Blue Belles in May – What Can I Say?

In Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota, where I’ve lived the bulk of my life, the bluebells bloom around the first week of May and are usually at their peak on Mother’s Day. this year, we’ve had a long, hard winter, and it’s seemed like spring would never get here. But the bluebells in my yard are right on target, with clusters of tiny blue, pink, and purple buds ready to pop open on the next warm day.

It seems appropriate that my new release, Blue Belle, the second of my Wildflowers of Scotland novels, should be released just in time for the first week of May. I received my proof copy about a week ago, and should have copies for sale at my B&B, the Blue Belle Inn, by May 1st.

Yes, that’s a lot of Blue Belles – and bluebells. I’ve already started to think about what I’m going to say about Blue Belle, the book, to my customers at the Blue Belle B&B.

Some authors sell their books almost exclusively online. Since I have a steady stream of people coming to the tea house at the Blue Belle Inn, I sell a lot of print books the old-fashioned way.

Over the years, I’ve found that what you write about a book on the back cover, to be read by prospective buyers who might pick it up at a store or look at it on a website, is quite different than what I feel comfortable saying to people face to face. I even wrote a poem for the back blurb of Blue Belle, which expresses many elements of the book very well. But I would feel quite silly quoting poetry table-side to my luncheon guests.

When I tell people about Thistle Down (a novella) and Wild Rose, my first Wildflowers of Scotland novel, I simply say, “In Thistle Down, Pastor Ian MacCraig has two sisters who are going to be married. Emily has found the perfect man to marry. There’s only one problem – she’s not in love with him. Chelsea is wildly, passionately, madly in love with her fiance – he’s a total jerk.  Pastor Ian has some unscrambling to do, especially when the church ladies get involved.”

And – “When Wild Rose opens, someone has been stealing architectural relics from the church yard, so Pastor Ian installs a security camera to try to catch the thief in action. What he captures is Rose Wilson engaged in a passionate romp under the flying buttresses.  My tag line is – Wild Rose and Pastor Ian MacCraig – a match made in heaven or one hell of a predicament?”

The blurb on the back of Blue Belle reads:

Isabelle doesn’t want to be found. Michael doesn’t want to be found out. When Damon starts searching for the centuries-old gold he thinks is buried in Tobermory Bay, it won’t matter what walls they’re hiding behind. Rocks will fall. Castles will crumble. No secret will be safe.

Age-old castles and blue-watered bays,
White sandy beaches and quaint cottage stays.
A rainbow of colors, and chocolates, hand-dipped,
A valley of bluebells, and sheep, freshly clipped.
Legends galore, buried treasure, and more…
In Tobermory, Scotland, that’s what’s in store.

What I’ll probably say about Blue Belle is:

“Isabelle is a reporter from Virgina who’s been burned. Now, all she wants is the truth – and one big story to help get her confidence back.  Michael is a psychologist from Wisconsin who’s not only lying about who he is, but why he’s in Scotland pretending to be a contractor.  What neither of them knows is that Isabelle’s story is buried in Tobermory Bay, practically writing itself, and that Michael’s finely crafted tale – and the castle he’s restoring – are about to come crumbling down around them.”

As time goes by, I hope to get my verbal pitch trimmed in half, or to think of the perfect one-sentence tagline that says it all.  In the meantime, I hope that one or the other of my blurbs inspires you to give Blue Belle a look. Romance, suspense and mysteries aside, it’s about learning to trust – and I hope you will trust me to deliver another good story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treasuring the Old and Used – Guest Post by Sherrie Hansen, Author of Blue Belle

Vintage treasures and reading pleasures (the first scene of my new romantic suspense, Blue Belle, a Wildflowers of Scotland novel by Sherrie Hansen).

I absolutely love going to an estate or auction sale and poking through old trunks filled with vintage treasures.

If given a choice between buying an old house that needs restoring and a sparkling clean, newly constructed house, I’m the one who’s reveling in hundred-twenty year-old tin ceilings, maple pocket doors, and stained glass windows.

I have a complete set of shiny, fresh, never-opened, newly reissued copies of the Betsy Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace in my bookshelf, but it’s the well-worn, discarded-from-libraries-decades-ago copies with their tattered edges, worn pages and broken bindings that are precious to me.

When I make Danish Aebleskivers (round pancakes – a family favorite), I vastly prefer using the well-seasoned, gritty, old cast-iron pan passed down through generations of Jensens instead of the new Nordic Ware, Teflon coated pan I brought home from the cooking store a few years ago.

I serve dinner on…

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Blue Belle Cover Reveal!

 

Blue Belle should be available shortly! I will have copies to sell by next Tuesday, and I”ll keep you posted on the online availability as I hear updates, but in the meantime, I wanted you to see the beautiful cover. The photo is of Duart Castle, Isle of Mull, Scotland, where Blue Belle takes place. I will forever remember the day I photographed it, and the brilliant blue of the sky. I’m so excited that Blue Belle is finally in print, and that everything has come together so perfectly.

La Vida Loca – Delectable Wine, Food and Stories!

I’m going to be signing copies of Thistle Down, Wild Rose, and – hot off the press – Blue Belle, on May 4th at La Vida Loca Winery in Indianola, IA. Please join me and the other Iowa authors listed below for a taste of wine and some delectable stories, too. May 4th in Indianola, Iowa. Please stop by and say hello if you’re in the area!