by Roseanna White | Jul 8, 2010 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
Don’t forget you have a chance to win Stray Drop at www.ShannonVannatter.com!
The last time my family took a vacation was September ’08, when Rowyn was 7 months old. Last summer we just couldn’t take the time–and this summer we expected to be crammed full of travel for book promotion.
But since the Life & Faith Tour was canceled because of the extreme weather this summer, my hubby looked at me two weeks ago and said, “So when are we going to the beach?” In an act of semi-spontaneity, we scheduled a vacation 10 days before said vacation would start. Which is now only two days away. Woo hoo!
Of course, I’ve yet to start packing, though I’ve started making lists. And I’ve been trying to get done all the stuff I need to (including blog posts for next week, since I already had two interviews scheduled). Plus, I’ve been getting back on the writing horse. Yesterday I managed 4,800 words, and I feel like I’m finally in that place where finishing the book’s going to be like falling down the stairs–a series of boom, bang, booms, all downhill from here. There’s still a lot of story to get through, don’t get me wrong, but it’s all action. Yay!
I’m one of those nuts who hopes for lots of writing time on vacation (the beach is just so inspiring!). Granted, I also want lots of nothing-time, lots of beach-time, some shopping-time, walking-time . . .
Naturally, it’s calling for rain all week. Isolated, so it could totally miss us. And even if it doesn’t . . . well, it’s true what they say. “A bad day at the beach beats a good day anywhere else.” =)
by Roseanna White | Jul 7, 2010 | Remember When Wednesdays, Uncategorized
(Note: I’m telling our wedding story today at
Shannon Vannatter’s blog, and will be sharing a romantic excerpt from
A Stray Drop of Blood on Friday. Comment on either day for a chance to win a copy of my book!)
One of the most interesting aspects of my work in progress is the fact that my heroine is a member of a harem. She’s the favorite wife, and in many respects that makes her relationship with her husband much like any monogamous marriage.
But in other ways–wow. A lot different.
I have no firsthand experience with this sort of thing (thank the good Lord!), but trying to put myself into her shoes, into her mind and heart . . . it’s really intriguing.
For instance, she’s a concubine. Now, so far as I can dig up, historians aren’t totally sure what the legal differences were between a full wife and concubine, but they think it has to do with the provisions included in the marriage contract and would be decided by whether or not a woman brings a dowry to the marraige. If so, you’re a wife. If not, only a concubine. I’m taking a wild guess (okay, an educated guess) and stating in my book that what you’re given either at divorce or your husband’s death is determined by whether you’re a wife or concubine.
Kasia arrives at the palace poor and doesn’t much care whether she leaves it in the same state–she loves Xerxes, that’s all. And since when she arrives there’s already a slew of other wives and concubines well above her in seniority and rank, she adopts a place of humility, even though her husband would have raised her up. It takes a lot of prayer, but she manages to avoid jealousy for years . . . until the part I’m about to write.
See, she’s cool with the other wives. (Mostly.) But when her husband continues his habit of seducing other men’s wives, she loses it. Makes sense to us, right? But she’s married to a king, and kings do this all the time.
So how to strike the balance between realism and romance? How to lead her through the hardships and into forgiveness without making her a doormat?
And some people might think writing novels is easy. 😉
by Roseanna White | Jul 6, 2010 | Uncategorized
And the winner of Stephanie Morrill’s
So Over It is . . .
Carman! (booklovercb@ . . .)
Congrats, Carman. Just sent you an email.
by Roseanna White | Jul 6, 2010 | Uncategorized
I have now read two books by Denise Hunter (the first being Seaside Letters) and I can now safely say that I love this author. When Driftwood Lane arrived and I saw it was another Nantucket Love Story, I slid this one onto my personal to-read shelf rather than the shelf for other reviewers–and I’m so glad I did!
Meredith Ward has a carefully ordered life in St. Louis–job as safety inspector, fiance who’s an accountant, excellently laid out five-year-plan. After a chaotic childhood, she doesn’t need any surprises. But the phone call she gets from her estranged-father’s lawyer–well, that’s certainly a surprise. She hasn’t seen her father since she was a child . . . so why did he leave her guardianship of his other three children?
