About the Book

Book: Joann: Apron Strings Book Five

Author: Donna Jo Stone

Genre: Inspirational Historical (1960s) Romance

Release date: May 15, 2024

One cookbook connects them all…
Joann ~ Book Five in a string of heartfelt inspirational stories, featuring different women throughout the decades from 1920 to 2020.

Twenty-four-year-old Joann Kincaid’s life ambition is to one day run the family’s general store in Pecan Grove, Louisiana. It’s 1965 and the times may be a-changing, but Joann’s father is stubbornly hanging on to old-fashioned views about what he wants for his daughter. She’s just as determined to prove she’s a capable businesswoman.

In the past, she entertained romantic dreams alongside her vision for the store but discarded those notions when her high school sweetheart, Nathan, left for college. Now he’s back to reestablish his family’s farm—and a relationship with Joann. She still loves him but isn’t sure she can trust him.

As the conflict in Vietnam escalates, there’s a real possibility Nathan could be drafted. Should Joann pursue her lifelong dream to continue her family’s legacy? Or give Nathan a chance to prove he’ll be her true and committed love before it’s too late for them?

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About the Author

Donna Jo Stone writes southern-flavored novels for the inspirational and general market. Her stories are often about people facing tough times. Not all of her books have romance but when they do, the romances are sweet. No graphic language, sex, or violence, just plenty of heart-tugging emotion with endings that leave readers with a sense of hope.

More from Donna

Joann: Apron Strings Book 5 is part of the Apron Strings series, a multi-author project. When Jenny Knipfer, the organizer behind the project, approached me about joining the lineup of authors, I was immediately intrigued. An old cookbook passed down each decade to a new character? Small towns? Romance? Sign me up!

The books in this inspirational series are connected by one single cookbook, Mrs. Canfield’s Cookery Book, as it passes from character to character. The cookbook contains more than recipes. Through time, women have penned encouraging words, quotes, and scriptures in the margins. There are eleven books in the Apron Strings series—one for every decade from 1920 to 2020. My novel, Joann, takes place in the 1960s.

One of Joann’s specialties is a popular 60s favorite, Jello with Dream Whip. No recipe needed there. Joann uses recipes from Mrs. Canfield’s Cookery Book, but she would’ve relied on a cake mix every now and then, such as in the recipe at this link, Joann’s Easy Blueberry Pound Cake. https://donnajostone.wordpress.com/2024/04/24/from-the-apron-strings-kitchen-joanns-easy-blueberry-pound-cake/

Another name for this should be Disappearing Blueberry Pound Cake, because that’s what happens when I make it! This cake has become a family favorite. As far as how Joann’s cooking attempts using Mrs. Canfield’s Cookery Book come out, you’ll have to read the novel to see. In the back of my novel there’s another recipe, one that would’ve appeared in Mrs. Canfield’s Cookery Book. All of the Apron Strings books have a recipe or two (or more) in the back.

Parts of Joann’s story are fun and lighthearted, but she also faces serious issues during uncertain times. I hope readers enjoy reading Joann, but also hope they come away from her story with a deeper understanding of the comfort that comes from trusting God with the future.

Author Interview

Are you a one project at a time author or do you have multiple projects going at once?

Multiple!

Currently, I have two projects working on for release in 2024, and some others for 2025.

The Key Collector’s Promise, a Christian domestic suspense with sweet romance, releases September 9th. I was thrilled to join the Our House series collaboration. My mother was from England, so I have a soft spot for all things British. The books in the series are set in different eras, some historical, some contemporary, and are of different genres, but all share the same location, the village of Eden Cove.

The Key Collector’s Promise is set in 1983. My main character is a successful real estate agent, but her deepest wish is to reconnect with her birth mother. Then, when she gets a letter threatening her mother (there’s a shady business deal she knows about and the bad guys want to shut her up) she flies to England and must find her.

In Fall of 2024, I plan to release When the Wildflowers Bloom Again, a southern coming-of-age novel set in 1978 rural North Louisiana.

I’m in the final stages of editing When the Wildflowers Bloom Again. My character, fourteen-year-old Marigold Parker, is part of a close-knit family. When she’s assaulted by her older male cousin and turns up pregnant, she doesn’t know who to turn to for help.

In 2025 I plan to release my young adult contemporary series of three stand-alone novels. Each book deals with serious issues teens face and feature characters on the autism spectrum. (These broke my heart as I was writing them.) One deals with grief, another with an eating disorder, and the third with abandonment, yet all end with a note of hope and there are splashes of humor. There is a bit of sweet romance as well.

How has your life experience helped in your writing journey?

Going through difficult times has given me insight into writing characters experiencing similar situations. Some of my books and characters reflect or are inspired by real life events. This is the case with my young adult fiction. I was motivated to write the first book in my series by a need to address the challenges kids on the spectrum and their siblings have when dealing with grief and loss.

While I haven’t experienced everything all of my characters have been through, I can tap into my feelings of grief, loss, joy, and happiness. Everyone faces hard times. It is my hope that my stories can help in some way, by bringing comfort, enlightenment, or simply entertain at a time when that is needed. I have a Christian worldview, and that is where I write from, even when I write for markets other than the inspirational.

Where do you find your greatest inspiration?

My greatest inspiration comes from love. Specifically, how love is expressed in our everyday lives with relationships, whether it’s the spiritual relationship with God, the parent-child bond, a friendship, or a romance, and all the complications arising from loving someone.

I’m a sucker for strong emotion and hopeful endings. Not always happy endings, but endings that leave a kernel of possibility, of hope. I’m amazed at the resilience of steadfast souls, and have always been drawn to unsung heroes who simply do the right thing, love their people, and try to be a decent human being.

Do you have extensive outlines when writing or do you write a book as you go?

It seems like with each project, the method changes a bit. The more I study story structure, the less I need to have a detailed outline, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a seat-of-the-pants writer, at least not for novels. I am a planner! For my novels, I make an outline and plot the skeleton, but like to leave room for a little discovery along the way.

What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?

I need quiet when writing. During the phase before the actual writing, or if I get stuck, music can help me get into the right mindset or spark an emotion. I like to make playlists to help me stay focused in between writing scenes. This was particularly true when writing Joann. I had 60s music going quite often as part of my prep before starting a writing session.