MARY E THOMPSON

it's a curvy road to happily ever after

Surrender the Wind

#FiveOnFriday with Elizabeth St. Michel

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Please say hi to Elizabeth St. Michel! She has a brand new series to introduce to us today that I can’t wait to read!

FIVE THINGS ABOUT SWEET VENGEANCE
DUKE OF RUTLAND SERIES BOOK I:

HISTORY: My love of history, particularly the American Revolution is detailed in Sweet Vengeance, spanning from the shores of England across the Atlantic to the Caribbean and on to Boston. Privateering was a must for American Colonists to interrupt the trade of England, a powerful country at that time that possessed a larger and formidable Navy.

The lovely island of Martinique in the Caribbean was a French stronghold during the revolution and furnished a necessary port for Colonial privateers to leave off their contraband and resupply the Colonies with guns and munitions.

The Bahamas, lying off the Southeastern coast of Florida is an archipelago or collection of islands known as the West Indies. The island of New Providence in 1778 held a population of a thousand people. As a British Colony, it boasted a well-protected harbor that served as a convenient and favorite rendezvous place for British naval vessels and functioning as the chief British Naval station on the American coast.

During the American Revolution, Fort Nassau was taken by a dashing and daring force led by Captain John Trevett of the Colonial Marines and Captain John Rathburn of the Colonial Navy. One can imagine the dismay of sleepy townspeople when they awakened in the morning to discover the scarlet flag of England replaced by the little-known stars and bars of the United States.

LISTENING: To write strong characters you have to be a strong listener. You must know them down to their toes, listening to their complaints, joys, sorrows and dreams. Silence and thinking allows the creative faucet to flow. Often when I’m writing, I totally tune out of this world. I hear the waves lapping on a beach, the wind rustling through palm trees and the voices of my characters whispering their secrets. Listening builds deep characters, making us care about what happens to them.

LAUGHTER: I do love to laugh and intertwine my novels with humor. I have a special contract with my readers, presenting dialogue and foils of the story’s characters to make them laugh. Below is an excerpt of Sweet Vengeance. Lady Abigail, disguised as a cabin boy has to sew up Captain Thorne’s wound and he has just insulted her.

“Ouch! Take it easy. Do you know how exasperating you are?” He glared at her, and then after a long stretched out moment, his lean cheeks flexed. “A thought has crossed my mind.”

Abby froze mid-stroke. “That must have been a long and lonely journey.”

“I think you’ve had experience at this.”

Abby shrugged indifferently. So he would rather boil in oil! Piqued she thought of a million other tortures. “If you count the time I watched a donkey’s rear being sewed up after a mare took a chunk out of him.”

Thorne bellowed with laughter. “I hope you are not comparing me to a donkey’s rear.”

“Quit moving. I can’t stitch someone who’s so intent on braying. If you must know, I have complete respect for you, Captain. I would never compare you to a donkey’s rear.”

FAMILY: I love to emphasize family personalities and loyalties since family dynamics introduces an area that touches a cord with everyone. Sweet Vengeance and following sequels focus on the powerful Duke of Rutland and his four strong-willed offspring. From unseen enemies and in one catastrophic night, the fortunes of the family are changed forever. Sweet Vengeance details the journey of Lady Abigail Rutland, the only daughter and her father’s favorite.

LOVE:  What is most important, is creating a hero and heroine who are pure of heart, strong of character, and who give and sacrifice. Of course, they must get over their baggage first. No doubt they are dragged through the bowels of hell but they come up fighting because they are made for each other. Oh, how I love happy endings!

And that was when he did the unthinkable.

He kissed her and none too gently, not like the chaste kiss some fop had once bestowed on her. No, the Vicar kissed her hard, as a lover would, crushing his mouth down on hers¾and instinctively, she parted her lips. She moaned with the taste of him, felt the kiss deepening in ways she’d only been able to imagine before that moment.

That terrible, magnificent, soul-shattering moment.

Sweet Vengeance

Some say life is a grand adventure—but for Lady Abigail Rutland, it’s a tremendous bore. As a woman of noble birth in eighteenth-century England, she is expected to keep quiet and marry well, but she longs for so much more.

