What would YOU do? by Gail Eastwood

Thank you so much, Hannah, for this opportunity to visit with your friends and talk a bit about A PERILOUS JOURNEY, the e-book reissue of my award-winning first novel!

Fiction is full of desperate characters pushed to do extraordinary things. How they meet the test measures their courage and strength, and pushes them to grow. That’s what great stories are all about. Do you ever wonder if you would do the same things as the characters you read about, in the same situations? Do you ever yell at your favorite TV or movie characters when you think they are making a mistake?

In A PERILOUS JOURNEY, Gillian Kentwell is faced with a future that horrifies her. Given no alternatives, she chooses to run rather than meekly accept it. Of course, in 1816 Regency England, travel was much more hazardous than it is today, and Gillian’s choice has some dire consequences. She is lucky her twin brother Gilbey decides to go with her, but they are both inexperienced and in trouble before their first day ends! When the Earl of Brinton aids them, they have no idea who he is. Gillian and her brother have plenty of arguments over how they should go on and whether to accept more help from him even after they learn his identity.

Gillian’s distrust begins to melt as her attraction to Brinton heats up, but there are more secrets to learn about the mysterious earl, just as there are more surprises and troubles in store for all three travelers as they try to reach Scotland and outwit their pursuers.

A PERILOUS JOURNEY is more than a “road” story set in the Regency –it’s also a “coming-of-age” story as Gillian journeys into womanhood and learns the meaning of love. Would you make the same choices she does? Have you ever had to make a decision that meant giving up everything you’d ever known? If so, how did your decision turn out?

A PERILOUS JOURNEY was first published as a Signet Regency Romance in 1994, my debut book. Now it’s available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes as a newly issued e-book under the Intermix imprint from Penguin/NAL. Gillian’s brother’s story, AN UNLIKELY HERO, will be reissued in July, just two months from now, and I have other backlist books that will be coming out this year as well. You can find out more about those, contact me, follow me on Twitter, or “like” me on Facebook all from my handy website: www.gaileastwoodauthor.com.

My publisher has chosen to go quite a different route with the covers for this new line of books, and I would also love to hear what people think about it. Like it? Hate it?

I don’t have any giveaways or contests going yet, but I hope you’ll leave a comment anyway!

Story: Beset by troubles, a young runaway and her twin brother are helped on their journey by a handsome stranger who they later learn is the Earl of Brinton. Crowded inns, bad weather, thieves and Bow Street Runners in pursuit are not enough to stop either the growing attraction between Gillian Kentwell and the earl or the trio’s progress across the miles to Scotland, where Gillian hopes to find freedom and a new life. But will even greater setbacks ahead shatter the fragile trust forged on the road and destroy their chances for happiness?

Excerpt:

“You must never lose hold of your courage. It is a very precious gift.”

She felt his hazel eyes studying her. Did he truly think she was courageous, rather than foolhardy? Her tears had stopped streaming down, although she could feel them clinging to her lashes and lingering treacherously in her eyes. She could not seem to push any words past the lump in her throat, however. She shook her head.

The fingers he had held under her chin moved slowly up to brush back a tendril of chestnut hair from her cheek. “Is this not the same fearless miss who throws rocks at villainous robbers and attacks brigands with wet clothing? You are not going to tell me you are afraid of the dark?”

In the flickering firelight he looked very much the rogue she had seen in Taunton. His eyes held a glint of mischief, and his unruly dark hair straggled over his forehead. The day’s growth of beard shadowed his jawline and upper lip. His smile was infectious, and Gillian managed to produce a very small one of her own in response.

“Better, much better. You needn’t be afraid, you know. Your brother and I will keep watch all night.” His fingers trailed down from her hair to trace the smile on her lips.

His gentle touch sent fire racing through her veins so suddenly her breath caught in her throat, and her eyes widened in surprise. She realized the ache of despondency in her heart was melting, rapidly giving way to a very different sort of ache. No! Not again. Yet she could not stop it.

Anxious lest he detect her reaction, she tried to find her voice. “But what would you do if someone came?” she finally blurted out. “We haven’t any weapons! In fact, we haven’t anything! –no walls to protect or shelter us, no beds to comfort our sleep –no table to eat upon, nothing to eat with! We haven’t even any way to leave!” She looked down at her hands, clenched tightly in her lap. “It is my folly that has brought us all to this.”

Brinton took Gillian firmly by the shoulders. “If we are here through anyone’s folly, it is certainly not yours. Besides,” he added softly, his eyes on hers, “you are wrong, you know. We have everything here we could ever need.”

She looked at him sharply, wondering what he could mean and how she could continue to resist him. She believed he was toying with her, yet still she wanted desperately to throw herself into his arms. She could not allow herself to be swept up in his spell. Instead, she said, “Have we lost your wits along with everything else?”

Reintroducing Louise Clark

Many thanks to Hannah Howell for allowing me to visit her blog and talk about my new release, Fighting Fate. My name is Louise Clark and I’ve had six—no seven!—books published. All but Fighting Fate were published in the 20th century, so some of you may remember me, but many will not. I began writing contemporary series books for Silhouette using the pen name Roslyn MacDonald. I’m a history major and I’ve always loved the past, so when the opportunity came to write some historical romances I did. Those came out under my own name in the 1990s.

Then came kids.

Kids, I discovered, take up a lot of your time. In my life, that meant the business side of writing was submerged beneath family, grad school and then job. Even though I wasn’t doing much by way of selling my work, I didn’t stop writing though. Now that I am restarting my publishing career, I’ve got lots of material to polish and market. Whether contemporary, historical or time travel (like Fighting Fate) my new books will all be coming out under Louise Clark, so I hope you’ll keep my name in mind.

Fighting Fate is a contemporary time travel. Instead of the usual scenario where one of the characters goes back into the past, the time traveler in this story comes from the year 1772 into the present. Using that twist was a lot of fun because it allowed me to play with the differences between then and now.

What would a man from 1772 find puzzling about our world? Big things like cars, for sure. Paved roads, miles of strip malls where there used to be fields, congestion. Everyday things like refrigerators and flush toilets. And, oh yes, computers, cell phones and tablets. What he wouldn’t find different are people and the way they behave. Since people are at the core of any story, the combination gave me lots of scope to create a touching story with a shot through with a light vein of humor.

When you write a time travel there’s always a lot of world building that has to happen. How does the person move through time? When he reaches the new time period is he there forever? Or will he have to go back? How do other people react to the stranger? Will the past—or the future—be affected? So not only did I fall in love with my characters in Fighting Fate (I always do!), but I also was intrigued by the time travel world they lived in. Though I wrote Fighting Fate to be a stand alone novel, I left the door ajar, so I could explore their world more.

I’m delighted to say that I will be doing that. Joanna D’Angelo and LeeAnn Lessard at Lachesis Publishing have both expressed their enthusiasm for the “Fate” series. They want to know how Faith and Andrew met and they want to read Andrew’s story. I’m happy to oblige. I’ve got four new stories in the series forming in my mind and I’ll be starting work on the first this summer.