Beth Trissel in the Author Spotlight

Cate: Please welcome Beth Trissel. Beth, will you please share a short bio with us?
Beth: Thanks for having me on your lovely blog, Cate.  I’ll try to be succinct. :)

Married to my high school sweetheart, I live on a farm in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley surrounded by my children, grandbabies, and assorted animals.  An avid gardener, my love of herbs and heirloom plants figures into my work. The rich history of Virginia and the people who journeyed here from far beyond her borders are at the heart of my inspiration.  In my first English historical, Into the Lion’s Heart, I more deeply explored my British ancestry. I also write nonfiction about country life and recently self-published a work entitled Shenandoah Watercolors, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 

Cate: Tell us about Into the Lion’s Heart and where it's available.
Beth: The English historical mentioned above, Into the Lion’s Heart, is due out some time early summer, release date TBD. The Wild Rose Press is debuting a new historical romance series this summer called Love Letters that authors were invited to participate in by invitation only and my story will launch the series. I’m delighted with this honor.  The idea behind the series is that a letter must be the impetus in bringing the hero and heroine together.  Into the Lion’s Heart opens with the hero, Captain Dalton Evans -- fought in the American Revolution -- journeying to Dover to meet the ship carrying a distant cousin, Mademoiselle Sophia Devereux, who’s fleeing the French Revolution. Only he resents the French, partly because of their aid to the Americans during the war and some of the Frenchmen he fought during that lost cause, plus he thinks French aristocrats are arrogant.  The young woman he rescues from the sinking ship is nothing like he expects and rocks his world. 

Cate: Congrats! Very cool. Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Beth: Here’s the blurb: As the French Revolution rages, the English nobility offer sanctuary to many a refugee. Captain Dalton Evans arrives in Dover to meet a distant cousin, expecting to see a spoiled aristocrat. Instead, he's conquered by the simplicity of his new charge. And his best friend Thomas Archer isn't immune to her artless charm, either.

Cecile Beaumont didn't choose to travel across the Channel. And she certainly didn't expect that impersonating her own mistress would introduce her to a most mesmerizing man. Now she must play out the masquerade, or risk life, freedom – and her heart.

Cate: Can you tell us why we're going to love your hero?
Beth: Wry, witty, war-hardened Dalton Evans isn’t looking for love, just trying to survive on his newly-inherited estate in Cornwall and provide for his eccentric aunt, part of his inheritance, while doing a little rum smuggling on the side.   

Losing the American colonies was a bitter pill and he’s wistful to return to active military service, but the unique young woman he recovers from the ship turns everything he thinks he wants on its head.  Used to comprising battle strategies and planning campaigns,  he’s challenged to the extreme by the unexpected, overwhelming emotions he has for Sophia, whom he suspects isn’t who she claims to be.  Deeply masculine, gruff on the exterior, he doesn’t realize the depths of feeling he’s capable of.  He’s also damn good looking, did I mention that?

Cate: I can see he is – very! Tease us with one little thing about your fictional world that makes it different from others.
Beth: My fictional worlds are different from others partly because I feel them so deeply and follow my ancestors and go where they’ve been before me.  I never write about characters that I couldn’t find somewhere in my genealogy. It’s a rich wealth I tap into and the initial and ongoing inspiration behind my work.  I also do a heck of a lot of research to back it up. 

Cate: What's next for you?
Beth: When I drag myself back out of the garden—all-consuming this time of year—I plan to finish a historical romance novel entitled Kira, Daughter of the Moon, the sequel to my Native American historical, Through the Fire, and the next in my colonial frontier trilogy.  I also plan to work on the sequel to my time travel romance Somewhere My Lass.  Which reminds me; I wrote and have submitted to my faery rose editor, a Christmas short entitled Somewhere the Bells Ring, the next story in my time travel/light paranormal ‘Somewhere’ series. 

Cate: Very cool. What inspired you to draft your first story?
Beth:  The connection I feel to the past and those who’ve gone before me, especially after doing a lot of research into family genealogy.  I come from a lot of well documented English/Scots-Irish people, with a smidgeon of French in the meld (a Norman knight who sailed with William the Conqueror).  One line of the family goes directly back to Geoffrey Chaucer, all fascinating and compelling to me.

Cate: Do you have a writing routine?
Beth: I used to.  Now with all my grandbabies coming and going, darling but wearing, and the garden, it’s fallen by the wayside.  I just write whenever I can.

Cate: Sounds all too familiar! Where can readers find you on the web?
Beth:  My blog is the happening place: http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/

I also have a website: http://www.bethtrissel.com/

Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?

Beth: If you haven’t read any of my work, why not? :

Cate: Great question. Hopefully this will help spread the word.

Readers, Beth is giving away a copy of Into the Lion’s Heart to one lucky commenter... so start commenting. She'll pick a winner and announce the winner here. They’ll have to wait a while, but it will be well worth it!

Thanks again for being my guest Beth! Best of luck to you.

Welcome special guest author Beth Trissel!

Today I'm so pleased to have Beth Trissel as a guest. Beth's had quite a busy month! Her newest release, Through the Fire, is available today from The Wild Rose Press.
Here's what Eliza Knight, published author and HHRW Newsletter Editor, had to say about Through the Fire: "Ms. Trissel has woven a spellbinding, emotionally riveting story of love and adventure. Her writing is mystical, action packed, and heart wrenching, pulling you straight into the thick of it. Prepare to embark on a captivating journey with characters you'll fall in love with, and won't soon forget."
Sounds like another fantastic read! Congrats, and welcome, Beth!

Beth: My third & final release for this incredible month of May is upon me. THROUGH THE FIRE is coming to the Wild Rose Press in digital download and print today, Friday May 22nd at The Wild Rose Press. A fast-paced historical romance novel with a THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS flavor and a mystical weave, Through the Fire has finaled in more contests than any other novel I’ve written including the 2008 Golden Heart ® and it won the 2008 Linda Howard Award for Excellence in Writing.
People often ask which of my novels is my favorite; a tough choice as I love each one best as I’m writing the story, but if I have to choose one, it’s THROUGH THE FIRE. Rebecca is my favorite heroine. She’s angry and grieving at the start of the book and so was I following the tragic death of my youngest daughter’s best friend Garry to a drunk driver. Garry loved history and hearing about the colonial frontier. He would have loved this book, except for the mushy parts, of course. He was like that little boy in The Princess Bride.
Years ago while researching the Virginia colonial frontier, I came across a letter from Governor Dinwiddy to George Washington or Andrew Lewis, one of his other frontier officers, asking what happened to the reinforcements he sent out to an interior fort. That account coupled with a vivid dream inspired the opening of ‘Fire.’
Blurb: At the height of the French and Indian War, a young English widow ventures into the colonial frontier in search of a fresh start. She never expects to find it in the arms of the half-Shawnee, half-French warrior who makes her his prisoner in the raging battle to possess a continent––or to be aided by a mysterious white wolf and a holy man.
Already out at Amazon, Through the Fire will be available at other online booksellers in both digital download and print soon after its release. Local bookstores can order it in. For more on my work please visit www.bethtrissel.com.