About the Book
Book: Shaded Goodness
Author: Kathleen J. Robison
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: June 10, 2025
Jacquie Dupre has worked tirelessly to give her daughter, Destiny, a future free from the mistakes of her past. But when Mickey, her ex-husband returns to Bay Town, her carefully built world begins to crumble. He claims he’s changed. He’s conquered his addiction that destroyed too many lives, but can Jacquie believe him? As old wounds resurface and a dangerous figure from their past threatens their fragile peace, Jacquie must confront her deepest fears—about Mickey, about love, and about God. Can faith truly heal, can goodness prevail, or will their future be forever shaded by their past?
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Author Interview
What is your favorite part about writing?
I love just pounding the keyboard with a new idea! Sometimes, a song moves me. Often, I see a
stranger on the street and wonder what their story is. Shaded Goodness came about when I saw
old pictures of a now deceased family member. I couldn’t wait to craft a story with his
characteristics.
When I sit down at the keyboard for the first time with a new story, my fingers fly. I keep in
mind certain things like hooks and cliff hangers. I try to keep the plot moving forward in each
chapter, and work on character arcs and plot techniques that I know I must hit. But in the first
stages just letting the story run for a good ten to twenty thousand words is my favorite thing.
After that, I begin to think about where my story is going.
Do you have a way to keep track of your story ideas?
After years of frantically writing down an idea on a napkin or a grocery receipt, I now take notes
on my phone. Collecting all those scraps of paper and losing them became quite frustrating! An
author friend once gave me a beautiful, hard-bound journal. It’s where I put all my ideas, now.
The problem is that I won’t live long enough to write all those stories, and my Idea Journal is
bursting at the seams! It seems the Lord fills my brain with stories of people with broken lives
that He’s willing and able to fix!
When did you become a writer?
I’m pretty new. I began writing about thirteen years ago. I never dreamed of being a writer, but I
was always a daydreamer. When I was a little girl, and even still as a woman with grandchildren,
the dreams keep coming. When my younger boys were playing college baseball, I took long
drives to watch their games. Sometimes, two times a week. I turned off the radio and wrote my
first book during many two-hour road trips. I kept the story all in my head until my missionary
son in Japan encouraged me to start writing it down! Then he challenged me to take part in
NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, where you strive to hit 50,000 words in
November. The rest, as they say, is history. I signed my first publishing contract seven years later.
It was seriously divine intervention!
What is your work schedule/routine when you write?
When pounding out a rough draft or editing a final manuscript, I write from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00
noon, five to six days a week. Some days are much longer…I don’t even get out of my pajamas,
and hubby fixes dinner! Typically, without a deadline, I write for four hours a day. When I first
started writing, I awoke at 4:30 a.m., spent my quiet time with the Lord, and then wrote for about
six hours a day. I have so many finished manuscripts from those days that I don’t need to do that
anymore! Now, it’s lots of rewriting and editing.
Do bits of yourself/friends show up in your characters?
Always! I don’t write other people’s stories, but if something happened in my life or theirs, and
the situation fits, I’ll use it. I also need to have a character in mind, so many of my friends, and
family’s personality traits have taken over a character. Again, it’s not them or their story, but my
characters are definitely influenced by someone. A few times, I forgot to change their name
when the book went to print. In one of the earlier books in my Bay Town Series, a reader texted
me and asked, “Is Mrs. Crowley in this book the same whom we know and love?” I was so
embarrassed, but she was honored, and I brought her back in the current release, Shaded
Goodness, for a cameo!
Thanks for allowing me to share a bit of my journey. God has indeed blessed me with this
writing gig, and I appreciate the opportunity to share His love through my stories.
About the Author
Kathleen J. Robison weaves tales that inspire a walk of faith and a reliance on God’s guidance through life’s trials. With endearing characters, her stories are a testament to the resilience of broken lives, revived through hope and renewed through God’s grace. Kathleen and her husband call Southern California home residing near the beach and find their most joy in the company of their nineteen and counting grandchildren.
