Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Review, Guest Post, and Giveaway: A Name Unknown by Roseanna M. White


Click here to purchase your copy.

About the Book


Book title: A Name Unknown
Author: Roseanna M. White
Release date: July 4, 2017
Genre: Historical Romance

She’s Out to Steal His Name.
Will He Steal Her Heart Instead?

Rosemary Gresham has no family beyond the band of former urchins that helped her survive as a girl in the mean streets of London. Grown now, they are no longer pickpockets—now they focus on high value items and have learned how to blend into upper-class society. Rosemary’s challenge of a lifetime comes when she’s assigned to determine whether a certain wealthy gentleman is loyal to Britain or to Germany. How does one steal a family’s history, their very name?

As Europe moved closer to World War I, rumors swirl around Peter Holstein. Awkward and solitary, but with access to the king, many fear his influence. But Peter can’t help his German last name and wants to prove his loyalty to the Crown—so he can go back to anonymously writing a series of popular adventure novels. When Rosemary arrives on his doorstop pretending to be a well- credentialed historian, Peter believes she’s the right person to help him dig through his family’s past.

When danger and suspicion continue to mount, though, and both realize they’re in a race against time to discover the truth—about Peter’s past and about the undeniable attraction kindling between them.

My Thoughts:

I have not read a Roseanna M. White book yet that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. A Name Unknown her newest and the start to what looks to become a fun and thought provoking series, was a book that I just savored. There were so many moving parts in the story and it was so well told that I had no idea which way this story was going to go, except for the love story. This is one of those love stories that you realize the characters are in love before they do.  And what a delight to watch their love for one another be realized.

However, there is much more to this story than the romance. We have the country of Britain on the brink of World War I. There are spies, espionage, patriots, and madmen. We still have the problem of the distinction of classes. We have pickpockets and thieves. We have love for one’s country and family. There is a library that plays an important role in the story and two very interesting characters that neither are quite what they seem.

A thief and a nobleman, but who really steals what? An unconventional pair; Rosemary’s spunkiness and streetwise ways verses Peter’s caring and steadfast ways. As always the gospel message was delivered throughout the entire story, a subtle reminder of just whom Jesus hung out with while living here on earth. The author notes were very interesting and again I learned some new history and I hope this series lasts as long as possible, as every one of the ‘brothers and sisters’ would have an interesting story to tell.


I received a copy of this novel for free. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions expressed are my own.

About the Author


Roseanna M. White pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of over a dozen historical novels and novellas, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to her British series. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to make their way into her novels…to offset her real life, which is blessedly boring. You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

Guest Post from Roseanna White



It’s always a challenge to make a historical setting authentic—especially when it’s set in a region you’ve only ever read about. As I was writing A Name Unknown, I learned so much about Cornwall—all the more when I had the opportunity to visit the gorgeous Penzance region while the book was still in edits! I quickly learned that I had far too many trees in my story, and hadn’t quite captured the uniqueness of the coastal setting. I dove into rewrites with excitement and gusto, ready to make my fictional Cornwall more like the real one.




I studied the Cornish accent, Cornish foods, typical Cornish coloring in hair and eyes. I’ve now gotten rather proficient at making pasties (beef hand pies) from scratch, I’ve special-ordered ingredients to make Cornish ginger cookies called fairings, and I’ve spent quite a lot of time listening to videos of people speaking in a Cornish accent.


Delving into this rich region and its history was a blast! And I’m so excited to get to share the culture of Cornwall—and a taste of their unique flavors—with you. In a special Celebrate Lit giveaway, I’ll be offering not only a signed copy of my book, but also some homemade ginger fairings! Here’s the recipe I used . . . after special ordering the Mixed Spice (reminiscent of pumpkin pie spice) and Golden Syrup (a thick syrup with a bit of a toffee flavor) from Amazon. 😉 (I have a gram scale so did use the weight measurements rather than volume—also, English teaspoons and tablespoons are a bit bigger than American, so I heaped them, and I turned out deliciously.)


GINGER FAIRINGS RECIPE


100 grams butter, cold and diced

225 grams all-purpose flour

¼ heaping teaspoon salt

2 heaping teaspoons baking powder

2 heaping teaspoons baking soda

1 heaping teaspoon ginger

2 heaping teaspoons mixed spice

100 grams superfine (caster) sugar

4 heaping tablespoons golden syrup


Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper.


Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices in a stand mixer. Add the butter and beat until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Stir in sugar.


In a small saucepan, warm the golden syrup until it’s clarified a bit; stir into the flour mixture until a dough forms. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and put on prepared baking sheets a few inches apart.


Bake 8-10 minutes, until golden. Cool a few minutes on the trays and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Blog Stops


July 20: Genesis 5020
July 21: Pause for Tales
July 22: Bigreadersite
July 23: Vicky Sluiter
July 24: Pursuing Stacie
July 25: Live.Love.Read.
July 26: Carpe Diem
July 27: cherylbbookblog
July 27: Splashes of Joy
July 29: Karen Sue Hadley
July 31: Cafinated Reads
July 31: Artistic Nobody

Giveaway




To celebrate this tour, Roseanna is giving away a grand prize of a paperback copy of A Name Unknown & 2 dozen cookies from Roseanna!!! Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/bc0e

2 comments:

  1. Mmmm, the cookies sure look delicious. I have been looking forward to reading my first book by Roseanna White and A Name Unknown sounds like a real winner. Can't wait to read it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice review for A Name Unknown. Sounds like a great read.

    ReplyDelete

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