by Bookworm Mama | Sep 4, 2018 | Announcements, Book News, Giveaways and Contests, Sales
It’s HERE! It’s HERE! It’s HERE!
Barclay and Evelina are “officially” out in the wide world. And I have so many goodies for you today! Pour yourself a cup of steaming tea, get comfy, and let’s CELEBRATE!
About the Book
An Hour Unspent
Shadows Over England Book 3
With Danger Creeping Ever Closer,
Do Their Dreams Still Matter?
Once London’s top thief, Barclay Pearce has turned his back on his life of crime and now uses his skills for a nation at war. But not until he rescues a clockmaker’s daughter from a mugging does he begin to wonder what his future might hold.
Evelina Manning has constantly fought for independence but she certainly never meant for it to inspire her fiancé to end the engagement and enlist in the army. When the intriguing man who saved her returns to the Manning residence to study clockwork repair with her father, she can’t help being interested. But she soon learns that nothing with Barclay Pearce is as simple as it seems.
As 1915 England plunges ever deeper into war, the work of an ingenious clockmaker may give England an unbeatable military edge—and Germany realizes it as well. Evelina’s father soon finds his whole family in danger—and it may just take a reformed thief to steal the time they need to escape it.
Book Sale
The first two books in the series are on sale right now in my store! Signed print copies!
An Hour Unspent Companion Guide
This was so much fun to put together. I love that I can give you a peek into the history of this story. You can download this PDF for FREE in
my store. Use for book club discussions or for your own personal use. You will explore the design of wristwatches, Big Ben, and blackouts during WWI.
Printable Quotes
I have created three different printable graphics for you! Use to decorate your reading nook, office, living room, or give as gifts. These are also available in my store for FREE!
Giveaways
Yes, plural. Because you know how much I love my international readers. Please read the details for each giveaway. Enter via the Rafflecopter links below.
Open to all US Mailing Addresses. Giveaway is open 9/4/18 – 9/10/18 11:59pm EDT.
Void where prohibited. Please see disclosures and policies for more details.
Prizes Include*:
One (1) framed print of Big Ben clock tower
One (1) clock necklace
Complete Shadows Over England Series in print, signed.
Open to all residents outside the US. Giveaway is open 9/4/18 – 9/10/18 11:59pm EDT.
Void where prohibited. Please see disclosures and policies for more details.
Prizes Include*:
One (1) Trio of Teas set from Ahmad Tea London
One (1) eBook copy of An Hour Unspent
*Prizes subject to change due to availability. If the pictured prize is no longer available, a similar product will be chosen in its place.
Coming Soon!!!
You won’t want to miss it!
Well, I think that’s all the excitement I have for you today. I hope you enjoy reading An Hour Unspent. Remember to leave your reviews on retail sites and share with your friends and book clubs!
by Bookworm Mama | Jul 24, 2018 | Announcements, Book News
If you follow me on social media, you may have seen comments about a series of books that I am working on with Guidepost. This has been a fun and exciting opportunity for me, and I wanted to share a little more about these books with you. Secrets of Wayfarers Inn is a series published by Guidepost (and therefore ONLY available from them directly) and consists of myself and nine other authors. The first 2 books in the series are now available and MY first book in the series will be releasing in September. You can find purchase info HERE.
About Secrets of Wayfarers Inn
On the banks of the Ohio River, in the historic town of Marietta, Ohio, a trio of good friends stumbles across an empty historic waterfront stone building while house hunting. Next to a Realtor’s “For Sale” sign, an aging bronze plaque on the doorpost marks the building as once being a pre-Civil-War stop on the Underground Railroad. The four-story building, originally built as a hotel, was most recently used as a warehouse for goods arriving via river barges, but it has sat empty for the past decade. On a whim, LuAnn Sherrill, Tess Wallace, and Janice Eastman start to think of what a beautiful bed-and-breakfast this could be. When all is said and done, these three friends are the proud co-owners of the neglected but elegant structure, which they plan to renovate and open as a café and B&B known as Wayfarers Inn. While remodeling, they come across hidden passages, filled with secrets and surprises of all sorts, which set them on a course to solving mysteries.
As the trio of friends are drawn further and further into the mysteries of the inn and the town of Marietta, with its intriguing antebellum heritage, each one finds her own personal faith enriched—in both God and humankind.
