About the Book
Book: Dial S for Second Chances
Author: Linda Shenton Matchett
Genre: Contemporary Christian Romance
Release date: July 14, 2023
Can years of hurt and misunderstanding be transformed into a second chance at love?
Jade Williams agrees to be on the high school reunion committee because the-one-that-got-away is out of the country and won’t be home in time to attend the festivities. Now, he’s not only home but joined the committee. Is it too late to back out or can she set aside forty-five years of regret and pretend she isn’t to blame for her broken heart?
One of the downsides of being rich means fielding requests for money and favors. But when an old high school buddy contacts Derek Milligan to be on the reunion committee as just one of the gang, no strings attached, he can’t resist. At the first meeting, he’s dismayed to find himself sitting next to his former high school sweetheart. He should be angry. Instead, he’s attracted. Can he risk his heart a second time?
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for her local public library. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state and immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors.
More from Linda
Dear Reader:
I was honored to be asked to participate in the You’re on the Air multi-author project and jumped at the chance for the letter S because I love a good second-chance romance. Probably because of my own.
Thanks to my dad’s job we relocated numerous times during my growing up years, and to my horror, we got another transfer in the middle of my junior year in high school. Not only would I be leaving friends behind, I was also dating someone rather seriously (spoiler alert – my parents did NOT care for him!). So, a few weeks after we arrived in Maryland when this guy at church asked me out, I stated I was not dating anyone, least of all him.
He finally convinced me to go out with him on a one-shot deal. If I had a terrible time, he’d never bother me again. Drat! I had a great time! J We dated through high school but broke up a couple of times through college. Finally engaged in our senior year, things looked good until they didn’t, and I broke off the engagement two months before the wedding.
His response? “I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
And he was. I came to my senses in September, and we married in October of that year. We celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary last year.
Dial S for Second Chances is about high school sweethearts who reconnect at their 45th reunion, and I had a wonderful time stepping back into the 1970s during my research. Yes, I’d lived the decade, but it had been a while! One of the things we did during high school was attend concerts. My husband-to-be introduced me to the fledgling contemporary Christian music scene, so I created a playlist as inspiration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGBLgJnORx8&list=PLlRXWNqXm5gxmOm7FIiO-nWyanyIKukeu
Enjoy this blast from the past!
Linda Shenton Matchett
Interview with the Author
- How do you select the names of your characters? The process I use to select my characters’ names depends on the setting of the book, especially my historical fiction. For my WWII stories, I have several college and high school yearbooks from the 1940s, and I take the first name of one student and connect it to the surname of another student. Many of the characters in my books set in the 1800s have specific cultural backgrounds (Irish, Norwegian, etc.) so I use websites that provide names with those origins taking into account what the name means. With my contemporary fiction, I try to select names that also have meaning or create a certain image.
- What is your favorite childhood book? As a little child, Are You My Mother? was my favorite. I had a wonderful, stable childhood, so I have no idea why it resonated with me, but I read it all the time. When I was around twelve, I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and it inspired me to be a writer “when I grew up.” I wanted to impact others like that book had impacted me.
- If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do? I would have continued writing. I was and still am a voracious reader which is important for writers. But one only improves as a writer, if one practices. During high school I was so intent on preparing for college I set aside my writing and didn’t pick it up again until well into my adulthood. I wish I had kept at it.
- What comes first, the plot or characters? Definitely, my characters. In my historical fiction, I select a character with an unusual vocation or situation. My WWII stories feature women who are spies, war correspondents, mechanics, doctors, etc. Jade Williams in Dial S is a florist, and I based her on a woman in my town who was a floral competition judge. Once I know what my character do, then I devise what trouble they’ll be subjected to.
- If you could invite one person to dinner, who would it be and what would you cook? Eleanor Roosevelt. She had a tough go of it: an overbearing mother-in-law, a life lived under the microscope, a challenging marriage, yet she used her positions to serve the public, women especially. She regularly held press conferences just for female journalists. I’d love to talk to her about how she balanced her busy public life with her private life and lots of other topics. According to several websites, her favorite meal was scrambled eggs, so I’d probably cook her up a big breakfast, then serve either angel food cake or pecan pie for dessert (rumored to also be favorites).
Blog Stops
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 17
Texas Book-aholic, June 18
Artistic Nobody, June 19 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake, June 19
Vicky Sluiter, June 20
Fiction Book Lover, June 21 (Author Interview)
Life on Chickadee Lane, June 22
Simple Harvest Reads, June 23 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, June 24
Guild Master, June 25 (Author Interview)
Pause for Tales, June 25
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, June 26
Vicky Sluiter, June 27 (Author Interview)
For Him and My Family, June 28
For the Love of Literature, June 29 (Author Interview)
Holly’s Book Corner, June 30
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Linda is giving away the grand prize of a signed paperback edition of the book and a $25 Visa Gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.