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Monday, September 12, 2011

HEIRESS - Susan May Warren - Free Book


One of my all-time favorite authors is back on the blog, and I have been anxious to feature this book. I absolutely love the Gilded Age in American New York society.


Author's Bio:


Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of thirty novels with Tyndale, Barbour, Steeple Hill and Summerside Press. A four-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she's also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Carol Award. A seasoned women's events speaker, she's a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer's workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice. 


About the book:

They can buy anything they want-fame, power, beauty, even loyalty.

But they can't buy love.

The beautiful and wealthy heiress daughters of August Price can buy everything their hearts desire. But what if their desire is to be loved, without an enormous price tag attached? When one sister betrays another for the sake of love, will she find happiness? And what happens when the other sets out across the still untamed frontier to find it-will she discover she's left it behind in the glamorous world of the New York gilded society? What price will each woman pay for being an heiress?

Set in the opulent world of the Gilded Age, two women discover that being an heiress just might cost them everything they love.


How did this book come about?
I love history and especially the gilded age and longed to write a story set in this era.  However, I love stories set with a biblical theme, so I applied the story of Jacob and Esau to two sisters living in the gilded age, with everything available to them but love. What lengths would they go to in order to find their happily ever after? 

Tell us about the book’s cover and what makes it unique.
I love how they used the fashions of the times – and the necklace the heroine is playing with. A necklace is a key element to all the stories in the series so I’m thankful they used this in the book cover. 

Please explain and differentiate between what’s fact and fiction in the book.
I try and weave as much fact into a story as possible – so all the research, from the houses, the clothing, the food, the lifestyle of the high society set is factual, as is the layout of the New York Chronicle (aka the Herald) as well as the life of the copper miners in Butte, Montana.  The dinner with Roosevelt is factual, as well as the information about the buffalo herd.  I took actual accounts of mine disasters as I plotted the catastrophes, and even took headlines from the New York Herald to craft the final plot. 

How much research did you have to do for this book?
Reams.  Everything required research, from the way they spoke, the food they ate, the customs of the times to the layout of the homes in 1890 NYC. I invested in a number of gilded age books and read about the lives of the Vanderbilts, the Astors and even Emily Post.

What are some of the most interesting things you found about this subject that you weren’t able to use in the story?
It was interesting to find out how connected the financial barons in New York were to the copper mines of the west. Also, I wanted to write in the NY Herald Newsies strike of the 1890s, but wasn’t able to fully develop that due to space.

What inspired and surprised you while you were writing the book?
I was surprised by the empty, meaningless lived by the wealthy. With their enormous wealth, they often lived sad, broken lives marred by alcohol, divorce and scandal. 

What do you hope the reader takes away from the story?
That God’s blessing doesn’t necessarily translate into wealth, and that it’s something deeper, something received because of His great love for us and nothing that we can do.

What is the next project you’re working on?
I just finished Baroness, the story of Rosie and Lilly, the daughters of Esme and Jinx.  It’s due out in February 2012.

What do you do when you have to get away from the story for a while?
Watch Football.  Or take a walk. 

Please give us the first page of the book.
Chapter 1
With the wrong smile, her sister could destroy Jinx’s world.

“Loosen your breath, Esme, and the lacing will go easier.” Jinx sat on the ottoman, watching Bette pull the stays of Esme’s new corset as her sister hung onto the lacing bar.

The corset, a silk damask with embroidered tea roses, pale pink ribbons along the heart-shaped bustline, and a polished brass busk, had arrived only yesterday in a shipment from Worth’s of Paris.

Esme didn’t deserve the beautiful undergarment, not with her gigantic twenty-one-inch waist, the way she fought the corsetiere during the fitting, and now held her breath instead of exhaling to lose yet another half-inch.

Jinx, still in her training corset, had long ago shaved her torso down to eighteen inches. She deserved a damask corset, in the new S-shaped style, the way it erected the posture, protruded her hips, and forced her body into the elegant shape of a society woman. But her own corset wouldn’t arrive until her mother ordered her debut trousseau, hopefully after the end of this year’s society season. After all, she’d already turned seventeen, would be eighteen when the season started next November.

She should have been born first.

Esme closed her eyes, as if in pain. “Mother, I can’t breathe. I will faint during the quadrille.”

“Perhaps you will be recovered by someone of significance.” Their mother Phoebe sat on a gold-foiled Marie Antoinette chair, the red plush velvet like a throne as she perched upon it, surveying her eldest daughter’s preparations. “It wouldn’t hurt you to be found swooning during a waltz, into the arms of the Astor heir.”

How can readers find you on the Internet?
www.susanmaywarren.com

Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.

Heiress (Daughters of Fortune)

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com

34 comments:

  1. I enjoy reading book set in this time period. Susan is such a great writer I know this book will be great. I'm looking forward to reading it to see how the conflict of the sisters work out.

    from Southern Mississippi

    plhouston(at)bellsouth(dot)net

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  2. Thanks so much for the chance to win this. This looks like a great book. I would love to win this. Thanks again.

