Featured Interview With Barbara Goss
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My biggest influence was Grace Livingston Hill, a prolific writer from the 1940’s to mid 1960’s. She wrote over 100 Christian romance books. I felt the world needed more good clean romance books. It is possible to write books with excitement, steaming romance, and heart-warming characters without bad words, sex or violence.
My childhood home was in North Tonawanda, New York. It’s a small suburb that is between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. I’m still living in that area and love the changing seasons. Christianity has always played a big part in my life. I went to Lutheran school and later became a non-denominal Christian.
I live with my husband of 25 years, and two mixed breed stray cats that chose our home. Our three sons are grown and we have several grand children.
My hobbies are: writing, reading, playing Words With Friends, playing the penny slots and watching the Buffalo Bills play football.
Words I live by are: Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was a rare mixture as a child because I was a tomboy who was also a bookworm. I read from an early age. My grandmother would send me books and my older sisters would pass their books down to me. When I wasn’t playing sports, I was reading. My school had a large set of books based on the childhood lives of famous people like, Abe Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Daniel Boone, etc. I was fascinated by reading about their young lives and how they were influenced as children to become famous adults.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I was introduced to romance by “Gone With The Wind”, and “Forever Amber” as well as Grace Livingston Hill’s books. After I became a born again Christian I switched my reading to entirely clean romance and read all Livingston Hill’s 100 books. When there were no more I knew it was time to write my own. I asked God, “What can I do for You, since You’ve done so much for me.” I never went to college and professionals said I could never be published. But my first book was published by a large publisher. So I know I had divine help.
I decided to try my hand at writing to see if it was what God wanted me to do. Since three publishers bid for my first book, I decided that was surely what He wanted me to do. Forbidden Legacy was published by Fleming Revell in the early ’90’s and they signed me for three more: Captured Heart, Stolen Heritage and Dangerous Illusions. Baker Book House did a second printing of Forbidden Legacy and Captured Heart and a few were published in German and sold in Germany.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
After publishing those four books, I went to work full-time and didn’t write at all. Now, I’m retired and back to the keyboard. Since January 2015 I’ve written: Silent Love, The Kissing Bridge, The Final Vow, Temptation by Moonlight, Drawn from Darkness and The Romantic Ruse. I had twenty years of book ideas floating in my head crying to get out.
My books get great reviews, but I wish readers would take the time to review more. I don’t think they realize how much their opinion of the books mean to writers. They influence them greatly, they also give a rating that helps when you are promoting, as well as helping readers to select books that fit their interests.
Some of my books just touch on God in small minor ways like Temptation by Moonlight and The Romantic Ruse. Both are extremely romantic though. The strongest Christian book is Drawn from Darkness. My female character has been a Christian since birth and never really been involved with people who were not church people. She went to work for a hotel in Hays in around 1898 and her boss was a handsome womanizer who see saw coming out of saloons with half-clad dancers. He had a reputation and she wanted no part of him, but he was drawn to her and he couldn’t figure out why. It was fun writing that book. I fell in love with all my characters and I always have some nasty characters that you will love to hate. I like westerns and that time period. Some of my books feature Native Americans, and my first book has one as the hero. Four of my books are a stand-alone series called Hearts of Hays. They all take place in Hays, Kansas and some of the characters you loved in previous books will have guest appearances.
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When you find an author who’s stories and writing style you enjoy, you will buy their books knowing you are in for a good, enjoyable read. Barbara Goss is that type author.
I have read all of Barbara Goss’ books and highly recommend them to anyone who enjoys good, clean, actioned-packed romances.
Her books are perfectly suited to the young romance reader just discovering love to the older reader reliving past loves through her stories.
Barbara has the ability to spread her love of God throughout her books without overwhelming her characters or stories, making you fall in love with and along with them as they face the difficulties of taming a new frontier.
If you love reading good “G” rated stories, you will love all of Barbara’s books!
