Interview with Susanna Fraser + eBook Giveaway: A Christmas Reunion {Historical Romance}

Time to get into the holiday spirit! Please welcome to the blog today author Susanna Fraser! I had the pleasure of interviewing Susanna about her Christmas Historical Romance novella, A Christmas Reunion, and I'm happy to share that with you today, plus I have one eBook up for grabs!

Interview with Susanna Fraser03_Susanna Fraser

To begin, can you tell us about your Christmas Historical Romance Novella and what inspired you to write A Christmas Reunion?

A Christmas Reunion is a story of star-crossed lovers reunited at Christmas after a five-year separation...and less than two weeks before the heroine, Cat Trevilian, is scheduled to marry another man.

It was inspired by my love for the Regency Christmas anthologies Signet used to publish every year. I bought those almost every year, and I loved to read them on the flight home to spend Christmas with my family. While A Christmas Reunion is a bit sexier, my goal was to write that same kind of story to put readers in a holiday mood.

What is your favorite tradition at Christmas?

The music! Every year I participate in at least one singalong version of Handel’s Messiah--this year I’ve found three in the area, and barring snowstorms or vicious sore throats I plan to make all of them. I also look forward to my church’s Christmas Eve service, which is basically just carols with a few readings and communion.

What do you love most about Regency Romances and why did you choose to write in this genre?

The Regency fascinates me because it’s poised at a point in history that’s modern enough to be readily relatable, but far enough in the past to feel like a different world. You’re starting to see the political and cultural changes that gave us the world we’re living in now, and the Industrial Revolution has started, but it’s still a time when people--and news--still traveled no faster than a galloping horse on land and were at the mercy of the winds at sea. It’s also a time of great change and turmoil, which comes out in my books because my heroes tend to be soldiers fighting in the Napoleonic Wars.

And on a shallow note, the clothing for both genders was gorgeous.

What was the hardest scene to write?

The scene I rewrote the most often was the argument between Cat and her fiance Anthony the morning after he sees her kissing Gabe, the hero.

What was your favorite scene to write?

Cat and Gabe’s midnight conversation in the parlor.

What historical time period do you gravitate towards the most with your personal reading?

In addition to the Regency/Napoleonic Era, I love ancient Greece and Rome. Lindsey Davis’s Marcus Didius Falco series is one of my all-time favorites.

What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

I love to sing, especially anything with a good alto line. I enjoy cooking, and I watch a lot of football and baseball. (War Eagle, Go Seahawks, and Go Mariners!) And when I have time to watch TV, it’s Sleepy Hollow, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Legend of Korra, Chopped, and the occasional episode of House Hunters and similar programs.

Who are your writing inspirations?

For romance, authors like Patricia Gaffney, Loretta Chase, and Jo Beverley made me want to try my hand at the genre myself. For the Regency era more broadly, Patrick O’Brian and Bernard Cornwell. I also want to write fantasy someday, and some of the authors I view as role models there include Naomi Novik, Jacqueline Carey, and Lois McMaster Bujold.

What was the first historical novel you read?

My childhood library had this whole series of fictionalized biographies in the children’s section about the early lives of famous Americans. I have no idea which one I read first, but I remember loving one about Tecumseh.

What is the last historical novel you read?

“Eight Tiny Flames” by Crista McHugh, a WWII Hannukah novella in an anthology called A Very Scandalous Holiday.

If there was a soundtrack for your novel, what songs might we find on it?

Christmas music, mostly older songs my hero and heroine might’ve sung, including…

I Saw Three Ships
Down in Yon Forest
The Holly and the Ivy
Boar’s Head Carol
The Cherry Tree Carol

Here We Come A-Wassailing (which probably dates to several decades after my story, but the wassail association is so strong, and my story actually has a wassailing scene, so…)

Can you tell us a little about your upcoming release, Freedom to Love?

It’s set in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of New Orleans, and it releases January 5, 2015--the same week as the 200th anniversary of the battle. The hero, Henry Farlow, is a British officer who awakens on the battlefield, wounded and dazed, and wanders off, quickly becoming lost. He’s rescued by a lovely young woman--Therese Bondurant, a free woman of color--who along with her younger sister saves his life. A few days later he returns the favor, but in such a fashion that the three of them are forced to flee cross-country to save him from a murder accusation.

