Blessings of Love – Book 5 – “Twice Blessed” by J.J. DiBenedetto
Today’s the release date for my book in the excellent BLESSINGS OF LOVE sweet romance novella series! It’s called TWICE BLESSED…
First, a little about me, in case you’re new here…
J.J. DiBenedetto is the author of the Dream Series. He lives in Arlington, Virginia with his lovely wife and Danny, a white cat who’s trained them both. He’s originally from Yonkers, New York. He loves the New York Giants, fondue, photography, travel, the opera and he’s a huge science-fiction and fantasy geek.
You can follow me pretty much all over the Internet:
You can follow him at:
And now for the book!
Allison is a widow who’s been raising her daughter alone for the last four years. Mike is a teacher who’s new to the town of Blessings. They only have one thing in common: Lucy – Allison’s daughter, Mike’s student, and a nine-year-old who’s watched “The Parent Trap” way too often.
Both Allison and Mike are onto Lucy’s scheme to play matchmaker, but will they fall for each other anyway?
You can buy it on Amazon RIGHT NOW!
As an interesting aside (well, interesting to me, anyway!), I cast all my books with movie or TV actors, and TWICE BLESSED is no exception. For Allison, I picture Jill Wagner (star of several Hallmark Channel romances, and also a new Hallmark Mystery series, “Mystery 101”. And for Mike, it’s Dylan Bruce, who’s also a Hallmark Channel veteran (he’s the star of one of my favorites, “A Novel Romance” alongside Amy Acker).
Last, but certainly not least, here’s an interview with me…
Who is your favorite author?
It’s so hard to pick just one. I’d probably go with Alastair Reynolds right now – I love his writing style, and I’m a huge sci-fi fan, so it’s hard to go wrong with him.
How do you describe your writing style?
Conversational and engaging, with a lot of humor, for the most part.
Use no more than two sentences. Why should we read your books?
Because they’ve got a little bit of everything: romance, mystery, humor and plenty of emotion. and because there’s always a twist to them, to keep you guessing a little bit!
Have any of your characters been modeled after yourself?
I created them all, so I have to say there’s at least a little piece of me in most of them. But there’s nobody directly modeled after myself in any of my books (thankfully!)
If you could exchange lives with any of your characters for a day which character would you choose and why?
I’d have to pick Sam, the title character of my mystery, Mr. Smith and the Roach. It’d be really interesting to live his life for one day!
What books have most influenced your life?
Too many to count! But I can tell you the one book that directly led to my writing and publishing my books: Transpecial by Jennifer R. Povey. Jenna’s a friend, and when she sold that novel to a publisher, it really made me sit up and think, “why can’t I do it, too?” So I did (it’s also a really good book, so check it out!).
If you could select one book that you could rewrite and add your own unique twist on, which book would that be and why?
I could pick a lot of books here. But one that always really frustrated me was the Galactic Milieu by Julian May. The books are good, and I enjoyed them. But she changed the ending because a lot of readers figured out one of the big twists and talked about it on the Internet (this was back in the old Usenet days). I’d go and put back the original ending, if it were up to me.
Beatles or Monkees? Why?
Monkees! I loved them as a kid (still do). I remember very clearly that a Monkees album (yes, a record album, one of those big black discs that you put on a turntable!) was the very last Christmas gift I ever got that was from Santa Claus himself (at least, that’s what the tag on the gift said!).
Who should play you in a film of your life?
Well, it wouldn’t be the most exciting movie ever. But how about Jack Black? He’s a good match physically, and he can do socially awkward really well.
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