Today I am very pleased to welcome author Roseanna M. White to Interviews & Reviews. Roseanna 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 for WhiteFire Publishing, 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. Roseanna has two books as finalists for our Book of the Year Awards - A Portrait of Loyalty (her latest) and On Wings of Devotion. Both are part of The Codebreaker Series many of you have read. Today, Roseanna is going to talk to us about this series and she has a special giveaway for her U.S. readers! Roseanna, welcome to Interviews & Reviews! I loved The Codebreakers Series! How did you come up with the idea? As I was researching for my Margot character in A Song Unheard (book 2 in my Shadows Over England Series), I came upon information on Room 40 and the intelligence division of the British Navy during the First World War. It was so fascinating! I knew immediately that I wanted to write a whole series revolving around this amazing community of people, so I pitched The Codebreakers to my publisher. =) They helped me fine-tune the specifics of how we wanted to develop the stories, which involved tweaking a bit about Margot in A Song Unheard—luckily it was still in the editorial process when the new series was being pitched. And there we go! The Codebreakers were born! Wow! Did you have a favourite book in the series? That’s always such a hard question! I love The Number of Love because Margot is hands-down the most unique heroine I’ve ever written. I love On Wings of Devotion because Camden and Arabelle’s hearts and stories are so deep. And I love A Portrait of Loyalty because it made me ask such huge questions and examine parts of culture I’ve never looked at before. So…you know. All of them. ;-) Which characters were the most fun to write? The most fun in the series was probably Camden. I just love that snarky sense of humor. In A Portrait of Loyalty, Ivy was the most fun, I think, and just exploring that sisterly bond. Our review team member, Rebecca Maney, asks: Which one of the books took the most research? Probably A Portrait of Loyalty—solely because most of the research otherwise I could do for the series as a whole. But that one required learning all about the Russian revolution too. Review Team member Paula Shreckhise asks: How many books do you have going at one time? How far do you plot ahead? Oh gosh. I’m usually writing one, but I know I’ll have to pause to edit at least one other, possibly two. Once I turn in a manuscript, I usually have to start writing the next pretty soon, but there are always revisions and proofreads interrupting me. I actually love that, though—it helps me keep the other books in a series fresh while I’m working on later ones and make sure details stay consistent throughout. You have beautiful faith elements running throughout all your books. Do you develop a theme before you start writing or does it just "happen?" That one made me laugh. I usually think I know what a main spiritual theme is when I start…and then as I write, new elements pop out, and half the time I end up abandoning my first thought to explore the themes that come as I really get to the know the characters. What has God taught you during this pandemic? The pandemic itself hasn’t thrown much of a wrench into my daily life—my husband and I have both worked from home for years, and we already homeschooled our kids. But when it comes to extended family and community things, it’s really taught me that we have to be ready to go—or stay—wherever God wants us. To try new things. To be creative. Our biggest challenge of the year, though, was actually unrelated to COVID. At the end of September, our son (12) was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Our lives have definitely forever changed! We can’t blame the pandemic, but 2020 has been quite a year, for sure… Definitely not a lesson you want to learn. Finally, can you tell us about your next book? Absolutely! The next book to release is Dreams of Savannah, a stand-alone that takes place during the Civil War in Savannah, Georgia. It’s about a whimsical, storytelling heroine named Cordelia whose true love is one of the first casualties of war. He survives and eventually makes it home, but he can’t view the war—or their society—in the same way. And as Delia opens her eyes to the stories of the people all around her, she realizes that she needs to take greater care with the story her life will tell. I’m super excited to welcome it into the world in January! After that, my next series begins in May with The Nature of a Lady, book one in the Secrets of the Isles series. This one is SO MUCH FUN. We journey to the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall, for an adventure of mistaken identities, pirate treasure, and of course true love. I absolutely adored learning all about these amazing islands, and Lady Elizabeth “Libby” Sinclair and the Reverend Mr. Oliver Tremayne are two characters who quickly took over my heart! (And his grandmother…I can’t wait for everyone to meet his grandmother.) I look forward to reading both books! Thank you so much for stopping by and talking with us today Roseanna! If you are like me and have a fair collection of Roseanna's books, you might need something to carry them in. So, today for our U.S. readers Roseanna is offering a tote bag with a quote from A Portrait of Loyalty. If you would like to receive this bag from Roseanna and you live in the U.S. fill out the form below! (This giveaway ends November 23. Winners will be contacted via email and announced here and on our Facebook page. Failure to claim your prize within three days of the announcement will result in another winner being chosen). Congratulations to Marie Edwards! You are the winner of the Tote Bag. Watch for our email!11/16/2020 01:13:35 pm
This was a very interesting interview. 'On Wings of Devotion' is one of my favorite historical reads of 2020. I enjoyed reading Roseanna's responses to the questions about research and her upcoming book. Wishing Roseanna and her family a happy holiday season and a healthy 2021!
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