About A Christmas Reunion


02_A Christmas Reunion 

Publication Date: November 24, 2014 | Carina Press | eBook; ASIN B00MTGFB9S

Genre: Historical Romance

Add to GR Button

READ AN EXCERPT.

Lady Catherine Trevilian and Gabriel Shepherd met in the Earl of Edenwell’s household, he the earl’s bastard nephew adopted as an infant, and she the countess’s highborn niece taken in after being orphaned as a young lady. Though not a suitable match by society’s standards, they fell hopelessly in love – but everything ended when they were caught kissing under the mistletoe. To protect Cat from Gabe’s lowborn charms, the earl bought him an army commission and shipped him out of the country. Catherine eventually accepted an arranged engagement, but never stopped scouring casualty lists for Gabe’s name.

Five years later, Gabe is home on leave for Christmas. Catherine and Gabe quickly learn their feelings have not dimmed – and a forbidden kiss confirms they’ve deepened into passion. But with Cat due to be married in eight days and Gabe still far below her social station, it will take a Christmas miracle for the star-crossed lovers to find happiness...

Praise for Susanna Fraser's Books

“[Susanna Fraser is] a go-to writer for Regency romance that is actually set in the Regency rather than in that Never-Neverland mash-up that’s been dubbed ‘The Recency’ or ‘Almackistan.’” — Willaful at Karen Knows Best

“This is easily one of the best historical romances I’ve read.” — Romantic Historical Reviews on An Infamous Marriage

“…the romance in this story was very sweet. Sydney was immediately relatable and likeable, because she faced such a serious conflict and wanted to make an ethical decision that would preserve the lives of her loved ones.” — Dear Author on Christmas Past

About the Author

Susanna Fraser wrote her first novel in fourth grade. It starred a family of talking horses who ruled a magical land. In high school she started, but never finished, a succession of tales of girls who were just like her, only with long, naturally curly and often unusually colored hair, who, perhaps because of the hair, had much greater success with boys than she ever did.

Along the way she read her hometown library’s entire collection of Regency romance, fell in love with the works of Jane Austen, and discovered in Patrick O’Brian’s and Bernard Cornwell’s novels another side of the opening decades of the 19th century. When she started to write again as an adult, she knew exactly where she wanted to set her books. Her writing has come a long way from her youthful efforts, but she still gives her heroines great hair.

Susanna grew up in rural Alabama. After high school she left home for the University of Pennsylvania and has been a city girl ever since. She worked in England for a year after college, using her days off to explore history from ancient stone circles to Jane Austen’s Bath.

Susanna lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and daughter. When not writing or reading, she goes to baseball games, sings alto in a local choir and watches cooking competition shows.

For more information please visit Susanna's website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

A Christmas Reunion Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, November 24
Review at Romantic Historical Reviews
Spotlight at Literary Chanteuse

Wednesday, November 26
Review at Laurie Here
Review at Let Them Read Books
Guest Post at Ramblings From This Chick

Thursday, November 27
Spotlight at The True Book Addict

Monday, December 1
Review at By the Book Reviews

Tuesday, December 2
Guest Post at SOS Aloha

Friday, December 5
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Connection

Tuesday, December 9
Review at Historical Romance Lover

Wednesday, December 10
Review at Book Babe
Mistletoe Madness Guest Post at The Book Nympho

Friday, December 12
Review at The Christmas Spirit

Giveaway

To enter to win an eBook of A Christmas Reunion, please leave a comment below with your email address.

Rules

– Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on December 24th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
Giveaway is open to residents of the US only.
– Only one entry per household.
– All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspect of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion
– Winner have 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

 photo 75eb9aa0-e63f-4e71-aab0-c1197552c739.png

2 comments:

  1. This sounds like a very interesting story.. an arranged engagement, can go either way, wonder if she will go with her hear ? ?
    dkstevensne AT outlook Dot COm

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails
 

Passages to the Past
All rights reserved © 2013

Custom Blog Design by Blogger Boutique

Blogger Boutique