“Be careful what you wish for,” the old saying goes. After a chaotic night, she wakes up in the hold of a former slaver with her body bound and her hair shorn. She is soon “rescued” by an American privateer, who assumes she is a cabin boy and puts her to work. Eager for adventure, Abigail maintains her disguise despite a budding attraction to the infamous Captain Jacob Thorne. Meanwhile, Captain Thorne schemes to spring his kin from a British prison.

What follows is a thrilling tale that tosses and churns with the high seas. Set during the height of the American Revolution, Sweet Vengeance contains accurate historical details that enrich and complicate the story. Abigail yearns for danger and excitement, and it isn’t long before she discovers that the most urgent peril comes from within her own wild heart.

About The Author

Elizabeth St. Michel is the author of The Winds of Fate, which reached number one on the Amazon bestseller lists. Her second novel, Surrender the Wind, garnered several awards, including the National RONE Award and the Holt Medallion in honor of literary excellence in romance writing.

St. Michel divides her time between New York and the Bahamas.

LINKS:

Website: www.elizabethstmichel.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006792437760

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-St.-Michel/e/B00NZICTDA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_5?qid=1504490915&sr=8-5

Email: Elizabeth@elizabethstmichel.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36052454-sweet-vengeance?from_search=true

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sweet-vengeance-duke-of-rutland-series-i-elizabeth-st-michel/1127011980?ean=2940154521410 

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sweet-vengeance/id1275326144?ls=1&mt=11

KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sweet-vengeance-8

Surrender The Wind

Surrender the Wind by Elizabeth St. Michel

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Please say hi to my friend, Elizabeth St. Michel! She and I met about a year ago and I’m honored to have her here today!

Tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been writing?

Elizabeth:  Always. Whether in my head or on paper there has always a story to unfold. As a young girl, indoctrinated into several family businesses, I relieved the boredom of daily tasks by daydreaming. Suddenly every customer who marched into our stores became a larger than life hero or heroine with an adventuresome past, present and future.

Yet I was handicapped as a storyteller. Storytelling and writing are two different things. I had to learn the craft of writing, and that process was cultivated over twenty-six years.

Fast forward. My first book, The Winds of Fate won numerous Romance Writer of America writing awards, and then out of ten thousand worldwide authors seized the quarter-finalist position for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. The Winds of Fate went on to become a number-one hit on the Amazon bestseller lists. So all those isolated years of writing proved I must have been doing something right.

My second novel, Surrender the Wind, won “the Catherine” and “the Marlene,” the respective Romance Writer’s Awards of Toronto and Washington, DC. I am also the recipient of the prestigious Holt Medallion Award in honor of literary excellence in romance writing. Born and raised in western New York, I am the mother of five wonderful children.

elizabethstmichel_surrenderthewind_ecover2_comp02-2Where did your idea come from for your latest release, Surrender the Wind?

E: In the southern tier of New York, the rail lines were the highways that led captured Confederate prisoners to Elmira Prisoner of War Camp.  Known as ‘Hellmira’ this camp housed thousands of prisoners under brutal conditions and existed the North’s answer to Andersonville. A local news story told the tale of a dead Confederate drummer boy’s body thrown from the train. Of course some Christian people gave him a burial. So I thought, what if…

Tell us about Surrender the Wind.

E: When Confederate General John Daniel Rourke is severely wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness, he’s captured and sent to a prison camp. On his way there, Union soldiers mistake him for dead and toss him from the train into the New York countryside, where he lands at the feet of Catherine Fitzgerald, a schoolmistress.

Rourke wakes to find the mysterious and strong-spirited beauty nursing him back to health. He’s intrigued but unaware of her true identity as the heiress to the Union’s ammunitions manufacturer, and their fiery battle of wits and wills commences.

Yet when outside forces begin to envelop them in a larger conspiracy, their own war begins. Torn between family loyalties and manipulated by a powerful leader from the Irish underworld, Catherine and Rourke will have to fight on both sides of the secession line to win the most significant battle of all: the fight for their love. http://hyperurl.co/qnu96k

elizabethstmichel_thewindsoffate800What is The Winds of Fate about?

