Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Giveaways, Cover Reveals, and Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day!

In honor of Valentine's Day, I would like to highlight some awesome historical romances by one of my favorite authors and announce the cover reveal to the upcoming finale of her latest series, Shadows Over England. Make sure you read all the way to the end of this post for the cover reveal and giveaway!

Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award-nominated 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. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.







In the first book of The Shadows Over England series, A Name Unknown, we meet Peter Holstein and Rosemary Gresham.  Rosemary is sent by the mysterious Mr. V to steal family information about Peter's heritage for the government.  She enters his employ posing as a librarian, sent to help organize his family books and gets way more than she bargained for.

In the second book, A Song Unheard, we get to know Willa, Rosemary's adopted sister, as she is sent on a mission to steal a cipher from her favorite musician.  She is taken off guard when he becomes enamored with her musical talent.

My favorite aspect of Roseanna White's writing is the way she makes her characters work for their happy ending. Historical Fiction/Christian Romance is one of my favorite genres, but I always get annoyed when the characters "fall in love" too fast.  In a Roseanna White novel, even if the characters admit attraction early on, she makes them go through the ringer before allowing them to be together.  I LOVE this because in real life every relationship has obstacles to overcome that have to do with the people IN the relationship. What happens when that person hurts you? What happens when your happy life gets interrupted by their needs? What happens when their baggage rears it's ugly head and causes trust issues?

Roseanna's characters deal with all of these, and more, and today I would like to highlight seven ways true love is shown in The Shadows Over England series:


1. Love is selfless - Peter shows a general love for people by the way he goes out of his way to care for them.  When he first meets Rosemary, he welcomes her into his home and offers her the cottage to stay in.  Twice, he puts up money to care for a sick person he doesn't even know. 

2. Love is a choice - Though Rosemary and Willa grew up orphans, they choose to love their adopted family as their own.  Lukas and Peter choose to love in spite of being hurt by loved ones.

3. Love protects - Both Rosemary and Peter defend each other against people who speak against them. They also stand up for those who are suffering or in trouble, regardless of the benefit (or lack thereof) to themselves, even after they have been hurt by those people.

Willa risks her life to help a girl and her mother, knowing full well that she will not be thanked for her actions.

4. Love is patient  - Lukas makes it clear early on what his intentions are towards Willa, but he respects her limits and, while he prods gently, he never pushes.

5. Love is persistent - Lukas is also a very difficult man to dissuade, despite Willa's best efforts.  She puts up all kinds of barriers, and he continues to let her know that he is still there for her.

In Willa's and Lukas' respective faith journeys they both come to realize how God has been present throughout their lives, even when they did not recognize Him.

5. Love does the right thing, regardless of consequence. - Rosemary and Willa both come to a crossroad in their journey when they have to decide whether to do the right thing and sacrifice their personal goals, or do the right thing and sacrifice someone they love.

Which brings me to my final point...

6. Love forgives.  Lukas and Peter are lied to by the women they love (who, let's not forget, have also been hired to steal from them. Can we say, counseling?) Willa has been hurt by her parents, and that hurt holds her back from forming new relationships.  Peter has been threatened, shunned, and slandered by the people in his town because of his German ties.  Somehow, all of these people are (eventually) able to love in spite of their very real hurts. How? Forgiveness.  No relationship, no matter how strong or perfect it's beginning, can completely escape the necessity of forgiveness. We have all hurt and been hurt by someone we love.  Just like the characters in these books, we come to a point where we must ask ourselves: Do I care more about my hurt than I care about the relationship?


And now it is time (hehehe) to talk about Book Three: An Hour Unspent which is due to release in September of this year.

Book Description:

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 fiance 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.


And now the moment you have all been waiting for....Drumroll, please.......
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First, the good stuff:

I LOVE the gorgeous image of the clock face in the background with the radiant light shining through, illuminating the room. The woman on the front is a red-head, which is exciting because red-headed heroines are always awesome (Anne Shirley may disagree, but I have always loved gingers). You can tell she's going to be a feisty one. She looks ready to engage in some witty banter, and probably take someone's ego down a notch or two. Based off of the character description, and what I have read in interviews with other bloggers, I would say there is a very good chance of this happening at least once in the book.  Looking forward to some awesome dialogue!

My ONE teeny tiny complaint with this cover is that it does not have Barclay on it.  I have enjoyed getting to know him as a secondary character in the other two books and am really looking forward to becoming better acquainted with him in An Hour Unspent. Because of this, I am slightly disappointed he is not on the cover, but I love what is on the cover enough to get over it. I am so excited about this book!



To celebrate this cover reveal, the author is giving away one copy of each of the first two books in the series, A Name Unknown and A Song Unheard. Click on the titles to read my reviews. They are both excellent and you will not be disappointed. If you would like to enter the giveaway, click here or on the link above. What a perfect opportunity to get caught up before Book 3 releases!

One final note: An Hour Unspent is now available for pre-order! Click on one of the  links below to reserve your copy!

Amazon:  http://a.co/3hBOMdu 


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36590922-an-hour-unspent 

Thank you for reading! If you would like to know more about Roseanna White and her books, visit her website and Goodreads page by clicking the links below.  Good luck with all your upcoming releases, Roseanna! Keep writing!


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