Earlier this month on July 1 the Daughters of the Mayflower series celebrated it’s ninth release with The Express Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse. It’s her fourth in the series. If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I am a HUGE fan of the series–following right from the beginning. I have loved each and every release and highly recommend the series to everyone. I was fortunate enough to have met Kim in April of this year at CFRR and was able to chat about some of the earlier books in the series with her, so I knew that once this latest one released I was hoping to share an interview with y’all. She was also gracious enough to offer up a copy of her latest book to TWO lucky readers! Just scroll down below and fill out the rafflecopter. Hope you enjoy! 🙂

About the Book:

The Wilderness Is a Great Place to Hide 
Jacqueline Rivers manages a Pony Express station in 1860 Utah territory after her father’s death. There are daily stresses placed on her in this unconventional role—and now a government official is asking her to sniff out counterfeiters. When Elijah Johnson passes through on the stage while on an exhausting quest to find his boss’s heir, he doesn’t want to leave the beguiling station manager. In fact, he may never leave when caught in the crossfire of the territory’s criminal activities. Can she remain strong when secrets of the past and present are finally unearthed?

Join the adventure as the Daughters of the Mayflower series continues with The Express Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse.

More in the Daughters of the Mayflower series:
The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1620 Atlantic Ocean (February 2018)
The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1725 New Orleans (April 2018)
The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep – set 1760 during the French and Indian War (June 2018)
The Patriot Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1774 Philadelphia (August 2018)​
The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear – set 1794 on the Wilderness Road (October 2018)
The Liberty Bride by MaryLu Tyndall – set 1814 Baltimore (December 2018)
The Alamo Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1836 Texas (February 2019)
The Golden Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1849 San Francisco (April 2019)
The Express Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1860 Utah territory (July 2019)

About the Author:

Kimberley Woodhouse is the best-selling author of more than twenty books who loves the JOY of story. A lover of history and research, she often gets sucked into the past and then her husband has to lure her out with chocolate. She’s spoken to more than 800,000 people at more than 2,000 venues and has taught the craft of writing around the country. Married to the love of her life for twenty-five plus years, she makes her home in Montana. You can connect with Kimberley at: www.kimberleywoodhouse.com & https://www.facebook.com/KimberleyWoodhouseAuthor

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Interview

Hi Kim, I’m so grateful you were willing to chat with me on my blog today about your books! I hope you don’t mind, but I like to start out with a few questions that are just for fun:

If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Scotland. I haven’t been there yet even though I lived in Europe for four months when I was younger. 😊

Oh I’d love to go there too! Definitely on my bucket list as well right behind England!

If you were the eighth dwarf (Snow White), what would your name be?

Crazy. (For all my crazy ideas. This creative brain just doesn’t like to shut down.)

Haha well at least you put your creative mind to good use! 😉

What’s something quirky about you that most people don’t know?

For more than ten years, I’ve had a large motion sensor trash can in my kitchen. (Just bought a new one – lol) because I don’t like touching trash cans. I think they’re gross. 😊

Ooh I might have to Google this for myself! lol

What’s your favorite animal?

I love Yorkies. 😊

Cute! Okay, let’s get into the good stuff now 😉

Whoever does your cover art does an incredible job! How much of a say do you get in the design of them? Do you have a favorite out of all of your books?

The design teams at my different publishers do ask us for a lot of input. It’s fun to give them info on the characters and what they look like, the setting, and so on. I love to send pictures and ideas of what I think would be fun. They are always great to listen to what I have in mind or if I think something needs to be changed. Ultimately, they make the cover – but I appreciate being able to give input. As for favorite covers… oh gracious. I’ve had so many great ones. The Heart of Alaska series from Bethany House was so amazing – they captured each one brilliantly. Then The Express Bride, my latest release is my favorite so far out of the Daughters of the Mayflower even though I’ve loved them all. Then there’s Forever Hidden, my next release from Bethany House. I’m SO excited about that cover. It’s gorgeous.

This is a tough question even for me! I agree that I love the covers for The Heart of Alaska series. I might have to go with The Golden Bride as my favorite cover for the Mayflower series because blue is my favorite color and I love it with the gold sash 🙂

Of the books you’ve written so far for the Daughter of the Mayflower series, do you have a favorite so far and why?

Oh goodness, you ask tough questions! LOL – Each of them is a favorite in a different way. The Mayflower Bride – because it was the anchor book, and I had gone through so much right before writing that book. And the research was brutal. Then The Patriot Bride – because I loved my crazy villain and I used Benjamin Franklin and George Washington in that one as characters. Incredible men. Then the Golden Bride because of the hero’s sacrifice. Then the latest, The Express Bride because of the heroine’s journey finding out about her past and the theme of forgiveness.

Sorry I know this was a tough question especially since I’m not sure myself lol. I love different aspects in each of them as well 🙂

Considering the series is written by several authors and is progressive through history, how are the time periods assigned to each of you and do you pick your own key events to base them off of?

Yes, we submitted which ones we would like based on a list of events they had chosen. It was so much fun! And our history in this country is so rich, the series could have had hundreds of titles in it. 😊

I believe it! LOL

If you had to choose one of your characters to live a day in their shoes, who would you pick and why?

Cassidy at the Curry Hotel in The Heart of Alaska Series (In the Shadow of Denali, Out of the Ashes, Under the Midnight Sun) because I would love to experience that era and the beautiful Curry Hotel in its heyday. 😊

Sounds fun! I still am not sure I could handle the cold of Alaska though…

With The Express Bride being your latest release, what’s something interesting you learned during research for the book that may or may not have made it into the book?

I learned SO much about the Pony Express that I never got to use, but it was great to research it anyway.
The most fascinating thing to me was how much it cost to send a piece of mail and how money the Express actually lost during that time period. It was a pricey endeavor!

It’s amazing learning how all of that worked especially when we look at how easy it is for us today to call someone up or send them a text message or email. Long-distance communication was A LOT different back in the day!

How has writing this series challenged you and/or empowered you as an author?

I’ve loved the research into our history. I feel it’s made me stronger as an author.

I love that you are willing to share some of that with us at the end of your books 🙂

Can you tease us with anything that’s coming up next for you?

My next release is a novella collection – Sew In Love – where my heroine is a milliner and my hero is a famous baseball player. I love this story. 😊 Then of course, Forever Hidden, which releases in January. It’s always so much fun to start a new series.

Oh yay I can’t wait!! Thanks again for your willingness to share your thoughts with us today! 😊

You are so wonderful! Thank you for having me!

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Giveaway!

Kimberley Woodhouse has graciously offered up a copy of The Express Bride to TWO readers! The giveaway begins today, 7/24/2019 at 12:00 AM (EST) and ends on 7/31/2019 at 12:00 AM (EST). To enter, click on the Rafflecopter link below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***Please Note: Open to Continental U.S. mailing addresses only.***  Winner will be notified via email at the end of the giveaway, and will be announced here on this page.