Greetings from Sarah Sundin in California! Today I have the joy of interviewing award-winning novelist Linore Rose Burkard! Today she’s hear to share about her latest release.

Welcome, Linore! Please tell us about your book One Cinderella Night.

Emma Benson, a young working girl, is obsessed with worries when her boyfriend recruits her for Mafia dirty work. With her life at stake, she must con a billionaire. When she falls for the guy and can’t go through with the plan, all seems lost. But can a fairy tale ending save the day?

Sounds fun! What inspired you to write this book?

After high school, I moved out and lived alone for five years, working full-time and putting myself through college. One Cinderella Night is sort of every working girl’s fantasy—by the end, at least! The story percolated in my mind for years, and I took the settings of Queens, Manhattan, and Long Island—places I knew well—for the action.

How has God used the message of your book in your own life?

The heroine, Emma Benson, worries her way through life, unaware of God’s presence until late in the book. In the end, she learns that the worst of her fears were unfounded. It’s like God is saying, “I had this all along.” And that’s been his message to me over and over when I worry like Emma. While the billionaire romance is perhaps bigger than life for most of us, the central message is for everyone: what seems impossible is no problem when the Lord’s in the picture.

What’s your favorite scene in this book?

The “Cinderella night” scene when Emma drops a shoe running away is the climactic scene, the “all seems lost” point of the story, and a favorite of mine. Emotions are running high fueling the action, but the fun for me was orchestrating things to work out just right for a Cinderella spinoff, from the ballroom dance to the accidentally lost shoe, the perplexed “prince” (the billionaire), and the search for her afterward. It’s like the final uphill climb of a rollercoaster that pauses at the crest before plunging down into the resolution and then rolling to the HEA ending.

How has being a writer impacted your relationship with Christ?

When I realized that God cared about what I wrote, it was an amazing revelation because it was so personal. I had written many articles and a column for homeschoolers, but when I tried writing a travel piece for a somewhat liberal magazine, the resounding “NO” I got from the Holy Spirit astounded me. Instead of being elated that he cared enough to tell me no, I was disappointed that my (very good) article (to my mind) would be wasted. But it got me to finish my first novel, an Inspirational Regency, and, because the Lord kept nudging me to get it published—another incredible kindness from him! —it ended up at Harvest House after a brief journey with a vanity press. Had I had more success writing articles, I have no doubt I would have kept writing them instead of novels. I can never forget that God cares intimately about how I use what talent he’s given me. He works things for His glory but with perfect love for what’s best for us.

Tell us about your most touching moment with a reader.

When Harvest House wonderfully published my regency trilogy in Russian editions, eventually I received some letters from Russian women. I’ve had many sweet and heartfelt letters over the years from readers, but nothing was quite like the incredible sweetness of these ladies from that country. With sometimes broken English, their sentiments came through loud and clear. The degree of gratitude and appreciation for the books—for me—was unanticipated, and sheer joy. I felt like they had given me warm embraces from halfway across the world, and wished I could hug every one of them right back.

I love it! What do you read for pleasure?

I love reading the classics and I prefer print editions to ebooks. Austen, Dickens, Trollope, Pearl S. Buck, James Herriot, Miss Read, and P.G. Wodehouse come to mind. (Wodehouse is a hoot!) I also enjoy Patrick O’Brian, Georgette Heyer, Christian non-fiction, biographies and memoirs, and a small amount of contemporary fiction. Currently, I’m feasting on Miss Read’s Thrush Green series, thankful it took me this long to discover it, as such pleasures are not often to be found.

Do you have a “day job” or a previous career? Does it influence what or how you write?

I’ve worked for a cardiologist, a surgeon, and a physiatrist, plus full-time in two hospitals (Emma in One Cinderella Night works in a hospital as an Executive Secretary like I was).  Interestingly, I’ve never used the medical jargon I picked up in a book or story. Since I write mostly Regency romance, it just wouldn’t fit to give someone a myocardial infarction, say, and it’s more fun to use past expressions anyway (“apoplexy,” for instance)! My other “day job”—homeschooling—has only recently ended with my youngest daughter’s graduation from homeschooled high school. I certainly have stories from our decades of homeschooling, and perhaps I’ll squeeze some into a new series I’m contemplating writing, based around a small community in New York.

Most writers have wonderful library memories. How about you?

From the time I was allowed to walk to the local library alone (around 6 or 7 years old), I was enamored with it. College Point’s library was small but had a children’s area where I would sit and stare at the multitude of books, wishing I could read each one. With that goal, I took out one stack of books at a time, whatever they were, and one day stumbled upon the Little House books—oh, joy! After plodding through a couple of less-satisfying tomes, I gave up the “read every book” idea, but my love for reading never waned. A funny memory from that library concerned my cousins, a family that didn’t share our love of books, but did share our last name. They’d return the rare book only to have the lady at the counter exclaim, “Grabher! Your family has a lot of books overdue!” Of course, they’d proclaim due innocence—we were the culprits.

What are your hobbies or activities or passions outside of writing?

I spend a lot of time cooking and trying new recipes, studying health trends and food science, if you can call it that. I grow sprouts successfully, which is saying something because many years of organic gardening have not made me a green thumb. I love art, museums, family movie nights, and long walks with my husband and the kids when they’re around. Church and our church family are a big part of our lives. And so is (too much) yard work, our two cats and a Shorkie. In the summer, I love to laze around in the pool and brainstorm new scenes for whatever book I’m working on. But give me a day trip with my husband Mike, a daughter or girlfriend anytime, and I’m off!

You’re a busy woman! So what are you working on now? Please tell us about your next project.

The long-awaited sequel to Forever, Lately, my Regency time travel romance, is well underway. In Forever Lovely, Miss Margaret Andrews, a mischievous Regency bluestocking we know from book one, gets stranded in 21st-century New York. Hoping to become an “inventress,” she gets more than she bargained for when a new acquaintance embroils her in mystery, danger—and romance.

Sounds exciting! Thank you for sharing with us, Linore!

To learn more about Linore and her books, please visit Linore’s website at https://www.linoreburkard.com/ .

Writing for Him,

Sarah Sundin

Sarah’s website: https://www.sarahsundin.com/