I have read all of Ms. Goss’ books and eagerly look forward to her next one. I especially love the series books because her characters are written so well you feel an attachment to them and don’t want the book to end. Good, clean romance, intrigue and danger with just enough Christianity references to keep me thinking about what the right thing would be for a character to do. I recommend these books if you like a good story.
Barb Goss writes the kind of books that entertain and keep you enthralled, while at the same time subtly encourage and feed your soul. I first read Temptation by Moonlight and was so taken by the characters’ personalities and chemistry that I finished the whole book in about a day. Although I’ve read dozens of books since then, that one stuck with me – mainly the faith and grace of the main character and how God strengthened her to stay where He put her, even in the face of difficulties. The romance in that one was both sweet and steamy, without actually reading sex scenes. The ending was so satisfying, I sat there holding my Kindle and wishing the book would go on for another 40 chapters. I’ve since read most of Ms. Goss’ books and anxiously look forward to more. Her style is fresh and interesting, exciting and imaginative, while blessedly free from unnecessary cursing and graphic sex. We need more authors like her! I hope she has dozens more books in the works.
Oh! Ms. Goss is one of my favorites. I can’t find the word I want to describe her books… close as I can come it’s “downhome”… the characters are all like people I know and the writing is easy to read. I don’t have to read any sentences twice to get the meaning. The stories all have several storylines and I’m riveting to the book to see what happens next. What I like best is that I can get goose bumps without descriptive sex. She manages to make the books romantic and the scenes make you sigh without anything that would make you cringe. I love that her books are not preachy… The word of God is woven into it in just the right places without being obtrusive. The story and characters are all in the spotlight. Keep writing Ms. Goss….. I check often to see if there is a new book. I subscribe to your FB page.
My usual reads are historical fiction ~ with the elements of real history, a little bit of adventure, some conflict and sensitive real human characters but of course the bad guys too. Well one day this book, Forbidden Legacy, came across my path, it was a Christian Romance, the Christian element interested me so I picked it up and read – I would not say that I have been converted to a Romance reader, but I really did enjoy the book. The story telling and mystery in the book was top notch and kept my interest throughout the book ~ I found that the book fulfilled most of the same wants that I find so pleasing in the historical fiction books that I read. I am a Christian but I am also a guy, and for me to say that I truly enjoyed a Christian Romance book is kind of embarrassing ~ but I did Barbara Goss is a superb story teller. I think I just might read some more . . .
A friend turned me on to Barbara’s books last year. I immediately read through them all, averaging about one a night. I LOVED them! She is now on my list of favorite authors. Great reads with romance, good stories, and faith. You couldn’t ask for better books! 🙂 I’ve since gotten my Grandmother hooked on them as well. Thank you Barbara!
I have read every one of her books and loved them. I’m not a church goer, although I do believe in God, I never read books labeled Christian because often they are so filled with religious quotes and are preachy. My sister gave me a copy of Stolen Heritage and I was hooked. The characters pray instead of go to a bar and drink when they are troubled, and I don’t mind that. I actually enjoyed the books so much I bought them all and read them. Only one had more extensive biblical references, but romance in the book was so good, that I didn’t mind. It even made me start to think about eternity and how maybe I needed a bit more in my life too. I hope to find more of her books. Glad my sister gave me the link to this interview because I wondered if she was still writing.
Yes, Carol. I’m working on another novel as we speak. Thank you for the kind words and I hope to find a bit more of God too.
Barb Goss’s writing is a pleasure for readers looking for historical fiction, one of my favorite genres. The characters are well developed, the settings are described to enable the reader to be ‘in the scene’, and the story lines are interesting and well thought out. I’ve enjoyed reading four of Barb’s novels and enjoyed every one. They are stories that you don’t want to put down and will pull the reader enjoyably through to the ending. They’re a ‘clean’ read and light but not fluffy. They do have an undercurrent of Christianity in parts but not overly religious, just enough for the reader to understand the motivations and moral decisions of the characters in the novel. I have the pleasure of knowing Barb personally and can say that her intelligence, friendliness and warmth carries into her writing style.