Treat yourself to Guideposts’ newest Christian Mystery series, Secrets of Wayfarers Inn, where pre-Civil War mysteries abound in these cozy fiction books about faith and friendship.
Contemporary:
When retired school teachers LuAnn Sherrill, Tessa Wallace, and Janice Eastman, decide to buy an inn built in 1851 and turn it into a café and bed and breakfast, someone is not happy. Strange things begin to happen in the building—handprints on a dusty mirror, a missing wallet—and who owns the gold earring? Realtor Bradley Grimes is helping them unravel the mystery when he finds one of his own. In a ledger from the 1800s he finds the name of his great-great-grandfather, Howard Bickerton, the man he’d always thought of as a hero in the Underground Railroad. But was he?
Historical:
Prudence Willard, a farmer’s wife and conductor on the Underground Railroad, faces danger on a regular basis, but nothing is quite as frightening as witnessing what happened to Howard Bickerton—and keeping the knowledge to herself. Should she report Bickerton’s death and the man who assumed his identity, or remain quiet for the sake of the Cause?
Series Authors:
Enjoy each book in this series written by some of your favorite authors: Becky Melby, Kathleen Y’Barbo, Tracey Bateman, Roseanna White, Ellen Kennedy, Beth Adams, Virginia (Ginny) Smith, Kim Vogel Sawyer, Janice Hanna Thompson, and Ocieanna Fleiss.
by Roseanna White | May 23, 2018 | Book News
Last Saturday, my family drove a few hours down the road for the Gaithersburg Book Festival, where I would be presenting a panel with two other amazing Christian historical fiction authors, Cathy Gohlke and Carrie Turanksy. Having never attended this festival before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But it was so much fun!
First, it was raining. I’m talking, we’ve had 2 solid weeks of rain in the mid-Atlantic. Trees are coming down just because the ground is so soggy it can’t hold them up. To say it was a bit wet for this outdoor festival is an understatement.
But you just can’t dampen the spirits of book nerds. They still showed up by the thousands.
The GBF is a really great, really big event. There were hundreds of authors present in every conceivable genre for every conceivable age group. My family and I sat in on a panel with writers and illustrators of the Science Comic series and learned how they turned topics like The Plague and Sharks into fun, accessible stories for kids, and then we got to watch them draw for us on the spot. We caught the tail end of a non-fiction talk on the founding and building of Los Angeles. And then I joined Cathy and Carrie for our panel on weaving history into fiction.
It rained off and on all day, and the ground was a muddy mess. I had mud splatters all up my legs, and at the time I’m writing this, I haven’t even summoned the bravery to check out the shoes that we just shoved in a plastic bag after the event was over, before we drove home. [Update: they all cleaned up just fine, LOL.] We juggled umbrellas and raincoats and had to try to figure out how to keep our bags off the sopping ground. The bookstore had a lot of books with slight curls to their pages.
And it was SO AWESOME.
Because we got to see hundreds and thousands of other book lovers, coming together in a community. I got to meet two members of my launch team (hello, Kat and Kathy!!!) and finally meet two authors I’ve long respected but have never actually gotten to see in person. And of course, I got to talk about books! These sorts of panel conversations are always so much fun for me. A chance to talk about writing in general, the stories I love in particular and share a glimpse into the crazy life of a homeschooling writer.
And it’s so cool to then walk to the book signing area and get to meet some of the people who sat in on the panel. To meet people I’ve talked to online. To hear new readers say they so enjoyed my talk they had to run and buy my book. To hear another young woman say I’m one of her favorite authors and she had to come to the GBF to meet me (she said that to the
NEWS camera!). To sign one book for a sweet lady’s friend and then see her back in the line with her family, because her husband bought
her a copy.
 |
| Me, Cathy, and Carrie…and a bit of the mud. |
The folks who put on the festival gave the authors a regal welcome and thanked us for coming, thanked us for writing. But I think I speak for most of the other authors when I just smile and laugh and turn that right back around–because I’ve written for years in a vacuum, without my words ever going anywhere beyond my computer. Writing itself doesn’t accomplish much. It’s the interaction of writing with readers that matters. It’s the readers who make it all worthwhile, and seeing all those dedicated readers braving the mud and rain to come and listen to a bunch of authors talk, to stand in line in the rain to get a book signed…they’re the ones who deserve the thanks.
