Friday, April 15, 2016

Book Review, Blog Tour, and a Giveaway: "The Reluctant Duchess" by Roseanna M. White

Rowena Kinnaird has never felt good enough for anything, not even the air she breathes. When she seems to have no one to count on, will the Duke of Nottingham be her way of escape? But what will he do when he realizes the reason she needs to get away? When she starts to open up to him, will the gems he's hiding come between them?

When I found out I'd be participating in this blog tour, I requested the first book in the Ladies of the Manor series from the library, but it did not come in, so I just started with "The Reluctant Duchess" which is book 2. I would definitely recommend starting with the first book so you get the whole story right from the beginning. That said, I didn't feel completely lost while reading this book as it filled in the backstory well. I liked Rowena and Brice and Ella. I kept feeling suspicious of the secondary characters as I tried to find out who was working against Brice and Rowena. Once I picked up the book, I didn't want to put it down. It did take a bit to get used to the Scottish way of talking and some of the unfamiliar words, but context makes it clear what they mean. I really liked the focus on following the Lord's direction throughout the book and watching the characters spiritual growth. I am looking forward to reading the 3rd book in the series when it comes out.

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of her book, Roseanna is giving away a few of Roseanna’s favorite things. Click to enter

Guest Post from Roseanna White

Though I’ve written nearly thirty books, thirteen of which will be out by the end of 2016, there’s something very special about the Ladies of the Manor Series. The first book, The Lost Heiress, is a rewrite of the first novel I ever wrote—at the age of 12-13. Once I finished that first novel, I made it my goal to keep adding more manuscripts to my “finished” file. I started in immediately on the sequel . . . and soon ran into a problem. You see, I knew who I wanted these characters to be. Brice Myerston, a duke, whom readers would have met in the first book. And a young lady from Scotland who had suffered abuse.
That’s it. That’s all I knew. And it stymied 13-year-old me, who hadn’t a clue what it felt like to suffer such things, and whose imagination, while rich, just lacked a certain basis in the realities of human nature. Probably a good thing that I gave up on the story back then, and didn’t dust it off again until my mid-20s, when I was reworking the series. And better still that Rowena had many more drafts to go through before she finally took to the printed page in The Reluctant Duchess.
I narrowed my setting down, during those years, to the Highlands, and I chose Loch Morar because of how perfectly the region of Lochaber suited the story I wanted to tell. Isolated. Stark. Rugged. Beautiful. Sometimes cruel. This was a land utterly perfect for my heroine’s family, for her back story. Then came the challenge of picking a clan for her to belong to—because lemme just tell you, one could quite easily offend with such choices, if not portrayed properly, LOL. And because I wanted her father to be chief of her clan, I ran the risk of people mistaking him for the actual chief, if I chose an actual clan.
A writing friend came to rescue and offered her last name for my heroine: Kinnaird (pronounced “kin-AIRD”), which is a sept (branch) of another clan in reality, so had no chief of its own, but was still a well-established Scottish name. Perfect!
So Rowena Kinnaird was born after many years of her character floating in and around my head and computer screen. And I got to pair this backward, sometimes shy, sometimes stubborn Scottish lass with the charming, suave, polished English duke I’d had planned out since I was 13.
I went to great pains in The Lost Heiress to make Brice Myerston a favorite character, so that readers HAD to read his story. Mwa ha ha ha. ðŸ˜‰ So far, so good on that score! Brice is a hero who has his faults, but he also has character. He has faith. He has a good heart, he’s considerate, he’s understanding. And he’s also so accustomed to charming everything female that he doesn’t quite know what to do when Rowena doesn’t seem inclined to be charmed.
There are clashes. There is tension. There’s much healing on Rowena’s part. Many trials for them both. But I hope that through this story of The Reluctant Duchess readers see what it means to triumph over past hurts. And how brightly God shines against the darkness.

Blog Stops

April 12: Just Commonly
April 12: Book by Book
April 13: Melissa Wardwell
April 14: A Holland Reads
April 15: Splashes of Joy
April 15: Story Matters
April 16: Bookworm Mama
April 16: bigreadersite
April 17: cherylbbookblog
April 17: A Greater Yes
April 19: Henry Happens
April 19: Karen Hadley
April 20: Texas Book-aholic
April 21: Proverbial Reads
April 21: Heidi Reads…
April 22: 100 pages per hour
April 23: The Power of Words
April 24: Giveaway Lady
April 24: Under His Wings
April 25: Book Bites, Bee Stings, and Butterfly Kisses

About the Author

RoseannaWhite2014Roseanna M. White pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. The Reluctant Duchess is Roseanna’s eleventh published book. Her novels range from biblical fiction to American-set romances to her new British series. She lives with her family in West Virginia. Learn more atwww.RoseannaMWhite.com

"The Reluctant Duchess" is available in paperback:

  • eries: Ladies of the Manor
  • Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (April 5, 2016)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0764213512
  • ISBN-13: 978-0764213519
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches

and in Kindle edition:
  • File Size: 3571 KB
  • Print Length: 401 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0764213512
  • Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (April 5, 2016)
  • Publication Date: April 5, 2016
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B012H10GB2

I received a free copy of this book in order for me to give my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and no other compensation was received.
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