Welcome to the Blog Tour for A Whim and a Prayer by Julie Lessman, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: A Whim and a Prayer
Series: The Cousins O'Connor #4
Author: Julie Lessman
Publisher: Independent
Release Date: September 8, 2026
Genre: Historical Romance
She’s a former orphan desperate to protect her heart.
He’s a best friend who protects her from the start.
Till prayer protects them both from a true love torn apart.
Discarded like so much trash on the steps of an orphanage at age two, seventeen-year-old Winifred Dennehy thinks God has it out for her. Abandoned by abusive parents and born cross-eyed to boot, she spent the first four years of her life battling bullies and verbal abuse. Deliverance came in the form of one Beckett Campbell, the ten-year-old orphan who became her best friend and guardian angel for life, along with an orphanage volunteer by the name of Mrs. D. When Mrs. Charity Dennehy adopts Winnie into her family, has her crossed eyes fixed, and secretly arranges for Beckett to be fostered and then adopted by elderly neighbors down the street, Winnie figures her luck has changed. But instead of attributing it to God like Beckett does, she’s inclined to believe it’s her own grit, charm, and spontaneity that has paved the way.
From the moment twenty-four-year-old Beckett Campbell saw the tiny, cross-eyed orphan who reminded him of the sister he lost, he wanted to love and protect her forever. Best friends from the start despite over five years apart, Winnie’s naïve spontaneity for wild hairs and whims keeps Beck’s mature responsibility busy and happily so. Until the little girl he wanted to protect suddenly becomes the young woman he wants to love. When Winnie insists on protecting their friendship from the fear and risk of anything more, Beck has a decision to make. Friendship forever … or a life apart from the best friend he loves. Praying that Winnie will change her mind, Beck doesn’t hold out much hope for that day. But when an unexpected turn of events alters both of their lives, it puts “a whim and a prayer” on a collision course that just might make a way.
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon
More in This Series
About the Author
A lover of all things Irish, Julie Lessman writes close-knit Irish family sagas that evolve into 3-D love stories: the hero, the heroine, and the God that brings them together. Award-winning author of The Daughters of Boston, Winds of Change, Heart of San Francisco, Isle of Hope, Silver Lining Ranch, and The Cousins O’Connor series, Julie was American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Author of the Year and has garnered over 24 Romance Writers of America and other awards.
Voted #1 Romance Author in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Reader’s Choice Awards, Julie also made Family Fiction magazine’s Best of 2015, 2014, and “Essential Christian Romance Authors” 2017-2021, 2023, as well as Booklist’s 2010 Top 10 Inspirational Fiction and Borders Best Fiction.
In addition, Julie has written a self-help workbook for writers entitled Romance-ology 101: Writing Romantic Tension for the Sweet and Inspirational Markets, and What’s the Story, Morning Glory: A Memoir Devotional with a “Novel” Approach to Practical Christianity. Contact Julie through her website at www.julielessman.com.
Author Interview
Welcome, Julie! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and giving my readers a chance to get to know you and your new book A Whim and a Prayer. No, thank YOU, Randi, for being part of my blog tour!
Can you share 5 random facts about yourself that we won’t find in your bio?
- Well … I and my friends dressed up as nuns in high school to sneak into a private showing for the religious community of the movie Gone With the Wind (my favorite book since age 12). It was the greatest experience of my teens … until we ran into the nuns from my high school! YIKES!
- In fact, after reading Gone With the Wind at the age of 12, I immediately sat down to begin my own novel, a 150-page, single-spaced manuscript that is actually the basis for my award-winning debut novel, A Passion Most Pure, some 40 years later, that actually kicks off the close-knit and passionate Irish family saga of the O’Connors, of which A Whim and a Prayer is a part
- All of my novels feature a dual love story—the main younger couple and a secondary older couple (in the case of my Irish family saga for the O’Connors, the parents) because as a very passionate Baby Boomer—both romantically and spiritually—I don’t think the youngsters should have all the fun! 😉
- As mentioned, I’m pretty passionate and intense about whatever I do—whether it’s God or romance or just brushing my teeth with a vengeance. I used to love to host elaborate dinner parties for which I’ve been known to pipe guest’s initials into their twice-baked potatoes, cut napkin rings out of real lemons to hold lemon green beans, and sketch a layout for how the food would be placed on the plate. A definite case of MSD (Martha Stewart syndrome).
- The parents’ love story in the O’Connor Irish family saga is based on my husband’s and my own marriage, where the characters have to learn the same spiritual lessons that God taught me the hard way in my own “now” wonderful marriage.
When did you first discover you had a passion for writing?
Goodness, 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. Heaven help me, I was only twelve, but that novel captured me like no other work of fiction had done, instilling in me a desire to embark on my own romance-writing career. So, as I mentioned above, I immediately sat down to write a 150-page, single-spaced manuscript that eventually became—some forty years later—the basis for my debut novel, A Passion Most Pure, which I’m blessed to say, won American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Book of the Year and was featured in a Publisher’s Weekly article by award-winning author Beverly Jenkins entitled, “Ten Best Historical Romance Novels.”
Today, I like to think that not only are Margaret Mitchell’s fingerprints are all over me in my religious devotion to romance, but God’s as well—merging my passion for romance with my passion for Him.
What was the most challenging part of bringing this story to life?
Definitely the plot. I always rely on God to give me my plot for the next novel I write each year, and for the first time in 32 books, He made me wait because He wanted me to write my memoir devotional —What’s the Story, Morning Glory: A Memoir Devotional with a “Novel” Approach to Practical Christianity—which I didn’t really want to do. So I wrote “His” book, fully expecting Him to give me my next novel plot after it, but instead I went through a two-year dry spell with no novel for three years. So, I guess it was like priming the pump all over again because I and my seven prayer partners literally had to pray this plot into being!
The most rewarding?
Ha! Getting it done by deadline since I just moved from one state to another where I see my grandkids every weekend, which is truly wonderful, but doesn’t leave much time for writing.
What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
To see themselves through God’s eyes instead of our own or the world’s. If we could only see ourselves in the mirror of God’s love, we could secure the “abundant life” He talks about in John 10:10: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. This theme kicks off the book in the prologue where the five-year-old, cross-eyed orphan, Winnie, asks her only friend to tell her again that she is beautiful:
“Beck?”
“Yes, Winnie?”
“Will you …”—a knot jerked in her throat—“tell me again?”
A long, wavering sigh drifted from Beckett’s lips that carried a trace of a smile as he gently brushed curls—or “ringlets of gold,” as he called them—out of her eyes. “You’re not ugly, Winnie—you’re beautiful.”
“Then why don’t I feel that way?” She sniffled as she swiped at a single tear that slid down her cheek.
His ribcage slowly rose and fell with another heavy exhale while he gave her a gentle squeeze. “Because, Winifred Doe,” he said softly, leaning to press the gentlest of kisses to her head, “you’re listening to people instead of to God.”
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Before you go, where can readers follow along to see what’s coming next?
Thank you again, Randi, for featuring A Whim and a Prayer on your blog. I love to hear from readers, so they can contact me through my website at www.julielessman.com.
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will receive a $50 Amazon gift card!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight September 21, 2026 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on September 28, 2026. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
Hey, Randi, thank you SO much for being part of my blog tour and for taking the time to host an interview with me--MUCH appreciated!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Julie