WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE?

What book should you read next? What words should you write next? Whether you're a reader, a writer, or both, you need look no further for ideas and pointers to help you make up your mind. You might even get your next book for free!

Sometimes I even give away my own novels. My Inspirational romances and devotionals are pictured below and are detailed on my Books page. You can always count on a trace of humor in my novels and nonfiction. Whether you're a teen or a woman mature in years, I think these stories will ring true.

Read on, and discover some of today's most appealing Inspirational novelists, their latest books, and their words of wisdom and imagination. Enjoy!

Monday, July 2, 2018

Beth White and Free Books!

A destitute Southern belle must save her plantation home—Is a retired Union soldier the answer?

Before we meet today's author, I want to announce that the winner of the e-copy of A Heart Reclaimed, by Elizabeth Maddrey, is:

cjenreffner@...


Congratulations! We'll get your book right out to you. I encourage readers to keep commenting and/or subscribe at right (above my list of books) in order to learn about new releases! U.S. subscribers are entered in the drawings a second time when they comment.

And now let's visit with novelist Beth White, author of the historical romance, A Rebel Heart (Revell, June 2018).

Beth White’s day job is teaching music at an inner-city high school in historic Mobile, Alabama. A native Mississippian, she writes historical romance with a Southern drawl and is the author of The Pelican Bride, The Creole Princess, and The Magnolia Duchess.

Her novels have won the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, the RT Book Club Reviewers’ Choice Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award.

Please tell us one random thing we might not know about you.

I have dolphins in my back yard. No, really. Like Flipper. I live on Wolf Bay, near Orange Beach, Alabama, and sometimes when I sit on the swing on my dock, dolphins will swim by looking for fish. Pretty cool.

Wow, that would have me on that dock daily! You're right, that's very cool.

Please tell us a bit more about the plot of A Rebel Heart.

Five years after the final shot was fired in the War Between the States, Selah Daughtry can barely manage to keep herself, her two younger sisters, and their spinster cousin fed and clothed. With their family’s Mississippi plantation swamped by debt and the Big House falling down around them, the only option seems to be giving up their independence by leaving their ancestral land.

Pinkerton agent and former Union cavalryman Levi Riggins is investigating a series of train robberies and sabotage linked to the impoverished Daughtry plantation. Posing as a hotel management agent for the railroad, he makes Selah a proposition—he’ll help her save her home, but only if it is converted into a hotel. With Selah otherwise engaged with renovations, Levi moves onto the property to “supervise” while he actually attends to his real assignment right under her nose.

Selah isn’t sure she entirely trusts the handsome Yankee, but she’d do almost anything to save her home. What she never expected to encounter was his assault on her heart.

What a great story premise. And the cover is gorgeous. I think many people assume southerners would have bounced back fairly well by five years post-war. Obviously you correct that misconception with your novel. 

What is it about Selah that will make your readers care about her?

Selah Daughtry is indubitably a lady. But she will do whatever it takes to protect and provide for those she is responsible for—even if it means going into business as a hotel manager. She holds onto a lot of guilt over the way her family has treated slaves before the War, but she’s determined to make it right. She is smart, practical, and tender-hearted, and I enjoyed getting to know her as I wrote her story.

Imagine you’ve been contracted to write a novel about a real person. Who would you most like to write about?

Brigadier-General Don Bernardo de Gálvez, Spanish governor of New Orleans during the American Revolution. In a little-known quirk of history, Spain secretly funded the American cause and sent spies along the British-held Gulf Coast, from Mobile to Pensacola, to harvest intelligence for Continental strategy. Gálvez was an inspirational leader and administrator with a genius for the balancing act of the political, military and social world he inhabited. Also, he fell in love with, courted, and married a beautiful French Creole widow named María Feliciana de Saint-Maxent Estrehan. Oh my goodness, what a movie that would make!

Yes, and what a novel! Do it, Beth!

What is the last novel you read that you would recommend?

I honestly don’t read a lot of fiction at the moment, because I spend my free time researching and writing! But the last novel I loved was one of Sibella Giorello’s Raleigh Harmon Mysteries. They’re all fabulous (I think there are seven or eight in the series so far). Lyrical prose, deep characterization, cool mystery puzzle, fascinating heroine, slow-boiling romance. Funny as all get-out.

Thanks for that recomendation. I have so much respect for the minds of good mystery writers. 

What are you working on now?

I’m working on the second book of the Daughtry House series (sequel to A Rebel Heart). It’s titled A Reluctant Belle, and it features the second Daughtry sister, Joelle. She’s tall and awkward and beautiful and nerdy and forgetful—and she’s in love with her childhood nemesis, Schuyler Beaumont. Unfortunately, just as she accidentally gets herself engaged to the young Methodist preacher who’s been following her around for a year (not Schuyler, unfortunately), Schuyler embroils them both in a political murder mystery.

Where else can readers find you online?

My website is www.bethwhite.net. Twitter handle @bethsquill. Or visit me on Facebook

The book can be purchased online via the following button:



Finally, what question would you like to ask my readers?

What are your favorite ways to hear about authors whose work you haven’t tried? Also, I’m curious about how far into a book you’ll go before you decide the story isn’t for you?

Thank you, Beth, for visiting and telling us about yourself and your book. Readers, Beth has offered to give away a signed copy of her novel. To enter, leave a comment and your email below in answer to Beth's question, above. "Please enter me" won't get you entered. Remember that U.S. subscribers are entered an additional time in each drawing. The drawing is done by email, so leave your email address, like so: trish[at]trishperry[dot]com. 

Only United States residents are eligible for the drawing, but anyone can subscribe to the blog posts via the GDPA-compliant Feedblitz box above my list of books, at right.