(Video from the local news station–you can see me a fair bit in the background as they interviewed Michelle, the young lady who was so excited that I was going to be there!)
It was a wonderful day, and I’m so grateful to everyone who turned out to say hello! I had a great time, and I hope to see the diehard readers of Montgomery County, Maryland back at the GBF in years to come!
(Sorry I didn’t take more pictures–my hands were filled with umbrellas and books I was trying to keep dry, LOL!)
by Roseanna White | Apr 25, 2018 | Announcements, Book News
I know, this isn’t strictly related to my writing…but it’s what’s been taking up most of my “spare” (ahem) time in the last few weeks, so I wanted to share, just in case you haven’t seen it announced on Facebook.
WhiteFire Publishing is excited to announce that it’s acquiring
Ashberry Lane and will be maintaining it as an imprint! We’re super thrilled to be growing our house, to be able to give a home to some fabulous authors whose line was otherwise closing, and to be given a chance to work with them in the future. Official press release below!
Cumberland, MD (16 April 2018) – WhiteFire Publishing today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ashberry Lane Publishing. The acquisition, which is expected to close by June 2018, is subject to customary closing conditions.
WhiteFire Publishing is a leading small Christian publisher specializing in competitively priced e-books and print editions for authors such as Melody Carlson, Roseanna M. White, Dina Sleiman, and the late Golden Keyes Parsons. Since their founding in 2005, they’ve grown to a list of over 75 titles by over 25 authors, many of which have won various industry awards. With books across multiple genres and a young reader line to launch this summer, WhiteFire’s line embodies their motto of “Where Spirit Meets the Page.”
Founded in 2013, Ashberry Lane brings a list of critically acclaimed authors writing in a variety of inspirational genres, their award-winning titles including historical romance, contemporary fiction, and a strong middle grade line. Authors like RT Seal of Excellence recipient Camille Eide and the Christy Award-winning Christina Berry Tarabochia add distinction to a list of 12 authors and 24 titles. Ashberry Lane has worked diligently over the past five years to publish “Heartfelt Tales of Faith.”
The two companies have always shared a goal and dream, to provide Christian authors with a quality publishing house and a family atmosphere. Their respective lines are complementary, and after Ashberry Lane announced its impending closing, WhiteFire executives took immediate action to offer AL’s authors and titles a home under the WFP banner.
“It’s with much
Joy and gratefulness that I shared the news with my authors,” says Ashberry Lane publisher, Christina Tarabochia. “I know WhiteFire can be trusted with the Ashberry Lane name and that they have the same heart for books that we do. We pray this melding will prove to be a beautiful blessing for our authors as well as for the WhiteFire team.”
All management and acquisitions for the Ashberry Lane line will be assumed by WhiteFire’s staff. It will be maintained as a separate imprint under the WhiteFire Publishing line.
by Roseanna White | Mar 14, 2018 | Book News, Cover Designs
Tomorrow is a special day. Tomorrow is the day when I do my very first re-release of one of my novels, with a brand new cover and title.
Tomorrow is the day when Love Finds You in Annapolis, Maryland officially goes back into the world as A Heart’s Revolution.
When Guideposts returned the rights to me, they only had two stipulations–I had to change the title, and I had to change the cover. Well, for a cover designer, that’s kinda like saying, “You have to have fun and play around with cool images.”
Shucks. 😄
Of course, I wanted the title nailed down before I started playing with a design, so I came up with a handful of options and ran them by my best friend/critique partner, Stephanie, and my assistant, Rachel. The one we all loved was
A Heart’s Revolution. This title perfectly captured the theme of the book–my heroine, Lark, taking a stand for her own destiny–and also hits a sweet spot in the romance genre, what with “heart.” (I used to avoid
Love and
Heart in my titles like the plague, but I’ve given up, LOL. Here we have
A Heart’s Revolution, and the first book in my next series will be
The Number of Love.)
So, that established, I turned to the design.
In Shutterstock, I keep a collection called “Historical,” in which I’ll save every single photo I come across in all my searches that have solid historical costuming. In it are possible biblical or Roman styles, medieval, colonial, Victorian, Edwardian, 1920s, 1940s…you name it. If I think it might come in handy someday, I add it to the collection. So I already had several options saved, and I did a few new searches too.
