food!! Thanks for sharing!
Stop by the other blogs I’ve been on this week for more chances to win, too!
Oh, I love that, Faith!! What a sweet way to be introduced. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Thank You for the giveaway. The sister introduced them.
Joan
Thanks for coming by Joan! Be sure to catch the other blogs on the this blog hop! Good luck!
Good luck in the giveaway, Joan!
My husband, Don, and I met at a youth group event at a new-to-me church. My husband’s brother was the youth minister and had asked my future husband, who was in college, to be a driver. I was a senior in high school at the time. Although I rode in his car, with a few other friends, we didn’t really become acquainted at that time. Several months later, I was driving my car and stopped at a stop sign and two guys jumped in my car. One was a co-worker at the Dairy Queen, where I worked part-time and one was Don. we just hit it off and that was the beginning of our life together.
Kay, I have to admit when you said the 2 guys jumped in your car it scared me until I read the one was a co-worker! LOL. What a fun story, and you should be a writer the way you scared me on that!
Haha, yes I was nervous when I first read that too! How funny! You had me hanging on every line, Kay. Glad it was such a happy ending!
We met in a gas station when I was 17. He was filling his bike tires with air. My girlfriend knew him and introduced us. we later met up at our local park and as they say rest is history. May 13 we will be together 35 years from that first day we met. Thank you
Hey Linda! Wow am I enjoying these stories. Such fun ways of meeting. No two are the same! Thank you for sharing!
These stories are such fun to read. Congratulations, Linda, on 35 years together. 🙂
I’m not married yet, but my parents met because of their parents being friends. ^.^
How fun! Maybe not an arranged marriage but certainly and encouraged one!
It’s always sweet to see how God brings people together. Thanks for stopping by, Raechel!
We originally met at church, but didn’t get together for thirty years when he found me on FB.
WOW! That is amazing! Online has brought a lot of people together these days. Thanks for sharing!
I had moved 900 miles away to leave an abusive marriage with my two children.
I’m sorry to hear that, Lucy. That is tough. There aren’t many families anymore that are not touched by abuse in one way or another. I have truly been blessed by the man God gave me and I think because Joe is such a good man it really makes my heart ache for people in abusive situations. God bless you, Lucy.
Wow! Guess we should never doubt God’s perfect timing, huh? Thanks for sharing, Lucy. Blessings to you!
My parents were introduced by mutual friends
Hello Ms Barb! Thank you for coming by! I think that is a way of meeting that will never go out of style! Thank you for sharing. My parents met at a dance. My father saw my mother and told his friend he was going to marry that girl. His words ended up being prophetic. 🙂 They have been married 63 years!
And the rest was history, right? 🙂 Thanks for joining us, Barb!
My husband and I were both in our late 20’s, had graduated from college, been involved in ministry, traveled….but neither of us had met that “special someone”. We both had reached the point in our personal lives where we had been praying that if God wanted us to be single, that He would help us to be content with that and give us a ministry/job where we could fill that void by serving Him. 3 weeks later we met each other at a church college & career group funtion, and the next summer we got married. We truly believe it was in that willingness of total surrender to the Lord, that God gave us the desires our hearts! This June we will have been married 27 years. I’m so thankful for my sweet hubby!!!
Oh, Alison, I love your story. God is so good and faithful. What a beautiful testimony. Thanks for sharing. Blessings to you both!
What a sweet testimony, Alison! God likes us to surrender our desires to Him. In The Perfect Bride Avice comes to a point where she finally surrenders everything to God and when she does that God begins to move…sounds much like your story!
My husband was interested in my roommate and I tried to play cupid which backfired. Our friendship turned into love and marriage!
We will celebrate our 29th anniversary this year!
LOL! Well, now I wouldn’t call that backfiring! I’d call that divine intervention. That is a wonderful love story. Sounds like the making of a book! Congratulations on 29 years!
That’s so cute, Susie! I love it. Happy 29 years!!
Hub and I met at a dance. We dated for 2 yrs. and were married on a TV show Bride & Groom in NYC. Quite exciting for two kids from small town USA.
Thanks for your giveaway!
Wow! That is quite a story! My parents met at a dance but that is where the similarities end. How cool to be married on a TV show. How did you get picked?
That’s so cool, Jackie!! I love hearing everyone’s stories. 🙂 Each is romantic in their own way. Good luck in the giveaway!
To make a long story short, my husband and I met in church. I was friends with his sister in high school but never knew that she had a brother. As they say, the rest is history. We’ve been married 42 years.
Janet that is wonderful. 42 years is great. We are at 38 ourselves and were childhood sweethearts.
Congrats on 42 years together, Janet. That is wonderful. Thanks for sharing with us!
Single for life here, but I think my parents met at school or church…..or both.
School and church are great places to meet your spouse. Mine was school. Can still see him walking down that hallway…
Yep, those are popular places. I met my hubby at work. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, Mark. Good luck in the drawing!
LOL! Well, now I wouldn’t call that backfiring! I’d call that divine intervention. That is a wonderful love story. Sounds like the making of a book! Congratulations on 29 years!