Also readers, I'd love it if you'd connect with me on Facebook. Just click on my name at the right of today's post title.

Remember, if you'd like information on additional new releases, check out Christian Book Heaven, a new email newsletter for Christian book deals in whatever genres you select. You can subscribe here: ChristianBookHeaven

Annoying legal disclaimer: drawings void where prohibited; open only to U.S. residents; the odds of winning depend upon the number of participants. See full disclaimer, GDPA notice, and my Disclosure of Material Connection HERE

15 comments:

kim hansen said...

Now that has to be cool. Dolphins in your back yard.

kim hansen said...

Blogs or library

Melanie Backus said...

I lean most about authors through blogs. mauback55 at gmail dot com

Karen said...

I learn about new authors from other authors or from bloggers on social media. If an author comes highly recommended then I get excited! Lol

I almost always finish the books that I read. Even when they don't go the way that I want, I keep reading and hoping that they will improve! ;-)

mylittlebirdiebooks (at) gmail (dot) com

Linda said...

I learn about new authors from emails like this or from my chutch library. I don't usually start reading a book unless I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it.
lhanberry1(at)gmail(dot)com

Patty said...

I usually hear about new authors from different book bloggers I follow.
As for how long I will give a book, it sort of depends... if I downloaded it for free I might not give it that long. If it hasn’t really caught my attention within the first 5 or 6 chapters I will probably set it aside.
If I’ve heard/read great things about a book I am much more likely to press on.
Honestly I don’t quit reading many books.

pattymh2000(at)yahoo(dot)com

Pat said...

You make me miss living in Homestead FL. We used to go into the Keys, find a quiet (undiscovered part of a beach-at least in the 70's) and watch the dolphins swimming & playing in the wake of the cruise ships or other ships leaving Miami. Also, used to watch them when we visited friends on Dolphin Island. I learn about new authors (to me) from reviews, blogs, Avid Readers of Christian Fiction, recommendations by authors or other reviewers. Yep, I do books reviews - both on review teams & on books that I buy & love. I also refuse to ever leave a bad review. If I can't leave a good review will send author a private msg & tell her why & pray that its in a way that is constructive and not hurtful. I will quit reading a book that is just plain boring to me, just not my "cuppa tea" (as my grandmother from England would say) or is dirty (to me).

Unknown said...

I mostly hear about new authors or authors I’m not familiar with through blogs I follow.

As far as how much of a book I read before I decide I like it enough to keep going or not I try to follow the 100 pages rule. If I can’t get into a book after the first 100 pages I give up.

Soblessed0208(@)Gmail (dot) com

arletta said...

I mostly learn about new-to-me authors on a couple of book club pages I'm a member of on facebook. I google books that other readers recommend and then order them from the library. When I find an author I love, I start buying their books.

I will read a few chapters before quitting a book. If there is a lot of language in a book, I'll stop before that.

Gail H. said...

I learn about new authors from blogs and other authors. I've even joined influencer teams for new authors by recommendations from authors I follow. I rarely start a book unless I believe I'll enjoy it. I always try to finish a book and I review every book I read.
I just got home today from a weeks vacation at Gulf Shores/Orange Beach. We have an RV and camp at Gulf State Park. The weather was great until the last two days. Roll Tide!

Cathy said...

I enjoy and learn a great deal from blogs - I am a subscriber to this blog under a secondary email addy. I also browse and order from ChristianBooks, in addition to further study on Goodreads (also try to leave ratings and reviews). I will usually go 50 pages before I give up, unless it is borderline, and then I will read further.

You new release sounds very interesting, and, yes, I knew that by looking at the 1870 census and other historical documents of the era, the situation wasn't back to normal life. Thanks! ramblingphotographer at gmail dot com

Beth White said...

Hey, nice to meet all of you lovely readers! Funny thing about the dolphins—Not five minutes after I wrote that answer to Trish's question, a giant dolphin came up barely five feet from my dock, blowing out his blowhole, and scared the stuffins out of me!

To Gail H—I hope you had a wonderful time down in our little playground! Yes, the weather has been very iffy for two months! I'm about sick of rain! Technically it's hurricane season, so no big surprise...

Thanks for answering my two questions. It's just something I wonder about when I'm supposed to be writing. ha!

Good luck to all in the drawing!
Beth

Anonymous said...

I mostly hear about new authors from blog reviews, Facebook groups and people I follow on Goodreads. Out of the 200 plus books I have read and reviewed on Goodreads there was only one book I could not get into/finish.
marypopmom (at) yahoo (dot) com
Maryann

Trish Perry said...

Even though I have an insane TBR pile of books, I still read reviews and keep a file of book titles that sound good, especially since I like to liten to audiobooks while I drive, too. Like many of the commenters above, I seldom end up giving up on a book, but when it do, it's usually because I suddenly reach a point in the book where I think, "Hey, you know what? This is [boring/stupid/etc.]." But that doesn't happen very easily--I don't like to give up on an author's efforts.

Laura Waltz said...

Hi Trish and Beth! I learn about new authors usually through social media. Either Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads or online through blogs. Once in a great while I find books based off the covers at the library or a bookstore.

I usually go pretty far into a book before I decide if I will or won't finish it. I usually finish them all, but there have been a few I set aside because I couldn't get into them. Sometimes I restart them later and I am ready to read them with fresh eyes.

Selah and Levi's story sounds like a great read! Also Beth, dolphins in your backyard sound amazing. How fun! Thanks for the chance to win your new book.

LLWaltz [at] gmail [dot] com

 

HOME | MEET TRISH | BOOKS | CONTACT | LINKS

Content Copyright Trish Perry | Graphic Design and Layout Eagle Designs