Roseanna White - Roseanna M. White

Word of the Week -Popsicle

by Roseanna White | Jul 25, 2022 | Word of the Week

Revisiting this delicious word today. Originally published August 27, 2018.

The heat of summer is fully upon us, and we all know nothing tastes as good on those hot summer days as cool treats. Ice cream, Popsicles, frozen coffees and yogurts and you-name-it.

My assistant’s little boy asked where the word Popsicle comes from, so this Word of the Week is for Judah!

And it’s a pretty simple one. =) Despite becoming the only word really used for icy pops these days, Popsicle is, in fact, a trademarked name (so should always be written with a capital P). It was registered in 1923 by a fellow in California, and while he didn’t explain the name, it was assumed that it was a simple mash-up:

(lolly)pop + (ice)cicle = Popsicle

Interestingly, that was the same time period in which lollypop came to mean “candy on a stick.” Before the 1920s, the word was definitely in use for sweets, but it was “a soft candy made of treacle and sugar” when it was created in 1784. By the 1840s, it came to means “something sweet but insubstantial.” And then in the 1920s, we get that “on a stick” meaning that we all identify with today.

My family has become obsessed this summer with Outshine fruit pops. We love that they’re real fruit and SO GOOD. What’s your favorite frozen treat for a hot summer day?

Shadowed Loyalty Release Day!

by Roseanna White | May 2, 2022 | Book News, Giveaways and Contests

Welcome to the launch celebration for Shadowed Loyalty!

I’m so excited to be welcoming Shadowed Loyalty into the world and so excited to be welcoming YOU into the world of Sabina and Lorenzo! This book has been many years in the making. I first wrote it when my son, Rowyn, was a baby. As in, in his bouncy seat while I was up at 5 am, typing away with my fingers and bouncing him back to sleep with my foot, LOL. Rowyn is now 14…so, you know. A bit of time for the characters to really develop in my mind!

What the Book Is About

Sabina Mancari never questioned her life as the daughter of Chicago’s leading mob boss until bullets tear apart her world and the man she thought she loved turns out to be an undercover Prohibition agent. Ambushes, bribes, murder, prostitution—all her life, her father sheltered her from his crimes, but now she can no longer turn away from the truth. Maybe Lorenzo, the fiancé who barely paid her any attention in the last two years, has the right idea by planning to escape their world. But can she truly turn her back on her family.

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All his life, Lorenzo’s family assumed he would become a priest, but he has different ideas—marrying Sabina and pursuing a career in the law. Despite his morals, he knows at the core he isn’t so unlike his mafiosi father and brothers. Has he, in trying to protect Sabina, forced her into the arms of the Prohibition agent bent on tearing her family apart? How can they rebuild what has so long been neglected and do it in the shadow of the dark empire of the Mafia?

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Shadowed Loyalty, set amid the glitz and scandal of the Roaring Twenties, examines what love really means and how we draw lines between family and our own convictions, especially when following one could mean losing the other.

What Readers Are Saying

“With a setting both gritty and glamorous and characters who shine with authenticity, Shadowed Loyalty pits the bonds of family against the beauty of faith. Roseanna M. White has written a story that wrestles with spiritual convictions and examines how we live and love in a broken world.”

~ Stephanie Landsem, Author of In A Far-Off Land

“I can’t even begin to tell you what Shadowed Loyalty did to me, my faith, my heart.” ~ Mel F.

“Once again, Roseanna wrote a story with wonderfully deep characters and remarkable insights. I pondered the many facets of the story for days afterward.” ~ Lynn Squire

“This is an intriguing, complex tale that probes the disreputable times, where the characters wrestle with unsettling choices between loyalty to family and doing what is morally right.” ~ Paula S.

“What a roaring story! Roseanna M. White has written a thrilling narrative of family, love, and loyalty set in 1920’s Chicago.” ~ Anna

“A book set in Chicago during the roaring 20’s with the main characters being members of leading Mafia families might not at first glance be expected to be historical Christian fiction. Roseanna White, however, seems to be able to take just about any historical situation and produce a rip-roaring good story that is also full of spiritual depth and challenging insights into living a Christ-honoring life no matter what the circumstances.” ~ Margaret N.

“Love Roseanna Whites books and I couldn’t put this one down. My favorite book so far!” ~ Carol

“The depth of Roseanna White’s characters in Shadowed Loyalty, as well as her ability to illustrate 1920’s Chicago, allowed me to immerse myself into this compelling story of love, family, and God’s amazing provision and grace. A fantastic read!” ~ Laura H.