Meredith heads to Nantucket to meet her half-siblings, determined to wrap up this whole mess as quickly as possible. The minute their other living relative, an uncle, returns from motorcycling around the South, she’ll hand them over and be done with this. But in the meantime, she has little choice but to bring their family’s B&B up to code. If only money weren’t tight, she could afford a contractor other than the dangerously-appealing Jake to make the repairs.
The longer the uncle stays away, the more she wonders if she can really leave these precious, emotionally-fragile children in his hands . . . and the more she knows she needs to get away from this place before she forgets why love is too chaotic to be worth the risk.
Within the first chapter of Driftwood Lane, I was hooked. It was one of those cases where I’d read plenty of books with similar plots, but Denise Hunter managed to breath life into with a charming setting and the perfect cast of characters. Her heroine is so rules-oriented that you just gotta love the slant she puts on everything. Most of us would walk through an oceanside bed and breakfast and note the lovely features. She walks through and notes every safety violation and loose board. It lends an unexpected perspective to the story and makes such perfect sense with the character herself that you can’t help but admire the author for thinking of it.
And the hero! Jake is in many ways the alpha-male romances are famous for, but one about-face in the beginning of the book sets him up to be crafted into the kind of hero this book needs–a Christian man who messes up and then fixes his mistakes, who judges and then regrets it, who loves with all his heart and sets out to prove it–just as originally he was trying to prove something else altogether. Toss him into the same room as tight-laced Meredith, and it’s no wonder the sparks fly! (Which, let it be noted, is a safety hazard.)
Denise Hunter weaves a story with a touch of maritime magic, a dose of Nantucket charm, and a cast of characters you’ll fall in love with. I couldn’t put this book down, couldn’t wait to see what mess, either emotional or literal, would pop up next for the characters to deal with. Driftwood Lane tugged at my heart, soothed my soul, and spurred me to scratch another name onto my Favorite Authors list. I can’t wait to see what Denise Hunter has in store for us next!
This book was provided by a publisher or publicist for review purposes; no other compensation was received.
by Roseanna White | Jul 5, 2010 | Uncategorized
You know, I’m not sure, in thinking upon my contemporary stories, that I’ve ever included a July 4th Celebration. I’ve got on in my 20s historical . . . and it was a lot of fun. In Chicago’s Little Italy, it was a party filled with those who had chosen this country as their own and built families here. They played bocce ball and enjoyed a huge, neighborhood-wide picnic in the park.
I love seeing the traditions that have developed in different areas over time, though. Had my contemporary that takes place in Annapolis have stretched into July, I could imagine my characters braving the Historical Downtown area to perch on the seawall and watch the fireworks over the bay. Had I mentioned the holiday in my Outer Banks story, they would have braved the mosquitos to watch them over the sound.
As for me and my family? We braved the late night and took the kids to my parents’, where we can sit in their yard and see the city’s fireworks put off across the river at the park.
Now, I’ve been doing this for years. But this year was different. First because it’s only the second time we’ve done it since having kids (given that the things start so long after bedtime . . .), but also because this year we were totally surrounded by fireworks, which thrilled my kiddos to no end. I wasn’t sure how they’d do with the loud noises, but Xoe kept bouncing up and down, and Rowyn would just yell, “Boom! Pop! Lookee, lookee! Pink one! Green one!”
There were the main fireworks in front of us, yes. But also some on the mountain to our left. The neighbors put on a show to rival the park’s to our left. And another neighbor behind us had some pretty impressive ones too. Half the time we kept swiveling our heads one way and then the other, totally surrounded by those beautiful bursting lights.
On Saturday, my church enjoyed a sermon tied into the holiday, and in Sabbath School we talked about the national spirit that accompanies a nation founded on faith. Sure, we also mentioned how the country as a whole has gotten away from that. But you know what? It’s still there in our families. We still pray blessing upon the U.S. of A. And we still obey the word of one our founding fathers and celebrate our land’s independence with bonfires and guns, with fireworks and feasting.
Hope everyone had an inspiring Fourth of July!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, 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, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.