THE CAPTIVE IMPOSTER - Dawn Crandall - One Free Ebook

Dear Readers, I’m thrilled to once again host this author, who is also represented by the same agent I am. Recently, the first book in this series, The Hesitant Heiress, won the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence in Romance. We’re all proud of her.

Welcome back, Dawn. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?

I need to catch my breath! I know lots of people think I’m super woman and wrote these three books crazy fast, but that isn’t the case at all! They just released from my publisher crazy fast! I had the first two books already written when I signed the book contract, and then had to finish the third while I was struggling through having pregnancy brain, and then having my first baby! I am not a fast writer AT ALL. So, since I’m basically starting from scratch all over again, I really have no idea what kind of time-frame I’ll be working with!

Tell us a little about your family.

I have been married for ten years, and we have a just-turned-one-year-old baby boy. J

Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

Writing has definitely changed my reading habits. It’s more difficult to get excited about reading a book now because I know I will need to make an effort to turn my editor-brain off to simply enjoy a book. Even with my favorite authors! Not that I find much to “edit”, but it’s the whole mental process of opening the book to find out what’s inside. It’s so different now.

What are you working on right now?

I have always known I would continue on with more characters from this series! Next is Vance Everstone’s turn—that man needs some redemption! And he needs a heroine too!—Violet is introduced in The Captive Imposter! And after that, I plan to revisit two other female characters the readers have been introduced to in the series so far.

What outside interests do you have?

Right now, writing, launching these first three books and being a mom pretty much takes up all my time!

How do you choose your settings for each book?

I just love the Victorian architecture of Back Bay, Boston and the huge cottages of Bar Harbor, Maine! Those were the settings in the first two books. However, the heroine in The Captive Imposter is separated from her family and friends in a much needed break from society. Her story takes place at a mountain resort on a huge lake in Central Maine.

If you could spend an evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?

I would choose to spend the time with Jane Austen, and I would talk about our shared love of writing … and I would gush to her about her books!

What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

I wish I had known how quickly everything would happen! I would have started writing sooner than five years ago.

What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?

That I need to depend on HIM to keep my sanity through these crazy, busy times!

What are the three best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?

Join American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), go to the national ACFW conference, and connect with fellow serious writers.

Tell us about the featured book.

Sent away for protection, hotel heiress Estella Everstone finds herself living undercover as a lady’s companion named Elle Stoneburner at one of her father’s opulent hotels in the mountains of Maine—the one she'd always loved best and always hoped to own one day, Everston. The one thing she doesn't like about the situation is that her ex-fiancé is in the area and is set on marrying someone else. Reeling from her feelings of being unwanted and unworthy, Estella reluctantly forms a friendship with the gruff manager of Everston, Dexter Blakeley, who seems to have something against wealthy young socialites with too much money, although they are just the kind of people Everston caters to.

When Estella finds herself in need of help, Dexter comes to the rescue with an offer she can't refuse. She sees no other choice aside from going back home to her family and accepts the position as companion to his sister. Throughout her interactions with Dexter, she can't deny the pull that's evidenced between them every time he comes near. Estella realizes that while she's been hiding behind a false name and identity, she’s never been freer to be herself than when she's with Dexter Blakeley. But will he still love her when he finds out she's Estella Everstone? She's not entirely sure.

Please give us the first page of the book.

“This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight….”

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline

Sunday, September 6, 1891

Portland, Maine

“Everston?” My voice cracked. It sounded very unladylike, which, I supposed, was allowable, considering the situation.

Mrs. Macy and Mrs. Granton both turned to stare at me.

I suppose it was rather odd to them that I’d spoken. I hadn’t said much in the three months they’d known me. It was generally my way, but the mention of Everston had sliced right through my otherwise resolved discreetness.

“Just think, being surrounded by all those green mountains, all that fresh air…. I think Mother will enjoy the cooler weather there. Don’t you, Miss Stoneburner?” Mrs. Macy asked.

As if she valued my opinion.

She didn’t, of course, so I remained silent. I was just the companion she’d hired for her elderly, recently widowed mother, Mrs. Myrtle Granton.

I was only Elle Stoneburner now.

What a shock it would be to Mrs. Macy if I revealed the truth. If only I could tell her that, more than being my reference, the formidable Bram Everstone was also my father, and that Everston—where she proposed sending us—one of his opulent mountain hotels.

I hadn’t been to that particular hotel in thirteen years—ever since the summer before my mother had died. It wasn’t that I thought anyone there might recognize me as Estella Everstone, for I’d been only eight at the time. No, the only person there who might recognize me was the last person on earth I never wanted to see again.

Jay.

Moments later, Mrs. Macy rose from her chair and looked down at me. “Then it’s settled. You’ll leave tomorrow.”

I took in this information as silently as I normally would have, though what I really desired to do was argue that there were plenty of other, wonderfully situated hotels in the Appalachian Mountain region of central Maine that would suffice.

Please, God—anywhere but Everston.

Mrs. Macy walked toward the door to the hall, leaving her mother and me seated upon the sofa. She turned to add, “Miss Stoneburner, you don’t have much to pack. But do help Mother, will you?”

“Yes, ma’am.” I never hated two words more than those! Never in my life had so much been asked of me with nothing given in return. It wore at my reserves every hour of the day. I didn’t know how I would survive the remainder of the summer.

But I really didn’t have a choice.

“Cheer up, young lass.” Mrs. Granton smiled with a sparkle in her eye. “Don’t you know what kinds of adventures await? We will likely find you a fine young husband while we’re there. I’m thinking you would much prefer the position of wife over companion to someone with one foot in the grave.”

“No, Mrs. Granton. You’re wonderful, but I—”

“Wouldn’t you like a husband?”

Jay’s chocolate brown eyes came to mind, as did his warm smile. I shook my head as if to dispel the image. “A husband is the last thing I’m concerned about finding at the moment, Mrs. Granton.”

Finding a way to trust my heart again…that would have to come first. 

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Facebook: facebook.com/DawnCrandallWritesFirst
Book Review Blog: www.APassionforPages.blogspot.com
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Twitter: @dawnwritesfirst / www.twitter.com/dawnwritesfirst
Author Website: www.dawncrandall.blogspot.com
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bilhmv

GoodReads: www.goodreads.com/dawn_crandall

Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/dawncrandall

Thank you, Dawn, for sharing this new book with us. And congratulations of winning the Gayle Wilson Award.

Readers, here’s a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.
The Captive Imposter (The Everstone Chronicles Book 3)

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