Please help me to welcome my fellow Rose, Barbara Bettis,
to Write with Fey. She is sharing details about her newest release, The Heart
of the Phoenix. Plus she as a little Christmas present for one lucky person! Keep reading for details.
Hi
Chrys. I so happy to visit you today. I can’t believe we’re so close to
Christmas! Goodness. I’d like to award a $10 Amazon GC to one commenter, to
celebrate the upcoming holiday!
That is wonderful, Barbara!
THE WINNER IS SANDRA DAILEY!
***
Please tell us about your current
release, Barbara.
The Heart of the Phoenix is Sir Stephen and Lady Evie’s story. Let me share the
blurb, because once I get started talking about it, I’ll just go on and on…
Some call him a ruthless mercenary; she calls him the
knight of her heart.
Memories
Lady Evelynn’s childhood hero is home—bitter, hard,
tempting as sin. And haunted by secrets. A now-grown Evie offers friendship,
but Sir Stephen's cruel rejection crushes her, and she resolves to forget him.
Yet when an unexpected war throws them together, she finds love isn’t so easy
to dismiss. If only the king hadn’t betrothed her to another.
Can be cruel
Sir Stephen lives a double life while he seeks the
treacherous outlaws who murdered his friends. Driven by revenge, he thinks his
heart is closed to love. His childhood shadow, Lady Evie, unexpectedly
challenges that belief. He rebuffs her, but he can’t forget her, although he
knows she’s to wed the king’s favorite.
And deadly
When his drive for vengeance leads to Evie’s kidnapping,
Stephen must choose between retribution and the love he’s denied too long.
Surely King John will see reason.
Convict the murderers; convince the king. Simple. Until a startling
revelation threatens everything.
Title: The Heart of the Phoenix
Author: Barbara Bettis
Series: Brotherhood of the Phoenix
(Book One)
Genre: Historical Romance
Format: Print and eBook
Length: 287 Pages
Publisher: The Wild
Rose Press
Published: September
3rd, 2014
BOOK LINKS:
1. What
inspired you to write this book?
I’ve
always been fascinated (if that’s the right word) by the battle at Acre during
the Third Crusade and the massacre of prisoners that followed. I wondered—what
would a young man recently knighted on the field of battle and devout in his
devotion to God and King Richard think of such an action?
That
formed the basis or backstory for Stephen, but the book is about his life after
that—his determination to right wrongs before he allows himself a chance at
happiness.
2. You gotta love a knight! Is
this book part of a series?
It
is the first of a potential series, Brotherhood of the Phoenix, involving
members of the band of mercenaries who serve with Stephen.
3. The title is quite poetic. How
did you pick it?
The
phoenix is a mythical bird of Eastern lore that, basically, rises from its
ashes, reborn. The title of the book and the series is a reference to the
knights who have suffered a variety of tragedies who remake themselves, who
learn to live again, by banding together to fight a group of murderous
renegades. This book is about healing Stephen’s heart so he can love once more.
4. I've always been fascinated by phoenixes. How
did you come up with the names for your hero and heroine?
I
was rather locked in to my hero’s name, because although he was a ‘walk on’ in
a previous book, he was an important one. I couldn’t change his identity. However,
I do like the name Stephen and it was in use at that time, although not widely.
(King Stephen was William the Conqueror’s grandson, and he fought his cousin,
Mathilda, for the crown of England. Matilda was Richard the Lionheart’s
grandmother.)
Evelynn
(Evie) was another matter. Also a character from two other stories, I’d
searched several lists of medieval women’s names before deciding to go with it.
I combined two to come up with Evelynn and called her Evie. (Yes, the name
Evelyn was a man’s name at one time.) I seem to be drawn to similar sounding
names.J My
other heroines are Alyss and Emelin. Katherine, Henry’s wife, is my attempt to
break from that tendency. (She’s in an
upcoming novella.)
5. Do
you listen to music while you write?
I
don’t always listen to music in general while I write, because I have a
tendency to get caught up in it. However, I have discovered a couple of pieces
that do trigger my imagination, provided the volume is low. David Cook’s first
album helps when I need to be reflective (I have no idea why, but it works for
me J)
And when I need to feel “up,” I love Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol. I always smile when I hear that piece.
About the Author:
Award winning author Barbara Bettis
has always loved history and English. As a college freshman, she briefly
considered becoming an archaeologist until she realized there likely would be
bugs and snakes involved. And math.
She now lives in Missouri, where by
day she’s a mild-mannered English teacher, and by night she’s an intrepid
plotter of tales featuring heroines to die for—and heroes to live for.
AUTHOR LINKS:
Thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions,
Barbara, and for offering my readers a generous giveaway!
The giveaway is over. Sorry!