E: London 1685 To thwart her uncle’s plans to marry her to a repugnant duke and secure her independence, Claire Hamilton marries condemned felon, Devon Blackmon, making a wicked promise. The man is scheduled to hang, so what is wrong with a little white lie that would be a balm for his soul?
Beyond her wildest imagination, he escapes, emerging as the Black Devil; leader among pirates, commanding his Caribbean kingdom and seeking revenge against the beauty who betrayed him.

The Winds of Fate is a swashbuckling adventure and emotionally fulfilling tale of love lost and retribution.  myBook.to/TheWindsofFate

The Winds of Fate “…captivating romance that takes us to the world of seventeenth-century London…Sexual tension and legal and familial intrigue ensue with the reader cheering on the lovely pair.” –Publisher’s Weekly

What manuscript are you working on now?

E:  I’m happily immersed on a series, introducing the powerful Duke of Rutland, a widower and his strong-willed offspring. The Duke has formidable enemies determined to destroy his family.

My first installment sweeps from the glittering salons of London across the Caribbean Sea to the Colonies during the American Revolution. This captivating tale centers on the Duke’s rebellious daughter, Abigail past marriageable age and yearning for adventure. One black night the fortunes of the Rutland family are changed forever…

Kidnapped, Abigail awakens to find her father’s enemy has cut off her hair; bound her breasts, dressed her like a boy and locked her in a hold of a ship. When her ship is captured by notorious American Privateer, Captain Jacob Thorne her troubles really begin. Falling in love with an enemy of her country is a thing she cannot do.

Captain Jacob Thorne is set on revenge against England and it aristocracy. He raids the British coasts, plundering any quarry ripe for his choosing, stunned to discover his new cabin boy is a ravishing beauty. From that first stolen sensuous kiss, a wild fire is ignited and he swears to possess her… When he learns she is none other than the Duke of Rutland’s daughter and cousin to the King will he really be able to give her up or will his newfound love for her rule?

How do you get your ideas?

E: Concepts and inspiration come far and wide. Sometimes hiking in the mountains behind my home, and listening to the east wind call to the west wind. Sometimes walks beneath undulating palms, listening to the rhythmic sounds of gentle surf beat upon a golden crescent of sand. Sometimes sipping coffee while my family gathers or sitting in a crowded airport. As often as not, I feel the total of life’s experiences becomes a bridge to ideas.

Do you find it a challenge to put your ideas into a novel?

E: With every book I write, I challenge myself with a situation I have never written about before, and that’s when I have to do a lot of planning and dreaming. That’s the most fun part of the job. The difficult part follows. Standing on the edge of an abyss, I hold my breath to get those initial words flowing in order to cross the divide. Over time, I have discovered the real essence of writing a completed novel is concentration and self-discipline.

What inspires your writing muse?

E:  I wish I knew. I would bottle the formula and sell it for a good price.

If your book was turned into a movie, what actor and actress would you choose to play your hero and heroine?

E:  I don’t know, but for my director, I would like to clone a hybrid of James Cameron, (Titanic) J.J. Abrams, (Star Trek Into Darkness), Nick Cassavetes, (The Notebook), and Joe Wright, (Pride and Prejudice).

Are you a plotter or a panster?

E: I’m a big time plotter. I research and prewrite, diagraming all my scenes then analyze and create character charts. I review both feminine and masculine journeys, detailing various goals, conflicts and motivations. By the time I’m ready to start writing, I have a pretty steady roadmap, yet sometimes I surprise myself with some delightful detours.

When did you first get interested in the historical romance genre?

E:  Growing up, I spent part of my summers with a dear aunt who was a bit of a hoarder. Literally, she had books stacked from the floor to the ceiling and it was a miracle her home did not collapse from the weight. She inspired my love of reading, first introducing me to the  Classic Comic Books, chucked full of fairy tales then acquainted me with my first historical romance novel, The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer. How could I not be hooked forever?

Why do you like to write Historical Romance?

E:  As an avid fan of history, I love painting on the larger canvas that a historical allows. I enjoy, creating strong heroes and heroines that I drag through the bowels of hell. They come up fighting because they are made for each other.

Mainly, I love to make my readers happy.

You can grab both Surrender the Wind and The Winds of Fate now!

Surrender the Wind
The Winds of Fate

Find out more about Elizabeth St. Michel, and sign up for her newsletter, on her website: http://elizabethstmichel.com