Honestly, I had a hard time choosing between some of these! I tried out several before I decided to start from this one.
I like the movement we can see in this–the fact that she’s holding her dress up a bit and not just standing straight, and the dress itself looked accurate and not costume-y.
So I selected the model from her background and made her fill part of my canvas.
In this version, I just deleted the head, which I knew wouldn’t be the one I used. Lark wouldn’t have worn a boat in her hair like Marie Antoinette, LOL, and this lady, though lovely, doesn’t look like my heroine. But I also wasn’t sure I wanted to keep the dress exactly how it was. I wanted a little more color. So decided to make it blue.
I thought that would add some richness to the cover. So next I turned to the head. After searching for a while, I came across this model…
She fit my idea of Lark, so I searched through all the images of her and just fell in love with the sweet expression on her face in this one.
I put this head on my previous body and was relieved to find that worked well together, LOL. It’s still just roughed in here, but you get the idea.
But the hair wasn’t right. I needed more accurate to the times hair, so I decided to work from this one.
Of course, this model is blond, and I needed dark hair, but after some adjusting, I ended up with this.
Content with that much of Lark for the moment, I turned my attention to backgrounds. And oh my gracious, this was giving me a hard time! I couldn’t decide what I wanted behind her. I kinda liked the idea of keeping the
Annapolis State House there, but the photos I was finding just didn’t seem right. For starters, the story takes place during the worst winter in the history of the east coast (up to that point, anyway), and I couldn’t find anything snowy.
So first I tried some regular ol’ snowy scenes.
But none of these were “it.” What that lowest one (actually a street in Paris) showed me, though, was that I loved a street behind her. It provided a good perspective. So after fiddling with a few more street options, I eventually decided to go with an actual
Annapolis street, and worry with the snow aspect later.
I loved this perspective! I knew I was on the right track at this point, so then it was just a matter of getting the lighting right, and the snow.
I knew I could fuss with this forever, but I really didn’t want to. So instead I looked up Snow Photoshop Actions, and I found this awesome one from
Pretty Photoshop Actions for $39. I can’t tell you how often I’ve needed something like this, so I decided to make the investment, and I am SO glad I did! Playing with all the amazing options included in that action set, I could adjust lighting, make it look frosty, “kill the grass,” change the sky, and add snow!
I then ran a couple different actions, Nashville and Hefe, to alter the lighting a bit more. Nashville is over everything, Hefe just over the background to add some depth.
At this point, I was beginning to shiver in empathy for poor Lark, out in the snow without any kind of wrap! Terrible! LOL. So I went in search of cloaks she could wear and found this one that fit her body position well.
(Though I didn’t remember at the time, Lark’s cloak is even blue in the story! Perfect!) So putting that on her…
Ah, that’s better. And I was done the image! Now it was just a matter of adding the text. I chose the font Monstera, with a pretty ligature for the H, and thought it would be fun to place “A” in the curl of that H.
Of course, it would be nice to actually be able to read that title, so I added some haze behind it to make it stand out.
Much better. And of course, my name (in Requiem font).
And one final touch–a flourish in the title–and we were finished!
So what do you think of the old and new versions? Do you have a preference? (I loved the original cover, but I do love how this new version turned out too!)
If you haven’t read this early book of mine yet, here’s a bit about it, and the pre-order link. It’ll be live tomorrow!
In 1783 peace has been declared, but war still rages in the
heart of Lark Benton.
Never did Lark think she’d want to escape Emerson Fielding,
the man she’s loved all her life. But when he betrays her, she flees
Williamsburg for
Annapolis, taking refuge in the nation’s temporary capital.
There lark throws herself into a new circle of friends who force her to examine
all she believes.
Emerson follows, determined to reclaim his betrothed.
Surprised when she refuses to return with him, he realizes that in this new
nation he has come to call his own, duty is no longer enough. He must learn to
open his heart and soul to something greater—before he loses all he should have
been fighting to hold.
And be sure to stop by tomorrow, when in celebration of the official re-launch, we’ll be having a super fun contest (18th-century hair!!!) and a giveaway!
NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS WILL GET AN EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PEEK!
Sign up HERE to make sure you don’t miss out!
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.