Celebrate with Me!

I’m celebrating the release for the next month with a giveaway! But, no, not of the book. 😉 Instead, I want to share in YOUR celebration of the book with some glam and some tastiness. So here’s what you do:

Over the next month, as you read, share an image of Shadowed Loyalty to some social media platform. This can be a beautiful Bookstagram style photo of the paperback or your ereader with the digital cover on there, or just a quick snapshot on your phone with, “Look what I’m reading!” Any platform is good–just make sure to tag me! I’m on all major platforms with the handle RoseannaMWhite. And you’re welcome to do this multiple times for multiple entries!

OR

Post a picture of YOURSELF dressed in 1920s glam–ready to read or inspired by the book–and tag me!

THEN, I’d also love to know what scene or theme or part of the book you most enjoyed! Just tell me in the form below for another chance to win.

Win what?

One lucky winner, to be drawn on June 3, 2022, will receive:

A set of the art deco dangling earrings featured on the book cover
A tin of Italian pastries
A seat at the July Tea Party Book Club where we chat about the book!

Enter between now and June 2 using this form!
(If the form isn’t displaying properly for you, just visit this page.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Unceasing Thanksgiving

by Roseanna White | Nov 25, 2021 | Thoughtful Thursdays

“Why do I follow you? Because you are who you are, Lord, and because I rejoice in having been called by you. Let the swiftness of my feet in following you be my unceasing thanksgiving.” ~ Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word

When I read those words a few weeks ago, they resonated deep in my spirit. So often we view thanksgiving as something we have to pause to do, a state of mind that we have to work to get into. When Paul tells us to give thanks always, we think of it as something tending toward the impossible–at least if we’re not staying constantly conscious of it.

But I love this perspective, and it’s one I’m dwelling on this year as I celebrate our official Thanksgiving. That sometimes, the loudest praise is doing what God has called us to do. It’s abandoning our fishing nets and following after Him. It’s pouring our offering of perfume onto His feet. It’s rushing through the busy streets of life, just seeking the hem of His garment. It’s doing the work of the Kingdom. It isn’t a big meal or reflecting on all the “things” He’s given or even the people we love. Thanksgiving is about Him.

Obedience is thanksgiving. Honoring His call on our lives is thanksgiving. Rejoicing in the One whose path we follow is thanksgiving.

Lord, I thank you. I thank you with my lips. I thank you with my words. But I also thank you with my feet–may they be ever swift in chasing after you!

Word of the Week – Author

by Roseanna White | Nov 22, 2021 | Word of the Week

I can’t believe I’ve never looked this one up before, but…clearly I hadn’t, LOL. Because I was completely surprised to learn that author did not originally mean “writer.” Did you know that??

Author has been in use in English since the mid-1300s, taken from the Latin auctor (via French), which means “promoter, producer, father, progenitor; builder, founder; trustworthy writer, authority; historian; performer, doer; responsible person, teacher.” Literally, “one who causes to grow.” So originally, author was used for any creator!

However, it didn’t take long for it to take on special meaning for those who write. By the end of the 1300s, it was being used to differentiate one who created a written work from people who transcribed, translated, or compiled it.

Even more interesting is how it relates to the word authority…which we’ll look at next week. 😉

Word of the Week – Temper

by Roseanna White | Nov 15, 2021 | Word of the Week

Anyone else like to watch Forged in Fire? If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a competition show where smiths are forging knives. So fascinating! Watching that show has taught me that one of the most important things for steel is that it’s well tempered.

Yeah…important for people too, we just don’t do it through heat-treating!

But have you ever wondered how the same word has come to be applied to both our temperaments and things like steel?

Temper, the noun, comes from temper, the verb, which has traveled through the various forms of English from the Latin temperare, which means observe proper measure, be moderate, restrain oneself; mix correctly, mix in due proportion; regulate, rule, govern, manage.” So whether you’re doing it to yourself or to something else, the idea is that you’re reaching the correct measure or balance.

If you look at the root, you’ll notice it also looks a lot like tempus (time), which is no coincidence either. Etymologists aren’t exactly certain when tempus shifted from its root “stretch” to the time-sense of “measure,” but it’s definitely a change that happened back in the Latin days and has traveled forward into English for us.

It gained the meaning of “disposition” around 1590 in English, and by 1600 was specifically used for “calm state of mind” (a good temper). It wasn’t until 1828 that it’s recorded as being used for “bad temper.” That one surprised me, since it’s the primary usage today!