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About the Book
Book title: A Name Unknown
Author: Roseanna M. White
Release date: July 4, 2017
Genre: Historical Romance
She’s Out to Steal His Name. Will He Steal Her Heart Instead? Rosemary Gresham has no family beyond the band of former urchins that helped her survive as a girl in the mean streets of London. Grown now, they are no longer pickpockets—now they focus on high value items and have learned how to blend into upper-class society. Rosemary’s challenge of a lifetime comes when she’s assigned to determine whether a certain wealthy gentleman is loyal to Britain or to Germany. How does one steal a family’s history, their very name? As Europe moved closer to World War I, rumors swirl around Peter Holstein. Awkward and solitary, but with access to the king, many fear his influence. But Peter can’t help his German last name and wants to prove his loyalty to the Crown—so he can go back to anonymously writing a series of popular adventure novels. When Rosemary arrives on his doorstop pretending to be a well- credentialed historian, Peter believes she’s the right person to help him dig through his family’s past. When danger and suspicion continue to mount, though, and both realize they’re in a race against time to discover the truth—about Peter’s past and about the undeniable attraction kindling between them.
My Thoughts
You've heard of sleeper movies? This is a sleeper book. The story begins slowly, which I struggled with a bit, but probably because of the large number of fast-paced suspense and mystery books I read. I loved the main characters. Rosemary Gresham is a believable mixture of grit, gumption, and insecurities. Peter Holstein stutters and hides behind his articulate author persona. He is oblivious to his strength of character (no pun intended), and I loved him for that. It was fun to follow his writing process. Mrs. Teague's about-face was a bit abrupt for me, but nice to see. I loved the plot twist at the end and didn't see it coming which made it all the more exciting. Peter's faith is strong yet gentle, and I appreciated how he was used to share the salvation message. A book to be enjoyed multiple times.
I received this book for free from Celebrate Lit Publicity, and was not required to provide a favorable review. All opinions expressed are my own.
About the Author
Roseanna 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. Roseanna is the author of over a dozen historical novels and novellas, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to her British series. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to make their way into her novels…to offset her real life, which is blessedly boring. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.
Guest Post from Roseanna White
It’s always a challenge to make a historical setting authentic—especially when it’s set in a region you’ve only ever read about. As I was writing A Name Unknown, I learned so much about Cornwall—all the more when I had the opportunity to visit the gorgeous Penzance region while the book was still in edits! I quickly learned that I had far too many trees in my story, and hadn’t quite captured the uniqueness of the coastal setting. I dove into rewrites with excitement and gusto, ready to make my fictional Cornwall more like the real one. I studied the Cornish accent, Cornish foods, typical Cornish coloring in hair and eyes. I’ve now gotten rather proficient at making pasties (beef hand pies) from scratch, I’ve special-ordered ingredients to make Cornish ginger cookies called fairings, and I’ve spent quite a lot of time listening to videos of people speaking in a Cornish accent. Delving into this rich region and its history was a blast! And I’m so excited to get to share the culture of Cornwall—and a taste of their unique flavors—with you. In a special Celebrate Lit giveaway, I’ll be offering not only a signed copy of my book, but also some homemade ginger fairings! Here’s the recipe I used . . . after special ordering the Mixed Spice (reminiscent of pumpkin pie spice) and Golden Syrup (a thick syrup with a bit of a toffee flavor) from Amazon. 😉 (I have a gram scale so did use the weight measurements rather than volume—also, English teaspoons and tablespoons are a bit bigger than American, so I heaped them, and I turned out deliciously.)GINGER FAIRINGS RECIPE 100 grams butter, cold and diced 225 grams all-purpose flour ¼ heaping teaspoon salt 2 heaping teaspoons baking powder 2 heaping teaspoons baking soda 1 heaping teaspoon ginger 2 heaping teaspoons mixed spice 100 grams superfine (caster) sugar 4 heaping tablespoons golden syrup Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a stand mixer. Add the butter and beat until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Stir in sugar. In a small saucepan, warm the golden syrup until it’s clarified a bit; stir into the flour mixture until a dough forms. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and put on prepared baking sheets a few inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes, until golden. Cool a few minutes on the trays and then transfer to a cooling rack.
Blog Stops
Roseanna's Remaining Blog Stops:
July 30: His Grace is Sufficient
July 30: Book Bits, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses
July 31: Reader's Cozy Corner
July 31: Cafinated Reads
July 31: Artistic Nobody
July 31: The Important Things in Life - God, Books, and Chocolate
Giveaway
To celebrate this tour, Roseanna is giving away a grand prize of a paperback copy of A Name Unknown & 2 dozen cookies from Roseanna!!! Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/bc0e
What a beautiful cover! I love this time period and am really looking forward to reading this and the cookies look so yummy!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful cover! I love this time period and am really looking forward to reading this and the cookies look so yummy!
ReplyDelete