by Roseanna White | May 31, 2011 | Uncategorized
I’m tickled to be able to feature
Dance of the Dandelion by
Dina L. Sleiman today. Our latest title from WhiteFire,
Dandelion will make her official debut tomorrow, and I can’t wait to see what she does. =)
First, let’s all admire the awesome cover. George of
Tekeme Studios did it again, and somehow managed to capture the essence of the book and the author without more information than a questionnaire. The lovely maiden dancing on the cover is Dina’s own daughter, on whom she modeled the heroine. Perfect, isn’t it?
Now, curious about the book yet? You oughta be. 😉 I’ll give you the official description, then chat about it a bit.
Love’s quest leads her the world over.
Dandelion Dering was born a peasant in the English village of Arun, but her soul yearned for another life, another world. One filled with color and music, with adventure and passion . . . with more. Haunted by childhood memories, Dandelion determines to find a better existence than the life every peasant in the village contents themselves with. Even if her sweetheart William’s predictions prove true, and her journey leads straight to heartache.
From her sleepy hamlet to the intrigue of castle life, from the heart of London to the adventurous seas, Dandelion flees from the mistakes of her past, always seeking that something, that someone who will satisfy her longings.
Will Dandelion ever find the rhythm to her life’s dance . . . or did she leave her chance for true love at home in Arun Village?
At this point I’ve read Dance of the Dandelion about three and a half times (some spot reading along the way), so I feel like I know it backward, forward, and inside out. =) But here’s what I remember from my first time reading it:
Dina has a way of writing about life with passion. Passion for her setting, for her topic, and most of all for the Lord. In the course of the story, Dandelion makes some good decisions, some bad decisions, some smart, some stupid. I didn’t always agree with her and there were moments I didn’t much like her. But through it all, Dandelion was searching for love, and for God. And that’s what propelled me through the story, scrolling through madly. That’s what made me love the book and the title character.
This is one of those rare stories that makes you question what you want for the character, makes you wonder what you’d do in her shoes. It’s one of those novels that leads you to a deeper understanding of faith and God, of love and self-identity.
It’s a book that makes you want to dance your way through life.
I’m really excited to have Dina and
Dandelion in the WhiteFire family, and I’m confident that anyone who likes my books or
Christine Lindsay’s Shadowed in Silk will fall in love with
Dance of the Dandelion too. Dina has written with panache and poetic brilliance a book that perfectly fits WhiteFire’s motto: Where Spirit Meets the Page.
I hope you all check it out!
(Digital release is 1 June and print release is 1 October.)
by Roseanna White | May 30, 2011 | Holidays, Word of the Week
No thought at all went into selecting this week’s word. =) Given that today is Memorial Day and all, here we go!
Memorial. Memorial is a word straight from the Latin memoriale, so it’s been in English approximately forever. Since the late 14th century it’s been used exactly as it’s used now – something by which a memory is preserved.
But the interesting thing is in Memorial Day. It’s been used generically, as any day of memory, since the 1830s. But after the Civil War it became a national holiday to commemorate the fallen Northern soldiers. It started unofficially in the 1860s and became recognized by veteran groups in 1869.
I don’t know about you, but I didn’t realize it was a Civil War thing! Pretty interesting.
So, everybody have big Memorial Day plans? My family is combining the M-Day picnic with my grandmother’s b-day party. So in honor of that, I made this cake, which I’m calling my Hydrangea-in-a-Basket cake. =)
Hope everyone has a fun, relaxing, rejuvenating holiday, and that we use it to memorialize those who have fought and fallen for our wonderful nation.
by Roseanna White | May 26, 2011 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
First, yesterday two boxes of
Jewel of Persia arrived on my porch! Yay! That means that I can take off the “pre-order” designation from the listing on our store and actually sign and send any books ordered. =) So if you’ve been waiting (ahem), you can now
go to CrossPurposes Books to order! Then just email me with personalization requests. (Instructions are in the product description.) Or if you aren’t into shipping but will be at ACFW in September, you can get one there. =)
Also, if you’re an influencer or have won a copy on the blog tour, I’ll be signing and packing those up in the next day or two, so the wait is over for you guys too!
Now, onto my real topic. 😉
Hard as it is to believe, my hubby and I are about to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I can still remember our beautiful beach wedding like it was yesterday, but time has sprinted by (time’s quite the athlete, isn’t it?) and here we are. Ten years, five moves, and two kids later.
We’re trying to figure out the perfect trip for the occasion. We’ve long discussed taking a an extended weekend somewhere, just the two of us, for this. But not that it’s decision time, we can’t decide where to go. We’ve considered Maryland’s Eastern Shore. We’ve talked about New York City. We’ve toyed with something Caribbean. Then David pointed out that for the same price, the family could take a week-long vacation in the Outer Banks.
One mark in the favor of that plan is that it’s where we got married. I’m a big fan of symmetry and poetic stuff like that. 😉 Of course, if we went a whole week, we’d take the kids, and likely one or both of our parental units would join us. Which would mean that, at least, someone could babysit the kids on our anniversary and we could go out for a nice dinner.
Another part of me says, “But that’s not the couple trip we talked about.”
Advice is welcome! Any brilliant ideas on where we should go, or if we should opt for the family vacation? Keeping in mind we’re not made of money. 😉
by Roseanna White | May 25, 2011 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
I’m always amazed by how long counterfeiting has been around. Don’t know why it surprises me, but yeah. Pretty much ever since there was paper money, there have been counterfeiting.