More from Kathleen
Have you ever heard of a Shoofly? The word conjures up an annoying, buzzing insect, but a Shoofly is a magnificent white, wooden, raised gazebo-like structure built around giant oaks and sycamore trees. Back in the 1800s, in the south, they elegantly dotted the coastline of Mississippi. Almost every vacation boarding house boasted one. A relaxing venue for people to gather while avoiding the large horse flies that tended to hover closer to the ground, pestering guests and residents. The raised platform also allowed guests to enjoy the ocean breezes on sweltering hot summer days. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, due to storms, hurricanes, and erosion, Shooflys all but disappeared in the 1900s. Yet in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the setting of my Bay Town Books, you can visit a Shoofly today in the local park downtown. In 1989, a group of town women decided to resurrect the nostalgic structure and had one built. It was completed nearly one hundred years after the near extinction of most of the iconic Shooflys along the Gulf Coast. It’s a key setting in my book, Shaded Goodness.
Recently, my childhood friend returned to visit Bay St. Louis. I asked him to take a picture of the Shoofly, and his wife took the shot above of him waving from the deck. He remembers visiting my family in Bay St. Louis sixty years ago, and he said it still has the charm and hasn’t changed or grown much. Except that it’s now an artisan’s dream! Can you imagine? I can. It’s why I set my romantic suspense series in the fictional setting of Bay Town, inspired by Bay St. Louis. Shaded Goodness is the last in the book series.
“You got to forgive him, Jacquie. And no, I haven’t seen him. But I have been talking to Pastor Roland, and it’s a dark spot, one of many in my soul.”
“Dark spots? Is that what you call ’em?” Jacquie threw up her hands. “I can’t even go there. That man killed –”
Themes of forgiveness, second chances, and redemption are woven throughout Shaded Goodness. It was a joy to write because the male protagonist in this book was inspired by the character of my deceased ex-brother-in-law. Shaded Goodness is entirely fictional, but I loved using Mickey’s good traits to craft his character. He was a truly good soul who sadly made poor choices throughout his life. I like to think that if he had lived long enough, his life might have turned out like Mickey’s in this book, happily ever after. That’s why I enjoyed writing this story, as it allowed me to give Mickey a life of redemption here on earth, and I’m grateful that he’s living it in eternity. His love for the Lord in his last years proved contagious, just like his Christ-indwelling goodness. All glory to the Lord.
I pray for my readers that, as in all my books, you will be encouraged in your faith. That’s why I like writing about second chances and reconciliation. Because God is all about that, isn’t he? The Bay Town Series is a collection of stand-alone books. Still, the returning characters, after facing their own troubles and tragedies, help their neighbors as they face similar trials. 2 Corinthians 1:4-5 instructs us to do just that. Some characters choose the right path, and some don’t, just like in real life. But God’s promised hope is extended to all.
Shaded Goodness comes full circle from book one. Melanie Thompson Brooks champions through tragedy in the prequel and in Shattered Guilt. Her growth enables her to serve as the guiding voice to Jacquie Dupree in Shaded Goodness. With similar backgrounds, the pain of their pasts threatens to unravel their future. You won’t need to read Shattered Guilt, Book One, to enjoy Shaded Goodness, Book Five, but I think you’ll want to go back and get to know the lovely people of Bay Town through Restored Grace (First Place in the National Excellence in Writing competition), Shadowed Doubt, and Ransomed Peace. I think you’ll find some good friends and wish they really were your neighbors.
I hope you’ll fall in love with the setting where I lived for a short time as a child. It’s why I set my books in the deep south of Mississippi. Where life was slower, and the small-town community came together for events and rallied and prayed for one another during difficulties, much like the body of Christ should. Come on down to Bay Town; it just may become home.
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, August 26
Stories By Gina, August 27 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 28
Simple Harvest Reads, August 29 (Author Interview)
Artistic Nobody, August 30 (Author Interview)
Fiction Book Lover, August 30
Guild Master, August 31 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 1
Tell Tale Book Reviews, September 2 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, September 3
Blossoms and Blessings, September 4 (Author Interview)
For Him and My Family, September 5
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, September 6 (Author Interview)
A Reader’s Brain , September 7 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, September 7
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, September 8 (Author Interview)
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Kathleen is giving away the grand prize of a $25 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of the book!!
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