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
Interview with Author Julie Lessman
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions today! No, thank YOU, Christy, for joining my blog tour—I appreciate it more than I can say! 😍
- I read your “From the Heart” page on your website and found it so helpful! Was there a specific scripture or passage you leaned on while writing A Whim and a Prayer?
Oh, that blesses me that my “From the Heart” page blessed you—thank you for taking the time to read it. As far as a particular Scripture I leaned on while writing A Whim and a Prayer, I would have to say that was Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” because this was one of the hardest books I’ve ever written, so I needed all the strength God could spare to even get me started.
Again, why my first novel in three years? Well, I am a very emotional person who loves writing novels, but after my last novel—Book 3 in The Cousins O’Connor series, A Dare and a Prayer, which was my absolute favorite to write, God pretty much held my feet to the fire to write a memoir devotional—What’s the Story, Morning Glory: A Memoir Devotional with a “Novel” Approach to Practical Christianity—that I didn’t really want to do. So I passed on writing a novel that next year to reluctantly write “His” devotional (kicking and screaming all the way, mind you), fully expecting that once I did what He asked, He would give me my next idea and plot for a novel like He always does. Unfortunately, He did not and I hit the proverbial wall, unable to write a novel for three years.
So, when He finally gave me the idea for Winnie’s book, I was elated, but also wandering in the desert, so to speak, having to totally rely on God’s strength to get me through, page by page, which, I’m happy to say—He did!
- Did you find yourself “stuck” at any point while writing Winnie and Beck’s story? If so, how did you get past that?
Oh my goodness—almost every single week and sometimes every day! The only way I got past it was to have my seven prayer partners pray for me on a continual basis to unleash God’s anointing and my passion for the story, which He did, prayer by prayer!
- Do you have a favorite era you’ve written about, or are they all your favorites?
Well, originally I loved writing the WW1 era because that’s the era of my award-winning debut series, The Daughters of Boston (of which A Whim and a Prayer is a part), mainly because I loved writing about my close-knit Irish family, the O’Connors, and their stories span into the 1930s. After I finished the O’Connor siblings, I knew I wanted to write the cousin’s stories during WW2, but I was not looking forward to that era at all because of all the extensive research that would be needed. Boy, did that series change my mind because the research was SO fascinating, I fell in love with that era for sure.
- Can I just jump in and read A Whim and a Prayer, or should I read the first three books before I do?
Yes, you certainly can real it as a stand-alone, but because this is the continuation of my O’Connor family saga, the experience is so much richer reading the entire Cousins O’Connor series during WW2 because the family plays such a big part and you get to know them all, starting with Book 1, A Wing and a Prayer. Which, by the way, is currently on e-sale for 99¢ because it is the Christian Fiction Readers Challenge book for September, for which I am running a contest on my blog to win a $50 gift card, so I hope your readers check it out.
And if a reader wants the absolute most out of this close-knit and passionate Irish family saga, I would highly recommend starting with The Daughters of Boston series beginning with Book 1, A Passion Most Pure, because I always put a big twist in the end of each of my first six O’Connor books that would be ruined if they are read out of order. And, I am blessed to say that A Passion Most Pure not only won American Christian Fiction Writers 2009 Debut Book of the Year, but was listed in a Publisher’s Weekly article by award-winning author Beverly Jenkins entitled, “Ten Best Historical Romance Novels.”
- What do you hope readers take away from A Whim and a Prayer?
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.”
- Finally, a fun question! What’s your favorite line (or scene) from Gone with the Wind? (Yes, I read your “nun” story on your website. Hilarious!).
Ha! That’s an easy one! I love the last line, “After all, tomorrow is another day,” because it typifies Scarlett’s determination no matter what, which is one of the things I respected about her the most. So much so that I actually wrote a flash-fiction piece (1,000 words) for Spark Magazine entitled “When the Fog Clears,” which is an alternate ending I wrote to Gone With the Wind. If anybody would like to read it, just drop me a line through my website at www.julielessman.com, and I’ll send it to you.
Thank you again, Christy, 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.
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.
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.
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