The big counterfeiting rings, however, often seem to be official. Ever heard the story about how Hitler had a massive operation set up to counterfeit British pounds and American dollars? Well, he sure wasn’t the first leader who decided that was another way to fight a war. The British did it to the Americans too.
During the Revolution, the British began counterfeiting Congressional dollars pretty much as soon as Congress started printing them. The result? Well, a dollar was, shall we say, not off to a great start. In many parts of the young country prices had already risen to absurd numbers because of the boycott. In New York, they had the opposite problem–imported goods were still reasonably priced, but they couldn’t get staples. The price of a pound of beef raised something like 800% in three years. And if you tried to pay with dollars? Ha!
They were, literally, using the dollars as wallpaper.
The British were so set on this plan to undermine the new American economy that they set up a counterfeiting headquarters on a ship the New York governor used as a floating state house. They’d sprung a forger from jail and put him to work. Nice, eh? The one flaw–their paper was too thick.
Until, that is, they stole several reams of paper from the press in Philadelphia.
It’s a wonder our economy ever recovered, isn’t it? Well, I’ll now leave you hanging as to what happened and get to writing the novel about what happened. 😉 Happy Wednesday, everyone!
by Roseanna White | May 24, 2011 | Uncategorized
Last Wednesday, Russel Moore, a prominent minister,
posted this. It’s a blog entitled “Can Romance Novels Hurt Your Heart?” and quotes a study expounded on in the book
A Billion Wicked Thoughts. In short, this book explains that just like pornography appeals to a man’s visual predisposition and creates in him an idea of women that’s unrealistic and so harmful to his real-life relationships, so do romance novels appeal to a woman’s emotional predisposition and creates in her an idea of men that’s unrealistic (because they’re based on alpha men who are rich, gorgeous, wild-but-tamed-by-heroine, and emotionally sensitive) and so damages relationships.
Mr. Moore takes this study and applies it to
Christian Romance and asks if the women who keep a Christian romance on their bedside table are hurting their marriages.
After 164 replies, most opinions on this subject have been made known, LOL. But it’s a subject that upsets me, so I’d like to discuss it here.
This is what I grant Mr. Moore. Some women do indeed battle feelings of dissatisfaction with their love lives, their marriages, and their husbands when they see other romances. They feel their spouses don’t add up, and being shown that really doesn’t help. So yes, it’s great to bring that to the attention of said women and say, “So, well, maybe you oughta steer clear of romantic stuff. Books, movies, etc.”
Of course, as one commenter pointed out, those same women might be struck by this same comparison when they see Mr. Smith open the door for his wife at church and exchange a special smile with her.
So–I grant this is a valid point, and I hope every woman, if she feels dissatisfied with her relationships, stops to really examine why and to either steer clear of the catalysts or to take the time to work on this within herself (or both). Several women spoke up on this blog who readily admit that this is something they have to deal with. I applaud them.
But here’s where this post really hurt my heart. Mr. Moore wrote a long article about how romance and pornography are alike. Then he made an assumption that
Christian Romance is built on the same principles as the mainstream erotica that this book studied. THEN he said that he wasn’t equating
Christian Romance with the soul-destroying pornography, but we must ask ourselves if these books are building marriages and promoting unity or if they’re causing harm.
Well, my answer is that they’re building marriages, promoting unity, and saving souls. And frankly, it hurts that a prominent pastor not only calls our ministry into question, but asks his entire readership to do the same. We have enough to battle within the world–why are we attacking each other within the Church?
The nicest thing this blog did was grant that not all Christian romances were necessarily evil. I contend that that’s like saying that all pastors are “not necessarily evil” since they don’t all cheat on their wives or lead people into cults. That’s like saying that not all Christians are evil, since they don’t all use the Bible to dominate and abuse. But some do!
Yes. Some do. But when someone points out that stuff, I cry out, “No, no no! Why would you judge an entire ministry based on a few? What about all the souls pastors save? What about all the relationships they build? What about all the many ways they strengthen our faith?”
I have to cry out the same thing here. “No, no, no! Why would you judge the entire ministry of Christian fiction because of how it affects some? What about all those letters we get saying readers were led to the Lord through our stories? What about the ones who say they were inspired to save their crumbling marriages? What about the ones who come to a deeper faith because of these books?”
Because THOSE are the majority. And that’s the case because
Christian Romance is NOT built upon the same principles as mainstream romance, and we don’t just gussy it up with prayer instead of sex. That anyone would claim we do is so insulting. More, it’s disheartening. After years and years, Christian fiction is finally gaining a foothold in the industry, and then our own leaders prejudge us (because you bet these guys haven’t read any of today’s Christian romance–that’s pretty obvious by the assumptions) and not only question that we are in ministry, but equate us to pornographers.
As you can see, I’m still fired up about this. I don’t just read
Christian Romance, I don’t just write
Christian Romance, I edit it and publish it. It’s my entire professional life. Now, do I like to break molds with it? Absolutely. Do I chafe against some of the guidelines of traditional romance that were held over in
Christian Romance? Yes, I do. But I believe in its principles, in its goals, in its very real ministry to many people who otherwise may dismiss the messages that come through so naturally in fiction.
And I’d love to chat about it, explore both sides with others. So what’s your take?
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.