    I am from Oklahoma.

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  3. Susan is a fantastic writer! I've enjoyed a couple of her books. Please enter me in this lovely giveaway too, thanks.

    Freda from Hamilton, Ontario.

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  4. I love your books Susan:) I also love reading about the gilded age...can't wait to read this one and the rest that are coming!

    I would love to be entered for a chance to win:)

    Lorna from Alberta, Canada

    lornafaith at gmail dot com

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  5. Please enter me! I'm from Nebraska. :)

    photographer4ever832[at]gmail[dot]com

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  6. I haven't read a lot from this time period - sounds like a wonderful book
    Cheryl in IL
    msboatgal at aol.com

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  7. My crit partner is writing a gilded age novel--how come this is the first time in my life I've heard "Gilded Age" is it a newly popular setting?

    Ks

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  8. YES!!! I absolutely looove Susan's writing! I have read like almost all of her books they are so great! Thanks for the chance to win this book! I'm so excited to read it!

    Sarah from Ohio

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  9. Sounds like a great read. Thank you for the giveaway.

    wfnren(at)aol(dot)com

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  10. please add me to this giveaway thanks
    I live in ND

    ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com

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  11. Pam K.5:44 PM

    I shudder when I read accounts like this of how women warped their bodies wearing corsets. The things that are done for fashion!
    I enjoy Susan's books; thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of "Heiress."

    pmk56[at]sbcglobal[dot]net
    Kansas

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  12. I love the opening. As one who HATES squeezing into corsets, I get how she's feeling. :-)
    Thanks for sharing about yourself with us.

    coolestmommy2000 at gmail dot com
    NE

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  13. Looks interesting, Please enter me in the drawing. Thanks!
    God Bless!
    Abigail Richmond
    Blanch, N.C.

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  14. it Looks like a great book it Look like a interesting Book, I would loved to win it.
    Joanna Richmond,
    Blanch, NC.

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  15. Looks very interesting!
    Please enter me in the drawing, would love to win.
    God Bless!
    Nathanael Richmond
    Blanch, N.C.

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  16. I LOVE your historical fictions and the research you invest in all of them! I also love how you write different styles and write them so well! :) I haven't read one of your books that I have not thoroughly enjoyed... and I've read them all!

    Looking forward to this one!
    Cyndi in AL

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  17. I am delighted to have the chance to win a copy of "Heiress". Susan is a great writer and I just know this book will be another wonderful read.

    Blessings,

    Judy B from Indiana

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  18. Would love to read Susan's latest novel...thanks for the chance :)

    karenk
    kmkuka at yahoo dot com
    *from Pennsylvania*

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  19. I read some of Susan Books and loved them, would love to win this Book, please enter me in your contest.
    I enjoyed the Interview, thank you.

    I live in Illinois

    ingrids62448(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  20. I love Susie's books and would be blessed to read this one! Thanks for the chance to win!

    Edwina from GEORGIA

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  21. Sharon Richmond1:21 PM

    Sounds very interesting, I love reading and would love to win this book! Thanks and God bless.
    Sharon Richmond
    Blanch, NC.

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  22. I have been hearing a ton of rave reviews about this one! I've been meaning to read one of Ms. Warren's books for a long time.

    crazi.swans at gmail dot com

    from South Dakota

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  23. Not an era of American history I am very familiar with, sound interesting!

    Patty in SC

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  24. Anonymous6:17 PM

    This book sounds like a lovelty read. Please enter me.

    Brenda from Michigan

    dancealert at aol dot com

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  25. Sounds like such an interesting book. I always enjoy reading Susan May Warren's work!

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  26. I love to read books set during this time period! I would love to win a copy of 'Heiress'! Please enter me and thanks for the giveaway.

    lovetoread205 [at] gmail [dot] com

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  27. It looks and sounds interesting!
    Please enter me in the drawing.
    I would love to win this book.
    God Bless!
    Sarah Richmond
    Blanch, N.C.

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  28. Sounds like a great book, I would love the chance to win this! Thank you!

    Courtney from WA state

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  29. This book sounds so intriguing. Please enter me in the giveaway!

    I live in New York

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  30. Please enter me. I would love to win.

    Michelle
    TX

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  31. Anonymous3:50 AM

    "Heiress" sounds intriguing. I look forward to reading how the sisters come out in this. Thank you for the giveaway and the chance to win!
    Blessings,
    Kelly Y in Virginia
    kelly*at*dkcountryarts*dot*com

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  32. Another great book to read!
    Thanks for the chance to win it!
    Charlotte Kay
    Ohio

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  33. Susan is a great writer and I would love to read this book. Please enter me.

    Blessings,
    Jo
    ladijo40(at)aol(dot)com

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  34. I seem to enjoy any setting Susan chooses for her books! The gilded age sounds fascinating. Thanks for the chance to win.
    Julie in MN

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